Chapter Vindicate to Virgil of V by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

could teach him, expressed amazement that one of such imposing stature could be squeezed into so small a rift. The imp said, “Oh, that is not wonderful,” and crept into the hole to show Virgil how it was done, whereupon Virgil closed up the hole and kept the imp there. (Een Schone Historie Van Virgilius, 1552.)
   This tale is almost identical with that of the Fisherman and the Genius in the Arabian Nights. The fisherman trapped in his net a small copper vessel, from which, when opened, an evil genius came out, who told the fisherman he had vowed to kill the person who released him. The fisherman began to mock the genius, and declared it was quite impossible for such a monster to squeeze himself into so small a vessel. The genius, to convince the fisherman, metamorphosed himself into smoke and got into the vessel, whereupon the fisherman clapped down the lid and flung the vessel back into the sea.
   The Swiss tale of Theophrastus and the Devil is another analogous story. Theophrastus liberates the devil from a hollow tree, and the sequel is like those given above. (Gorres: Folksbücher, p. 226.)
    There are numerous tales of the devil outwitted.
   The Christian Virgil. Marco Girolamo Vida, author of Christias in six books, an imitation of the AEneid. (1490-1566.)
   The Virgil and Horace of the Christians. So Bentley calls Aurelius Clemens Prudentius, a native of Spain, who wrote Latin hymns and religious poems. (348- .)
   Le Virgile au Rabot. (Au rabot is difficult to render into English. “Virgil with a Plane” is far from conveying the idea. “The Virgil of Planers,” or “The Virgil of the Plane,” is somewhat nearer the meaning.) Adam Billaut, the poetical carpenter and joiner, was so called by M. Tissot, both because he used the plane and because one of his chief recueils is entitled Le Rabot. He is generally called Maître Adam. His roaring Bacchanalian songs seem very unlike the Ecologues of Virgil, and the only reason for the title seems to be that Virgil was a husbandman and wrote on husbandry, while Billaut was a carpenter and wrote on carpentry (-1662.)