[28] Capitello, in Wälsch-Tirol, is the same as Bildstöcklein in the German provinces—a sacred image in a little shrine.
[29] Bears exist to the present day in Tirol. Seven were killed last year. A prize of from five-and-twenty to fifty florins is given for killing one by various communes.
[30] A distinct remnant of Etruscan custom. It is singular, too, that Mr. I. Taylor finds ‘faba’ to have been taken by the Romans from the Etruscans for a bean, but though the custom of connecting beans with the celebration of the departed is common all over Italy, I do not think the Etruscans provided their dead with beans except along with all other kinds of food (supra p. 130–1 note).
[31] The little book of Costumi spoken of above, mentions the ‘Zocco del Natale’ as in use also in Lunigiana; it is generally of olive-tree, and household auguries are drawn from the crackling of leaves and unripe berries. It cites a letter of a certain Giovanni da Molta, dated 1388, showing that the custom has not undergone much change in five hundred years.
[32] Two travellers, two prosperous ones, and a cardinal?—Answer. Sun and moon; earth and heaven; and the ocean.
[33] There is a meadow overblown with carnations, yet if the Pope came with all his court, not one sole carnation would he be able to carry off?—Answer. The heaven beaming with stars.
[34] Plate upon plate; a man fully armed; a lady well dressed; a stud well appointed?—Answer. Heaven and earth; the sun; the moon; the stars.
[35] There is a palace with twelve rooms; each room has thirty beams, and two are ever running after each other through them without ever catching each other?—Answer. The palace is the year, the rooms the months, the beams the days, and day and night are always following each other without overlapping.
O mein Tirol! wie ich mit Schmerzentzücken