Chapter 18: The Swiss Fairies in Town Meeting

In Appenzell, and some other cantons in the heroic Swiss republic, many old democratic customs still prevail. One of these is seen in the Landsgemeinde, or meeting of all the men not only in a village, but in the whole canton, or district.

This long word means a mass meeting of voters. The people gather together in a great crowd, when they wish to settle matters of public interest. They vote, not by casting bits of paper in a box, or with a voting machine, but by raising their hands.

When the president of the meeting puts the question, tens of thousands of fingers at once go up in the air. This is the ancient form of the town meeting, which is still kept up.

The Swiss fairies follow Swiss customs, and, not long ago, one moonlight night, they met together on a glacier in a deep valley.

They had much to talk about. It was not all gossip, but after much friendly chat, that they began. Not one said “How do you do?” For, none of them ever gets sick, or has influenza, or whooping cough, or the mumps, or the measles, or tooth ache. They never have doctors, or take doses of medicine, or wrap flannel round their necks, or swallow castor oil, or have the doctor visit them and feel their pulses or make them stick out their tongues.

Instead of all this, the fairies usually inquire, one of another, in this fashion, “How about those curious creatures called men?” Or, “How are mortals behaving?” Such questions, as “What are they up to now?” or “What are they doing to spoil our fun?” are very common also.

Some of them at this meeting wanted very much to tell about some of the tricks, which they had played on foolish men, or how they had done a good thing or two to people they liked. There was, however, no time for a long chat, for it was said that much business was on hand. Moreover, the meeting must break up before daybreak.

We shall not describe all that were present, for most of them looked like the fairies of other countries. Yet there were some entirely Swiss, and these are known, or heard of, only along the Rhine or the Rhone river, or on the mountains inside the country.

The water fairies, quite the most numerous, were present in full force. There were the sprites, or “necks,” that live in, and had come all the way from the river Neckar. They looked and behaved very much like the nixies of England.

Undine was the general name of one family of the female water fairies. All of these were in the form of pretty young women. They love to sit by the side of the brooks or water courses. Sometimes they lurk in the marshes among the reeds. They have very white hands and golden hair, which is full of waves or ripples, that can beat Marcel, or any other hair waver. On their heads they wear a fillet, or wreath, made of pond lilies, and often have on a long white veil-like mist. They are very sentimental and have tender emotions and whisper often and sigh a great deal. They delight in dancing along the shore, and go flitting from one water lily to another, opening the golden hearts and lovely white petals of these flowers that grow in the water.