Page:Curious myths of the Middle Ages (1876).djvu/438



superstition, and is probably an unconscious revival of early dissenting reminiscences. “Hark! hark, my soul! Angelic songs are swelling O’er earth’s green fields and ocean’s wave-beat shore: How sweet the truth those blessed strains are telling Of that new life when sin shall be no more!

“Onward we go, for still we hear them singing, Come, weary souls, for Jesus bids you come: And through the dark, its echoes sweetly ringing, The music of the Gospel leads us home. Angels of Jesus, Angels of Light, Singing to welcome the pilgrims of the night.” An idea which I have myself consciously adopted in a hymn on the severing of Jordan (People’s Hymnal, 3), upon the principle which led the early Christians to adopt the figure of Orpheus as a symbol of Christ. “Sweet angels are calling to me from yon shore, Come over, come over, and wander no more.” The music which our English dissenters consider as that of angels’ singing, is attributed by the Germans to the Elves, and their song is called Alpleich or Elfenreigen. Children are cautioned not to listen to it, or believe in the promises made in the weird spirit-song. If they hearken, then Frau Holle, the ancient goddess Hulda, takes them to wander with her in the forests.

A young man heard the music, and was filled with