332 The Honey-Makers 



Tlie man replied, " I see that he has failed and is very 

 sad, and my wife with him." 



The travelling scholar, having prepared to shoot another 

 arrow, standing only half as far away as before, the stranger 

 again warned the man in the bath at the right moment, 

 and he, plunging beneath the water, escaped the fatal shaft. 

 " Look, what seest thou ? " inquired the stranger as before, 

 and the man in the bath replied, " I see that he has 

 again failed, and is very sad and says to my wife, ' If I 

 fail the third time, I am a dead man.' " 



The scholar made ready and went close to the image 

 that he might not fail. 



Then he who read in the book said, " Plunge ! " 



The man plunged before the shot. " Look," said the 

 other, " now what dost thou see ? " 



He replied, " I see that he has failed for the third time, 

 and the arrow has gone into himself and he is dead and 

 my wife is burying him under the house." 



The stranger said, " Now get up and go thy way." 



The man wished to reward his saviour, but the latter 

 would not allow it and said, " Pray to God for me." 



When the rescued man went home again his wife wished 

 to receive him in a friendly manner, but he would not be 

 agreeable to her and called in her relatives and told them 

 the whole story. The woman denied it, whereupon he took 

 the people to the place where she had buried the scholar 

 and dug him up. Then they took the woman and burned 

 her, which was her just reward. 



Similar stories are found in abundance in Germany, 

 Poland, Finland, and other northern countries. 



Naturally this practice of magic by means of wax ex- 

 tended far beyond the churchly bounds, and we learn that 

 the Slavic people used it in divination. The priests of the 

 god Potrimpos, who was the fortune-bringer in war as in 



