ce in the ringing echo clear;
Thus every one unto himself
May be a fairy, or an elf."

"And truly those nymphs and fairies who inhabit wells, or are found
in springs and fountains, can predict or know what is to take place,
as may be read in Pausanias, and this power they derive from their
_habitat_, or, as Creuzer declares (_Symbolik_, part iv. 72), they
are called Muses, inasmuch as they dwell in Hippocrene and Aganippe,
the inspiring springs of the Muses."--_On the Mysteries of Water_.
FRIEDRICH (_Symbolik_).

Long after Christianity had come in, there were many places in the vast
edifice of society whence the old heathen deities refused to go out, and
there are even yet nooks and corners in the mountains where they receive
a kind of sorcerer's worship as _folletti_. A trace of this lingering in
a faith outworn, in nymphs, dryads, and _fata_, is found in the following
story:

LE DUE NINFE DEL POZZO.

"There once lived in Florence a young nobleman, who had grown up putting
great faith in _fate_, _ninfe_, and similar spirits, believing that they
were friendly, and brought good fortune to those who showed them respect.
Now there was in his palazzo in the Via Calzaioli, at the corner of the
Condotta, a very old well or fountain, on which were ancient and worn
images, and in which there was a marvellous echo, and it was said that
two nymphs had their home in it. And the Signore, believing in them,
often cast into the spring wine or flowers, uttering a prayer to them,
and at table he would always cast a little wine into water, or sprinkle
water on the ground to do them honour.

"One day he had with him at table two friends, who ridiculed him when he
did this, and still more when he sang a song praising nymphs and fairies,
in answer to their remarks. Whereupon one said to him:

"'Truly, I would like to see
An example, if 't may be,
How a fairy in a fountain,
Or a goblin of the mountain,
Or a nymph of stream or wood,
Ever did one any good;
For such fays of air or river,
One might wait, I ween, for ever,
And if even such things be,
They are devils all to me.'

"Then the young Signore, being somewhat angered, replied:

"'In the wood and by the stream,
Not in reverie or dream,
Where the ancient oak-trees blow,
And the murmuring torrents flow,
Men whose wisdom none condemn
Oft have met