ermans say, "in blessed circumstances," or
_enceinte_ (which was all one with luck in old times), so the image of
the boar is supposed to be favourable to those ladies who desire olive
branches. From all which it appears that in ancient times swine were
more highly honoured than at present, or, as Shelley sings:

"We pigs
Were blest as nightingales on myrtle sprigs,
Or grasshoppers that live on noon-day dew."

THE FAIRY OF THE CAMPANILE, OR THE TOWER OF GIOTTO

"Bella di fronte e infino alle Calcagna,
Con un corredo nobile e civile,
In te risiede una cupola magna
E superbo di Giotto il Campanile."--_Giuseppe Moroni_.

"Round as the O of Giotto, d'ye see?
Which means as well done as a thing can be."--_Proverb_.

Many have wondered how it came to pass that Virgil lived in tradition not
as a poet but as sorcerer. But the reason for it is clear when we find
that in Florence every man who ever had a genius for anything owed it to
magic, or specially to the favour of some protecting fairy or _folletto_,
spirit or god. Is a girl musical? Giacinto or Hyacinth, the favourite
of Apollo, has given her music lessons in her dreams. For the orthodox
there are Catholic saints with a specialty, from venerable Simeon, who
looks after luck in lotteries, to the ever-blessed Antony, who attends to
everything, and Saint Anna, _nee_ Lucina, who inspires nurses. And where
the saints fail, the _folletti_, according to the witches, take their
place and do the work far better. Therefore, as I shall in another place
set forth, Dante and Michel Angelo have passed into the marvellous
mythology of goblins. With them is included Giotto, as appears by the
following legend of "The Goblin of the Bell-Tower of Giotto."

IL FOLLETTO DEL CAMPANILE DI GIOTTO.

"Giotto was a shepherd, and every day when he went forth to pasture his
herd there was one little lamb who always kept near him, and appeared to
be longing to talk to him like a Christian.

"Now this lamb always laid down on a certain stone which was fast in the
ground (_masso_); and Giotto, who loved the lamb, to please it, lay down
also on the same stone.

"After a short time the lamb died, and when dying said:

"'Giotto, cosa non far ti
Se mi senti parlarti,
Ti voglio tanto bene
E dove andrai,
Io ti seguiro sempre
In forma di folletto,
E col mio volere
Tu verrai un bravo sc