the
stories which are given in this volume, will perceive in them a
familiarity with goblin-land and its denizens which has become rare among
"Christians."

But it may be that I do this droll old Gipsy great wrong in thus
apparently classing him with the heathen, since he one day manifested
clearly enough that he considered he had a right to be regarded as a true
believer--the only drawback being this, that he was apparently under the
conviction that all human beings were "Christians." And the way in which
he declared it was as follows: I had given him the Hindustani word
_janwur_, and asked him if he knew such a term, and he answered--

"Do I jin sitch a lav (know such a word) as _janwur_ for a hanimal? Avo
(yes); it's _jomper_--it's a toadus" (toad).

"But do you jin the lav (know the word) for an _animal_?"

"Didn't I just pooker tute (tell you) it was a jomper? for if a toad's a
hanimal, _jomper_ must be the lav for hanimal."

"But don't you jin kek lav (know a word) for sar the covvas that have
jivaben (all living things)--for jompers, and bitti matchers (mice), and
gryas (horses)? You and I are animals."

"Kek, rya, kek (no, sir, no), we aren't hanimals. _Hanimals_ is critters
that have something queer about 'em, such as the lions an' helephants at
the well-gooroos (fairs), or cows with five legs, or won'ful piebald
grais--_them's_ hanimals. But Christins aint hanimals. Them's _mushis_"
(men).

To return to cats: it is remarkable that the colour which makes a cat
desirable should render a bowl or cup objectionable to a true Gipsy, as I
have elsewhere observed in commenting on the fact that no old-fashioned
Rommany will drink, if possible, from white crockery. But they have
peculiar fancies as to other colours. Till within a few years in Great
Britain, as at the present day in Germany, their fondness for green coats
amounted to a passion. In Germany a Gipsy who loses caste for any
offence is forbidden for a certain time to wear green, so that _ver non
semper viret_ may be truly applied to those among them who bloom too
rankly.

The great love for red and yellow among the Gipsies was long ago pointed
out by a German writer as a proof of Indian origin, but the truth is, I
believe, that all dark people instinctively choose these hues as agreeing
with their complexion. A brunette is fond of amber, as a blonde is of
light blue; and all true _kaulo_ or dark Rommany _chals_ delight in a
bright yellow