TRAVELLERS' TALES 
 
 
   Transformations. In the art of trans- 
 formation, one of the most important 
 things was a ready wit to adopt in an in- 
 stant some form which would give you an 
 advantage over your adversary; thus, if 
 your adversary appeared as a mouse, you 
 must change into an owl, then your ad- 
 versary would become an arrow to shoot 
 the owl, and you would assume the form 
 of fire to burn the arrow, whereupon your 
 adversary would become water to quench 
 the fire; and he who could outwit the 
 other would come off victorious. The two 
 best examples I know of this sort of con- 
 test are to be found, one in the Arabian 
 Niqhts, and the other in the Mabinogion. 
 The former is the contest between the 
 Queen of Beauty and the son of the daugh- 
 ter of Eblis. He appeared as a scorpion, 
 she in a moment became a serpent; where- 
 upon he changed into an eagle, she into 
 a more powerful black eagle; he became 
 a cat, she a wolf; she instantly changed 
 into a worm and crept into. a pomegranite, 
 which in time burst, whereupon he as- 
 sumed the form of a cock to devour the 
 seed, but it became a fish; the cock then 
 became a pike, but the princess became a 
 blazing fire, and consumed her adversary 
 before he had time to change.-" The 
 Second Calendar." 
 The other is the contest between Carid- 
 wen and Gwion Bach. Bach fled as a 
 hare, she changed into a greyhound; 
 whereupon he became a fish, she an otter- 
 bitch, he instantly became a bird, she a 
 hawk; but he became as quick as thought 
 a grain of wheat. Caridwen now became 
 a hen, and made for the wheat-corn and 
 devoured him.-" Taliesin." 
 
 Translator-General. Philemon Hol- 
land is so called by Fuller, in his Worthies 
of England.   Holland translated Livy, 
Pliny; Plutarch, Suetonius, Xenophon, 
 
 
and several other classic authors (1551- 
1636). 
 
  Transome (Harold), takes a leading part 
in George Eliot's novel Felix Holt. 
   Transome (Mrs). Mother of Harold. 
 
   Trapbois (Old), a miser in Alsatia. 
Even in his extreme age, "he was believed 
to understand the plucking of a 'pigeon' 
better than any man in Alsatia." 
  Martha Trapbois, the miser's daughter, 
a cold, decisive, mascuie woman, who 
marries Richie Moniplies.-Sir W. Scott, 
The Fortunes of Nigel (time, James I.). 
 
  Trapper (The). One of the titles of 
Natty Bumpo, a character introduced into 
several of Cooper's novels. In The Pio- 
neers, he bears his own name, in others he 
is "The Trapper," "The Deerslayer," "The 
Pathfinder," "The Hawk-eye" and "Leath- 
erstocking." 
 
  Traveller (The). The scheme of this 
poem is very simple: The poet supposes 
himself seated among Alpine solitudes, 
looking down upon a hundred kingdoms. 
He would fain find some spot where hap- 
piness can be attained, but the natives of 
each realm think their own the best; yet 
the amount of happiness in each is pretty 
well equal. To illustrate this, the poet de- 
scribes the manners and government of 
Italy, Switzerland, France, Holland, and 
England.-O. Goldsmith (1764). 
 
  Traveller (Mr.), the stranger who tried 
to reason with Mr. Mopes and bring him 
back to society, but found the truth of the 
tinker's remark, "When iron is thoroughly 
rotten, you cannot botch it."-C. Dickens, 
A Christmas Number (1861). 
 
  Travellers' Tales. Marco Polo says, 
 
 
TRANSFORMATIONS 
 
 
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