Page:Modern Greek folklore and ancient Greek religion - a study in survivals.djvu/210

 toes come where the heel should be. Hence it is not surprising that they are often lame, but even so they are swift of foot and terrible in strength. 'They devour their road at the pace of Pegasus,' wrote Leo Allatius ; and at the present day several by-names bear witness to their speed. In Samos they are called [Greek: Kallispoudêdes], 'those who make good speed'; in Cyprus [Greek: Planêtaroi], 'the wanderers'; in Athens they have the humorous title [Greek: Kôlobelonêdes], formed from the proverbial expression [Greek: belonia echei ston kôlo tou], 'he has needles in his buttocks,' said of any one who cannot sit still, but is always on the move. Their strength also has earned them one by-name, reported from Kardamýle in Maina, [Greek: ta tsilikrôta], said to be formed from the Turkish tselik ('iron'), in the sense of 'strong as iron .'

All or any of the features which I have mentioned may be found in the person of a single Callicantzaros; but it must be allowed also that no one of them is essential. For sometimes the Callicantzaros appears in ordinary human form without so much as a cloven hoof to distinguish him from ordinary mankind, or again completely in animal shape. In one place they are described as [Greek: agrianthrôpoi], savages but human in appearance, while in another they are [Greek: agria tetrapoda], 'savage quadrupeds.'

Yet in general the Callicantzari are neither wholly anthropomorphic nor wholly theriomorphic, but a blend of the two. In a story of some men at Athens who dressed themselves up as Callicantzari, it is said that they blacked their faces and covered themselves with feathers. Again two grotesque and bestial clay statuettes from the Cabirium near Thebes and now in the National Museum at Athens, were identified by peasants as Callicantzari[10]; an identification I have also met with when questioning peasants about similar objects in local museums; in one case it was a Satyr and in another a Centaur which my guide identified as a Callicantzaros. On the whole I should say that the goat con-*, 1295.] 1245.], 'to lead astray.'], op. cit. 1247.] p. 370 (from Syra).] p. 230.] p. 1291. In the Museum they are numbered 10333-4.]