Page:The Allies Fairy Book.djvu/21

 have said, the first law of the denizens of these stories is that they shall be superior to the laws of existence, and have the power to tamper with those laws by means of special privileges. There are incantations which have the effect of turning the tangible world topsy-turvy, and there are particular people who are in possession of the formula needful. To make up for this extraordinary privilege, they have to endure the suspicion of the majority who do not boast these powers, and to be subjected to the shame and danger of being condemned as witches and wizards. It is remarkably exhilarating to possess, or even to pretend to possess, a power which renders you superior to other intelligent people, perhaps much more respected than yourself. Nothing connected with the terrible witch-trials of the seventeenth century is more curious than the fact that the accused persons so often believed in the truth of the accusation. They had learned to make a fairy-tale of their lives, and they preferred to die a cruel death rather than descend into the light of common day.

It has been a subject of constant discussion why in so many, indeed in practically all, parts of the world the human race has willingly given itself up to a belief in the vain things of enchantment. No doubt, in the first instance, fear, working upon a complete ignorance of the laws of the natural world, encouraged a timorous and fantastic credulity. In particular, the terror of darkness must always have acted a great part in stimulating and preserving legends. With the fall of night, primitive man loses his self-control, and is ready to accept as fact any terrifying conjecture or surmise. In Western Europe until comparatively recent times the dark was peopled for country-folk with every description of ghost, hag, and hobgoblin; and, in spite of artificial lighting and education, this is still largely the case. How it can be that the character of these nocturnal illusions has been uniformly powerful over the human mind it is difficult