"When the young man returned home he found un bel signore–a fine gentleman–waiting to see him. And the stranger said, very politely:–

"So it came to pass, and for a long time he won. And it was observed thatwhen he played high at he last card there always was heard a clap of thunder, and a great storm raged somewhere, near or far. Years

passed, but one day, when his time had come, there was a tremendous burstof fire which lighted the room– and lo ! the gambler appeared all at once like a glowing coal from head to foot, and a voice exclaimed:–

"E cosi sprafondo nella terra–and so he sank into the ground.And they remembered what he had said, and many regretted him, and when they were in trouble and needed his help they called on him. And they said:–

There is apparent in this tale something of a modern spirit of composition, as if it had been subjected to liberties. But though the form may have been changed, there is reason to believe that under the mosses and flowers is an ancient rock. As no one can listen long to an Algonkin Indian story without coming to meteoulin, or sorcery, so all these Romagnolo tales turn on the transformation of a man to a spirit, and are therefore myths, and extremely interesting as indicating the process by which myths were first made. Gambling is so deeply seated in the Italian, as itwas in the old Latin, nature–every man, woman, and child in the entire population buys, on an average, at least ten lottery tickets every year–that a spirit of play would naturally be one of the first placed in a popular pantheon. Therefore it is probable that from an early time there has been a legend of some Don Juan or Don Giovanni di Tenorio, whose main vice was not women but play. It may be remarked, indeed, that in a great proportion of Italian tales gambling, and not drinking or lust, is supposed to be the chief cause of moral destruction.

"Patalena protected the growing or shooting corn. In Germany sucha deity was called the Roggenmutter, whence the saying to children:

The following story is very curious in several respects:–

"Patána was a beautiful girl, but she had a stepmother who was a witch, and malicious too, so that she kept Patána shut up in a tower, into which no one was allowed to go. The old woman went every day intothe city to sell milk. One day she passed by the king's palace. Now theking had a son whom he loved so much that there was nothing else in the world for which he cared.

"The young prince was at the palace window, and held in his hand some pebbles. The old woman came and sat down opposite, putting her pitchers of milk on the ground. And the young prince, out of heedless mischief, threwa pebble and broke a pitcher. The old woman, being angry, cried to the youth:–

"Then the prince had no more rest nor happiness by day or night. And at last he went out into the world to seek for Patána, travelling far, till one day he met a poor old man who begged something to eat for he was starving. The prince gave him something, and said, 'Thou art not so wretched as I am, for I can have no rest till I shall have found the beautiful Patána, and I know not where she is.'

"The old man replied, 'That I can tell thee–

"So he did, and was drawn up into the tower, where Patána receivedhim with joy. Then they made a great pot full of pappa (bread crumbs boiled), and he fed, as he thought, all the furniture and utensils, all except one earthenware pot, which he forgot. And this was the chief spy, and it betrayed him.

"Then Patána took a comb, a knife, and a fork, and said, 'Let us be free!' and the door of the tower opened, and they fled. But before long beautiful Patána, looking behind, saw her mother-in-law flying after them, for the pot which had not been fed had told her all, and the way which they had gone. Then beautiful Patána stuck the fork in the earth, and it became a church and she was the sacristan. And the witch,not recognising her, asked her if she had seen the king's son go by witha girl. And the sacristan replied:–

"Then the witch went away in a rage, and they proceeded. But before long they saw her flying after them again. Then the beautiful Patána threw down the comb and it became a garden and she the gardener. When the witch came up she put the same question as before, and Patána answered:–

Then the witch in a rage went home to the tower, and the pot told her that the garden was only a comb and that the gardener was the beautiful Patána. So she set out again, and they soon saw her flying after them. Then beautiful Patána threw down the knife, and she became a vasca (basin of a fountain or reservoir), and the prince a fish swimming in it. But this time ere she made the change she said:–

"And the witch coming up tried and tried to catch the fish, but in vain.So at last in a rage she cried:–

"So she departed. And when they came to the castle the young prince left Patána there for a while to go and see his parents, being determined, however, that his mother should not kiss him. And she, being overjoyed to see him, tried to do so, but he avoided it. Then every preparationwas made for his marriage, and he, being weary, fell asleep, and then his mother kissed him. When he awoke he saw all things got ready for a wedding, but he could not remember anything about the bride.

"So time passed, and he was about to marry another lady. When beautiful Patána heard this she went to the palace and said to the cook, 'I am the lady of the castle, and I wish to make a present for the wedding dinner, and that it shall be two fishes.' Then she had the oven made ready, and bade the wood go into it, and it went in of itself, and then bade it burn, and then went into the fire and came out, and there were two such fine fish as no one had ever beheld. And when they were carried to the table everybody was amazed at them, and the cook being called, when askedwhere they were caught, replied they had not been caught but made by thelady of the castle as a gift.

"Then the bride, who was herself something of a witch, said, "Oh, that isnothing; I can do that.' But the wood did not obey her, and when she entered the oven it blazed up and she was burned to death.

"And as this was done the two fishes on the table began to converse one with the other, as follows:–

"Then the prince, who heard this, remembered all. So he married the beautiful Patána, she who is now the Queen of the Fairies."

This is perhaps the commonest of all Italian fairy tales, and in some form it is known all over Europe. I have given it here because the name of the heroine, Patána, is interesting as connected with some of the incidents of the story. Patána was a Roman goddess who appears with greatly varied names, sometimes as a derivation from Ceres or a Cerean deity, and sometimes as Ceres herself. Thus there was Patelena, who opened the husk of grain, Patellana and Patella, who induced the grain to come forth, or presided over it when it came to light. She was the goddess of the sprouting grain or of growth (Vide Bughin, p.160).

"Thus," says PRELLER (R. Myth., p. 592), "she was the goddess of the harvest, the blonde Ceres of the Greeks, and, in fact, as the goddess of crops seems to have been chiefly known under this name in ancient Italy. At least the Inguvinic tablets mention a goddess Padella, and the Oscan votive tablet a PATANA, which are most probably identical with Patella,as is the deity Panda. It even seems that this name was the common one for such a goddess instead of the Roman-Latin Ceres."

I had asked my authority if she knew the name of any spirit who caused crops, trees, or the like, to grow. She at once suggested Patána, who in a tale made a garden, a church, and a fountain spring out ofthe earth. These are of some little value taken in connection with the name. VARRO [De vita prop. Ro. cited in PRELLER] mentions that this Panda, or Pandana, "whom AELIUS thought was Ceres, had a sanctuary where bread was given to those who took refuge in it." In the Italian tale bread boiled in water is given to all the articles of furniture and utensils to eat, even as the spirits of the dead are pacified by food ; here the furniture may mean the refugees, who receive pap or boiled bread.

As Patána has been confused with Ceres, and made into her minor, or daughter, so it is possible that the heroine of the story has changed place with the stepmother. In this case we have a very curious parallel to Ceres pursuing Persephone, or Proserpina. In the one, as in theother, a mother–mother-in-law–pursues the fugitives, Ceres puts Triptolemus on the fire to make him immortal (which occurs in a Romagnola witch-tale), in this story Patána herself enters the fire. In Rome Ceres was regarded as a foe to

marriage, "Alii dicunt Cererem propter raptum filire nuptias execratam (SERV. V. A. iii., 139). And it is evident that in our legend she opposes the match for no apparent reason. Ceres in the Latin legend is mocked by a boy, the son of Metanira, and punishes him by changing him to alizard, the witch mother of Patána is angered by the youngprince and inflicts a penalty.

It is perfectly true that with some ingenuity parallels like these may beestablished between almost any fairy tale and some ancient myth. But where we have a leading name in common with corresponding incidents,we may almost assume an identity of origin. If we found the story of Whittington and his cat among South American Indians we might suppose it had originated there. But if the hero was called Whittington, or even Vidindono–as it probably would be–we might very well assume transmission. Till within a very few years the apparent coincidence system as aproof of origin was extravagantly overdone, and has since been succeededby an opposite one, which has in turn been carried to as absurd extremes. The best test for the value of these Romagnolo traditions, as remains of antiquity, is to carefully study them as a whole, and compare them as a whole with what we know of Etrusco-Latin myth and legend. Theremay be error in any one minor detail, however strong the identitymay appear to be, but there can be none as regards the æsthetic orhistoric spirit and character of a great number of incidents taken together.

It may be added in reference to the tell-tale pot which was not fed, thatthe forgotten or neglected fairy who revenges herself for the slight is of very ancient origin. We find her first in Discord, who was enraged atnot being invited to the marriage of Tethys and Pelius (LUCIAN, Dialog. Marin., v.; cf. HYGNI, fol. 92, COLUTHUS, De raptu Helen, v.60). This incident reappears in the Middle Ages in the fairy who was not invited to be present at the birth of Oberon, and therefore condemned him to remain a dwarf. This is not necessarily derived from tradition, but it may have its value, as indeed all incidents may in folk-lore–a fact which is much too frequently and rudely set aside by a large class of the critics who peel away the onion till there is nothing left, forgetting that to have any result or profit one must stop after removing the rough outside leaves. There is a spirit in tradition as well as the letter.

Schedius in an enumeration of minor Roman deities includes "Patellana seuPatula."

"There was in the Romagne a rich lady who was unkindly treated by her husband because she had no children. And he often said to her that unless she gave birth to a son or daughter, and that soon, he would leave her andtake another. So the poor signora went every day to the church to pray to God that He would be so gracious as to give her a child; but it was not granted to her, therefore after a time she went no more to church and ceased to give alms.

"One day she stood quite disconsolate at the window, because she loved her husband and met with no return, when, from a window opposite, a dark signore (Signore Moro–a Moor or Negro, as in German) called to her, and she, raising her head, asked him what he would have?

"The Moor, who was a wizard, or magician (uno streghone, o sia uno magliatore, o maliardo) replied, 'Look me steadily in the eyes, and thenall will go well with thee. And this night when thy husband shall embrace thee think steadily of me, and thus thou wilt be incinta or withchild.'

"This came to pass, and the poor lady was very happy to regain the love of her husband, and at the same time become a mother. But joy flies like the clouds, and so did hers, for when her child was born it was dark as the Moor, yes, and looked altogether like the Moor himself. Then the husband abandoned both wife and child, saying that the infant was none of his. And the lady reproved the Moor, saying that he had betrayed her.

"But the Moor replied, 'Grieve not, O good lady, for I can still make peace between thee and thy husband. To-morrow a charity sermon will be preached, and when the friar shall give thee benediction, put the child on the ground and let it go whither it will.' So the lady did. Now her husband never went to any church, but, hearing that there was to be a famous preacher this day, he was present. And when the lady put the little babe on the ground, what was her utter amazement to see it rise and run on its little feet, and go to its father, and embrace him with its little hands,and say, in distinct words 'Babbo, perdona mamma, é innocente'–'Papa, pardon mamma, she is innocent; and thou seest it is a miracle of God that I have come to thee.' And from that time the babe never uttered a word till he had come to the age when children usually talk.

"Then the father, being moved by the miracle, was reconciled with his wife, and they returned home together and lived happily."

This will suggest much which is familiar to the reader, such as Othello, Tamora, and Aaron, the beautiful sorceress and her negro in the Arabian Nights, and chiefly the mysterious story of the French queen and the black page. What is chiefly remarkable in it is that sorcery is made superior to religion, for all is effected by the Moor, though in the end the miracle is wrought in a church, and is, so to speak, given to God.

The incident of a babe's speaking is found in the folk-lore of every land; but it is remarkable that the earliest instance of it in Europe is thatof the Etruscan infant Tages, who was ploughed out–possibly in the place whence I derived this tale.

"This witch was a wealthy lady, very self-willed and licentious, who often changed her lovers. So she would keep one for a time, and when she wastired of him she would lead him into a room in which there was a trap-door in the floor, through which he would fall into a deep pit, and into a

subterranean dungeon, where he miserably perished. And so she had many victims, and the more she sacrificed the better pleased she was, for she was a wicked sorceress, insatiable in lust and murder.

"But it went not thus with one of her lovers, who knew her nature. And when she asked him to pass the secret gate, he replied:–

" 'But so thou wilt not do with me, for I too am of the wizards, a son ofa witch, and more powerful than thou art. And at once thou shalt have proof of it.

"And so it came to pass that after three days the dead brother was revived, but the beautiful Lea was always a serpent witch."

It would seem as if there were an echo in this tale of the Libitina, the goddess of lust itself, as well as of death. "Ab lubendo libido, lubidinosus, ac Venus Libentina et Libitina" (VARRO, 1. I, vi. 47; apud PRELLER,p.357.) She was also the generally recognised goddess of corpses and of the dead. PRELLER quotes several instances to illustrate the fact that death and luxuriant life–schwellendes Leben–were thus intimately connected in one myth, in a single person, and that the Sabine Feronia was paralleled with the Greek Persephone, and Flora. There are alsothe affinities between Venus and Proserpine.

The story has a great resemblance to one of Odin, which has been set forth in a German poem by Herz. It also recalls–

That is to say, the well-known legend of the Tour de Nesle. But I believe that this is a very old Italian tale, and possibly archaic, because theconnection between lust and death is so strongly and strangely marked init. That Lea is given the form of a serpent in order to revive the deadcannot fail to strike every one who is familiar with classic serpent-lore.

It is far too bold a conjecture that the word Lia or Lea is derived from Libitina; but it is certain that the characteristics of the two are the same. Libitina was also known among the Romans as Lubia, and as a goddess of lust (PRELLER, 581), "cui nomen ab libidine" (AUGUST. iv. 8), and the name may have been still more abbreviated. The step from Libia, orLivia, to Lia, would be in peasant dialect almost inevitable. We must always remember the fact in such cases that the tale is from the same country as the ancient characters.

It was the most natural thing in the world that there should be certain blendings, compromises, and points of affinity between the Stregeria–witchcraft, or "old religion," founded on the Etruscan or Roman mythologyand rites–and the Roman Cathalic: both were based on magic, both used fetishes, amulets, incantations, and had recourse to spirits. In somecases these Christian spirits or saints corresponded with, and were actually derived from, the same source as the heathen. The sorcerers among the Tuscan peasantry were not slow to perceive this. How deeply rooted the old religion really is, occasionally, even to-day, may be inferred fromthe story told in Faflon, of the peasant who, whatever happened, never neglected to bless the folletti– meaning the rural deities. As for the families in which stregheria, or a knowledge of charms, old traditions and songs is preserved, they do not among themselves pretend to be even Christian. That is to say, they maintain outward observances, and bring the children up as Catholics, and "keep in" with thepriest, but as the children grow older, if any aptitude is observed in them for sorcery, some old grandmother or aunt takes them in hand, and initiates them into the ancient faith. That is to say it was so, for now allthis is passing away rapidly.

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