The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1874-10-30
Legends and superstitions.

Traditions, legends and superstitions,
closely linked as they often are, remain
very distinct in themselves and in their
influence. A tradition may be true; a
legend is not only untrue, but improb-
able and superstition is foolish be.
lief in the supernatural and impossible.
The first two are apt to be full of inter-
est and charm: the last is always n
blight, wherever it may settle. The
world abounds in wild and marvellous
stories that are believed in by the un-
educated. For instance, in almost
every country there are legends about
long .sleepers. According to them,
Charlemagne sleeps in Hess, seated on
his throne, with crown on head and
sword in hand, waiting till Antichrist
shall come the seven youths Of Ephe-
sus, who refused to bow down to the
idol of the Emperor Decius, sleep ON,
their faces fresh as roses, till the resur-
rection-day Epimenides slept fifty
seven years Christian priest sleeps
in st. Sophia till the Turk shall be cast
out three Bohemian miners sleep in
the heart of the Kuttenburg F.; and Rip
Van Wrinkle slept twenty years in
Kaatskills. In the great hills of Thur
ingia still sleep Frederic Barbarossa
and his six knights. A shepherd once
penetrated into a long winding cave in
the heart of the mountain, and there
found the seven all asleep, the En-
peror's red beard having grown through
the marble table. The noise of foot
steps awakened him, and he asked
do the ravens still fly over the
mountains ?"
Yes" replied the shepherd, they
do"
"Then we must sleep another hun
dred years, answered the monarch,
and turned again to rest.
In Switzerland three William Tells
sleep in cave. A brave boy once
crept in.
"What o'clock is it?" asked the
third Tell.
moon" replied the lad.
80 dear the time has not yet
come" said Tell, and he lay down again.
There are many superstitions about
the man III the moon, and almost every
country in the world has story about
him. In New England the nurses tell
the children that this man was found
by Moses gathering sticks on a Sab
bath, and that, for being so wicked, he
was doomed to reside in the moon till
the last day.
of you don't believe it," they say,
"look in the Bible. 1t is all told in the
fifteenth chapter of Numbers.
The Germans have the tale this way.
Ages ago there went one Sunday morn
ing all old man into the forest to cut
wood. When he had made bundle he
slung it on his staff, cast it over his
shoulder, and started for home. On
his way he met a minister, all in his
bands and robes, who asked him:
Don't you know, my friend, that it
is Sunday on earth, when all must rest
from their labors !? -
Sunday on earth, or Monday in
heaven, it is all one to me " laughed
the woodman.
"Then bear your burden forever ~
said the priest; land as you value not
Sunday on earth, you shall have Mon
day in heaven till the great day."
Thereupon the speaker vanished, and
the man was caught up, with cane and
faggots, into the moon, where you can
see him any clear night.
In Norway they think they see both a
man and woman, and the story goes
that the former threw brambles at peo-
pie going to church, and the latter made
butter on Sunday. In the clear, cold
nights of winter they will point out the
man carrying his bundle Of thorns, and
the woman her butter-tub.-N s.
Dodge, IN 81. Nicholas for November.