6. FRAGMENTS OF POPULAR SONGS, WHICH ARE STORY-LIKE IN CHARACTER:
"Wickerlein, Weckerlein,[1]
wilt mit mie essen?
bring mie ein Messer,
Wickerlein, Weckerlein
laüf über's Aeckerlein,
Hat mehr Bein als meiner Hund kein."
Fischart's Gargantua im Spielverzeichnis, chapt. 25.
"Die Finger krachen,[2]
Die Männer wachen."Ibid.
"Mathes, gang ein! Pilatus, gang aus![3]
Ist eine arme Seele draus.
Arme Seele, wo kommst du her?
Aus Regen und Wind
Aus dem feurigen Ring."
Poems of Andr. Gryphius, p. 768.
VARIOUS TESTIMONIES TO THE VALUE OF FAIRY TALES.
1. In the Lysistrata of Aristophanes the chorus of old men begins with, "I will tell ye a story" (μῦθον), and they tell of Melanion, who had not loved women, but had only taken pleasure in going hunting on the mountains. In the antistrophe of the women, where the expression is repeated, the story of the misanthrope Timon is related.
2. Strabo, i. 2 (p. 51, ed. Siebenkees). We tell children pretty stories to gladden them (τοῖς τε γαρ παισὶ προσφέρομεν τοὺς μύθους εἰς προτροπεῖν); but to restrain them, we tell them terrible ones like that of Lamia, the Gorgon, Ephialtes, and the Mormolukê).[4]
- ↑
Caterpillar, caterpillar, wilt eat with me?
Bring me a knife; caterpillar, run across the little field,
No dog has more legs than mine! - ↑ The fingers crack, the men are watching.
- ↑ Matthew come in! Pilate go out! Is an unhappy soul outside? Poor soul whence comest thou? Out of the rain and out of the wind, and out of the fiery circle.
- ↑ Lamia was a woman who devoured children. The Gorgon was a woman with snakes for hair, with brazen hands, and teeth as large as boar's tusks; her aspect killed and turned to stone. Ephialtes was a heaven-storming giant who placed Ossa on Olympus, and Pelion on Ossa. The Mormolukai are ghosts and goblins.
