Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 3 (Celtic and Slavic).djvu/382

248 upon an Instrument resembling a cymbal; and being endowed with the art of prophecy, they often foretold things that were to happen. They lived In families and had pompous feasts at their weddings and christenings; but the Ludki households were hostile to each other and waged violent Internecine wars. Toward human beings, on the other hand, they were well disposed, and they borrowed kneading-troughs, churns, and pots from men, doing their best to recompense those who willingly complied with their requests, but cruelly punishing those who offended them. Their friendly relations, however, were restricted to one special human household, which gave them food, mostly millet, and conversed with them.

When such a Ludek died, his relatives burned his body, put the ashes into vessels, and buried the latter in the earth. During the funeral ceremonies the friends and relatives of the dead wept copiously, collecting the tears In small jars which they held under their eyes and burled when filled, whence the urns, pots, and lachrymatories found In ancient graves still remind us of these Ludki. The Poles in Prussian Poland call similar beings KrasnoludI or Krasnoludkl; and among the Slovaks In Hungary the Lútky are small spirits who live on mountains and In mines.