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Universal- und kulturhistorische Studien
Studies in Universal and Cultural History

Raija Mattila
Sanae Ito
Sebastian Fink Editors

Animals and their

Relation to Gods,
Humans and Things
in the Ancient World
Universal- und kulturhistorische Studien.
Studies in Universal and Cultural History

Reihe herausgegeben von

Alberto Bernabé Pajares, Madrid, Spanien
Sebastian Fink, Helsinki, Finnland
Ann C. Gunter, Evanston, USA
Dan T. Potts, New York, USA
Robert Rollinger, Innsbruck, Österreich
Kai Ruffing, Kassel, Deutschland
Mit der Krise des Nationalstaates am Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts und der Erfahrung einer
zusehends vernetzten und globalisierten Welt gewinnt auch eine neue Perspektive in den
Geschichtswissenschaften an Bedeutung. Dieser neue Blick auf die Vergangenheit macht
den Weg frei für eine innovative und interdisziplinäre Annäherung an das Phänomen ei-
ner vernetzten Weltgeschichte, in der Europa nicht mehr das Zentrum der Welt darstellt,
von dem aus „Historie“ vermessen wird. Dieser universale Blick auf die Geschichte soll
durch die neue Reihe befördert werden. Die Reihe umfasst alle Weltregionen und alle
Epochen der Menschheitsgeschichte. Sie will vergleichende und auf dem neuesten Stand
der Forschung gewonnene Einblicke in das Laboratorium der Weltgeschichte gewähren
und befördern. Die Reihe versteht sich als eine peer-reviewed series, die sowohl für Mo-
nographien wie für Sammelbände offen ist.

With the crisis of national states at the end of the 20th century and the experience of a high-
ly interconnected, globalized world, a new perspective in historical studies has emerged,
which critically analyzes those concepts and methodologies formed under the influence of
national consciousness. This intellectual framework fosters an innovative, strongly inter-
disciplinary approach to world history, seeking to transcend a regional focus in the writing
of history. This series figures within these developments, which it endeavors to promote
through the publication of new research. The new series aims to encourage a universal
view of historical phenomena, broadly defined both geographically and chronologically.
Its scope embraces all world regions and all periods of human history. The peer-reviewed
series will publish both monographs and edited volumes.

Weitere Bände in der Reihe http://www.springer.com/series/15609

Raija Mattila · Sanae Ito · Sebastian Fink
Editors

Animals and their Relation

to Gods, Humans and Things
in the Ancient World
Editors
Raija Mattila Sanae Ito
Helsinki, Finland Leiden, The Netherlands

Sebastian Fink
Helsinki, Finland

ISSN 2524-3780 ISSN 2524-3799 (electronic)

Universal- und kulturhistorische Studien. Studies in Universal and Cultural History
ISBN 978-3-658-24387-6 ISBN 978-3-658-24388-3 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-24388-3

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019936170

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© Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2019
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the
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The registered company address is: Abraham-Lincoln-Str. 46, 65189 Wiesbaden, Germany
Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Raija Mattila, Sanae Ito and Sebastian Fink

1 Keynotes

Human-Animal Studies. Bridging the Lacuna between Academia

and Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Gabriela Kompatscher

Reflections on the Pivotal Role of Animals in Early Mesopotamia . . . . . . . . . . 23

Gebhard J. Selz

2 Taxonomies

Taxonomy and Medicine. Analysing Transfers between Disciplines,

a Step towards Understanding Mesopotamian Sciences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Vérène Chalendar

Categorization and Hierarchy. Animals and their Relations to Gods,

Humans and Things in the Hittite World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Ilan Peled

From Ape to Zebra. On Wild Animals and Taxonomy in Ancient Israel . . . . . 95

Scott B. Noegel

V
VI Contents

3 Literature

Holy Cow! On Cattle Metaphors in Sumerian Literary Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Judith Pfitzner

Animals in the Sumerian Disputation Poems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Catherine Mittermayer

Gilgameš and Enkidu. The Two-thirds-god and the Two-thirds-animal? . . . . 187

Simonetta Ponchia

Anthropomorphism and the Aesopic Animal Fables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Tua Korhonen

4 Art

Animal Friezes in “Orientalizing” Greek Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Ann C. Gunter

On Men, Animals, and Supernatural Beings in Ancient

Maya Iconography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Harri Kettunen

5 Religion

Creation of Animals in Sumerian Mythology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

Peeter Espak

Animals and Demons. Faunal Appearances, Metaphors, and Similes

in Lamaštu Incantations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
Joonas Hirvonen

The Animal Fable of the Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʼ in Context:

The Ontological and Moral Status of Animals in Early Islamic Thought . . . 345
Janne Mattila
Contents VII

Aztec Dogs: Myths and Ritual Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367

Izabela Wilkosz

A Zooarchaeological Study of the Formation Process of the Ainu

Bear-sending Ceremony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
Takao Sato

6 Economy

Man and Animals in the Administrative Texts of the End

of the 3rd Millennium BC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
M. Such-Gutiérrez

For the Gods or for Money? Sheep Husbandry at the Temples in First
Millennium Babylonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
Michaela Weszeli

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483

VII
The authors
The authors

Vérène Chalendar is a postdoctoral fellow at le Collège de France (UMR 7192).

Her PhD was devoted to the use of animal ingredients in Assyro-Babylonian me-
dicine and conducted at l’EPHE-PSL, Paris (2017). Her main interests are scholarly
knowledge and the porosity between scientific disciplines in Mesopotamia, with
a special focus on medical sources. The study of the pharmacopoeia led her to get
also interested into animal symbolism and, more widely, into zoological questions
such as taxonomy in the ancient Near East.

Peeter Espak is a Senior Research Fellow of the Centre for Oriental Studies at
the University of Tartu. Member of the Estonian Young Academy of Sciences. Main
areas of research are Near Eastern religion, mythology and history; comparative
religion and mythology; reflections of historical process today.

Ann C. Gunter is the Bertha and Max Dressler Professor in the Humanities at
Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. Her work addresses the visual and
material cultural of the ancient Near East and its Eastern Mediterranean neighbors.
Her primary research interests include artistic and cultural interaction between the
Mediterranean and the Near East; the relationship between material culture and
social and cultural identity; and the reception of ancient Greek and Near Eastern
art in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Joonas Hirvonen is a doctoral student at the Department of Ancient Near Eastern

Studies at the University of Leipzig. His dissertation research focuses on the de-
scription of wild mammals in Akkadian literature. He holds a master’s degree in
Assyriology from the University of Helsinki.

IX
X The authors

Harri Kettunen has carried out interdisciplinary research projects on Mesoamerican

related topics, combining archaeology, anthropology, ethnozoology, iconography,
epigraphy, and linguistics. His publications include textbooks on Maya hierogly-
phs, methodological studies on Maya iconography, and interdisciplinary articles
on Mesoamerican related topics. Harri is currently working as an Academy of
Finland Research Fellow at the University of Helsinki.

Gabriela Kompatscher is Associate Professor at the Department of Languages and

Literatures / Latin Philology at Innsbruck University. Her main research interests
are Medieval Latin Philology, Human-Animal Studies and Ethical Literary Animal
Studies.

Tua Korhonen is Docent in Greek Literature at the University of Helsinki. Her latest
more substantial contribution on the field of animals in antiquity is the book writ-
ten with Erika Ruonakoski: Human and Animal in Ancient Greece: Empathy and
Encounter in Classical Literature (London: I.B. Tauris, 2016). She is currently
working in the project Helleno–Nordica, funded for her part by Vetenskapsrådet
(Sverige) and the University of Helsinki. The topic of the project is so-called
Humanist Greek, a topic, which is Korhonen’s other research interest (e-thesis on
Humanist Greek in 2004).

Janne Mattila received his Ph.D. at the University of Helsinki in the discipline of
Arabic and Islamic studies. He has worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Uni-
versities of Helsinki and Jyväskylä, and currently works at Université catholique
de Louvain. His research interests focus on the history of Islamic philosophy and
Islamic intellectual history during the classical period.

Catherine Mittermayer is Professor for Mesopotamian Studies at the Département

des sciences de l’antiquité of the University of Geneva, Switzerland. Her main
research area is Sumerian literature with a special focus on the disputations. In
2018, she finished a four year project financed by the Swiss National Science
Foundation which aimed at preparing an online edition of the Sumerian debate
literature and related texts.

Scott B. Noegel (PhD 1995, Cornell University) is Professor of Biblical and Ancient
Near Eastern Languages and Literatures in the Department of Near Eastern Lan-
guages and Civilization at the University of Washington, a department for which
he also served as chair 2006-2015. He has authored, coauthored, and edited eleven
books and more than eighty articles on diverse topics related to ancient Near Eastern
The authors XI

languages, literature, and culture. His most recent monograph is “World Play” in
Ancient Near Eastern Texts (SBL Press, forthcoming) To learn more about his
projects or to download his publications, visit http://faculty.washington.edu/snoegel/.

Ilan Peled is a University Lecturer of Assyriology and biblical studies at the de-
partment of Arabic, Hebrew, and Middle Eastern Studies in the University of Am-
sterdam. Before joining the stuff of the department, he held postdoctoral positions
at the University of Pennsylvania, New York University, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem and the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Among his main
publication topics and research interests are gender and sexuality, law, religion, cult
and ritual practices in the ancient Near East.

Judith Pfitzner is currently working as a university assistant at the University of

Vienna, Institute for Oriental studies (Institut für Orientalistik) and is writing her
PhD thesis on metaphor (and simile) in Sumerian literature. Her research interests
include Sumerian and Akkadian literature with a special focus on metaphors and
lexical texts. Research interests: Sumerian and Akkadian literature, metaphor,
lexical texts.

Simonetta Ponchia is Associate Professor of History of the Ancient Near East at

the University of Verona. She holds a PhD in Mesopotamian Studies from Isti-
tuto Universitario Orientale of Napoli. Her main research interests include first
millennium BC history (especially neo-Assyrian and Syro-Anatolian history),
Mesopotamian literary texts, cultural contacts and cultural transmission in the
ancient Mediterranean area. She is presently chair of the Melammu project – the
Heritage of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East.

Takao Sato is Professor in the Department of Archaeology and Ethnology at Keio

University. As a zooarchaeologist, he has written and thought about subsistence
strategies and animal rituals by hunter-gatherers throughout his career. His main
research areas are the northern part of the Japanese Archipelago and CIS Baikal.

Gebhard J. Selz was Full Professor for Ancient Near Eastern Languages and Oriental
Archaeology at the Oriental Institute of the University of Vienna between 1998
and 2015. He studied Assyriology, Near Eastern Archaeology, the Old Testament
and Philosophy at the University of Freiburg and Birmingham (U.K.). His PhD
dissertation was devoted to the study of the Old Sumerian Pantheon of Lagash. He
hablitated in Freiburg in 1995 with a work on Old Sumerian Economic documents;
afterwards he moved to the Free University of Berlin (chair of H.J. Nissen). In his

XI
XII The authors

research he focuses on the different aspects of the social and cultural history of
Early Mesopotamia on which he published several books and numerous articles.

Marcos Such-Gutiérrez is Professor of Ancient Languages of the Near East at Uni-

versidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain). His main research interests are the edition
and study of Mesopotamian texts of the third millennium BC. He is especially
concerned with the diachronic changes in religion and society throughout the
third millennium BC.

Michaela Weszeli does research and teaching at the University of Vienna, having
earned her PhD there in 2002 with a dissertation on water transport vessels and
water-borne transport in Mesopotamia. Since 1992, she has been working for the
Archiv für Orientforschung and compiling the Assyriological Index (an analytical
bibliography for Mesopotamia and the neighbouring lands in that same periodical).
Having shared the editing with M Jursa 1999-2003, she has been solely responsible
since volume 50 (2003/2004). ). 2018 she joined the editorial board of Archiv für
Orientforschung. Her research interests include not only philology but also the
material culture of the Ancient Near East, particularly shipping and water transport,
Mesopotamian fauna as well as legal and economic history.

Izabela Wilkosz graduated from Latin American Studies at the Jagiellonian Uni-
versity in Cracow, Poland and obtained her doctoral degree at the Freie Universität
in Berlin (Pre-columbian Studies and Cultural Anthropology). She specializes
in cultural history of pre-Columbian civilisations and has worked as an adjunct
lecturer for several Bavarian universities, most recently for the Otto Friedrich
University of Bamberg.
Introduction
Raija Mattila, Sanae Ito and Sebastian Fink

The current volume presents the proceedings of a conference entitled “Animals

in Mesopotamia: Their relation to gods, humans and things” that took place in
Helsinki, 14–15 December 2015. The conference was organized by the Finnish
Institute in the Middle East in co-operation with the Intellectual Heritage of the
Ancient Near East Project. As suggested by the title, our aim was to focus on the
categories of animals, gods, humans and things, and the authors of the present
volume did their best to pose questions about their relationship in their respective
source materials. In order to answer the question in terms of all these categories,
we studied historical and literary texts, administrative documents and pieces of
art, as well as archaeological evidence.
When we talk about the relation of humans and animals in the ancient world,
we usually presuppose that these two distinct categories already existed there. It is
intriguing to ask, however, if the categories are self-evident. Despite the fact that we
usually take for granted that they are, it is not an easy task to establish the distinct
features between humans and animals, even if we rely on the basic and widespread
conviction that language is what separates humans from animals.1

1 See, for example, the much quoted and much discussed article Hauser, Marc D.. Chomsky,
Noam and Fitch, W. Tecumseh, “The Faculty of Language: What Is It, Who Has It, and
How Did It Evolve?”, Science 298, 2002, 1569–1579, in which they distinguish between
the faculty of language in a large sense (FLB) and in a narrow sense (FLN). On page
1569, they describe the distinction as follows: “FLB includes a sensory-motor system,
a conceptual-intentional system, and the computational mechanisms for recursion,
providing the capacity to generate an infinite range of expressions from a finite set of
elements. We hypothesize that FLN only includes recursion and is the only uniquely
human component of the faculty of language.”

© Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2019 1

R. Mattila et al. (Hrsg.), Animals and their Relation to Gods, Humans and
Things in the Ancient World, Universal- und kulturhistorische Studien. Studies
in Universal and Cultural History, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-24388-3_1
2 Raija Mattila, Sanae Ito and Sebastian Fink

The challenges of establishing definitions that draw firm boundaries between

humans and animals become obvious in a famous anecdote that demonstrates that
even Plato had problems doing it:

Plato had defined Man as an animal, biped and featherless, and was applauded. Dio-
genes plucked a fowl and brought it into the lecture-room with the words, “Here is
Plato’s man.” (Diogenes Laertios, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, VI 40)2

Widely accepted definitions of the main categories of the world were given in the
famous tree of Porphyry, described in his introduction to Aristotle’s categories.
There animals are corporal, living, and sensitive substances. What separates them
from human beings is their lack of rationality. This distinction remained valid –
at least in principle – until today in European thought. We decided to investigate
if this distinction was also valid before the rise of classical Greek philosophy. We
determined that the establishment of categories is a difficult task, that their borders
are often fuzzy, and that new categories can be added to bridge two categories,
which seem to be too far apart from each other and therefore open up space for
something new. One of these additional categories, which we did not mention in
the title, includes monsters or daemons, existing somewhere between humans,
animals, and gods.
During the planning of the conference, it became clear to us that Ancient
Near Eastern Studies should profit from the more advanced state of research on
Human-Animal Studies in other fields, and so we decided to integrate several
non-Mesopotamian papers in the conference. In particular, the keynote by Gabriela
Kompatscher-Gufler provided the participants with insights into what is going on
in Human-Animal Studies these days. In addition, the keynote by Gebhard Selz
provided us with a detailed review of the basis of the Mesopotamian classification
system with a special focus on animals.
When the conference was announced online, we received several emails from
people interested in attending the conference and contributing to the volume.
Additionally, we asked some scholars to contribute to the current volume in order
to broaden its scope, which has extended from Mesopotamia to the whole ancient
world (and even beyond). Therefore, we changed the title to Animals and Their
Relation to Gods, Humans and Things in the Ancient World.
Now, as we are writing this introduction with all the contributions before us,
we hope to have produced a useful volume for scholars of the ancient world, and
especially for scholars with a general interest in Human-Animal Studies. This volume

2 Translation from www.perseus.tufts.edu (accessed on 19.01.2018).

Introduction 3

will also provide outsiders who are not primarily concerned with the ancient world
with an initial glimpse of the richness of material available to us and the numerous
questions that can be addressed by posing the right questions of our sources.
Gabriela Kompatscher-Gufler’s keynote “Human-Animal Studies – Bridging
the lacuna between academia and society” introduces the field of Human-Animal
Studies and its role in today’s society. Quoting Margo DeMello (2012, 4), she defines
Human-Animal Studies as “an interdisciplinary field that explores the spaces that
animals occupy in human social and cultural worlds and the interactions humans
have with them”. According to her, Human-Animal Studies seeks to deconstruct
the boundary between humans and animals, following Darwin (1966, 169) in
the understanding that the difference is only gradual and not principal. Kompat-
scher-Gufler stresses that Human-Animal Studies should actively work towards
sensitizing society to improve the coexistence of human and non-human animals.
Gebhard Selz’s keynote, entitled “Reflections on the Pivotal Role of Animals in
Early Mesopotamia”, stresses the importance of the Mesopotamian material for
the early history of human-animal interaction. The article extensively discusses the
question of a categorization of living beings by means of “gender” in the Sumerian
grammar and by classifiers used in cuneiform writing. In this way, it approaches
the Sumerian categorization of the world. Selz demonstrates that these categories
are not always clearcut. The borders between animals, monsters, humans, gods,
and things are often fuzzy and can be transcended by means of metaphors, likening
gods or rulers to animals. While the distinction between domestic and wild ani-
mals seems to have remained integral to Mesopotamian thought, Selz notices an
“increasing alienation between the animal and the human world” in the course of
Mesopotamian history. This alienation between humans and animals, for the first
time documented in actual texts, is a rich and promising field for further studies.
The articles are arranged in this book according to five categories: Taxonomies,
Literature, Art, Religion, and Economy. The articles in all these categories demon-
strate an intense engagement, on different levels, between the ancients and the
animals that surrounded them. While the taxonomies represent the quest of getting
the known animals structured and categorized, in order to ascribe them a certain
function and place within the world, literature reveals a more artistic approach to
the animals, providing us with speculation about the status of animals in the world
and their relation to things, humans, and gods. The numerous representations of
animals in art yield an opportunity to investigate the ideas about animals and their
differences from other categories of beings in the sources. The intimate connection
of animals with religion and rituals – revealing the boundaries between animals,
semi-divine beings, and gods – presents a rich field for studies. Finally, the economic

3
4 Raija Mattila, Sanae Ito and Sebastian Fink

interaction with animals, involving the interdependence of man and livestock,

is documented in hundreds of thousands of documents from the ancient world.
The section “Taxonomies” consists of three articles. Vérène Chalendar’s article
examines and observes the links between lexical lists and medical texts in cuneiform
sources from Ancient Mesopotamia. As a case study, it focuses on the transfers of
a specific set of animals: the lion, the dog, the wolf, and the fox, from ḪAR-ra =
ḫubullu to medical prescriptions. It successfully illustrates that such a sequence
became canonical in the Mesopotamian sciences and was transmitted by different
genres of texts. It finally suggests that these transfers represent a common concept
in the Mesopotamian mind.
Through an analysis of written sources, Ilan Peled investigates the boundaries
and interfaces between the categories of animals, humans, and gods in Hittite. He
investigates them in the spheres of legal texts, magical rituals, myths and literary
texts, religion and state cult, and omens and reports of dreams. The paper reveals
that there existed clear hierarchical categorization based on binary concepts in the
Hittite social structure. His research also shows that the Hittites attempted to keep
the realms of animals, humans, and gods separate by establishing clear conceptual
boundaries, but that in reality these realms were intermingled and inseparable, as
indicated in the texts the author presents.
Scott Noegel deals with Ancient Israel and focuses on the animal in the Old
Testament. A central aspect of the ancient use of animals is their use as sacrifice.
In Ancient Israel, only domesticated animals were used as such, and so Noegel tries
to understand why this is the case. He argues that the taxonomy that distinguished
wild animals from domesticated ones is of utmost importance for our understand-
ing of the Biblical text. The author suggests that this taxonomy changed over time
and while wild beasts were earlier seen as numinous creatures, located between
humans and gods, they became “disenchanted” at some point and placed below
human beings in the taxonomy.
Four articles contain a discussion of “Literature”. Judith Pfitzner investigates
cattle metaphors in Sumerian literary texts. These metaphors are an interesting
field of study, as they abound in literary texts. Giving a comprehensive analysis of
a large corpus of texts, Pfitzner analyses which aspects of the animals’ appearance
and behaviour are used in the metaphors and to whom they are applied. Gods raise
their horns or bellow like a wild bull. Heroes are born and nourished by a goddess
called “wild cow”. Obviously, the use of cattle metaphors reveals something about
the Sumerian understanding and image of cattle, and, as the author states in her
concluding paragraph, also about their understanding of human beings.
A Sumerian disputation poem called “The Bird and the Fish” is the subject of
Catherine Mittermayer’s article. In this text, the two main actors are animals and
Introduction 5

their verbal contest seeks to prove which of them is superior to the other. Here,
animals behave like human beings: they discuss and present themselves in the best
possible light, trying to prevail over their opponents by the clever use of speech.
As the fish cannot defeat the bird with words, he relies on violence. Thus, the
behaviour of these two animals is very human on one side, while on the other the
protagonists show the typical behaviour of animals. The author suggests that this
dispute might somehow reflect a debate between two professions in the service of
the king, the warrior and the singer.
Simonetta Ponchia’s article, “Gilgameš and Enkidu: The Two-thirds-god and the
Two-thirds-animal?”, discusses the two main protagonists of the Mesopotamian
Epic of Gilgameš. Gilgameš, the ruler of Uruk, was of partly divine descent, as his
mother was the goddess Ninsun. Enkidu was a wild man who after being introduced
to human culture by a woman became Gilgameš’s trusted companion. The main
feature that separated humans from animals was human culture, summarized in
the epic as eating bread and wearing clothes. The death of Enkidu made Gilgameš
conscious of his own mortality and of the decisive difference that separated humans
from the gods, namely, mortality. Ponchia discusses in detail the rich animal-related
language of the Epic.
Tua Korhonen investigates anthropomorphism in the Aesopic animal fables.
After discussing the genre and its Near Eastern background, she questions the
notion that the animals in the fables are mere actors representing humans. She
challenges the “accusation” of faulty anthropomorphism in the fables. In “faulty”
and “misleading” anthropomorphism, the literary form guides readers to interpret
the story as a mere allegory of the human world. In contrast, she finds traces of
“good” anthropomorphism in certain Aesopic animal fables. According to Korhonen,
some of them include dramatic irony, which confuses the human-animal divide
and in so doing addresses the animal and the animal condition in human society.
The section on “Art” contains two articles. Ann C. Gunter examines a view of
animal images in Greek painted pottery in which animal friezes are regarded as
typical motifs of a specific phase – the Orientalising period – during the late eighth
to the seventh centuries BCE in the history of Greek art. She focuses on the issue
of animal and composite animal motifs being transferred from Mesopotamia to
Greek art through imported portable objects such as Assyrian textiles and metal
bowls. She also investigates the possibility of the development of animal motifs
from direct observation of nature, rather than their being fully dependent on being
imported or an external influence. She reviews the argument that the primary con-
cern of Greek art was with the human figure, while the animal figure was associated
with the notion of the Orient. The author embraces fresh perspectives presented
by Isler (1984), who pointed out that the occurrence of animal friezes was spread

5
6 Raija Mattila, Sanae Ito and Sebastian Fink

throughout Archaic Greek art rather than being limited to vase paintings and
that there is no homogenous Orient but several different cultures. She refers to a
study by Wengrow (2014), who examined the origin and transmission of composite
animals. The author concludes her paper by suggesting a potential new direction
through comparative studies.
Harri Kettunen’s article discusses the role of men, animals, and supernatural
beings in Maya iconography. Kettunen groups the various beings primarily based
on their form, and in doing so he creates a systematic classification. In his analysis
of the iconography, Kettunen uses evidence both from the Maya hieroglyphic cor-
pus and from modern-day Maya culture. The richly illustrated article displays the
fluidity of men, animals, and supernatural beings in Maya iconography.
Altogether, five articles make up the “Religion” section. Peeter Espak’s article
illuminates the creation of animals in Sumerian mythology. In his investigation he
stresses the various aspects of the animal in Sumerian mythology and religion. On
the one hand, wild animals, or animal-like foes, are dangerous, but on the other
hand domesticated animals are the basis of a prospering society in Mesopotamia.
Interestingly, many texts describe early humans as animal-like creatures; without
clothes, they were grazing in the fields. The real act of creation is described in other
texts, where animals and humans either grow out of the earth like plants or are
created by an artful deity using clay. While no great difference existed between
humans and animals in the very beginning, things started to change when humans
became civilized.
Joonas Hirvonen discusses the use of animals in the description of the demon
Lamaštu in Mesopotamian incantations dating to the second and first millennia
BCE. The animalized language used in the incantations involve metaphors, sim-
iles, or references to the actual appearance of the demon. The exorcist sought to
neutralize danger inside the city and to expel the demon outside the city’s walls
by using language related to wild animals. Over the history of the incantation
series, Lamaštu is connected with fifteen different animals. Hirvonen discusses in
detail the use of features of the dog, wolf, lion, leopard, donkey, birds, snakes, and
other animals in descriptions of Lamaštu. The first-millennium documentation
offers the most complex picture of Lamaštu as a she-wolf with features of almost
all the aforementioned animals. While originally of divine birth and considered
the daughter of the sky god Anu and his wife Antum, Lamaštu was expelled from
heaven due to her bad conduct.
Janne Mattila’s article studies the ontological and moral status of animals in early
Islamic thought. He discusses a fable by Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʼ (The Brethren of Purity),
a group of philosophers from the 10th century. In the fable, animals take mankind
to court and challenge the right of humans to subject animals to their servitude.
Introduction 7

Mattila studies the story against the general background of its time in texts of three
distinct categories: Islamic religious sources, zoological texts, and fables. Mattila
concludes that the authors of the fable do not claim that human beings should stop
using animals for food and other benefits, but that human beings should cause as
little suffering to other animals as possible.
Izabela Wilkosz deals with Aztec dogs and their role in myth and ritual. After
providing the reader with some historical background concerning Mesoamerica
and the Aztec Empire, the author moves on to the role of animals in Aztec religious
ceremonies and especially in animal sacrifice. Significantly, this highly developed
culture only domesticated dogs and turkeys. The dogs are documented in textual,
pictorial, and archaeological evidence, and two main dog breeds are known. The
hairless canine xoloitzcuintli plays a major role in rituals for the dead and is closely
connected to the god Xolotl, who is depicted as a dog-headed man. Wilkosz shows
that dogs took over Xolotl’s role as a psychopomp and were buried with the deceased
to guide them to the right place in the dark netherworld.
Takao Sato’s article, entitled “A Zooarchaeological Study of the Formation
Process of the Ainu Bear-sending Ceremony”, describes the formation process of
the “bear-sending ceremony” by the Ainu, an indigenous hunting and gathering
people in Sakhalin, Russia and Hokkaido, Japan. The Ainu traditionally regarded the
animals they hunt as embodiments of deities, and they performed the soul-sending
ceremony for most of the animals they hunted, especially captured and/or raised
brown bears, by adding many offerings for the deities. The author questions how far
back the ceremony dates and investigates all the bear remains found at Otafuku-iwa
Cave in Hokkaido, which contains several cultural layers from the Epi-Jomon (400
BCE to 700 CE) to the Ainu cultural periods (1400–1900 CE), by comparing them
with other excavation findings from other Ainu’s sending place sites. He concludes
that bear cubs had been highly valued by the people of the Epi-Jomon culture and
the Okhotsk culture (6th–9th century CE) and that the bear-sending ceremony
was already formed by the end of the Satsumon culture (12th or 13th century CE).
The two last articles in the book belong to the sphere of “Economy”. Marcos
Such-Gutiérrez investigates the corpus of the administrative texts of the Ur III
dynasty (ca. 2100–2000 BCE) and demonstrates that these dry sources provide us
with an astonishing amount of information on animals and their relation to humans.
Not only was nearly every species of animals kept under human surveillance for
one reason or another, but each was mirrored by a special job profile of the person
taking care of them. The documents also demonstrate that humans, animals, and
things were subject to trade and that animals sometimes outsold human beings.
It also seems that animals, like humans, had names. Indeed, the documentation
of the Ur III period provides us with the earliest documentation of animal names.

7
8 Raija Mattila, Sanae Ito and Sebastian Fink

According to the author, there were many similarities (at least regarding the ad-
ministration) between humans and animals, but he suggests that having a spirit
or not was something that distinguished humans from animals.
Michaela Weszeli examines sheep husbandry at temples in first-millennium
Babylonia. The author discusses whether sheep breeding was primarily for the
production of meat as offerings to the gods or for the production of wool as a cash
crop. It focuses on the Eanna temple’s archive in Uruk and closely investigates
the composition of the sheep herds and Eanna’s wool sales, using large amounts
of data. The author concludes that the main purpose of sheep husbandry was to
provide uninterrupted daily offerings from a cultic point of view, but that from an
economic point of view wool was an essential product for obtaining the silver used
to pay for the expenses of temples in their subsistence economy.
 1
Keynotes
Human-Animal Studies
Bridging the Lacuna between Academia and Society
Gabriela Kompatscher

1 The (Western) Origins

Some non-human animals seek contact with human society, but most animals are
forced to participate in our society,1 as future meat, as future fur, as future leather;
even as pets most of them are forced to live with us, although we call them friends,
celebrate their birthday and treat them as family members.
Human-animal interactions seldom are equal, in most of the cases they follow
a hierarchical system that in our Western society developed from ancient Greek
philosophy (Aristotle; Stoics) and was then adopted by Christianity (cf. Thomas
Aquinas).
Or to quote Randy Malamud, an exponent of Literary Animal Studies: “The
relationship between people and nonhuman animals is codified in social culture
as hierarchical and fundamentally impermeable: we are in here, they are out there.”
(2003, 3)
But even in Antiquity and the medieval ages there were individuals who re-
fused this mindset: For example Theophrastus argued that there is a biological
relationship, a kinship between humans and animals – an argument supported
by the modern sciences2 – or Plutarch who wrote a plea for vegetarianism (De esu
carnium) or Kelsos (second century AD) who declared that animals are intelligent
beings with an awareness for ethics and proclaimed that the world is not only made
for humans (cf. Origenes, Contra Celsum) – a provocation for the anthropocentric
view prevailing at the time, and which prevails even in our times.

1 Cf. Donaldson / Kymlicka 7-10.

2 Cf. the works of Volker Sommer; Kurt Kotrschal, Frans de Waal

© Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2019 11

.
R. Mattila et al. (Hrsg.), Animals and their Relation to Gods, Humans and
Things in the Ancient World, Universal- und kulturhistorische Studien. Studies
in Universal and Cultural History, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-24388-3_2
12 Gabriela Kompatscher

For the Middle Ages no theoretical works that claim a new view on human-animal
relationships are known. But together with colleagues from Medieval History and
Classical Philology I’ve found a large number of texts witnessing a caring attitude
towards animals: There are men and women grieving for the loss of their dogs and
birds, nuns heartbroken about the cruel death of their donkey, monks rescuing and
tenderly stroking wild animals, hermits sharing their lives with snakes, knights
overcoming dangers and experiencing adventures side by side with their animal
partners as dogs or lions, or young maidens caring for rabbits, saints setting free
animals, and many more.3
As we can see, seeking the company of animals is not a modern phenomenon,
nor is it a mere Western attitude – in his book “In the company of animals” (1986,
2008) James Serpell supplies a lot of examples of animal care and love for instance
in former Chinese dynasties or Northern and Southern American tribal societies.
Therefore we can speak of an anthropological constant probably based on bio-
phily, an inborn culturally influenced interest for all living beings.4
And so we begin to understand why animals matter to us or to most of us.
And this matter is no longer private. This means that on the one hand friends of
animals do not have to hide their fondness for other species anymore to avoid being
laughed at, because their relations with animals are even at the center of academic
studies, and that on the other hand human-animal relations become increasingly
more controlled in order to make animal exploitation visible.

2 What are Human-Animal Studies about?

The Grande Dame of Human-Animal Studies Margo DeMello (2012: 4) defines

Human Animal Studies as follows: “Human-animal studies (HAS) – sometimes
known as anthrozoology or animal studies – is an interdisciplinary field that ex-
plores the spaces that animals occupy in human social and cultural worlds and the
interactions humans have with them. Central to the field is an exploration of the
ways in which animal lives intersect with human societies.” In practice, this means
that scholars and scientists working in the field of Human-Animal Studies explore
how humans and animals interact, how animals are used as symbols, characters
and figures, how they are categorized as so-called “useful animals”, how they are
seen as family members and as participants in our society.

3 Kompatscher / Classen / Dinzelbacher 2010; Kompatscher / Römer / Schreiner 2014.

4 Cf. Otterstedt / Rosenberger 2009: 182.
Human-Animal Studies 13

Human-Animal Studies can be conducted in a descriptive manner, but for

most scholars and scientists this discipline has the task of interacting with society
in order to have a positive impact on human-animal interdependences. From this
approach for instance Critical Animal Studies has developed which reject the use
of violence towards animals (of course also towards human animals) and the do-
minion of humans over non-humans.
The prerequisites for shifting from traditional science and scholarship to a critical
and animal-sensitive academic stance are an idealistic basis, an intrinsic motivation,
the capacity to change perspective and the aim to change society, by contrasting the
mastery discourse in the field of human-animal relations with a counterdiscourse.5
Biology and Ethology (cf. Volker Sommer, Marc Bekoff et al.) show us that we
are not the crown of creation, not even of evolution, and that the boundary between
humans and animals is man-made and scientific nonsense: To put humans on one
side and all other animals, from ants to apes, on the other side, thus drawing a
clear dividing line in between, is arbitrary; we also could put meercat or skunks in
the place of humans and oppose them to all the other animals including humans.
As early as 1956 the Austrian philosopher Günther Anders (327) described this
attitude as anthropocentric megalomania.
Human-Animal Studies has solved this dilemma by using terms like human
and non-human animals, but for the sake of clarity in this article I will continue
to use the traditional terms “humans” and “animals”.
The field of Human-Animal Studies aims to overcome this “anthropocentric
megalomania” and to take instead the perspective of the animal, a theriocentric
view, asking how the animal looks at the world.
Human-Animal Studies intends to deconstruct the boundary between humans
and animals, for example by using animal-sensitive language,6 but it doesn’t want
to equalize all beings, because there are differences (quantitative, but not basically
qualitative; or to say it in Darwin’s terms [1966, 160]: The difference is only gradual
and not principal) and these differences should be taken into account. It’s all about
inclusion of differences.
Human-Animal Studies aims at drawing attention to the cultural filters lying
over animals; it wants to open our eyes to the animal as itself, and not as a social
construct, for instance as a pet or a certain symbol. As a literary scholar I can give
one example from Literary Animal Studies: Animals can influence literature as
models for literary figures, literature in turn can influence our behavior and our

5 Milstein 2007: 1048-1052.

6 Cf. Heuberger 2015.
13
14 Gabriela Kompatscher

attitudes towards animals.7 Take the wolf from the fairytale “Little Red Riding
Hood”: For sure real wolves were the inspiration for the animal protagonist in
the early folkore versions of the tale – and how many generations afterwards were
influenced by Grimms’ “Rotkäppchen”, and how many children in German-speak-
ing areas still are confronted with this picture of a cruel and scary monster, even
in kindergarten. For those kids the wolf in any case has to die – it’s a really hard
work to integrate an animal friendly alternative for the wolf in the story. Thus we
can see how literature can produce artificial realties, which affect our perception of
animals, our thoughts about them and our interaction with them. Human-Animal
Studies supply methods to uncover all these social constructions.8
Human-Animal Studies deals not only with subjects from biology, ethology or
sociology – there are also influences from philosophy, namely the ethic dimension:
Human-Animal Studies considers and respects animals as subjects with agency
and as individuals with their own interests and experiences. Human-Animal Studies
wants to break up dogmata in order to recognize an intrinsic value in animals, to
recognize them as free coexisting beings, as part of our society, developing and
shaping our society in conjunction with us, or as members of parallel living soci-
eties. And Human-Animal Studies aspires towards sensitizing society to improve
human-animal relationships.9
I mean to say: Human-Animal Studies connects species.

3 Human-Animal Studies and their Potential as

Connectors between Academia and Society

From my description of Human-Animal Studies you can conclude that a connection

to society is naturally given, when Human-Animal Studies provides more than mere
descriptions of human-animal relations. Or to start from the other side: As Margo
DeMello (2012) notes, the relations between humans and animals are becoming
increasingly complex and are subject to changes; and animal welfare and animal
rights have become increasingly explosive topics in our society. So for more and
more disciplines the necessity to put a focus on human-animal relations arises.

7 Cf. Borgards 2012.

8 Cf. Kompatscher 2015.
9 For a more detailed illustration of Human Animal Studies cf. Kompatscher 2016 and
Kompatscher / Schachinger / Spannring 2016.
Human-Animal Studies 15

Thus, both academia and society recognize the need to develop new approaches
to these challenges. And the best way would be to work hand in hand.
To this end, a passable and permeable connection between society and the Ivory
Tower is required. Human-Animal Studies are highly suitable for assuming the key
role in this process of convergence.

3.1 HAS at the University of Innsbruck

I became aware of this, when our team in Innsbruck first held its lecture series about
Human-Animal Studies in 2012. About one thousand students attended and like
our speakers they came from such different disciplines as linguistics, literature,
history, philosophy, law, biology, theology, psychology and pedagogy – as you see,
Human-Animal Studies also connects disciplines. Moreover we consciously invited
a non-university public – and numerous interested persons responded to the invita-
tion: teachers, farmers, secretaries, animal rights activists, school students, artists,
bankers, housewives, doctors, business people and many more. We had some really
inspiring discussions together and especially the experts from outside the univer-
sity, teachers, school doctors, nursery teachers provided us with good proposals on
how to integrate Human-Animal Studies into society (e.g. via ethical nutrition). It
reminded me of the Nokia-Slogan: Human-Animal Studies – “connecting people”.
In 2014 we had a conference on Human-Animal Studies, and again a significant
part of the audience came from outside the university. This phenomenon continued
in our lecture series last year with more than 1.000 academic and non-academic
attendants. Even the popular media were interested in our academic activities about
Human-Animal Studies and presented the field in easily understandable articles
to their non-academic readers. And many of our students, apart from becoming
vegetarian or even vegan, brought the Human-Animal Studies message to a wider
audience by talking about and discussing the subject with friends and family, and
by dedicating their bachelor or master theses to Human-Animal Studies.
Subsequently we were invited to hold lessons and talks in libraries, in schools,
at teacher training events, in adult education centers, and so we had and still have
the opportunity to get in touch with members of our society interested in academic
research results to underpin their empathy for animals.

15
16 Gabriela Kompatscher

3.2 Outcomes of HAS

Human-animal relations were an attractive subject already in ancient cultures.

Since then philosophers, scientifically interested authors and storytellers of every
shade were interested in human-animal interaction. As we have seen the novelty
of Human-Animal Studies lies in its approach to the subject.
As I have already mentioned, human-animal relationships in modern times are
explored from different scientific perspectives: biology, philosophy, linguistics, liter-
ature, history, law, biology, theology, sociology, gender studies, ethnology and others.
As we have seen, the non-academic world is fascinated by the knowledge about
human-animal relations gained from academic research by using new animal-friendly
approaches. For this reason alone we should strive to transfer knowledge to the public.
But the outcomes of Human-Animal Studies can do more than satisfy thirst for
knowledge. In order to answer the anthropocentric question: “What can Human-An-
imal Studies contribute to human society?”, a few examples may be sufficient:10

• Human-Animal Studies in connection with psychology can help us understand,

why we can’t stop eating meat although we have a guilty conscience towards the
animals, towards our health, towards our environment, and Human-Animal
Studies can help us to solve the dilemma.11
• Human-Animal Studies in connection with philosophy can develop a new code
of ethics including non-human animals.12
• Human-Animal Studies in biology and comparative psychology demonstrates
to us our close relationship to animals and helps us in this way to better under-
stand our “animal nature”.13
• Human-Animal Studies in pedagogy provides not only humane education but
also education in general with essential information and knowledge about how
to encourage children to assume responsibility, to articulate their feelings about
animals, to preserve the sense of continuity between themselves and animals.14
• Human-Animal Studies in history show how animals were involved in the
historical evolution, for example as silent workers15 by attributing them agency

10 Kompatscher 2016.
11 Cf. Joy 2010.
12 Cf. Petrus 2013.
13 Cf. Volker Sommer; Frans de Waal etc.
14 Cf. Spannring, Bildungswissenschaft 2015.
15 “stumme Arbeiter”, Roscher, 2015: 84.
Human-Animal Studies 17

(for example the capability to initiate changes)16. This approach opens many
new perspectives on human history.
• When Gender Studies deals with Human-Animal Studies it becomes clear that
the research about intersectionality must include the discrimination of animals
when the roots of the oppression and the discrimination of women have to be
found, analyzed and eradicated.17
• Linguistics demonstrates how our language affects our thinking. For example
in English you can use pregnant for both future human mothers and animal
mothers, in German we use schwanger for female humans, but trächtig for female
animals. So for one and the same physical status we use different words and
thus we divide humans from animals already in our language; furthermore a
language of this kind can be used to depreciate minorities by comparing them
with animals. But also the English language has problematic implications for
example by disguising body parts of living beings with terms like beef or pork
(cf. Heuberger 2015).
• Sociology: This is a wide and fertile field for Human-Animal Studies. I shall
limit myself to referring to one specific research topic: violence. Sociology has
discovered the link between abuse of animals and violence against humans (hu-
man-animal violence link)18 and offers knowledge how to stop this vicious circle.

To conclude: I’m sure the topic of this conference will also have an important impact
on society by inspiring us to engage in more detailed studies about the issue and
to transfer their results to society. With these results we can “help[ing] people to
think differently about animals” – as the title of the summer school in July 2016 at
the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics reads: “Helping people to think differently
about animals”.19
But I have to point out that scientists and scholars of Human-Animal Studies
often have to justify their interest in these topics and so they have to act anthropo-
centrically by underlining the benefits of their studies for the human society. But
most of them are equally interested in bringing a maximum of benefit to animals
too.20 This is the nature of Human-Animal Studies as for example we in Innsbruck
understand it.

16 Cf. Roscher 2015: 86.

17 Cf. also Schachinger, Gender Studies und Feminismus 2015.
18 Cf. Ascione / Arkow 2000; Ascione 2008.
19 http://www.oxfordanimalethics.com/home/
20 Of course there are also non-political approaches to the research of human-animal
relations within the framework of Human-Animal Studies.
17
18 Gabriela Kompatscher

In this regard we are in good company with one of the leading institutions for
Human-Animal Studies, the Animal & Society Institute in Michigan that pro-
vides a broad variety of resources, policies and different scholar services and that
works under the significant slogan: “Where knowledge and science meet ethics
and compassion.”21

3.3 Creating Bridges

Building bridges – how can this concretely be done?

I’ve already mentioned some possibilities such as opening lectures and congresses
to the interested public. One can also offer talks and speeches and other forms of
participation in public, semi-public or private spaces and events, for example in
libraries, in youth centers, in animal shelters, at church festivals, at charity events,
at fairs – a few months ago I was invited to hold a talk about Human-Animal
Studies at a vegan fair.
Through these channels we can best and directly share our research results with
the society – seeking a dialogue we get in return new inspirations and essential
inputs for our academic work.
Children and young people in particular are interested in human-animal rela-
tionships. I have published a few articles and two books with Latin texts presenting
positive relations between animals and humans; I mentioned some of them in
the beginning. And teachers told me, pupils even love to translate such kinds of
Latin texts, and that’s understandable: These Latin writings in many cases mirror
their own experiences with and feelings about animals; the discovery that these
are anthropological constants encourages them to defend their sensitivity for the
well-being of animals.
Considering the impact of teaching Human-Animal Studies, no matter in
which discipline, we decided to put a focus on the question how teachers could
best inspire their pupils to find and implement solutions for better human-animal
relationships in the future.
There’s no need here to underline that improvements in this respect will trigger
in turn environmental and human health improvements.
So last summer term we held a seminar about Human-Animal Studies in di-
dactic and pedagogic fields like school or adult education. My colleagues Reingard
Spannring and Karin Schachinger and I provided theoretical input about Human-­
Animal Studies as well as proposals for practice; moreover we invited school teachers

21 http://www.animalsandsociety.org/
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
"I hope you will forgive my apparent want of respect, mother. It was
not intentional, but this whole affair has been so sudden—brought
about, indeed, by such unforeseen circumstances—that I could
hardly help myself."

"If you had been a hot-headed lad of twenty, I could have understood
your conduct. At your age it is incomprehensible—inexcusable, I was
going to say. Put yourself in my place, if you can, and imagine what I
felt on hearing you say, 'This is my wife.' I, your mother, to whom you
had not deigned to send a word of warning."

"You had been so used to my coming home just when the humour
seized me—to my comet-like fashion of appearing and disappearing
—that I did not expect you would be so annoyed at my arriving
unannounced."

"Nor am I. It is to your wife's arrival—if this girl be indeed your wife."

Sir Philip started from his seat in anger. "This taunt is too much even
from you!" he exclaimed. "How dare you?"

"I dare anything. If the words sound harsh, you have brought them
on yourself by your rash act and forgetfulness of the respect you
owed me. What will the world say about Sir Philip Longridge's
marriage? Have you announced it in the papers, or is the world to
hear of it through gossiping servants?"

"I have made no announcement of my marriage to outsiders. You are

the first in England to hear of it. I crossed the Channel to-day, and
hurried to Northbrook with all possible speed. At least, mother, give
me credit for having lost no time in coming to you. If I had known
what I now do, I should have hesitated before bringing my wife
home!"

Sir Philip laid a bitter stress on the last word.

There was not much sign of feeling in the reply: "Now you are here
you had better tell me all about it."
But he complied with the half request conveyed in the words, and
told the story of his marriage as briefly as possible.

The father of Florence Winstanley, an enthusiastic traveller like

himself, had met with an accident during a mountain excursion. Sir
Philip found him at a village inn of the poorest description, and in an
out-of-the-world spot, just recovering his senses after many days
spent in delirious ravings or silent unconsciousness. He had watched
over him for weeks, and as soon as the sufferer was fit to be moved,
had travelled with him by easy stages to Geneva, where he had left
his daughter, and only child.

The homecoming was a terrible shock to the girl. Her father and she
were all in all to each other, and in addition to the trial of seeing him
so sadly changed, she soon had the greater one of knowing that he
had only returned to die at home. It was during the last month of Mr.
Winstanley's life that the man of mature years and the girl of
eighteen were drawn together; and Florence became engaged to
him who had first earned her gratitude by his devotion to her father.
They would not have married so soon, but for Mr. Winstanley's wish
to place his darling under the care of a loving husband before he
was called to leave the world. There was no doubt about the
affection of the two for each other, so they were married, and the
bride of a week stood by her father's grave, leaning on the arm of the
bridegroom, Sir Philip Longridge.

The pair lingered no longer than was necessary. There were

business matters to settle, and these completed, they turned their
faces homeward, to meet with the reception already described at
Northbrook Hall.

"You see, mother, I could hardly help myself," added Sir Philip. "We
were going to be married, but the fact of Mr. Winstanley's being on
his death-bed precipitated matters. There was no time to let you
know beforehand, and when the thing was done, why, it seemed so
much better to tell you all about it than to attempt to write. I know you
will feel a little annoyed, but after all you must see that the position
was peculiar, and my poor darling's sad loss and loneliness, to say
nothing of her lovely face and sweet nature, ought to appeal to your
motherly heart."

Lady Longridge's motherly heart! Who had ever heard an appeal to it

before? She turned coldly round and said, "The story is very
romantic, no doubt, but I should hardly have expected the loss, the
loneliness, or the fair face to turn the head of a man close upon forty.
I trust she has something more solid by way of recommendation. A
well-stocked purse, or a goodly dowry in houses and land, would
appeal with more power to my feelings than any of the qualifications
you have named."

"Florence has a little property, but she can draw only the income
from it, and that is about two hundred a year."

Lady Longridge fairly hissed out something in reply, but her son
could not distinguish the words. Her face was, however, almost
frightful in its anger, and there was silence for some minutes,
because she would not trust herself to speak, and Sir Philip deemed
it best to say nothing.

"How do you expect to keep up Northbrook?" she asked at last. "You

know your position, and that the paying out of your sisters' fortunes
left you but a narrow income, considering the calls upon you. As you
did not increase it by economy, or by devoting yourself to the
improvement of the estates, you were bound, if you did marry, to
choose a wife with money. I saved and pinched and scraped out of
my means. You spent all you had in your harum-scarum way, never
resting under your own roof, as a decent Christian should, but
wandering the world over, as if you had something on your
conscience, and squandering your money on those who doubtless
blessed you to your face and mocked you when your back was
turned. Then—"

"Then, mother, I borrowed from you and I owe you money now; but,
remember, you have had fair interest for it, regularly paid, and surely
it has been worth something to reign at Northbrook for eighteen
years, since I came of age."
"Only to lose my place now for that chit of a girl."

"Hush, mother! Say what you choose of me, but be silent or speak
kindly of my wife. I was going to say that I do not think Florence
would care to live at Northbrook, and my associations with my
birthplace are none of the sweetest. Circumstances may, however,
make it advisable for us to settle here. If so, there will be only room
for one mistress."

Sir Philip had touched the one tender spot at last. Lady Longridge
might have little room in her heart for her son, and none for his wife,
but she did long to live and die mistress of Northbrook Hall.

"You must pay me the four thousand pounds you owe me, before I
stir from this place," she said.

"That will be quite easy. You will remember that everything

connected with the loan was done as formally as though I were
borrowing from a stranger, and I am entitled to three months' notice,
but if you want the four thousand you can have it. I had a letter from
Mr. Melville quite lately, in which he asked if I knew of anyone who
wished to borrow a few thousands, for he is at his wits' end how to
invest some trust-money."

Foiled once more, Lady Longridge was puzzled what to say. She
decided to "sleep upon it," and, rising from her seat, remarked, "You
will be tired with your journey, and I am overdone with the shock I
have sustained. It would have been better to leave business matters
until to-morrow, so I will say good-night. You are master, and can
give your orders, you know."

She held out her hand—they were not demonstrative this mother
and son; he took it in his own for an instant, and having opened the
door for her, she passed out of the room and up the stairs without
another word.

When morning came, Lady Longridge had thought the matter out
and decided on her course of action. She would certainly come off
the worse in an open quarrel with her son. Her reign at the Hall
would be over. And she would either have to betake herself to a
smaller residence which was hers for life, or find a home elsewhere.
The house in question was well let and she had lived at the Hall rent
free hitherto. Thus she was touched in two tender spots—her liking
for Northbrook and her love of money.

For her own sake she resolved to conciliate that "chit of a girl whom
Philip had married." Thus she spoke of the new Lady Longridge to
Thorley.

But for once the elder lady found her match. The young wife, who
was pliable as wax in the hands of one she loved, had a will as
strong as that of her husband's mother, when roused by
circumstances to exert it.

The old lady might think she had only to hold out a finger and the
young one would run to seize it, but she found herself mistaken.
Florence was as little likely to bend by a hair's-breadth as was one of
the marble statues in the hall.

"My mother will be in a different humour this morning," said Sir Philip
to his wife, when the morning came. "I dare say she will make herself
very agreeable to you for the future."

"What she may do matters little to me, Philip. I am not likely to see
her. You will please order someone to bring my breakfast here—not
your mother's maid, who seems a kindly person, but of necessity a
sort of domestic spy."

"But surely, Florence, you will meet my mother again. After all, she
had cause to be aggrieved, and she is a lonely woman, getting on in
life."

"I should have thought that one who had known bereavement and
loneliness would have opened her heart to another in like
circumstances. Philip, I shall never forget your mother's look of
anger and hate as you spoke of your wife. It was directed at you, but
it seemed to turn me to stone. She is a fearful woman, Philip, and for
a world's wealth I would not live under the same roof with her."

Hitherto Sir Philip had only seen the tender, loving side of his wife's
character. He had noted her devotion to her suffering parent, her
utter forgetfulness of self, her unwearying patience. He had seen her
caring for the troubled, poverty-stricken people in her
neighbourhood, and finding time to give to others the help,
sympathy, and kind words of which she too stood so much in need.
He knew that she had given to himself no half-hearted affection, and
yet her love went hand in hand with the most exquisite modesty of
manner and speech. Now he saw the other side, and realized that
his wife's will would match that of his mother, and, between the two,
his position would be far from agreeable.

"Are you not rather hasty in coming to such a decision?" he asked.

"You have seen so little of my mother."

"Very little in one sense, too much in another. I would not have a
second experience like last night's for the world."

"Well, dearest, I will breakfast with my mother, and you shall have
your meal here. Afterwards we will talk matters over," was Sir Philip's
reply.

Lady Longridge had decided to meet both her son and his wife not
with two fingers, but with both arms extended. She found only her
son, who did not respond to her advances. After a formal greeting,
he relapsed into silence and the newspaper.

"How is Florence this morning? Rested, I hope, poor child! She

seemed almost hysterical last night, and no wonder. She was
wearied and overwrought."

"Thank you, she is better, but will breakfast in her room," replied Sir
Philip. "Do not trouble yourself, mother; I have already ordered
something to be sent up," for her hand was on the bell to summon a
servant.
"Thorley shall go to your wife immediately, Philip. She is a good
creature, as you know."

"It is very kind of you, but Florence will not deprive you of Thorley's
services, even for a short time. She prefers to be waited on by one of
the girls, thank you all the same."

And again Sir Philip devoted himself to the paper.

There was mischief brewing. Lady Longridge noted the stress on

those two words, and felt more uncomfortable than she would have
liked to confess. After an interval of silence she said—

"I know you like to linger over your last cup and the paper, so, if you
will excuse me, I will go up and see Florence."

She was not long absent. When she presented herself at the
bedroom door, she found it locked, and in answer to her knock and
request to be admitted, the voice of her daughter-in-law replied—

"I cannot see any one at present."

There was something in the tone which prevented Lady Longridge

from making a second application for admission, and she returned to
her son.

"Your wife will not admit me, Philip," she said.

"It is not always convenient to receive visitors when one is dressing,"

was the calm reply.

"She might have been civil."

"I have always found her more, and better, than merely civil, but she
may be adapting her manners to those prevailing at Northbrook."

And again he turned to the "Times."

Never before had Lady Longridge been puzzled what to do next.
After a short silence she said, in an ironical tone—

"Perhaps your wife will like to see Millward, and give her own orders,
since I must yield place to the new mistress of Northbrook."

"Perhaps so; though I doubt if Florence had realized the fact.

Millward may as well see her."

And, ignoring the irony in his mother's manner, Sir Philip rang for the
housekeeper, and told her she had better wait upon Lady Longridge
for orders.

The woman turned to her from whom she had been accustomed to
receive them; but Sir Philip said—

"I mean my wife. My mother herself suggested that this would be the
better plan. Your young mistress has not left her room yet, but she
may see you."

She did, for she was ready dressed, and after a while Millward
descended the stairs with two impressions on her mind. One was
that the new Lady Longridge had her wits about her, and, though she
was so young, would prove a match for the old one. The second that
there would be some pleasure in serving a beautiful creature like
that, who knew how to unite youth and beauty with dignity, and both
with a gracious manner that made it delightful to receive orders from
her.

A tyrannical mistress, who cares nothing for the feelings of her

subordinates, may nevertheless be well served by them. Self-interest
and fear may obtain this much, but such services will only be
rendered until a better opportunity presents itself. So, though
Millward had been twenty years at Northbrook, she went down-stairs
glad at heart with the thought that her "old lady" would meet her
match in Sir Philip's young wife.
 CHAPTER III.
"MEN MAY COME AND MEN MAY GO,"

BUT I STAY ON FOR EVER.

WHEN Lady Longridge found that her daughter-in-law had promptly

accepted the position, and that Millward went straight to her own
domain instead of returning to her for the orders which she had felt
quite certain she would have to give as usual, she was extremely
angry. What added fuel to the fire was that she had brought about
this state of things by her own act. But she never dreamed that her
words would be taken in earnest. She only suggested that Florence
should give the orders, as a means of humiliating the young wife,
who could have had no experience of housekeeping in a place like
Northbrook Hall.

She appealed to Sir Philip, who merely reminded her that Millward
had gone to his with by her express wish.

"It was your doing, not mine," he said.

"I was not in earnest," she replied. "Was it likely that I should expect
that mere girl to take command here at a moment's notice?"

"Then it was a pity you said it, mother. I took it for granted that since
you made the suggestion it must be the right thing to do, though I am
sure Florence would have been in no hurry to assert herself. The
change must have come, of course, and perhaps it is as well that it
should be effected without any needless fuss, especially as you were
the first to propose it."
Yes, those incautious words, spoken ironically, but taken in earnest,
had done mischief which could never be repaired. She was deposed
without even a struggle, and yet had she not always resolved that
should Philip marry, she would show a brave fight before yielding the
chief place at Northbrook to a daughter-in-law?

It would take too long to tell how the two ladies were brought
together, outwardly as friends, but really as far asunder as the poles.
The young wife was the nominal head and mistress, but old Lady
Longridge remained at the Hall, in spite of all efforts to dislodge her.

She talked of going, but objected to more than one removal, and
said that she would reside at her own house when the present
tenant's lease was out; it would be only a matter of six months.
Surely Philip and Florence would not grudge her a shelter for so
long. It would be trial enough to leave a place which had been her
home for five-and-forty years, but a little delay would soften it to her.
So this was agreed to.

Lady Longridge knew how to utilise the advantage, and laughed

triumphantly to herself, as she set to work to regain lost ground.

"I made one mistake," she thought. "I will not repeat it. Philip's wife
has not got rid of the mother-in-law. I know him yet better than she
does. Phil is infatuated with her at present, but one gets accustomed
to the fairest face, and after a while the old roving temperament will
reassert itself. He has never stayed long in a place since he became
his own master, and he never will."

The astute old woman judged rightly. The restless fit came on again
before the end of three months. The young wife would not be left
behind; the time for the mother's removal had not arrived, so the pair
departed on their travels and left Lady Longridge, senior, at the Hall,
but with the understanding that she would vacate it as arranged.

"When we return we shall have our house to ourselves," said Sir

Philip to his wife. He felt that whilst she and his mother preserved an
appearance of friendliness, and the elder lady carefully abstained
from interfering in household matters, there was no real goodwill
between them.

"I doubt it, Philip. Your mother will not move from Northbrook if she
can help it."

"But she agreed to go at the six months' end, and considered it a

favour to be allowed to stay so long."

"You will see when the time is up. I only hope you may be right."

It was a month past the six when the pair came back, and they found
Lady Longridge, senior, still at the Hall. "Too ill to be moved," she
said.

At any rate she had kept her room for several weeks, and still
professed her inability to leave it.

"Have the Wilmotts left Graylands?" asked her son.

"No, Philip. They are staying on as yearly tenants. I shall not have a
house to myself when I leave here. My health is quite broken. The
thought of turning my back on Northbrook has been quite too much
for me, and I shall not again trouble myself with housekeeping cares.
Rooms will suffice for me and Thorley, and be much better suited to
my income. I can move about, ringing the changes on Brighton, St.
Leonards, or Scarborough in summer, and Torquay or Bournemouth
in winter. It will matter little to me; only I shall see fresh faces, and be
the same lonely old woman everywhere, away from Northbrook. You
will take me in for a week or two now and then, if Florence is
agreeable? Or I can stay at one of the farms."

Sir Philip said something about his mother finding it pleasant to visit
her daughters also.

"Never," she replied. "They went their way, and I shall go mine. How
much have I seen of them in more than twenty years? I have only my
son." And Lady Longridge wiped her eyes, but the light was dim, and
tears were strange to them, so perhaps there was no real moisture
there. At any rate, Sir Philip could discern none.

Many a date was fixed for the old lady's departure, but something
always prevented it.

Sixteen years had come and gone between the homecoming of Sir
Philip Longridge with his bride and the fair spring morning when
Thorley was sent to silence the too-tuneful Margaretta. But during
the whole time Lady Longridge had not spent a night under any roof
but that of Northbrook Hall. And now she reigned supreme there, for
her son was dead, his widow married a second time, and Margaretta
lived with her grandmother. There was no grandson, so the baronet
of to-day was a far-away cousin, who had a finer place elsewhere,
and Lady Longridge occupied her old home, for which she paid a
rent which was little more than nominal, but which she made a cause
for infinite grumbling.

Of personal property Sir Philip had not much to leave. The two
hundred a year belonging to his wife was not doubled by what he
could bequeath, but what there was became hers absolutely. He
never believed she would marry again, but in case of her so doing,
he willed that his mother was to have the guardianship of
Margaretta, and he trusted to her to make a suitable provision for his
child, knowing that she was well able to do so.

Margaretta was twelve years old when her father died, and
Northbrook was no longer even a temporary refuge for the widow
and her child.

Sir Philip had never cared to stay long at the Hall, and where he
went his wife accompanied him, but the child was usually there
under suitable guardianship, her nurse first, then a capable
governess being answerable to her parents for their charge's well-
doing.

Old Lady Longridge and her daughter-in-law had not become better
friends, and the former was altogether more impracticable at
seventy-eight than she had been at sixty-five. One roof could not
shelter the two, and the young widow was as eager to leave
Northbrook as the older was to get rid of her.

Florence Longridge was a proud woman, and it was a trial for her to
give up the surroundings she had been used to as Sir Philip's wife,
and to live on a narrow income, with a daughter to educate in a
manner befitting her birth. She would have died sooner than ask help
from her mother-in-law, even had she expected to receive it for the
asking. At thirty-four she was almost more beautiful than in her
girlish days, and no less attractive for her intellectual gifts.

After two years' widowhood she accidentally met an old friend of her
husband, one for whom Sir Philip ever expressed the greatest
esteem. He was a man of forty, with wealth, position, and an
honoured name. When he asked her to be his wife she hesitated,
only on her child's account.

"If I marry, I must part with Margaretta," she said. "I am her guardian
only whilst I am a widow."

"Only for a few years, and though she may go to her grandmother, I
will help you still to guard and care for her until she is of age, though,
considering all things, she may return to you before then."

The marriage took place; Lady Longridge claimed her ward, and
having got possession of Margaretta, succeeded in keeping her out
of her mother's presence, except for a short time at the end of every
six months, when she was obliged to permit a meeting by the terms
of her son's will. Probably if Sir Philip could have foreseen events, he
would have rather rejoiced to leave his child in such worthy hands as
those of his friend Hugh Norland, in his position of stepfather to
Margaretta. But the thought of his wife's second marriage was one
he could not endure, so he had ordered matters otherwise, and the
girl was with her grim old kinswoman.

"Thorley," said Lady Longridge, after Margaretta's arrival, "we have

caged our bird once more, and we shall keep her safely, never fear.
The thought of having the charge of her for—let me see—six years
to come, will help to keep me alive. I dare say her mother will count
my years and say, 'She will not last till Margaretta is of age.' But
plenty of people live to eighty-seven, and why not I. I come of a long-
lived race; at least the females live long. I am only angry at one
thing. Mrs. Hugh Norland has far too much money now. I hate to
think of her being rich—far richer than she ever was as Philip's wife.
And she will not give a penny towards Margaretta's maintenance,
shame on her!"

It was true that Mrs. Norland declined to relieve Lady Longridge's

purse, unless she were permitted to have a say in her daughter's
education and in spending the money. This granted, she would have
given any reasonable amount. But much as the old lady loved to
save, she liked still better to punish the daughter-in-law who had
once made her fill a secondary position, and she availed herself to
the utmost of her powers as the legally appointed guardian of
Margaretta.

The girl had a sorry time at Northbrook. She had no companions of

her own age, and indeed, visitors of any age were few and far
between at the Hall. The rector, a new one in Dr. Darley's place,
came, as in duty bound, and always felt, as the door closed behind
him, that the most disagreeable of his pastoral calls was over for the
time being.

Now and then a carriage would pass along the neglected drive, and
ladies would alight from it and spend a short time with Lady
Longridge, who, however, never returned such visits.

"I am too old for gadding about, so each call you are good enough to
pay will only add to my debts," she would say. "However, it is some
comfort to know that nobody cares to see an old lady like me. It is
not likely. I hear nothing, so I have nothing to tell, and I miss one-half
of what people say through not hearing. Then I repeat the tale
wrongly to the next comer, and get into trouble; so you see it would
have been better not to hear or speak."
An inquiry after Margaretta usually made the old lady eloquent.

"My granddaughter! I never know where she is, except at meal-

times, for she is here, there, and everywhere between-whiles. I hear
her often enough—too often, for she is always making a noise which
she calls singing. It is a dreadful trial for an old woman like me to be
burdened with the charge of a girl. But Philip would not leave her to
the tender mercies of a stepfather, and that devoted wife of his would
not keep single for the sake of her 'darling child.' Oh no."

It was always the same. No kind word fur any one, no messenger
sent to bring the lonely girl into the presence of a visitor who might
have been inclined to make her life a little brighter.

Yet Margaretta was not wholly friendless. She had, after a time, three
persons on whose affection she could rely, and all within her reach at
Northbrook.

First of these was Thorley, who had known her from her birth, and
who, in spite of all her mistress could do to the contrary, had never
missed an opportunity of showing her devoted love for the girl. When
Margaretta was a baby, Thorley used to steal away to the nursery
and satisfy the hunger of a loving woman's heart by spending her
few spare moments with the child. She was full of devices for her
amusement, having been herself "the eldest of nine and used to
nursing," and was in consequence the little one's first favourite.

So when Margaretta came back to Northbrook after the interval

between her father's death and her mother's second marriage,
Thorley's was the only familiar face she saw there beside her
grandmother's.

Lady Longridge's first act on finding herself sole mistress of the Hall
had been to make "a clean sweep" of all the servants, Thorley
excepted.

"Not one who ever received orders from Florence shall stay in my
service," she said, and carried out her resolution.
This change rendered it easy for her to reduce her establishment.
"Half the servants ought to be enough to wait on one old woman,"
she said next, and then she decided to spare her purse further by
giving less wages for less trained domestics. No wonder that, inside
and out, the appearance of Northbrook had changed for the worse
since its old mistress resumed her absolute rule there.

"Things will last my time. Let those who follow renew. There are
gewgaws enough that Florence put in and that are not worth house-
room, only that as my landlord took them at a valuation, and I have
nothing to fill their places if they were removed, they may as well
stay where they are."

The gewgaws were all the dainty screens, needlework, elegant

lamp-shades and artistic trifles with which Sir. Philip's wife had
beautified the barrenness of the rooms. All the more substantial
articles were old-fashioned, the last possessor having had no spare
money to spend on refurnishing the Hall.

Margaretta's second and only young friend was a little village

seamstress named Ellen Corry, by whose deft fingers the garments
of the growing girl were remodelled let out and lengthened, as
occasion required.

It was fortunate for Margaretta that she brought with her a good
stock of clothes, and that the materials were admirably chosen both
as to colours and quality—soft, beautiful, girlish, and not likely to
become conspicuous, owing to the changes of fashion. Each
garment had been carefully planned so as to permit of enlargement,
and a length of new material was folded with it for future renovation.

Lady Longridge grunted indignantly as she caused Thorley to pass

Margaretta's wardrobe in review before her. It was in one sense
satisfactory to find that no expenditure of money would be needed
for a long time.

"I should have bought nothing new in any case," snapped out the old
lady. "There are coloured gowns enough of mine laid away that
would have done for the girl, and they will come in when these are
worn out. Take all this frippery away," and she waved off Thorley and
the garments with an impatient gesture.

The maid retired, murmuring a thanksgiving that her darling Miss

Margaretta would be preserved from the ancient horrors laid up by
her mistress, professedly for future wear, but never likely to be
needed.

"A lady's maid," muttered Thorley, "is supposed to get good pickings
out of her mistress's clothes, but I never had any that were worth
selling, much less wearing. However, it is some comfort to think that,
while she goes on hoarding her rubbish, I never feel to covet any of
and one may be thankful not to be tempted. As to Miss Margaretta,
Nelly Corry will keep her right for a couple of years, let her grow as
fast as she likes."

Nelly Corry's aid was soon needed, and in her joy at the sight of a
young face, Margaretta, albeit an unskilful seamstress, determined
to help her in her work.

"I can unpick the seams, if I cannot put them together," she said, and
this she did with her grandmother's approval, qualified, however, by
the remark that it would be a change to see her occupied in anything
but mischief. Nelly was a good, pure-minded little creature, the staff
of her widowed mother, and the child of careful training and many
prayers. No fear that from her Margaretta would receive harm, or
that the dingy nursery, now used as a workroom, would be the scene
of gossip or idle tattle. The baronet's child and the seamstress a few
years older were just a couple of innocent-minded girls, very happy
only to be together, because they were young, and each had no
friend of like age under the roof she called home.

Nelly's home was a real one, and the girl was eloquent always about
her mother's goodness and the wealth of loving care she bestowed
on the only child left her there. The rest were married and gone out
into the world. Only the one ewe lamb was left.
How different with Margaretta! She could only say that she wished
she could ever please her grandmother, who did not, and she
thought never would, love her. That she longed for the mother from
whom she was parted, and was sure that if only she could be with
her and Mr. Norland, he would love her too. For she had known him
when she was a little thing, and he was—oh, so nice always!

"I want the days to go twice as fast, and they pass so slowly here. I
used to think lessons a nuisance, and wish I had only half as many.
Now I should be glad to be properly taught again. My old governess
would not live with grandmother if she might, and grandmother would
not have her or pay her. She thinks anything spent on me is thrown
away, and says I know more than I ought already. She hates music.
Mamma's piano is gone, and the old one here is horrible, no two
notes in tune. It must be a hundred years old, I should think. And
grandmother is glad it is so bad, for she says if it were a good
instrument, I should be at it always, as mamma used to be at hers,
and there would be no peace. It is just the same if I sing. I went out
of doors to-day, and thought she could not hear me, but she did, and
sent Thorley to say I was to stop that screaming, for it was worse
than a railway-whistle."

"Did Miss Thorley say that?" asked Nelly, who had a profound
veneration for Lady Longridge's maid, and thought it impossible for
her to say a harsh word.

"No. She came to me with such a heartbroken look, for she loves to
hear me sing, and says my voice is the only pleasant thing she
hears. I had just put myself in a comfortable place, leaning against a
tree, and she stole up to me looking miserable when I was in the
midst of a fresh song. 'Don't tell me the message,' I said, 'I will tell
you. Grandmother has sent you to bid me stop screeching. I am
right, am I not?'"

"'Yes, my darling. That is just what my lady did say. It seems as if

you cannot get out of hearing, so as to sing in peace, and yet she is
always complaining of being deaf, and turning what people say into
nonsense. She hears well enough. She only pretends to
misunderstand them, so that she may catch things that were never
meant for her ears at all.'"

"Then I wished I were a bird, and that I could fly out of hearing. I
sometimes think I shall run away, Nelly, for life here is so dreadful.
And to have to live it for six long years, or five and a half, for I have
been here a few months already! Thorley was quite shocked, and
said, 'Oh, dear Miss Margaretta, you make me tremble, and I am just
as nervous as I can be to begin with, through your grandma
scolding.'"

"'If you don't call me "Meg," I will start off this minute,' I said. 'I can
run so fast that I should be out of reach before you could begin to
follow.'"

"Then Thorley gasped out, 'Oh, Meg, do not,' and I laughed until I
forgot my grandmother's cross message. You see I make Thorley
call me 'Meg,' because it was my poor father's pet name for me, and
mamma got into the way of using it too. No one but those who loved
me ever used it, so I ask Thorley to say it, because I want to feel
loved yet, and she does care for me."

"She does indeed. And, dear Miss Longridge, so do I. There isn't a

thing you could ask me to do that I would not do for you."

"Then call me 'Meg' this minute, you dear little nice thing," said
Margaretta, and then she flung her arm round the little seamstress's
neck and kissed her with such energy that Nelly was half frightened
at the suddenness of the embrace.

"Kiss me back again. Kiss me, Nelly," cried Margaretta. "Don't you
see I am hungering for love and kindness? Thorley is an old dear,
but I want a young one. I will have you for a friend. I like you, and
grandmother gives me no choice."

So on that day a compact was entered into, and Nelly returned

Margaretta's somewhat tempestuous affection with an almost
worshipping devotion, calling her "Meg" in a whisper, as Thorley did
when no one was within hearing, and resolving that if ever she in her
humble way could help the lonely young lady, she would do it with all
her might.

One thing she succeeded in making Margaretta promise when, from

time to time, she threatened to run away, and that was that she
would go straight to Nelly's home, and no further, to begin with.

To this Margaretta agreed, and both Nelly and Thorley, whom she
informed of the arrangement, were content.

It was through the little seamstress that Meg gained her third friend,
and the one who was likely to be of the most service to her.

CHAPTER IV.
THE MOUSE HELPS THE LIONESS,

AND MARGARETTA GAINS A THIRD FRIEND.

NELLY CORRY'S active fingers were never idle, and her cleverness,
good taste, and modest manners were the means of introducing her
to the best houses in the neighbourhood, as well as to Northbrook
Hall. One of her customers, a childless widow, resided in a pretty
cottage about half a mile from it.

This lady, Mrs. Moffat, was much interested in the little seamstress,
who was so good a daughter and so industrious, and very often
made the girl bring her work into her own sitting-room. There the