The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1884-08-16
Bird Maidens.

in pesl fairy mythology that at certain
times fairies put off their vesture and
change their forms to those of swans,
doves or other birds, is very probably
one of those primitive myths, the COM
mon heritage fthe whole Aryan race, -
although it is found current in nearly
all parts of the world. The forms which
these beautiful imaginary beings assume
countries In the Faro Islands, says
Thorpe, in his Northern Mythology.
1.-The superstition is current that the
seal casts off its skin every night, as
sumes the human form. and dances and
amuses itself like human being until
it resumes its skin and again becomes a
seal. 1t once happened that man
passing during one of these transforma-
tons and seeing the skin took posses
sion of it, when the seal, which was q
female, not finding her skin to creep
unto, was obliged to continue in hu-
man form, and being comely person.
the man made her his wife, had several
children by her, and they lived happily
together until, after a lapse of several
years, she CHANGED to find her hidden
skin, which she could not refrain from
creeping into, and SO became seal
! again" A similar notion prevailed
among the people of Shetland regard
ing mermaids. who. it seems, from Hib-
bert, are not naturally '.hesh fishifed'
at their lower extremities, but resemble
human beings, only far more beautiful,
ard dwell in the depth of the ocean in
halls of pearl and coral. "When they
wish to visit the upper world they put
on the ham or garb of some fish, but
| woe to those who lose their ham, for
then are all hopes of return annihilated,
and they must stay where they are
1t has happened that earthly men
have married mermaids, have taken
| possession of their ham, and thus got
same story everywhere: in a Russian
folk tale the hero discovers on the sea
shore twelve birds, which turn into
beautiful maidens; he steals the shift OF
the eldest and marries her. According
to the Persian romance of Hasan Banoo
and Bahram Ghoor tof the Wild Ass).
the royal hero obtains his fairy bride in
the same manner. King Bahram,
having been carried away by the Div
Sefid, or White Demon, to the mount
aims of KAT, which are the boundaries of
the world, he is left in magnificent
palace, and after examining all its won
ders his senses are overcome by slum-
Der.
''And while sleep possessed him, the
fluttering of flying doves sounded in
his ears. and. opening his eyes, he saw
four doves sitting on a dome of gold,
each of them as large as sheep and in
| color like green emeralds; and the King
was astonished at the sight of them
The doves flew off and lighted on the
edge of the lake, and out of every dove
came peri, at whose beauty the
reason was confused; and they put off
| their dress on the banks of the lake.
Now, there was one of these youDs
beauties fair as the child of hc1ri,
and when the King fell upon her beauty
he loved and yearEad toward her with
a thousand hearts; he tainted at the
sight of her grace and loneliness. After
some time he came again to himself
and saw that they had put down their
dress on the banks of the lake, and
were swimming and disporting them
selves therein. Now the King had
heard from the White Div that if por-
ton of the garment on the body of
peri be in the power of any one, she
cannot escape from his power. Where
fore, as softly as he could, Ire stole
toward the dress of the youngest peri,
and when he had possessed himself of
| it he hid himself in cluster of roses
| The fairies went on with their sport in
the water till the youngest peri said to
| the others: They say the Div Sefid
has brought here King of the race of
men, and that for grace and beauty his
| like was never seen among mankind;
let us assume our dove form again,
when we 60 out of the water, and go
and look on him from a distance
| Then said another: 1T is even as thou
| sayest; there is not his like among the
sons of men. Now we are young, and
God forbid the Kings heart should in
cline to one of us and we be unable to re-
turn his affection The youngest sister
said: Sister, thou hast spoken rightly,
and / myself have had very troubled
dream concerning him. But, said
the Others again, when we are dis
guised in the form of doves he may
think what he pleases.' So they all
three came out of the water and sat in
the same tree where they had before.
But the youngest missed her dress, and
she drew cold sigh and cried: sAh,
sisters, did l not tell you l had
troubled dreamp See, here is the
meaning of my dream Then they all
took fight and left her with troubled
heart and weeping eyes. The King,
seeing this. came from the hiding place
he had chosen and made his salaam to
her, and she, beholding the beauty of
King Bahram, inclined towards him
ard loved his loveliness with hundred
thousand hearts" The Prince and the
peri are duly married, and afterward
borne by afrits to the capital of Persia.
In the Thousand and One Nights
Hasan of Basra discovers ten beautiful
birds alight on the shore of lake, and,
having Invested themselves of their
plumage, plunge into the water as
women. They are the daughters of
powerful genie. Hasan contrives to
steal the feathers of the youngest and
prettiest of the damsels, and having
married her takes her to his own coun-
try. Several years afterwards she dis
covered where he had concealed her
feathers, and during his absence she
puts them on and escapes to the land of
the genii.
The notion of bird maidens is very
common in Indian fictions. One exam
pie will he sufficient According to the
Santhali folkrale of Toria the Goatherd,
the lovely daughters of the Sun were
wont to battle in river. on the banks of
which Toria fed his goats. Toria, hav-
ing often beheld them swimming in the
water, fell in love with one Of them,
and, having taken possession of her