"Come l'Araba Fenice;
Che ci sia, ciascun lo dice;
Dove sia, nessun lo sa."
[325] Cfr. Afanassieff, v. 27.
[326] Itin. i.
[327] In the first chapter of the first book we saw how the witch sucked the breasts of the beautiful maiden.—In Du Cange, s. v. Amma, we read as follows: "Isidorus, lib. xii. cap. vii. bubo strix nocturna: 'Hæc avis, inquit ille, vulgo Amma dicitur ab amando parvulos, unde et lac præbere dicitur nascentibus.' Anilem hanc fabulam non habet Papias MS. Ecclesiæ Bituricensis. Sic enim ille: Amma avis nocturna ab amando dicta, hæc et strix dicitur a stridore."
[328] Mâ mâm ime patatriṇî vi dugdhâm; Ṛigv. i. 158, 4.—In Sicily, the bat called taddarita is considered as a form of the demon; to take and kill it, one sings to it—
"Taddarita, 'ncanna, 'ncanna,
Lu dimonio ti 'ncanna
E ti 'ncanna pri li peni
Taddarita, veni, veni."
When it is caught, it is conjured, because, when it shrieks, it blasphemes. Hence it is killed at the flame of a candle or at the fire, or else is crucified.
[329] According to a Sicilian story, as yet unpublished, communicated to me by Dr Ferraro, a siren once carried off a girl, and bore her out to sea with her; and, though she occasionally allowed her to come to the shore, she secured her against running away by means of a chain which was fastened to her own tail. The brother released his sister by throwing bread and meat to the siren to satiate her hunger, employing seven blacksmiths the while to cut the chain.
[330] Cfr. the Pentamerone, iv. 7; and the legend of Lohengrin, in the chapter on the Swan.