Their Abode

Their abode is of 4 kinds according to the 4 elements:

These are not good names, but I use them nevertheless.

The names have been given them by people who did not understand them. But since they designate the things and since they can be recognized by the names, I shall leave it at that.

Alternative names are:

Their regions are divided into their parts. The water people have no intercourse with the mountain people, nor the mountain people with them, nor the salamanders.

Each has his special abode, but they appear to man so that he may recognize and see how marvellous God is in his works, that he does not leave any element void and empty, without having great wonders in them.

And now follow the four regions, which explains the difference of abode, also of person, essence and kind, how far they differ from each, yet more similar to man than to each other, and yet all men, as was explained in the first treatise.

We, men from Adam, stand and walk in air and are surrounded by it as a fish by water, and we can just as little be without it as a fish without water.

As the fish has its abode in water, where water takes for it the place of the air in which it lives, so air takes for man the place of water, in relation to the fish. Thus everything has been created in its element, to walk therein.

From this example you understand that the undinae have their abode in water, and the water is given to them as to us the air, and just as we are astonished that they should live in water, they are astonished about our being in the air.

The same applies to the gnomi in the mountains: the earth is their air and is their chaos. For everything lives in chaos, that is: everything has its abode in chaos, walks and stands therein. Now, the earth is not more than mere chaos to the mountain manikins.

For they walk through solid walls, through rocks and stones, like a spirit; this is why these things are all mere chaos to them, that is, nothing. That amounts to: as little as we are hampered by the air, as little are they hampered by the mountain, by earth and rocks. And as it is easy for us to walk through air and air cannot stop us, so rocks and cliffs are easy to them. And so, things are all chaos to them which are not chaos to us. For a wall, a partition, stops us so that we cannot go through, but to them it is a chaos. That is why they walk through it; to them it is their air in which they live and walk, as man does in the air that is between heaven and earth.

The coarser the chaos, the more subtile is the creature; and the more subtile the chaos the coarser the creature. The mountain people have a coarse chaos; therefore, they must be the more subtile; and man has a subtile chaos; therefore, he is all the coarser. And thus there are different kinds of chaos, and the inhabitants are adapted in nature and quality to live in them.

Thus one wonder is explained, that of their abode, and you know now that their habitation in the four elements is their chaos, just as the air is for us, and there cannot be such acci- dents to them as drowning, or suffocating or burning, for the elements are nothing but air to the creatures who live in them. Since water is the fish’s air, the fish does not drown, and so the unda does not drown either. As in the water, so in the earth: the earth is air to the gnomi; hence they do not suffocate.

They do not require our air, we do not theirs. Thus also with the salamanders: fire is their air, as our air our air is. And the sylvestres are closest to us, for they too maintain themselves in our air, and they are exposed to the same kind of death as we, namely: they burn in fire, and we too; they drown in water, and we too; they suffocate in the earth, and we too. For, each remains healthy in his chaos; in the others he dies.

Therefore, you must not be astonished about things that seem incredible to us; to God everything is possible. He has created all things for us, not according to our thoughts and intelligence, but above our thoughts and intelligence.

For, he wants to be looked upon as a God who is marvellous in his creations. Had nothing been created but merely what is possi- ble for man to believe, God would be all too weak, and man would be his equal. This is why he has created things as a God, and let man marvel about them, and let his works be so big, that no one can marvel enough about these beings also. God wants to have it thus. Let us philosophize further, about their food. Know that each chaos has its two spheres, the heaven and the soil, just as we men walk on earth. Earth and heaven give us our food and the chaos is in between the two. Thus we are nourished in between the two spheres and the globules. Thus also, those who live in the water, have the earth at the bottom, and the water as chaos, and the heaven down to the water; and so they are in between heaven and earth and the water is their chaos. And their abode is according to their kind. Thus also with the gnomi, whose soil is water, and whose chaos is terra, and the heaven is their sphaera, that is, the earth stands in water. To them the earth is chaos and the water the soil. Food grows to them in such a way. The sylphs are like men, nourish them- selves like men in the wilderness, on herbs in the woods. To the salamanders the soil is earth, their heaven is the air, and fire their chaos. Thus food grows to them from the earth and from fire, and the constellation from air is their heaven. Now, about the things they eat and drink, you may understand so much. Water quenches our thirst, but not that of the gnomi, nor of the nymphs, nor of the other two. Further: if water has been created for us, to quench our thirst, then another water must have been created for them, that we cannot see nor explore. Drink they must, but drink that which in their world is a drink. Eat they must similarly, according to the content of their world. One cannot find out more about these things, but only that their world has its own nature, just as ours has.

Clothing

They are clothed and cover their genitalia, but not in the way of our world, in their own way.

For they have modesty and similar qualities, as men must have, have law and similar institutions, have their authorities, like the ants, which have their king, and the wild geese, which have their leader, not according to the law of men, but according to their inborn nature. The animals have their chief, and so have they too, and more than all animals, because they are most similar to man. God has clothed all beings and endowed them with modesty, to walk and stand before man.

To the beasts clothing is inborn by nature, but not to these people. To them nothing is inborn by nature; they must work for it like man whom they resemble. Their work, like man’s work, is in the nature and kind of their own world and earth on which they live. For he who gave us wool from sheep, gives it to them also. For it is possible for God to create not only the sheep which are known to us, but also the same in fire, in water, in the earth.

For he clothes not only us, but also the gnomi, the nymphs, the salamanders, the sylvestres. They are all under the protection of God and are all clothed and guided by him. For God has not only power to provide for man, but also for any- thing else, of which man knows nothing, and of which he becomes slowly aware. And when he sees and hears something, it is a miracle to him that bears no fruit, that is: he gives it no further thought, but remains obstinate and blind, like one who with good eyes has not the grace to see.

About their day, night, sleeping and waking, know that they rest, sleep and are awake like men, that is, in the same measure as man. With that, they have the sun and firmament as well as we. That is the mountain manikins have the earth which is their chaos.

To them it is only an air and no earth as we have it. From this we must conclude that they see through the earth, as we do through the air, and that the sun shines to them through the earth, as it does to us through the air, and that they have the sun, the moon and the whole firmament in front of their eyes, as we men. To the undinae the water is their chaos, and water does not keep them from the sun; and just as we have the sun through the air, they have it through the water, in the same measure.

Thus also to the vulcans through the fire. And in the same way as the sun shines on us and ferti- lizes the earth, know that the same happens to them as to us. The consequence is, that they too have summer, winter, day and night, etc.

But they do not need rain, snow, etc. They have it in a different way than we. These are the great miracles of God. From all this we must conclude that they have pestilence, fevers, pleurisies, and all diseases of the heaven, just as we do, and that they follow us in all these matters, since they are men. But in the judgment of God, in the resurrection, they will be beasts and not men.

About their figures, know that they are different. The water people look like men, both women and men. The sylvestres do not conform, but are cruder, coarser, longer and stronger than both. The mountain people are small, of about two spans.

The salamanders are long, narrow and lean. Their place and abode are in their chaos, as was mentioned before. The nymphs live in water, in running brooks, etc., so close that they grasp the people who ride through or bathe therein.

The mountain people are in the mountain chaos, and there they build their houses. This is why it often happens that one finds in the earth an attic, vaults, and similar structures, of the height of about a yard. They have been build by these people for their abode and dwellings. The water people do the same in their various places. Know also that the mountain people live in the caves of the mountains and this is why strange structures occur and are found in such places.

These are their work. Know also about the fire people whose yelling, hammering and working can be heard in volcanic mountains. It can also be heard when the elements are incinerated. For all these things are the same as with us, but according to their secret quality.

Those who travel through wild regions learn the reason for such beings and obtain information. There these beings are found. In the mines also, close to good ore, etc. they are found, and in waters the same also, and the vulcans near the Aetna. And there are many more marvellous things, about their coins, payments and customs, which would be too long in this connection, but will be described in their place.