Page:Libussa, Duchess of Bohemia; also, The Man Without a Name.djvu/96

80 Dryads and Elves.] Dryads, or, more properly, Hamadryads, in heathen mythology, were a sort of deities or nymphs which the ancients thought inhabited groves and woods. The Hamadryads were attached to some particular tree, with which they were born, and with which they died, whereas the Dryads were goddesses of woods and trees in general.

Elves were yet common in the middle ages, and were considered a sort of wandering spirits, to be seen only at moonlight in wild and unfrequented places.

Duke Czech.] According to Sclavonian history, Czech and Lech were two brothers, belonging to a powerful princely family, which lived in the south of Hungary, where now the kingdoms of Sclavonia and Croatia (belonging to the Austrian empire) are situated. Czech, having killed another powerful prince of the country, was obliged to seek safety from revenge in flight. Thus he left his country, accompanied by his brother Lech and several thousand of their followers, who, according to the custom of those times, were accompanied by their families, so that they formed a whole wandering nation, similar to that of the Jews when leaving Egypt. Thus they came, after traversing Hungary, into Moravia. Finding the