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The dwarf did as he was bid, when suddenly Peronnik threw the noose over his neck and drew it close, and the korigan was held as fast as any of the birds he wished to snare. Shrieking with rage, he tried to undo the cord, but he only pulled the knot tighter.
'From what he says, he wants one very badly, replied Peronnik, 'as he declares that all his grain and all the fruit in his garden at Kerglas are eaten up by the birds. 'And how are you going to stop that, my fine fellow? inquired the korigan; and Peronnik showed him the snare he had prepared, and remarked that no bird could possible escape from it.
But when we find that exactly the same tradition is reëchoed by the mountains of Norway and Sweden in the ballad of "Sir Olaf and the Erl-king's Daughter," which the milkmaid of Brittany sings in the lay of the "Sieur Nann and the Korigan," and in a language radically different from the Norse, when, here and there, the same forms of superstition meet us in the ancient popular poetry of the Servians and modern Greeks, which were familiar to the Teutonic and Cambrian races of early centuries, must we not believe in a primeval intimate connection between distant nations? are we not compelled to acknowledge that there must have existed, in those remote times, means of communication unknown to us?
But vast though the plain seemed, it did not take long to cross, and very soon the colt entered a sort of shady park in which was standing a single apple-tree, its branches bowed down to the ground with the weight of its fruit. In front was the korigan the little fairy man holding in his hand the fiery sword, which reduced to ashes everything it touched.
But do not delay me, I pray, for his highness the magician expects me, and, as you see, has lent me his colt so that I may reach the castle all the quicker. At these words the korigan cast his eyes for the first time on the colt, which he knew to be the one belonging to the magician, and began to think that the young man was speaking the truth.
But vast through the plain seemed, it did not take long to cross, and very soon the colt entered a sort of shady park in which was standing a single apple-tree, its branches bowed down to the ground with the weight of its fruit. In front was the korigan the little fairy man holding in his hand the fiery sword, which reduced to ashes everything it touched.
'From what he says, he wants one very badly, replied Peronnik, 'as he declares that all his grain and all the fruit in his garden at Kerglas are eaten up by the birds. 'And how are you going to stop that, my fine fellow? inquired the korigan; and Peronnik showed him the snare he had prepared, and remarked that no bird could possibly escape from it.
'That is a fair bargain, and as he spoke Peronnik jumped down and fastened his colt to a tree; then, stopping, he fixed one end of the net to the trunk of the apple tree, and called to the korigan to hold the other while he took out the pegs.
'That is just what I should like to be sure of, answered the korigan. 'My apples are completely eaten up by blackbirds and thrushes. Lay your snare, and if you can manage to catch them, I will let you pass.
'Begged you to come! repeated the dwarf, 'and who, then, are you? 'I am the new servant he has engaged, as you know very well, answered Peronnik. 'I do not know at all, rejoined the korigan sulkily, 'and you may be a robber for all I can tell. 'I am so sorry, replied Peronnik, 'but I may be wrong in calling myself a servant, for I am only a bird-catcher.
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