addressed to her: "Impulsa della Morte me destavo! (or, mi svegliavo!)." She appears, as a wandering beggar, to be confused with Feronia of the Markets. Of her I learned–

"Impusa (also called Infrusa and Infusa) was a witch, so wicked that she did all the harm she could, and was so avaricious that she would not give a soldo even to any one who had earned it. However, this old witch owned a fine castle, but would not suffer even one of her own relations to enter it, for fear lest they should carry something away. She died at last ; and before she departed she concealed all her riches ; but was scarcely dead before all the palace shook as if by anearthquake, and there was a rattling of chains as if all the devils fromhell were around, and then the window was flung wide open, and there flew from her hand a crow (cornacchia), and this was her soul, which went to hell. They buried her in that corner of the churchyard which is kept for the unbaptised.

"The palace remained, with little furniture, unoccupied, though it was known that great treasure was buried in it. And some of those who entered it died of fright. Yet this witch had a nephew to whom she was attached.And to him she appeared one midnight, and said:–

"Then the nephew of the Infrusa went to sleep in the palace, and he made a good fire and provided good wine and food, and sat by the fire and ate. But just at midnight he heard a voice howl down the chimney, 'Butto?' ('Shall I throw?') And he replied, 'Throw away !' When there was thrown down first a man's leg, then a foot, an arm, a hand, and head, and so all the parts of twelve men. And when all were thrown they reunited and made twelve men, who all stood looking at him. But he, cool and calm, asked them if they woultl like to eat or drink.

"And they answered, 'Come with us!' But he replied, 'I have eaten and drunk, and do not wish to go.' Then they took him on their shoulders, and bore him far down into a vault, and took spades, and bade him choose one and dig. And he replied, 'I have eaten and drunk, and am willing.' Then they all dug together–when at last they came, indeed, to the treasure,and it was very great. Then one said to him:–

This is a variation of a well-known Italian "fairy tale," but it has somevalue in this connection as indicating the character of the Impusa. It is possible, from its rude poetry, that this may be a very ancient version of the tale.

There is a point to be observed that in this, as in all other Tuscan tales of the kind, the witch is freed from her sufferings as soon as she is relieved from the responsibility of her treasure. In other narratives sheis at peace as soon as she can put off the witch-power on another.

It has been suggested to me that in all this, only the name is in common with the Greek account of Empusa, who had one leg of an ass and the other of brass. All of which should be carefully considered by the investigator. It is not remarkable that the name is Greek, since the Tusci had from the earliest times much intercourse with Greece, and, what is more to be considered, that the name became popular in Italy at a later dateas that of a bug-bear spirit which was one of the minor faun-like gods.Thus in a very curious and rare work, entitled, Idea del Giardino delMondo, by Tommaso Tomai of Ravenna (second edition), Venice, 1690, there is mention of "demons called incubi, succubi, or empedusi, and other lemuri, who are enamoured of men or women." What is indeedremarkable in these Tuscan names is that there has been on the whole so little change in them. It is of little matter that the Impusa doesnot appear in the modern account with one foot of brass or like that of an ass (alterum verò habeat æneum aut asininum– Suidas), since during the Middle Ages the word was often used as asynonym for Lamia, Lemur, or witch of any kind. If Italian writers could describe the Empusa as being the same with Lemures and Incubi, it is not remarkable that mere peasants should have applied the name quite as loosely.

SIERO, in the modern Tuscan mythology, is a foiletto cattivo birbone– a very mischievous evil spirit. There is also a feminine of thesame name, or Siera. Of him I have the following account:–

"When Siera is angry with a peasant's family, and the head of it goes to milk the cattle, he draws what appears to be very fine milk ; butwhen it is to be used it turns to green water, for which reason it is so-called from the goblin. (Latin, serum ; Italian, siero–whey, buttermilk.)

"Then the peasant, to make matters right again in his house, implores Siera to be favourable. Upon which the goblin comes and knocks at the house-door, and if the contadino has a pretty daughter, cries, 'Yes, I will make you happy; but you must let me sleep one night with yourdaughter.' But if he has a plain daughter, Siero laughs, and says, 'If you had a girl less ugly, and had mocked me less, I would have madeyou prosperous. But since your daughter is so plain, I cannot revenge myself for all the ill things you have said of me.' And if the peasant has girls neither pretty nor plain, then Siero calls, 'If you will remember to bless me every day, I will make you happy; but should you forget it, you will be wretched while you live.' "

With Siero was associated Chuculvia, or Ch'uch'ulvia (with the strongly aspirated Tuscan ch'), of whom all I could learn thathe was on earth a great sorcerer, now become an evil spirit. He is a kind of bugbear.

I do not pretend to suggest that these are descendants or forms of Etruscan deities, but I would point out a very singular coincidence of names ina passage in MÜLLER'S Etrusker, vol. ii., p. 110 note.

this paté , only the reflection that the peasantry everywhere bring down great gods to small uses. True, we have two goddesses of the same name in the same country, and that is something.

Since writing the foregoing, I learn that when a truffle-hunter has no fortune in discovering the precious tartufi, he addresses his dog thus:–

By an extraordinary coincidence truffles are also called nails, as their heads are round and small. And Norcia was identified with nails (PRELLER, Myth. p.231).

"And, after all, it is altogether possible–or even probable–that this Norcia of the Truffles has nothing whatever to do with Nortia, buttakes her name from the town of Norcia, or Norchia, famous for its pigs and its truffles?" So a very learned friend suggests. However, all the principal Etruscan gods gave names to towns. Of which I find in DENNIS'S Etruria (vol. i., p.204) that "Orioli suggests that the town of 'Norchia' may be identical with Nyrtia, mentioned by the ancient scholiast on Juvenal (x. 74) as a town, the birthplace of Sejanus, giving its name to, or deriving it from, the goddess Nortia, or Fortuna." As I said, this goddesswas identified with nails, because in her temple at Vulsinii every year the priest drove a nail into the door, to serve as a kind of register (PRELLER). It may seem ridiculous to connect this with the slang name for mushrooms and truffles; but such similes are common among the people, and they never perish.

It may be remarked here that Saint Antony is invoked when seeking truffles by peasants of a Roman Catholic turn of mind. But Norcia, as a goddess of the earth, may be supposed to know better where they are to be found; for she was unquestionably of the under-world, and a form of Persephone.

Nortia is still very generally known in La Romagna, as peasants certified.

Of one thing there can be no doubt–her specialty is to make "midnight mushrooms."

"The name of the Greek God Apallon frequently occurs on Etruscan bronze mirrors as Aplun, Apulu, Alpu."–Uber die Sprache der Etrusker, by W. CORSSEN, vol. i., p.846.


When I returned to Florence in November, 1891, after some research I found my chief authority in ancient lore, installed in what had been, some three or four hundred years ago, a palace. It is true that its splendour had sadly departed. The vast and dismal rooms were either utterly unfurnished, or supplied with inferior mobiglia, placed at such distances from one another as to be hardly within call, unless they called very loudly. But there were frescoes on the walls which had been sketched by no mean hand–(they set forth charming scenes from Tasso)–and thoughthe bare stone floors suggested a dreary cellar, there was a walled-up fireplace, over which rose a boldly arched and curved remainder of a fine Renaissance focolare. A single window badly lighted a great, grim apartment in which there was absolutely not a single article of furniture, save a small table and two chairs. From that window I sketched the fourteenth-century statue of a rain-worn saint on an opposite wall. Everything was in keeping with the lore which I had come to collect–very old, rubbed-down, and degraded from its high estate.

I asked the strega if she knew the name of Aplu. It was known to her, and it awoke some shadowy reminiscences; but she said that she must consult a vecchia, an old woman of her acquaintance, regarding it. "It would come with talking." And this was the result of the consultation:–

"Aplu is a spirit who greatly loves hunters. But if they, when they havebad luck in the chase, speak evilly of him, then in the night he comes and pulls the bed-clothes from them, and gives them dreams of being in thecold open air, and having a prosperous hunt. Then he sits on them in nightmare, and the game seems lost. And they wake inspired with a desire to seek the woods, and if they express a wish to him (i.e., invoke him) they will return that evening with much game." To which was added somewhat vaguely the words: "E lo spirita d'Aplu sempre nella mente"("And with Aplu ever in their minds").

Then there was a pause, and I was told:–

"Aplu is the most beautiful of all the male spirits. He is also a spiritof music, and when any one would become a good hunter, or good musician,or a learned man–um uomo dotto e di talento–he should repeat this:–

This was given to me so irregularly and in such a confused state, owing to the imperfect memory of the narrator, that I had trouble to bring it tothis form. It is in English as follows:–

Aplu, as is recorded in detail by all writers on Etruscan mythology, was Apollo. His is one of the commonest figures on vases and mirrors.

My informant had, as I learned from close questioning, never heard the name Apollo." I asked her if she had never seen his statue in Uffizi? Butthough she had lived many years in Florence she had never been in a gallery, so I gave her a franc and recommended her to invest it in a practical lessonin mythology. Neither did she remember to have heard of Venere, or Venus, whose name is very familiar to all middle and Southern Italians,though she knew all about Turana, her Etruscan original, as appears in another chapten Ad alteram jam partem accedamus, as Gladstone says.

"Turan is the Etruscan name of Venus, and it occurs so frequently with the must unmistakable representations of the goddess that it is timelost to seek its Etruscan origin, as Müller has done, in

"Turanna is a spirit who was when in life (or on earth) a fairy, and being very beautiful and good, she did good to all who were like her.

"There was in a land mother and son, who lived in great misery. This fairy with her magic wand caused this youth–all tattered and torn (tutta stracciato) to he transported to a distant place.

"The fairy was there, and she asked him how it was that he had come so far into a country where there were no herbs to nourish him?

"The youth replied that it was a spirit of kindly disposition who had borne him thither to make his fortune.

"The fairy answered, 'That spirit am I, and will make thee king.'

"The youth looked at her, marvelling, and said, 'Lady, it is impossible that one so miserable as I can ever become a king.'

" 'Go, youth, to that tree which thou seest. Go below that tree.

" 'There thou wilt find nuts to carry to the king.

" 'Thy fortune is sworn, and thy fortune will be when thou art under the tree–

" ' Tree which thou seest there below. Carry its nuts to the king.'

"He saw (found) himself dressed like a lord, and found a basket of nuts, all brilliant diamonds and precious pearls,

"And with a crown, on which they sang and danced.¹

" ' Carry these things,' said the fairy, 'to the king, and tell him that thou desirest his daughter for wife. He will drive thee forth with ill.will.

" 'At that time by magic I will make it appear that the princess is with child, and she will say that thou wert its sire.

" 'Then the king, to avert scandal, will give her to thee. And the instant thou art married all that appearance of being with child will vanish.'

"So it caine to pass. When the king was in a rage Turanna was in a dark forest, with the card of the king of hearts, which was the poor youth, and the king of spades, which was the king, and the queen of hearts, which was the princess.

"Her incantation (i.e., what she sung to enchant the king):–

¹ Here there is manifestly something omitted. "Colacarana coronasopra cantavano, ballavano." Perhaps "around which fairies sang and danced."

"And so the king consented, and when he saw in an instant that his daughter was not with child, he said, 'I have been deluded by the fairy Turanna, and it seemed to me that I was as if dying, and were dragged by the hair of my head.'

"But his word having been given, he could not withdraw it, so they were married, and happy. And so the poor youth, by the protection of Turanna, won a kingdom and a wife, and took care of his mother, and in time had a fair son."

This whole narrative is properly a song. It appears to be very old, and is evidently given in an abbreviated or almost mutilated form, for which the reader must make allowance. Nor was it well remembered by the old woman who repeated it.
And of Turanna I was further told that:–

"She is the spirit of lovers, of peace and of love, and the goddess of beauty. When a youth is in love he should go into a wood and say:–

Ere I forget it, I would remark that Turanna performs her miracles and confers fortune by means of the three winning cards. Cards are the successors of dice in this modernised mythology, and it is significant that among the Romans the highest cast of dice, or three sixes, was known as the Venus-throw. Here again I regret not having by me my copy of Pascasius Justus de Alea–a little Elzevir which I well remember buying in my sixteenth year with my only shilling. But I might as well sighfor the lost work, De Alea Lusu (Of the Game of Dice), by the Emperor Claudian, of which Suetonius tells. But I learn from Pauly's

Real Encyclopædia that the jactus Veneris, or "Venus-throw," was three sixes, when thrown with three dice (Martial, 14,14), or1, 3, 4, 6 when with four dice. Hence Venus as Queen of Hearts, and alsowith three cards.

Turanna is therefore probably Turan, the Etruscan Venus. Of which Corssensays in Sprache der Etrusker, to which I have been greatly indebted for this subject, as well as to Gerhard, Inghirami, and Lanzi : " Turan is the name of a goddess often represented on Etruscan mirrors as a beautiful woman, fully naked, or naked to the hips, or in Greek female apparel, her hair flowing in ringlets, or artistically bound up, wearing much rich jewellery. She is evidently the Etruscan duplicate of the Greek Aphrodite."

It is very characteristic of the gambling Italian and fortune-teller thatthe dealing out the fate of mankind with cards should be characteristic of Turanna. The conception of her managing their destiny with dice is probably known to the reader, as it was to Rabelais, who made the old judge decide cases by it.

I have already, in the Introduction, expressed my great obligations to Professor, now the Senator Domenico Comparetti, of Florence, owing to whosefriendly advice and suggestions my attention was first directed to theseresearches. I am again reminded of it by the aid which I have received from him, and also from Professor Milani, director of the Archæological and Etruscan Museum in Florence, in the chapters on Turanna, Aplu, and Pano.

"Remains to be said," that the ancients regarded dice as sacred things, mysteriously inspired and moved by the Spirit of Chance, or, when favourable, by Lady Venus in her gentlest mood–the great, good, and gloriousEmperor Claudian having written a book in praise of dicing. (I extol himbecause he was the first who ever went heart and soul into raking up Etruscan antiquities and folk-lore–eloquentissimus jurta et sapientissinzus scriptor.) But the later Christians abominated them–because theRoman soldiers gambled with them for Christ's garments; and Bartolomeo Taegis, in his Risposte, or Essays (Novara, 1554), says that they were invented by the devil, and that "this game is a tempest of the soul, a fog of fame, a sudden shipwreck of fortune–as was shown by the king of the Parthians, who sent unto another monarch golden dice, all to remind him of his fickleness." That will do for to-day.

Apropos of Turanna and her cards I have something to say. It has been remarked of my Gypsy Sorcery that it does not deal sufficiently in the romantic element or minister unto the marvellous, looking rather for the sun by noonlight than with Dame Crowe at the night side of Nature in the dark. Now that the lovers of the incomprehensible may not be utterly disappointed, I give, on my honour as absolutely true, or as strictly "onthe cards," the following:–

Title Page / Table of Contents / List of Illustrations / Introduction / Introduction Part 2 / Turn to Page / 18-30 / 31-43 / 44-60 / 61-75 / 76-90 / 91-104 / 105-118 / 119-131 / 132-144 / 145-154 / 155-166 / 167-176 / 177-187 / 188-197 / 198-207 / 208-217 / 218-227 / 228-237 / 238-247 / 251-262 / 263-274 / 275-284 / 285-295 / 296-307 / 308-317 / 318-328 / 329-338 / 339-350 / 351-361 / 362-376 / Index / Acor-Dion / Dion-Invo / Invo-Orph / Ovid-Tour / Tozz-Zumi / O:.B:.C:. Index / History / Essays & Articles / Spirit Visions / Research & Theories / The Ways & Teachings / Initiation O:.B:.C:. / The Elements / Traditional Ritual / Sacred Text / copyright 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 Gregory S. Van Etten This web site hosted by Acorn Products. All rights reserved