Joining the town and just at hand,
Where waters gushed and fruit trees grew,
And flowers put forth a fairer hue,
And everything was strange and new.
The story of the Piper and the children is found also in Abyssinia, and likewise among the Minussinchen Tartars: the word Minnusinchen looks very like small Sinchen or beloved Sinchen, and with this Sinchen or bungen may be connoted the Tartar panshen or pope, and also Gian Ben Gian, the Arabian name for the All Ruler of the Golden Age. That Cupid was known among the Tartars is somewhat implied by the divinity illustrated on p. [699].
The Tartar story makes the mysterious Piper a foal which courses round the world, and with our pony may be connoted tarpon, the Tartar word for the wild horse of the Asiatic steppes. Cano is the Latin for I sing, and on Figs. 152 and 153 the Great Enchantress or Incantatrice is represented with the Pipes of Pan: among the wonders in the land of Hamelyn’s Piper were horses with eagles’ wings and these, together with the celestial foal and other elphin marvels, are to be found depicted on the tokens of prehistoric Albion. The tale of the Pied Piper may be connoted with the emblem of Ogmius leading his tongue-tied willing captives, and in Fig. 158 the mighty Muse is playing in human form upon his lute. In Fig. 160 the story of St. Michael or St. George is being played by a Pegasus, and in Fig. 158 CUNO is represented as a radiant elf. The arrow on Fig. 163 connects the exquisitely executed little figure with Cupid, Eros, or Amor—the oldest of the Gods—and probably this particular cherub was known as Puck, for his coin was issued in the Channel Islands by a people who inscribed their tokens Pooctika, Bucato, Pixtil, and Pichtil, i.e., Pich tall or chief(?).
Figs. 151 to 158.—British. No. 151 from Whitaker’s Manchester. No. 152 from Evans. Nos. 153 to 157 from Akerman. No. 158 from A New Description of England and Wales.
