Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 26, 1915.djvu/98

 88 this day have an annual feast called Terhengi (Terhu-ngi), "the spirits' feast," for Zise was a spirit.

[This tale seems to be aetiological, intended to explain the Terhengi Genna, or Harvest Home, with the slaughter of bulls which takes place on this occasion. For the Gennas of the Nagas, see T. C. Hodson, The Nāga Tribes of Manipur, p. 164 sqq. The incident of marking the road by dropping husks is common. In one of Somadeva's tales the heroine finds her way to her father's hermitage, having previously sown mustard seeds on the road which had sprung up (Katha-sarit-sāgara, 1880, vol. i., p. 290). With this Mr. Tawney compares Grimm's "The Robber Bridegroom," where the road is marked for the heroine with ashes, peas, and lentils (Household Tales, edited by M. Hunt, 1884, vol. i., p. 165), and the second and forty-ninth tale in L. Gonzenbach, Sicilianische Märchen. ]

Even in the twentieth century belief in the "little people" or fairies still lingers, particularly in mountainous and primitive districts. On the slopes of the Alps and down into the Valley of the Waldenses much delightful folklore may be found, which has been collected to form an interesting book, Legendes Vaudoises, or Légendes des Vallées Vaudoises (August Coisson, editeur).

Sometimes these stories give some vivid glimpses into local life and usages.

Lichen.—Lichen, as is well known, contains very little nourishment and presents a withered, dried-up appearance. Formerly this was not so, it was a beautiful plant, and such excellent fodder that a cow feeding on it could give enough' milk for the wants of a big family. One day an old woman was invited to a wedding. After having milked her goat she began adorning herself, when she noticed the animal was nibbling at the lichen. This necessitated her re-milking it before her departure, and in her impatience she cursed the plant, and from that time neither goat nor cow could