Sunday, January 6, 2008

CS Lewis - Dari Almari Narnia - Bag. 1

Kategori: Books

Baca juga :
Lanturan Tapi Relevan - 03 Jan 2007
The Mystery of Numbers - 26 Dec 2006
Mengungkap "The Da Vinci Code" (4) - 18 May 2006

Clive Staples Lewis memandang dengan dahi berkerut keluar jendela ruangan besar di Magdalena College Oxford University. Ini musim gugur 1936. Berarti, sudah sebelas tahun ia memberikan kuliah Bahasa Inggris di sana. Berarti pula, sudah lima belas tahun dia habiskan di kampus itu sejak mulai mendalami sastra Yunani dan Latin, filsafat klasik, dan bahasa satra Inggris. Untuk ketiga bidang itu dia meraih derajat kelas satu.

Di halaman sana dia melihat jalan setapak favoritnya, Addison’s Walk. Dia ingat, di sanalah, lima tahun lalu, dia dan Tolkien dan Hugo Dyson, berdebat panjang tentang agama Kristen dan mendorong dirinya yang rasional dan skeptis terhadap iman meneguhkan keimanannya.

Lalu, ketika dia mengalihkan pandangan matanya ke dalam ruang kerjanya, dia tertumbuk pada sederet buku di ruang kerjanya itu. Rak-rak yang penuh buku, benda yang akrab dengannya sedari kecil, barangkali sejak mata bayinya terbuka.

Dalam autobiografinya yang belakangan diterbitkan, Surprised by Joy, Lewis melukiskan kelahirannya di kawasan Dundela, Belfast Timur, Irlandia pada 1898 sebagai putra kedua pasangan Albert dan Flora dan masa kanak-kanaknya sebagai “produk dari koridor-koridor panjang, ruang-ruang kosong yang disinari cahaya matahari, kesunyian kamar lantai atas, loteng yang menyuarakan keheningan, keriuhan degukan tangki dan pipa air dari kejauhan, dan krisik angin di celah genteng. Juga, sederet panjang buku-buku”.

Buku-buku itu mengepungnya sedari kecil. ”Ada buku-buku di ruang belajar, di ruang santai, di ruang depan tempat menempatkan jas dan topi, di lemari besar, di tempat tidur, buku bertumpuk setinggi bahuku di loteng rumah,” kenang Jack. Rumah itu dipenuhi beragam jenis buku. ”Ada yang dapat dibaca, ada yang tidak, ada yang cocok untuk anak-anak dan banyak yang tidak menarik untuk anak-anak. Tak ada yang terlarang bagiku. Semunya boleh kubaca. Dan, di sore hari yang diwarnai rintik hujan kuhabiskan buku itu satu demi satu.”

Buku favoritnya adalah karya Dith Nesbit, seperti The Story of the Amulet (1906), yang meramu fantasi dengan kenyataan, dan edisi lengkap Gulliver’s Travels. Di kemudian hari dia membaca buku mitologi Norse, novel sejarah seperti Quo Vadis-nya Henryk Sienkiewicz dan Beb Hu-nya Lew Wallace. Tentu saja, kemudian bersua The Odyssey, karya Voltaire dan Jhon Milton.

Saat berusia tiga tahun, Lewis kecil mengumumkan bahwa namanya Jack dan sejak itu keluarga dan teman-temannya memanggilnya Jack. Sedangkan kakaknya bernama Warren dan nama kecilnya Warnie.

Jack berteman baik dengan Warren dan menghabiskan waktu mereka dengan menggambar dan menulis bersama. Waren suka menggambar kereta api dan kapal uap, sedangkan Lewis suka binatang berpakaian manusia dan kisah-kisah para satria dan kavaleri. Jack pandai menggabungkan khayalan mereka berdua menjadi sebuah hikayat pertualangan di kerajaan binatang. Di masa kecilnya, bakat kepengarangan Jack mulai tumbuh. Dia belajar menulis tentang sebuah negeri imajiner bernama Bloxen di loteng rumahnya.

Mereka hidup berbahagia hingga meninggalnya sang bunda pada Agustus 1908. Guncangan kehilangan sosok bunda itu merapatkan hubungan Jack dan Warren, tapi hubungan mereka dengan sang ayah malah menjauh.

Selera Jack terhadap dongeng menemukan jalurnya pada musik Richard Wagner saat dia masuk sekolah persiapan Cherourg. Wagner banyak mengangkat tema mitologi. Epik opera Wagner tentang lingkaran cincin memperkenalkan Jack pada alam mitologi Norse. Saat perang dunia pertama, Jack baru masuk Oxford University. Walaupun dia tak harus berperang karena orang Irlandia, ia tetap mendaftarkan diri menjadi tentara dan dikirim ke garis depan. Di sana ia bertemu seorang Irlandia yang kemudian menjadi sahabat baiknya, Edward Moore. Keduanya bersumpah, bila salah satu dari mereka tak kembali dari perang, yang lain akan mendukung keluarga yang ditinggalkan. Jack dikirim pulang dengan sedikit luka, sedangkan Moore mati terbunuh, meninggalkan ibunya Janie, dan adiknya, Maureen.

Jack menenuhi sumpahnya dan tinggal bersama keluarga Moore hingga Janie meninggal। Hubungannya dengan Janie sangat dekat, bahkan sejumlah orang menganggap mereka adalah pasangan kekasih. Anggapan itu belum pernah terbukti. Yang pasti, Jack menemukan figur ibu pada diri Janie yang memperlakukannya dengan sangat baik.

iga umat agama Smitik—Yahudi, Nasrani, dan Islam—meyakini peristiwa ‘banjir besar’ pada zaman Nabi Nuh (Noah). Tidak hanya itu. Dalam tradisi bangsa Sumeria, Babilonia, Akkadia, Jerman, Irlandia, dan Yunani juga mengenal kisah ini. Tetapi, bukti-bukti arkeologis yang mendukung kebenaran kisah ini memang tidak atau belum pernah ditemukan. Pada akhirnya, kisah maha hebat tersebut cenderung dianggap sebagai mitos. Tradisi umat Yahudi dan Nasrani mengandalkan kitab Perjanjian Lama untuk menjelaskan kisah besar ini. Menurut Maurice Bucaille (1979), kisah banjir besar pada zaman Nabi Nuh terdapat dalam Kitab Kejadian Fasal 6, 7 dan 8. Berdasarkan sumber-sumber Biblikal disebutkan dua jenis penyebab banjir: hujan deras dan air tanah yang meluap. Kisah banjir besar pada zaman Nabi Nuh juga diyakini oleh umat Islam. Kisah ini dapat dibaca dalam Al-Qur’an Surat Al-A'raf ayat 64, Al-Qamar ayat 12, Hud ayat 48, Yunus ayat 73, Al-Furqan ayat 37, Al-Ankabut ayat 14, 120, Nuh ayat 25, dan lain-lain. Berdasarkan sumber Islam, penyebab utama banjir besar adalah mata air di bumi yang terus memancar sehingga mengalir bersatu menjelma menjadi banjir besar (Qs. Al-Qamar: 12). Pada surat lain dijelaskan indikasi bencana alam di masa Nabi Nuh lewat "at-tannur" yang terus meleleh (Qs. Hud: 40). Kebenaran agama diyakini bersifat mutlak. Ketika kisah banjir besar pada masa Nabi Nuh masuk ke dalam doktrin agama, maka untuk melacak kebenarannya menjadi teramat sulit. Padahal, dalam perspektif Ilmu Pengetahuan (Science), suatu kejadian dapat dikategorikan sebagai "peristiwa sejarah" ketika terdapat bukti-bukti arkeologis yang mendukungnya. Oleh karena itu, hingga saat ini, di antara para ilmuwan masih menganggap kisah banjir besar di zaman Nabi Nuh hanya sebatas mitos. Uniknya, beberapa bangsa di dunia memiliki tradisi mitologi yang boleh dikata sejenis. Seolah-olah kisah banjir besar ini merupakan kejadian maha hebat yang telah menyatukan memori kolektif antarbangsa. Mitos Banjir Besar Di luar doktrin agama-agama Smitik, bangsa-bangsa lain di dunia mengenang peristiwa banjir besar dalam bentuk mitologi. Misalnya bangsa Sumeria mengenal mitos Ziusudra. Mitologi ini terdapat dalam Kitab Kejadian Eridu yang konon ditulis pada sekitar abad ke-17 SM. Kisahnya tentang banjir besar di kota Shuruppak yang meluas sampai ke kota Kish. Oleh para pakar mitologi, mitos Ziusudra dianggap padanan dari kisah Nabi Nuh. Dalam tradisi bangsa Babilonia juga dikenal epos Gilgames. Bangsa Babilonia memiliki pertalian etnik maupun kultural dengan bangsa Sumeria. Oleh karena itu, epos Gilgames juga memiliki kaitan erat dengan mitos Ziusudra. Sekalipun karakteristik kedua tokoh ini berbeda, tetapi latarbelakang epos Gilgames persis seperti pada kisah Ziusudra, yakni peristiwa banjir besar. Dalam tradisi bangsa Akkadia yang juga memiliki keterkaitan etnik dan kultural dengan bangsa Babilonia dan Sumeria dikenal epos Atrahasis. Konon, epos ini ditulis kurang lebih pada 1700 SM. Yang cukup unik, sosok Atrahasis hampir mirip seperti figur Nabi Nuh. Mitos banjir besar juga terdapat dalam tradisi bangsa Yunani kuno. Orang-orang Yunani mengenal dua peristiwa banjir besar: Ogigian dan Deukalion. Sumber mitologi ini terdapat dalam The Library karya Apolloardus. Khusus untuk epos Deukalion, kisahnya sangat mirip dengan peristiwa pada zaman Nabi Nuh. Dalam tradisi bangsa Jerman dikenal mitologi Norse. Kisah ini sama persis seperti dalam mitologi Yunani, Deukalion. Dalam konteks tradisi Jerman, tokoh utamanya diperankan oleh Bergelmir. Pakar mitologi Brian Banston menganggap mitologi bangsa Jerman ini setera dengan kisah banjir bah di zaman Nabi Nuh. Mitos banjir besar juga terdapat dalam tradisi bangsa Irlandia. Orang-orang Irlandia kuno menganggap nenek moyang mereka sebagai keturunan langsung dari Nabi Nuh. Bangsa Irlandia kuno dipimpin oleh cucu perempuan Nabi Nuh, Cessair. Sewaktu banjir bah selama 40 hari 40 malam, seluruh bangsa Irlandia tenggelam. Dalam mitologi ini dikisahkan bahwa hanya satu orang saja yang berhasil selamat dari peristiwa banjir besar tersebut (lihat Wikipedia Indonesia). Kebenaran Mitos Para ilmuwan masih beranggapan bahwa peristiwa banjir besar di zaman Nabi Nuh as. hanya sebatas mitos. Mereka merasa sangsi seandainya menganggap kisah banjir besar di zaman Nabi Nuh sebagai peristiwa sejarah. Mungkin mereka bertanya-tanya, mengapa mitos dijadikan sebagai bukti dalam menelusuri jejak-jejak historis? Bukankah mitos hanya sebatas kisah fiktif? Mungkin benar bagi mereka yang beranggapan bahwa mitos-mitos yang dimiliki oleh setiap bangsa tidak lain hanya sebatas kisah fiktif belaka. Tetapi, perlu diingat. Mungkinkah mitos-mitos itu lahir hanya berdasarkan kekuatan imajinasi semata? Dapatkah sebuah ide berdiri sendiri secara independen? Tentu saja tidak. Sekalipun mitos-mitos itu cenderung fiktif, tetapi ide pokok (subtansi) yang melatarbelakangina jelas tidak dapat berdiri sendiri. Menurut penulis, terdapat suatu peristiwa penting yang melatarbelakangi keberadaan mitologi-mitologi yang dimiliki oleh beberapa bangsa di atas. Ketika masing-masing bangsa memiliki mitos-mitos yang boleh dikata identik dengan bangsa-bangsa lain, justru di situlah "benang merah" yang dapat menghubungkan memori kolektif antarbangsa. Memori kolektif tersebut bersumber dari sebuah peristiwa maha hebat yang terjadi pada suatu masa, namun tidak jelas diketahui kapan terjadinya. Masing-masing bangsa mengungkapkannya dalam bentuk karya sastra, baik berupa hymne maupun epos, yang sudah barang tentu amat bervariasi. Identitas bahasa dan latarbelakang sosiologis yang dimiliki oleh sebuah bangsa mengungkapkannya dalam tradisi bertutur dengan sentuhan-sentuhan imajinasi kreatif dari para penyair dan sastrawan. Terdapat dua kesimpulan penting berdasarkan argumentasi penulis ini. Pertama, setiap mitos yang diciptakan oleh suatu bangsa tidak mungkin terlepas dari latarbelakang historisnya. Kedua, mitos-mitos yang dimiliki oleh banyak suku bangsa, tetapi subtansinya menggambarkan suatu kejadian yang mirip, menjadi sebuah indikasi akan kebenaran faktual di dalamnya. Atas dasar inilah, penulis tetap meyakini bahwa pada suatu masa, di zaman dahulu, telah terjadi peristiwa banjir besar—sebagaimana dalam kisah Nabi Nuh—yang kemudian memusnahkan separoh kehidupan di muka bumi ini. Mitos Banjir Besar dan Fenomena Global Warming Penulis menganggap relevan mengangkat kisah banjir besar pada zaman Nabi Nuh berkaitan dengan fenomena "pemanasan global" (global warming) yang akhir-akhir ini banyak mendapat sorotan publik dunia. Pemanasan global sudah bukan lagi sebatas wacana. Hampir seluruh negara di dunia telah merasakannya. Perubahan iklim secara drastis menyebabkan musim tak teratur. Di Indonesia, batas antara musim hujan dan kemarau sudah sulit diidentifikasi. Akibat dari pemanasan global, suhu bumi terus meningkat. Dampaknya, gunung-gunung es di kutub utara dan selatan terus mencair. Otomatis, permukaan air laut terus naik. Jika pemanasan global terus berlanjut, diprediksikan pada tahun 2100 beberapa pulau bakal terancam tenggelam. Fenomena pemanasan global menjadi ancaman bagi masa depan peradaban umat manusia di muka bumi ini. Perubahan suhu dan iklim yang tidak teratur mengakibatkan munculnya berbagai macam bentuk bencana alam. Banjir besar, angin topan, dan kekeringan merebak di mana-mana. Akibatnya, korban jiwa dan kerugian materi hampir tak terhitung lagi. Kampanye penyelamatan dunia terhadap ancaman global warming memang sudah dimulai pada tahun 1992. Konferensi Tingkat Tinggi (KTT) Bumi di Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (1992) sudah menyepakati Konvensi Perubahan Iklim (Convention on Climate Change) yang terus mengancam peradaban manusia. Sebanyak 154 kepala negara telah terlibat dalam penandatanganan Convention on Climate Change ini. Hanya saja, sampai saat ini masih dipertanyakan komitmen masing-masing. Ancaman global sudah di depan mata, sementara hampir semua pihak malah mengabaikannya. Hanya beberapa LSM dan tokoh pencinta lingkungan saja yang kelihatan serius melihat ancaman global ini. Oleh karena itu, menjelang Conference to the Parties to the Convention (COP) ke-13 di Bali nanti (Desember 2007), perlu digaet beberapa elemen masyarakat dunia agar masing-masing sadar bahwa peradaban umat manusia sedang terancam. Agama-agama besar dunia yang dalam sumber ajaran masing-masing mengenal kisah banjir besar pada zaman Nabi Nuh perlu mencermati fenomena pemanasan global ini. Dengan menengok kembali kisah maha hebat pada zaman Nabi Nuh, setiap umat beragama akan sadar bahwa dunia sedang dalam ancaman besar. Fenomena alam berupa perubahan iklim secara drastis, suhu bumi yang terus memanas, dan permukaan air laut yang terus naik, menjadi pertanda akan bahaya besar yang sedang mengancam peradaban umat manusia. Fenomena pemanasan global jelas identik dengan kisah pada masa Nabi Nuh. Oleh karena itu, lewat artikel ini, penulis terus berharap kepada para pemuka agama, baik para rahib, pendeta, ulama dan cendekiawan supaya menengok kembali kejadian besar pada masa Nabi Nuh untuk memahami fenomena global warming dalam perspektif agama-agama

The Stone of Odin

Orkney Islands

A young man had seduced a girl under promise of marriage, and she proving with child, was deserted by him: The young man was called before session; the elders were particularly severe. Being asked by the minister the cause of so much rigor, they answered, "You do not know what a bad man this is; he has broke the promise of Odin."

Being further asked what they meant by the promise of Odin, they put him in mind of the stone at Stenhouse, with the round hole in it; and added, that it was customary, when promises were made, for the contracting parties to join hands through this hole, and the promises so made were called the promises of Odin.

It was said that a child passed through the hole when young would never shake with palsy in old age. Up to the time of its destruction, it was customary to leave some offering on visiting the stone, such as a piece of bread, or cheese, or a rag, or even a stone.

The Odin stone, long the favorite trysting-place in summer twilights of Orkney lovers, was demolished in 1814 by a sacrilegious farmer, who used its material to assist him in the erection of a cowhouse. this misguided man was a Ferry-Louper (the name formerly given to strangers from the south), and his wanton destruction of the consecrated stone stirred so strongly the resentment of the peasantry in the district that various unsuccessful attempts were made to burn his house and holdings about his ears.

  • Source: County Folk-Lore, vol. 3: Examples of Printed Folk-Lore Concerning the Orkney & Shetland Islands, collected by G. F. Black and edited by Northcote W. Thomas (London: Folk-Lore Society, 1903), p. 2.
  • Black's sources:
    1. Principal Gordon of the Scots College at Paris in Archæologia Scotica, vol. 1, p. 263.
    2. Capt. F. W. L. Thomas in Archæologia, , vol. 34, p. 101.
    3. Daniel Gorrie, Summers and Winters in the Orkneys, 2nd ed. (London, 1869), p. 143.
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The Temple of the Moon, The Temple of the Sun, and Wodden's Stone

Orkney Islands

There was a custom among the lower class of people in this country which has entirely subsided within these twenty or thirty years. Upon the first day of every new year the common people, from all parts of the country, met at the Kirk of Stainhouse (Stennis), each person having provision for four or five days; they continued there for that time dancing and feasting in the kirk.

This meeting gave the young people an opportunity of seeing each other, which seldom failed in making four or five marriages every year; and to secure each other's love, till an opportunity of celebrating their nuptials, they had resource to the following solemn engagements:

The parties agreed stole from the rest of their companions, and went to the Temple of the Moon, where the woman, in presence of the man, fell down on her knees and prayed the god Wodden (for such was the name of the god they addressed upon this occasion) that he would enable her to perform all the promises and obligations she had and was to make to the young man present, after which they both went to the Temple of the Sun, where the man prayed in like manner before the woman, then they repaired from this to the stone [known as Wodden's or Odin's Stone], and the man being on one side and the woman on the other, they took hold of each other's right hand through the hole, and there swore to be constant and faithful to each other.

This ceremony was held so very sacred in those times that the person who dared to break the engagement made here was counted infamous, and excluded all society.

  • Source: County Folk-Lore, vol. 3: Examples of Printed Folk-Lore Concerning the Orkney & Shetland Islands, collected by G. F. Black and edited by Northcote W. Thomas (London: Folk-Lore Society, 1903), pp. 212-213.
  • Black's source: George Low, A Tour through the Islands of Orkney and Schetland, containing Hints Relative to their Ancient, Modern, and Natural History, collected in 1774 (Kirkwall, 1879), p. xxvi.
  • The "Temple of the Moon" is a circle of standing stones also known as the "Ring of Stennis."
  • The "Temple of the Sun" is a circle of standing stones also known as the "Ring of Brogar."
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The Merry Maidens

England (Cornwall)

Everyone in Cornwall knows the story of the Merry Maidens. It is said that long ago some twenty maidens, accompanied by two pipers, were dancing and making merry on a Sunday, and as punishment for this sacrilege the lot of them were turned to stone: the maidens were petrified in a perfect circle with the two pipers standing by themselves a little way off.

Now I cannot believe this legend, because according to it the stone circle would come from Christian times, but it has to be much older. When I was a lad I heard another explanation for the stones. I cannot remember any of the details, but I am sure it was much closer to the truth. It has something to do with the ley lines that run through here. In fact, a ley line connects the Blind Fiddler standing stone just up the road from here with my garden. Tomorrow I'll demonstrate its energy for you with a dowsing rod.

Yes, there is a story about the Blind Fiddler, but I don't remember it either. However, I do know a story about the Merry Maidens, and it is a true story.

In 1907 an emmet (that's a Cornish word for outsider) from England bought the farm where the Merry Maidens stone circle stands. Thinking that the stones lessened the value of the field, the new owner ordered one of his workers to pull them down and add them to the stone walls surrounding the meadow.

The worker, a Cornishman, protested, but the Englishman insisted: "This is my field, and I'll do with it what I please, and you'll do as I say!"

Next day the Cornishman hitched up three shire horses to a chain and began the task. (You know shire horses, don't you? They're big one-ton draft horses.) Anyway, while pulling over the first stone the lead horse panicked, reared up, then fell over dead.

Reporting this to his master, the Cornishman asked if he should fetch another horse for the task.

"No," said the landowner. "Set the stone back upright. We'll pull the lot of them down later."

But the stone circle was left undisturbed, and remains so to this day.

  • Source: Daniel Bowen Craigue, a retired electrician about 65 years of age, and life-long resident of Cornwall, currently residing at Catchall, Burlyas Bridge, near Penzance. Danny, as he likes to be called, narrated this account to D. L. and Patricia Ashliman on the evening of May 20, 2002.
  • The Merry Maidens stone circle, also called Dawn's Men (a corruption of Dans Maen [Stone Dance] in Cornish) or the Dancing Stones, consists of 19 evenly spaced stones set in a circle with a diameter of 75 feet. The two pipers, standing stones 13.5 feet and 15 feet high, are one fourth mile away.
  • Link to a photograph of the Merry Maidens. This page is part of the excellent Stone Pages site.
  • The Blind Fiddler is also called the Tregonebris Stone.
  • There is widespread (but, from my perspective, uncritical) belief in Great Britain in the natural energy of so-called ley lines. Link to a statistical study by Jason Papadopoulos of these lines: Ley Line Statistics.
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The Rollright Stones

England

The "Druidical" Stones at Rollright, Oxfordshire, are said to have been originally a general and his army who were transformed into stones by a magician. The tradition runs that there was a prophecy or oracle which told the general,--

If Long Compton thou canst see,
King of England thou shalt be.

He was within a few yard of the spot whence that town could be observed, when his progress was stopped by the magician's transformation,--

Sink down man, and rise up stone!
King of England thou shalt be none.

The general was transformed into a large stone which stands on a spot from which Long Compton is not visible, but on ascending a slight rise close to it, the town is revealed to view.

Roger Gale, writing in 1719, says that whoever dared to contradict this story was regarded "as a most audacious freethinker."

It is said that no man could ever count these stones, and that a baker once attempted it by placing a penny loaf on each of them, but somehow or other he failed in counting his own bread.

A similar tale is related of Stonehenge.

Legend of the Rollright Stones

England

Not far from the borders of Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, and within the latter county, is the pretty village of Rollright and near the village, up a hill, stands a circle of small stones, and one larger stone, such as our Celtic antiquaries say were raised by the Druids.

As soon as the Druids left them, the fairies, who never failed to take possession of their deserted shrines, seemed to have had an especial care over these stones, and anyone who ventures to meddle with them is sure to meet with some very great misfortune.

The old people of the village, however, who generally know most about these matters, say the stones were once a king and his knights, who were going to make war on the king of England. And they assert that, according to old prophecies, had they ever reached Long Compton, the king of England must inevitably have been dethroned, and this king would have reigned in his place. But when they came to the village of Rollright they were suddenly turned into stones in the place where they now stand.

Be this as it may, there was once a farmer in the village who wanted a large stone to put in a particular position in an outhouse he was building in his farmyard, and he thought that one of the old knights would be just the thing for him. In spite of all the warnings of his neighbors he determined to have the stone he wanted, and he put four horses to his best wagon and proceeded up the hill. With much labor he succeeded in getting the stone into his wagon, and though the road lay down hill, it was so heavy that his wagon was broken and his horses were killed by the labor of drawing it home. Nothing daunted by all these mishaps, the farmer raised the stone to the place it was to occupy in his new building.

From this moment everything went wrong with him. His crops failed year after year. His cattle died one after another. He was obliged to mortgage his land and to sell his wagons and horses, till at last he had left only one poor broken-down horse which nobody would buy, and one old crazy cart.

Suddenly the thought came into his head that all his misfortunes might be owing to the identical stone which he had brought from the circle at the top of the hill. He thought he would try to get it back again, and his only horse was put to the cart. To his surprise he got the stone down and lifted it into the cart with very little trouble, and, as soon as it was in, the horse, which could scarcely bear along its own limbs, now drew it up the hill of its own accord with as little trouble as another horse would draw an empty cart on level ground, until it came to the very spot where the stone had formerly stood beside its companions.

The stone was soon in its place, and the horse and cart returned home, and from that moment the farmer's affairs began to improve, till in a short time he was a richer and more substantial man than he had ever been before.

Druidical Circles and Monoliths

Scotland

Druidical circles and monoliths were looked upon with awe; and there were few that would have dared to remove them.

Here is a tradition of a monolith on the farm of Achorrachin in Glenlivet. The farmer was building a steading, and took the stone as a lintel to a byre door. Disease fell upon the cattle, and most unearthly noises were heard during the night all round the steading. There was no peace for man or beast.

By the advice of a friend, the stone was taken from the wall and thrown into the river that ran past the farm. Still there was no peace. The stone was at last put into its old place in the middle of a field. Things then returned to their usual course.

The stone stands to the present day in the middle of the field, and in some of its crevices were seen, not many years ago, small pieces of mortar.

  • Source: Walter Gregor, Notes on the Folk-Lore of the North-East of Scotland (London: Folk-Lore Society, 1881), p. 115.
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The Frau Holle Stone

Germany

In the forest near Fulda there is a stone with many furrows. It was there that Frau Holle cried such bitter tears over her husband that it softened the hard stone.

  • Source: J. W. Wolf, Hessische Sagen (Göttingen and Leipzig: Dieterichsche Buchhandlung, 1853), p. 10.
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Giants in Denmark

Saxo Grammaticus

That the country of Denmark was once cultivated and worked by giants, is attested by the enormous stones attached to the barrows and caves of the ancients. Should any man question that this is accomplished by superhuman force, let him look up at the tops of certain mountains and say, if he knows, what man has carried such immense boulders up to their crests.

For anyone considering this marvel will mark that it is inconceivable how a mass, hardly at all or but with difficulty movable upon a level, could have been raised to so mighty a peak of so lofty a mountain by mere human effort, or by the ordinary exertion of human strength. But as to whether, after the deluge went forth, there existed giants who could do such deeds, or men endowed beyond others with bodily force, there is scant tradition to tell us.

But, as our countrymen assert, even today there are those who dwell in that rugged and inaccessible region to the north who, by the transformable nature of their bodies, are granted the power of being near or distant, and of appearing and vanishing in turn. The approach to this region, whose position and name are unknown, and which lacks all civilization, but teems with peoples of monstrous strangeness, is beset with perils of a fearful kind, and has seldom granted to those who attempted it an unscathed return.

  • Source: The First Nine Books of the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus (Gesta Danorum), translated by Oliver Elton (London: David Nutt, 1894), pp. 12-14. Slightly revised. Saxo's Gesta Danorum (The Deeds of the Danes) was written ca. 1208.
  • Enormous stones, similar to those described by Saxo, can still be seen in the many dolmens still extant in Denmark.
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Gloshed's Altar

Sweden

South of Thorsby Church, among the mountains, lies a shattered rock called Gloshed's Altar, concerning which there is an old tradition still living upon the lips of the people, as follows:

A long time ago a man from the parish of Säfve went upon a Hollandish ship, on a whaling cruise. After the vessel had been tossed about the sea for some time, land was one day sighted, and upon the land was seen a fire which continued to burn many days.

It was determined that some of the ship's crew should go ashore, in the hope that shelter might be found, and among those who went ashore was our hero. When the strand was reached they found there an old man sitting by a fire of logs, endeavoring to warm himself.

"Where did you come from?" asked the old man.

"From Holland!" answered the sailors.

"But where were you born?" to our hero.

"In Hisingen, in the parish of Säfve," he answered.

"Are you acquainted in Thorsby?"

"Yes, indeed!"

"Do you know where Ulfve Mountain lies?"

"I have often passed it, as the road from Göteborg to Marstrand over Hisingen and through Thorsby goes past there."

"Do the large stones and hills remain undisturbed?" asked the old man.

"Yes, except one stone, which, if I remember correctly, is toppling over," said the Hisinger.

"That is too bad!" But do you know where Gloshed's Altar is, and does it remain sound?"

"Upon that point," said the sailor, "I have no knowledge."

Finally the old man continued, "If you will say to those who now live in Thorsby and Torrebräcka that they shall not destroy the stones and elevations at the foot of Ulfve Mount, and, above all, to take care of Gloshed's Altar, you shall have fair winds for the rest of your voyage."

The Hisinger promised to deliver the message when he arrived home, whereupon he asked the old man his name, and how he, living so far from Thorsby, was so well acquainted with matters there.

"I'll tell you," said he. "My name is Thore Brock, and I at one time lived there, but was banished. All my relations are buried at Ulfve Mountain, and at Gloshed's Altar we were wont to do homage to our gods and to make our offerings."

Hereupon they separated.

When the man from Hisinger returned home he went about the fulfillment of his promise, and, without knowing how, he soon became one of the principal farmers in the parish.

  • Source: Herman Hofberg, Swedish Fairy Tales, translated by W. H. Myers (Chicago, W. B. Conkey Company, 1893), pp. 95-96.
  • Footnote in the original:

    In Bohusländ and in Dalland the belief is quite general that the giants, leaving those regions, settled upon Dovre in Norway, or upon some uninhabited island in the North Sea, and that travelers are eagerly questioned about their former home.
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The Giant's Stone near Züschen

Germany

The inhabitants of the little town of Naumburg, near the border of the Waldeck District, built a church for the praise of God and and the salvation of their souls, for there was not yet one at that place. The devil, from a vantage point on a mountain near Züschen watched angrily as the pious work progressed from day to day. Finally he could no longer contain his anger; he picked up a huge stone, wanting to throw it at Naumburg. However, it got caught on his sleeve and fell into a field between Züschen and Naumburg. The Evil One went there, sat down on the stone, and wept bloody tears because of his failed throw. The stone is still there, and is known by the name Riesenstein (Giant's Stone). You can still see where the devil sat and the three red stains which are said to have come from his bloody tears.

  • Source: Karl Lyncker, Deutsche Sagen und Sitten in hessischen Gauen (Kassel: Verlag von Oswald Bertram, 1854), p. 263.
  • Naumburg and Züschen lie about 30 km west of Kassel in central Germany.
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The Stone of Stolzenhagen

Germany

Stolzenhagen Field is under the jurisdiction of Müllenbeck in Mittelmark and is not far at all from Lake Wandelitz. In this field there is an enormous stone which extends several feet beneath the earth and which has the imprint on its top of a very large and powerful man's hand. The five fingers can still be recognized clearly and distinctly.

The people of Wandelitz relate that in ancient times this stone lay on the other side of Lake Wandelitz. An enormous giant lived there, and in order to prove his strength he picked up the stone, pressed his five fingers into it -- leaving their imprint -- and then threw it across the lake.

  • Source: J. D. H. Temme, Die Volkssagen der Altmark. Mit einem Anhange von Sagen aus den übrigen Marken und aus dem Magdeburgischen (Berlin: In der Nicolaischen Buchhundlung, 1839), p. 99.
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The Seven Stones of Morin

Germany

Not far from the town of Morin in Neumark there are seven stones standing together in a field. They are called simply "the Seven Stones." According to legend they are seven young men who wantonly moistened their bread and cheese there in an indecent manner. As punishment for this wickedness, they were immediately turned into stones.

  • Source: J. D. H. Temme, Die Volkssagen der Altmark. Mit einem Anhange von Sagen aus den übrigen Marken und aus dem Magdeburgischen (Berlin: In der Nicolaischen Buchhundlung, 1839), pp. 99-100.
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The Adam's Dance of Wirchow

Germany

Near Wirchow in Neumark there is a circle of eighteen large stones. Fourteen of them are between two and two and a half feet high, and they stand in pairs, forming a large circle around two other stones, which stand in the middle of the circle. These two are more than two yards high. Two additional stones, still somewhat taller, stand outside the circle some distance removed.

About the origin of these stones it is related that at this place several hundred years ago a number of people gathered on Holy Whitsunday to carry out a naked dance.

As special punishment for their wicked behavior they were turned into stones. Thus the stones are called "the Adam's Dance," or "the Stone Dance." The fourteen stones in the circle were the male and female dancers. The two in the middle were the beer servers, and the two outside the circle were the musicians. One can still see violins on these latter ones.

  • Source: J. D. H. Temme, Die Volkssagen der Altmark. Mit einem Anhange von Sagen aus den übrigen Marken und aus dem Magdeburgischen (Berlin: In der Nicolaischen Buchhundlung, 1839), p. 100.
  • Whitsunday (Pentecost) is the seventh Sunday after Easter, and marks the close of Eastertide. Numerous non-Christian springtime rituals, superstitions, and practices have attached themselves to Whitsuntide.
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The Hun Graves at Züssow

Germany

Ages ago there were two large, ancient Hun Graves on the Buggenhagen Estate at Züssow. In the year 1594 the people of Greifswald needed stones for a building, and upon their request the Buggenhagens gave them permission to take the stones from the two Hun graves. After the Greifswald stonemasons had cut up the large stones they became curious about what might be buried in the earth beneath them. They therefore began to dig into one of the graves, where they found many human corpses.

They were completely preserved and enormously large. They measured between eleven and sixteen feet in length, and they all lay in a row. Between each one there was a jar filled with earth. When they began digging into the second grave they heard a great commotion beneath the earth, as though people were dancing and rattling bunches of keys. This so frightened them that they ceased their digging.

  • Source: J. D. H. Temme, Die Volkssagen von Pommern und Rügen (Berlin, In der Nicolaischen Buchhandlung, 1840), no. 173, p. 213.
  • North Germans refer to the giants that formerly occupied their land as Hünen, a word that is etymologically related to the Hunnen (Huns), of central Asia.
  • Greifswald is in northeast Germany.
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Table-Mên: The Saxon Kings' Visit to the Land's End

England (Cornwall)

At a short distance from Sennen church, and near the end of a cottage, is a block of granite, nearly eight feet long, and about three feet high. This rock is known as the Table-mên, or Table-main, which appears to signify the stone-table.

At Bosavern, in St. Just, is a somewhat similar flat stone; and the same story attaches to each.

It is to the effect that some Saxon Kings used the stone as a dining table. The number has been variously stated; some traditions fixing on three kings, others on seven. Hals is far more explicit; for, as he says, on the authority of the chronicle of Samuel Daniell; they were --

Ethelbert, 5th king of Kent;
Cissa, 2d king of the South Saxons;
Kingills, 6th king of the West Saxons;
Sebert, 3d king of the East Saxons;
Ethelfred, 7th king of the Northumbers;
Penda, 5th king of the Mercians;
Sigebert, 5th king of the East Angles, -- all who flourished about the year 600.

At a point where the four parishes of Zennor, Morvah, Gulval, and Madron meet, is a flat stone with a cross cut on it. The Saxon kings are also said to have dined on this.

The only tradition which is known amongst the peasantry of Sennen is, that Prince Arthur and the Kings who aided him against the Danes, in the great battle fought near Vellan-Drucher, dined on the Table-mên, after which they defeated the Danes.

  • Source: Robert Hunt, Popular Romances of the West of England; or, The Drolls, Traditions, and Superstitions of Old Cornwall (London: John Camden Hotten, 1871), pp. 180.
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King Arthur's Stone

England (Cornwall)

In the western part of Cornwall, all the marks of any peculiar kind found on the rocks are referred either to the giants or the devil. In the eastern part of the county such markings are almost always attributed to Arthur.

Not far from the Devil's Coit in St. Columb, on the edge of the Gossmoor, there is a large stone upon which are deeply impressed marks, which a little fancy may convert into the marks of four horseshoes. This is "King Arthur's Stone," and these marks were made by the horse upon which the British king rode when he resided at Castle Denis, and hunted on these moors. King Arthur's bed, and chair, and caves, are frequently to be met with.

The Giant's Coits, -- and many traditions of these will be found in the section devoted to the giant romances -- are probably monuments of the earliest types of rock mythology. Those of Arthur belong to the period when the Britons were so far advanced in civilization as to war under experienced rulers; and those which are appropriated by the devil are evidently instances of the influence of priestcraft [Roman Catholicism] on the minds of an impressible people.

  • Source: Robert Hunt, Popular Romances of the West of England; or, The Drolls, Traditions, and Superstitions of Old Cornwall (London: John Camden Hotten, 1871), p. 186.
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The Witches of the Logan Stone

England

Who that has traveled into Cornwall but has visited the Logan Stone? Numerous Logan rocks exist on the granite hills of the county, but that remarkable mass which is poised on the cubical masses forming its Cyclopean support, at Trereen, is beyond all others "The Logan Stone."

A more sublime spot could not have been chosen by the Bardic priesthood for any ordeal connected with their worship; and even admitting that nature may have disposed the huge mass to wear away, so as to rest delicately poised on a pivot, it is highly probable that the wild worship of the untrained tribes, who had passed to those islands from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, may have led them to believe that some superhuman power belonged to such a strangely balanced mass of rock.

Nothing can be more certain than that through all time, passing on from father to son, there has been a wild reverence of this mass of rock; and long after the days when the Druid ceased to be there is every reason for believing that the Christian priests, if they did not encourage, did not forbid, the use of this and similar rocks to be used as places of ordeal by the uneducated and superstitious people around.

Hence the mass of rock on which is poised the Logan Stone has ever been connected with the supernatural. To the south of the Logan Rock is a high peak of granite, towering above the other rocks; this is known as the Castle Peak.

No one can say for how long a period, but most certainly for ages, this peak has been the midnight rendezvous for witches. Many a man, and woman too, now sleeping quietly in the churchyard of St. Levan, would, had they the power, attest to have seen the witches flying into the Castle Peak on moonlight nights mounted on the stems of the ragwort (Senécio Jacobæa Linn.), and bringing with them the things necessary to make their charms potent and strong.

This place was long noted as the gathering place of the army of witches who took their departure for Wales, where they would luxuriate at the most favored seasons of the year upon the milk of the Welshmen's cows. From this peak many a struggling ship has been watched by a malignant crone, while she has been brewing the tempest to destroy it; and many a rejoicing chorus has been echoed, in horror, by the cliffs around, when the witches have been croaking their miserable delight over the perishing crews, as they have watched man, woman, and child drowning, whom they were presently to rob of the treasures they were bringing home from other lands.

Upon the rocks behind the Logan Rock it would appear that every kind of mischief which can befall man or beast was once brewed by the St. Levan witches.

  • Source: Robert Hunt, Popular Romances of the West of England; or, The Drolls, Traditions, and Superstitions of Old Cornwall (London: John Camden Hotten, 1871), pp. 329-330.
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How to Become a Witch

England

Touch a Logan stone nine times at midnight, and any woman will become a witch. A more certain plan is said to be to get on the Giant's Rock at Zennor Church-town nine times without shaking it. Seeing that this rock was at one time a very sensitive Logan stone, the task was somewhat difficult.

  • Source: Robert Hunt, Popular Romances of the West of England; or, The Drolls, Traditions, and Superstitions of Old Cornwall (London: John Camden Hotten, 1871), p. 321.
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Olav's Mound and the Raised Stone at Slugan

Scotland

The Norwegians once made a sudden descent from their ships on the lower end of Craignish. The inhabitants, taken by surprise, fled in terror to the upper end of the district, and halted not until they reached the Slugan (gorge) of Gleann-Domhuinn, or the Deep Glen.

There, however, they rallied under a brave young man, who threw himself at their head, and slew, either with a spear or an arrow, the leader of the invaders. This inspired the Craignish men with such courage that they soon drove back their disheartened enemies across Barbreck river. The latter, in retreating, carried off the body of their fallen leader, and buried it afterwards on a place on Barbreck farm, which is still called Dùnan-Amhlaidh, or Olav's Mound. The Craignish men also raised a stone at Slugan to mark the spot where Olav fell.

  • Source: Lord Archibald Campbell, Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition, Argyllshire Series, vol. 1 (London: David Nutt, 1889), pp. 11-12.
  • Campbell's title for this piece is "The Battle between the Craignish People and the Lochluinnich Norwegians at Slugan."

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