THE DANCERS.
AN ANCIENT COUNTERPART OF A MODERN TOY.
FIG. 1.—A TOY OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY.
The very curious engraving which we reproduce herewith ([Fig. 1]) shows once again that, as regards manners and the details of life, there is nothing new under the sun. Every one has seen in the show windows of toy-dealers a plaything called the “wrestlers,” and which consists of two little weighted and jointed figures that are set in motion by a taut string. At every tension of the latter these two little figures move about, go through the motions of wrestling, and sometimes fall on top of one another, much to the amusement of the spectator. Now, it is seven hundred years ago that Herrade de Lansberg, abbess of Hohenbourg, in a sort of encyclopædic compilation entitled “Hortus Deliciarum,” drew the little combatants that are reproduced in [Fig. 1]. This valuable MS., which was destroyed by Prussian shells in 1870, has been happily saved from absolute annihilation by the copies of M. De Bastard, that are at present preserved in the Cabinet of Prints of the National Museum. This book is a sort of abstract, in figures, of Alsatian life in the twelfth century, and games have not been forgotten therein. Herrade de Lansberg’s little combatants are clad after the manner of the warriors of those times, just as in our toy—the wrestlers—the figures preserve the traditional costume of wrestlers at fairs. The two little warriors wear a helmet with nasal; and a coat of mail, a buckler, and a sword complete their equipment. Their feet, which were probably weighted with lead, kept the puppets in a vertical position, and upon maneuvering the strings an imitation of a sword contest was obtained.
FIG. 2.—A TOY OF 1897—THE WRESTLERS.