Note 14 — Chapter IV · NORTH TIROL—UNTERINNTHAL (RIGHT INN-BANK). (ZILLERTHAL CUSTOMS.—THE WILDSCHÖNAU.)

‘It is now known that such tales are not the invention of individual writers, but that they are the last remnants—the detritus, if we may say so—of an ancient mythology; that some of the principal heroes bear the nicknames of old heathen gods; and that in spite of the powerful dilution produced by the admixture of Christian ideas, the old leaven of heathendom can still be discovered in many stories now innocently told by German nurses, of saints, apostles, and the Virgin Mary.’—Max Müller, Chips from a German Workshop.