ng among the eggs,
and was frightened; but presently she was still more terrified when she
found a great wolf tugging at her apron. She dropped it in her fright,
and a black cat jumped out and darted away, pursued by the wolf. When
she reached the village, her mother told her that the black cat was the
Devil, who had taken that form in order to play her a trick or do her
some injury, but had been scared away by the wolf.

Have we here an inverted and distorted echo of "Little Red Riding Hood?"

A peasant who was broiling fish in the forest at nightfall met with a
still more alarming adventure. A black man appeared to him, and
commanded him to fetch him a spit, for he wanted to broil fish too. But
the spit which he wanted was a long sharp stake, and the peasant
himself was to be the fish. In his terror the peasant called "St.
George's Dogs" to his aid, and a pack of wolves rushed out, and chased
the Devil away, while the peasant drew out the axle from his cart-wheel,
and supplied its place with a pole of rowan-wood.

Another story relates how an unfortunate wolf missed getting his usual
rations from God, and set out to forage for himself. After sparing some
whom he met, and allowing others to escape, he fell into the hands of a
young peasant, who gave him a sound beating and then took refuge in a
tree. The wolf's relatives, seeking revenge, climbed on each other's
back till they nearly reached the peasant, who upset them by a
stratagem, and they fell, many breaking their limbs. Since then a wolf
always runs away when he sees a man.

Were-wolves are sometimes alluded to in Esthonian tales.

* * * * *

The following stories are of a more miscellaneous character, and some of
them are sufficiently interesting to be given with little or no
abridgment.

[Footnote 78: Such origins are common in Esthonian and Finnish
folk-literature, and I regard them as relics of fetishism.]

THE MAN WITH THE BAST SHOES.

Once upon a time a traveller came to a village and asked for a night's
lodging. He was handsomely dressed, but he had coarse bast shoes on his
feet. A friendly farmer received the stranger hospitably, and offered
him accommodation. At night the man asked his host, "Farmer, where shall
I put my bast shoes?" The farmer showed him the place, but he added,
"No, my shoes must spend the night among the feathered people, for that
is what they are used to. So I would rather hang them on