est. It was a common
saying: "The first tale by the goodman, and tales to daylight by the
guest." The minister, however, came to the village in 1830, and the
schoolmaster soon followed, with the inevitable result of putting an end
to these delightful times.[1]

Not very different is the account given by M. Luzel of the _Veillees_ in
which he has often taken part in Brittany. In the lonely farmhouse after
the evening meal prayers are said, and the life in Breton of the saint
of the day read, all the family assemble with the servants and labourers
around the old-fashioned hearth, where the fire of oaken logs spirts and
blazes, defying the wind and the rain or snow without. The talk is of
the oxen and the horses and the work of the season. The women are at
their wheels; and while they spin they sing love ditties, or ballads of
more tragic or martial tone. The children running about grow tired of
their games, and of the tedious conversation of their elders, and demand
a tale, it matters not what, of giants, or goblins, or witches--nay,
even of ghosts. They are soon gratified; and if an old man, as
frequently happens, be the narrator, he is fortified and rewarded for
the toil by a mug of cider constantly replenished. One such depositary
of tradition is described as a blind beggar, a veritable Homer in wooden
shoon, with an inexhaustible memory of songs and tales of every kind. He
was welcome everywhere, in the well-to-do farmhouse as in the humble
cottage. He stayed as long as he pleased, sometimes for whole weeks; and
it was with reluctance that he was allowed to leave in order to become
for a time the charm of another fireside, where he was always awaited
with impatience.[2]

M. Braga, the Portuguese scholar, quotes an old French writer, Jean le
Chapelain, as recording a custom in Normandy similar to that of
Ross-shire, that the guest was always expected to repay hospitality by
telling tales or singing songs to his host. And he states that the
emigrants from Portugal to Brazil took this custom with them. In Gascony
M. Arnaudin formed his collection of tales a few years ago by assisting
at gatherings like those just described in Brittany, as well as at
marriages and at various agricultural festivals.[3]

Similar customs existed in Wales within living memory, and in remote
districts they probably exist to-day. If they do not now continue in
England, it is at least certain that our forefathers did not differ in
this respec