Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 18, 1907.djvu/227

 Rh Serpents, great and small, are hung about the Saint and coiled on his stand, and if a serpent wriggles away, and escapes to the ground, he is speedily caught and replaced by the bystanders. After S. Domenico and the snakes, came the Archpriest with several other clergy, the Host under a canopy, the soldiers, and yet more peasants. After making the round of the village the procession entered the Sanctuary. The statue of S. Domenico was replaced in his shrine near the high altar, and all the serpents were thrown upon the statue, twisting and wriggling all over the figure. Any that got away were promptly thrown back upon the Saint by anyone who could catch them.

After mass was over the serpents were carried out and counted, a fixed price per head being paid to the Serpari, after which they were taken to a field some way beyond the village and killed.

The procession was over. The pilgrims brought out their store of food—not forgetting the wine flask. Every house, every street, was full of feasting, and merry groups of country folk were seen on every side picnicking on the grassy slopes outside the village, before starting on their homeward journey.

We adjourned to a coffee party at the picturesque old house of the Archpriest, where we were hospitably entertained with every variety of wines, liqueurs, and cakes, besides the most delicious coffee, while we discussed the details of the procession with our host and his party of priests from the neighbourhood, till we were at last reluctantly obliged to say farewell to our new friends and to Cocullo.

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Since the publication of Cinderella in 1893 a number of additional variants have presented themselves—'like Dian's kiss, unasked, unsought'—and have been noted. To the untiring kindness of Dr. H. F. Feilberg, who had already contributed so largely to my collection, I am indebted for the abridged