Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 23, 1912.djvu/149

 Reviews. 127

At page 166 we find the legend of St. Eldrade, similar to that related by Longfellow of the Monk Felix in The Golden Legeftd, He left the abbey in the morning, and was so entranced by the singing of a bird that he did not return till evening, when he dis- covered that years or centuries had passed, in what had appeared to be a few hours. In various forms we also meet with a similar legend in the East.

There are many strange legends in Miss Canziani's volume, which we have no space to notice, but one or two more may be mentioned. On p. 87 we have a story of a familiar in the form of a black pig, which reminds us of Froissart's Orthon. On pp. 101-2 we find a story of a Black Virgin, and on p. 107 one of the devil in bear form. But the strangest story of all is on pp. 148-9. "The following account of a tragic dance which took place at a village near Gets, was given me by one of the priests. In 1793 the municipality of this place invited the inhabitants to a public ball, which was to take place in the square in front of the church on Good Friday. After it had been going on for some little time, the dancers felt themselves being gradually overcome by "some strange irresistible power, and could not stop. Even when the music had ceased altogether, they were obliged to continue. It was a terrible sight, for their faces were drawn with terror, and their hair flew round their heads as they whirled about. For two days this went on without a moment's pause, and it only ended when there were none left to dance. The terrified spectators watched the strange way in which the victims vanished. First their feet disappeared, then their legs grew shorter and shorter, leaving the bodies turning madly round and round. Soon nothing was left but the heads dancing about in couples, the faces convulsed, the eyes bloodshot with terror. At last only tufts of hair were left turning round, two by two, until these also vanished into space. The priest told me that an old man, about thirty years ago, swore, as he was dying, that this was a true account of what he himself had seen. The names of the dancers are preserved in Gets to this day." We do not remember meeting with any exactly similar legend among the stories of the punishment of Sunday and Good Friday dancers.