the 'lost knowledge' concerning
elementary spirits, when it is, in effect, a very whole-hearted
satire upon belief in such beings!

[26] Villemarque, _Myrdhinn, ou l'Enchanteur Merlin_ (1861).

[27] MacCulloch, _The Religion of the Ancient Celts_, p. 122.

[28] Or subterranean dwellers. See D. MacRitchie's _Fians, Fairies,
and Picts_ (1893).

[29] See the chapter on "Menhirs and Dolmens."

[30] Vol. i, p. 231.

[31] _Contes populaires de la Haute-Bretagne_ (Paris, 1880).

[32] _Handbuch der deutschen Mythologie._

[33] Saddle.

[34] See the author's _Le Roi d'Ys and other Poems_ (London, 1910).

[35] Kipling, "Primum Tempus."

[36] In folk-tales of this nature a ladder is usually made of the
bones, but this circumstance seems to have been omitted in the
present instance.

CHAPTER IV: SPRITES AND DEMONS OF BRITTANY

The idea of the evil spirit, malicious and revengeful, is common to
all primitive peoples, and Brittany has its full share of demonology.
Wherever, in fact, a primitive and illiterate peasantry is found the
demon is its inevitable accompaniment. But we shall not find these
Breton devils so very different from the fiends of other lands.

_The Nain_

The nain is a figure fearsomely Celtic in its hideousness, resembling
the gargoyles which peer down upon the traveller from the carven
'top-hamper' of so many Breton churches. Black and menacing of
countenance, these demon-folk are armed with feline claws, and their
feet end in hoofs like those of a satyr. Their dark elf-locks, small,
gleaming eyes, red as carbuncles, and harsh, cracked voices are all
dilated upon with fear by those who have met them upon lonely heaths
or unfrequented roads. They haunt the ancient dolmens built by a
vanished race, and at night, by the pale starlight, they dance around
these ruined tombs to the music of a primitive refrain:

"Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday and Friday."

Saturday and Sunday they dare not mention as being days sacred from
fairy influence. We all remember that in the old tale of Tom Thumb the
elves among whom the hero fell sang such a refrain. But wherefore? It
would indeed be difficult to say. Deities, credited and discredited,
have often a connexion with the calendar, and we may have here some
calendric reference, or again the chant may be merely a nonsense
rhyme. Bad luck attached itself to the human who chanced to be