The Canton advocate. [volume] (Canton, D.T. [S.D.]) 1877-1897, 1878-04-30
2
Hares and Easter Eggs.
BY F. E. CORNE.

BY F. E. CORNE.
1t would be difficult to explain whence
came the notion that The hares lay the
Easter eggs" Queer hares they must
be, indeed, bue German children believe
it as devoutly as they do that the
"Christkind" brings their Christmas
presents, or as our own little ones do in
Santa Claus. No one knows exactly
whence came this myth. Many think
it a relic of heather worhip; but wri-
ter named Christoph Won Schmidt, in an
interesting story for children, suggests
this much prettier origin:
Many hundred years ago, a good and
noble lady, Duchess Rosilinda Won Lin
denburg, at time when a cruel war was
devastating the land, was obliged to fly
from her beautiful home in Germany,
accompanied only by her two children
and one old man-servant.
They found refuge in a small mining
village in the mountains, where the sim
pie but contented and happy inhabitants
did what they could for their comfort,
and placed the best of all they had at
the disposal of the wanderers. Never
theless, their fare was miserable; no
meat was ever to be found, seldom fish,
and not even an egg; this last for the
very good reason that there was not
single hen in the village! These useful
domestic fowls, now 90 common every
where, were orr ginally brought from the
east, and had not4yet found their way
to this secluded place. The people had
not even heard of such " strange BIRDS"
This troubled the kind duchess, who
well knew the great help they are in
housekeeping, and she determined that
the women who had been0so kind to her
should no longer be without them.
Accordingly, the next time she sent
forth her faithful old servant to try and
gather news of his master and Of the
progress Of the war, she commissioned
him o;bring back with him a coop full
of fowls. This he did to the great sur
prise of the simple natives, and the vii
lage children were greatly surprised a
few weeks later at the appearance of a
brood of young chickens. They were so
pretty and brig ht, were covered with
such soft down, were SO open-eyed, and
could run about after their mother to
pick up food the very first day, and were
altogether such contrast to the blind,
bald, unfledged, helpless, ugly little birds
they sometimes saw in nests in the
hedges, that they could not find words
enough to express their admiration.
The good lady now saved up eggs for
some time, then invited all the house.
wives in the village to feast, when she
set before them eggs cooked in variety
of ways. She then taught them how to
prepare them for themselves, and, dis.
tributing alnumber of fowls among them,
sent the danes home gratified and happy.
When Easter approached she was anx
xious to arrange some pleasure for the
village children, but had nothing to give
them, "not even an apple or a NUT"
only some eggs; but that, she concluded,
was, after all, an appropriate Offering,
AS an egg is the first gift of the reviv-
ing spring." And then it occurred to her
to boil them with moses and roots that
would give them a variety Of brilliant
colors, "as the EARTH" said she, "has
just laid her white mantle, and decorated
herself with many colors; for the dear
God makes the fruit and berries not only
good to eat, but also pleasant to look
upon," and the children's pleasure would
be all the greater.
Accordingly, on Easter Sunday, after
the church service, all the little ones of
about the age of her own, met together
in garden; and when their hostess had
talked to them awhile, she led them into
small neighboring wood. There she
told them to make nests of moss, and ad-
vised each to mark we'll his or her own.
All then returned to the garden, where
a feast of milk-soup with eggs and egg
cakes had been prepared. Afterward
they returned to the wood, and found
to their great joy, in each nest, five
beautiful colored eggs, and on one of
these short rhyme was written.
The surprise and delight of the little
one when they discovered a nest of the
gayly colored treasures, was very great,
and one exclaimed:
How wonderful the hens must be
that can lay such pretty eggs! How ]
should like to see them"
cob! no hens could lay such beauti-
full eggs" answered a little girl. ~
think it must have been the hare that
sprang out Of the juniper bush when I
wanted to build my nest there"
Then all the children laughed together,
and said, "The hares lay the colored
eggs. Yes, yes! the dear little hares lay
the beautiful eggs" And they repeated
it till they began to believe it.
Not long afterward the war ended, and
Duke Arno Won Lindenburg took his
wife and children back to their own
palace; but. before leaving the duchess
set apart sum of money to be expended
in giving the village children every
Easter feast of eggs. She instituted
the custom also in her own duchy, and
by degrees itspread over the whole coun-
try, the eggs being considered symbol
of redemption or deliverance from sin.
To this day children living in the
country go to the woods just before
Easter, and return with their arms full