ipped through the hole for the strap by which the latch was
lifted, returning the same way. So he stopped up the opening, and thus
always retained her. After a considerable time he wanted to use the
latch, and thinking she had forgotten her bad habit and he might safely
take the peg out, he did so; but the next night she was missing, and
never came back, though every Sunday morning the man found clean linen
laid out for him as usual.[200]

A Pomeranian tradition relates the adventure of an officer who was much
troubled by the nightmare. He caught her in the usual manner and wedded
her, although he could not persuade her to say whence she came. After
some years she induced her husband to open the holes he had stopped up;
and the next morning she had disappeared. But he found written in chalk
on the table the words: "If thou wilt seek me, the Commander of London
is my father." He sought her in London and found her; and having taken
the precaution to rechristen her he lived happily with her ever
after.[201] This is the only instance I have met with where the
nightmare-wife is recovered. It would be interesting to know why England
is assigned as the home of these perturbed spirits.

FOOTNOTES:

[185] Burton, "Nights," vol. viii. p. 7.

[186] Thorpe, vol. ii. p. 69, quoting Afzelius; Haltrich, p. 15;
Hapgood, p. 214; Meier, "Volksmaerchen," p. 39; Baring-Gould, p. 575. No
authority is given by Mr. Baring-Gould, and I have been unable to trace
the Hessian tale; but I rely on his correctness. He also cites an
incoherent Swan-maiden tale from Castren, of which he manages to make
more sense than I can (Castren, "Altaischen Voelker," p. 172). In an
Irish tale Oengus, the son of the Dagda, falls in love, through a dream,
with Caer ib Ormaith, who is one year in the form of a swan and the next
in human shape. After union with her he seems to have undergone the same
alternation of form (_Revue Celtique_, vol. iii. p. 342, from a MS. in
the British Museum).

[187] Schreck, p. 35; Vernaleken, pp. 274, 287; Jones and Kropf, p. 95;
"Bahar-Danush," vol. ii. p. 213 (an abstract of this story will be found
in Keightley, p. 20); Burton, "Nights," vol. v. p. 344; Steere, p. 349;
Cavallius, p. 175, freely translated by Thorpe, "Yule-Tide Stories," p.
158. Mr. Morris turns the doves into swans. _Cf._ a South-Slavonic tale
from Varazdina, Krauss, vol. i. p. 409.

[188] Brett, "Legends and Myths," p. 29. This legend is told with
further