Page:Modern Greek folklore and ancient Greek religion - a study in survivals.djvu/152

 Nereid' ([Greek: pastreuei san aneraïda]) are phrases of commendation occasionally heard. But chiefly do they excel in the art of spinning ; and so well known is their dexterity therein that a delicate kind of creeper with which trees are often festooned is known in the vulgar tongue under the pretty name of [Greek: neraïdognemata], 'Nereid-spinnings.' The attribute indeed is natural and obvious; for the popular conception of the nymphs is but an idealisation of the peasant-women, to whom, whether sitting in the sunlight at their cottage-door or tending their sheep and goats afield, the distaff is an ever constant companion. But, easy though it is to account for the trait, some interest, if no great measure of importance, attaches to its consonance with the ancient characterisation of Nymphs. To the Nereids proper a golden spindle was specially assigned; and in the cave of the Naiads in Ithaca might be seen, in Odysseus' day, the kindred occupation of weaving, for 'therein were great looms of stone whereon the nymphs wove sea-purple robes, a wonder to behold .'

As might be expected of beings so divinely feminine, their relations with men and with women are very different; in the one case there is the possibility of love; in the other the certainty of spite. It is necessary therefore to examine their attitude towards either sex separately.

The marriage of men with Nereids not only forms the theme of many folk-stories current in Greece, but in the more remote districts is still regarded as a credible occurrence. Even at the present day the traveller may hear of families in whose ancestry of more or less remote date is numbered a Nereid. A Thessalian peasant whom I once met claimed a Nereid-grandmother, and little as his looks warranted the assumption of any grace or beauty in so near an ancestor—he happened to have a squint—his claim appeared to be admitted by his fellow-villagers, and a certain prestige attached to him. Hence the epithet 'Nereid-born' ([Greek: neraïdogennêmenos] or [Greek: neraïdokamômenos]) frequently heard in amatory distichs may formerly have been not merely an exaggerated