But opposite the place of the cavern They wrote the story on a column, And I must not omit to say That in Transylvania there's a tribe On which their neighbors lay such stress, Out of Hamelin town in Brunswick land, So, Willy, let me and you be wipers Of scores out with all men-especially pipers! THE LORELEY. BY HEINRICH HEINE. (TRANSLATED BY F. SILCHER.) Он, tell me what it meaneth, Above, the maiden sitteth, The boatman on the river From danger threatening round? HINDU FOLK-LORE. THE gods of the early Hindus were many. One of the earlier Vedic poets enumerated thirty-three. A later poet places the number at three thousand three hundred and thirty-nine. Of these only a few of the more noted can be mentioned here. The historic BUDDHA, Prince Siddartha, or Gautama, was a great reformer, who lived about five centuries before Christ. His teachings did not take deep root in his own country. His followers were driven to Ceylon, from which place the newer faith was propagated in China, and generally through eastern Asia, where it has degenerated into a debasing superstition. Nor did the Mohammedan whirlwind succeed in overthrowing the ancient faith of the Brahmans. They to-day retain their old beliefs, little modified in the course of many centuries. The student of Hindu mythology, as set forth in the sacred writings of India, will be puzzled to find that a large number of the gods are addressed individually, each as supreme, while the absence of any scale of comparison renders it difficult to say which is to be considered the greatest. It is claimed that BRAHMA, the author of the universe, VISHNU, the preserver, and SIVA, or Seva, the destroyer, were originally considered but different manifestations of the one Supreme Being. Certainly this is the way in which they are now regarded. So wisely taught the Indian seer; Destroying Seva, forming Brahm, BRAHMA, the creator, is represented as a crowned, fourfaced, and four-handed human figure. VISHNU, the preserver, is portrayed as a four-handed personage, wearing a tall crown. SIVA, similar to the last named, is armed with a trident. The TRIMURTI is a representation of the Hindu Trinity -a combination of three heads and a single figure. The AVATARS of Vishnu are the incarnations of the Divine Spirit on the earth. Of these there have been nine, among which Rama, Krishna, and Buddha are reckoned. There is to be yet one more incarnation, when Vishnu will appear, in the form of a winged horse, and the world will come to an end. NARAYANA, the god of the seas, the mover of the waters, is the recipient of the greatest number of prayers of the old time, as preserved in the sacred books. INDRA also holds a very high rank among the gods. He wields the thunderbolts, and sends the rains and the winds. GANESA, the son of Siva, is the god of wisdom. He has an elephant's head, and is attended by an enormous rat. YAMA, or Yemen, is the death-god, judging the departed souls of men, and consigning the wicked to punishment in the serpent den of Naraka, while the good are sent to bliss in Svarga, the better world. ENGHA is the boatman who transports the soul to paradise. AGNI, the god of fire, is invoked for vengeance in war. KARTTIKEYA, the god of war, is depicted as riding upon a peacock, and flourishing weapons in his numerous hands. love. KAMADEVA, bearing his bow, like Cupid, is the god of SHESHANAGA is a terrible black being, the king of serpents. He has a thousand crowned heads, with luminous eyes. SURYA, the sun, appears in an equipage drawn by green horses driven by Arun, the light of morning. CHANDRA, the moon, is a male figure, likewise drawn in a chariot, though its steeds are generally antelopes. KASYAPA is addressed in very ancient hymns as the god of the skies. Numerous divinities of lower rank are mentioned as his offspring. PAVAN is the god of the winds. AGNASTRA is the maker of the arrows of the gods. DURGA, the consort of Brahma, is a character of heroic virtue, and is represented as overcoming giants and demons of hideous and terrific form. She is more popularly known as Saraswati. MAHISHASURA is an impersonation of vice, and is represented as vanquished by Durga, the two being employed as symbols expressive of the moral conflict between good and evil. PARVATI, the consort of Siva, is worshiped with disgusting rites of a depraved character. LAKSHMI, the consort of Vishnu, is the patroness of agriculture, the emblem of abundance and fertility. MARITALË is the patroness of the pariahs or outcasts. SITA is the consort of the Avatar Rama. BAYADERES are dancing girls of India. An old legend of the sixth Avatar relates the redemption of a dissolute girl of this class. It is the subject of a poem by Goethe, and of the opera by Auber, entitled The God and the Bayadere. JAGANNATH, Juggernaut, or Jaga-naut ("Lord of the |