concerning the creation of the wolf by the devil are given by Dähnhardt
(l.c. pp. 147 ff.), yet none so full as the Rumanian version. According
to one, the devil had made the wolf so as to have a creature of his
own. But he endeavoured in vain to call his creature to life, for he
would persistently say to it, "Arise, for I have made thee." Only,
however, when he whispered into his ear, "Arise, God has made thee,"
did the wolf spring to his feet. Then he attacked the devil, who ran
away and escaped with difficulty.
IX.
WHY DOES THE WOLF RUN AFTER THE DEVIL?
The Story of God, the Devil and the Stone.
According to a curious Rumanian version from Transylvania (in
Archiv. f. Siebenburg Landeskunde, 23, pp. 4-8, abbreviated by
Dähnhardt, pp. 152-3), the devil went to God and said to him, "O Lord,
thou hast created man and so many other creatures, but thou hast not
yet created the wolf." And God replied, "Very well," and, showing him
a huge boulder near a forest, told him to go and say to the stone,
"Devil, eat the stone." The devil went and said, "Stone, eat the
wolf." The boulder did not move. The devil went to God and said,
"The stone does not move." "What didst thou say?" "Stone, eat the
wolf." "But thou must say, 'Devil, eat the stone.'" The devil went
again to the stone and said, "Stone, eat the devil." Whereupon the
stone moved and ate the devil, and in its place there stood a wolf
with the face of the devil. Since then there are no more devils in
the world, but wolves too many.
This story, as here abbreviated, is undoubtedly corrupted. The real
form must have been at the beginning, "Stone, eat the devil," but
the devil changed it into, "Devil, eat the stone," until he spoke
exactly as he was told, and the stone turned into a wolf.
The wolf is dreaded as the most savage beast, and could therefore only
be conceived by the popular imagination as the creation of the devil.
In the northern mythology there occurs the wolf Fenrir, whose father
is Loki, the God of Fire, who will play such a decisive rôle at
Doomsday. Hahn (No. 105) contains the following version:
After the creation of man, the devil boasted that he could create
something better. God allowed him to do so. He took some clay and
moulded it and made the wolf. Then God said to him, "Give him life,
as I have done." The devil started blowing into the wolf until he
got red and blue in the face, but all in vain. Then God took a cane
and smote the wolf on his back, and that is why the back of the wolf
looks broken in the middle, and he said, "Creature, eat thy maker." Up
jumped the wolf and ate the devil. (Cf. Grimm, 148.)
X.
WHY THE GOAT'S KNEES ARE BARE.
The Story of God, the Fire and the Devil.
In the beginning the goats had wings, and used to fly about eating up
the tops of the trees. They did it so thoroughly that they left no
leaf or bud, and never allowed a tree to grow up. When God saw what
mischief they were doing, and how they were destroying all the trees,
he cursed them, and, taking away their wings, he said that henceforth
they should only be able to climb up crooked trees. And so they do.
When they came down upon earth, finding themselves without wings,
they went and made a pact with the devil, that they should henceforth
help one another. The devil willingly entered into an agreement with
them. It so happened that the devil's fire went out, and he was not
able to rekindle it himself, so he sent the two goats to God to steal
the fire from him. God had lit his fire, he had put the tripod over
the fire, and had hung on it the bowl to cook his food in. Then he
sat down quietly, watching the wood crackle and burn up. When the
goats came they started a conversation with God, speaking of this and
speaking of that, so that God should not see that they had come for
the purpose of stealing fire. When they saw they could not get on, they
decided to make a rush upon the fire, and to snatch a brand from it.
So they ran towards the tripod trying to snatch the fire. God, who
knew what they were bent upon, took the ladle which was sticking in
the food, and with the hot stuff on it he smote the goats on their
knees. The goats started running, and they shrieked from the pain of
the burning food on their knees, which burned the skin so that all
the hair fell out, and from that time the goats have no hair on their
knees, and the devil's beasts they have remained to this very day.
In other South-Slavonian versions (Dähnhardt, i. 142 f.) it is the
Evil One who invents the fire, and God is anxious to obtain it from
him in order to give it to mankind. The Evil One had deprived them
of it. God sends St. Peter to the Evil One with an iron rod in his
hands. This he was to poke in the fire until it got white hot; then
he was to touch some wood and the fire would leap up. Pursued by the
Evil One, who perceived the ruse, St. Peter struck the flint before
the rod had got cold, and thus got the spark inside the flint. Thus
it is that sparks fly when the flint is struck by iron.
As for the goats, the following variants and parallels are of interest:
According to an Armenian legend of Transylvania (Dähnhardt, 154;
Wlislocki, 12), the goat is the very work of the Evil One. Jealous of
God, who has made all the creatures, he boasted that he also would
make a creature of his own. When he saw how God fashioned the lamb,
one of the last of God's creatures, he set to work to make an animal in
the likeness of the lamb. So he made a goat. But he wanted to make it
more beautiful, so he added a beard and planted some pointed horns on
its head. Then he asked God to give life to his creation. God did so,
and thus made for man two new animals, the good, useful and meek lamb,
and the mischievous goat. God then took a vase, in which he had put
the intelligence of the animals, and, finding in it only a few drops
of the liquid at the bottom of the vase, he said to the devil that he
must be careful in the use of these drops. So he dropped a few on the
head of the lamb, but when he was going to pour some on that of the
goat the devil shook the vase, and thus many more drops fell on the
head of the goat than on that of the lamb. The devil laughed and said,
"My creature is cleverer than thine." To which God replied, "That
may be, but thy creature shall play the fool and live on scanty food."
In a Polish version (Dähnhardt, i. 162), the goat is made by the devil
almost in the same manner as he made the wolf in the tales Nos. 8,
9. And the goat comes to life only when, after saying "get up," he
whispers, "by the power of God." When the goat rises, the devil in
his fury gets hold of its tail and pulls it off; and ever since the
goats have had no tails.
In the South-Slavonic tale, curiously enough, the sheep take the
place of the goat and are made by the devil, which, in the light of
the above version, is due to some confusion made by the story-teller
between the ram and the goat. (Krauss, Sud-slav. Sagen, Leipzig 1883,
No. 29, p. 109.)
In a modern Greek legend, the devil made the goat, but he made the
knees stiff, and the goats perished from hunger. One day Christ was
walking upon earth, and he met the devil, who showed him the goats,
and said to him: "I have also made something, but I cannot make it sit
down; its knees are so stiff; so the goats die off." Whereupon Christ
took his seal and placed it upon the goats' knees. Afterwards they
could easily bend them. Hence the sign of the seal upon the goats'
knees. (Politis, No. 842; Dähnhardt, pp. 153-4.)
In these two tales we have peculiar variants to some of the incidents
in the Rumanian version, only so far as the connection of the goat
with the Evil One and the bareness of the goats' knees are concerned,
though the explanation is totally different from--nay, opposite
to--that given in the Rumanian version, where the bareness is the
sign of God's punishment of the goats.
A German tale (Grimm, 148) tells us: God made all the animals, even
the wolves, which were his dogs. The devil made the goats, which
destroyed the vines, the young trees, etc. The wolves then went and
killed the goats, and God offered to pay the devil the price of his
destroyed creatures, but only when all the oaks should lose their
leaves. But the devil was told that one oak in Constantinople keeps
its leaves all the year. He went in search of it for six months,
and could not find it. When he returned, the other oaks had got their
leaves again, and he got nothing. He poked out the eyes of the goats,
and put his own in instead, and therefore they have the devil's eyes,
and so the devil sometimes assumes their form.
These stories of the goat and the devil are probably one chapter of
the larger and yet unwritten book on the goat-devil in popular beliefs
and customs. It must suffice merely to mention the "scape-goat," the
goat-demons (seirim of the Bible), the Greek fauns and satyrs. Satan,
worshipped under the guise of a goat in the alleged orgies of the
witches, is found in the record of the Inquisition in medieval
accusations against the heretics. Is not the devil himself depicted
in medieval imagery with the cloven hoof--of the goat and with the
horns of the goat? The why and wherefore is another story. It is not
here and now the place to enter upon it. The mischievous character
of the goat, the amorous inclinations, the offensive smell, may to a
certain extent have contributed later on to justify this equation of
goat and devil, but there must be some other reason for making the
goat, if not a type, at least the friend of Satan.
XI.
WHY DID NOAH GET DRUNK?
The Story of the Goat, Noah and the Vine.
It is said that the vine did not exist before the flood, and of
course, therefore, there was no wine. The giants, whatever mischief
they may have done, and however wicked may have been their ways,
at any rate were never drunk. They only drank water, which is the
eternal beverage for man and beast. When the flood came the giants and
all the living creatures, except those whom Noah saved in the ark,
were destroyed. When the flood had subsided, the animals went out,
spread themselves over the earth, and multiplied very quickly.
Thus from the few head of cattle, sheep and goats there grew up soon
a large number, and Noah was able to live by his cattle and his goats.
Of all these animals, Noah loved the goats best, especially when he
saw them climbing about everywhere up the trees and up the rocks,
going freely in all directions. One day Noah saw that one of the
he-goats left the rest alone and went his own way, and when the
evening came he came down dancing and jumping, quite jolly; this he
repeated many days, and every evening he came home jumping and dancing,
and frolicking like a madman. Noah, anxious to find out what was the
reason of this peculiar behaviour of the goat, followed him quietly
one day, and he found out what it was. There, on one of the hillsides,
he saw a tree with very huge grapes, each one as big as a bucket. The
goat went straight to these and ate his fill. Getting drunk, he laid
himself down to sleep. When he woke up he started the game again,
and so until the evening, when he returned home quite jolly.
Old Noah was greatly surprised at this sight, for he had never seen
before any grapes; and so, climbing up as best he could, he plucked
a bunch in order to take it home and show his family.
On his way home the heat grew unbearable, and he got very thirsty. He
turned to the right, he turned to the left; nowhere a drop of water to
be seen. I do not know what he thought; but, having the grapes in his
hand, he put one in his mouth, and sucked at it. He found the juice
very sweet and refreshing, so he took the other grapes and squeezed
the juice into his mouth. Not satisfied with that, as his thirst was
not yet quenched, he went back to the vine tree, and taking a whole
cluster, he sucked it dry. When he returned, he felt somehow that his
head had got rather heavier than usual, and his legs, on the contrary,
were much lighter than before. Altogether he felt in a merry mood, and
though old and advanced in years, he started singing a song. Getting
near his house, the goat overtook him, frolicking and jumping as it
had done every day.
What should enter Noah's head but to follow the example of the goat,
frolicking and jumping, and in that state of high merriment both
reached the house. When Noah got near the house, he looked at himself,
and he could not make out what had happened to him, for he had lost
almost all his clothes. They had fallen off him on the way. He
could not get into the house, but, dropping down in front of it,
he fell fast asleep. There his sons found him, and thinking that he
was dangerously ill, put him on his bed and began wailing over him,
for they were sure he was at death's door.
The next morning, to their astonishment, he woke hale and hearty,
and there and then he told them all about the goat and the vine and
the grape and the sweet juice. Then Noah gave orders that the vine
should be taken from the hills and planted in his garden. Before
he did so, he killed the goat and poured the blood of it on to the
roots in remembrance of the fact that it was through the goat that
he discovered the vine.
Thus far the Rumanian story, which, however, requires completion. As
far as it goes it agrees almost verbatim with a story found in a very
ancient Hebrew collection of legends (Midrash Abkhir); the sequel
there is as follows: When Noah started planting the vine, the devil
came and asked to be allowed to take a part in it. Noah willingly
agreed. After killing the goat, the devil brought a lion, whose blood
was also used to water the roots of the vine, and finally brought a
swine, and his blood was also poured over the roots of the vine.
For this reason it comes to pass that, when a man drinks a little
wine he gets merry and jumps and frolics like a young kid; and if
he drinks a little more, he becomes hot and roars like the lion; and
his last stage is reached when he wallows in the mire like the pig,
for he has drunk the blood of all of them.
Here, then, we have a tale which shows how a man can become a beast
without changing his human form, not like all the other tales, in
which he remains a bird or a beetle to the end of his days.
A peculiar transformation of this legend is found in the following
variant, in which the bones of the animals are substituted for their
blood. The whole setting is different from the more primitive type
preserved in the Rumanian.
When Saint Dionysios was still young, he once made a journey through
Greece, in order to go to Naxia (the isle of Naxos), but the way
being very long, he got tired and sat down on a stone to rest. While
he was sitting, and looking down in front of himself, he saw at his
feet a little plant sprouting from the earth, which seemed to him so
beautiful that he resolved at once to take it with him and to plant
it. He took the plant out of the ground and carried it away; but,
as the sun was very hot just then, he feared that it might dry up
before his arrival in Naxia. Then he found the small bone of a bird,
and put the plant into it and went on. In his holy hand, however,
the plant grew so quickly that it peeped forth from both sides of
the bone. Then he again feared that it would dry up, and thought of
a remedy. He found the bone of a lion, which was thicker than the
bird's bone, and he put the bird's bone, together with the plant,
into the bone of the lion. But the plant quickly grew, even out of
the lion's bone. Then he found the bone of a donkey, which was still
thicker, and he put the plant, together with the bird's and lion's
bones, into the donkey's bone, and so he came to Naxia. When he was
planting it, he saw that the roots had wound thickly round the bones
of the bird, the lion and the donkey; and, as he could not take it
out without injuring the roots, he planted it in the ground as it
was, and it quickly grew up and produced, to his delight, the finest
grapes, from which he made the first wine, which he gave to men to
drink. But what a wonder did he see now! When men drank of it, they
sang in the beginning like merry little birds; drinking more of it,
they became strong as lions; and drinking still more, they became
stupid like donkeys. (Hahn, Albn. Märchen, ii. 76; v. also Thumb,
Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, Manchester, vol. ii. No. 1,
Oct. 1914, p. 38 and note 50).
I add here a Christmas carol about the shepherd and the sheep,
for it seems that at the basis of it lies the idea of God giving a
special blessing to the sheep. It is a second stage after the idea
of creation of the sheep by God.
XII.
GOD AND THE LAMB.
A Christmas Carol.
On the flowery mountain,
O Lord, good Lord,
Nica feeds his flock.
He feeds them,
He drives them,
He touches the foremost,
He gathers the hindmost,
And leads them into the pasture.
But where has he fixed the pasture?
On the top of the mountains,
Under the yellow plane tree.
A summer breeze is blowing,
Shaking the leaves,
And scattering them over the plain.
The sheep grew excited,
And they made a great noise.
They bleated, and the bleating reached the heaven and the earth.
The Holy God heard them,
And he came down to them,
And thus he spake with his mouth:
"Halloo, brave Nica, whose are these sheep,
Which bleat so beautifully,
So beautifully and devoutly?"
Nica the brave replied:
"O dear merciful God,
As thou hast come and askest me,
I will answer truly
To whom these sheep belong:
They are thine,
As well as mine.
I feed them;
Thou guardest them.
I milk them;
Thou multipliest them.
I shear them;
Thou makest them grow."
The good God replied
And said to Nica the brave:
"May they be given to thee
From me as a gift--
From a good father
To a clever son--
For thou art sweet of tongue.
But thou shalt give me,
On St. John's day,
Two lambs;
On St. George's day
One suckling lamb;
And on Ascension day
A cake of cheese."
Nica the brave
May live in health,
He and his brothers
And his parents.
May God keep you all.
This refers no doubt to the creation of the sheep by God--as mentioned
before--and the manner in which the sheep were expected to help Adam
after the fall. (v. Wolf Story No. 7.)
XIII.
THE HART AND THE MAKING OF THE WORLD.
A Christmas Carol.
Slowly, slowly, O Lord,
The little river Olt
Has grown big,
So big
That the borders cannot be seen.
But what is coming
Down the Olt?
Tall pines
And dry fir trees.
Among the pines,
Among the fir trees,
A three-year-old stag
Is swimming.
The stag swims,
And lifts up its horns.
On the top of his horns
A cradle is hanging and swinging,
A green cradle made of silk,
Woven in six strands.
But who sits in the cradle?
The maiden, the young girl,
With her tresses hanging down the back,
Shining
Like the holy sun.
She sits and sews,
And embroiders
A collar for her father,
A kerchief for her brother.
But she stops and does not sew,
Nor does her mouth keep quiet,
For she is singing:
"Slowly, slowly,
Old stag,
Slowly, slowly be thou swimming.
Do not hinder my work.
And the waves are rising;
They might wash me off and carry me off thy horns.
Slowly, slowly,
Dear old stag,
For I have three brothers at court,
Where they learn many things.
All the three are noted hunters,
And good falconers.
They will discover thee,
And run after me.
With their falcons they will pursue thee.
With their dogs they will worry thee.
With their lances they will prick thee.
Slowly, slowly,
Dear old stag--
For if my brothers find thee,
They will make my wedding feast
With thy poor flesh.
With thy bones
They will build
My little house.
With thy skin
They will cover
My little home.
With thy blood
They will paint
My little courts.
And with thy head
They will celebrate
The holy feast.
They will place it
Over the gate,
At the entrance of the little garden.
Of thy hoofs
They will make
Crystal cups,
Out of which
Nobles drink.
On rare occasions--
On Christmas day and Epiphany--
When the whole world rejoices,
I drink to the health of these houses
For many years.
The mythical stag carrying on his horns a girl who is like the sun
is similar to the bull of Mithras and to the bull in the Avesta,
out of which the world was created. The stag provides here all the
elements for the building of a house and for the merriment of the
nobles. Each part of its body is accounted for.
XIV.
WHY IS THE FLY CALLED THE DEVIL'S HORSE?
The Fight of St. George and the Devil.
In Rumania, the dragon-fly is known as the devil's horse or perhaps the
dragon's horse. It is also known as St. George's horse. The following
legends explain this peculiar name.
We are told that in olden times there was continual strife between God
and the devil. God, however, who is peacefully inclined, let the devil
play his game as long as possible. He thought that perhaps after some
time the devil might become better behaved. But what can you expect
of the devil? He is what he is, and neither good nor bad treatment
will change him. And so it proved even to God. He waited a very long
time to see him quiet down and become more satisfied. But no sooner
had God granted him one thing, than the devil asked for another, and
so he went on asking continually. When at last God saw that nothing
could be done with Satan, he armed his host of angels and gave each
one a beautiful horse to ride on. One morning, at early dawn, they
all mounted their horses and, led by St. George, who was riding at
the head of the host, they started the fight with the devil.
After a time St. George--who rode a horse, which was like unto none
of the others, wondrously beautiful--felt suddenly that his horse was
backing instead of going ahead. So St. George found himself involved
among his own host, and some other horses following his example,
started moving backwards and hitting those who were riding behind
them. He then suddenly heard the voice of God telling him to dismount,
for his horse had been bewitched by the devil. "If that is the case,"
said St. George, "then be it the devil's own," and he let it go. And
so it happened. Scarcely had it made three steps when it was changed
into a flying insect, which we, upon this earth, call the devil's horse
(libellula depressa).
A similar legend must have been current in West Europe and in England,
as otherwise the English name of Dragon-fly could not be explained. At
the root of it there must be some legend of St. George and the Dragon,
in addition to the fight between the hosts of heaven and the army of
Satan. This part must have entirely dropped out, and the knowledge and
recollection of the part which St. George played was connected either
with the worm, i.e. dragon probably transformed into an insect, or the
horse of St. George, believed to have been a winged horse. To us here,
however, the first part of the legend is of the utmost interest,
for it is nothing less than the Biblical legend of the rebellion
of Satan which led to the combat and to the fall. Satan had lost
Paradise, and ever since then he had been yearning for the light
of Paradise, either by attempting to steal the heavenly fire, as in
the Goat stories, or by stealing the sun and moon as in some of the
Christmas carols. Thereby he entered into a contest with the heavenly
power. Though these variants do not contain much of the legendary
fauna, they form an important part in the mythological conception
which lies at the root of many of these creation-tales and legends.
XV.
THE DEVIL STEALING THE SUN.
A Christmas Carol.