" The same writer remarks, with justice,
that it is surprising how few are the sources, and how scanty the parent
stock, from whence all the varieties of European legend are derived.
Indeed, the foundation of a great part of these legendary stories seems
to have been the heathen mythology of the different countries, and the
various tales of superstition being handed down from one generation to
another, have gradually assumed the shape they now bear; from whence may
be traced most of our popular superstitions.
THE LEGEND OF THE GOATHERD.
When I behold a football to and fro,
Urged by a throng of players equally,
Methinks I see, resembled in that show,
This round earth poised in the vacant sky.
* * * * *
And all we learn whereas the game is o'er,
That life is but a dream, and nothing more.
AMADIS JANRYN.
"Know'st thou me not?"----------------
"Oh, yes, (I cried,) thou art indeed the same."
GOETHE.
At the peaceful village of Sittendorf dwelt Peter Klaus, the goatherd.
He daily tended his flocks to pasture in the Kyffhaeusen mountains, and
never failed, as evening approached, to muster them in a little mead,
surrounded by a stone wall, preparatory to driving them home; for some
time, however, he had observed, that one of the finest of his herd
regularly disappeared soon after coming to this nook, and did not join
her companions till late.
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