November 1, 1888.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



21 



In the Romance fairy tales, as in the French, the old 

 Eoman gods gradually assumed the nature of wood sprites 

 and fairies. The Lars, closely akin to the Gothic dwarfs, 

 were supposed (like the Grecian heroes) to be the souls of 

 men who after death were doomed to hover about their 

 former abodes. 



The fata of Romance tales were supposed to exercise a 

 wonderful influence over the destiny of mortals. There 

 were, according to the Italian poets, black and white fates, 

 good and bad. 



The most celebrated, called the Fata Morgana, was the 

 queen of the fairies, and the wonderful mirage to be seen at 

 Messina was supposed to be a reflected image of her palace 

 under the waters. She is the goddess of fortune, and sub- 

 ject, with all the fates and witches, to the terrible Demo- 

 gorgon. According to Ariosto, he has a splendid temple- 

 palace in the Himalaya, where the fates are all summoned 

 to appearand give an account of themselves every fifth year. 



" They travel through the air in various strange convey- 

 ances, and it is no easy matter to distinguish between their 

 convention and the Sabbath of the witches." * 



A fota, called Silvanella, was supposed to have built a 

 tomb over Narcissus and then dissolved away into a 

 fountain. When the tomb was opened by Brandamarte 

 (an Italian hero), a hideous serpent put forth its head. He 

 kissed it, and it gradually changed into a beautiful maiden, 

 possibly Silvanella. 



Among the collection of fairy tales to be found in the 

 Pentamerone, the following is related about the fairy 

 Colina. 



A poor fisherman had had so much ill-luck that at last, 

 in despair, he called on the Enemy to help him. The latter 

 did so, on condition the fisherman should give him his 

 youngest son when he was thirteen years old. The fisher- 

 man agreed to these strange terms, and from that day was 

 always successful. 



At last the time arrived for the Enemy to claim the boy, 

 and the fisherman bitterly regretted the rash promise he 

 had made. He had not the heart to see the boy taken, so 

 he placed him on the beach at the appointed place, and bade 

 him wait till he returned from his fishing. 



The boy amused himself by making wooden crosses, and 

 sticking them around him in the sand. When the Enemy 

 appeared and saw these crosses, he frowned at the boy, and 

 bade him destroy them. At first the boy refused, but being 

 afraid of this terrible being, he destroyed all but the cross 

 he held in his hand. 



Although the Enemy rolled his eyes and looked very 

 terrible, yet he could not persuade the boy to obey him. 

 Presently a bright light appeared in the sky, and the fairy 

 Colina, queen of the fairies, descended, and seizing the boy by 

 the hair of his head, carried him off" to her palace. There 

 he became a general favourite, and the fairy queen chose 

 him for her bridegroom. f 



In Naples the good people had a superstitious belief in a 

 little being called the Monk of Monaciello. He is described 

 as a little man, dressed like a monk and wearing a broad- 

 brimmed hat. He appears to people iluring the night, and 

 beckons them to follow him. If they have the courage to 

 do so, he leads them to a place wiiore gieat treasures are con- 

 coaled, and in this way people have become suddenly rich. J 



This littlo being re.sembles the Spanish Diiende, or house- 

 sprites, who are mischievous and spiteful, often pelting 

 people with sticks and stones. 



* Keightley's " Kairy Mythology," p. 452. 



t "Italian Popular Tales." T. F. Crane, p. KiC. 



j Tim Monaciello is closely akin to the (ierman Nis or Kobold, 

 which may be accounted for by the fact that the Normans settled in 

 Naples. Keightley's " Fairy Mythology," p. 450. 



Although very little is known about the fairy folk-lore of 

 Spain, yet it shows a strong resemblance to the folk lore of 

 France, Italy, and even Germany. 



In Catalonia there is said to be a deep lake on the summit 

 of a mountain. If a stone is thrown into this lake, a 

 terrible storm rages, and the waters bubble and boil in a 

 most alarming way. This may be the lake of boiling pitch 

 referred to in the story of " Don Quixote," under which a 

 fair princess was imprisoned. At the bottom of this lake 

 there is a palace with a wide gate, through which none enter 

 but the demons and their captives and the fairies who inhabit 

 this place. 



Many years ago a man was annoyed by a little girl, who 

 was crying, and he wished that the demons would be ofi" with 

 her. Instantly she vanished, clutched by invisible hands, 

 and it was seven years before she was seen again. She 

 came as she went, " like a sudden gust of wind." She was 

 tall in stature, but wasted and dirty, her eyes rolling wildly, 

 and her speech inarticulate. 



Possibly the demons were some kind of fairies, or the 

 spirits of fallen angels, according to the Spanish belief. 

 This may account for a strange request, once made by a 

 fairy, whom a mortal had chosen for his bride. She im- 

 posed the condition that a holy name should never be men- 

 tioned in her presence, to which her husband agreed. 

 Unfortunately, seeing one day some dogs quarrelling over a 

 bone, he exclaimed, 



"Holy Mary! Did you ever see the likeV At once 

 the beautiful feiry bride glided through the air, and dis- 

 appaared in her mountain home. 



Many years after her husband was thrown into prison by 

 the Moors, and being told that his wife alone could save 

 him, he sent their son to her. As the boy approached the 

 well-known mountain, " behold ! his fairy mother stood 

 there before him on the summit of a rock." 



She gave him a steed called Pardalo, and bade Iniquez 

 mount him, and not unsaddle or unbridle him nor put shoes 

 upon his feet, and in one day the steed would carry him to 

 Toledo. He did as he was told and rescued his father, but 

 his mother never returned to their home. 



Many stories are told about the little beings who haunt 

 the woods, and who are sometimes seen and heard by fortu- 

 nate mortals. 



Pepito El Corcovado, a lively little hunchback, w;i3 

 returning home one evening fi'om a wedding, where he had 

 been playing his guitar and singing. He lost his way in the 

 woods, and, as night was coming on, he wrapped his cloak 

 around him, and fell asleep at the foot of a cork tree. 



All at once he was awakened by the sound of little voices 

 singing a well-known air. They would only sing the first 

 line, but Pepito joined in and sang the whole strain. The 

 little folks were so delighted, that, as a reward, they made 

 him straight as a poplar, and hLs hump disappeared for 

 ever. 



to liv 



ON LIFE-RESTORING. 



By Pkokessur Pheyer.* 

 {Extraeled from " The Open Court.'") 



F we were able to freeze a plant or animal's 

 body through and through, to dry one up 

 thoroughly, to preserve one for a year wholly 

 apart from the air in a cold exhausted space 

 without food and without water, so that on 

 an appointe'l day, after the admission of moist 

 air, it would start up in the beiit and continue 

 without the least injury to its health — just as if 



* Translated from the German by F. W. Morton. 



