Aradia or the Gospel of the Witches by Charles G. Leland

Author:Charles G. Leland
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Start Publishing LLC
Published: 2014-03-03T16:00:00+00:00

Tana, The Moon-Goddess

The following story, which appeared originally in the Legends of Florence, collected from the people by me, does not properly belong to the Witch’s Gospel, as it is not strictly in accordance with it; and yet it could not well be omitted, since it is on the same subject. In it Diana appears simply as the lunar goddess of chastity, therefore not as a witch. It was given to me as Fana, but my informant said that it might be Tana; she was not sure. As Tana occurs in another tale, and as the subject is certainly Diana, there can hardly be a question of this.

Tana, la Dea della Luna.

Tana was a very beautiful girl, but extremely poor, and as modest and pure as she was beautiful and humble. She went from one contadino to another, or from farm to farm to work, andthus led an honest life.Therewas ayoung boor, a very ugly, bestial, and brutish fellow, who was after his fashion raging with love for her, but she could not so much as bear to look at him, and repelled all his advances.

But late one night, when she was returning alone from the farmhouse where she had worked to her home, this man, who had hidden himself in a thicket, leaped out on her and cried, “Non mi’ sfuggerai; sara mia!”—“Thou canst not flee; mine thou shalt be!” And seeing no help near, and only the full moon looking down on her from heaven, Tana in despair cast herself on her knees and cried to it:—

I have no one on earth to defend me, Thou alone dost see me in this strait, Therefore I pray to thee, O Moon! As thou art beautiful so thou art bright, Flashing thy splendour over all mankind; Even so I pray thee light up the mind Of this poor ruffian, who would wrong me here, Even to the worst. Cast light into his soul, That he may let me be in peace, and then Return in all thy light unto my home!”

When she had said this, there appeared before her a bright but shadowy form—uno ombra bianca—which said:—

“Rise, and go to thy home! Thou hast well deserved this grace; No one shall trouble thee more, Purest of all on earth! thou shalt a goddess be, The Goddess of the Moon, Of all enchantment queen!”

Thus it came to pass that Tana became the dea or spirit of the Moon.

Though the air be set to a different key, this is a poem of pure melody, and the same as Wordsworth’s “Goody Blake and Harry Gill.” Both Tana and the old dame are surprised and terrified; both pray to a power above:—

“The cold, cold moon above her head, Thus on her knees did Goody pray; Young Harry heard what she had said, And icy cold he turned away.”

The dramatic centre is just the same in both. The English ballad soberly turns into an incurable fit of ague inflicted on a greedy young boor; the

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