August 1, 1887.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



233 



brother. Now Baba Yaga bad a cat called Jeremiah, who 

 was her favourite companion, and who had been the cause 

 of the two sistei's' failure. The younger sister made friends 

 with Jeremiah by giving it batter, and tying a pretty ribbon 

 round its neck. She found it seated on a stool opposite her 

 brother, telling him 8hazhas, or stories, and singing him 

 songs. When the Baba Yaga awoke she told Jeremiah to 

 scratch her eyes open, but the cat coolly told her to wait 

 awhile till he had eaten some of the good butter the little 

 girl had given him. Baba Yaga was furious, and threatened 

 to crush him to death, but Jeremiah, after removing himself to 

 a safe distance, spoke to her as follows : " As long as we have 

 lived under the same roof, and as much as I have done for 

 you, yet you have never once treated me kindly, whereas 

 the little boy's sister has given me butter and tied a pretty 

 ribbon round my neck." 



In another similar story Baba Yaga became so angry with 

 her butter-bribed cat that she pinched him to death for not 

 waking her up in time.* 



In the North, where the winds are cold and bleak, it is 

 quite natural to look upon them as malevolent beings, full of 

 mischief and spite. We have already observed this belief 

 in the German, and the same appears to exist in the Rus- 

 sian folklore. Among the peasants the whirlwind is sup- 

 posed to be a Yikhor, or bird. Once a certain king and 

 queen went for a walk in the garden, and the Vikhor bird 

 came and carried the queen away. Her three sons set out 

 to look for her, and the youngest, Prince Vasily, found her. 

 The queen concealed him, and Vikhor came flying in and 

 spoke angrily to the queen. She gave her son a hint to 

 come out from his hiding-place. He gi-eeted Vikhor, and 

 caught hold of his right little finger. Vikhor tried to shake 

 him ofl', but in vain. At last Vikhor fell to the ground, and 

 became a fine yellow sand. Prince Vasily kept the little 

 finger, but, scraping the sand together, he burnt it in the 

 stove, t 



In Poland, when the whirlwind sweeps up the loose sand, 

 it is supposed to be the evil spirit dancing. The magicians 

 throw a sharp new knife into the sand to wound the spirit. 

 A man who had a spite against another plunged such a 

 knife into his threshold, and condemned him to ride for 

 seven years arc ind the world on a whirlwind. It is said 

 that the whirlwind lifted the man, who was making hay- 

 cocks in a meadow, and bore him away in the air.J 



In Norway the north wind is supposed to be a good- 

 natured giant ; but when a violent wind arises oSerings 

 are made to him to pacify him. At Bamberg it is said that 

 an old woman snatched up her meal- sack whilst a storm was 

 raging, and, opening the window, emptied it out, saying, 

 " Dear wind, don't be so wild ; take that home to your 

 child ! " She looked on the wind as a greedy lion or fierce 

 wolf.§ 



In Norway the peasants say that the " giant stirs his 

 pots" when there are whirlwinds or foul weather. In 

 Sweden the popular belief is that a violent whirlwind is the 

 Skogsrii, or wood-wife, who shakes the trees even to break- 

 ing, and rushes violently through the air. The Slavonians 

 think that the whirlwind is a female demon, who flies up in 

 the du.st which the whirlwind raises. According to another 

 legend, the whirlwind was a noble damsel who loved the 

 chase above everything, and made havoc of the husVjandmen's 

 crops, for which she is doomed to ride along with the storm 

 to all eternity. This recalls the Diana huntress deities 

 and Holda.ll 



* Ralston, " Russian Folklore," p. 177. 

 t Ralston, " Russian Folklore," p. 232. 

 j Grimm, " Tea'onic Mythology," p 6.S2. 

 § Grimm, " Teutonic Mythology," p. 636. 

 II Ibid. p. 633. 



In conclusion, it is interesting to note how the southern 

 myths differ from the northern — as greatly as the warm 

 southern breezes differ from the bleak northern winds. The 

 following Italian story is a good example : — 



A fisherman who had had bad luck for some time, over- 

 come with anger, cursed the Madonna and the saints. 

 Suddenly a certain person (who, we are told, was the 

 enemy of mankind) appeared to him, and promised him 

 good luck if he would give him the next son he had when 

 that son should be thirteen years old. The man consented, 

 but when the enemy came to claim his prize the fairy Colina 

 duped him and carried off the boy to her own palace. 

 Lionbruno (the name of the boy) became her husband, but 

 after a while wished to visit his home. On the way he had 

 many adventures. After a long journey he came to a dense 

 forest. Here he saw a little old hovel surrounded by dense 

 wild shrubs, and with a little ivy-covered door. He could 

 only reach it after climbing over inaccessible rocks. He 

 knocked at the door, and an old woman opened it, who 

 told him that she was Borea, the northwind. When she 

 saw Lionbruno she asked him if he was not afraid, for this 

 was the house of the winds, and if her four sons should 

 return they would devour him. However, she hid him in 

 a chest, and soon a loud noise was heard in the distance. 

 It was the winds returning, and the noise grew louder and 

 louder, as if the trees and branches were being swept away. 



When they entered they began to say, " What smell of 

 human flesh is here ? " 



" Here, Christians, Christians I Where is there any 

 smell of human flesh here ? Who would venture here ? " 

 said their mother. 



Sirocco would not be convinced. At last Borea pacified 

 them by promising to show them a man if they would not 

 harm him. When she brought him out they puffed and 

 blowed about him, and asked him many questions. They 

 kept their promise and did not hurt him, and after a while 

 Sirocco wafted him to the fairy Colina on a gentle breeze.* 



In a modern Greek folk-song the winds are under the 

 command of a sparrow-hawk, and they obey him. In 

 another a mother sets three to watch her son while he 

 sleeps. In the mountains the sun, in the plain the eagle, 

 on the sea the brisk lord Boreas ; the sun sets, the aagle 

 goes to sleep, and lioreas goes home to his mother. From 

 the context we understand that the eagle is the sweet soft 

 wind, and Boreas the cool north wind. 



HOW AMERICANS VIEW ENGLAND. t 



E often wonder whether the untravelled 

 American's idea of Great Britain and the 

 Britisher is as erroneous as John Bull's 

 notions concerning America and Americans. 

 To the American, England seems a pheno- 

 menal islan<l, peopled by a race of men 

 gifted with qualities approved by the cen- 

 turies as "the fittest." For English ideas have survived. 

 English purposes and intentions have ripened into immutable 

 facts. English oppression has prevailed over the liberties of 

 other peoples in all quarters of the globe. English avarice 

 has piled up countless millions sterling. English commerce 

 has gained a fii'm foothold in all the marts of the world. 

 English armies have won laurels on thousands of battle- 



* T. F. Crane, "Italian Popular Tales," p. 143. 



f From a leading American paper " ou'. West." In places, this 

 article seems written in happy unconsciousness of the fact that 

 races retain racial qualities for more than the six or seven genera- 

 tions which separate the Americans from the Old English 

 parentage. 



