Page:The Indian Antiquary, Vol. 4-1875.djvu/176

 Jl-.ve, 1375.] ARCHAEOLOGICAL KOTES. 168 VL Folk-lore, Water-stone*. In (Note 277. vol. HI. p. 161) some similarities were adduced between popular stories in the far and the West. The scene or those, however, was terrestrial ; and it may not be amiss to sup- plement them with an instance or two of corre- spondences in beliefs in wondrous worlds be- neath the water. All European fairy-lore and mediaeval romance is full of marvellous regions and splendid dwellings beneath lakes, rivers, and the sea; and the Thousand and One Nights alone show that the idea was nothing strange to Eastern fancy, as witness the story told by Ci ulnar to the Persian king Of Hifl sea-people, their way of life, and resplendent habitations. All know that in Ireland the O'Donoghu lives in pomp beneath the v. Killaraey,* and may be seen gliding over them on his white i Mayday morning. Louyb. Corrib, too, another Irish lake, has an evil reputa- tion for its inliabitants wiling mortals to their places beneath its waves. In Wales the Pair Family live beneath a lako in a most enchant- ing garden, full of finest fruits and flowers, with the softest music breathing continually over it. In ancient times a door in a rock near this lake used to be found open on Mayday ; and those who had courage to enter were conducted by a secret passage to the garden, where they were most courteously received by the 1; presented with fruits and flowers, and enter- tained with exquisite music Vbafo m could Btay as long as they hiked, only nothing must be carried away. Once, however a sacrilegious fellow Bower into his pocket, but on reaching common earth it vanished, and he lost his senses; since that injury the door has never reappeared. Oiraldus Cambrensis, a Welsh eccle- siastical writer of the 12th century, relate a short time before his dayB a cii occurred near Neath, which Eiidurus, a priest, strenuously affirmed had befallen himself. When a boy of twelve years, he had run awn v from his tutor and hidden himself under the hollow bank of a river, where after two days two little pigmy • In Ku i ir I hf N";V:i EUga lives iu splendour iious lako, ih unci Vernacular, if watched parpow, might contribute macii that is curious in men appeared and offered to lead him to a country full of delights and sports. So they took him beneath the river into a most beauti- ful country, but obscure, and not illunii with the full light of the sun. There he was brought before the king and lived lung with the inhabitants, who were nil of the smallest stature, but l'uir and handsome, ate no flesh, but lived on milk and herbs. He sometimes returned to the upper world by the way he had gone, and visited his in him to bring her some gold, with which that country abounded ; so once he stole a golden ball and brought it tohei s pursued, and the ball snatched away, by two pigmies, j that, though tie tried for ;i year, he could never find again the secret passage. With particular is lust story a copy is now of the following letter addressed to the Kditor of the '* Bengalee^ * newspaperf ; — Dkar Sir, — A private letter from Shahpur informs me that more than three years ago a boy named Ghuliim Hussen, of the family of the Sayad, inhabitant of Chandra, was supposed to have been drowned on t: in the river Jhelam, one of the tributar the Indus. Now he has come safely to his home. His relations were of course very glad to see him. They asked him what was the r with him. He told them in reply that no sooner he sank than he reached the bottom of the river, where he found a prodigious em- pire and met with its " Khiser" (name of a prophet), J who took him on his knees and gave him shelter. There be, with great pomp and joy, passed more than three years; and now two adherents of the king caused him at the shore of the river whence ho came. Now people of every colour and creed from ci ory creek and corner of the world are flock- ing to his house to see him, rs obediently, All Calcutta, Nov. 12th, 1863. (To be contiit the way of folklor pular stories, customs, super*t ; ' a Taat deal doubtless exists in old Ii JKhisertKhizrjis supposed to correspond to E I i a s.