XXXIV. 



seat at Memphis. The king fell in love with the foot to which the slipper 

 belonged, and gave orders that its owner should be searched for, and when 

 Rhodope was found, the King married her. 



" In the Hindu tale a rajah has an only daughter, who was born with a 

 golden necklace which contained her soul, and the father was warned that, 

 if the necklace were taken off and worn by another, the princess would die. 

 One birthday he gave her a pair of golden and jewelled slippers, which she 

 wore whenever she went out ; and one day, as she was picking flowers upon 

 a mountain, a slipper came off, and fell down the steep side into the forest 

 below. It was searched for in vain ; but not long after a prince who was 

 hunting, found it, and took it to his mother, who judging how fair and high- 

 born the owner must be, advised him to seek for her, and make her his wife. 

 He made public the finding of the slipper throughout the kingdom, but no 

 one claimed it, and he had well nigh despaired, when some travellers from 

 the rajah's country heard that the missing slipper was in the hands of the 

 prince, to whom they made known its owner's nams. He straightway 

 repaired to the rajah's palace, and showing him the slipper, asked for the 

 hand of the princess, who became his wife. After her marriage, a jealous 

 woman stole the necklace while she was sleeping, and to her husband's deep 

 grief her body was carried to the tomb. But it did not decay, nor did the 

 bloom of life leave her sweet face, so that the prince was glad to visit her 

 tomb ; and one day the secret whereby her soul could be restored was 

 revealed to him. He recovered the necklace, placed it round her neck, and 

 with joy brought her back to his palace. The like framework of a slipper 

 for whose pretty wearer a search is made, and who becomes the finder's 

 wife, occurs in the Serbian tale of 'Papalluga;' in the German tale of 

 ' Aschen-puttel;' in the fable of La Fontaine about the ' Milkmaid and her 

 Pail ;' and other varients of the story, whose birthplace, as we have seen, 

 was in Central Asia." 



In looking through the various superstitions of different races, one 

 expects to come across a number regarding horses, cattle, frogs, and toads. 

 In the Nineteenth Century for July, the writer on the article on Transylvanian 

 Superstition tells us that a toad taking up its residence in a cow byre, is 

 assuredly regarded as in the service of a witch, and has been sent there to 

 purloin the milk ; and that it is necessary, therefore, that it be stoned to 

 death. The skull of a horse also placed over the gate of the courtyard, or 

 the bones of fallen animals buried under the doorstep, are preservatives 

 against ghosts. In our article in The Yorkshire Weekly Post, of August 22, 

 we spoke of the absurd practice of burning the palate of the horse for the 

 supposed cure of lampas. This cruel method of treatment, though gradually 

 dying out, is still not very uncommon, being generally carried out by the 

 village blacksmith. 



We might give many other examples of erroneous practices which are 

 in vogue, but we have already diverged somewhat from our original point, 

 and those mentioned shew us that education is alone able to dispel illusion. 

 Quackery of many forms and varieties is founded on superstition, and a 



