It is somewhat difficult to get a clear view of what Basa-Jaun and
Basa-Andre, the wild man and the wild woman, really are in Basque
mythology. In the first tale here given Basa-Jaun appears as a kind
of vampire, and his wife, the Basa-Andre, as a sorceress, but we
know of no other such representation of the former. Basa-Jaun is
usually described by Basque writers as a kind of satyr, or faun, a
wood-sprite; and Basques; in speaking of him to us, have frequently
used the French term, "Homme de Bouc," "He-goat-man," to describe
him. In some tales he appears rather as a species of brownie, and
has received the familiar sobriquet of Ancho, [38] from the Spanish
Sancho. In this character he haunts the shepherds' huts in the
mountains, warms himself at their fires, tastes their clotted milk
and cheese, converses with them, and is treated with a familiarity
which, however, is never quite free from a hidden terror. His wife,
the Basa-Andre, appears sometimes as a sorceress, sometimes as a kind
of land-mermaid, as a beautiful lady sitting in a cave and "combing
her locks with a comb of gold," in remote mountain parts. [39]
The Lamiñak are true fairies, and do not differ more from the
general run of Keltic fairies than the Scotch, Irish, Welsh,
and Cornish fairies do from each other. In fact, the legends
are often identical. The Lamiñak were described to us by one who
evidently believed in, and dreaded them, as little people who lived
underground. Another informant stated that they were little people who
came down the chimney. They long to get possession of human beings,
and change and carry off infants unbaptized, but they do not seem
to injure them otherwise. They bring good luck to the houses which
they frequent; they are fond of cleanliness, but always speak and
give their orders in words exactly the opposite of their meaning. In
common with Basa-Jaun and Basa-Andre they hate church bells, [40]
and though not actively hostile to Christianity, are driven away as
it advances. They were formerly great builders of bridges, and even
of churches, [41] but were usually defrauded of their wage, which
was to have been power over some human soul at the completion of
the contract. Fairies' wells and fountains are common in the Landes
and neighbouring Gascon provinces, but we know of none in the Pays
Basque. [42] We failed distinctly to make out what are the "fairies'
holes (Lamiña-ziloak)," spoken of in the Heren-Suge tale (p. 36);
as far as we could gather from the narrator they are simply bare
places in hedges, when covered by the web of the gossamer spider.
We know of no dances by moonlight on fairy rings of green herbage;
but if the reader will carefully eliminate from his memory the rare
fancies of Shakespeare and Ben Jonson about Puck, Oberon, and Titania,
he will find little otherwise to differentiate between the Basque
Lamiñak and the fairies of Sir Walter Scott, of Campbell, and of
Croker's "Irish Legends." One peculiarity certainly is that all the
Basque Lamiñak are sometimes said to be all called "Guïllen," [43]
which appears to be the same as the French Guillaume, and our William.
It must be a sign of a failing belief and interest that witches and
fairies are so often confounded. In these few stories it is evident
that the witch is often a fairy, and the fairy a witch.