gends current in
that wild country, there is a favourite one, which supposes the Harz to
be haunted by a sort of tutelar demon, in the shape of a wild man,
of huge stature, his head wreathed with oak leaves, and his middle
cinctured with the same, bearing in his hand a pine torn up by the
roots. It is certain that many persons profess to have seen such a form
traversing, with huge strides, in a line parallel to their own course,
the opposite ridge of a mountain, when divided from it by a narrow glen;
and indeed the fact of the apparition is so generally admitted, that
modern scepticism has only found refuge by ascribing it to optical
deception. *

*The shadow of the person who sees the phantom, being reflected upon a
cloud of mist, like the image of the magic lantern upon a white sheet,
is supposed to have formed the apparition.

In elder times, the intercourse of the demon with the inhabitants was
more familiar, and, according to the traditions of the Harz, he was
wont, with the caprice usually ascribed to these earth-born powers,
to interfere with the affairs of mortals, sometimes for their weal,
sometimes for their wo. But it was observed that even his gifts often
turned out, in the long run, fatal to those on whom they were bestowed,
and it was no uncommon thing for the pastors, in their care of their
flocks, to compose long sermons, the burden whereof was a warning
against having any intercourse, direct or indirect, with the Harz demon.
The fortunes of Martin Waldeck have been often quoted by the aged to
their giddy children, when they were heard to scoff at a danger which
appeared visionary.

A travelling capuchin had possessed himself of the pulpit of the
thatched church at a little hamlet called Morgenbrodt, lying in the
Harz district, from which he declaimed against the wickedness of the
inhabitants, their communication with fiends, witches, and fairies, and,
in particular, with the woodland goblin of the Harz. The doctrines of
Luther had already begun to spread among the peasantry (for the incident
is placed under the reign of Charles V. ), and they laughed to scorn the
zeal with which the venerable man insisted upon his topic. At length,
as his vehemence increased with opposition, so their opposition rose
in proportion to his vehemence. The inhabitants did not like to hear an
accustomed quiet demon, who had inhabited the Brockenberg for so many
ages, summarily confounded with Baal-peor, Ashtaroth, and Beel