On the other hand, if we
exclude the "spades," it might be applied to any "little black
creatures"--say a colony of tadpoles or of black-beetles. So that, when
a poet or an artist gets hold of a tradition which has reached this
stage of uncertainty, he may give the reins to his fancy, so long as he
portrays some kind--any kind--of "little black creatures."[5]
Before parting altogether from the Yesso dwarfs, notice may be taken of
a folk-tale containing an incident which obviously derives its
existence from them, or from a branch of their race. In Mr. Andrew
Lang's "Green Fairy Book" there is introduced a certain Chinese "Story
of Hok Lee and the Dwarfs." It appears to be also current in Japan, to
judge from a reviewer's remark, that "the clever artist who has
illustrated the book must have known the Japanese story, for he gets
some of his ideas from the Japanese picture-maker." In the story of Hok
Lee the dwarfs are represented as living in subterranean dwellings, and
in the picture they are portrayed as half-naked, with (for the most
part) shaggy beards and eyebrows, and bald heads. It is wonderfully near
the truth. The baldness is one of the most striking characteristics of
those actual dwarfs, and is caused by a certain skin-disease, induced by
their dirty habits, from which a great number of them suffer, or did
suffer.
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