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596 ELEMENTS.
imbrem has dropt out altogether, and been replaced by a mere
Whitsun drollery at the cost of the laziest man; 1 but I have
little doubt that the same purpose lies at the bottom of the
custom (see Suppl.).
Of goddesses, no doubt the bath-loving Nerthus and Holda
are the most nearly connected with water- worship (Holda lives in
wells, pp. 268, 487) ; and to them must be added swan-maidens,
merminnes (p. 433), water-holdes, spring-holdes (p. 268), watermuhmes
and nixies. To all of them particular rivers, brooks,
pools and springs can be consecrated and assigned
as their
abode; Oegir (p. 237) and Ran (pp. 311, 497) ruled in the sea,
and the waves are called their daughters : all this gives a new
stamp to the veneration of the element. Of this very natural,
but not essential, combination of simple rude water-worship with
a faith in higher beings, I will give a few more specimens.
As those who cross a river by ferry or by bridge have to dread
the power of the daemon that dwells in it
(p. 497), so vulgar
opinion in Sweden (Sup. K, 40) holds it advisable, in crossing
any water in the dark, to spit three times, as a safeguard against
evil influences. 2 Precautions are also taken in drawing water from
a well : before drawing any, the Greeks at Mykono salute three
times in honour of Teloni (fountain-sprite). 3 For a thief to throw
in the water a little of what he has stolen (Sup. I, 836), means
sacrificing to the water-sprite. The Vita S. Sulpicii Biturig.
(died 644) relates (Acta Bened. sec. 2, p. 172):
f
gurges quidam
erat in Yirisionensium situs agello (Vierzon, in Biturigibus)
aquarum mole copiosus, utpote daemonibus consecratus ; et si
aliquis causa qualibet ingrederetur eundem, repente funibus
daemoniacis circumplexus amittebat crudeliter vitam/ A more
decisive testimony to the worship of water itself is what Gregory
of Tours tells of a lake on Mt. Helanus (De gloria confess.,
cap. 2) : Mons erat in Gabalitano territorio (Gevaudan) cogno-
mento Helanus, lacum habens magnum. Ad quern certo tern-
pore multitude rusticorum, quasi libamina lacui illi exUbens,
1
Sup. I, 342 : the lazy maid, on carrying home her first grass, is ducked or
splashed, to prevent her going to sleep over grass-cutting.
2 The spirits cannot abide spitting (p. 514).
3 Villoison in Maltebrun, Annales de voy. 2, 180. Artemidorus s Oneirocrit.
2 27 (Reiff 1, 189) admits : well-nymphs vt^ai re yap dvw iv r fotari. Fauriel:
rb aroLeibv TOV