The story however is essentially different.
See above p. 306, n. 2.
This remarkable fact is mentioned by all Russian historians, on the good authority of the ancient annalist Nestor.
"The Tshuvashes have a Penate, which they call Erich. This Erich is nothing but a bundle of broom, cytisus, tied together in the middle with the inner bark of the linden. It consists of fifteen branches of equal size, about four feet long; above is a piece of tin attached to it. Each house has such an Erich, which usually stands in a corner of the entry. Nobody ventures to touch it. When it becomes dry, a new Erich is tied together, and the old one placed in running water with great reverence." See Stimmen des Russ. Volks, von P.v. Goetze, Stuttg. 1828, page 17.—The Tshuvashes, however, are not a Slavic, but a Finnish race, living under the Russian dominion.
Dobrovsky's Slavin, 1834, p. 113.
Werke, Ausgabe letzter Hand, Vol. XLVI. p. 332.
In those four of our Russian specimens marked P, the translation is by J.G. Percival.
Page 323.
See above, p. 64.
We say, 'to judge from the language.' But their coincidence with Bohemian ballads of the thirteenth century, and various other indications (e.g. their frequent mention of the Danube), seem to vindicate, for their groundwork at least, a very high antiquity.