“Wie ein Haus das dampfet, wenn man es zündet an,
So musste Dietrich rauchen, der zornige Mann.
Man sah eine rothe Flamme geh’n aus seinem Mund.”
[“As a house smokes when it is set on fire, so was the breath of Theodoric, the man of great anger; a red flame might be seen darting from his mouth.”]
[35] The power of the Norgs to pass in and out through the rock is one of the characteristics most prominently fabled of them. Sometimes we hear of doors which opened spontaneously at their approach, but more often the marvel of their passing in and out without any apparent opening is descanted on.
[36] The value and efficacy ascribed in the old myths to a virgin’s blessing is one form in which the regard for maiden honour was expressed.
[37] The dwarfs who were considered the genii of the mineral wealth of the country were a sub-class of the genus dwarf. Their myths are found more abundantly in North Tirol, where the chief mines were worked.
[38] A deserted mine is called in local dialect taub.
[39] Miners.
[40] i.e. Joseph of Goign, a village near St. Johann. Such modes of designation are found for every one, among the people in Tirol.