Notes and Queries, Number 56, November 23, 1850 by Various
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page 6 of 60 (10%)
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work, which belonged to the Counts of Oldenburg. Had the story not started
from a basis of real fact, but had been pure fiction, the mountain-spirit would probably have left, not _silver gilt_, but a _gold_ horn, with the count. Moreover, the manner in which she suffers herself to be outwitted, and her acquiescence in the loss of her horn, without exacting some vengeance from the incredulous count, are not in the spirit of such fictions, nor do they suit the malignant character which the legend itself gives her. If the Oldenburg horn is still preserved at Copenhagen, its date might doubtless be determined by the style of the work. Mount Osen seems to have been a place which abounded in supernatural beings. Some elves who came from this mountain to take fresh-brewed beer, and left good, though unknown money, to pay for it, are mentioned in another story in the _Deutsche Sagen_, (No.43. vol. i. p. 55.) L. [Having had an opportunity of inspecting a copy of Hamelmann's _Chronicle_, at present belonging to Mr. Quaritch, in which there is a very interesting engraving of the horn in question (which may possibly have been a Charter Horn), we are not disposed to pronounce it older than the latter end of the fifteenth century. If, however, it is still preserved at Copenhagen, some correspondent there will perhaps do us the favour to furnish us with a precise description of it, and with the various legends which are inscribed upon it.--ED.] * * * * * GREEK PARTICLES ILLUSTRATED BY THE EASTERN LANGUAGES. |
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