ne and of the lake, as well as the attendant
circumstances, are strong evidence in favour of the conclusion that we
have in this superstition a relic of heathen times, and a record of some
divinity believed to reside at that spot. A princess, clad in white and
having a golden spinning-wheel in her hand, was believed to appear on
the Castle Hill at Biesenthal, at midday. Once at midnight she appeared
to a gardener who had often heard voices at night summoning him to the
castle garden. At first he was frightened at the vision, but at length
consented to carry her to the church, which stands near the hill. He
took her on his back; but when he entered the churchyard gate he
suddenly met a carriage drawn by coal-black horses, which vomited fire.
So terrified was he that he shrieked aloud, whereupon the carriage
vanished, and the princess flew away moaning: "For ever lost!" In a case
where a prince had been enchanted, the feat was to wrestle with him
three nights in succession.[177]

But it was not always that so hard a task was set before the deliverer.
To our thinking, it says little for the German way of doing business
that the difficulty in unspelling the castle near Lossin, and the
maiden who dwelt therein, was to buy a pair of shoes without bargaining
and cheapening their price, but to pay for them exactly the piece of
money which the maiden handed to the youth who undertook the enterprise.
In another case a maiden was seen to scour a kettle at a little lake.
She was enchanted. The man who beheld her thought the kettle would prove
useful at his approaching wedding, and borrowed it on the express
condition of returning it at a fixed time. He failed to do so, and the
Evil One came and fetched it; and the maiden had to wait longer for her
deliverance. There are stories similar to this of fairies lending such
articles on this condition. If the condition be not complied with, the
fairies are never seen again. Aubrey relates that in the vestry of
Frensham Church, in Surrey, is a great kettle, which was borrowed from
the fairies who lived in the Borough Hill, about a mile away. It was not
returned according to promise, and though afterwards taken back, it was
not received, nor since that time had there been any borrowing
there.[178]

A man who was in the habit of meeting in a certain wood an adder, which
always sneezed thrice as he passed, consulted his parish priest on the
subject. The priest advised him to say the next time