[57] An old German saying, “Hier liegt der Hund begraben”—and which is equivalent to saying, That now we penetrate the true meaning of something not previously understood—has been explained in the same way in Büchner’s “Geflügelte Worte:” There the dog lies buried; that is why the tree bears fruit. [58] The Greeks also observed this at their banquets in order to appease the gods. [59] In the Harz and Westphalia Tuesday is considered the luckiest day for entering on a new service. [60] This custom, which appears to be a very old one, is also prevalent among various Slav peoples, Poles, Serbs, etc. In Poland it used to be _de rigueur_ that the water be poured over a girl who was still asleep; so in each house a victim, usually a servant-maid, was selected, who had to feign sleep, and patiently receive the cold shower-bath which was to insure the luck of the family during that year. The custom has now become modified to suit a more delicate age, and instead of formidable horse-buckets of water, dainty little perfume-squirts have come to be used in many places. CHAPTER XXX. SAXON CUSTOMS AND DRAMAS. Some of the Saxon customs are peculiarly interesting, as being obviously remnants of paganism, and offer curious proof of the force of verbal tradition, which in this case has not only borne transmigration from a distant country, but likewise weathered the storm of two successive changes of religion. It speaks strongly for the tenacity of pagan habits and trains of thought, that although at the time these Saxon colonists appeared in Transylvania they had already belonged to the Christian Church for over three hundred years, yet many points of the landscape in their new country received from them pagan appellations. Thus we find the _Götzenberg_, or mountain of the gods,[61] which rises above the village of Heltau; and the _Wodesch_ and _Wolenk_ applied to woods and plains, both evidently derived from Woden. Another remnant of paganism is the _feurix_ or _feuriswolf_, which yet lingers in the minds of these people. According to ancient German mythology, the feuriswolf is a monster which on the last day is to open his mouth so wide that the upper jaw will touch the sky and the lower one the earth; and not long ago a Saxon woman bitterly complained in a court of justice that her husband had cursed her over-strongly in saying, “Der Wärlthangd saul dich frieszen!”—literally, “May the world-dog swallow thee!”