ions of the little people entered by the green
mound which covered the bones of the dead. But the underground world was
not only associated with the shades of the departed; it was in many parts
of the world the place whence races had their origin, and here also we
meet in at least one instance known to me with the conception of a little
folk. A very widespread legend in Europe, and especially in Scandinavia,
according to Dr. Nansen, tells how the underground or invisible people
came into existence. "The Lord one day paid a visit to Eve as she was busy
washing her children. All those who were not yet washed she hurriedly hid
in cellars and corners and under big vessels, and presented the others to
the Visitor. The Lord asked if these were all, and she answered 'Yes;'
whereupon He replied, 'Then those which are _dulde_ (hidden) shall remain
_hulde_ (concealed, invisible). And from them the huldre-folk are
sprung."[A] There is also the widespread story of an origin underground,
as amongst the Wasabe, a sub-gens of the Omahas, who believe that their
ancestors were made under the earth and subsequently came to the
surface.[B] There is a similar story amongst the Z[=u]nis of Western New
Mexico. In journeying to their present place of habitation, they passed
through four worlds, all in the interior of this, the passage way from
darkness to light being through a large reed. From the inner world they
were led by the two little war-gods, Ah-ai-[=u]-ta and M[=a]-[=a]-s[=e]-we,
twin brothers, sons of the Sun, who were sent by the Sun to bring this
people to his presence.[C] From these stories it would appear that the
underground world, whether looked upon as the habitation of the dead or
the place of origination of nations, is connected with the conception of
little races and people. That it is thus responsible for some portion of
the conception of fairies seems to me to be more than probable.

[Footnote A: Nansen, _ut supra_, p. 262.]

[Footnote B: Dorset, _Omaha Sociology. American Bureau of Ethnology_, iii.
211.]

[Footnote C: Stevenson, _Religious Life of Zuni Child. American Bureau of
Ethnology_, v. 539.]

It is hardly necessary to allude to those spirits which animistic ideas
have attached amongst other objects and places, to trees and wells. They
are fully dealt with in Dr. Tylor's pages, and must not be forgotten in
connection with the present question.

To sum up, then, it appears as if the idea, so widely diffused, of