GYPSIES, TOADS, AND TOAD-LORE.
"I went to the toad that lies under the wall,
I charmed him out, and he came at my call."
("Masque of Queens," Ben Johnson.)
The toad plays a prominent part in gypsy (as in other) witchcraft,
which it may well do, since in most Romany dialects there is the same
word for a toad or frog and the devil. Paspati declares that the toad
suggested Satan, but I incline to think that there is some as yet
undiscovered Aryan word, such as beng, for the devil, and that the
German Bengel, a rascal, is a descendant from it. However, gypsies
and toads are "near allied and that not wide" from one another,
and sometimes their children have them for pets, which recalls the
statements made in the celebrated witch trials in Sweden, where it was
said by those who professed to have been at the Blockula, or Sabbat,
that the little witch children were set to play at being shepherds,
their flocks being of toads.
I have been informed by gypsies that toads do really form unaccountable
predilections for persons and places. The following is accurately
related as it was told me in Romany fourteen years ago, in Epping
Forest, by a girl. "You know, sir, that people who live out of
doors all the time, as we do, see and know a great deal about such
creatures. One day we went to a farmhouse, and found the wife almost
dying because she thought she was bewitched by a woman who came
every day in the form of a great toad to her door and looked in. And,
sure enough, while she was talking the toad came, and the woman was
taken in such a way with fright that I thought she'd have died. But
I had a laugh to myself; for I knew that toads have such ways, and
can not only be tamed, but will almost tame themselves. So we gypsies
talked together in Romany, and then said we could remove the spell if
she would get us a pair of shears and a cup of salt. Then we caught
the toad, and tied the shears so as to make a cross--you see!--and
with it threw the toad into the fire, and poured the salt on it. So
the witchcraft was ended, and the lady gave us a good meal and ten
shillings." (For a Romany poem on this incident vide "English Gypsy
Songs," Trübner and Co., 1875). And there is a terrible tale told by
R. H. Stoddard, in a poem, that one day a gentleman accidentally trod
on a toad and killed it. Hearing a scream at that instant in the woods
at a little distance, followed by an outcry, he went to see what was
the matter, and found a gypsy camp where they were lamenting the sudden
death of a child. On looking at the corpse he was horrified to observe
that it presented every appearance of having been trampled to death,
its wounds being the same as those he had inflicted on the toad. This
story being told by me to the gypsy girl, she in no wise doubted its
truth, being in fact greatly horrified at it; but was amazed at the
child chovihani, or witch, being in two places at once.
In the Spanish Association of Witches in the year 1610 (vide Lorent,
"Histoire de l'Inquisition") the toad played a great part. One who had
taken his degrees in this Order testified that, on admission, a mark
like a toad was stamped on his eyelid, and that a real toad was given
to him which had the power to make its master invisible, to transport
him to distant places, and change him to the form of many kinds of
animals. There is a German interjection or curse "Kroten-düvel!" or
"toad-devil," which is supposed to have originated as follows: When
the Emperor Charlemagne came into the country of the East Saxons and
asked them whom they worshipped they replied, "Krodo is our god;" to
which the Emperor replied "Krodo is all the same as Kroten-düvel!" "And
he made them pay bitterly by the sword and the rope for the crime of
calling God, according to their language, by a name different from that
which he used; for he put many thousands of them to death, like King
Olof of Norway, to show that his faith was one of meekness and mercy."
It is bad to have one's looks against one. The personal appearance of
the toad is such as to have given it a bad place in the mythology of
all races. The Algonkin Indians--who, like Napoleon and Slawkenbergius,
were great admirers of men with fine bold noses--after having studied
the plane physiognomy of the toad, decided that it indicated all the
vices, and made of the creature the mother of all the witches. Nothing
could have been more condemnatory; since in their religion--as in that
of the Accadians, Laps, and Eskimo--a dark and horrible sorcery, in
which witches conciliated evil spirits, was believed to have preceded
their own nobler Shamanism, by which these enemies of mankind were
forced or conquered by magic. Once the Great Toad had, as she thought,
succeeded in organizing a conspiracy by which Glooskap, the Shamanic
god of Nature, was to be destroyed. Then he passed his hand over her
face and that of her fellow-conspirator the Porcupine; and from that
time forth their noses were flat, to the great scorn of all honest
well-beaked Indians.
The old Persians made the toad the symbol and pet of Ahriman, the
foe of light, and declared that his Charfester, or attendant demons,
took that form when they persecuted Ormuzd. Among the Tyrolese it
is a type of envy; whence the proverb, "Envious as a toad." In the
Middle Ages, among artists and in many Church legends, it appears
as Greed or Avarice: there is even to this day, in some mysterious
place on the right bank of the Rhine between Laufenberg and Binzgau,
a pile of coals on which sits a toad. That is to say, coals they
seem to the world. But the pile is all pure gold, and the toad is a
devil who guards it; and he who knows how can pronounce a spell which
shall ban the grim guardian. And there is a story told by Menzel
("Christliche Symbolik," vol. i. p. 530), that long ago there lived
in Cologne a wicked miser, who when old repented and wished to leave
his money to the poor. But when he opened his great iron chest, he
found that every coin in it had turned to a horrible toad with sharp
teeth. This story being told to his confessor, the priest saw in
it divine retribution, and told him that God would have none of his
money--nay, that it would go hard with him to save his soul. And he,
being willing to do anything to be free of sin, was locked up in the
chest with the toads; and lo! the next day when it was opened the
creatures had eaten him up. Only his clean-picked bones remained.
But in the Tyrol it is believed that the toads are themselves poor
sinners, undergoing penance as Hoetschen or Hoppinen--as they are
locally called--for deeds done in human form. Therefore, they are
regarded with pity and sympathy by all good Christians. And it is
well known that in the Church of Saint Michael in Schwatz, on the
evening before the great festivals, but when no one is present, an
immense toad comes crawling before the altar, where it kneels and
prays, weeping bitterly. The general belief is that toads are for
the most part people who made vows to go on pilgrimages, and died
with the vows unfulfilled. So the poor creatures go hopping about
astray, bewildered and perplexed, striving to find their way to
shrines which have perchance long since ceased to exist. Once there
was a toad who took seven years to go from Leifers to Weissenstein;
and when the creature reached the church it suddenly changed to a
resplendent white dove, which, flying up to heaven, vanished before
the eyes of a large company there assembled, who bore witness to the
miracle. And one day as a wagoner was going from Innsbruck to Seefeld,
as he paused by the wayside a toad came hopping up and seemed to be
desirous of getting into the wagon; which he, being a benevolent man,
helped it to do, and gave it a place on the seat beside him. There
it sat like any other respectable passenger, until they came to the
side-path which leads to the church of Seefeld; when, wonderful to
relate! the toad suddenly turned to a maiden of angelic beauty clad
in white, who, thanking the wagoner for his kindness to her when she
was but a poor reptile, told him that she had once been a young lady
who had vowed a pilgrimage to the church of Seefeld.
In common with the frog, the toad is an emblem of productiveness,
and ranks among creatures which are types of erotic passion. I
have in my possession a necklace of rudely made silver toads, of
Arab workmanship, intended to be worn by women who wish to become
mothers. Therefore the creature, in the Old World as well as in
the New, appears as a being earnestly seeking the companionship of
men. Thus it happened to a youth of Aramsach, near Kattenberg, that,
being one day in a lonely place by a lake, there looked up at him
from the water a being somewhat like a maid but more like a hideous
toad, with whom he entered into conversation; which became at last
friendly and agreeable, for the strange creature talked exceeding
well. Then she, thinking he might be hungry, asked him if he would
fain have anything in particular to eat. He mentioned in jest a kind
of cakes; whereupon, diving into the lake, she brought some up, which
he ate. So he met her many times; and whenever he wished for anything,
no matter what, she got it for him from the waters: the end of it all
being that, despite her appalling ugliness, the youth fell in love
with her and offered marriage, to which she joyfully consented. But
no sooner had the ceremony been performed than she changed to a lady
of wonderful beauty; and, taking him by the hand, she conducted him
to the lake, into which she led him, and "in this life they were seen
never more." This legend evidently belongs to frog-lore. According to
one version, the toad after marriage goes to a lake, washes away her
ugliness, and returns as a beauty with the bridegroom to his castle,
where they live in perfect happiness.
I have also a very old silver ring, in which there is set a toad
rudely yet artistically carved in hæmatite, or blood-stone. These
were famous amulets until within two or three hundred years.
If you are a gypsy and have a tame toad it is a great assistance in
telling fortunes, and brings luck--that commodity which, as Callot
observed, the gypsies are always selling to everybody while they
protest they themselves have none. As I tested with the last old gypsy
woman whom I met: "What bak the divvus?"--"What luck to-day?" "Kekker
rya"--"None, sir," was the reply, as usual, "I never have any luck." So
like a mirror they reflect all things save themselves, and show you
what they know not.
"I've seen you where you never were
And where you never will be;
And yet within that very place
You can be seen by me.
For to tell what they do not know
Is the art of the Romany."
NOTES
[1] I was once myself made to contribute, involuntarily, to this kind
of literature. Forty years ago I published a Folk-lore bock entitled
"The Poetry and Mystery of Dreams," in which the explanations of
dreams, as given by Astrampsychius, Artemidorus, and other ancient
oneirologists, were illustrated by passages from many poets and popular
ballads, showing how widely the ancient symbolism had extended. A
few years ago I found that some ingenious literary hack had taken my
work (without credit), and, omitting what would not be understood by
servant girls, had made of it a common sixpenny dream-book.
[2] Vide an extremely interesting paper on "The Origin of Languages
and the Antiquity of Speaking Man," by Horatio Hale. ["Proceedings of
the American Association for the Advancement of Science," vol. xxv.] As
I had, owing to studies for many years of baby-talk and jargons, long
ago arrived at Mr. Hale's conclusions, I was astonished to learn that
they have been so recently formed by anybody.
[3] Vide "Practical Education," by C. G. Leland (London: Whittaker
and Co., 1888), in which this faculty is fully discussed, pp. 184-213.
[4] "It is said that if the bones of a green frog which has been eaten
by ants are taken, those on the left side will provoke hatred, and
those on the right side excite love" ("Div. Cur.," c. 23).... "One
species of frog called rubeta, because it lives among brambles, is
said to have wonderful powers. Brought into an assembly of people it
imposes silence. If the little bone in its right side be thrown into
boiling water it chills it at once. It excites love when put into a
draught" ("Castle Saint Angelo and the Evil Eye," by W. W. Story).
[5] According to Pliny, the tooth of a wolf hung to the neck
of an infant was believed to be an efficient amulet against
disease; and a child's tooth caught before it falls to the
ground and set in a bracelet was considered to be beneficial to
women. Nat. Hist. lib. xxvi., cap. 10 ("Castle Saint Angelo and the
Evil Eye," by W. W. Story).
[6] This cannot fail to remind many readers of the land--
"Where the cock never crew,
Where the sun never shone and the wind never blew."
[7] Of the seventh son, Pipernus remarks in his book, "De Effectibus
Magicis" (1647): "Est ne sanandi superstitiosus modus eorum, qui orti
sunt die Parasceves, et quotquot nullo foemines sexu intercedente,
ac ab ortu septimi masculi legitimo thoro sunt nati? memorat Vairus,
I. de fascinatione, II. Del Rius, lib. i., part 21. Garzonius nel
Serraglio. J. Cæsar Baricellus secundus scriptor in hort. genialé."
[8] "Über Marcellus Burdigalensis, von Jacob Grimm. Gelesen in der
Academie der Wissenschaften," 28 Juni, 1847 (Berlin. Dummler). In
this work, as well as in the German Mythology, by the same author,
and in Rudolf Roth's "Litteratur und Geschichte des Veda" (Stuttgart,
1846), the reader will find, as also in the works of the elder Cato
and Pliny, numbers of these incantations.
[9] The divination by the running brook has been known in other
lands. The Highlanders when they consulted an oracle took their seer,
wrapped him in the hide of a newly-killed ox or sheep, and left him
in some wild ravine by a roaring torrent to pass the night. From such
sights and sounds there resulted impressions which were reflected
in his dreams (Vide Scott, "Lady of the Lake," and notes). The fact
that running water often makes sounds like the human voice has been
observed by the Algonkin Indians of Maine and Nova Scotia (Vide
"The Algonkin Legends of New England," by Charles G. Leland).
[10] "Südslavische Hexensagen, Mittheilungen der Anthropologischen
Gesellschaft in Wien." xiv. Bande, 1884. "Medizinische Zaubersprüche
aus Slavonien, Bosnien, der Hercegovina und Dalmatien." Wien,
1887. "Sreca, Glück und Schicksal im Volksglauben der Südslaven." Wien,
1886. "Südslavische Pestsagen." Wien, 1883.
[11] "Witch. Mediæval English wicche, both masculine and feminine, a
wizard, a witch. Anglo-Saxon wicca, masculine, wicce, feminine. Wicca
is a corruption of wítga, commonly used as a short form of witega,
a prophet, seer, magician, or sorcerer. Anglo-Saxon witan, to see,
allied to wítan, to know. Similarly Icelandic vitki, a wizard, is
from vita, to know. Wizard, Norman-French wischard, the original
Old French being guiscart, sagacious. Icelandic, vizkr, clever or
knowing, ... with French suffix ard as German hart, hard, strong"
(Skeat, "Etymol. Dictionary"). That is wiz-ard, very wise. Wit and
wisdom here are near allied to witchcraft, and thin partitions do
the bounds divide.
[12] For a very interesting account of the mysterious early
dwarfs of Great Britain the reader may consult "Earth Houses and
their Inhabitants," by David MacRitchie, in "The Testimony of
Tradition." London: Trübner and Co., 1890.
[13] The many superstitions relating to cutting nails may be referred
in part to the very wild legend of the ship Naglfara given in
Sturleson's "Edda."
"Then in that Twilight of the Gods (the Norse Day of Judgment)
will come the ship Naglfara, which is made of dead men's nails. In
that sea it will go forth. Hrymer steereth it. And for this cause
no man should die with his nails unshorn, for so the ship is made,
and the gods would fain put that off as long as possible" ("Edda,
Gylfesgynning," 26th tale).
[14] "Geit suer Heidrun heitr stendr uppi a Valholl.... En or spenum
hennar rennr moilk ... tháer ero sva miklar at allir einheria verda
fuldrucknir af." ("A ewe named Heidrun stands up in Valhalla. And
from her udders runs milk; there is so much that all the heroes may
drink their fill of it"). (Snorro Sturleson's "Edda," 20th tale).
[15] Though not connected with this work, I cannot help observing
that this extraordinary simile probably originated in a very common
ornament used as a figure-head, or in decorations, on Mississippi
steamboats, as well as ships. This is the sea-horse (hippocampus),
which may be often seen of large size, carved and gilt. Its fish tail
might be easily confused with that of an alligator. Prætorius (1666)
enumerates, among other monsters, the horse-crocodile.
[16] Schott, "Wallachische Mährchen," p. 297. Stuttgart, 1845.
[17] In Northern Sagas it appeared that Berserkers, or desperate
warriors, frequently bound themselves together in companies of
twelve. Vide the Hervor Saga, Olaf Tryggvason's and the Gautrek
Saga. So there were the twelve Norse gods and the twelve apostles.
[18] Vide "Drawing and Designing." London: Whittaker & Co., 1888.
[19] This was written long before I heard that the same idea had
occurred to others.
[20] Another Italian was fined or imprisoned for the same thing in
London in July, 1890--i.e., for telling penny fortunes by the same
machine.
[21] This chapter is reproduced, but with much addition, from one
in my work entitled "The Gypsies," published in Boston, 1881, by
Houghton and Mifflin. London: Trübner & Co. The addition will be the
most interesting portion to the folk-lorist.
[22] This song which, with its air, is very old in the United States,
has been vulgarized by being turned into a ballad of ten little nigger
boys. It is given in Mrs. Valentine's Nursery Rhymes as "Indian boys."
[23] It is not generally known that Sir H. A. Layard and Sir William
Drake were the true revivers of the glass manufacture of Venice.
[24] See the "Algonkin Legends of New England," by Charles G. Leland.