THE IKON ON THE LINE

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 115, 20 June 1914, Page 3

THE IKON ON THE LINE

A RUSSIAN PEASANT STOPS A * TRAIN. This is' the' amusing tale of an ikon (a representation of a sacred figure) and a.n P engine. told by Mr Stephen Graham ■in "The Times" to illustrate,the Superstition of the Russian peasantry. • One peasant, held that it was an unclean spirit that made a steam engine go forward; another, said it was just steam, no more, he knew. "It is-an unclean spirit,'' the former repeated. • "I'll .bet it is an unclean spirit.",. . ~,.„,, * 'How will vou prove that it is? "I'll bet you a quarter the engine won't be able to pass the ikbh of Mikhail the Ugodnik." :. . ."•; > ." Very well;, done! " , - ~; . The ikon was brought to the railway lines. Presently thruffij thrum, thnim, the .post, train left the village railwaystation. .•■-■:'-'.■ The first peasant stood himself on the lines and held the sacred ikpn.in .front of him with .both - hands. * The other stood by and wiatched*v >'-... The train came on, but when the en-gine-drive* saw the peasant barring .the way and apparently fragging the train, he brought his engine to a standstill and cried out to know what was the matter! "'■ ■ *.

"You see," said the peasant, "the engine dare not pass v the ikon. The quarter is mine—let's go and have a drink." One visitor to the tavern -where Mr Graham heard this story told a sort of Ingoldsby legend of a 10-pound black cat whose favourite way of entering a house was by coining down the chimney. Another, a peasant-workman, made the astonishing statement that if you made a candle from human fat and. light it you can see all.