In like manner, recollected images are attributed to the moving lights, in the splendid exhibitions of the Aurora Borealis. The Icelander beholds in them the spirits of his ancestors;[4] and the vulgar discern encountering armies, and torrents of blood, in the lambent meteors of a winter-sky. The humble diversion of seeing pictures in the fire, which occupies children of smaller growth in the nursery, is calculated on the same principles. In some cases, the imagination is assisted by physical causes, in a very imposing manner, as in the instance of the Giant of the Broken,[5] in Germany, the ‘nursing mother’ of ghosts. The giant was seen to occupy the summit of a mountain, at certain periods, to the inexpressible amazement of the inhabitants of the valley, and of travellers. After many years of alarm and wonder, a passenger, while he was contemplating the dreadful apparition, was obliged to raise his hand quickly to his head, to secure his hat from being carried away, by a gust of wind. The giant immediately performed a similar motion; when the traveller bowed, the giant bowed in return; and after various experiments, it was ascertained, that the portentous appearance was nothing more than the shadow of the traveller, reflected from a dense white cloud, opposed to the sun. I remember to have heard, many years ago, a relation of a similar nature, from a gentleman, who underwent the deception. He was benighted, while travelling alone, in a remote part of the highlands of Scotland, and was compelled to ask shelter for the evening, at a small, lonely hut. When he was to be conducted to his bed-room, the landlady observed, with mysterious reluctance, that he would find the window very insecure. On examination, part of the wall appeared to have been broken down, to enlarge the opening. After some enquiry, he was told, that a pedlar, who had lodged in the room a short time before, had committed suicide, and was found hanging behind the door, in the morning. According to the superstition of the country, it was deemed improper to remove the body through the door of the house; and to convey it through the window was impossible, without removing part of the wall. Some hints were dropped, that the room had been subsequently haunted by the poor man’s spirit.