The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1876-02-05
Legends AMI 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; legend is not only untrue, but
improbable; and superstition is fool
lsh belief i'll the supernatural and i'm
possible. The first two are apt to be
full of interest and charm; the last is
always blight, wherever it may settle.
The world abounds in wild and marvel
Gus stories that are believed in by the
uneducated. For instance, in almost
every country there are legends about
long-sleepers. According to them,
Charlemange 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 refuse to bow down to the
idol of the Emperor Decius, sleep on,
their faces fresh rs roses till the resur-
rection day; Epimenides slept forty
seven years; Christian priest sleeps in
st. Sophia till the Turk shall be cast
out; three Bohemian miners sleep in
the heart of the Kuttenberg; and Rip
Van Wrinkle slept twenty years in Kaats-
kills. In the great hills of Thuringia
still sleep Frederick Barbarossa and his
six knights. A shepherd once pene-
trated into a long winding cave in the
heart of the mountain, and there found
the seven all asleep, the emperor's red
beard having grown through the marble
table. The noise of footsteps 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.
Noon," replied the lad.
go dear! the time has not yet come, :"
said Tell; and he lay down again.
There are many superstitions about
the man in 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 Sabbath,
and that, for being SO wicked, he was
doomed to reside in the moon till the
last day.
eff 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 an old man into the forest to cut
wood. When he had made a bundle he
slung it on his staff, cast it over his
shoulder, and started for home. On his
way he met 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 mel" laughed the
woodman.
"Then bear your burden forever"
said the priest; "and as you value not
Sunday on earth you shall have Monday
i'll heaven till the great day."
Thereupon the speaker vanished and
the man was caught up with cane and
fagots, into the moon, where you can
see him any clear night.
In Norway they think they see both
man and u woman, and the story goes
that the farmer 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