100 Belief in Ilerhs. 



The very quariy is pointed out where this extraordi- 

 nary phenomenon took place. It is curious how a 

 stor}^ of this kind, something hke wliich is, I think, 

 told of the Hartz Mountains, should have got local- 

 ized in a limestone quarry so far apart in distance 

 and character. Plow well I remember the ancient 

 laborer who told me this legend as a bo}" ! It is easy 

 to philosophize on it now, and speculate upon the 

 genesis of the tale, which may have originated in a 

 cavernous hollow resounding to the tools ; but then 

 it was a realit}', and I recollect always giving a wide 

 berth to that quarry at night. As the old man told 

 it, it was indeed hardly a legend ; for he could dis- 

 close every detail, and what has here occupied a few 

 sentences took him the best part of an hour to relate. 



Now and then the western clouds after the sunset 

 assume a shape resembhng that of a vast extended 

 wing, as of a gigantic bird in full flight — the extreme 

 tip nearl}' reaching the zenith, the body of the bird 

 just below the horizon. The resemblance is some- 

 times so perfect that the layers of feathers are trace- 

 able by an imaginative eye. This, the old folk sa}^, 

 is the wing of the Archangel Michael, and it bodes 

 no good to the evil ones among the nations, for he is 

 on his way to execute a dread command. 



Herbs are still believed in implicitly b}^ some. 

 Not long since I met a laborer, one of the better 

 class too, whom I had known previously, and now 

 found deeply depressed because of the death of a son. 

 The poor fellow had had every attention ; the clergy- 

 man had exerted himself, and wine and nourishing 

 luxuries had not been spared, nor the best of medical 

 advice. That he admitted, but still regretted one 



