he situation, as exhibited in
the traditions of the more highly organized societies of Europe and of
the extreme Orient, is unforeseen. For it is in proportion to the
organization of society that such a catastrophe as the loss of years,
and thereby of kindred and friends, becomes really dreadful. Indeed, it
would seem to have been reserved for the European nations to put the
final touches of gloom and horror upon the canvas. It may be sufficient
to refer this to the more sombre imagination of Western peoples. But we
ought not to overlook the influence of the Catholic Church in darkening
the general tone of the imagination, and particularly the tone of the
fairy sagas, by the absolute and unquestioned supremacy she demanded,
and the frightful penalties, temporal and spiritual, she invoked upon
those who dared to indulge in cults she was unable to incorporate. To
men under such an influence, intercourse with fairies would be a thing
unholy; and the greater the temptations to it, the severer, they would
deem, should be the penalties. This is the frame of mind which would, if
with shuddering, yet without a murmur, acquiesce in the justice of the
doom suffered by Herla, to put an extreme case--a frame of mind
undoubtedly countenanced by the equally uncompromising claims of various
forms of Protestantism. But, while reprobating commerce with unhallowed
spirits, intercourse with spirits sanctioned by the Church was believed
to be almost equally possible, and was encouraged as much as the other
was denounced. If such intercourse sometimes resulted in severance
between the favoured mortal and his human friends, this was only an
extension of the monastic idea; and, as in that case, the loss was held
to be abundantly compensated by the favour of Heaven and the bliss
received. At all events it is certain, from whatever cause, that the
deepest depths and the loftiest heights of which this story-plot has
been found capable, have been reached only under Christian influences.
Pliny and Mohammed, the Taoist and the Shintoist, have recorded no tale
that sways our emotions like those of Herla, the Aged Bride, and the
Monk Felix.

But the magical power over time operates now and then in the contrary
way, by making a short time appear long. A few examples may be
interesting, though they will in no way affect the foregoing
conclusions. In the tenth part of a night Mohammed, it will be
remembered, was taken up to Paradise on the back of the b