their foot; and their loftiest summit, the Schneekuppe, or Snow-top, has not that air of mystical grandeur surrounding it; there the dark mountains, and misty lakes,—the steepest rocks and the wildest waterfalls,—are found in the immediate vicinity of the friendly villages. This brings the mysterious more familiarly near; and what in other mountains has a destructive and gloomy power over the spirits of mankind, appears here like a light dream; the powerful spirits of the mountains only indulge themselves in a few antic tricks, and men talk of them without fear.
There are many other features in which the Giant Mountains differ from most other ranges. These hills divide two widely different climates,—forming an enormous barrier or boundary line between the two; the climates of the south and north here meet each other, without any intervening gradation of temperature, and destroy the equilibrium of the air, so that clouds are suddenly formed which rush together, and are again divided, or cling like a light veil around the lofty summit of the mountain,—blasts of wind rush in contrary directions among the high cliffs,—sudden gushes of rain pour down,—and the weather clears up and darkens with surprising rapidity. These whimsical changes are considered as so many manifestations of the caprices of the fantastic Rubezahl, who is more familiar with the Silesians than with the inhabitants of Bohemia, who are separated by a wilder district from the peak of the Giant Mountains. Though almost all the traditions of Rubezahl abound more in comic than tragic traits, the latter are not entirely wanting.
With regard to the origin of the name of Rubezahl, there have been several conjectures. Prætorius, the author of a very tasteless work, which appeared shortly after the Thirty years’ war, and who is to this moment the principal writer upon Rubezanl, has collected upwards of a hundred different derivations, which he explains in a very dry and unattractive style. The 33rd of these is that his name comes from numbering neeps or turnips: as if the spirit, in the excess of his
