If the spirit of the goblin and elfin lingers anywhere on earth, it is among the Rommany.
One day I questioned a Gipsy as to cats, and what his opinion was of black ones, correctly surmising that he would have some peculiar ideas on the subject, and he replied-- "Rommanys never lel kaulo matchers adree the ker, 'cause they're mullos, and beng is covvas; and the puro beng, you jin, is kaulo, an' has shtor herros an' dui mushis--an' a sherro.

But pauno matchers san kushto, for they're sim to pauno ghosts of ranis." Which means in English, "Gipsies never have black cats in the house, because they are unearthly creatures, and things of the devil; and the old devil, you know, is black, and has four legs and two arms--and a head.

But white cats are good, for they are like the white ghosts of ladies." It is in the extraordinary reason given for liking white cats that the subtle Gipsyism of this cat-commentary consists.

Most people would consider a resemblance to a white ghost rather repulsive.

But the Gipsy lives by night a strange life, and the reader who peruses carefully the stories which are given in this volume, will perceive in them a familiarity with goblin-land and its denizens which has become rare among "Christians." But it may be that I do this droll old Gipsy great wrong in thus apparently classing him with the heathen, since he one day manifested clearly enough that he considered he had a right to be regarded as a true believer--the only drawback being this, that he was apparently under the conviction that all human beings were "Christians." And the way in which he declared it was as follows: I had given him the Hindustani word _janwur_, and asked him if he knew such a term, and he answered-- "Do I jin sitch a lav (know such a word) as _janwur_ for a hanimal?
Avo (yes); it's _jomper_--it's a toadus" (toad).
"But do you jin the lav (know the word) for an _animal_ ?" "Didn't I just pooker tute (tell you) it was a jomper?
for if a toad's a hanimal, _jomper_ must be the lav for hanimal." "But don't you jin kek lav (know a word) for sar the covvas that have jivaben (all living things)--for jompers, and bitti matchers (mice), and gryas (horses)?
You and I are animals." "Kek, rya, kek (no, sir, no), we aren't hanimals.