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hensions infinitely finer than any human beings, and are well acquainted with all the mysteries of nature. They are besides exceedingly industrious, and work the metals with a minuteness that can be only equalled by the texture of the blossom or the flower.

Amongst all his companions in the school, the one he best loved was a little fair-complexioned maiden, called Elizabeth, who came from his own village, and was the pastor's daughter. With her he passed his childhood in brotherly affection, without any thought of the earth or its inhabitants, till at length he had reached his eighteenth, and she her sixteenth, year, when this affection ripened into love. The dwarfs saw this with pleasure, for their great desire is to rule, and they hoped to enslave him by means of his passion for Elizabeth: but in this they were mistaken; he had learnt from his attendant, that he who was master of one dwarf was master of them all, and could command the utmost exertions of their power.

The affection of the lovers increased with the lapse of time, and every evening was spent in lonely twilight walks ; for in the hours that darkness was upon the earth, the lustre of the diamond would wax dim here below: an artificial night then succeeded, not dark in deed, but pale as the evening glimmer in the aisles of some antiquated abbey. On such occasions, Hans was ever pleased and cheerful, but Elizabeth would often think of the life above, where men dwell beneath the changing orbs of heaven Still, however, this was but a passing shadow of the moment; in listening to him she loved, all else was speedily forgotten.

It once happened that they walked farther than was their custom, till they at last found themselves beneath the very spot where the mountain opened to let out the dwarfs into the upper world. On a sudden they heard the crowing of many cocks from the earth above, a sound that had not reached them for twelve long years; with it awoke in

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Elizabeth's breast a thousand recollections of the earth,-of her home, and her dear parents, and the playmates of her childhood, of the flowers of spring and the winter's fireside. Her heart was full; she fell upon the bosom of her lover, wetting his cheek with her tears, while for a time the words died away upon her lips. At length her passion found language for its expression. "It is beautiful here below, and the little race are kind and gentle, but yet my heart is not at home here, and never can be. This is not a life for human beings every night I dream of my parents, and of the church, and of the Sunday crowds waiting around my father; and then-oh! then my heart throbs to be with them, and join in Christian prayer to God and the host of heaven. Here, too, we can never be man and wife, for here is no priest to marry us, and we must grow old and grey in singleness. Think of this and contrive some means for our departure."

And Hans answered his betrothed,— "You advise me rightly, dear Eliza-* beth. It was to me also as if I heard in that cry the voice of Christ calling out in love, Ascend, my children, from the abodes of sorcery and blindness! ascend to the world of the sun, and walk like the other children of the earth. Yes, Elizabeth, for the first time my heart is heavy. I will not stay here a day longer, for they dare not keep me. I am their master." At these last words Elizabeth came pale as death; they reminded her of what she had too lightly forgotten,of her servitude, and its necessary duration for fifty years before she could revisit earth. "Alas," she said, this is well for you who have a power above that' of the dwarfs; but a cruel law holds me to this place for fifty years. What have I to do on earth, when my father and mother are dead, and the playfellows of my youth are old and grey? Age will be upon your head also, and what then will it avail me that I am.. young, and only in my twentieth year? Poor, poor Elizabeth."

Hans felt the truth of what she has spoken; but he pressed her hand to his heart, and promised never to leave that place of middle earth, until he could leave it with his Elizabeth. With this they parted, sad and almost hopeless.

The whole night through Hans meditated upon the way of freeing his beloved: when morning broke he summoned to him the six chief dwarfs, with whom he always sat at dinner. Much as they were astonished at this call, they were forced to obey it, and when all were present, he demanded of them his Elizabeth. This was at once refused d; upon which Hans, in great wrath, exclaimed, " You can and shall give up Elizabeth. You know my orders I entreat no more let me see you again with the morrow.

And the morrow came, but with it came no alteration in the resolves of the little people. Hans, therefore, began to shew his power, by employing them in breaking and dragging huge stones, and in other hard work, that martyred their tender limbs as if they had been stretched upon the rack. Still all was in vain. He made them mangle each other with iron scourges, till the blood poured down in torrents-but he got no nearer to his object. At last he could no longer bear the sight of their torments, and, ceasing to plague them, he separated himself from their society, and lived almost as a hermit.

In one of his lonely walks, he was breaking the stones against each other for want of occupation, when suddenly a toad sprang from a piece of rock that he had just shivered. At this sight the tales of the old cowherd flashed upon his memory, and he exclaimed,"Now, then, Elizabeth is mine; the malicious dwarfs could endure the Scourge, but here is an enemy, whose sight will sting them worse than the sting of iron, or the bite of scorpions." With this he inclosed the creature in a vase of silver, and again summoned the little people to his presence.

No sooner had they come within a

its influence acted upon them like an few paces of their noxious enemy, than

electric shock. They fell to the earth convulsed, shivering, shrieking, and writhing like half-bruised serpents. Every hand was stretched forth to pray for mercy, and every voice was loud in promises. Hans, feeling that the power was now with himself, told them he should depart that night, between the hours of eleven and twelve, with his ' Elizabeth, and ordered them to load five waggons with the riches of their kingdom,-their books, their gold, their emeralds, and their diamonds. To this they promised assent, and even to his wish, that all their servants should be free, who, according to earthly reckoning, were more than twenty years of age.

It was an hour after midnight; the mountain opened, and they stood again upon the earth, and for the first time for twelve long years they saw the red of morning glimmering in the east. The dwarfs swarmed like bees about the waggons; all were busy, though in silence, for the hand of their master lay heavy on them; it looked like the breaking up of their kingdom. And now Hans took the brown cap from his head, waved it thrice in the air, and flung it amongst the crowd. In an instant all had vanished; nothing was to be seen but a few bushes ;-nothing to be heard but the whispers of the grass that waved in the morning wind like the gentle rise of ocean when it swells but no wave breaks its surface. The clock from Rambin church struck two. All fell down upon their knees, and gave praised unto heaven.

Great was the surprise of the whole village, when this singular cavalcade appeared before the cottage of Jacob Dietrich. But wonder was soon lost in joy when the tale was told: the old: man and the pastor blessed their children, and at their wedding danced forty maidens in their shoes of glass, a thing unheard of since the marriage of Hans Dietrich with the fair Elizabeth.

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of sorrow and apprehension. They played on musical instruments of wonderful sweetness and variety of note, spread unexpected feasts, the supernatural flavour of which overpowered on many occasions the religious scruples of the Presbyterian shepherds, performed wonderful deeds of horsemanship, and marched in midnight processions, when the sound of their elfin minstrelsy charmed youths and maidens into love for their persons and pursuits; and more than one family of Corriewater have augmented the numbers of the elfin chivalry. Faces of friends and relatives, long since doomed to the battle trench, or the deep sea, have been recognized by those who dared to gaze on the fairy march. The maid has seen her lost lover, and the mother her stolen child; and the courage to plan and achieve their deliverance has been possessed by, at least, one border maiden. In the legends of the people of Corrievale there is a singular mixture of elfin and human adventure, and the traditional story of the Cupbearer to the Queen of the Fairies appeals alike to our domestic feelings and imagination.

In one of the little green loops, or bends, on the banks of Corriewater, mouldered walls, and a few stunted wild plum-trees, and vagrant roses, still point out the scite of a cottage and garden. A well of pure spring-water leaps out from an old tree-root before the door, and here the shepherds, shading themselves in summer from the influence of the sun, tell to their children the wild tale of Elphin Irving, and his sister Phemie; and, singular as the story seems, it has gained full credence among the people where the scene is laid.

Even at that this day when a stranger enquires of an old inhabitant of Corriewater, respecting the truth of this tale, his answer will invariably be, True!-Aye, I ken the place weel, and the tale's as true as a bullet to its

aim, and a spark to powder. Yes, alas! too true, Elphin Irving came not into the world like the other sinful inhabitants of earth, and he went not from it like one."

When Elphin Irving and his sister Phemie were in their sixteenth year, for tradition says they were twins, their father was drowned in Corriewater, attempting to save his sheep from a sudden swell, to which all mountain streams are liable; and their mother, on the day of her husband's burial, laid down her head on the pillow, from which, on the seventh day, it was lifted to be dressed for the same grave. The inheritance left to the orphans may be briefly described: seventeen acres of plough and pasture land, seven milk cows, and seven pet sheep, (many old people take delight in odd numbers); and to this may be added, seven bonnet pieces of Scottish gold, and a broad sword and spear, which their ancestor had wielded with such strength and courage in the battle of Dryfe-sands, that the minstrel who sang of that deed of arms, ranked him only second to the Scotts and Johnstones.

The youth and his sister grew in stature and in beauty. The brent bright brow, the clear blue eye, and frank and blythe deportment of the former, gave him some influence among the young women of the valley; while the latter was no less the admiration of the young men, and at fair and dance, and at bridal, happy was he who touched but her hand, or received the benediction of her eye. Like all other Scottish beauties, she was the theme of many a song; and while tradition is yet busy with the singular history of her brother, song has taken all the care that rustic minstrelsy can of the gentleness of her spirit, and the charms of her per

son.

But minstrel skill, and true love tale, seemed to want their usual influence, when they sought to win her attention ;' she was only observed to pay most

respect to those youths who were most beloved by her brother; and the same hour that brought these twins into the world, seemed to have breathed through them a sweetness and an affection of heart and mind which nothing could divide. If, like the virgin queen of the immortal poet, she walked in maiden meditation fancy free," her brother, Elphin, seemed alike untouched with the charms of the fairest virgins in Corrie. He ploughed his field, he reaped his grain, he leaped, he ran, and wrestled, and danced, and sang, with more skill, and life, and grace, than all other youths of the district; but he had no twilight and stolen interviews: when all other young men had their loves by their side he was single, though not unsought; and his joy seemed never perfect, save when his sister was near him. If he loved to share his time with her, she loved to share her time with him alone, or with the beasts of the field, or the birds of the air. She watched her little flock late, and she tended it early; not for the sordid love of the fleece, unless it was to make mantles for her brother, but with the look of one who had joy in its company. The very wild creatures, the deer and the hares, seldom sought to shun her approach, and the bird forsook not its nest, nor stinted its song, when she drew nigh; such is the confidence which maiden innocence and beauty inspire.

It happened one summer, about three years after they became orphans, that rain had been for awhile withheld from the earth, the hill-sides began to parch,

the

grass in the vales to wither, and the stream of Corrie was diminished between its banks to the size of an ordinary rill. The shepherds drove their flocks to marsh lands, and lake and tarn had their reeds invaded by the scythe, to supply the cattle with food. The sheep of his sister were Elphin's constant care; he drove them to the moistest pastures during the day, and he often watched them at midnight,

when flocks, tempted by the sweet dewy grass, are known to browze eagerly that he might guard them from the fox, and lead them to the choicest herbage. In these nocturnal watchings he sometimes drove his flock over the water of Corrie, for the fords were hardly ankle deep, or permitted his sheep to cool themselves in the stream, and taste the grass which grew along the brink. All this time not a drop of rain fell, nor did a cloud appear in the sky.

One evening, during her brother's absence with the flock, Phemie sat at her cottage door, listening to the bleatings of the distant folds, and the lessen- . ed murmur of the water of Corrie, now scarcely audible beyond its banks. Her eyes, weary with watching along the accustomed line of road for the return of Elphin, were turned on the pool beside her, in which the stars were glimmering fitful and faint. As she looked she imagined the water grew brighter and brighter; a wild illumination presently shone upon the pool, and leaped from bank to bank, and suddenly changing into a human form, ascended the margin, and passing her, glided swiftly into the cottage. The visionary form was so like her brother in shape and air, that starting up she flew into the house, with the hope of finding him in his customary seat. She found him not, and impressed with the terror which a wraith or apparition seldom fails to inspire, she uttered a shriek so loud and so piercing as to be heard at Johnstone bank, on the other side of the vale of Corrie.

It is hardly known, how long Phemie Irving continued in a state of insensibility. The morning was far advanced, when a neighbouring maiden found her seated in an old chair, as white as monumental marble; her hair, about which she had been solicitous, loosened from its curls, and hanging disordered over her neck and bosom, her hands and forehead; the maiden touched the one and kissed the other, they were as cold as snow: and her

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