[112] The term is now used very vaguely. Mr. Talboys Wheeler, speaking of the "Scythic Nagas" (Hist. of India, i. 147), says: "In process of time these Nagas became identified with serpents, and the result has been a strange confusion between serpents and human beings." In the "Padma Purana" we read of "serpent-like men." (See my "Sacred Anthology," p. 263.)
[113] "Mahawanso" (Turnour), pp. 3, 6.
[114] Ser. x.x.xiii. Hardly consistent with De Civ. Dei, xvi. 8.
[115] "Chips," ii.
[116] "Sancti custos Soractis Apollo."--aen. xi. 785.
[117] "Treatise of Spirits," by John Beaumont, Gent., London, 1705.
[118] London "Times," June 11, 1877.
[119] Wuttke, "Volksaberglaube," 402. Pliny (iv. 16) says: "Albion insula sic dicta ab albis rupibus quas mare alluit." This etymon of Albion from the white cliffs is very questionable; but, since Alb and Elf are generally related, it might have suggested the notion about English demons. Heine identifies the "White Island," or Pluto"s realm of Continental folklore, as England.
[120] Richardson"s "Borderer"s Fable-Book," vi. 97.
[121] Martin, Appendix to Report on "Ossian," p. 310.
[122] "Scenes and Legends," p. 13.
[123] Dr. James Browne"s "History of the Highlands," p. 113.
[124] "North American Review," January 1871.
[125] Dennys, p. 81 et seq.
[126] Ezekiel x.x.xix.
[127] "Rig-Veda," iv. 175, 5 (Wilson).
[128] Ibid., i. 133, 6.
[129] "Rig-Veda," vi. 14.
[130] "The Nineteenth Century," November 1877. Article: "Sun-Spots and Famines," by Norman Lockyer and W. W. Hunter.
[131] "An Inquiry into the Nature and Place of h.e.l.l," by Tobias Swinden, M.A., late Rector of Cuxton-in-Kent. 1727.
[132] Carlyle, "Past and Present," i. 2.
[133] "Discoveries in Egypt," &c. (Bentley.) 1852.
[134] "Legends of Old Testament Characters," i. p. 83.
[135] OEdip., 1. II. ii. See "Mankind: their Origin and Destiny,"
p. 699.
[136] Compare Kali, Fig. 18.
[137] Soc. of Heb. Literature"s Publications. 2d Series. "Legends from the Midrash," by Thomas Chenery (Trubner & Co.). The same legend is referred to in the story of the Astrologer in Washington Irving"s "Alhambra."
[138] Faust, ii. Act 4 (Hayward"s Translation).
[139] "Emerson"s Poems. Monadnoc."
[140] "Modern Painters," Part V. 19.
[141] Bel"s mountain, "House of the Beloved," is called "high place"
in a.s.syrian, and would be included in these curses ("Records of the Past," iii. 129).
[142] Jer. xiii. 16.
[143] "Our Life in j.a.pan." By Jephson and Elmhirst.
[144] Another derivation of Elf (Alf) is to connect it with Sanskrit Alpa = little; so that the Elves are the Little Folk. Professor Buslaef of Moscow suggests connection with the Greek Alphito, a spectre. See pp. 160n. and 223.
[145] Brinton, p. 85.
[146] Ibid., p. 166.
[147] "Tales and Legends of the Tyrol." (Chapman and Hall, 1874.)
[148] Od. xii. 73; 235, &c.
[149] London Daily Telegraph Correspondence.
[150] John Sterling.
[151] "Rig-Veda," ii. 15, 5. Wilson. 1854.
[152] "Du monstre qui m"avait tant ennuye, il n"etait plus question; il etait pour jamais reduit au silence. Il n"avait plus forme de geant. Deja en partie couvert de verdure, de mousse et de clemat.i.tes qui avaient grimpe sur la partie ou j"avais cesse de pa.s.ser, il n"etait plus laid; bientot on ne le verrait plus du tout. Je me sentais si heureux que je voulus lui pardonner, et, me tournant vers lui:--A present, lui dis-je, tu dormiras tous tes jours et tous tes nuits sans que je te derange. Le mauvais esprit qui etait en toi est vaincu, je lui defends de revenir. Je t"en ai delivre en te forcant a devenir utile a quelque chose; que la foudre t"epargne et que la neige te soit legere! Il me sembla pa.s.ser, le long de l"escarpement, comme un grand soupir de resignation qui se perdit dans les hauteurs. Ce fut la derniere fois que je l"entendais, et je ne l"ai jamais revu autre qu"il n"est maintenant."
[153] Von Spix and Von Martin"s "Travels in Brazil," p. 243.
[154] "Anatomy of Melancholy." Fifteenth Edition, p. 124.
[155] "Les Dieux en Exile." Heinrich Heine. Revue des Deux Mondes, April, 1853.
[156] "Book of Songs." Translated by Charles E. Leland. New York: Henry Holt & Co. 1874.
[157] Dennys.
[158] Bleek, "Hottentot Fables," p. 58.
[159] Baring-Gould, "Curious Myths," &c.
[160] Ibid., ii. 299.