CHAPTER VI. 



PYGMIES. 



[ Do you any ambaflage to the Pigmies ?" 



(" Much Ado," ii. i. 



N the myths of antiquity, and in 

 modern folk-lore, pygmies hold an 

 equally honoured place. Thofe of 

 early Greek legend are own brothers 

 to the trolls and elves of Northern mythology ; 

 while their defcendants, the pixies of to-day, yet 

 dance among the moonlit glades of Devon 

 and Cornwall in the belief of the Weftern 

 peafantry. Pygmies firft appear in the " Iliad," 

 iii. 2-7: "The Trojans advanced with clangour 

 and a war-cry, like birds ; like the clamour of 

 cranes aloft in heaven, when flying from winter 

 and a mighty ftorm, loudly clamouring, they wing 

 their way to the ocean ftreams, bringing {laughter 

 and death to the Pygmies." Ariftotle ("Hift. 

 An.," viii. 14, 2) amplifies this pafTage, which 

 he evidently had in his remembrance: "Cranes 



