There prevails in popular traditions much mystery respecting gipsies. No
wonder that this should be the case, since these strange vagabonds are
in most countries so very different from the inhabitants in their
appearance and habits; and their occupations are often so well
calculated to appeal to the imagination of superstitious people, that a
gipsy is regarded by them almost as a sorcerer. His better-half not
unfrequently pretends to be a soothsayer, and he is often a musician.
However different the gipsy hordes which rove about in European
countries may be from each other in some respects, they are all fond of
music, magic, and mysterious pursuits. Among the gipsy bands in Hungary
and Transylvania talented instrumental performers are by no means rare;
and in Russia, the gipsy singers of Moscow enjoy a wide reputation for
their musical accomplishments. It is told,--not as a myth but as a
fact,--that when the celebrated Italian singer Signora Catalani heard in
Moscow the most accomplished of the gipsy singing-girls of that town,
she was so highly delighted with the performance that she took from her
shoulders a splendid Cashmere shawl which the Pope had presented to her
in admiration of her own talent, and embracing the dear gipsy girl, she
insisted on her accepting the shawl, saying that it was intended for the
matchless cantatrice which she now found she could not longer regard
herself.
There is a wildness in the gipsy musical performances, which admirably
expresses the characteristic features of these vagrants. Indeed theirs
is just the sort of music which people ought to make who encamp in the
open air, feed upon hedgehogs and whatever they can lay hand on, and
profess to be adepts in sorcery and prophecy.
The following event is told by the peasants in the Netherlands as having
occurred in Herzeele. A troop of gipsies had arrived in a valley near
that place. They stretched a tight rope, on which they danced, springing
sometimes into the air so high that all who saw it were greatly
astonished. A little boy among the spectators cried: "Oh, if I could but
do that!"--
"Nothing is easier," said an old gipsy who stood near him: "Here is a
powder; when you have swallowed it, you will be able to dance as well as
any of us."
The boy took the powder and swallowed it. In a moment his feet became so
light that he found it impossible to keep them on the ground. The
slightest movement which he made raised him into the air. He danced upon
the ears of the growing corn, on the tops of the trees,--yea, even on
the weather-cock of the church-tower. The people of the village thought
this suspicious, and shook their heads, especially when they furthermore
observed a disinclination in the boy to attend church. They, therefore,
consulted with the parson about the boy. The parson sent for him, and
got him all right on his legs again by means of exorcism; but it was a
hard struggle to banish the potent effects of the gipsy's powder.[79]
The gipsies were formerly supposed to be descendants of the ancient
Egyptians. The German peasants call them Taters,[80] a name indicating
an Asiatic origin; and it has been ascertained that they migrated from
Western India. The roving Nautch-people in Hindustan are similarly
musical and mysterious.