Page:Modern Greek folklore and ancient Greek religion - a study in survivals.djvu/223

 is deceived (by its appearance) and mounts it, and the donkey grows as tall as a mountain and throws the man down from a great height, and he returns home half-dead, and if he does not die outright, he will be an invalid all his life .'

Linguistic evidence is also forthcoming that the same belief in the metamorphosis of these monsters was once held both in Epirus and in Samos. The by-name [Greek: skiorismata], recorded from Phoeniciá, proves more than the squirrel-form of Callicantzari; it implies that that shape is not natural but assumed. From the ancient word [Greek: skiouros], comes by natural formation an hypothetical verb [Greek: skiourizô], 'I become a squirrel,' and thence the existing substantive [Greek: skiourisma] or [Greek: skiorisma ] (for this difference in vocalisation is negligible in modern Greek) meaning 'that which has turned into a squirrel.' Similarly in Samos the by-name [Greek: kakanthrôpismata] means 'those that have turned into evil men.' Whether the belief implied by these names is still alive in Epirus, I do not know; in Samos it has apparently died out, for the word [Greek: kakanthrôpismata] is popularly there interpreted to mean 'those who do evil to men '—a meaning which the formation really precludes.

Since then the belief that Callicantzari possess the power of metamorphosis either obtains now or has once obtained in places as far removed from one another as Phoeniciá in Epirus, Mount Pelion, Samos, and Cyprus, it is reasonable to conclude that this quality was in earlier times universally attributed to them, and therewith the whole problem of their multifarious presentments in different districts is at once solved.

The next question which arises is this; if the various forms in which the Callicantzari are locally represented are, so to speak, so many disguises assumed by them at their own will, what is the normal form of the Callicantzaros when he is not exercising his power of self-transformation? On reviewing the various shapes assumed, one fact stands out clearly; it is the animal attributes of the Callicantzari which are variable, while the human element in their composition (with a possible exception in the case of the(prob. formed from [Greek: anaskela], 'on one's back,' the position in which the rider soon finds himself).], [Greek: Parad.] p. 342, from [Greek: G. Loukas], [Greek: Philol. episk.] p. 12.], [Greek: Parad.]  338.]