r refusing to go to church; and near
Rosenberg in Mecklenburg is another curiously shaped stone of which
a similar story is told. Near Spornitz, in the same region, are seven
boulders whose forms and position are accounted for by a long and
circumstantial legend that they were once seven impious herdsmen; near
Brahlsdorf is a stone which, according to a similar explanatory myth,
was once a blasphemous shepherd; near Schwerin are three boulders which
were once wasteful servants; and at Neustadt, down to a recent period,
was shown a collection of stones which were once a bride and bridegroom
with their horses--all punished for an act of cruelty; and these stories
are but typical of thousands.

At the other extremity of Europe we may take, out of the multitude
of explanatory myths, that which grew about the well-known group of
boulders near Belgrade. In the midst of them stands one larger than the
rest: according to the legend which was developed to account for all
these, there once lived there a swineherd, who was disrespectful to the
consecrated Host; whereupon he was changed into the larger stone, and
his swine into the smaller ones. So also at Saloniki we have the pillars
of the ruined temple, which are widely believed, especially among the
Jews of that region, to have once been human beings, and are therefore
known as the "enchanted columns."

Among the Arabs we have an addition to our sacred account of Adam--the
legend of the black stone of the Caaba at Mecca, into which the angel
was changed who was charged by the Almighty to keep Adam away from the
forbidden fruit, and who neglected his duty.

Similar old transformation legends are abundant among the Indians of
America, the negroes of Africa, and the natives of Australia and the
Pacific islands.

Nor has this making of myths to account for remarkable appearances yet
ceased, even in civilized countries.

About the beginning of this century the Grand Duke of Weimar, smitten
with the classical mania of his time, placed in the public park near
his palace a little altar, and upon this was carved, after the manner
so frequent in classical antiquity, a serpent taking a cake from it.
And shortly there appeared, in the town and the country round about, a
legend to explain this altar and its decoration. It was commonly said
that a huge serpent had laid waste that region in the olden time, until
a wise and benevolent baker had rid the world of the monster by means of
a