Page [232]. The secret treasures guarded by ghosts, &c. is a world-wide tradition. Cf. Hofberg, Svenska Folksägner. "Skatten i Säbybäcken," Where a carriage full of gold and silver is said to be sunk mid-stream, over which a weird light flickers. Many attempts, we are told, have been made to rescue it, but each time some one has spoken, or else the bull-calves—which are not to have a single black hair on them, and were to be fed for three years on unskimmed milk—were not strong enough; and so the attempts have ever failed. See also, in the same work "Skattgräfvarna," where the searchers were frightened away by the Demon guardians of the hidden store. In Lincolnshire I have heard of a field where, tradition says, countless barrels of beer, and a fender and fireirons of silver, are buried, and in my own parish I have collected three similar tales told of places here, and the other day a Negro from South Carolina told me another. Cf. Hardwick, Traditions, Superstitions, and Folk-Lore (chiefly Lancashire and the north of England), pp. 41, 46, 195, and 252. Cf. Baring Gould. Curious Myths. "The Divining Rod."[77]
[THE SECRET-KEEPING LITTLE BOY AND HIS LITTLE SWORD. Erdélyi, iii. 8.]
Cf. Grimm, vol. i., "Faithful John" and note. See ante, p. [350].
With regard to the sword growing in the garden, Cf. the Hunnish superstition mentioned by Priscus. "He (Attila) believes also that there will be before long some noteable increase of his power; and that the gods have signified this by revealing to him the sword of Mars, a sacred relic much venerated by the Huns, for many years hidden from their eyes, but quite lately re-discovered by the trail of the blood of an ox which had wounded its hoof against it, as it stuck upright in the long grass." Italy and her defenders, by T. Hodgkin, vol. ii. p. 92. No doubt Priscus makes use of the name of Mars to designate the Hunnish deity in the same way as Tacitus when he speaks of the Teutonic god of war. A naked sabre, fixed hilt downwards in the earth, was worshipped by the Alani. Cf. p. 33 of the above-mentioned work.
Payne, vol. vi. "Jouder and his brothers," pp. 129, 152, 164.
See also, Geldart, Folk-Lore of Modern Greece, "The Scab Pate." Payne, Tales from the Arabic, vol. i., "The story of the King who knew the quintessence of things."
"[The Three Dreams]," p. [117], in this collection, and [notes], p. [375].
Page [236]. The execution. The last ceremony with a condemned man when he is pinioned is to read once more his sentence to him. This is done by the sheriff, and concludes with "Hangman, do your duty!" After the execution is over, the military present are commanded to prayer; the helmet is taken off, the musket taken in the left hand and grounded, and every soldier kneels on his left knee, and remains so for a few minutes till order is given "From prayer."
In olden times the sheriff, after he read the sentence, broke his judicial staff in twain, and threw the pieces at the culprit's feet: hence the Hungarian saying, "to break the staff near anyone," is equivalent to pronouncing sentence: e.g., "I have done this, but don't break a staff over my action," i.e., do not condemn my action.