worth and wisdom--invariably
possesses so deep a hold upon its affections, and offers so many
instructive hints to the man of the world, to the statesman, the
citizen, and the peasant.

"Signs of approaching changes, no less in manners than in states, may
likewise be traced, floating down this popular current of opinions,
fertilising the seeds scattered by a past generation, and marking by its
ebbs and flows the state of the political atmosphere, and the distant
gathering of the storm.

"National traditions further serve to throw light upon ancient and
modern mythology; and in many instances they are known to preserve
traces of their fabulous descent, as will clearly appear in some of the
following selections. It is the same with those of all nations, whether
of eastern or western origin, Greek, Scythian, or Kamtschatkan. And
hence, among every people just emerged out of a state of barbarism, the
same causes lead to the production of similar compositions; and a chain
of connection is thus established between the fables of different
nations, only varied by clime and custom, sufficient to prove, not
merely a degree of harmony, but secret interchanges and communications."

A record of the freaks of such airy beings, glancing through the mists
of national superstition, would prove little inferior in poetical
interest and association to the fanciful creations of the Greek
mythology. The truth is, they are of one family, and we often discover
allusions to the beautiful fable of Psyche or the story of Midas;
sometimes with the addition, that the latter was obliged to admit his
barber into his uncomfortable secret. Odin and Jupiter are brothers, if
not the same person; and the northern Hercules is often represented as
drawing a strong man by almost invisible threads, which pass from his
tongue round the limbs of the victim, thereby symbolising the power of
eloquence. Several incidents in the following tales will be recognised
by those conversant with Scandinavian literature, thus adding another
link to the chain of certainty which unites the human race, or at any
rate that part of it from which Europe was originally peopled, in one
original tribe or family.

A work of this nature, embodying the material of our own island
traditions, has not yet been attempted; and the writer confidently hopes
that these tales may be found fully capable of awakening and sustaining
the peculiar and high-wrought interest inherent in the legen