_BOHEMIAN STORIES._
These stories are translated from the language of the Slavonic
inhabitants of nearly three-fourths of Bohemia, the 'Czechs,' as the
Poles write the word, or 'Chekhs,' if we adopt the nearest
orthographical approximation to it that the English alphabet allows
us to make. This nation had an early literary development,
commencing before the foundation of the University of Prague
(_Praha_) by the Emperor Charles IV. in 1348. For a long time after
that epoch the Bohemians could justly claim the title of the best
educated nation in Europe. They produced a prose writer--Thomas of
Stitny, whose first original work was published in 1377--whose equal
is not to be found in English literature till the age of Queen
Elizabeth. In the Thirty Years' War (1620) the people and literature
of Bohemia were crushed for more than two centuries, the population
being reduced during that terrible war from over four millions to
eight hundred thousand.
The Bohemian language itself is a very remarkable one. It possesses
both accent and quantity independent of each other, like Latin and
Greek. Thus it is difficult for a foreigner to read aloud or to
speak, for, if he attends carefully to the accent, he is liable to
neglect quantity, and if he attends to quantity, he is likely to
slur over the proper accentuation of words. It, as well as Polish,
employs a sibillated _r_, which in many words is difficult to
pronounce. It also writes semi-vowels, especially _r_, without a
vowel; so that many syllables appear as if there were no vowel in
them. But this it is sufficient to notice once for all, as it causes
no real difficulty in pronunciation.
The fairy-tales relating to the kindly or malevolent superhuman
inhabitants of the woods are peculiar and striking. In No. 5 these
imaginary beings are represented under the latter, and in No. 6
under the former aspect.
_Two_ waters, one of death and the other of life, are found in the
Bohemian stories, just as in the Russian ones--a point wherein the
Slavonic tales regularly differ from those of Western Europe, which
only acknowledge the water of life. As Mr. Ralston remarks ('Songs
of the Russian People,' p. 97): 'When the "dead water" is applied to
the wounds of a corpse, it heals them, but before the dead body can
be brought to life, it is necessary to sprinkle it with the "living
water."'