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THE CHILDHOOD OF FICTION 
 
--»<■ 
 
•THE 
 
 CHILDHOOD OF FICTION-: 
 A STUDY OF FOLK TALES 
 AND PRIMITIVE THOUGHT 
 
 BY J. A. MACCULLOCH 
 
 AUTHOR OF " COMPARATIVE THEOLOGY," '* RELIGION, ITS 
 OBIGIK AKD FORMS," " THE MISTY ISLE Or SKYE," ETC. 
 
 ^ OF THF 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
 NEW YORK 
 E. P. BUTTON AND COMPANY 
 
 1905 
 
r-^IERAl 
 
 Printed in Great Britain. 
 
TO MY CHILDREN 
 
 SHEILA 
 E L S P E T H 
 
 AND 
 
 NIGEL 
 
PREFACE 
 
 To many who love folk-tales for themselves, and 
 because they, of all forms of literature, are to the 
 eye of the mind 
 
 " Magic casements, opening on the foam 
 Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn," 
 
 I shall seem to be no more than 
 
 " One who would peep and botanise 
 Upon his mother's grave," 
 
 because I have dared to show that some of the things 
 which, in these old-world stories, form their fascina- 
 tion, have had their origin in sordid fact and reality. 
 Yet all romantic literature is also a criticism of real 
 life ; nor does it take away from our enjoyment of 
 Scott's novels or Tennyson's poems to know this. I, 
 too, am a lover of folk-tales ; I have read and enjoyed 
 thousands of them ; and now that my task is done, I 
 am ready to begin reading and enjoying them again. 
 Age cannot wither, nor custom- — even primitive 
 custom — stale their infinite variety. It does not 
 seem to me that, while trying to explain the irra- 
 tional incidents of folk-tales, and to show how they 
 have arisen, I have destroyed their romantic fresh- 
 ness. For even when all is said, nothing can detract 
 from the marvellous skill with which the story-weaver 
 
viii PREFACE 
 
 has treated those incidents, or attenuate the atmos- 
 phere of old romance which still clings round them, 
 after we have understood their origin. For that reason, 
 throughout this work I have never ceased to regard 
 these stories as literature — the literature of early 
 man and of primitive people wherever found. Hence 
 this book, which treats of primitive thought and 
 custom in folk-tales, has been called The Childhood 
 of Fiction. And, for its irnprimatur, I may cite the 
 words of Sir Walter — that ''great romantic," that 
 "idle child" — "A work of great interest might be 
 compiled upon the origin of popular fiction, and the 
 transmission of similar tales from age to age, and 
 from country to country."^ 
 
 Sir George Douglas, in his interesting preface to 
 a collection of Scots stories, complains bitterly of the 
 scientific folk-lorist, and pleads for the study of 
 folk-tales from the point of view of the story-teller 
 pure and simple. One must distinguish, however, 
 between the mere enjoyment of literature and the 
 study of it. Study of literature implies research into 
 its origins and the influences which have moulded it. 
 This does not necessarily detract from its enjoyment 
 by the student ; nay, there are students whose 
 enjoyment is keener because they know more about 
 the particular piece of literature, than others who 
 read it only to be entertained. Felix qui potuit 
 rerum cognoscere causas. So with folk-tales. The 
 most scientific of folk-lorists may yet enjoy his tales, 
 though he has been bold enough to inquire into 
 their origins. And while, because he has put away 
 childish things, the child's delighted wonder is lost to 
 him, still he enjoys, because it must always be a new 
 wonder to him how, out of the stuff" of common 
 belief and custom and everyday experience, such 
 a rich and gorgeous fabric should have been 
 
 ^ Note 3D to The Lady of the Lake. 
 
PREFACE ix 
 
 woven by those who were far down in the scale of 
 civilisation. 
 
 " To a mind that's scientific 
 There is nothing that's terrific " 
 
 in Sir George's complaints, but there is still a world 
 of wonder in the tales, upon whose origins the 
 scientific folk-lorist (if he must be so called) has 
 attempted to throw some light. 
 
 With this apologia I leave my book in the reader's 
 hands, with the hope that he may derive as much 
 pleasure from reading as I have done from writing it. 
 
 Portree, Isle of Skye, 
 December 1904. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP, 
 I. 
 
 II. 
 
 •^IV. 
 
 V. 
 
 ^VI. 
 
 VII. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 IX. 
 
 X. 
 
 XI. 
 
 XII. 
 
 XIII. 
 XIV. 
 
 XV. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Introductory — The Antiquity of Folk-Tale 
 Incidents ..... 
 
 Some Folk-Tale Incidents . 
 
 The Water of Life .... 
 
 The Renewal of Life in the Dead or Dis 
 membered ..... 
 
 The Separable Soul .... 
 
 Transforivution .... 
 
 Inanimate Objects with Human and Magical 
 Qualities 
 
 Friendly Animals : Puss in Boots 
 
 Beast-Marriages : Beauty and the Beast 
 
 Cannibalism : Odysseus and the" Cyclops 
 
 Tabu in Folk-Tales— Bluebeard 
 
 The 
 
 Lost 
 
 AND Andro 
 
 Tabu in Folk-Tales — Continued 
 Husband or Wife . 
 
 The Clever Youngest Son . 
 
 The Dragon Sacrifice : Perseus 
 meda .... 
 
 The Sacrifice of a Child . 
 
 Jack and the Beanstalk 
 
 The Origin and Transmission of Folk-Tales 
 
 Bibliographical Appendix . 
 
 Index ...... 
 
 I ^ 
 i6' 
 
 52 
 
 80 
 118 
 149 
 
 188 
 225 
 253 
 279 
 306' 
 
 325 
 350 
 
 381 
 410 
 
 432 
 
 450* 
 
 485 
 493 
 
THE CHILDHOOD OF FICTION 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 INTRODUCTORY THE ANTIQUITY OF FOLK-TALE 
 
 INCIDENTS 
 
 Folk-tales are the earliest form of romantic and 
 imaginative literature, the unwritten fiction of early- 
 man and of primitive people in all parts of the world. 
 They represent fiction in its childhood ; the attempts 
 of primitive men and of savage races to clothe their 
 impressions of the universe, their ideas and beliefs, 
 their customs and manner of living, in a romantic 
 garb, and in the form of a story. Though other 
 causes have led to their origin or have moulded their 
 form once they originated, they owe their birth in 
 great part to that universal human desire to listen to a 
 story. '* Tell me a story," cries the child ; and in the 
 childhood of the race there was heard the same cry, 
 followed by a generous response from those in whom 
 imagination and the faculty of story-weaving were 
 most active. The telling of folk-tales amounts 
 "almost to a passion" with the West African negro, 
 says Dr Nassau. All know the tales, which are told 
 at night after the day's work by the best and most 
 eloquent reciter, but the audience never wearies of 
 repetition.^ What is true of the negro, is true of all 
 savages. Breathless audiences gather round the 
 
 ^ Nassau, p. 330, 
 
2 THE ANTIQUITY OF FOLK-TALE INCIDENTS 
 
 camp fire, or in some public place in the villagfe, to 
 listen to the tales of old time, embodying- current 
 beliefs and practices, which are recited by the old 
 men, by priest or sorcerer, or by some recognised 
 story-teller, like the mediaeval wandering minstrel, 
 European peasants have had the same passion for 
 folk-tales, and the telling of them occupies the greater 
 part of the long winter evenings among- Celts and 
 Basques, Russians and Norwegians, Germans and 
 Roumanians. 
 
 How universal the desire for a story has been, is 
 proved by the enormous numbers of folk-tales which 
 have been collected in all parts of the world. The 
 efforts of the brothers Grimm to gather the tales 
 current among the peasantry in Germany, inspired 
 similar efforts in every European country, with the 
 result that vast numbers of tales, Russian, Scandi- 
 navian, Celtic, French, Spanish, Italian, Greek, etc., 
 have been brought to light. These are the unwritten 
 literature of the peasants, and it might easily be 
 supposed that they had originated with them. But 
 further research by able collectors has proved that 
 just such stories are told in abundance amongf savages 
 and barbaric races in every part of the world. 
 Chinese and Japanese, Mongols and Indian aborigines, 
 Malays and Dyaks, Indians of both American con- 
 tinents and Eskimo, Negroes, Kaffirs, and Bushmen, 
 Andamanese, Australians, and Ainos, Maoris and 
 the islanders of the Pacific, have shown themselves 
 possessed of a rich and varied folk-tale literature.^ 
 
 ^ A comparison of the literary and artistic abilities of some of 
 these peoples is interesting. Those who possess the most elaborate 
 and imaginative tales are the Red Indians {e.g., Zunis) and Polynesians, 
 in the case of the latter, however, the stories are religious myths 
 rather than Mdrchen. Neither of these races is very artistic so far as 
 direct copying of nature is concerned ; the Polynesians are, however, 
 excellent decorative artists. The Bushmen and Eskimo, true rivals 
 of the Palaeolithic artists (of whose powers as story- weavers we know 
 
MODERN IDEAS IN FOLK-TALES 3 
 
 This fact leads us to suspect that such stories as are 
 told amongf the European peasantry did not originate 
 with them, but in a far-distant past, when the ancestors 
 of the European races were themselves in a state of 
 savagery. The ideas of later ages have entered into 
 and coloured these primitive stories ; comparatively 
 modern social customs and names jostle those of a 
 remote antiquity without any feeling of incongruity ; 
 the tales have a firm root in a past paganism, but 
 they are full of later Christian conceptions. Tales 
 which bristle with the marvellous, and introduce us to 
 ogres and witches and enchanted heroes and heroines, 
 to animals and things which talk and act like men, to 
 the weirdest and most irrational customs and ideas, 
 speak also of gunpowder and tobacco, of cannons and 
 muskets, of cities, palaces, hotels, coaches, and other 
 things of later civilisation ; or make the most evidently 
 pagan ogres, monsters, or personages of mythical 
 antiquity indulge in church-going and other Christian 
 practices ; or refer to the Sultan or Boney in the 
 most matter-of-fact way.^ But all this is only the 
 veneer of a later age ; the material of the stories is ^ 
 old, so old as to be prehistoric. 
 
 This conclusion is amply confirmed when we 
 examine the incidents of the stories. Although these, 
 too, are coloured by the thoughts and environment of 
 
 nothing) in holding the mirror up to nature, are also good weavers of 
 tales, though none of those are so beautiful as the Polynesian and 
 Red Indian stories. Chinese folk-tales are least romantic of all ; in 
 these, as in their art products, they are far surpassed by the Japanese. 
 In Europe the most romantic and magical of all folk-tales are the 
 Celtic ; the Celts were once excellent artists. I have discussed the 
 literary style of folk-tales in the concluding chapter. 
 
 ^ Cf. the remarks of Campbell, West Highland TaleSy introduction ; 
 of Jones, Magyar Tales^ p. 20 ; and of Webster, Basque Tales, p. 9. 
 Dr Nassau, p. 331, shows how the introduction of cannon and other 
 civilised products into West African tales is due to the cleverness of 
 the story-teller, observant of new things, and introducing them in place 
 of the bow and arrows, etc., of the native tales, to give greater effect. 
 
4 THE ANTIQUITY OF FOLK-TALE INCIDENTS 
 
 the men and women who tell them, yet, for the mos^ 
 part, they lead us into a world which is neither moderr* 
 nor mediaeval, western nor eastern. Kings ane 
 princesses have the most unroyal duties to perform 
 their kingdoms are wide, but by walking for a dar 
 you find yourself in the territory of another monarch " 
 a maiden's hand is won by the hero who success^ 
 fully performs some extraordinary tasks ; giants anc- 
 monsters carry girls off, and marry them against thei;"^ 
 will ; to women are ascribed such powers as the)? 
 certainly did not possess in historical times ; canniba^ 
 ogres, giants, and fearful monsters abound. Again^ 
 they lead us into a world where magic and sorcer;^^ 
 are the affairs of daily life. Wizards and witches-" 
 but especially witches, are never far off; the possessioi^ 
 of this or the other object gives its owner the service^ 
 I of powerful attendant spirits ; men and women are cu'^ 
 j in pieces or die, and are then restored to life ; the:^ 
 practise shape-shifting, make themselves invisible^ 
 ' travel through the air, arm themselves with all sort^^ 
 i of magic powers, or hide their souls in a distant place^ 
 / Life, too, in folk-tales is subject to strange customs*^* 
 Bride and bridegroom must not see each other's face^^ 
 It is dangerous to go into certain places, or to reves^ 
 your name. Maidens are offered in sacrifice t«^ 
 monsters ; unions with animals are common ; there i^ 
 a strange preference for the youngest son as hi"^ 
 father's heir. These are the incidents of a worl'^ 
 which is certainly not that of the European peasant.^* 
 If we take up a modern novel we find that it^^ 
 incidents are, with few exceptions, those of our ow 
 time, or of a time sufficiently near to be known to mat 
 The writer avails himself of these because their ver".^ 
 familiarity, as well as the use he makes of them, w:^^^ 
 appeal to the interest of his readers. The way of 
 man with a maid is, of course, the invariable theme ( 
 a novel, and is as old as the hills. Into that world-ol^o^ 
 but ever fresh topic the skilful novelist works h^^* 
 
SAVAGE ANCESTRY OF CIVILISED RACES 7 
 
 for some samples out of his tales, ancient or modern." ^ 
 The incidents of these tales reflect the customs in 
 question. In general, all savages believe in magfic, 
 shape-shiftingf, tabu, talking beasts and inanimate 
 objects, and in totem-descent from animals ; hence, 
 their folk-tales abound in such topics. They are 
 based on the well-known customs of their material 
 existence and their psychic and religious life. 
 
 We return now to the folk-tales of the European 
 peasantry, with their incidents of a world which is not 
 that of the peasant. Where and when are we to seek 
 a world in which such incidents were common or 
 credible — in which the story-inventors could take 
 these incidents, like the modern novelist or the savage 
 story-teller, for the purpose of delighting his audience 
 by the use he made of things which were quite 
 credible and common to them ? We must seek it in 
 a remote past, when the ancestors of our European 
 races were in a state of barbarism or savagery, in 
 which they did and thought exactly such things, 
 bizarre and irrational though they be, as occur in 
 folk-tales. All races, however civilised, have passed 
 through a stage of savagery in their upward march — 
 a stage in which they believed that beasts and things 
 could talk and act, in which the medicine-man was 
 all-powerful and magic was common, in which society 
 was organised on different lines from those of the 
 present, in which men captured their wives or won 
 them by feats of strength, in which the youngest son 
 did succeed his father, in which women had originated 
 and still practised the elements of civilisation, in which 
 the chief (the king of later story) worked with his own 
 hands, in which all sorts of extraordinary ideas were 
 easily credited — as that the dead might be brought to 
 life again, or the soul hidden away for safety, or a 
 man might mate with a beast, who might or might 
 
 1 Rink, p. 86. 
 
8 THE ANTIQUITY OF FOLK-TALE INCIDENTS 
 
 not turn into a woman. The world of our folk-tales 
 existed long ago ; it exists still among modern 
 savages.^ 
 
 From that world, then, these incidents were 
 
 / derived, but as it gradually gave place to other con- 
 
 » ditions, the incidents themselves remained as the 
 
 theme of folk-tales, partly because of man's innate 
 
 love of the unusual and the marvellous, partly because, 
 
 in spite of changed conditions everywhere around, 
 
 . many of the ideas and customs of that earlier world 
 
 I continued to exist as superstitious survivals — fossils 
 
 \ we might call them, among the peasantry everywhere. 
 
 Hence, European folk-tales exhibit traces of two 
 
 J worlds' — that of the irrational past, that of the existing 
 
 present everywhere tending to modify the other ; 
 
 while that other, in turn, has its marvels magnified. 
 
 This process of magnifying is the natural result of the 
 
 incapacity of later generations to understand things 
 
 rooted in conditions of thought and custom long 
 
 forgotten, which had once made these things quite 
 
 intelligible. The more inexplainable they were, the 
 
 more mysterious and marvellous they were made, 
 
 on the omne zg'no^um pro mirifico principle, until 
 
 at last we are surrounded by an atmosphere in 
 
 which anything may happen. Sometimes the 
 
 earlier incidents are put in a later framework ; 
 
 sometimes, again, existing folk-tales are modified 
 
 by the later surroundings in the way already 
 
 described. 
 
 Thus in many existing European folk- tales, as in 
 those of India, China, or ancient Egypt, various 
 
 ^ Most collections of savage tales show that their incidents reflect 
 everyday belief and custom, irrational to us, but credible to the 
 savage. I may refer to Dr Nassau's collection of what he calls 
 Tales of Fetich Founded on Fact, as an instance. Here we find 
 embodied in a tale such current beliefs as that a witch can extract the 
 soul and eat it, or leave her body and go to the secret orgy, etc. 
 See his i6th chapter. I have referred to some of these elsewhere. 
 
. I VARIOUS STRATA IN FOLK-TALES 9 
 
 strata may be observed. There is the most primitive / 
 stratum of all — the prehistoric, corresponding to the ^ 
 present day savage in a large measure, and embody- 
 ing those irrational ideas and forgotten customs, some 
 of which have been enumerated, and which may be 
 traced back to a time when they were by no means 
 .inconsistent with existing thought and life. Next we/ 
 have the stratum resulting from barbaric civilisation, 
 and the story-teller's exaggerated conceptions of it. 
 It gives us such conceptions as those of jewelled 
 caves, golden palaces, gardens with fruit-trees un- 
 known to the botanist, and all the accustomed wealth 
 of barbaric pearl and gold. These are all clearly 
 derived from the surroundings of the ignorant classes 
 among whom the stories were told, and who were 
 easily impressed by pomp and splendour, which at the 
 same time they magnified and non-naturalised. In 
 this period, too, just as in the earlier period the stories 
 had been told of divinities or of chiefs and their 
 children, or of the medicine-man or wise woman — the 
 most impressive figures on the savage field of vision- — 
 so now they were told of kings and princes, queens 
 and princesses, wizards and witches, who, mutatis 
 mutandis, had themselves been the figures of the 
 earlier tales. Next we have the later strata, consisting i 
 of ideas derived ( i ) from the new religious beliefs of I 
 the time, Buddhist, Mohammedan, Christian ; and (2) 
 from the ever-evolving conditions of later social life. 
 All these are usually combined in any folk-tale, but 
 with careful examination the various strata may be 
 separated. 
 
 It is an interesting question how far Christianity > 
 has modified the ideas of existing folk-tales. Less, 
 perhaps, than might be imagined. Polygamy is 
 sometimes, though not always, transformed : the 
 different wives of one man becoming simply the 
 jealous enemies of his one wife. The pagan under- 
 world of the dead is changed to a subterranean 
 
10 THE ANTIQUITY OF FOLK-TALE INCIDENTS 
 
 country, sometimes to fairyland.^ A darker hue is 
 gfiven to the belief in sorcery and in those who 
 practise it. In some cases of Beast-marriagre the 
 actual beast becomes a human being temporarily in 
 beast form, but we also find this in tales from non- 
 Christian areas. The stories of Blue-beard have 
 become strangely altered under the influence of 
 Christianity, though the process was inevitable when- 
 ever increasing civilisation outgrew or stifled the 
 belief in concealed fetiches to which I have attributed 
 the origin of such tales. Stories involving child- 
 sacrifice have become changed to stories in which a 
 child is promised to some being, not for a sacrifice, 
 but simply to be under his control. Beyond these 
 instances the tales have remained largely unaffected 
 by Christian beliefs, just as horrible primitive 
 practices, dating from far-off ages, have continued 
 scarcely unchanged in remote districts in spite of 
 centuries of Christianity. 
 
 Sometimes the incidents of early folk-tales, or these 
 folk-tales themselves, have been embodied at a later 
 age in the epic poems and sacred books of various 
 races. Matthew Arnold said of the Welsh Mabino- 
 gion that its authors had been pillaging from an 
 antiquity of which they did not fully possess the 
 secret, and this is certainly true of the folk-tale 
 material which has been worked into it. In Homer, 
 the stories of Polyphemus and of Circe are old 
 folk-tales swept into his net by the poet. So is the 
 tale of Jason and Medea in the Argonautica. In- 
 cidents and tales occur in plenty in the Finnish Kale- 
 vala, the Esthonian Kalevide, the Hindu epics, as 
 well as in the Ossianic, the Arthurian, and other 
 romantic cycles of later times. This is also true of 
 
 ^ See p. 45. Sometimes the mountain, dangerous to climb, on 
 whose top is the world of the blessed, becomes a glass mountain, 
 which a hero must climb to attain the princess who lives under 
 enchantment on its summit. 
 
MINGLING OF MYTH AND HISTORY 11 
 
 the Hindu Vedas, the Babylonian mythical epics, the 
 Japanese Ko-ji-ki, and other ethnical scriptures ; as 
 well as of unwritten mythologies, Samoan, Red 
 Indian, Negro, in all of which early variants of exist- 
 ing- European tales are found' — told of gods and 
 divine heroes. The Japanese Ko-ji-ki, which purports 
 to be the history of the early emperors, and of their 
 descent from the gods, mingles actual history with an 
 earlier mythology, in which, as in the history itself, are 
 embedded several folk-tales. We begin with a series 
 of divine beings and their doings, and gradually find 
 ourselves brought down to the real people of the 
 everyday world. The people of Uganda have a 
 similar unwritten mixture of mythology and history, 
 as readers of Sir H. Johnston's work on the Uganda 
 protectorate will remember. The process is that of 
 the primitive and uncritical historian everywhere. 
 Hector Boece ushers in his kings of Scotland with a 
 long line of royal names as unreal as Banquo and his 
 ghostly fellow-kings, "mushroom monarchs everyone 
 of them, sprung from the fumes of conceit, folly, and 
 falsehood, fermenting in the brains of some mad 
 Highland seannachie," quoth the Antiquary! The 
 portraits of this mythic line are nevertheless to be 
 seen at Holyrood Palace. Further instances of this 
 mingling of folk-tale with myth and history will be 
 found in the succeeding chapters. 
 
 So far, we have been discussing the incidents of 
 folk- tales and their origin. In a later chapter I shall 
 have something to say of the origin of folk-tales them- 
 selves. Here it will suffice to point out that these 
 separate incidents, of which any folk-tale usually con- 
 tains two or more, were once separate stories. One 
 incident afforded sufficient material for one tale in old 
 times, as it frequently does among savages now. 
 Later story-weavers combined these incidents in vari- 
 ous ways, for their possible combinations are endless, 
 and thus arose the folk-tale proper, the folk-tale of 
 
12 THE ANTIQUITY OF FOLK-TALE INCIDENTS 
 
 several incidents, which gradually became stereotyped. 
 But even that may have arisen at a comparatively 
 early date, as just such tales are found in ancient 
 Egypt, Greece, and Babylonia, where there is no 
 doubt they were even then extremely old. Some of 
 these very tales have survived to the present day ; the 
 date of their formation may have been as far off from 
 the time of the scribe or poet who used them as his 
 age is from our own. 
 
 The primitive origin of the stuff of folk-tales is 
 once more seen by a study of their ethics. Now 
 and then even the lowest savage stories, especially 
 Australian tales, serve to point a moral, and insist on 
 virtue rewarded, or, as in the Eskimo story of Kag- 
 sagsuk — the ill-treated orphan who, by supernatural 
 help, vanquished his enemies — introduce '*the idea of 
 a superior power protecting the helpless and avenging 
 mercilessness and cruelty." Other examples will be 
 met with, while in many stories, as is said of Red 
 Indian mythical tales, "theology, religion, history, 
 and all human duties are taught."^ Such tales as 
 introduce a broken tabu are ethical where they serve 
 to show the dangers of disobedience, especially if the 
 tabu affects moral conduct.^ Savage virtue is by no 
 means non-existent, whether in fact or in folk- tale ; 
 the sense of justice, for example, is tolerably well- 
 developed, and we often find the ill-used hero, though 
 himself far from being a virtuous character, coming 
 into his own and outwitting his enemies, as in the 
 Youngest Son cycle. So, too, the Jealous Sisters 
 usually come to grief, and such a group of tales as 
 that of Truth and Falsehood is highly moral in its 
 teaching. But, on the whole, the folk-tale, savage or 
 civilised, is singularly immoral or non-moral, from our 
 point of view, and points directly to the rock from 
 
 ^ Rink, p. 93. Bureau of Ethnology, First Annual Report^ p. 43. 
 *-* Cf. the Kafir tale of the disobedient girl, on p. 6. 
 
ETHICS OF FOLK-TALES 13 
 
 which it was hewn — cannibalism, gluttony, cruelty, 
 lust, and slaug-hter, cheating-, slyness, diabolical 
 cunning, brute force and strength abound, and are 
 nearly always regarded as praiseworthy. These 
 reflect the crude and narrow ethics of all primitive 
 society. The Puss-in- Boots cycle is a case in point, 
 the hero obtaining- rewards and riches and a beautiful 
 wife by fraud and lying. ^ 
 
 Generally speaking, the folk-tale world is one 
 where '' there ain't no ten commandments," and where 
 astuteness, force, and cruelty are everything. " 'Twas 
 the manner of primitive man ! " 
 
 Many of our European folk- tales are thus hoary 
 with age — transcripts of the ideas, beliefs, and 
 customs of a forgotten world, which tell their story 
 as plainly as do the weapons of stone and bronze, the 
 monumental remains, or the rock-shelters, hut circles, 
 or lake dwellings, found all over the world. Told in 
 widely-separated lands, modified and altered by 
 passing from mouth to mouth, and by the changes 
 of successive centuries, they yet preserve enough 
 likeness to each other and enough of their primitive 
 form to mark them as indeed the relics of an earlier 
 world. Of course not all our folk-tales arose in this 
 way. The literary faculty was still active in later 
 ages, and must have invented many new tales. But 
 when this was done they did not always oust the 
 earlier tales from their merited popularity ; indeed 
 their inventors plagiarised, perhaps unconsciously, 
 from these earlier tales. Others, again, are quite 
 plainly derived from literary sources in the Middle 
 Ages. The great Indian and Arab collections became 
 known in Europe, and gave rise to similar works 
 
 * Other examples which suggest that kindness is rewarded occur, 
 e.g., in the New Caledonian story of Pivi and Kabo, on p. 192, and in 
 its Eastern and European parallels ; while the good result of not being 
 too proud to take advice is inculcated in the Kafir tale referred to on 
 the same page. 
 
14 THE ANTIQUITY OF FOLK-TALE INCIDENTS 
 
 there. Some of these stories became the oral tales 
 of the folk in Europe. An example of how this migfht 
 occur is given by Dr Jahn in his Volksmdrchen aus 
 Pommern und Rilg'en. A servant-gfirl learnt by heart 
 the story of Aladdin out of an abridged version of the 
 Arabian Nights y and told it to a reciter in her village. 
 Years after this man told the story to Dr Jahn, who 
 found that it was changing- into a true folk-tale with 
 necessary adaptations. Aladdin had become a kind 
 of Cinderella, the enchanted garden had become a 
 Venus garden, the roc's ^^^ {Rockei) had changed into 
 a man, King Reckei. But it should be remembered 
 that already literary tales must have had oral parallels 
 in Europe, and that, in the East, they had been ulti- 
 mately derived from oral sources, themselves the 
 offspring of a distant past. In the same way the 
 great collections of novelle found in Boccaccio's 
 Decamerone, Straparola's Nottey and Basile's Penta- 
 meroney contain many stories which are nothing but 
 already existing oral tales embellished by these 
 authors. Perrault did the same for some of the folk- 
 tales of France. His collection, when introduced 
 into England, had a marvellous popularity there, 
 and proved fatal to many of our native tales, some of 
 which may have been actual versions of Perrault's 
 stories. 
 
 f The method of regarding folk-tales as the fossil 
 Survivals of the thoughts and customs of the past, 
 first suggested by Farrer and Lang, and studied in 
 particular cases by Hartland, Gomme, and Frazer,^ 
 is now firmly established, and is so self-evident that 
 one is constrained to wonder that it was not discovered 
 sooner. It has completely overturned the theory of 
 Max Miiller, Cox, De Gubernatis, and Hahn, that 
 
 1 See Farrer, Primitive Manners and CustomSy 1879; Lang, 
 Custom and Myth; Hartland, Science of Fairy Tales and Legend of 
 Perseus; Gomme, Ethnology in Folk-Lore; Frazer, The Golden 
 Bough, 
 
METHOD OF THE WORK 15 
 
 folk-tales are the detritus of Aryan mythologry — a 
 theory so absurd, though set forth with marvel- 
 lous ingenuity and eloquence, that further refer- 
 ence need not be made to it.^ In the last chapter 
 the relation of myth and M'drchen will be discussed. 
 
 In this volume I have surveyed the more irrational 
 incidents of folk-tales, and have interpreted them by 
 the methods of what is now called the anthropological 
 school.^ To introduce the reader to this method I 
 have, in the next chapter, taken several examples of 
 unusual incidents and shown that the key which 
 unlocks their meaning is found in the beliefs and 
 practices of past ages, exemplified still in those ofi 
 present-day savages. The succeeding chapters con-( 
 tinue this method on an elaborate scale. It will be 
 found that there are few of the irrational incidents of 
 folk-tales which I have not discussed, while the more 
 typical forms of folk-tale groups have also been 
 passed under review. But while I have in every 
 case given as many references to variants in any 
 given cycle as are necessary to show its wide distribu- 
 tion, it has been no part of my task to exhaust all 
 such references. To do so would have rendered the 
 book tedious ; apart from the fact that to trace every 
 variant of all folk-tale cycles would be a superhuman 
 task! Miss Cox has done this for Cinderella, and 
 her brief analysis and discussion of its 318 variants 
 extend to a portly volume. But a sufficient number 
 of variants are cited here to show how a story cycle 
 preserves its main features as it is met with in the most 
 widely separated lands, while yet it presents individual 
 differences of detail. 
 
 1 The best answer to the whole theory is contained in Lang's 
 Custom and Myth; Myth^ Ritual^ and Religion; and Modern 
 Mythology. 
 
 - Where other students have examined incidents by this method 
 I have noted the fact, usually without going over the same ground 
 afresh. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 SOME FOLK-TALE INCIDENTS 
 
 I PURPOSE to pass in review in this chapter certain 
 folk-tale conceptions and incidents, interpreting them 
 by the method already set forth, by way of introduc- 
 tion to the main part of this book. Grouping these 
 under the heading- of (i) Facts, (2) Customs, (3) 
 Practices, and (4) Beliefs or Ideas, we shall consider (i) 
 the position of the king, of women, and of the sorcerer 
 in folk- tales ; (2) marriage customs and name tabu ; 
 (3) some magical practices ; and (4) the ideas that 
 beasts can talk and the dead return ; and, last of all, 
 the ''swallow" myth. 
 
 (i) In many folk-tales, while later conceptions of 
 kingly state have been added, we find curious incon- 
 gruities. In spite of the splendid trappings of royalty, 
 the king may have to go out and earn his bread or 
 work for his living ; he or his queen saddles his horse ; 
 his daughters engage in menial tasks ; they marry 
 suitors of low degree, who have often won them 
 because they have been successful competitors in 
 difficult tasks ; the kingdom goes, not to the king's 
 son, but to his daughter and her low-born husband ; 
 kings are as plentiful as black-berries, and amid the 
 splendours of the palace traces of the hut or hovel 
 constantly peer forth. So in the Odyssey Nausicaa is 
 discovered washing clothes, and kings have ''neat- 
 
KINGS IN FOLK-TALES 17 
 
 herds for friends, and the pig-stye agfainst their front- 
 door." Obviously these are the traces of a simply 
 organised social system, and the stories had been told 
 first, not of kings, but of the head-man of the village 
 community and his family, of the petty chiefs of small 
 tribal groups, not far removed from their own 
 "subjects."^ Later ages made them more and more 
 regal monarchs in the stories — reflections of the kings 
 of the period, but the traces of their simple origin still 
 cling to them. Their numbers and the ease with 
 which the hero passes from the territory of one to that 
 of another, are easily explained on this theory. It 
 explains why, e.^^,, Grimm's story of The Three Birds' 
 should begin, — ''Many years ago, there lived up 
 among the hills in our country some petty kings^ 
 It explains, too, why the menial should marry 
 the princess- — because, after all, she had not origi- 
 nally been so very far removed from him in 
 rank. 
 
 Sometimes the king offers his daughter's hand to 
 the man who will best perform certain tasks involving 
 skill or strength — itself evidence of primitive marriage 
 customs. We shall find this incident in many of our 
 story cycles, those of the Dragon Sacrifice, of the 
 Youngest Son, etc. ; it occurs as an actual custom 
 among, ^.^., the Dyaks of Borneo, where a suitor must 
 have taken so many heads before he can obtain his 
 wife.- But in many European tales it is the girl 
 herself who disposes of her hand and sets the task ; 
 
 * The numerous groups of barrows and tumuli in England and 
 Northern Europe suggest local federations of small tribal divisions, 
 each with a chief or petty king. The barrows are the burial-places of 
 such chiefs and their families. 
 
 2 Ling Roth, ii. i66. In one of the tales of the Fians the King 
 of Vedia's daughter has to be fought for, and afterwards her hand is 
 only given to him who can make a clear spring to the place where she 
 is. The jump incident occurs in many tales. J. G. Campbell, The 
 Fians (Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition), p. 225. 
 
 3 
 
18 SOME FOLK-TALEi INCIDENTS 
 
 her father has nothing to do with it ; while the king- 
 dom passes to her husband (as in the stories where 
 the king sets the task), who then becomes one of her 
 kin, and lives in her home instead of taking her to his 
 house. In some savage tales or myths we find a 
 similar state of things. The Dyaks have a legend 
 that the daughter of their great ancestor would not 
 marry her betrothed till he had brought her a present 
 worthy of her acceptance, and involving the doing of 
 some doughty deed. He brought her a head, and she 
 was satisfied. In actual practice, as weTiave seen, the 
 Dyak father insists on this, but even now a Dyak girl 
 will herself do the same. So in some Zuni tales the 
 girl sets the tasks herself, and chooses her own 
 husband, who then lives under her father's roof, and is 
 adopted by her father as his son- — a reflection of 
 actual practice. In two stories we have a poor 
 despised youth, or an ugly man, winning the proud 
 maiden's hand, just as in the European tales. The 
 Japanese story of the Fire-Fly's Lover tells how the 
 Fire-Fly lays an impossible task on her suitors. "If 
 they are wise, they will not try to perform it ; if they 
 love their lives more than they love me, I do not want 
 any of them. Whoever succeeds may have me for his 
 bride." Hi-maro, the prince of the fire-flies, alone 
 succeeds in bringing her the fire which consumes all 
 the other insect-suitors who attempt to bring it. He, 
 of course, wins her.^ The story is told of insects, but, 
 mutatis mutandis, was told of human beings to begin 
 with. Many stories, influenced by the customs of 
 marriage and inheritance of the later patriarchal age, 
 have modified these incidents, but in others they 
 remain with little change, and bear witness to their 
 origin in a time when woman possessed power and 
 importance — the age of the matriarchate, when 
 
 1 Ling Roth, ii. 163, 166. Gushing, pp. i, 107, 288. Griffis, 
 p. 40. 
 
SORCERY IN FOLK-TALES 19 
 
 descent was reckoned through the woman, when 
 knowledge and the elements of civilisation were 
 peculiarly hers, handed down from mother to 
 daugfhter. This also appears in folk-tales. The 
 stupid giant or ogre has a clever wife ; the hero, 
 smart as he is, is not unusually prompted by the 
 heroine.-^ The frequency with which the witch rather 
 than the wizard appears in these stories, is also 
 significant. :^The bad character with which she is 
 invested is the result of Christian influences as well 
 as of the social changes which, making the man the 
 centre of the social group, sought to break down the 
 power and knowledge of woman. The priestess of 
 the earlier civilisation, in whom all lore and religion 
 was embodied, became the accursed witch of the 
 later time. But frequently, too, the witch appears 
 in her primitive form as the wise woman, or is even 
 described as a queen — reminiscence of her important 
 functions in the mother age.^ 
 
 The large part which magic and sorcery play in 
 these tales points back to an early age when the wise 
 woman or the medicine-man was a prominent figure 
 in the social system. Mediaeval witchcraft used many 
 magical practices, but it is far from responsible for 
 those with which our folk-tales bristle. Among the 
 magical actions which we discover in the world of 
 folk-tale are the production of anything at will, 
 obtaining complete power over others by means of 
 charms and spells, making inanimate things speak 
 and act or take any form, superlative strength, the 
 possession of magical weapons, invulnerability to the 
 most deadly arms, the power of shape-shifting, as well 
 as of transforming or petrifying others, giving drugs 
 or articles which will produce fertility, raising the 
 
 ^ Cf. the Transformation Flight stories, infra^ p. 170. 
 
 - See the chapters in Pearson, Chajtces of Death, vol. ii., on these 
 subjects. They form a lucid and complete argument for the existencje 
 of the mother age in folk-tales. 
 
20 SOME FOLK-TALE INCIDENTS 
 
 dead to life, magical and instantaneous flight through 
 the air, and so on. All these things occur, not as 
 ^ une^tpected or unusual incidents, but as the affairs 
 of daily and ordinary life. But this is an exact 
 reflection of primitive and savage life everywhere. 
 The medicine-man, or wise woman, is all powerful ; 
 magic governs all men's actions, and a magical 
 theory of the universe lies behind all their thoughts. 
 There is, in fact, no magical occurrence in folk-tales 
 which could not be amply paralleled from savage 
 sources, while savage folk-tales, again, simply embody 
 the magical beliefs of those who tell them. All this 
 once more suggests that our folk-tales are the relics of 
 a primitive society in which, as with savages, magic 
 was an important factor, while the frequency with 
 which magical acts are attributed to women — to the 
 heroine or the witch — should also be noted. 
 
 (2) We have already seen how, before obtaining 
 his bride, the hero has to perform certain tasks. 
 Sometimes, however, he has to recognise her among 
 several girls, all dressed alike, or alike in appearance. 
 In some cases she warns him of this beforehand, and 
 tells him how he is to recognise her; she will make 
 some slight sign, or, as in a Danish story, she will 
 pinch him, or she will have some small peculiarity in 
 her dress. Other stories make the recognition depend 
 on some accident which has happened to the girl 
 before — the losing of a finger or toe joint (as in a 
 group of stories which will be discussed later) ; while 
 in some, an insect which has promised to help the 
 
 • hero alights at the psychological moment on her face. 
 
 fin this act of choice thus elaborated there is the relic 
 of a primitive marriage ceremony, and one which still 
 survives in some parts of Europe. In Transylvania 
 the bride and two other women hide behind a curtain, 
 and the man has to guess which is the bride — all 
 three trying to confuse him. At peasant weddings in 
 
MARRIAGE IN FOLK-TALES 21 
 
 Lorraine the bride and three girls are all dressed alike, 
 so as to make recognition difficult. If the bridegroom 
 guesses right at first, he dances with the bride all 
 night ; otherwise he must make the other girls his 
 partners.^ Sometimes, as in Abyssinia, at the 
 marriage of a princess, her sister is dressed exactly as 
 she is ; elsewhere, the bride is surrounded by several 
 girls (Zulus, the people of Celebes, Malays, Egyptians).^ 
 (These, as well as the folk-tale incident of the recog- 
 nition of the bride, point back to a primitive 
 practice of hiding her among others of her own 
 sex, so as to make it difficult for the man to obtain 
 her ; not as a task, however, but in reality as a 
 cerompny to lessen the unknown dangers which 
 to the primitive mind were supposed to lurk in 
 marriage. The modern custom of providing the 
 bride with a troop of bridesmaids is a relic of this 
 primitive ceremony. 
 
 Another relic of primitive sexual relations is found 
 in the many stories in which an ogre or dwarf or 
 monster steals a maiden away from her home and 
 forcibly marries her. The girl is usu^ly a beautiful 
 princess, who is rescued by the hero/ It is legitimate 
 to see here a reminiscence of what must frequently have 
 happened when a higher and a lower race came into con- 
 tact within the same region. The men of the lower race 
 would covet the fairer women of the higher race, and 
 abduct them to the remote and wild districts whither 
 they had been driven. As time went on, the memory 
 of these acts made the men of the lower race assume 
 gigantic or horrible shapes, while the women became 
 ever more lovely and ever higher in rank. Sometimes, 
 
 * E. Gerard, i. 185. Gomme, Folk-Lore Relics^ p. 232. Mrs 
 Gomme suggests that one form of " Kiss in the Ring," in which the 
 girl's face is covered with a shawl, and the man has to guess who she 
 is, is also a relic of such customs. See Windle, Life in Early Britain^ 
 
 pp. 3-4. 
 
 - Crawley, p. 338. 
 
22 SOME FOLK-TALE INCIDENTS 
 
 however, the abductor is the king of elf-land, as in 
 the English story of Childe Rowland, who rescues his 
 sister, Burd Ellen, ^ from the fairy-mound, whither the 
 elf-king had carried her. If fairies were once a 
 real race, living underground and annoying in every 
 possible way the race who had dispossessed them, 
 this story also takes rank with the others. The 
 actual deeds of the lower and hostile race became the 
 fictitious incidents told of fairies and dwarfs, giants 
 and monsters ; for, as Emerson says, " time dissipates 
 to shining ether the solid angularity of facts." Such 
 thefts of women are common wherever hostile tribes 
 are found living in contact ; but the most repulsive 
 form of it known to me is that of the Darien tribes, 
 who cohabited with their captives and brought up 
 the children till they were thirteen, when they ate 
 both them and their mothers.- The incident of the 
 capture of a mother, sister, or lover occurs in some of 
 the Youngest Son cycle of tales. Here is a Red 
 Indian story which, in some respects, is a close 
 parallel to them. Stone Shirt killed Sikor (the 
 Crane), and carried off his wife. She left a child 
 behind her, and to him a ghost revealed all. The 
 boy resolved to enlist all nations in his cause, but 
 first bade his grandmother cut him in two. From 
 the two pieces sprang two boys. They, with the help 
 of various animals, collected a vast army of people, 
 whom they gave to drink out of a magical cup, which 
 always remained full. Arrived at the realms of Stone 
 Shirt, the boys transformed themselves into doves in 
 order to see two maidens bathing in a pond. The 
 girls captured them, and carried them to their father, 
 Stone Shirt, who would fain have killed them, but at 
 his daughters' entreaty, let them go. Next . they 
 found their mother, and put her in a place of safety ; 
 
 ^ Jacobs, English Fairy Tales. 
 
 2 Hakluyt Society, Cieza de Leon, p. 50 seq. 
 
THE TRUE BRIDE 28 
 
 after which they transformed themselves into mice, 
 and gfnawed the string's of the invincible magic bows 
 of Stone Shirt's daughters. When morning came, 
 Stone Shirt walked out of his tent and sat down on 
 the rock under which the boys' friend Togoa, the 
 rattle-snake, was hiding. He sunk his fangs into the 
 flesh of the ogre, who called on his daughters for help. 
 But their bows were of no avail, and they with their 
 father, perished. Although Stone Shirt is a mythic 
 figure, the incident of the theft is obviously based on 
 native experience.^ 
 
 A large number of stories relate how the true 
 bride has her place taken by another woman until 
 the imposture is discovered. Of this there are four 
 distinct types. In an Albanian story, a girl with her 
 servant is sent by her mother to a place where the 
 king will pass, in hope that he will be struck with her 
 charms and marry her. The servant pushes her into 
 a well, and becomes the king's wife. Meanwhile, the 
 heroine has been taken care of by the negress queen 
 who reigns beneath the well, and when at last the 
 king comes to her land, she tells him the girl's story. 
 Then he marries her, and cuts the servant in pieces.^ 
 This is one type. In the next, represented by the 
 Norse tale of Bushy Bride, the g-irl whose portrait 
 
 ^ Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of Ethnology, Report^ i. 47. In 
 spite of a certain likeness to some European tales {e.g.^ the Russian 
 story of the Norka, p. 350), there is no doubt this tale is original and 
 " honest Injun." It is an excellent instance of how a comparatively 
 elaborate savage folk-tale arises out of current experiences and 
 beliefs — capture of women, animal help, transformation, and magic — 
 the result being a tale which might easily be supposed to be borrowed 
 from outside sources. The boys, as doves watching the girls bathing 
 and themselves being captured, looks like an inversion of the Swan- 
 maiden incident. 
 
 2 Dozon, p. 57. Cf. the Fjort story already cited, p. 5, and one in 
 the Japanese Ko-ji-ki (sect. Ixxvii., p. 204), where an emperor sends 
 his son to bring two girls, of whose beauty he has heard. The son 
 marries them himself, substituting two others for them. For a further 
 discussion of this cycle, see chap. vi. 
 
24 SOME FOLK-TALE INCIDENTS 
 
 the king" has seen has her place taken by her step- 
 sister, and the king, disappointed at the latter's 
 ugliness, punishes the true bride s brother. Then 
 follows the Incident of the true bride appearing three 
 times In the king's house reproaching "ugly Bushy 
 Bride," and her capture by the king, who destroys 
 the false bride and her mother/ In a third type, like 
 the Russian story of Princess Marya, the substitution 
 by the stepmother occurs only when the true bride's 
 child Is born. She is turned into a goose, and also 
 appears in the palace, taking off her feather dress and 
 suckling her child. The last time the king seizes the 
 dress and burns It, grasps his true wife, who turns 
 Into several shapes and struggles to be free, but finally 
 resumes her own form, and is happily restored to her 
 husband.^ A fourth type Is represented by an Italian 
 story, in which the girl's sisters pluck out her eyes and 
 cut off her hands before ejecting her from the palace. 
 One of them takes her place and, becoming enceinte, 
 wishes for figs, then for fish. A friendly serpent tells 
 the heroine of this ; she obtains them and sends a 
 friend to the palace with them, bidding her ask for a 
 pair of eyes and hands In exchange. When the true 
 bride has thus recovered her missing members and 
 been healed, the prince recognises her.^ 
 
 An interesting Basuto story, which in some 
 
 1 Dasent, p. 405. 
 
 2 Ralston, p. 183. Cf. an Esthonian story, where the mother is 
 changed into a wolf when her child is born, and the witch's daughter 
 takes her place. The nurse takes the child for a walk, the wolf 
 follows them, and all is discovered. Kirby, ii. 45. 
 
 3 Comparetti, No. 25. Cf. 2^ Lorraine variant, Cosquin, ii. 42. 
 There are also Greek (Hahn, No. 28), Russian (Gubernatis, Z.M.^ i. 
 218), Catalan {Rondallayre, iii. 14), and Sicilian (Pitre, No. 62) 
 variants, but in all another woman, not the bride's sister, takes her 
 place. Cf. the Abandoned Wife cycle, p. 67 infra. See also p. 90 
 for a similar bargain, and the Kashmir tale in the chapter on the 
 sacrifice to a Dragon. In an early version of Merlin, Guinevere's 
 foster-sister is nearly substituted for hersqlf on the bridal night, and 
 later usurps her place. Saintsbury, Flourishing of Romance, p. no. 
 
A BASUTO TALE 26 
 
 respects is a parallel to the Fjort impostor story already 
 cited, has a link of connection with all these groups. 
 A mother sends her daughter to her sister's village, 
 where she will become the wife of her sister's husband, 
 but cautions her not to look behind. She disobeys 
 the injunction, and that moment is joined by a witch, 
 who persuades her to exchange dresses with her. 
 Arrived at the village, she personates the girl, who is 
 sent every day to watch the corn. There she sings 
 her song telling her woes ; an old woman watching 
 with her tells all to the husband, who comes secretly 
 and hears for himself. The witch is then killed, but 
 a pumpkin grows up on the spot, and when the girl 
 has a child, drops off its stalk and beats her. The 
 pumpkin is burned ; a thistle springs up, and resumes 
 this savage conduct ; it, too, is burned, but becomes 
 a pumpkin seed, which bites the child. The hus- 
 band at last catches this seed, grinds it to powder 
 and throws it into the fire, and there is an end 
 ofit.i 
 
 There are other primitive, as well as European 
 and Asiatic, versions of all these types. ^ /How are we 
 to account for the incident of the substitution ? Here, 
 again, we may point to actual marriage ceremonial?. 
 Let us first note that among the peasantry of Europe 
 (Brittany, Roumania, Sweden, Poland, and Esthonia), 
 as among the Beni-Amer of Abyssinia, it is sometimes 
 usual to substitute a false bride for the true one 
 several times running, before the bridegroom is finally 
 
 ^ Jacottet, p. yS. Cf. a Zulu version in Callaway, p. 296. The 
 witch has a tail, which uncurls at night and devours all the food 
 within reach. According to widespread belief, vampires, cannibal 
 demons, witches, etc., are not properly dead unless they are completely 
 burned, and often survive in a new form, insect or other. See 
 examples on pp. 102, 130. In the chapter on the Dismembered coming 
 to life, many instances of the dead turning into a tree will be 
 found. 
 
 ^ For many references, see Miss Cox's Cinderella^ p. 478. 
 
26 SOME FOLK-TALE INCIDENTS 
 
 allowed to depart with his wife.-^ This has become a 
 mere game ; once it was a serious practice, intended, 
 like the choosing of the bride from among several 
 women, to neutralise the dangers of marriage. It is 
 but part of a larger group of customs in which (as we 
 shall see later in discussing the Cupid and Psyche^ 
 tales) the bridegroom must not see his wife or she her 
 husband on the wedding-night, or for some time after, 
 or until the first child is born. Customs such as these 
 would easily suggest the possibility of another woman, 
 in love with the bridegroom, or for ulterior ends, 
 getting rid of the true bride and taking her place. 
 Indeed, I see no reason to doubt that such an incident 
 may actually have taken place. Other incidents would 
 then be worked into the story, which would receive an 
 imaginative setting, and various types would easily be 
 evolved. 
 
 Leaving marriage ceremonies we may pass to 
 another custom, that of the Name tabu, which we 
 shall consider as it occurs in two groups of stories. 
 The first group has an immense number of variants, 
 differing in details, but all having the same central 
 incident. I shall cite a Magyar version. A girl was 
 so lazy that her mother scolded her every day. A 
 prince passing by asked what was the matter, and the 
 mother, concealing the truth, said her daughter span 
 so much that, like Oliver Twist, she always asked for 
 more. The prince took her away, as she was very 
 pretty, and said he would marry her if she span a shed 
 full of flax in a month. For three weeks the girl did 
 nothing but bewail her lot. Then a little man 
 appeared, and offered to spin it all on condition that 
 
 1 Crawley, op. cit.^ p. 337. E. Gerard, i. 253. Cf. Leah given in 
 place of Rachel to Jacob. Though the reason for the substitution 
 alleged by their father is that the younger may not be given before 
 the first-born (a custom which also prevailed among the Celts of 
 Ireland, Rivue Celtique^ xiii. 37), it may also have been connected with 
 the practice spoken of above. 
 
TOM-TIT-TOT 27 
 
 if she did not find out his name by the end of the 
 week he would carry her off. Agreed ! During- the 
 week the girl asked a servant what the news was, and 
 learned that he had seen a little man in a wood 
 spinning and singing, 
 
 " My name is Dancing Vargaluska, 
 My wife will be good Spinster Sue ! " 
 
 The end of the week came, the flax was spun, the old 
 man was ready to carry off the girl, when she cried, 
 '* If I am not mistaken, your name is Dancing Varga- 
 luska," and on this he rushed off in a furious temper. 
 The prince married the girl, and learning from three 
 old women present at the wedding that they had 
 become so ugly from spinning so much, he forbade 
 her ever to touch a wheel again, to her intense 
 delight. 
 
 Every European country furnishes variants of this 
 tale, of which the English ** Tom-Tit-Tot " must be 
 familiar to every one ; in some the mysterious being 
 is not a dwarf or fairy, but the devil ; sometimes the 
 girl has to remember a name already known ; in 
 others, like Grimm's Rumpelstiltskin, she has to 
 promise her first child in the event of the name not 
 being guessed. There are other stories, Welsh and 
 Scots, in which a poor widow is assisted by the fairy, 
 who claims as reward her baby if she does not dis- 
 cover the fairy's name by a certain time. This is, of 
 course, the well-known Scots story of Whuppity- 
 stoorie.^ 
 
 ^ The Magyar tale is in Jones, p. 46. Several French as well as 
 Austrian, Lettish, Slovak, Tyrolese, Sicilian, and Icelandic versions 
 are cited in Cosquin, i. 268. For a Swedish variant, see Thorpe, 
 Y.T.S., p. 168 ; Basque, Webster, p. 56 ; the English Tom-Tit-Tot is 
 given in County Folk-Lore (Suffolk, p. 43) ; see also Clodd's volume, 
 Tom-Tit-Tot, The Welsh, Highland, and Scots variants are in 
 Rhys, ii. 583 ; Campbell, Superstitions^ p. 147 ; and Chambers, p. 221. 
 There is a curious Scots version, with helpful and kindly fairies, in 
 
28 SOME FOLK-TALE INCIDENTS 
 
 The second group may be illustrated by an 
 Icelandic tale. A farmer was told by the bishop to 
 build a church within a certain time. A stranger 
 offered to help him, the payment being- that he must 
 g-ive him his little son, if he did not find out the 
 stranger's name by the time the work was completed. 
 Wandering sadly in the fields as the building was 
 about to be finished, he lay down by a grassy mound. 
 There he heard a woman's voice singing to her child 
 within the mound, 
 
 " Soon will thy father Finnur come from Reynir, 
 Bringing a little playmate for thee here." 
 
 Jumping up he rushed to the church and found the 
 man nailing on the last plank. ''Well done, friend 
 Finnur," he cried, *'how soon you have finished your 
 work." At that moment Finnur disappeared and was 
 never seen again. 
 
 This story, which is told of Reynir Church, is wide- 
 spread among Scandinavian and Teutonic peoples, 
 and is usually attached to some particular building, as 
 Drontheim Cathedral in Sweden, or Eckwadt Church 
 in Germany. There the helper was a cannibalistic 
 troll, for the mother is heard hushing her child with 
 the words, "To-morrow comes thy father Zi, with 
 Christian blood for thee." Frequently the builder 
 leaves the little bit of work unfinished, and the story 
 is then told to explain why that particular part of the 
 building was not completed. The same tale is told of 
 St Olaf and a giant, who, when the saint called him 
 
 Douglas, Scottish Fairy Tales, p. 109, " Habitrot." Cy. also Henderson, 
 p. 258. The little old man may be explained as a reminiscence of the 
 clever but hostile vanquished race who afterwards helped to mould the 
 fairy superstition (see p. 22 supra), women- and child-stealers. The 
 three old women are the usual "fairy godmothers," fates, three in 
 number, who appear in so many tales, and take us back to the three 
 De£e Matres of earlier Teutonic and Celtic religion. 
 
THE NAME 29 
 
 Wind and Weather, fell and broke in a thousand 
 pieces.^ 
 
 Both gfroups of stories exemplify, like those in 
 which the wife must never ask her mysterious 
 husband's name,'^ the world-wide belief that one's 
 name is part of one's personality, or indeed the soul 
 or breath itself (as is proved by the similarity between 
 the words for name and soul in many languages),^ and 
 that it is highly dangerous for any other person to 
 know it. If he does, you will be completely in his 
 power, on the well-known principle of sympathetic 
 magic, that whatever you do to the part is done to the 
 whole. Hence, savage peoples in all parts of the 
 globe show the utmost reluctance or terror at reveal- 
 ing their names. These are usually kept secret, and a 
 nickname or pseudo-name is taken and commonly 
 used. Red Indians, Ainos, Eskimo, Mongols, Dyaks, 
 Australians, are all in the same tale, and would 
 heartily agree with Shakespeare, though in a deeper 
 sense, that *'he that filches from me my good name 
 robs me of that which not enriches him and makes 
 me poor indeed." Survivals of such customs among 
 civilised peoples, attenuated though they may be, 
 prove that our barbaric and savage ancestors were 
 equally superstitious regarding their names. In the 
 same way the dead must never be named, lest the 
 naming should bring them back to work harm. And 
 transferred to a higher sphere, we have the religious 
 conception, emphasised in Egyptian, Babylonian, 
 and Hindu rituals, that to know and use the names 
 of the^gods is to force them to do the worshipper's 
 bidding. Transferring this to our stories, we see the 
 application at once. The voluntary servant, who had 
 hoped to get his employer into his power, found the 
 tables turned on him when the latter discovered his 
 
 1 Amason, i. 49. Cf. also Hofberg, p. 12 ; Thorpe, N.M.y iii. 
 38 ; Keightley, p. 116. ^ See p. 328. 
 
 3 Cf. Rhys, Nineteenth Century^ 1891, p. 566. 
 
^0 / SOME FOLK-TALE INCIDENTS 
 
 secret name. Now he was helpless and in the power 
 of the employer ; hence his anger, his flight, or his 
 death. 
 
 (3) Among the more mysterious and magical 
 practices of folk-tales, that of causing a magic sleep 
 may be noted. In some cases, like an episode in the 
 Finnish Kalevala, we are not told how this is done. 
 Turo, son of Yumala, went to the devils country to 
 recover the sun and moon, which had been stolen. 
 There he saw three girls engaged in polishing them, 
 and having sent a magic sleep on them, he fled with 
 his spoils. So in a Tuscan tale two witches cast a 
 youth into a deep sleep, and then suck his blood to 
 make themselves invisible.^ In others the sleep is 
 brought on by a magic formula or charm. This 
 occurs in several Cinderella stories. The neglected 
 heroine of a Gaelic version is fed by a sheep (her 
 mother) ; her stepsister is sent to spy upon her ; the 
 sheep sends her to sleep by saying — 
 
 " Shut one eye, shut two eyes, 
 Shut your eyes in deep sleep." 
 
 On the third occasion the sheep forgets to say 
 ''two eyes," and one eye remains open to spy what 
 takes place, with the result that the sheep is put to 
 death by the stepmother.^ Other variants, Scandi- 
 navian, Russian, German, introduce a three-eyed 
 stepsister, who spies with her third eye when the other 
 two sleep. ^ This formula occurs also in Russian Jack 
 and the Beanstalk stories, where the hero, who has 
 climbed to the sky, omits to charm one of the eyes of 
 the sentinel goats, and his doings are discovered. 
 
 1 Folk-Lore^ 1895, P- 343- Leland, E.R.R., p. 218. Cf. Curtin, p. 
 185, story of a vampire. 
 
 '^ Cox, Cinderella, p. 534. 
 
 3 Ibid., p. 19. Afanasief, pt. vi., p. 270. Grimm, No. 130. 
 
THE MAGIC SLEEP 31 
 
 The same method of lullingf to sleep by means of a 
 charm Is known among- the Maoris. Tinlrau and his 
 friends go to the house of a priest against whom he has 
 a grudge, and send all those in the house to sleep by 
 repeating the charm, when it becomes an easy matter 
 to carry off the priest. So, to cite the Kalevala again, 
 Vainamoinen put all the people of Pohjola to sleep by 
 singing a magic song when he wished to take the 
 sampo.^ 
 
 Other stories refer the sleep to mechanical means. 
 Some variants of the Cinderella group make the 
 heroine induce the magic slumber by inviting the 
 stepsister to lay her head on her lap, in order that she 
 may comb out her tresses. This occurs in Gaelic, 
 Norse, Russian, and Lettish versions, and in all the 
 girl has a third eye (in the back of her head), which 
 continues awake ; there are also Italian and Lorraine 
 versions without the third eye formula, the girl only 
 pretending sleep on the second occasion.^ A ring- 
 placed on the finger causes slumber in the Albanian 
 story of ** The World's Beauty." When the hero who 
 has been sent to discover her pulls it off, she awakens. 
 In many Eastern tales death (or sleep) is caused by 
 laying a magic rod near the girl's head ; she Is restored 
 or awakened by placing another at her feet. Grimm's 
 story of ''The Briar Rose," with its variants, makes 
 the heroine and all about her go to sleep when she 
 pricks herself with her spindle ; a sleep-thorn Is a 
 favourite instrument In Scandinavian tales ; e.g;., in the 
 Edda, Velin fixes a thorn in the Valkyrie Brunhild to 
 make her sleep profoundly. A pin is used for the 
 same purpose in an Irish story.^ 
 
 Lastly, there Is the sleep induced by the *' Hand of 
 
 ^ Ralston, p. 294 ; cf. p. 435 infra. Shortland, p. 71. Kalevala^ 
 Rune 42. 
 
 2 Campbell, ii. 300. Asbjoernson, p. 416. Afanasief, p. 273. 
 Leskien, p. 447. Gubernatis, Novelline^ p. 16. Cosquin, i. 248. 
 
 3 Dozon, p. 7. Amason, pp. 41 1, 441. Hyde, Beside the Fire^ p. 39. 
 
32 SOME FOLK-TALE INCIDENTS 
 
 Glory." An Eng-lish story tells how a beggar was 
 allowed to spend the night at an inn. When all had 
 gone to bed, the cook saw him produce a human hand, 
 and, anointing the fingers, apply a match to them, 
 with the result that all the inmates of the house slept 
 a charmed sleep. While the thief was engaged in 
 collecting the valuables, she threw milk over the flam- 
 ing fingers, extinguishing the flame, when everyone 
 awoke, and captured him red-handed. This story, 
 which has many variants, Portuguese, Lorraine, etc., 
 and corresponds to the popular belief in this effect of 
 the Hand of Glory, presents some analogies to the 
 Robber Bridegroom group, of which I cite a Greek 
 version. A girl having married a merchant, saw him 
 secretly devouring a corpse. She fled, and later 
 married a prince. Her first husband sought her, 
 entered the palace, and sprinkled the prince with the 
 dust of a corpse, casting him into a dead sleep. Then 
 he carried off his wife, who, however, by a stratagem 
 caused his death. ^ 
 
 Such incidents as these, whatever means may be 
 used for causing the sleep, are based on the belief in 
 the possibility of such a process, and one and all 
 suggest the hypnotic slumber. Is it possible that the 
 use of hypnotism was known among the people with 
 whom such stories originated, and at such an early 
 time ? An examination of the methods of the savage 
 medicine-man, shaman, or sorcerer, supplies evidence 
 in favour of this view. Hypnotic processes were 
 freely used in the strange "ghost-dance" of the Sioux 
 and other Red Men. Zulu sorcerers can influence 
 others a distance, making them come when called ; 
 this is a frequent incident in Icelandic tales — people 
 go in spite of themselves when magically called by 
 enemies. The same practice is known to the Negro 
 
 ^ Hartland, English Folk-Tales, p. 198. Henderson, p. 239. 
 Cosquin, i. 178. Legrand, p. 115. 
 
SAVAGE HYPNOTIC METHODS 33 
 
 medicine-man. A fetich doctor made an idol, griving- 
 it spirit power by placing- ''medicine" inside it. Then 
 he fashioned a duplicate, in which he placed only 
 powdered charcoal. To all appearance they were 
 exactly alike. He hid them in the depths of the 
 forest, and, having- returned to the village, put a 
 woman under the power of otaga (a certain kind of 
 spirit), so that she should go to the hiding-place and 
 bring him the real idol. In other words, he hypnotised 
 her. At first she went at random, then with a loud 
 yell she rushed off to the forest, found the spot, and 
 took up the g-enuine idol, returning with it to the 
 village, where she laid it at the feet of the wizard. 
 Modern experiments made by Parisian scientists with 
 hypnotic patients bear a strong- likeness to this Negro 
 case— the patient going- through several streets to a 
 certain house, and returning- with some object found 
 there, all at the suggestion of the hypnotist. An- 
 namese medicine-men hypnotise those who come to 
 consult them, by bidding- them gaze steadily at two 
 burning rings of wood, while they talk to the "sub- 
 jects," and make weird gestures with head and hands. 
 These methods resemble those still used by many 
 hypnotists — gazing at a bright object, passes with the 
 hands, and verbal suggestion. Dr Otto Stoll's great 
 work on Sug'g'estion und Hypnotismus in der V'dlker- 
 psycholozie is full of similar cases ; the most elaborate 
 study is found in the Smithsonian Institute's Report 
 of Siouan hypnotic methods ; while mediaeval and 
 later witchcraft literature teems with incidents of 
 inhibition, of the victim's rapport with the witch, of 
 the witch's insensibility to torture (probably by self- 
 induced trance), and of illusions on the part of the 
 subjects — all of which may be classed as hypnotic.^ 
 
 ^ Bureau of Ethnology^ i^tk Annual Report, part ii. Callaway, p. 
 431. Powell and Magnusson, ii. 103, 123. Nassau, p. 309. Revue 
 de V Hypnotisme, October 1893. Dr Bastian's Ueber psychi^che 
 Beobachtungen bet Naturvolkern gives other savage instances. 
 
 C 
 
34 SOME FOLK-TALE INCIDENTS 
 
 If, then, savagfe medicine-man and European witch 
 made use of what were then deemed magfical methods 
 to induce sleep, but are now obtaining- a tardy recogr- 
 nition from science (more abusive of the early- 
 mesmerists than ever were theologfians of the Dar- 
 winian theory), there is no reason to doubt that the 
 magic sleep of our tales is simply an exaggerated 
 reflection of those very methods themselves. 
 
 Another branch of primitive magic belonging to 
 the X region is suggested by some folk-tale incidents, 
 which may be illustrated first by a story found in 
 West Africa. A woman called Maria had a magic 
 mirror which possessed the power of speech, and 
 which she daily asked, " My mirror, is there any 
 other beautiful woman like myself? " And the mirror 
 would reply, '' Mistress, there is none." But at last 
 the mirror, which was kept in a forbidden room, was 
 seen by Maria's daughter, who disobeyed her mother's 
 injunction, and it told her that there was none so 
 beautiful as she. The mirror told the same to Maria 
 herself, who, in a fit of jealousy, sent the girl off with 
 two soldiers, who were to put her to death. They 
 spared her, smearing their swords with the blood of 
 two dogs, and showed them to Maria. Meanwhile the 
 girl came to a house, in which she hid, tidying it up 
 day by day. The house belonged to some robbers, 
 who bade one of their number watch for the unknown 
 servant. He discovered her, and the robbers made 
 her their sister. Meanwhile the mother had her 
 suspicions of the soldiers, and sent an old woman to 
 look for the girl. The witch discovered her, and 
 under pretence of braiding her hair, stuck a nail into 
 her head, which caused her to fall apparently dead. 
 On their return the robbers placed the girl in a golden 
 casket, which they suspended to a flagstaff There it 
 was found by two men, one of whom, called Ogula, 
 took it to his house, where he discovered its contents. 
 
"SNEEWITCHEN" 36 
 
 He hid it in a room, which he visited every day to 
 admire the sleeping- beauty, forbidding- his own 
 daughter ever to cross the threshold. She, too, 
 disobeyed him, and in the sequel, as she played with 
 the girl's hair, found the nail and pulled it out, causing 
 life to be restored instantly.^ 
 
 This story has several European versions, and Dr 
 Nassau, who cites it, is of opinion that it has been 
 derived by the natives from the Portuguese occupants 
 three hundred years ago. It is Grimm's story of 
 Sneewitchen, in which the queen has a magic mirror 
 which speaks, and which, after she thinks the heroine 
 has been disposed of, tells her that Snow White is 
 still alive. 
 
 " Amid the forest, darkly green, 
 She lives with dwarfs — the hills between." 
 
 The Speaking mirror is found in most of the many 
 versions of this tale.^ In other stories the mirror 
 does not speak, but reveals distant scenes and hidden 
 events. Thus in a Russian story a little girl is 
 murdered by her sisters for the sake of her little silver 
 plate, which shows her beautiful far-off things — "towns 
 and rivers, and forests and seas, lofty mountains and 
 beautiful skies." Another incident is that of the 
 story group in which three brothers are suitors for 
 the same girl, and it is arranged that she will marry 
 the one who brings home the most wonderful thing*. 
 
 ' Nassau, p. 337. 
 
 2 Grimm cites several variants. There is a Hungarian version in 
 Jones, p. 166, and a Wallachian in Schott, No. 5. Mr Nutt cites an 
 early Gaelic variant, in which a trout in a well (the Celtic " Salmon of 
 Knowledge") takes the place of the mirror. He thinks the clear 
 surface of the well may have suggested the mirror of other versions ; 
 while again the introduction of the mirror may have arisen from a 
 misunderstanding of the name of the divining animal ; in a German 
 variant it is a dog called Spiegel {Folk-LorCy iii. 41). In any 
 case, mirror-divination must have been known before the mistake 
 arose. 
 
36 SOME FOLK-TALE INCIDENTS 
 
 One gfets a magic carriage; another, apples which 
 heal ; a third, a mirror which reveals what is going on 
 wherever the seeker thinks of. A Mingrelian story is 
 curious. Three sons set out to find a fish which 
 would cure their father. The youngest was success- 
 ful, but spared the fish's life on its earnest entreaty. 
 Later, this was discovered, and he was ordered to be 
 killed. He escaped, and spared the lives of a deer, 
 an eagle, and a jackal, who, like the fish, promised to 
 help him. Next he sought to marry a maiden who 
 would only give herself to the suitor who should 
 successfully conceal himself from her. Many had 
 tried and failed, and had been put to death in con- 
 sequence. Our hero tried, and got the fish to swallow 
 him. Now the girl had a mirror which always showed 
 her where her suitors were hid. She looked into it ; 
 he was not in the sky, or on the land, but she saw 
 him in the sea. His cleverness merited her pardon.; 
 she gave him another chance. Again the mirror 
 revealed his hiding-place with the eagle, and a third 
 time with the deer in his lair. But the fourth time 
 the jackal buried him under the maiden's bower ; she 
 looked at the vision of the sea, the sky, the hills ; he 
 Was not there. Then she dashed the mirror to the 
 floor, whereupon the hero emerged from his hiding- 
 place and married her. A Dyak story may be 
 compared with these. Si Jura, having reached the 
 sky, like Jack after climbing his beanstalk, looked 
 into a large jar and saw his relatives at home, and 
 the sight at once made him long to return. In a 
 Fjort tale, cited later, the hero, after his marriage, 
 discovered several mirrors, in each of which he saw a 
 village that he knew; but in one was reflected the 
 image of a town unknown to him, and he would not 
 rest till he had discovered it.^ 
 
 1 Naake, pp. 170, 194. Wardrop, p. 124. Ling Roth, i. 307 ; see 
 p. 436 ////ra. Dennett, p. 60 ; see pp. 383-4 infra. Miss Cox, p. 483, 
 gives other references. 
 
CRYSTAL-GAZING 37 
 
 •These incidents are obviously based on the 
 phenomena of crystal-gazing", which is both ancient 
 and widespread. By looking- into a dish of water, a 
 metal mirror, a gem, water held in the palm of the 
 hand, etc., visions are seen by those who have the 
 power of *' scrying," as it is called. These visions 
 may be the suggestions of what is latent in the sub- 
 conscious self, or fashioned, like dreams, out of the 
 elements of past impressions ; but sometimes, like 
 clairvoyance, they show forth future events. What- 
 ever be its cause, it has been known and used from a 
 remote antiquity, and by savage and civilised races. 
 The negro fetich-priest uses a mirror for discovering 
 distant or future events ; sorcerers in Yucatan and 
 Dyak manangs have a quartz crystal for the same 
 purpose — this suggests that the quartz stones found 
 in prehistoric graves may have been used in 
 this way; '* cup-divination " is used in Polynesia; 
 American Indians use both crystals and water; 
 Malagasy natives, crystals. The art was also known 
 to Assyrians, Persians, Egyptians, Greeks, and 
 Romans.^ It was inevitable that such a universal 
 practice would find some place in folk-tale, and we are 
 only surprised that it does not occur oftener. The 
 mirror which speaks is, of course, nothing but the 
 story-teller's conception of the hallucinatory crystal or 
 mirror. 
 
 1 Reade, p. 542. Cf. p. 123 infra. F.L.J., \. 245. Ling Roth, 
 i. 273. Ellis, ii. 240. Lang, Making of Religion^ pp. 90-92. 
 Parish, Hallucinations and Illusions. Proc. Soc. Psych. Research^ v. 
 486 seq. Other negro instances are given by Dr Nassau, p. 134. 
 A magician divined from his mirror that a woman who consulted 
 him would marry a white man and have two children. Like Sarah, 
 she scoffed, as she believed herself past child-bearing, but five years 
 later the divination proved correct. Another magician saw a woman's 
 brother lying dead 300 miles off, describing his wounds, and the 
 details of the place where he had never himself been. The informa- 
 tion proved correct. Dr Nassau knows of telepathic cases among 
 the negroes ; see p. 208 infra. 
 
38 SOME FOLK-TALE INCIDENTS 
 
 In the folk- tale world animals talk and act precisely 
 as men do, as is evidenced best of all by the Puss-in- 
 Boots cycle. This is no mere fagon de parler : it is 
 accepted as quite natural by children ; the peasantry 
 think it may once have happened ; savagres believe 
 thoroughly in it ; and we are, therefore, once more 
 driven to the conclusion that the talking- animals of 
 all folk-tales descend from an age when it was one of 
 the commonplaces of thought and belief that animals 
 did and could talk, and were, in effect, nothing but 
 men and women in animal shape. Modern savages 
 still believe this ; to multiply proofs is here unnecessary; 
 let it suffice to quote Jthe words of Mr Im Thurn, 
 than whom no one has a better right to speak on the 
 workings of the savage mind. *'To the ear of the 
 savage," he says, "animals certainly seem to talk. 
 This fact is universally evident, and ought to be fully 
 recognised."^ It is not surprising that savages should 
 think thus, when we learn that Basque peasants often 
 preface their stories with the words, " This happened, 
 sir, in the time when all animals and all things could 
 speak," while no one doubts the literal truth of this 
 statement.^ In many parts of Europe — Germany, 
 Roumania, France, Switzerland, England — it is firmly 
 believed by the peasants that animals have the gift of 
 speech on Christmas Eve or on New Year's Day: 
 but men must not hear them talk, else they will die.y 
 Greeks and Romans also believed In this occasional 
 gift of tongues, as the Incidents reported by Livy 
 will show. In mediaeval times Beast Fables were 
 largely made use of by preachers ; beasts symbolised 
 men, and their words and actions were intended to 
 teach a lesson. These were largely drawn from 
 Eastern sources ; Buddhist literature abounds in them. 
 
 ^ Indians of Guiana^ p. 351. 
 2 Webster, Basque Legends^ xi. 
 
 ^ Thorpe, N.M.^ iii. 7. E. Gerard, i. 337. Berenger-Feraud, 
 ii. 461. Jones, p. 421. 
 
ANIMAL FOLK-LORE 39 
 
 Most folk-tale collections contain specimens of them, 
 which are yet told among the peasantry. But they 
 were not invented to point a moral ; they already 
 existed as primitive folk-tales, and all savage collections 
 are full of stories of animals which it would take little 
 alteration or dressing- to turn into genuine /ad/iaux. 
 Such savage stories are of the Brer Rabbit class, and 
 tell how this or the other animal successfully tricked the 
 others. As a rule, each people has its favourite rogue 
 animal — Hottentots, Bushmen, and Berbers, the 
 jackal ; Bantus, Negroes, Mongols, and Coreans, the 
 rabbit or hare ; Malays and Dyaks, the moose-deer 
 and tortoise; Red Indians, the turtle, or coyote, or 
 raven. ^ The humour of these stories is exquisite, 
 while the astuteness and cunning of the animals, the 
 vengeance which usually follows on their actions, are 
 a curious revelation of savage ethics. 
 
 Another idea which is also derived from early 
 belief about animals, is that each class of animals or, 
 sometimes, all animals in general, have a chief or 
 king, villages of their own, and a social organisation 
 which is simply a reflection of that found among the 
 people themselves. Among the Polynesians, the 
 people of Yucatan, Hindus, Tibetans, and Kashmiri, 
 Africans, and natives of Guiana, to mention only a 
 few, we find a chief or king of each species. This 
 also occurs in European folk-lore, as in Celtic tales* 
 where the creatures have each a head-chief or leader. ^^ 
 But Kafirs, Mongols, and Pawnees all believe that 
 animals of sorts group themselves under one leader, 
 and have regular laws, distribution of labour, watch- 
 
 1 Theal, pp. 175, 213 ; Basset, xi. Steere, J.A.I.^ 1872, cli. ; 
 Allen, p. 34. Skeat, xii. ; Ling Roth, i. 311. Gushing, passim. 
 In Bushman beast stories each animal speaks a language peculiar to 
 itself, a modification of the Bushman dialect. 
 
 2 Gill, p. 100. Brinton, F.L.J. ^ i. 256. Miss Stokes, pp. 67, 291. 
 Knowles, p. 205. Theal, p. 107. Brett, p. 167. Garmichael, Cartnina 
 Gadelica^ ii. 332. 
 
40 SOME FOLK-TALE INCIDENTS 
 
 men, etc. ^ All readers of folk- tales are familiar 
 with references to the kings of birds, of fishes, of 
 serpents, who summon their followers to help some 
 hero whom they have befriended, so that it is unneces- 
 sary to labour this argument further. It explains 
 its^f by actual belief dating from primitive ages. 
 
 But in most tales we find that animals have a 
 language of their own, which may be learned by men?) 
 When it is known, all that animals say is revealed^ 
 and often important secrets and recondite wisdom are 
 discovered. In a whole cycle of stories, with Basque, 
 Portuguese, French, Russian, English, and other 
 variants, we are told how a father ejects or murders 
 his son because he has learned nothing but the 
 language of birds, and on interpreting what a certain 
 bird sings, seems to be disrespectful to his father.^ 
 Sometimes animals reveal their languages out of 
 gratitude to some one who has befriended them, as In 
 the Pawnee tales referred to, and in Hungarian, 
 Finnish, Servian, Norse, German, Celtic, and Arab 
 versions of a well-known cycle, in which the king of the 
 snakes' daughter reveals it, and the hero subsequently 
 is tormented by his wife to know why he is laughing, 
 viz., at what the animals are saying.^ This unknown 
 tongue is also referred to in many Eastern tales, 
 Hindu, Kashmir, Mongol, etc., and Is usually learned 
 by some one who subsequently benefits by the acquired 
 knowledge.* Granted the belief that animals have 
 such a language, the corollary is inevitable that some 
 one has picked It up in various ways. Hence, stories 
 
 1 Theal, p. 165. Busk, Sagas^ p. 165. Grinnell, /<2jj/m. 
 
 2 Webster, p. 136. Coelho, p. 133. Luzel, Leg. Chrei.^ \. ^07. 
 Leger, Conf. Pop. Slaves^ p. 235. Wright's edition of Seven 
 Sages, p. 106. Cf. Hartland, "The Outcast Child," in F.L.J., iv. 
 
 334. 
 
 ^ Grinnell, op. cit. Jones, p. 301. Mijatovich, p. 36. Dasent, 
 p. 4. Grimm, ii. 541. Campbell, iii. 353. Payne, Arab. Nights, 
 
 i. 14. 
 
 * Day, p. 150. Knowles, p. 432. F.L.J., iii. 323. 
 
"THE SALMON OF KNOWLEDGE ^^ 41 
 
 about it would arise. But a further development of 
 the acquirement, not only of animal langiiagfe, but of 
 animal wisdom, suggests another cause, viz., that 
 firm belief found among all savages that by eating- 
 part of another person or part of an animal, you 
 acquire his qualities — wisdom, bravery, strength, or 
 what not. This common practice, based upon the 
 evident strength which comes from eating, naturally 
 suggested that if animals, or certain of them, had 
 superior and recondite wisdom, it would become the 
 property of any person who should eat the animal in 
 question. This is best illustrated by the cycle of 
 tales in which different parts of a bird are eaten by 
 two brothers, as a result of which one of them 
 becomes a king, and the other finds gold and jewels 
 under his pillow every morning.^ But in many lands 
 it is by eating a snake that wisdom or the language 
 of animals is acquired, and, as a rule, it is some 
 particular snake. Thus with Arabs and Swahilis it is 
 the king of the snakes ; among Swedish, Danish, 
 German, Celtic, Breton, and Slavonic tales it is a 
 white snake, or sometimes a fabulous snake with a 
 crown on its head, resembling the jewelled headed 
 serpent of Eastern lore. So in the Volsunga Saga, 
 Sigurd acquired the language of animals by eating 
 the flesh of the dragon Fafnir. In Celtic belief the 
 salmon was credited with extraordinary wisdom, or at 
 least those salmon which ate the nuts that fell from 
 the mystic hazels round Connlas well. If anyone 
 caught and ate such a fish, there was no end to his 
 wisdom.^ 
 
 ^ These are — Breton (Sebillot, p. 97) ; Russian (Ralston, No. 53) ; 
 German, (Grimm, p. 193) ; Greek (Hahn, i. 227) ; Egyptian (Spitta 
 Bey, No. 9) ; Berber (Bassett, p. 75) ; Tibetan {Tib. Tales, p. 129) ; 
 Kashmir (Knowles, p. 169) ;' Indian (Steele and Temple, pp. 139, 
 326) ; and other versions. Cf. p. 462, for a Red Indian variant. 
 
 2 Steere, p. 333. Thorpe, N.M., i. 97 ; ii. 98, 217. Campbell, 
 ii. 361 ; iii. 331. Guest, Mabinogion, p. 471. Sebillot, ii. 224. 
 Wratislaw, p. 25. O'Curry, Manners of Anct. Irish, ii. 143. 
 
42 SOME FOLK-TALE INCIDENTS 
 
 These folk-tale beliefs originated In the manner I 
 have suggested, aided, perhaps, by the Idea that by 
 eating a totem-animal on certain solemn occasions 
 one acquires all its nature and attributes. A further 
 example occurs In Aino belief By eating the heart 
 of the water-ousel they think they will be able to stand 
 fatigue, wax eloquent, and obtain riches, because the 
 water-ousel is wise and eloquent. It Is a simple 
 transfer of qualities by eating.^ 
 
 Several stories contain the touching incident of the 
 mother who returns from the grave, or from fairyland, 
 or who comes in her transformed shape after being 
 bewitched by the false wife, to suckle her child. It is 
 the Incident expressed with such extraordinary direct- 
 ness and a pathos which is almost brutal, in the 
 Yorkshire ballad quoted by Emily Bronte^ — 
 
 " 'Twas late at night, and the bairns grat. 
 The mother among the mools heard that." 
 
 This ballad version is the simplest form of the 
 story of which I shall first cite a Russian variant. A 
 peasant's wife died at childbirth. It was observed 
 that the child cried all day, but was silent at night. 
 The nurse watched, and at midnight heard the door 
 open and saw some one go towards the cradle, when 
 the child lay still as if it were being nursed. Next 
 night the father himself watched with a hidden light, 
 suddenly uncovering it when the visitor came in. 
 She proved to be his dead wife, who bent over the 
 cradle and suckled the child. After a time she went 
 away silently as she ha4 come, but the child was 
 
 Classical students will recall the story of Melampus, who, having 
 saved two serpents, was taught the language of animals by their 
 licking his ear. 
 
 1 Cf. the stories where, by eating a fish, a woman bears one or more 
 sons. See p. 381 infra. 
 
FOLK-TALE GHOSTS 43 
 
 found to be dead.^ There are some Irish stories 
 resembling- this Russian tale. In one a woman had 
 gone to America, leaving her boy with her brother, 
 who ill-treated him. She died, and at the moment of 
 her death appeared to a woman in Ireland, telling her 
 about the boy, and afterwards went to the boy himself 
 and comforted him as only a mother could. Soon 
 after a letter arrived, announcing her death. Another 
 Irish story describes how a mother's ghost "walked " 
 until her children were removed from the workhouse 
 by her lazy husband, a black swelling appearing on 
 the percipient's wrist where the ghost had touched it, 
 as a proof of her reality.^ Reference may also be 
 made here to a Polynesian tale, cited later, in which 
 a dead woman escapes from Hades to attend to her 
 helpless child at home.^ 
 
 These tales have some connection with another 
 group, of which there are many Gaelic versions. A 
 woman apparently died and was buried ; in reality she 
 had been carried off by the fairies, who left an illusory 
 
 ^ For a further discussion of this cycle, see chap, vi., pp. 150-53. 
 Ralston, p. 19. 
 
 2 Curtin, p. 144. Yeats, Celtic Twilight^ p. 37. The first of these 
 Irish stories is an excellent folk-tale instance of a phantasm coincidental 
 with death. Cf. an instance on p. 168, of a death communicated by a 
 dream to two people at the same moment. When such phantasms 
 are so abundant in actual life, as we see from the Psychical Research 
 Society's Proceedings^ Gurney's Phantasms of the Living^ and Myers' 
 Human Personality^ it is not surprising that they occur in folk-tales, 
 which usually are a faithful reflection of life, custom, and belief. In 
 another Irish tale a man called Connor borrowed threepence from 
 another man who fell ill. One day Connor saw him coming along 
 the road, and was pulling the money from his pocket to return it, 
 when the man disappeared. He then met two other men who 
 informed him that the man had just died. Curtin, Tales of Irish 
 Fairies. Ghosts in folk-tales are less common than might have been 
 expected. Even in Africa, where their power is so much believed 
 in, there are few folk-tales referring to them. Cf. a Basuto story in 
 Jacottet, p. 237, where a ghost makes a girl's water-jug stick fast to the 
 ground. 
 
 3 See p. 178. 
 
U SOME FOLK-TALE INCIDENTS 
 
 form of a corpse in her place, in accordance with the 
 usual fairy practice in Celtic (Irish and Highland) 
 JDelief in such cases of stealing- away a human being. 
 (^Sometimes the woman appears to her husband in 
 sleep, telling- him how he may recover her ; but in one 
 tale she is seen at nig-ht singing to her child^ Her 
 husband sprang up and caught her, but she told him 
 he must go to the fairy hillock and remove her bodily 
 from it. By using iron and a black cock, both 
 detested by fairies, he effected an entrance to fairy- 
 land and carried the woman away. Scott, in his 
 Minstrelsy, cites a similar Lowland story. In this 
 tale a woman had been carried off to fairyland, and a 
 disfigured corpse left in her place. The husband was 
 about to marry again, but the first wife appeared to 
 him several times, and lat last, when he paid no atten- 
 tion to her, upbraided him, and, to prove that she was 
 no impostor, proceeded to suckle her child. The man 
 was terrified, and went to his minister, who, unlike the 
 Reverend Mr Kirk of Aberfoyle, the author of the 
 Secret Commonwealth of the Elves, had no faith in 
 fairies, and married the couple at once to prevent 
 further disturbance. The wife never appeared again. 
 But had the husband followed her advice, viz., to dig 
 up the corpse, to seize it as it tried to flee away, 
 and to hold it in spite of all its transformations, he 
 would have recovered this Eurydice of fairyland. 
 There is, in these two groups of stories, as well as in 
 many others with which we are not concerned at 
 present, little distinction between ghostland and fairy- 
 land ; the same laws govern both, the same tabus : 
 (^.^., not to eat food offered by ghost or fairy) are 
 effective in both, and from both the dead may be 
 recovered, or may come to warn and advise the living,^ 
 
 1 Campbell, Superstitions, pp. 83-88. Scott, Minstrelsy, ii. 222. 
 I have referred on p. 438 to Descents to the Underworld. They 
 occur in every mythology, savage and civilised, and are the expression 
 of man's firm belief that Death may be vanquished and the dead 
 
THE MOTHER'S RETURN 46 
 
 In the third group of stories in the True Bride 
 cycle (already referred to), a similar incident occur-s 
 with great dramatic force, and though it does not 
 concern the return of the dead, may be mentioned 
 here. The wife, transformed by witchcraft into an 
 animal, appears by night in the house, saying that she 
 will come three times and watch her child. The 
 husband catches her on the third visit, when a whole 
 series of transformations follow, as in the Lowland 
 fairy story ; he still holds her firmly in spite of all, and 
 at last her true form is restored to her. There are 
 Russian, Swedish, and Finnish variants, with trans- 
 formation to a goose, duck, and reindeer respectively. 
 In other versions, which must represent the more 
 primitive form of the tale, there is no primary trans- 
 formation. Thus, a Polish variant makes the mother 
 return after she has been killed by the witch step- 
 mother ; then follows the capture and the series of 
 transformations. All these are omitted in a Jaina 
 version, where the wife (like the Albanian heroine) is 
 
 restored. Sometimes the descent is made to rescue the victim of 
 death, sometimes to wrest a secret from the rulers or people of the 
 sad kingdom. Later, these myths became folk-tales, and the gods 
 of the underworld were changed into heroes, like Prince Hatt under 
 the Earth in the Swedish tale (p. 326). The underworld of the ghosts 
 then became (i) Fairyland, with the result that in some fairy-tales 
 there is little difference between ghosts and fairies, while the descent 
 is made either to rescue some stolen person or to capture some 
 treasure of fairyland {e.g.^ a fairy cup, like the Luck of Edenhall) ; 
 (2) a Land below the earth ; sometimes its lord steals women, who are 
 rescued by the hero (p. 351), or demands a wife from some mortal 
 (as in some tales of the Bluebeard cycle) ; in other tales it is a 
 beautiful land, entrance to which is made through a well (see p. 191). 
 Mythology had also spoken of a land below the sea, with its divinities. 
 This became in folk-tale the land of the Water-king, Sea-troll, or 
 Sea-maiden, inveigling mortals beneath the wave. Cf. the tales cited 
 on pp. 417-18, 420. Descents to the underworld of Christian dogma 
 were common in early and mediaeval Christian literature. These, 
 while suggested by the doctrine of our Lord's Descent into Hell, 
 borrowed many details from myth and folk-tale. See T. Wright, St 
 Patricias Purgatory ; Tylor, P.C., ii. 54 seq. 
 
46 SOME FOLK-TALE INCIDENTS 
 
 thrown into a well. A serpent takes care of her and 
 allows her to return and see her child, but always to 
 come back before dawn — a true ghost tabu. The 
 fourth time, her husband catches and detains her ; a 
 dead snake drops from her head, and she knows she 
 has killed her protector by overstaying- her time.^ 
 
 The same incident occurs in stories in which the 
 fairy wife leaves her husband when he breaks a tabu. 
 Melusina left Count Raymond when he discovered her 
 serpent form, but for long after she was seen to return 
 at night and stay till dawn, clasping her little children 
 to her breast. Other instances will be found in a later 
 chapter ; meanwhile, I cite a Kafir story which bears 
 some resemblance to this group. A man had a wife 
 who was miraculously born, and was never to appear 
 in the daytime. Her father-in-law sent her to fetch 
 water, with the result that she was detained by the 
 water-spirit. Her voice was heard telling what had 
 happened, and at night her child was taken down to 
 the river bank by the nurse. The mother came 
 out and suckled the child, forbidding the nurse to tell 
 what she had seen. At last all was found out ; the 
 husband drew his wife home ; the river followed and 
 recaptured her. She was only finally recovered by 
 her parents sacrificing an ox to the river, in accord- 
 ance with her own directions.^ 
 
 As final examples, we must note stories of the 
 Cinderella cycle, in which the dead mother, as an 
 animal or tree, or from her grave, assists her ill-used 
 
 1 Ralston, p. 183. Thorpe, Y.T.S.^ p. 35. Cox, p. 41. There are 
 German, Italian, Bohemian, Magyar, and Danish versions. The 
 Polish story is analysed by Miss Cox, p. 94. Tawney, Kathakoqa^ 
 p. 85. 
 
 2 Baring-Gould, p. 478. See p. 329 infra. Theal, p. 54. There 
 is a Basuto variant, in which the husband insists on the wife's 
 fetching him water in the daytime, as here ; she is, however, 
 changed into an ant-heap, but afterwards recovers her true form by 
 the help of the sorcerer who gave her mother the miraculous drug. 
 Jacottet, p. 206. 
 
COINCIDENTAL PHANTASMS 47 
 
 child, and others of the Youngrest Son group, where 
 the dead father causes prosperity to his faithful son.^ 
 
 While these stories show how the folk of various 
 lands, civilised and savage, have given literary form to 
 the fact of undying maternal love, illustrated in the 
 Eskimo belief that the dead mother calls for her 
 children from the spirit land,^ it is not improbable 
 that the presentation of the fact may be due to actual 
 phantasmal appearances of a dead mother in her old 
 home. Gurney, in his Phantasms of the Living', cites 
 three well-authenticated instances from the 17th, i8th, 
 and 19th centuries respectively.^ In all of these a 
 mother dies at a distance, expressing a desire to see 
 her children, and at the time of her death her phan- 
 tasm is seen by them and others. Granting the 
 reality of such appearances, which there seems no 
 reason to doubt, it is easy to refer the exaggerated 
 form of the tale — suckling the child, recovery of the 
 wife from the dead — to similar actual phantasmal 
 appearances in the remote past. At all events, we 
 know that it is a strongly held article of the savage 
 creed that the dead return, and one or two such 
 appearances would readily give rise to stories of this 
 type^ 
 
 Qlie "Swallow" story occurs in several distinct 
 cycles. First may be mentioned the Tom Thumb 
 group, in which the hero, swallowed by a cow, fish, 
 and giant, is disgorged in safety.* Next we note 
 some versions of Red Riding- Hood, with the heroine 
 and her grandmother swallowed by the wolf, and 
 
 1 See pp. 232, 367 infra. 
 
 ^ Letourneau, Sociology^ p. 147. Sometimes the child, or simply 
 the strap with which he was carried, is buried with her. 
 
 ^ Gurney, ii. 558, 560, 581. Another curious case is given by 
 Miss Cox, p. 479. 
 
 * Hartland, English Folk and Fairy Tales, p. 272. Deulin, Contes, 
 p. 326. Cosquin, ii. 190. Grimm, "Thumbling." 
 
48 SOME FOLK-TALE INCIDENTS 
 
 afterwards brought to life when the wolf is killed.^ 
 The third group is that in which some animal, the 
 fox or the wolf, swallows several others, e.g^., a goat's 
 kids or goslings. In some versions the mother cuts 
 his stomach open when he is asleep, and takes out her 
 children, filling it with stones and sewing it up again. 
 On waking he feels thirsty, and goes to a fountain to 
 drink, but the weight of the stones makes him lose 
 his balance and he is drowned. But occasionally the 
 swallower is killed before the animals emerge, and 
 ihey, like MacLeod's piper, ''return no more."^ 
 CWith this group may be included a Hottentot story. 
 An elephant (in a variant, a girafife), swallowed a 
 tortoise, which ate his liver, heart, and kidneys, so 
 that he died, after which the tortoise emerged safe 
 and sounds This resembles an Australian story, in 
 which the moon swallowed the eagle, but the wives of 
 the latter cut the moon's stomach open with a stone 
 axe when he was stooping to drink, and rescued their 
 husband.^ The final incident of a Basuto tale is 
 curious. A man had carried his daughter to a 
 cannibal chief, hoping that he would eat her, but he 
 was put into the pot himself, and the chiefs son married 
 the daughter. As they and their company were 
 travelling, they came to a rock which blocked the way. 
 It was the heart of the man, thus transformed, and it 
 swallowed everything and every person passing that 
 way. When the daughter and her husband had been 
 gulped down, they found themselves in a huge cavern 
 with many other people. A boy was making a hole 
 
 1 Grimm, " Red Cap." Cf. a Russian story, in which a Baba Yaga 
 swallows two brothers, but is forced to disgorge them by the third 
 brother. Ralston, p. 72. 
 
 2 Campbell, iii. 103. Grimm, "Wolf and Goats." Gubernatis 
 ZM.^ i. 407. Crane, p. 267. 
 
 3 Bleek, p. 29. Brough Smyth, Abor. of Victoria^ i. 432. There 
 is a Berber story, in which one Islamite saint amuses himself by 
 swallowing and then disgorging another. Basset, p. 32. 
 
" SWALLOW " TALES 49 
 
 in the side with his knife, and when he had cut his 
 way through, the rock fell to the g^round, and all who 
 had been swallowed escaped, except those who had 
 been suffocated.^ There is a close resemblance 
 between these stories and those of the next group as 
 represented by a Bohemian story. The g^luttonous 
 child of a peasant (formed by him out of a root with 
 his axe), begfan to devour her parents, the villagers, 
 and animals, until a woman killed her with a mattock, 
 when all whom she had swallowed came forth in 
 reverse order. So a djalmous, escaping with a girl, 
 in a Tartar story, swallowed sixty camels, forty men, 
 and forty girls, who were disgorged when the khan 
 killed the monster. Baiamee, in an Australian myth, 
 delivered his wives from the alligators which had 
 swallowed them, and restored them to life by laying 
 them on ants' nests. A story very like the Bohemian 
 glutton tale is current among Kafirs and Yaos ; in a 
 variant the glutton is a cannibal mother, who eats her 
 children and several people of the village in which 
 they live. A bird attacked her, and tore open her 
 stomach. Many of her victims were dead ; the others 
 who were alive came forth, buC some of them were 
 caught and swallowed again. ^ ^Mr Lang has shown 
 the similarity of such stories to the Greek myth of 
 Cronus, who swallowed his own children, till Zeus 
 caused him to disgorge the stone given him in place 
 of himself, after which the children came forth also.£) 
 
 * Jacottet, p. 202. Cf. Callaway, pp. 55, 181. There are many 
 such stories in S. African folk-lore. 
 
 2 Naake, p. 226. Radloff, Hi. 315. Parker, p. 11. Steere, J.A.I.^ 
 i. 141 ; Theal, p. 129. Cf. the chapters on the Dragon Sacrifice, and 
 on Cannibalism, for other instances of the hero hacking his way 
 through the monster's stomach. It occurs in another form in the 
 story of Assiepattle and the Stoor Worm. He allowed his boat to 
 glide down the dragon's huge throat, and then put a burning peat in 
 its liver, escaping as quickly as he could ; see p. 402 infra. Cf. the 
 Fish-swallowing stories cited in the next group. 
 
 ^ Lang, Custom atid Myth^ p. 53. Hesiod, Theogony^ 497. 
 
 D 
 
60 SOME FOLK-TALE INCIDENTS 
 
 This resembles a very Involved Bushman myth, In 
 which the planet Jupiter, called '' Dawn's Heart," 
 swallows another star, his daughter, dlsgorgmg her 
 when she Is grown up. 
 
 In another group, resembling the story of Jonah 
 and the fish, a fish swallows the hero, who afterwards 
 escapes. Of this there are Hindu, Malay, Samoan, 
 Guiana, and Red Indian versions — all remarkably 
 alike. ^ Dr Tylor, following Schlrren, has suggested 
 that the Polynesian story of Maui may supply the 
 clue to the origin of this and all the other groups of 
 " swallow " stories. When Maui was born, his mother 
 threw him Into the sea, where he became covered with 
 seaweed and jelly-fish. Cast ashore, he was relieved 
 of these excrescences by his grandfather, who carried 
 him home. Now, Maui Is the sun, and the earth 
 (including the sea) Is a fish in Polynesian mythology, 
 and it is thought that this story may be a distorted 
 version of a myth telling how the sky frees the sun 
 from the covering earth. If so, the distortion is 
 somewhat pronounced. But the supposition gains 
 force from another Maui story, which tells how he met 
 his death by entering his grandmother's body. She 
 dwells on the horizon where earth meets the sky. 
 But some hold that Maui died only to revive and 
 recommence his career." All this explains itself as a 
 story told to show why the sun, conceived of as a 
 man, disappears as if swallowed at the horizon. We 
 might explain the other fish stories by the theory that 
 men who saw the setting sun disappear in the sea, 
 might think it had been swallowed by the sea or by 
 a fish. That, at least, is no exaggeration of savage 
 and primitive methods of thought. In this way the 
 Piute myth of the sun swallowing the stars would 
 
 1 Somadeva, ii. ii8. Vishnu Purana^ p. 575. Turner, pp. 331, 
 337. Im Thurn, p. 385. Petitot, p. 319. A Melanesian version will 
 be found on p. 436 infra. 
 
 - Tylor, Early Hist, of Mankind. Grey, pp. 18, 31, 35. 
 
SCHEME OF THE WORK 51 
 
 resolve Itself into an explanation of how they dis- 
 appear at sunrise. So in a Melanesian myth Qat 
 cuts the Dawn with a knife out of Nigfht.^ All thingfs 
 are conceived by primitive races as actually alive and 
 capable of human actions. Man's feverish desire to 
 know the causes of things makes him invent the most 
 plausible stories to account for them, but these stories 
 presuppose this animistic theory. Hence many 
 "swallow" myths resolve themselves into stories 
 accounting for various natural phenomena. As 
 things were better understood the myths might 
 remain, but would now be told of a man and a fish, 
 or of a glutton. Or the old myths might supply the 
 motif lo an inventive story-teller, which would explain 
 the origin of the Tom Thumb, Red Riding- Hood, 
 and other folk- tale groups. But all alike would owe 
 their origin to early myth, to savage methods of 
 thought. This, however, is a different thing from 
 explaining all folk-tales as the detritus of myth, and 
 as the result of a ''disease of language." It is only 
 one of the many ways in which folk-tales have arisen. 
 In the chapters which follow we shall discuss at 
 greater length various folk- tale conceptions, as arranged 
 in the following scheme : — (i) Incidents exhibiting 
 primitive psychology — The Water of Life, The 
 Renewal of Life, The Separable Soul ; (2) Incidents 
 illustrating magical, animistic, and totemistic beliefs — 
 Transformation, Inanimate Objects Speaking and 
 Acting, Helpful Animals, Beast- Marriages ; (3) In- 
 cidents illustrating primitive customs — Cannibalism, 
 Tabu, Inheritance (the Youngest Son), Sacrifice (the 
 Dragon Sacrifice and the Promised Child); (4) In- 
 cidents involving mythological explanations of things 
 — Jack and the Beanstalk. 
 
 ^ Codrington, p. 162* 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE WATER OF LIFE 
 
 If death was the king- of terrors to early man, none 
 the less he seems to have believed that it was possible 
 to overcome it. Myth told of a time when it was not ; 
 ritual ceremonies represented the dead coming- to life 
 again ; the soul, it was believed, could be recalled to 
 the body by the power of the medicine-man. This 
 belief has given birth to three distinct ideas, which are 
 enshrined in many folk-tales, those of the Water of 
 Life, of the Dismembered coming to life again, of the 
 External or Separable Soul. Folk- tales containing 
 these incidents are of the most varied kind, and are 
 found current in all parts of the world, thus testifying 
 at once to man's hatred of death, and his desire for 
 life's renewal when it had come to an end. In this 
 and the two following chapters I shall treat each of 
 these incidents separately, and try to throw some light 
 upon their origin. 
 
 The ramifications of the idea that a certain mystic 
 water can resuscitate or restore are many, and I can 
 only attempt to indicate the chief of them. A certain 
 number of stories may be cited first, to show the 
 general idea at work. In several Russian tales two 
 heroes are maimed by an enchantress. One has his 
 feet cut off, the other his eyes put out. They live 
 alone, helping each other. At last they obtain two 
 waters, from a snake, or from a Baba Yaga (a kind of 
 
VARIOUS EPISODES 53 
 
 snake-demon). The first water restores feet and eyes, 
 but the heroes can neither walk nor see until the 
 second, the Water of Life, is applied.^ The eldest of 
 three brothers in a Lithuanian story kills a nine- 
 headed dragfon, and rescues a princess, whose servants, 
 put him to death. A lion catches a crow, and forces 
 it to bring- the Water of Life, by which his master is 
 revived.^ Geria, a Mingfrelian hero, having won a fair 
 maiden, is attacked by the soldiers of the Black King 
 and finally slain. His parents having seen two snakes 
 pass through a river and crawl over several dead 
 snakes which then came to life, take some of the water 
 of the river with them. Having been led to Geria's 
 body by his dog, they sprinkle it with the water, and 
 he rises whole and sound. ^ A Swedish story has 
 some features in common with this. Silver-white has 
 married a princess after rescuing her from three trolls. 
 He is challenged to mortal combat by their brother, 
 who first treacherously kills the hero's dogs by magic, 
 and then overcomes their master. Little Warder, his 
 foster-brother, forces the troll to give him two phials. 
 With the contents of the first he revives his brother. 
 The fluid in the second, being poured on the ground, 
 petrifies anyone treading on it, and this fate is meted 
 out to the troll.* The heroine of a Greek story 
 restores to life the devil's former wives by means of 
 his Water of Life, after she has found them petrified 
 in the forbidden chamber ; while a prince who has 
 met the same fate at the hands of a Sicilian Blue- 
 beard, comes alive again by means of restorative 
 ointment, applied by the youngest of three sisters.* 
 The Italian variant of this Bluebeard tale makes the 
 heroine restore the prince, and then kill the pursuing 
 ogre by means of the "medicine that slays," stolen 
 
 ^ Ralston, pp. 240, 253, 255. ^ Leskien, p. 389. 
 
 ^ Wardrop, p. 118. Cavallius, p. 78. 
 
 ^ Schmidt, p. 122 ; Gonzenbach, No. 23. 
 
54 THE WATER OF LIFE 
 
 from the forbidden chamber.^ Such healing water is 
 common to all European folk-tales, but in no group is 
 it so variously and poetically described as in the 
 Celtic. There it is called the Well of the World, the 
 Water of the Well of Virtues, a Well of True Water, 
 a Reviving Cordial, a Vessel of Cordial, Balsam, or 
 simply Living Water. In '* The Rider of Grianaig " the 
 carlin tells Iain that in order to take the spells off the 
 men whom she had petrified, he must go to the island 
 of big women, and take a bottle of living water out of 
 it, *'and when thou rubbest it upon them, the spells 
 will go, and they will come alive. "^ 
 
 Two brothers, Moonshine and Sunshine, were 
 travelling together, says a Mongol story, when the 
 former died of exhaustion. Sunshine sought out a 
 hermit, who took a bottle containing a life-restoring 
 cordial, and going to the spot where Moonshine was 
 buried, restored him to life by its means. In another 
 Mongol tale the corpse is made to drink the potion, 
 and is thus revived.^ These stories are derived from 
 Indian sources, where, however, life is usually restored 
 by means of a plant or fruit, or by a magic rod, or by 
 some potion known only to the gods. Thus a divine 
 princess will marry none but him who will plunge 
 himself as a sacrifice into boiling oil. King Vikrama- 
 ditya does so, and is killed, but the princess asperges 
 him with amrita, and he revives, more beautiful than 
 before.* 
 
 Most of the stories cited make use of the Water 
 of Life only incidentally, but in certain other groups, in 
 which the tales are clearly related as variants, it plays 
 a more important part. The first of these may be 
 
 ^ Archivio^ iii. 368. 
 
 2 Campbell, iii. 22. Cf. i. 222 ; ii. 141, 289 ; iii. 22 ; Hyde, p. 41 ; 
 M'Innes, p. 197. For the Weary Well at the World's End (the Well of 
 True Water), see p. 256. 
 
 3 Miss Busk, pp. 75, no. 
 
 * Jndische Studien^ xv. 364. 
 
THE PERSEUS GROUP 55 
 
 called the Perseus group. The hero having- overcome 
 the dragon or ogre, and married the maiden, is over- 
 powered by a witch, slain, or petrified, and then revived 
 by his brother or some other hero. Stories of this 
 type will be cited in a later chapter^ ; I shall confine 
 myself here to Greek, Russian, and Breton variants. 
 The Greek hero having- opened a door in the palace 
 where the maiden had been imprisoned, steps into a 
 plain crowded with statues. An old woman meets 
 him, and turns him into stone by means of a magic 
 wand. His brother comes to rescue him with his dog. 
 The dog tears the witch to pieces, and his master 
 finds a bottle of the Water of Immortality among her 
 possessions. With this he sprinkles the stony form of 
 his brother as well as the statues in the plain. All are 
 brought back to life, and he becomes their king.^ In 
 the Italian variant the second brother is petrified, as 
 well as the original hero — the witch using an 
 enchanted berry for the purpose. The youngest 
 brother sets out to seek them, taking with him their 
 life-token, viz., the blood of a fish which their mother 
 had eaten before their conception. He rubs the two 
 brothers with this blood, which takes the place of the 
 water of life in no other story known to me, and 
 brings them back to life.^ The hero of the Russian 
 version is killed by a gipsy, who then claims to have 
 saved the maiden. His faithful animals bring him 
 back to life by means of the Water of Healing. His 
 marriage with the maiden follows, but soon after he Is 
 attracted to the house of a Baba Yaga, who turns hirn 
 and his animals into stone. His brother is warned by 
 the life-token that something is wrong. Off he goes 
 to seek him, is taken by the princess for her husband, 
 but takes the usual precaution of placing a sword 
 between them on the three nights which he passes 
 with her. Then he forces the Baba to give him 
 
 ^ See chapter xiii. ^ Legrand, p. i6i, ^ Visentini, p. 104. 
 
56 THE WATER OF LIFE 
 
 Water of Life to revive his brother and his animals. 
 But the latter, jealous that his rescuer should have 
 slept with his wife, cuts off his head, fearing- the 
 worst. Next morning he restores him with the useful 
 water when he finds out that no harm has been done.^ 
 Lastly, in the Breton variant, the hero is cut to pieces 
 by the witch, whom his twin-brother slays. There- 
 upon, a princess whom she has transformed into a 
 vixen, recovers her shape, and she and the young 
 man collect the pieces of the hero's body, pour the 
 Water of Life over them, and so bring him back to 
 life.2 
 
 In other groups of stories a quest for the Water of 
 Life is the main incident of the tales, but the purpose 
 of this quest varies. In the first three groups it is to 
 cause the destruction of the seeker, through the 
 difficulties involved in the search. These may be 
 called respectively the Impostor, the Traitress, and 
 the Dancing- Water types. In the fourth group, 
 which belongs to a type fully dealt with in the chapter 
 on the Youngest Son, the water is sought in order to 
 give life, youth, or sight, to an old king. 
 
 Before passing to discuss these types, a Greek story 
 from Cyprus, which falls under none of them, may be 
 cited as showing the danger of the quest. Phiaka is 
 told by the king of the Drakos, anxious to obtain his 
 wife, to bring him a bottle of the Water of Life, 
 which is away in the farthest East, between two 
 mountains which open and shut continually, and 
 guarded by a Drako. The king thinks that Phiaka 
 will never return, but he, assisted by two comrades, 
 obtains the water, and brings it in time to revive his 
 ten brothers-in-law, slain in defending his castle and 
 his wife against the king.^ 
 
 In the Impostor cycle of tales* the godson of a 
 
 ^ Leskien, 544. This is a typical form of the story, for the many 
 variants of which, see infra^ p. 382. 
 
 2 Luzel, p. 63. ^ Garnett, ii. 67. * See pp. 6, 213 infra. 
 
/ 
 
 THE IMPOSTOR CYCLE 57 
 
 kingf gfoes to seek his gfodfather, and is met by a man 
 who forces him to vow that he will not reveal that he 
 is the king's gfodson until three days after his death. 
 The impostor then personates the real Simon Pure, 
 and induces the king- to impose certain tasks upon the 
 hero. One of these is to discover the king- s daughter, 
 held prisoner by a queen with silver feet. This queen 
 also sets him several tasks before she will yield the prin- 
 cess, one being to seek for the Water of Life and the 
 Water of Death. The hero's friendly animals include 
 the general of the crows, who bids two of them lead 
 the hero to the subterranean place where the waters 
 are kept. With these he returns to the palace, and 
 having rescued the princess, throws the Water of 
 Death in the queen's face and kills her. Having 
 returned with the princess, she shows a marked 
 preference for him instead of the impostor bridegroom, 
 who kills him. The body is discovered three days 
 after, when the princess, producing the phial of Water 
 of Life, throws it over the hero, who revives at once. 
 Absolved now from his vow, he tells the whole story, 
 and the impostor is put to death. This is the form 
 of the story as it is told in Lorraine, with great wealth 
 of detail, and not a little artistic skill. ^ It is obvious 
 that the inventor of the tale cleverly used the Water 
 of Life incident as that upon which the plot of the 
 story hinged. This, like many another story cycle 
 yet to be considered, proves that the primitive novelist 
 was by no means destitute of literary craft and 
 imaginative power. 
 
 There are Greek, Breton, Servian, and Albanian 
 variants of this tale, while in a Pisan version the hero 
 is journeying to the court of his uncle, the king of 
 Portugal. The impostor causes him to be sent to 
 seek the queen, Granadoro, who has disappeared. 
 The last task imposed on him by his aunt is to bring 
 
 ^ Cosquin, i. 32. 
 
58 THE WATER OF LIFE 
 
 the Water of Life from the summit of an inaccessible 
 mountain. A friendly bird assists him, and in the 
 sequel the queen restores him to life after his murder 
 by the pretended nephew.^ 
 
 In these stories the destruction of the hero is not 
 so markedly aimed at in his quest for the water as it 
 is in the next two cycles. The princess puts off the 
 time of her return as much throug^h female coquetry, 
 perhaps, as from any desire to hurt the hero. But 
 the next series has a more sinister object. Taking 
 the Traitress cycle first,^ we find a woman, who is 
 sister, mother, or wife of the hero, leagued with some 
 monster, and seeking to get rid of him. In the Italian 
 version a queen, unfaithful to her husband, is put in 
 prison, where she gives birth to a son who rescues her 
 from confinement. While escaping they encounter 
 several cyclops, all but one of whom the lad kills. 
 This one persuades the mother to compass her son's 
 destruction by sending him for the water of a certain 
 fountain. He succeeds, but on his return is cut to 
 pieces by the cyclops. Later, he is restored by means 
 of the water by a princess, whom he marries, after kill- 
 ing the cyclops and his mother.^ A Norse hero has two 
 lions which help him in his troubles. His mother has 
 leagued with a troll against him, and puts out his eyes. 
 He wanders off with the lions, who see a blind hare 
 pass through a river and recover its sight. They 
 lead him to the river, where the same miracle is 
 wrought on him.* In this story there is no quest, 
 but another usual type of the Water of Life incident 
 is resorted to. We return to the quest in a Russian 
 story, where the hero's sister, at the instigation of her 
 demon lover, sends him to get Healing and Vivifying 
 
 ^ Greeks Hahn, No. 37, the hero is the king's own son ; Breton^ 
 Luzel, No. 10; Servian^ Jagitch, No. i ; Albanian^ Dozon, No. 12; 
 Pisan, Comparetti, No. 5. 
 
 2 See p. 246, note i. -^ Crane, p. 53. * Dasent, p. 167. 
 
THE DANCING-WATER CYCLE 59 
 
 Water from two mountains which fly apart for three 
 minutes each day. Amidst tempest and thunder the 
 hero spurs his steed into the cleft, fills two flasks with 
 the water, and rushes back. The hind legs of his 
 horse are caught by the clangfing- rocks, but healed 
 by the opportune waters.^ Among the Kabyles the 
 wife is the traitress. A huntsman, having killed seven 
 ogres, remains in their palace. One is not really dead, 
 and makes love to the wife, who is induced to send 
 her husband for the Water of Life and the Apple of 
 Youth. On his return she kills him and sets his body 
 on a horse. A friend, to whom he has intrusted 
 the water, revives him and then slays the guilty pair.^ 
 A negro and the hero's sister send him for the Water 
 and Grapes of Paradise in an Arab tale from Egypt, 
 while in another, Mohammed's mother is the traitress. 
 In both stories a princess restores the murdered hero 
 with the precious fluid. ^ 
 
 The Dancing- Water cycle is best illustrated by a 
 Basque story. Three children born to a king's 
 wife are exposed by her jealous elder sisters, who 
 pretend that she has given birth to puppies. The 
 two boys and their little sister are brought up by a 
 gardener. One day an old woman meets them and 
 tells them they can never be happy till they find '' the 
 tree which sings, the bird which tells the truth, and the 
 water which makes young again." The brothers go 
 off to seek these, but, disobeying their instructions, 
 are turned to stone. Their sister sets out to seek 
 them, and on the top of a mountain finds the water 
 and fills her bottle with it. A tree breaks into song, 
 
 ^ Afanasief, vi, 249 ; Ralston, p. 235. In a Polynesian myth, 
 rocks open at the chanting of a spell and admit to the land of the 
 shades. Clarke, p. 35. Such rocks occur in S. African tales. QCp. 268. 
 Cf, also the clashing rocks in the ArgonauHca^ book ii., through 
 which the Argo passes safely and breaks their power for ever. 
 
 2 Basset, p. 222. 
 
 ^ Spitta Bey, No. 10 ; Dulac, No. 4. In a variant animals restore 
 the hero to life. 
 
60 THE WATER OF LIFE 
 
 and a bird, flyingf to her shoulder, tells her several 
 strange thingfs. On two stones near by she pours a 
 drop of the water. They turn into her brothers, and 
 all gfo off with their treasures. In the sequel the 
 children are recovered by their parents, and the sisters 
 are burnt alive. ^ In the Italian variant it is the 
 wicked sisters-in-law who send the nurse to tell the 
 children of the treasures. The g"irl dips a feather into 
 a jar of the water and anoints the statues with it. 
 when they come alive. ^ This story is told with 
 exquisite grace in the Arabian Nig'hts, where the 
 treasures are the Speaking Tree, Singing Bird, and 
 Inexhaustible Dancing- Water. Having obtained 
 these, the girl forces the bird to tell her how to restore 
 her brothers, who had broken the usual tabu. He 
 directs her to a pitcher of water which she must pour 
 over all the statues in the place, and having done so, 
 her brothers and an illustrious company at once 
 spring into life.^ As told in Kashmir, the first and 
 second brothers fail in getting the bird which speaks 
 for their sister. The youngest brother succeeds, and 
 it is he who obtains the golden water which releases 
 his brothers and other petrified seekers.* 
 
 This story is told in every European country, 
 in Sicily, Lorraine, Tyrol, Brittany, Russia, Ger- 
 many, and in Greece ; but in some cases, as in the 
 variant from Lorraine, the girl, who has been turned 
 into a pillar of salt, is not restored by the Water of 
 Life but by the magic bird pecking her head, while in 
 an Arab version the brother resumes his shape only 
 when his sister compels the beautiful Jesensulchar to 
 come out of her cave.^ But it is far from unlikely that 
 
 1 Webster, p. 176. 2 Crane, p. 17. 
 
 2 Scott, iv. 135. 4 Knowles, p. 397. 
 
 ^ Sicily, Pitr6, No. 36 ; Lorraine, Cosquin, i. 186 ; Tyrol, 
 Schneller, No. 26; Brittany, Melusine, 1877, col. 206; Russia, 
 Gubernatis, Z.M., ii. 174; Germany, Wolf, p. 168; Greece, Hahn, 
 No. 69. 
 
THE FOURTH "QUEST" TYPE 61 
 
 restoration by means of the mystic water was the 
 primitive form of the story. 
 
 In the next cycle the quest has a good end in view, 
 though the hero is still subjected to trial through the 
 jealousy of his brothers or brothers-in-law. Where 
 three brothers are concerned, the main points of the 
 story are these. A king, becoming blind or turning 
 old, sends his elder sons to seek the Water of Life. 
 They refuse help to some man or animal at the outset, 
 are in consequence enchanted (as in the German 
 version), or go on and waste their substance in riotous 
 living. Meanwhile the despised youngest son, who is 
 sometimes a hunchback or a fool, obtains a reluctant 
 permission to go on the quest. He is civil to the man 
 or animal, and thus obtains help and guidance, finds 
 the water, and usually rescues a princess imprisoned 
 in the castle where it is kept. On their way home his 
 ungrateful brothers get rid of him, and go off with the 
 water and the princess. In some cases the water will 
 not cure until the hero, who has been rescued, arrives 
 at the palace and exposes the treachery of his brothers, 
 who are punished. In a few variants the princess is 
 left behind, and some time after has a child. She sets 
 out to find the father, and arrives in time to rescue 
 him. This occurs in the Celtic version, while in the 
 Hungarian variant the princess is a fairy, and sends to 
 seek the father. The elder brothers claim paternity, 
 and have to submit to the test of jumping into a 
 cauldron of boiling oil. They shrivel up to the size of 
 a crab-apple. The youngest brother, whom his father, 
 through the magic change, has forgotten, and who has 
 become the swineherd, emerges safe and sound, and 
 is duly married to the fairy. 
 
 With more or less modification of detail (some- 
 times it is a marvellous bird which is sought for) the 
 story is found all over Europe.^ In a literary form it 
 
 ^ The variants known to me are these -.—Celtic^ Campbell, i. 
 i68 ; Irish^ Kennedy, ii. 47 ; Norse, Asbjoemsen, 364 ; Swedish^ 
 
62 THE WATER OF LIFE 
 
 is the basis of the Persian romance of the Rose of 
 Bakawali, where a king-, at sight of his fifth son, is 
 struck with blindness. The four elder sons set out 
 for the rose which alone can restore his sight, lose 
 all their possessions, and are branded as slaves. 
 The fifth brother wins back these possessions and 
 finds the rose, which his brothers steal from him. 
 The king recovers his sight, but the treachery of the 
 brothers is discovered through the brand on their 
 backs, and the hero's claim being acknowledged, he 
 marries the peerless beauty from whom he had stolen 
 the rose.^ 
 
 In another group of tales, which are probably based 
 upon what seems to me the earlier cycle, we have to 
 deal with three brothers-in-law. Fidel, say the 
 Basques, married a king's daughter. The king, 
 becoming old and blind, is told of a water which 
 makes young and another which restores sight. 
 Two sons-in-law set out to seek them, but soon tire of 
 the quest. Fidel obtains the precious waters from 
 an old woman, and, following her advice, sells them to 
 the brothers-in-law for two golden apples. They, of 
 course, get the credit of obtaining them ; but the 
 despised Fidel in the end gets his due as well as the 
 crown, while they are banished to a desert place. ^ In 
 the Greek variant the youngest princess has married 
 a prince disguised as the gardener. He obtains the 
 Water of Life, and pretends to give it to his haughty 
 brothers-in-law, provided they let him mark their 
 backs with his horse's shoe. What he really gives is 
 
 Cavallius, No. 9 ; Lorraine^ Cosquin, i. 208 ; German^ Grimm, No. 
 57 ; Bohemian^ Chodzko, 285 ; Wallachian^ Schott, No. 26 ; Russian^ 
 Ralston, 286 ; Transylvanian^ Haltrich, No. 7 ; Hungarian^ Jones, 
 p. 288 ; Austrian^ Vernaleken, Nos. 52 and 53 ; Polish^ Toeppen, p. 
 154; Sicilian^ Gonzenbach, No. 64; Lithuanian^ Schleicher, p. 26; 
 Tyrolese^ Zingerle, ii. 225. 
 
 1 Clouston, Eastern Romances^ p. 237 seq. 
 
 ' Webster, p. iii. 
 
A MAORI TALE 63 
 
 a bottle of ordinary water, so that their boasting is all 
 in vain, and the despised gardener, having wrought 
 the cure, becomes the king's heir.^ Other fluids than 
 water are found in several variants of this brother- 
 in-law cycle. In a Roumanian version the quest is 
 for milk of red wild goats ; in two Tyrolese tales, for 
 dragon's blood and the milk of a tigress ; the water of 
 the queen of Hungary occurs in a Lorraine version ; 
 while Juanillo, a Spanish hero, obtains the milk of a 
 lioness as well as the Water of Life.^ The story is 
 also current in Egypt, where the king falls ill when 
 his daughter marries the gardener's boy. The youth 
 finds the requisite milk of a young bear, and cedes it 
 to the brothers-in-law on condition that they allow 
 themselves to be branded.^ It is obvious that such 
 curious fluids have replaced the more primitive Water 
 of Life, as adding to the difficulty of the quest by 
 their uniqueness, while the same is doubtless true of 
 the magic bird which heals. 
 
 These stories have shown us how the mystic water 
 cures as well as restores to life. To this aspect of it 
 we shall return later ; meanwhile its power of giving 
 immortality must be considered. This power will 
 introduce us to some stories from savage lands. The 
 Maoris know of this immortal water. Ina was carried 
 off by the moon-god, and became the moon-goddess. 
 Her husband allowed her earthly lover to come and 
 be her servant, but in time he grew old and must 
 leave the land of the immortals. '' Death itself must 
 never enter this fair realm. Such is the law of 
 Marama, my husband, who each month bathes in the 
 life-restoring lake of Tane, the great god of light. I 
 
 ^ Hahn, No. 6 (from Epirus). 
 
 - Roumanian Fairy Tales^ p. 27 ; Schneller, No. 20 ; Cosquin, i. 133 ; 
 Romancero General^ No. 1264. 
 
 ^ Spitta Bey, No. 12. Many Eastern variants omit the quest, but 
 the youngest brother-in-law performs many doughty deeds, and is 
 only discovered to be the hero after a long time. 
 
64 THE WATER OF LIFE 
 
 also have been sprinkled with the waters that 
 make youth eternal." Sorrowfully the poor mortal 
 lover took his way back to earth. Again, when the 
 hero Maui descends to the shades his father sprinkles 
 him with the living waters of Tane, that he may 
 destroy the goddess of death ; but he left out some of 
 the incantations, and Maui was overcome at last. 
 When Maui fought with her, he tried in vain "to 
 make her promise that man should be like the moon, 
 whose life is renewed each month by bathing in the 
 waters of the lake of Tane." Here the immortal 
 water is made use of to explain the mystery of the 
 new moon, as in Lithuanian belief the mother of the 
 Thunder-god daily bathes the weary Sun and sends 
 it reinvigorated on its daily round. ^ So, too, the 
 Mongols believe that man was meant to be immortal. 
 A Lama created animals and birds, and sent the crow 
 with a cupful of water, which he was to pour drop by 
 drop on the head of all men, so that they might 
 become immortal. The crow flew off, but soon 
 perched on a tree and began croaking. Down fell 
 the cup, and men remained mortal, but where the 
 water fell three evergreen trees sprang up, which are 
 always fresh and never die.^ We go back in time, and 
 find that one of the early myths of Babylonia tells 
 how when Ea created the first man Adapa, the latter 
 made the great divinity Anu angry, and was summoned 
 before him. '' They will offer thee food of death," said 
 Ea, "do not eat. They will offer thee water of death, 
 do not drink." Adapa contrived to please Anu, but 
 having seen the secrets of heaven, he must be admitted 
 to the circle of the gods and be made immortal. So 
 they offered him food of life and the water of life, but 
 he refused both, thinking them to be the food and 
 water of death, and remained mortal, for Ea had 
 
 ^ Clarke, pp. 38, 124. Ralston, Songs 0/ Russian People, p. 189. 
 ^ F.L.J. , iv. 27. Note the connection of the Crow with the Water, 
 and see p. 78. 
 
THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH 65 
 
 determined that man should never be immortal. In 
 an Aleutian tale men did once enjoy immortality, for 
 when age came on they plunged into a lake on a lofty 
 mountain and came forth fresh and vigorous. But a 
 god killed the brother of his earthly mistress, and 
 since then all men are subject to death. In many of 
 the higher mythologies even the gods retain their im- 
 mortality only by drinking some immortal draught or 
 eating some immortal food, which at an earlier stage 
 may have simply been the Water of Life. The 
 Hindu gods were made immortal by drinking soma, 
 and admitted their true worshippers to this privilege. 
 Similar qualities were ascribed to haoma by the 
 Persians, while the Greeks knew of the divine nectar, 
 the Scandinavians of Idhunn's apples of gold which 
 the gods ate whenever they grew old, the Celts of the 
 banquet (chiefly of beer) prepared by the god 
 Goibniu to preserve his fellow-divinities immortal.^ 
 
 A whole series of tales introduces us to the 
 Fountain of Immortal Youth which men go to seek, 
 dying often in the quest by the sad irony of things. 
 Sometimes, as in a Hungarian tale, it is known only 
 to the fairies. A man has grown old and shrivelled 
 through losing his fairy wife, who has left him 
 because he has broken the tabu which bound him to 
 her. At last he finds her. '* Surely you don't expect 
 me to be your wife — an old, bent, shrivelled-up man 
 like you ! " But secretly she bids her attendants 
 gather all sorts of rejuvenating plants, and bring some 
 youth-giving waters, and prepare a bath with them. 
 This done, they seize him and throw him into the 
 bath, from which he emerges a hundred times hand- 
 somer than he had been in his youth.^ The Fountain 
 of Youth is introduced freely into many mediaeval 
 fabliaux, and there is little doubt that, like the elixir 
 
 ^ Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia^ p. 544. Farrer, p. 13. Thorpe, 
 i. 34. Jubainville, Le Cycle Myth. Irlandais, p. 309. 
 ^ Jones, p. 109. 
 
66 THE WATER OF LIFE 
 
 of life, it fired the Imagination of many at that time. 
 It was thought by some that fairies dipped their 
 children In such a fountain in order to make them free 
 from dyin^ flesh and dull mortality y as Fletcher sings 
 in his Faithful Shepherdess. Further east there is 
 the Indian vijard nadd, or ageless river, probably that 
 referred to by Mandeville, while reference to a similar 
 fountain occurs in early Turkish and Persian poetry. 
 It Is In a land of darkness, surrounded by a sea of 
 darkness, or In an isle of the isles of the sea. Both 
 Moses and Alexander the Great set out to seek it, but 
 the quest was not for them. One of Solomon's 
 officers, however, discovered It for him, but the merry 
 monarch of the East would not drink it, lest he should 
 survive his mistresses — reasoning worthy of our own 
 Charles II. This Mohammedan fable has also Influ- 
 enced the Malaysian followers of the prophet, who 
 think that the waters of the Nile confer the gift of 
 youth on those who bathe in them. Such fountains 
 are spoken of in Japan : one is hidden on the summit 
 of the sacred mountain, Fuji Yama, and whoso finds 
 and drinks it will live for ever. We have already 
 referred to the Polynesian lake of Tane ; in Africa we 
 have "the fountain of the Ethiopians" spoken of by 
 Herodotus long ago. Across the Atlantic, "from the 
 tropical forests of Central America to the coral-bound 
 Antilles, the natives told the Spaniards marvellous 
 tales of a fountain whose magic waters would heal 
 the sick, rejuvenate the aged, and confer an ever 
 youthful immortality."^ But east and west, this 
 
 1 Clouston, p. 521. Garnett, ii. 442. Tylor, E.H.M.^ p. 351. 
 Alexander's slaves drank a flask of the water sent by King Ivant ; 
 they are now elves and will live for ever — Gaster, Greeko-Slav. Lit.^ 
 p. 99. St John, i. 41. Griffis, pp. 214, 218. Taoist priests are 
 believed to possess an elixir of immortality — Giles, i. 17. Dorman, p. 
 314. Tylor, op. cit.^ suggests that the sun going wearily down into 
 the western sea, and returning thence fresh and young, may have 
 given rise to the myth. Cf. the Polynesian myth ; and Grimm, D.M.^ 
 p. 554. 
 
THE ABANDONED WIFE 67 
 
 fountain, like many another fabled treasure, is still to 
 seek. 
 
 The power of the mag-ic water to restore sight or 
 limbs which have been cut off, is found in two 
 interesting- story cycles, those of the Abandoned Wife, 
 and of Truth and Falsehood. The former may be 
 illustrated by a story from Romagna, where a childless 
 lady has her hands cut off by her husband because 
 she is so charitable. Finally, when she bears him 
 twins, his mistress persuades him she has been un- 
 faithful, and he casts her off. "At last she came to 
 a well, and stooped to drink. And lo ! as soon as she 
 did this her hands g-rew ag^ain, for it was the fountain 
 which renews life and youth." Throug-h the ag-ency 
 of a fairy she regains her husband's love, and his 
 mistress is turned to stone. ^ In the Hung^arian 
 variant it is the girl's jealous mother who causes her 
 hands to be cut off. She wanders to a country where 
 she finds a lake full of magic water which restores the 
 maimed limbs of all who bathe in it.^ The Virgin 
 meets the outcast wife in the Tyrolese version, and 
 directs her to the water of life, but here as in several 
 corresponding variants the girl's mother has first cut 
 off her hands, then a prince has married her out of 
 compassion. She bears him twins. The jealous 
 queen-mother tells him she has given birth to puppies, 
 whereupon she wanders off with her children.^ The 
 Kashmir version tells of seven queens blinded and 
 thrown into a well by their husband at the instigation 
 of an eighth queen, who is a rakshasi. They receive 
 their sight with a "medicine" which one of their sons 
 receives from the rakskasts mother. This story is 
 
 1 Leland, E.R.R., p. 226. ^ Jones, p. 186. 
 
 ^ Schneller, No. 50. The variants are, Sicilian^ Gonzenbach, No. 
 24 ; German^ Proehle, No. 36 ; Lithuanian^ Leskien, No. 46 ; Breton^ 
 Sebillot, i. 15 ; Norman^ Fleury, p. 151. Cf. the True Bride stories 
 (p. 23), which have some analogy in their incidents to those of this 
 cycle. 
 
68 THE WATER OF LIFE 
 
 also found in Bengal.^ Among the Swahilis a brother 
 cuts off a sister's right hand, and then slanders her to 
 the prince who has married her. She is sent away, 
 and in the course of her wanderings saves the life of a 
 snake, who shows her a lake where, by dipping her arm 
 into its waters, she recovers her hand.^ 
 
 The Truth and Falsehood cycle offers perhaps as 
 many variants as any folk-tale, and with many differ- 
 ences of detail seems to insist constantly on the moral 
 lesson of the superiority of virtue in the end. The 
 Hungarian version describes how Truth, refusing to 
 admit that Falsehood is better, is blinded and left 
 helpless by the latter, but lying near the gallows she 
 hears two devils talking. One announces that he has 
 just killed a physician, who had discovered that if 
 cripples rolled about, and the blind washed their eyes 
 in the dew on the night of the new moon, they would 
 be healed. The other declares he has cut off the 
 water-supply of the next town. Truth takes advan- 
 tage of what she has heard, rubs her eye-sockets with 
 dew, and has her sight restored. Then she goes to 
 the town, and tells how the supply of water may be 
 recovered. She is honoured and well paid. Mean- 
 while Falsehood has become very poor and goes to 
 Truth for food. In exchange for it her eyes are put 
 out and her arms cut off, and Truth leads her to the 
 gallows. There the devils find her, and, supposing she 
 is the person who listened to their conversation, tear 
 her in pieces.^ In several variants two companions or 
 two brothers take the place of Truth and Falsehood, 
 and sometimes, as in the Lorraine variant, they cast 
 lots as to who should be blinded in order to be in a 
 better position to beg. This one is then ill-treated by 
 the other and abandoned.* Different animals, again, 
 take the place of the demons, spirits, or genii of some 
 
 1 Knowles, p. 49 ; Day, p. 123. -^ Steere, p. 393. 
 
 3 Jones, p. 27. * Cosquin, i. 84. 
 
TRUTH AND FALSEHOOD 69 
 
 stories, and in the great majority of the tales they tell 
 how a king- or a king's daughter can only be cured by 
 the water of a springy near at hand. The listener first 
 heals himself, then goes disguised as a physician to 
 court, saves the royal sufferer, and is rewarded with 
 the hand of the princess in marriage.^ 
 
 In the East, as in Europe, this story has a wide 
 popularity, though there something else than the 
 Water of Life is revealed as the cure. The afreet in 
 the story of the Well-intentioned and the Double- 
 minded in the Arabian Nig'kts tells how an infusion 
 of wormw^ood sprinkled on the feet of the princess can 
 alone rid her of his obsession.^ The juice of a creeper 
 which encircles a banyan tree is said by two talking 
 birds to have magical healing powers in an Indian 
 variant ; while among the Kirghiz, animals tell how 
 two aspens give sight and hearing, how the bones of 
 a dog raise the dead, and of a place where a lump of 
 gold is hid.^ The two cycles of stories are curiously 
 combined in a story from Kashmir. A king in mis- 
 fortune has had his feet cut off by another king, and 
 is sent off with the wife of the latter. They have a son, 
 who one day is lost. The king then hears two birds 
 describe how he has fallen into a well, and how, if the 
 king jumps into this well, he will recover his feet and 
 save his son.* This is an excellent example of the 
 
 ^ Variants of this story will be found as follows : — Breton, Luzel, 
 V.B., p. 258 ; Basque, Cerquand, i. 51 ; German, Proehle, ii. No. i ; 
 Flemish, Wolf, No. 4 ; Tyrol, Zingerle, i. No. 20 ; Schneller, Nos. 9, 
 10, II ; Tuscany, Nerucci, No. 23; Denmark, Asbjoemsen, ii. 166; 
 Finland, Beauvois, p. 139 ; Norway, Dasent, p. i ; Russia, Gold- 
 schmidt, p. 61 ; Wends, Haupt, ii. 181 ; Bohemia, Waldau, p. 271 ; 
 Roumania, Ausland, 1857, p. 1028 ; Tsiganes, Miklosisch, No. 12 ; 
 Serbia, Mijatovich, p. 80; Naake, p. 130; Greek, Gamett, ii. 286; 
 Catalonia, Rondallayre, \. 68 ; Portugal, Coelho, No. 20. 
 
 2 Scott, iv. 387. 
 
 3 Tawney, p. 162. Radloff, iii. 343. Cf. for another Indian 
 version, Ind. Ant., 1875 ; and for a Pamir variant, Jour. As. Soc, 
 Bengal, xlv. 180. 
 
 ^ Knowles, p. 231, 
 
70 THE WATER OF LIFE 
 
 way in which separate incidents of different cycles are 
 found in new combinations. 
 
 Some examples from a still lower stratum of folk- 
 culture fall under no story-cycle, but show the same 
 idea of magical powers in water. In most of them 
 these powers are given by some supernatural being- — 
 a point which will be noticed later. Thus the 
 Esthonian epic tells how the sweat from Kalevipcegs 
 forehead sank into the earth, and from it arose a 
 healingspring-of wonderful virtues, which strengthened 
 the weak, healed the sick, cured blindness, and 
 bestowed beauty.^ Glooskap, the Micmac hero- 
 divinity, instructed a youth to take some water and 
 with it wash the face of a decrepit old woman. '' And 
 as he did so all her wrinkles vanished, and she became 
 young and very beautiful.'"^ A Dindje tale has some 
 features of the Truth and Falsehood cycle. A blind 
 old man, deserted by his wife and son, bewails his fate 
 by the edge of the lake. There a diver takes pity on 
 him and plunges him several times into the lake, 
 restoring his sight by degrees, after which he takes 
 vengeance on his relations.^ A Pawnee hero, having 
 returned from the dead, finds his mother blind through 
 weeping. He tells her to take a certain bowl of 
 water, put her face in it, then open her eyes, and 
 her sight will be restored. But she must only do 
 this after he has gone. In Polynesian legend Tane 
 restored sight to the old hag Kui the blind, by strik- 
 ing her sightless eyes with two nuts from a certain 
 tree.* 
 
 Still another power of the mystic water is to give 
 abnormal strength, and this aspect of it is found in 
 
 1 Kirby, i. 59. ^ Leland, A.L., p. 100. 
 
 3 Petitot, p. 86. The story is also current among the Denes, z'dzd. 
 p. 226. 
 
 * Grinnell, p. 148. Cf. a Kashmir story where parents who have 
 wept themselves blind are cured by their son, a holy man, placing 
 his hands on their eyes. Knowles, pp. 19, 41, Gill, p. 112. 
 
THE WATER OF STRENGTH 71 
 
 several tales, which only occasionally fall into well- 
 defined groups. A Basque hero, after desperate and 
 unsuccessful fighting with a seven-headed serpent, is 
 given a horse, dog, sword, and ''a bottle of good 
 scented water" by a grateful giant. The abducted 
 princess throws this on his face and over his horse 
 and dog while the fight is going on. All obtain a 
 vast accession of strength, and the dragon is overcome.^ 
 Gol, the hero of a Russian story, only pretends to be 
 strong, and insists on the princess giving him the 
 '' water of heroes " to drink.^ It inspires with strength 
 and knightly qualities, which he thus obtains, and 
 slays her dragon captor. A variation of this idea is 
 found in a Finnish story, where the hero, before he 
 can move an immense sword, must wet his head with 
 blood from a tub standing in the forbidden room of 
 the devil's house.^ 
 
 A more skilful treatment of this theme occurs in 
 several tales. A story from Russia tells how the 
 youngest of three sons was alone successful in finding 
 his mother, stolen away by Vikhor, the whirlwind. 
 She shows him two tubs of water standing in the 
 cellar, and makes him drink of one, until he feels he 
 could give the whole world a jolt. In the other tub 
 is the Water of Weakness, which he puts in the place 
 of the first. In the fight which follows, Vikhor drinks 
 copiously out of the wrong tub and is easily vanquished 
 by the prince.* This episode occurs in the Esthonian 
 epic. When Kalevipceg descends to Hades three 
 maidens direct him to two jars, one full of liquid white 
 as milk, the other of liquid black as pitch. He dips 
 his hands in the latter and his strength is doubled. 
 The maidens then displace two glasses of magic 
 liquor, of which one gives the strength of ten oxen, 
 the other produces proportionate weakness. Sarvik, 
 
 1 Webster, p. 22. 2 Naake, p. 28. 
 
 ^ S.ja. r., ii. 2. * Ralston, p. 237. 
 
72 THE WATER OF LIFE 
 
 lord of Hades, drinks of the wrong- glass, and is 
 defeated by the hero/ The two fluids are found in 
 many Slavonic stories, as where a flying- snake brings 
 two heroes to a lake into which a green bough is 
 thrown. At once it is burned up. Into a second 
 lake they throw a mouldy log, which at once puts 
 forth buds and blossoms.^ Occasionally it is not 
 water, but magic ointment, which gives strength or 
 invulnerability. Some Norse tales describe this ; it 
 also occurs in a Lithuanian story, where strong Hans, 
 a monster being- sent by a witch to kill him, is in- 
 structed by an angel to bathe in a certain brook and 
 then anoint his body with an ointment which he gives 
 him.^ The composition of the unguent is not told, as 
 it is in a ghastly legend from the Congo, where the 
 queen of the Jagas is said to have flung her infant 
 into a mortar and ground him to pulp, which she 
 mixed with oil, roots, and leaves, and anointed her 
 body therewith, thus becoming invulnerable. Many 
 of her subjects followed her example, and some of the 
 ointment is said to be still in existence.* 
 
 Another property of the mystic water is to give 
 beauty. The Finns have several stories of people 
 washing in a marvellous well and becoming beautiful 
 beyond all description ; while in a tale from Lapland 
 an ugly lad with a sore head dips it in a certain kettle, 
 when his ugliness disappears and his hair is changed 
 to gold.^ Conversely, a story told among the Passa- 
 maquodies relates how the scrapings of the horn of a 
 fabulous monster, mixed with water and drunk by a 
 beautiful girl, changed her into an ugly old squaw. ^ 
 
 . ^ Kirby, i. loo. Cf. the Hindu legend of the Asura, who drank up 
 Indra's strength. Muir, Sanskrit Texts^ v. 258. 
 
 2 Afanasief, viii. 205. 
 
 3 Dasent, pp. 178, 209 ; Zeit.fiir Volkskunde^ i. 230. 
 * Reade, p. 367. 
 
 ^ S.ja r., i.43; Friis, p. 152. 
 ^ Leland, AX.^ p. 327. 
 
THE WATER OF DEATH 73 
 
 Already it has been seen that a certain water or 
 medicine slays. ^ This is the natural correlative in 
 primitive belief of a water which gives life, but some 
 curious variations of it occur. Thus the Nereid of a 
 Greek story advises the hero not to drink the Water 
 of Life when he finds it, because it kills the living ; 
 while in some Slavonic tales Water of Death as well 
 as Water of Life must be used to resuscitate the 
 dead.^ The former heals the wounds of the dead 
 man, the latter brings back the vital spark, as is 
 illustrated by a Bohemian tale. Irik, having been 
 sent by the king to obtain Golden Hair, is beheaded 
 by him on his return because he has broken a tabu. 
 Golden Hair places head and trunk together and 
 pours Water of Death over them. They come 
 together, without trace of any mark. Then she 
 sprinkles the corpse with Water of Life, when Irik 
 rises safe and sound. The old king now wishes to 
 be made young. Accordingly, he is beheaded and 
 sprinkled first with Water of Life, till it is exhausted. 
 Nothing happens. Water of Death is then used, but 
 though the head joins the body the king remains a 
 corpse, and Irik marries Golden Hair.^ This story 
 belongs to a wide group, in which a king is cheated 
 and the hero marries the maiden whom he has been 
 sent to seek. Mons Tro, the hero of a Danish 
 variant, is killed outright by the Water of Death, but 
 restored more handsome than ever by the Water of 
 Life. This is also done to the king, but he is not 
 satisfied and wishes to be handsomer still. But on 
 the second trial none of the life-giving fluid is left. 
 "Let what is dead be dead," says the princess, and 
 casts in her lot with Mons Tro.* Finally, by the 
 
 ^ Vide the Lorraine Impostor story, supra. 
 
 2 Gamett, i. 252. ^ Naake, p. 108. 
 
 * Grundtvig (MuUey), p. 17. In this, as in the Bohemian variant, 
 the waters have been obtained by the hero himself, always through 
 the help of ravens. In the Breton variant the hero is not experimented 
 
74 THE WATER OF LIFE 
 
 recitation of various charms the same water kills or 
 restores life, in a story from Bengal. A hermit teaches 
 a princess the necessary words of the charm. Taking; 
 some water he repeats certain words over it, and 
 throws it on a deer, which falls dead. Then, having" 
 recited other words, the deer rises to life again. By 
 knowledge of the charm, the husband of the princess 
 and his three friends kill some rakskasas, who are 
 their enemies.^ Such a story as this is, however, 
 rather a reflection of the methods of the sorcerer and 
 medicine-man all the world over. 
 
 Having thus seen the various properties of the 
 Water of Life — resuscitating, bestowing immortality, 
 healing wounds or blindness, giving strength or 
 beauty, and having noted the various groups of 
 folk-tales to which- it has given rise, it remains to 
 inquire into the origin of such an idea as this. We 
 must seek that origin in primitive belief regarding 
 water generally, whether as ocean, river, spring, or 
 well. At the primitive animistic stage of thought, 
 water in its various forms, like every other thing in 
 the world, was personified and believed to be actually 
 a living creature. As far as water is concerned, this 
 is the less wonderful, since being ever in motion, 
 sparkling in the sunshine, murmuring or thundering 
 along its bed, taking constantly its toll of human life, 
 it may well have seemed to be indeed a living creature. 
 This idea appears in a fragment of ancient Hebrew 
 poetry, where the well is addressed as a living being, 
 
 on, and the king is killed outright by the Water of Death — Luzel, V.B.^ 
 p. 148. The method of killing the king differs in other variants — 
 Slav., Schiefner, No. i (drowned) ; Sicilian, Gonzenbach, No. 30, 
 and Spanish, Caballero, ii. 27 (consumed by a furnace, in which the 
 hero, anointed with a certain ointment, has been beautified). 
 
 1 Day, p. 278. Cf. a. Tamil story where the mother of a murdered 
 child, by the charm called Sisupabam, re-created the body, and by the 
 incantation called Sanjivi restored it to life. A man whose love has 
 died, sees this done and imitates it successfully with her body. 
 Oriental Trans. Fund's Miscell. Trans., i. 32, 67. 
 
WATER IN PRIMITIVE LIFE 76 
 
 while the Hebrew use of the term ** living water" is 
 based on the primitive conception/ With primitive 
 men personification was never far removed from 
 deification, and especially among agricultural peoples 
 it is easy to see how the fertilising waters, working 
 such blessings to the land, were conceived of as full 
 of divine energy, nay, as themselves divine. The 
 well, perennially flowing when all other waters were 
 dried up, may easily have seemed supernatural to 
 those who knew nothing of natural law. Moreover, 
 the existence of thermal and chemical springs must 
 always have suggested mysterious powers to primitive 
 men. Again, the wounds of savages heal much more 
 quickly than those of civilised men. In most cases 
 these wounds would be washed in water to remove 
 dirt or blood, and to the water the power of healing 
 would then be attributed. To such reasons as these 
 must be assigned the divine powers ascribed to river 
 or lake, but especially to the sacred well. 
 
 A further reason is to be found in the invigorat- 
 ing effect of a plunge into water after hard work or 
 exercise. Primitive men would soon find out this for 
 themselves, perhaps first of all by following the 
 example of many animals which stand in water during 
 the hottest hours of the day. The recuperative power 
 of a plunge into river or lake or sea, to anyone tired 
 with the exertion of obtaining food, exhausted by 
 heat, and covered with dust and dirt, must have given 
 convincing proof that water had certain life-giving pro- 
 perties in itself, which were easily imparted to beast 
 or man. Many savage tribes make considerable use 
 of the bath, and revel in a plunge quite as much as 
 does the modern Englishman. But what was good 
 for man was good also for his divinities, who had 
 the same frailties as himself. The next step, there- 
 fore, was solemnly to bathe image or idol in the 
 
 ^ Numbers xxi. 17. 
 
76 THE WATER OF LIFE 
 
 sacred waters at certain seasons, but usually when 
 some special act of power was to be asked of them. 
 By this means their jaded energies were restored, 
 and a new access of divine power was bestowed 
 on them. Savages, ancient Germans, cultured 
 Greeks and Romans, Hindus, and the peasantry 
 of Christian Europe are in the same tale as far as 
 this practice is concerned.^ 
 
 But what thus gave strength or cured disease 
 could also wash off defilement of all sorts, real or 
 imagined. Hence among many savage races the tak- 
 ing off of a tabu or the contagion of death is accom- 
 plished by washing or sprinkling with water.^ It is 
 then but a step to the idea that the sacred stream will 
 remove the guilt of sin, and so we find ancient Peru- 
 vians and Mexicans, Greeks and Romans, as well as 
 modern Hindus, resorting to this means to be freed 
 from the consequences of crime. ^ 
 
 The powers of the sacred well or spring are much 
 the same wherever found, and there is no race and no 
 country, nor indeed any age of the world's history, 
 which has not its wells innumerable. These, the 
 abode of divinity or spirit, or hallowed by Christian 
 saint (the legitimate successor of the pagan god), 
 healed diseases, purified the unclean, received the 
 worship of their devotees, and gave oracles to the 
 trembling enquirer. Christian churches were often 
 
 ^ See generally, Berenger-Feraud, i. 436 seq. ; Tacitus, Germania^ 
 60, 40, 3 ; Pausanias, ii. 28, 2 ; Lucian, De Dea Syria^ 47 ; Ovid, 
 Fasti^ iv. 135, 337. Berenger-Feraud cites many examples of bathing 
 the images of Christian saints — an evident survival of a pagan 
 practice ; but the purpose is rather to cause a sufficient rain-fall 
 (through sympathetic magic), than to give more strength to the saint, 
 though this idea is not lost sight of. 
 
 2 The evidence for this is too wide to give separate authorities, but 
 see Crawley, p. 228 ; Fraser, Golden Bough j and Reville, Rel. des non- 
 civ, i. 158 ; ii. 65. 
 
 2 See instances collected in my Comparative Theology^ pp. r5i, 252. 
 The use of water in pagan forms of " baptism," and initiation is also 
 treated of there, ch. xii. 
 
THE WELL BEYOND THE WORLD 77 
 
 built over an earlier pagan well, its waters being- made 
 to pass under the altar, where they continued to 
 work miracles. Mr Theodore Bent has given many 
 instances from the Cyclades, and a friend who assisted 
 at the discovery of St Clether s chapel in Cornwall 
 informs me that the same method has been in use 
 there. ^ Whether in ancient or modern times, among 
 savages or partially civilised peoples, there is no limit 
 to the powers of such wells, or to the powers which 
 people believed them to have, which is the same thing 
 as far as results are concerned. Healing sore eyes 
 and curing lameness were two principal powers attri- 
 buted to them ; but they also preserved from evil and 
 accident, furnished a husband within the year, gave 
 fertility to women, foretold the future. 
 
 In our folk- tales with their Water of Life from the 
 Well beyond the World, we see the romantic side of 
 this veneration for water. The primitive literary 
 artist, like the novelist of to-day, worked with the 
 stock ideas and incidents of common life, heightened 
 them by his imaginative power, and so produced the 
 folk-tale. Water, and especially certain wells known 
 to him and his audience, had well-known powers of 
 healing, purifying, restoring; so then, sometvkerey 
 surely, afar, there was a miraculous well which could 
 restore life or limb, cure blindness, give strength, or 
 beauty, or immortality. Human ideals are largely 
 the product of human desires, and what a man wants 
 he thinks must exist somewhere. Hence the origin of 
 the Water of Life with its marvellous properties, 
 which, however, are only magnified, non-natural 
 forms of such properties as men firmly believed to 
 exist in the sacred wells known to them, as an 
 examination of the folk-lore of such wells will prove. ^ 
 
 ^ Bent, pp. 122, 296, 327, 
 
 2 The sacred fountain near the temple of Amphiaraus was believed 
 by the Greeks to heal maladies, but he who drank of the water died. 
 Cf. this with the Greek folk-tale cited above, p. 73. Perhaps to such 
 
78 THE WATER OF LIFE 
 
 The endeavour to obtain such water was necessarily 
 accompanied by many dangfers and difficulties — a 
 point which the tales cited have alluded to. The quest 
 might involve the hero's death, for the Water lies 
 between two mountains which continually open and 
 close, or it is in the hands of some supernatural being, 
 or human sorcerer, who guards it jealously. The 
 powers of such Water would not be minimised as the 
 story passed from mouth to mouth, and ever new 
 picturesque details would easily be added. In the 
 cycles of folk-tales with the Water of Life incident we 
 see the final stereotyped form of the Idea, and in the 
 less complete and therefore more primitive tales, the 
 material out of which the former grew.^ 
 
 The religious use of the folk-tale incident occurs in 
 ancient Babylonian mythology and ritual. The 
 goddess Ishtar descended to Hades to seek Tammuz, 
 untimely lost, and to give him to drink of the water of 
 life, which gushed up under the throne of the spirits of 
 the earth, so that he might be brought back to life. 
 But Ishtar herself was stripped and bound, and in her 
 absence men and beasts and earth languished, as they 
 did when Demeter sought Persephone. The god Ea 
 then compelled the infernal goddess to let her go, but 
 having passed into the land of death she had first to 
 be sprinkled with the waters of life. The poem 
 
 an idea as this, as well as to primitive magical practices, we may trace 
 the notion of a Water of Death. 
 
 ^ In several tales cited the water is guarded by a serpent, or is 
 brought by ravens. Many races have made the serpent the guardian 
 of the waters, for reasons to be shown later (see p. 407), but the con- 
 nection of the raven (mainly in Slavonic and Northern tales) with the 
 Water of Life is not obvious. I hazard the theory that the raven may 
 have been the sacred bird of some water-divinity. In an ancient 
 Greek tale from Apollodorus {Bibl. i. 9, 12), Melampus assembles the 
 birds, and asks a remedy for his master's son, Iphicles, whereupon a 
 vulture indicates it to him. We have also seen how birds know the 
 secret of the Water in the Truth and Falsehood cycle. In some 
 Russian tales the Water is guarded by the fearful Baba Yaga. 
 
STORY AND MYTH GERMS 79 
 
 embodying- this myth was sung- at the yearly Tammuz 
 festival, and probably told also of the restoration of 
 Tammuz by the water. We have here an instance of 
 a folk-belief being taken up into a more purely 
 religious atmosphere. Or, in other words, the germs 
 from which the episodes of many folk-tales spring, are 
 also the germs which, in other cases, become religious 
 myths.^ 
 
 ^ Jastrow, op. cit.^ p. 563. Cf. the Babylonian myth cited, p. 64 
 supra. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE RENEWAL OF LIFE IN THE DEAD OR DISMEMBERED 
 
 The stories which introduce this subject fall into 
 three groups : — ( i ) Those in which the dead or 
 apparently dead are restored to life ; (2) those in 
 which the dismembered live again ; (3) those in which 
 the dead live on under other forms. All savages, 
 early and late, have the utmost difficulty in under- 
 standing what death is. They think of it as no more 
 than a prolonged sleep or trance. It was introduced 
 into the world by accident or as an afterthought. It 
 is invariably unnatural, and is the result of demoniac 
 or magical influence. Proof of these beliefs is now 
 unnecessary ; on them, however, the stories which 
 will be cited in this chapter are based. 
 
 ( I ) We shall look first at those which tell of simple 
 restoration to life. It has already been seen how this 
 frequently happens by means of the Water of Life, 
 but various other means are employed to effect the 
 same purpose. A Maori story relates that when 
 Toka was drowned, his father dived down for him, 
 and found his body all cold in the dwelling of Tangaroa, 
 god of the sea. After laying his dead son carefully 
 apart, he set fire to Tangaroa s house, then going 
 to remove the body, ''behold, he stood before his 
 father full of life once more."^ In another story 
 
 ^ Clarke, p. 113. 
 
 80 
 
SAVAGE INSTANCES 81 
 
 from Samoa, Tangaloa grew jealous of his brother-in- 
 law and caused his people to kill him, after which 
 they cast his body into the river. It floated to where 
 his sister stood ; she seized it, patted the head, and 
 prayed for her brother's restoration, when *'his 
 wounds closed up and healed, and the lad sat up."^ 
 A Tasmanian story relates that two women were 
 impaled by a sting- ray and died. Two black fellows, 
 the bring-ers of fire, who are now stars, took the 
 bodies, laid them between great fires, and having 
 collected many ants, placed them on their breasts. 
 "Severely, intensely were they bitten. The women 
 revived, they lived once more," and are now the 
 companions of the black fellows in the sky. There is 
 an Australian variant of this story ; there the women 
 are swallowed by alligators and are taken lifeless from 
 the carcases of these reptiles.^ In another Australian 
 story a confirmed wife-beater has been drowned by 
 his two wives, and is restored to life by his mother, a 
 sorceress, who places him on an ant-hill. Like Jonas 
 Chuzzlewit, he pretended affection till such time as 
 he could pay his wives back. He induced them to 
 bathe in a pool in which he had placed two sharp 
 stakes. They were impaled, but his mother rubbed 
 the bodies with her medicine, then placed them on 
 the ant-hill, when they gradually returned to life as 
 the ants stung them. So Okikurumi, the culture-hero 
 of Japan, is said by the Ainos to have restored his 
 henchman, who was wounded to death when out 
 fishing.^ 
 
 ^ Turner, p. 85. This story has affinities with those of the Trans- 
 formed Brother cycle (p. 159). Here, as in them, the children are 
 deserted by their parents. Tangaloa marries the girl, and after her 
 brother's restoration they return to their parents again. 
 
 2 Ling Roth, p. 84. Parker, p. 11. 
 
 ^ Ibid.^ p. 'J']. Stinging with ants and thrashing with boughs are 
 resorted to by many savages as a means of driving out evil from the 
 body. See Frazer, i. 153 ; ii. 233. Roberston Smith, Rel. of Semites^ 
 appendix. Chamberlain, A.F.T., p. 30. 
 
82 THE RENEWAL OF LIFE 
 
 These stories may sug-gest nothing- more than the 
 savage's inability to distinguish between unconscious- 
 ness induced by wounds or by trance, and death 
 itself, and the undoubtedly frequent instances of such 
 recovery would only strengthen the belief that 
 recovery from death was also possible, and would 
 give rise to stories concerning it. Nenpetro, say the 
 Fjorts, had three wives, the Dreamer, the Guide, and 
 the Raiser of the Dead. One day, while hunting for 
 his hungry wives, he was killed by an ox. The 
 Dreamer dreamt of this ; the Guide showed the 
 others the way to his body ; and the Raiser of the 
 Dead, by means of herbs and plants, restored him to 
 life. They then began to argue. Who should have 
 the honour of first receiving him into her hut ? This 
 knotty question was solved by their agreeing that it 
 should be the one whose pot he ate from first, and, 
 of course, this was the Raiser of the Dead.^ The 
 common belief prevails that restoration to life by 
 means of certain plants is possible, and, as we have 
 seen, a common folk-tale version is that in which a 
 hero is restored by his friend or brother using water 
 or a plant which he has seen a serpent make use of to 
 bring back another serpent to life.^ So in the Rama- 
 
 ^ Dennett, p. 83. A curious likeness to this story is found in a 
 Balochi tale, of which there are other Eastern variants. Four men keep 
 guard in succession. One makes a wooden image of a woman ; the 
 second finds it and dresses it ; the third decks it in jewels ; the fourth 
 prays to God to give it life. The image breathes and moves. In the 
 morning all dispute as to the ownership of the woman ; the king 
 decides that the man who clothed her has the best right, because " it 
 is the bridegroom who gives clothes to the bride." " Balochi Tales," 
 Folk-Lore^ iii. 524. 
 
 2 Wallachian version, Schott, No. 10; Greek^ Hahn, ii. 204, 
 260; Germa7i^ Grimm, No. 16; Kabyle^ Riviere, p. 193. Cf. the 
 old Greek story of Polyidus, imprisoned for not being able to restore 
 Glaucus to life. In his prison he killed a serpent, but saw another 
 serpent fetch a herb and apply it to the dead one, when it was restored 
 to life. With this herb he revived Glaucus. Apollodorus, iii. 
 10. 3. 
 
THE TREE OF LIFE 83 
 
 yana Hanuman restores his monkeys by means of 
 various herbs, one of which cures wounds, another 
 joins broken limbs, a third removes pain, a fourth 
 g-ives back life to the dead ; while a dead huma is 
 restored by another bird, which places a piece of grass 
 in its mouth. This is from a Kashmir story, but, 
 in the Hungarian tale of Knight Rose, that hero 
 restores his brothers by means of healing grass and 
 the water of life. ^ 
 
 A tree of life or immortality occurs in many 
 mythologies, Semitic, Norse, Malaysian, Chinese, 
 Polynesian. The fruit of the Chinese tree is given 
 by fairies to their favourites, who then become 
 immortal ; in Polynesia the dead assemble on a huge 
 tree with dead and living branches. Only those who 
 tread on the living branches come back to life. The 
 Malaysians think that the mystic tree grows on the 
 summit of Mount Kina Balu, and that its fruit 
 bestows immortal youth. ^ All such wonderful plants 
 and trees may be conceived of as nothing more than 
 the imaginative extensions of the use of plants and 
 herbs and leaves of trees in the medicinal lore of all 
 races, aided, too, by the universal custom of tree- 
 worship. Many well-known plants had the power of 
 healing ; others were more fabulous and their powers 
 were still more mystical, like the Spanish pito-real, 
 which restored sight, or the fabulous Red Indian 
 kikaywek-bisten, which cured all ills and conferred 
 length of life. So, too, the Malagasy believe in a 
 "medicine of life" which has power to raise a man 
 from death itself^ Here as elsewhere, the wish was 
 father to the thought, and the powers of such herbs 
 can be easily traced in an ascending scale, from the 
 
 1 Wheeler, Hist, of India, ii. 368. Knowles, p. 12. Jones, 
 
 p. 57. 
 
 2 Dennys, p. 97. Gill, p. 170. St John, i. 255. 
 
 3 F.LJ., i. 295 ; ii. 98 ; iv. 3. Ellis, Bist. of Madag., i. 
 473- 
 
84 THE RENEWAL OF LIFE 
 
 known and usual to the unknown and unusual and 
 mystical. 
 
 Other tales reveal magical methods as the means 
 of revival. Thus a folk-tale imbedded in the Ko-ji-ki, 
 or Sacred Book of Japan, relates that when the 
 Deity Great Name Possessor was put to death by 
 the jealous gods, his mother appealed to the heaven 
 gods, who sent Princess Cockle-shell and Princess 
 Clam to help. The first triturated and scorched her 
 shell ; the second mixed it with water and smeared 
 him with it, when he recovered as a beautiful youth. ^ 
 In many Eskimo stories men are restored to life when 
 magical charms are sung over them. This also 
 occurs in American- Indian tales. A Hare-skin hero, 
 who had learnt magic from a giant, killed his parents 
 and then told them to rise again, when they became 
 living once more. So two youths, killed by an old 
 witch, were restored by their father, a sorcerer, sleep- 
 ing with them and engaging in magical methods.^ In 
 one story cycle with many variants, of which I cite a 
 Greek version later, a hero obtains several magical 
 objects, one of which is a flute, or guitar, or violin, 
 which, when played, restores the dead to life, thus 
 taking the place of the magical charm. La Ramee, 
 in the Lorraine variant, went to war with the king 
 who refused him his daughter in marriage, and killed 
 all his soldiers with five iron men. In the sequel the 
 conquered king relented, whereupon La Ramee pro- 
 duced his violin, played a jig, and the dead soldiers 
 jumped up, replacing their hacked-off heads and arms 
 on neck and shoulders.^ 
 
 ^ Chamberlain, Ko-ji-ki^ p. 70. 
 
 2 Petitot, pp. 140, 286. Dead animals are similarly restored in 
 Indian (Temple, p. 124) and Red Indian stories (Petitot, p. 192), as also 
 in mediaeval legends, by the mystic power of Christian saints — Thorpe, 
 ii. 231 ; O'Curry, Manners of Ancient Irish, iii. 35. 
 
 3 Cf. p. 216. Cosquin, ii. 5, 285. Flemish, Wolf, No. 26 ; Sicilian, 
 Gonzenbach, No. 45. 
 
RESTORING THE DEAD 85 
 
 Such stories illustrate our general thesis that the 
 primitive savage does not understand the true nature 
 of death, and that he does not differentiate between it 
 and a state of unconsciousness. On the other hand, 
 since it is commonly believed that death is either the 
 result of demoniac or magical agency, the theory 
 arises that by magical agency the dead may be 
 restored. Those stories just cited show the imagina- 
 tive presentation of this theory, and in practice we 
 find (as will be seen in the next chapter) that the 
 medicine-man is frequently called in to capture the 
 wandering soul of the dying or the dead, so that by 
 its replacement the patient may revive. Besides 
 having the power of raising the dead, the medicine- 
 man is himself thought to have died and come to life 
 again. This presupposition of the possibility of 
 revival must have been supported by the use made 
 by medicine-men of the hypnotic trance. But first 
 let us trace this in some folk-tales. From Kashmir 
 we learn that a dev taught his daughter how to make 
 a man die and then come alive again. A wand was 
 to be placed under his head to rouse him, under his 
 his feet to make him sleep. ^ I have discussed in a 
 later chapter the magic rods found by the side of 
 sleeping beauties in Eastern stories, one of which 
 causes death, the other restoration to life.^ The 
 prolonged magic sleep of Grimm's story of the Briar 
 Rose and its variants may have its origin in primitive 
 uses of hypnotism. In other stories animation is 
 suspended by thrusting a pin into the head, by tying 
 a thread round, the neck, and, in English and Celtic 
 tales, a sleep thorn is employed for the same purpose.^ 
 The pins, wands, etc., like the passes of the mesmerist, 
 need be nothing more than the outward instruments 
 of what is really due in all cases to inward suggestion. 
 
 1 Knowles, p. 199. Cf. Day, p. 81. '^ Cf.^. 205. 
 
 ^ Q^. p. 31. Yeats, Secret Rose^ p. no. 
 
86 THE RENEWAL OF LIFE 
 
 Hypnotism, as well as an induced trance state with 
 ''spirit" utterance, is, in fact, used by savage 
 medicine-men in America, New Zealand, Sumatra, 
 Cambodja, Annam, Africa, and elsewhere, as it is 
 and was by Taoist and Egyptian priests and 
 mediaeval witches.^ Such practices may easily have 
 given rise to stories of resuscitation after death, as a 
 case cited by Mr Dennett will show. A Fjort woman 
 is thought to be a revenant. She ''died" ; her lover 
 was accused of bewitching her, and at once took 
 poison. Meanwhile she was buried, but soon after 
 found herself the slave of a white man in Borna. She 
 firmly believes that she is a ghost, as do her relatives. 
 " I have tried to convince her," writes Mr Dennett, 
 "that the Nganga Nkissi, or native doctor, must 
 have played her some trick, and that she had been 
 buried by him while in a trance, or while unconscious, 
 and that he must have taken her to Borna and sold 
 her there to his own profit ; but she would not believe 
 it."^ Compare with this the New Guinea islanders' 
 belief that their priests can kill a man, dismember 
 him, and then restore him to life ; soon after, however, 
 the man dies suddenly as a result of this drastic 
 treatment. Among the Bantu peoples of South 
 Africa it is firmly believed that wizards and doctors 
 can send people into a trance, and then torment or 
 mutilate them without their feeling any pain. One 
 young woman was thus treated, and when she awoke 
 did not know she had been injured until she saw the 
 blood on her body. Such stories are claimed by the 
 Reverend J. Macdonald to have a basis of truth and 
 to be referable to actual hypnotic powers. Others, 
 again, suggest the natural exaggeration of such 
 powers, and tell of wizards who reduce people's wills 
 to a state of abject slavery, send men into the forest 
 
 1 Regnault, La Sorcellerie^ chap. i. 
 - Dennett, p. ii. 
 
AN AUSTRALIAN MYTH 87 
 
 to eat grass, and in other ways show their mastery 
 over them.^ 
 
 It should also be noted that at the initiation of 
 savage youths at puberty — a rite which introduces 
 them to a new life and at which a new name is 
 bestowed upon them, or during- initiation to the 
 tribal mysteries, the lads are supposed to die and 
 then come to life again. In some cases this is a 
 mere fagon de parler for the initiated, but women 
 and the uninitiate hold it to be an actual fact, as, ^.£*., 
 among the Wiradthuri tribes of Australia. The 
 rite itself, in this case, has given rise to a legend, the 
 details of which are known only to the initiated. 
 Long ago there was a being called Dhuramoolan, 
 intermediary between the divinity Baiamai and his 
 people. It was his duty to take the boys of the 
 tribe into the bush and initiate them into all the 
 tribal knowledge and duties. But when he returned 
 some of the boys were usually found missing ; they 
 had died of disease, said Dhuramoolan. It was also 
 noticed that each boy had lost one of his incisor teeth. 
 Dhuramoolan had an explanation ready. He in- 
 formed Baiamai that he always killed and dis- 
 membered the boys, and burned them to ashes ; 
 out of the ashes he formed new beings, each with a 
 tooth missing. But at last the truth came out. 
 Dhuramoolan wrenched each boy's tooth out by 
 means of his own, and while doing so made a meal 
 off one or two of the lads. Then he forced the others 
 to relate his own concocted story. As a punishment 
 Baiamai killed him and put his voice of thunder into all 
 the trees of the forest. Out of one of these he made a 
 bull-roarer, which, when swung round, had the sound 
 of Dhuramoolan's voice. This bull-roarer he in-- 
 structed the old men to use ever after at the rite of 
 initiation, which was also to include the knocking out 
 
 ^ Turner, Samoa^ p. 348. Folk-Lore^ iii. 348. 
 
88 THE RENEWAL OF LIFE 
 
 of a tooth, while he forbade them to tell the women 
 and the uninitiated about Dhuramoolan's fraud ; 
 hence these still believe that the boys die and come 
 alive again. ^ Probably this is an setiologfical myth, 
 i.e., one which has arisen to explain a ceremony the 
 meaning- of which had been lost, but in all such rites 
 it is a curious thing that death and restoration to life 
 invariably figure. For example, with some Negro and 
 American- Indian tribes the youth is thrown into a 
 hypnotic trance by the medicine-man, and is even 
 buried. On awaking, he has forgotten his old life.^ 
 Sometimes this death and revival are symbolised by 
 a pantomimic ritual. As followed by the Crees the 
 ritual consists of a selected individual being surrounded 
 by the medicine-men, who wave their manitous and 
 point invisible arrows at him. Presently he falls as if 
 dead, and one of the sorcerers makes hypnotic passes 
 over him. After an interval his breath gradually 
 returns, and at last he wakes up in a stupor, crying, 
 '' Why have you recalled me from the delightful spirit- 
 land ? " Similar rites are in use among the natives of 
 New South Wales, Dyaks, and others, while the 
 symbolism of passing from an old life to a new was 
 made use of in the ancient Mexican, Mithraic, 
 Eleusinian, and Bacchic mysteries.^ Symbolic 
 dances, curiously alike, in South Uist and the 
 Cyclades may be relics of similar trance initiations. 
 In South Uist a man and a woman dance ; the 
 
 1 J.A.L, XXV. 297, R. H. Matthews, The Burbung of the Wirad- 
 thuri Tribes. Cf. Spencer and Gillen, Northern Tribes, pp. 343, 347, 
 501, for a similar belief among women and others about the initiation 
 rites of these tribes. The noise of the bull-roarer " is made by a 
 spirit whom they call Katajalina, who lives in an ant-hill and comes 
 out and eats the boy up, restoring him subsequently to life." 
 
 2 J,A.I., xiii. 472. Keane, Man : Past and Present, p. 109. Catlin, 
 0-Kee-Pa, p. 21. 
 
 3 Crees, Petitot, p. 477. Australians, J.A.I., ii. 268 ; xiii. 432-59. 
 Dyaks, Ling Roth, i. 250. For the Mysteries, see my Comparative 
 Theology, p. 248 seq. 
 
"DEATH AND HIS BROTHER SLEEP ^^ 89 
 
 former is armed with a "druidic wand," with which, 
 as the dance goes on, he touches the woman's head, 
 whereupon she falls as if dead. He then breathes on 
 her left hand and touches it with the wand ; she 
 begins to move. The process is repeated with her 
 right hand, when the movement becomes more 
 marked. Finally, when he has breathed into her 
 mouth and touched her above the heart, she springs 
 up and resumes the dance with him. In the Cyclades 
 the dance is symbolic of one believed to be practised 
 by the Kalkagari, evil spirits of the satyr-type. It is 
 danced by two men, one of whom passes repeatedly 
 under the legs of the other, while both keep bobbing 
 up and down. At last one of them falls dead. 
 His companion dances stealthily round him, and 
 hops over his legs and body. When this has gone 
 on for some time, he raises him up, restored to life 
 and vigour, and both go on dancing as before.^ 
 
 The purpose of these initiation rites with their 
 ritual of death and restoration, has been suggested by 
 Mr J. G. Frazer to be that " of extracting the youth's 
 soul to transfer it to his totem," for security. The 
 youth dies, but receives new life from his totem, and is 
 thereafter called by its name. We shall return to this 
 in discussing "The Separable Soul"; meanwhile it 
 should be noted how the rites illustrate the belief in 
 revival from death, and show incidentally how that 
 belief received support from the medicine-man's powers 
 to induce and release from the hypnotic trance. The 
 savage easily confused Death and his brother Sleep, 
 hypnotic or ordinary, and to revive from the one was 
 considered to be as easy as waking from the other. 
 
 (2) There are many stories — those especially in 
 which the dismembered are brought to life — which 
 cannot be explained by referring them to the mystic 
 
 ^ Carmichael, Cartnina Gadelica, i. 208. Bent, p. 366. 
 
90 THE RENEWAL OF LIFE 
 
 powers of the medicine-man. The first group to be 
 considered contains many tales which bear a certain 
 resemblance to the Egyptian myth of Osiris. Osiris 
 was imprisoned and set afloat in a chest by Set and 
 seventy-two companions. The chest became im- 
 bedded in a tree, which was afterwards used as one of 
 the pillars of the royal palace. I sis, Osiris's sister, 
 extracted it from the pillar and buried it. Set dis- 
 covered it, and tearing open the lid cut the body into 
 fourteen pieces, and scattered them over the land. 
 I sis searched for them and discovered all but one ; she 
 and Nephthys placed them carefully together, and 
 Anubis embalmed them. Thus Osiris became the 
 first Egyptian mummy. Later mythology suggested 
 that Osiris then rose from the dead, as it was hoped 
 every embalmed mummy would one day do. Simi- 
 larly Greek mythology told how Hera, jealous of 
 Dionysus, caused the Titans to tear him limb 
 from limb. Then his mother, Demeter, pieced 
 the fragments together so that he came to life 
 again.^ 
 
 Some folk-tales, from different parts of the world, 
 bear a curious resemblance to the Osiris myth ; the 
 nearest being a Roumanian story. By the treachery 
 of his mother, Frounse Werdye was killed and 
 chopped into a thousand pieces by a dragon. His 
 guardian. Holy Mother Sunday, collected the pieces 
 and gave them life, but found that the eyes were 
 wanting because the dragon had kept them. She 
 disguised herself as a musician and while playing 
 
 ^ Apollodorus has preserved a Greek myth in which Typho over- 
 comes Zeus, and cuts out his muscles with the god's golden sickle, 
 imprisoning him in a cave. Hermes stole the muscles from their 
 dragon guardian and fitted them to Zeus's body. He recovered and 
 destroyed the monster. But in a variant Cadmus charms the 
 monster with his music, and obtains the tendons as strings for his lyre, 
 restoring them to Zeus. This also is the motif oi\\\^ Roumanian tale 
 which follows. Apollodorus, Bibl. in Westermann, i. 6. 3. 
 
THE DISMEMBERED RESTORED 91 
 
 before the dragon caused one of the strings of her 
 violin to break. Then she said, "It can only be 
 mended by the eye of a man." In this way she 
 obtained one of the hero's eyes, and by the breaking 
 of a second string, the other. Morevna, the hero of a 
 Russian story, had his wife stolen by Koshchei the 
 Deathless, who chopped him into bits, and put them in 
 a barrel, which he flung- into the sea. Fortunately for 
 him, his brothers-in-law, the eagle, the falcon, and the 
 raven, sought and found the barrel, procured the 
 waters of life and death, and caused his revival. 
 " What a long time I've been sleeping ! " he cried, when 
 he awoke; whereupon they answered, ''You'd have 
 gone on sleeping a good deal longer if it hadn't been 
 for us!" In another Russian story a demon in the 
 form of a young blacksmith changed an old lady into 
 a young and pretty girl by burning her in his furnace, 
 and then throwing the bones into a tub of milk, from 
 which she emerged with renewed life and youth. So 
 in the Finnish Kalevala Lemminkainen was killed 
 and dismembered by a shepherd in the abode of the 
 dead ; his life-token (as in the Russian story) gave 
 warning of this to his mother, who set out to seek him. 
 After she had asked many creatures where he was, the 
 Sun took pity on her and told her. She collected the 
 pieces together with a rake from the river of death ; 
 alas, he still remained dead. But a bee brought her 
 a certain vivifying balm "from the cellar of the 
 Creator " ; it was applied to his body, when he sprang 
 up crying, " How long I have slept ! " Compare with 
 these a Carib story cited later, in which the child of 
 the snake lover of a woman is cut in pieces by her 
 brothers. She covered the pieces with flowers and 
 leaves, and like Rizpah sat down to watch. Presently 
 from the heap a head and shoulders and a mighty 
 human form appeared. It was her child thus restored 
 to become the ancestor of the Carib race. Such resusci- 
 tation's are also ascribed to the Algonquin demon Lox, 
 
92 THE RENEWAL OF LIFE 
 
 who is "one of those who rise from the dead." In 
 one story two boys touch his mutilated body, when it 
 revives ; in another ants collect the fragments, only to 
 be rewarded by being trampled to death by the un- 
 grateful Lox ; in a third he is cast down from the sky, 
 but singfs the charm, '' Oh, spare my poor backbone ! " 
 Every part of him was scattered, but his backbone 
 lay whole, and from it came a voice which summoned 
 the other members together, till he stood up whole as 
 ever. In a Dindje tale a crow was killed by the 
 Navigator, who afterwards collected the bones and 
 restored it to life. But one of its members, a toe 
 (explained by M. Petitot as equivalent to the (paWo^ 
 — the missing member in the Osirian myth) was 
 wanting, and the crow had to go without it. The 
 Pawnees also have stories in which animals restore 
 dismembered heroes to life, usually by magical means. 
 In one of these they collected Pa-hu-ka-tawa's flesh 
 and bones, but could not find his brains and scalp. 
 Replacing these with down, they passed their paws 
 over the pieces, danced and sang, till he came to life 
 again. Yet as the hero himself said, *'Not as a 
 person was I alive, but as a spirit." A Zuni tale 
 presents some interesting features. A woman who 
 has been secluded, but has the sun for a lover, is killed 
 as she is escaping from the amorous pursuit of some 
 youths, and gives birth to twins. When they grow 
 up the sun tells them where to find her bones, but 
 they are not to omit any, else she will lack that part 
 when she comes to life. An eye is dropped, with the 
 result that she returns to life with only one eye. 
 Later she and her sons are slain, but one of them 
 rises to life again and becomes the lover of a girl. He 
 becomes a skull at sunrise, and remains so till sunset ; 
 but, persuaded by the girl's father, he preserves his 
 human shape. The copiousness of such stories 
 among the Red men is easily explained by the pains 
 many of the tribes take to preserve the bodies or 
 
THE CRAFT OF MEDEA 93 
 
 bones of the dead, with a view to their ultimate 
 revival.^ 
 
 The methods of the sorceress Medea, in what is 
 doubtless an old Greek M'drchen or saga, to which a 
 literary form has been given by the poets, may fitly 
 be referred to here. Having^ cast the aged Aeson 
 into a deep sleep, and having prepared her cauldron 
 with its mystic brew, she cut his throat and then 
 poured the mixture into the wound, when he rose up 
 young and blooming. Then having told this to the 
 daughters of Pelias, and having shown them how an 
 old ram could become a lamb, she persuaded them to 
 cut their father in pieces, and place him in the 
 cauldron. But poor Pelias remained dead, as Medea 
 had intended that he should.^ 
 
 The Malagasy tell how Ibonia went off to seek 
 his ravished wife, as in the Russian tale of Morevna. 
 He recovered her, but was shot by her ravisher. His 
 parents, warned by his life-token, mourned for him, 
 but his friends, more practical, collected the bones. 
 "Joiner together" united them; "Life-giver" 
 breathed on them till the flesh grew and life 
 returned. The Polynesian god Tangaroa was slain 
 by Maui, who later took his decomposed body, 
 put the bones in a cocoa-nut shell and shook them 
 vigorously. Tangaroa returned to life, but much 
 humbled by his startling experiences. In the New 
 
 1 Cosquin, ii. 46. Ralston, pp. 59, 91 ; cf. p. 235. Kalevala^ Rune 
 XV. 530. Brett, p. 64 ; cf. p. 2^9 infra. Leland, A.L.y p. 158. Petitot, 
 pp. 36, 153. Grinnell, pp. 121, 154. Gushing, p. 429. Brinton, 
 Myths of New Worlds p. 295 seq. Cf with the Pawnee story, a 
 Roumanian tale in which a bull restores to life those who fed him, by 
 licking the dismembered body — Roumanian F.T., p. 48. In a Kafir 
 story, when one wife of a chief is drowned by the jealous second wife, 
 her ox fetches the body out, and licks it till life is restored— Theal, 
 p. 129. Lox's backbone recalls the pillar set up in the Osirian 
 festival, called the " backbone of Osiris." The spine is held by many 
 people to be the seat of life. 
 
 2 Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. vii. 
 
94 THE RENEWAL OF LIFE 
 
 Zealand variant the g-od imitates the Red Indian 
 Lox, and calls his own bones together, after which 
 he pursues his undutiful grandson, Maui. Among 
 the tribes of Central Australia the same ideas are 
 found among the traditions of their ancestors' 
 wanderings. While the rite of circumcision was 
 going on, the last man was mutilated and fell dead. 
 His wives found his body and set forth to seek for 
 the mutilated organs. Their attempts to restore 
 them and their owner failed, and all three were turned 
 to stone. But a variant relates that after joining the 
 members together the wives set off to search for food, 
 and on their return found their husband, if not eating 
 a bone, at least healed and restored.^ We may refer 
 also to the Bushman myth explaining the waning and 
 waxing of the moon. The moon is a man whom the 
 sun gradually cuts down with his knife till only a 
 small piece is left. The moon implores him to 
 spare this piece, which now grows and becomes a 
 complete moon again, when the same process begins 
 de novo. 
 
 Some of these stories have shown that the restora- 
 tion is accomplished by magical means ; this appears 
 more clearly in others. A long Bengali tale, which 
 bears a curious resemblance to Ezekiel's vision of 
 the valley of dry bones, tells how a prince and his 
 three friends saw a hermit take up a bone and repeat 
 a charm over it. Immediately a clattering sound was 
 heard, and a number of bones came rushing in and lay 
 down beside the other. Over these he said a charm ; 
 they joined into a skeleton. A third charm clothed 
 them with flesh, and a fourth gave life to the dead 
 body. In the sequel the four friends, by using these 
 charms, gave life to a king, his courtiers, and subjects, 
 whose bones alone had been left by cannibal rakshasis. 
 
 1 F.LJ., ii. 49. Cf. the Fjort story cited above. Gill, p. 68 ; 
 Clarke, 43. Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes^ p. 399. 
 
SAINT NICHOLAS 95 
 
 Another prince, in a Kashmir story, was himself cut 
 in two by a jinn, but restored to life by a saint, who 
 pressed the pieces together, and by his mystic power 
 joined them and gave them life. Again, in the Passa- 
 maquoddy story of the Fight of the Witches, Glooskap 
 forced the giant witch to tell where his victims' 
 bones were. These he collected, surrounded with 
 stones, and covered with wood. Then setting fire to 
 the wood, Glooskap sang his magic songs. Louder 
 and louder did he sing, till strange noises came from 
 the bones. Then he began his ''resurrection song" ; 
 the bones joined with him in singing; he sprinkled 
 water over them, and they came together as living 
 beings once more.^ 
 
 A curious group of stories must now be considered. 
 The motif oi^ is a supernatural revival effected by a 
 divinity or saint. This is imitated by a covetous man, 
 who fails, and he is about to pay the penalty when the 
 saint appears and saves him. A Russian version 
 relates that St Nicholas travelled with a greedy priest 
 to a land where the king's daughter was bewitched, 
 and rich rewards were offered to any who would cure 
 her. Pretending to be doctors, the friends were 
 admitted, and, in order to cure the girl, the saint cut 
 her in pieces, washed these in a tub, breathed on 
 them till they stuck together, and, breathing again, 
 restored her to life. This happened on two other 
 occasions, until the priest resolved to try the experi- 
 ment, and so gain the whole reward for himself But 
 when he tried to put the pieces together they obstin- 
 ately remained apart, and he was being hurried 
 to the gallows as a murderer when Nicholas 
 appeared, raised the girl from death, and so saved 
 the priest.'- 
 
 This story has variants in Tuscany, Brittany, 
 
 ^ Day, p. 261. Knowles, p. 70 ; cf. Steele and Temple, p. 56. 
 F.LJ., iv. 6. 
 
 2 Ralston, p. 351. 
 
96 THE RENEWAL OF LIFE 
 
 Lorraine, Suabia, Austria, Germany, Italy, and 
 Norway, and it is remarkable that in some versions 
 God the Father, or Christ, takes the place of the 
 saint.^ But it is possible that these tales were first 
 told of pagan divinities or heroes. Indeed, it is now 
 proved that St Nicholas was originally a pagan 
 divinity, possibly Artemis, or if he actually existed, 
 was given many of this divinity's attributes.^ Of him is 
 told the common mediaeval story of the three young 
 men whom an innkeeper murdered, cut in pieces, and 
 placed in a tub, intending to salt them down as pork. 
 All this was supernaturally revealed to the saint, who 
 came and prayed over the tub till the youths were 
 restored to life. Some resemblance to this group of 
 tales may be observed in a legend attached to many 
 great names — to Vergil, Roger Bacon, Albert the 
 Great, and Agrippa of Nettesheim. Each of these is 
 said to have bidden his servant cut him in pieces, and 
 place the pieces in a cask, over a lamp, for nine days 
 and nights. But the king ordered the servant to 
 show him what remained of the great man, and on 
 seeing the dismembered body, he ran the supposed 
 murderer through with his sword, thus defeating all 
 possibility of restoration. An infant's body rolled out 
 of the cask, crying to the king, "Cursed be the day 
 when you came here," and then disappeared. A 
 
 1 Gubernatis, Novelle, No. 31. Luzel, Legendes, i. 30. Cosquin, 
 i. 285. Meier, No. 62. Grimm, iii. 129. Crane, p. 187. Dasent, 
 p. 106. 
 
 2 Prof. Eugene Anichkof, "St Nicholas and hrttrms," Folk-Lore^ 
 V. 108. In mediaeval art St Nicholas is depicted standing beside 
 the tub in which the lads are shown with uplifted hands. The 
 incident is the subject of frescoes in churches at Winchester, 
 Tamworth, and Colton. Another group of tales may be noted here, 
 in which an ugly suitor for a princess's hand is turned into a 
 handsome youth by the devil, who cuts him up and sprinkles him 
 with the waters of life and death. There is a Russian version in 
 Ralston, p. 363. Such renovations are common in Eastern tales, 
 most usually by jumping into a lake. Cf. p. 157, for transformation 
 effected by this means. 
 
SAINTLY MIRACLES 97 
 
 different turn is gfiven to the legend in the case of 
 Paracelsus, whose servant was to open the cask at the 
 end of nine months. But he opened it at the end of 
 seven months, and there was a seven-months' child, 
 who died on the instant. The incident occurs in a 
 Breton folk-tale ; here a woman has to let her milk 
 flow over the dismembered body, but just before the 
 expiry of the time, she falls asleep, and the hero 
 Koadalan did not renew his youth !^ 
 
 One of the commonest miracles of Christian hagio- 
 logry, as it is of Mohammedan and Buddhist, is that 
 of raising- the dead to life. Some of these are con- 
 nected with the subject of this chapter. St Vincent 
 Ferrier took the pieces of a child dismembered by its 
 insane mother, and bringing them together, restored 
 them to life with the sign of the cross. In earlier 
 times mutilated saints were themselves restored ; the 
 pagans cut off the breasts of St Agatha of Sicily, but 
 Christ replaced them, as did the Virgin to the right 
 hand of St John Damascene, while the dispersed 
 members of St Stanislaus of Poland were miracu- 
 lously reunited. These examples must suffice from 
 a large range of legendary occurrences which re- 
 count events precisely similar to those of our folk- 
 tales.^ 
 
 We may now glance at another group of tales into 
 which the incident of dismemberment, with the loss 
 of some important part of the body on revival (as in 
 the Osiris group) enters. Here, as so often, we have 
 the tasks imposed on the hero by a giant, devil, etc., 
 
 ^ Revue Celtique^ i. 133. 
 
 2 See the Martyrologium Romanum^ passim. The story of St 
 Agatha will be found under date 5th Feb. ; of St John Damascene, 
 6th May ; of St Vincent, 5th April ; of St Stanislaus, 7th May. For 
 Buddhist and Mohammedan instances, see Crooke, i. 318, etc. ; ii. 
 263 ; Burton, Hist, of Sindh^ 229. Similar stories were told of the 
 gods and mythical heroes by the Greeks and Romans, ^sculapius 
 and Apollonius of Tyana were both said to have raised the 
 dead. 
 
 G 
 
9S THE RENEWAL OF LIFE 
 
 accomplished with the aid of the daughter of his 
 taskmaster, but not before she has gone through a 
 terrible but necessary ordeal. The Tyrolese variant 
 relates that when the hero was ordered to remove a 
 rock from a lake the maiden bade him cut off her 
 head and let all the blood flow into a bucket. He 
 spilt three drops ; the girl disappeared, but soon after 
 returned alive, though by his carelessness she nearly 
 failed in the task.^ But more usually the procedure 
 is somewhat different. The hero of a Basque story 
 has to fetch a ring from the river ; the girl bids him 
 cut her in pieces and throw them into the river. 
 Constrained to obey, he does so, but part of her little 
 finger sticks to a nail in his shoe, and she lacks one 
 of her finger-joints when she reappears with the ring. 
 But the maimed finger later enables him to identify 
 her among her sisters, who are all like her. There is 
 a Catalan version, in which the finger-joint is lost 
 through a drop of blood falling to the ground. 
 Campbell cites a Gaelic variant. Here the king's 
 son is set by the giant the task of robbing a nest on 
 the top of a huge tree, and the giant's daughter cuts 
 off and sticks her fingers (in a variant her toes) into 
 the tree to make a ladder, but one of them is left at 
 the top of the tree and cannot be recovered. The 
 Lorraine version is more typical. The hero is set by 
 the devil to build a castle with a fine spire. The 
 devil's daughter changes herself into a cat, after 
 which the hero kills her, boils her and separates out 
 her bones, among which he finds the needed spire. 
 Then, according to her orders, he lays the bones 
 together, but misplaces the finger-joint, and the girl 
 comes to life again. ^ 
 
 The Osiris and Dionysus myths, together with 
 
 1 Schneller, No. 27. 
 
 2 Webster, p. 123. Rondallayre^ i. 41. Campbell, i. 31, 52. 
 Cosquin, ii. 11. A friendly insect often helps the hero to select the 
 girl, see p. 20. 
 
OSIRIS 99 
 
 the yearly ritual enactment of them, have been classed 
 with those of Attis and Adonis, and with the ritual 
 of their death and restoration celebrated in the mys- 
 teries, and have been explained by Mr Frazer and Mr 
 Grant Allen as symbolising what was once a primitive 
 custom, viz., the dismemberment of a human victim, 
 who was buried in the cornfields and believed to 
 renew his life in the harvest which resulted from this 
 magical fertilising act.^ But, in my opinion, the 
 basis of the myth is found in an earlier custom, 
 besides being connected with primitive man's belief 
 that death was only a temporary accident. That 
 custom, practised by the early neolithic people of 
 Egypt, was the dismemberment of the dead body 
 previous to its burial. The graves of that period 
 show the completest dismemberment, as well as extra- 
 ordinary care to preserve all the separate bones or 
 the fragments into which they had been broken. 
 Whether this neolithic race was different from the 
 people who later mummified the body is uncertain, 
 but to the last the earlier practice modified the later, 
 since in some cases the (/yaWos was mummified 
 separately and buried near the mummy. This, of 
 course, was the lost member of Osiris.^ Whatever 
 this custom of dismemberment betokened I think it 
 certain that it originated the myth of a divinity who 
 had been so dismembered and yet had risen again to 
 life. The practice must thus have been connected 
 with a belief in restoration to life, and this belief 
 crystallised into the myth of Osiris, to which, at a 
 later date, the vegetable symbolism and ritual were 
 added. Why dismemberment should have been 
 thought a necessary preliminary to restoration, it is 
 impossible to say ; we know, however, that many 
 savages preserve the skull or some of the bones of 
 
 ^ Golden Bough^ i. 305. G. Allen, Evolution of the Idea of God,, 
 p. 310- 
 
 ^ De Morgan, Recherches sur les Origines de I'Egypte, ii. 142. 
 
100 THE RENEWAL OF LIFE 
 
 their dead relations in order that their souls may 
 always be near them. The bones, as less subject to 
 decay than the flesh, may have seemed to early men 
 the basis of a renewed life. This is perhaps sug-g-ested 
 in the Polynesian and Passamaquoddy tales. That 
 the myth originated in the custom of dismemberment, 
 not in vegetable symbolism, is confirmed by the 
 existence of similar folk-tales. Red Indian, Malagasy, 
 Australian, which have nothing to do with such 
 symbolism, and which are told among people, some 
 of whom dismember, and all of whom preserve the 
 bones of the dead. The Egyptian myth may have 
 originated some of our folk-tales, but wherever the 
 custom prevailed such tales would easily be invented 
 independently. 
 
 Dismemberment is accomplished by exposing the 
 corpse till the bones only are left, or by temporary 
 burial, or by boiling the body and then separating the 
 bones, or by removing the flesh piecemeal. The 
 custom already existed in palaeolithic times, as is 
 proved by quaternary interments at Mentone and 
 other parts of France, as well as in Belgium. The 
 skeleton was wrapped in skins and decorated with 
 shell ornaments, the bones being coloured with some 
 red pigment.^ This custom was followed in Neo- 
 lithic times, not only in Egypt, but in Italy, France, 
 and England, as well as in very early places of 
 sepulture in the Cyclades, where even now the poor 
 dig up the bones three years after interment, wash 
 them, and place them in the charnel-house. Among 
 savages the custom is also met with all over the 
 world, in New Guinea, the Philippines, Melanesia, 
 Torres Straits, Savage Island, the Andamans, New 
 Zealand, Patagonia, and other regions of South 
 America, and among several North American tribes ; 
 while the custom of exposing the corpse on "towers 
 
 ^ Cartailhac, La France Prehistorique^ p. 99 seq. 
 
BONES IN FOLK-BELIEF 101 
 
 of silence " by the Parsis, with a later burial of the 
 bones, is doubtless a relic of the practice of dismem- 
 berment, though it is now performed in accordance 
 with Parsi laws of ceremonial purity.^ 
 
 With some of these races, as well as amongf the 
 Australians, Tasmanians, Micronesians, Dyaks, 
 Samoans (who embalm the body), and others, dis- 
 memberment is performed in order that the bones 
 may be kept near the living, either as a protective 
 charm, or, more usually, with the idea that the soul 
 may re-enter and animate the dead bones. With the 
 Australians, however, the bones after being- carried for 
 a time, are finally interred or placed in a tree. Pos- 
 sibly the earliest practice was to dismember and pre- 
 serve the bones ; then, when it became unnecessary 
 to carry them from place to place, the custom of 
 dismemberment was continued, but now the bones 
 were buried. Be this as it may, the custom is another 
 proof that, with primitive peoples, death is classed 
 together with the phenomena of sleep, swoon, and 
 trance. Thus the Ainos believe that the ghost is still 
 active so long as the body is not completely decom- 
 posed. This is in agreement with the Eskimo and 
 Red Indian belief that so long- as any frag-ment of a 
 corpse remains unburnt, it may by mag-ic be revived, 
 as some stories cited have already shown. ^ 
 
 1 De Morgan, op. cit Green well, British Barrows^ P- i? (English 
 Neolithic Graves). Cartailhac, p. 290 seq. Crooke, /.A./'.j xxix. 284. 
 Bent, pp. 261, 405. Tombs have been found (probably dating from 
 the end of the stone age), as at Oliaros, too small even for one body, 
 with two skulls wedged together, and the bones of both bodies 
 huddled together. " In death they were not divided ! " This un- 
 doubtedly points to dismemberment and removal of the flesh before 
 burial, in early Greece. 
 
 2 Campbell, ii. 306, notes an incident in the Edda (Dasent's trans- 
 lation, p. 51), where Thor restores his slain goats from their bones, 
 but one revived lame, because his thigh-bone had been broken for the 
 marrow. This is the subject of a curious Saxon peasant drama in 
 Transylvania (E. Gerard, i. 182). C/. note on p. 84, for animals 
 restored by saints. Many races have believed that animals will live 
 
102 THE RENEWAL OF LIFE 
 
 A similar belief is held regrarding vampires — 
 vitalised corpses which devour the living — both by the 
 Slavonic peoples and the Celts. When one is dis- 
 covered and destroyed, the survival of the least fragf- 
 ment will restore the vampire again ; this is also 
 believed by the Hindus, Ainos, and North Ameri- 
 cans regarding- the carcases of cannibal ogres, while 
 among the ancient Scandinavians a sure method of 
 laying a ghost was to burn, impale, or behead the 
 corpse.^ 
 
 The vampire belief is itself but a grisly extension 
 of what must once have been universally held con- 
 cerning the dead, and of what still survives even 
 where it is thought that the spirit has gone to another 
 world, viz., that the dead man lives on in the grave 
 w^hich is now his home — a belief which is witnessed to 
 by the universal practice of feeding the dead with 
 sacrifices and libations at the grave. Even the 
 Egyptians, with all their elaborate doctrines of another 
 world, thought that the mummy was somehow alive, 
 while the most philosophic modern can hardly divest 
 himself of the idea that the worn casket of flesh and 
 the earthy grave are still the spirit's home. The 
 Eskimo think that any weight laid on the corpse 
 causes the dead man to feel discomfort, while the 
 Hovas of Madagascar, who bury the dead in grottoes, 
 change the position of the corpse from time to time, 
 
 again, e.g.^ Swedish Lapps (Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte^ iii. 83). 
 Most amusing are some Red Indian tales in which the dead animals, 
 about to be cooked for supper, come alive again, and rush off into the 
 forest. Petitot, pp. 27, 192. 
 
 I may note here various creation myths, in which the various parts 
 of a dead monster are changed into sky, heavenly bodies, earth, trees, 
 animals, etc. A7nerican- Indian instances in Petitot, p. 184; Ban- 
 croft, iii. 94 ; Hindu J Rig-Veda^ x. 90 ; Scandinavian^ Edda^ caps. ii. 
 iii. ; Esthonian^ Kirby, i. 59 ; Babylonian^ Sayce, Hibbert Lectures^ 
 ch. vi. ; Aino, Batchelor, 2nd ed., p. 72. Cf. the Orphic myth of the 
 soul of man created from the blood of the slain Dionysus. 
 
 ^ See pp. 25, 130. Cf. also an Australian legend on p. 130. 
 
VAMPIRES 103 
 
 lest it should be fatigued by lying- too long in one 
 position. Thus the practice of inhumation did not 
 free men from the idea that the dead were still alive ; 
 and a whole series of folk-tales, Norse, Slavonic, Irish, 
 and Scots, represent the dead man coming in the 
 body from the tomb, sometimes devouring the living, 
 sometimes talking and feasting with them.-^ Here is 
 a Russian example. A peasant, passing a lonely 
 churchyard, was met by a stranger, who begged to 
 be taken on his cart. They entered a village; the 
 stranger bade the peasant draw up at the last house. 
 Bolts and locks flew open before him, and both 
 entered the dwelling. On a bench lay two sleepers, 
 whom the stranger struck on the back. The rosy 
 blood began to flow out, and with it he filled a pail 
 and drank till he could drink no more. Then said he, 
 ''It begins to grow light, let us return to my dwell- 
 ing." In a twinkling they were at the churchyard. 
 At that moment the cock crew, and the vampire dis- 
 appeared just as he was about to drag the peasant 
 into the grave. The men whose blood he had drunk 
 were found dead next morning. An Irish tale is 
 almost an exact variant of this ; but in it a girl has to 
 carry a dead man on her back from the grave to a 
 house, where he draws blood from three young men. 
 He mixes this with oatmeal, and gives the girl a share. 
 
 1 Ralston, p. 305. Keightley, p. 73. Douglas, xxi. Curtin, p. 
 156. In the Finnish legend of Donica the dead girl remains alive 
 after death, because the devil has taken possession of her body, and a 
 magic charm is tied under her arm. When this is removed she falls 
 lifeless. Cf. Southey's Legend of Donica. Demons take possession of 
 corpses, think the Hindus, Malays, and others, and vitalise them for 
 sinister purposes. In the belief of Servians and Bulgarians, demons 
 occupy the bodies of the dead, who then become vampires. The 
 vampire superstition is mainly found in lands occupied or influenced 
 by the Slavonic race. Cf. Ralston, op. cit.j Garnett, ii. 168 ; Bent, pp. 
 44, 74, 299. It is also found among the Celts and Scandinavians, 
 while a Negro Voodoo belief is curiously like it. See Folk-Lore^ 
 1894, p. 297. 
 
104 THE RENEWAL OF LIFE 
 
 which she hides. Then she asks whether there is any 
 cure for the victims. "None," he replies, "but if 
 some of the food had been left, three bits of it in the 
 mouth of each would restore them, and they would 
 never know of their death." After she has carried 
 him back and escaped by the cock's crowing, she is 
 able to resuscitate the youths. Perhaps the early 
 connection of Slavs and Celts, both members of Mr 
 Ripley's Alpine race, in eastern Europe, may account 
 for this and other parallels, not easily matched else- 
 where, in their folk-lore.^ 
 
 The Scots examples, mostly in ballad form, are 
 based on a curious belief that if the door of the death- 
 chamber be left ajar the corpse will sit up in bed, grin 
 horribly, and even talk to the living. Weird tales are 
 still told on the Borders of watchers by the dead being- 
 stricken with terror by this ghastly revival, and of 
 how a priest or a Presbyterian minister, passing the 
 lonely cottage, exorcised the corpse till it resumed the 
 calm of death. ^ In some ballads, like that of Young' 
 Benjie, this belief is utilised, and we learn how the 
 corpse of his sweetheart, fair Marjorie, "began to 
 thraw," and told how he had murdered her ; in others, 
 e.g., Lady Anne, the dead child returns from the grave 
 to reproach the mother who would never own him or 
 her own frailty ; • while in The Wife of Usher s Well 
 a woman entreats heaven to permit her three 
 sons, drowned at sea, to return — "come hame to 
 me, in earthly flesh and blood." Her prayer is 
 answered. The young men come back in the body 
 on Martinmas, they enjoy the feast prepared for them, 
 and a mother's heart is made glad. Then she sits by 
 
 1 Ralston, Songs of the Russian People, p. 411. Curtin, p. 156. In 
 a Tuscan tale two witches act in precisely the same way as this Irish 
 vampire, while the victim is revived when the sausage, made of his 
 own blood, touches his lips. Leland, E.R.R., p. 218. 
 
 2 The story is told of the famous Boston of Ettrick, author of The 
 Fourfold State. 
 
THE DEAD RIDER 105 
 
 their bedside and watches them through the nigfht. 
 At cock-crowing each says to the other, *' Brother, 
 we must awa!" 
 
 " The cock doth craw, the day doth daw, 
 The channerin' worm doth chide ; 
 Gin we be mist out o' our place, 
 A sair pain we maun bide." 
 
 And with these words they take a last farewell of 
 the stricken woman. The weird pathos of such 
 ballads, the cry of souls pierced with more than 
 earthly grief, can only be appreciated by those who 
 know the unwillingness of the southern Scot to dis- 
 play outward emotion.^ With them we may compare 
 a Pawnee tale, in which a dead mother returns to her 
 husband and children at his earnest request. Here 
 the condition of her return is that no one shall lift the 
 curtain of her sleeping place for four days.^ Through- 
 out West Africa, too, there is a current belief in the 
 Uvengwa, "the self-resurrected spirit and body of a 
 dead human being," with certain of his bodily parts 
 changed, e.g., the eye is in the forehead and the feet 
 are webbed. It is much feared, and is occasionally 
 confounded with the awful human Leopard, thirsting 
 for human flesh. ^ 
 
 The Dead Rider ballad cycle, known to every one 
 through Burger's Lenore, is connected with both the 
 Slavonic and Scots series, and is another example of 
 this branch of the subject. Its theme is that a dead 
 man summons some one dearly loved, child, or lover, 
 or wife, who rides with him on horseback, ignorant 
 
 ^ These ballads will be found in Scott's Minstrelsy. See also 
 Douglas, Scottish Fairy Tales, xxi. 
 
 - Grinnell, p. 129. In the sequel the wife disappears when another 
 of the man's wives calls her a ghost. In another tale a man would 
 have recovered his dead bride if he had refrained from mentioning her 
 name, p. 193. 
 
 ^ Nassau, pp. 71, 201. 
 
106 THE RENEWAi: OF LIFE 
 
 that he is really dead. Usually, as in the Icelandic 
 version, the livinjgf rider is carried to the churchyard 
 and only escapes being- taken into the dead man's 
 grave with great difficulty. Such a story exists even 
 among savages — a genuine Araucanian legend telling 
 how a dead lover returned to demand his betrothed 
 and carry her off to his grave. ^ While all such 
 stories suggest the horror and fear which the living 
 have for the dead, one and all seem to insist on that 
 firm belief of the living even in presence of the beloved 
 dead — 'Tis death is dead, not he ! In other tales, e.g,, 
 those of the Cinderella cycle and in some of the 
 Youngest Son group, the same belief is again exempli- 
 fied ; the dead parent acts from the grave and assists 
 the living.^ 
 
 We see, then, a great many facts which point to 
 the belief that the dead man is not really dead, that 
 the corpse or any part of it may be reanimated, while 
 to a practice of dismembering the body, dating at 
 least from late palaeolithic times, we may trace the 
 central incident of many folk- tales of this class. ^ If 
 the dead lived again there was no reason why the 
 dismembered corpse could not be restored also, and 
 to some primitive theory of the purpose of dismember- 
 ment now lost to us we may trace stories which told 
 how a dismembered corpse had been restored to life. 
 The primitive form of the story is doubtless found in 
 such examples as the American- Indian, Carib, or 
 Polynesian tales. Other groups, more elaborate, e.^., 
 those of the Covetous Companion or the Ogre's 
 
 ' Several versions exist. Dozon, p. 251, cites an Albanian one; 
 for the Icelandic, see Arnason, i. 173, and for an English variant, 
 County Folk- Lore : Suffolk, p. 81. The Araucanian story is referred 
 to by Mr Keane, in his Man: Past and Present, citing Dr Lenz. 
 
 2 See pp. 232, 267. 
 
 3 Mr Romilly gives a case where some esprits forts in New Guinea 
 killed some white men to see if they would bleed when speared, or if 
 they would come alive again. Obviously they held the belief that 
 revival was possible, as indeed we have already seen. 
 
THE MISSING MEMBER 107 
 
 Daughter, must have been based on these by the 
 clever story-teller of a far-distant past. The raison 
 d'etre of the missingf member is dimly adumbrated 
 in the Osiris myth with its North American and 
 Australian parallels, and is probably founded on some 
 primitive idea concerning the powers of gfeneration, 
 still hidden from our search. On the other hand, the 
 idea of the missing- member may simply be based on 
 the actual loss of some of the bones before interment 
 in the grave or deposition in the ossuary. In some 
 neolithic barrows it is found that parts of the skeleton 
 are wanting, and Canon Greenwell suggests that 
 ''one or more bones might be lost in the interval 
 between the removal of the flesh and their final 
 burying."^ Such an occasional loss would readily be 
 made to furnish a new episode in stories of the 
 restoration of the dismembered. 
 
 As in the first series of stories treated of in this 
 chapter, it is quite likely that the powers of the 
 magician, real or feigned, assisted the already exist- 
 ing belief Credible witnesses record the marvel- 
 lous powers of Pawnee medicine-men, who make 
 the most ghastly wounds in their "subjects," and 
 then restore them almost instantaneously, and it is 
 certain that they possess most marvellous healing 
 powers. Similar powers, real or feigned, are also 
 asserted of Mongol shamans, one of whom Richard 
 Johnson saw stab himself with a sword, then make 
 the sword red hot and pierce his body with it, the 
 point protruding from his back, so that Johnson 
 could touch it ; while we know that ancient Egyptian 
 magicians claimed to be able to cut a man's head off 
 and then restore it. We have seen how youths at 
 initiation are made to die and live again ; but some- 
 times they are said to be cut in pieces and restored, or 
 are made to witness similar treatment of others, as in 
 
 1 Op. cit., p. 1 8. 
 
108 THE RENEWAL OF LIFE 
 
 Australia, Ceram, and Fiji. In these last instances 
 the medicine-men only make-believe ; but in all cases, 
 whether pretended or real, it is obvious that they 
 would get the credit of such feats as our stories bear 
 witness to.^ 
 
 (3) Another form of early man's belief in continued 
 existence after death is borne witness to by other 
 groups of tales. The first of these includes some of 
 the Cinderella cycle, in which the dead mother (who 
 sometimes helps her child from the grave as already 
 noted) takes the form of an animal. I have shown 
 in a later chapter how the most primitive form of the 
 story made the actual animal the child's mother.^ 
 But as time went on the story was influenced by the 
 belief that men might assume some other form both 
 before and after death, and hence the animal mother 
 was explained as having been thus transformed either 
 at death or before death by means of sorcery. In 
 Corsican, Russian, Serbian, and other tales ^ the cow 
 is expressly stated to be the child's mother trans- 
 formed ; but mostly the animal is introduced without 
 this explanation, and it is only from its care of the 
 child both before and after death that we gather 
 the relationship. The usual form of the tale is that 
 the girl, ill-treated by her stepmother, is secretly fed 
 by the animal. This is discovered, and the step- 
 mother orders it to be killed. But before dying the 
 animal tells the girl to bury its bones (or, in some 
 cases, Roman, Chilian, directs her to look in its 
 carcase for some magical object, which produces rich 
 
 1 For the Pawnee evidence, see Grinnell, p. 377 seq. Mongols^ 
 Keane, Man: Past and Present^ p. 289; Hakluyt, p. 317 (1809). 
 Egyptians^ Petrie, i. 28 ; Budge, Egyptian Magic, pp. 19, 24. 
 Australia, J.A.L, xiv. 358 ; xvi. 47. Ceram, Frazer, ii. 354. Fiji 
 J.A.L, xiv. 22. 
 
 2 See p. 233. 
 
 2 Ortoli, p. 81. Ralston, p. 260. Mijatovich, p. 58. 
 
CINDERELLA 109 
 
 clothing, etc.)-^ What follows varies in different tales. 
 Sometimes the girl gets food, riches, dresses, or help 
 by going to the grave where the animal's bones are 
 buried. This occurs in the Scots tale of Rashin 
 Coatie, and in Georgian, Serbian, and Kashmir 
 variants. These stories are linked to others where 
 help is given from the grave of a dead parent.'^ But a 
 Kabyle version connects both together. Here the 
 mother is dead and buried, but the children have a 
 favourite cow (presumably the mother herself), and 
 when it is ordered to be killed they weep on the 
 grave of their mother, who bids them bury its entrails 
 there. They do so, and from the grave spring two 
 breasts, one of which supplies honey, the other 
 butter.^ 
 
 In other cases, after the animal or the mother is 
 buried a tree springs from the grave which, in turn, 
 assists the girl with advice and help, as in Finnish 
 and Russian versions, or in a Deccan story and in 
 the Indian story of Punchkin, feeds the children. 
 This is found out by the stepmother, who cuts it 
 down, whereupon milk flows from a cistern near the 
 grave.* More in line with our stories of dismember- 
 ment are Gaelic and Indian variants. The Gaelic 
 version makes the sheep say, " They are going to kill 
 me ; but steal thou my skin, and gather my bones and 
 roll them in my skin, and I will come alive again." 
 And so it happens, only the girl forgot to put 
 the little hoofs in, and the sheep was lame when it 
 came alive. But this did not hinder it from helping 
 
 1 Busk, p. 31. F.L.J. , iii. 31. 
 
 ■^ Folk-Lore^ i. 289. Wardrop, p. 63. Mijatovich, p. 58. Knowles, 
 p. 127. Cf. p. 368. 
 
 2 Riviere, p. 66. In an Esthonian variant the mother bids the 
 girl plant a tree on her grave. The tree then gives her advice. 
 Kirby, ii. 4. 
 
 * Schreck, Finn. Mdrch.^ ix. Ralston, 260. Old Deccan Days^ 
 p. I. 
 
110 THE RENEWAL OF LIFE 
 
 her. The bones, horns, and skin of the cow are 
 buried in the Indian story, and afterwards revive. 
 When the cow is to be killed it expressly orders the 
 child not to eat its flesh — a tabu quite explainable on 
 the theory that it is really the child's mother.^ In all 
 these stories we have the animal acting- as the fairy 
 godmother of Perrault's story. But the mother lives 
 ag"ain as a cow, who, when killed, is still active, or 
 actually comes alive again, or changes into some 
 other form. 
 
 A group of stories concerning a magic pipe which, 
 when played, reveals a ghastly tragedy, may be 
 illustrated by a Russian story. A peasant had three 
 daughters, whom he asked what he would bring them 
 from the market. The youngest chose a little silver 
 plate and a little silver apple. When she obtained 
 these, she said, " Roll, little apple, on the silver plate, 
 and show me towns and fields, and forests and seas, 
 lofty mountains and beautiful skies." The elder 
 sisters, jealous of the girl ^m voit tant de choses, like 
 La Fontaine's hero, and anxious to obtain her magic 
 mirror, killed and buried her beneath a birch tree, 
 telling their father that she was lost. But soon after 
 a shepherd cut a branch from the tree to make a pipe, 
 and as soon as he had made it the pipe said, *' I was 
 killed for the sake of my little silver plate and my 
 little apple." The father accompanied the shepherd 
 to the tree and dug up his daughter's body, and 
 now the pipe said, ''You will not bring me to life 
 again till you fetch water from the Czar's well." 
 With this she was restored to life; the Czar 
 married her; and she freely forgave her unworthy 
 sisters.^ 
 
 The distribution of this story is very wide ; but in 
 some variants the pipe is made from a bone of the 
 
 1 Campbell, ii. 306 (a curious instance of the lost limb. Cf. p. 98). 
 Calcutta Review, li. 121. 
 
 '-* Naake, p. 170. Cf. an Esthonian variant, Kirby, ii. 43. 
 
THE MAGIC PIPE 111 
 
 murdered person found protruding" from the grave 
 (Tyrol, Sicily, Naples, Spain, France, Germany).^ 
 Here, of course, the bone is regarded as still animated 
 by the spirit of the dead, in accordance with a wide- 
 spread belief that the soul resides in some particular 
 part of the body, frequently a bone. This is believed 
 by the Maoris, who think the backbone especially 
 sacred because the soul is in the spinal marrow, and 
 by the Caribs, who take a bone from a dead man's 
 grave, and preserve it carefully because the ghost is 
 able to speak through it and assist the owner. Many 
 races, too, preserve the bones of the dead in order 
 that the ghost may never be far away from the living.^ 
 But in many other tales (Tuscan, Portuguese, Spanish, 
 Catalan, Polish, Transylvanian), the pipe is not 
 merely made out of reeds or a tree growing beside 
 the grave, but the tree springs from the grave itself 
 (as in some of the Cinderella stories), and is, therefore, 
 either a reincarnation of the buried victim or the home 
 of his spirit.^ In other variants the victim is found still 
 living when the grave is opened; we have already 
 seen other instances of this. Many versions of the 
 story come from different parts of Africa — the 
 Dahoman variant is nearest the European. Here a 
 mushroom grows from the hero's grave, and is about 
 to be plucked by his mother, when it tells her how he 
 was murdered by his brother.* As told among the 
 Yaos of East Africa, the story runs that the brothers 
 envied a piece of cloth which could speak, and killed 
 their brother for it. The cloth then identified itself 
 with him and said, **They killed me, their youngest 
 
 ^ Schneller, No. 51. Pitre, No. 79. Crane, p. 40. Trad. pop. 
 espan.^ i. 196. Carnoy, p. 236. Grimm, No. 28. Cf. the Scots ballad 
 of Binnorie^ with Child's notes and the variants cited by him, Eng. and 
 Scott. Ballads^ i.; iii. 499 (1886). 
 
 2 Shortland, p. 107. Tylor, P.C., ii. 151. 
 
 ^ Gubematis, Novelline^ No. 20. Coelho, No. 40. Caballero, ii. 
 29. RondallayrCy i. 33. Wozcicki, p. 105. Haltrich, No. 42. 
 
 * Ellis, Yoruba^ p. 134. 
 
112 THE RENEWAL OF LIFE 
 
 brother, because they coveted my beautiful cloth." ^ 
 But the Basuto, Zulu, and Zanzibar versions tell 
 how the crime was discovered by a bird which, 
 after the murder, denounced the brothers. The 
 bird is a reincarnation of the victim,^ or possibly 
 the soul of the deceased, in accordance with a wide- 
 spread belief that the soul is a bird. In one Basuto 
 version the heart tells the story ; it is called a bird, 
 and in the sequel the murdered man is restored to life ; 
 while in another the heart is a bird, and when its 
 wingfs are pulled off, the girl who was killed steps out 
 of the feathers.^ I shall refer to a third Basuto tale 
 here, as it has some connection with this group of 
 stories as well as with those of the Unnatural Mother. 
 Mosimodi made use of her parents' magfic pot ; her sister 
 informed the parents, but told her that their mother 
 was not angry. As a result of this lie Mosimodi was 
 not watchful of events, and was killed and ground to 
 powder by her mother, who threw the dust into a pool. 
 There a crocodile moulded the powder into Mosimodi's 
 form, and she continued to live with him beneath the 
 waters. . Three times her sister's water-pot remained 
 fixed to the earth when* she went to draw water, and 
 as often Mosimodi appeared to her, singing the history 
 of her experiences, after which she beat her sister and 
 soiled the water. The third time her father witnessed 
 all, and begged her to come home, but she returned to 
 the water. However, the crocodile sent her home after 
 she had been ransomed with many cattle, saying that 
 if she was ill-treated again she must return to him, 
 because he loved her.* 
 
 A third group of stories is very elaborate, and 
 
 1 Steere, /.^./., i. 151. 
 
 2 Casalis, p. 339. Callaway, p. 217. With these stories should be 
 compared those of the Unnatural Mother cycle, p. 295. 
 
 ^ Jacottet, pp. 52, 99. See p. 129. 
 
 ^ Ibid.^ p. 232. The Magic Pot is tabu to the children, like the 
 Bird that made Milk, see p. 321. 
 
THE TWO BROTHERS 113 
 
 contains different types of a very ancient incident, 
 which occurs in the Egyptian tale of the Two Brothers 
 (see p. 127). After recovering- his heart, Bata trans- 
 formed himself into an Apis bull, which his unfaithful 
 wife caused to be killed. Two drops of the blood fell 
 on either side of the door, and from them grew up 
 two persea-trees, which told the woman they were 
 her husband. She ordered them to be cut down, but 
 a splinter flew into her mouth and caused her to bear 
 a son. The son was Bata himself, who, when he 
 came to the throne, put his wife-mother to death. 
 Incidents almost identical are found in various types 
 of folk- tales ; possibly all have sprung- from this 
 Egyptian version. It was a doctrine of Egyptian 
 theology that the g^od renewed himself in his son, as 
 Osiris did in Horus, the son being- simply the father 
 alive once more, as appears in the formula attached 
 to divine beings, *' husband of his mother."^ 
 
 In the stories of the first type there is a faithless 
 wife, or else a female enemy of the hero who changes 
 himself into a horse, which the woman causes to be 
 killed. The blood, in a Russian variant, becomes a 
 a g"oat, which is also killed ; from its head, or from 
 the horse's blood in the other variants, a tree springs 
 up. When this is cut down the chips turn into a fish 
 or duck, which, when it is pursued, jumps on shore 
 and takes the form of the hero once more, who then 
 metes out his vengeance. Among the variants of 
 this g-roup there are Russian, Hungarian, Lettish, 
 Roumanian, Hessian, French, and Italian.^ 
 
 A second type makes the victims the children of a 
 wife calumniated by a jealous woman, who takes her 
 place. Trees spring from their graves ; the woman 
 
 ^ Records of the Past^ ii. 137. See my Comparative Theology^ p. 90. 
 
 2 Rambaud, La Russie Epique, p. 377. Wolf, Schoensten Mdrchen, 
 i. 229. Chodzko, p. 368. ' Ausland^ 1858, p. 118. Wolf, p. 394. 
 Cabinet des F^es^ xxxi. 233. Basile, No. 49. It is significant that in 
 the Russian variant the wife's name is Cleopatra. 
 
 H 
 
114 THE RENEWAL OF LIFE 
 
 has them cut down and made into beds. Duringf the 
 night one plank says, '* It is the wicked stepmother 
 who sleeps on me," and the other replies, '' It is our 
 dear father who sleeps on me." The woman over- 
 hears and burns the planks ; two sparks leap into the 
 barley which a sheep is eating, and it then gives birth 
 to two lambs. These are killed by the stepmother, 
 but their entrails, washed in the river, turn into the 
 children. In a Russian variant the true mother eats 
 the entrails and then gives birth to sons, who recount 
 the truth to their father.^ 
 
 In the third type a wife is killed by a woman, who 
 then personates her, or by her husband s second wife. 
 She becomes a fish (Greek), flower (Deccan), or bird 
 (Annam), which is destroyed by the false wife. It 
 then becomes a tree, which in the Greek variant is 
 cut down. From a chip of the tree, or from its fruit 
 in the other versions, a girl emerges, who takes the 
 form of the murdered woman. ^ 
 
 1 Gubernatis, Z.M., i. 412. There are Wallachian (Schott, No. 8), 
 Serbian (Mijatovich, p. 227), Hungarian (Gaal and Stier, No. 9), 
 Gipsy (Miklosisch, p. 277), Transylvanian (Haltrich, No. i), Roumanian 
 {Ausland^ 1858, 118), and Indian (Miss Stokes, No. 2), variants. 
 
 2 Hahn, No. 49. Frere, No. 6. Landes, No, 22. Cf. an Indian 
 story, where a bamboo springs from the bones of a girl killed and 
 eaten by her brothers. The girl comes nightly out of the bamboo. 
 Folk-Lore, v. 85, and a Greek version of the Jealous Sisters group, 
 p. 359 infra. Girls emerge from citrons or oranges in Greek or ItaHan 
 tales after the hero has plucked and opened them — Garnett, ii. 18 ; 
 Crane, p. 340. 
 
 Many variants of a story occur in which a woman takes a bone or 
 part of a corpse from a grave and cooks it for supper, or steals its 
 clothes from the grave. For some nights in succession the dead man 
 comes and demands his property, and at last strangles the thief, who 
 denies all knowledge of the matter. Venetiafi^ Bernoni, Tradizioni^ 
 p. 125; German^ Grimm, iii. 267; Catalan^ Rondallayre^ ii. 180; 
 French^ Blade, No. 7 ; Cosquin, ii. 76 ; English^ Halliwell, pp. 25, 
 148 ; Italian^ Crane, p. 238. In Blade's version the ghost carries off 
 a child who has eaten his leg for medicine. Perhaps such tales 
 contain a survival of the idea that killing and eating an animal will 
 cause it to avenge itself on the eater. Hence savages frequently 
 pray to the animal to forgive them for taking its life. 
 
TREE-SPIRITS 115 
 
 Two widespread opinions concerning- the dead are 
 combined in these stories. When a tree or plant 
 springs from the grave of the victim, or from any part 
 of him, the identity of tree and victim is evident. So 
 a Dyak told Low that a bamboo bush had been a 
 man, whose ghost revealed the identity to his wife, 
 and that a man who had dared to cut off one of its 
 branches had died. Offering's were made to this 
 bush.^ Now Mr Grant Allen has argued (and these 
 folk-tales, though he does not refer to them, confirm 
 his theory) that "whatever comes up on or out of a 
 grave is counted as representative of the ghost within 
 it."^ The barrow or mound, carefully tended, and on 
 which sacrifices were left and libations of blood 
 poured out, became a fertile piece of ground, con- 
 spicuous for wealth of vegetation. Any tree growing- 
 there was assumed to be tenanted by the departed 
 spirit, or to be actually the dead man himself living- 
 once more as a tree.^ This readily explains why the 
 tree so persistently appears in all these various g-roups 
 of stories as identical with the dead person. And it 
 is confirmed by the common belief (held by English 
 peasant and Samoan), that the tree cries or bleeds 
 when it is cut. So the bushes which grew on the 
 barrow of Polydorus bled when ^neas plucked them 
 up, like Dante's trees in the Inferno. Actual instances 
 of the belief that sacred trees are the dead transformed, 
 or are the habitation of the ghost, are found in 
 Australia, the Philippine Islands, among the Damaras, 
 and the Santals, who hold that the good are trans- 
 formed into trees at death. ^ 
 
 1 Ling Roth, i. 265. 
 
 2 Evolution of the Idea of God^ p. 148. 
 
 2 Ibid.^ p. . 147. Cf also Tree- Worship in the same author's 
 edition of the Attis of Catullus. 
 
 ^ f.A.l., 1874, P- 175- G. Allen, p. 140. Galton, p. 201. Crooke, ii. 
 90. Legend, myth, ballad, and folk-tale from every European 
 country, as well as from India, China, Polynesia, Madagascar, 
 Guiana, Australia, North America, etc., tell how a tree or plant has 
 
116 THE RENEWAL OF LIFE 
 
 On the other hand, when the dead person 
 reappears in various animal forms in our stories, this 
 is to be explained as the reflection of another belief, 
 viz., that the dead may reappear as an animal. 
 Apart altogether from the philosophic or religious 
 doctrine of transmigration held by Hindus, Buddhists, 
 Mohammedans, or by ancient Egyptians, many of 
 the lower races believe in it as one form of their many- 
 sided conception of the future life. Sometimes this 
 is connected with totemism, as when it is thought that 
 at death a man assumes the form of his clan totem 
 — buffalo, deer, snake, etc. Or, as with Zulus, Kafirs, 
 and Dravidian aborigines, house-haunting animals like 
 the snake are firmly believed to be reincarnations of 
 the departed.^ Originating, doubtless, in these ideas, 
 the belief in transmigration into animals either of 
 all, or of certain individuals, or of the wicked, is 
 found widely extended. Ancestors reappear as deer 
 or cobras among the Dyaks, as lizards in New 
 Zealand, as lions in East Africa, as fire-flies in the 
 Solomon Islands, as birds, lizards, toads, crocodiles, 
 in South America ; while Eskimo, American- Indians, 
 and Polynesians hold similar, though less emphatic, 
 views. ^ Re-birth of a dead man or woman in the 
 next child born in the village is also held by 
 
 grown up from a human body or from part of it, buried in the ground. 
 The poetical form of the idea is that of trees growing from the graves 
 of two lovers — 
 
 " Out of her breast there sprang a rose, 
 And out of his a briar ; 
 
 They grew till they grew unto the church-top, 
 And there they tied in a true lover's knot." 
 
 ^ See my Religion: Its Origin and Forms ^ pp. 43, 51, 76. 
 
 2 Dyaks^ Boyle, Borneo, p. 229; Brooke, Sarawak, i. 151 ; New 
 Zealand, Angas, Australia and New Zealand, ii. 67 ; East Africa, 
 Livingstone, Miss. Trav., ii. 160 ; Solomon Islands, Guppy, S.I, p. 
 54 ; South America, Darwin, Voy. of Beagle, p. 243 ; Brett, p. 75 ; 
 Eskimo, Rink, p. 36; Amer.- Indians, Bancroft, iii. 521 ; Polynesians^ 
 Gill, p. 32. 
 
TRANSMIGRATION 117 
 
 Americans, north and south, by Ainos, Negroes, 
 Laplanders, and Australians. Moreover we find, 
 even among the peasantry of Europe, sporadic 
 instances, survivals of earlier beliefs akin to those 
 of these primitive races, of the reappearance of the 
 dead in some animal form.^ To all such ideas, so 
 widely prevalent and so deeply-rooted, may be attri- 
 buted the folk-tale incident of a man or woman not 
 only being- transformed into an animal, but actually 
 reappearing after death as a bull or cow, a horse, a 
 duck, or a fish, or being re-born of a woman in some 
 extraordinary way. The incidents are, in effect, the 
 simple and unexaggerated reflections of actually 
 existing beliefs. 
 
 ^ See Bent, p. 114; Leland, E.R.R., p. 178 seq.-, Cosquin, ii. 14 
 (Spain) ; Thorpe, N.M.^ ii. 94 ; iii. 161 (Germany and Sweden) ; 
 Choice Notes, p. 61 (England). 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE SEPARABLE SOUL 
 
 In a whole series of folk-tales there is found the idea 
 that someone's life, heart, or soul, may be separated 
 from him for purposes of safety, and that so long as it 
 remains concealed, its owner is immortal. This is, 
 as we shall see, the reflection of a working belief of 
 primitive man as of many present-day savages. It is 
 a striking example of savage psychology, while, like 
 the conceptions of the Water of Life and the Dis- 
 membered, it shows how unwilling early man was to 
 believe himself mortal. This idea of the Separable 
 Soul is closely connected with another, that of the 
 Life-token, which occurs in scores of folk-tales. The 
 Life-token is some object chosen by the hero, or 
 born with him, or which has been in vital contact 
 with him, and which shows in some unmistakable 
 way — withering, falling, bleeding, that he is in danger. 
 The connecting link between the Separable Soul and 
 the Life-token is found in tales where a person's life 
 is wrapped up with the existence of some object, 
 talisman, animal, lighted candle, etc. This idea 
 and that of the Life-token are, in fact, extensions 
 of the Separable Soul conception, though they may 
 also be dependent on the belief in sympathetic magic, 
 by which whatever is done to a part is^equally done 
 to the whole though separated from it, and vice versa, 
 I shall, however, give some examples of these 
 
 X18 
 
THE LIFE-TOKEN 119 
 
 kindred ideas first, before passing- on to stories 
 illustrating the main subject of this chapter. 
 
 Since the subject has been so exhaustively treated 
 by Mr Hartland in his Le^^end of Perseus, it seems 
 superfluous to cite examples of the Life-token idea, 
 and I only do so to illustrate the nature of the belief. 
 In many of the tales which belong to the Perseus 
 cycle a woman, having eaten a certain fish, gives 
 birth to the hero and his brothers. At the same time 
 the fish's scales or bones, having been placed in the 
 garden, produce bushes which are their life-tokens, 
 withering when they are in danger. Or in other 
 cases the life-token is the fish's blood, or one of its 
 bones which sweats blood ; but in all 'it is directly 
 connected with the supernatural birth of the brothers. 
 In what is probably the more primitive form of the 
 idea, some particular object chosen voluntarily by the 
 hero gives warning of his condition. When the 
 brothers separate they stick a knife into a tree, which 
 will turn rusty (German, Suabian, Tyrolese, Lettish) ; 
 or sweat blood, if harm happens to its owner 
 (Russian) ; or the knife thrust daily into a laurel by 
 the brother at home makes the tree flow with blood 
 when the hero dies (Breton).^ This voluntary choice 
 of a life-token occurs frequently outside the Perseus 
 cycle. Thus, in the Dancing- Water cycle the seekers 
 usually leave behind them a life-token — an apple 
 which "changes " when its owner is in trouble, or rots 
 when he is dead (Basque) ; a shirt which turns black 
 (Greek) ; a ring which tarnishes (Sicilian) ; or a knife 
 which is stained with blood (Arabian).^ A Mongol 
 tale (of Indian origin) tells how six youths each 
 planted a tree as they separated ; at the end of a 
 certain time, the withering of any of these trees would 
 show that its owner was suffering.^ The prince of a 
 
 ^ For convenience, I give the references in order as they occur in 
 the Legend of Perseus. See i. 17, 67, 56, 42 ; 44 ; 52. 
 - See p. 59. • Busk, p. 106. 
 
120 THE SEPARABLE SOUL 
 
 Russian tale goes to seek his wife, carried off by 
 Koshchei the Deathless, leaving- with his sisters his 
 silver spoon, fork, and snuff-box, which turn black 
 when he falls a victim to the demon. ^ In another of 
 the Koshchei series the connection of the life-token 
 with the hero is still more obvious, for he puts some 
 drops of his blood in a glass. These turn black when 
 he is about to die.^ Such life- tokens, as well as many 
 others, occur in various folk-tales ; their nature 
 differing- according- to the taste or imagination of the 
 inventor and his audience. From a lower civilisa- 
 tion the Kafir story of Sikulume may be cited. 
 Sikulume had left his bird in the hut of the cannibals 
 from whom he and his companions had escaped. He 
 determined to return for it, and sticking his assegai 
 in the ground, said, '* If it stands still, you will know 
 I am safe ; if it shakes, you will know I am running ; 
 if it falls down, you will know I am dead." Life- 
 tokens are found also in Basuto and Melanesian 
 tales. ^ 
 
 In such stories it is not explicitly said that the 
 hero's life is wrapped up with the life-token, but as the 
 next group of tales shows, it is evident that this is the 
 underlying idea. This is illustrated at a sufficiently 
 remote period by the classical stories of Meleager 
 and of the son of Silvia. At the birth of Meleag-er 
 the Fates pointed to a burning- brand, and said his 
 life would last so long as it was unconsumed. His 
 mother, having extinguished it, hid it in a chest, but 
 one day, enraged at her son's conduct, she took it out 
 and threw it on the fire, when he died in great agony.* 
 This is paralleled by the Roman story of the son whom 
 
 1 Ralston, p. 91. 2 Ralston, p. 102. 
 
 3 Theal, p, Tj. Jacottet, pp. no, 211, 266. See p. 282 infra. 
 
 * Hyginus, cap. 171, 174. In the mediseval romance of Ogier the 
 Dane, when Morgan le Fay releases him from fairyland to fight the 
 paynim, she gives him a brand which is to be preserved from burning, 
 for so long as it is unconsumed, so long will his life last. 
 
ROSE-QUEEN 121 
 
 Silvia had by Mars. The god gave her a spear 
 with which the child's fate was bound up. Years 
 after, he slew her brothers, and in anger she burned 
 the spear, when the youth expired.^ A modern 
 Greek tale shows clearly that the Life-token has 
 something more than an accidental connection with 
 its owners life. A dervish tells a queen, who has 
 three sons, to plant as many pumpkins, and that 
 in their fruit will reside her sons' strength. The 
 eldest son turns ill, and it is found that his pumpkin 
 is gone. So it happens to the second son, but both 
 he and his brother are too weak to pursue the negro 
 who has stolen them. The youngest son does so, 
 slays the negro, and recovers the fruit, after which 
 his brothers become strong again. ^ Similarly, the 
 lives of the Spanish Rose-queen and her sisters are 
 bound up with three lighted candles. Rose-queen has 
 taken the place of the true queen, and caused her eyes 
 to be put out. The queen's daughter, guided by 
 St Joseph, enters the secret chamber of the enchanted 
 castle where the candles are kept. Two of these she 
 extinguishes, and two of the sisters fall dead. She 
 carries home the third, and asks her father to choose 
 between his true wife and Rose-queen. He chooses 
 the former, and the maiden tells him to blow out the 
 candle, causing the death of Rose-queen.^ 
 
 From several Oriental tales we gather that a man's 
 life may depend upon a talisman or necklace which 
 he wears, and in fact it is "a common belief that 
 good and bad fortune, and life itself, can be made to 
 depend on its being removed from the wearer's neck." "* 
 Folk-tale and actual belief in this case coincide, and 
 in both we note the influence of the doctrine of sym- 
 pathetic magic, that whatever has been in contact 
 with a man can influence his personality. A Kashmir 
 tale relates that Panj Phul would not part with her 
 
 ^ Plutarch, Parallela^ p. 26. -^ Legrand, p. 191. 
 
 ^ F. L.J.J ii. 249. ^ Knowles, p. 467. 
 
122 THE SEPARABLE SOUL 
 
 necklace, because it contained the secret of her life 
 and was a charm against danger and sickness.^ A 
 Mongol Khan lost his life-preserving talisman, and 
 all the soothsayers of his kingdom could not find it. 
 At last a poor man, pretending to be a diviner, told 
 where it was, because he had seen it fall from the 
 Khans neck. Another Khan was less fortunate. 
 He bade a poor wretch steal his talisman, or else he 
 would put him to death. In spite of all precautions 
 and guards this Eastern Master Thief succeeded, at 
 the same time subjecting the guards to various 
 indignities. The Khan, forgetting that the man still 
 held his talisman, ordered his instant execution, when 
 the thief promptly dashed it against a stone, "and, 
 behold, the blood poured out of the nose of the Khan, 
 until he died."^ The life of an Indian prince is still 
 more elaborately secured, for it is bound up with the 
 life of a boal-fish. In its heart is a box, in the box 
 a golden necklace, which is the prince's life. The 
 king's second wife discovered this secret, and being 
 jealous of the boy, had the fish caught. That moment 
 Dalim felt ill, and when the necklace was removed 
 from the fish he died. His body was shut up in a 
 lonely palace. Meanwhile the jealous queen wore the 
 necklace by day and put it off at night, and thus each 
 night Dalim was restored to life only to die next 
 morning. A girl, of whom it had been prophesied 
 that she would marry a dead bridegroom, discovered 
 him. He fell in love with her at first sight, and said 
 he was the dead bridegroom, without explaining how 
 this could be. Next morning the girl was naturally 
 astonished to find a dead man by her side, and still 
 more astonished when, at evening, he came back to 
 life. For seven years this went on, till Dalim's 
 wife, disguised as a barber, recovered the neck- 
 
 ^ Knowles, p. 467. A similar story is told in the Deccan, cf. 
 Old Deccan Days. 
 ■' Busk, pp. 55, 133. 
 
THE CHURINGA 123 
 
 lace from the jealous queen, who was then buried 
 alive. ^ 
 
 Among- savages the idea is a familiar one. The 
 Cabindas, an African tribe, bind a mirror round the 
 image of their household divinities for purposes of 
 divination. Quenquea, king of the Remba, had one 
 of these mirrors, and refused to part with it, telling 
 Mr Win wood Reade that if the glass were to break 
 he would instantly die.^ Probably he would have 
 died, just as the savage who finds he has broken a 
 tabu dies out of sheer fright. With the American- 
 Indians the external life idea takes various forms. 
 The Dene Hare-skins relate that Etwa-eke, their 
 mythical evil one, had a stone hatchet, armed with 
 which none could overcome him. Without it he was 
 like other men. At last he was slain and burned, 
 when his hatchet came forth from the ashes and 
 resuscitated him. He was thus immortal so long as 
 the hatchet remained intact.^ Among other races we 
 find, as an actual working belief, that a man's person- 
 ality, life, or strength is bound up with some external 
 object. Conversely, among the Samoyedes of Tomsk, 
 each man has an idol god which, at the death of its 
 worshipper, is supposed to die too, and, at all events, 
 is thrown into the river.* The Arunta of Central 
 Australia have a curious, though not uncommon, idea 
 that conception takes place independently. It occurs, 
 they think, through an ancestral spirit entering into 
 a woman, so that when a child is born, he or she is a 
 reincarnation of that spirit. Now each spirit has a 
 sacred stone called a churinga, which it drops on the 
 ground on entering the woman. This churinga, or 
 a wooden one representing it when it cannot be found, 
 is placed in the Ernatalunga or cave of sacred things, 
 
 1 Day, p. I. 
 
 ^ Reade, Savage Africa^ p. 542. Cf. the popular idea of ill-luck 
 following the breaking of a mirror. ^ Petitot, p. 218. 
 
 ^ Abercromby, Pre- and Proto- Historic FiiDis^ i. 158. 
 
124 THE SEPARABLE SOUL 
 
 and only looked at by its owner on the most solemn 
 occasions. It is in fact more or less bound up with 
 his life, if it does not contain his soul. Thus when a 
 man is ill he sends for his churingfa, scrapes a little of 
 it off, mixes the powder with water, and drinks it. 
 The mixture strengthens him, because he absorbs the 
 essence of the stone endowed with his own or rather 
 his spirit-incarnation's attributes. If he carries it 
 when fighting-, he obtains courage and accuracy of 
 aim, at the same time depriving his opponent of these 
 qualities. If it comes to grief, though the man does 
 not die like the Khan with his talisman, he expects ill 
 luck ; while all churinga are tabu to women, who are 
 not even allowed to see their own.^ Among the 
 people of Mota, Melanesia, a lizard, snake, or stone 
 is selected, and becomes a man's tamaniM. The man's 
 life is bound up with it and with its safety ; if it dies, 
 or gets broken, or lost, the man will die. The choice 
 of a tamaniu is made by placing in a heap the herbs 
 from which a special drink has been made ; the first 
 living thing seen in or on the heap becomes the 
 tamaniu} 
 
 We have seen how, in European folk- tales, a tree 
 is a common life-token. Among the Tasmanians it 
 was usual to select a tree as representing the person 
 who chose it. It was regarded as their inviolable 
 property, at all times to be held sacred.^ The Ainu 
 have a similar custom. When a child is born his 
 father makes an ''inao" out of a willow, setting it up 
 in a stand made of reeds. It is regarded as the child's 
 guardian, is implored to give him long life, while the 
 child, when grown up, worships it. The belief is that 
 the life of an Ainu is bound up with this willow, which 
 he calls his "backbone." A man made one of soft 
 wood which rotted and fell down. Soon after, its 
 owner died. Hence, if an inao is seen to be rotting, 
 
 ^ Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes^ p. 132 seq. 
 
 ■^ Codrington, p. 251. ■* Ling Roth, p. 60. 
 
BIRTH TREES 125 
 
 it should be carefully burned and a new one set up. 
 As long- as Its owner lives, an inao exercises strong 
 influence over his life and personal comfort.^ The 
 custom of connecting- the life of a child with that of a 
 tree is found in various parts of Africa, in the Pacific 
 Islands, and in the Malay Archipelago. With the 
 Papuans and the people of Gaboon and the Cameroons, 
 if the tree dies or is cut down it is believed that the 
 child will die. Elsewhere, as in Sierra Leone, Calabar, 
 among the Maoris and the Dyaks, misfortune is sure 
 to follow in such a case. This custom must have 
 been common among the ancestors of many European 
 nations, for it is occasionally found as a fossil among 
 the peasantry in England, France, Germany, Italy, 
 and Russia.^ 
 
 These examples, taken along- with the actual use 
 made of the custom in folk-tales, show that the Life- 
 token is, in reality, the life itself, through that subtle 
 bond of connection which the pseudo - science of 
 primitive minds imag-ines to exist between things 
 which have once been in contact, or which may 
 merely have been linked together in thought. Hence 
 if an enemy g-et hold of a man's nail-clippings or hair- 
 clippings, or any such unconsidered trifles, he can 
 work him deadly harm through them. Possibly for 
 the same reason, a woman in the Swan Maiden g-roup 
 of stories is subject to her male captor just so long 
 as he can retain her feather dress. ^ At all events we 
 
 1 Batchelor, pp. 86, 93, 99, 235. 
 
 2 For references, see Ploss, Das Kind^ i. 78 ; Frazer, iii. 391-3. 
 Reinach, " La Chene dans la Medecine populaire " {DAntkropologie, 
 iv. 33), points out that in various parts of France, the sapling through 
 whose split trunk a rickety child is passed in order to heal it, is after- 
 wards regarded as bound up with its life. To cut it down would place 
 the child's life in peril, and render the person who did so liable to 
 take the disease himself. 
 
 3 Cf. p. 347 infra. A large collection of Swan Maiden tales is 
 given by Hartland, Science of Fairy TaleSy ch. 10, 11. Cf. Baring- 
 Gould, p. 561 seq. 
 
126 THE SEPARABLE SOUL 
 
 see some connection between the hair-clipping theory 
 and the Swan Maiden's feather dress in a Micmac 
 story, where a man captures a sea maid by obtaining 
 her hair-string-, which was her charm or life, and 
 without which she could not live.^ 
 
 By a natural transition we are now led on to a 
 group of tales belonging- to this cycle, in which the 
 hair plays an important part as the seat of life or 
 strength. The classical story of Nisus, king of 
 Megara, tells how his fate was bound up with a 
 purple hair in his head. His daughter, the lover of 
 Minos of Crete, his enemy, cut the hair out while her 
 father slept, so that he fell an easy victim in the next 
 fight. Equally treacherous was Comoetho, daughter 
 of Pterelaus, to whom Poseidon had given a golden 
 hair which made him immortal.^ These classical 
 legends are repeated in the folk-tales of modern 
 Greece. To take one example out of many, a hero 
 has overcome the Turkish Agha, but cannot kill him. 
 His friend the stork knows the reason why, and 
 proceeds to pull a white hair out of the magician's 
 black head-covering. On this hair depended his life, 
 and he immediately expired.^ A curious turn is given 
 to the idea in a Servian story, where a red hair cut by 
 a peasant from a girl's head is sold to the king, and 
 reveals "the story of many marvellous secrets of 
 nature, and of things that had happened since the 
 creation of the world."* This red hair is evidently 
 at bottom the life-hair, but has become a kind of 
 magic mirror. Hair as a life-token is found among the 
 Eskimo. Kujanguak is in great danger, but finally 
 escapes. Meanwhile, his mother has missed a lock 
 of hair, which is of bad omen for her son. Soon after 
 it appears again in its proper place on her forehead, 
 
 1 Leland, p. 282. For other uses of the hair-string, especially in 
 Australia, see Crawley, p. 108. 
 
 2 Hyginus, cap. 198. Apollodorus, ii. 4 seq. 
 
 '^ Garnett, ii. I75- ^ Naake, p. 41. 
 
THE TWO BROTHERS 127 
 
 and she now knows that he is safe.^ A story from 
 Sumatra is so like the Greek variant as to make one 
 ask whether it is original. A Nias chief was captured 
 by his enemies, who found they could not kill him. 
 But his wife informed them that his life was bound 
 up with a hair on his head as hard as copper wire. 
 His death followed as soon as this hair was plucked 
 out.^ The hair incident in the Hebrew story of 
 Samson and Delilah may be compared, and it is 
 paralleled by one of Hahn's Greek tales, where a 
 man's mother pulls out three golden hairs in which 
 his strength lies. He becomes as weak as water, 
 and falls an easy victim to his enemies.^ 
 
 I now proceed to cite various tales in which, so to 
 speak, we see the process of hiding one's life at work. 
 The classical instance is, of course, the ancient 
 Egyptian story of the Two Brothers, which contains 
 both the incident of the Life-token and that of the 
 Separable Soul. It is found in a papyrus of the 
 fourteenth century B.C., but in whole or in part is 
 probably of much older date. Bata, having been 
 unjustly accused, like Joseph, by his brother Anpu's 
 wife, fled when Anpu sought his life. He was able to 
 vindicate his innocence, but to protect himself the 
 better, he took his heart out of his body and hid it in 
 the flower of an acacia-tree, so that it could only fall if 
 the tree were cut down. He told Anpu that if this 
 happened he must come in search of his heart and 
 seek it, even if it were for seven years. His death 
 would be revealed to Anpu by the beer in his vessel 
 at home beginning to boil. They now took leave of 
 each other, and a wife having been made for Bata by 
 the god Noum, he told her the secret of his life. A 
 
 ^ Rink, p. 44. The Eskimo believe that things belonging to the 
 absent can, by certain signs, announce their death or danger. 
 
 ^ Frazer, iii. 386, quoting Allge?neine Missions — Zeitschrift^ xi. 453. 
 
 3 Hahn, i. 217. Cf. many tales in which a girPs hair floating down 
 a stream and found by a man causes him to fall in love with her. 
 
128 THE SEPARABLE SOUL 
 
 lock of her hair was carried down the river and taken 
 to the Pharaoh, who bade search to be made for its 
 owner. She was found, and became the Pharaoh's 
 wife, advising- him to cut down the acacia tree, thus 
 causing Data's death. This was done ; the beer 
 began to boil ; and Anpu set out on the quest of 
 Bata's heart. For three years he sought it, and 
 then, as Bata had directed him, placed it in water. 
 As it absorbed the water the mummy of Bata trembled 
 and looked at Anpu. Then he gave Bata the 
 water to drink. With it he swallowed his heart, and 
 became as he had been before.^ 
 
 The incident of the separable heart need not have 
 been borrowed by the early Egyptians, but may have 
 originated with them independently. The heart, 
 rather than the soul or life is mentioned, because in 
 Egyptian belief, the heart was the fountain of the 
 blood, and therefore the life. For this reason the 
 heart, removed from the corpse in the process of 
 mummification, was replaced by an artificial one, 
 which, however, was liable to be carried off by a half- 
 human, half-bestial monster called the Destroyer of 
 Hearts.^ A Hottentot story, in which the treatment 
 
 1 Bata was subsequently changed into an Apis bull, then into two 
 persea-trees, a splinter of which fell into the mouth of his wife, of 
 whom he was reborn, p. 113 supra. Mr Flinders-Petrie thinks an 
 earlier Egyptian story has been added to by a Ramaside scribe tack- 
 ing on pieces of the Phrygian Attis myth and borrowing the name, 
 which took the form of Bata. Attis, we know, was transformed into 
 a pine tree. Perhaps tree-worship gave rise to the folk-tale, if, as has 
 been seen, and as Mr Grant Allen suggests {The Attis of Catullus)^ 
 tree-worship is a form of ancestor-worship, the tree growing on the 
 grave being identified with the person buried below. What concerns 
 us here, however, is the incident of the separable soul or heart, which 
 takes us back to primitive psychology at once. For the tale itself, see 
 Flinders-Petrie, ii. 36 ; Records of the Past, ii. 137 ; Maspero, p. 5. 
 
 2 The Book of the Dead contains chapters for providing a new 
 heart, as well as for overcoming the Destroyer. The idea of the 
 heart as the seat of life recurs among the Red Indians and in ancient 
 Mexico, where the palpitating heart of the victim was torn out and 
 offered to the gods. Reville, Hibbert Lectures, p. 43. 
 
AFRICAN TALES 129 
 
 of the heart of a dead woman has affinities with this 
 early Egyptian tale, and may possibly have reached the 
 Hottentots from Egyptian sources, may most fitly be 
 referred to here. A lion killed and ate a girl ; then, 
 having" put on her skin, dress, and ornaments, person- 
 ated her in her mother's kraal. At night, when in 
 bed, the lion was discovered by some of his hair 
 hanging outside the girl's skin, and he was at once 
 burned to death. The heart of the girl jumped out 
 of his body, and was placed by the mother in a 
 calabash of milk. As it increased in size it took the 
 form of the girl, while the calabash also grew larger. 
 Meanwhile she came out in her mother's absence and 
 tidied up the hut, bidding a hare say he had done it. 
 But her mother would not believe the hare, and dis- 
 covered her daughter safe and sound once more.^ 
 Here the heart is not only the life, but almost a kind 
 of embryo as well, which grows up and becomes a 
 replica of its original owner. 
 
 In a Basuto tale with a Zulu parallel, a girl is 
 eaten by were-animals in whose charge, as men, she 
 has been sent to her betrothed. Her heart escapes, 
 and as a bird joins some doves ; they visit the hut of 
 the husband's sister, who suspects that the beautiful 
 bird may be the lost wife, and bids her husband come 
 and see for himself He seized hold of the bird ; its 
 wings came apart, and there stepped forth the 
 girl herself, whole and beautiful as ever. In other 
 Basuto tales we have the heart escaping as a bird ; 
 I have referred to one in the previous chapter.^ 
 Even among the Australian black fellows we find the 
 separable heart conception in a traditional legend. 
 
 ^ Bleek, p. 50. 
 
 2 Jacottet, p. 99. The girl and her brother were children of a 
 childless woman. Doves took a drop of blood from each of her 
 breasts, placed the blood with seeds of sorgho in two calabashes, and 
 bade her cover them up. One day she heard voices coming from the 
 calabashes, and on opening them found a beautiful boy and girl. 
 
 I 
 
130 THE SEPARABLE SOUL 
 
 Two mischievous spirits (Oruntja) were pursued and 
 killed by the relations of a man whom they had eaten. 
 Their hearts came out of their bodies and lay growl- 
 ing on the ground. The avengers, thinking the 
 Oruntja were not properly dead, returned and speared 
 the bodies; still the growling continued. After a 
 second and a third returning, they resorted to a 
 stratagem. Two of the party remained behind 
 hidden. The hearts, which always ceased growling 
 as soon as the men returned, began again, thinking 
 the coast was clear. Then the watchers took the 
 hearts and, making a fire, consumed them utterly. 
 Perhaps the hearts might have gone into the bodies 
 and resuscitated them, but for this treatment which 
 is so curiously like that meted out to vampires in 
 Europe.^ 
 
 The separable heart also occurs in a Samoyede 
 tale. Seven brothers killed a woman and abducted 
 her daughter. They had a custom of taking out 
 their hearts and sleeping without them, and they now 
 gave them every night to the girl to hang them up on 
 the tent pole. Her brother came to the hut when the 
 men were asleep, took possession of the hearts, and 
 entering the tent with them, found the heartless 
 brothers at the point of death. In vain they begged 
 him to give them back their hearts ; he was as 
 obdurate as ever was the Maid of Athens, and fling- 
 ing six of the hearts to the ground, killed six of the 
 brothers. He promised to restore his heart to the 
 seventh if he would give him back his mother in life. 
 The brother informed him that her spirit was in a 
 bag, which he was to shake so that the spirit "might 
 breathe over her bones " ; she would then return to 
 life. In this way he restored his mother, but 
 immediately after hurled the seventh heart to the 
 
 ^ Spencer and Gillen, Northern Tribes^ p. 447. See p. 102 for the 
 vampire belief. 
 
THE MONKEY'S LIVER 131 
 
 ground, breaking- his promise in the approved manner 
 of folk- tale heroes.^ Compare with this a Malagasy 
 tale in which a deity marries a woman and then 
 wishes to espouse her cousin also. The jealous first 
 wife causes her death by taking out her liver. The 
 dead woman's younger sister weeps at her grave and 
 bids her rise. '* I cannot, for I am dead," she replies. 
 Then the husband got possession of the liver, put it 
 back in her body, after which she came to life again. 
 Her cousin was put to death. A Siamese story relates 
 how Thossakin, king of Ceylon, could take his soul 
 out of his body and place it in a box. This he did 
 whenever he went to war, thus becoming invulnerable. 
 Before fighting with Rama he left the box with a 
 hermit, and Rama could not pierce him with his arrows, 
 try as he might. But his ally Hanuman discovered 
 through divination where Thossakin's soul was, and 
 having taken the form of the king, obtained the box 
 from the hermit, crushed it in his hands, and at once its 
 owner fell dead. The idea is a familiar one in Eastern 
 folk-tales, for in the Panchatantra a monkey relates 
 that he never leaves the forest where he lives without 
 leaving his heart hidden in the hollow of a tree. 
 Curiously enough, among the Swahilis we find a 
 monkey asserting the same. He was in the habit of 
 feeding a shark with fruit from a tree. One day the 
 shark invited him to come to his home in the sea. 
 Off they set, but on the way the shark said, *'Our 
 sultan is ill, and nothing can cure him but a monkey's 
 heart." ''But don't you know," replied the monkey, 
 "that we always leave our hearts in trees, and go 
 about with our bodies only?" and made good his 
 escape. There is a Japanese parallel to this, in which 
 the monkey's liver is required for the Queen of the 
 Sea. After he has been conducted to her palace 
 
 ^ Gastrin, p. 174. The seven brothers with one (abducted) wife 
 may be a relic of polyandry, like the Lapp story of the Giant Bird in 
 which two lads have one king's daughter as wife. 
 
132 THE SEPARABLE SOUL 
 
 beneath the waves, he is told this by the jelly-fish, 
 and at once says that he always keeps his liver at 
 home. *' It is raining ; my liver will decay, and I will 
 die," and so saying he starts off, as he said, to fetch 
 it, taking good care, however, not to go back again 
 to sea.^ 
 
 We may be sure that what is predicated of monkeys 
 was once believed possible for men also. It may, 
 however, be only some mythical person who has this 
 power, as in a Navajoe story, where a maiden who 
 can turn herself into a bear, becomes a great warrior 
 and is invulnerable, because before going into battle 
 she took out her vital organs and hid them, replacing 
 them on her return. Possibly some such conception 
 of the separable life was known to the early Hebrews, 
 surviving in later times as a figure of speech, as where 
 Abigail says to David that should anyone seek his 
 soul they will not find it, for it is ''bound in the 
 bundle of life with the Lord thy God," who, on the 
 other hand, will sling out the souls of his enemies. 
 It is evident that the underlying thought is the safety 
 of the soul outside the body so long as it is preserved 
 in '"the bundle of life. "^ 
 
 We shall see later that these folk-tales are really 
 the reflection of actual custom. Let us note mean- 
 while that in folk-tale, as in custom, the life (heart, 
 soul, etc.) may be removed by an enemy to cause 
 death or harm. A Polish knight took a witch 
 prisoner, but while he was asleep she struck his 
 breast with an aspen twig till it opened. Then she 
 took out his heart, substituting for it the heart of a 
 hare. Thus he became an arrant coward and died of 
 his fears. ^ Another witch in a Russian tale torments 
 
 ^ Ferrand, p. 'j'j. Bastian, Die Voelker des Oestlichen Asiens, iv. 
 340. Steere, p. i. Griffis, p. 144. 
 
 2 Bureau of Ethnology, Fifth Annual Report^ p. 407. i Samuel 
 XXV. 29. See Journal of Theol. Studies^ iii. 327. 
 
 3 Naake, p. 36. 
 
MALBROUK ^ 133 
 
 a prince whose heart she has obtained, by seething it 
 in her devil's cauldron, while in a Mongol story a 
 dead Khan is restored to life by his wife, after terrible 
 trials, recovering- his heart from the sorcerers who 
 have taken possession of it.^ We have seen how, in 
 the Samoyede story of the seven brothers, the soul of 
 the murdered woman is kept in a bag. Thus what 
 various persons do for safety, other evilly-disposed 
 people, sorcerers, etc., can do for their own evil ends. 
 But whenever the life is separated voluntarily from 
 the body, it is safe just so long as its hiding-place is 
 safe, and until an enemy gets hold of it. This 
 introduces us to a widespread cycle of stories, of 
 which there are scores of variants, and in which the 
 idea is dramatised in the most skilful way. In every 
 case, too, it should be noted that the being who hides 
 his life away is always wicked and most usually 
 supernatural. In most variants this being has stolen 
 away a girl, who worms the secret of his life out of 
 him, reveals it to the hero (her lover, brother, hus- 
 band, etc.), who then compasses the death of the 
 ravager. 
 
 I shall cite with some detail a Basque story, which 
 may be taken as typical of this cycle. Malbrouk was 
 the youngest of three brothers, and succeeded where 
 they failed in rescuing two daughters of a king 
 from the monsters who had abducted them. He had 
 more difficulty in discovering the third, but at last 
 succeeded, only to be told that he had better flee, as the 
 monster without a soul was coming. At once he 
 transformed himself into an ant and hid in the girls 
 bosom, bidding her ask the monster what she would 
 do if he were to die. The monster, on being asked 
 this, informed her he was deathless, and after much 
 coaxing said, ''You must kill a terrible wolf which is 
 in the forest, and inside him is a fox, in the fox Is a 
 
 ^ Ralston, p. 114; Busk, p. 10. 
 
134 THE SEPARABLE SOUL 
 
 pigeon; this pigreon has an egg in his head, and 
 whoever should strike me on the head with this egg- 
 will kill me. But who will know all that ? Nobody." 
 Malbrouk, however, has heard all. A wolf, a dog-, a 
 hawk, and an ant have previously, out of gratitude, 
 told him how to take their shapes. In the form of a 
 wolf he kills the monster's wolf That moment the 
 monster complains to the girl that something must be 
 going to happen. Malbrouk opens the wolf; out 
 jumps the fox, and is pursued by the hero in the form 
 of a dog. After a long pursuit and fight, he kills it. 
 The pigeon flies off, followed by Malbrouk as a hawk. 
 At last he obtains the egg, which he takes to the 
 girl, bidding her act now. The monster comes 
 staggering in, crying that it is all over with him. At 
 once she strikes him on the forehead with the tggy 
 and he falls dead. That Malbrouk and the princess 
 married and lived happily ever after, need hardly be 
 said.^ In this story, as in many variants, the dramatic 
 situation is cleverly helped out by the grateful animals, 
 who fit in neatly with those in which the monster's 
 life is concealed, and help the hero always at the 
 psychological moment. 
 
 A neat turn is given to the story as told in 
 Lorraine. A lion, an ant, and an eagle have given 
 the hero weapons and the power of taking their shape, 
 so that he is able to kill the six-headed beast who 
 guards the imprisoned princess. In the last head he 
 finds three eggs, and by her advice he throws one at 
 the giant's head. The giant turns ill. He throws 
 the second egg, and kills him. Then the third, thrown 
 at the wall, causes a beautiful carriage drawn by four 
 horses to appear, and in it hero and princess drive 
 away.^ The Breton variant describes the giant's life 
 as being in an egg, in a dove, in a hare, in a wolf, 
 which lives in a coffer at the bottom of the sea. 
 
 ^ Webster, p. 82. ^ Cosquin, i. 166. 
 
THE GIANT WITH NO HEART IN HIS BODY 135 
 
 " And who do you think will be able to kill me now ? "' 
 says he, not knowing" that death is near.^ There are 
 many Celtic variants of the story, and in nearly all 
 the hero has had to experience many trials before he 
 could win his love. He has no sooner done so than 
 she is carried off by a giant. This sad fate befell the 
 youngf king of Easaidh Ruadh. He was assisted in 
 his search by a dog, a falcon, and an otter, and at 
 last reached the giant's den, where his wife hid him. 
 She then set about enquiring where the giant kept 
 his soul. He told her, first, that it was in the 
 *' Bonnach stone," then in the threshold, and seeing 
 that she treated these with respect, revealed the 
 secret. "There is a flagstone under the threshold. 
 There is a wether under the flag. There is a duck in 
 the wether's belly, and an Ggg in the belly of the duck, 
 and it is in the eg^ that my soul is." The friendly 
 dog- pulled out the wether; the falcon caught the 
 duck as it flew away ; :and the otter recovered the 
 Ggg from the ocean, into which it had rolled. It only 
 remained to crush the egg, and so put an end to the 
 giant. This incident recurs in "The Sea- Maiden," 
 a story belonging to a different cycle.^ In this case 
 a sea-beast captures the king's daughter, but her 
 husband is told by a smith that the soul of the beast 
 is in an egg, in a trout, in a hoodie, in a hind which 
 lives on an island in the midst of the loch. 
 
 Among Norse variants that of "The Giant with 
 no Heart in his Body" is well known. It is closely 
 paralleled by the North German version. Six 
 brothers set out to seek wives, leaving their youngest 
 brother at home, but promising to bring him a wife. 
 On their way they pass the house of an old man who 
 bids them bring him a wife. Returning with seven 
 sisters, they refuse to give him the youngest, and all 
 save this one are turned to stone. She tells the old 
 
 1 Luzel, V. 13. Campbell, i. 10, 82. 
 
136 THE SEPARABLE SOUL 
 
 man she is uneasy lest he should die. *' I cannot die ; 
 for I have no heart in my breast." Then he tells her 
 it is in the coverlet ; she decorates that with flowers. 
 So also she treats the house door, till at last he tells her 
 the truth. In a solitary place is a church secured by 
 iron doors, and in it is a bird. " So long- as it lives I 
 cannot die, and no one can catch it." Soon after the 
 seventh brother comes to the house and tells the girl 
 his story. She in turn discloses the old man's secret, 
 and helped by an ox, a boar, and a griffin whom he 
 has fed, he obtains the bird. The old man turns ill. 
 Then the youth gives the bird a pinch ; he swoons. 
 Finally the bird is squeezed to death, and the man 
 dies. All the brothers and their wives are then 
 restored to life by means of the old man's magic 
 rod.i 
 
 In several Russian variants Koshchei the Death- 
 less is the being- whose life is not in his body. One 
 version relates how he stole Prince Ivan's mother. 
 Ivan arrives at the palace and is hid by his mother, 
 who asks Koshchei where his death is. In a certain 
 place is an oak, under it is a casket, in which is a hare. 
 There is a duck in the hare, and in the duck an egg, 
 which is Koshchei's death. Assisted by a pike, a 
 wolf, and a crow, Ivan obtains the fatal eg-g, and 
 though Koshchei entreats that he will spare him, he 
 has no mercy, and smashes the egg-. In one variant 
 he kills Koshchei by throwing- the egg at his fore- 
 head.^ A Greek variant is connected with the Life- 
 token series. The Drako's strength is in three 
 golden hairs in his head. These open a chamber in 
 which are three doves. When one of these is killed, 
 the Drako falls sick ; the death of the second makes 
 him very ill ; and when the third is destroyed he dies. 
 
 1 Thorpe, Y.T.S.^ p. 435. The Norse variant is in Dasent, P.T., 
 p. 47. There is an egg in the duck, which is in a well within the 
 church. 
 
 2 Ralston, p. 100 se^. 
 
VARIANTS 137 
 
 By discovering- this secret the hero wins back his 
 sister from the Drako's clutches.^ Half-iron, accord- 
 ing to an Albanian story, has stolen a bride. By her 
 husband's advice she feigns to be dying, and tells 
 Half-iron he has nothing to fear from her. So he tells 
 her his power is in the broom, which she burns. But 
 it is not there. Again she pretends to be ill, and this 
 time finds out the truth. In the silver tusk of a boar 
 is a hare, in which are three pigeons, and if these are 
 killed Half-iron will die.^ It would be tedious to cite 
 even a tenth of the remaining European variants, and 
 I shall therefore refer only to some other methods 
 employed by the ravisher to hide his life. To destroy 
 the life of the magician of a Tuscan story the hero 
 has to cut down a wood, dry up a fountain, kill the 
 eagle in the fountain, and having taken an eg^ from 
 its body, throw it at the magician's head. Another 
 magician, in an Italian tale of the Aladdin type, has 
 his life in the seventh head of a hydra in a distant 
 forest. In that head is a leveret, in which is a bird. 
 There is a precious stone in this bird, and if it be 
 placed under his pillow he will die.^ There are many 
 Hungarian versions. Thus the king of the dwarfs, 
 having deceived the stolen bride several times, at last 
 tells her that his life is in a golden cockchafer, in a 
 golden cock, in a golden sheep, in a golden stag, in a 
 certain island.^ The hero of a Serbian story has to 
 kill a dragon in a lake near a royal city. The strength 
 of another dragon, who has the hero's brothers and 
 other victims in his power, is in a sparrow, which is 
 in a dove, within a hare concealed in a boar in the 
 
 ^ Garnett, ii. 175. 
 
 '^ Dozon, p. 131. In a variant of Hahn's, No. 64, the one-eyed 
 ogre's strength is in two pigeons within the belly of a wild 
 boar. 
 
 ^ Busk, " How Cajusse was married." Cf. a Greek story, in which a 
 hunchback's strength is in the tenth head of a serpent. Hahn, 
 No. 64. 
 
 ^ /did. The hero is assisted by animals. 
 
138 THE SEPARABLE SOUL 
 
 first dragon's body.^ Finally a Lapp giant is burned 
 to death when the hero burns the life-egg, which is 
 enclosed in a hen, in a sheep, in a cask, on a burning 
 island.^ 
 
 Outside Europe, especially in India, the same 
 story is found, and in the Indian variants the pre- 
 cautions of the rakshasa (the equivalent of the familiar 
 ogre) are even more elaborate. As told in Bengal the 
 story runs thus. Champa Dal discovers a maiden 
 who is the prisoner of a rakshasa. They resolve to 
 find out on what the rakshasa's life depends. In a 
 tank is a crystal pillar, on the top of which are two 
 bees under deep water. If any human being can dive 
 under, and return to land with the bees, destroying 
 them so that not a drop of their blood falls to the 
 earth, the rakshasa will die. Otherwise a thousand 
 rakshasas will start from the blood. But what human 
 being will find this out, or, finding it out, be able to 
 achieve the feat ? Champa Dal, however, is equal to 
 the task, and destroys the rakshasa.^ Sometimes it 
 is, only one particular person who can perform the 
 task, as in another version where he who kills the 
 bees must be a boy with the moon on his forehead, 
 or as in a third, the lame son of the queen of a 
 distant land. Of course they are precisely the persons 
 who are plotting against the rakshasa.* The famous 
 Indian story of Punchkin relates how he carried off 
 the hero's mother and uncles, turning the latter to 
 stone. She wormed the secret of his life out of him, 
 and then told it to her son. Away in a jungle is a 
 desolate country in which stands a circle of palms. 
 Among the palms are six chattees of water. Below 
 
 1 Vuk Karajich, No. 8. 
 
 2 Germania^ iii. 174. Helpful animals occur in this story. 
 
 3 Day, p. 84. In a Kashmir variant the rakshasa's soul is in a 
 pillar supporting the verandah. Break the pillar and the rakshasa 
 will die. 
 
 * Day, p. 253 ; Indian Antiquary^ 1872, p. 115. 
 
PUNCHKIN 139 
 
 the sixth is a cage in which is a parrot. But there 
 are crowds of genii round the palms to defend Punch- 
 kin's life. However, the hero is carried thither while 
 the genii are asleep, by eagles which he has rescued 
 from a serpent, and obtains the parrot. Punchkin 
 offers him anything for it. ** Restore my uncles to 
 life," says the hero. Punchkin does so. Then the 
 hero tears off the parrot's wings and legs, and with 
 each the corresponding limb of the magician falls off. 
 Lastly, he wrings its neck and Punchkin dies.^ 
 Among Kashmir stories there is one of a prince 
 hidden by a princess whom a jinn has carried off. 
 The jinn's life is in a bee within a honey-comb, on a 
 tree which can only be reached by means of a magic 
 stool. The prince obtains the stool, then the bee, and 
 so deprives the jinn of life. ^ 
 
 Even more elaborate are the precautions of the 
 Tartar Taschkhan who, having stolen a woman, is 
 told by her that she will become his wife provided 
 that he tells her where he keeps his soul. He replied 
 that there was a fountain of gold under seven poplars, 
 to which seven deer came to drink. In one of these 
 was a golden casket, containing a silver casket, in 
 which were seven quails, one of which had a golden 
 head and a silver body. That was his true soul. In 
 this case it is the woman's brother-in-law, who, hav- 
 ing heard all, destroys Taschkhan.^ A story from 
 Kamaon has some affinities with the North German 
 and Norse tales already cited. A fakir has trans- 
 ported a princess to the shore of the seventh sea. 
 Her husband and his six brothers come to seek her, 
 
 1 Frere, p. 13. ^ Knowles, p. 380. 
 
 ^ Radloff, iv. 88. In the Arabian Nights a jinn who has stolen a 
 maiden has his soul in a sparrow shut up in eight boxes, within seven 
 coffers in the heart of a block of marble at the bottom of the sea. It 
 had been prophesied that he should die by human hands, hence his 
 precautions— an incident which is not found in the other variants. 
 Clouston, P,T,F., i. 349. 
 
140 THE SEPARABLE SOUL 
 
 and are chang-ed Into trees. The son of one of these 
 brothers arrives, and bids her ask the fakir where he 
 kept his breath. She arrives at the secret by pre- 
 tending sorrow for his death, which Inevitably 
 " Cometh, soon or late." ** But I am Immortal, for on 
 the shore of the sixth sea Is a palace under which Is a 
 hospice. Beneath It Is an Iron cage. In which Is a 
 parakeet. When that parakeet Is killed, I shall 
 die." The youth obtains possession of the palace by 
 marrying the daughter of the king of that land, and 
 then, having found the parakeet, forces the fakir to 
 restore the seekers, after which he kills hlm.-^ 
 
 The Incident of the separable soul occurs In other 
 cycles of stories. Of the cycle In which a hero 
 overcomes someone, usually his captor, either by 
 himself or by following the advice of a fellow-captive 
 or a treacherous relative, there are several variants. 
 The Magyar story of the Three Princes and the 
 Three Dragons makes the dragon's witch-mother fall 
 in love with the reluctant Ambrose. Her maid (a 
 princess In disguise) advises him to ask her how she 
 keeps alive so long. After much wheedling she tells 
 him. There is a wild boar in a silken meadow, In It 
 is a hare In which is a pigeon. In the pigeon Is a box 
 containing a dark beetle, which is her power, and a 
 white beetle which Is her llfe.^ Doghead, a Magyar 
 giant, keeps his strength in a cask In the seventh 
 cellar of his castle. His daughter gives Prince MIrko 
 a supply of her father's strength, and in the fight 
 which follows he easily overcomes the giant. ^ The 
 idea is found embedded in the Persian romance of the 
 History of Nassar. A witch In w^hose power Shah 
 Mannsur is held, changes herself Into a spider, which 
 disappears Into the mouth of a marble lion, emerging 
 as a viper and then entering a phial. Mannsur is 
 advised by a beautiful fellow- captive to strike the 
 
 ^ Minaef, No. lo. ~ Jones, p. 205. ■' Ibid., p. 72. 
 
VARIANTS 141 
 
 phial with a stone, and the witch will die. He does 
 so ; everything disappears by mag-ic ; and he after- 
 wards finds that the witch, in the form of a cat, had 
 expired in great agfony.^ Rama and Lakshmana, in 
 an Indian legend, were carried off by the giant 
 Mairavana. Hanuman learned from the giant's sister 
 that his life was composed of five vital airs in the form 
 of five black bees on a far distant mountain. These 
 he catches and kills, and Mairavana at once perishes.^ 
 The hero appears in a less pleasant light in a story 
 from Dardistan. Azru had secretly married the 
 daughter of a king, and forced her to find out where he 
 keeps his soul. This she does by the usual pretence 
 of anxiety for his safety, and he tells her it is hidden 
 in the snows and can only perish by means of fire.^ 
 A Pamir story resembles the Indian one just quoted. 
 A prince fights a dwarf, but as often as he cuts off the 
 dwarfs head, it flies on again. At last he is told that 
 the dwarfs life is hidden in two stones, and by this 
 information he succeeds in killing him.* Lastly, there 
 is a Kashmir story in which a witch, to save a 
 princess, dashes a small earthen vessel to pieces, and 
 so destroys her brother's life.^ 
 
 1 Clouston, E.R., p. 25. 2 ciouston, P.T.R., i. 350. 
 
 2 Leitner, iii. 8. ^ Jour. As. Soc. Bengal, xlvi., part i., No. 2. 
 ^ Knowles, p. 73. In another cycle, to which may be given the 
 
 name of the Wicked Queen, and of which there are many Eastern 
 variants, a king, having married a rakshasi, has his mind poisoned 
 against his other wives by her, and ill-treats them. The son of one of 
 these wives goes to the rakshasi's mother and pretends to be her 
 grandson. She shows him seven cocks, a spinning-wheel, a pigeon, 
 and a starling. These contain the lives of the rakshasi-queen's 
 brothers, her mother, father, and of herself. He kills the cocks and 
 pigeon, and destroys the spinning-wheel, and then goes off to his father 
 with the starling. In his presence he chokes it and the rakshasi 
 dies, making everyone happy once more. This is the Kashmir version 
 (Knowles, p. 42). There are many Indian variants (Day, p. 117, 
 "The Boy whom Seven Mothers Suckled"; Stokes, pp. 51, 173; 
 Steele and Temple, p. 98). So far as I know there are no direct 
 equivalents in Europe, perhaps for the reason that polygamy has so 
 long been offensive to Western minds. 
 
142 THE SEPARABLE SOUL 
 
 The separable life incident occurs in two Italian 
 Bluebeard tales. One gfirl is careful to put aside the 
 balls which her predecessors dropped in the Forbidden 
 Chamber, The monster was deceived, and trusted 
 her so much as to tell her that his life was dependent 
 on an egg". She asked him to show it to her, and 
 then knocked it out of his hand so that it was broken 
 and he died. This is the Tuscan version ; the Sicilian 
 is more curious still. A robber's life depends on a 
 magic head which tells tales on the two sisters, his 
 successive wives. They are put to death, but the 
 third and youngest sister flatters the head so much 
 that it follows her into the kitchen, where she begins 
 to comb its locks. While thus engaged she throws 
 it into the oven and the robber's death follows.^ 
 
 Several of the tales passed under review make the 
 giant's life depend on an egg which must be thrown 
 at his forehead before he can be killed. This is 
 suggestive of the Norse myth of Balder, whom the 
 mistletoe alone could kill when it was thrown at him, 
 and is further illustrated by the Algonquin legend of 
 Glooskap. His wicked brother Malsumsis asked 
 what would kill him. Glooskap deceived him several 
 times, as the giant or sorcerer of some of our tales 
 did to the heroine, but finally, as he sat by a brook, 
 murmured, ''Nothing but a flowering rush can kill 
 me." The beaver overheard him and told Malsumsis, 
 asking wings as a reward. Malsumsis laughed at 
 him, and the animal revealed all to Glooskap, who, 
 taking a fern root (which was his brother's life), smote 
 him in his sleep with it so that he died.^ Compare now 
 a Welsh story with these. Llew, in the Madznog'z of 
 Mathab Mathonwy, is asked by his wife, who loves 
 
 ^ Imbriani, p. 7. Gonzenbach, i. 135. See p. 321. 
 
 2 Leland, A.L.j p. 16 ; cf. 106, and an Iroquois variant, p, 25. 
 Mr Leland thinks many of these Indian tales were borrowed from the 
 Norsemen. If so, this is, perhaps, the Balder myth retold in 
 aboriginal dress. 
 
EXPLANATION OF THE SEPARABLE SOUL 143 
 
 Gronw, what will kill him. He must be in a certain 
 position after taking- a bath. Then if anyone cast a 
 spear at him, he would die, but the spear must have 
 been a year in making-, during the hour of the sacrifice 
 on Sunday. Gronw obtained such a spear, but Llew, 
 instead of dying, flew off in the form of an eagle. It 
 is not easy to see why touching a person with his life 
 should cause his death, except by jumping- to the con- 
 clusion that what is one s life becomes one's death. 
 Probably the real significance rests, as in the other 
 tales, on the fact that the life has fallen into an enemy's 
 hands.^ 
 
 While the more dramatic forms of the Separable 
 Soul incident are found in European and Oriental 
 tales, we have traced the idea in all parts of the 
 world, among- savages, and back to a very remote 
 past. We have seen that actual folk-custom — the 
 intimate connection of some separate object with a 
 man's life — throws some light on this incident of so 
 many folk-tales ; it remains to suggest, in more detail, 
 further reasons for such a belief Mr Clodd has 
 discussed many of these tales in his Philosophy of 
 Punchkin, and finds the orig-in of the idea in the 
 primitive belief that the soul can leave the body.^ If 
 it can do so, it is easy to g-o on to believe that it may 
 be deposited in a safe place. Dr Frazer starts with 
 that belief, and goes on to show, with that wealth of 
 illustration characteristic of his studies, which leaves 
 so little room for original discovery in those who come 
 after him, how some tribes believe that the soul can be 
 deposited in a safe place, how others believe that the 
 life or strength is in the hair, how others choose a life- 
 
 ^ In Scandinavian belief, Thor, being challenged by the giant 
 Hymir to break his cup, after dashing it in vain against various 
 objects which were themselves broken, was advised by a woman to 
 throw it at the giant's forehead, when it was at once shattered. But 
 nothing happened to the giant. Thorpe, i. 68. 
 
 2 F.L,/.^ ii. 303. Cf. Clodd, Myths and Dreams^ p. 188 seq. 
 
144 THE SEPARABLE SOUL 
 
 tree at the birth of a child. From this we are led on 
 to Totemism in its various forms, while it is suggested 
 that the pretended killing- of a youth in savage rites 
 of initiation is really meant for the depositing of his 
 soul or life with his totem, after which he comes to 
 life again. 
 
 Various lines of primitive thought have evidently 
 led up to the practice which is enshrined in these 
 folk- tales. It is based, first of all, on the primitive 
 law of sympathetic rnagic, that whatever is done to 
 the part is^^oneto the whole, even though it is 
 separate from that whole. Hence the care which the 
 savage takes of hair and nail clippings, etc., lest an 
 enemy should obtain them and work harm by their 
 means. Such evident sources of harm are those 
 parts, such as the caul, placenta, etc., closely con- 
 nected with the child at birth. Their importance to 
 the child is immense ; and from being regarded as 
 sources of harm in hostile hands they are frequently 
 looked upon as potent influences over the child's 
 whole life. In a sense they are his life. In Amboina 
 the caul is preserved, and if the child turns ill he is 
 made to drink water in which it has been dipped. 
 Such a belief as this must once have been common 
 in primitive Europe, for the talismanic virtues of a 
 caul are still known to sailors ; but even closer to the 
 savage theory is the Icelandic conception. The caul 
 contains the child's guardian spirit, or part of his 
 soul ; it is buried under the threshold ; and if it were 
 to be thrown away or burned the child would be 
 deprived of his guardian spirit.^ With this we may 
 compare the Breton doctrine of the werwolf At 
 daybreak the man who is a werwolf resumes his 
 form by taking off his skin and hiding it, but what- 
 
 ^ Riedel, p. 74. Thorpe, i. 114. C/. Gnmm, D.M., S2S. In some 
 parts of England the caul is believed to indicate the state of the 
 owner's health when he is absent, by, e.g., " snerkling up " when he is 
 dead, turning moist when he is dying, etc. Jones, p. 378. 
 
POWER OF THE HAIR 145 
 
 ever happens to the skin happens to its owner. Has 
 it been placed in a cold place, he will be cold all day. 
 One man hid his skin in an oven ; a fire was lit in the 
 grate, and soon the owner of the skin began to leap 
 about, crying, '* I burn, I burn."^ The umbilical cord 
 has also potent virtues ; it is carefully concealed by 
 many races ; sometimes it is used as an amulet, which 
 the child carries in after-life. So, too, the necessity 
 of preserving- one's hair from falling into an enemy's 
 hands, has given rise to the idea that there is some- 
 thing powerful for good or evil in the hair itself To 
 cut it causes weakness, think various savage races, 
 just as it caused weakness to Samson. We have 
 already seen some stories in which not the whole 
 hair, but some particular lock, or a hair-string, was 
 the seat of life. The idea recurs again in those tales 
 where a witch enchants or petrifies someone by means 
 of her hair — the witch's power acting through her 
 hair ; hence mediaeval witches in European countries 
 were frequently shaved before trial, in order to deprive 
 them of their power. A final example of this class of 
 beliefs is that of the Central Australian natives 
 already referred to. Each child who is born has a 
 churinga, or sacred stone, supposed to have been 
 dropped by the spirit-ancestor who has reincarnated 
 himself in him. It is kept in a sacred store-house, 
 and is intimately connected with the child's life. 
 When he is ill, some dust scraped from it is mixed 
 with water and given him to drink, so that he may be 
 strengthened. The churinga is nothing but the 
 receptacle of the child's life.^ 
 
 The idea of the separate life is also suggested by 
 
 ^ Revue Celtique^ i. 420. In tales concerning men changed to 
 beasts by enchantment, they lose their beast nature when the skin is 
 burnt. On the other hand, the seal or mermaid wife recovers it when 
 she discovers her skin. See pp. 342-47. The v/erwolf idea differs 
 ffom both of these. 
 
 - See p. 123. Spencer and Gillen, Native Races^ pp. 135, 246. 
 
 K 
 
146 TMli SEPARABLE SOUL 
 
 the widespread group of beliefs which, for conveni- 
 ence, we may class together as Totemism. Whether 
 the animal or plant species be the clan totem, sex 
 totem, or the totem of the individual (like the Red 
 Indian manitou), it is everywhere believed that there 
 is an intimate relation existing between it and those 
 with whose life it is identified. To kill a totem is 
 highly dangerous to the person whose totem it is, and 
 the same holds good of the individual manitou or 
 nagual. There is a close relation between the life of 
 the one and that of the other : when the owner of a 
 nagual dies, the nagual also dies, and vice versa. 
 This may be the reason why it is so often in an 
 animal that the giant has hidden away his life. 
 Perhaps the animal is the dim remembrance of the 
 once all-important animal totem, or the animal 
 manitou. As we have seen, Dr Frazer has suggested 
 that the rites of totem initiation with many races, 
 when the youth is supposed to die and come alive 
 again, may have no other reason than that of trans- 
 ferring the youth's soul to his totem. His recovery 
 would then be due to his obtaining the soul of his 
 totem, or an infusion of fresh life from it.^ 
 
 The possibility of the soul existing temporarily 
 apart from the body, as in sleep, illness, etc., is held by 
 most primitive peoples. As it is a common savage 
 belief that a sorcerer can entice a man's soul out of 
 his body for evil purposes, so it was believed in some 
 parts of Europe that fairies could steal the soul, 
 leaving a fairy soul in its place ; while elsewhere the 
 same power was ascribed to witches, who would 
 remove a man's heart from his body in sleep, replac- 
 ing it by that of a hare, and so endowing him with a 
 cowardly nature. As in Russia the witch is supposed 
 to eat the heart, so in West Africa witch-women can 
 deprive a man of his life-soul, a kind of less material 
 
 ^ Golden Bough, iii. 422 seq. 
 
THE BUSH-SOUL 147 
 
 duplicate of himself, and feast on it in a mag-ic orgfy. 
 Its owner then sickens and dies.^ 
 
 Occasionally, as a result of the farther belief that 
 a man may have two or more souls, it Is held that one 
 of them may exist permanently out of the body. But 
 if it is injured the owner is also injured, or may die. 
 As an example, we may take that of the West African 
 negroes. Of a man's four souls, one is contained in an 
 animal which lives out in the bush (hence it is called 
 the bush soul). The witch-doctor alone knows what 
 animal it is In, but he imparts his knowledge to the 
 owner, who is then careful not to Injure any animal of 
 that kind. But, as Miss KIngsley points out, the 
 animal in whom the bush-soul Is may be a reckless 
 blade, exposing himself to danger. He is shot or 
 trapped, and then the man's death must inevitably 
 ensue. This is not unlike the Roman belief in the 
 genius- — a sort of external soul on which a man's life 
 and health depended, and which sometimes appeared 
 In animal form. Similar Ideas are found among the 
 Karens, Malays, Banks Islanders, Zulus, and others."^ 
 In a Samoan story two girls take their brother's 
 shadow and put It In a bottle, throwing it into the 
 water where the beautiful Sina was bathing. She 
 would not rest till she had found the original, who, 
 however, refused to marry her, and she died of griefs 
 Shadows we are^ and skadozvs we pursue ! 
 
 Thus we see several strands of belief all pointing 
 to one idea, viz., that the life Is separate from the man, 
 
 ^ Scott, Minstrelsy, p. 217. Ralston, Songs of the Russian People^ 
 pp. 413-14. Nassau, p. 55 : a story illustrating this belief is cited on p. 
 5 supra. Fairies and witches are invariably confused in popular 
 tradition ; whatever is ascribed to the one is ascribed to the other ; 
 while in many cases the same stories are told of ghosts. 
 
 - Miss Kingsley, p. 200 seq. Jevons, xlvii. Frazer, op. cit., 
 p. 407 seq. 
 
 ^ Turner, p. 99. In another tale a woman puts shadows of various 
 objects in the water. A man sees them, jumps in, but only bruises his 
 head, p. loi. This is akin to crystal-gazing. 
 
148 THE SEPARABLE SOUL 
 
 and that whatever is done to It Is ipso facto done to 
 the man himself. The early story-teller soon saw the 
 dramatic possibilities of this idea, and ultimately gave 
 it two forms, that of the Life-token and that of the 
 Giant's Life tales, setting each in appropriate sur- 
 roundings, and in the case of the latter working up to 
 it with powerful effect. It is noteworthy that the 
 very people with whom these tales were so popular 
 after the actual belief itself had passed away, were 
 themselves acting similarly with regard to the caul, 
 the life-tree, etc. But why should it so often have 
 been a wizard, ogre, or rakshasi, whose life was 
 hidden away? Probably for the same reason as 
 cannibalism is also predicated in folk-tales of these 
 very personages, viz., because the custom had died 
 out among the folk themselves, and had to be trans- 
 ferred to some supernatural being. An actual 
 example of this occurs among the Yakuts of Siberia, 
 who believe that the wizard keeps his soul in an 
 animal, and that if this animal is killed the wizard also 
 dies. But what is here believed of the wizard was 
 once doubtless possible for every one. And in the 
 more primitive tales the same holds true. (^The 
 Egyptian story of the Two Brothers, the Red Indian 
 tales, and others, all point to a stage in which the 
 ordinary person, and not merely a giant, was Involved. 
 But as the story germ developed the wizard or giant 
 became the villain whose boasted immortality (based 
 on what was once a primitive practice) was overcome 
 by the youthful hero. ) 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 TRANSFORMATION 
 
 Of all the incidents occurring in folk-tales none Is so 
 well-known as that of the transformation of the hero 
 or heroine, or of other persons, into animal form. 
 Based, as we shall see, upon ideas derived from 
 primitive psychology, this incident occurs in many 
 different shapes, of each of which there are countless 
 varieties. It will be enough for our purpose to show 
 the principal cycles In which the Transformation 
 incident occurs, and to cite a few of the variants as 
 they are found In Europe and elsewhere. It should 
 be noted that, for the reason that the possibility of 
 transformation Is one of the chief articles of primitive 
 belief, the examples of the incident from savage folk- 
 tales are more than usually numerous. The order in 
 which we shall study this episode is as follows : — 
 
 1. Transformation by a sorcerer or witch. 
 
 2. Transformation by bathing, or by eating or 
 drinking. 
 
 3. Self-transformation. 
 
 4. The Transformation Combat. 
 
 5. {a) Transformation of the fugitive lovers ; (d) 
 Transformation of objects cast away by them. 
 
 1. Transformation by a sorcerer or witch.- — Here 
 selection is especially necessary. Every classical 
 student is aware how filled the mythology of Greece 
 
 149 
 
1 50 TRANSFORMATION 
 
 is with the transformation of men and women. But 
 usually it is effected by the gods as a punishment.^ 
 The story of Circe, as preserved by Homer, will serve 
 as an introduction to those folk- tales which contain 
 this incident. Circe, having- caused the followers of 
 Odysseus to forget their fatherland by means of her 
 potent drugs, smote them with her wand and turned 
 them into swine, though "their mind abode even as 
 of old." Odysseus, having overcome her, forced the 
 enchantress to restore his friends to their true shape, 
 which she did by anointing them with a magic charm. 
 This is an excellent example of the literary use of an 
 already existing Greek Mdrchen. In many folk-tale 
 cycles the witch transformation episode plays an 
 important part, e.g., that of Beauty and the Beast, in 
 which the beast is a prince transformed into a snake,'- 
 frog, or monster by sorcery, and some tales of the 
 Youngest Son type, in which the elder brothers are 
 transformed and the youngest forces the enchanter to 
 break the spell. These will be cited in later chapters. 
 Here we shall notice the True Wife cycle. 
 
 In this cycle a king's wife is changed during child- 
 birth into an animal by some woman jealous of her 
 position, who takes her place. Night by night 
 she comes to the palace door, and says that if the 
 king does not save her within a certain time she will 
 have to keep her animal form all her life. This is 
 reported to the king, who keeps watch and hears it for 
 himself He rushes out and takes his true wife in his 
 arms, when at once the spell is broken and she resumes 
 her natural form. Breton, German, and Russian 
 variants make the queen's stepmother change her 
 into a bird ; in the Swedish the false queen's mother 
 does so, but in all the enchantress's daughter takes 
 
 1 It is sufficient to refer to Ovid's Metamorphoses as the literary 
 presentation of such myths or folk-tales. 
 
 2 Odyssey, x. See Gerland, Alt. Griesch. Marchen in der 
 Odysee. 
 
THE TRUE WIFE 151 
 
 the queen's place. ^ A Greek variant makes the 
 sisters of the queen turn her into a bird, one of them 
 taking" her place ; the sorceress herself is the impostor, 
 after changing- the queen into a dove, a fawn, a fish, 
 and a turtle-dove, in variants from Catalonia, Lorraine, 
 Asia Minor, and Italy.^ A Hindu version departs 
 from the usual type, but is clearly connected with it. 
 A queen, after her death, is transformed into a bird by 
 a god who sticks a pin in her head. She reappears in 
 the palace, and the king puts her in a cage. One day 
 while he is fondling the bird the pin comes out, and at 
 once she takes her human shape again.^ Placing a pin 
 in the head is a common way of effecting transforma- 
 tion, and occurs in the Greek and Breton variants 
 just cited. There are several Swedish versions, in 
 which the queen changes her form repeatedly through 
 witchery after her husband catches her. He still 
 keeps her in his arms, and thus exhausts the power of 
 the sorceress.* These have some analogy to tales of 
 the Transformation Combat cycle. 
 
 Instances of witch-transformation occur in the 
 folk-tales of all lands. Akin to the stories just cited 
 is the Celtic story of Ossian's mother, which occurs 
 both as a folk-tale and also as part of the Ossianic 
 
 1 Luzel, Legendes^ ii. 303 ; Grimm, No. 135 ; Ralston, R.F.T,^ 
 p. 184 ; Cavallius, p. 142. 
 
 2 Legrand, p. 140 ; Rondallayre^ iii. 149 ; Cosquin, i. 232 ; Hahn, 
 No. 49 ; Comparetti, No. 68. 
 
 3 Miss Stokes, No. 2. 
 
 * Thorpe, Y.T.S.^ p. 61 seq. Sometimes the hero's sweetheart is 
 personated by a gipsy, who changes her into a golden duck which 
 follows her everywhere, and at last exposes her villainy. There are 
 Magyar, Portuguese, and Indian versions of this tale. Jones, p. 214 ; 
 Portuguese Folk-Tales^ p. 12 ; Old Deccan Days^ pp. 85, 223 ; Miss 
 Stokes, p. 284. The English story of the Laidly Worm of Spindle- 
 stone Heugh has some analogy to these stories. The witch step- 
 mother changes a girl into a " laidly worm " until her absent brother, 
 Childe Wynd, will kiss her thrice. In the sequel he does so, and she 
 recovers her shape. The witch is then changed to a toad. Jacobs, 
 p. 183. Cf. Child, English and Scottish Ballads^ i. 207 ; and infra^ 
 p. 254. 
 
152 TRANSFORMATION 
 
 sagfa. His father Fingal had a fairy sweetheart whom 
 he forsook, and then married a mortal woman. The 
 fairy changed her into a hind, in which form she gave 
 birth to the poet. Long- after, while hunting, he was 
 about to throw his spear at a hind when it bade him 
 forbear, because it was his mother. He went with her 
 into a hill, where she became a beautiful woman. 
 When he left her he could see no sign of the door 
 which had closed upon him, and though it seemed 
 only three days that he had spent with her, he had 
 been in the hill for three years. Possibly if we had 
 the full version of this tale we should find that the 
 fairy took the true wife's place. ^ 
 
 In a Basque story, seven brothers forbid their 
 sister ever to go near a certain house. She did so, 
 and obtained from the witch who lived there certain 
 herbs which she was to put in her brothers' foot-bath to 
 relieve their fatigue. By the herbs they were changed 
 into cows. Later she married a prince, on condition 
 that he would never kill the cows. In his absence 
 she was thrown down a precipice by the witch, who 
 took her place and told the king that in order to cure 
 her sufferings he must kill the cows. He is amazed, 
 but sends a servant to do so. The servant hears the 
 true wife's voice, bemoaning her own and her brothers' 
 fate. Then the king rescued his wife, and compelled 
 the witch to give back the brothers their true shape, 
 afterwards burning her in an oven.^ In another 
 Basque story the girl has come to seek her brothers, 
 and she herself forces the witch to disenchant them.^ 
 Here we are on the track of another cycle, in which a 
 man's sons are cursed by him and become birds when 
 their little sister is born. On her falls the task of 
 
 ^ Carmichael, Carmina Gaedelica^ ii. 22. 
 
 2 Webster, p. 187. Cf. Old Deccan Days, p. 59; "Truth's 
 Triumph," and the story of "The Old Man and the Hind" in the 
 Arabian Nights. 
 
 2 Webster, p. 52. 
 
THE NEREID QUEEN 153 
 
 recovering them and finding means of restoring their 
 true form to them.^ Grimm's story of the Twelve 
 Brothers resembles this, but the boys escape from 
 their father ; their sister goes in search of them, and 
 it is by her going near the witch's house that 
 their transformation results, as in the first Basque 
 story. ^ 
 
 Some stories of the True Bride form a class by 
 themselves. A Nereid queen, in a Greek story, 
 emerged from a citron and was married by the hero. 
 Then a negress threw her into a well, and she was 
 changed into an eel. The negress took her place, and 
 had the eel killed and eaten. Its bones, thrown into 
 the garden, became a lemon tree, which, by the 
 negress's orders, was lopped of its branches. The 
 stump spoke to an old man who had taken it for 
 firewood, and bade him strike above and below. 
 When he had done so, the Nereid emerged safe and 
 sound, and was restored to her husband.^ This 
 version has borrowed some of the incidents of the 
 Two Brothers cycle. Other parallels differ. The 
 wife is changed into a dove by the enchantress 
 who sticks a pin into her head. The bird sings a song 
 which arouses suspicion, is captured, and the pin with- 
 drawn in spite of the witch's protestations, when the 
 fraud is discovered.* 
 
 Transformation for various purposes, by witch, 
 fairy, medicine-man, etc., occurs sporadically in the 
 folk-tales of all lands. Sometimes it is done by way 
 
 ^ Pentamerone^ iv. 8. Thorpe, Y.T.S.^ p. 459. Here a mother 
 transforms her seven sons into ravens, because they are so much 
 trouble. 
 
 2 Cf. Grimm's story of the Six Swans, in which the stepmother 
 changes the sons into swans. The sister prepares to disenchant them, 
 but meanwhile marries. The king's stepmother steals her children, 
 and the poor girl is about to be executed, when the s]rt^ans save her, 
 and she disenchants them. ( 
 
 - Garnett, ii. 20. 
 
 * Chili {Spanish), F.L.J. , iii. 290. Italian, Crane, pp. 338, 342. 
 
154 TRANSFORMATION 
 
 of punishment, recalling- the classical instances in 
 which the divinities changed the transgressor into 
 animal form. An Icelandic story is a good instance. 
 A man wrecked at sea was saved by fairies, one of 
 whom became his lover. After he had returned to his 
 own land, a beautiful child was found in the church 
 porch, but in spite of its likeness to him he disowned 
 it. Thereupon a fair woman appeared and told him 
 that for his ingratitude he would be changed into a 
 whale, the terror of the northern seas. So in an Aino 
 tale a man was changed into a fox by a divinity 
 because he was a liar and a thief. Australian stories 
 show the danger of jesting at sacred things. At the 
 famous Bora of Byamee, the Mahthis chattered and 
 jested while the Wirreemin or medicine-men were 
 performing the sacred dance. For this, Byamee (the 
 divinity) changed them into dogs. A medicine-man 
 changed some girls into frogs because they mocked 
 him. Their mother was about to eat the frogs, when 
 she heard them speak inarticulately and gathered what 
 had happened. She offered the sorcerer a magic stone 
 as a condition of their release. He agreed, but when 
 she went to seek them, the girls had become stone 
 frogs, in which state they remained.^ 
 
 Most stories of witch enchantment make the 
 transformation the result of an action which has 
 aroused the displeasure of the enchanter. That action 
 may be wrong, as in the cases just cited ; more 
 frequently it is innocent, except from the enchanter's 
 point of view. An Esthonian tale illustrates this. A 
 maiden who is said by a witch to be her own 
 daughter, flees with the prince her lover. The witch 
 sends a magic packet after them which changes the 
 girl into a water-lily. In the sequel the prince 
 recovers her, but not till he has taken the form of a 
 
 ^ Arnason, i. 65. Chamberlain, p. 25. Parker, ist ser., p. 97 ; 
 ibid.^ 2nd ser., p. 79. 
 
TRANSFORMATION BY A TALISMAN 155 
 
 carp swimming- in the river where the water-lily is. 
 Together they float down the stream to a rowan tree, 
 on reaching- which both resume their true form.^ Such 
 enchantments are well known to all readers of the 
 Arabian Nights. Some other Eastern examples 
 may be cited. The Persian ''History of Nassar" 
 tells how a witch transformed a girl into a bitch, in 
 which form she escaped, but was pursued by all the 
 dogs of the town till she was glad to return to her 
 merciless captor. A young man in the same History 
 was changed into a bird by a fairy who fastened a 
 talisman round his neck.^ Indian, Persian, and 
 Arabic fictions are full of this species of enchantment, 
 and it only needs that the talisman be removed for the 
 original form to be resumed. In a story from Kashmir 
 a prince is changed into a ram by a witch's daughter 
 tying a cord round his neck. She is in love with 
 him, and at night removes the cord, w^hen he becomes 
 a man. All this time his own wife sees the ram in 
 the house, and only discovers the villainy after several 
 years.^ A Burmese hero was changed into a parrot 
 in the same way. A princess bought the bird, and by 
 accident removed the thread. The youth stood 
 before her, and she instantly fell in love with him. By 
 day he was a parrot, by night a man. Thus suspicion 
 was averted, till her condition betrayed her, when she 
 publicly married the hero.* 
 
 A story from Guiana has some resemblance to 
 these tales of secret love, and the coincidence is sugges- 
 tive of our theory of the incidents of folk-tales having 
 
 ^ Kirby, i. 208. Cf. p. 257, where Elsie, leaving the enchanted 
 wood, is changed into an eagle. A prince shot the eagle ; this broke 
 the charm, and Elsie reappeared and was married to the prince. 
 
 The magic packet has a parallel in the " sending" of Icelandic folk- 
 lore, i.e., a ghost raised up by sorcery and sent against an enemy 
 (Powell and Magnusson, 2nd ser., intro. Ixxvii.), and in the Eskimo 
 amulet. See p. 200 for references. 
 
 2 Clouston, E.R., p. 29. ^ Knowles, p. 71. 
 
 * Sparkes, No. 61. 
 
156 TRANSFORMATION 
 
 been invented separately. A sorcerer's daughter 
 was in love with a hunter, and wishing- to be near him 
 always, asked her father to change her into a dog. 
 He gave her a skin which made her like a dog when 
 she placed it on her shoulders. The hunter took this 
 dog along with the others, but it always returned 
 home before them, when the hero found his hut 
 swept and food prepared. Next time he watched, and 
 discovered what took place. He seized the skin and 
 burned it, and then claimed the girl as his wife. The 
 demon foxes of Chinese and Japanese folk-lore often 
 lay aside their skin in this way, like the swan-maidens 
 everywhere, and marry a mortal.^ We may compare 
 with this distant Guiana tale another from Romagna. 
 A girl, betrayed by her lover, received a feather from 
 some dwarfs and was turned into a swallow. She 
 flew off to her lover and touched him with the feather, 
 when his love for her returned and she resumed her 
 human shape. Such stories show that the power of 
 the enchanter may occasionally be used for beneficent 
 ends.^ 
 
 ^ Brett, p. 176. For the burnt skin, cf. p. 347 infra^ and for the fox 
 superstition, p. 261. 
 
 2 Leland, E.R.R.^ p. 224. Petrifaction, or transformation into stone, 
 is as universally believed in as transformation into animal shape. It was 
 probably suggested by the fact that many rocks bear some resemblance 
 to human form, or that fossil animals are replicas of their living forms 
 (showing that many of primitive man's ideas have a certain basis in 
 fact, but usually the application of the fact, or the deduction drawn 
 from it, is quite wrong), or from a confusion of the monolith erected over 
 a grave with the ghost believed to tenant it (many stone circles and 
 monoliths are believed traditionally to be petrified men and women). 
 Usually the belief takes the form that certain rocks or stones were 
 once human beings who were changed to stone as a punishment. 
 This is found in Australia (Mrs Parker, p. 50), N. America (Petitot, 
 p. 166), Kashmir (Knowles, p. 192), Babylonia (Sayce, F.LJ., i. 18), 
 Samoa (Turner, p. 45), Borneo (St John, i. 229), Africa (Dennett, p. 5), 
 Peru (see p. 353), and in all European countries (Berenger-Fdraud, 
 ii. 371 seq.). Ovid's Metamorphoses gives many classical instances. 
 In folk-tales the power of petrifaction is usually in the hands of witch 
 or wizard (see pp. 55, 382). Usually a touch with a wand, binding the 
 
TRANSFORMATION BY BATHING 157 
 
 (2) Transformation by bathing in certain waters 
 occurs frequently in later Eastern fiction, but it has 
 an earlier folk-lore origin, since it occurs sporadically 
 in European and savage folk-tales. Tajul-Muluk, 
 the hero of The Rose of Bakawali, overhears a maina 
 telling her young ones how a man may obtain certain 
 treasures, and profiting by what he has heard, he 
 goes to a lake, where he is attacked by a dragon. 
 Leaping into the water to save himself, he finds that 
 he is changed into a raven. Having eaten of the 
 fruit of a certain tree, he recovers his shape. Later 
 on in the story he bathes in another lake, and is 
 changed into a woman ; the water of a third turns 
 him into an Abyssinian, and of a fourth into his 
 original form.^ Such incidents, each involving the 
 hero in a new series of adventures, are obviously the 
 literary form of more primitive conceptions. In the 
 Indian Kathakoga, animals plunging into a certain 
 bathing-place become men, and men become gods.'- 
 The same conception, though unusual in Western 
 folk-tales, is found in an Epirote version of a tale 
 which will be cited in the chapter dealing with Beast- 
 marriage. When the bird flies to the princess who 
 loves him, she puts water in a cup and a ring in the 
 water; in this the bird bathes and takes human 
 
 victim with the witch's hair, or the repeating of a spell, suffices. Cf. 
 Sebillot, i. 124 ; Legrand, p. 161 ; Auning, p. 79 ; Leskien, p. 547 ; 
 Rev. Trad. Pop.^ ii. 359 ; Riviere, p. 193 ; Burton, i. 64 ; Miss Frere, 
 pp. 10, 55, 75 ; Clouston, E.R.^ pp. 320, 469 ; Mijatovich, p. 114. In 
 Scandinavian belief giants and trolls are petrified if surprised by the 
 dawn — Thorpe, i. 8. Change of sex also appears in folk-tales. In 
 Eastern stories it is usually effected by a jinn or rakshasi (Clouston, 
 E.R.^ p. 279; P.T.^ i. 446; Dubois, Paiichatantra^ p. 15); in one 
 case a woman becomes a man by putting a herb in her ear (Tawney, 
 pp. no, 114). For European instances, cf. Dozon, p. 109; Hahn, 
 No. 58 ; Ovid, Metamor.^ ix. 793. Montaigne speaks of the subject 
 (Essays, book i. cap. 20), and cites a case which was said to have 
 occurred in his own day ! 
 
 ' Clouston, E.R.., p. 298 seq. 
 
 ^ Tawney, p. 50. 
 
158 TRANSFORMATION 
 
 form.^ An Algonquin tale supplies a savage parallel 
 to the Persian story. Two girls used to absent 
 themselves from their village one day in the week, 
 and swim all day in a certain lake. Once an Indian 
 spied them and saw them going into and coming out 
 of the water, but as he watched they became longer 
 and longer, and were turned into snakes. And having 
 been seen by a man, they had to keep their serpent 
 form. A variant describes the girls as becoming 
 snakes from below the waist. Here, however, as in 
 the Melusina stories, the girls may not have been 
 really human, and contact with their native element 
 may have restored their true form.^ 
 
 Transformation by eating" or drinking some par- 
 ticular substance has a wider occurrence in folk-tales, 
 and is found as the main incident of a well-marked 
 story cycle, of which the following is the Roman 
 version. A youth was robbed of his magic treasures 
 by a girl who, by using one of them, left him alone on 
 a high mountain. There, dying of hunger, he ate 
 some green stuff, and was transformed into an ass. 
 Having descended the mountain, he ate another plant 
 and found himself a man once more. Collecting a 
 quantity of both plants he made his way to the girl, 
 and sold her some of plant number one. She became 
 an ass as soon as she had eaten it. Then the hero 
 bargained with her for his treasures, giving her plant 
 number two as soon as she had returned them.^ 
 Campbell gives a Celtic version of this tale, in which 
 a deer's head replaces that of the eater of a certain 
 apple.* This is obviously a later idea, as also are the 
 numerous versions, European and Eastern, in which 
 an enormous nose or spreading horns result from 
 eating a certain herb.^ Bohemian, German, and 
 
 1 Garnett, ii. 437. 2 Leland, A.L.^ pp. 268, 270. 
 
 3 Busk, p. 146. 4 Campbell, i. 181. 
 
 ^ See Cosquin, i. 121; Crane, p. 119; Kirby, i. 306; Gesfa 
 Romanorum^ cap. cxx. 
 
TRANSFORMATION BY DRINKING 159 
 
 Breton versions of the Roman story exist. In a 
 Kashmir parallel the virtues of the leaves of two trees 
 are discovered by the hero's overhearing- the conversa- 
 tion of two birds. He gives pellets of the leaves of 
 the first tree to his paramour, who has stolen his 
 treasures, and she becomes an ass, and when she has 
 been sufficiently humiliated, he restores her to her 
 true shape. There are also several Indian, as well as 
 Bilochi and Mongol versions.^ 
 
 Transformation by drinking occurs in those stories 
 of the True Bride cycle, in which the boy and girl 
 are driven from home. They had not gone far, says 
 a Magyar version, before the boy got very thirsty. 
 He wanted to drink at various places, from water 
 lying in a cartrut, a bear's and a wolfs footprints, 
 but was forbidden by his sister, lest he should be 
 turned into a cartwheel, a bear, or a wolf. But he 
 could hold out no longer, and drank water lying in a 
 roebuck's footprint, when he at once turned into a 
 roebuck. In a Sicilian version he becomes a calf in 
 the same way, in German and Greek versions a 
 fawn through drinking of a brook. The German 
 story expressly says that the witch-stepmother had 
 enchanted all the waters in the forest, so that whoever 
 drank of them would take animal form.^ We may 
 suppose that this proviso occurred originally in all 
 such tales. A Basque version of the Dragon-slaying 
 cycle relates that after marrying the princess whom 
 he had delivered, the hero fell into the hands of a 
 witch, who invited him to eat, and at the first mouth- 
 ful he was changed into a monster. This also 
 happened to his brother, but both were disenchanted 
 
 1 Waldau, p. 51. Grimm, No. 122. Sebillot, No. 14. F.L.J., iv. 
 24. Knowles, p. 90 ; Tawney, p. 125 (changed into a camel). Ind. 
 Ant, xiv. 109. Bilochi Stones, No. 13. 
 
 2 Jones, p. 220. The brother is disenchanted by his sister who rubs 
 him with ointment out of the stomach of the whale which swallowed 
 her when she was thrown into the sea. Pitre, No. 283. Grimm, 
 "Little Brother and Sister." Hahn, No. i. 
 
160 TRANSFORMATION 
 
 later by the youngest brother's help. In parallel stories 
 the transformation, petrifaction, etc., is accomplished 
 in other ways.^ 
 
 Savage parallels, Red Indian and Eskimo, present 
 the usual likeness to these European folk-tale in- 
 cidents. We cite first a Pawnee story. Two 
 brothers were lost in the woods. One of them per- 
 sisted in eating buffalo marrow and squirrel flesh, and 
 was changed into a snake during the night. But, 
 after this, he became king of the snakes, and was 
 able to help his tribe in all their undertakings. In the 
 Eskimo tale Malaise lands at a place where certain 
 enemies attack him. He is already provided with the 
 reindeer stockings of his dead brother, and puts dust 
 and hairs from these stockings in their drinking-vessel, 
 and when they drink they are turned into reindeer.^ 
 
 (3) The power oi self-transformation is universally 
 ascribed in folk-belief to gods or spirits, sorcerers, and 
 ordinary human beings. To illustrate this fully a 
 separate volume would be required ; we shall confine 
 ourselves to a few examples of folk-tales proper con- 
 taining this incident. Transformation of divinities or 
 spirits at will is the common property of Greek, 
 Hindu, Scandinavian, Celtic, and ancient Egyptian 
 mythologies, to mention but a few of the higher 
 instances. It is only natural, then, that the gods of 
 a lower culture will possess this power even more 
 freely. The Polynesian Maui turned himself into the 
 form of a bird to amaze his brothers ; to escape the 
 dead guardians of Hades on his visit thither, he flew 
 past as a pigeon ; while by pulling at his brother-in- 
 law's features and limbs he changed him into a dog.^ 
 In a Guiana legend certain spirits can assume the 
 form of jaguars, dogs, snakes, etc. One of them who 
 
 1 Webster, p. 91. ^ Grinnell, p. 171. Rink, p. 173. 
 
 3 Clarke, pp. 39, 50. 
 
THE WERWOLF l6l 
 
 takes the form of a frog" is enamoured of a youth, who, 
 to escape her, shut her up in a tree, through a hole of 
 which she escaped as a frog, and may still be heard 
 croaking for her lover. ^ 
 
 The wide existence of the werwolf superstition 
 may be taken as a sufficient example of the sorcerer's 
 power to assume animal form. A wolf is the witch's 
 favourite animal-shape in European folk - belief, 
 though other animal forms were taken ; a tiger 
 is favoured in India, in Malaysia, and among 
 the Abipones ; a leopard, hyena, or crocodile in 
 Africa ; a cat in China and among the Negroes of 
 America ; a hare or fox in China ; a jaguar in New 
 Guinea; and among the American- Indians, the 
 bear, fox, wolf, owl, or snake. '^ Usually, though not 
 always, the animal most feared in any country is the 
 animal chosen for the witch disguise. Wherever the 
 superstition is encountered the same sequence of ideas 
 is found ; the animal is wounded and disappears, and 
 soon after a witch is found with a corresponding 
 wound, proving beyond a doubt that she was the 
 animal in question. Innumerable folk- tales, European, 
 
 ^ Brett, p. 76. 
 
 2 For the superstition see Nydault, De la Lycanthropie (Paris, 
 1 599) ; Hertz, Der Werwolf. Among northern nations the same 
 superstition attached to the bear (Dasent, Ixii.). Other animals 
 which supplied the witch disguise in Europe were the crow, toad, 
 dog, black cat, hare, and sometimes even a dolphin or whale (see 
 Reuss, La Sorciere^ p. 81 ; Thorpe, ii. passim; Dalyell, Superstitions 
 of Scotland, pp. 50, 53, 189 ; Leland, E.R.R., pp. 113, 221 seq.j Jones, 
 Ixii. ; F.L.J., i. 53, 354 ; Rhys, C.F., i., p. 294 ; H.L., p. 198 ; Henderson, 
 i66 ; Hibbert, p. 599. For India, see Crooke, ii. 211 ; Dalton, p. 290 ; 
 Malaysia, Skeat, Malay Magic, p. 160 seq.j Africa, Burton, Zan- 
 zibar, i. 304 ; Reade, p. 419 ; Dennett, pp. 5, 10 ; Du Chaillu, Ashango 
 Land, p. 52 ; Nassau, 200 ; China, Dennys, p. 70 ; American- Indians, 
 Domian, p. 248 ; Afnerican Negroes, Leland, E.R.R., 221 ; Abipones, 
 Dobrizhoffer, ii. Tj ; New Guinea, Brett, p. 187. All those animal 
 forms were also believed in these various countries to be worn by 
 spirits and demons. The werwolf superstition was already known 
 to the Greeks and Romans. I have referred to the subject in the 
 last chapter, p. 455. 
 
 L 
 
162 TRANSFORMATION 
 
 Indian, Malaysian, African, and from Guiana, with 
 these ideas occurring in a monotonous similarity, 
 might be cited. ^ 
 
 People who are neither divinities nor witches have 
 the power of transformation in many tales. Some- 
 times it is given them by friendly animals ; ^ at other 
 times by a wizard, as in a Malagasy tale, i:\ndrianoro 
 would a-wooing go, and advised by a wizard took the 
 form of three lemons, then of bluish water in the 
 middle of a lake, then of a vegetable seed. All these 
 objects were avoided as suspicious by the three 
 maidens whom he would fain capture, but at last, as 
 an ant, he leaped upon one of them as she came down 
 from the sky, and forced her to become his wife.^ But 
 frequently the hero or heroine is personally gifted with 
 the power of shape-shifting, as in the classical myths 
 of divine amours the animal form is assumed to gain 
 access to the presence of the beloved. One of Prior s 
 Danish Ballads, and the Scots Earl of Mars 
 Daughter, tell of a knight who, as in the latter, says, 
 
 " I am a doo the livelong day, 
 A sprightly youth at night." * 
 
 A Polynesian story contains the same idea. Rupe 
 wished to visit his sister Ine across the sea, and 
 begged a bird to carry him over. The bird agreed, 
 and, Rupe entering it, flew across the waves, and on 
 the shore changed into human form, to his sister's joy. 
 
 1 Cf. Thorpe, Y.T.S., p. 5 ; Naake, p. 135 ; Skeat, p. 161 ; for an 
 African example, see p. 163 ; Brett, p. 187. 
 
 2 See p. 239. 
 
 ^ F.L.J., i. 202. 
 
 * Prior, iii. 206 ; Buchan, i. 46. We may compare with these the 
 Hindu belief in monstrous rakshasis who assume the form of beautiful 
 women to gain the love of men. See p. 291. A chiefs wife, in a 
 Guiana tale, has a lover who takes the form of a jaguar to swim across 
 the river to her. The chief kills him, and his wife goes off to the 
 forest and founds a tribe of women. Day, passim j Brett, p. 180, cf. 
 another tale of a lover in form of a tapir, p. 196. 
 
ROONEY AND THE SEAL 163 
 
 This is a curious variant of the idea that the animal 
 shape results from donning the animal's skin or 
 feathers, as in many tales like the Dindje story of a 
 man who found an eagrle's coat, and putting- it on, 
 became an eagle. ^ But frequently the transformation 
 is less mechanical. At Inishkeen is preserved the 
 skin of a seal, of which the following- story is told. 
 Years ago, a girl was betrothed to a "dacent boy" 
 called Rooney. One day they were upset in their 
 coracle by a squall. The girl sank in spite of 
 Rooney's efforts to save her, but as she sank she told 
 him she would become a white seal and sing to him. 
 One winter night Rooney started up, declaring he 
 heard her singing, and rushed out. Next morning 
 he was found on the beach with a white seal clasped 
 to his breast.^ Less beautiful but equally quaint is 
 an Aino story, in which a hunter pursued a herd of 
 deer, some of which he slew with poisoned arrows. 
 But the deer were human beings, the enemies of his 
 tribe, and now they resumed their form and continued 
 the fight. Such feats are common in Eskimo tales, 
 one of which describes a man who turned himself into 
 a reindeer (in a variant, a hare) while dancing, and 
 back again into a man, to amuse his friends. In 
 another story a man fails in some feat, and is so 
 ashamed that he turns into a reindeer until the feeling 
 of shame wears off. Similar powers are known to 
 Hottentot story. A man and woman were travelling, 
 when some horses appeared. The man asked his 
 companion to turn herself into a lion and kill one, 
 protesting that he would not be afraid of the meta- 
 morphosis. Hair appeared at the back of her neck, 
 her nails became claws, her features altered, and the 
 woman bounded off as a lion. Meanwhile the man 
 had climbed a tree in terror, nor would he come down 
 
 1 Gill, p. 94 ; Petitot, p. 56, cf. p. 348. 
 
 2 J.A.I., ii. 448. 
 
164 TRANSFORMATION 
 
 until she had reversed the process, which he never 
 again asked her to repeat.^ 
 
 (4) This idea of self-transformation enters into the 
 Transformation Combat cycle of stories. The hero 
 of these stories is usually in the power of a sorcerer 
 (sometimes he has been promised to him before birth), ^ 
 whose magfic he learns and then takes advantage of 
 In the Norse version the boy returns to his father 
 and tells him he will change himself into a horse, 
 which the father is to sell. When the bargain is 
 completed the boy resumes his shape and comes home 
 again. This unparalleled feat of horse-couping might 
 have been repeated ad infinitum but one day the father 
 forgot to take off the head-stall, which, so long as it 
 remained on him prevented Jack from retransforming 
 himself He was sold to Farmer Weathersky, none 
 other than the sorcerer. One day a girl took off the 
 head-stall ; Jack leapt into the water and became a 
 fish. The sorcerer pursued him as a pike. He 
 emerged as a dove, the sorcerer as a hawk. Jack 
 flew into the window of a princess, and after taking 
 his own form momentarily, changed into a ring on 
 her finger. Meanwhile the king had become sick and 
 the sorcerer came in his true shape to heal him, 
 asking this ring as reward. The princess let it fall 
 into the ashes ; the sorcerer turned into a cock and 
 was about to pick it up, when the ring became a fox 
 and gobbled him up.^ The series of transformations, 
 though occasionally different, occurs in Danish, 
 Albanian, Greek, Servian, Georgian, Russian, 
 German, and Kalmuck versions, as well as in a 
 Scots ballad.* But as a rule the ring (or flower, 
 
 ^ Batchelor, edit. i. 314 ; Rink, pp. 219, 459 ; Bleek, p. 57. 
 
 - See p. 430. 3 Dasent, p. 342. 
 
 4 Thorpe, Y.T.S.^ p. 364; Grundtvig, i. 248; Dozon, p. 135; 
 Garnet, ii. 143, cf. Hahn, No. 68 ; Mijatovich, pp. 191, 206 ; Wardrop, 
 p. I ; Ralston, p. 229 ; Julg, p. i ; Child, Eng. and Scot Ballads^ 
 pt. ii. 399, " The Two Magicians." 
 
THE TRANSFORMATION COMBAT 165 
 
 fruit, etc.) changfes to grain, which the magician, as a 
 fowl, is about to pick up, when it becomes a fox or 
 hawk and kills him. There are many Eastern 
 versions, of which a Tamil story bears the closest 
 resemblance to the European stories. Here the 
 transformations are, for the hero, horse, fish, buffalo, 
 parrot, which the princess keeps as a pet. One night 
 the hero assumes his true shape and warns the princess. 
 The sorcerer appears as a rope-dancer, and asks the 
 parrot as his reward. She, as advised, wrings its 
 neck ; it becomes a pearl in her necklace. The 
 magician asks it ; she scatters the pearls on the 
 g-round, where they become worms, which change into 
 a cat who seizes the magician as a fowl. The king 
 now rushes in, and the magician is reconciled to his 
 pupil. ^ 
 
 The same conflict appears in other settings. The 
 story of the second calender in the Arabian Nights 
 describes how the princess summoned the genie, who 
 had changed the hero into a monkey. He appears as 
 a huge lion, which she cuts in two. The head becomes 
 a scorpion, the princess a serpent; both turn into 
 eagles ; then into a cat and a wolf ; the cat becomes a 
 worm, and then a pomegranate; the wolf, . changed 
 into a cock, pecks up the seeds. One of them 
 becomes a fish, the cock pursues it as a pike ; both 
 resume their original forms, and the genie is finally 
 vanquished by the princess's superior flame-producing 
 powers. The incident is found in one of the Gaelic 
 tales of the Feinne. Fair Chief is attacked by Tree 
 Lion. Both change into bulls ; next into asses ; lastly 
 into hawks, when Fair Chief tears out the heart and 
 liver of the other, and resumes his true shape. In 
 Welsh folk-story it is attached to the history of 
 Taliesin. The witch Ceridwen chased Gwion, who 
 
 ^ Clouston, i. 436, with other Eastern parallels. For a Mongol 
 story, see Busk, p. 4. 
 
166 TRANSFORMATION 
 
 had mastered her magic. He became a hare, a fish, 
 a bird, a grain of wheat ; she a greyhound, an otter, 
 a hawk, and a hen which swallowed the grain of 
 wheat. Nine months after, the witch gave birth to a 
 son, Taliesin (none other than Gwion), whom she cast 
 into the sea.^ Though such a story as this is some- 
 times used to prove the Celtic (Druidic) doctrine of 
 metempsychosis, it really proves nothing more than 
 that a folk-tale of w^ide occurrence has been grafted 
 on to a Celtic mythological cycle, as in the Gaelic 
 story from Campbell's collection. The same thing 
 has occurred in Hindu mythology as where it is told 
 of Vikramaditya that he cut an opponent into two ; 
 each half became a new man. These he cut into four ; 
 four men resulted; into eight, eight men appeared. 
 Then Vikramaditya changed himself into eight lions, 
 which fell on the men and destroyed them.^ So 
 Proteus, in Greek mythology, was caught hold of by 
 Menelaus as he lay asleep. He changed himself into 
 a bearded lion, a snake, a pard, a boar, running water, 
 a tree ; still Menelaus held him, and resuming his true 
 form he submitted to answer the hero's questions.^ 
 But when we find such a story among the Red Indians, 
 we see how little entitled we are to attach any 
 doctrinal meaning to it wherever found. Over and 
 over again the mythologies and sacred books of all 
 religions, Greek, Hindu, Japanese, preserve folk-tales 
 as part of the history of the gods. We must regard 
 them none the less as folk-tales and nothing more. 
 The Red Indian story tells how Efwa-^ke changed 
 himself successively into a tree, a bear, an elan, a 
 castor, and a corpse, to deceive his enemies.* 
 
 1 Campbell, ii. 424 ; Lady Guest, Mabinogion^ iii. 358. 
 
 2 Busk, p. 289. 
 
 3 Odyssey^ iv. 400, 450 seq. Cf. p. 24 for the same idea in the True 
 Bride cycle. 
 
 * Petitot, 223. Benfey explains the origin of the Transformation 
 Combat by disputes between Buddhists and Brahmans. 
 
THE TRANSFORMED FUGITIVES 167 
 
 (5) Another class of Transformation incidents is 
 that in which the hero has fallen into the hands of an 
 ogre, witch, etc. (usually by the rash promise of his 
 father).^ He is set various tasks, in which he is 
 assisted by the daughter of his captor, and then flees 
 with her. In the pursuit which follows, the gfirl (i) 
 transforms her lover and herself, or (2) throws down 
 various objects which are transformed into obstacles 
 stopping the pursuit. The uniformity in the order of 
 the incidents of such tales, and in the nature of the 
 transformations involved, as well as in the frequent 
 occurrence of the subsequent incident of the hero's 
 forgetting his lover through her mother's curse or 
 through his breaking the girl's command, suggests a 
 common origin for all the versions, although these 
 are found not only in Europe, but in Africa and 
 Samoa, while episodes of the cycles are known to 
 the Red Indians, Hottentots, Tartars, Ainos, and 
 Malagasy. 
 
 {a) The Magyar story of Handsome Paul will 
 serve as a type of the first group. Paul has been 
 captured by a sorcerer king, but escapes with his 
 daughter in the shape of a magic foal. The king 
 pursues in the form of an eagle ; the foal turns a 
 somersault and becomes a millet-field, and turns 
 Paul into its guardian. When the eagle comes up 
 and inquires for the fugitives, Paul tells him they 
 passed when the millet was sown. The eagle returns 
 home, but is reviled by his wife for being so easily 
 taken in. Off he goes again ; the foal this time 
 becomes a lamb and Paul a shepherd, who tells the 
 eagle that the fugitives passed when the lamb was 
 born. The third time the pair become a chapel and 
 its ministering priest, while the eagle is told that the 
 fugitives passed when the chapel was building. The 
 eagle, on his third return home, received a terrible 
 scolding from his wife, who now set off as a falcon, 
 
 ^ See p. 419 infra. 
 
168 TRANSFORMATION 
 
 The foal told Paul it would not be so easy to hood- 
 wink her ; *' I will be a lake of milk, and you a gfolden 
 duck swimming in it ; take care she doesn't catch you, 
 or we are done for." The queen is unable to do any- 
 thing, but before leaving the lake pronounces a curse 
 on the pair, that they should forget each other alto- 
 gether. At sunset this curse fulfils itself They take 
 service in a king's house, where sometime after they 
 both dream that the sorcerer king and queen are 
 dead. This brings everything to their recollec- 
 tion, and next time they meet they recognise each 
 other. ^ 
 
 In some variants the couple escape on horseback, 
 and the horse is also transformed ; in others nothing 
 is said of any horse ; the Magyar version links the 
 two together, for in it the heroine is the horse herself 
 Of the former class there are Breton, Portuguese, 
 Russian, and Polish versions. The Breton has this 
 series of tranformations — horse, hero, and maiden, 
 into garden, gardener, and pear-tree ; then into church, 
 priest, and altar ; lastly into river, boat, and boatman. 
 The Portuguese adds still more to the complexity ; in 
 it there are two horses which are turned into earth, 
 the harness into a garden, the girl into a lettuce, and 
 the hero into the gardener; next into hermitage, 
 altar, statue of saint, and priest ; third, into sea, boat, 
 boatman, and fish. The Russian series are^ — horses 
 into well, girl into bowl, prince into old man ; in the 
 second, nothing is said as to the horses, but the girl 
 becomes a ruined church and the hero an aged priest ; 
 lastly, the horses become a river of honey, the girl a 
 duck, and the hero a drake. In the Polish version 
 Bony's daughter changes the horse into a raven, her- 
 self into a river, the prince into a bridge, and makes 
 the highway split into three roads. Next appears a 
 
 ^ Jones, p. 32. For some other instances, see p. 418 infra. The 
 twofold dream of the deaths of the sorcerers is a curious instance of 
 telepathy in folk-tale. See p. 43 supra. 
 
MASTER RABBIT 169 
 
 g-loomy forest with innumerable paths, down which a 
 horse with two riders is hastening, when suddenly 
 everything- vanishes. Lastly come bell, church, and 
 priest just outside Bony's dominions, and he has to 
 return empty-handed/ 
 
 Where the horse is omitted we have as in Lor- 
 raine, Sicily, and Germany, (i) tree and woman, or 
 garden and gardener, or thorn-bush and rose ; (2) 
 hermitage and hermit ; (3) fish and river or pond." 
 These transformations are also found in a Swedish 
 version with two ducks instead of the fish ; a Tyro- 
 lese story has (i) garden and gardener, (2) lake 
 and fisherman, (3) church and priest ; while in 
 the Esthonian variant we have (i) stream and 
 fish, (2) rose-briar and rose, (3) puff of wind and 
 gnat.^ 
 
 The same story appears among the Croats and in 
 Iceland, while a version of it is found among the Red 
 Indians, but in a different setting. Master Rabbit 
 incurred the wrath of Lusifee, the wild cat, who 
 hunted him down. Rabbit stuck up a twig and 
 changed it into a wigwam, and himself into an old 
 man who entertained Lusifee all night. Next morn- 
 ing when Lusifee woke, all was *' gas and gaiters ''■ — he 
 was lying on the snow, and nothing was to be seen. 
 Off he went again, and came up to a village full of 
 people, and a church with service going on. The 
 chief lodged him for the night, but when he woke he 
 found himself in a swamp. A third time he was 
 deceived, and last of all Rabbit threw a chip into a 
 lake ; it became a ship with the hero as captain 
 standing on the deck. Lusifee jumped into the lake, 
 when the captain gave the order to fire; the shot 
 
 ^ Sebillot, i. No. 13. Coelho, No. 14. F.L.J.^ ii. 15. 
 
 ■^ Cosquin, i. 103. Gonzenbach, No. 54. Grimm, p. 113. 
 
 3 Thorpe, Y.T.S.^ p. 222. Schneller, No. 27. Kirby, i. 152. 
 Thorpe gives many Swedish versions, all of them interesting. The 
 pursuer is usually a mermaid, to whom the hero has been promised. 
 
1 70 TRANSFORMATION 
 
 was really caused by night-hawks swooping- down 
 with a noise like a volley, but it so frightened 
 Lusifee that he swam ashore and fled. Mr 
 Leland, while admitting the church and ship inci- 
 dents to be borrowed, maintains that the rest 
 is pure Indian and of ancient date.^ We shall 
 meet with another American- Indian pursuit tale 
 presently. 
 
 A Siberian Tartar story while containing the 
 central incident also lacks the usual introduction, etc. 
 Ai Tolysy, having stolen a young girl, was pursued 
 by her three brothers, whereupon she turned his horse 
 into a poplar, and Ai Tolysy and herself into crows, 
 which watched the brothers careering past. On such 
 a story as this we may conceive the original version of 
 the cycle to have been built up.^ Compare now a 
 Hottentot story, in which some girls are enticed away 
 by men who intend to kill them. One of them 
 escaped with her sister ; they were pursued, but hid 
 themselves. Later, they were discovered and again 
 pursued, when they turned themselves into trees, 
 while the beads they wore became gum on the trees. 
 The men ate of it and fell asleep, when the girls 
 smeared it on their eyes and made good their escape.^ 
 The central idea of our cycle — transformation follow- 
 ing on pursuit — is thus found at a savage level of 
 culture, proving whence it was originally derived. 
 Among the stories of this cycle it should be noted 
 that when the lake or river transformation occurs last, 
 the pursuer begins to drink it up till he or she bursts. 
 In all, the ogre is stupid, but his wife is more alert, 
 and sees through the disguises. She either accom- 
 panies her husband in the last pursuit or goes 
 herself We may see in her superior cleverness the 
 dim memory of the time when female ability led the 
 
 1 Krauss, i. 48. Arnason, p. 380. Leland, A.L.^ p. 212, For 
 another Red Indian story, cf. Legends of the Wigwam, p. 61. 
 
 2 Radloff. ii. 303. ^ Bleek, p. 81, 
 
THE TRANSFORMED OBJECTS 171 
 
 van of primitive civilisation.^ Lastly, the incident of 
 the hero forgetting- the heroine, which appears as the 
 result of a curse in the Magyar version, is not a 
 necessary part of this cycle, as many versions lack it ; 
 while frequently the curse is omitted, and the heroine 
 warns the hero not to kiss anyone on entering his 
 home. He does so, and at once forgets her, and she 
 is only restored to him after a long time of trial and 
 waiting.^ 
 
 {d) Stories of the transformation of objects divide 
 themselves into several groups, of which the first 
 resembles some of those cited already. The hero 
 escapes with a witch's or ogre's daughter. When the 
 pursuit begins, she bids him throw down certain 
 objects which she sometimes produces from the 
 horse's ears, or, in some versions, the horse itself 
 supplies them.^ In a Magyar story these objects are 
 a comb, a brush, and a horse-rug, which all change 
 into a dense forest, impeding the witch. She takes 
 the shape of a pigeon ; the pony becomes a vulture 
 and tears her to pieces. The objects in a Gaelic tale 
 are a sprig of sloe, a piece of stone, and a bladder of 
 water, which become a forest, a rocky barrier, and a 
 loch, in which last the giant is drowned. In a 
 Basque story the heroine, after leaving her spittle 
 behind to speak in her voice and so deceive her 
 father, throws up her comb thrice and produces a 
 
 1 Cf. Pearson, ii. 48, etc. 
 
 ^ Mr Lang has an interesting paper on the whole story — 
 tasks, transformation, and forgotten lover — in Custom and Myth, 
 p. 64. 
 
 ^ The best instance is the Norse " Master-maid." Drops of blood 
 from her finger deceive her father for a time. Then she drops the 
 magical objects which delay pursuit. Then follows the oblivion incident 
 and her restoration to her lover — Dasent, p. 62. In this connection the 
 group of Tabu stories, in which a friendly horse assists the tabu- 
 breaker to escape, and advises him to take certain objects which 
 afterwards bar pursuit in the usual way, should be noted. They are 
 discussed in chap, xi., p. 310. 
 
172 TRANSFORMATION 
 
 hedg-e, fog", hail, and storm, and a river ; while in 
 an Irish version the daughter of Grey Norris throws 
 its puppies to the dog" he sends after her lover 
 and herself, then some drops of water become a 
 sea, a needle, and a forest of iron, which stopped all 
 further pursuit. 
 
 Without referring to any of the other European 
 versions, I shall note Basuto, Kafir, and Aino tales 
 in which the incident occurs. A Basuto woman sent 
 her husband to obtain for her the liver of a nyamat- 
 sane — a fabulous animal. Having killed one of them, 
 he escaped from their village with the liver and a 
 brilliant stone which he picked up in the hut. 
 Presently the nyamatsanes pursued him, and taking" 
 the stone he threw it to the ground when it became a 
 precipitous rock, on whose top he seated himself The 
 animals tried in vain to climb it, and by night the 
 man escaped, though we are not told how he reduced 
 the rock to its pebble form. Several times in suc- 
 cession he repeated the process, and at last arrived 
 safely at his village. In the Kafir tale, Sikulume 
 goes off with a chiefs daughter, who takes with her 
 an ^^^, a milk-sack, a pot, and a smooth stone, which 
 become a mist, a sheet of water, darkness, and a 
 precipice. This last the father cannot climb, and the 
 pair, like Christian, go on their way and see him no 
 more. The Aino story tells how a ''divine stranger " 
 stole his treasures and his sister from Okikurumi, the 
 Aino culture-hero. Here no object was thrown down, 
 but the girl made a mountain in the midst of the sea, 
 the sight of which sent Okikurumi home dispirited. 
 A story from the Japanese Ko-ji-ki may be cited at 
 this stage. The divinity the Male Who Invites 
 went to Hades to rescue his dead consort. There, 
 however, his impatience ruined all, and he had to flee, 
 pursued by the Ugly Female of Hades. First, he 
 threw down his head-dress, which turned into grapes ; 
 these the hag- stayed to eat ; next his comb turned 
 
A SAMOAN INSTANCE 173 
 
 into bamboo-sprouts, which also delayed her, and 
 thus he made good his escape.^ 
 
 The next group belongs to the Forbidden Chamber 
 cycle. The hero, who has broken the command of 
 his captor, or of his father, usually finds a horse in 
 the chamber, on whose back he escapes. In all the 
 stories of this group the horse advises the hero to take 
 certain objects from his captor's house, or else pro- 
 duces them when the pursuit begins. These objects 
 transformed put an end to the pursuit. In the Lor- 
 raine version the prince, mounted on Bayard, is 
 pursued by his father on Moreau. The horse gives 
 him a sponge, telling him to throw it as high and as 
 far as he can. It becomes a vast forest, through 
 which Moreau bursts. A curry-comb becomes a 
 huge river, but the pursuers cross it. Lastly, a stone 
 becomes a mountain of razors, on which Moreau 
 cuts his hoofs, and the king is obliged to return home. 
 In the Tyrolese version, a comb, a pair of scissors, 
 and a mirror become a hedge, a forest, and a lake ; 
 a Russian version has glove and brush changed into 
 forest and range of mountains ; with the Lapps, 
 sulphur, a stone, and a comb turn into a sheet of 
 water, a musket, and a forest. Greek, Norse, 
 Roumanian, Basque, and Lettish versions, the last 
 lacking the tabu incident, may be mentioned.'- 
 
 Strangest of all is it to meet not only with the 
 transformation episode, but with all the other in- 
 cidents of the complete European folk- tale — tasks, 
 flight, and transformation, and the forgotten lover, in 
 a tale from Samoan mythology. Siati, the hero, was 
 
 ^ Jacottet, p. 7. Theal, p. 81. Chamberlain, p. 52. For Serbian 
 and Sicilian stories, see Mijatovich, p. 84 ; Crane, p. 7i- The latter 
 has the ogress's curse issuing in the lover forgetting the maiden. 
 Ko-ji-ki^ p. 36. For another S. African pursuit story, but with a 
 rock which opens at the magic song of the fugitive, see p. 268. 
 
 2 Cosquin, i. 134. Schneller, No. 20. Naake, p. 124. Hahn, 
 p. 45. Asbjoernsen, i. 86. Ralston, p. 27. Webster, p. iii. 
 
174 TRANSFORMATION 
 
 set various tasks by the gfod whose daughter, Puapae, 
 he had won. She helped him ; both then fled from 
 her father. Puapae threw down her comb to stop her 
 father ; it became a bush of thorns. A bottle of 
 earth became a mountain, and a bottle of water a sea, 
 which drowned the god and another daughter. In 
 the sequel, when Siati remembered his forgotten wife, 
 he fell dead — an incident which contrasts with the 
 happy ending of European tales. The existence of 
 this complete variant as a divine myth suggests that, 
 as the story was probably not independently evolved, 
 it must have reached Samoa in long past ages, how 
 we do not know. We have just seen a parallel case 
 of a similar folk-tale occurring as a Japanese divine 
 myth.^ 
 
 Various tales relate how the hero is pursued 
 because he has plundered certain valuable possessions, 
 which, in some cases, aid him in his flight. The 
 following episode is related in the Finnish Kalevala 
 and Kanteletar. Turo, son of Jumala, went to 
 recover the sun and moon, which had been stolen. 
 Arrived in the devil's country, he saw three girls 
 polishing these heavenly bodies, which he at once fled 
 with. Soon he found all the devils on his track. 
 Taking a pebble from his breast, he said a charm over 
 it ; it became a mountain. Then a comb became a 
 forest of iron pines, which effectually barred the way. 
 The hero of a Siamese story stole certain objects 
 from a yak or ogress who pursued him. One of these 
 changed into countless sharp rods ; another into a 
 mountain ; she removed both, but having found that, 
 by virtue of the third object, "seas between them 
 braid ha'e rolled," she left off the pursuit. A similar 
 story comes from the Deccan. In another Indian 
 and in a Kashmir story the objects which are to stay 
 
 1 Turner, p. 102. See Mr Lang's remarks on this tale, "swept like 
 a piece of drift-wood on to the coasts of Samoa," in Custom and 
 Myth^ p. 97, and in his introduction to Miss Cox's Cinderella, 
 
A RED INDIAN INSTANCE 175 
 
 the pursuit of the rakshasa are g-iven to the hero by 
 another rakshasa's daughter, who is in love with him. 
 A Malagasy version tells of three brothers who steal 
 a pebble, a reed, a rush, and an egg" from certain 
 witches whom they have sent to bring water in a 
 sieve. The reed is planted, a forest springs up ; so 
 the rush produces a thicket ; the egg becomes a lake. 
 Then the brothers stand on the pebble, which changes 
 to a huge rock. After bidding the witches fix spears 
 in the ground, they pull them up with ropes, which 
 are cut when the boy is nearly reached, and the 
 witches are impaled.^ 
 
 With the stories of this group we may compare 
 one from the mythological cycle of Manabush, cur- 
 rent among the Menomini Indians. A boy who had 
 saved his brothers from the Bear Chief, whom, with his 
 bear servants, he had destroyed, thought he had better 
 go far away lest the surviving bears should destroy 
 him. Before he left, his sister gave him a stone 
 ornament and a handful of blue berries, which he was 
 to use as she instructed him. He had not gone far 
 before he heard the bears pattering after him. Taking 
 one of his magic arrows he shot it in the air, saying, 
 "When you come down, there shall be about you a 
 copse covering an area as wide as the range of an 
 arrow. There I shall hide myself* The copse 
 delayed the bears for some time, but they soon came 
 near the boy, who ran off again. H e repeated the arrow 
 ruse twice, and directed a fourth arrow to become a 
 marsh, from the middle of which there should be a 
 trail by which he should escape. Through this the 
 bears also struggled, but as they neared the boy he 
 bethought him of the stone ornament. He threw it 
 up ; it became a cliff, from the top of which he threw 
 
 ^ Folk-Lore^ 1895, p. 343 (from the Kalevald). Asiatic Researches, 
 XX. 347. Frere, p. 62. Somadeva^ bk. vii. chap. 39, earth, water, 
 thorns, and fire become a mountain, a river, and a forest, which the 
 fire ignites. Knowles, p. 49. F.L.J. ^ \\. 131.. 
 
176 TRANSFORMATION 
 
 down rocks on his pursuers, killing- many of them. 
 Descending- the other side of the cliff, he fled, but the 
 surviving bears found his trail and, faint yet pursuing, 
 made after him. They tried their utmost to capture 
 the boy, that they might allay their hunger, but now 
 he threw down the berries, which became bushes 
 laden with fruit, which the bears fell upon at once. 
 When they had satisfied their hunger, they concluded 
 that the boy was too much of a mystery to trouble 
 themselves further about him.^ 
 
 Sometimes a girl, escaping from a witch, eludes 
 pursuit in the same way. Russian versions tell how 
 a cat, to whom she had been kind, gave a maiden a 
 towel and a comb, which turned into a river and a 
 forest, while some inanimate object left behind by her 
 simulated her voice. A Samoyede girl threw behind 
 her a whetstone, a gunflint, and a comb, which were 
 transformed into a river, a mountain, and a forest ; 
 while the Kirghiz have a similar story of a maiden 
 whose comb becomes a forest and her handglass a 
 huge lake.^ 
 
 In other stories a girl escapes from her ravisher 
 with the aid of certain heroes. An Italian version is 
 curious. Seven brothers rescued a girl from a ghtjl ; 
 Nardo's spittle became a sea ; Cola's hairpin a field of 
 razors ; Micco's bough a forest ; Petrullo changed 
 water into a river ; Ascadeo turned a stone into a 
 fortress, in which all hid and from the walls of which 
 Ceccone blinded the ghul with an arrow. A similar 
 story is found among the Kukis of South India. 
 Two youths carried off Kimgori from a wer-tiger, 
 and threw down ''seeds of fire," which consumed the 
 jungle ; ** seeds of water," which became a river ; and 
 
 ^ Bureau of Ethnology^ \^th Annual Report^ p. 196. For the 
 earlier j,; part of this story, see p. 379, where I have referred to the 
 genuineness of this series of myths, as also on p. 380. 
 
 2 Ralston, p. 142. Cosquin, i. 152. Radloff, iii. 383. Cf. a 
 Kabyle version in Riviere, p. 209. 
 
OTHER INSTANCES 177 
 
 "seeds of thorns," which changed into a thicket. 
 The wer-tig"er conquered these difficulties, but finally- 
 had his head cut off by one of the heroes. It is not 
 impossible that the Italian tale, which occurs in the 
 Pentamerone, is merely a literary form of some such 
 tale as this from Eastern sources. But here is a 
 Malagasy parallel. In this story there is no rescuer, 
 but the heroine, Ifara, is warned by a mouse to take 
 with her an egg, a broom, a cane, and a stone. She 
 leaves a plantain-tree stem in bed to personate her. 
 Here the transformations are — egg to pond, broom 
 to thicket, cane to forest, stone to precipice, from 
 which Ifara throws the monster down, impaling him 
 on his own spear. ^ 
 
 Analogous to these pursuit episodes are the 
 following. The Esthonian Kalevipoeg tells of a 
 sorcerer who, when the hero of the epic came to 
 avenge the abduction of his mother, blew a handful 
 of feathers from him, uttering magic words. They 
 became an armed host. So in the Finnish Kalevala 
 Lemminkainen created a flock of birds from feathers, 
 to appease an eagle which barred his way to Pohjola, 
 or Hades. Esthonian sorcerers raise floods to sweep 
 away fugitives or to baffle pursuit, just as in Red 
 Indian tales a magician from whom a hero has rescued 
 his sisters changes their halting-place each night into 
 a precipice, a desert island, a marsh, etc.^ 
 
 It is not improbable that, in the earliest form of 
 this incident of the transformed objects there was no 
 transformation at all, only some object thrown down 
 delayed the pursuer, as Atalanta was delayed by the 
 golden apples of Hippomenes. We have met with 
 an incident of this kind in the Menomini story, 
 
 * Basile, Pentamerone (Burton), i. 47. Lewin, Lushai Dialect^ 
 p. 85. F.L.J.f i. 234. The formula of impaling the pursuer has been 
 already noted ; it occurs in several Malagasy tales. 
 
 2 Kirby, i. 40. Kalevala^ canto xxvi. Kirby, i. 105, 107, 108. 
 Petitot, pp. 204, 398. 
 
 M 
 
178 TRANSFORMATION 
 
 combined with that of the transformed objects. At a 
 later time the inventive power of the story-teller 
 suggested that these objects should be transformed.^ 
 In Angola, a woman pursued by her cannibal 
 husband, threw down millet, sesamum, and eleusine, 
 which delayed her husband. He cried, ** Pick, pick 
 up ! A fruit, don't waste it ! " and his thrift lost him 
 his wife. In a Kashmir tale three dogs are succes- 
 sively sent after a king by the jinn who has decoyed 
 him. Advised by the jinn's wife, he throws down 
 certain biscuits, which the dogs stay to eat. We have 
 already seen how, in the Japanese myth, the hag stays 
 to eat the objects which have been formed by trans- 
 formation. It forms a link between the simpler and 
 more complex tales. Elsewhere the eating formula is 
 varied. Thus in a Maori legend which has some 
 likeness to the Japanese myth, the spirit of a woman 
 who had died went to Reigna, the place of the dead. 
 There she met her father, who said she must go back 
 to her child at home, as there was no one to nurse it. 
 At the same time he cautioned her to eat no food 
 offered her in Reigna, else she would never leave it.^ 
 Acting on this advice, she refused the food offered her 
 by the spirits, and was thus able to leave the spirit 
 land. As she did so, her father gave her two huge 
 roots of kumara to plant for her child. But on her 
 
 ^ A variant of this idea occurs in a Basuto tale, where a girl escapes 
 with her friends from the chief, who had forced her to be his wife. 
 Whenever the pursuers draw near, a magic sheep dances before them, 
 and they are forced in spite of themselves to stay and watch it. Then 
 it suddenly disappears and they resume the pursuit, only to be stopped 
 again by it. Jacottet, p. 250. 
 
 2 To eat the food of the world of the dead or of fairyland, invari- 
 ably prevents the visitor's escape. So, too, in the Babylonian myth 
 (p. 64), if the visitor to the heaven of the gods eats their immortal 
 food, he becomes a god and immortal, as the Polynesian Ina became 
 an immortal goddess by being sprinkled with the water of immortality, 
 in which her divine husband renewed his youth every month (p. 63). 
 Eating the food of a strange tribe establishes kinship with them, in 
 primitive belief. 
 
JASON AND MEDEA 179 
 
 way to the upper air the spirits of two infants tried to 
 retain her. She threw down one of the roots, one of 
 the infants remained to eat it. The other held her 
 fast, but him, too, she tempted with the second root, 
 and so made gfood her escape. In an Irish story 
 already cited, the fugitives threw down puppies 
 to the bitch pursuing them ; she stopped to pick 
 them up. A Kafir tale relates how Ironside advised 
 his sister when she fled with her child from her 
 cannibal husband, to pluck tufts of hair from the 
 child's head and scatter them in all directions. Each 
 of these spoke in her voice, and the pursuers were 
 utterly confused. In an Eskimo story a girl and her 
 rescuer escape from a whale by throwing away her 
 garments one by one, thus delaying the pursuing 
 animal. Again, in the classic story of Jason, when he 
 and Medea escape after he has by her help per- 
 formed the tasks set him and won the golden fleece, 
 she stays her pursuing father by throwing down the 
 mutilated body of her brother. It should be observed 
 also that in Samoa a curious ruse was adopted by 
 members of the seaweed clan, who threw seaweed into 
 the sea to hinder the enemy's flight. If the enemy 
 tried to pick it up it sank, but rose again when any 
 of the clan paddled up to it. And Grimm informs us 
 that a favourite device for escaping from witches was 
 to throw down something which would tempt their 
 avaricious nature, just as Rolf delayed his pursuers 
 by casting down gold.^ 
 
 Thus, given the idea of a pursuer delayed by 
 some object thrown down — a likely enough inci- 
 dent (we have all heard of travellers escaping from 
 wolves by such a device) — and granted the idea 
 of transformation, which was everywhere current, 
 the story artist skilfully combined his informa- 
 
 ^ Shortland, p. 150. Chatelain, p. 99. Knowles, p. 210. Theal, 
 p. 123. Rink, p. 126. Turner, p. 71. Grimm, D.M.^ p. 1079. Vig- 
 fusson and Powell, Corpus Poet, Boreale^ i. 190, " Lay of Rolf Kraki." 
 
180 TRANSFORMATION 
 
 tion, as in the Red Indian story of the boy and the 
 bears he combined both incidents, and produced the 
 delightful episode of the transformation flight. To 
 transform the fugitives themselves was the next step, 
 easy enough to take when the belief in the possibility 
 of human shape-shifting was already current coin. 
 
 It should be observed that, as a rule, the trans- 
 formations produced are extensions of the objects 
 thrown down — water, sea ; stone, mountain or 
 precipice ; reed or twig, forest ; or they may be 
 supposed to resemble them, e.g., the serrated comb 
 becomes a forest or a range of mountains, the pebble 
 a precipice (in Eastern, Malagasy, and Red Indian 
 tales), the mirror a lake, etc. That they should 
 produce something so much greater than themselves 
 is not surprising to those who have studied the 
 belief in sympathetic magic. Like produces like, 
 according to this philosophy, because likeness is 
 equivalent to cause and effect, even though the effect 
 may be stupendous in comparison with the cause. 
 Such objects, too, as the magical possessions of witch 
 or sorcerer, *'may typify the influence which the 
 supernatural beings to whom they belonged were 
 supposed to exercise over the elements."^ 
 f Was there ever a time in which these various 
 forms of transformation were deemed natural ? The 
 evidence of savage psychology proves beyond a doubt 
 that such a time did exist. It presupposes that theory 
 j, of things, already alluded to, called animism, in which 
 ■ men, animals, and inanimate objects are all equally 
 supposed to be alive, usually by virtue of the 
 possession of a spirit or soul, and to have similar 
 passions, powers, and faculties, though usually animals 
 are credited with greater powers and keener wits 
 
 ^ Ralston, p. 143. The value of the comb in primitive life as an 
 ordinary or a magic possession has been noted by Campbell, i. Ixxi. 
 seq.^ and Miss Garnett, ii. 437. Its occurrence on early Celtic 
 monuments also points to the value set on it. 
 
I 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE BELIEF 181 
 
 than men. Two aspects of this theory of the uni- 
 verse have aided the rise of the belief in Trans- 
 formation, (i) It is thought that the spirit, human 
 or animal, can leave its enclosing" body and wander 
 about or take up its residence temporarily in another 
 body. Thus the spirit of a man may for the nonce 
 enter into an animal or a tree. (2) This, with the 
 belief in the underlying similarity of all things, 
 hinders men from having a definite idea of personality. 
 Personality is not fixed and unalterable : it may 
 assume a hundred protean disguises. Hence it is 
 nothing surprising to the savage if what he now sees 
 as a man, immediately after he sees as an animal or a 
 bush. Wherever we trace the working of the savage 
 mind — in Australia, Africa, Greenland, Melanesia, or 
 elsewhere — these ideas are found unaltered, and they 
 are ideas which once governed the minds of the 
 ancestors of all civilised races. There is thus obtained 
 a practical and working belief, the idea that men, 
 animals, and spirits or gods may all, from time to 
 time, assume some other form than their own. The 
 transformation incidents of our folk-tales are, or have 
 been, in fact, believed as everyday occurrences by all 
 men everywhere. 
 
 (The rise of the institution known as Totemism,^ 
 -with its central doctrine of the close kinship between 
 a human clan and an animal species, aided the 
 acceptance of what, to us, must seem an incredible 
 dogma. Partly as a result of totemism, partly as the 
 product of man's myth-making fancies, stories every- 
 where arose of the solidarity of human and animal, of 
 their origin from one primal stock, (i) Thus it is 
 a common belief that, as the Algonquins say, '*of old 
 all animals were as men ; the Master (Glooskap) 
 gave them the shapes they now wear." Hence a 
 great many stories all over the world explain certain 
 markings or distinctive features of various animals as 
 
 ^ See pp. 249-274. 
 
182 TRANSFORMATION 
 
 the result of what once happened to them when they 
 were men, as in New Guinea, where a thief fell over 
 a cliff and had his features flattened, turning into a 
 dug-ong-.^ This is mainly a totem belief, as may be 
 seen from the myths of Australians, a totemistic 
 people with tribal septs called after animals. Thus 
 two Weeoomben brothers asked some other black 
 fellows to help them. The latter expected some 
 reward, but on going to claim it saw only two little 
 redbreasts sitting on a tree. Then they knew that 
 these were the brothers transformed, and ever after 
 redbreasts have been called Weeoomben. Men of a 
 bird clan became the birds themselves — one out of 
 many instances in which men and women are changed 
 into animals, birds, or stars, which afterwards bear 
 their names. The Wurrunnunnah were an industrious 
 tribe, the Bunnyarl very lazy, and as time went on 
 the former became bees, the latter idle flies — a 
 transformation quite in keeping with Bishop Butler's 
 theory of character becoming indelible.^ (2) Again, 
 we have such a belief as that held by the Hareskin 
 Indians, that in the beginning men were animals and 
 animals were men, but that the roles were later 
 inverted, or that once the owl was the eagle and the 
 eagle the owl ; or such a theory as that of the Zunis, 
 who hold that all things were originally animals, and 
 that now men, trees, stars, etc., are really degenerate 
 animals, all possessing souls capable of leaving their 
 bodies.^ (3) Another theory is that once men were 
 animals who became men. This is a common 
 
 ^ Leland, A.L.^ p. 109. Romilly, p. 133. The dressing in the totem- 
 animal skin at^'sacred^dances, or in bear-skins before a bear-hunt, or 
 the custom of wearing]animal masks in war, would all aid the belief in 
 transformation. The frenzy of the dance would suggest self-trans- 
 formation to the dancer, while the frightened enemy would imagine he 
 had human animals for antagonists. For references to these practices, 
 see Dorman, P..248 j^^. 
 
 2 Parker," pp. 19, 106. 
 
 ^ Petitot, pp. 275-6. Gushing, intro., p. ix. 
 
PRIMITIVE DARWINISM 183 
 
 Polynesian belief; in the Gilbert group it is thought 
 that men were developed from fish, or in Eromanga 
 that men were pigs, to whom the lizard gave their 
 present shape ; or we find it in a Tchippewaya story 
 of a magician who found a lot of people living in 
 darkness as hares, whom he changed into men by 
 circumcising them,^ (4) But, further, as a result of 
 totemistic theories of animal descent, a clan or 
 tribe of one totem who, for some reason or another, 
 dislike the animal which is the totem of another clan, 
 may easily come to regard the men of that clan as 
 only half-human, or as altogether possessed of the 
 nature of the animal they abhor. Stories of distant 
 tribes, half-animal or liable to take animal form, may 
 have arisen in this way. Thus the Dene Indians 
 regard the otter as the personification of evil, and they 
 have traditions of a race of men-otters. These are 
 the Aleuts, to whom the otter is a totemistic guardian. 
 Again, if a member of such a tribe captured a woman 
 of the other tribe, it is easy to see how her friends 
 would come to say that she had married an otter, 
 and in this way legends of beast-marriage could be 
 accounted for. 
 
 These primitive strivings after a Darwinian theory 
 of the universe show how easily it became credible 
 that men or animals might, for a time, resume the 
 form which had once been theirs, or, for that matter, 
 take any other. Where personality was in a state of 
 unstable equilibrium, it was as easy to mould it to 
 any shape as to form figures out of clay. Hence we 
 are not surprised to learn, after reading collections of 
 savage folk- tales — Aino, Fjort, Hottentot, in which 
 animals speak and act precisely as men (so that their 
 animal names are the only indication of what they 
 are), are on the same level as human beings, or 
 easily assume human form — that these stories have 
 
 ^ Turner, pp. 296, 330. Petitot, p. 400. 
 
184 TRANSFORMATION 
 
 sprung- out of the living-, present-day beliefs of the 
 people.^ 
 
 The power of transformation is thus a current 
 belief among savages, and sprang out of such con- 
 ceptions as have been noted. The Bushman tale of 
 the woman who became a lion, is the reflection of 
 what every Bushman believes to be possible of his 
 wife.^ Many travellers have found savage witnesses 
 of the act of transformation on the part of another 
 man ; while the force of the belief may not rest on a 
 man's personal power of transformation, he readily 
 admits that other men like himself have such a power. 
 Hence we have beliefs in the existence of distant 
 tribes who are men by night and fish by day 
 (Arawaks) ; or appear now as bears, or gulls, or 
 ravens, now as men (Eskimo) ; or take the form of 
 crocodiles, to capture and eat other men (Fjort) ; or of 
 foxes, who are men and women in all but the posses- 
 sion of a brush (Japan).^ But, generally speaking, 
 those who are mainly credited with the power of self- 
 transformation, or of transforming other people, are 
 medicine-men, shamans, or sorcerers. To multiply 
 instances of their power here would be tedious ; suffice 
 it to say that wherever the medicine-man is found, 
 ''from China to Peru," among ancient Celts, Teutons, 
 or Slavs, shape-shifting is always one of his magical 
 powers. The majority of our folk-tales show that the 
 magician, witch, ogre, or their daughter, or their 
 whilom servant, all make use of this convenient gift. 
 Where European folk- tales contain the transformation 
 incident it is, almost invariably, the result of magical 
 skill. No European peasant believes he can change 
 his form, though his savage ancestors did ; with him 
 
 1 See the collections of Chamberlain, Dennett, and Bleek, for these 
 respective peoples. 
 
 2 Vide p. 163 supra. 
 
 ^ Im Thurn, p. 384. Rink, pp. 182, 451, etc. Dennett, p. 5. For 
 the fox superstition, see infra. 
 
WITCH AND WIZARD 185 
 
 the belief survives in his firmly-rooted opinion that 
 every witch can do so. Witches and wizards are 
 everywhere known to take the form of animals for 
 various purposes, usually malignant, and one special 
 branch of the witch superstition — that of the wer- 
 wolf, cast a dark and weird shadow over the minds of 
 men, and is, in remote places, scarcely extinct even 
 now. The mediaeval and later witch trials contain 
 many examples of the alleged power of the sorceress 
 to transform other people.^ In fact as in folk- tale, 
 witch and wizard are the lineal descendants of the 
 ancient wise-woman or medicine-man, and, outside 
 savage tales, the power of shape-shifting- which they 
 or ordinary mortals possess is invariably due to magi- 
 cal causes, i.e., it has ceased to be natural as it once 
 was, and has now become supernatural. This is 
 clearly seen in the transformed objects which delay 
 pursuit ; they are magical properties to begin with, 
 frequently stolen from a supernatural being or a 
 witch, while in a Serbian variant, these magical 
 objects, nuts, are not transformed, but when opened 
 produce a river and a conflagration.^ 
 
 The long survival of such a belief shows how 
 strong human preconceptions may be in face of 
 higher beliefs and calm reasoning, while their vivid- 
 ness is equally seen in the hallucinations of actual 
 shape-shifting which they produced. These in turn 
 must have helped to bolster up the belief itself It is 
 not at all unlikely, too, that the unfortunate victims 
 of madness, imitating in their frenzy the cries and 
 actions of various animals, may have suggested, in 
 primitive and later times, certain aspects of the shape- 
 shifting dogma, especially that of the werwolf, wer- 
 
 ^ Reuss, p. 66. The evidence was never first hand, and the same 
 stories repeat themselves with monotonous frequency in thousands of 
 trials. See the note on witchcraft in Gurney, Phantasms of the Living, 
 vol. i. Cf. Podmore, Modern Spiritualism, i. 17 seq. 
 
 - Mijatovich, p. 84. 
 
186 TRANSFORMATION 
 
 tiger, etc.^ A study of the works of modern alienists 
 will show how common such hallucinations are, and 
 will sug-gfest how readily they may have given rise to 
 a belief in actual transformation when witnessed by 
 men ignorant of their true causes. A savage instance 
 is furnished by the Aino, who believe that a man who 
 cries or acts like an animal, cat, dog, or bear, has 
 been bewitched by the spirit of such an animal enter- 
 ing into him. Among the Abipones, if a sorcerer 
 threatens to change himself into a tiger, and begins to 
 imitate the animal's actions, the spectators through 
 fear and excitement imagine they see the transforma- 
 tion going on. This is an excellent example of the 
 medicine-man taking advantage of the preconceptions 
 of the people. Populus vult decipi, decipiatur I Some- 
 times, as among the Ojibways, he will do this by dress- 
 ing in the skin of the animal into which he is supposed 
 to change, imitating its howls, until the spectators 
 believe in the actuality of the transformation.^ 
 
 One group of tales, those in which the transforma- 
 tion is effected by eating or drinking, may have had 
 its origin in part in an actual witch practice. It is 
 now known that many of the acts claimed to have 
 been done by the witch — riding through the air, trans- 
 formation, etc. — were simply hallucinations caused 
 by swallowing certain herbs, like stramonium. Such 
 herbs were often given by the witch to others, who 
 then shared in these hallucinations.^ In modern as 
 in ancient Italy, it is believed that witches can trans- 
 form people into animals or into members of the 
 opposite sex, by giving them certain food.^ Both 
 
 1 Cf. Brierre de Boismont, Traite des Hallucinations^ p. 327. 
 
 2 Batchelor, p. 507 (2nd ed.). Dobrizhoffer, ii. T]. Jones, 
 Ojibways^ p. 145. 
 
 3 Parish, Hallucinations^ p. 40 seq. Reuss, La Sorciere^ p. 133 seq. 
 ^ Leland, E.R.R.^ p. 207. Hypnotism may also have been resorted 
 
 to in order to suggest change into animal form. For the possibilities 
 of this, see Proc. Soc. Psych. Research^ i. 223 ; Gurney, op. city i. 98. 
 
UNIVERSITY 
 THE EARLY NoV^ISi^g^PQ^^^^ 187 
 
 Ovid and St Augustine speak of this in their own 
 time. The Latin poet describes how a Naiad, by 
 magic strains and by potent herbs, changed some 
 youths into fishes, while the Christian theologian 
 relates that Italian witches gave cheese to their guests 
 who then turned into beasts and obeyed their com- 
 mands, afterwards returning to their human form. 
 Such beliefs, like the group of folk-tales in question, 
 are evidently the reflection of the hallucinatory experi- 
 ences of those who believed themselves transformed 
 after swallowing such drugs as these referred to. 
 
 /When we find such ideas as these the current coin 
 of all races past and present, savage or civilised, we 
 cannot be surprised at the exuberance of the transfor- 
 mation incidents in folk-tales. The story inventor 
 used them as the modern novelist does any current 
 and present-day practice or opinion, as the material of 
 his tales. And, perhaps more than any other irra- 
 tional incident of fairy stories, they still gained cred- 
 ence among the peasantry of Europe, who held that 
 the witch had just such powers, and who were there- 
 fore all the less critical as to what might or might not 
 have happened in the dark backward and abysm of 
 time. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 INANIMATE OBJECTS WITH HUMAN AND MAGICAL 
 QUALITIES 
 
 The preceding chapters have shown us certain primi- 
 tive conceptions of human personality, how the spirit 
 is a separable entity, and how a man may take 
 another form than his own. We are now to see how 
 all the attributes of human personality are freely 
 ascribed to inanimate things, and how this conception 
 occurs in the folk-tales of all races. Arranging these 
 tales as far as possible in groups, we shall note how 
 some are due to animistic, others to fetichistic ideas ; 
 others again to the belief in magic, sympathetic or 
 mimetic. 
 
 ( I ) I shall begin with certain groups of stories the 
 central ideas of which are directly due to that primi- 
 tive mental confusion by which ''all things, animate 
 or inanimate, human, animal, vegetable, or inorganic, 
 seem on the same level of life, passion, and reason."^ 
 One of the best-known forms which this conception 
 takes in folk-story is that of the old woman and her 
 pig, in which the dog is asked to bite the refractory 
 pig, the stick to strike the dog, fire to burn the stick, 
 water to put out the fire, the ox to drink the water, 
 the butcher to kill the ox, the rope to hang the 
 
 ' Such objects occur in those tales of a rose which speaks or sings, 
 dancing- water, etc. See p. 59. Tylor, Primitive Culture^ ii. 
 
THE OLD WOMAN AND HER PIG 189 
 
 butcher, the rat to gfnaw the rope, and the cat to kill 
 the rat. All refuse till the cat gets milk ; then the 
 order is obeyed, and each inanimate object and each 
 animal does what is required, acting- as if they were 
 really human. No better example could be gfiven of 
 the supposed equality of human, animate, and 
 inanimate which the primitive theory of animism, as 
 defined by Dr Tylor's words just cited, announces. 
 The story, which is of the type called cumulative, 
 takes many forms in different countries, but is funda- 
 mentally the same. An Italian variant introduces a 
 cock, wounded by a mouse, asking an old woman for 
 a ragf to bind his wound. She demands two hairs, 
 which he begs from a dog. The dog asks bread ; the 
 cock goes to the baker, who, in turn, demands wood. 
 This is asked for from the forest, but the forest 
 expects some water first, which the fountain says it is 
 willing to give. So at last through the long chain of 
 causes, the poor cock gets his rag. The Berber 
 version is not unlike this, but introduces a fly whose 
 tail an old woman has pulled off. To redeem it he 
 has to fetch a he-goat ; the he-goat asks grass. 
 Grass is demanded from the fig-tree, which begs for 
 dung; this is obtained from the ox, and so the fly 
 gets his tail. In a curious Hottentot version a cat 
 bites a mouse, a dog bites the cat, wood beats the 
 dog, fire consumes wood, water quenches fire, the 
 elephant drinks water. Hence the dog and cat do 
 not agree now.^ The many variants of this story 
 found in all countries, savage and civilised, as well 
 as its form, prove it to have been of early origin, as 
 
 ^ The first variant is English, Halliwell, p. 114. C/. a Scots 
 version in Chambers, p. 57. The Italian version is given by Crane, 
 p. 252, with variants ; the Berber by Basset, p. 95. An ancient 
 Greek version from Anacreon is given in Melusine^ iii. 140. For a 
 Corsican variant, see Ortoli, p. 237 ; German, Grimm, No. 80 ; 
 French, Bladd, No. 5 ; many others in Cosquin, No. 34, and Romaniay 
 No. 24 and No. 28 ; Gaelic, Campbell, i. 161. Bleek, p. 33. The 
 Jewish ritual of the Passover incorporates a curious version. 
 
190 INANIMATE OBJECTS 
 
 indeed does the theory of animism on which it entirely 
 depends. 
 
 In another group a whole series of objects under 
 the power of a sorceress are helpful to the heroine, 
 who has acted kindly to them. A good example is 
 found in the Sicilian tale of Osella, who was sent by 
 one witch to another, but warned by the King- of Love 
 as to what she must do. Following his advice, she 
 drinks of a river of blood and says she has never 
 tasted water like it ; praises the fruit of a pear-tree, 
 and the bread in an oven ; feeds two dogs ; sweeps 
 and cleans the door and stair of the witch's house ; 
 and cleans her razor, scissors, and knife. The time 
 comes when she has to flee from the witch, who calls 
 on the razor, knife, and scissors to cut her in pieces. 
 They reply that Osella has cleaned them, which the 
 witch never did. She orders the door and staircase 
 to swallow her up, but receives the same answer. 
 Similarly, the dogs refuse to eat her, the oven to 
 receive her, the tree to put her on the spit, and the 
 river to drown her, and so she escapes.^ This episode 
 occurs in many stories of the Cupid and Psyche group. 
 When the heroine has lost her mysterious husband 
 and has gone to seek him, she falls into the power of 
 a witch, sometimes his mother, sometimes the woman 
 who enforces his marriage with her, or with her 
 daughter. She sends her to another witch to obtain 
 jewels for the wedding, meanwhile her husband meets 
 her and advises her what to do. In the Danish 
 variant she bolts the gate, which is ever swinging to 
 and fro ; feeds a flock of geese ; gives two men oven- 
 rakes and two girls iron ladles ; feeds two dogs ; and 
 oils the hinges of the creaking door. When she 
 leaves with the jewels, the witch bids the door jam 
 her, the dogs to bite her, the girls and the men to 
 scald and burn her, the geese to stamp upon her, 
 and the gate to squeeze her ; but all refuse, because 
 
 1 Pitrd, No. 1 8. 
 
THE TWO CASKETS 191 
 
 she has been so kind to them. There are several 
 variants of this story, Swedish, Russian, etc. In 'the 
 last a birch-tree is ordered to poke the girl's eyes out, 
 but it refuses, because she has tied a ribbon round it — 
 an evident reminiscence of some form of tree-worship, 
 in which the tree is regarded as a living- being-. ^ 
 
 Analogous to these are certain tales, of which the 
 Swedish Two Caskets is a good example. A woman 
 pushed her stepdaughter into a well. The girl 
 dropped on to a meadow, and came to a fence which 
 said, " Do me no harm ; I am old and decayed." 
 She stepped carefully over it, and the fence gave her 
 a friendly look and wished her well. She was equally 
 kind to an oven, a cow, and an apple-tree, all of which 
 were as grateful as the fence. The animals in the 
 witch's house at which she presently arrived assisted 
 her in the tasks set her, because she had been kind to 
 them. Then by the cat's advice she took the dingy 
 casket, which proved to be full of rich treasures, when 
 she returned to her stepmother's house. ^ The jealous 
 woman sent her own daughter into the well ; she was 
 disdainful of all the objects and creatures which her 
 sister had helped. She came to grief, and chose a 
 pretty casket which proved to be full of snakes and 
 toads. The frank animism of this story, of which 
 there are several versions, is remarkable.^ A close 
 
 ^ Mulley, p. 224. Cavallius, No. 146. Ralston, p. 139. 
 
 ^ The incident of choosing the worst and getting the best, and 
 vice versa — the casket episode in the Merchant of Venice — is common 
 in folk-tales, and is as old as the story of Cupid and Psyche. Psyche 
 was told to refuse the fare which Persephone offered her, and to 
 ask for coarse bread. It is also found in many Eastern tales, in 
 Japan (Mitford, i. 249), among the Navajoes (Schoolcraft, iv. 
 90), and the Ashantis (Hutton, Visit to Africa^ p. 20). In the two 
 latter cases it forms a myth explaining the sad condition of the world 
 now. 
 
 3 Thorpe, Y.T.S.^ p. 97. Norse, Dasent, 355 (hedge, cow, wether, 
 and apple-tree). German, Grimm's Frau Holle. The motif of this 
 story, which may be called that of " Kind and Unkind " has a wide 
 distribution. We shall meet with it in studying the Youngest Son 
 
192 INANIMATE OBJECTS 
 
 parallel is afforded by an Indian story, in which the 
 elder of a man's two wives is driven out by the 
 younger. In her wanderings she came to a cotton- 
 plant, made a small broom, and swept the ground 
 around it, whereupon the plant gave her its blessing. 
 The same service was performed for a plantain-tree, a 
 Brahmani bull, and a tulasi-plant, and a similar 
 blessing was obtained from each. In the sequel she 
 received both youth and beauty by following a holy 
 man's advice, while the bull gave her shells and the 
 trees presented her with some of their leaves, and 
 through the magical powers of these objects all her 
 wishes were granted. The young wife now thought 
 she might also be made more beautiful, but she 
 despised bull and tree, and did not follow the holy 
 
 group. But here is a curious parallel from New Caledonia. There 
 were two birds, Pivi and Kabo, the one bright and cheerful, the other 
 an ugly croaker. Kabo broke Pivi's leg, but he, by obeying the 
 orders of a woman, changed into a beautiful youth. He was to lie 
 still while the Black Ant crawled over him, and to shake when the 
 Red Ant did so. Then, when the transformation was effected, he was 
 to climb a cocoa-nut tree without using his hands, and carry down the 
 fruit. Having done this, he got two pretty wives as a reward. Kabo 
 heard of it, and thought he might as well have his turn. He moved 
 Pivi to break his leg, but when the woman found him he disobeyed all 
 her instructions. He was changed to an ugly man, and had two old 
 hags given him for his wives. In revenge he induced Pivi to dive 
 into the sea and bring up a huge shell-fish. Poor Pivi was swallowed 
 by the fish, and Kabo went and took his young wives. But, lo, Pivi 
 stood at the door of the hut, and, having called his friends, he and 
 they cut Kabo to pieces. For Pivi had worked away with his spear 
 till the fish was forced to open his shell and so let him escape. Has 
 this tale drifted to New Caledonia, or has it been invented separately 
 there? If the former, it has become a true native story with the 
 "Swallow" incident tacked on. Bulletin de la Socidtd d^ Anthro- 
 pologies ser. iii., vol. ix. 361. Cited in Lang's Brown Fairy Book, 
 p. 183. In European fairy stories we frequently find a hunchback 
 losing his hump while the fairies transfer it to some man who hag 
 displeased them or envied the other's good luck. In the Kafir story 
 on p. 257, the girl whom the snake marries followed the advice of 
 various animals. Her sister rejected it, and was killed by the 
 snake. 
 
THE BATTLE OF THE BIRDS 193 
 
 man's advice. As a result she became ugly and old.^ 
 This story, from a land where trees and animals are 
 still worshipped and believed to give benefits to the 
 worshipper, requires no comment. 
 
 Not less animistic are a number of stories (some 
 of them already noted) in which various unconsidered 
 trifles, most frequently saliva, personate the hero or 
 heroine, and so prevent their captors, an ogre or a 
 witch, from observing their flight. Usually the incident 
 occurs in tales where the hero, in the power of an 
 ogre, falls in love with his daughter, who assists him 
 to escape with her. The daughter in the Celtic story 
 of The Battle of the Birds says to her lover, " Stop a 
 while, and I will play a trick on the old hero." She 
 cut an apple into nine pieces, put two at the head of 
 the bed, two at the foot, two at the kitchen door, two 
 at the big door, and one outside the house. Then the 
 lovers fled. The giant awoke and called, ''Are you 
 asleep?" "We are not yet," said the piece at the 
 head of the bed. To his successive questions the 
 other pieces answered in turn ; the giant was com- 
 pletely deceived ; and the fugitives got a good start 
 before he discovered the fraud and set off in 
 pursuit.^ More usually, as witness the Polish tale of 
 " Prince Unexpected," it is the heroine s saliva which 
 answers the questions, bursting into laughter when 
 the fraud is discovered. Of this there are Swedish, 
 Basque, Celtic, Magyar, Russian, and German vari- 
 ants, to mention only a few.^ Other articles are made 
 to serve the same purpose, as in the Sicilian tale of 
 Snow- White Rose- Red, where, before escaping, the 
 
 ^ Day, p. 280. 
 
 2 Campbell, i. 25, with several variants. Cf. the Basque and 
 Russian tales cited in chap, vi., pp. 171, 176. 
 
 ^ i^.Z.y., ii. 14. Thorpe, KT^.^.j p. 223. Webster, p. 125. Campbell, 
 i. 56 (Auburn Mary). Jones, p. xxxiii. Ralston, p. 143. Grimm, i. 225. 
 Y.T.S.^ p. 441. For other mystic qualities of saliva, see American 
 Folk-lore Society's Journal^ iii. 52 ; Proc. Soc. Ant Scotland^ iv. 212. 
 Hair speaks in the same way in a Kafir story cited on p. 172 supra. 
 
 N 
 
194 INANIMATE OBJECTS 
 
 prince bade the tables, chairs, and drawers answer the 
 ogress's questions in his own voice ; ^ while in a 
 Swedish tale Singforra leaves three dolls, one on the 
 bed, one on the floor, and one on the threshold, 
 cutting her finger and dropping some of her blood on 
 each. The first cries to the mermaid, " I am 
 awake"; the second, "I am kindling the fire"; the 
 third, " The fire burns " ; and so delay the pursuit.^ 
 The Malagasy have a similar story. The hero, at its 
 desire, has uprooted a shrub, and taken it with him. 
 He comes to a village of magicians, where the shrub 
 warns him not to eat their food. Next night he 
 lodges with a brigand, who intends to kill him 
 when he is asleep. The shrub personates the 
 hero behind the door and answers in his voice. 
 Meanwhile he and the brigand's wife have fled ; the 
 brigand pursues, but, by the shrub's advice, is put to 
 death.^ 
 
 Sometimes an inanimate object helps its owner. 
 Thus a native story from Uganda relates that Kintu, 
 the first man, received a copper axe from Mugulu 
 (Heaven), and was told to split the rocks with it. 
 He was in despair, when the axe said, "It is easy 
 enough for me, just strike and see ! " Next day he 
 had to fetch a bucketful of dew. *'This does not 
 seem easy," cried Kintu. '' Easy enough for me," 
 said the bucket, and when he looked he found it full 
 of dew.* In a Magyar story the hero is told by a 
 witch to place a loaf outside the fortress door, there 
 to await the coming of a dragon. The dragon 
 arrives, and the loaf cries, '* I'm on guard here. If you 
 
 ^ Pitre, p. 13. ^ Thorpe, op. cit.^ p. 21ZV cf. 225. 
 
 ^ Ferrand, p. 93. Conversely, when Polynesians go on a thieving 
 expedition the god Kongo is entreated to make not only those in the 
 house sleep, but also the threshold, insects, and ants, the central posts, 
 rafters, beams, and thatch. Gill, p. 150 ; Shortland, p. 66. 
 
 ^ Johnston, ii. 702. Later a hornet helps the hero to pick his 
 stolen cow out of a herd by alighting on its shoulder. 
 
THE SPEAKING RING 195 
 
 wish to get in you must suffer what I've suffered"; 
 and the loaf goes on to tell how it had been exposed 
 as a plant to sun, and rain, and snow, been cut down, 
 threshed, ground, kneaded, and placed seven times in 
 a fiery furnace. The dragon, knowing he could not 
 stand all this, got so angry that he burst and perished. 
 This incident occurs in several versions of the Puss in 
 Boots story. The cat turns itself into a loaf, and 
 holds the troll or giant in conversation till sunrise, 
 when he bursts, and his castle then becomes the 
 property of the hero or heroine.^ Several stories of 
 the Cannibalistic Cyclops group tell how the blinded 
 ogre threw down a ring which the hero picked up and 
 put on his finger. He had no sooner done so than it 
 began to cry out, guiding the monster to his victim, 
 who only escaped by cutting off his finger and 
 throwing it with the ring into the sea. There it still 
 talked, and the ogre, following it, was drowned. This 
 is the Basque version, but there are Celtic, German, 
 and Russian variants ; in the last the hero catches 
 hold of a gold axe which guides the one-eyed hag to 
 him, because he cannot let it go. In a Basuto tale, 
 whenever a girl tries to escape from the chief who has 
 captured her his magic horns inform him of the fact, 
 till, advised by her friends, she pours water and food 
 into them, and piles stones on them.^ 
 
 As a last example may be cited those tales in 
 which the captured hero or heroine is given a human 
 limb to eat by the ogre, robber chief, or witch. When 
 the captor asks if the limb is eaten, it answers from 
 
 1 Jones, p. 79. Thorpe, V.T.S., pp. 64, 70. Dasent, p. 369. 
 Grimm, ii. 182. Straparola, xi. i. Basile, ii. 4. In popular belief, 
 sunrise or cockcrow ends the power of vampire, fairy, ghost, and 
 witch. It is curious to observe that West African witch-women and 
 sorcerers must return from their secret meetings by cockcrow also, 
 else they will find themselves in peril. See Nassau, pp. 123, 
 
 327. 
 
 2 Webster, p. 4. Grimm, " The Robber and his Sons." Campbell, 
 i. 112. Cf. "Cannibalism," in/ra, p. 280. Jacottet, p. 249. 
 
 ■ 
 
196 INANIMATE OBJECTS 
 
 the place where the prisoner has hid it. But some- 
 times the heroine, youngest of three sisters, as in an 
 Italian version, by advice of her mother's ghost, binds 
 it about her body, and it answers, *' In Maruzza's 
 body," and the robber thinks she has eaten it.^ 
 
 The inanimate objects which speak and act are 
 relics of the time, not so very far away, when all 
 things were believed to have such powers. '*The 
 Samoans have their stories of a golden age of intel- 
 ligence long, long ago, when all things material had 
 the power of speech."^ This statement might be 
 paralleled from the lore of any savage race, but as a 
 rule that age of intelligence is as much in the present 
 as in the past. Thus the Aino attributes life and 
 personality to everything; while certain things 
 (fetiches) not only have life, but can protect, help, 
 and heal.^ This is also the belief of Red Indians, 
 Bushmen, Melanesians, or any such savage people, 
 while it lingers on as a half-belief among the peasantry 
 of Europe. We see it again in, e.g^,, the eggs used as 
 omens by the Khasi Hill tribes, which are addressed 
 as living, and are capable of mediating between spirits 
 and men ; or in the waterfalls, streams, and material 
 objects of all sorts which the Indians of Guiana, like 
 the Tahitians, Tongans, Negroes, or Asiatic Finns, 
 believe to be alive. But these topics are now the 
 commonplaces of anthropological study, and need not 
 be multiplied here. Their wide distribution and 
 recent survival sufficiently account for the talking 
 and acting objects which occur in hundreds of folk- 
 tales from every part of the world.* 
 
 (2) The magical objects in the succeeding groups 
 of stories suggest fetichism rather than animism as 
 
 ^ Crane, p. 82. Cf. Tabu, p. 307. Ralston, p. 178. 
 
 2 Turner, Samoa^ p. 212. Cf. pp. 247-48. 
 
 3 Batchelor, ed. 2, p. 456. 
 
 ^ J.A.I.y i. 134. Im Thurn, Indians of Guiana^ p. 350. 
 
SPEAKING DOLLS 197 
 
 the point of departure. The first group stands mid- 
 way between, and contains stories of puppets which 
 act in all respects as if alive. In the Swedish tale of 
 Sing-orra we have already seen how the dolls answer 
 for the heroine; there, however, it is permissible to 
 suppose that her blood, like the saliva of other tales, 
 supplied the answering- voice. But the doll of the 
 Russian story of Vasilissa the Fair is a doll and 
 nothing more, though a surprisingly lively one. It 
 was given to Vasilissa by her dying mother ; it gave 
 her advice, worked for her, kept her pretty when her 
 stepmother starved her, and when she was sent to 
 the Baba Yaga's house, prevented her making any 
 false step and performed the difficult tasks set her. 
 Thus it bears a strong semblance to the shrub of the 
 Malagasy story, while it also resembles the dolls 
 belonging to a demi-goddess in the Katha Sarit 
 SagarUy one of which would fetch flowers, another 
 water, while a third danced, and a fourth conversed 
 with her. Again, in Japan there is a belief that dolls 
 sometimes come alive. They are served with food 
 and carefully treated, lest misfortune should befall 
 the house through neglecting them. A doll acquires 
 a soul through being played with by generations of 
 children. One such doll was borrowed by childless 
 persons, who fed and clothed it, with happy results to 
 themselves.^ 
 
 The personation of the hero or heroine by a 
 puppet occurs frequently, especially in Italian stories, 
 where an absent mistress leaves one to take her place 
 or bear the brunt of her husband's anger, as mediaeval 
 witches were believed to do when absent from their 
 husband's side at the sabbat.^ In one story, however, 
 
 ^ Ralston, p. 150. In some of the stories in which a king wishes 
 to marry his daughter, a puppet causes the earth to open so that she 
 escapes him. Clouston, P.T. &^ F.^ i. 380. Hearn, Unfamiliar 
 Japan, i. 267. 
 
 2 For the witch belief, see Reuss, La Sorcihre, p. 39. 
 
iOS INANIMATE OBJECTS 
 
 a prince falls in love with a doll which a merchant 
 brougfht to his wife, and by the help of a fairy it 
 becomes human, as Pygmalion's statue did at the 
 command of Aphrodite. So in an Esthonian story a 
 girl abused by her stepmother is adopted by a strange 
 race living in a forest. An image of clay is made, 
 and a snake as well as bread and herrings put in it, 
 and it is sprinkled with a drop of her blood, when it 
 comes to life, and is sent to personate the girl at her 
 home. One day the stepmother was about to strangle 
 the supposed child, when the serpent bit her ; the image 
 then disappeared, but the father found the bread and 
 herrings on the table. He ate them, and died.^ 
 
 From another point of view, these objects have 
 a connection with sympathetic magic. An ancient 
 Egyptian folk-tale relates that a magician made 
 workmen and tools out of wax, recited a charm over 
 them, and gave them life. This was an actual 
 Egyptian belief, for the little images buried with the 
 dead were believed to come to life in the other world 
 and act as their servants. Sometimes, as in Japanese 
 and Roman sacrifices ; they replaced the human 
 victims of earlier times, but were believed to be 
 equally efficacious. The mere likeness to a human 
 being gave them the value of the living personality.^ 
 
 Objects such as these recall the powers of the Red 
 Indian nianitou and savage personal fetiches, as we 
 shall presently see. Meanwhile it should be noted 
 that similar qualities are ascribed to statues or images 
 of gods and saints in ancient Greece and Rome, in 
 Scandinavia, Lapland, China, Japan, Siam, India, 
 Madagascar, Mexico, Peru, and elsewhere, as well 
 as to the relics of Mohammedan saints among the 
 Arabs. They speak, give advice, weep on approach 
 of calamity, make signs, leave their shrine to heal the 
 
 ^ Crane, p. 114. Kirby, i. 246. 
 
 - Maspero, p. 59, Story of Satui. Macrobius, Saturnalia^ i. 7. 
 Chamberlain, Ko-ji-ki^ p. 200. 
 
FETICHISM 199 
 
 sick, or to fight for their worshippers. The records 
 of every known religion supply abundant evidence of 
 this, while such ideas are reproduced copiously in 
 mediaeval hagfiologfy with respect to the images of 
 saints. All serve to illustrate the dominant power of 
 an early idea — that of life in an inanimate object, 
 over minds which had long- passed beyond the stage 
 at which such an idea could have been created, and 
 show that this idea had its religious as well as its 
 folk-lore presentation.^ 
 
 In animism all objects are conceived to possess a 
 spirit, just as man himself does. In fetichism proper, 
 which is derived from animism, any spirit is believed 
 to be capable of taking up its residence in any object, 
 frequently one prepared for the purpose. Hence the 
 images of the gods are superior fetiches, since the 
 divinities are believed to reside in them ; nor is it 
 extraordinary that these images are believed to act 
 as living things, since the savage always credits his 
 fetich with such power. It is possible that the 
 guardian puppet of our tales may have been derived 
 from some such personal fetich as the Red Indian 
 manitou- — the skin, claws, or teeth of some animal 
 which each man carries, and which is believed to be 
 the receptacle of his guardian animal spirit. So the 
 West African negro makes a bizarre object which 
 becomes the home of his guardian spirit or suhmanP' 
 
 ^ Classical students will recall many instances in Herodotus, 
 Pausanias, Pliny, Livy, and Cicero. Tylor (ii. 221, 253) cites some 
 cases, and Berenger-Feraud (ii. 10, 12) is still more copious. 
 For the Arabs, see Trumelet, Les Franqais dans la Desert, pp. 45, 177, 
 246; Buddhists, Landes, Nos. 11, 60; India, Rev. des T.P., ii. 18; 
 Peru, Herrera, Hist, des Indies, passim; for mediaeval times the Acta 
 and Martyrologies are full of cases ; Gregory of Tours, de Mirac., 
 gives several ; and among modern writers see J. B. Dulaure, Poitou, 
 iv. Ill, 127; J. B. Labat, Voyages en Espagne, i. 211 ; Voyages en 
 Italie, V. 365 ; Sebillot, Trad. Pop., \. 369. 
 
 - See the chapter on Fetichism in my Religion^ its Otigin ami 
 Forms J and Nassau, chap. vi. 
 
200 INANIMATE OBJECTS 
 
 Fetiches such as these are found among primitive 
 people everywhere, and everywhere their powers are 
 the same — guarding their owners, advising them, 
 aiding them in their designs, good or wicked. 
 Wherever such a belief prevails, it would easily 
 become the topic of folk-tales, and this suggests that 
 our stories, if not themselves dating from a time 
 when such personal fetiches were believed in, are the 
 lineal descendants of early tales. Yet personal fetiches 
 were firmly believed in down to comparatively late 
 times in Europe. In mediaeval German households 
 the Galgen-mdnnleiny or mandrake, handed down from 
 father to son, contained a familiar spirit, which gave 
 oracles and brought good luck to the owner, if he 
 dressed it, bathed it, and otherwise took good care 
 of it. In other cases a puppet made of white wax in 
 the devil's name, and clad in a petticoat and vest, 
 was believed to give aid to its owner. Precisely the 
 same thing is done by the Bondei wizards in Africa. 
 They "charm " sticks of Indian corn, and dress them 
 like dolls. The dolls thus become people, and are 
 able to go wherever sent. When they arrive at the 
 desired spot, they suck the blood of the victim, who 
 turns sick and dies. This is great witchcraft, and 
 much feared by all respectable Bondeis.^ Again, in 
 Scandinavian, Esthonian, Celtic, and Eskimo folk- 
 lore the witch or wizard is believed to make an object 
 of various materials. When certain spells are said 
 over it, it comes to life, and can then be sent to 
 execute errands or, usually, to work harm and death. '^ 
 
 1 Elton, Origins of English History, p. 219; Grimm, DM., p. 
 513 ; Thorpe, N.M., iii. 19. Cf. Lang, Custom and Myth, p. 145 seq.\ 
 J.A.I., XXV. 223, Rev. G. Dale, Customs of Natives of Bondei Country. 
 
 2 Powell and Magnusson, Ixxvii. Here the "sending" is a ghost. 
 Kirby, i. 257, ii. 168 {cf. an Esthonian instance in chap, vi., p. 154). 
 O'Curry, Manners of Ancient Irish (Druidic), ii. 203. Nansen, 
 Eskimo Life, p. 285. Zulu sorcerers bewitch various animals and 
 then send them to injure their victims — Callaway, p. 348. Danish 
 witches were beHeved to make a hare out of an old stocking and send 
 
AMULETS 201 
 
 Actual beliefs like these show that the talking- and 
 acting- puppets and other objects of folk-story are not 
 the mere products of the imagination, but the 
 reflections of the ideas which governed the minds of 
 the people with whom those tales arose. 
 
 Another form of fetichism, degraded as compared 
 with the other, is that in which an immaterial object 
 is believed to have certain powers in itself, quite 
 apart from any possessing or controlling spirit. The 
 universal belief in amulets, charms, etc., shows how 
 readily this form of fetichism has found acceptance. 
 But it is derived from the earlier form of fetichism, 
 where the object is controlled by a spirit, probably 
 through an intermediate form, in which the spirit does 
 not dwell in the fetich but may be summoned by its 
 means. This branch of fetichism is abundantly 
 illustrated from the folk-tales of the Arabian Nig'ktSy 
 where the talisman, when rubbed or spoken to, 
 produces the genie or spirit, who is bound to work its 
 owner's will ; while Indian writers have much to say 
 of a talisman like the Tschin-tamani, a jewel with 
 the power of producing whatever its owner sets his 
 heart on. A large group of stories, Asiatic and 
 European, belonging to the Aladdin cycle, illustrate 
 both the intermediate and the later form of fetichism.^ 
 The hero obtains a magic jewel, box, ring, etc., 
 sometimes from a grateful animal, sometimes (as in 
 the Aladdin story) by purchase, or by finding it 
 accidentally. In some versions of the story (Arabic) 
 a genie appears when the charm is appealed to, or, as 
 in a Greek variant, a black man, who does whatever 
 the owner wishes. He corresponds to the spirit 
 
 it to steal milk from cattle. Thorpe, N.M.^ ii, 192. The Lapland 
 wizards sent magic flies and darts against their enemies, as well as a 
 kind of ball. The last was fatal, not only to the victim, but to 
 anyone who came in its way. Calmet, Les Apparitions des Esprits^ 
 i. 107(1751). 
 
 ^ These are discussed in the chapter on Friendly Animals, pp. 
 
202 INANIMATE OBJECTS 
 
 controlling the fetich a distance. But frequently it is 
 enough to appeal to the charm itself, and the wish is 
 at once accomplished. Thus in a Basque variant a 
 lad finds a snuff-box, which says to him, ** What do 
 you wish for ? " He puts it to the test, and finds that 
 it can supply his wants, and ultimately obtains a fine 
 castle and marries a king's daughter. The snuff-box 
 falls into the hands of his bride's mother, who by its 
 aid transports castle and all to the Red Sea.^ Such 
 a charm occurs in Aino and Korean versions of the 
 story. They are the gift of a divine being to the 
 owner, and in the Korean tale the charm produces 
 an inexhaustible supply of wine.^ These versions of 
 the story represent the last form of fetichism, where 
 the amulet, talisman, or charm works of itself alone, 
 and no controlling spirit is in question. The least 
 superstitious among us are still subject to this form 
 of fetichism, and carry a lucky stone or coin, or 
 believe that a mascot brings them luck. 
 
 The magic swords oi M'drchen and saga are fetiches 
 of this class, but at one time were thought of as 
 controlled by a spirit. The Magyar tale of Prince 
 Mirko tells how he arrived at Knight Mezey's tent 
 and found him asleep, but his sword was slashing in 
 all directions. Mirko lay down near him and said, 
 "Sword, come out of thy scabbard ! " when his own 
 sword leaped forth and acted in the same way. Next 
 morning the heroes joined forces, and their swords of 
 themselves killed innumerable enemies.^ Some stories 
 of the Perseus group relate how a weapon sprang up 
 where the fish's bones were planted in the garden at 
 the same time as the hero was born, and with this 
 magic weapon he overcame the dragon.* An old 
 soldier, in a Breton tale, found a sabre on which were 
 the words, ''He who uses me is always victorious" ; 
 while in an Indian story Siva presented his prot^g^ 
 
 ^ Webster, p. 94. 2 Chamberlain, p. 16. Allen, p. 40. 
 
 ^ Jones, p. 66. ^ See p. 383, and Jones, p. 243. 
 
MAGIC SWORDS 203 
 
 P Siva Das, with a sword which gave him victory, 
 protected him against all dangers, and carried him 
 wherever he wished to go.^ The hero of the 
 Esthonian epic, the Kalevipoeg", had his magic sword 
 stolen by a sorcerer, who could scarce drag it off.^ It 
 fell into a brook, whither the hero traced it and asked 
 it how it came there. It answered that it was in the 
 embrace of a fair water-nymph. He reproached it, 
 but it replied that on account of a terrible murder it 
 could not return to him. Then he commanded it to 
 speak to the heroes of his race who came thither, to 
 rise and go to a hero as great as himself, and to cut 
 off the feet of the thief Such a sword is mentioned 
 in the Kalevala as belonging to Kullervo. When 
 asked by him if it delighted in human blood, it replied, 
 "How should I not taste with pleasure the flesh of 
 the guilty man, and drink the blood of him that is 
 infamous, when I taste the flesh and drink the blood 
 of the innocent?"^ Certain Japanese swords, unlike 
 this conscientious weapon, hunger after men's lives 
 and madden their owners so that they kill others or 
 commit suicide.* Ideas such as these are found in 
 savage Africa. The Aniya say that the son of the 
 first man was attacked by people from the mountains, 
 when he made fetich on his war-spear and sang, 
 "My spear, go kill these people," whereupon it went 
 forth and slew the whole of the enemy.^ The magic 
 swords of the heroes of classical and later mythology 
 and saga — the weapons of Perseus, Achilles, and 
 Ulysses, of Fionn, Heimdal, Charlemagne, Roland, 
 and Arthur, of the heroes of mediaeval romances and 
 
 ^ Sebillot, i. 64. Cosquin, i. 219. 
 
 - Cf. Odin's Gram, driven into an ash till a man should come 
 strong enough to pull it out. In many stories the modest hero, after 
 killing dragons, giants, etc., leaves his sword stuck in the ground and 
 then goes away. The king bids all men come and try to pull it out. 
 The hero tries and succeeds, and by this means is discovered. 
 
 ^ Kirby, i. 75. Kalevala^ rime 36. 
 
 113. •'• Reade, p. 63. 
 
204 INANIMATE OBJECTS 
 
 Eastern story, perform the same feats, and are looked 
 upon as endowed with life and thought, even called 
 by name, like Joyeuse and Excalibur, or like 
 Siegfried's Balmung, with which he slew the gfiants, 
 and which continued to slay after its owner was dead.^ 
 Conceptions like these date from a time when 
 weapons were believed to be controlled by a spirit, as 
 is stated in an Irish legend. Ogma obtained Ornai, 
 the sword of Tethra, the king of the Fomore, which 
 recounted to him the deeds it had performed, as was 
 the custom of swords at that time. For, says the 
 chronicler, demons spoke from the swords, because 
 the people worshipped arms in those days.^ Arms, 
 in effect, were powerful fetiches, and the worship was 
 paid to the indwelling spirit. The Scythians are 
 known to have offered worship to the sword, either for 
 itself, or as a symbol of divinity, while the sword of 
 Isonokami is mentioned as a worshipful object in the 
 Japanese Ko-ji-ki. We can quite well imagine that 
 people accustomed to weapons of stone, would readily 
 suppose that there was something magical in weapons 
 of bronze or iron, when those were first seen, or so 
 long as they were scarce. But with savages, weapons 
 and other articles, whether of metal or stone, are 
 credited with life. The Algonquin thinks that hatchets 
 have ''shadows," which accompany the human 
 shadow to the spirit land, and in Fiji it is thought 
 that the soul of the broken or worn-out axe or chisel 
 goes to Bolotoo or Hades,^ while the broken 
 weapons found in prehistoric graves suggest that 
 they were broken in order that their ''spirits" might 
 
 ^ See Lady Verney, "Mythical and Mediaeval Swords," Cont. 
 Rev J 1880. Burton, Book of the Sword. Clouston, P.T. and F.^ i. 43. 
 Campbell, i. Ixv. seq. Cf. infra^ p. 216, for magic swords which go forth 
 to kill. 
 
 2 O'Curry, Manners of Ancient Irish, ii. 254. 
 
 3 Clodd, Myths and Dreams, p. 211. For iron weapons, see p. 339 
 infra. 
 
MAGIC WANDS 205 
 
 be free to accompany their owner's spirit to the other 
 world. 
 
 As a last example of fetichism we shall gflance at 
 the magic wand which figures in so many folk-tales. 
 Sometimes, as in a Russian story, when passed from 
 one hand to another it produces a servant who does 
 the owner's bidding-.^ More usually it works auto- 
 matically, and is the property of some supernaturally 
 gifted personage. Thus in many stories where the 
 hero is set impossible tasks by an ogre, his daughter 
 performs them for him by a touch of her wand, as in 
 the Lorraine story of the Green Bird, where the 
 ravelled skeins of thread and a heap of feathers are 
 sorted out by a tap of the magic rod.^ A Greek 
 story relates how a youth had obtained from his 
 grandmother a switch which had the power of making- 
 anything which it touches speak. A certain dumb 
 princess is to be the reward of the suitor who will 
 make her speak. Many have tried and failed, and have 
 been put to death. Our hero came, leaned the switch 
 against the girl, and at once she began to chatter.^ 
 Sometimes a mere tap on the ground with such a 
 wand produces splendid results. Thus the heroine 
 of a Basque story did so, and said, '' I will that on this 
 spot is built a beautiful hotel," and at once it appeared 
 before her. Such wands are common in Eastern tales. 
 Taj-ul-Muluk possessed a rod cut from a magic tree 
 whose wood broke the strongest bodies, and with its 
 aid he shattered the fetters of a beautiful fairy. Other 
 rods, of silver and gold, have the power of life and 
 death and, in Indian tales, are found lying by the side 
 of maidens captured by rakshasas. The hero finds 
 the maiden dead, but taking the golden rod lets it fall 
 accidentally upon her, when she is restored to life, or, 
 in other cases, her head is restored to her body. The 
 silver rod is used by her captor to kill her when he 
 
 ^ Dietrich, No. 5, ^ Cosquin, i. 104. ^ Garnett, ii. 138. 
 
206 INANIMATE OBJECTS 
 
 goes away, the golden rod to restore her on his return.^ 
 When petrifaction occurs in folk- tales (e.g-.y in the 
 sequel to the Perseus cycle, in stories of the quest for 
 magic birds, water, etc.), it is usually done by the 
 witch striking- the hero with her magic wand.^ But 
 a kindlier witch, in the Scots story of the Red Etin, 
 gives the hero a magic wand to quell the dreadful 
 beasts which he will encounter.^ 
 
 Such sticks or wands are actually believed in and 
 used by primitive peoples. The natives of British 
 Guiana know of a mysterious plant, a stick of which 
 pointed at any living creature proves fatal to it. 
 Pointing-sticks are thus used by the Australian black 
 fellows, and as they form the most remarkable 
 instance of actual magic wands known to me, I shall 
 describe their use. The form of the wand varies, but 
 the commonest kind is made of stick or bone, 
 sharpened at one end, and covered with bird's down, 
 or otherwise ornamented. The owner takes his wand 
 into the bush, and placing it in the ground, mutters 
 horrible curses over it against his enemy. '' May 
 your heart be rent asunder. May your backbone be 
 split open and your ribs torn asunder. May your 
 head and throat be split open." Then he takes the 
 stick and jerks it over his shoulder several times in 
 the direction of his victim, repeating the same curses. 
 By this means the evil magic in the wand goes into 
 him, and soon after he sickens and dies. With some 
 of the tribes a form of wand still more potent is made 
 out of a dead man's bone. All the natives fear these 
 pointing-sticks, whose magic powers are the result of 
 a charm sung over them, the words of which are in 
 an archaic language unknown to those who use it.* 
 Generally speaking, the shaman or medicine-man, 
 
 1 Webster, p. 127. Clouston, E.R., pp. 298, 305. Day, pp. 224, 
 251. 
 
 2 See pp. 156-57. ^ Chambers, p. 89. 
 
 '♦ Spencer and Gillen, Northern Tribes^ p. 456 seq. 
 
MAGIC RODS 207 
 
 wherever found, makes use of some rod, staff, or 
 weapon, in performing- his ceremonies. Even now in 
 Thessalia the peasants say that the wizard can 
 destroy buildings with his rod, or make the stars 
 come down from heaven. Taoist priests in China 
 each possess a mag"ic sword, which takes the place of 
 the wizard's rod elsewhere, and of which extraordinary 
 tales are told.^ So Finnish sorcerers make use of 
 metal rods and weapons, and Red Indian medicine-men 
 and Eskimo shamans have sticks which kill animals 
 or men when pointed at them, or are believed to turn 
 into canoes and other things when commanded ; while, 
 in Guiana, a calabash adorned with feathers and con- 
 taining several pebbles serves to scare off or attract 
 spirits as required.^ These magical properties of actual 
 sorcerers are regarded with awe by the people, and in 
 them may be seen the origin of the magic wands of 
 our tales, owned by witches or persons with super- 
 natural parentage, or gifted to heroes. As to striking 
 the ground with the wand and producing marvellous 
 results, it should be noted that this is a frequent 
 mode of appealing to the spirits below the earth, who 
 are then supposed to do what the striker wishes. 
 This is done in New Guinea to recall the spirit of life 
 to the sick; in Zululand by those who inquire of 
 diviners.^ 
 
 While explaining our folk-tale incidents by the 
 actual fetichistic beliefs of savage and primitive folk, 
 based upon what would commonly be called a super- 
 stitious outlook upon the world, and a complete 
 
 ^ Garaett, ii., i. Giles, i. 128. 
 
 2 Abercromby, /"r^- and Proto-Historic Finns, i. 345, 353. Leland, 
 A,L., pp. 127, 190. Brett, p. 23. Such magical rods were said to 
 be given by Satan to mediaeval witches for the purpose of injuring 
 cattle. Reuss, La Sorcilre, pp. 59, 73. 
 
 3 Romilly, p. 91. Callaway, p. 280 seq. History repeats itself, 
 and we hear of a Moidart Macdonald, pressed by a hard-hearted factor 
 for his rent, appealing to his dead chief by striking the earth and 
 calling aloud to him. 
 
208 INANIMATE OBJECTS 
 
 ignorance of cause and effect, the possibility of the 
 reality of some fetichistic phenomena should not be 
 overlooked. The abundant evidence collected in, 
 e,£^.y the volumes of the Psychical Research Society's 
 Proceedings, in Sir Wm. Crooke's writings, and in 
 Myers's Human Personality, show that there are 
 many phenomena, chiefly connected with the move- 
 ment of material objects without contact, yet un- 
 explained, and, therefore, still classed under the X 
 region of facts. No one, again, except those who 
 are unaware of the mass of evidence, now doubts the 
 reality of hypnotism, telepathy, clairvoyance, crystal- 
 gazing, trance-utterance, etc., in modern times. We 
 find, however, that these and kindred phenomena are 
 known to and used by savages, and especially by 
 medicine-men, just as they were by mediaeval witches.^ 
 They are, in fact, common occurrences among them. 
 Is this because savages are, in certain respects, more 
 sensitive than we? At all events, it suggests that 
 those phenomena of the X region, especially action 
 on matter a distance, or telikinesis, may also be well 
 known to them. Indeed, the more the X region is 
 studied, and the more savage belief is laid bare, the 
 better do we see that the latter is not based so entirely 
 on superstition as is commonly supposed. Thus one 
 branch of fetichism, the use of amulets to cure disease, 
 has been found by experiment to be efficacious in 
 nervous diseases by virtue of the continual contact 
 acting as a reminder to the subliminal self, which was 
 thus able, in some unexplained way, to keep the 
 
 ^ I append a few references to savage use of these phenomena : 
 hypnotism, Callaway, p. 431 ; telepathy, ibid., J.A.I., i. 163 ; clair- 
 voyance, Rink, p. Ill ; crystal-gazing, Reade, p. 542, Ling Roth, 
 i. 274 ; trance-utterance, Myers, H.P., ii. 200. In one of Dr Nassau's 
 " Tales of Fetich based on Fact " we hear of two men who could com- 
 municate with one another d, distance, and summon each other when 
 required — Nassau, p. 318. For mediaeval witches, cf. Gurney, 
 Phantasms of Living, " Note on Witchcraft " ; Reuss, La Sorciere, 
 passim, etc., etc. 
 
THE X REGION 209 
 
 nervous disturbance in check. ^ Granting", then, that 
 material objects can be moved without contact in 
 presence of the medium, savage or civilised, it will 
 readily be seen how such phenomena would be 
 exploited by the medicine-man, as it is by modern 
 mediums, and simulated by sleight-of-hand or by 
 fraud. These phenomena, real or fraudulent, would, 
 however, act as buttresses to the already existing 
 belief in fetichism. A few examples of savage in- 
 cursions into the X region may now be given. 
 Callaway gives an account of the procedure at divina- 
 tion in Natal. The diviner has certain sticks lying 
 on the ground. These sticks begin to leap about 
 and to fix themselves upon the anxious inquirer on 
 that part of the body which is diseased in the patient 
 for whose benefit the inquiry is made. Certain bones 
 are each called the man-bone, cow-bone, etc., and if 
 inquiry is made about a man the man-bone begins 
 to jump about, if a cow, the cow-bone. Dr Callaway 
 suggests sleight-of-hand as an explanation, though 
 it is far from obvious. The sticks also point in the 
 direction of a doctor, who can heal the patient. Reade 
 speaks of the fetich-men in Matiamoo (Central 
 Africa) making wooden puppets which can spring- 
 several yards. Similar facts are also reported from 
 New Zealand as to divining rods. All alike suggest, if 
 not actual telikinesis, at least a certain acquaintance 
 with it among- savages. Further inquiry in this 
 direction might produce interesting results. Many 
 cases, however, may be due to mere clever conjuring : 
 shamans among the Menomini Indians will sit in 
 front of little wooden figures which dance to their 
 chanting ; the operator is believed to have power to 
 make them dance, the motion being- caused by his 
 manido. In reality the figures are moved by means 
 
 ^ Journal, S.P.R., vi. 152 ; Myers, Human Personality, ii, 
 559. 
 
210 INANlMATEi OBJECTS 
 
 of threads attached to the jugglers toes.^ But 
 whether genuine or feigned, the movements of 
 material objects were bound to enhance the belief in 
 fetichism, in a spirit controlling and dwelling in such 
 objects. Other instances of movement are of a 
 different character. We are told of Negro, Melanesian, 
 and Siberian sorcerers that certain rods placed in 
 their own hands, or in those of others, move as if 
 living, and draw them in the direction of a suspected 
 thief, or toward the region inhabited by spirits ; or 
 the rod itself will twist violently hither and thither 
 when the name of some particular departed friend is 
 named along with many others.^ These are but the 
 phenomena of the divining rod of ancient, mediaeval, 
 and modern times, and now proved by Prof Barrett's 
 experiments to be beyond the reach of cavil. ^ In all 
 we may see an example of hypersesthesia, of the 
 subliminal self acting on knowledge known to it alone, 
 or in accordance with its deep-seated beliefs and 
 fancies, and controlling the subject's movements 
 unconsciously to himself. 
 
 (3) Some of these illustrations of the fetich belief 
 approach very near the principle of sympathetic 
 magic, and, indeed, it is difficult to draw the line 
 between these two branches of primitive belief But 
 in some tales there are clear instances of the magical 
 
 1 Callaway,/.^./., i. 178 ; R.S.A., p. 330. Reade, p. 333. Tylor, 
 P.C., i. 125. Bureau of Ethnology, Fourteenth Annual Report^ p. 98. 
 
 2 Deniker, Races of Man^ p. 217. Codrington, p. 210. 
 
 ^ Barrett, On the So-called Divining Rod. Cf. Chevreuil, La 
 Baguette Divinatoirej Lang's chapter in Custom and Myth; and 
 Baring-Gould's essay in Curious Myths. Mr Lang has discussed 
 fetichism and its relation to such phenomena in his Making of 
 Religion^ p. 159 seq. M. Lefebure, " Les Origines des Fetichisme,'' 
 Melusine, vol. viii., thinks fetichism may have arisen through actual 
 telikinetic force in thing^i, which he calls " le magnetisme," and cites 
 various instances. For ordinary divination with sticks where no 
 occult phenomena are involved, see Napier, Superstitions of West of 
 Scotland^ p. 108. 
 
THE MAGIC HAIRS 211 
 
 theory of things. Animals frequently present the 
 hero with one of their hairs, feathers, or scales, with 
 instructions to touch or burn it when in need, and they 
 will at once appear. These stories are sometimes 
 found in the Treacherous Brothers or in the Separable 
 Soul cycle, discussed elsewhere in this work.^ The 
 episode in a Greek variant runs thus. When the 
 hero has been abandoned on the mountain, three 
 horses, white, red, and green, appear, and carry him 
 to the plain, where each gives him a hair. In the 
 sequel, by burning these, the horses at once appear 
 and bring him the treasures desired by the three 
 princesses whom he had rescued from the mountain.^ 
 In other cases we have a variation of this idea ; by 
 making use of the hairs, scales, etc., the hero is 
 enabled to assume the form of the respective animals 
 at the psychological moment.^ Kashmir and Berber 
 stories illustrate the more primitive form of the 
 episode. In the former a tigress, relieved of an 
 abscess by the hero, gives him a tuft of her fur, which 
 he has to show to the sun (equivalent of burning) 
 when he wishes her help. The Berber tale runs thus. 
 Hamed ben Ceggad was sent by a king to bring the 
 woman with silver attire. Before she goes with him, 
 her brothers, three ogres, give her a feather which, 
 when anyone wishes her to do anything against her 
 will, she must cast into the fire and they will appear. 
 When the king wished to marry her, she acted on 
 their advice ; they came, killed the king, and gave 
 her to Hamed. Obviously, in the earliest form of this 
 story the ogres gave their sister one of their own 
 hairs. Another Berber story tells how half a cock 
 
 1 See pp. 135,351- 
 
 - Hahn, No. 26. In a variant a drako gives the hero three horse 
 hairs, which, when struck lightly, produce him and his two brothers — 
 Garnett, ii. T]. For a Servian variant, see V ouk, No. 2 ; Mijatovich, 
 p. 53. Here a fish, fox, and wolf give the hero a scale and one of their 
 hairs. Rubbing them gently in time of need will bring them to his 
 aid. 3 Seg p 239. 
 
212 INANIMATE OBJECTS 
 
 went on pilgrimage and met a jackal, lion, and boar, 
 each of which gave it a hair. Three times the bird is 
 imprisoned, and each time it burns a hair, when its 
 owner appears and sets it free. There are Albanian, 
 French, and Slavonic versions of this story, but only 
 in the two latter does the hair-burning occur.^ 
 
 The same incident occurs in Eastern tales. A 
 female div gave two of her hairs to Tdj-ul-Multjk. 
 ** When you need me, put this hair in the fire, and I 
 will hasten to you with a thousand divs." Once, in a 
 jungle full of wild beasts the hero placed a hair on the 
 camp-fire. A quarter of it was not consumed before 
 the fairy with her escort appeared, and raised a 
 splendid palace on this very spot for Tdj. The 
 second hair was made use of later on, with like 
 results.^ A different but analogous episode occurs in 
 a Chinese tale. A girl called Yi gives her lover a 
 slipper, saying that she had worn it, and that whenever 
 he shook it she would know that he wanted to see 
 her, and would immediately appear.^ In the Pancha- 
 tantra and also in the Arabian Nights a grateful 
 serpent gave the hero three of its scales which, when 
 burned, would bring the serpent to his aid.* 
 
 All these are excellent illustrations of the primitive 
 theory of sympathetic magic found among all savage 
 races, and also as a frequent survival among the 
 peasantry of civilised countries. This theory, based 
 on a mistaken application of the law of cause and effect, 
 insisted that if two things had ever been in contact, 
 the one would be able to influence the other even 
 when removed to a distance. The one was In 
 sympathy with the other, because of that contact, or 
 often because the smaller of the two had once been 
 part of the larger whole. The extent to which this 
 
 1 Knowles, p. 3. Basset, pp. 56, 83. Carnoy, Litt. orale de la 
 Picardie^ 214. Krauss, Sagen def Sud Slaven^ i« 95- 
 
 2 Clouston, p. 268 seq. ^ Giles, i. 170. 
 
 * Benfey, i. 203. Arabian Nights^ Story of Zobeide. 
 
UNCONSIDERED TRIFLES 213 
 
 conception dominates savage and primitive thought 
 everywhere, besides occurring" in curious ways at 
 higher levels, will only be credited by those who have 
 studied the enormous mass of evidence.^ Our purpose 
 will here be satisfied by referring to that branch of 
 the theory which illustrates the stories in question. 
 Thus, as we have already said, all savages believe that 
 their nail-clippings, hair-cuttings, and such like must 
 be carefully hidden or destroyed, for if an enemy got 
 hold of these or of any part of one's raiment or 
 ornaments, he would be able to work harm to the 
 original owner. By their means the owner would be 
 in his power and at his mercy ; whatever he did to 
 the part would be done to the whole. If the clippings 
 were buried in the ground so that they might 
 gradually rot away, the owner would die of a wasting 
 disease. The part, if not greater than, is at least 
 equal to the whole. Our stories are the literary 
 presentation of this popular and universal theory. 
 The grateful animals, the friendly div, the Chinese 
 lover, all tacitly put themselves in the hero's power 
 when they give him one of their hairs, etc. They are 
 not hurt by the hair being burnt, but they are bound 
 to appear. According to the theory, the part is in all 
 respects like the whole, and will be possessed by all its 
 capacities and powers. We have already seen this in 
 the case of the saliva which talks ; it talks, and talks 
 well, because it is part of a human being. So in a 
 Kafir tale, Sikulume neglects the warning which a 
 mouse gives him. The mouse then tells him to kill it 
 and keep its skin, which continues to speak and 
 advise him just as its original owner had done.^ A 
 Hessian story also illustrates this. A princess goes 
 with her maid to the court of the king she is to marry. 
 Before leaving, her mother gives her, in a vessel, three 
 drops of her blood which speak and are meant to take 
 
 1 A large number of instances are given in Frazer, Golden Bough, 
 vol. i, ' Theal, p. 8i, 
 
214 INANIMATE OBJECTS 
 
 care of her. But she loses the vessel, and then the 
 servant personates her.^ We have seen already how- 
 drops of blood placed on a puppet make it speak in the 
 voice of the owner. The rings, jewels, charms, which 
 produce at will a being who obeys orders, have been 
 shown to be forms of fetichism. But they might also 
 be classed under the heading of sympathetic magic : 
 the ring produces the being because it had once been 
 in contact with him. This is certainly the case in a 
 Kashmir tale, where a genie gives a ring from his 
 finger to the hero, and bids him show it to the fire, 
 when he will at once appear.^ 
 
 (4) In other groups of tales the magical objects 
 have been suggested by various primitive beliefs, but 
 some at least owe their origin to mimetic magic. Few 
 stories are so widespread as that of the poor man, 
 usually with a large family, who obtains certain 
 magical objects from a gifted human being, a super- 
 natural personage, even le bon dieu himself; from his 
 master, from the Wind or Frost personified, after 
 they have damaged his crops ; or from an animal. 
 In the English version the first gift is an ass which 
 drops silver or gold ; it is stolen by an innkeeper, who 
 replaces it by an ordinary ass. Next Jack obtains 
 a table which automatically provides a rich meal 
 when desired. This also is stolen. Lastly, he gets 
 a cudgel which beats of its own accord. The inn- 
 keeper falls a victim to it, and the cudgel does not 
 leave off until he has restored the stolen articles. 
 There are Italian, Russian, and Deccan variants of 
 this form of the story.^ In many others a table-cloth 
 
 1 Grimm, No. 89. For placing charms in the fire, see F.L.J., ii. 104. 
 
 2 Knowles, p. 473. Cf. a German story, where the hero takes a ring 
 from a dwarfs finger and finds that by his turning it, several spirits 
 appear to do his bidding — Grimm, No. 166. 
 
 3 Henderson, p. 327. Crane, p. 123. Gubernatis, Z.M.^ ii. 262. 
 Miss Frere, No 12, 
 
THE MAGIC ANIMAL 215 
 
 or a napkin takes the place of the table, and produces 
 a banquet in the same way (Norse, Lorraine);^ 
 while the animal which gives gold is sometimes a 
 ram (Norse, Czech), a sheep (Magyar, Poland, 
 Lithuania), a horse (Venice), a mule (Breton), a he- 
 goat (Lithuania, Norway), a she-goat (Austria), a 
 cock (Oldenburg), a hen (Tyrol, Ireland).^ In other 
 versions we have two magic boxes, bottles, sacks, or 
 pots, one of which produces gold or food, the second 
 armed men, who beat the thief till he restores the 
 first gift. This occurs in Italian, Irish, Esthonian, 
 and Bengali tales. ^ Austrian and Russian tales 
 bring the men out of a magic hat or magic cask.* 
 Here is a Syriac version. A fox received a viand- 
 producing dish and an ass which made gold. Break- 
 ing the command by showing them to his wife, he 
 has his gifts taken by the king of the foxes. Next 
 he gets a sack from which leap two giants, who kill 
 his wife, the fox-king, and their go-between.^ As 
 told in Kumaun, the story runs that the hero receives 
 from four serpents a bed which transports its owner 
 wherever he wishes to go, a bag which supplies 
 unlimited rupees, a food-producing cup, and a spoon 
 which gives anything asked for. These are stolen 
 by his hostess in the usual way ; then the hero tells 
 the serpents, which give him a club which beats and 
 a cord which binds when commanded, and by their 
 
 * Cosquin, i. 50, ii. 168. Dasent, p. 250 ; Thorpe, Y.T.S., p. 326. 
 
 2 /^uMj Dasent, p. 263 ; Waldau, p. 41. Sheep^ Jones, p. 161 ; 
 Leger, No. 17 ; Schleicher, p. 105. Horse^ Bernoni, i., No. 9. Mule, 
 Melusine, 1877, p. 129. He-goat^ Leskien, No. 30 ; Asbjoernsen, i., 
 No. 7. She-goat^ Vernaleken, No. 11. Cock, Strackerjan, ii. 312. 
 Hen, Schneller, No. 15 ; Kennedy, ii. 25. 
 
 3 F.L.R., i. 204. Croker, "Legend of Bottle Hill." Kirby, ii. 71. 
 Day, p. 53. Mediaeval saints, as well as the holy men of Islam and 
 Buddhism, were reputed to have the power of producing a limitless 
 food supply. Cf. Bdrenger-Feraud, ii. 246 seq. for details. 
 
 * Vernaleken, No. 1 1 ; Dietrich, No. 8. 
 ^ Prym and Socin, p. 343. 
 
216 INANIMATE OBJECTS 
 
 means he recovers his treasures.^ The story is even 
 found amongf the Ashantis ; probably it reached 
 them in longr distant ages. Anansee (the spider) 
 found a pot which was always full of food. Taking: 
 it home he regaled himself in private, till his children 
 found out the secret, enjoyed a hearty meal, and 
 then broke the pot. Anansee was highly disgusted, 
 but soon found a whip which began to beat him 
 when he called it ''whip." He hung it up at home, 
 where his children, curious as ever, discovered it and 
 each received a sound beating. But Anansee never 
 recovered his magic pot.^ 
 
 We may suppose that the magic cudgel occurred 
 in the more primitive forms of the story, and that 
 the boxes out of which leap armed men are a later 
 improvement. Such weapons have already been 
 discussed ; we have now to look at the food-producing 
 table, or table-cloth, or napkin, and the gold-produc- 
 ing animal. Before doing so, let us glance at some 
 stories of a more tragic nature. The hero first comes 
 into possession of a cup which produces all sorts of 
 dishes. He meets a dervish, and exchanges the cup 
 for a knife which kills when ordered. He bids it kill 
 the dervish, and thus gets back his cup. In the 
 same way he obtains a cap of invisibility, and then a 
 flute which restores the dead to life. On his return 
 the king deprives him of his cup ; he sends his knife, 
 which kills the king's guards and threatens the 
 monarch with death if he does not restore the cup. 
 He then bargains with the king to restore the dead 
 guards for a large sum of money ; but the king very 
 sensibly says, *' What do you want with money when 
 you are so clever. I will give thee my daughter to 
 wife instead."^ This is the Greek version ; there are 
 
 ^ Minaef, No. 12. For an Indian variant, see Stokes, No. 7. 
 2 Cosquin, ii. 170. 
 
 ^ Garnett, ii. 130. Cf. Dozon, p. 220, for similar incidents in a 
 story of the Aladdin type. 
 
A NEGRO TALE 217 
 
 many others, in which the magic articles vary and the 
 sequel of the story is different. The Bohemian 
 variant has a food-giving table, a bagpipe producing 
 soldiers, and a sack which supplies mighty castles. 
 Grimm's German version has the table, a knapsack 
 with soldiers, a hat which causes shots to be fired, 
 and a horn which, like the Hebrew trumpets, over- 
 throws the strongest cities when sounded. A wishing 
 stone, a magic sword, and a piece of felt which 
 restores to life, occur in a Georgian variant. A 
 Kalmuk story has a flask which gives meat and 
 cakes, a magic sword, a hammer which causes an 
 iron wall to spring up when it is beaten on the 
 ground, and a sack which, when shaken, produces 
 rain.^ 
 
 One of Dr Nassau's West African tales has some 
 resemblance to those of this and the previous group. 
 Jeki, the son of a king, is an incorrigible thief; to 
 him his dead grandfather appears in a dream and 
 bids him come to his town and be cured of this vice. 
 On the way he meets various ghosts, embodied in 
 curious shapes, fighting. To all of these he gives 
 food and obtains their blessing, like the heroes of 
 several tales of the Youngest Son cycle. When he 
 has arrived at his grandfather's, the old man takes 
 out Jeki's heart and cleanses it of the desire to steal. 
 Then he gives him a pestle which will bring him 
 whatever he wishes for, but he must take care never 
 to speak or hear the word ''salt." Should he do so, 
 however, there is a secret remedy to undo the evil 
 that will follow. Jeki returns home cured, and 
 obtains rich food, wealth, and lands from his pestle ; 
 ships come to trade whenever he wishes for them ; 
 and he takes precedence of his brothers. Meanwhile, 
 no one has pronounced the fatal word, but Jeki is 
 suspicious of his half-brothers and causes the next 
 
 ^ Leger, No. 2. Grimm, No. 56. Wardrop, p. 11. Busk, Sagas^ 
 p. 82. 
 
218 INANIMATE OBJECTS 
 
 ships to come with a cargo of salt. They at once 
 rush up to him, shouting "salt." Jeki makes his 
 preparations, for his death is at hand, and bids his 
 wives open a certain box on the day his successor is 
 crowned. The box contains a handkerchief which he 
 rubs all over his body and then replaces in the box. 
 Finally he is drowned, and his half-brother takes his 
 place. But when the wives come to open the box 
 and unfold the handkerchief, lo, Jeki stands suddenly 
 by their side, and going- to his father bids him 
 choose between his half-brother and himself. Jeki 
 is, of course, chosen, and the jealous brother is 
 drowned.^ 
 
 In a third group of tales the hero meets some 
 people quarrelling over the possession of certain 
 magic objects. These are (Italian, German), a purse 
 which always gives money or a magic sword, boots 
 of swiftness, and a hat of invisibility.^ The Greek 
 version has, besides sword and hat, a poplar which 
 will carry one anywhere, replaced in Indian and 
 Kashmir variants by a bed or a chair with the same 
 power; in addition, the Indian version has a bag 
 which supplies all wants, and a stick and rope which 
 beat and bind when ordered ; the Kashmir a food- 
 producing dish, collyrium, which, rubbed on the eyes, 
 makes one invisible, and an old garment, the pockets 
 of which produce all sorts of metals.^ A Kalmuk 
 story has a cap of invisibility and boots of swiftness.* 
 The hero usually obtains these by setting the 
 claimants to run a race ; meanwhile, he puts on the 
 shoes of swiftness or sits down on the magic bed or 
 chair, and hey presto! disappears with the other 
 treasures. There is also a Chinese version, where 
 the hero gets from two men whom he finds fighting 
 
 1 Nassau, p. 378. 2 j?x.R., i. 211. Clouston, P.T., i. 78. 
 
 ^ Garnett, ii. 225. Clouston, i. 83. Knowles, p. 86. Cf. Steel and 
 Temple, pp. 281, 289. 
 * Clouston, i. 82. 
 
MIMETIC MAGIC 219 
 
 for it, a stone, which when swallowed, makes the 
 possessor brings forth gold from his mouth. ^ 
 
 Confining ourselves here to the food-producing- 
 table, or cloth, the purse which is always full, and 
 such like desirable objects, we may see in them the 
 folk-tale reproduction of the curious customs of 
 mimetic magic. By this the mere imitation of an 
 effect is thought capable of producing the effect itself 
 Imitate the action of rain falling, and you will produce 
 rain in time of drought. Abstain from drinking or 
 washing, and you will cause the rainfall to cease. Set 
 a blazing wheel rolling down the hill, and you will 
 encourage the sun to shine as it rolls round the 
 heavens. Copy the details of a hunt in mimic 
 ceremony, and you will have good hunting. All these 
 things are actually done by savages everywhere, as 
 they were done by our ancestors long ago. So now 
 Australian blacks expect to increase the food-supply 
 of witchetty-grubs by going through a series of actions 
 imitative of the grub emerging from the chrysalis. 
 The objects of our tales have all a connection with 
 the things which they supply — table or cover with 
 food, purse with money. / Knowing the wide range 
 and curious applications of mimetic magic, we may 
 suppose that such objects are the imaginative 
 reproductions of ceremonies gone through for the 
 purpose of increasing f ood or wealth, plus the 
 conceptions of sympatheticlnagic^ The table implies 
 food, erg^o there may have beerf instances when it 
 actually produced it. Some such reasoning lies 
 behind these magical processes of our tales, though 
 the connection of the objects with those actual 
 
 1 F.L.J.y iv. 23. In an Esthonian story we have a hat which 
 causes the owner to see everything, shoes of swiftness, and a magic 
 rod — Kirby, ii. 25. For a Japanese story with hat and coat of invisi- 
 bility, jewels which govern the tides, see p. 235. The literary form 
 of all these groups is the famous mediaeval chap-book story of 
 Fortunatus. 
 
220 INANIMATE OBJECTS 
 
 ceremonies is not easy to trace step by step. We see 
 it more clearly in an Esthonian tale, where the 
 magfician puts some drops of water on the grass and 
 produces a lake, and with a shell and two fish-bones 
 makes a boat and oars.^ Like produces like. So the 
 bag- which produces rain when shaken, in the Kalmuk 
 tale, suggests the ceremonies in use for that purpose 
 among many primitive peoples, e.£^., shaking water 
 from a pot, spirting it from the mouth, pouring it 
 over someone who represents a deity. Again, in a 
 Kashmir tale belonging to the third group, one of 
 the magic articles is a stick on which whatever is 
 written is produced. Here is an example of that 
 magical power of the name already noted in the first 
 chapter. 
 
 The animals which produce gold, and which enter 
 into such a large range of tales, are less easy to 
 explain. Perhaps, like so many other objects, they 
 are the mere gorgeous products of the story-teller's 
 brain working from the known (the magical effects 
 which he knew) to the unknown and more mysterious. 
 Some hint at an explanation is suggested by the 
 Cinderella tales, in which the dead mother, trans- 
 formed into an animal, produces riches or food from 
 her horn. This is also suggested in a Kafir version 
 of the first group. An ill-treated boy had a wonderful 
 ox which produced food from its right horn when he 
 struck it. The food returned when the left horn was 
 struck. The ox advised him to remove the horns, 
 but they still continued to supply his wants as before. 
 At the next hut where he stayed, his host stole them, 
 substituting ordinary horns, but in spite of this he 
 could not perform the trick, and the boy recovered 
 them. Finally they produced clothes, a large supply 
 of provisions, and a house where the hero went to live 
 
 * Kirby, i. 244. Major Wingate, in his book on the Soudan, tells 
 how it was believed that one of the Mahdi's rivals had a magic tent 
 which would supply food for a whole army. 
 
THE SHOES OF SWlFfNESS 221 
 
 with the bride whom he had won.^ It should be 
 noted that, among the Kafirs, horned cattle are very 
 valuable ; great care is taken of them, and they are 
 even taught to obey signals. In the one case the 
 dead mother as a cow, in the other the already 
 valuable ox, are raised to a level on which anything 
 magical may happen. But, more likely, all such 
 wonder-working animals are imaginative extensions 
 of the friendly beasts who help the hero in many tales, 
 or of the animals worshipped in actual life by savage 
 and early man everywhere. The objects themselves 
 recall the Greek myth of the horn of Amalthea, with 
 its never-failing supply of food, and are illustrated by 
 a Red Indian tale in which the sorcerer produces 
 marvels with the aid of a reindeer horn and a rod of 
 red willow.^ 
 
 As for the shoes of swiftness, the cloak of in- 
 visibility, and the like, doubtless the wish to have 
 such objects was father to the thought, and the next 
 best thing to possessing them was to tell stories 
 about them. Swiftness and strength were both 
 desirable for primitive men, and it was natural to 
 suppose that anyone who possessed these to an 
 unusual extent had some magic source for them. 
 The shoes of swiftness were suggested by the primi- 
 tive sandals which protected the feet of the runner.^ 
 The cap or cloak of invisibility may, not improbably, 
 have taken its origin from the disguises to which 
 clothes lend themselves so easily, coupled with the 
 desire of becoming invisible, as a protection from 
 
 ^ Theal, pp. 14, 158. 
 
 - Petitot, p. 73. In the Ramayana a king steals a hermit's cow 
 which provides all her master's wishes. She returns to him, and he 
 asks her to produce armies which overthrow the king's hosts — a truly 
 Oriental version of the tales of the first group. 
 
 ^ Shoes of swiftness are made by Hermodr from the skin of the 
 soles of her feet, by an Icelandic giant's advice. Powell and Mag- 
 nusson, p. 397. The carpets and other articles which transport the 
 owner anywhere at will are adaptations of the same idea. 
 
222 INANIMATE OBJECTS 
 
 enemies.^ At all events, it is simpler and more in 
 accordance with fact, to see in these, as in the magic 
 rod or sword and other objects, actual products of 
 primitive thought and custom, than to explain them 
 as the detritus of ancient sun or storm myths. But 
 in discussing the subject of the shoes of swiftness, it 
 should be observed that all through the Middle Ages 
 and indeed down to the seventeenth century, there 
 was a general belief, giving rise to occasional circum- 
 stantial narratives, in the possibility of miraculously 
 quick transit from one place to another, hours taking 
 the place of days. Mysterious persons joined them- 
 selves to the solitary traveller, who found himself at 
 his journey's end long before he should have done 
 so.^ Besides this belief, Celtic, Scandinavian, and 
 Italian fairy and witch lore is full of stories of men 
 caught up by witches or in a fairy-eddy and trans- 
 ported to a distant place by night, finding themselves 
 far from home next morning.^ With these, again, 
 must be placed the current belief in the witch journey 
 through the air to the Sabbat. That witches them- 
 selves believed in such aerial flights is undoubted; 
 we may, however, refer them to the results of 
 dreams, or (as is known to have been the case) 
 to the effect of various potions, stimulating an 
 imagination already filled with preconceived ideas 
 and stories of nocturnal orgies. The excitement 
 
 ^ A cloak or cap of invisibility also figures in those stories in 
 which the hero who wears it discovers why the king's daughters wear 
 out so many shoes every night, viz., by their furious dancing far off in the 
 forest — a reminiscence of the wild night-orgies of the folk-festivals. 
 Jones, p. 288 (Magyar) ; Garnett, ii. 199 (Greek). Invisibility is attri- 
 buted to savage medicine-men as it was to mediaeval witches, to 
 dwarfs, giants, and fairies. 
 
 2 Calmet, in his Traite sur les Apparitions, i. 182 seq.^ cites several 
 of these stories. 
 
 3 Several instances will be found in Keightley ; see also Campbell 
 {Superstitions of the Scottish Highlands)^ Sikes {British Goblins), 
 Leland {E.R.R.\ and other works on fairy lore. 
 
NEGRO WITCHES 223 
 
 produced by such orgies, last survivals of the old 
 pagan sex-festivals, would surround them with a 
 tissue of ridiculous fancies. The mental image was, 
 later, held to be actual fact.^ Savage medicine-men 
 frequently claim the power of flying through the air, 
 as in Pondo-land, where they say they travel on the 
 thunder-cars, or of conveying men from place to 
 place with incredible swiftness. Savage sorcerer and 
 mediaeval witch are in this, as in so many other 
 things, on the same level. 
 
 There is little doubt, too, that the general belief 
 in swift bodily passage through the air was 
 strengthened by the alleged phenomena of levita- 
 tion, of which the Acta Sanctorum are so full. In 
 
 ^ In many cases, witches strictly confined to prison and watched, 
 said they had been present all the time at a Sabbat, and had been 
 carried to and from it through the air. But it was all a dream, 
 inspired by existing beliefs or by the action of drugs. These drugs 
 which witches are known to have used, cause a feeling of vertigo, of 
 swift motion through the air, and give rise to numerous other 
 hallucinatory suggestions. Women of the Negro witch company are 
 believed to leave their bodies asleep in their huts, their spirit bodies 
 meanwhile taking part in the orgy at a distance, after having flown 
 through the air (Nassau, p. 123). The orgy consists of feasting 
 (sometimes on the " soul " of a victim) and dancing. These witches 
 are members of a secret society, whose meetings exactly resemble 
 those of mediaeval witches. All must be home by cockcrow. For 
 the sex-festivals, which continued in one shape or another down to 
 comparatively late times, and which originated much of the belief in 
 the witch Sabbat, see Karl Pearson, Chances of Death, vol. ii. They 
 were largely attended by women, and doubtless many " witches " had 
 been present at them. It was easy to graft on these orgies much of 
 the current demonology, more especially as they were under the ban 
 of the church and denounced as devilish. Similar orgies were 
 engaged in by, or what is equally to the purpose as far as results are 
 concerned, attributed to many mediaeval heretical sects, and in those 
 we find another suggestion of the Sabbat. In another direction the 
 sex-festival with its dances on the green sward by moonlight 
 suggested the belief in similar fairy dances seen by many a belated 
 traveller, who, drawn into the dance, soon fell down fatigued, and was 
 ready to tell any story of his experiences when he awoke next morn- 
 ing in the open air and found his companions of the night gone. 
 
224 INANIMATE OBJECTS 
 
 the ecstasy of devotion saint after saint was seen to 
 rise from the ground and remain there suspended ; 
 of St Christine it was related that her body had been 
 seen to fly to the ceiling of the church like a bird, 
 while she could light on the tops of trees or towers 
 with no apparent effort! Such levitations, recalling 
 those of Daniel Dunglas Home, and the alleged 
 transportation of mediums like Mrs Guppy from one 
 house to another during a trance, have been matters 
 of belief from early times. Buddhist saints and 
 neo-Pliatonist ecstatics, savage medicine-men and 
 European witches, join hand in hand with mediaeval 
 saints. Covenanters, and Irvingites, in this business 
 of levitation.^ Obviously, then, the compilers of the 
 Acta did not altogether "farce their books with 
 many feigned miracles," as Fuller insists. We are in 
 presence of a universal phenomenon, or of a universal 
 delusion, and either is highly interesting. In either 
 case, whether there is ''something in it" or no, 
 whether we must refer it to the X region or to the 
 father of lies, levitation no doubt served to strengthen 
 the belief in aerial flights. 
 
 ^ The case of Home is discussed in Mr Podmore's Modem 
 Spiritualism^ where also those of the restless Mrs Guppy and of 
 others will be found (ii. 8i seq.). Other cases are referred to in Mr 
 Lang's Making of Religion^ p. 361. Levitation of the saints is 
 discussed in Calmet, i. 174- 181, and in bk. iv. chap. 22 of Gorres' 
 Christliche Mystik, where much curious information is collected 
 concerning the psychology of the saints. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 FRIENDLY ANIMALS I PUSS IN BOOTS 
 
 The incident of friendly animals which assist a hero 
 in danger, or in the performance of difficult tasks, or 
 bring him wealth and happiness, occurs in many- 
 story cycles as well as in a great many detached tales 
 from various quarters. To most readers it is already 
 sufficiently familiar from Perrault's famous version of 
 Puss in Boots. We shall therefore examine this 
 cycle first of all. The Magyar version has a fox as 
 the deus ex machina. A poor miller had saved him 
 from the huntsmen, and the fox brought him copper 
 and gold, and offered to get him a wife. Having 
 gone to King Yellowhammer's court, the fox said 
 Prince Csihan had sent him to ask for his daughter's 
 hand. The king at once granted the request. Next 
 the fox brought him a lump of gold, saying the 
 prince had no smaller change. '* Dear me," thought 
 the king, " what a rich fellow he must be," and begged 
 the fox to bring him at once. On the way the miller 
 is told to strip and go into the water, and the fox tells 
 the king that they have lost all their possessions. 
 Clothes and a retinue are at once sent to the miller, 
 and the marriage duly takes place. On the way home 
 the fox by strategy destroys the Vasfogu Baba, and 
 takes her castle for the miller, who lives there in 
 happiness with his bride. Then to test his character 
 the fox shams illness, and is cast out on the dunghill, 
 
 225 p 
 
226 FRIENDLY ANIMALS: PUSS IN BOOTS 
 
 "You a prince," muttered the fox, "you are nothing 
 but a miller " ; and, terrified out of his judgment, the 
 ung^rateful miller restored his benefactor to his place 
 of honour in the castle. This story is also told in 
 Bohemia, but a dog takes the place of the fox.^ 
 
 Still worse treatment was meted out to the fox in 
 an Italian version, closely parallel to this, for Don 
 Joseph Pear threw dust at him, and on his threaten- 
 ing to reveal all, killed him. A Swedish story has a 
 heroine instead of a hero, and she is helped by the 
 family cat to riches and a princely husband. A cat 
 also occurs in the Norse version called " Lord Peter," 
 and in both a troll's castle is obtained by pussy's 
 skill.2 jj^ Bengal a jackal is found by a princess 
 eating betel-leaves, which so surprises her that she 
 and her mother beg him to bring the king of the 
 country to which he belongs. This is done ; the king 
 is a poor weaver on whom the jackal has taken pity. 
 The bathing incident does not occur, and we have the 
 additional incident of the weaver's retinue, i.e., a 
 thousand jackals, crows, and paddy-birds. Nor is 
 there any palace for the poor princess to go to ; she is 
 taken home to the weaver's hut, where with Oriental 
 submission she makes the best of things, and being a 
 person of magical resource procures as much gold as 
 makes the weaver as rich as the jackal had pretended 
 he was. Among the Swahilis the long story of 
 Sultan Darai and the gazelle has a closer parallel to 
 the European versions, but introduces many original 
 incidents. Thus after marrying Darai the gazelle 
 
 ^ Jones, p. I. Vernaleken, The Dog and King Yellowhammer. 
 
 2 Crane, p. 127. In the Pentamerone^ a cat, left by a miserly 
 father to his son, runs off when the latter ill-treats her — Burton, i. 163. 
 Thorpe, Y.T.S., p. 64. In two variants of this tale (74), the cat 
 changes into a handsome prince ; in a third the animal is a dog, who 
 asks the girl to cut off his head, and when she does so he becomes a 
 prince enchanted till a maiden shed his blood (73). Cf. the next 
 group of tales, infra, p. 229. Dasent, p. 369 ; here the cat is left to the 
 youngest son. 
 
SULTAN DARAI 227 
 
 goes off to get him a palace. He comes to a town 
 empty of all its inhabitants, where he kills a seven- 
 headed snake, and then bringfs Darai and his wife to 
 occupy it with their retinue. In the sequel the gazelle 
 died of a broken heart at Darai's ingratitude, and 
 Darai lost his princess and found himself back in his 
 old mean hut — a poor weaver and nothing more. In 
 the Kashmir version the jackal who helps the poor 
 man does so to save his own life, because he was 
 caught stealing the man's dinner. Even nearer to 
 the European stories is one told among the Mongols. 
 Here also the fox's life has been spared by the hero, 
 and he obtains for him the khan's daughter after 
 bringing the khan a leopard, lion, and elephant ; the 
 bathing incident and the obtaining of a palace by 
 cunning, follow. The story has a curious form in 
 Uganda. There, a herd-boy was advised by a 
 leopard, who was delighted with his bravery, to come 
 and live with him. Soon after, by the leopard's 
 advice, he moved to a fertile district, where he became 
 a great chief. One night the leopard appeared to him 
 and told him to collect all his people into one house, 
 and let none go out during the night. A tipsy man 
 went out at midnight and saw many leopards, one of 
 which he killed. It was the hero's friend. Soon after 
 he returned from the dead, and told the chief that 
 since he had allowed him to be killed he would have 
 to go back to his old master and be a slave once 
 more. That night disaster overcame the chief, and 
 like Sultan Darai, he lost everything, and when 
 morning came, found himself alone among the ruins 
 of his town.^ 
 
 Compare with this Uganda tale a Basuto story 
 which has also a link of connection with the Cupid 
 and Psyche group. A very poor man found an 
 
 * Day, p. 227, Steere, pp. 13-137. Knowles, p, 187. F.L.J. ^ 
 iv. 32, "Folk- Lore of Mongolia." Johnston, ii. 708. The humour of 
 this Uganda tale is exquisite. 
 
228 FRIENDLY ANIMALS: PUSS IN BOOTS 
 
 ostrich eggf which he carried home. Next day, on his 
 return from hunting- wild mice, he was astonished to 
 find his hut tidied up and food prepared exactly as if 
 he possessed a wife. A few days later a woman came 
 out of the egg" and ag^reed to be his wife, but told him 
 never to call her the daughter of an ostrich egg- when 
 he was drunk. By her magic powers she furnished 
 him with rich clothes, possessions, and a tribe of 
 followers, and now he disdained his former occupa- 
 tions. But the foolish fellow in his cups called to his 
 wife — ''Daughter of an ostrich eg§\'' When he 
 awoke next morning he was lying on the grass ; rich 
 clothes, possessions, people, and wife had disappeared ; 
 he became poor as ever, and tears and regrets were 
 all in vain.^ 
 
 The story from Uganda may or may not have 
 been influenced by such other versions as have been 
 cited ; to my mind it suggests the kind of inchoate 
 story from which the final Puss in Boots tale may 
 have arisen. These later forms, moreover, have a 
 moral like some of the more primitive tales, but it is 
 wanting in others ; while in a few the moral is the 
 value of kindness to animals (Magyar, Mongol), in 
 others the danger of ingratitude.^ Still better, as 
 showing what the primitive forms of the story may 
 have been, are two tales, one Melanesian, the other 
 Negro (Fjort). 
 
 The Melanesian story relates how Ganviviris, a 
 lazy fellow, one day caught a fish, which in its 
 struggles carried him off to a cave, where it turned 
 into a woman, called Ro Som. She announced her 
 intention of helping him. First he was to have 
 several bags made and hung up ; these, when made, 
 
 1 Jacottet, p. 259. Cf. the Negro variant, p. 330. 
 
 2 If the tale arose first in India as a Buddhist story inculcating 
 kindness to animals, as the Benfey school allege, why does the 
 Indian variant lack that moral? C/. Lang, Perrault's Tales, Intro- 
 duction. 
 
GANVIVIRIS 229 
 
 he found filled with money. She returned several 
 times, advising him how to expend it, so that he 
 might obtain rank and gain a wife. But she forbade 
 him to buy his rank in a certain place ; if he dis- 
 obeyed her, he would die. The foolish fellow, his 
 head turned by the possession of so much gold, broke 
 the command. That day a woman was seen entering 
 his house ; she was followed, but the house was found 
 to be empty and all the money gone. Five days 
 after, Ganviviris sickened and died. This story con- 
 tains in germ some of the main incidents of Puss in 
 Boots tales. There is another version of this story, 
 in which Ro Som helps an orphan, but he disobeys 
 and insults her, with the result (as in the African 
 stories) that when he wakes up he finds his helper and 
 all his wealth gone. The Fjort story is as follows. 
 A prince could only marry a girl when he had found 
 out her name. His dog watched his sorrow and 
 resolved to help him. Listening at the girl's father's 
 house he heard it, ran home, but forgot it by the way. 
 This happened a second time ; next time he carried it 
 to his master, but on the way to claim her hand, both 
 forgot it. The fourth time neither forgot, and the 
 prince obtained a wife. Meanwhile an antelope, the 
 unsuccessful claimant, waged war against him, but 
 fell a victim to the hero's strength.^ 
 
 Another group of stories has in its central 
 incident — that of one friendly animal — considerable 
 resemblance to the Puss in Boots cycle. In these 
 stories the hero (or heroine) does something which an 
 animal belonging to him advises him not to do, with the 
 result that he is involved in a whole series of troubles 
 and has to perform many tasks, winning in the end a 
 handsome princess. Throughout he has been helped 
 by the animal, who in the end bids him cut off its head. 
 When he does so there stands before him a handsome 
 prince, brother to the princess whom he has won, and 
 
 ^ Codrington, pp. 383, 387. Dennett, p. 35. 
 
230 FRIENDLY ANIMALS: PUSS IN BOOTS 
 
 enchanted by a magician to animal form. This is 
 Grimm's story of The Golden Bird, with a fox for the 
 helpful animal ; its Danish parallel has a horse who 
 acts in the same way ; ^ we have seen how, in 
 Melanesia, the helpful animal can appear as a woman, 
 voluntarily, not as a result of enchantment. 
 
 A myth in the Manabush cycle of the Menomini 
 Indians has many points of resemblance to European 
 tales, but is evidently quite orig-inal. An unsuccessful 
 hunter was scorned by his wife because his luck was 
 so bad. A wolf took pity upon him, and helped him 
 to get plenty of game, reserving only the liver for 
 himself The woman insisted on getting this also, 
 with the result that the wolf could get no more game, 
 and now advised the hunter to go and seek a better 
 wife. Before his departure he gave him one of his 
 claws, telling him to wear it always, for so long as he 
 wore it he would be successful. He then directed him 
 where he would find a wife. Travelling onwards he 
 encountered a family of the Elk people, and married 
 their daughter. Now these people were always being 
 beaten by the Moose people : it remained for the 
 hunter to change the luck. In the diving and racing 
 competitions which followed, the Moose people were 
 easily beaten by the hunter, because he was invisibly 
 assisted by the wolf and other animals whom he sent 
 to assist him. The animals were manidos- — spirits 
 with animal forms. In revenge, the Moose people 
 stole the hunter's wolf-claw while he was taking a 
 vapour-bath, and, his strength being gone, they killed 
 him and cut him in pieces, although the wolf fought 
 hard for him. While the Moose-women were eating 
 these, a little dog belonging to the hunter's mother-in- 
 law attacked them and fled with his heel-bone, and 
 having collected several manidos, gave the bone to 
 Kakake, the Crow, who tossed it up four times. The 
 fourth time, as it struck the ground, the hunter was 
 
 1 Mulley, p. I, " Mons Tro." 
 
A ZUNI CINDERELLA 231 
 
 restored from the dead. He now attacked the Moose 
 people and killed all but two, whose mouths he rubbed 
 with willows, and that is why the moose now eats 
 nothing- else.^ 
 
 As in many myths of a totemistic people, the 
 Elk and Moose folk are as much animals as they are 
 men. But we have here several formulae of the 
 Helpful Animal tales, wherever found — the friendly 
 beast (in this case a semi-divine being-), the talisman 
 given by him, as well as the formula of restoration to 
 life. The story is thus a good example of how 
 various beliefs (the formulae of M arc hen) are welded 
 together to form a genuine myth, which might in 
 time have itself become a folk-tale. 
 
 We turn now to a Zuni tale which links on the 
 Puss in Boots cycle to the stories of the Cinderella 
 cycle, containing a helpful beast. A poor girl who 
 herded turkeys, was unable to go to the sacred dance. 
 The turkeys, who understand more than she thinks, 
 commiserate her, give her jewels, and send her to the 
 dance, bidding her not forget them or treat them in 
 her prosperity as others treat her now. She is so 
 much the attraction of the dance that she forgets the 
 turkeys. Then suddenly she remembers them, and 
 rushes off homewards. But the turkeys have gone 
 for ever ; her dress becomes what it was before, and 
 she is left lamenting.^ The introduction of this story 
 suggests the Cinderella cycle ; the girl's ingratitude 
 connects it with the Puss in Boots group, while the 
 incident of her misfortune is a clear parallel to the 
 punishment meted out to the African and Melanesian 
 heroes. 
 
 Many versions of the Cinderella cycle have, in 
 place of the orthodox fairy godmother, a friendly 
 
 ^ Bureau of Ethnology^ \\th Annual Report (1896), p. 182. The 
 hunter in this story is the eldest of the three brothers in the bear story 
 cited on p. 175. 
 
 2 Gushing, p. 54. 
 
232 FRIENDLY ANIMALS : PUSS IN BOOTS 
 
 animal, cow, bull, ram, or sheep, and when this 
 occurs the animal is almost invariably the girl's 
 mother transformed to that shape by sorcery (usually 
 by a woman who becomes the second wife), or by the 
 breaking- of some command on her own or her 
 daughter's part. The stepmother starves the child, 
 but the animal feeds her in some magical way. This 
 is found out, and the stepmother orders the animal to 
 be killed. When this is done, the daughter, following 
 the dead animal's instructions, buries the body, and 
 from the grave obtains food, fine clothes, and jewels. 
 This is a common European story, but the same idea 
 of the help given by the dead is found in Melanesia ; 
 indeed it is perfectly natural wherever it is firmly 
 held that the dead are as active as the living. A poor 
 orphan boy was so maltreated by his rich uncle's 
 wives, that he begged to be taken to a distant place. 
 There, roasting birds one day, the fat fell through the 
 earth on to the head of his dead father. He appeared 
 above-ground as a ghost, and by magic produced for 
 his son, food, gardens, a village, pigs, and fowls. 
 Thus the boy became rich, and now the uncle's wives, 
 in jealousy, carried him off while he slept, intending 
 to eat him. He escaped, but on his return, all his 
 wealth was gone, and his father had departed, 
 mourning for the son whom he thought was untimely 
 lost.^ This is a sad ending compared with that of 
 our European Cinderella tales, but savages seem fond 
 of a catastrophe to end their stories ! 
 
 To return to our European tales, sometimes a 
 magic wand or some other article is found in the 
 animal's body (Roman, Chilian) ; or again a tree 
 springs from the grave and supplies what is needful 
 (Finnish, etc.). In Russian, Serbian, Finnish, 
 Roman, Corsican, French, and Gaelic versions, and 
 in stories from Madagascar, India, and Kashmir, the 
 animal is a cow. It is a bull in Transylvanian and 
 
 * Codrington, p. 389. 
 
THE BEAST MOTHER 233 
 
 Norse tales, and in Russian and Gaelic stories it is a 
 sheep. ^ Whether as woman, animal, or tree, the 
 mother preserves her identity throughout. In these 
 instances, as in the second Puss in Boots group, the 
 animal is a human being- transformed. But it is not 
 improbable that the earlier form of the Cinderella tale 
 was different. In the next chapter we shall see that 
 at a certain stage of culture, marriage with a beast is 
 deemed neither irrational nor improbable. So it does 
 not in the least surprise us to find that a Scots story 
 has preserved intact this primitive conception. Here 
 the mother of Cinderella is a sheep from the first, 
 though in the sequel, after being killed, she revives 
 in the form of a beautiful princess who plays the part of 
 fairy godmother.^ The transformation incident is a 
 later addition. A Swedish Cinderella story takes 
 quite a different form. An ox helps the ill-treated 
 stepdaughter, supplies her with rich dresses, and 
 takes her to church on his back. When she is 
 discovered she goes to the ox, who bids her requite 
 him by cutting him in three pieces. This is done, 
 and from the carcase steps forth a handsome prince 
 who had been thus enchanted, and could never 
 have regained his form without her aid. As so 
 often happens in folk-tales, this Cinderella story 
 has borrowed an incident from a story of another 
 group — that represented by Grimm's Golden 
 Bird.^ 
 
 We now come to stories in which friendly animals 
 (i) are born with the hero, or (2) become his ser- 
 vants, or (3) give him the power of transformation to 
 their form, or (4) perform certain difficult tasks for 
 him. 
 
 ^ For references, see pp. 108-9. Sometimes the animal, pike, bird, 
 or bear (Swedish, Thorpe, Y.T.S.^ p. 112 seq.\ bird (Itahan, Crane, p. 
 42), which helps the heroine, may be the relic of a divinity and not her 
 mother in animal form. 
 
 '^ Miss Cox, p. 534. ^ See p. 230 supra. 
 
234 FRIENDLY x\NIMALS: PUSS IN BOOTS 
 
 ( I ) The stones of this class belong mainly to that 
 group in which the hero saves a maiden from the 
 dragon to whom she is being offered as a sacrifice. 
 They open with the incident of a fisherman catching 
 a large fish, which bids him give part of itself to his 
 wife, part to his mare, part to his dog, and to bury 
 the rest in the garden. His wife has one, or in some 
 versions, three sons ; the mare has a foal ; the dog 
 has a puppy ; and in the garden there springs up a 
 tree which becomes the life-token of the hero. As in 
 the Cinderella story, we must regard hero and animals 
 as the continuation of the fish in another form. The 
 help they render the hero is not usually well-defined ; 
 it consists in attacking the dragon ; causing the 
 recognition of the hero when an impostor has taken 
 his place ; while in those cases where there are three 
 brothers, the youngest son's animals assist him to 
 overcome the witch who has turned the others to 
 stone, and then obtain the water of life which restores 
 them.^ The fish may be considered a friendly animal 
 also, in so far as he gives the presumably childless 
 woman offspring. Incidents analogous to this are 
 found in savage folk-tales. A despised childless 
 woman in a Kafir tale is given pellets by a bird, and 
 after swallowing them she has a beautiful daughter. 
 Two pigeons perform the same office for a Zulu 
 woman who has fed them, just as a childless Armenian 
 queen who had fed a dying bird obtained from it the 
 gift of speech, and the magical means of having a 
 daughter.^ 
 
 ^ The story is found in Denmark (Mulley, p. 37), Brittany 
 (Sebillot, i. 124), Lorraine (Cosquin, i. 60), Gascony (Blade, C. Agenais, 
 p. 9), Greece (Legrand, p. 161), Sicily (Gonzenbach, i. 269), Nor- 
 mandy (Carnoy, p. 135), Italy (De Nino, Usi Abruzzesi^ iii. 321), 
 Portugal (Coelho, p. 120), Serbia (Leskien, No. 10), Russia (Ralston, 
 p. 57). 
 
 2 Theal, p. 54. Callaway, p. 66. Von Wlislocki, p. 72. Cf. 
 another African story, where the dogs, however, do nothing, but they 
 and the hero are born in the same way. Macdonald, ii. 341. 
 
LITTLE PEACHLING 235 
 
 (2) The help gfiven by animals is more definite in 
 this and the succeeding- groups. Some tales belong 
 to the Dragon-slaying- cycle just referred to, but the 
 animals are obtained in another way. This may be 
 illustrated from a Magyar story. Two brothers 
 overcame a wolf, a bear, and a lioness, who gave 
 them their whelps as servants. The eldest rescued a 
 princess given up to a dragon, but was afterwards 
 slain by the impostor Red Knight. His animals dis- 
 cussed how they might heal him. The lion rushed 
 off to get a rope ; with it the bear tied the hero's 
 body together ; and the wolf, having obtained a life- 
 restoring plant, rubbed his body with it till he revived. 
 Each animal is then sent for food to the palace where 
 Red Knight is being married to the princess, and, as 
 they enter, the cushions on which he is sitting- drop 
 from under him. Finally, the hero enters, and is 
 recognised, to the utter discomfiture of the false bride- 
 grroom.^ A bear, a wolf, and a dog- restore the hero 
 of a similar Lapp tale to life ; Hans, the knife- 
 grinder's son is helped and restored by the fox, bear, 
 and wolf of a Tyrolese story ; while, as in the Talk- 
 ing- Fish cycle, a Russian story recounts how the 
 animal servants of one brother fight the dragon and 
 restore the hero, and when he and they are later 
 petrified by a witch, the other brother and his animals 
 destroy the witch and bring- them back to life.^ 
 
 Stories from a lower level of culture may be 
 compared with these, as presenting the same idea 
 outside the limits of a regular story cycle. Little 
 Peachling, a Japanese hero, set out for the island of 
 the ogres to obtain their treasures. He took with 
 him a number of millet dumplings. On the way he 
 was successively asked by an ape, a pheasant, and a 
 dog" for a share of his food ; he did not refuse, and 
 
 1 Jones, p. III. 
 
 ^ Friis, p. 170. Zingerle, p. 260. Leskien, p. 544. Cf. Grimm's 
 story of "Water Peter and Water Paul." 
 
236 FRIENDLY ANIMALS: PUSS IN BOOTS 
 
 was rewarded by the animals becoming his servants, 
 
 helping him to fight the ogres and to obtain their 
 
 treasures.-^ Or take this story from Polynesia. The 
 
 hero, Rata, saved the life of a heron attacked by a 
 
 serpent. Rata, who wished to build a canoe, but had 
 
 been unable to do so while the heron's cries were 
 
 disregarded, was now assisted by the bird, aided 
 
 by many others. They made the canoe, and brought 
 
 it to his dwelling, singing, ''The entire family of birds 
 
 of Kupolu honour thee above all mortals."^ Again, 
 
 in a Swahili tale, Mohammed the Languid saved 
 
 the life of a white snake, which told him his courtesy 
 
 would not be lost. Poor Mohammed's wife had been 
 
 stolen by a jinn ; the snake with three others brought 
 
 him a huge man, who was to carry him to the city of 
 
 the jinn. Through breaking a tabu Mohammed fell 
 
 into the sea. Thence he was rescued by an old man, 
 
 who said he was the snake's brother, while another 
 
 brother gave him a magic sword, with which he slew 
 
 the jinn and recovered his wife.^ The wretched blind 
 
 and diseased horse of a Pawnee story is own brother 
 
 to the magic horses of European folk-tales. Kindly 
 
 treated by a youth, it bade him plaster it over with 
 
 mud. It became a beautiful steed, swift as the wind, 
 
 and by its means the youth captured a buffalo, whose 
 
 skin was reputed "great medicine," and obtained as 
 
 reward the hand of the chiefs daughter. Through 
 
 the hero's neglect of the horse's advice, it was hacked 
 
 to pieces by his enemies, but came to life again and 
 
 brought him ten other beautiful steeds as a gift.* 
 
 Stories such as these might be multiplied indefinitely ; 
 
 they all contain the same kind of incidents ; and 
 
 usually the animal rewards the hero for his kindness 
 
 to it — an idea which; suggests that kindness to 
 
 1 Mitford, i. 267 ; Griffis, p. 37. 
 
 2 Gill, p. 142. For a Maori version," see Clarke, p. 90 ; and a 
 Samoan variant, in Turner, p. 215. 
 
 3 Steere, p. 179. ^ Grinnell, p. 87. 
 
JENIK 237 
 
 animals is not the sole possession of civilised man, 
 and that such tales did not arise through Buddhist 
 influence. Pawnees and Polynesians never heard of 
 Gautama ! 
 
 Helpful animal servants also occur in several 
 tales of the Aladdin cycle, as may be seen from a 
 Bohemian version. Jenik, the despised youngest 
 son, saved a serpent, dogf, and cat from the brutality 
 of a mob, and in reward the first bade him ask a 
 magic watch from the king of the serpents. By 
 rubbing it, he obtained a palace and won a king's 
 daughter's hand. She did not love Jenik, and having 
 obtained the secret of the watch, caused herself and 
 her palace to be transported far away. Jenik dis- 
 covered her whereabouts from two crows, and by 
 help of his dog and cat he arrived at his palace. The 
 cat stole the watch and the dog swam with her across 
 the sea, but, on the way, asked her if she had got the 
 watch. '' Yes," she replied, and the watch fell from 
 her mouth into the sea. The cat forced a fish to 
 bring it, and Jenik, by rubbing it, caused palace and 
 princess to disappear, and continued to live happily 
 with his animal friends.^ 
 
 In other versions it is some other man who 
 obtains the talisman and removes palace and wife. 
 Here, usually, the hero buys his animals, cat and 
 dog, and occasionally a rat also ; the same methods 
 of recovery are used, the talisman falls into the sea 
 but is brought back by a fish (which had been put 
 back into the sea by the hero when his father caught 
 it). The hero then takes possession of his palace and 
 his lost wife, and kills the thief There are Greek, 
 Italian, Albanian, Breton, and Russian examples 
 of this form of the tale, as well as Arab and Hindu. ^ 
 
 * Leger, No. 15. In a Cypriote parallel the hero recovers his wife 
 — Dozon, p. 219. 
 
 - Hahn, No. 9. Dozon, p. 63. Luzel, p. 151. Gubernatis, Z.M.^ 
 ii. 56. Scott, Arab. Nights^ vi. ; Ind. Ant. 1881, p. 347. 
 
238 FRIENDLY ANIMALS: PUSS IN BOOTS 
 
 A Mongol story belongs to the same general type. 
 A Brahman saved a mouse, monkey, and bear from 
 death, losing his merchandise by doing so. Set 
 adrift in a coffer, he was saved by these animals, and 
 all lived together. The ape found a jewel, by which 
 the Brahman obtained all he could wish for ; but it 
 was stolen by a merchant, and he was left as poor as 
 ever. The mouse crept into the merchant's house 
 and stole the talisman. Then it was lost again in 
 the usual way, but recovered by the mouse who sum- 
 moned the inhabitants of the water and bade them 
 find it. So it was restored to the Brahman, who then 
 obtained a palace, a city, a daughter of the devas as 
 a wife, while a hundred children were born to him ! ^ 
 There is also an Aino parallel, in which a rich man's 
 charm is stolen by an ogre. His puppy and fox-cub, 
 fearing lest he and they starve, induce a rat to go with 
 them in search of it. The rat scoops a passage into 
 the giant's house, and all enter. While he is engaged 
 nibbling a hole in a box in which the charm is kept, 
 the puppy and cub take the form of children and 
 dance before the ogre. Then they and the rat escape 
 and bring the charm to the true owner, whom they, 
 in a dream, make witness of all that has happened. 
 Hence the Ainos think well of rats.^ 
 
 An English gipsy variant makes Jack's valet 
 steal his magic snuff-box, and so remove his palace. 
 His father-in-law bids him recover it in a year, or he 
 will never give him his wife again. Here, as in an 
 Italian parallel, Jack obtains help from the king of 
 frogs, the king of eagles, and the king of mice, who 
 each give him one of their subjects, by whose aid he 
 recovers his snuff-box.^ 
 
 1 Busk, p. 134. '-^ Chamberlain, p. 16. 
 
 3 Groome, In Gypsy Tents^ p. 201. Crane, p. 152. In this 
 Italian version the king of fishes and the king of birds assist the hero. 
 I have already discussed the talisman of this cycle. See p. 202, where 
 a Korean variant is also referred to. 
 
THK HEROES THxVNSFORMATIONS 239 
 
 In discussing the Youngest Son story-cycles we 
 shall find how the hero, having rescued an eagle's 
 young ones from a dragon, is carried by the eagle 
 out of the underworld, where he has been abandoned. 
 The eagle has to be fed by the hero as it flies, and 
 in certain cases, the supply of food failing, he has to 
 cut a piece of flesh from his own thigh. In this 
 connection the incident has a wide distribution, and 
 occurs in Gaelic, Russian, Bosnian, Tsigane, Tran- 
 sylvanian, Greek, Albanian, French, Indian, Tartar, 
 and Avar tales. 
 
 (3) The incident of the power of transformation 
 given to the hero by grateful animals is usually intro- 
 duced by the same formula — a quarrel between the 
 animals, decided by the hero. It mainly occurs in 
 stories of the Separable Soul cycle.^ Meanwhile I 
 cite a Lorraine version as typical. A shoemaker met 
 a lion, an eagle, and an ant, who asked him to decide 
 on their respective shares of a dead ass. In gratitude 
 the eagle gave him a feather, the lion a hair, the ant 
 one of its feet, with the words, '' When you hold this 
 in your hand, you will be able to take my form." 
 The hero rescued a princess stolen by a magician. 
 As an eagle he flew to the castle ; as an ant he 
 entered ; and as a lion he fought the lion, in whose 
 head the magician kept his soul. After rescuing the 
 lady he was thrown into the sea by her lover, who 
 swore he himself had rescued her. There he was 
 swallowed by a whale. A beggar bargained with 
 the whale for a sight of the hero. More and more 
 of his body emerged from' its mouth ; then, in a flash, 
 he assumed his eagle form and flew away.^ 
 
 Where this second incident occurs the story usually 
 belongs to the Promised Child cycle, but also con- 
 tains the dramatic Separable Soul incident. When 
 the time comes for the redemption of the promise, the 
 
 ' Cf. p. 134 supra. - Cosquin, i. 166. 
 
240 FRIENDLY ANIMALS: PUSS IN BOOTS 
 
 hero runs away and meets the animals, who reward 
 him with the gift of transformation. Then follow 
 the rescue of the princess, the capture of the hero by 
 the creature to whom he was originally promised, and 
 his escape, as in the Lorraine story. This version of 
 the tale is found in Greece, in Scotland, in Germany, 
 and, modified, in Italy.^ Sometimes, however, as in 
 Campbell's first story of the Sea-Maiden, the animals 
 promise their presence and help when the hero wishes 
 them to come ; or, as in a Tuscan story, they each 
 give him seven times their own strength.^ 
 
 Frequently, however, the story confines itself to 
 the first incident — the necessary transformations to 
 rescue the princess and destroy the giant. Of this 
 there are Sicilian, Breton, Flemish, German, Tyro- 
 lese, Danish, Norse, and Basque examples. But in 
 all cases the animals are exactly those needed to 
 overcome the successive creatures in which the 
 giant's soul is concealed.^ 
 
 (4) Finally, in stories relating how impossible 
 tasks were performed by animals, the capabilities or 
 numbers of these animals exactly suit the circum- 
 stances. As a typical example we take that story 
 cycle in which an impostor passes himself off to a 
 king as his son, nephew, godson, etc., whom he has 
 never seen, after forcing the youth to keep silence on 
 the subject till he has died and been resuscitated. 
 Through the impostor's wiles he is given several 
 tasks to perform, among which the chief is to bring a 
 beautiful princess, or to recover the king's wife (Pisan) 
 
 ^ Hahn, No. 5. Campbell, i. 96 (variant of the original). Koehler, 
 ii. 117. Straparola, No. 9; the hero who captures Fortunio has no 
 pre-natal right to him, but his adoptive mother has pronounced a 
 curse on him that an ogress should carry him off. 
 
 2 Campbell, i. 72. Gubernatis, Novelline^ No. 23. 
 
 3 Pitre, ii. 215. Sebillot, i. No. 9. Wolf, D.M.^ pp. 20, 82. 
 Zingerle, ii. No. i. Grundtvig, ii. 194. Asbjoernsen, p. 223. 
 Webster, p. 80. 
 
f 
 
 ADOLPHE 241 
 
 or daughter (Lorraine). In a Greek version he fell in 
 with a number of ants trying- to cross a brook, bees 
 whose honey is being devoured by a bear, and young 
 crows attacked by a serpent. All of these, on the 
 advice of his horse, he helps, and in return they assist 
 him in the tasks set him by the lady before she will 
 accompany him. The ants sort out a heap of millet 
 and other seeds ; the bees point out the maiden in the 
 midst of a number of girls exactly like her ; the crows 
 procure for him the Water of Life.^ In the Pisan 
 version the hero shelters a fish, a nightingale, and a 
 butterfly ; the fish procures the lady's ring thrown by 
 her into the sea, the nightingale brings the Water of 
 Life, and the butterfly alights on her forehead and 
 distinguishes her from the other women. The 
 incident in the Lorraine story takes a different turn. 
 Adolphe has to pass through the kingdoms of the 
 fish, the ants, the rats, the crows, and the giants, and 
 the king of each demands toll. In return each 
 respectively gives him a bone, a foot, a hair, a feather, 
 and a hair of his beard, that he may summon them 
 with these when required. The maiden's captor 
 bade him remove a mountain and put a garden in its 
 place. Giants removed the mountain ; ants and rats 
 prepared the soil ; and crows brought plants to place 
 in it. They also fetched the Water of Life, while the 
 fishes recovered the ring. Next Adolphe had to 
 bring the palace of the captor and set it beside that 
 of the king. Ants and rats loosened its foundations ; 
 four giants carried it to the ship ; and the fishes, like 
 the Nereids with the Argo between Scylla and 
 Chary bdis, bore it over the waves. ^ 
 
 A Danish story omits the impostor incident, but 
 the hero, Mons. Tro, has to fetch for a king the 
 loveliest princess in the world. On the way, by the 
 advice of his horse and a poodle, he feeds the fishes, 
 
 ^ Hahn, No. 37. For a variant, see Garnett, ii. 28. 
 
 - Comparetti, No. 5. Cosquin, i. 32. For other parallels, see p. 56. 
 
 Q 
 
242 FRIENDLY ANIMALS : PUSS IN BOOTS 
 
 the wolves, and the bears, and many giants. The 
 fishes recover the castle keys thrown by the princess 
 into the sea, carry the castle itself when the giants 
 have taken it from its foundations ; the bears and 
 wolves, however, do nothing, and Mons Tro gets the 
 Water of Life himself^ The hero of a Slavonic tale 
 is set the tasks of separating poppy-seeds from ashes, 
 and of bringing a pearl from the depths of the ocean. 
 Ants whom he has fed perform the first task, and a 
 fish whom he has saved the second. In a Bohemian 
 variant the hero saves the ants from burning, feeds 
 the ravens, and puts a fish back into the water. All 
 promise to help him. The ants find Princess Golden 
 Hair's pearls in the meadow; the fish recovers her 
 ring from the sea ; and the ravens bring the Water of 
 Life. With it he resuscitates a dead fly, which, in 
 gratitude, helped him to choose out Golden Hair 
 from twelve girls all alike. ^ A Magyar tale resembles 
 these as well as the stories of the Impostor cycle. The 
 hero is the youngest of three brothers. The others, 
 jealous of the youth, cause the king to set him tasks 
 — to gather all the corn in a night ; to build a bridge 
 of wax ; and to bring twelve immense wolves into the 
 courtyard. But he has already helped the king of the 
 mice, a bee, and a dying wolf The mice collected the 
 grain ; the bees made the bridge ; and the wolf brought 
 not only twelve of his kind, but all the wolves in the 
 country, who tore king, courtiers, and jealous brothers 
 to pieces.^ 
 
 The same incidents occur in Eastern tales. The 
 Prince of Sind fed locusts and a herd of wild animals. 
 These assist him in the tasks which he must perform 
 before wedding a certain princess. The locusts 
 separate a huge heap of grain ; the animals drink up 
 a reservoir which he has to drain ; and genii help him 
 in constructing a palace in return for kindness done 
 
 1 Mulley, p. I. 2 Leger, No. 25. Naake, p. 97, 
 
 ^ Jones, p. 1 52. 
 
MALAGASY AND JAPANESE VERSIONS 243 
 
 to them. A Tamil story resembles this. Ants and 
 frog" help the hero to separate seeds from dust and to 
 recover a ring-. These tasks have been set him by 
 Indra to perform ere he will find his lost wives. A 
 Malagasy tale presents a still closer likeness. Seven 
 brothers are suitors for a girl's hand ; only the 
 youngest feeds certain animals. The six elder 
 brothers fail in accomplishing the tasks set by the 
 girl's father ; the youngest succeeds by the aid of the 
 grateful animals. The wild hog and his fellows dig 
 up a grain-field ; the crows collect the rice ; wasps 
 drive in the wild ox ; and the crocodiles obtain certain 
 eggs from the lake. In a variant, Andrianoro has to 
 pick out the mother from her daughters, whom she 
 exactly resembles ; this he does by the aid of a 
 friendly fly.^ 
 
 Obviously these tales have had, so far as the 
 friendly animals are concerned, a common origin 
 though they have spread so far. A similar incident 
 is embedded in the Ko-ji-ki, the sacred book of Japan. 
 The Deity Great Name Possessor went to Hades to 
 get counsel of its lord. He fell in love with his 
 daughter, who now became his protector against her 
 father's wiles. When he sent him to fetch an arrow 
 from the moor, the treacherous lord of Hades set the 
 moor on fire. A mouse instructed the hero where to 
 hide from the flames, and afterwards brought him 
 the hidden arrow. Still closer is a Zuni story, in 
 which a girl will accept no lover who does not bring 
 her many scalps. An outcast youth who lives with 
 the dogs, who are his friends, resolves to try, and with 
 their aid obtains the scalps, and weds the maiden. 
 
 1 Clouston, i. 237. Cf. a Hindu parallel in Stokes, No. 22. 
 Dravidian Nights Enter tain7nents^ p. 109. F.L.J.^ ii. 47 ; i. 206. It 
 is remarkable how often ants assist the heroes of folk-tales in separat- 
 ing out a heap of different grains. The incident occurs in the 
 classical tale of Cupid and Psyche. Cosquin, ii. 243, as usual, 
 attributes the origin of the idea to Buddhist sources. 
 
244 FRIENDLY ANIMALS: PUSS IN BOOTS 
 
 When the rejected suitors plot his destruction the 
 dogs carry him the tidingfs, and warn him against 
 them.^ • 
 
 Without stopping to consider other definite story 
 cycles in which friendly animals figure, I shall refer to 
 a variety of such incidents in widely scattered folk- 
 tales, mostly from savage or barbarian sources. 
 Among the Chinese the incident is a common one. 
 A man took care of a wounded bird, which, when 
 the man turned ill, brought him herbs which saved 
 his life; another bird brought its rescuer four 
 bracelets ; a serpent rewarded the emperor Ho-Ti 
 with a fine carbuncle for healing it. Most curious of 
 all is a story in which a tiger killed a woman's son. 
 The magistrate agreed to pardon it, provided he 
 would be as a son to the woman. The woman was 
 angry, but subsequently came to care for the tiger 
 when he brought her food every morning, and many 
 things of price.^ A curious parallel is found among 
 the Eskimo. A woman and her child, when starving, 
 caught a partridge. She threw this to an enormous 
 bear which threatened their lives. Every day a 
 supply of newly-killed seals was laid at her door by 
 the grateful bear. In another Eskimo story wild 
 geese take pity on a youth whom his mother has 
 blinded, and restore his sight.^ 
 
 Among all African races such stories are common. 
 The Hottentots say that three brothers visited their 
 sister, who did not know them, and resolved to kill 
 them. But they had a guinea-fowl which watched 
 over them and warned them of her coming. A second 
 time the bird did so but could not waken the brothers, 
 and they were killed. It rushed to their parents ; 
 
 ' Chamberlain, p. 71. The deity and the girl escape together 
 after making the lord of Hades a prisoner. He afterwards pursues, 
 and ends, as in many folk-tale incidents of this kind, in giving 
 them advice. Gushing, p. 185. 
 
 2 Dennis, p. 136. Giles, i. 219. ^ Rink, pp. loi, 462. 
 
SAVAGE INSTANCES 245 
 
 the father chang-ed himself into a strong- wind, the 
 bird into a thunderstorm, and then destroyed the 
 woman and all her people. Among the Fjort it is 
 told how the g-oddess Nzambi's people had no drum 
 wherewith to dance. The wagtail made one, but 
 kept it to herself The antelope and the ox were 
 sent to get the drum, but were killed ; the people 
 were in despair. Then the ant volunteered to go ; 
 he could never be seen, he was so small! So he 
 entered the wagtail's house, and carried off the drum 
 unperceived.^ The incident of animal help occurs in 
 many Red Indian stories also. Some have already 
 been referred to ; others contain the idea that all the 
 animals live underground. They have magical 
 knowledge, and are under a chief We have already 
 seen how European tales speak of the king of the 
 mice, the crows, etc. In a Pawnee tale, a boy, 
 poisoned by a shaman, was led by an elk and a bird 
 to this animal land where there are no people. There 
 he was cured, and taught their magic lore. They 
 told him he was their kinsman, because he and they 
 were made by Ti-ra-wa ; they would always help 
 him, but in difficult cases he must appeal to this 
 divinity. White Flower, says a Hareskin story, 
 was stolen, but killed her ravisher and escaped. On 
 returning home she had to cross a swollen river, 
 when a wolf appeared and said, " Seat yourself on my 
 back." She had no sooner done so than the wolf 
 leaped into the river and carried her safely to the 
 other side. In an Eskimo tale a woman and her 
 daughter, abandoned by the villagers, are fed by a 
 shark, who takes up his abode with them, and finally 
 carries them on his back to an island, when some 
 dangerous dwarfs molest them.^ Finally, a story 
 from British Guiana relates that once the birds 
 combined with men to slay a huge water-serpent. 
 
 ^ Bleek, p. 65. Dennett, p. 124. 
 
 '^ Grinnell, p. 98. Petitot, p. 248. Rink, p. 270. 
 
246 FRIENDLY ANIMALS : PUSS IN BOOTS 
 
 The warriors were afraid, and the serpent was over- 
 come by a cormorant, which was rewarded with the 
 skin of the reptile.^ 
 
 How are all these incidents of animals helping 
 men, to be explained? Some, like Benfey, Cosquin, 
 etc., trace them all to Buddhist sources, since tender- 
 ness to animals is part of the Buddhist ethical code ; 
 and an animal, having" been a man in some previous 
 existence, naturally may show human traits now and 
 then. Some story cycles, like that of the Dogf 
 Gellert, or Androcles, or that other in which a man 
 rescued with certain animals, turns against his rescuer 
 whom the animals assist,^ may certainly be traced, 
 step by step, to Indian Buddhist sources.^ But this 
 is too narrow a basis on which to rest the numerous 
 cycles in which the idea occurs, while it leaves 
 
 ^ Brett, p. 173. Other definite story cycles contain the incident 
 of Friendly Animals, (i) Animal servants restore the hero to life 
 when he has been cut to pieces by the ogre, robber, etc., who has 
 overcome him by connivance of his sister {cf. p. 58). In a Roumanian 
 tale a fox and wolf cub {R.F.T.^ p. 81), and in a Slavonic tale, animals 
 which are enchanted men restore the hero. (2) Sometimes, in 
 stories of the Promised Child cycle, the hero escapes from his captor 
 by the intervention of a friendly animal, which he finds shut up in 
 a Forbidden Chamber (see chap, xv., and some curious Russian 
 variants in Ralston, p. 134). (3) Stories of the Ungrateful Serpent 
 type, in which the reptile, saved by a man, turns upon him, but he is 
 finally rescued by a friendly fox (Albanian and Norse versions in 
 Clouston, i. 263; Crane, p. 150, cites Italian versions; Bleek, p. 13, 
 gives a Hottentot parallel, with a hyena as deus ex machinaj while in 
 a Hindu tale the serpent itself relents and rewards the man — Clouston, 
 E.R.^ p. 231). (4) The large series of stories in which a kindly 
 disposed person is richly rewarded by an animal, while the jealous 
 brother, sister, neighbour, etc., treats the animal with contumely, and 
 is punished by it. (Swedish variants in Thorpe, Y.T.S.^ p. 35 ; there 
 are also German, Bohemian, Magyar, and Danish stories of this type. 
 Chamberlain, p. 23, gives an Aino story, and Theal, p. 47, a Kafir 
 variant.) 
 
 2 Baring-Gould, p. 134. Panchatantra^ i. sect. 71 ; ii. sect. 128. 
 Katha Sarit Sagara^ x. 65. Steere, p. 427. 
 
 •^ We may dismiss the theory of mythologists like Gubernatis, who 
 see in all animal stories the survival of nature myths. 
 
ANIMISM 247 
 
 altogether unexplained the instances from savage 
 countries quite outside the range of Buddhist influence 
 even through dissemination. Again, as Senart has 
 pointed out, the Buddhist teachers probably adopted 
 already existing tales to serve their hortatory 
 purposes, as did the mediaeval monks to enforce 
 Christian doctrines.^ While the story cycles, as such, 
 may have had a single origin, the idea involved in 
 them must be sought in some world-wide belief which 
 suggested the mere incidents of animal help indepen- 
 dently in many quarters. 
 
 Such a belief we find among primitive races 
 everywhere, while the survivals in folk-lore, etc., 
 among higher races suffice to show that they also 
 have passed through such a stage of belief. It is 
 that animistic stage of thought in which men, having 
 discovered some animating principle in themselves, 
 endow all other living creatures and also inanimate 
 things with the same, and ascribe to them a person- 
 ality equal to their own. Confining ourselves here to 
 animals, it is obvious that, if early man judged them 
 to have the same animating principle as himself, to 
 be, in effect, men with an animal form, there was no 
 limit to what animals might not do. This is precisely 
 the stage in which present-day savages now are. 
 That animals can talk and act like men in every 
 possible way, is a living belief with Ainos, Red 
 Indians, Australians, Hottentots, Negroes. The 
 Aino, says Mr Chamberlain, does not make-believe in 
 narrating his stories, to him they are all actual facts ; 
 while Mr Dennett says of the tribes of the Fjort that 
 they are yet in the stage at which it is believed that 
 animals can talk.^ But to multiply proofs of the 
 existence, past and present, of such a stage of thought 
 is an unnecessary task at this time of day. The 
 result of this belief is a curious conception of the 
 
 Journal Asiatique, 1873, p. 114. 
 Chamberlain, p. 3 ; Dennett, p. 69. 
 
248 FRIENDLY ANIMALS : PUSS IN BOOTS 
 
 orig-in of men and animals. Some Red Indian 
 tribes believe that in the beginnings men were 
 animals, and animals were men ; then they changed 
 themselves or were changed into what they are 
 now.^ Obviously, similarity of nature is predicated 
 here. Or all animals were first men, and then were 
 changed into their respective shapes.^ Or, as in 
 the Arunta belief, men were at first of an amor- 
 phous form, midway between human beings and 
 those animals whose totem names they were eventu- 
 ally to bear.^ 
 
 If animals shared a common life with man and 
 were in all things like him, it was natural that kinship 
 between the life of men and animals should have 
 been thought possible ; while this and the fact that 
 some animals were stronger, and some more subtle 
 than men, led on to their worship. Here, then, is a 
 stage of thought in which help rendered by animals 
 to man is neither incredible nor irrational, and from 
 it we may readily conceive such incidents to have 
 sprung. Men who worship animals as divinities do 
 so in order to get their aid, and their conclusion is that 
 they do get it. In some cases, then, as I have already 
 hinted, the animals who help men in folk-tales were 
 originally animal divinities. An Aino legend explain- 
 ing why the screech-owl is worshipped, may be cited 
 here in this connection. These birds are men in the 
 spirit world. The first Aino who ever saw one at 
 once offered sacrifice to it, and during the night a 
 man appeared to him in a dream and thanked him 
 for the worship, saying he would, in future, point out 
 where game was to be found, and warn men in time 
 of danger.* Again, several Slavonic stories in which 
 a pike figures as the hero's protector may be traced 
 to a period when the pike had a high place in religion 
 
 1 Petitot, p. 275. 2 Leland, A.L., p. 109. 
 
 3 Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes^ p. 388. 
 * Batchelor, ed. 2, p. 420. 
 
TOTEMISM 249 
 
 and mythology.^ But, more directly, all such stories 
 may be set down to that curious institution of Totem- 
 ism, and its kindred belief in personal guardian 
 animals, represented by the Red Indian manitou. 
 However Totemism arose, it presupposes the animistic 
 stage of thought. Briefly, it may be described as an 
 institution in which a human clan and an animal 
 species are related by virtue of descent from a 
 common (animal) ancestor. The clan is called by 
 the name of the animal species in question ; thus, 
 among the Arunta, we have such totem-clans as the 
 Little Hawk, Witchetty Grub, and Lizard. The 
 animals of the species are held sacred ; they, or the 
 common ancestor, are worshipped ; while, in return, 
 they are believed to protect and help the men of the 
 same clan name. To us this is as irrational as the 
 animal-help incidents of folk-tales ; to those who 
 believe in Totemism it is the most natural thing in 
 the world. Our folk-tale incidents have, therefore, a 
 clear link of connection with such an institution as 
 this. This becomes all the more likely when we find 
 that Totemism is not an isolated institution among 
 Australians, Red Indians, and the like, but has 
 entered into the history of probably every branch of 
 the human race. Most savage peoples are still 
 governed by beliefs and customs which have a 
 totemistic origin, while the survivals of the institu- 
 tion among ancient Egyptians, Semites, and Aryans 
 speak as eloquently of a forgotten past as do the 
 fossils of the sedimentary strata or the rude flint 
 weapons of the drift. 
 
 Where Totemism is no longer a living institution 
 among lower races, the belief in animal assistance is 
 by no means dead. Thus among the negroes of the 
 Fjort many families will not touch certain animals, 
 because their ancestors owed them a deep debt of 
 
 * Ralston, p. 266. 
 
250 FRIENDLY ANIMALS : PUSS IN BOOTS 
 
 gratitude, as many of their stories describe.^ Such 
 stories are setiological myths invented to explain 
 why the animal was venerated. At a later time they 
 would become folk-tales, viz., when the actual rever- 
 ence for the animal had become a thing- of the past. 
 So it does not astonish us to find a man in a Malagasy 
 tale making a blood-covenant with the animals, who 
 then assist him when required. The dim memory of 
 a time when animal kinship was believed in, as well 
 as the continuance of animistic ideas, suggests the 
 possibility of making such a covenant.^ 
 
 The friendly animal of our folk-tales may also 
 have been suggested by such a belief as that of the 
 Red Indian in his manitou. The manitou is usually 
 an animal which makes itself known to the youth at 
 puberty in a dream, and thenceforth becomes his 
 guardian spirit, and is inseparably connected with 
 his life, implicit faith in its power to help and advise 
 being placed in it. Among the Zapotecs this animal 
 protector was called a tona ; among the Guatemalans, 
 a nagual ; among the ancient Peruvians, a pacarissa.^ 
 Somewhat akin to this was the Roman genius which 
 accompanied every man through life as his protector, 
 and frequently took shape as a serpent.* It is possible 
 that such a belief was cherished by other races ; at 
 all events it has its analogy in the common custom 
 of transferring one's soul to an animal or plant for 
 safety,^ while, as in the case of the Calabar Negroes 
 already referred to, who believe that man has four 
 souls, one of these is held to live in an animal out in 
 the bush, and with it the owner's life is inextricably 
 mixed up.^ It is easy to see how such beliefs may 
 
 1 Dennett, p. lo. Cf. p. 148. One family will not eat pigeon, 
 because an ancestor, imprisoned in a cave, was helped by one, which 
 scratched a hole and let light into his prison. 
 
 2 F.LJ., i. 307. 
 
 ^ See my Religion^ its Origin and Forms, pp. 44-5. 
 * Jevon's Plutarch's Romane Questions, xlvii. seq. 
 ^ See chap. v. ^ Miss Kingsley, p. 208. 
 
TRANSMIGRATION 251 
 
 have g-iven rise to folk-tales of helpful animals. Some 
 of our North American tales are a direct instance of 
 this. 
 
 Or, again, another primitive belief may have 
 suggested the idea, viz., the belief that a man's soul 
 enters into an animal or takes animal form after 
 death, and then acts as protector of his household. 
 The Zulus believe that certain snakes which are seen 
 about a house are such ancestors ; they speak to men 
 in dreams, and are much revered by them.^ So many 
 of the aboriginal races of India think that such 
 house-haunting animals as the snake or rat are 
 ancestral ghosts who have returned to protect their 
 descendants.^ Where totemism is still a living 
 belief it is commonly held, as among some Red 
 Indian tribes, that a man assumes the form of his 
 clan's totem animal at death.^ 
 
 All these various beliefs point back to a time 
 when it was far from irrational to credit animals with 
 the power of helping men, while they show whence 
 such incidents in folk-tales arose. Once the idea 
 was incorporated in a story, the variations on the 
 theme would become endless. 
 
 In such savage tales as the Zulu and Kafir 
 versions of an animal which causes child-birth ; the 
 Uganda Puss in Boots story; that of the Pawnee 
 horse ; or the Malagasy story of animals helping 
 the youngest brother, we see precisely the incidents 
 out of which the more complex cycles of the King of 
 the Fishes, Puss in Boots, the Magic Horse, and 
 the Youngest Son with his friendly animals, were 
 respectively formed, possibly at a time when animal 
 help was still firmly believed in. Then as a stage 
 was reached when the belief had become more or less 
 irrational, it was made more credible by the sug- 
 
 ^ Callaway, p. 196 seq. 
 
 2 Lyell, Asiatic Studies^ 2nd sen, 299. 
 
 ^ Frazer, Totemism^ p. 22. 
 
252 FRIENDLY ANIMALS : PUSS IN BOOTS 
 
 gfestion, occurring" in some variants of such cycles, 
 that the animal was really a man transformed by 
 diablerie into that form. Or, in some cases, as in 
 those tales which may be traced to India, the irrational 
 stories were taken up by religion, and made to serve 
 a rational purpose as vehicles of ethical lessons. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 BEAST-MARRIAGES : BEAUTY AND THE BEAST 
 
 Of all the irrational incidents of folk-tales none 
 is more irrational than that in which a human 
 being is wedded to a beast. In the more primitive 
 versions the beast is a beast pure and simple ; in the 
 more elaborate forms of the tale it is an enchanted 
 prince or princess. Perrault's tale of Beauty and the 
 Beast is the classic example of this second form, but 
 it has parallels in every European country. The 
 Beauty and Beast cycle has a link of connection with 
 the Cupid and Psyche cycle, but whereas in the former 
 the beast-marriage is the outstanding incident, in the 
 latter it is the broken tabu. Both, however, have 
 been influenced by that stage of primitive thought in 
 which the possibility of such a union was far from 
 being incredible. Citing first some versions of the 
 Beauty and Beast cycle, we shall follow it in its more 
 primitive forms throughout the world. 
 
 The story as told among the Basques relates that 
 a king on leaving home asked his three daughters 
 what he would bring them. The youngest asked for 
 a flower. When plucking the flower in a garden the 
 king heard a voice asking what he was doing, and 
 telling him he must bring one of his daughters within 
 the year or he and his kingdom would be burned.^ 
 
 1 This links the cycle on to the Promised Child cycle (p. 421). We 
 may here have a reminiscence of the primitive idea that no tree or 
 plant should be cut without propitiating the indwelling spirit. 
 
 253 
 
254 BEAST-MARRIAGES 
 
 The youngest daughter went, slept in the castle all 
 night, but saw no one. In the morning a voice said, 
 ** Shut your eyes ; I wish to place my head on your 
 knees." The voice was that of an enormous serpent, 
 but the girl was not hurt, and continued to live 
 happily. One day she was allowed to go home for 
 three days, and was given a ring which would tell her 
 the condition of her serpent lover. On the fourth 
 day she found it blood-red, and hurried off. The 
 serpent was nowhere to be found. At last she dis- 
 covered him, and he asked her to be his wife. She 
 agreed, and on the way to her father's palace the 
 serpent was changed into a beautiful youth, who gave 
 the girl a serpent's skin, and bade her burn it before 
 the clock had ceased striking at midnight or he would 
 be miserable ever after. She performed this duty 
 successfully, and a voice was heard saying, ** I curse 
 your cleverness and what you have done." In this 
 as in two other Basque variants the monster is a man 
 bewitched until some woman will love him in his 
 monster form.^ 
 
 There are Polish, Tyrolese, Italian, Sicilian, 
 Portuguese, and Lithuanian versions of this tale, all 
 emphasising the girl's forgetfulness and disobedience 
 in staying too long at home, while the Lithuanian 
 story gives a curious turn to the skin incident.^ The 
 girl is united to a white wolf ; her mother burns his 
 skin, and she has to go to seek him in consequence. 
 A Magyar variant introduces a pig who helps a king 
 out of a difficulty on condition that he gives him his 
 youngest daughter. The pig marries her, and becomes 
 a handsome youth who had been condemned to that 
 form until a girl should ask for speaking grapes, a 
 smiling apple, and tinkling apricots.^ The Greek 
 
 ^ Webster, p. 167 seq. 
 
 2 Toeppen, p. 142. Zingerle, ii. 391. Comparetti, p. 64. Pitre, 
 No. 39. Coelho, No. 29. Leskien, No. 23. 
 ^ Jones, p. 130. 
 
A KASHMIR TALE 255 
 
 version differs from these. The king- brings his 
 daughter a melodious napkin, and she has no sooner 
 hungf it up than an eagfle appears. He is king of 
 birds, snakes, and insects, and when with her takes 
 human form. Her sisters strew broken g-lass on the 
 window by which he enters the palace, and next time 
 he cannot enter, and flies off hurt and bleeding. In 
 the sequel he is restored by the princess, and the 
 jealous sisters are destroyed. This story, in which 
 there is no enchantment, has a number of variants, 
 Italian, Norse, Indian, though in some (Roman, 
 Indian) the prince is a man and nothing more.^ They 
 resemble another Italian story, in which a snake 
 demands a woodman's daughter on pain of death if 
 refused. In the palace to which she is carried off, 
 the snake becomes a handsome man, who forbids her 
 to reveal his secret. Her sisters worm it out of her, 
 when prince and palace disappear. Not till she has 
 worn out a pair of iron shoes does she find him, 
 married, alas, to another wife. Happily, when he 
 discovers his first love he goes off with her, leaving- 
 his palace as a consolation to the second wife.^ A 
 Kashmir story, which has some likeness to this, 
 illustrates more clearly the danger of breaking a tabu^ 
 A princess has married a water-snake who can take 
 the form of a beautiful youth. But he has already 
 several serpent- wives, one of whom takes human form 
 and tells the princess he is of low caste, and to prove 
 it let her ask him to throw himself into the water. 
 Once in the water, he will be in his wives' power ; but 
 though he urges this the princess insists, and, of 
 course, loses him. Later, she discovers him; he 
 changes her into a pebble and takes her below the 
 water where, in human form, she is bitten to death 
 by the jealous serpent- wives. In the sequel she is 
 
 1 Gamett, ii. 3 ; F.L.J. ^ ii. 241. Basile, Pentamerofte, i. 46 ; Crane, 
 p. 12 ; Busk, p. 57 (Italian). Tales from Fjeld, p. 311. Stokes, p. 195. 
 
 2 Gubematis, No. 14. 
 
256 BEAST-MARRIAGES 
 
 restored to life, and the pair live happily ever 
 after. ^ 
 
 Another form of the enchanted animal bridegfroom 
 group is that of the Wooing- Frog, exemplified in the 
 English tale of the Well at the World's End. Here 
 a stepdaughter is sent to fill a sieve at the well ; the 
 frog advises her to daub it with moss and clay, asking 
 her, in return, to do what he tells her a whole night 
 long. She returns home, and at night the frog 
 arrives and demands to sleep with her. The curtain 
 falls till morning, when the frog bids her chop off his 
 head. A handsome prince who had been enchanted 
 till a girl should obey him for a whole night, immedi- 
 ately appeared.^ We have already noted that the 
 animal in the true Beauty and Beast cycle retains 
 his form till disenchanted by the human lover. This 
 frog story suggests the horror which must be over- 
 come first, and is typical of a whole series of reptilian 
 bridegroom stories. Here is a Kafir example, part 
 of the story of the Bird who made Milk. One of the 
 children who escaped from their father meets a friendly 
 crocodile, which takes him under the water, gives him 
 cattle and one of his daughters, and bids him bring 
 his sister to him. When she arrives, the crocodile 
 says, '' Lick my face." She consents, and in the 
 process he casts his skin and a handsome man 
 appears, who tells her that he had been bewitched by 
 his enemies, but that his wife's devotion is stronger 
 than their magic. We have a similar example of this 
 idea, which is of course that of Keats's Lamia, in an 
 Esthonian story, but with the sexes reversed.^ 
 
 A herd-boy made friends with a white snake, which 
 used to play with him and twine round his leg. One 
 
 ^ Knowles, p. 491. 
 
 2 Jacobs, p. 215, from "The Complaynt of Scotland." Grimm 
 gives several variants in his notes to " The Frog Prince." Cf. also 
 Child, English and Scottish Ballads^ i. 298. 
 
 ^ Theal, p. 29. Cf. p. 321 infra. 
 
SERPENT-LOVERS 257 
 
 midsummer eve, feelingf very sad, the youth beheld a 
 lovely maiden who told him she was the daughter of an 
 Eastern king", enchanted for many centuries to the 
 form of a white snake, with permission to resume her 
 human shape on this particular night every twenty- 
 five years. He is the first human being who has not 
 fled from her. When next she appears, she will wind 
 herself three times round his body and kiss him three 
 times. He must not shrink, or she will remain a 
 snake for ever. When she kissed him the youth stood 
 firm, and with a crash and flash, found himself in a 
 wonderful palace side by side with the beautiful girl, 
 who now became his wife.^ We have precisely the 
 same incident in the Scots ballad of KempioUy while 
 in a Russian tale the hero, changed to the form of *'a 
 terrible snake " by a foe, recovers his true shape when 
 a girl is induced to kiss him.^ 
 
 Other stories, of which some more elaborate types 
 have been cited, are probably earlier than those in 
 which enchantment has produced the beast form. 
 The hero has himself the power of transformation, 
 and is usually, though not always, an animal 
 possessed of this power. A Kafir maiden became the 
 wife of a chief, who appears as a five-headed snake, 
 but later becomes a man. A Russian story has some 
 resemblance to this. Some girls were bathing, when 
 a snake came out of the water and sat upon the 
 clothes of one of them, nor would he move till she 
 promised to marry him. She agreed, and that night 
 an army of snakes came and seized her, diving into 
 
 1 Kirby, i. 308. The lamia of Keats's poem, like that of Philo- 
 stratus, De Vita Apollonii^ bk. iv., is a phantasmal serpent, who 
 vanishes when her secret is discovered. She is twin sister to 
 Melusina, the serpent-woman, who must never be seen in her serpent 
 form by her husband. These stories form the strongest link of 
 connection between those we are now examining and the Cupid and 
 Psyche (tabu) cycle. For Melusina, see Baring-Gould, p. 471. 
 
 2 Scott, Minstrelsy^ p. 345. Ralston, Songs of the Russian Pe(^le^ 
 p. 174. 
 
 R 
 
258 BEAST-MARRIAGES 
 
 the water with her. There they became men and 
 women. After staying some years with her husband, 
 she was allowed to go home, where her mother dis- 
 covered her husband's name, and going to the water 
 called on him. He came up to the surface, and she 
 instantly chopped off his head with her axe. It is 
 not expressly said that the snake forbade his wife to 
 tell his name, but it is evident that here we have a 
 very early version of the broken tabu incident, as the 
 result is absolutely fatal, which it seldom is in stories 
 of the kind.^ A fiery snake is a common figure in 
 Russian lore, the antagonist of handsome heroes, the 
 abductor of pretty women, and sometimes kills and 
 eats his fair prisoners, but is more usually destroyed 
 by their lovers or brothers.^ A Zuni story tells how 
 the daughter of a chief bathed in a pool sacred to 
 Kolowissi, the serpent of the sea. Kolowissi was 
 angry, and took the form of a child, which the maiden 
 carried home to her room. There it became a 
 monstrous serpent, with whom it was decided she 
 must depart. As she went off with the serpent lean- 
 ing his head on her shoulder, he changed to a beauti- 
 ful youth, who spoke to her. She looked round and 
 saw his face instead of that of the dreaded serpent. 
 She was incredulous, but he showed her his shrivelled 
 serpent skin in proof, told her he was the god of the 
 waters, that he loved her and would make her his 
 wife.^ This tale has many resemblances to one told 
 in Guiana among the Guaranos. iVfter the flood 
 
 ^ Theal, p. 47. Ralston, p. 116. The idea of a serpent race 
 living under the water is widespread, and is found in Japan, India, 
 and elsewhere. In the Zuni and Guiana tales which follow, the ser- 
 pent is a water-sprite, and in primitive belief the spirit of the 
 waters is frequently conceived as a serpent (see p. 407). As man's 
 religious conceptions advance his worshipful spirits and gods assume 
 more and more a human form, but preserve traces of their animal 
 form, and from this such tales take their origin. 
 
 2 Ralston, Son^^s of Russian People^ p. 173 seq. 
 
 "^ Gushing, p. 93. 
 
SERPENT-LOVERS 259 
 
 they were warned to beware of one lake. Ag"es 
 passed, and two gfirls went to bathe there. The 
 elder saw a piece of charmed wood floating- ; she took 
 it up, thus breaking- the charm, and it became a man, 
 or rather a water-spirit enchanted by a mightier 
 power till some one should pick up the piece of wood. 
 He seized the girl and took her with him, allowing- 
 her to return home after some time. There she gave 
 birth to a daughter. Then she heard how her lover 
 was disporting himself in the lake, now as a snake, now 
 as a man, now as a being with both natures. She 
 went to see for herself, and was again captured by the 
 snake. This time she g-ave birth to a son. This 
 child was killed by her brothers, but came to life 
 again, and was the ancestor of the Carib race.^ 
 
 The serpent of the Zuni and Carib stories is a 
 divinity ; before citing some other tales in which the 
 beast lover is a god, I shall refer to one from New 
 Guinea, which presents some parallel features to the 
 Zuni tale. A beautiful girl was beloved by the chief 
 of a strange tribe, who feared to enter her father's 
 territory lest he should be killed. A sorcerer gave 
 him a charm which enabled him to become a snake 
 as soon as he crossed the boundary, and in this form 
 he entered the girl's hut. She screamed, but her 
 father saw he was really a man, and bade her go 
 with him, because he must be a great chief to be able 
 thus to transform himself. The girl obeyed, but at 
 the boundary the snake disappeared. Presently a 
 handsome youth came up to her, and told her he was 
 the snake, showing certain burns on his feet and legs. 
 This convinced her, because, following her father's 
 advice she had burnt the snake with a hot banana 
 leaf to make him go faster.^ 
 
 1 Brett, p. 64. 
 
 ^ Romilly, p. 98. Cf. the werwolf idea, that when the animal is 
 wounded the witch who has taken that form is found with a similar 
 wound. 
 
260 BEAST-MARRIAGES 
 
 Classical mythologfy has made everyone familiar 
 with the custom of the gods to assume bestial forms 
 for amorous ends. Such myths are survivals of a 
 time when the god was believed to be an animal, as 
 is shown by similar stories from a lower stage of 
 culture. On the other side of the world the Hervey 
 Islanders tell of Ina-moe-aitu, who used to bathe 
 daily in a stream where dwelt a huge eel. One day 
 the eel changed into a young man, and told her he was 
 Tuna the eel-god, and that he had fallen in love with 
 her. From that day he loved her in human form, 
 but resumed his eel-shape on returning to the water. ^ 
 The origin of a dangerous rock on the river Faleme 
 in Senegambia is thus explained. Penda, a chief's 
 daughter, used to go secretly to the riverside to meet 
 her handsome lover. One night he proposed that 
 they should flee, and leapt with her into the river. 
 She found herself dragged down to its depths, where 
 she was placed in a submarine palace. Her lover 
 spoke to her ; she turned and beheld a frightful 
 caiman, whom she resisted with all her power. She 
 called on her family divinity to aid her, and he turned 
 her into stone. Obviously, the caiman is a water- 
 divinity in this tale, though I shall presently cite 
 some parallels where he is a beast pure and simple.^ 
 The Ainos have many such stories, especially of beast- 
 goddesses, who take human form and disport them- 
 selves with men. The bear is still looked upon as half- 
 human, and many stories relate how the bear-goddess, 
 as a beautiful woman, had amours with men. On the 
 other hand the god of mountains is a bear, who takes 
 a man's form. On one occasion he visited a woman, 
 and the child of their union became a mighty hunter, 
 from whom many Ainos still trace their descent.^ 
 
 1 Gill, p. ^^. Cf. Clarke, p. 68, for a Maori parallel. 
 
 2 B^renger-F^raud, Contes^ No. 8. 
 
 3 Chamberlain, p. 45 ; Batchelor, p, 8, Cf. the bear-stories cited, 
 infra^ p. 270. 
 
THE POX WOMAN 261 
 
 The curious fox-superstition which, originating- in 
 China, has become naturalised among Japanese and 
 Ainos alike, must have originated from the belief in 
 a divinity who was a fox. Its ramifications are 
 various ; suffice it to say here that, with all three 
 races no story is commoner than that of the fox who 
 assumes the form of a very pretty girl and weds a 
 man. In a Chinese version she dies, and all that 
 remains is the dead body of a fox. Similar stories 
 are found among the Eskimo, probably as a result of 
 borrowing. Thus a lonely bachelor always found 
 his house tidied up when he returned home. One 
 day he suddenly entered ; there was a strong smell, 
 and he found a little woman working. She was a fox 
 in disguise, and he married her. Later she ran away 
 because the man's jealous cousin mentioned the 
 tabued subject of fox's smell !^ Some African wife 
 tabu stories are like this, but a Basuto tale affords 
 an almost identical parallel. I have cited it in the 
 chapter on Helpful Animals. Has it been separately 
 evolved by Basutos and Eskimo, or have we here 
 merely far-travelled variants of one large cycle, with 
 similar details, e.£^., tidying up the hut in the man's 
 absence ? ^ 
 
 ^ Giles, i. 182. Hearn, Unfamiliar J apan^ i., 312 seq.\ Griffis, 
 "Japanese Fox Myths "in Lippincotfs Magazine^ 1873 J Chamberlain, 
 p. II seq. Rink, p. 143. 
 
 '^ See p. 228. A Guiana tale contains the tidying-up incident, and is 
 nearly parallel to these stories, but lacks the tabu incident. It is cited on 
 p. 1 56. See also p. 261 for a Negro version. For the tidying-up incident, 
 see the Khyoungtha tale on p. 292. The heroine emerges from a lamp. 
 It also occurs in some of the Catskin and Cap o' Rushes tales, see 
 Miss Cox's note in Cinderella^ p. 488. There the heroine comes out 
 usually to get food. She is hid in a box, candelabrum, etc., which 
 the prince buys. Cf. the stories where a girl emerges from fruit, 
 pp. 1 14, 129. In an Iroquois story a dead wife performs the same kind 
 offices for her mourning husband. — E. Smith, " Myths of the Iroquois," 
 in Annual Report of Bureau of Ethnology^ 1882-83, p. 103. In a 
 Melanesian story a man's blood, preserved in a bamboo, changes into 
 a youth who comes out secretly and does the housework. — Codrington, 
 p. 406. 
 
262 BEAST-MARRIAGfiS 
 
 In such a story there is no trace of hidden divinity 
 in the beast-wife, nor does it usually appear in the 
 folk-tale pure and simple. A common story in the 
 East is that of the woman who, as a result of magical 
 methods of causing fruitfulness, gives birth to an 
 animal. In one version this animal is a monkey, in 
 another a serpent. A princess falls in love with the 
 animal and marries him. By day he is an animal, at 
 night he removes his skin and becomes a man, and 
 is made to retain this shape permanently by the skin 
 being- burned to ashes. This is a point to be borne 
 in mind. Meanwhile, I cite two Red Indian tales. 
 The first, from the Hareskin tribe, relates how a 
 man disappeared from his wife's side by night ; traces 
 of reindeer tracks were seen in the snow next morning. 
 Long after, his son saw a reindeer with a human 
 head-dress. He killed it and brought it to his mother, 
 who lay down beside the carcase, when it recovered 
 life and became a man. The Dog-rib Indians tell 
 how a woman lived with her brothers. A stranger 
 came to their tent ; they gave their sister to him for 
 a wife. During the night a dog was heard where no 
 dog should be, and the brothers threw missiles at it 
 until they killed it, saying, ''This dog, a man during 
 the day, and married to our sister, changed himself 
 into a dog." They drove their sister from the 
 wigwam. She gave birth to six puppies, three of 
 which remained dogs, but three turned to children 
 who became the ancestors of the Dog-rib tribe. ^ We 
 may note here, in connection with this and other tales 
 cited in this chapter, that stories of women giving 
 birth to animals are found all over the world. An 
 Aino girl gave birth to a snake as the result of the 
 sun's rays shining on her while she slept ; the snake 
 turned into a child. The Dyaks and Silakans will 
 not kill the cobra because, long ago, one of their 
 female ancestors brought forth twins, a boy and a 
 
 ^ Petitot, pp. 262, 311. 
 
ANIMAL BIRTHS 263 
 
 cobra. The cobra went to the forest, but told the 
 mother to warn her children that if they were ever 
 bitten by cobras they must remain for a day in the 
 same place, and the venom would have no effect. 
 This custom is still followed ; probably the story is 
 thus an setiolog"ical myth. The boy met his cobra 
 brother in the jungle and accidentally cut off his tail — 
 hence all cobras have now a blunted tail. The 
 Javans also think that a woman occasionally may 
 g-ive birth to a child and a crocodile, which is put into 
 the river by the midwife, the twin and the family 
 afterwards throwing- food into the water for it to eat. 
 In Eskimo stories women give birth to puppies, 
 bears, etc., while in Scandinavian mythology two of 
 the offspring of Loke and Angurboda were the 
 Fenris wolf and the Midgard serpent. So Pasi- 
 phae gave birth to the Minotaur, and Mugain, 
 in Celtic mythology, to a lamb and a trout. 
 The idea also occurs sporadically among civi- 
 lised races of a superstitious cast of mind, aided 
 probably by the knowledge of actual "monstrous 
 births."^ 
 
 Stories of canine descent are common among the 
 American tribes, as well as among other races, while 
 one people frequently taunts another with such an 
 ancestry. Usually the dog does not change to a 
 man, and one or two instances of this may fitly 
 introduce a number of similar tales from a low level 
 of culture, and representing the primitive phase of 
 the Beauty and Beast cycle. The Red Indians say 
 the first woman took a dog to mate, and that the 
 different tribes are descended from her. This story 
 
 ^ Chamberlain, p. 43. St John, i. 196. Hawkesworth's Voyages, 
 iii. 756. Rink, pp. 77^ 412, 471. Thorpe, N.M.^ ii. 59. Cf. Miss 
 Cox's Cinderella for other examples, p. 488, and the suggested 
 monstrous births in the Jealous Sisters cycle. For comparatively 
 modern Scottish and New England cases, see Calderwood's History, 
 vii. 164, and Drake's New England Legends, p. 39. 
 
264 BEAST-MARRIAGES 
 
 has spread to the Eskimo, who tell it both of Indians 
 and Europeans. A woman had ten children by a 
 dogf. Five became erkileks or inlanders, the others 
 she set afloat on a boat, which turned to a ship, and 
 they themselves became Europeans. In the same 
 way the Japanese say the Ainos are descended from 
 a dog"; while the Kalang-s of Java hold that they 
 themselves are descended from a princess and a dog", 
 who, however, according to some versions, was a 
 transformed chiefs 
 
 Sometimes, as in several stories already cited, the 
 serpent is the animal mate. I shall refer first to a 
 curious Basuto tale. An old woman found a g"irl 
 deserted by her friends, and took her home, saying 
 she would make a nice wife for her son. He was a 
 serpent whom no one had ever seen outside his hut, 
 but he had married all the girls of the tribe in 
 succession, with fatal results to them, because he ate 
 all the food. The girl was awakened every morning 
 with a blow of the serpent's tail, and was then 
 ordered to go and prepare his food. Tired of this 
 treatment, she resolved on flight. The serpent 
 pursued her, but the girl sang a charm which stayed 
 him for a time. Then she resumed her flight, 
 renewing the process whenever the serpent overtook 
 her. At last she arrived at her father's village, and 
 told her story. The people got ready for the 
 serpent's arrival, and as soon as it appeared, 
 Senkepeng sang her charm, and they then attacked 
 it and slew it. Soon the serpent's mother arrived, 
 and taking the dismembered body, burned it to 
 ashes, which she wrapped in a skin and threw into a 
 pond. Going thrice round the pond without saying 
 a word, she caused her son to come to life again, 
 and he emerged from the pond as a handsome youth, 
 
 1 Liebrecht, p. 17 seq. Rink, p. 471 ; Nansen, Eskifno Life, 
 pp. 71-7 ; Batchelor, 2nd ed., p. 6. L Anthropologie^ v. 345. 
 
MORE SERPENT LOVERS 265 
 
 whom Senkepeng was quite content to marry. ^ 
 Among the Dindje Indians it is told how the first 
 man, Dindje, had two wives, one of whom would 
 have nothing- to say to him, and disappeared all day. 
 He followed her and saw her enter a marsh, where a 
 serpent twined itself round her. When she returned 
 to the hut she had several children, whom she hid 
 under a cover. Raising- it, the man saw horrible 
 little men-serpents, which he at once killed. There- 
 upon the woman left him, and he saw her no more. 
 In a Chippewaya variant the woman has several 
 serpent lovers, whom her husband entices out of the 
 hollow trunk where they live, by counterfeiting 
 her voice ; then he kills them and forces his wife to 
 eat them. She goes to the tree and bewails them ; 
 her husband cuts off her head, which pursues him, 
 and when he pulverises it with a hatchet, it turns 
 into a cloud of gnats and mosquitoes.^ Such a story 
 is found in both the American continents. Among 
 the Eskimo it is related that a girl left home, and 
 long after returned, carrying her offspring in her hood. 
 It was a horrible reptile, and her husband, she said, 
 was not of human race, and none must seek him. 
 Her brothers, however, followed her to her house, 
 killed the offspring, and then waited till the monster 
 came. It was a hideous reptile, which twined itself 
 
 ^ Jacottet, p. 214. In other versions the ashes are put in a vase 
 of clay, which is given to Senkepeng to keep. Sometime after she 
 uncovers it, and a youth steps out of it. Cf. a similar incident in 
 South African tales on p. 129. In another tale which is a variant of 
 the Kafir story of Sikulume, Sekholomi is pursued by the old cannibal 
 hags. He evades them, but falls into a marsh, where a snake 
 twines itself round him, and whenever he gets free goes after him. 
 But, arrived at his village, his friends kill it. An old woman rushes up 
 and declares they have killed her son. She had caused him to 
 assume serpent shape in order to kill the hero. — Ibid.^ p. 263. 
 
 2 Petitot, pp. 16, 407. Leland cites similar tales, A.L.^ p. 274 seq. 
 See Bonifacius, Historia Ludicra^ for the classical instances of women 
 with serpent lovers. For the carcase turning to insects, see 
 p. 25. 
 
266 BEAST-MARRIAGES 
 
 round their sister's body till only her hair-tuft was 
 visible. They rushed in and slew it. Their sister 
 returned home agfain, but was noticed to be carrying 
 a little black worm in her hand. It grew bigger every 
 day, and at last she went off with it and was never 
 recovered again. ^ In the Guiana version already cited 
 the snake is a divinity, and has sometimes a human 
 form ; so in the Zuni and New Guinea variants the 
 story has been refined. The versions of this tale 
 would require a volume to themselves ; we should note 
 in connection with it the many myths of monarchical, 
 tribal, or racial descent from a serpent conceived of 
 as a divinity, as in the Carib instance. In classical 
 times several clans and individuals were said to be of 
 serpent descent, while one of the ''symbols" of the 
 mysteries of Sabazios which entered Greece from 
 Phrygia was a serpent, under which form Zeus had 
 an amour with Core, who gave birth to Sabazios. 
 Naga, or serpent tribes, are common enough in India, 
 while the rulers of the different races of Central 
 America boasted of descent from a snake. The same 
 myth occurs in the Pacific Islands, as, e.g., among the 
 people of Hudson's Island, who say that earth as 
 a man mated with a serpent, and their progeny formed 
 the first race of men. In Japanese mythology the 
 Sea-deity's daughter, mated to a god, assumes her 
 true shape after giving birth to a son, viz., that of a 
 dragon, while in one folk-tale a robber is introduced 
 whose mother had been a serpent. ^ 
 
 To return to the Red Indian tales, an Algonquin 
 
 1 Rink, p. 1 86. 
 
 2 Clement, Protrep., cap. 2. Maclennan, pp. 526-7. Turner, p. 288. 
 Chamberlain, Ko-ji-ki^ p. 127 ; Griffis, p. 126. Alexander and Augustus 
 were said to have claimed birth from serpents who were deities in dis- 
 guise. The mother of the latter could never get rid of the spots which 
 the serpent had left on her body, like the Kafir maiden, see p. 340. 
 Suetonius, Augustus, xciv. Alexander's mother was given to the cult 
 of Sabazios, and played with serpents in the delirium of worship. In 
 this we may perhaps see the germ of the legend. 
 
CROCODILE LOVJERS 267 
 
 legend tells how a maiden sleeping- by the lake side 
 was stealthily approached by a serpent and had no 
 power to resist his embrace, afterwards giving birth 
 to twelve serpents, which were killed by the father of 
 the Thunder-god, who then married her. So in a 
 Bengal story a mighty serpent, after slaughtering a 
 whole family, takes off the beautiful daughter to his 
 watery tank, where of course she is rescued by a 
 prince. In Russia, too, the serpent is entirely evil, 
 and frequently carries off mortal maidens, and from 
 their union heroes or sometimes monsters are born.^ 
 
 The Senegambian crocodile story is paralleled by 
 Basuto, Malagasy, and Dyak tales. In the Basuto 
 tale the body of a girl killed by her mother is restored 
 by a crocodile, who takes her to live with him in the 
 lake. Malagasy folk-lore is full of disgusting stories of 
 amours carried on between men and female caimans, 
 and between women and male caimans. The female 
 saurians carry on their claws rings given them by 
 their mortal lovers. So, Herodotus tells us, the 
 people of Thebes decorated their sacred crocodiles 
 with earrings and bracelets. The Dyak story relates 
 how a man made friends with a crocodile, finding him 
 so agreeable that he gave him his daughter in 
 marriage. Then the crocodile began to devour 
 everything, and would do no work, until the exasper- 
 ated villagers hacked him to pieces. That is why no 
 self-respecting crocodile will so much as look at a 
 Dyak now.^ 
 
 Other animals are equally fond of human lovers. 
 Two Eskimo girls had respectively an eagle and a 
 whale for husbands by their own desire, while on the 
 
 ^ Leland, A.L., p. 266. Day, p. 18. Ralston, Son^s of the 
 Russian People^ p. 173. These tales form a link with those of the 
 cycle in which a maiden is sacrificed to a serpent or dragon. See 
 chap. xiv. 
 
 2 Casalis, p. 360. Ferrand, pp. iv-v, 180. Herodotus, ii. 69. Ling 
 Roth, i. 348. 
 
268 BEAST-MARRIAGES 
 
 other side of the world the people of New Guinea 
 have a curious story of a great eagle who married a 
 woman and had a son by her. She returned to her 
 village and was followed to her father's house by a 
 snake, who claimed her. Eventually she escaped, and 
 the snake was slain by the eagle. ^ Among the 
 Negroes of the Fjort beast-marriage is a common 
 incident ; animals have every human quality, and 
 frequently have human brides. In one story the 
 leopard is married to four princesses. He has a bet 
 with the antelope, which necessitates the latter 
 becoming a dog, and in this form he is ill-used by 
 all his wives. The dog then turned into a beautiful 
 maiden, of whom the leopard became amorous. She 
 begged him to kill his wives ; he did so. Then she 
 took out his claws, teeth, etc., and turned herself into 
 the antelope, when the leopard died of chagrin. An 
 elephant, say the Hottentots, was married to a woman. 
 Her brothers came to rescue her ; she hid them. Dur- 
 ing the night she escaped with them, carrying off all 
 the elephant's possessions. In the morning he pursued 
 them ; they found their way blocked by a cliff, which, 
 by the woman's magic, opened to let them pass and 
 closed after them. The elephant repeated the same 
 charm and opened the cliff, but, alas, it closed upon 
 him. In a Red Indian story cited by Schoolcraft, a 
 chief bade his lovely daughter never leave their lodge. 
 She disobeyed, and was carried off, like Europa, by 
 the king of the buffaloes, and was only recovered 
 after great difficulty by her father Among the 
 Negroes of the Slave Coast a tortoise is said to 
 have asked a girl in marriage. He was refused, but 
 succeeded in making the girl eat some fruit. This 
 placed her in his power. In vain he was offered 
 
 1 Rink, p. 126. Romilly, p. 107. The snake incident in this story 
 —the snake occupying the hut of the woman's father— aifords a 
 curious parallel to the similar incidents in the other New Guinea and 
 the Zuni tales cited above. 
 
THE FROG BRIDEGROOM 269 
 
 equivalent value ; each time he refused it, and at last 
 the g"irl had to be given up to him.^ 
 
 This story, save that the tortoise is a tortoise and 
 not an enchanted prince, is almost exactly parallel to 
 a cycle of stories — that of the Frogr Bridegroom, 
 which has close connection again with that of Beauty 
 and the Beast. It will suffice to cite the Magyar 
 version with references to parallels. Three sisters 
 went in succession to draw water from a well in which 
 lived a huge frog. He would not allow them to do 
 so unless they gave him a ring. The youngest alone 
 consented, and obtained the water. At night the frog 
 crawled up to the door and called for admission. 
 When he was brought in he asked for food, wine, and 
 a bed. These were given him, but still he was not 
 satisfied ; he must have one of the daughters. The 
 two eldest were offered and refused ; Betsie, the 
 youngest, alone would content him, and she was 
 put in his bed lest he should cast a spell on the 
 house. Next morning the frog had turned into a 
 handsome youth, who asked for Betsie's hand, and 
 (suspicious circumstance) ** they hastened to celebrate 
 the wedding, so that christening might not follow it 
 too soon." With various settings this story is told 
 in Germany, Norway, England, the Scottish High- 
 lands and Lowlands, and India. Though the Negro 
 tortoise tale proves that it is a natural and necessary 
 growth out of a primitive stage of thought, Gubernatis 
 and Max M tiller have attempted to explain it in the 
 usual mythological fashion.^ 
 
 1 Dennet, p. 71, ^. p. 74, story of a divinity's daughter for whose 
 hand all the animals contest. Bleek, p. 61. Schoolcraft, ii. 34. 
 Mdusine^ ii. 123. A story from Lorraine has some likeness to these 
 tales. A leopard carried off a princess. Nothing could kill him but 
 partridge's eggs thrown at his forehead. These were obtained by a 
 prince, who had determined to rescue her. Cosquin, ii. 128. 
 
 2 Jones, p. 224. Grimm, The Frog Prime. Dasent, p. 23. 
 Halliwell, p. 51. Campbell, ii. 141. Chambers, p. 46. Miss Stokes, 
 xvi. Gubernatis, Z.J/., s.v. Frog. Max Miiller, Chips^ ii. 249. 
 
270 BEAST-MARRIAGES 
 
 Another well-defined cycle of stories has a wide 
 distribution : we shall call it that of the Bear's Son. 
 Taking" what are clearly the later forms first, in them 
 a bear steals a woman who is about to have a child. 
 He is born in the den, and partakes of the bear nature. 
 When he has grown old enough and has learned his 
 mother's story, he kills the bear. In this form the 
 story is found in Picardy, Lusatia, Lorraine, and 
 the Tyrol. Similarly the Japanese hero, Kintaro, 
 was the son of a woman who lived in a mountain 
 cave, on roots and herbs. Her son played with wild 
 beasts, but especially the bear, with whom he used 
 to wrestle, and he eventually became a mighty 
 warrior.^ But another group, with German, Croatian, 
 and Flemish variants, tells how a child was stolen by 
 a bear and followed by his mother, whom the bear 
 detained to assist in the household ; the boy was 
 suckled by the bear, and hence obtained his bear 
 nature.^ The third and most primitive group has in 
 Europe, Russian, Swedish, Serbian, German, Italian, 
 Spanish, and Celtic variants.^ A Syriac version may 
 be cited. While pursuing an ox, a woman was 
 captured by a bear, who carried her to a cave and 
 there made her his wife. Soon after she escaped and 
 returned home, where she gave birth to a son, half- 
 bear, half-man.* The Avars of the Caucasus also 
 have the story, and a curious version is current in 
 Dardistan. The bear carried off a little girl, and kept 
 her shut up. When she became a woman, he fell in 
 love with her. Unfortunately she died in giving 
 birth to a child. ^ A close parallel to the European 
 
 ^ Me'lusine, 1877, p. no, Haupt und Schmaler, ii. 169. Cosquin, 
 i. 6. Schneller, p. 189. Griffis, p. 121. 
 
 2 Proehle, ii. 29. Archiv. fur Slav. Phil., v. 31. Deulin, ii. i. 
 
 2 Gubernatis, Z.M., ii. 117. Thorpe, ii. 59. Vouk, No. i. 
 Colshorn, No. 5. Visentini, No. 32. Rondallayre, ist ser. 11. 
 
 * Prym and Socin, ii. 258. 
 
 •' Schiefner, No. 2. Leitner, iii. 12. 
 
THE BEAR'S SON 271 
 
 versions is found among the Micmac Indians, but 
 though it is thoroughly Indianised it has no doubt 
 been obtained from French Canadian sources. Zuni 
 and Cree tales contain such an incident, quite possibly- 
 original. In the former a bear steals a boy, but lets 
 him go when he hears that his mother is very pretty. 
 ''Come at night," said the boy, "and I will introduce 
 you to my mother" ; however, when the bear arrived 
 he shot him dead. The Cree version tells how a girl, 
 lost in the forest, was met by a bear who offered her 
 the alternative of marriage or instant death. She 
 chose the former, and became mother of two bears, 
 whom she afterwards changed into men.^ What is to 
 be noted is that all these versions of this incident 
 (except the Cree story) are introductory to the 
 adventures of the son, who has the wisdom of man 
 and the strength of a bear, and of the companions 
 whom he afterwards falls in with.^ Such a story as 
 that of the Crees, which might have been invented in 
 many places, has formed the basis of the later and 
 more complex tale that has gone the round of the 
 world. 
 
 1 shall refer later, in dealing with "the Youngest 
 Son," to a group of stories which introduce quite 
 another episode of beast-marriage. A father bids his 
 sons give his daughters in marriage to whomsoever 
 will ask them first. These turn out to be animals, 
 wolf, vulture, and falcon, or the king of birds and the 
 king of beasts, but in all stories of the group they 
 have a human form as well. These creatures later 
 
 ^ Micmac^ Leland, A.L.^ p. 311. Zuni^ Gushing, p. 92. Cree^ 
 Petitot, p. 460. There were many mediaeval versions of this story ; 
 cf. Saxo Grammaticus, bk. x. The story of Valentine and Orson 
 resembles the second group, 
 
 2 These adventures are, rescue of three princesses, whom the 
 companions go off with, abandoning the hero ; his rescue by friendly 
 animals (p. 352) ; and revenge on the companions. Many stories with 
 these adventures lack the bear incident, and the hero is simply a 
 strong man. 
 
272 BEAST-MARRIAGES 
 
 help the youngest son in his difficulties.^ But, in a 
 more primitive type, omitting- the youngest son 
 incidents, the husbands are animals and nothing 
 more. Three girls, in a Norse tale, were bent on 
 getting married even if they only got a fox, a goat, or 
 a squirrel for husbands. Thereupon these very 
 animals appeared. The girl's father went to visit 
 them ; the squirrel dived into the river and brought 
 up a trout. The father imitated the squirrel on his 
 return home, but was drowned. An Eskimo parallel 
 may have been derived from this story. A girl 
 married a huge man, and when her father went to see 
 her, the man went outside the hut. Presently, the 
 father saw a cormorant dive and bring up a sea- 
 scorpion, which the man presently brought in (i.e.y he 
 and the cormorant were one). Here, too, the father, 
 imitating his action, was drowned.^ 
 
 Thus all the cycles of tales into which Beast- 
 marriage enters have been traced back to their 
 evidently primitive forms, in which the bridegroom 
 (or bride) is an animal.^ This is also true of the 
 Swan-maiden cycle discussed so minutely by Mr 
 Hartland, who cites several tales of this primitive 
 type, and suggests a totem origin for the whole 
 group.* Swan-maiden and seal woman can only 
 resume their animal form by donning the feather or 
 fur dress which their lover has got possession of. 
 But in the earlier and more primitive versions the 
 woman is an animal which has the power of self- 
 transformation. 
 
 Analysing these several story-groups and their 
 
 * There are Greek (Hahn, No. 25), Sicilian (Gonzenbach, No. 29), 
 Tuscan (Pitre, No. 11), Breton (Sebillot, No. 16), Portuguese (Coelho, 
 No. 16), and Russian (Ralston, p. 85) variants. 
 
 2 Nansen, Eskimo Life^ p. 295. Rink, p. 119. 
 ^ For another cycle in which Beast-marriage, pure and simple, is 
 the earliest form, see p. 233. 
 
 * Science of Fairy Tales ^ P- 33i' 
 
ORIGIN OF THE INCIDENT 273 
 
 ^spective types, we shall find several definite stages. 
 
 Cihe latest form, as in the Beauty and Beast and 
 Frog" cycles, presents us with a hero transformed by 
 enchantment into a beast, and saved by the devotion 
 of the human lover. The incident of enchantment, 
 though itself primitive, has here been made use of 
 to give an earlier story greater dramatic interest at a 
 time when beast-marriage, pure and simple, had 
 become a revolting conception. The beast-mother 
 in the Cinderella tales is an example of this. At first 
 a beast, she becomes later a woman transformed by 
 sorcery..^ But ere this stage was reached a large 
 body of stories existed, in which the hero had himself 
 the power of transformation, appearing now as an 
 animal, now as a man, but invariably going a-wooing 
 in animal form. Of these stories there are several 
 distinct types, (i) Those in which the wooer is one 
 of a class of animals who are men and women in 
 their native element, as in the Russian tale (p. 257), or 
 vice versa, as in the Senegambian story (p. 260). Next 
 (2) come stories in which a divinity assumes animal 
 form ; Zuni, Guiana, Hervey Island, and Aino 
 instances have been cited, as well as the classical 
 myths.^ (3) In other cases it is not said that the 
 animal is a divinity, but he becomes, through union 
 with a human lover, the ancestor of a tribe, as in the 
 Dog-rib Indian tale (p. 262). At the next, and in my 
 opinion the primitive stage, there is no trace of trans- 
 formation, and the lover is a beast and nothing more, 
 as in the third type of the Bear's Son cycle, and in 
 Eskimo, Red Indian, Dyak, and New Guinea 
 stories.^ 
 
 It is obvious that stories of beast- marriage pre- 
 suppose that animistic stage of thought (already 
 referred to), through which all races have passed, in 
 which there is no real distinction between human 
 and animal personality ; in which, in effect, animals 
 1 See pp. 258-60. 2 5ee p 262. 
 
 S 
 
274 BEAST-MARRIAGES 
 
 are simply men in fur and feather. This condition of 
 thought is put tersely in a Micmac tale, which opens 
 by saying : '* In the beginning of things, men were 
 as animals and animals as men. How this was no 
 one knows. "^ But they owe their origin more 
 immediately to totemism, that primitive institution 
 in which an animal (or plant) is believed to have been 
 the common ancestor of the animals of that species, 
 and of a clan or tribal sept of men who call them- 
 selves after the animal, and never kill or eat it.^ That 
 animal ancestor tends to become a divinity, or to be 
 merged into a god, who thereafter bears some trace 
 of the animal merged into him. We are not con- 
 cerned here with the origin of totemism, which is still 
 to seek. But it is clear that, once started, the idea 
 of an animal ancestor must inevitably have given 
 rise to myths explaining how this could be. Such 
 myths, in effect, do exist wherever totemism can be 
 traced. They explain the descent of the clan from 
 the animal by telling how in the far-off past an 
 animal took a human mate, and how their offspring 
 were the fathers of the clan. Some of the folk-tales 
 already referred to have been found to state this ; 
 they are really as much myths as they are Marc ken. 
 Other clear examples of such myths may here be 
 given. The owl clan among the Nisqas of British 
 Columbia are descended from a maiden who was 
 carrried off by an owl.^ Among the Mongols, with 
 whom totemism as an institution has passed away, 
 some myths still exist, explaining how an animal came 
 to be an ancestor of men. Thus, after a great war, 
 only one Mongol woman survived. She met a bull, who 
 begot of her two daughters, from whom the present 
 
 1 Leland, A.L., p. 31. 
 
 2 See Frazer, Totemism^ and the chapter on "Animal- worship and 
 Totemism " in my Religion, Its Origin and Forms. 
 
 3 See p. 183, where I have shown how totem beHefs may have 
 suggested beast-marriage. 
 
TOTEM MYTHS 275 
 
 race is descended. So the Kirghiz are descended 
 from a thief and a pigf : hence they do not eat pig's 
 flesh. Mr Batchelor tells us that a young Aino 
 informed him (and himself thoroughly believed) that 
 the father of his great-great-grandfather was either 
 brought up by an eagle or born of one. This, he 
 thinks, is a clear relic of clan totemism. Similarly, 
 the Bakalai explain their totem clans by saying that 
 once a woman gave birth to a calf, another to a boar, 
 a third to a monkey, and so on : from these they are 
 descended, just as the snake clan of the Moquis claim 
 descent from a woman who had snake children.^ 
 
 With the decline of totemism proper, the mythic 
 animal ancestor often becomes a man or woman who 
 is only at times an animal. Among the Tchippe- 
 wayas it is told how the first man caught a partridge, 
 which changed into a woman, whom he married. 
 They were the ancestors of the tribe. The Tshi- 
 speaking peoples of the Gold Coast have many 
 animal clans, most of which explain their origin in 
 the same way. Thus a man caught a fish called 
 an appei, which begged him to spare her and she 
 would become his wife. He replaced the fish in the 
 water, and on returning home found there a young 
 woman, who told him she was the fish, and that now 
 neither they nor any of their descendants (the ai?pei 
 clan) must ever eat appeiy or they would all go into 
 the sea.^ This myth, so curiously like European 
 mermaid and seal-wife tales, throws some light on 
 their origin. To this we shall return in a later 
 chapter. Mythic explanations of such a puzzling 
 
 ^ F.L.J.y iv. 21, 25. Tibetans have a curious story about the 
 earliest inhabitants of Tibet being descended from the monkey king 
 (an incarnate god) and a female hobgoblin. The former supplied 
 all their good, the latter all their bad qualities. Rockhill, Notes on 
 Eth. of Tibet^ p. 677. Batchelor, 2nd ed., p. 8. Du Chaillu, 
 Equatorial Africa^ p. 308. Bourke, Snake Dance of Maquis^ p. 177. 
 
 - Petitot, p. 347. Ellis, Tshi- Speaking Peoples^ p. 211. 
 
276 BEAST-MARRIAGES 
 
 institution as totemism are demanded by man's 
 speculative mind, and we see that, once invented, 
 they take more and more the folk-tale form as time 
 goes on. Sometimes, however, the mythic animal 
 descent is explained differently. Thus Ellice Island 
 w^as first inhabited by the porcupine fish, whose 
 descendants were changed into men and women. Or 
 sometimes, conversely, as in a Samoan myth, a 
 woman gives birth to animals and men, who are 
 then related.^ Again, when the totem-ancestor is 
 worshipped as a divinity, the myth will make the 
 animal spouse a god, and as it becomes a folk-tale he 
 will be described as a god who can assume either human 
 or animal form, as in the Carib story. The change 
 is sometimes effected by donning or dofnng a skin 
 or feather dress, and, once this is destroyed, the 
 animal nature is for ever gone — an idea which 
 explains the corresponding incident in folk-tales. 
 
 Such animistic and totemistic beliefs have survived 
 in the East in actual beast and tree marriages for a 
 symbolical or ceremonial purpose. Thus, in the 
 Punjab, if a man has lost several wives in succession, 
 he is married to a bird which he has induced a 
 woman to adopt as her daughter. He then divorces 
 it, and marries the woman. Or a man will marry a 
 tree in such a case, before the actual marriage ; the 
 tree is then supposed to die in place of the woman. 
 Other cases are known with the same purpose of 
 diverting some particular ill-luck to the tree or animal 
 bride. Again, many tribes in India observe the 
 custom of marrying both bride and bridegroom to 
 trees as a preliminary ceremony, perhaps to divert 
 evil influences to them, or possibly with a view to 
 obtaining fertility from the trees. ^ Whatever be the 
 rationale of such rites, it is clear that they never could 
 have arisen except on the assumption that tree or 
 
 ^ Turner, pp. 8, 281. 
 
 ^ Crooke, ii. 115 seq, Crawley, p. 341. 
 
REALISM 277 
 
 animal was perfectly akin to man, and that actual 
 unions had once been common. 
 
 We must not, however, overlook a more realistic 
 origin for such folk-tales besides man's myth-makingf 
 fancy. In many stories an animal forcibly abducts a 
 woman, as in a Chinese tale, in which it is related 
 that a monkey stole a man's wife, carrying her off to 
 his den, where the husband subsequently overcame 
 him. The possibility of such an abduction is believed 
 in by many African tribes and by the Dyaks, who 
 have stories of girls being carried off by baboons and 
 orang-outangs, and indeed, the possibility of such a 
 thing, though questioned, has not been refuted.^ 
 Again, the actual occurrence of unnatural lusts among 
 races of a low type must be taken into account.^ It 
 
 ^ Du Chaillu, Equatorial Africa, p. 6i. Reade, pp. 218, 421. St 
 John, i. 22. Cf. Pausanias, Attic, p. 21. Burton, Ar. Nights, vol. x., 
 thinks such cases proved. Among the Kafirs, however, baboons are 
 supposed to protect women from lions. Legend relates how a woman, 
 lost in the forest, found herself surrounded by them when the lions 
 roared. They took her to a safe place, and fed her with milk and 
 corn. After returning to her friends, she often went to join the 
 baboons, whose language she had learnt. At her death the baboons 
 howled and mourned many days. Rev. J. Macdonald, Folk-lore, iii. 
 
 355- 
 
 2 Cf. the Biblical references. Pliny, H.N., viii. 42. Virgil, Eclog.^ 
 iii. 8. Mackenzie, Voyages, p. xcvii. Kraft-Ebing, Pscyopathie- 
 sexualis, p. 135. In connection with these realistic explanations the 
 stories of children suckled by animals, so common in folk-lore {cf. 
 Knowles, p. 29 ; Gushing, p. 132 ; Hartland, i. 48 ; Schiefner, No. 12 ; 
 Dozon, p. loi ; Grinnell, p. 190), and of which the classic example is 
 that of Romulus and Remus, are doubtless due to the conceptions of 
 animism and totemism. But in many actual cases, chiefly from 
 India, they have been traced to the fact that semi-idiot children, 
 brutalised, and with animal appetites, are often believed to have lived 
 among animals, or to have been stolen by them. This is a quite 
 natural deduction among people with whom the distinction between 
 animal and human is far from being clear. See an interesting paper 
 by Dr Tylor in Anth. Rev., 1863, i. 21, "Wild Men and Beast 
 Children." Cf. Tylor, P.C., i. 282. Conversely, in some folk-tales, 
 women suckle animals, as is actually done by Aino women (Batchelor, 
 p. 484, 2nd &d..,/.A.I., ii. 252), and Tasmanian women (Roth, p. 162). 
 
278 BEAST-MARRIAGES 
 
 is enoug-h to refer to these things without discussing- 
 them further. 
 
 The horror at such unions which many of our 
 folk-tales reveal — even those arising among totemic 
 peoples, may be explained from man's innate sense of 
 their very strangeness, even when most claiming 
 animal kinship. For, to return to the Micmac tale 
 already referred to, though men were as animals and 
 animals as men, '*yet even as men there was always 
 something which showed what they were," a state- 
 ment which might be paralleled by those of other 
 races. Ideas which are irrational to us were no 
 doubt quite rational to the men among whom they 
 arose, else they could never have arisen, yet even 
 then there was clearly a sense in which they were 
 regarded as irrational. Granting, too, such realistic 
 explanations as those just referred to, the sense of 
 horror exhibited in the tales is again made clear. It 
 was that sense of horror which gradually evolved the 
 artistic form of the tales in which the hero was a man 
 with the power of self-transformation, or changed by 
 enchantment to an animal shape from which the 
 magic power of love set him free. 
 
 It may also be practised by Eskimo wives. Cf. stories in which a 
 woman nurses a puppy, or gives birth on two occasions to twins, one 
 of which is a bear, which she brings up with the others. — Rink, 
 pp. -JT, 412. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 CANNIBALISM : ODYSSEUS AND THE CYCLOPS 
 
 No aspect of savage life awakes a stronger horror in 
 civilised man than does cannibalism. Yet it was 
 practised by our remote ancestors, though as various 
 lines of evidence, among others that of folk-tales, 
 show, there came a time when they cast it off, and 
 looked upon those more savage races who still 
 practised it, with the same horror as do we. 
 
 Cannibalism occurs as a central episode in several 
 folk-tale cycles, of which there are two main types, 
 the first involving- man-eating by ogre, witch, or 
 demon, i.e., a being of another race ; the second 
 describing it as a perverted taste on the part of some 
 members of a race no longer given to the practice. 
 In the former type there are several cycles, of which 
 the first to be cited is the well-known episode of 
 Odysseus' adventure with Polyphemus — an old 
 Greek M'drchen taken over bodily into the epic.^ It 
 has many parallels ; the Basque version affords a 
 convenient example. The ogre is called a Tartaro ; 
 he is a shepherd, and also a hunter of men. One day, 
 having caught a young man in his snare, he dragged 
 him to his den. The hero knew that his custom was 
 to eat a sheep, take a snooze, and then devour his 
 
 ^ In the same way the folk-episode of a one-eyed cannibal giant 
 slain by a hero, who blinds him, has been taken up into the Celtic 
 Fionn cycle. — J. G. Campbell, The Fians, p. 159 seq. 
 
 279 
 
280 CANNIBALISM : ODYSSEUS AND CYCLOPS 
 
 man. As soon as the Tartaro began to snore, he 
 took a spit, heated it red-hot, and drove it into the 
 giant's one and only eye. The Tartaro let out his 
 sheep one by one, thinking that the hero would not 
 escape him, but he took the precaution of putting the 
 ram's bell round his neck and dressing himself in the 
 skin of the sheep just killed, walking on all fours to 
 the door. There he was met by the ogre's mother, 
 who gave him a ring, which at once began to cry out, 
 "Thou hast me here." The blind Tartaro started 
 off in pursuit, and was just on the point of seizing the 
 hero, when he cut off his finger and threw both it and 
 the tell-tale ring away.^ 
 
 In a Sicilian version a monk is the hero ; his com- 
 rade is eaten by the ogre in his cave, after which the 
 hero blinds the ogre and escapes in sheep's clothing. 
 Greek stories tell of the Drakos, a dull giant with one 
 eye, cannibalistic tastes, and a penchant for pretty 
 princesses. The hero of " The Quest of the Golden 
 Wand " acts precisely as did Odysseus, puts out the 
 Drakos' eye, and escapes by hanging on to the woolly 
 ram. Probably this tale has existed unaltered in 
 Greece from pre- Homeric times, and represents the 
 traditional form of the story incorporated in the epic.^ 
 In German and Celtic variants the hero is a robber, 
 who tells the story as one of the most remarkable 
 things which ever happened to him. Here the giant 
 has two eyes ; the robber pretends to heal one of 
 them, which is sore, but covers the whole one with stuff 
 which makes it as bad as the other, and then escapes 
 like Odysseus. The Polyphemus incident also enters 
 into the Celtic Fionn cycle ; a one-eyed giant, who 
 steals a king's children, is killed by Fionn piercing his 
 eye with an arrow. Such a cannibal giant, or (in one 
 episode) a smith, is the topic of other incidents of the 
 cycle. The tale has thus been embodied here in the 
 
 ^ Webster, p. 4. 
 
 2 Crane, p. 89. Henderson, p. 195. Garnett, ii. 80. 
 
A RED INDIAN VERSION 281 
 
 same way as the story of Odysseus and the giant 
 was in the Greek epic. A Russian version re- 
 places the ogfre by a one-eyed witch, who devours a 
 tailor, but has her eye put out by his friend the 
 smith.^ 
 
 Even closer to the Greek version are those found 
 among the Lapps and Kirghiz. Gastrin heard the 
 whole story, with local adaptations, among the Lapps ; 
 while, with the Kirghiz, the part of Cyclops is played 
 by a giant called Alp, and that of Odysseus by 
 another giant called Batur-Khan. Sinbad the Sailor s 
 adventure with the cannibal is of the same type, and 
 has Indian and Persian parallels, the hero of a tale 
 in the Bahdr-i-Ddnush escaping from a cannibalistic 
 demon who lived on sheep and men, by driving a 
 red-hot spike through his eye. These are literary 
 adaptations of popular tales. ^ A story identical with 
 the Homeric Polyphemus episode has been heard in 
 East Africa from the lips of a native who had never 
 been out of the country, while a Red Indian version 
 introduces a serpent instead of an ogre. In this Red 
 Indian story, Glooskap, the hero of many Passama- 
 quoddy stories, has an enemy — a man who takes 
 serpent form. H e catches a servant of Glooskap's, and 
 sends him to look for a long straight stick on which 
 to roast him. Glooskap meets him, bids him take a 
 crooked stick, and instructs him further. The boy 
 told the serpent that he would straighten the stick by 
 
 1 Grimm, "The Robber and his Sons." Campbell, i. 112. The 
 talking ring occurs in both, and also in the Russian tale. In the 
 German version the ogre has two sore eyes, both destroyed under 
 pretence of being healed. Cf. an Esthonian tale, where the devil 
 is outwitted in the same way by a blacksmith called Myself, and then 
 says " Myself did it," and receives no sympathy. For the Fionn 
 cycle, see Campbell, The Fians^ p. 207. Ralston, p. 178. 
 
 2 Spencer, Descriptive Sociology^ v. 40. Another Lapp variant is 
 given in Kirby, ii. 38. Scott, iii. 288. Webster, p. 2, cites an English 
 story of a giant who ground men's bones for bread, and was blinded 
 by a lad kept as a prisoner. 
 
282 CANNIBALISM : ODYSSEUS AND CYCLOPS 
 
 putting- it in the fire. Anxious to see results, the 
 serpent peered into the flame, when the boy thrust 
 the red-hot stick into his eye and blinded him, after 
 which Glooskap slew him.^ 
 
 Finally, we may cite a Melanesian story which 
 bears much resemblance in some respects to our 
 European tales. A man-eater called Taso killed a 
 woman, but did not eat her because she was about to 
 give birth to twins. These posthumous babies were 
 later discovered by their uncle Qatu, and, after they 
 had grown up, set out to revenge themselves on 
 Taso. A banana-tree was to be their life-token. 
 They came to Taso's abode, and were received by 
 his mother ; she went out to call her son, and, in her 
 absence, they made stones red-hot for his reception. 
 On his arrival in expectation of a meal, he was 
 greeted with the stones, which felled him, and, as he 
 lay on the ground, the twins clubbed him to death. 
 Then they despatched his mother also.^ 
 
 The next two cycles describe how a cannibal 
 monster is outwitted (i) by being- thrown into his 
 own oven ; (2) by having his own wife or child served 
 up or destroyed by the hero. A typical instance of 
 the former is Grimm's Hansel and Grethel. Sent 
 from home, they wander to the house of a repulsive 
 witch in the depths of the forest, who entices and eats 
 children. She fattens Hansel for her intended meal, 
 and every day comes to see how plump he is getting ; 
 poor Grethel is fed on scraps. The day comes when 
 he is to be eaten, and Grethel is sent to make the 
 preparations. The witch tells her to creep into the 
 oven and see if it is hot enough. '' I do not know how 
 to do it ; how shall I get in? " "You stupid goose," 
 answers the hag, ''see, I could even get in myself," 
 
 ^ Leland, A.L.^ p. 104. 
 
 2 This story is current in Aurora, a district where the existence of 
 the cannibalistic feasts of other islands is doubtful. Codrington, pp. 
 344, 398. 
 
A KAFIR VERSION 283 
 
 and pushes her head in. This is the moment Grethel 
 has waited for, and gfiving- the witch a push she bolts 
 the oven door, and " left the ungodly witch to burn in 
 the ashes." 
 
 A Magyar variant is of the Cinderella type. 
 Three daughters are driven from home by their 
 stepmother; the two eldest treat the youngest 
 harshly. In the course of their wanderings they 
 come to a palace where dwells a one-eyed giantess, 
 who says, **What a fine roast you will make." She 
 is propitiated, and hides them, but her husband dis- 
 covers the girls on his return. They are sent to cook 
 and bake ; the youngest has the oven to heat. She 
 bids the giant see if it is hot enough, and, of course, 
 pushes him in, and he is burnt to a cinder. His wife 
 is then knocked on the head, and the girls take 
 possession of the castle.^ Besides Portuguese, Lapp, 
 Norse, Indian, and Persian variants, there is a Kafir 
 parallel to this cycle. In it Sikulume and his friends 
 fall into the clutches of a cannibal, who invites others 
 to the meal. Meanwhile the boys escape, and the 
 guests devour the cannibal himself in disgust at 
 losing their banquet. Sikulume determines to return 
 and get a magic bird which he has forgotten. On 
 the way an old woman gives him some fat, which he 
 must put on a stone if the cannibals pursue him. In 
 the sequel he does so, and the cannibals fight for the 
 stone. One of them swallows it, and he is eaten by 
 his companions, who again give chase ; but the boys 
 are hid by an old man in a hut, which is really a stone 
 transformed by him, and which to the pursuers seems 
 a stone and nothing more.^ 
 
 We come now to stories in which the ogre's wife 
 or child is served up as a meal, or destroyed by the 
 
 ^ Jones, p. 144. 
 
 2 Portuguese F.T,; Friis ; Dasent ; Miss Frere ; Payne, vi. 112 ; 
 Theal, p. 74 seq. A Swahili tale, cited on p. 412 infra^ has some 
 likeness to the Kafir story. 
 
284 CANNIBALISM: ODYSSEUS AND CYCLOPS 
 
 cunning- of his original victim. The Celtic story of 
 Maol a Chliobain may be taken as typical of those in 
 which both the children and the wife come to grief. 
 Three daughters are sent to seek their fortune ; the 
 youngest is ill-treated by her sisters. They come to 
 a giant's house, and go to bed with his three daughters. 
 During the night the giant is thirsty, and bids his 
 ghillie fetch him the blood of one of the girls. Maol 
 hears all this, and exchanges the horse-hair necklets 
 which she and her sisters wear for the amber 
 ornaments of the giant's daughters. The ghillie kills 
 one ; the giant asks for more, and still for more, until 
 all three are killed. Maol and her sisters now escape, 
 and reach a farmer's house, where there are three sons. 
 These will be given in marriage to the three girls if 
 Maol will bring the giant's treasures. On her third 
 visit to the giant's house she was caught and put in 
 a bag. By her craft she induced the giant's mother 
 to take her place. When the giant returned, he beat 
 the sack and its contents till his mother was killed. 
 In a Swedish variant the youngest of three sons has 
 to obtain the giant's treasures. He is caught and 
 fattened ; the giant bids his wife make ready the 
 oven. When she asks the boy to go into it, he falls 
 off, and begs her to show him the way, when he 
 pushes her in and closes the door. An Italian version 
 is more gruesome. The hero, Thirteenth, having 
 roasted the ogress, serves up her limbs for the table, 
 but puts her head and trunk in bed, attaching a string 
 to her chin and hiding himself under the bed. The 
 ogre arrives with his guests, and asks her if she will 
 dine. She shakes her head for answer. The meal 
 proceeds, till one of the guests discovers the truth ; in 
 the subsequent confusion Thirteenth escapes. In the 
 Basque story of Malbrouk, the hero is caught stealing 
 the giant's violin. While the giant is absent he offers 
 to help his wife in chopping wood, but takes the 
 opportunity of killing her and boiling her in the 
 
THE BABA YAGA 285 
 
 cauldron prepared for himself, where the giant finds 
 her.^ 
 
 In Russian tales cannibalism is usually prac- 
 tised by a female ogre called a Baba Yaga, or 
 by a witch who strongly resembles her. A boy 
 having" been caught by a witch, is shown by her 
 daughter how to sit on the shovel. He at once 
 pushes her into the oven. The witch is absent seek- 
 ing guests, and, on her return with her party, eats 
 her own daughter. The boy interrupts the feast by 
 telling her what she has done, and then escapes her 
 revenge with the help of some friendly birds. In the 
 Norse version, the hag's daughter does not know 
 how to cook Buttercup, the hero, and is shown the 
 way by him to her cost. He then lays her head in 
 bed, makes broth with the body, and kills the parents 
 while they are at their horrible meal. Passing over 
 a Greek version, where the hero bakes the daughter 
 of a Lamia, we come to a Mongol story. Tardanek 
 was caught by a seven-headed monster, and put in a 
 game-bag. He induced the monster's children to 
 take his place, and they were afterwards cooked by 
 him. The same story is also current as far away as 
 Madagascar. Takinga fell into the hands of Trimobe 
 the ogre, and told him that when he was cooked his 
 body would change into that of two men. The ogre 
 
 1 Campbell, i. 258. This is the Scots story of Mally Whuppie, 
 which is discussed on p. 354. Thorpe, Y.T.S., p. 137 ; Crane, p. 90 ; 
 Webster, p. 86. A Japanese tale has a curious resemblance to these. 
 A badger is caught by an old man and tied to a tree, because it eats 
 the food of his pet hare. His wife is induced to release it, is killed 
 by the badger, and her body made into broth. Then he assumes her 
 form, and the husband eats the mess, when the badger reveals the truth 
 and flees. In the sequel he is killed by the hare. — Mitford, i. 255. 
 This crafty incident occurs in other connections in several tales. In 
 a Dyak story a turtle caught in a trap induces a monkey to take its 
 place by telling him how delightful it is to be thus tied up. — Ling 
 Roth, i. 343. Cf. a. Yao (East African) tale, where a boy, shut up by a 
 cannibal wizard in a bag, escapes and fills it with snakes, which sting 
 the wizard to death. — Steere, y.-^./., i. 151. 
 
286 CANNIBALISM: ODYSSEUS AND CYCLOPS 
 
 ordered his two sons to put Takinga into boiling 
 water ; Takinga bade them see first if the water was 
 boiling, and while they were peering into the pot, 
 tipped them into it. They were boiled alive, and the 
 unsuspecting ogre ate them both. Later, he dis- 
 covered Takinga, but, in attempting to catch him, 
 was killed.^ 
 
 The formula of the series of thefts from an ogre, 
 occurring in the Gaelic version, will be met with 
 again in some of the versions of the Youngest Son 
 cycle, as well as in the English story of Jack and the 
 Beanstalk. An American- Indian tale bears a close 
 resemblance to all alike, but, while it has doubtless 
 been suggested by some of them, it has become a 
 true native folk-tale. A little boy, in spite of warn- 
 ings, is caught by a witch, whose magic ball, which 
 he pursues, leads him to her hut in the forest. This 
 is an incident which, in various shapes, is a common 
 folk-tale formula. She treats him kindly, however, 
 and he alone of all the children she has ever captured 
 is able to underg^o the ordeal of fasting, by which he 
 obtains magic powers from the spirits. He is now 
 sent to steal the gold of the Bad One, and a little 
 bridge which, lengthening out to any size when 
 desired, enables this ogre to cross the widest rivers 
 or seas. The witch gives him a ball, which, tied to 
 his leg, will carry him through all dangers ; hence he 
 is called Ball-carrier. Arrived at the Bad One's 
 house, he steals the treasures, but is pulled from his 
 hiding-place by the ogre, who orders him to be 
 fattened up for a meal. The ogre's servant prepared 
 the kettle and popped poor Ball-carrier into it, but by 
 his magic power the water only appeared to boil, and 
 he was unhurt. Then, having induced the woman to 
 come and taste the broth in the kettle, he tipped it 
 over, and the water, boiling in reality, scalded her to 
 
 1 Ralston, p. 165. Dasent, p. 117. Hahn, No. 3. Lang, Perrault^ 
 Ixix. Ferrand, p. 69. 
 
BALL-CAHRIER 287 
 
 death. Snatching up the treasures, he fled. Mean- 
 while, Bad One having returned to the feast with a 
 crowd of water-demons, found his servant dead, and 
 set off in pursuit of the boy, whom he discovered on 
 the other side of the river. The ogre offered to 
 become his servant ; the boy agreed, and threw the 
 magic bridge across the water. But when Bad One 
 was half-way across, the hero wished it to become 
 small, and the ogre, falling into the water, was 
 drowned. After many subsequent adventures of a 
 highly original nature. Ball-carrier dies, but the witch 
 resuscitates him, and buries the gold in the earth, 
 where men who dig hard sometimes find it. Here, 
 as so often, the incident of a folk-tale, whether 
 borrowed or original, becomes a mythical explana- 
 tion of natural phenomena.^ 
 
 Analogous to this group, though the act of 
 cannibalism is unwitting, is the Icelandic tale of the 
 prince who fell in love with a king's daughter and 
 wished to marry her. Her stepmother was a troll 
 in disguise, and substituted her own daughter, who 
 became the prince's wife. When he discovered the 
 imposture, he killed her, salted her flesh, and sent it 
 as a gift to her mother, who ate it greedily. There 
 
 1 Bureau of Ethnology^ i^th Annual Report^ p. 223. Stealing of 
 children by witches is not an uncommon incident in Red Indian tales. 
 In another, a witch steals lowi's (the turtle-dove's) child, and pulling 
 his legs and arms out, stretches him to a man's form, and marries him. 
 He still retains a child's soul. After a long time his mother, with the 
 help of Kwina (the eagle), discovered his whereabouts, and though 
 the witch hid him and herself in the paunch of a mountain-sheep, 
 hunger compelled her to go and seek for food, and in her absence 
 Kwina fled with him. The witch went off to her grandfather, Togoa, 
 (the rattlesnake) for help, but hearing Kwina coming, she crept into 
 Togoa's stomach. He turned very sick, and crept out of his skin, 
 leaving his granddaughter inside. She repeated Togoa's calls in 
 mockery, for he could not find her. Hence all witches now live in 
 snake-skins, and delight in repeating the words of all passers-by. 
 Which is the origin of the echo ! — Bureau of Eth. Report^ i. 45. See 
 a further discussion of Ball-carrier on p. 461 infra. 
 
288 CANNIBALISM : ODYSSEUS AND CYCLOPS 
 
 are Sicilian variants of this tale, with the additional 
 horror of the queen's finding- her daughter's head at 
 the foot of the barrel when her meal is finished. 
 Some ancient Greek myths or sagas contain something- 
 very like this incident. Thyestes, having seduced 
 his brother's wife, had two children by her, whom 
 his brother served up to him in a ghastly banquet ; 
 while the same punishment was meted out to Tereus 
 for having debauched his sister-in-law Philomela — 
 Itys, his son by Procne, being slain by the sisters 
 and eaten by his father. Thyestes' father, Pelops, 
 had himself been served up by his father to the gods, 
 but the only one who ate of him was Demeter. He 
 was restored to life, and she gave him an ivory arm 
 in place of the one she had eaten. Such tales grew 
 up in a cannibal age.-^ 
 
 In another series of tales the cannibal is not 
 always an ogre, but an ordinary human being of 
 another tribe. Sometimes the story concerns a man 
 or woman who falls into the hands of such a tribe ; 
 sometimes he or she is married to a cannibal. Both 
 types of this series, however, have parallels, in which 
 the cannibal is a semi-divine or superhuman being. 
 
 A Kafir story may be cited first. Two orphans, 
 Demane and Demazana, went to live in a cave. 
 Demane warned his sister not to roast meat in his 
 absence, lest the cannibals should smell it out. Dis- 
 regarding this injunction, Demazana was captured 
 and carried off by a cannibal, but, having dropped 
 ashes as they went along, gave a clue to her brother, 
 which he followed up. Arrived at the cannibal's hut 
 he asked for a drink, and while the man-eater went to 
 get it he took his sister out of the sack and filled it 
 with a swarm of bees. In the sequel the cannibal 
 was stung by the bees, and having rushed out of the 
 
 1 Cosquin, i. 39, who also refers to an Annamite tale. Powell and 
 Magnusson, p. 235. Cf. Miss Cox, p. 478. Hyginus, xlv., Ixxxiii. 
 Cf. Cronus devouring his own children. 
 
ESKIMO TALES 289 
 
 hut, fell into a pond, where he became a tree-stump. 
 The orphans took possession of his wealth as the 
 hero possesses himself of the ogre's riches in European 
 folk-tales.^ Cannibalism of a very gruesome type 
 occurs in Eskimo tales, but is always spoken of as 
 practised by strange tribes living- far from ordinary 
 people, by a hag, or by an ogre. Of several men 
 living together, all disappeared but two brothers. 
 One of these arrived at a place where many people 
 were assembled. They offered him food in which he 
 discovered a human hand ; he would not touch it, and 
 was at once attacked, but could not be overcome. 
 Next year his brother arrived with many of his friends, 
 and destroyed all the cannibals who had been the 
 murderers of the men who disappeared. Giviok, in 
 another tale, is offered human fat by a hideous hag 
 and her daughter. He refuses it, and at the same 
 time discovers many heads in the hut, and presently 
 makes good his escape. A cannibal ogre is slain by 
 the hero of another story, and eaten unawares by his 
 invisible friends, who are also destroyed by the hero's 
 amulet. Man-eating giants, whose exploits are like 
 those of the ogres of our tales, are believed in by the 
 Karens, while a hairy giant with one eye and cannibal- 
 istic tastes is known to Aino folk-lore. He was killed 
 at last by a brave hunter, who shot an arrow into his 
 eye — his one vital part — and afterwards burned his 
 body. From it canie all the mosquitoes and flies in 
 the country.^ The Chinese have a story of a 
 merchant wrecked on a distant island, where he was 
 discovered by hideous men who lived in caves, and 
 devoured raw human flesh. They were about to eat 
 him, when he offered them cooked food from his wallet. 
 
 ^ Theal, p. iii. For a Basuto variant, see Jacottet, p. 69. 
 
 2 The tribes of the north-west coast of America have a tale like 
 this in its ending. An ogress who ate children was pushed into the 
 fire by some of them, and her ashes turned into mosquitoes. — Dorman, 
 p. 244. C/; p. 25 supra. 
 
 T 
 
290 CANNIBALISM : ODYSSEUS AND CYCLOPS 
 
 They ate it with great gusto, and spared the man, 
 who continued on the island until his escape years 
 after. Among- the American- Indians cannibalism 
 is imputed to strange tribes or evil sorcerers of an 
 ogreish aspect, or to demons of a horrible kind. In a 
 Six Nation legend, the Holder of the Heavens 
 destroys a powerful tribe of giants, ravenous 
 cannibals who overran the country, by leading them 
 into a hollow place, where they were overwhelmed 
 with rocks. In a Zuni tale a maiden is attacked in 
 a cave by a cannibal demon, who is slain by the 
 War-gods. Such tales are common among all the 
 tribes. So in modern Greek tales the LamicE, like 
 their classical prototype, are witch-like hags, living 
 in desert places and possessed by a strong liking for 
 human flesh, especially that of babies. The "devis " 
 of Georgian folk-tales correspond to these LamicE, and 
 form, perhaps, a connecting link with the Russian 
 " Baba Yaga " already described. Among the 
 Japanese there is a strong belief in oni, horrible 
 demons which steal and eat men, or carry off lovely 
 girls to wait upon them. Tradition relates how the 
 hero Raiko and his band of youths destroyed them 
 after drugging their sakiy setting free the damsels 
 who were forced to carry them their banquet of 
 human flesh and wine served in human skulls. In 
 Wales certain fairies are fond of the flesh of infants, 
 as is shown by the tale of Canrig the Stumpy, who 
 was discovered eating a baby by a man sent to 
 destroy her. Possibly such fairies are the lineal 
 descendants of an earlier cannibalistic race. Return- 
 ing to Greek folk-lore, we find that the lords of Hades 
 are believed to have banquets at which the dead are 
 eaten ; while the Cretans have tales of an underground 
 race of monstrous blacks who are man-eaters. Going 
 to the other side of the world, a similar belief is found 
 among the Polynesians, who say that Miru, Queen 
 of Hades, a hag with one breast, one arm, and one 
 
THE CANNIBAL WIFE 291 
 
 / 
 leg-, cooks and eats all those who die a natural death. 
 
 Some parts of Hades are also inhabited by man- 
 eating- spirits who entrap mortals, probably without 
 the knowledge of Miru. Legend also tells of a sky- 
 demon, Amai-te-rangi, who, having taken a fancy to 
 human flesh, was overcome by the great hero, 
 Ngaru.^ 
 
 I turn now to the next group, in which a man or 
 woman marries one of another race, with cannibal 
 tastes. An excellent example occurs in a Norse tale. 
 A huntsman obtained as a wife one of the Huldre 
 folk, a supernatural race who sometimes make alli- 
 ances with mankind. One night something of her 
 savage nature returned to her, and she said of their 
 child, "What a capital roast it would make for 
 supper." In India, too, the cannibalistic wife is 
 usually of demoniac nature, a man-eating rakshasi, 
 hideous in appearance, and cruel by nature, but 
 capable of assuming the most lovely forms and 
 winning- ways. A poor Brahman, wandering- in 
 search of food, arrived at a palace where a beautiful 
 woman welcomed him as her long--lost husband. 
 The Brahman was amazed, the lady was clearly 
 romancing-; but sacrificing discretion to comfort he 
 agreed with her. She was a rakshasi who had 
 devoured first the king of that region, then the queen, 
 the royal family, and all their subjects. At the end 
 of a week the rakshasi begged him to bring his 
 other wife. Rakshasi and true wife each bore him a 
 son, the one called Sahasra Dal, the other Champa 
 Dal. The Brahman at length discovered the 
 
 1 Rink, pp. 159, 165, 286 et passim. Jour. As. Soc. Bengal^ 
 xxxiv. 228. Batchelor, p. 73. Giles, i. 397. Leland, A.L.^ pp. 73, 
 104, 288. Gushing, p. 297 ; cf. Petitot, p. 211 seq. Bent, pp. 98, 388. 
 Griffis, pp. 178, 192. Wardrop, p. 56. Rhys, ii. 673. Bent, p. 213 ; 
 F.L.J., ii. 237. Gill, pp. 154 et passim, 234 ; cf. p. 109, and Clarke, 
 p. 39, for tales of the hero Tane or Maui and his divine cannibalistic 
 grandmother, Kui the Blind. 
 
292 CANNIBALISM: ODYSSEUS AND CYCLOPS 
 
 rakshasi eating- an antelope raw, and charged her with 
 her demoniac nature. She vowed revenge, and next 
 day assuming- her true form, devoured him limb by 
 limb, and next made a meal of his wife. Her own 
 son, horrified, cut off her head, and he and Champa 
 Dal wandered off together. Such stories are common 
 all over India. In Siam such a being is called a 
 yak (ogress). A king with twelve wives, all sisters, 
 married a yak, who disclosed her true nature when, 
 pretending to be ill, she asked (as the one remedy) 
 the eyes of twelve persons all born of the same 
 mother. The sisters alone answered to this descrip- 
 tion, and lost their eyes. A story current among the 
 Khyoungtha, a wild tribe of South-East India, 
 suggests that such tales may have been borrowed 
 from the aborigines. A rakus (ogre) having taken 
 the form of a handsome man, won the daughter of the 
 king of Arracan. On their way to his home, he 
 devoured his guard of honour one by one. His wife 
 discovered him, rushed back to camp, and prayed 
 that her lamp might open and hide her. This it did 
 just as the rakus came up to devour his wife. He 
 threw the lamp into the river, where a prince found 
 it, and, undeterred by thoughts of bigamy, the 
 princess came out of it and married him.^ 
 
 At a lower level of civilisation the cannibalistic 
 spouse is an ordinary human being. The Kafirs 
 have a story of a man who married a woman of a 
 different tribe, who were man-eaters. They had two 
 children, whom their mother devoured when they 
 came home from their grandfather's hut, where they 
 had been living. Of several such tales current among 
 the Eskimo, we may cite the following. A girl 
 married a man from a distance. Long after, her 
 brothers went to visit her, and were well-treated by 
 her husband, who set a tub of berries and blubber 
 
 ^ Thorpe, ii. 15. Day, p. 64 ; cf. p. 138 supra, Asiatic Researches^ 
 XX. 345. Lewin, p. 140. 
 
THE CANNIBAL HUSBAND 293 
 
 before them. But suddenly they discovered a human 
 hand in it, and cried out that they did not eat such 
 food. They noticed their sister and her children 
 eating- it. ''Hast thou also turned cannibal ?" they 
 enquired. "Yes, this nasty fellow has made me 
 one." In the sequel the brother-in-law assisted them 
 to escape from the cannibal village. Another story 
 tells how a cannibal husband used to fatten his wives 
 and eat them, but was finally discovered and killed 
 by his last wife. Among- the Mbamba of Angola it 
 is told how a wife escaped from her cannibalistic 
 husband, delaying his pursuit by throwing down 
 millet, sesamum, and eleusine. He stopped to pick 
 them up, and thus gaining time she reached her 
 father's house in safety. We return to the demoniac 
 husband in a Malagasy story. Two sisters were 
 married to Tsangarira, one of a class of monsters 
 who fatten their wives and then devour them. His 
 true nature was revealed by their slave, and they fled. 
 Tsangarira pursued, but was delayed by the slave 
 playing a tambourine, which forced him to dance. 
 Later he was burned alive by his wives.^ 
 
 Such stories as these may have suggested some 
 versions of the Bluebeard cycle, as in the Greek 
 variant, where the wife opening the forbidden chamber 
 sees her husband, as an ogre, devouring a corpse. 
 She herself would have been killed and eaten had she 
 not fled.^ Other Bluebeard stories also suggest the 
 cannibalistic husband, who kills his wife because she 
 will not eat the heart of his former wife.^ 
 
 The second type of cannibalistic tales contains 
 many examples of a perverted taste on the part ol 
 
 1 Theal, p. 128 ; Rink, pp. 106, 128 ; Chatelain, p. 99 ; Ferrand, 
 p. 119. 
 
 2 Legrand, p. 115. 
 
 •^ Garnett, ii. 99. Cf. a Basque story, in which Bluebeard punishes 
 his wife by shutting her in a dungeon and feeding her with human 
 flesh. — Webster, p. 173. 
 
294 CANNIBALISM: ODYSSiEUS AND CYCLOIDS 
 
 members of a race who have abandoned the practice. 
 There are two well-marked story cycles which exhibit 
 this reversion to the tastes of the stone ag'e. Of the 
 first of these a Russian story may be cited as typical. 
 A g-irl born of ordinary parents becomes very strong-, 
 and begins to eat everything. Ivan, her brother, 
 leaves home and lives with the Sun's sister, but after 
 some time returns, and finds that his sister has 
 devoured everyone. She, however, disarms his fears 
 and goes to get him food. A mouse warns him that 
 she is sharpening her teeth in order to make a meal 
 of him. Ivan takes flight, pursued by his sister, but 
 in the sequel he is saved from her clutches. Such a 
 cannibalistic girl is a recognised type of witch in 
 Russian folk-belief In the Serbian variant the girl 
 gets iron teeth from a mouse, kills her mother, and 
 prepares to eat her, when she is killed by the dog of 
 her youngest brother. A similar witch is believed in 
 by the Tuscans. When young she was very good, but 
 gradually her conduct roused suspicion, and the 
 daughter of the house in which she lived watched 
 her. She was found plotting with a man to bewitch 
 this maiden, and on hearing this the latter screamed. 
 That instant the man changed to a black dog, and 
 carried off the witch, who is now known as Bergoia, 
 the spirit of thunder and lightning. The " strigla " of 
 Greek folk-lore is of the same type, and in a Syriote 
 story appears as a princess, who devours her father 
 and ail his subjects, but is eventually destroyed by 
 her brother, aided by a mouse, as in the Russian 
 story. ^ The trolls of Icelandic folk-lore are frequently 
 cannibals : one troll story has afiinities, however, 
 with those just cited. A troll of mild temper has a 
 daughter of such curious appetites that her mother 
 has to provide human flesh for her every Christmas, 
 
 1 The Lamise of ancient and modem Greek folk-lore were fond of 
 eating children. Their prototype, Lamia, became a child-eating 
 monster as a result of Here's jealousy. 
 
THE UNNATURAL MOTHER 296 
 
 and steals human beingfs for that purpose ; while, in 
 another tale, a farmer's daughter becomes a cannibal 
 troll, eating- up all the people of the district till she 
 is destroyed by a brave young man. Outside 
 European folk-lore a similar belief is entertained in 
 Ceylon, where certain demons are born of human 
 parents, whom they leave shortly after birth, first 
 trying to work their demoniac powers on them. 
 From Samoa comes a story of a kings wife who 
 became wild ; horns grew from her head, and she ate 
 up all her husband's subjects. Trying to get hold of 
 her son, she jumped into the water, and, as a result 
 of the immersion, her horns broke off and her per- 
 verted tastes left her. She is now the evening star. 
 In some Eskimo tales we have a woman giving birth 
 to a monster which puts to death all in the house, 
 save a boy and girl who run away. The monster 
 is usually, however, the revenger of some act of 
 cruelty. We may add here, for the sake of compari- 
 son, an ancient Greek story, preserved by Athenseus, 
 of Cambleta, King of the Lydians, who was a great 
 glutton, and who one night cut his wife to pieces and 
 ate her. Next morning he found her hand in his 
 mouth, and at once killed himself^ 
 
 The second cycle is that of the unnatural mother, 
 who kills her child and sends it cooked for her 
 husband's dinner. We cite the Magyar version. A 
 poor man had a wife and two children. While he 
 was ploughing, his wife killed one of them, stewed 
 him in cabbage, and sent the mess to her husband 
 by her little girl. The husband found the dish 
 
 ^ Ralston, p. 170. Mijatovich, p. 255. Leland, E.R.R., p. 113. 
 Hahn, ii. 283, cf. F.L.J.^ ii. 239. Journal Royal Asiatic Soc.^ 
 Ceylon Branch, 1865-66, p. 17. Turner, p. 260. Rink, p. 258. 
 Athenasus, lib. x. cap. iii. In many tales of Slavonic origin, Russian, 
 Greek, Albanian, Bulgarian, Magyar, etc., the Sun is a cannibal. Cf. 
 Dozon, p. xxiii. ; Jones, p. 96. Hahn, No. 10. Bent, p. 57, cites a 
 story in which he eats his relations if his food is not ready in the 
 evening. 
 
296 CANNIBALISM : ODYSSEUS AND CYCLOPS 
 
 agreeable, but the girl suspected what it was, and hid 
 the bones in a tree. They turned into a bird, which 
 sang — 
 
 " My mother killed me, 
 My father ate me, 
 My sister gathered up my bones. 
 She wrapped them in clean white linen, 
 She placed them in a hollow tree. 
 And now, behold, I'm a young crow." 
 
 As a reward for singing this song, "various people 
 gave the bird a cloak, a stick, and a millstone. With 
 these he flew home and sang his song there. The 
 mother was terrified, and sent the girl to drive the 
 bird away. To her he gave the cloak. Next the 
 father went out, and was given the stick, which just 
 suited him, as he was getting old. Lastly the woman 
 went out, and the millstone came crashing down on 
 her head, killing her on the spot as a reward for her 
 evil deeds. ^ 
 
 This is, of course, Grimm's story of the Juniper- 
 tree, made famous by Goethe's placing the words of 
 the bird's song in Margaret s mouth. In this, as in 
 most other versions, the woman's vile act is explained 
 by the fact of her being the boy's stepmother, jealous 
 of his extraordinary beauty, which her daughter does 
 not share. The story had great popularity, and there 
 are Scots, English, Swedish, and Breton versions, 
 while a Malagasy tale has a curious resemblance to 
 it. A father kills his daughter and cooks her body, 
 telling his wife it is lamb's flesh, and bidding her ask 
 guests to the feast. She knows that it is her child, 
 and preserves the bones which grow once more into 
 the girl. Then she kills her husband, and sends his 
 flesh cooked to his relations, who eat it unconsciously.^ 
 Cannibalism is not attributed to the murderer in 
 
 ^ Jones, p. 298. 
 
 2 Douglas, p. 5. Henderson, p. 314. Hofberg, Svenska Folk- 
 sdgnen. Sebillot, p. 223. F.L.J.^ i. 273. 
 
PERVERTED TASTE 297 
 
 these stories, but the ghastly meal prepared for the 
 unconscious parent proves that she is at least not 
 far removed from the anthropophagous stage. In 
 the chapter on Helpful Animals reference has already 
 been made to certain versions of the Cinderella story, 
 where the mother of the girl is changed to a beast, 
 slain, and eaten. But in some Greek as well as 
 Dalmatian versions of the story, which are unique, 
 the two jealous sisters kill their mother and eat her, 
 the youngest refusing to share in the meal, but 
 collecting the bones (as advised beforehand), which 
 turn into gold and jewels.^ The cannibalism of the 
 daughters is of a repulsive type, but it is difficult to 
 say whether it is natural to them, or an example of a 
 perverted taste, suddenly acquired through their 
 jealous passions, and, therefore, analogous to the 
 incident of the Juniper-tree cycle of tales. 
 
 The same incident of cannibalism as a perverted 
 taste occurs sporadically in folk- tales from all parts of 
 the world. In a Red Indian tale a woman eats the 
 corpses of the slain, and is never hungry again 
 because she has eaten too much human flesh ; Raja 
 Siung, in a Malay story, has a boy slain daily for 
 dinner, because he had been given the heart of a boy 
 to eat by a wicked servant, and found it so good that 
 he could not refrain his desires ; while in Mongol and 
 Aino tales a jealous second wife demands the heart 
 of the first wife's child as the only remedy for her 
 pretended illness.^ Most curious of all in this 
 connection are certain tales of the Australians, 
 themselves a cannibal people, in which aggravated 
 cannibalism on the part of certain persons is put 
 down to perverted taste. Thus Mullyan, the eagle- 
 
 1 Garnett, ii. 112 ; Miss Cox, p. 416. In a Portuguese Cinderella 
 story the starving sisters eat each other. — Coelho, p. 75. 
 
 2 Petitot, p. 160. Skeat, p. 59, Miss Busk, p. 71. Chamberlain, 
 p. 48. Cf. the Indian rakshasi tales already cited, where the demon 
 demands the eye of each queen. 
 
298 CANNIBALISM : ODYSSEUS AND CYCLOPS 
 
 hawk, lives apart from the other blacks, because he 
 is a cannibal, and eats them, until the friends of his 
 victims put him to death. A similar story is told of 
 an old woman, Bougoodoogahdah, whose infantile 
 name is not in keeping- with her character ; and of 
 Pig-giebillah, the porcupine, who, when he got old, 
 loved the flesh of men, and enticed young blacks to 
 his camp, where he killed and ate them, until the 
 blacks put him to death. ^ 
 
 Lastly, there are tales in which cannibalism is 
 resorted to for want of food. The Greek islet of 
 Phlebas is haunted by the ghosts of seamen who 
 had there lived on each other till only their captain 
 remained. Seven queens in an Indian tale, driven 
 out by the rakshasi wife, live on the children whom 
 six of them give birth to, like the women who 
 appealed to Solomon. In a Kafir story a woman, 
 in time of famine, becomes a cannibal and eats all 
 the people of the village in which she has taken refuge ; 
 while the chief of a Fjort story, asked by his starving 
 people to provide them with food, gives them his own 
 son to eat. They refuse it, because he was "one 
 of our family," but send the meat to the chiefs of 
 neighbouring tribes.^ 
 
 The incidents of cannibalism in folk-tales are 
 reflections of a custom which it is most likely all 
 races practised at some stage of their history, ^f all 
 the reasons which have been assigned for the origin 
 of the practice, famine is the most probable. Men 
 were driven to eat each other out of necessity. ; The 
 custom once begun, many races found it difficult to 
 give it up, even when food was plentiful and easily 
 
 1 Mrs Parker, ist ser., pp. 62, 90 ; 2nd sen, p. 39 ; cf. p. 15. 
 
 '•^ F.L.J.^ iv. 251. Day, p. 118. Theal, p. 115. Dennett, p. 12. 
 The heroes of Scots ballad and tradition, Lord Soulis and Melville 
 of Glenbervie, are said to have been sodden and eaten by those who 
 rushed off, like Becket's murderers, to fulfil the king's outspoken wish. 
 — See Scott's Minstrelsy^ p. 462. 
 
ENDOPHAGY 299 
 
 obtained. On the other hand, It continued as an 
 occasional custom for other reasons. It was believed 
 that by eating any part of a man, the qualities of 
 that man would pass over to the eater. This practice 
 is also connected with that of ritual cannibalism. 
 For the same reason cannibalism occurs with a 
 medical aspect down to very late times, part of the 
 body being- eaten as possessed of curative virtues. 
 Again, cannibalism survives with a legal aspect ; the 
 criminal being eaten by way of Indignity or revenge, 
 v/hlle the dead enemy was frequently treated in the 
 same way. It Is found, too, that some tribes practise 
 cannibalism occasionally (i) as a filial act — the 
 family eating the dead father, or (2) In order to keep 
 down the population. This is endophagy, as opposed 
 to exophagy — the commoner form ; for while all 
 cannibalistic races have no scruples about eating 
 men outside the kin, most of them have strong 
 objections to eating those of their own kin, on the 
 same principle by which the totem animal is not 
 eaten by the men of its clan. The evidence for 
 earlier cannibalism among races which abhor It 
 occurs In legends pointing to the practice, or to 
 myths of culture-heroes who taught the people to 
 give it up.^ Many races at a low level of civilisation 
 have been known to give up cannibalism of their own 
 accord. 
 
 The circumstances of the cannibalistic Incident in 
 folk-tales require explanation. Taking the first type 
 of cannibalistic episodes, we find that man-eating is 
 practised by an ogre, demon, or witch (the cycles 
 of the Cyclops and of the ogre outwitted by being 
 killed or made to eat some of his own family), or 
 by members of another race who are feared, and who 
 entrap unwary members of non-cannibalistic tribes, 
 or, in some cases, marry them. Usually these 
 
 ^ The Ainos were so taught by the divine Aioina (Batchelor, p. 2), 
 the Egyptians by Osiris (Diodorus, i. 14). 
 
300 CANNIBALISM : ODYSSEUS AND CYCLOPS 
 
 members of a hostile race have human traits, but 
 sometimes they are more or less superhuman. 
 
 Generally speaking, the races which abandon 
 cannibalism will be of a higher type, and they will 
 begin to look with horror on races who still practise 
 it and with whom they are in contact. When 
 cannibalism was beginning to die out in the 
 Marquesas Islands, one tribe reproached another 
 with :;still keeping up the practice.^ The feeling of 
 horror would grow as time went on, and the cannibal- 
 istic race would gradually assume more barbarous and 
 less human traits. Actual examples of this occur in 
 plenty. Thus the people of Savage Island dread 
 the Tongans traditionally as "man-eaters"; the 
 Quissama tribe are dreaded by the other tribes in 
 Angola for the same reason ; the Eskimo always 
 refer cannibalism to another race, viz., the Red 
 Indians, whom they call Irtkily, cannibals with dogs' 
 heads ; the Dayaks of Jangkang are universally 
 accused of cannibalism by their neighbours ; one 
 Indian tribe in Guiana is looked upon with traditional 
 dread by the others for the same reason ; the 
 cannibalistic negroes of the Gold Coast are execrated 
 by the men of Old Calabar, who have given up the 
 practice ; the Moors in Senegal believe that white 
 men live on human flesh ; and gipsies have been 
 accused by Europeans of the same practice.^ The 
 last two instances prove that the accusation is not 
 always a true one, but help to show that a strange 
 race is regarded with suspicion, and easily charged 
 with what is thought to be a most horrible crime. 
 Thus the words Hun and Hungar became synony- 
 mous with ogre in Europe. Ogre itself is derived 
 
 ^ Letourneau, Sociology, p. 211. 
 
 2 Turner, p. 305. J. A J., i. 187 ; cf. the Angola story cited above. 
 Letourneau, p. 214 ; Rink, p. 45. St John, i. 123 ; cf. Ling Roth, 
 ii. 217. Im Thurn, p. 420. Anth. Rev., i. 48. Reade, p. 446. 
 Groome, In Gypsy Tents, p. 243. 
 
CANNIBALISTIC SLANDERS 301 
 
 from Tartar invaders called *'Oigour," or from 
 *'Ugri"; the Basque Tartaro is a Tartar; the og-re 
 of French tales is sometimes called *' Le Sarrasin " ; 
 the rakshasi of Eastern tales is a ''rakus," raw-eater, 
 and may be simply the cannibalistic aborigine trans- 
 formed to a demon. ^ Races who ate their meat raw 
 were regarded with horror by those who cooked their 
 food, and were easily charged with cannibalism — a 
 charge frequently brought by the Greeks against 
 barbarians like the Germans — forgetting that their 
 god Dionysus was himself called the *' raw-eater" — 
 and by the Vedic Hindus against the "goat-nosed" 
 Turanians. Imaginative writers of classical times, 
 rightly or wrongly, peopled unknown lands freely 
 with 
 
 " Cannibals that each other eat, 
 The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads 
 Do grow beneath their shoulders." 
 
 Among the Zulus the word Amazimu is synonymous 
 with ogre ; historically, the Amazimu were a tribe 
 who adopted cannibalism and fled to the mountains, 
 where they were exterminated. So the Weendijoes, 
 or men returned to cannibalism, are feared in the 
 Labrador and Ojibway districts.^ Too often, without 
 any basis in fact, cannibalism has been a charge 
 easily brought against any body of men by their 
 enemies. First the Jews, then the primitive Christians, 
 were accused of it by the pagans ; the Templars, at the 
 time of their overthrow, were charged with it ; and it 
 has from mediaeval times onward been repeatedly 
 
 1 The Hungars of early mediaeval times were reputed to drink the 
 blood of their captives ; so that in legend " hungar," corrupted to 
 "ongar," signified a man- or child-eater. 
 
 2 Casalis, The Basutos. Hind, Explorations in Labrador^ i. 59. 
 /M. Jacottet (p. 246) says that the Basuto call all Kafir and Zulu tribes 
 
 Ma-Tebele. One such tribe, whose chief steals a young girl, is 
 described as having only one leg, one arm, one eye, and one ear. ^ 
 See infra^ p. 302. 
 
302 CANNIBALISM : ODYSSEUS AND CYCLOPS 
 
 asserted popularly of the Jews. One of the commonest 
 accusations against the persecuted Jews in Russia is 
 that of ritual cannibalism. 
 
 It is in such a condition that our cannibalistic 
 folk-tales must have arisen. The cannibal ogfres, 
 Cyclops, giants, and rakshasis are personifications of 
 the cannibal races of a lower civilisation, with features 
 and traits exaggerated by horror and fear. The 
 horror arose less from the fact of cannibalism than 
 from the fact that the victims were stolen by men of 
 another tribe or race. Women and children were 
 frequently carried off; actual escapes of the kind 
 described in the tales may occasionally have occurred ; 
 while the cannibal captor may have been overcome 
 or outwitted in the same way as, with a sense of 
 justice, the stories relate. Indeed, few incidents of 
 folk- tales have greater vraisemb lance than these 
 cannibalistic episodes. Again, the stupidity and 
 dullness of the ogre — invariable traits wherever he is 
 met with — are precisely the characteristics ascribed 
 to aboriginal races by their conquerors — men of 
 brains and quicker wits but less bodily strength. 
 The exaggerated traits are the additions made by the 
 imagination as centuries rolled on and cannibalism 
 became a thing of the past ; actual human cannibals 
 without exaggerated characteristics occur only in the 
 folk-tales of lower tribes still exposed to the attacks 
 of actual cannibal neighbours, as in the tale from 
 Aurora, a probably non-cannibalistic region sur- 
 rounded by a cannibal zone. In some cases we can 
 almost see the process of exaggeration at work. In 
 the Kafir tales cited the cannibals are ordinary men 
 of another race, but occasionally they are described 
 as having one leg longer than the other, while the 
 shell and human-bone mounds of Guiana are ascribed 
 by the modern population to a savage race, "of 
 habits vile and low," who ate men.^ Little is here 
 
 * Theal, p. 120 ; Brett, p. 34. 
 
THE CANNIBAL WITCH 303 
 
 needed to convert these races into ogres and 
 monsters. 
 
 A cannibal witch figures in many of the European 
 cannibal episodes. Such stories suggest a different 
 origin than those of ogres. They are in effect the 
 dim memories of a time when ritual cannibalism was 
 practised in Europe by the priestesses of the Earth- 
 goddess, memories which also survived in the mediaeval 
 and later witch-trials, when spurious confessions of 
 cannibalism were extorted from the witches — lineal 
 descendants of pagan priestesses in an age when 
 woman had a high place in the civilisation of the 
 time. Human sacrifice and ritual cannibalism were 
 then legal, and the priestess was held in high honour. 
 With* the introduction of Christianity the priestess 
 became a witch, accused of stealing children in order 
 to eat them in a ghastly meal.^ A similar degrada- 
 tion sometimes happened even in the case of the 
 goddess herself, the divinity becoming a demon. 
 The Baba Yaga of Russian folk-lore is a distorted 
 survival of the South German goddess Berctha, who 
 is also conceived of as a fearful witch in her own 
 country. She steals her victims, cooks and eats 
 them, and in general is but little different from the 
 ordinary witch of other parts of Europe.^ 
 
 On the other hand, stories of cannibalistic demons 
 may have arisen through the horror at human sacrifices 
 to gods which resulted from the rise of Christianity, 
 Buddhism, etc., with their purer worship. The gods 
 were believed to eat the sacrifice. With the advent 
 
 1 Pearson, ii. 21 seq. In most lands where cannibalism is 
 commonly practised, the priest, medicine-man, or chief, receives the 
 best portions. This explains some aspects of ritual cannibalism, 
 where the priest eats part of the human sacrifice. A once common act 
 of cannibalism is now restricted to the priest, whose right to the best 
 portion is thus continued. Cf. some Red Indian tales, where 
 cannibalism is attributed to medicine-men after the people them- 
 selves have given it up. — Leland, A.L.^ pp. 41, 288. 
 
 - Ralston, Songs of the Russian People^ p. 161. 
 
304 CANNIBALISM : ODYSSEUS AND CYCLOPS 
 
 of the higher religfion they became demons who would 
 only be satisfied with human flesh. The natural 
 evolution of any one religion would also bring- this 
 about. The gods received human victims from 
 worshippers who themselves ate men. At a higher 
 stage cannibalism ceases, but the sacrifice is con- 
 tinued. Then it, too, comes to an end. but the 
 memory of it remains, and men come to imagine that 
 demons and not gods ate human victims. Even 
 among the Polynesians, long before Christianity had 
 appeared among them, and while they still believed 
 that their gods feasted on the dead, myths about the 
 gods, not unlike some of our European tales, had 
 arisen. Miru, queen of Hades, sent her beautiful 
 daughters to entrap the hero Ngaru. They brought 
 him to Hades and bound him, offering him kava, 
 with which Miru stupefied her victims. On him 
 alone of mortals it had no effect. He saw the red- 
 hot oven in which the victims were cooked, and asked 
 Miru why it was being heated. " To cook you," was 
 the hag's answer. But Ngaru reproached her, and 
 said that her daughters had been kindly treated in 
 his home. At these words the heavens became black, 
 Ngaru put his foot on the oven, and rain fell in 
 torrents, putting out the fire, and sweeping away 
 Miru and her assistants. Then he escaped to the 
 upper air. But Miru, being immortal, still keeps an 
 oven blazing for all the dead. It is more than likely 
 that, in the first instance, the custom of human 
 sacrifice to the gods originated the belief that the 
 dead are eaten by them.^ 
 
 The stories of the second type arise from those 
 occasional lapses into the customs of a savage past, 
 of which the history of civilisation is so full. 
 Madness and brutalised lust have frequently reintro- 
 duced cannibalism, while the horrors of famine have 
 caused the worse horror of eating human flesh. The 
 
 ^ Gill, p. 229 seq. 
 
REALISM OF OUR TALES 305 
 
 evidence for both is copious enough, but here it had 
 better remain unwritten. Suffice it to say that the 
 realism of the folk-tales of cannibalism as a perverted 
 taste, or through famine, comes short of the reality 
 which that evidence contains.^ 
 
 ^ Some of the incidents of folk-tale cannibalism are copied exactly 
 and with a curious minuteness, from actual practice. Thus the ogre 
 is described as sending round to invite guests, or distributing the 
 food. This is actually done, e.g.^ among the savage mountain tribes 
 of Burmah, in New Guinea, the New Hebrides, etc. Lumholtz, 
 p. 274; Romilly, p. 66; Turner, p. 313. The hero's' having to pre- 
 pare the oven is paralleled by actual practice in old New Zealand, 
 where the victim had to collect wood for the fire and make ready the 
 oven, Andree, Die Anthropophagie^ p. 70. Among the Mesayas of 
 the Amazon he had to gather fuel, and among the Tupis he had to 
 light the fire {Ibid.^ pp. 80, 87). In many of these cannibalistic tales 
 the ogre, etc., smells out the concealed hero, and usually repeats some 
 formula like — 
 
 " Fee, fie, fo, fum, 
 I smell the blood of some earthly one." 
 
 Not only does such a formula occur in Asiatic and European tales, 
 it is found in stories of a concealed person all over the world — Zuni 
 (Gushing, p. 214), Eskimo (Rink, p. 218), Maori (Glarke, p. 90), Zulu 
 (Gallaway, p. 49), and other African stories. Mr Lang {Perrault^ 
 cvii.) points out that, in the Eumenides^ they smell out Orestes. It is 
 obvious that while the close likeness of the formula might suggest 
 borrowing, it really arises out of the " manner of primitive man," as of 
 savages, viz., the extraordinarily keen sense of smell which they 
 possess, and which we have lost. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 tabu in folk-tales 
 
 Bluebeard 
 
 Primitive and savage institutions are more complex 
 than is generally supposed. Such things as religious 
 mysteries, totemism, and the system of tabu, all point 
 to methods of thought and reasoning, which, at 
 such a stage, are surprising. In this chapter we shall 
 take one of these institutions, that of tabu, and see 
 how folk-tales have preserved memories of its sway 
 in religion and social custom. The first set of tales 
 may be called that of the Bluebeard or Forbidden 
 Chamber cycle ; the second, the Cupid and Psyche 
 cycle. 
 
 I. The Forbidden Chamber. 
 
 The tales in this series fall into two classes ; those 
 in which a woman, and those in which a man, is 
 possessed of the fatal curiosity. Both, in my opinion, 
 have a similar origin. 
 
 The story of Bluebeard is familiar to everyone 
 from childhood : there are versions of it in every 
 European country, and only a few need be cited. 
 They present these common features, that the former 
 wives, by breaking the command, are put to death, 
 while the last wife breaks it, and is about to be 
 murdered when she is rescued, or having broken it, 
 outwits her husband, and succeeds in punishing his 
 
THE FEATHER-BIRD 307 
 
 wickedness by death. We shall begfin with a Basque 
 version. A cobbler is too poor to feed his daughters, 
 but meets with a gentleman who offers to take one 
 for so much money. He goes off with the eldest to 
 his palace and marries her, but soon after, having to 
 go on a journey, he leaves her his keys, saying she 
 may unlock every door but one. This door she does 
 open, and there she sees a number of dead bodies. 
 She swoons, and that moment her husband appears, 
 consigns her to the dungeon, and feeds her on human 
 flesh. He next obtains her sister, who meets with 
 the same fate ; but when he marries the youngest and 
 discovers her disobedience, she attacks him with a 
 sabre and puts him to death. Here the wives are 
 only maltreated, but they are beheaded in an 
 Esthonian tale, and the third is only saved in the 
 nick of time by her page, who kills Bluebeard and 
 marries the widow. ^ Another type is that of Grimm's 
 Feather-Bird. The husband is a sorcerer, and shuts 
 the first wife in a dungeon, because she has opened 
 the chamber door and discovered a basin of blood 
 within. He then abducts the second sister, who 
 suffers like the other. The third is cautious, and 
 discovers her sisters in the forbidden room without 
 her husband's knowledge. She has withstood tempta- 
 tion : now she will be his bride. " Very well, but 
 carry a sack of gold to my father first." She puts 
 her sisters in the sack after giving them due instruc- 
 tions, and sends the sorcerer off. Then she sets an 
 image of herself on the tower, covers herself with 
 feathers, and escapes. When the bridegroom and 
 his guests are assembled, her brothers arrive and put 
 them all to death. In a Celtic variant the husband is 
 a giant and kills the elder sisters, carries off all three 
 (the youngest restores the others with a vessel of 
 balsam) in sacks unwittingly, and is slain by the 
 clever youngest sister ; in the Norse version a troll is 
 
 1 Webster, p. 173. Kirby, ii. i. 
 
308 TABU IN FOLK-TALES 
 
 the murderer ; in an Italian it is the devil — he is 
 mocked by all three wives, "and since that time 
 has lost his taste for marrying." That is not 
 surprising- ! ^ 
 
 The Bluebeard type of story is curiously mingled 
 in certain tales with another type — that of the 
 Robber Bridegroom. A Suabian version is that a 
 robber chief, pretending to be a great lord, married a 
 miller's eldest daughter, whom he forbade ever to 
 enter a certain room in his house, giving her an egg 
 which she must always hold in her hand while he is 
 from home. As soon as his back was turned she 
 entered the room, and saw there a bloody corpse. In 
 her horror she dropped the egg, and so her dis- 
 obedience was discovered, and her husband killed her. 
 Disguising himself, he obtained the second daughter, 
 who shared the same fate. The third sister was more 
 careful, and placed the Ggg in a safe place before 
 opening the door. Then pretending to her outwitted 
 husband that she had received a letter announcing 
 her father's illness, she begged him to take her home. 
 Arrived there, she at once delivered him up to justice. 
 Soon after she fell into the hands of his gang, who 
 would have put her to a fearful death had she not 
 escaped by the aid of an old woman. ^ 
 
 In all these tales the husband is an evil being ; the 
 wives, though punished, are usually restored ; and 
 Bluebeard meets his reward in the end. But we now 
 come to several stories in which the person who 
 forbids is not evil, and the punishment on the tabu- 
 breaker is evidently just. A Pisan tale may be taken 
 as an example of this. A lady asked a woodman for 
 
 1 Grimm, No. 46. Campbell, ii. 289. This is a variant of a story 
 in which the husband is an enchanted horse, who, when his head is 
 chopped off by the heroine, becomes a prince and marries her. Cf. 
 the Norse and German tales cited below (p. 311). Thorpe, V.T.S.j 
 p. 288. Imbriani, p. 7. 
 
 ■^ Meier, p. 134. 
 
THE MYSTERIOUS GODMOTHER 309 
 
 one of his daughters as a companion. This girl 
 entered the forbidden chamber, where she saw a lady- 
 bathing- and two girls reading. She hastily shut the 
 door, but soon after was taxed with disobedience, con- 
 fessed, and had her head cut off. So it happened to 
 the second daughter, but the third lied, and was sent 
 by the lady into the forest, where a prince met and 
 married her. Later her two children disappeared in 
 the strangest way, and she was put away as insane. 
 Then the lady appeared, generously saved her, and 
 restored her children.^ In most of the variants there 
 is only one daughter, and the lady is frequently the 
 Virgin in disguise (Norse, Hessian, Lettish, Wal- 
 lachian, Lorraine, and Wend stories),^ or a mysterious 
 woman who appears and asks to be the girl's god- 
 mother at her baptism (Czech, German, Tuscan), 
 and who, curiously enough, is delivered from an 
 enchantment by the girl's disobedience.^ A Suabian 
 tale has a black dwarf, to whom the girl is sold by her 
 father (here the tabu is not to pluck roses from a 
 certain rosebush) ; while in a Swedish story she is 
 given to a man with a grey mantle, through an 
 imprudent promise of her father's. As a rule, there is 
 nothing unpleasant in the forbidden room, and in all 
 the girl's children are mysteriously carried off by her 
 former protectress, because she still persists in denial. 
 Then her husband resolves to send her to the scaffold 
 as a murderess (in the Norse version the Virgin has 
 smeared her mouth with blood, and she is thought to 
 be a cannibal). There the mysterious lady appears, 
 the girl confesses, and she is at last saved, and her 
 children are restored.* 
 
 1 F.L.R., i. 196. 
 
 - Dasent, p. 198. Grimm, No. 3. Leskien, p. 498. Schott, No. 2. 
 Cosquin, ii. 43. Haupt und Schmaler, ii. 179. 
 
 2 Waldau, p. 600. Ey, p. 176. Comparetti, No. 38. 
 
 * Meier, p. 36. Grimm, iii. 324. Cf. the mysterious disappear- 
 ance of the children in the Husband and Wife tabu stories, p. 374 
 infra. 
 
310 TABU IN FOLK-TALES 
 
 The stories in which a man breaks the command 
 and yields to curiosity show also, though in a much 
 less degree, different ways of looking- at the result of 
 the act of disobedience. In the great majority of 
 these tales the opening of the forbidden door, though 
 involving great danger, leads to good luck ; in them 
 the person who forbids the opening is evil. We shall 
 look at some instances of this first. By far the 
 largest group is that in which the forbidden chamber 
 incident is followed by the flight of the hero on a 
 magic steed, and the transformation of objects which 
 impede the pursuer's flight. The hero is then chosen 
 as the husband of a king's youngest child, while his 
 two brothers-in-law take the credit of his cleverness 
 and valour, until the king finds out the truth and gives 
 him his fitting place. As told in the Tyrol, the story 
 runs that a prince, driven from his kingdom, took 
 service with a certain man, who told him to give 
 meat to his mare and hay to his bear. Then, having 
 forbidden him to enter a certain room, he went off 
 on a journey. Reversing the order, the prince gave 
 hay to the mare and meat to the bear, and, breaking 
 the command, opened the door. Within, he saw a 
 lake, in which he bathed, but when he came out the 
 mare told him that his hair had been changed to 
 gold. He was very much afraid, but the mare bade 
 him take a comb, scissors, and a mirror, and get 
 upon her back. At once she flew off like the wind, 
 closely pursued by the mysterious man, whose progress 
 was barred by the comb becoming a high hedge, the 
 scissors a forest, and the mirror a lake. The sequel 
 contains the prince's adventures as husband of a 
 princess who falls in love with him in spite of his 
 humble position, the fraud of his brothers-in-law, and 
 his final acknowledgment.^ 
 
 The introduction to this group of tales varies ; 
 sometimes the hero, like the Tyrolese prince, takes 
 
 1 Schneller, No. 20. 
 
THE ENCHANTED HORSE 311 
 
 service with the mysterious personage. This occurs 
 in Norse, German, Roumanian, Esthonian, and 
 Lapp tales. ^ Sometimes the hero is adopted, by a 
 drakos in a Greek story, or by the queen of the 
 Yakhs in a Cambodian tale, which has no forbidden 
 chamber, but in which the hero, Chao Gnoh, is 
 ordered not to g"o near golden and silver pools. ^ 
 But in the greater number the hero has been pro- 
 mised to his master before birth — Greek, Albanian, 
 Russian, Czech, Italian, Tyrolese, Austrian, Kamaon, 
 and Swahili, though in some of these the usual sequel 
 varies or is wanting.^ But in nearly all occur the epi- 
 sodes of some part of the hero's body being changed 
 to gold — the inevitable source of the discovery of his 
 disobedience, and the flight on the magic horse. And 
 as a rule, the magical objects which stay pursuit are 
 found in the forbidden room. The Norse and German 
 versions are interesting because in both the horse 
 orders the hero to chop off its head, and when he does 
 so it changes to a king (enchanted by the troll of the 
 Norse story), or into an enchanted princess (German), 
 who gives him a wand and bids him strike a certain 
 tree with it when he is in need and she will appear to 
 him. The Kumaun story presents an interesting 
 variant. A yogi promised a childless king that each 
 of his seven wives would have a son, provided that he 
 agreed to give up one of them to his keeping. The 
 son of the seventh was given to the yogi, who 
 showed him all his riches, but forbade him to open 
 a certain door. When the yogi had gone out he at 
 
 1 Thorpe, Y.T.S., p. 293 (Norse). Ih'd., p. 423 (German). 
 Roumanian F.T. (hero takes service with fairies), p. 27. Kirby, 
 i. 260. Germania, 1870, No. 6. In these two stories the usual 
 sequel is lacking. For the Transformation episode, see p. 173 supra. 
 
 2 Hahn, No. 45. Bastian, Die Volker des Oestlichen Asiens, iv. 
 350 (with complete identity with the European tales). 
 
 3 Hahn, ii. 197. In the Swahili tale (Steere, p. 381) there is no 
 command, but the hero's evident desire to hide his golden finger 
 shows that it must have dropped out of the story. 
 
312 TABU IN FOLK-TALES 
 
 once opened the door, and found so many human 
 bones that he concluded the yogfi must be an ogre. 
 In this belief he was confirmed by the bones telling 
 him he would soon join them, but, to avoid this, they 
 advised him to ask the yogi to show him how to 
 march round a cauldron of oil when he was bidden to 
 do so, and while the yogi was giving the lesson, to 
 cut off his head. By following this advice he escaped, 
 and then restored the bones to life. Similar advice 
 is given to the hero by a horse in the Swahili tale 
 the demon of which is also a cannibal, so that these 
 two tales represent a type of story approaching more 
 nearly than the others of the group to those of the 
 Bluebeard cycle. 
 
 A French story stands midw^ay between this 
 group and the next. Here it is a king who forbids 
 his son to enter the room, where he finds a fountain 
 which turns his finger, dress, and hair to gold. Then 
 he flees off on his father's steed. Bayard, and the 
 barrier transformations occur in the usual way.^ But 
 in the stories of the second group, though it is a father 
 who gives the command to his son, the father loses 
 what the chamber contains, and the son's course of 
 action leads on to fortune for him. I cite the Servian 
 version. A king captured a wild man, and shut him 
 up in a room, forbidding anyone on pain of death 
 to open the door and release him. The cell was 
 under his son's room, and he, troubled by the 
 noise, went down and released the wild man, who at 
 once made off. The king would have killed his son, 
 but the courtiers advised his banishment with a 
 servant. This servant personates the hero, and at 
 another king's court tries to get rid of him by having 
 him sent to capture various animals. They run off 
 whenever he approaches, and he is in despair, when 
 the wild man covered with hair appears and assists 
 him. Then he provides him with fine clothes and a 
 
 ^ Cosquin, i. 133. 
 
KOSHCHEI THE DEATHLESS 313 
 
 horse, so that he is enabled to become the successful 
 candidate for the king's daughter. Of this story- 
 there are Swedish (with a liberated dwarf), Norse, 
 German, Polish, and Italian variants.^ They are 
 connected with another and more interesting group, 
 as will be seen from the Russian variant. A 
 prince, having married Marya Morevna, is forbidden 
 by her to open a certain room in her absence. 
 Curiosity gets the better of him, and in the room he 
 sees Koshchei the Deathless in chains, who begs for 
 water. As soon as the prince gives it, he bursts his 
 chains, tells him he will never see his wife again, 
 and rushes off. The sequel tells how the prince, after 
 long search, discovered and saved his wife, but not 
 till he had undergone terrible dangers. There is a 
 Serbian variant, where the wife forbids her husband 
 ever to go into the twelfth cellar. He opens it and 
 sees a barrel bound with iron hoops, and from it a 
 voice cries, '* I am dying of thirst ; please give me a 
 drop of water." It contains a dragon, who, as he 
 swallows the water, regains strength, bursts the barrel, 
 and flees with the wife.^ A Kashmir story may here 
 be noted. A prince killed the jinn which destroyed 
 his father, and shut up its head in one of the twelve 
 thousand rooms of his palace, forbidding his mother 
 to open it. When she unlocked it the head told her 
 that the prince was a jinn, and *'some day he will 
 kill you as he killed me, your husband." To compass 
 his destruction the head advised her to send her son 
 for tiger s milk ; he succeeded in the quest ; then for 
 a certain princess ; again he was successful, and the 
 
 1 Mijatovich, p. i8o. Thorpe, V.T.S.^ p. 86. Asbjoernsen and 
 Moe, ii. Bo. Grimm, No. 136. Woycicki, iii. No. 5. Straparola, v., 
 No. I. 
 
 ^ Ralston, p. 85. Cf. the story of Fedor and Anastasia, where a 
 snake from the forbidden chamber flees with the wife. Mr Ralston 
 remarks on the fact that in Slavonic tales it is invariably the man 
 who breaks the tabu. This is a peculiarity of many Eastern tales also, 
 see tn/ra. Mijatovich, p. 42. C/. variant, p. 180. 
 
314 TABU IN FOLK-TALES 
 
 truth was revealed.^ This story is a somewhat 
 curious version of that cycle in which a treacherous 
 mother or sister or wife plots with some wicked 
 being- against the hero. Some examples of this 
 group have been met with in discussing- the Water of 
 Life, and it should be noted that, in some of the 
 variants, the woman finds this being- in a chamber 
 which the hero has told her not to open.^ 
 
 '' In Eastern fictions," as Mr Clouston points out, 
 *'the forbidden chamber does not generally contain 
 anything- horrifying- to the person w^hose curiosity 
 has been unable to resist the injunction."^ They 
 are, however, excellent examples of the fatal results 
 of tabu-breaking- by a man. Thus Saktideva, having- 
 married a g-enii called Vidhyadhari, is forbidden by 
 her to mount a certain terrace. Reg-ardless of her 
 will, he ascends the terrace and sees there three doors 
 of as many rooms in each of which lies a dead g-irl. 
 Next he sees a lake with a horse on its bank. He 
 mounts the horse, is thrown into the lake, and that 
 instant finds himself back in his own country having- 
 lost everything-. Again, in the Hitopadesa there is a 
 similar incident. Kandarpaketu lived happily with 
 the semi-divine queen of the golden city until, con- 
 trary to her desire, he touched the picture of a 
 Vidhyadhari, which kicked him back instantaneously 
 into his own country. But the classic example is 
 that of the Third Calender in the Arabian Nights ^ 
 who, by opening the golden door and mounting the 
 winged steed, lost at once his eye, his forty charming 
 
 ^ Knowles, p. 2. 
 
 2 See p. 58 supra. In a Swahili story the hero is advised by a 
 monkey, who has helped him, to open a room in the house of his 
 fiancees father, the Shereef, as it will reveal a valuable treasure. 
 Various ceremonies have to be gone through in the process ; these 
 in reality undo the enchantment with which the Shereef had changed 
 a jinn into this monkey shape, and as soon as he recovers it he bolts 
 with the girl. Steere, p. 175. 
 
 3 P.T, andF., i. 199. 
 
TIR NA N'OG 315 
 
 companions, and the beautiful palace where he was 
 a welcome guest. These Eastern stories are paralleled 
 by incidents in Celtic romance. Oisin, having- 
 reached Tir na n'Og, the Land of Youth, was told 
 by its queen never to stand on a certain stone. He 
 did so, and saw his native land, and the sight filled 
 him with irresistible longing to return to it.^ The 
 queen could not dissuade him, but warned him if he 
 must go, never to let his bridle leave his hand, or, in 
 another version, never to dismount. But all this was 
 forgotten as soon as he came to Erin, and at once he 
 was changed to a weary and helpless old man.^ 
 These stories form a connecting link between those 
 of the Forbidden Chamber type and those in which 
 the wife only stays with her husband so long- as a 
 certain tabu is not broken. 
 
 While the theme of the Forbidden Chamber 
 stories is the moral one of the fatal effects of 
 curiosity, we may g-o further and seek their origin in 
 actual tabus of a religious nature governing- either 
 men or women, to break which usually resulted in 
 death. This, or some other great evil, is the inevitable 
 punishment for encroaching on sacred things. Thus 
 
 ^ Cf. a Russian story, where a man summons his friend from the 
 grave, and when he appears asks to see the world of the dead. The 
 dead man places a sod cut in the churchyard on the living man's 
 head ; then he sees the underworld. Ralston, p. 306 ; and see p. 103 
 supra. In many Celtic tales standing on a seer's foot enables anyone 
 to see the fairy paradise, while contact with anyone gifted with second- 
 sight imparts the vision for the time being to the non-gifted. There 
 appears to be a substratum of truth in these ideas. Herr Parish, in 
 his work on Hallucinations^ p. 94, refers to a case of a woman seeing 
 an apparition. Her husband saw nothing until she placed her hand 
 on his shoulder. Some cases are also referred to by Gurney, 
 Phantasms of the Livings ii. 189, who men :ons the favourable results 
 of contact in "thought-reading," which cannot be explained by 
 "muscle-reading." Hallucinations are well-known to be infectious; 
 are they also contagious? 
 
 2 Somadeva, Kathasaritsagara^ bk. v, ii. 166. Clouston, Book of 
 Sindibad^ p. 309. Scott, Arab. Nights^ i. 222 seq. Joyce, Old Celtic 
 Romances^ p. 385. 
 
316 TABU IN FOLK-TALES 
 
 amongf savagfes the sacred grove, the medicine-man's 
 fetich hut, and all such places, must not be rashly 
 approached, on pain of death. The Hebrew stories 
 of the death of the men of Bethshemesh for looking 
 into the Ark, and of Uzzah for touching- it, are 
 paralleled by what Pausanias says of the certain 
 death which was meted out to those who entered the 
 temple of Jupiter Lycaeus, or of the petrifaction of 
 the priestess who went secretly into Minerva's temple 
 by night. In Egypt, too, the curious who entered 
 certain sanctuaries saw such frightful phantasms that 
 they died of fear.^ Equally important is it, in con- 
 nection with the tabu on sacred things, to remember 
 that in many mythologies, Tongan, Red Indian, 
 Cingalese, as well as Semitic, the eating of a forbidden 
 sacred food first brought death into the world with all 
 its woes, while the effects of breaking the sacred tabu 
 are also pointed to in the story of Pandora opening 
 the box and losing the blessings of life, or of 
 Eurypylus struck with insanity for opening the 
 sacred chest at Patrse.^ 
 
 But more usually such tabus have a sexual 
 import : women are forbidden to see the religious 
 rites of men, and men those of women. Among the 
 Australians no woman may witness the Bora or sacred 
 mysteries of the men, on pain of death. Certain parts 
 of the divine knowledge, if discovered by the women, 
 would cause the world to perish ; or, again, if a 
 woman came to know them, her husband would be 
 bound to put her to death. Even the totemic draw- 
 ings on the rocks are tabu to women, as is the cave 
 containing the sacred mysteries of the Arunta tribe ; 
 and the turndun, or bull-roarer, which summons men 
 to the mysteries, must never be shown to a woman. 
 
 1 I Sam. vi. 19. 2 Sam. vi. 6. Cf. Exod. xix. 21. Paus., viii. 5 ; 
 ix. 34. 
 
 ^ Farrer, pp. 12, 14. Klemm, Cultur.-Gesch.^ ii. 155. Genesis iii. 
 Gardner, ExpioraHo Evangelica^ p. icx). 
 
RELIGIOUS TABUS 317 
 
 If it is shown both the woman and the man who re- 
 veals it are put to death. ^ Generally speaking-, this is 
 true of all savage '' mysteries " or secret societies, like 
 that of the Areoi in Polynesia, which no woman can 
 enter ; or that which exists among- the Shekani and 
 Bakele in Africa for the worship of Mwetyi ; or the 
 mysteries of the Porro fraternity in the Timui district 
 of West Africa, which are celebrated at night, all 
 intruders being put to death or sold as slaves ; or the 
 mysteries of the Brazilian Indians, from which women 
 are warned off by the playing of ''jurupari pipes," the 
 mere chance sight of which is punished withdeath.''^ 
 In the same way, Plutarch relates that no woman 
 might enter the temples of Hercules, while the tabu 
 against women having to do with certain sacred 
 things is equally illustrated by many Celtic legends 
 about holy wells. Thus Boand, wife of Nechtan, was 
 dismembered and drowned for intruding on the well 
 in the green of Sid Nechtain, as was Sinend, 
 daughter of Lodan, for seeking wisdom from Connla's 
 well. In other stories, Irish, Welsh, Highland, the 
 woman is drowned because she neglects or is too 
 familiar with the holy well of which she has charge — 
 a variation on the original theme. ^ Similarly, Vogul 
 
 * /.A.I., ii. 27 ; xiii. 172; xxv. 311. Manning, Report on Aust 
 Religion. Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes^ p. 132 ; Northern 
 Tribes^ p. 500 : " When the youth is initiated ... he is told that on 
 no account must he allow the women or children to see the bull-roarer, 
 or else he will be killed, and his mother and sisters also." Howitt 
 and Fison, Kamilaroi and Kurnai^ p. 268. 
 
 "■' Ellis, i. 229 seq. Reville, Ret. des non-civ.^ i. no. Keane, Man : 
 Past and Present^ p. 50. Wallace, Amazon^ p. 349. 
 
 3 Wood Martin, Faiths of Ireland^ ii. 27. Rhys, Celtic Folk-Lore^ 
 i. 390. Campbell, ii. 147. Cf. a Carib tale, in which a monkey caused 
 a flood by lifting the cover off a mysterious tree-stump from which 
 water flowed. Im Thurn, p. 379. In the Celtic tales some river or 
 lake is formed through the overflowing of the well — Loch Ness, the 
 Shannon, etc. Sacred springs in Ireland, as well as in the 
 Peloponnesus, lost their virtues through being defiled by a woman. 
 Even now women are not supposed to go near certain Irish wells, e.g.^ 
 
318 TABU IN FOLK-TALES 
 
 women must not approach idols or holy places, a 
 prohibition which once also obtained among- the 
 Lapps, with the addition that a woman must never 
 touch a wizard's drum ; while certain sacrifices, as 
 well as the grove tenanted by the spirit to whom they 
 are made, are tabu to Votiak women. ^ 
 
 Contrariwise, men must not view the sacred rites 
 of women. At the ceremonies performed at the 
 initiation of girls in equatorial Africa no male is 
 allowed to be present, and a native who had played 
 the spy told Mr Win wood Reade that, if the women 
 knew, they would drag him into the fetich hut and 
 flog him till he died. Women who belong to the 
 secret Njembe society forbid any male looking on at 
 their rites, and Dr Nassau describes how two 
 Europeans who played the spy were in danger of 
 death, had they not had the punishment meted out to 
 them by the tribunal commuted by a heavy ransom. 
 Similar tabus against men exist at the initiation rites 
 of girls in South Celebes, Cambodia, New Britain, andi 
 among the Kafirs.^ Frequently religious or magical 
 rites involve the nakedness of the women taking part 
 in them, and, as in India, men are excluded, or, as on 
 the Gold Coast, attacked and sent away. Such rites 
 
 that at Achill ; if they do so, the well becomes full of blood. Wood 
 Martin, op. cit.^ pp. 30, 88. These Celtic tales are paralleled by one 
 from Melanesia, in which an old woman keeps water in a leaf, 
 forbidding her grandsons to go near the place. They disobeyed her, 
 and in trying to shoot a lizard on the leaf, hit the latter, and caused 
 the waters to burst forth. They covered the earth, which had hitherto 
 been waterless, and thus the sea was formed. Codrington, p. 372. 
 Wells in Kashmir, when looked at rashly, cause blindness. In one 
 case this results from removing the stone cover, as the drowning does 
 in the Celtic tales. Knowles, p. 328. Cf. the Tjansylvanian belief 
 that it is dangerous to stare into a well, lest the "well-dame" be 
 offended — Leland, Gypsy Sorcery^ p. 137. In all such cases trespassing 
 on sacred things or on the temple of deity — the spirit of the well, is 
 clearly in question. 
 
 ^ Abercromby, i. 181-2. 
 
 ■^ Reade, p. 246. Nassau, p. 261. Crawley, p. 297. 
 
THE TABUED SHRINE 319 
 
 as these have given rise, as Mr Hartland shows, to 
 the story of Lady Godiva and Peeping Tom.^ 
 Among" the Greeks no man was allowed to take part 
 in the rites of the Thesmophoria, just as men were 
 excluded from the Roman ritual of the Bona Dea, 
 worshipped at night by women. No man might land 
 on the island at the mouth of the Loire, where Celtic 
 women annually performed orgiastic rites to a 
 goddess. A similar tabu existed in Christian times 
 in connection with the shrine of St Bridget in Kildare, 
 within whose brushwood fence no male might 
 approach on pain of a miraculous vengeance. This 
 had originated in the earlier ritual of the pagan 
 goddess, whom the saint had replaced. In the same 
 way witches objected to men being present at the 
 Sabbat, which was nothing but a survival of earlier 
 female orgiastic rites. ^ 
 
 To customs such as these may be traced the 
 earliest type of our tabu stories, those in which a 
 direct punishment overtakes the hero or heroine, but 
 especially the latter, as in the group of which the 
 Pisan story is a type. The Virgin who figures in so 
 many tales of this group, doubtless represents an 
 earlier pagan divinity, and the room which the girl 
 may not open, her forbidden sanctuary. We already 
 noted that in these stories the tabu-breaker finds 
 nothing unpleasant in the room — ^just as she would 
 find nothing unpleasant in the shrine. They would 
 thus have been suggested when such a tabu no 
 longer existed, by earlier tales dating from the time 
 when it did exist and its nature was readily under- 
 stood. The Eastern stories, in which a man breaks 
 the tabu and is punished, have a less clear connection 
 
 ^ Ellis, Tshi-Speaking Peoples^ p. 226. Hartland, Science of Fairy 
 Tales^ p. 84. 
 
 - Strabo, bk. iv. Giraldus Cambrensis, ii. 34. For a story of a 
 man who went disguised to a Sabbat and was warned off by a friendly 
 gipsy, see Leland, Gypsy Sorcery, p. 74. 
 
320 TABU IN FOLK-TALES 
 
 with religious custom, though in them, as in the 
 Celtic tales, it is a tabu set by semi-divine beings. 
 They may, therefore, have been suggested by the 
 tales of a disobedient and curious woman ; and, 
 indeed, I am inclined to think that throughout 
 a woman was the tabu-breaker in all the earlier 
 tales. 
 
 There come next the groups in which it is to the 
 disadvantage of the owner of the room that the door 
 should be opened, because it sets free a being who 
 should be shut up. The first group, and possibly the 
 more primitive, is that in which a treacherous woman 
 opens the forbidden door and frees the ogre, giant, 
 robber, etc., who proceeds to plot with her against 
 the hero his captor, who is, as a result, put to death. 
 The next group makes the imprisoned monster rush 
 off with the heroine when the hero sets him free ; 
 while in the third (obscuring the disadvantage of the 
 liberation to his captor) the captive monster ulti- 
 mately benefits his liberator. What connection has 
 the imprisoned monster with a religious tabu? At 
 the stage to which these stories have developed it is 
 difficult to trace the connection, but they are most 
 easily explained as relics of earlier tales, in which it 
 was shown that the owner of a fetich or a personal 
 spirit incurred danger or loss if anyone intruded on 
 the place where it was supposed to reside. Further 
 proof of this is, of course, necessary, but it is at least 
 illustrated by a Passamaquoddy story from Mr 
 Leland s collection. A hunter had a small goblin on 
 which his luck in hunting depended, and which he 
 kept shut up in a box. But he had also a curious 
 wife, who, in his absence, opened the box, when a 
 hag made off with the goblin. Luck at once deserted 
 the husband, and he returned to give his wife a 
 beating, whereupon she jumped into the water and 
 became a duck.^ With this may be compared the 
 
 * Leland, A.L., p. 300. 
 
THE TABUED FETICH 321 
 
 Kafir story of The Bird who made Milk, in which the 
 magfic bird, on which depends a man's wellbeing- and 
 which he keeps concealed, is lost through his children's 
 discovering its hiding-place, and finally setting it 
 fi-ee.^ So in a Basuto story, a tree which supplies 
 milk must not be touched by the children of its 
 owner. The son makes his sister fetch him some ; 
 she reluctantly obeys, and is in consequence carried 
 by her father to a cannibal chiefs Here the owner 
 loses his milk, and the intruder is taken to be 
 punished. The same idea is found in the Aladdin 
 group of tales, in which the hero loses palace and 
 wife by someone's becoming possessed of his talisman, 
 as well as in the stories in which possession or 
 destruction of the separable life by another involves 
 the destruction of its owner.^ 
 
 Again, the danger which anyone runs by intrud- 
 ing on a personal fetich, or (what comes to the same 
 thing) obtaining possession of it, is illustrated by a 
 Melanesian story. A cannibal travelled about the 
 islands in a fish which he had made, and which he 
 kept in a secret place in his house, forbidding his son 
 to intrude upon it. The boy went to the hiding- 
 place in. his father's absence, got inside the fish, and 
 was carried off to Opa, where his father, aware of 
 what had taken place, came to rescue him from the 
 people who were about to kill him, thinking he was 
 the cannibal himself In Negro tales we find many 
 incidents based on the hero's possession of a fetich 
 which supplies him with whatever he desires, or tells 
 him what is going on elsewhere. Such stories reflect 
 what is actually believed about the power of certain 
 
 ^ Theal, p. 29. There are Basuto and Zulu variants with a 
 different sequel. — Jacottet, p. 123 ; Callaway, p. 99. 
 
 2 Jacottet, p. 186. The cannibal, however, eats the father himself, 
 and the girl is married to his son. 
 
 ^ This is very marked in the curious Bluebeard story cited on 
 p. 142. 
 
 X 
 
322 TABU IN FOLK-TALES 
 
 fetiches in the hand of the sorcerer. Every fetich- 
 man has several private fetiches in his house which 
 are always kept shrouded from the vulgar gaze, 
 exactly as in our tales. Each Negro, again, hides 
 his *' trade- fetich" in a private part of his hut, no 
 member of his own family even being allowed to 
 know where it is kept. Family fetiches, connected 
 with ancestor-worship, and usually composed of 
 portions of the deceased, are also cherished secretly. 
 The following story of a fetich which gave warnings, 
 helped its owner, and kept him informed of what was 
 going on in his absence, was told to Dr Nassau by 
 those who knew the parties and who actually believe 
 every word of the story. The fetich belonged to a man 
 called Elesa, who kept it carefully hidden in a chest. 
 His brother-in-law, knowing of its existence, entered 
 Elesa's house in his absence and opened the chest. 
 The lid flew off; out jumped the fetich, followed by 
 all the goods in the box. The man resolved to replace 
 the fetich and decamp with the goods, but he suddenly 
 found himself rooted to the spot. Meanwhile Elesa 
 had been made aware of what was going on, through 
 the power of his fetich, on which unlawful eyes had 
 looked. He returned, and found the thief unable to 
 move, nor would he release him until he had agreed 
 to pay him a large ransom.^ A Bluebeard story 
 from real life, whatever we may think of its truth ! 
 Personal sacred things, like the sacred churinga of 
 the Arunta tribesmen, on which neither women nor 
 the uninitiated must look, must therefore have been 
 carefully hidden away, and all, even the nearest and 
 dearest, warned not to intrude upon them. So Lapp 
 women were forbidden to look at the drum with 
 which the shaman called upon the spirits ; we have 
 seen that the same tabu was extended to the jurupari 
 pipes in the case of Brazilian women. In some cases 
 
 1 Miss Kingsley, p. 170. Nassau, pp. 18, 165. For the power of 
 the fetich in other tales, see pp. 174, 267. 
 
BLUEBEARD'S CHAMBER 323 
 
 also, the images of the gods are tabu. Ellis tells 
 us that "it is considered impious to obtain a sight 
 of the national idols in Madagascar." Certain 
 statues of Egyptian gods were hidden in the depths 
 of the sanctuary, to which only the king and the high 
 priest had access ; and in the Eleusinian mysteries the 
 effigies of the divinities were hidden most carefully 
 from every profane eye.-^ Religion and magic alike 
 love to hide their sacra under veils of mystery ! 
 
 The Bluebeard and Robber Bridegroom stories, 
 and those in which the hero finds fortune by opening 
 the door, have certainly nothing religious in them. 
 Both owe their origin to the ingenuity of the story 
 inventor working on already existing materials at a 
 time when the religious tabu had been forgotten or 
 required explanation. Probably owing to Christian 
 influence the sacred enclosure of divinity or fetich- 
 owner became the mysterious chamber, filled with 
 horrors, the property of an utterly wicked and 
 depraved being. Pagan divinities and priests fre- 
 quently assumed that character in Christian times, 
 just as the wise-woman became the horrible witch or 
 the divinity a grisly demon. The due punishment of 
 the woman who intruded on sacred things became a 
 vile act of cruelty perpetrated on her by a wicked 
 monster who, with imaginative justice, was usually 
 brought to book in the end. Other stories — those in 
 which a man figured — were developed on different 
 lines. Here, too, the being who forbade the entrance 
 was painted in dark hues, but there was nothing 
 ghastly in the chamber — only__the_-inagicJiorse_and 
 certain magic^ objgcts — another indication of the 
 magico-religious origin of the broken tabu. 
 
 Thus stories belonging strictly to an age when 
 religious tabu was a living custom, and showing how 
 those who violated the tabu had come to grief, were 
 
 ^ Ellis, Hist, of Madag., i. 399. Foucart, Myst^res d^Eleusis^ 
 p. 51. 
 
324 TABU IN FOLK-TALES 
 
 gradually altered, as has been seen, and at last 
 removed out of the sphere of the religious tabu 
 altogether. But as this took place the mystery- 
 deepened into horror, and the punishment was 
 transferred from the violator of the command to the 
 being (conceived as dreadfully wicked) who uttered 
 it.^ 
 
 ^ The subject has been studied by Mr Hartland in his paper, 
 "The Forbidden Chamber." F.LJ., iii. 193. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 TABU IN FOLK-TALES — Continued 
 The Lost Husband or Wife 
 
 2. Cupid and Psyche 
 
 The most pathetic of all folk-tales are those in 
 which, for some apparently irrational reason, a 
 husband loses his wife or a wife her husband. 
 These irrational reasons, as we shall see, are tabus ; 
 they occur more frequently in the case of the wife 
 than in that of the husband ; and in both cases they 
 are usually, at bottom, of the same nature. 
 
 The best-known Lost Husband group of stories 
 is that of Cupid and Psyche, or Beauty and the 
 Beast, already discussed in the chapter on Beast- 
 marriage. The classical tale of Cupid and Psyche, 
 so well told by Apuleius, is, of course, nothing- but 
 an old Greek Mdrchen, with many parallels, and to 
 the leading characters of which have been given the 
 names of Greek divinities. The nearest parallels to 
 it are those in which the mysterious bridegroom has 
 no beast form, but his wife must never see him on 
 pain of losing him for ever. Poetical justice, of 
 course, usually demands that she should recover 
 him, but only after many trials. The simplest and 
 original form of the central incident of the story is 
 preserved in Apuleius's literary form of the Mdrchen. 
 The mysterious husband is not transformed to beast 
 
326 TABU IN FOLK-TALES 
 
 shape by enchantment, but still his wife must not 
 see him. The Swedish story of Prince Hatt under 
 the Earth is an excellent example of this. A king" 
 has had to give up one of his daughters to a mysterious 
 being who lives underground and is never seen, even 
 by his wife.^ Three times she is allowed to go home, 
 but always on condition that she reveals nothing of 
 their life. The third time she does so, and her step- 
 mother advises her to strike a light during the night, 
 and see her husband. But a drop of wax fell on his 
 breast, he awoke, the palace was changed into a cave 
 full of serpents, and Prince Hatt had become blind. 
 The pair wander off together, but through bringing 
 his sister out to see him, the wife loses her husband. 
 At last she discovered her lost prince in the hut of 
 a hag, who was about to marry him, and under 
 whose spell he had been all along ; and there, by dint 
 of strategy, she recovered him and killed the troll wife.'^ 
 Other parallels are the Greek story of the Lord of 
 Underearth, where the bride, by her sister's advice, 
 throws away the sleeping-draught which she must 
 take nightly, and thus sees her husband, and an 
 Italian variant in Basile's Pentamerone with a similar 
 incident. In both the wife is sent away in rags, but 
 herlhusband eventually saves her, as in the story of 
 Apuleius.^ The husband is a black man in a Chilian 
 tale, but takes his true form of a prince by night, 
 when his wife, following the advice of an old woman, 
 strikes a light to see him ; she has to wear out shoes 
 of iron before she meets him again and breaks the 
 spell.* A Mdrchen imbedded in the Japanese Ko-ji-ki 
 is nearly akin to these tales. A maiden called Iku- 
 
 ^ We shall see later (p. 421) how frequently these tales open with 
 such a sacrifice. 
 
 ^ Thorpe, Y.T.S,, p. 15. 
 
 ^ Garnett, ii. 227. Pentamerone^ i. 211. 
 
 ^ F.L.J.^ iii. 293. Cf. Crane, p. 6. Wife recovers husband after 
 wearing out iron shoes. 
 
CUPID AND PSYCHE 327 
 
 tama was visited by a deity during the night only, 
 with obvious results. Her parents, hearing of these 
 nocturnal visits, advised her to "sprinkle red earth 
 in front of the couch, pass a skein of hemp through 
 a needle, and pierce therewith his garment." Next 
 morning they traced the thread to a shrine of a deity 
 at Mount Miwa, and then knew that the coming child 
 would be the son of a god. He was, in fact, the 
 ancestor of the Dukes of Miwa. We hear nothing 
 more of the red earth ; it was meant to reveal the 
 visitor's footprints ; perhaps a god does not leave 
 any, or they have dropped out of the tale.^ 
 
 The spell hinted at in these stories is more evident 
 in others where the husband has been transformed 
 to animal shape by enchantment. Sometimes he 
 takes his true form at night ; then his wife must not 
 see him, and we have the candle incident as before. 
 The husband is a bear in the Norse story of J! East o' 
 the Sun and West o' the Moon," which is otherwise a 
 near parallel to the Swedish Prince Hatt, and a wolf 
 in the beautiful Danish tale of * * Prince Wolf " In both 
 the girl, advised by her mother, lights the candle to 
 see what her husband is like as a man, with the usual 
 fatal results.^ Other stories have a different tabu 
 formula — the bride must never tell the secret of her 
 husband's dual nature, else he will never be freed from 
 the spell. The Lorraine version is most tragic — the 
 wolf-husband falls dead when the inquisitive sister 
 wrings the secret from his wife. But usually, after a 
 time of separation the husband, who is a toad in the 
 Italian version, a serpent in Tuscan and Hindu 
 variants, is recovered, and the enchantment comes to 
 an end.^ A third formula is that the bride must 
 never ask her husband's name. An Indian version 
 
 ^ Chamberlain, Ko-ji-ki^ sect. Ixv., p. 177. 
 •^ Dasent, p. 303. Mulley, p. 224. 
 
 ^ Cosquin, ii. 215. Gubernatis, Z.J/., ii. 381. Novelline^ No. 14. 
 Benfey, Panchatantra^ p. 144. 
 
328 TABU IN FOLK-TALES 
 
 tells how Tulisa married the king of the serpents. 
 
 His mother, angry at being- raised to the rank of 
 
 queen-dowager, advised her to ask his name. He 
 
 tells her, but disappears, and is only recovered after 
 
 great risks have been incurred. An Italian variant 
 
 makes the bride's sisters persuade her to ask the 
 
 man-bird husband his name. **The King of Love," 
 
 he replies, with like results. The Russian version is 
 
 more tragic, for when the bride's mother discovers 
 
 the serpent's name, Osip, she calls him from his 
 
 watery home and kills him.^ A fourth formula is that 
 
 the bride, when allowed to go home, must not stay 
 
 beyond a certain time else she will lose her husband, 
 
 and, as in the Basque variant, must wear out seven 
 
 pairs of shoes before she finds him. Of this there are 
 
 also Polish, Italian, Sicilian, and Portuguese versions ; 
 
 while in Grimm's story of the ** Iron Stove," the bride 
 
 is not to speak more than three words at home.^ Other 
 
 tabus occur in the Scots stories of **The Black Bull 
 
 o' Norroway" and **The Red Bull o' Norroway;" 
 
 in the first the heroine is lost because she moves her 
 
 foot in her joy at the bull's victory over the devil ; in 
 
 the second she loses the bull when, by pulling a pin 
 
 from his hide, he regains his shape of a handsome 
 
 prince.^ 
 
 Turning now to stories in which the wife is lost 
 through the husband's indiscretion, we note a series 
 of similar tabus, as well as a number of others. Of 
 the first formula, not to see the bride, there is an 
 Italian version which is clearly derived from the 
 Cupid and Psyche tale. Peppino is wrecked on a rock, 
 
 1 Asiatic Journal^ ii. Crane, p. i. Ralston, p. ii6. 
 
 - Webster, p. 38. Cf. p. 167 for a story with the formula "never 
 to say anything about the husband." Toeppen, p. 142. Comparetti, 
 No. 164. Pitre, No. 39. Coelho, No. 29. Indian and Lettish stories 
 have no tabu, but the mother burns the skin of the beast-husband, 
 who thus regains his true form by the breaking of the enchantment. 
 Cosquin, ii. 228. Leskien, No. 23. 
 
 3 Chambers, pp. 95, 99. 
 
MELUSINA 329 
 
 which opens, disclosing some pretty girls, who take 
 him to a castle. There one of them comes to him by 
 night. He is allowed to return to his parents, who 
 give him the inevitable candle, and when he lights 
 it everything disappears. The mysterious wife Is 
 recovered after years of searching.^ Parallel to this 
 is the tabu in the mediaeval romance of Mdusina, who 
 is cursed by her mother to become a serpent from the 
 waist downwards every Saturday, till she should 
 marry a man who would promise never to see her on 
 that day, and should keep his promise. The 
 husband's curiosity overcame him, and, looking 
 through the keyhole, he beheld her naked, and lost 
 her for ever. In Jean d' Arras' Chronicle, which 
 sums up the many versions of this highly popular 
 tale, the introduction relates that Melusina's mother, 
 the fay Pressina, was mated to a mortal, who lost her 
 because he broke the tabu imposed upon him of 
 never visiting her at her confinement.'^ (The Greek 
 myth of Actaeon, changed to a stag and dismembered 
 by his own hounds, because he had seen Diana 
 bathing, has an obvious connection with such talesP> 
 Actaeon was not Diana's husband, but he broke some 
 tabu which she had instituted. Possibly the Greeks 
 borrowed this myth from Babylon ; at all events, in 
 the legend of Gilgames we hear of a shepherd changed 
 into a leopard by the goddess I star, and then hunted 
 by his sheep-boy and torn by his dogs. 
 
 The second formula, not to reveal the secret, is 
 well Illustrated by tales from lower levels of culture, 
 Malagasy and Negro, though it is found in the Celtic 
 idea of the fairy wife whom her human husband 
 reproaches with her origin. '' She disappears, taking 
 with her the children and fortune she brought him. 
 The gorgeous palace, fit for the entertainment of 
 
 ^ Crane, p. 7. 
 
 •^ Keightley, Fairy Mythol.^ p. 480. Baring-Gould, Curious Myths^ 
 p. 470. 
 
330 TABU IN FOLK-TALES 
 
 kings, vanishes, and he finds himself again in his 
 dilapidated hut with a pool of raindroppings from the 
 roof in the middle of the floor." ^ The Malagasy 
 story is that a native drew from the water a nymph 
 who agreed to marry him if he would never 
 reveal her origin. To this he at once agreed. One 
 day, while drunk, he was asked why, being so poor, 
 he had been able to marry such a beautiful wife. He 
 told the story ; at once his wife returned with her 
 daughters to the water, but left her sons behind her 
 on land, where their descendants are still living. A 
 similar Fjort story has a curious introduction. 
 Mavunga pulled the leaves of certain trees, when 
 they changed to men and women. One of the latter 
 married him, and commanded his fetich to make him 
 handsome, and provide a nice house for them. 
 Meanwhile Mavunga's relations invited him to their 
 village. His wife forbade him to say anything of the 
 origin of his happiness, or to eat any of their food 
 which, as she knew, was poisoned. He was on the 
 point of revealing all, when he heard his wife calling 
 him, and ran home where he was well scolded. On a 
 second visit, however, he told all. One by one his fine 
 garments and ornaments disappeared ; he returned 
 home, and discovered that wife and house had dis- 
 appeared for ever. Another West African story, in 
 Dr Nassau's collection, resembles this but introduces 
 other incidents. Here the poor son of a king finds 
 his meals made ready for him in his lonely hut. This 
 has been done by a woman called Ilambe, who 
 belongs to the awiri (a kind of fairies). To effect 
 her purpose she concealed herself within a forest rat 
 which he had killed, coming forth from it in his 
 absence. When he discovered this through the 
 advice of a wizard, he married her, but, said she, 
 "" Never say to me that I came from the low origin 
 of a rat's head." With the help of her fetich Ilambe 
 
 Campbell, Superstitions of the Scottish Highlands^ p. 42. 
 
A TSHI STORY 331 
 
 made her husband wealthy, and supplied him with 
 houses, servants, and fields. Ships, too, came to 
 trade whenever she willed. One day, under the 
 influence of liquor, the man grew angry at her 
 chiding, and uttered the fatal words. In spite of 
 her children's pleading she said she must leave him, 
 and departed with all of these, save the two eldest. 
 In this case the husband did not lose his wealth.^ 
 
 A story current among the Tshis resembles these. 
 A native of Chama married a woman who was a 
 fish by nature, promising never to reveal what she 
 was. One day she wished to return to her native 
 element, and he insisted on accompanying her, with 
 the result that he was speared by a fisherman. 
 When he recovered, he and his wife returned home, 
 and he hid the spear in the thatch, where the owner 
 ultimately found it, and forced the man to reveal all. 
 No evil consequences followed the breach of his 
 promise at the moment, but later, when he had taken 
 a second wife, she taunted the fish-woman with her 
 origin. She returned to the water with her youngest 
 child, leaving the two elder children, whose descend- 
 ants bear her name, and never eat of that particular 
 kind of fish.^ This story, thinks Major Ellis, is 
 connected with the totem beliefs of the Tshi tribes. 
 In the Celtic variant it is possible that the fairy bride 
 was once an animal also, but this part of the story 
 was gradually dropped. 
 
 The third formula, never to name the wife, occurs 
 in an Esthonian tale, which mixes this formula with 
 the first. The handsome but despised youngest son 
 of a farmer married a mermaid, who carried him to 
 
 ^ Ferrand, p. 91. Dennett, p. 42. Nassau, p. 351. We have 
 already met with the hiding incident in other tales, Eskimo, etc., 
 p. 261, while the loss of all his possessions by the reckless man is also 
 found|in the Melanesian, Swahali, and Uganda Puss in Boots tales, 
 pp.! 226-229, where I have cited a Basuto story which is a close 
 parallelto Dr Nassau's West African variant. 
 
 ■* Ellis,( Tshi-Speaking Peoples^ p. 209. 
 
3S2 TABU IN FOLK-TALES 
 
 her home under the sea, telling' him he must never 
 call her ''Mermaid." Each Thursday she remained 
 apart, and the hero, thinking, like Melusina's husband, 
 that she had a lover, spied upon her and saw her 
 mermaid form. Next morning she returned, only to 
 bid him farewell for ever, and with a crash he found 
 himself on the shore, changed into an old man, who 
 died soon after. A Norman story varies the formula 
 slightly ; the knight of the Chateau d'Argouges, who 
 has married a fay, must never use the word **mort" 
 in her presence. One day when she kept him waiting 
 because of her elaborate toilette, he said sarcastically, 
 ■ * Belle dame, seriez bonne a aller chercer la mort car 
 vous etes bien longue en vos besognes." Instantly 
 she disappeared, striking the wall with her hand, 
 where the print is still to be seen.^ Compare these 
 with the Shawnee myth of Yellow-Sky, a mysterious 
 girl, who agrees to wed her lover if he will never 
 mention her name. To do so would involve him 
 in calamity. She died, still warning him. Long 
 after he uttered her name, and was transformed into 
 a buck.^ 
 
 To the fourth formula, not to stay too long at 
 home, corresponds the incident in many tales, where 
 the husband, returning home with his wife, leaves 
 her outside the town till he visits his long-lost 
 parents. She implores him not to kiss them ; he 
 does so, and oblivion of his past life follows. Only 
 after a long time, and when he is on the eve of 
 marrying another woman, does the true bride succeed 
 in recalling everything to his remembrance. This 
 incident is the usual sequel to the stories of the 
 transformation flight, and in some the kiss of oblivion 
 
 1 Kirby, p. 49. Berenger-Feraud, ii. 357. Cf. the Tshi stories 
 cited later in this chapter, and the curious Basuto tale in the chapter 
 on "Helpful Animals," p. 228. Here the wife" comes out of an 
 ostrich-egg, and must never be called " Daughter of an Ostrich Egg." 
 
 - Lanman, Haw-Hoo-Hoo^ 231. 
 
THE IRRITATED WIFE 338 
 
 is represented as resulting from the pursuer's curse. 
 The idea of the forgotten former life may have been 
 borrowed from the curious but widespread pheno- 
 mena of alternating" personality, whether resulting 
 naturally or caused by the primitive hypnotic methods 
 of the medicine-man (in which case the curse would 
 be explained) ; but the command not to kiss is a 
 clear case of tabu, easily explainable, as we shall 
 see. 
 
 Another tabu formula is that in which the husband 
 must never irritate his wife, or ask the reason of 
 anything which she does. It is illustrated by a 
 M'drchen in the Japanese Ko-ji-ki. A jewel was born 
 of a maiden impregnated by the sun's rays. It came 
 into the possession of a rich man, and turned into a 
 lovely girl, whom he married. But, growing proud, 
 he reviled her, and she refused to stay with him. 
 She returned to the land of her ancestors, and is now 
 a deity called Princess Akam. There is a Dyak story 
 with a fish caught by a man and then turning into 
 a girl. When she has grown up, she marries his son, 
 but leaves him because he struck her, and resumed 
 her fish shape in the water. The same story is told 
 by the Dyaks of a swan-maiden. The husband had 
 a bad temper, and took off his jacket to beat her, 
 when she vanished, leaving her child behind her. A 
 similar tale is current among the Melanesians. Here, 
 however, the wife is a ghost given to the man by his 
 dead uncle. She bears him a child, but because she 
 is suspected of untruthfulness by her husband, he 
 beats her and bids her go back to her own country. 
 This she does, leaving her child behind her, but the 
 sequel has a touch of true pathos in it. The husband 
 found the child crying, and sought help from all the 
 creatures. Only the spider would help him, and 
 spun a line from earth to heaven on which he carried 
 father and child to the sky. There the child recog- 
 nised its mother, and called to her; her affection 
 
334 TABU IN FOLK-TALES 
 
 welled up agfain, and all three returned to earth on 
 the spider's back. The formula occurs also in the 
 Persian History of Nassar, and in this form has 
 several variants. A man obtains a genie's daugfhter 
 to wife on condition that he never contradicts or 
 irritates her. She throws her children to wolves, and 
 into the fire ; he preserves his temper. But one day- 
 she dashes some food sent them by a g"randee to the 
 g-round because she knows it is poisoned. He 
 upbraids her for her temper. "Young- man," she 
 cried, "on the day of our union you promised not 
 to ask the reason of anything I should do. The 
 children whom you thought I had given to wolves 
 and thrown into the fire, were simply delivered to 
 their nurses, and are alive. Now I can remain with 
 you no longer," and changing into a dove, she flew 
 away, and left him lamenting.^ 
 
 In many Welsh fairy-bride stories the man can 
 only keep his wife (whom, in some versions, he has 
 obtained by discovering her name) by promising 
 never to touch her with iron. This usually happens 
 by accident, as when the husband, trying to catch his 
 horse, throws the bridle at it, missing it and striking 
 his wife ; or by handing her the shears with which he 
 has been shearing the sheep ; or by playfully throw- 
 ing at her a bundle of rushes in which his reaping- 
 hook is bound up. In all she vanishes at once, 
 though sometimes returning to watch over her 
 children (whose descendants are still living), as in 
 one tale where, at night, the husband hears her 
 singing 
 
 " Lest my son should find it cold, 
 Place on him his father's coat ; 
 Lest the fair one find it cold. 
 Place on her my petticoat." - 
 
 1 Ko-ji-kiy sect, cxiv., p. 258. Ling Roth, i. 303. Codrington, 
 p. 379. Clouston, E.R., pp. 56-57. 
 
 2 Many versions in Rhys, i. 86, 97, 128, 147. 
 
TABU IN REAL LIFE 335 
 
 It can, I think, be shown that nearly all these 
 tabu formulae arose out of actual custom, and by way 
 of setting- forth what conceivably might happen or 
 did happen througrh breaking the tabu. Take the 
 first formula, in which husband or wife must not see 
 each other, we find that the Samoyede wife must 
 conceal her face from her husband for two months 
 after marriage, and that among the Port Moresby 
 natives, among the Tipperahs of Burmah, in 
 Timbuctoo, with the Iroquois, as well as the 
 Nufoers, the husband, for a certain time, never 
 sees his wife, visits her secretly by night, and leaves 
 her before dawn. This was also the case among the 
 early Romans, as well as in ancient Sparta, where 
 sometimes the pair did not see each other till a child 
 was born.^ Elsewhere, in Egypt, South Arabia, 
 Morocco, Kumaun, and with the upper classes in 
 China, the husband does not see his wife till the 
 ceremonies are over, or, as in ancient Egypt (as 
 illustrated by a story in Maspero's collection, where 
 the bridegroom does not know that his sister has 
 been made his wife till next morning), until the 
 marriage has been consummated. This practice 
 also obtains in Manchuria, Persia, and parts of 
 South Africa.^ On the borders of Europe and Asia, 
 the custom still exists among many of the peoples 
 in the Caucasus region. With the Chevsun the 
 married woman remains for a year with her family ; 
 she and her husband meet in secret, and do not look 
 at each other before strangers, until the first child 
 
 1 Ellis, Psychol, of Sex^ ii. 7. Chalmers, New Guinea^ p. 163. 
 Lewin, p. 203. Caillie, Timbuctoo^ i. 94. Lafitau, Mceurs, i. 576. (I 
 owe these last two references to Lang, Custom and Myth^ pp. 72-73-) 
 Guillemard, Cruise of Marc he sa^ ii. 287. Jevons' Plutarch^ Romane 
 Questions, p. 565. Lycurgus, xv. 48. 
 
 '-^ Lane, Modern Egyptians, i. 197. Featherman, Races of Mankind, 
 V. 422. Leared, Morocco, p. 36. Panjab Notes and Queries, ii. 244. 
 Giles, i. 193. Maspero, p. 54. Folk-Lore, i. 489. Pinkerton, Voyages, 
 ix. 154. J.A.I., xix. 271. 
 
336 TABU IN FOLK-TALES 
 
 is born. This was the case till recently in Georgia. 
 There, as with the Tcherkes, it is a gross insult to 
 ask a man how his wife is, while among the latter 
 people the husband must go secretly by night to 
 see his wife. { M. Kovavelsky explains all this as a 
 survival of group marriage ; several brothers owning 
 several wives in common, and visiting them secretly 
 lest there should arise any suggestion of exclusive 
 rights in any one of them.^ Be this as it may, such 
 customs, which, among those who use them, have all 
 the force of tabus, explain our stories in which 
 husband or wife must not see each other, as well as 
 the evil results of indiscretion. As Mr Jevons, 
 speaking of Plutarch's Roman instance, says, 
 "The prosaic Roman punctiliously observed fairy 
 etiquette in these matters, and habitually behaved 
 like an inhabitant of fairyland." All our examples 
 dwell on the seclusion of the wife rather than of the 
 husband, but they may be interpreted either way. 
 Mr Lang, however, cites a story from the Vedas, in 
 which Urvasi tells Puruvaras that he must never let 
 her see him naked, and suggests that this is doubt- 
 less the remnant of "a traditional Aryan law of 
 nuptial etiquette."" The folk-tales of the first group 
 must have originated in stories told at an earlier 
 date, and in a simpler manner, to explain the custom, 
 or, possibly, to give it support and so point the moral, 
 just as children are warned by the story of Struwel- 
 peter, the naughty boy whose evil deeds brought him " 
 to grief Moral teaching is always of more effect 
 when illustrated by a story, as preachers, ancient and 
 modern, know well, and many savage folk-tales may 
 have had no other purpose primarily. Such customs 
 and such folk-tales have occasionally given rise to 
 setiological myths. Here is an Eskimo example. 
 The sun and moon were sister and brother, and 
 
 ^ " La Famille Matriarchale en Caucase," L Anthropologies iv. 272. 
 2 Custom and Myth^ p. 76. 
 
THE SPOUSE^S NAME 337 
 
 lived in one house. Every night the sun was visited 
 by a man, but could not tell who it was ; in other 
 words, bridegroom and bride must not see each other. 
 This Eskimo Psyche hit upon the plan of blackening" 
 her hands and rubbing" them on the man's back, 
 and next day found her brother blackened. That is 
 why the moon has black spots. The Indians of the 
 Amazon tell the same story of the sun and moon ; 
 but here the lustful visitor is the woman, because the 
 moon with them is a female. So among the 
 Australians, with whom the practice is found, the 
 deity Bunjil of the Wawarongs has a wife, Boiboi, 
 whose face he has never seen.^ 
 
 The third tabu formula, not to ask the husband's 
 name, or, in the case of the wife, not to name her, is 
 also directly illustrated by existing custom, and the 
 stories are explicabje in precisely the same way as 
 the former groups. / It has already been seen that the 
 name is part of one's personality, and is not revealed 
 lest its owner should be put in the power of its dis- 
 coverer. This fear with many peoples extends to the 
 husband or wife. Thus the wife must not utter her 
 husband's name, when she knows it, among the Bari 
 of East Africa, the Zulus, the Kafirs, the Red 
 Indians, the Hindus, the Aino. The last-mentioned 
 people think that if their wives did so, it would be 
 equivalent to killing their husbands. Conversely, 
 Solomon and Pelew Islanders, Todas, Ojibways and 
 other Red Men, as well as modern Servians, are very 
 cautious about mentioning the names of their wives. ^ 
 Frequently this prohibition extends to the names of 
 
 ^ Rink, p. 236. Hartt, Afnazonian Tortoise Myths, p. 40. Keane, 
 Man: Past and Present, p. 151. 
 
 ^ Munzinger, Ostafrik. Stud., p. 526. Callaway, Relig. System of 
 Amazulu, p. 316. Shooter, Kafirs of Natal, p 211. Dorman, p. 154. 
 Ward, Hindus, ii. 337. Batchelor, p. 259 seq. Guppy, Solomon Is., 
 i. 47. Marshall, Among the Todas, p. 73. Jones, Ojibways, p. 162. 
 Folk- Lore, ii. 71. 
 
 Y 
 
338 TABU IN FOLK-TALES 
 
 the wife's or husband's relations, while with many 
 peoples a whole series of words and phrases used 
 by one sex is tabu to the other. 
 
 The fourth formula, involving danger to either 
 spouse from the relations of the other, is explainable 
 as an extension of the widespread savage belief that 
 such danger does actually exist. As we have just 
 seen, the names of such relations are frequently tabu. 
 The most definite instance of avoidance of relations 
 by marriage is that in which the husband must never 
 look at, or talk to, his mother-in-law ; or the wife to 
 her mother-in-law. This occurs among Australian 
 tribes, in Polynesia, New Guinea, North America, 
 and in some parts of Africa, to mention only a few 
 cases ; while the perennial amusement afforded by 
 jokes about the mother-in-law among certain classes 
 among ourselves is-doubtless a reminiscence of some 
 similar custom.^ (^ Our stories belong to a time when 
 the custom was only dimly remembered, and the 
 precise nature of the danger from relations by 
 marriage was clearly misunderstood. The tabu has 
 made a volte-face, and the danger lies indirectly 
 through the visit paid by husband or wife to his or 
 her relations. Sometimes this danger is that they 
 may make the husband forget his wife, or she may 
 stay too long with them ; or again, their inquisitiveness 
 may lead to husband's or wife's ruin. This has been 
 noted in the Cupid and Psyche group of tales, where 
 so frequently the husband has an animal form. It is 
 also the subject of our second tabu formula. Why 
 should the true nature of the husband or wife not be 
 made known? It might be explained by the simple 
 idea underlying the theory of one's name being part 
 of one's nature ; hence, for a stranger to know one's 
 
 1 Dawson, Aust. Aborigines, p. 29. Curr, Ausf. Race, passim, 
 Williams, Fiji, i. 136. Klemm, Cultur-Gesch,, ii. TJ. Schoolcraft, 
 Indian Tribes, ii. 196. J.A.I., xxiv. 296 ; xxv. 200. For some 
 other instances, see Tylor, Early History of Mankind. 
 
THE IRON TABU 339 
 
 name or nature means danger. But we must add to 
 this the fact that the husband or wife in these tales 
 has usually a trace of fin or fur or feather. They 
 must then have been suggested, like all stories of 
 Beast-marriage, by totemistic beliefs ; and when 
 Totemism as an institution was passing away the 
 necessity of concealing the animal nature of the 
 spouse would readily become prominent in the stories. 
 The Malagasy and Tshi stories are both totemistic ; 
 a clan or sept is said to have descended from this 
 union. So in another Tshi story, where a man 
 marries a fish called appei, which is a young woman 
 so long as she is his wife, none of their descendants 
 must ever eat appeiy else they will become fish.^ The 
 stories have been told to explain the animal origin of 
 this or that clan, and the tabu has been added on the 
 model of existing tabu stories, and by way of giving 
 point and verve to them. Underlying all stories with 
 this formula, is the enmity of the family of the 
 husband to his wife, or vice versa, illustrated best of 
 all in the stories of the jealous sisters, who wound the 
 (animal) husband by strewing glass on the place 
 which he must pass through.^ 
 
 Finally, the tabu which forbids the husband to 
 touch his wife with iron, falls into line with the 
 numerous stories in all of which iron is fatal, usually 
 to fairies, or preserves its owner against the attack 
 of demons or spirits. In all this there is a vivid 
 glimpse into the dim past, when bronze or iron and 
 those who used it were looked upon with superstitious 
 awe by people yet in the Stone Age. Observing this, 
 the former made use of it as a means of terrorising 
 by magic the people of the inferior race ; and long 
 after the use of stone had passed away, the magical 
 - virtue of iron was remembered. But now it was no 
 longer fellow human beings whom it could terrify. 
 Its power existed only over fairies, demons, spirits, 
 
 ^ Ellis, op. cit.^ p. 211. - See p. 255. 
 
340 TABU IN FOLK-TALES 
 
 who ceased to harm those who possessed it, or, like 
 the fairy wife, fled away from its touch. Yet in the 
 fairy wife we may see the relic of the Stone Age 
 women mated to their metal-using conquerors, and 
 cowering in terror before their apparently magical 
 weapons. 
 
 As for the tabu forbidding the husband to irritate 
 his wife, who, it should be observed, is usually a fairy, 
 I confess that, as a tabu, it is somewhat baffling. 
 But as stories invented (shall we say by women) to 
 explain the natural objection which the wife always 
 has to being crossed, as well as the danger which 
 may result from it — a danger perfectly patent to the 
 savage, who in so many cases views women at all 
 times, and especially at various critical epochs, as 
 highly dangerous, the stories explain themselves. 
 And here we may leave them, till a better explanation 
 is suggested. 
 
 Of most of these tabu formulae we have found 
 examples from primitive peoples which are, in most 
 cases, directly drawn from existing tabu customs. 
 Some other examples may be cited. Wurunnah, a 
 shameless Australian black-fellow stole two girls, and 
 bade them collect pine-tree bark. They , refused, 
 saying that if they did so, he would never more see 
 them. He forced them to obey, and with each stroke, 
 axes, trees, and girls rose into the air, and the girls 
 became stars. Here, obviously, the girls were of the 
 pine-tree totem clan, and dared not destroy their totem 
 according to the well-known totem law forbidding such 
 an act. The same breach of totem tabu caused a 
 Malagasy hero to lose his wife, one of the daughters 
 of the sky, by his relations forcing her to drink toaka 
 (rum), which she had told him would inevitably cause 
 her death. A Kafir story illustrates another custom 
 current among them^ — that of the absolute seclusion 
 of a girl at puberty in a hut. The danger of leaving 
 the hut is shown by the story of a chiefs daughter, 
 
BUITE AND HIS WIFE 341 
 
 who left it to bathe in a stream where she was bitten 
 by a snake, and covered like it with hideous black 
 blotches. Lastly, a Fjort example, similar to the 
 one already cited, illustrates actual native belief, for 
 as Miss Kingsley says, ** I have known in the flesh 
 several ladies whose husbands were always most 
 anxious that they should not hear or see some parti- 
 cular thing that would cause them to disappear." 
 The story illustrating this belief tells how a mysteri- 
 ous woman became the wife of Buite, on condition 
 that he should never show her the heads of fish 
 caugfht by him. Growing- tired of this injunction, 
 he sent the fish home with their heads, but the 
 messenger removed them. The tenth time he did 
 not do so, and immediately house and wife dis- 
 appeared, "and Buite, though he wept much, saw 
 them no more."^ 
 
 No better examples of folk-tales arising out of 
 existing belief or custom, and invented either to 
 explain, or else to support such custom or belief, 
 could be wished for. ._When, however, such customs 
 and beliefs pass away and the stories remain,- some 
 explanation is required. Hence we learn that certain 
 things must not be done because husband or wife is 
 under enchantment, or he or she belongs to a super- 
 natural race; or, again, the formulae of other stories, 
 like those of the Beast-marriage group, are borrowed 
 sometimes to explain the tabu, sometimes only to 
 heighten the effect of the story. All this is the 
 natural outcome of the need of^intensifying ideas 
 which have become unexplainable ; they have passed 
 to the region of the mysterious, where nothing, how- 
 ever irrational, can ever be incredible. But withal, 
 the primitive idea, based on existing custom, is never 
 quite lost sight of, and may be traced back to its 
 original source. 
 
 A final incident of the Lost Wife cycle is found 
 
 ^ Parker, p. 40. F.L.J. ^ i. 204. Theal, p. 17. Dennett, p. 39. 
 
342 TABU IN FOLK-TALES 
 
 in that voluminous group, with variants from every 
 part of the world, which may be comprehensively 
 called the Swan- Maiden cycle. (^The motif of the 
 stories which give their name to the group is that the 
 hero of the tale sees some birds — swans, geese, ducks, 
 flying to a lake, where, taking off their feather dresses, 
 they become beautiful maidens. Then, stealing up 
 to their dresses, he possesses himself of one of them. 
 When its owner comes out of the water, she is forced 
 to follow him, because he has got her feather dress, 
 and to become his wife. But in many stories the wife 
 becomes possessed at a later time of her dress, and is 
 thus enabled to leave her husband, who sometimes 
 does, but sometimes does not, regain her. These 
 incidents occur as a separate story, or form part of 
 the fabric of a longer tale, in every European country ; 
 while outside Europe there are Samoyede, Kurdish, 
 Indian, Japanese, Algerian, Arab, Swahili, Arawa- 
 kan,' Red Indian, Eskimo, and Melanesian versions.^ 
 The mythological school have interpreted the story in 
 their own way ; it belongs in reality to our own tabu 
 class. But it should be noted here that the story is 
 told of other animals than birds : in a Croatian 
 story, a wolf which removes its skin ; in G uiana , "y 
 a dog whose shape a woman takes by putting 
 on a dog's skin; in Scandinavian or Celtic tales 
 there is frequently a preference for the seal, which, 
 when it removes its skin, becomes a beautiful 
 woman. ^ 
 
 v^ Sometimes the story is told of supernatural beings, 
 or of women of another and ravishingly beautiful race. 
 
 ^ For several European versions, see Hartland, Science of Fairy 
 Tales, p. 255 seq.j and Baring-Gould, Curious Myths, p. 561. For the 
 others, see Castren, p. 172. Prym and Socin, p. 51. Mitford, i. 161. 
 Berenger-Feraud, ii. 40. Lane, Arabian Nights, iii. 352. Steere, 
 p. 355. Brett, p. 29. Legends of the Wigwam, p. 81. Rink, p. 145. 
 Codrington, p. 397. 
 
 2 Wratislaw, p. 290. Brett, p. 1 76. See p. 438 infra, for a Melanesian 
 parallel. 
 
THt: SWAN-MAIDEN 343 
 
 Here almost every trace of the animal has dis- 
 appeared, save that these supernatural women have 
 wings which they lay aside, and the possession of 
 which affects their capture, as in Greek stories of the 
 Nereids, and in a tale from the New Hebrides. More 
 usually, the capture results from the hero's taking: part 
 of the woman's clothing when she is bathing". Of 
 this there are Irish, Pomeranian, Bulgarian, Samo- 
 yede, Santal, Celebes, and Red Indian variants, while 
 it is a common occurrence in Indian M'drchen and 
 saga. Here, I believe, we have the key to the whole 
 g"roup of stories, and the foundation on which one and 
 all rest. No idea is more common in primitive 
 thought than this, that any article of clothing- 
 or ornament, or the name, hair-clippings, nail- 
 parings, etc., contains all the virtue of its owner, and 
 is so much a part of himself that whatever is done 
 to it is ipso facto done to him. Hence to become 
 possessed of it is to have the owner in your power 
 and at your mercy. Students of primitive magic and 
 of witchcraft know how universally all those things are 
 used to work harm to the victim or to gain power 
 over him, while that harm or submission frequently 
 occurs when the victim becomes aware of what is 
 being done. The underlying belief acts like a 
 hypnotic suggestion, and almost automatically pro- 
 duces the result. A single instance will illustrate 
 this. A healthy native girl in Australia told Mrs 
 Parker that she would probably die soon, because a 
 man had stolen a lock of her hair, a nd was now on 
 his way with it to the wizards] Should they agree to 
 burn it magically, she would inevitably die.^ In the 
 same way many primitive peoples believe that a 
 woman's love may be gained by obtaining part of her 
 
 * Parker, 2nd series, xiii. Cf. a similar instance in Brough 
 Smyth, Aborigines of Victoria^ i. 417, where a girl took fever 
 and expected to die as her stolen and buried hair rotted 
 away. 
 
344 TABTT IN FOLK-TALES 
 
 hair, dress, etc., and saying a magical charm over it.^ 
 So, ag"ain, to put on any part of a woman's dress is 
 to put on her qualities, and especially her weakness. 
 The dress, scanty though it may be, is in fact a real 
 part of one's personality. ^ This may be illustrated from 
 a Micmac story, in which Pulowech the Partridge sees 
 three girls bathing. By a stratagem he captures the 
 hair-string of one of them, whereupon she must 
 follow him. So in the Irish tale John gets Grey 
 Norris's daughter in his power by stealing her 
 clothes ; the Pomeranian girl is caught by the hunts- 
 man taking her shift ; a Chinese story relates that a 
 man forced a women to become his wife by stealing 
 her clothes ; Abistanooch captures two fairy women in 
 an Algonquin story by taking their garments, because 
 he knew ** that when fairies are naked, and a man has 
 their clothes, he holds them at his mercy." Best of 
 all is a New Guinea story. The hero falls in love 
 with a beautiful silvery object — the moon — which he 
 digs out of the earth. It bewails its untimely birth, 
 and disappears. He follows it, and discovers a lovely 
 woman bathing. The woman is the moon, and the 
 hero, like Abistanooch, gets her in his power by 
 promptly sitting down on her petticoat, and refusing 
 to budge till she promises to marry him. She tells 
 him it is impossible ; she is a spirit, he will die if he 
 touches her; in any case his death is certain 
 because he has touched her clothes. However, 
 taking pity on her persistent Endymion, as he 
 must die in any case, she agrees to marry him for 
 one day. "So one day more am I deified!" — but 
 immediately after he died. Now the moon was 
 meant to be the bride of the sun, but he grew 
 
 ^ Crawley, p. 185. 
 
 - Hence the offering of part of a patient's dress to the tree by a 
 sacred well ; it transfers the diseased part of one's personality to 
 the tree, or is a link between the spirit of the tree and the man 
 himself. 
 
PETTICOAT GOVERNMENT Un 
 
 jealous; the breach between them widened, and 
 they mutually agreed to be seen as little as possible 
 togfether.^ 
 
 In these tales we have the nearest analogue to 
 the primitive form of the story, which must have 
 pointed out the danger a woman incurred in allowing 
 a man to obtain possession of her scanty clothing or 
 ornaments. In effect there is something sacred in a 
 New Guinea woman's petticoat, as Mr Romilly 
 informs us, and a boy was saved from death by the 
 women throwing their petticoats over him — not a 
 man daring- to touch him. Petticoat government! 
 The idea is also illustrated by the custom of the 
 Kavirondo (Bantu) people. There the women wear 
 only a tiny apron of leather, to which, however, the 
 g"reatest importance is attached. If a man of the 
 same tribe should even touch it, although he is her 
 husband, a mortal offence is committed against its 
 owner, which must be expiated by sacrifice, else the 
 woman will die.^ In the same way Andamanese 
 women will not renew their leaf-apron in presence of 
 each other ; it is always done privately, and a like 
 secrecy is also practised by the Indians of Guiana. 
 In all these cases there is doubtless a mingling of 
 fear lest another get possession of the g-arment and 
 so work harm to its owner, with that other curious 
 form of fear underlying savage tabus about the 
 sexual organs. These tabus work in two ways : 
 (i) as a protection of those sexual centres against 
 .magical or other influences ; (2) since these organs 
 symbolise life, they are, therefore, in themselves or in 
 their representations, forces powerful to work harm 
 or to neutralise it ; hence, they must be covered and 
 
 ^ Leland, p. 281. F.LJ.^ i. 320. Hartland, S. of F.T.^ p. 262. 
 Dennys, p. 140. Leland, op. cit.^ p. 142. In stories where a mermaid 
 is captured, it is usually by stealing her pouch, belt, cap, etc. When 
 she recovers this she returns to the sea. R omilly, p. 134. 
 
 2 Romilly, p. 74. Johnston, ii. 728. 
 
346 TABU IN FOLK-TALES 
 
 concealed.^ The importance attached to the bride- 
 gfroom's unloosening- the bride's girdle at marriage, 
 among- ancient Greeks and many other peoples, 
 seems to point in the same direction. It symbolised 
 his power over her. Gradually, however, with the 
 weakening of such beliefs about clothes, the stories 
 were told only of supernatural women ; while, once 
 more, this tabu group was influenced by the totemistic 
 Beast-marriage cycle, and the wife was regarded as 
 both beast and human, or rather something more 
 than human. She had the power of taking human 
 form, but might resume her animal shape, and fre- 
 quently did so through her husband's carelessness, 
 as in the Melusina cycle, or as in an Ojibway story in 
 which the beaver wife again becomes a beaver when 
 her husband lets her foot touch water — her native 
 element. This, as Mr Lang points out, is an exact 
 parallel to the Sanskrit story of Bheki the Frog, who, 
 as a girl, married a king. He, too, lost her through 
 breaking the condition made, that she should never 
 see a drop of water. ^ Already many primitive races 
 had legends of men mating with divine women who, 
 being divine, could only remain with them a certain 
 time. It is extremely likely that upon such legends 
 were now grafted the folk-tales of human wives cap- 
 tured by retaining their garment. The reason why the 
 divine woman became the wife of a mortal was now 
 made clearer ; it was not merely her love for him, but 
 because he had forced her to become his wife through 
 getting possession of her shining raiment, while her 
 repossession of that raiment supplied a stronger 
 reason for her leaving him. Such a legend is that 
 of the goddess Hapai, who, as the Maoris say, fell in 
 
 ^ Cf. the curious method adopted by the men of the New Hebrides 
 (Somerville, J.A.I.^ xxiii. 368). On the whole subject, see Him, 
 Origin of Art, p. 217 ; Ellis, Psychology of Sex, ii. 7 seq. 
 
 2 Kohl, Kitchi Garni, p. 105. Lang, Custom and Myth, p. ^^. Cf. 
 the Passamaquoddy story of the Partridge's Wife, p. 320 supra. 
 
TAB! TED DRESS AND BEAST SKIN 347 
 
 love with Tawhaki, but always left him before dawn. 
 But her love for him made her stay, and then the 
 angfry gods carried her back to heaven, where the 
 brave Tawhaki recovered her, and became a gfod.^ 
 But when the incidents of the Beast-marriage 
 group were attracted into this group, the totemistic 
 origin had been long forgotten, and the animal bride 
 was only an animal when she donned her animal 
 skin. This is the real origin of the Swan-maiden 
 group — the beast-skin of the Beast-marriage cycle 
 has replaced the tabued garment of the group which 
 told the danger women incurred through letting a 
 man steal that garment. And as in these stories 
 the woman regained her freedom by recovering her 
 garment, so when the animal-wife sees her feather- 
 dress or wings by accident, the old animal nature 
 returns to her, she is tempted to put them on or 
 strongly desires to do so, and no sooner are they 
 donned than she must quit human society. Thus 
 two quite separate story groups have coalesced as 
 neatly as do the two natures, animal and human, in 
 the lovely and coveted Swan-maiden. The story, of 
 course, was told of any animal ; the popularity of the 
 swan may be regarded as an example of the survival 
 of the fittest. But in some stories of this group, as 
 in the later stories of the Beast-marriage cycle, the 
 tabu on the dress does not appear, though so long 
 as the dress exists the bride cannot be freed from her 
 animal nature. Unlike the Swan-maiden, she is not 
 tempted to retain or regain her animal form, though 
 this idea recurs in many Swan-maiden stories where 
 the lost wife is finally restored to her husband. The 
 stories to which I have referred tell how the woman 
 has an animal form by enchantment, but is released 
 from it by her lover s burning her animal skin. As we 
 have seen, this is the motif of many stories in the 
 Beast-marriage group, while it has its concomitant 
 
 ^ Clarke, p. 147, 
 
348 TABU IN FOI.K-TALES 
 
 in the occasional tabu stories where the wife will 
 regain her human shape if her husband observes 
 certain conditions.^ 
 
 In all stories where the animal skin may be set 
 aside, as in many others, Red Indian, Chinese, etc., 
 where by merely putting on an animal's skin or bird's 
 wings a temporary transformation is effected,'^ this 
 idea may have been suggested by one particular 
 aspect of Totemism as well as by mimetic magic. For 
 in certain sacred dances, by putting on the skin of 
 the totemic animal, the dancers represented it, and so 
 assimilated its qualities, and were actually identified 
 with it. By becoming like the totem animal, they 
 became one with it. Likeness was merged into 
 identity. 
 
 Or, again, where a divinity had a totem origin, 
 and its sacred animal representative was sacrificed to 
 it, the priest or sacrificer frequently wore its skin, 
 thus identifying himself with the divinity and the 
 victim. Assyrian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and 
 Mexican examples show the wide range of this 
 practice.^ Frequently, too, for purposes of divina- 
 
 ^ The skin episode takes a curious form in a story from West 
 Africa. A king's daughter called Ilambe wished a husband different 
 from other women's, and by her magic power changed a mbinde 
 (wild goat) into a handsome youth, after she had skinned the animal. 
 She burned the skin, preserving the ash. Some time after, the 
 husband paid marked attentions to another woman. His wife took 
 a little of the ash and rubbed it on his feet, which turned to hoofs. 
 He pleaded with her, and she restored them as before. But again 
 he roused her jealousy, and again the same warning was given him. 
 Finally, when he had sinned a third time, she took the whole of the 
 ash and, having bade the woman prepare for his coming, threw it 
 over her husband, who turned into a mbinde again and bounded off 
 into the forest. Here the underlying idea is still the same ; so long as 
 any part of the animal remains the animal nature will return when 
 the transformed person is brought in contact with it. — Nassau, p. 346. 
 
 2 Cf. Petitot, p. 174. Giles, i. 278. Helpful Animals chapter, 
 passim. 
 
 ^ Robertson Smith, Religion of Semites^ pp. 274, 277, 292, 495. 
 Cf. Lobeck's Aglaophamus. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE xVOVELIST 349 
 
 tion, the seer was wrapped up in an animal's skin 
 and left in a solitary place. This was a Celtic 
 practice, pre- and post-Christian, and occurred also 
 among- the Greeks and Romans.l..^,._< 
 
 These various uses of the animalT skin suggest 
 that they may readily have given rise to the folk-tale 
 incident of the possibility of assuming- the animal's 
 shape and nature by donning its skin. Meanwhile 
 we sum up the results of our investigation of the 
 marriage tabu incident in Mr Jevon's words : **The 
 primitive public for whom the fairy tales in question 
 were composed, found the incident of the violated 
 tabu as thrilling and as full of 'actuality' as a 
 modern reader finds the last sensational novel." "^ 
 
 1 Martin, Western Isles, p. iii. Pausanias, i. 34. Virgil, ^neid, 
 vii. 85 ; viii. 281. 
 
 ^ Jevons' Plutarch's Romane Questions, Intro., Ixxvii. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE CLEVER YOUNGEST SON 
 
 In reading any collection of folk- tales, one is struck 
 by the frequency with which they relate the 
 adventures of three sons or daughters, one of whom, 
 the youngest, is invariably the most fortunate. Thus 
 Mr Jones's collection of fifty-three Magyar tales 
 contains twenty-one dealing with the fortunes of a 
 youngest son, and in other collections the same large 
 proportion is met with. Many tales, Russian, Basque, 
 Celtic, etc., represent the youngest son as a simpleton, 
 who, nevertheless, comes to honour and fortune. 
 It is obvious that all this has not happened by chance, 
 but has originated out of some definite cause. Of 
 the numerous story cycles in which the formula occurs, 
 we can only consider a few, but some of these may 
 hint at the solution of the problem of. the favour paid 
 to the youngest son of the family. Certain of these 
 cycles show only the superiority of the young hero or 
 heroine ; others appeal more directly to our sympathy 
 by showing him as the victim of adverse circum- 
 stances ; others do so still more by setting forth the 
 callous wickedness of the elder sisters or brothers, "j 
 
 (i) The first cycle we shall call that of the 
 Treacherous Brothers, and it may be illustrated by a 
 Russian story. A monster called a norka ravaged 
 a king's deer-park. The two elder sons watched for 
 
 350 
 
THE TREACHEROUS BROTHERS 361 
 
 it, but drank too much vodka ; the youngest, a 
 simpleton, wounded the norka, and followed it to the 
 underworld, his brothers refusing to descend with 
 him. There he saw the norka's three beautiful 
 sisters, who gave him the water of strength and a 
 sword of steel. He cut off the monster s head, and 
 then attached the maidens one by one to a rope. 
 His brothers pulled them up to earth and then 
 deserted him. He wandered about for some time 
 and was delivered by a bird, grateful for his 
 kindness to her young ones. He now became a 
 tailor's assistant. Meanwhile his brothers were 
 about to marry the girls, who refused to wed until 
 replicas of their underworld garments had been 
 made them. No one could do this ; the hero, 
 however, had brought away the dresses with him, 
 and now gave them to his master to carry to the 
 king. He supplied them with shoes in the same 
 way. The sisters were naturally much astonished, 
 but the youngest at last discovered the hero, who 
 married all three, the elder brothers being duly 
 punished.^ 
 
 There are many variants of this story, but usually 
 the introduction relates how the brothers go to seek 
 their sister or mother, abducted by a monster. The 
 youngest is the rescuer, and also liberates three 
 princesses, prisoners of the monster. They will not 
 marry till certain magical objects are brought them 
 by the treacherous brothers ; these the hero obtains 
 by the aid of animals whom he has helped ; sometimes, 
 as in the Russian story, he has brought these objects 
 with him. There are several Russian variants of 
 this type, as well as Serbian, Greek, Sicilian, Spanish 
 (in this three princesses are shut up by their father, 
 and one of them promised in marriage to whomsoever 
 sets them free), Celtic, and Syriac. In this last the 
 
 ^ Ralston, p. 73 ; cf. p. 100. For the grateful bird incident, 
 see p. 239. 
 
352 THE CLEVER YOUNGEST SON 
 
 young prince's brother and uncle behave in the same 
 treacherous manner, while in a Kabyle variant the 
 brothers are sons by different wives. ^ 
 
 A North German story opens with the watching 
 formula, and the youngest brother obtains the colt, 
 which is the thief The story then glides into the 
 formula of some variants of group eleven, the colt 
 climbing a glass mountain, where the hero finds the 
 enchanted princess. In a Norse variant he obtains 
 three horses and as many suits of armour as the 
 result of his watch, and becomes the unknown knight 
 whose feats of strength win the bride whom his 
 brothers, who despised him as Boots, fail to win. 
 There is a group of tales in which Dove-maidens are 
 the thieves, and the hero captures one which becomes 
 his bride. She has been enchanted by a troll, and 
 the hero's after-adventures describe how he released 
 her from the enchantment. A Swahili story also 
 introduces the watching episode. Here, as in the 
 Malagasy tale of group two, the youngest son is 
 disliked by his father, because he is always in the 
 kitchen. But he succeeds in discovering the thief 
 who steals ►his father's dates, when everyone else fails. 
 It is a bird which promises to help him if he releases 
 it. He agrees, and later captures a monster, in trying 
 to kill which three of his brothers have been slain. 
 His father made him his heir after getting the willing 
 consent of the remaining brothers.^ 
 
 ^ Dietrich, No. 5. — Hero's mother and three princesses rescued. 
 Mijatovich, p. 31. — The brothers, on returning, make a shepherd 
 personate the hero unsuccessfully. Hahn, Nos. 26, 70. Crane, p. 
 36. Romancero Generale^ No. 1263. Campbell, iii. 9. Prym und 
 Socin, No. 46. Riviere, p. 235. In some versions these incidents 
 form a sequel to the Bear's Son cycle, and the Companions, not the 
 brothers, of the hero treat him in this way. For the pit incident, cf, 
 the desertion of Joseph. 
 
 2 Thorpe, Y.T.S., p. 456. Dasent, 89. Thorpe, p. 158 (Swedish, 
 Danish, German, and Slav variants). Steere, p. 199. Similar stories 
 must have been current in ancient Peru, 
 
THE QUEST 353 
 
 (2) In studying: the Water of Life incident, we 
 have seen how frequently it or some other treasure is 
 the object of a quest by a king s three sons, of whom 
 the youngest alone is successful. With an immense 
 variety of detail, the main outlines of this story, as 
 found in every European country, are these. The 
 elder brothers refuse help at the outset to some man 
 or animal, and soon after waste their substance in 
 riotous living. Meanwhile the despised youngest 
 son, who is sometimes a hunchback, obtains a 
 reluctant permission to go on the quest. He pays 
 his brothers' debts, rescues a princess from an ogre, 
 and obtains the object of his quest. Returning, he 
 again helps his brothers, who reward him by throwing 
 him into a well and go off with princess and treasure. 
 In some cases its virtue ceases, but it resumes its 
 power as soon as the hero, rescued by the animal to 
 whom he had given help, appears at the palace. After 
 this he marries the princess, and his brothers are 
 punished. In this form, with greater or less modi- 
 fication of detail, the story is found in Ireland, 
 Scotland, Norway, Bohemia, Wallachia, Russia, 
 Germany, Transylvania, Sweden, Austria, Poland, 
 Sicily, France, Lithuania, and among the Magyars 
 and Basques.^ 
 
 In Hindu variants the seekers are usually sons of 
 different mothers. Frequently the youngest son has 
 
 one version told by Cieza de Leon, jealous of their brother, shut him 
 up in a hole in the ground, whence he emerged with wings, as Manco 
 Capac, the ancestor of the Incas, and turned the treacherous brothers 
 into stone. — Second Part of the Chronicles of Peru^ p. 5. 
 
 ^ Kennedy, ii. 47. Cf. a curious Swedish version, where the magic 
 articles are in possession of a loathsome toad whose servant the hero 
 becomes. In the sequel she turns out to be an enchanted princess 
 Thorpe, Y.T.S.^ p. 226. Campbell, i. 168. Asbjoemsen, p. 364 
 Chodzko, p. 285. Schott, No. 26. Ralston, p. 286. Grimm, No. 57 
 Haltrich, No. 7. Cavallius, No. 9. Vernaleken, Nos. 52, 53, 
 Toeppen, 154. Gonzenbach, No. 64. Schleicher, 26. Cosquin, i. 208 
 Jones, p. 288 ; see p. 61. Webster, p. 180. 
 
 Z 
 
354 THE CLEVER YOUNGEST SON 
 
 been banished with his mother, but accompanies his 
 brothers in the quest, and in the sequel becomes his 
 father's favourite son.^ A Malagasy tale resembles 
 this formula. Isilakoloma, who is half wood, is 
 disinherited by his brother's advice, but his mother 
 shares his banishment. Among the treasures which 
 are sought are three witches, one of whom reveals to 
 the king the brothers' jealousy, whereupon Isilakoloma 
 is made heir and the brothers become his slaves.^ A 
 Kirghiz poem comes nearer to the European variants ; 
 the sons seek a magic nightingale, the youngest, 
 Haemra, marries a peri, and with her aid finds it. 
 He pays his brothers' debts ; they blind him and 
 throw him into a well. The bird reveals all to their 
 father ; unfortunately the rest is silence.^ 
 
 (3) The next group also involves a quest, but 
 differs considerably from the former. The introduc- 
 tion to the story varies : frequently it takes the form 
 found in the Scots tale of Mally Whuppie, intro- 
 ducing three sisters who are sent from home. They 
 come to a giant's house, and at night Mally notices 
 that the giant puts straw ropes round their necks, but 
 gold necklaces round his daughters' necks, and she 
 wisely exchanges these when all are asleep, with the 
 result that he kills his own daughters. This is, of 
 course, the story of Hop o' my Thumb. They next 
 come to a king's palace, and on telling the story the 
 king says, *' Mally, you are clever ; steal the giant's 
 sword, and I'll marry your eldest sister to my eldest 
 son." With great difficulty Mally succeeds. She is 
 then sent for his pillow, lastly for his ring, her reward 
 to be marriage to the youngest prince. The giant cap- 
 tures her ; she persuades his wife to take her place, 
 escapes with the ring, and is duly married.* This 
 
 1 Ind. Ant., 1872, p. 115 ; 1875, p. 54. 
 
 2 F.L.J., ii. 129. 3 Radloff, iii. 535. 
 * Jacobs, p. 125 ; cf. p. 354 supra. 
 
THE JEALOUS BROTHERS 355 
 
 story is obviously based on others in which three 
 brothers figure, who, in the commoner version, after the 
 same or some other introduction, take service with 
 the king-. The elder brothers, as in the Esthonian 
 version, are jealous of the hero, and tell the king how 
 he has boasted of his prowess, whereupon the king 
 sends him for the ogre's treasures.^ The brothers 
 intend that he should perish in the attempt. Un- 
 luckily for them, he succeeds, and it is they who 
 perish, or, in other cases, have to remain in the very 
 subordinate positions in which they find themselves, 
 while the hero becomes heir to the throne, and 
 marries the king's daughter. Norse, Swedish, Greek, 
 Sicilian, and Italian variants exist ; in the last the 
 hero is the youngest of thirteen brothers.^ 
 
 In Eastern and in some European variants 
 jealous courtiers frequently replace the elder brothers,^ 
 but parallels to the European version exist. Persian 
 and Turkish versions contain incidents from the 
 Quest cycle. Three brothers receive their shares of 
 their possessions and go abroad. The youngest 
 helps his brothers over and over again, when they 
 have squandered their wealth. They then set him 
 adrift in a boat (Persian) or (Turkish) accuse him 
 wrongfully to the sultan, who has him cast into a pit. 
 The Persian version tells how jealous courtiers 
 advised that he should be sent to seek for impossible 
 objects ; the Turkish makes him marry a princess, 
 obtain immense wealth, and change his treacherous 
 brothers into dogs.* A variant current among the 
 
 1 Kirby, i. 187. 
 
 '^ Thorpe, Y.T.S.^ p. 253. 7^/^., p. 142. Geldart, "Constantes and 
 the Dragon." Gonzenbach, No. 83. Crane, p. 90. In an incomplete 
 Scots version the two brothers drop out of the story, but the hero's 
 adventures are the same. F.LJ.^ iii. 270. For a Magyar version, 
 see p. 242. 
 
 3 For a Berber version with parallels, see Basset, No. 27 and notes. 
 Cf. Cosquin, ii. 90. The European stories are usually of the Impostor 
 cycle referred to on p. 57. ^ Clouston, E.R., p. 147, 493- 
 
356 THE CLEVER YOUNGEST SON 
 
 Avars of the Caucasus resembles the Scots story in 
 the introduction, but has three brothers, the two 
 elder of whom are very jealous of Tchilbik, the 
 young-est, who has to bringf the ogress's magical bed- 
 cover, copper, she-g-oat, and finally the ogress herself, 
 after which he marries the king's daughter.^ In an 
 Arab tale we have three brothers searching for a 
 nightingale which petrifies all who come near it. 
 The two eldest fail, the youngest succeeds, and 
 restores them and many others to life. His jealous 
 brothers fling him into a well, and take the glory of 
 the deed, but the bird, having given him a magic ring, 
 causes his escape, and he makes good his claim. ^ 
 
 (4) In the second cycle it has been seen how the 
 elder brothers refuse help at the outset to some 
 creature who asks it. This incident of the churlish- 
 ness of the elder brothers is still more strongly 
 marked in some stories, and leads directly to their 
 hurt. A Basque hero, who rescued a princess from a 
 seven-headed serpent, had already overcome a fright- 
 ful bear which had killed his brothers. They had 
 refused a piece of cake to a wise- woman who asked 
 it ; the youngest gave it, . and obtained a magic rod 
 by which alone the bear could be killed.^ A Servian 
 story illustrates the natural goodness of the youngest 
 son, quite in the goody-goody story-book manner. 
 Three brothers each give an angel, sent to provide 
 them with better food, some pears. He then appears 
 as a monk, and asks them to choose whatever they 
 please. The eldest chooses that a river should 
 become wine ; the second that doves should become 
 sheep ; the third asks for a pure Christian wife. She 
 is procured with difficulty. The elder brothers 
 prosper; the youngest remains poor. The angel 
 
 ^ Schiefner, No. 3. 
 
 2 Burton, Supp. Nights^ iv. 244. 
 
 ^ Webster, p. 33. 
 
ClNDEiRELLA 357 
 
 tests all three; the first two refuse his modest 
 requests, and lose all ; the third gives him of his 
 poverty, and is rewarded with a royal palace.^ 
 Christian conceptions have obviously coloured this 
 tale. In Malagasy stories the incident of the 
 churlish brothers is a favourite one. I have already 
 referred to this ; the story of The Seven Brothers 
 is another excellent instance. Seven brothers were 
 suitors for one grirl. Six refused aid to certain 
 animals, insulting^ them at the same time. They 
 failed in performing" the tasks set them by the girFs 
 father, and returned home disconsolate. The 
 youngest now went, and on the way gave honey to 
 the wasp and fly, rice to the lark, manioc to the pig, 
 and rice to the grebe. These animals assist him in 
 the tasks, and he wins the girl. The story goes on 
 to relate how, when his child was born, the brothers 
 lowered the hero into a caiman's den, from which he 
 escaped with its treasure, thus becoming rich while 
 his brothers were impoverished.^ 
 
 (5) In this and the next cycle we have mainly 
 three sisters instead of three brothers, but the 
 rationale of the stories is precisely the same. I shall 
 here refer to the Cinderella group, where the 
 commoner versions make the despised girl the step- 
 sister of the others. Other versions, which connect 
 the Cinderella group with the next, or Jealous Sisters 
 cycle, make the three girls daughters of one mother. 
 The Greek variant introduces a unique cannibalistic 
 episode. The mother prefers her youngest daughter ; 
 the two elder daughters thereupon kill and eat their 
 mother. When the heroine is married to the prince, 
 and her child is born, they stick a needle into her 
 head and bury her, one of them, Maro, now taking 
 
 ^ Mijatovich, p. 74. 
 
 2 Ferrand, p. 102. Cf. p. 243 j and for other instances, F.L.J.^ 1883, 
 1884. 
 
368 THE CLEVER YOUNGEST SON 
 
 her place. A bird emerges from the grave and taunts 
 the impostor, who asks the husband to shoot it ; three 
 drops of blood fall ; from them an apple-tree springs up, 
 as in the Egyptian Two Brothers cycle. In one of 
 the apples the true bride is found, and Maro is ground 
 to powder.^ An Albanian story takes another form. 
 Fatima is hated by her sisters, because the sun says 
 she is the prettiest. To get rid of her they desert her 
 in a forest where forty thieves find her, and are so 
 struck by her beauty that they make her their 
 cook. The sisters now send her various articles in 
 succession which cause her death, but she is restored 
 to life on their removal from her body. Lastly, they 
 send her a ring, and this time, as the robbers do not 
 see it, she remains dead, and her coffin in placed on a 
 tree. A king passing that way discovers it, and 
 carries it off In time Fatima becomes thinner; the 
 ring drops off; life is restored, and the king marries 
 her.^ This tale is found in Madagascar, but there 
 the girl dreams that the son of the sun wishes to 
 marry her because she is so beautiful. The sisters 
 ask everyone if she is pretty, and everywhere find the 
 same opinion. At last, to compass her death they 
 bid her gather vegetables from the monster Itri- 
 mobe's garden. She is caught, and he intends to eat 
 her, but she escapes, and returning home becomes her 
 parents' pet, the other sisters being disowned.^ 
 
 In a Micmac story the youngest of three sisters 
 is cruelly treated by the others. In the same village 
 lives an invisible being who will marry the first girl 
 who can see him. The two sisters try their luck 
 along with everyone else, but signally fail. The 
 
 1 Garnett, ii. ii6. In the usual cannibalistic Cinderella stories the 
 mother is changed into a cow and then eaten, see p. 297. 
 
 2 Dozon, p. I. Note the sepulture on a tree — a genuine savage 
 custom. Grimm's story of Little Snow White is a variant of this, see 
 chap, ii., p. 351. 
 
 ^ F.L.J.^ i. 223. For the pursuit by the monster, see p. 177. 
 
THE JEALOUS SISTERS 359 
 
 youngfest then begged some clothes and, in spite of 
 taunts and jeers, went off to the invisible man's hut. 
 She alone saw him, and became the most beautiful 
 g-irl in the world and the wife of the Invisible One 
 whose sledstring" was the rainbow and his bowstring 
 the milky way.^ 
 
 The usual Cinderella tale occurs with the three 
 sister formula in Malagasy tradition, and is of ancient 
 date. The sisters set out to seek the hoped-for bride- 
 groom ; the pretty youngest girl is ill-treated by the 
 others, and made their slave. But three times running 
 a rat gives her exquisite clothes, and on the third 
 evening, golden slippers, one of which she leaves 
 behind. By this means she is discovered ; her sisters 
 are chased away, and turn into lizards.^ 
 
 (6) Of this, the Jealous Sisters cycle, there are 
 three groups. The first may be represented by a 
 Sicilian story. A king's son overheard three sisters 
 talking. " If I married the prince," said the first, 
 *' I would satisfy a whole regiment with four g-rani of 
 bread." "And I," said the second, "would quench 
 their thirst with a single glass of wine." "As 
 for me," said the youngest, " I would give him two 
 children, a boy with a golden apple in his hand, and 
 a girl with a golden star on her forehead." The 
 prince thereupon married the youngest, and during 
 his absence she gave birth to children such as those 
 she had described. Her jealous sisters wrote to the 
 prince saying she had borne a dog and a cat. He 
 replied that they must be drowned, and the children 
 were thrown into the sea. Thence they were rescued 
 and, after many adventures restored to their mother, 
 when her sisters were duly punished.^ There are 
 
 ^ Leland, A.L.^ p. 303, who thinks a local solar myth has been 
 welded with a French-Canadian tale. Why a solar myth .? 
 •^ Ferrand, p. 123. 
 ^ Crane, p. 17. 
 
360 THE CLEVER YOUNGEST SON 
 
 Catalanian, German, Tyrolese, Italian, Georgian, 
 Albanian, Avar, and Arab versions of this story ; in 
 the four last the prince marries all the sisters, but 
 the elder ones cannot keep their promise.^ In others, 
 Breton, Hungfarian, and Serbian, the elder sisters say 
 they would like to marry the king's servants ; the 
 youngest says she wishes to marry the prince, and 
 will bring him wonderful children.^ Italian, Armenian, 
 Westphalian, Basque, and Icelandic stories omit the 
 last condition, but the girl does give birth to wonderful 
 children.^ Usually the poor wife is set outside the 
 palace to be trampled and spit upon, because she has 
 not kept her promise and has given birth to animals, 
 puppies or kittens. In an Esthonian variant the 
 introduction is different, and there is only one sister, 
 whom the king marries after the heroine has been 
 thrown with one of her children into the sea. By 
 this child's means the sister's wickedness is discovered, 
 and wife and children are all restored.* Usually the 
 fate of the jealous sisters is horrible. This is one of the 
 most popular stories in the whole range of folk-tales, 
 but sometimes the heroine is thus maltreated, not by 
 sisters, but by her jealous friends, by the queen- 
 mother, or in Eastern, Malagasy, and Basuto stories, 
 by the other wives, though in some cases these are 
 her own sisters. I quote the Basuto tale, which M. 
 Jacottet thinks may be original. A chief had on his 
 breast the image of the full moon, and one day 
 announced to his wives that the first would have a 
 son similarly marked, and the others children with 
 
 ^ Maspons, p. 38. Proehle, i. No. 3. Zingerle, ii. 157. Finamore, 
 No. 39. Wardrop, p. 5. Dozon, p. 7. Schiefner, No. 12. Cosquin, 
 i. 196. 
 
 2 Melusine, 1877, p. 206. Jones, p. 11. Gaal, p. 390. Jagitch, 
 No. 25. 
 
 3 Finamore, No. 55. Garnett, ii, 453. Grimm, No. 96. Webster, 
 p. 176. Arnason, p. 427. 
 
 * Kirby, ii. 10. For the children's adventures in stories of this 
 cycle, see p. 59 supra^ " The Water of Life." 
 
A BASUTO TALE 361 
 
 crescent moons or stars. The jealous second wife 
 makes an old woman place a puppy beside the 
 mother of the boy with the moon ; he is thrown 
 aside, but ants take care of him. One day he is seen 
 by this wife, and she, pretending- illness, tells her 
 husband that the hut where the ants are must be 
 burned down, as the ants cause her illness. This is 
 done, but the ants have already carried off the child 
 to an ox. He, in turn, is killed, as are the crabs to 
 whom he has handed on the child. They give him 
 to some traders, one of whom tells the chief All is 
 then discovered ; the mother, who has become the 
 second wife's servant, is reinstated, and the jealous 
 woman banished. This story has affinities with the 
 cycle in which a jealous wife causes the death of 
 children, throughout their different transformations.^ 
 ^Some tales of the Beauty and Beast or Cupid and 
 Psyche group make the breach of tabu by which the 
 wife loses her husband result directly from the 
 malicious advice given her by the jealous elder sisters, 
 while in these and in the Frog Bridegroom group, it 
 is always the youngest of three_ ^ister s who is 
 preferred by the mysterious suitor.^ In the classical 
 
 ^ Jacottet, p. 226. The animal-birth slander appears in another 
 cycle discussed in the chapter on "The Water of Life," p. 59. A 
 West African tale bears a certain resemblance to these Jealous 
 Sister stories. Several wives of a king eat the "medicine" of 
 fertility which he has procured them, including a slave wife of whom 
 the chief wife was jealous. The king went off on a journey and sent all 
 his wives to their respective families till his return. The slave has no 
 home, but is magically provided for in the forest, and there gives birth 
 to a son. On the return of the king it is found that all the wives 
 except the slave and her friend have borne animals. The queen, 
 therefore, takes the slave's baby, substituting for it the snails she 
 herself has borne. But it refuses nourishment, and the king, 
 enlightened by his wizard, suggests a ceremony by which each 
 offspring will know its own mother. The slave then becomes queen, 
 and the jealous woman is sent away for ever. — Nassau, p. 332, 
 " Queen Ngwe-nkonde and her Manja." 
 
 - See pp. 269, 326. 
 
362 THE CLEVER YOUNGEST SON 
 
 version of Cupid and Psyche the sisters advise the 
 bride to light a candle so that she may see the 
 mysterious husband, and in consequence she loses 
 him ; this occurs in an Italian tale as well.-^ In Greek 
 and Italian variants the sisters tell her not to drink 
 the coffee with which he drugs her ; she obeys them 
 and keeps awake. ^ Sometimes (Lorraine, Italian) 
 they wring the secret from her, and the husband 
 perishes miserably, or disappears ; while in a Sicilian 
 story they tell her to ask his name. 
 
 (7) A Basque story illustrates the next group, 
 usually called ''The Value of Salt." A certain king 
 had three daughters, and like King Lear asked them 
 how much they loved him. ''As much as my little 
 finger," said the eldest; "as much as my middle 
 finger," said the second; "as much as bread loves 
 the salt," said the youngest. In a rage her father 
 sent her to the forest to be killed, but the servants 
 set her free and killed a horse instead, taking its 
 heart home in place of the girl's. For a time she 
 lived in the forest on plants and flowers brought her 
 by bees and birds, but at last a king's son found her, 
 and insisted on marrying her. At the wedding, to 
 which her father was invited, she gave him bread 
 without salt and then revealed herself, when he 
 acknowledged the wrong he had done.^ Of this tale 
 there are Flemish, Hungarian, Spanish, Italian, 
 German, and Indian variants,* all closely resembling 
 this, but usually the girl goes through many adven- 
 tures, as in the English Cap o' Rushes, where she 
 takes service as a scullion, dressed in a garment 
 made of rushes, and attends a neighbouring dance 
 
 1 Apuleius, The Golden Ass. Crane, p. 6. 
 
 2 Garnett, ii. 277. Basile, i. 211. 
 ^ Webster, p, 165. 
 
 ^ Bib, de T.P. Esp.^ viii. 175. Busk, p. 403 ; Crane, p. 333. Grimm, 
 No. 179. Stokes, p. 164. 
 
THE VALUE OF SALT 363 
 
 three times in the clothes which she wears beneath 
 her dress of rushes. Her master's son gives her a 
 ring", which she afterwards sends up to table in a 
 dish, and is discovered. Then follows the wedding 
 and the banquet, at which every dish is unsalted.^ 
 On the simple framework of such a story as the 
 Basque example a Cinderella version has been 
 grafted, giving such a composite story as this. The 
 elder sisters are here neither malicious nor wicked : 
 in an Italian version it is they who spare their sister 
 in the forest. A Buddhist version is of a more 
 sinister type, and deals with five brothers, four of 
 whom are hostile to the youngest. They fail in 
 trading ; he succeeds, but leaves home because they 
 plot to kill him. He next appears married to three 
 princesses, when his parents and brothers come to 
 him in great poverty and are supported by him. All 
 this, in accordance with Jaina belief, is due to his 
 merit in a former existence, and in the sequel he is 
 reborn as a god. An earlier folk-tale of the salt type 
 has obviously been made use of to enforce Buddhist 
 doctrine.^ A Basuto tale has so many points of 
 likeness with this class, that I cite it here. Modisa 
 was the youngest and despised child, and her 
 parents at last drove her from home. As she 
 wandered off she was magically supplied with food, 
 and dressing herself in grass, arrived at a hut in 
 which no one seemed to dwell, where again she 
 continued to get food, which came whenever she 
 
 ^ Jacobs, p. 51. An interesting study of this and the next cycle 
 will be found in F.L.J., iv. 308, "The Outcast Child," by Mr Hart- 
 land. For a Suffolk Cap o' Rushes story, see County Folk- Lore : 
 Suffolk^ p. 40. 
 
 ■^ Tawney, p. 'jZ. A story from Agenais, in which the youngest 
 daughter, who likes her father as much as he likes salt, supports him 
 when his elder daughters send him adrift in the world, connects this 
 cycle with the mediaeval story of Lear in Geoffrey of Monmouth, and 
 of the Emperor Theodosius and his daughter. Blade, p. 31. Cf. 
 Mr Hartland's paper on " The Outcast Child." 
 
364 THE CLEVER YOUNGEST SON 
 
 wished it. At night she was visited by an invisible 
 man (the owner of the hut), to whom in due time she 
 bears a son. This man is very rich, and at last she 
 sees him and his relations. He sends famine upon 
 her village, and her contemptuous parents and sisters 
 have to come to her beg-ging for food like Joseph's 
 brethren. They are sent away with sacks full of 
 filth ; only her grandmother, who once was kind to 
 her, gets proper food.^ 
 
 (8) The next group has much resemblance to this. 
 There are several Eastern versions, of which the 
 following from Kashmir is typical. A king asked 
 his four sons by whose good fortune it was that he 
 possessed such a great kingdom. " By his own," said 
 the three eldest ; " By mine," said the youngest, and 
 for his answer he was banished. After a strange 
 career, in which he gained honours and wives in 
 different lands, he heard that his father and brothers 
 had lost the kingdom and were languishing in prison. 
 Having collected an army, he repelled the enemy and 
 reinstated his father, who acknowledged that, after 
 all, he had spoken the very truth, and resigned the 
 kingdom to him.^ The same story is found in India 
 and Persia.^ European variants have a different 
 
 ^ Jacottet, p. 136. Another Basuto story has some resemblance 
 to this. The Master of the Waters refuses to supply a village with 
 water unless the chiefs daughter is sent to be his wife. She goes, 
 but sees no one. A voice speaks to her, and in her sleep a hut is 
 built over her. After her child is born she is permitted to go home, 
 and returns with her sister, who beats the child when it cries ; then the 
 husband ceases to be invisible. A similar incident occurs in the story 
 in the text. This tale is linked to the Beauty and the Beast cycle, and 
 also to the Dragon cycle, because, in a variant, it is a yellow serpent 
 which stops the supply. Cf. p. 405 zn/ra. Jacottet, p. 178. 
 
 2 Knowles, p. 355. In another Kashmir tale the younger of two girls 
 is married to a thief s servant, because she said fate was greater than 
 duty ; but becoming wealthy, she had the satisfaction of hearing her 
 father agree with her opinion, /h'd., p. 326. Cf. Tawney, p. 184. 
 
 2 Miss Stokes, p. 193. 
 

 THE FORTUNATE YOUTH 365 
 
 introduction, as in a Serbian tale, where the king- 
 asks his three sons to note their dreams. The first 
 dreams he will be heir ; the second, the chief subject ; 
 the third, that his brothers will hold a basin and his 
 mother a towel before him, and his father will wash 
 his hands. In the sequel all this comes true, because 
 meanwhile the youth returns resplendent.^ This 
 story, with the prophetic dream, is found in Italy, 
 Greece, Brazil, and elsewhere ; in a Siberian variant, 
 the parents dreamt of as lean camels are reduced to 
 poverty, and beg" of their son, who kills them because 
 they were cruel to him, and g^ives his wives his 
 father's flesh to eat.^ It is possible that the biblical 
 story of Joseph has sugg-ested the formula of this 
 group, which then spread from land to land ; others 
 have supposed that Joseph's dream, if not his whole 
 history, is a Hebrew saga variant of the g-roup. 
 
 (9) In another grroup of stories the youngest son 
 appears as the most fortunate of the three brothers, 
 as in the following Norse tale. To the youngest of 
 three brothers it was granted that all women would 
 fall in love with him ; to the others, that whenever 
 they put their hands in their pockets they would find 
 money. They travelled together, but the elder 
 brothers would not share their money with the 
 youngest ; three amorous hostesses in succession 
 gave him magical objects. All arrived at a certain 
 place, where the king welcomed the rich brothers, but, 
 because of his rags, sent the youngest to the ''fool's 
 island." There the king's daughter discovered him, 
 and by means of his magical objects he won her love 
 and married her, his selfish brothers being sent to 
 take his place on the island. Success in love is also 
 ascribed to the youngest of four brothers in a Maori 
 
 ^ Mijatovich, p. 237. 
 
 2 Pitre, i. 87 (daughters) ; Finamore, i. 83. Hahn, i. 258. 
 Romero, p. 12. Gubematis, Z.M.^ i. 139. 
 
366 THE CLEVER YOUNGEST SON 
 
 story. The beautiful Hinernoa loved Tutane, and 
 promised to cross to his island and be his wife. One 
 night his brothers boasted that they had obtained 
 her favours ; he angrily denied it, and swore she 
 loved him alone. They scoffed at him; "you are a 
 younger son only, one whom a chiefs daughter could 
 never marry." That very night Hinernoa swam 
 across the strait, and at dawn, pretending to be a 
 man, broke the gourds which Tutane's slave was 
 filling with water. Tutane came to punish the man 
 and found his lover, whom he made his wife, to the 
 disgust of his elder brothers.^ So in Polynesian 
 mythology, Maui, the successful culture-hero, is also 
 a youngest son. 
 
 (lo) Sometimes the cleverness of the youngest son 
 is emphasised. In a Basque story three brothers in 
 succession take service with the same master. He 
 sets them difficult tasks, which the two elders are un- 
 able to perform, and they are sent home, according to 
 the terms made, with a strip of skin taken out of their 
 backs. The youngest brother performs the tasks, 
 but to get rid of him the master sends him to a place 
 where the monster Tartaro will catch him. He over- 
 comes the ogre, and in consequence his master has 
 to pay him enormous wages, which he shares with his 
 mother and brothers. This Basque story is interest- 
 ing because it illustrates a widely-spread group, in 
 which the bargain is made with the master that who- 
 ever displays anger at the engagement, will lose his 
 eyes, nose, and ears, or a strip of skin from his back. 
 The youngest brother alone keeps his temper, leads 
 his master a terrible life, e.g'., selling his cattle, and 
 pretending they have been stolen ; and in several cases 
 killing his wife, who feigns herself to be the bird whose 
 note is to terminate the engagement. At last the 
 master can contain himself no longer, gives vent to 
 1 Thorpe, Y.T.S., p. 280. Clarke, p. 57. 
 
THE WATCHERS BY THE TOMB 367 
 
 his anger, and the hero has the best of the bargfain.^ 
 In Breton and Lorraine tales there are only two 
 brothers, but these as well as Russian, Greek, Italian, 
 Corsican, Spanish, Picard, German, Moravian, 
 Lithuanian, and Irish tales, full of rollicking humour, 
 follow the story as detailed here.^ The Afghans tell 
 how a youth entered the service of a master on these 
 conditions. The master must give him each day a 
 plough and a pair of oxen, while the youth must sow 
 every day a basket of seed, as well as bring food for 
 the family and a certain quantity of firewood. Who- 
 ever failed first would lose his nose. This happened 
 to the youth the very first day, and his younger 
 brother now took his place. He performed his task, 
 but broke the plough and killed an ox, so that next 
 day his master could not fulfil his part, and lost his 
 nose. There are Indian and Kashmir variants, the 
 former bearing the closest likeness to the European 
 versions.^ In all we may perhaps see the fossil 
 survival of some primitive form of servitude and its 
 conditions. Cutting a strip of skin occurs as a 
 punishment in Celtic tales, and Campbell refers it to 
 a form of torture once used by the Scandinavians.* 
 
 ( 1 1 ) The next cycle of stories throws some light 
 upon the origin of the idea of the despised but clever 
 youngest son. A Mingrelian story illustrates its 
 typical form. A king had three sons and three 
 daughters. ''When I die," said he, 'Met each 
 of you watch by my tomb for a week, and give 
 these maidens to whoso shall ask for them." The 
 
 1 Webster, p. ii. 
 
 ^ Luzel, p. 29. Cosquin, ii. 47. Ralston, 146. Hahn, No. 11. 
 Ortoli, p. 203. Biblioteca de las Trad. pop. espdn., iv. 139. Carnoy, 
 p. 316. Proehle, ii. 16. Wenzig, p. 5. Schleicher, p. 45. Kennedy, 
 ii. 74. 
 
 3 Thorburn, Bannu^ or our Afghan Frontier , p. 199. Calcutta 
 Review^ Ii. 126. Knowles, p. 98. 
 
 * Campbell, ii. 14, 23. 
 
368 THE CLEVER YOUNGEST SON 
 
 first nig-ht the eldest prince saw something- swoop 
 down, digr up his father's corpse, weep over it all 
 night, and then reinter it. Next day he said 
 nothing ; the same adventure happened to the second 
 brother, who also kept silence. Meanwhile, the 
 youngest son had given his sisters to three strange 
 suitors. His brothers were displeased, and scoffed at 
 him when he claimed his turn to watch. At last they 
 allowed him to take his turn. The visitant appeared ; 
 he killed it with his sword, but as the blood put out 
 his candle he went to relight it at a fire which he saw 
 in the distance. This was the fire of certain demis or 
 spirits, who forced him to accompany them and 
 capture a king's three daughters. He climbed up the 
 ladder first, and then killed them one by one as they 
 ascended. He gave the maidens each a ring and 
 stuck his sword in a stone. Next day the king sent 
 to see who could pull out the sword. Our hero alone 
 succeeded, and to him and his brothers the princesses 
 were given in marriage. Meanwhile his wife was 
 stolen by a master-demi, whom he finally overcame, 
 after many adventures in which he was assisted by 
 the husbands of his sisters, who were themselves 
 demis. Greek and Albanian stories bear the closest 
 resemblance to this tale;^ in others, e.g;, the 
 Esthonian, the incidents differ. A father bade his 
 three sons watch by his grave. The youngest, 
 scorned by his brothers, alone did so, and each night 
 his father's soul told him that whatever he wished for 
 he would obtain by striking on the grave. He thus 
 got three horses, which carried him to the top of a 
 crystal mountain on which was a sleeping princess, 
 whom he married. His brothers died of rage and 
 envy. There are Georgian, Russian, Polish, Finnish, 
 
 1 Wardrop, p. 112. Legrand, p. 145. Dozon, p. 121. The test by 
 which the hero is discovered occurs in a Senegambian ballad, see p. 388. 
 So Arthur was made king when he drew the magic sword from a 
 stone, just as Sigismund in the Volsunga saga did. 
 
LIMBANG 369 
 
 Norse, and Avar versions of this story : in the 
 Russian the father himself comes out of the grave, 
 shakes the damp earth off his body, and whistles on 
 the horses ; while in most the other brothers vainly 
 attempt to win the coveted bride. ^ A tale from a 
 distant part of the world which, presumably, has not 
 been influenced by those just cited, may be referred 
 to here as showing how similar incidents may have 
 arisen independently. Klieng, the divine hero of the 
 Dyaks, and his four brothers went hunting. The 
 youngest, Limbang, was told to stay behind and 
 cook ; instead of doing this he ran on in front and 
 killed a pig. When the brothers came up, they sent 
 him to get a light from a fire burning in the distance. 
 Having obtained it, he was met by Gua, a cannibal 
 giant, who made him his prisoner, but treated him 
 kindly. Limbang had to provide him with food, and 
 waken him with blows from a sledge-hammer. The 
 giant provided Limbang with a female helper ; her 
 rings and cup were lost while bathing, and floated 
 down stream. A Malay obtained them, and sent for 
 her to be his wife. The remainder of the story tells 
 of the subsequent fighting between this Malay and 
 his forces and the giant, helped by Limbang. Klieng 
 assisted the Malay, and the two brothers once 
 more met. Here the incidents of the light and the 
 capture are almost identical with those in the tales 
 just cited.^ 
 
 ^ Kirby, ii. 40. Wardrop, p. 140. Ralston, p. 256. Dasent, pp. 
 13, 40. Schiefner, No. 4. The glass mountain was suggested by 
 pagan Slavonic belief. See p. 442 infra. 
 
 - Ling Roth, i. 328. Still closer is the resemblance to the Magyar 
 story of The Hunting Princes (Jones, p. 39), who do nothing but hunt 
 all day long. The youngest is sent to get a light, and is captured by 
 robbers, the story then proceeding as in the Mingrelian and other 
 variants. The incident of desire awakened in a man by the sight of a 
 woman's ornaments (or hair) floating down stream has been met with 
 in the Egyptian tale of The Two Brothers. It occurs in many 
 Eastern stories, and recalls the slipper incident in Cinderella tales 
 
 2 A 
 
370 THE CLEVER YOUNGEST SON 
 
 Another series, corresponding: in the later in- 
 cidents to the Ming-relian story, opens differently. A 
 widow and her sons, too poor to pay for masses for 
 the dead father, are haunted by his spirit, and while 
 seeking to deliver themselves, usually by a pilgrimage, 
 lose the youngest brother. He is taken by giants or 
 robbers, and forced to assist them in abducting a 
 princess or in stealing from a king. He kills them 
 and marries the princess. We find this form, with 
 variations in detail, in Lorraine, Tyrol, Hungary, 
 Serbia, Germany, Italy, Greece, and Albania.^ 
 
 The stories in which the dead father assists his 
 son recall the Cinderella stories of the dead mother 
 type, while they point to beliefs, common in Slavonic 
 countries as well as among the Celts, about the dead 
 dweller in the tomb coming forth to assist or to terrify 
 the living.^ 
 
 We have now to inquire how these stories of the 
 youngest son or daughter overcoming the treachery 
 or jealousy of the elders, or of his or her superior 
 cleverness or good luck, arose. Obviously they are 
 intended to excite our sympathy for the despised 
 youngest son. This may be thought to arise from 
 the idea that the youngest, being ipso facto despised 
 and poor, ought to succeed in life better than the 
 others, by way of compensation. Being youngest, he 
 excites sympathy. We must not overlook this, nor 
 another reason suggested by Mr Lang, viz., that "in 
 adventures, if there is to be accumulating interest, 
 some one must fail ; the elder sons would attempt the 
 
 Both suggest sympathetic magic, with its doctrine of the part influ- 
 encing or hinting of the whole. For some shoe-lore, see Leland, Gypsy 
 Sorcery^ p. 112. 
 
 1 Cosquin, ii. 69. Zingerle, i. No. 33. Busk, p. 167. Archiv.fUr 
 Slav. Phil., ii. 614. Grimm, No. iii. 
 
 2 For this belief, see Ralston, R.F.T. passim, and Curtin, p. 156 
 seq. Cf. the Norse saga which tells how Hervor obtained the sword 
 Tirfing from the barrow of the dead father, by force of her entreaties 
 to him. 
 
BOOTS 371 
 
 adventure first ; consequently the youngrest must be 
 the successful hero."^ True, but this does not apply 
 to all the story-g-roups ; and what if the sympathy for 
 the young-est born had once taken the practical form 
 of making" him the heir, from which position he was 
 gradually ousted by the changing social state and the 
 introduction of a new system of inheritance? The 
 feeling for the youngest son would then take a more 
 sentimental form ; he would be the youth despoiled 
 of his rights, and in the eyes of many, especially of 
 mothers, the heir de facto though not de jure. This 
 I take with Elton and with Mr Lang at an earlier 
 stage of his folk-lore career to be the point of 
 departure for the youngest son formula.^ 
 
 In several of the groups we see the elder brothers 
 depriving- the youngest, not of his inheritance, but of 
 the credit which ought to be his. In spite of this he 
 wins it, and attains the highest place and honour. 
 But in a few stories we find that they do deprive him 
 of his share of the inheritance. This occurs in a 
 Norse story. The youngest of twelve sons went to 
 seek his fortune, and on his return found his father 
 dead and the inheritance divided among his brothers, 
 who only gave him twelve mares. The foal of one of 
 these is the cause of his good fortune, and wins him 
 the hand of a princess. The introduction to a 
 Norse variant of the third group tells how the two 
 elders took all, while Boots, the youngest, only got 
 the kneading-trough, which, however, turned out to 
 have magical powers, and performed the tasks which 
 the king set him at the instigation of his jealous 
 brothers. It is curious to find the same idea in 
 Senegambia. There the beloved youngest son is 
 despoiled of his share by the elders, who find him 
 ■ sleeping, and say that as he has chosen sleep, he must 
 
 ^ Introduction to Miss Cox's Cinderella^ xiii. 
 
 '•^ Elton, Origins of English History^ p. 184. Lang's Perrault^ 
 xcviii. 
 
372 THE CLEVER YOUNGEST SON 
 
 be content with it. One day he saw the eldest 
 brother asleep, and killed him, saying- that he had 
 stolen his share, viz., sleep, and according to law, 
 must die. The second brother at once fled, and the 
 youngest became their heir. So in a Bengal tale 
 three brothers turn out the youngest son and their 
 mother, whose favourite he is, and take possession of 
 the estate. In the sequel he won great riches and a 
 beautiful wife.^ 
 
 Stories such as these point, at first sight, to 
 nothing more than unfraternal feeling, but this still 
 leaves unexplained why it is the youngest son who is 
 so persistently set forth as the object of our sympathy. 
 We find the answer in this, that at one time he was the 
 most important member of the family. We are so 
 accustomed to the law of primogeniture, that it is 
 impossible to imagine a time when the eldest son 
 did not necessarily inherit first and when the youngest 
 son was the principal heir. Yet certain fossilised 
 survivals of this time in lands where primogeniture is 
 the rule, as well as the actual custom itself persisting 
 among certain peoples, prove that such a method of 
 inheritance was once as usual and as natural as that 
 to which we are now accustomed. 
 
 The custom as it survives in England is called 
 Borough- English, in France Mainete and Juveig- 
 nerie, in Germany Jiingsten-recht. Borough- English 
 
 ^ Thorpe, Y.T.S., p. 253. Berenger-Feraud, Contes^ p. 117. 
 Day, p. 224. Cf. a Malagasy tale, where the eldest gets much, 
 "because of his seniority," the second less, and the third least, 
 "because of his being the youngest." He goes off and complains to 
 God, follows His instructions, and becomes rich. His brothers also 
 go to God, but rejecting the advice given, are changed to lemurs. — 
 F.L./.j ii. 75. Cf. an Aino story, where a father, in the younger son's 
 absence, dies, leaving directions that the elder should divide the 
 property equally. On the younger's return, the elder will give him 
 nothing. Off he went to Hades to interview his father's ghost, and 
 found out how his rights had been disregarded. Returning, he told 
 his brother what he had done, and the latter apologised, and gave him 
 his share.— Batchelor, p. 228. 
 
BOROTTGH-ENGLISH 373 
 
 in England varies in extent according to local laws 
 affecting manorial rights ; the most definite instance 
 is found on the manor of Taunton-Dene in Somerset- 
 shire, where, if a tenant die without a widow, and 
 leaves more sons than one, "the youngest hath 
 used to inherit the lands as sole heir to his father ; 
 and so likewise of daughters, if he die without issue 
 male, the youngest daughter ought to inherit the 
 same as sole heir to her father."^ Sometimes, as in 
 Kent, the right of the youngest son is less marked, 
 but is important, since the manorial law allots to him 
 or to the youngest daughter, **the hearth place in the 
 homestead and as far as forty feet around it."^ 
 However much these tenures vary, we see in all, says 
 Elton, *' a curious preference for the youngest son or 
 daughter over the other heirs." So the ancient 
 Welsh laws of Hoel allot to the youngest son the 
 homestead, with eight acres of land, and- the best of 
 the implements — hatchet, boiler, and ploughshare ; in 
 Shetland he received the dwelling-house ; and in 
 Ireland he was given the harp and chessboard.^ 
 
 In France we find, at Grimberghe in Brabant, the 
 whole paternal property given to the youngest son ; 
 in other cases, only certain important pieces of 
 furniture were his by right. This is also true of 
 Germanic instances ; as in Westphalia, Silesia, and 
 Wurtemburg the succession was vested in the 
 youngest son ; elsewhere he received only certain 
 ''hofgiiter" without question. Similar survivals may 
 be traced in Russia and in Hungary;* it is the 
 
 ^ Collinson, Hist, of Somerset^ iii. 233 ; Elton, p. 194. Borough- 
 English continued in Leicester till 1255, when, on the petition of the 
 inhabitants, the earl granted a change in the method of inheritance. — 
 Thompson, Eng. Mon. Hist., p. 62. 
 
 '^ Elton, p. 189. 
 
 ^ Wallace's Orkney, P- 9i- O'Curry, Manners of Ancient Irish, 
 \. Intro, clxxix. 
 
 * Elton, pp. 195-8. Hearn, Aryan Household, p. 82. Robertson, 
 Early Kings of Scotland, ii. 266, 
 
374 THE CLEVER YOUNGEST SON 
 
 g-eneral custom among- the Saxons of Transylvania 
 that the youngest son should receive the house and 
 yard.^ 
 
 Of the actual existence of the practice among- 
 primitive peoples there are several instances. 
 Herodotus speaks of it as occurring among- the 
 Scythians ; certain Mong-ol tribes are bound by it ; 
 with the Northern Tchuds the house of the chief of 
 the family goes to the youngest son at death. An 
 echo of this may be found in what Alberic says of 
 Prester John, that, though least of his brethren, he 
 was set above them.. The custom among the 
 nomadic Tartars is that the youngest son receives 
 the paternal estate, flocks, and movables, the elder 
 sons having already been assigned their shares, and 
 having formed separate households. The preference 
 for the youngest as heir is also found in Arakan, 
 among the Mros of Arawak, while with the Singhpos, 
 though the eldest son inherits lands, the youngest 
 gets all personal effects, intermediate sons receiving 
 nothing.^ 
 
 These survivals over definite European areas, 
 as well as the existence of the custom elsewhere, 
 prove that we are face to face with no mere eccen- 
 tricity of inheritance; they suggest that this may 
 once have been a universal law. Various reasons 
 have been assigned for the existence of this law. 
 Blackstone and Robertson cite several, and incline to 
 the opinion that the elder sons, having become 
 pars reipubliccB and ceased to be pars domus, 
 had received an allotment of public land, while 
 the youngest remained with his father to carry on 
 the household. Littleton explains it by saying that 
 after the death of his parents the youngest son would 
 
 1 E. Gerard, i. 207. 
 
 2 Herod, iv. 5, 10. Bastian, Rechts verhaltnesse^ p. 185. Alberic, 
 Trium Fontium Chronicon, ii. 508. Letourneau, Evol. of Property, p. 
 325- 
 
ANCESTOR WORSHIP AND HEARTH PLACE 375 
 
 be least likely to take care of himself, and hence his 
 maintenance was made sure by casting- the inherit- 
 ance upon him. Mr Gomme and others think it due 
 to the fact that the elders (as in the case of the 
 nomadic Tartars) had gone out to found new home- 
 steads, the father's homestead being then reserved 
 for the youngest son.^ Perhaps the story of Jacob 
 and Esau — Esau the elder going off to found a new 
 family and home, Jacob the younger staying at home 
 and becoming heir — is a reminiscence of this, but 
 coloured to suit a later age, in which primogeniture 
 was the rule, and some explanation of Esau's dis- 
 inheritance was needed. Elton derives the practice 
 from the domestic religion centring in ancestral 
 worship and consequent reverence for the hearth, 
 with people who saw no natural pre-eminence in the 
 eldest. 
 
 This view is probably the best explanation. It 
 suggests that on the youngest son devolved the rites 
 of the worship of the departed father, and as such 
 rites were invariably connected with the hearth as 
 the rallying-place of the home, the hearth and home- 
 stead naturally became his by right. We have seen 
 how the homestead is given to the youngest son, 
 while in certain cases explicit reference is made to the 
 hearth. Folk-tales show that the connection of the 
 youngest child with the hearth had by no means been 
 forgotten ; Cinderella, Cinder-jack, the Norse Boots, 
 all have their natural place at the fireside. It has 
 become a position of degradation ; but once it was 
 the place of honour. Nor is this quite forgotten, 
 for from it the despised hero or heroine is taken 
 directly to place and power. As for the funeral rites 
 
 * Hearn, Aryan Household^ p, 83. Robertson, Early Kings, 
 ii. 269. Archaologia, i. 1857. In the Esthonian Kalevipoeg the 
 elder sons go off when the father declares that his yet unborn son is 
 to be his heir, but later he and they fight for the heirship. — Kirby, 
 i. 18 ; cf. canto 8. 
 
376 THE CLEVER YOUNGEST SON 
 
 and the ritual of ancestral worship devolving- on the 
 youngest-born, the Cinderella tales, in which the gifts 
 are directly supplied to the despised child from the 
 parent's grave, may be a survival. But there is no 
 doubt of the survival in the stories of the eleventh 
 group. In some, all the sons share the watch by the 
 grave, but the youngest is more wakeful ; it is to him 
 that the dead father gives the gifts which bring 
 success ; while in others he alone keeps watch, as if 
 it was his right alone to do so. 
 
 It has been seen how the law of Jiingsten-recht 
 sometimes allotted certain definite articles to the 
 youngest born. Some of our stories, as the Norse 
 one of the magic kneading-trough, are a reminiscence 
 of this. But Elton has shown that such articles may 
 have had a religious significance, since the mandrake 
 which brought good luck became in mediaeval 
 German households the property of the youngest 
 son on condition that he performed certain ancient 
 rites at his father's grave. 
 
 How did it happen that no natural pre-eminence 
 should have been seen in the eldest son? At first, 
 and while descent was counted through the mother, 
 a man's sons are not his heirs, the heir is invariably 
 his sister's son. While a sister's son would certainly 
 be related to a man by blood, his wife's children 
 would be less so — this uncertainty surviving from 
 the time when promiscuity prevailed. This is 
 the usual explanation; but it is not at all unlikely 
 that there was no question of uncertainty, but, as 
 with the Arunta of Central Australia, that there 
 existed absolute ignorance of what caused concep- 
 tion. Be this as it may, with the rise of the 
 patriarchate, possibly caused by clearer ideas of 
 affiliation, the question of inheritance would at once 
 arise. Who was to succeed the father? It is far 
 from unlikely that the youngest born was chosen, 
 because he was nearer his father in time, more 
 
JONGSTEN-RECHT and primogeniture 377 
 
 especially if the elder sons had already swarmed off. 
 Even now in polygamous countries the child of the 
 favourite wife is the heir, or, as among- the Kafirs, 
 the chiefs inheritance devolves on the child of the latest 
 wife. The time came, however, when the usual form 
 of the patriarchate, viz., primogeniture, arose, and the 
 eldest son was preferred before the youngest. This, 
 however, cannot have occurred all at once ; there 
 may even have been a time when, as with the 
 Singhpos, eldest and youngest were nearly equal. 
 But the gradual change would be accelerated by the 
 natural desire of the elders to claim what was now 
 deemed their right, and to oust the youngest son, who 
 would be despised. Lost causes and disinherited 
 princes often excite much sympathy, and with many 
 the heir de facto may also have been considered as 
 still the heir de jrcre. If he were the son of a chief, it 
 is conceivable that he may have rallied a party round 
 him and won by force what had once been his by 
 right. In any case there must have been felt for him 
 much sympathy, and it was given definite form. 
 Hence it is to this period, when the law of primo- 
 geniture was superseding that of Jlingsten-recht, and 
 when the claim of the youngest was not yet forgotten, 
 that we must ascribe the early forms of the stories of 
 the youngest son. He is pictured as a simpleton, 
 despised, ill-treated, the victim of evil plots. His 
 elder brothers are his natural enemies ; even his 
 father is not always his friend. But he invariably 
 ends by proving himself the cleverest ; he wins his 
 way by valour ; beautiful women smile upon him ; 
 he overcomes the wiles of his jealous and treacherous 
 brothers ; he comes into his kingdom after all, and 
 they receive their just punishment. We might 
 almost say that such stories had been invented to 
 stem the tide of the new law ; at all events they 
 became immensely popular, and long after the time of 
 the conflicting heirships had passed, the formula of 
 
378 THE CLEVER YOUNGEST SON 
 
 the despised but clever youngest son was attached to 
 new stories, and became almost the inevitable 
 introduction to a vast series of folk-tales. Sometimes 
 the formula varies, and introduces a youngest daughter 
 and her sisters. This need not have been done 
 merely for the sake of variety ; we have seen how 
 Borough-English sometimes respected the youngest 
 daughter's claim. 
 
 Our theory receives illustration from Kafir custom 
 and folk-tale. The chiefs heir is the child of his 
 youngest wife. Of the other wives, one is called 
 ''the right-hand wife," and her son, when he comes 
 of age, has part of the government given to him so 
 long as the heir is a minor. Often he abuses his 
 position, and attempts to defraud the heir and obtain 
 the chieftaincy. From this actual occurrence have 
 arisen many tales of the perfidy of the elder son and 
 the ultimate triumph of the true heir. What has 
 happened in South Africa has happened elsewhere, 
 and is the key to the central incident of our tales. ^ 
 
 In view of this, the complete stories of the Perseus 
 and Andromeda cycle, with their incidents ( i ) of three 
 sons born to one mother, (2) the eldest rescuing a 
 princess exposed to a monster, and marrying her, (3) 
 he and his second brother being petrified by a witch, 
 and (4) both being rescued by the youngest brother, 
 form an interesting study. The last two incidents 
 frequently occur as a separate folk-tale, with (as here) 
 the youngest as hero. But the rescue of the princess 
 also occurs separately, and it is then ascribed to the 
 youngest of three brothers after the two elder 
 brothers have failed. They put him out of the way 
 and claim the reward, but are confuted in time. 
 When both incidents were welded together the right 
 of the eldest son had been firmly established, and he is 
 made the princess's rescuer. But the claim of the 
 youngest-born was still unforgotten. Hence he acts 
 
 ^ Rev. J. Macdonald in Folk-Lore^ iii. 338. 
 
BEAR CHIEF 379 
 
 as rescuer of his brothers ; while another incident 
 suggfests that jealous treatment meted out to him by 
 his brothers in other tales. That incident is the 
 killing- of his rescuer by the jealous brother when he 
 finds that, having been mistaken for the real husband 
 because he is so like him, he has been forced to 
 occupy the bridal couch. Discoveringf, however, that 
 he had placed the sword of chastity between himself 
 and his brother's wife, and that he had been even 
 more innocent of offence than the sixth century monks 
 with the mulieres sub-introdMctce, over whom Bayle and 
 Gibbon make so merry, the elder brother at once 
 restored him to life, and things were made happy all 
 round. 
 
 The rescue of two brothers by their youngest 
 brother is a common folk-tale formula, as has been 
 seen in discussing the Water of Life cycle, but as a 
 rule the elder brothers (except as just suggested) are 
 not malicious. This formula, then, may have been 
 derived from Jlingsten-recht stories with a purpose. 
 A North American Indian story, which belongs to 
 this group, may be thus explained, or may simply be 
 an example of the ''accumulating interest" theory. 
 The spirits of all dead bears return to the mountain 
 in which lives the great bear chief He is much 
 annoyed at the number of his servants killed by two 
 brothers, whose father had decried their powers as 
 hunters. By a clever stratagem the bear chief 
 entices them both into his mountain, and afterwards 
 causes the death of their parents, who had come to 
 look for them. He would have turned the youths 
 into bears, but his sister interceded for them, and he 
 only transformed their arms and legs into the 
 corresponding limbs of a bear, by rubbing them with 
 moss. Their youngest brother now set out to seek 
 them with his little dog. With his magic arrow 
 he shot at the mountain, and it fell in ruins, 
 destroying the chief and his bears ; the chiefs sister 
 
.'^80 THE CLEVER YOUNGEST SON 
 
 was spared for her kindness. When the boy 
 discovered his brothers, he was unable to devise any 
 means to relieve them of the enchantment, until the 
 chiefs sister told him to make them smell some of the 
 moss. He held it near their nostrils, and the bear- 
 skin fell from their limbs. ^ This story has not 
 apparently been borrowed from outside sources. At 
 all events it is included in the mythological cycle which 
 relates the deeds of the demi-god Manabush, and 
 perhaps was once recited to the candidates for 
 initiation to the mysteries of the Menomini Indians, as 
 other myths of the cycle still are. If the tale is not 
 derivative, it is an interesting- example of a story, 
 suggesting- the formulae of European Marc ken, and 
 yet '* honest Injun." 
 
 Long after the claim of the youngest son had 
 passed away, the tellers of folk-tales found some 
 variety in making the youngest son the villain. Thus 
 in a dragon story from Lorraine he acts as an impostor, 
 and says he has rescued the princess ; while, in a 
 Tuscan tale, he personates his brother, who is 
 enchanted, and lives with his wife. Again, the eldest 
 brother acts like the youngest in a Hungarian Mdrchen, 
 choosing an ungainly foal, which wins him the coveted 
 bride, while the fine steeds of his brothers are easily 
 beaten. But such tales are too few in number to 
 prove anything else than that they have been 
 modelled on the popular stories of the despised but 
 successful youngest son. 
 
 1 Bureau of Ethnology, \/^th Annual Report (1896), part i., p. 175. 
 Another myth tells how the young hunter caught the sun in a 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE DRAGON SACRIFICE : PERSEUS AND ANDROMEDA 
 
 Whether St Georg-e of Merry England was the 
 Christian martyr George of Nicomedia, or, as Gibbon 
 believed, the Arian heretic and persecutor George of 
 Cappadocia,^ it is certain that the story of his slaying 
 the dragon is a mere folk-tale which has now become 
 inseparably attached to his memory. That folk-tale 
 is frequently but one of a series of incidents in a more 
 complicated story found all over Europe, to which 
 may be given the name of the Perseus and Andro- 
 meda cycle. These incidents usually occur in the 
 following sequence: i. A fisherman catches a fish 
 (the king of the fishes) which, before it dies, bids him 
 give part to his wife, part to his mare, and part to his 
 dog. All will bear three offspring. From the rest, 
 buried in the garden, will spring up three trees — the 
 life-tokens of the three sons.^ 2. In time the eldest 
 son rescues a princess from a dragon, who demands a 
 victim at stated periods. He cuts off the monster's 
 
 ^ Gibbon, ch. xxiii. ; Acta Sanctorum^ 23rd April. See Baring- 
 Gould, p. 266. 
 
 2 The fish is really incarnated in these various forms. This does 
 not prove a Buddhist origin, for the idea is of much earlier date. Cf. 
 Egyptian story of The Two Brothers, p. 113. We may, however, 
 illustrate it from a Buddhist story of a fisherman who, having given a 
 bonze some food, caught a huge eel in which was this very food. His 
 wife ate it and had, in consequence, a son. Now the son was the 
 eel, and the eel was the bonze. Perhaps this is really a distorted 
 version of the European tale. Landes, p. 78. 
 
 381 
 
382 THE DRAGON SACRIFICE 
 
 heads, extracting the tongues. 3- He leaves the 
 maiden, who returns home. A charcoal-burner takes 
 up the heads, and going to the palace claims the girl's 
 hand, when the true victor appears and produces the 
 tongues as proof. 4. After his marriage he looks out 
 of the window, and sees a castle, which he visits in 
 spite of his wife's warning. He meets a witch, and is 
 turned to stone. 5. At home his life-token gives 
 warning of his fate. The second brother sets off, is 
 taken by the princess for her husband, sees the 
 enchanted castle, and in the sequel suffers the same 
 fate. 6. Now the youngest brother arrives, and by 
 dint of superior cleverness, overcomes the witch, and 
 restores his brothers to life. 
 
 With more or less variation in detail this is the 
 substance of a story of which there are Russian, 
 Lithuanian, Swedish, Danish, German, Greek, Tyro- 
 lese, Sicilian, Pisan, Spanish, Portuguese, French 
 (Breton, Lorraine), and Celtic versions. The classi- 
 cal and literary form of the folk-story is that of 
 Perseus and Andromeda, but in it Perseus con- 
 quers the Medusa witch first, then rescues the 
 maiden, while he extricates himself from all his 
 difficulties.^ 
 
 To illustrate the central incident, which alone 
 concerns us in this chapter, I shall cite a Magyar 
 version, which omits the first incident and intf^iduces 
 us to three brothers setting out on their travels, 
 leaving their knives in a tree as life-tokens. The 
 eldest arrives at a town hung with black, because " in 
 the lake near the town lives a dragon with seven 
 heads, who vomits fire, and to him we have to give a 
 virgin every week. To-morrow it is the king's 
 
 1 Leskien, p. 544 (Russian and Lithuanian) ; Cavallius, p. 348 ; 
 Grundtvig, i. 277 ; Kuhn und Schwartz, p. 327 ; Legrand, p. 161 ; 
 Zingerle, p. 260 ; Gonzenbach, No. 40 ; Comparetti, p. 126 ; Caballero, 
 ii. 11; Coelho, p. 120; Sebillot, i. 124; Cosquin, i. 60; Campbell, 
 i. 72. 
 
MAVUNGA AND LUEMBA 383 
 
 daughter's turn, and she has to g"o. This is the 
 reason why our town is hung" with black." In spite of 
 the king- having promised his daughter's hand to 
 anyone overcoming the dragon, no one has yet come 
 forward. The prince at once goes to the lake and 
 kills the dragon, taking a tooth out of each of its 
 heads. But while lying exhausted he is cut in pieces 
 by Red Knight, who goes off with the dragon's heads 
 and claims his bride. Meanwhile the prince is 
 restored to life by his animal servants, just in time to 
 confute the impostor and win the maiden. The 
 witch incident and the rescue by the youngest brother, 
 then follow.^ Two variants, from Kabylia and Quili- 
 mane, show that the story has wandered far.^ The 
 Kabyle version omits the supernatural birth. A 
 king's daughter has to supply a dragon with food 
 every day, i.e., she is not sacrificed. The dragon is 
 killed by a certain hero, who marries the girl. Soon 
 after he is turned to stone, but restored by his brother. 
 As told in Quilimane, the story runs that a fisherman's 
 wife having eaten millet seed given her husband by a 
 fish (just as in the Celtic version the sea-maiden gives 
 the fisherman three grains), has two sons, who become 
 great hunters. In a near country a whale refuses to 
 give up any of the water unless the chief gives him 
 his daughter. This whale is slain by the elder 
 broth^fj^ho cuts out its tongue. A warrior takes its 
 head Biid pretends that he is the conqueror, but, 
 being confuted by the absence of the tongue, is put 
 to death, and the maiden is given to the hero. A 
 Fjort story has also a curious resemblance to the 
 introduction and the sequel of some of our tales. 
 Mavunga and Luemba are twins, each born with a 
 fetich. Mavunga set off on his travels ; his charm 
 provided him magically. Hearing of a pretty girl, he 
 resolved to marry her ; and she, when she saw him, 
 
 ^ Jones, p. H2. 
 
 2 Kabyle^ Riviere, p. 193 ; Quilimafic^ Rev. D. Macdonald, ii. 341. 
 
384 THE DRAGON SACRIFICE 
 
 fell in love at first sight. After the wedding followed 
 the curious mirror incident already referred to, with 
 Mavungfa's annihilation by the woman of the mysteri- 
 ous town. Luemba now set out to seek his brother, 
 and having reached his sister-in-law's village, was 
 taken for his brother. During the night she came to 
 his hut, but he, clothed in chastity, caused his charm 
 to remove her and fetch her back in the morning. 
 Mirror incident and visit to the mysterious town 
 occur in his case, but he outwitted the old woman 
 and killed her. Then, having touched his brother's 
 bones with his charm, he restored him to life, and 
 both brothers now reanimated hundreds of skeletons, 
 who became their followers. Later, the brothers 
 quarrelled over their followers, and Mavunga killed 
 Luemba. His horse restored him with his fetich, 
 and he in turn killed Mavunga, to everybody's satis- 
 faction.^ 
 
 These variants suggest that the story of a maiden 
 sacrificed to a monster and rescued by a hero, is 
 really a separate tale which has become an incident in 
 certain story cycles. Thus, as in the Kabyle story, 
 Grimm's tale of The Two Brothers has nothing to do 
 with a marvellous fish, but is introduced by the 
 common incident of eating two birds which have 
 magical virtues. Other tales, again, contain the fish 
 introduction, but omit the witch sequel ; ^ while a 
 variety of stories of this cycle have no trace of the 
 dragon incident at all.^ Other story cycles in which it 
 appears are (i) that in which a strange monster, 
 captured by a king, is set at liberty by his son, who 
 flees to escape the king's anger, and is befriended by 
 
 ^ Dennett, p. 60. 
 
 '•^ Tyrolese (Zingerle, No. 25) ; Portuguese (Coelho, No. 52). 
 
 2 Breton (Luzel, p. 63) ; Flemish (Wolf, No. 27) ; German (Grimm, 
 No. 85) ; Austrian (Vernaleken, No. 35) ; Tyrolese (Schneller, No. 
 28) ; Italian (Visentini, No. 19) ; Sicilian (Gonzenbach, No. 39) ; 
 Portuguese (Consiglieri-Pedroso, No. 25) ; Servian (Vouk, No. 29) ; 
 Bosnian (Leskien, p. 543). 
 
RESCUE OF THE MAIDEN 385 
 
 the monster in his subsequent fight with the dragon,^ 
 and (2) that in which the hero is a bear's son or 
 brought up by a bear, or is one of several men noted 
 for strength, skill, and craft.^ From this it may be 
 supposed that the dragon-slaying- was first a separate 
 story which gathered to itself others, until these with 
 it were formed into complete tales. What more 
 natural than that the hero should have been super- 
 naturally born, or that he should have suffered from 
 the fraud of an impostor, or, having been victorious, 
 should be exposed to new dangers. It was the art of 
 the story-teller to combine many primitive incidents 
 into varying forms, some of which were gradually 
 stereotyped and became classical. The persistence of 
 the impostor incident in nearly all the variants suggests 
 that it must have been early added to the primitive 
 dragon story. 
 
 All this, however, would be mere conjecture, were 
 we not able to point to several tales containing (with 
 various introductory formulae) the simple incident of 
 the dragon-slaying and rescue of a maiden ; or still 
 more simply, the slaughter of a monster by a hero to 
 whom the king has promised his daughter should he 
 succeed. Taking these groups separately, I shall cite 
 some typical forms of each. 
 
 I . Rescue of a Maiden, [a) The incident occurs 
 frequently in the Thousand and One Nights, The 
 Sultan of Yemen's son arrived in a town which was 
 in mourning because each year a girl had to be given 
 to a monster, and this year the lot had fallen on 
 the sultan's daughter. Having killed the monster, 
 the hero, with the usual self-suppression of heroes in 
 these tales, sent the girl home and disappeared. In a 
 
 ^ Basque (Webster, p. 22) ; the more usual form of this story makes 
 the hero perform several tasks in which he receives the monster's 
 help. Cf. Fairy Tales from Afar, p. 122, see p. 312 supra. 
 
 ^ C/! p. 271 supra. 
 
 2 B 
 
386 THE DRAGON SACRIFICE 
 
 Senegambian tale a serpent exacted the same annual 
 tribute, and the girl was tied to a tree on the lake- 
 shore ; all the people were witnesses of the sacrifice. 
 Her lover slew the serpent at the psychological 
 moment, and fled with her, lest the elders of the town 
 should sacrifice both because he had murdered the 
 serpent. Next day, as it happened, punishment over- 
 took the town. Many such stories are found in Japan, 
 and date from early times. One of them is told in 
 the Ko-ji-ki, of certain divinities. ''His Swift 
 Impetuous Male Augustness " found an earthly deity, 
 his wife, and daughter weeping because an eight- 
 headed dragon had eaten seven of the daughters of 
 their house in as many years, and the eighth was now 
 waiting her turn. By placing vessels of saki on the 
 shore, the god intoxicated the dragon and then killed 
 it, marrying the girl. The pair are now divinities of 
 married life.^ In many tales containing this simple 
 incident, the hero does not declare himself The hero 
 of one from Ireland, drops one of his glass shoes as 
 he rides off, and by it he is discovered in the usual 
 Cinderella fashion.^ Again, the hero of several stories 
 will not marry the rescued maiden until he knows 
 what fear is.^ In an Esthonian story, Peter, the 
 hero, promises to return in three years. At the end 
 of this time he finds that the coachman has claimed 
 the victory and the princess's hand. To kill him is 
 easy work, and Peter proves his identity by producing 
 the monster's horns.* One of the Algonquin stories 
 
 1 In the Arabian Nights the hero is discovered by the simple 
 stratagem of making all the men in the land pass before the girl. 
 Berenger-Feraud, i. 236 ; Contes^ p. 185. Chamberlain, Ko-ji-ki, p. 60. 
 The sword which slew the dragon is still preserved as one of the 
 imperial regalia of Japan ! 
 
 ^ F.LJ., i. 54. 
 
 •^ Lorraine, Cosquin, ii. 253 (the devil is to take the girl); 
 Flemish (a dragon), Cosquin, ii. 259; Tyrol (dragon), Zingerle, i. 
 No. 21 ; Breton (a beast with seven heads), Sebillot, i. No. 11. 
 
 ^ Kirby, ii. 7. 
 
CLASSICAL VERSIONS 387 
 
 of the Master Rabbit epos tells of a boy who, 
 travelling- with Rabbit, reaches a village where the 
 daughter of the sagamore is to be given next day to a 
 Kehwahqu, or cannibal monster. Advised by Rabbit, 
 the boy says he can save her. '* Do this," says the 
 chief, "and she will be yours." They set off together ; 
 the Kehwahqu pursues, but is killed. After wedding 
 the girl, th^ youth is thrown overboard by the jealous 
 young men of the village, but is saved by a crow and 
 a fox. He goes to recover his bride, and finds her 
 just being- married to one of the young men. 
 Through the power given him by the animals, he 
 transforms all the youths into beasts.^ A curious 
 story comes from Borneo, of a lovely Chinese prin- 
 cess kept on an island in a lake on the top of 
 Mount Kinibalu, by a dragon god. Many have 
 tried to rescue her, only to meet with destruction ; 
 but one day she will be released by a powerful 
 man, when the lake will burst and overwhelm the 
 mountain. 
 
 {d) In a few cases the story ends sadly. Phorloe, 
 daughter of a king in Latium, had to be g-iven to a 
 monster who demanded a victim yearly. Her lover, 
 Elaate, killed the monster, but died of his wounds, 
 while Phorloe wept so much that she was turned into 
 a fountain.^ 
 
 (c) Sometimes the hero does not marry the maiden, 
 occasionally because he is a celibate saint. When 
 the oracle hinted that a maiden should be g-iven to 
 the dragon, sent by Neptune as a punishment to 
 devastate Laomedon's land, the lot fell on his 
 daughter Hesione. Hercules passing with the 
 Argonauts, slew the monster, and then went on his 
 
 ^ Leland, A.L.^ p. 227. Mr Leland thinks the story has been 
 introduced from early Norse or French-Canadian sources. But it 
 may be original, and in any case has received original treatment from 
 the natives. 
 
 2 Berenger-Feraud, i. 225. 
 
388 THE DRAGON SACRIFICE 
 
 way.^ Another Greek myth told how it was 
 prophesied that Euryphilus would recover his reason 
 by staying- a barbarous sacrifice. This sacrifice was 
 a yearly offering- of a boy and g-irl to a drag-on, on 
 account of the sin of Cometo, priestess of Diana. 
 Euryphilus slew the monster, but thougfh he became 
 king of the country, did not marry the g-irl. The 
 Turks say that Chederles, one of Alexander's 
 lieutenants, rescued a maiden from a drag-on, only to 
 g-o off and seek fresh adventures ; while all the stories 
 of St Georg-e ag-ree that he, being- a celibate, could 
 not marry the rescued princess of Libya. ^ So in an 
 Avar story, Bear's Ear having- saved the king- of the 
 underworld's daughter from a drag-on who keeps 
 back the water except on one day in each year when 
 a maiden is offered to him, refuses the g-irl, and only 
 beg-s to be taken to the upper air. A Senegambian 
 ballad is a variant of this tale, but here a lion keeps 
 back the water. Samba, the hero, slays it, and fixing- 
 his lance in the ground, and placing his sandal on the 
 lion, announces that whoever can pull out the lance 
 and wear the sandal is the lion-killer. Of course, he 
 only can do this, and is offered the king's daughter. 
 He refuses her, and begs only for an army to revenge 
 himself on a traitorous uncle.^ 
 
 (d) The influence of Christian tradition is seen in 
 another group of tales where the dragon is overcome 
 by a relic, which probably replaces the powerful 
 fetich of pre-Christian stories. A dragon took 
 
 1 Diodorus Siculus, iv. 42. In a variant, Hercules is swallowed by 
 the monster, and hacks his way through — a common incident in folk- 
 tales. 
 
 2 Pausanias, viii. 19 ; Noel, Dzct de la Fable; the legend of St 
 George and the Dragon first appears in the Legenda Aurea (fourteenth 
 century), but occurs in many folk-tales. In a Servian tale the saint 
 bargains that the people will become Christians after he slays the 
 dragon, and in a Portuguese version his brother marries the maiden, 
 Mijatovich, p. 295. 
 
 3 Berenger-F^raud, Contes^ p. 41. 
 
A CHINESE VERSION 389 
 
 possession of a tower in Bordeaux, and demanded 
 daily a young gfirl. He fell in love with one of his 
 victims, and spared her life. But she learned from 
 him that the rod of St Martial would destroy him. 
 Writing this with her blood on a slate, she com- 
 municated with her friends, who procured the relic 
 and made the dragon disappear. The town of 
 Boerkilde in Norway had to make the sacrifice 
 yearly. Meanwhile, becoming Christian, the towns- 
 people sent two clergy to Rome to get relics. One of 
 them dreamed that St Lucien would become patron 
 of the town. His head was accordingly carried there 
 and set before the dragon, who at once fled for 
 ever.^ 
 
 (e) In some cases a woman destroys the monster. 
 Thus the people of Tenos were tormented by a 
 dragon, till an enchantress drew him from his den 
 and caused his death. This story is told by Aristotle, 
 but a similar incident is found in China. Long ago, 
 a huge serpent used to signify by a dream to someone 
 that it required a maiden victim. The governors 
 had exhausted all the daughters of slaves and 
 criminals, when a mandarin's daughter volunteered, 
 and went off with a sword and a dog which bit at 
 snakes. Placing rice and honey before the serpent's 
 den, she waited his coming, let loose her dog, and 
 hacked the serpent to pieces. The brave girl, in the 
 sequel, was married by a prince. An Albanian story 
 has this peculiarity that the king's son is the sacrifice 
 to a lamia, who agrees to stop eating the populace if 
 he is given up. The lamia is destroyed by a girl 
 disguised as a soldier, who is rewarded with a magic 
 horse. By its means she wins a princess as her 
 wife, and her sex being subsequently changed, all goes 
 well.2 
 
 ^ Marmier, Lettres sur la Nord. 
 
 -Aristotle, de Mirab. anim. rerum ; Dennys, p. no; Dozon, 
 No. 14. At Kronstadt, in Transylvania, is the picture of a huge 
 
390 THE DRAGON SACRIFICE 
 
 2. The Maiden promised in Marriage, but not 
 exposed to the Monster. The King of Roumania 
 promised his daughter to whomsoever would kill the 
 dragon which devastated his lands. Here, too, an 
 impostor took the credit of the hero's deeds, but was 
 found out in time. The monster in an Esthonian 
 story had a body like an ox, legs like a frog's, with a 
 huge tail, and eyes .that drew men to destruction. It 
 exterminated men and women, and nothing could 
 destroy it but Solomon's seal. This the hero 
 obtained from the enchantress who guarded it, killed 
 the monster, and won half the kingdom and the 
 king's daughter. Later the enchantress transformed 
 him to an eagle, and separated him from his wife, to 
 whom, however, he was restored by the good offices 
 of a friendly sorcerer. Indian tales usually replace 
 the dragon by a man-eating rakshasi. Thus Champa 
 Dal and Sahasra Dal arrive at a town, plunged in 
 grief A rakshasi would have depopulated it, but the 
 king pleaded for mercy, and it was agreed that one 
 victim should be placed in the temple every night. 
 On hearing this the friends offered to spend the night 
 there. Sahasra had the blood of a rakshasi in his 
 veins, so the monster had no power over him, and 
 fell before his onslaught. Having cut off her head, he 
 lay down to sleep. Now the king had promised half 
 his kingdom and his daughter to the slayer of the 
 rakshasi. Some woodcutters, passing the temple, 
 looked in and saw the monster dead. One took the 
 head, the others each a limb, and claimed the reward. 
 Suspicion was aroused, and Sahasra received the 
 reward. The woodcutters were not punished. In a 
 variant from Kashmir the heroes are brothers, and 
 the impostor is the temple-sweeper, who is later 
 outwitted by the real hero, who wins the promised 
 
 dragon which haunted a hill near the town, till one day, having 
 devoured a student, it became so thirsty that it drank till it burst ! 
 — E. Gerard, ii. 269. 
 
MIKUMWISS 391 
 
 princess. So in a Persian tale Ferid kills the dragon, 
 and the king- keeps his promise by giving- him his 
 daughter s hand ; while the Persian History of Nassar 
 contains the incident of the gratitude of certain fairies 
 to Nassar and their determination to kill a dragon 
 and let him have the reward. This dragon had 
 destroyed many by its fiery breath, and the king, 
 who had no offspring, had promised to abdicate in 
 favour of its slayer. The fairies, having dropped half 
 a mountain on the dragon's body, gave its head to 
 Nassar, who was immediately crowned king on 
 appearing with this trophy. In a Kabyle story the 
 king's daughter is brought into closer relationship 
 with the monster — a seven-headed serpent — because 
 she has to bring it food at regular intervals. A 
 hero kills the serpent and wins the princess, but is 
 afterwards turned to stone, and, as in the tales of 
 the Perseus type, restored by his brother. A similar 
 story is found among the Red Indians. Mikumwiss 
 came to a village whose chief had a lovely daughter. 
 She was offered to the hero on condition that he 
 should kill a huge horned dragon who had killed 
 many suitors. Mikumwiss put a log before the 
 dragon's den and danced a magic dance. Out came 
 the dragon's head and rested on the log; with one 
 blow of his axe the hero severed it from its body, and 
 carrying it to the chief, was set several other tasks in 
 which he proved equally successful, and at last won 
 the girl as his wife.^ 
 
 It is not unreasonable to suppose that such tales 
 as those in the second group are (as far as the maiden 
 is concerned) survivals of an early form of the story 
 in which the chief's daughter is given to him who 
 kills some obnoxious monster. Such a story comes 
 from South Africa, where suicide or sudden death is 
 
 1 Kirby, ii. 237 ; Day, p. 73 ; cf. Temple, i. 17 ; Steele and Temple, 
 p. 138 ; Neschebi, ii. 291 ; Clouston, E.R.^ p. 142; Riviere, p. 193 ; 
 Leland, A.L.^ p. 85. 
 
392 THE DRAGON SACRIFICE 
 
 frequently ascribed to the victim's having- seen an 
 incanti, a kind of water-spirit, the sight of which 
 causes death. A chiefs son saw one and died, so 
 did the brave general whom he sent against it, and 
 all his magicians could not overcome it. Finally a 
 doctor came from afar, and, hearing the state of 
 affairs, begged to be shown the haunt of the incanti. 
 He made medicine, put it in the incantis pool, and 
 no one ever saw that incanti again. Then he married 
 the chiefs daughter and was a great man among that 
 people.^ 
 
 Meanwhile we note many tales in which a criminal 
 is pardoned if he succeeds in slaying a monster. 
 These tales are usually in the form of a local tradition, 
 with names and dates. Thus Harald was exiled 
 from Norway, and took refuge in Bysance, where he 
 killed a man, and, for punishment, was exposed as 
 victim of a dragon which he slew ; then, returning to 
 Norway, was made king. A Swiss tradition tells 
 how a dragon ravaged the land, till a smith, con- 
 demned to death, was offered a free pardon if he slew 
 it. Many such stories are current in France, as at 
 Niort, where the criminal was a deserter condemned 
 to death in 1589. He covered his face with a mask 
 to keep off the dragon's breath, but was asphyxiated. 
 A monument was erected to him, which was still 
 surviving in 1788. Sometimes the stories take the 
 form of one told at Rouen. St Romain wished to 
 destroy the dragon, and begged the help of a 
 condemned prisoner, who, for that help, was to 
 obtain pardon. The saint bound the monster with 
 his stole, when it was easily killed.^ In the Chinese 
 
 ^ Cf. the numerous stories where, before winning his bride, the 
 hero has to perform many tasks set by her or by her father. Such 
 ideas arose out of savage custom ; e.g.^ no Dyak woman will marry a 
 man till he has taken so many heads. Ling Roth, ii. 164, 166. See 
 p. 17. Folk-Lore, iii. 356 (Bantu). 
 
 2 Salverte, ii. 328 ; Revue des Trad., 1886, p. 482 ; Acad. Celt., 
 V. 52 ; ibid., iv. 312. 
 
MYTHICAL MONSTERS 393 
 
 tale already cited, the daughters of criminals were 
 given to the dragon. 
 
 Many stories from all parts of the world speak of 
 territories ravaged by monstrous animals. Take a 
 Celtic instance first. In Lough Mask was an 
 anghisky, or water-horse, which ate up children and 
 pregnant women, till it was destroyed by a monk, 
 about twenty years ago} This reminds us of the 
 Scandinavian water-sprites, who take monstrous 
 forms, and require a human victim every year. 
 From Mongolia comes a story of two serpents which 
 shut off the water-supply until the promise of a yearly 
 victim was made. One year it fell on the khan. His 
 son took his place, and accompanied by a poor man's 
 son, overheard the serpents describe how they could 
 be slain. In another Mongol tale the Dzalmaus 
 devoured men and cattle till the hedgehog, who was 
 then a bey, overcame him by sticking in his throat 
 and refusing to come out till the monster made terms. 
 Pausanias reports two such stories from Boeotia : one 
 of a triton, who ate beasts and men till the people 
 compounded for a yearly sacrifice, and finally slew 
 him, as in Japan, after giving him wine ; and one of a 
 dragon, who devastated the land till Zeus advised a 
 yearly victim to be given. Cleostratus, being chosen 
 
 ^ Celtic monsters have, in fact, a penchant for pretty young 
 women, who, in many parts of the Highlands, will not pass their 
 supposed dwellings by night, and even by day do so in fear and 
 trembling. A story from Raasay combines this cycle and the spit 
 incident of the Cyclops' cycle. A sea-horse lived in a loch in the 
 island, and devoured a man's daughter. The father roasted a sow, 
 the smell of which attracted the monster, who sallied forth to devour 
 it between an avenue of stones which prevented him running off to 
 right or left. Meanwhile the man hid behind a wall, and, seizing a 
 spit which he had left in the fire, attacked the monster, and slew it. 
 Wall and avenue used to be pointed out as a proof of the story's 
 truth. — Boswell's Life of Johnson^ p. 320 (Croker's edition, i860). 
 Many Celtic lochs are believed to require a yearly victim — memory 
 of the human sacrifice once paid to the spirit of the lake. Cf. 
 instances in Rhys, Celtic Folk-Lore^ i. 243. 
 
394 THE DRAGON SACRIFICE 
 
 first, was given a spiked cuirass by Menestratus, and 
 the spikes tore the monster's vitals. In an Indian 
 tale a scorpion as big" as a goat is constrained by a 
 lama to be content with an occasional offering instead 
 of destroying the Sutlaj valley once for all. The 
 Sea-Dyaks have a curious story of a deluge being 
 caused by men killing a monstrous boa ; while from 
 New Guinea comes a tale of a vast demon who ate a 
 whole village at a meal. One woman hid in a cave, 
 and there had a son, who afterwards killed the 
 monster and became chief of the land.^ A Dindje 
 (North America) tale resembles the Mongolian. A 
 monstrous serpent deprived the people of food by 
 keeping back all the fish, till Etsiege destroyed it by 
 magic power, and found its den full of fish. Among 
 the Eskimo it is told how a monstrous reptile ravaged 
 the country, but was killed by a youth, its carcase 
 serving the people for food. As in New Guinea, a 
 huge serpent swallowed whole Ainu villages, till at 
 last it was cut to pieces, when stinging ants issued 
 from it, and have remained in Japan ever since. A 
 mighty trout in another Ainu tale does the same, and 
 even now the Ainu think that such creatures haunt 
 lakes and emerge at intervals for a feast on human 
 flesh. A few hundred years ago one was found 
 dead on the shore of Lake Chitose. It had died 
 of indigestion after swallowing a deer, horns and 
 all! 2 
 
 Having arrived at this point, it seems possible to 
 
 ^ A Melanesian story affords a close parallel to this. A boy had 
 a pet snake which grew and grew and developed man-eating tastes, 
 devouring the old village, with the exception of one woman, who hid 
 in a hole and gave birth to two sons. These afterwards destroyed 
 the whole brood of this serpent, including two of its offspring which 
 had become the terror of the country. — Codrington, p. 403. 
 
 2 F.LJ., ii. 61. Thorpe, N.M., ii. 20. Busk, p. 18 ; F.LJ., 
 iii. 312. Pausanias, bk. ix. Revue des Traditions^ 1884, p. 431. 
 Ling Roth, i. 301. Romilly, p. 120. Petitot, p. ^^. Rink, p. 117. 
 Batchelor, pp. 201, 279. 
 
PREHISTORIC MONSTERS 395 
 
 arrange the ideas underlying these folk-tales in some 
 kind of order as follows, (i) In former times certain 
 places were liable to the attack of monsters. (2) The 
 monster is got rid of by strategy, or by the efforts of 
 a brave man — a criminal, or a hero who would win the 
 king's daughter.^ (3) Or the monster agrees to forego 
 his ravages on condition that a recurring sacrifice is 
 made him. This is sometimes done as the result of 
 divine advice. (4) The sacrificial victim is rescued by 
 a hero, who kills the monster and marries her. This 
 is the motif of the stories with which our study 
 began ; it easily lent itself to artistic treatment, with 
 other incidents gradually accumulating round it. 
 
 Had these ideas any basis in fact, and had the' 
 monstrous dragons, serpents, tritons, hydras and 
 chimcBras dire, a real existence at some far-off period ? 
 Besides being at the mercy of many species of 
 animals, existing or extinct, early men may have 
 encountered belated survivals of the "dragons of the 
 prime "^ — Pterodactyls, Dinosaurs, Plesiosauri, Ich- 
 thyosauri.'^ It needed little imagination, as time 
 went on, to resolve these into the seven-headed 
 dragons which bear so striking a resemblance to 
 them. Their size, their ferocity, their ravages, must 
 have made an indelible impression on the minds of 
 early men. This, handed on from age to age, took 
 the form of legend, with which was mingled other 
 episodes borrowed from past or existing custom, and 
 so the folk-tale would be created. Among savages, it 
 
 ^ This incident is found in tales outside the Dragon cycle. Cf. 
 those in which a coward is reputed a hero, and is set to rid the 
 country of a wild boar and a unicorn (Lorraine), a crocodile (Cam- 
 bodia), an elephant (Kashmir), a giant, etc. (European and Eastern 
 tales). Cosquin, i. 96, loi. 
 
 2 It has been thought that animal forms of a primitive type may 
 still exist, e.g., on the isolated tableland of Roraima in British Guiana. 
 Im Thurn, p. 82. Birds like Sindbad's roc are known now to have 
 existed, from the discovery of a huge ^g'g, semi-fossilised, in Mada- 
 gascar. A cast of it is in the British Museum. — Reade, p. 471. 
 
396 THE DRAGON SACRIFICE 
 
 should be noted, large and savage animals of which 
 their ancestors have had experience, are exaggerated 
 into monsters. The Maoris have stories of vast 
 lizards, the terror of the people, which are really the 
 crocodiles of the land from which they migrated, and 
 these have given rise to a tradition of other fabulous 
 monsters or Taniwhas, living in the sea and carrying 
 off mortals whenever they can.^ Our suggestion also 
 receives some support from Australian tales, in which 
 some animals figure as being much bigger than they 
 are now, and living on human flesh. The tribes held 
 a meeting to discuss how to get rid of one of these — 
 a monstrous iguana, who killed men by his poison- 
 bag. The snake relieved him of this by strategy ; 
 hence the snake is now poisonous and the lizard 
 harmless.^ Again, certain monstrous snakes are 
 believed to have existed long ago, and to have been 
 destroyed by the tribe of a black fellow whose bride 
 was killed by one of them. They threw pieces of gum 
 to the snakes ; gum kept their mouths closed, and so 
 they became an easy prey. Even in Ireland we find 
 such traditions.^ The valley in which the well of 
 Araght is situated was formerly haunted by a huge 
 eel, which devoured man and beast, till St Araght slew 
 it on the spot where the well sprung up. Dr Tylor 
 remarks on traditions which contain the memory of 
 the huge animals of the Quaternary period, and refers 
 to the Red Indian legend of a huge elk like an 
 elephant, probably the mammoth, and to the Brazilian 
 stories of a shaggy monster like the orang-outang, 
 probably the distorted remembrance of an extinct 
 ape found in Post Pliocene beds in Brazil* 
 
 1 Clarke, pp. 79, 184 ; Shortland, p. -j^. The Maoris came from 
 the Philippines, where saurians abound. 
 
 2 Parker, 2nd series, pp. 61, 76. 
 
 •^ Wood- Martin, Elder Faiths of Ireland, ii. 87. 
 ^ Early Hist Mankind, p. 303 seq. Cf. Col. Hamilton Smith, 
 Nat. Hist. Hum. Spec, p. 104. 
 
RATIONALE OF SACRIFICE 397 
 
 With these qualifying" circumstances, the dragon 
 of folk-lore may be said to have had a real existence, 
 and to have been a terror to mankind, ravaging and 
 devouring, as many of the stories relate.^ As their 
 supreme enemies, men saw that the only way of 
 escape was by destroying such monstrous creatures 
 as terrified them, either by stratagem, or by valour, 
 or by coming- to terms with them. As to this last 
 method it may easily have been thought that if some 
 chosen individual were freely offered at regular inter- 
 vals to the monster, he would be satisfied. He 
 devoured human flesh ; clearly, then, ''feed the brute" 
 was indicated. Sacrifice is largely at bottom simply 
 the feeding of g-hosts or gods. Thus the victim 
 would sooner or later be regarded as sacrificial. 
 Even in such a late myth as that of the Minotaur, 
 who was at last slain by Theseus, the Athenians are 
 bidden by Minos to send the children as food for 
 the Minotaur. Yet they were sacrificial victims, too.^ 
 It must be noted also that, in some cases, the 
 dragon is said to have come from time to time to 
 ravage the country.^ This may have suggested a 
 regularly recurring sacrifice (the maiden offered each 
 year), ordained, as was later supposed, by divine 
 command. The stories, at all events, are quite clear 
 upon these points, relating, first, the g-eneral attack 
 by the monster ; and, second, the sacrifice by which 
 that attack was commuted. 
 
 ^ If fear is one of the roots of worship, nothing could have inspired 
 it so much as huge animals. This feeling of terror survives in the 
 form of awe and mystery in serpent worship wherever found. 
 
 2 Apollodorus, iii. 158. The daughter of Minos supplied Theseus 
 with a sword to slay the monster, and a clue for the labyrinth, as all 
 ogres' daughters do, and then fled with him. Plutarch, Theseus, 
 p. 19. 
 
 3 The Fjort say that they do not sacrifice to the sea, but that 
 sometimes when Chicamassi (the spirit in the sea) is vexed, she comes 
 ashore and takes one of twins or triplets, and drowns it in the sea. 
 — Dennett, p. 8. 
 
398 THE DRAGON SACRIFICE 
 
 Reference has just been made to Australian myths, 
 but the actual ceremonies of the Wollunqua snake 
 totem clan of the Warramungfa tribe of North Central 
 Australia also give some support to the views here 
 set forth. Contrary to totem-custom the snake "is 
 purely mythical, and except for the one gfreat pro- 
 genitor of the totemic group, is not supposed to exist 
 at the present day," while the ceremonies in question 
 have a purpose different from all other totem-clan 
 ceremonies, which are intended to increase the totem 
 species. The Wollunqua is a huge serpent, so long 
 that it could reach into the skies. It now lives away 
 in a lonely valley of the Murchison range, but the 
 natives fear that it might come out of its hiding-place 
 and attack them. It has done so before, but was 
 driven off, after killing several natives. So runs 
 tradition ; the ceremonies have for their purpose 
 **most probably that of propitiating the mythic 
 beast." The Wollunqua is pleased when they are 
 performed, displeased when they are omitted. They 
 consist of a representation of the ancient wanderings 
 of the animal ; then a mound is made and on it the 
 animal itself is depicted. The members of the clan 
 walk round and round the mound, stroking its base 
 with boughs ; they sing and shout beside it ; finally, 
 they attack it with wild fury and hack it to pieces. 
 The mound, with the snake's representation upon it, 
 is supposed to please him, and make him wriggle with 
 satisfaction ; he is propitiated and will remain in his 
 hiding-place without coming out to attack and eat 
 the natives. But as he was once driven away so the 
 ceremonies coerce besides propitiating him, and the 
 attack on the mound reminds him, presumably, of 
 this. The Australian natives have hardly, if at all, 
 attained the idea of sacrificial offerings ; these pro- 
 pitiatory ceremonies are of the nature of sympathetic 
 magic, but had sacrifice been known among them 
 they would doubtless have offered a victim, possibly 
 
AN INCIDENT IN PREHISTORIC LIFE 399 
 
 human, to the mythic snake. They have, at least, 
 reached the idea that a monstrous animal can be 
 prevented from attacking- them by propitiatory rites. ^ 
 Stripped of their later details, our stories reveal a 
 tragic picture of the life of early man. His hazardous 
 and laborious existence, already shadowed by super- 
 stition and fear, is made more dark by the occasional 
 appearance of some fearful monster, which tears and 
 devours some of the feeble g"roup and then retires to 
 its remote haunts — marsh or forest or river. This 
 happens from time to time ; the problem comes to be 
 how to save the other members of the group, and yet 
 propitiate this angry monster, already dimly con- 
 ceived as worshipful. The primitive council suggests 
 what has been proved efficacious in the case of 
 enemies, or of other worshipful beings — ^viz., propitia- 
 tion by a gift. If that is done, then, perhaps, the 
 monster will rest satisfied for a time. But it must be 
 a human victim, and as, presumably, women and 
 children have mostly fallen victims, it must be a help- 
 less girl.^ The choice falls without mercy ; the girl, 
 decked with the best ornaments of the period is torn 
 from her hut or rock shelter; neither prayers nor 
 cries avail her ; and she is carried off to the edge of 
 the monster's haunt. There she is left alone, bound 
 to a tree or rock to await her horrible death. Para- 
 lysed by terror, she is yet submissive to her fate, 
 perhaps dimly conscious that she is dying for the 
 sake of others. Parched with thirst, weak with fear, 
 her eyes see the horrible monster emerg^ing- from its 
 haunts — gliding or crawling quickly towards her. A 
 useless struggle, an agonised cry, and all is over ; the 
 monster carries the body away to glut his appetite at 
 leisure. But, perhaps, some man, braver than his 
 fellows, dares to attack the monster before it seizes its 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, Northern Tribes of Central Australia^ 
 chap. vii. 
 
 - Cf. the stories of a girl stolen by a serpent in chap. ix. 
 
400 THE DRAGON SACRIFICE 
 
 victim ; perhaps he perishes ; perhaps he is successful, 
 for even with such rude weapons as he had, primitive 
 man did not fear to attack the largest and fiercest 
 animals. And then the trembling- victim is released, 
 to be bestowed by her relations, let us hope, upon the 
 brave rescuer. The sacrifice is no fancy picture ; it 
 must often have taken place ; there is no reason why 
 an occasional rescue should not also have occurred, 
 and when it did it would, of course, become historical, 
 mythical, the subject of folk-story for untold ages to 
 come. 
 
 The stories also throw light upon the sacrificial 
 victim, (i) Sometimes it is a criminal who is sent 
 out to battle with the monster ; in the Chinese tale 
 the daughters of criminals are sacrificed. But the 
 criminal, thus glorified into a hero, must have 
 originally been the sacrificial victim. Wherever 
 human sacrifice can be traced, prisoners and slaves 
 are among the victims. Thus the Garo hill tribes of 
 Bengal select victims from the prisoners made in their 
 forays ; the Dyaks, when erecting the first post of a 
 large house, place a slave girl under it ; prisoners and 
 criminals are sacrificed at the Gold Coast customs ; a 
 young slave girl of light complexion is offered to the 
 spirit of the river bar among the Brass River natives ; 
 while in ancient times the practice was common 
 enough.-^ Finally, the position of the criminal as hero 
 is explained by the fact that the sacrificed criminal or 
 slave often became a local deity. ^ 
 
 (2) In most of the tales a maiden is the victim. 
 One has been chosen from each family, until the lot 
 has fallen on the king s daughter, or she is the one 
 
 1 J.A.I., ii. 394. St John, i. 46. Ellis, p. 170. Miss Kingsley, 
 p. 484. Clement of Alexandria describes how Aristomenes offered 
 five hundred prisoners of war to Zeus Ithomatos. — Protrep.^ p. 36. For 
 similar sacrifices among the ancient Celts, see Caesar, De Bell. Gal., 
 vi. 16. 
 
 2 Many minor Hindu gods have originated in this way. 
 
THE NOBLE VICTIM 401 
 
 who is chosen first. Women and children would 
 more readily fall victims to any noxious animal. 
 Hence would arise the idea that a woman — but 
 especially a virgin, as being most valuable^ — should be 
 offered, either to be eaten, or, as was thought later, as 
 a victim of the monster's lusts. The selection of the 
 chiefs or king's daughter in the tales did not arise 
 from the dramatic value of such a choice, but from 
 that aspect of sacrifice so well expressed in Tennyson's 
 poem, of giving what is dearest and best. Dr Frazer 
 has abundantly proved the importance of the chief or 
 king, or of a member of his family, to the community 
 as a sacrificial victim in times of trouble.^ Thus the 
 priest of Artemis demanded from Agamemnon his 
 daughter Iphigenia to atone for his guilt. Sanchoni- 
 athon says it was usual for rulers in ancient times to 
 sacrifice the most beloved of their children to the 
 offended gods. In China we have the story of the 
 Emperor Tang (1766 B.C.) proposing to sacrifice 
 himself in a time of continued drought ; while in 
 Scandinavia the sacrifice of King Domaldi during a 
 famine, of the king of Vermland in time of dearth, of 
 Haco's son, are instances of what was a usual 
 practice then. Among the Phoenicians and Cartha- 
 ginians young men of high rank voluntarily offered to 
 sacrifice themselves on behalf of their fatherland, just 
 as the victim was given to the dragon to save her 
 people.^ These ideas, current also among men of an 
 earlier time, must have prompted them to offer the 
 child of whomsoever was recognised as head among 
 them, later transformed into the king of folk-tale. A 
 legend from Samoa offers a curious illustration of this. 
 A human victim had to be offered daily to the Sun, the 
 body being laid on a tree so that he might devour it. 
 
 ^ The same idea of royal value is at the root of stories in which the 
 king's daughter is stolen by a giant, dragon, etc. 
 
 ^ Legge, Rel. of China, p. 54. Grimm, Teut. Myth., i. 46. 
 Mallet, Northerjt Antiq., p. 134. G. Allen, Attis, p. 70. 
 
 2 C 
 
402 THE DRAGON SACRIFICE 
 
 Ui and her brother Luamae fled to Mami'a to escape 
 death, but there too the custom existed, there too 
 the population was dwindling- fast in consequence of 
 it. It came to be Luamae s turn, but his sister took 
 his place. When the Sun saw her he fell in love with 
 her, took her to live with him, and never again 
 demanded a victim. Another version, however, makes 
 Ui the king's daughter, whom he gave up as a victim 
 to put an end to the practice, thus making- her the 
 saviour of her people. Still more clearly is it seen in 
 the Scots tale (derived from Scandinavian sources) of 
 Assipattle and the Mester Stoor-Worm. The great 
 Stoor-Worm was coming to ravage the land, when 
 the sorcerer advised that he should be fed once a 
 week with seven virgins. This went on so long- that 
 the people saw there would soon be no women left in 
 the land ; accordingly counsel was taken, and the 
 sorcerer now advised that the king's daughter should 
 be offered as the one and only means of pacifying the 
 dragon. Sorrowfully the king consented : " She is 
 my dearest on earth. Yet if her death can save the 
 land, let her die." Fortunately, however, the despised 
 Assipattle slew the dragon before the sacrifice was 
 made, and won the princess for his wife.-^ 
 
 Here we have what we may call the historical 
 basis of our tales plainly set forth in a highly dramatic 
 way. It illustrates what must often have happened 
 — a tract of land ravaged by a monstrous animal ; 
 the terrified people believing that submission at the 
 cost of an occasional victim would save them ; ^ and 
 as things grew worse, a more valuable victim selected. 
 Nor is there any reason why the dramatic rescue may 
 not have been founded on fact — the rescuer coming 
 
 1 Turner, Samoa^ p. 201. Douglas, p. 58. 
 
 2 Cf. the Red Indian practice of propitiating rattle-snakes with 
 tobacco. Sometimes the medicine-man speaks to the snake, telling it 
 of the sacrifice, and returns saying that there is now peace between his 
 people and the snakes. — Schoolcraft, iii. 231. 
 
SACRIFICE TO REPTILES 403 
 
 at the opportune moment and slaying the monster. 
 In the Senegambian tale already mentioned the 
 serpent is represented as a divinity, and we may 
 readily suppose that all such monsters in early times 
 were regarded as ''supernatural" ; their victims being 
 thus real sacrifices. In this case, the divine serpent, 
 robbed of his prey, his offering, brings a judgment 
 upon the village. Human sacrifices to gods, to 
 ghosts, to nature spirits, have been all too common. 
 Actual instances, such as those of our stories, are 
 few, because in later times such monstrous animals 
 became extinct, and ordinary animals were usually 
 merged into existing gods, for whom the victims were 
 slain. But there are some authentic cases of victims 
 exposed to the attack of serpents and other worshipful 
 ''monsters" — the descendants of our folk- tale 
 dragons. Plutarch speaks of women (criminals) 
 exposed on the banks of the Indus to serpent gods ; 
 the Livonians and Lithuanians are said by mediaeval 
 writers to have offered the most beautiful of their 
 captives to "dragon-gods"; and sacrifice to a ser- 
 pent, with a cannibal feast on the victim, is said 
 to be a Negro Voodoo rite. In New Calabar the 
 shark is a divinity, and every seven years a light- 
 coloured child is solemnly thrown into the water 
 as an offering, while the shark is asked to intercede 
 with the spirit of the waters to keep the entrance 
 to the river open so that ships may come and 
 trade. Similar offerings of a young slave girl of 
 the lightest complexion are made by the Brass River 
 natives, as we have already seen ; and, until ten years 
 ago, human sacrifices to the sacred crocodiles of the 
 rivers of the Niger Delta were not uncommon. The 
 Eboes (a W. African people) said that the most 
 acceptable offering at the shrine of a sacred iguana 
 was a human victim. Some evidence exists to show 
 that such sacrifices were made in ancient Peru, but 
 it is of doubtful authenticity. In ancient Mexico 
 
404 THE DRAGON SACRIFICE 
 
 some obsolete sacrifice to serpents (or a myth) may 
 have been commemorated in the representation (still 
 existing in the traveller Bullock's time) of a serpent 
 with jaws extended in the act of swallowing* a woman, 
 richly dressed ; while a passage in the Shah-Nameh 
 of Firdausi may refer to a similar practice. The poet 
 describes how Iblis caused two black serpents to 
 attend on King Zohak ; they had to be fed daily with 
 the brains of human victims. But when it came to 
 the turn of the sons of a certain blacksmith to be 
 slain, his opposition caused Zohak to be dethroned. 
 Erskine says that the Fijians at Vusaratu showed 
 him a pool in which lived an immense eel, to 
 which the children of prisoners were offered in 
 sacrifice and were eaten by it. What is practically 
 human sacrifice to a shark is also reported from 
 Melanesia. In Saa and Ulawa, if a sacred shark 
 had attempted to seize a man, who escaped from its 
 clutches, the people would be so afraid of the shark's 
 anger that they would throw the man into the sea — a 
 belief which resembles the well-known superstition 
 regarding saving a drowning man, and thus cheating 
 the spirit of the waters of his victim.^ These examples 
 of actual sacrifice to reptiles and monstrous animals, 
 though few in number, show once more how fact and 
 folk-tale coincide. 
 
 In many of the tales the dragon keeps back the 
 water-supply, or lives in a lake.^ If the dragon of 
 folk-lore has affinity with prehistoric monsters, the 
 reason of this is obvious. Many of these creatures 
 had their habitat in the water, and if some isolated 
 
 ^ Deane, Worship of the Serpent^ p. 247. Grimm, T. M.^ p. 45. St 
 John, Hayti^ p. 193. Miss Kingsley, pp. 484, 501. Nassau, p. 93. 
 Bullock, Travels in Mexico. Atkinson's Firdausi^ pp. 15,41. Erskine, 
 Western Pacific^ p. 434. Codrington, p. 1 79. 
 
 ^ Modern Roumanian peasants believe that a lake near Herman- 
 stadt is haunted by a dragon which causes thunder, and they are 
 careful not to disturb the waters. — E. Gerard, ii. 5. 
 
WATER DIVINITIES 405 
 
 specimens survived in lake or river, it would readily 
 be believed that they were the horrible guardians of 
 the water, more especially if some who ventured near 
 or put out in their frail craft, fell victims to their 
 ferocity. We shall see presently how such monsters, 
 as well as animals like the serpent or crocodile, 
 frequently became embodiments of the water-divinity 
 or water-spirit, himself a guardian of the water. The 
 actual sacrifices just cited are mainly based on the 
 idea of a guardianship of the waters by serpent, 
 shark, eel, or crocodile. Human sacrifice to a water- 
 spirit was not uncommon, like the old sacrifice of a 
 virgin to the Nile to obtain a plentiful inundation. 
 Here the river-god is not an animal, though, no 
 doubt, the fate of the girl was to be eaten by 
 crocodiles.^ There are also many traditional stories 
 of sacrifice to river divinities throughout Europe, ^.^., 
 the Esthonian legends of little children being offered 
 to Wohhanda, the river-god, occasionally seen as a 
 little man in blue and yellow stockings. In the next 
 chapter we shall see that various water-beings 
 demand the child of someone who trespasses on 
 their domain.^ Meanwhile we note the number of 
 stories in which the victim must be given before the 
 water-supply is granted, as well as the group of tales 
 in which a frog or some other animal living in a well 
 will not allow a maiden to draw water till she promises 
 to be his wife.^ A typical story current among the 
 Mongols, but derived from Indian sources, illustrates 
 this. The time of sacrifice to the serpent-gods in 
 order to make them propitious, and thus hinder them 
 from cutting off the water which irrigated the land, 
 
 ^ Lane, Modern Egyptians^ iii. 131. 
 
 2 Latham, Descriptive Ethnology^ i. 418. 
 
 ^ Cf. 2i Kashmir tale in which the serpent guardian of the water 
 demands a pair of human eyes from everyone who comes to drink. — 
 Knowles, p. 445 ; and cf. p. 90 supra. See also the Basuto tale cited 
 on p. 364, for the idea in the text. 
 
406 THE DRAGON SACRIFICE 
 
 had arrived. The victim was chosen, but the khan's 
 daughter fell in love with him, and insisted on 
 being- sacrificed along with him. The serpent-gods 
 overheard this, and when the pair were cast into the 
 water, they delivered them and renounced the 
 sacrifice.^ Here the serpents are gods, but their 
 earlier connection as serpents with the water is plain. 
 They can give or withhold. Primitive men easily 
 persuaded themselves that the ''dragons of the 
 prime," or even water-serpents or crocodiles, had 
 actually power over the waters, and over those who 
 approached them too rashly. Thus the Malagasy 
 regard the crocodile as king of the waters, and in their 
 opinion to dispute its title would be to expose them- 
 selves to his vengeance and to consequent death. 
 Hence, they avoid doing anything which would offend 
 the animal, e.^., shaking a spear over a river, or 
 throwing any kind of manure into the water. ^ Where 
 men already believed in a spirit of the waters, it was 
 easy to see its embodiment in some of their actual 
 animal forms, which, as time went on, became more 
 and more mythical ; like the dragons of Karen belief, 
 which dwell in the waters but can take the shape 
 of men and marry human wives, ^ or the water-bull 
 and water-horse of Celtic folk-lore, which also take 
 human form, and lure men and women to their 
 haunts. 
 
 Accordingly, to universal folk-beliefs, water-spirits 
 constantly drown men, or seek to draw down women 
 and children beneath the waters.^ This is the 
 
 ^ Miss Busk, p. 76. 
 
 2 Ellis, Hist, of Madagascar^ i. 57. It is a common belief that 
 defiling a sacred well or stream will have serious results. 
 
 ^ Jour. As. Soc. Bengal^ xxxiv. 217. 
 
 * This is a common belief among the Finns (Abercromby, Pre- and 
 Proto- Historic Finns, i. 161), Russians (Ralston, Songs, p. 148 seq.\ 
 Roumanians and Saxons (E. Gerard, i. 200 ; ii. 9), to mention a few 
 European instances, and in some cases the water-spirit, in various 
 forms, seizes a man when drinking, and will not let him go till he has 
 
WATER GUARDIANS 407 
 
 explanation of accidental drowning"; while, again, 
 where crocodiles destroy women who come to draw 
 water, they would easily become mythic monsters 
 which seized human victims, once the tribe or people 
 had wandered away to other regions where there 
 were no crocodiles. We have already seen this in the 
 case of the Maoris. Water-spirits are frequently 
 represented as serpents, or as creatures half-lizard, 
 half-bird, as in Australia, where some natives believe 
 in a water-spirit which is a kind of serpent and seizes 
 the unwary.^ To such a belief in the guardianship of 
 the waters by a reptile or by any monstrous creature 
 which in reality or in imagination tenanted them, and 
 not primarily to any storm-myths and the like, may 
 be ascribed the fact that the Vedic demons of droug"ht 
 who keep back the rain till they are conquered by 
 Indra, have a drag-on form ; that in Egypt, Apep, the 
 opponent of Ra, was represented as a snake ; that in 
 North America it is commonly believed that a 
 serpent dwells in the waters and overwhelms men 
 with them, until he is overcome by the storm-god, 
 
 promised to deliver him his son. He must pay the penalty of encroach- 
 ing on the spirit's territory by this sacrifice. We shall see instances 
 of this in the next chapter. Savages dislike looking into water, lest 
 the spirit of the water seize their reflection and work them harm 
 through it. Dr Codrington (p. i86) gives an instance of a deep pool 
 in Valueva, into which no one will dare to look for this very reason ; 
 while the Basutos think that crocodiles have this power over the 
 reflected image. In other places, men will not enter such a haunted 
 pool. Some Australians fear a water-spirit called In-guas, and will 
 not bathe in his pools {Trans. Eth. Soc.^ iii. 238) ; but the common 
 Australian belief is in a mythic water-monster, curiously like the 
 Celtic water-beasts, called the Bun-yip, who carries off" women to his 
 retreat, and of whom some curious stories are told. Thus, when a 
 bold youth caught a young Bun-yip, the mother, in revenge, caused 
 such a flood as drowned the world, and turned men and women into 
 black swans. 
 
 ^ B^renger-Feraud, ii. 49, 53. In French folk-lore the Dracos is 
 not a dragon, but a water-spirit who exacts a toll on human life. Cf, 
 Gervase of Tilbury, p. 987. 
 
408 THE DRAGON SACRIFICE 
 
 Michabo. For the same reason the early Babylonians 
 represented Tiamat, or chaos, as a she-dragon 
 destroyed by the god Merodach.^ Mr Fergfusson, in 
 his Tree and Serpent Worship, has pointed out that 
 the chief characteristic of the serpent in the East in 
 all ages, is its power over wind and rain. These and 
 such-like mythological ideas may be traced back to a 
 time when primeval monsters, huge ophidians and 
 the like, were still to be seen in lake or river, and 
 claimed their quota of human victims from those who 
 ventured near them. Stories which told how a hero 
 had slain one of them, became attached to the gods, 
 Indra, Ra, Michabo, the Japanese divinity, or 
 Merodach. So in Greek mythology Apollo slays the 
 Python, and heroes like Perseus or Heracles rescue 
 the maidens Andromeda or Hesione — earlier Mitre ken 
 being thus appropriated into the cycle of their 
 exploits. For the same reason, Scandinavian and 
 Teutonic mythology and poetry contain episodes of 
 gods like Thor and heroes like Beowulf destroying 
 dragons. In these as in Oriental folk-lore the dragon 
 or serpent is often guardian of a treasure, as in 
 Greek mythology a dragon guarded the apples 
 of the Hesperides — an extension of the idea that 
 primeval monsters kept back from men that most 
 important natural treasure- — water. How natural 
 it was, then, that the fabled Water of Life 
 should be so carefully guarded by fairy, giant, or 
 dragon, in a land that was very far off, only to be 
 
 1 Rig- Veda, i. 2, 13. Brinton, Myths of the New World, p. 139. 
 Reville, Religions des Non-civilises, i. 225. The Tiamat incident 
 occurs in the mythological cycle, and introduces us to an account of 
 creation — the world being formed out of the fragments of Tiamat's 
 body. But an earlier Mcirchen or saga has supplied the material of 
 the myth, only it has been elaborated in a way which is entirely 
 wanting in similar sagas and Marchen contained in the Japanese 
 sacred writings. 
 
THE DR AGONES TONGUES 409 
 
 approached by him who did not know what fear 
 
 ^ Why should the hero carry off the tongues of the dragon ? 
 Grimm points out that the gods received select portions of the victim, 
 head, liver, heart, or tongue. Hence being superior portions, the 
 slayer would naturally carry off one as a trophy. Teut. Myth,^ p. 57. 
 Cf. the stories in which the murderer is told to bring the child's heart 
 or liver ; he brings that of some animal instead, and the child is set 
 free by him. See Miss Cox's Ci7iderella^ p. 475. Frazer, Golden 
 Bough, ii. 129, has suggested that cutting out the tongue may be a 
 precaution to prevent the slain animals telling their fate to live 
 animals, and thus frightening them away. With the ancient Celts, 
 the tongues of men slain were actually brought in by the warriors, so 
 that each might show how many had fallen to his arms. Rev. Celt.^ 
 i. 261. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE SACRIFICE OF A CHILD 
 
 On the principle of giving their best, men have often 
 sacrificed their own children to the gods — -to us the 
 most cruel aspect of human sacrifice. It would be 
 surprising if the memory of such rites had not sur- 
 vived in folk-tales, and in those stories where a child 
 is promised to a certain being, usually malicious, but 
 occasionally kindly, we may see some dim and dis- 
 torted memory of the sacrifice surviving. 
 
 I. One aspect of this custom is seen in that group 
 of tales in which childless parents agree to give up 
 their first-born to someone who offers to remove the 
 wife's barrenness. A Greek story relates that a 
 woman prayed to the sun for a daughter. The 
 prayer was granted on condition that she would give 
 the child in her twelfth year to the sun. To evade 
 this, the girl was shut up in a house, every window 
 and cranny of which was closed. But the keyhole 
 was forgotten, and through that a ray of light came 
 and seized upon the girl.^ In an Albanian variant the 
 
 1 This story may be a memory of human sacrifice to the sun-god 
 in ancient Greece. On the other hand, it appears to be a distorted 
 version of the cycle in which a girl is impregnated by the sun, or 
 some other being, no matter how carefully she is concealed. Even 
 here the common idea of sacrifice of virginity to a god or his priest 
 may have moulded the tale. Cf. Hahn, i. 245. In many stories the 
 girl is hidden because it has been prophesied that her child will kill 
 
 410 
 
MAGIC BIRTH 411 
 
 sun, after capturing- the girl, lets her return home 
 because she cries ! The true type of this story cycle 
 makes some being promise the father several children 
 if he will give up the first-born ; this being is a demon 
 in Venetian and Greek tales, and, in Hungarian and 
 Gipsy stories, a witch who gives a childless queen a 
 camomile flower to carry in her bosom. A fairy does 
 this in a Tuscan story, but here the mother is only to 
 give her a gift, not the child ; she omits to do this, 
 and, in consequence, her son is born small and never 
 grows. Have we here a reminiscence of some custom 
 of buying off the child by means of a present or 
 fine?^ 
 
 The story is common enough in the East, for a 
 reason which will appear hereafter. A Bengali king 
 receives a drug from a mendicant which will cause his 
 wife to bear twins, one of whom he will claim. In the 
 boy's sixteenth year the mendicant arrived and took 
 him away. His brother, in the sequel, rescued him 
 
 the king and inherit his throne. This is, of course, the old myth of 
 Danae, shut up in the brazen tower, but visited there by Zeus as a 
 shower of gold. She and her son Perseus were committed to the 
 waves in a chest, but rescued. In the sequel Danae's father, Acrisius, 
 was killed by Perseus. Such a myth or folk-tale, as well as another in 
 which danger is prophesied regarding a newly-born child, must have 
 had a great vogue in ancient times, and attached itself to many mythic 
 or actual personages — Paris, CEdipus, Cyrus, whose parents tried to 
 get rid of them on account of such a dream or prophecy. It also 
 occurs in several modern folk-tales, as well as in the fragment of an 
 ancient Egyptian tale. It has even penetrated, perhaps via Egypt 
 long ago, to Uganda, where it is told of a member of the Unyoro 
 dynasty. Bukuku had a daughter called Nyinamiru, of whom a 
 sorcerer prophesied that if she ever had a son he would kill Bukuku. 
 She was accordingly isolated in the forest, where a stranger seduced 
 her. The mother herself threw the child into the water, but it was 
 rescued by her servant and brought back. In the sequel, the child 
 killed his grandfather and obtained the throne. Johnston, ii. 596. 
 
 ^ Dozon, No. 7, p. 49 ; Widter and Wolf, No. 13 ; Hahn, No. 68 ; 
 Gubernatis, Trad. Pop.^ p. 187. In a Czech story twins are promised 
 to a father by a black horseman, provided he gives him up one of 
 them. 
 
412 THE SACRIFICE OF A CHILD 
 
 from a cannibal rakshasi, who now kindly advised 
 them how to escape from the mendicant, who meant 
 to offer the first brother as a sacrifice to Kali. In 
 Kumaun the bargain is made by a yog^i with a king 
 who has seven childless wives. Six of them eat the 
 fruit which he obtains ; the seventh eats the rind. 
 Each has a son, but none will give up hers save the 
 seventh, and her son is accordingly carried off. A 
 demon is the deus ex machina of a Syriac story, and 
 carries off the merchant's first-born son to the under- 
 world, from which he escapes, as in many stories in 
 other cycles, by the aid of a horse whose proper food 
 he has set before it. The Swahilis tell how a child- 
 less sultan met a demon, who said, *' If I give you a 
 medicine and you get a son, what will you give me ? " 
 Nothing would suffice him. Then, being a crafty 
 demon, he said, ''Well, your wife will have two 
 children. Keep one, and give me the other." After 
 carrying off the boy, the demon gave him the keys of 
 his house and said, " Open what you like." Curiously, 
 the usual restriction is not made, and the boy sees 
 many strange things without fault being found. In 
 the seventh room a horse informs him that the demon 
 is a cannibal, and means to make a feast of him. 
 The horse then instructs him what to do, with the 
 result that the demon is boiled in his own cauldron 
 and eaten by his friends, while the boy gets all his 
 treasure and marries a sultan's daughter. In an Arab 
 story it is a magician who gives a childless king 
 bonbons for himself and his wife. The first-born son, 
 whom he takes, finds a girl in a garden which he was 
 apparently forbidden to enter. They flee together, 
 but the magician rushes after them. He is finally 
 disposed of by the youth, after a long transformation 
 conflict.^ 
 
 Though witches, magicians, demons, and fairies 
 
 ^ Day, p. 196. Minaef, No. 46, cf. chap. xi. p. 311 ; Prym and 
 Socin, No. 58 ; Steere, p. 381 ; Spitta Bey, p. i. 
 
BARRENNESS REMOVED 413 
 
 figure in most of these stories, the bargain must have 
 been originally made with a divinity. Trace of this 
 is found in the Greek story ; in that from Bengal, the 
 boy is to be offered to Kali ; while in another tale 
 from the Kathakoga, Queen Rati promises that she 
 will sacrifice the child of the co-queen to the family 
 goddess if she herself is blessed with a son.^ Again, 
 in the Aitareya Brahmana Harischandra prays to 
 Varuna for a son, promising to offer the child as a 
 sacrifice to the god. After the child's birth he seeks 
 to evade the promise, and is about to offer a substitute 
 when the latter is miraculouly set free. On the 
 other hand, as the magical remedy is often, in folk- 
 tales, obtained from a magician, so it is in actual 
 practice. Thus, in Kashmir, at the present day, 
 folk-tale and custom coincide, and fakirs have the 
 power to grant children through some special fruit- 
 eating.^ Indeed, medicines and charms for causing 
 fruitfulness form a regular trade in the East, and 
 support a whole army of charlatans.^ But it is the most 
 natural thing in the world that a divinity should be 
 prayed to, and among all people some of the earliest 
 and most important deities are those who grant 
 fertility to women as well as to field and fold. And, 
 in truth, the custom of barren women praying to a 
 divinity, at the graves of ancestors, or at any sacred 
 place, and accompanying the prayer with sacrifice or 
 with the promise of one, is universal. The Dyaks 
 offer fowls to the water-goddess ; the people of the 
 Sulu Archipelago place the sacrifice on the ancestral 
 graves, the husband meanwhile reserving a goat till 
 his wife proves to be pregnant. On the Gold Coast 
 women make sacrifice to the fetich-god, while 
 
 ^ Tawney, p. 48. - Knowles, p. 416, note. 
 
 "^ Ananga Ranga^ p. 53. Cf. p. 54, where prescriptions for 
 fertility are given. Such " medicines " are also supplied by the West 
 African fetich-doctor. Cf. Nassau, p. 332, for a folk-tale based on 
 this practice. 
 
414 THE SACRIFICE OF A CHILD 
 
 Malagasy women present small offering's at the sacred 
 stones, and a folk-tale current there tells of a woman 
 who obtained from a water-spirit in exchange for a 
 sacrifice, pebbles which became male children.^ 
 Offering's of a sheep are promised by barren Syrian 
 women at the shrine of saints, if the -saint will g-rant 
 them a child ; the practice is certainly pre- Islamic. It 
 is not improbable that all such sacrifices have taken 
 the place of an earlier offering- of the first-born, who 
 removed the curse of barrenness, or of a dedication of 
 the child to the divinity. When an Otchi neg"ress 
 has prayed to a fetich for a child, the child is 
 considered the property of the fetich, and is called a 
 ''fetich-child." While, among- the Syrians, a child 
 may be vowed to a saint, yet ''in that case the child 
 is not slain, as may once have been the case, but is 
 redeemed."^ 
 
 In the Czech, Bengali, and Swahili variants a 
 twin child has to be given up. Now, among- many 
 peoples, when twins are born, it is thought that one 
 of them must be the offspring of a god who has united 
 himself to the mother. So, of the twins which 
 Alcmene bore, Heracles was son of Zeus, Iphicles of 
 her husband ; among the Yorubas and Damaras one 
 of the twins is always called after a certain god ; and 
 the Melanesians think that one or both of the children 
 is the offspring of a spirit.^ Perhaps in earlier times 
 such a twin would be sacrificed ; at all events among 
 other peoples, twins being thought abnormal, one or 
 both of them, and sometimes also the mother, is 
 killed or sacrificed. Thus, though the evidence is 
 
 ^ Hartland, Perseus^ i. i68 ; Featherman, ist div., p. 139 ; F.L.J., 
 i. 341. 
 
 ^ Curtiss, Primitive Semitic Religion^ pp. 157, 167. Otchi^ Ploss, 
 i. 437. Dedication of a first-born child to Jehovah was the rule in the 
 Old Testament. We may also note Jephthah's vow : he may have 
 actually offered up his daughter as a burnt-offering. 
 
 ^ Ellis, Yoruba^ p. 67. Codrington, p. 235. 
 
MALBROUK 415 
 
 incomplete, it points to a primitive custom of sacri- 
 ficing- a first-born child in cases where barrenness had 
 been removed.^ 
 
 2. We now come to several cycles of stories intro- 
 duced by the formula of a child's being promised to 
 some being for services rendered to the father. The 
 promise is made {a) consciously, in which case there 
 are several varieties of it, or (d) it is made without 
 any suspicion of its real import. 
 
 {a) Malbrouk, say the Basques, was the son of 
 poor parents, and just before his birth his father met 
 a gentleman who offered him much wealth if he would 
 make him godfather to the child. At the baptism 
 the stranger disappears with baby, and carries him 
 off to his wife, who is a witch. In seven years the 
 boy is allowed to return home for three days, and 
 brings back his two brothers with him. The witch 
 now urges her husband to put them all to death, but 
 through Malbrouk's stratagem (as in many Youngest 
 Son tales) he kills his own daughters by mistake, and 
 the brothers escape with his seven-league boots. In 
 a Lorraine variant, ''le bon Dieu" is the godfather, 
 coming for the boy in his seventh year and always 
 helping him, while Christ and the Virgin are the god- 
 parents in a Breton story of this type.^ 
 
 In another series, of which there are Italian, 
 Spanish, and Basque variants, things turn out 
 happily for the father. The story is one in which the 
 Promised Child incident is worked up with that of 
 
 1 Miss Kingsley, pp. 455, 460 (Benin, Jakir tribe, Bonny). Children 
 born with teeth are also destroyed, and, with several African tribes, 
 those who cut their upper teeth first. In England cutting the upper 
 teeth first is regarded as ominous of death in infancy — relic of a time 
 ^hen the infant was killed. — Gomme, Folk-Lore Relics^ p. 180. Cf. 
 p. 397 supra. Both twins are destroyed among the natives of North 
 Central Australia as uncanny. — Spencer and Gillen, p. 609. 
 
 "- Webster, p. TJ. Cf. p. 133; Cosquin, ii. 260; Sebillot, iii., 
 No. 13. 
 
416 THE SACRIFICE OF A CHILD 
 
 the Grateful Debtor, and in the Basque version it 
 runs thus. A man paid the debts of a dead debtor, 
 whose soul, in the shape of a fox, rescued the man 
 from death later on on condition that he would give 
 him half of the child soon to be born him, or (in a 
 second version) ''half of what he has at present, and 
 half of what he will have." When the promise is to 
 be redeemed the man is about to cut his child in 
 two, when, as in the case of Abraham and Isaac, 
 his hand is stayed, and the fox reveals himself^ 
 
 From the Pentamerone we may cite an example of 
 a third type. A peasant is commanded by a huge 
 lizard to bring his youngest daughter. The lizard is 
 a fairy, who gives the girl everything. Presently a 
 prince comes by and asks her to marry him. Off she 
 goes without looking once at the good fairy, who 
 thereupon gives her a goat's face. Her own face is 
 only restored to her when she has learned humility 
 and gone on her knees to the fairy. ^ 
 
 The next series may be called that of *' The Devil 
 Outwitted " ; it begins with the incident of a child, 
 already born, sold to the devil by his poor parents. 
 The Breton version describes how the devil is to 
 come for the boy in seven years. Meanwhile he 
 receives a magic rod from the Virgin, by means of 
 which he overcomes the devil and forces him to give 
 up the bond. In the sequel he takes up his residence 
 in a haunted tower, where the devil, recognising him, 
 is glad to show him where vast treasures are con- 
 cealed. A Tuscan version replaces the Virgin with 
 the boy's godmother, while, in Lorraine, the boy is 
 no less a person than St Etienne who carries holy 
 
 1 Webster, pp. 149, 153. Italian^ Crane, p. 131 ; Spanish^ 
 Caballero, p. 23. 
 
 '•^ Burton, i. 78. In a Basque version the girl is throughout 
 grateful to the queen of the fairies, to whom her poor mother has 
 sold her before birth. Grimm's story of " The Woodcutter's Child " 
 has many points of similarity, so has the Scots version. — Chambers, 
 p. 64. 
 
THE SEA MAIDEN 417 
 
 water to hell, and escapes after asperging- the devils 
 to their intense agfony. Some versions of this story- 
 are, however, introduced by a formula common to the 
 second type, in which the father promises without 
 realising- what he has promised. Thus the father 
 promises the devil "what his wife carries," not know- 
 ing she is with child, in Lorraine and Italian versions, 
 or ''what he loves better than himself," according- to 
 a Wallachian story. ^ 
 
 Still another idea appears in the next series, where 
 children are promised on condition that one of them 
 is given up in order to marry the daughter of the 
 being who makes the promise. The marriage is not 
 expressly mentioned in the fine Celtic version of this 
 story, but it is hinted at. A sea-maiden asks a poor 
 fisherman what he would give her if she sent him 
 plenty offish : " Wilt thou give me the first son thou 
 hast ? " He and his wife are too old to have children, 
 but the sea-maiden gives him certain grains which he 
 is to give to his wife, his mare, and his dog, each of 
 whom will have three offspring, but one of the sons 
 must be hers. Three years came to an end, at which 
 time the sea-maiden appeared with a child of her own 
 ■ — presumably the destined bride of the fisherman's 
 son, to whom she granted other four years' stay with 
 his father, and at the end of that time, seven years 
 more. As the term approached, the fisherman was 
 full of sorrow, and his son must know what it was. 
 The youth was willing to go to the sea-maiden, but 
 his father would not allow him. Off he sets to seek 
 his fortune elsewhere. The story now merges into 
 the Perseus and Andromeda cycle ; we resume it after 
 the hero has married the rescued girl. One day the 
 pair were walking by the loch when a terrible sea- 
 beast (i.e., the sea-maiden) "carried him away to the 
 loch without fear or asking." Advised by a smith, 
 
 1 Sebillot, i. 29. Tuscan F.T., No. 10, p. 102 ; Cosquin, ii. 231 ; 
 Ibid.y ii. 307 ; Comparetti, No. 41 ; Schott, No. 15. 
 
 2 D 
 
41S THE SACRIFICE OF A CHILD 
 
 the bride carried the finest of her possessions to the 
 shore and offered them all to the beast in exchange 
 for her husband. The exchange was made, but soon 
 after the wife herself was carried off. Finally her 
 rescue was effected by the soul of the sea-beast being 
 destroyed.^ In Naxos the son is promised to the 
 Mother of the Sea, in order to marry her daughter. 
 When he is taken down to the shore, the sea throws 
 herself on the beach and the youth runs off. Long 
 after, he bathes in the sea and is carried off, and 
 forced to marry the Mother of the Sea's daughter. 
 His first wife bargained for a sight of him, and as 
 soon as he appeared out of the water he transformed 
 himself into an eagle and flew off, never going near 
 the sea again. ^ The confusion here between the 
 Mother of the Sea and the sea itself, is naive and 
 primitive, and suggests a point in the argument 
 which will presently be referred to. 
 
 {b) Of stories where the promise is made without 
 suspicion of its real nature, there is an immense 
 variety, and only a few can be indicated here. It 
 will be convenient to divide them according to the 
 formula used. The simplest is that made use of by a 
 " stranger '' in a Finn story. He appears to a man 
 who has lost his way in the forest and offers to set 
 him right if he will give him '* what he has at home." 
 This turns out to be a beautiful child.^ Usually this 
 formula is extended into giving ''what he has at 
 home and yet has not seen." A Polish merchant 
 travelling through a forest, fell into a bog, from 
 which he was rescued by a spirit on the same 
 condition. On returning home, the merchant is 
 
 1 Campbell, i. 72. Several variants are given ; in one, the sea- 
 maiden swallows the hero, and the wife recovers him by playing to the 
 maiden, who shows her first his head, then his body to the waist, then 
 places him on her palm, when he changes into a falcon and 
 flies ofif. 
 
 ^ Garnett, ii. 208. ^ Suomen Kansan^ i. 151. 
 
PRINCE VILDERING 419 
 
 grieved to find that there is a boy just born. Years 
 pass ; the boy sees his father's grief, inquires the cause, 
 and sets out to recover the bond. By means of holy 
 water, which he carries with him to hell, he recovers 
 it and terrifies the spirits.^ Another formula occurs 
 in a spirited Magyar tale. A king loses his way, and 
 calls on God, who will not help him because he never 
 goes to church. He called on the devil, who assisted 
 him at once in exchange for the gift of what he has 
 not got in his house, viz., the daughter who is not yet 
 born. In ten years the devil arrives, and is given (i) 
 the swineherd's daughter, (2) the shepherd's, but 
 kills them both and demands the real girl. He takes 
 her to hell, where his son Johnnie helps her in the 
 tasks set her, and finally flees with her. In the 
 course of their flight the usual transformation 
 incidents occur, but the pair escape and are happily 
 married." 
 
 This story has several points in common with a 
 large group introducing another formula. A Danish 
 king was in danger of losing his life in a swamp when 
 a dwarf met him, and saved his life on condition 
 "that the first young thing you see on your return 
 home, shall belong to me." Alas, this was the newly- 
 born prince. After several periods of delay, gained 
 by several large gifts to the dwarf. Prince Vildering 
 has to go. In the dwarfs castle he meets Maid 
 Miseri, the stolen daughter of a king, who has 
 acquired magic arts, and helps the hero in the tasks he 
 must perform. At last the dwarf finds them out, and 
 resolves to cook and eat them. Flight is resolved on, 
 but not before the oven is taught to speak in 
 Vildering's voice. Then the dwarf sends his men 
 
 ^ Naake, p. 226. The tale embodies the common incident of the 
 hero being told by a robber to see what fate will be his in hell, and 
 his repentance on discovering it, and his subsequent meeting with 
 the hero, now become a bishop. 
 
 - Jones, p. 188. 
 
420 THE SACRIFICE OF A CHILD 
 
 after the pair, who change themselves into a briar and 
 a rosebud. The dwarf next pursues them, but sees 
 only a church and a priest saying- mass. Then his 
 mother sets off, to meet her fate at the lake on which 
 Vildering and Miseri swim as a duck and drake. 
 The North German variant introduces a witch in the 
 form of a black poodle, who obtains Gold Maria, the 
 child of a nobleman and his wife, under similar 
 circumstances. Her subsequent adventures with 
 Gold Feather, a prince in the witch's power, are 
 similar to Vildering s. In a Swedish version, a king's 
 ship is held fast by a mermaid, and only released on 
 his promising to give her whatever he meets first on 
 the shore. This is his son. The king casts his eyes 
 instantly on a hog and a goose, which are thrown into 
 the sea, but at once cast back on the shore, and the 
 boy has to be given up to the mermaid. A stratagem 
 is employed by the Esthonian king of the Golden 
 Land when he is thus victimised by the devil. He 
 takes a peasant's daughter into his palace, and sends 
 his son to be brought up in the cottage. The devil is 
 cheated, but when the boy hears of this, he takes 
 service with the devil to rescue the girl. The story 
 then proceeds with the tasks accomplished by her aid 
 and the transformation flight. A Russian version 
 uses another formula : the Water King helping a 
 monarch on condition that he gives up whatever at 
 home he doesn't know of As usual, this is his son, 
 who, on his way to the Water King s abode, obtains 
 power over his daughter, a swan-maiden, who assists 
 him in the usual way. There are several Russian 
 versions of this story, where a King Bear, the Water 
 Chudo, the Devil, and in one case an idol, take the 
 place of the Water King. In a Celtic version, a 
 king promises his first-born child to a giant in return 
 for his help, and tries to palm off the cook s son and 
 the butler's son. '' Out here thy son " cries the giant, 
 ''or else ." Here, as in the Russian tale, the 
 
THE PARENT RANSOMED 421 
 
 youth is assisted by the giant's daugrhter.^ There are 
 also German, Norse, Wallachian, and Lithuanian 
 versions, where, usually, the devil figures promi- 
 nently.^ 
 
 Sometimes it is a woman who is released from 
 some difficulty, and in this case the formula is *'to 
 give up what she carries under her heart, or under her 
 girdle," viz. the child whose presence is as yet un- 
 suspected, to the devil (Lapp, Esthonian) or to a 
 mermaid (Swedish). The Esthonian woman cheats 
 the devil by throwing him her apron as the thing 
 "she carried night and day under her heart." ^ 
 
 3. The stories already cited speak of the child as 
 being given up for service done, but in many others 
 he or she is an actual ransom to preserve the parent 
 from death. Thus the following may be taken as an 
 example of several Italian stories. A woman is 
 caught by a witch while stealing from her garden. 
 The witch threatens to eat her, but sets her free if 
 she will give up her child as soon as born. The girl 
 is kept a prisoner, but kindly treated, ultimately 
 escaping with a prince who sees her by accident.* 
 Of another type is a Finnish story, where a man 
 drinking from a lake is caught by a sea-troll, and 
 only released by promising to bring the troll his 
 daughter. This is the usual introductory formula 
 to many stories of the Forbidden Chamber cycle, 
 where the being who holds the father to ransom turns 
 out to be a blessing in disguise. Thus a Swedish 
 king, having promised to bring his daughters a present, 
 is asked by the youngest for ''the three singing 
 
 » Mulley, p. 166; Thorpe, Y.T.S., p. 441 ; th'd., p. 205; Kirby, 
 i. 152 ; Ralston, p. 120 seg. ; Campbell, i. 27. 
 
 2 Grimm, " The Handless Maiden " ; Dasent, ii. 26 ; Schleicher, 
 No. 26 ; Schott, p. 2, 15. 
 
 3 F.L.R., 1884, p. 10; Kirby, i. 186 ; Thorpe, V.T.S., p. 192. 
 
 '* Crane, pp. 25, 26; c/, Basile, i. 141. Grimm's "Rapunzel" is a 
 variant of this. 
 
422 THE SACRIFICE OF A CHILD 
 
 leaves." As he is about to take these, Prince Hatt 
 under the Earth forbids him, unless he brings him the 
 first living- thing he meets on his way home. This is, 
 of course, his youngest daughter, who is married to 
 Prince Hatt, but breaks the tabu with startling 
 results. Here the ransom is obscured, but it is clear 
 enough in similar tales from Lorraine, Hesse, Ice- 
 land, Hanover, and Lithuania, where a wolf, a lion, 
 a dog, a spaniel, and a wolf respectively appear 
 at the critical moment and threaten instant death 
 to the father if he will not bring whatever he meets 
 first. ^ 
 
 The same idea of a ransom appears in many 
 stories of the Rumpelstiltskin cycle, which has already 
 been separately treated. We pass on, therefore, to a 
 third form of the ransom type, where, as in a Sicilian 
 story, the friend of a prince takes leprosy, and can 
 only be cured by being bathed with the blood of the 
 prince's child. The cure is revealed by St James of 
 Gonzenbach. Sorrowfully the prince makes the 
 sacrifice, but next morning the child is found whole 
 and living. This is the beautiful mediaeval story of 
 Amis and Amile, and is found everywhere. One 
 Eastern version from the Vetala-pantchavingati may 
 be cited. Viravara is sent by the king to discover 
 why a woman is crying. She cries because danger 
 menaces the king, and it can only be warded off by 
 Viravara sacrificing his son to Devi. He does so, and 
 then kills himself. In his distress the king is about to 
 commit suicide, when Devi relents and restores both 
 child and father.^ There is, however, another version 
 of the story which is equally widespread, and is intro- 
 
 ^ Suomen Kansan, ii. 146; Thorpe, Y.T.S., p. 15 ; Cosquin, ii. 
 216; Grimm, No. 88 ; Arnason, p. 278 ; Colshorn, No. 20; Leskien, 
 No. 23. Many others might be cited, but in all the animal, etc., turns 
 to an enchanted prince. 
 
 2 Crane, p. 202 ; Pater, The Renaissance, p. 1 1 ; Benfey, p. 
 146. 
 
PROPITIATION 423 
 
 duced into every collection of Eastern tales. The 
 friend of a king- learns that he is in danger, but at the 
 same time discovers the way to save him, though if 
 ever he reveals the secret he will be turned to stone. 
 Faithful to the end, he is found in questionable situa- 
 tions, and the king demands an explanation. The 
 friend is turned to stone. But it is also revealed that 
 he will recover life if the king's son is slain, and his 
 blood rubbed on the statue. When this sacrifice is 
 made, the friend comes to life and goes off to seek the 
 Water of Life, with which he restores the little child. 
 Modified by Christianity, the incident of the child's 
 death and restoration are utilised to confirm belief in 
 the miraculous power of the saints. But in the more 
 primitive and pagan versions of the story the child 
 has clearly been offered as a sacrifice to the gods, who, 
 in turn, restore the petrified man.^ 
 
 What is true of this small group of stories is true 
 of all those we have discussed, but especially of all in 
 which the devil is the being to whom the child is 
 promised. The devil has replaced some early divinity 
 whom Christianity invested with diabolic form. At 
 other times the earlier pagan god is less disguised. 
 Thus, we have the Sun, the Water King, or the 
 Mother of the Sea (evidently water-divinities), or a 
 sea-maiden, or a giant or dwarf, or as in the Russian 
 story, an idol. In others, again, the minister of the 
 divinity is suggested by the witch or wizard, both 
 sheer pagans. Where the child, born or unborn, is 
 made over on account of service done, the idea of a 
 sacrificial propitiation, of a quid pro quo, is quite 
 apparent. It was firmly rooted in the pagan mind 
 that man could get nothing from the gods except by 
 offering some equivalent. We have already seen in 
 the previous chapter how water-spirits or monsters lay 
 a toll on human life, sometimes by way of giving 
 
 1 Grimm's story of Faithful John may serve as a type ; cf. Cosquin, 
 L 38 ; Day, p. 42 ; Hahn, No. 29 ; Crane, p. 85. 
 
424 THE SACRIFICE OF A CHILD 
 
 permission to men to take the waters which they 
 gnjard. Stories where someone is seized while drink- 
 ing, and made to give up his child, are a reminiscence 
 of such beliefs and actual sacrifices. In those stories 
 where the promise is made without suspicion of its 
 real nature we may see only the dramatic art of the 
 primitive novelist inventing a strong situation. But 
 just as likely we are face to face with the survival of 
 an early custom- — the vow made to a god by some 
 grateful worshipper to give him the first living thing 
 that met him on his return home. Gratitude often 
 overpowers reason, and the possibilities involved in 
 such a vow would not be realised in a moment of 
 emotion.^ In the last group of stories, where the 
 father escapes certain death by giving up his child, 
 there is evident reference to some custom of buying 
 oneself off from a superior power, and therefore to 
 sacrifices of expiation.^ 
 
 If this explanation be correct, such stories of a 
 promise made must have arisen at a time when 
 human sacrifices (especially of children) were passing 
 away, and only a memory of them remained.- 
 Perhaps in the earliest forms of the story the child 
 was actually killed, as in the Amis and Amile group, 
 and some tales may then have described how he 
 escaped the sacrificial knife. But the final form of the 
 story was different. The child only fell into the 
 power of a superior being, and this offered ample 
 scope for invention and imagination to suggest a 
 sequel. Christianity further modified the tale by 
 bringing in the devil and the power of holy water ; 
 
 1 If the story of Jephthah is not a Hebrew folk-tale, it affords an 
 actual instance of such a sacrificial vow, common, no doubt, in 
 Canaanite paganism. 
 
 2 In the Swedish story cited above, though the promise made 
 serves as a mere introduction to a story of another type. Prince Hatt 
 under the Earth may be the dim memory of a chthonian deity to whom 
 human victims were offered. 
 
SEMITIC AND CELTIC CHILD OFFERINGS 425 
 
 while the story itself served often as a fitting- intro- 
 duction to others of a different type, as in the Cupid 
 and Psyche series. 
 
 There is sufficient evidence that children were 
 actually sacrificed to divinities among- many races. 
 The case of two widely separated races, the Semites 
 and the Celts, may be cited. Of the practice among 
 the former the Old Testament makes us aware. The 
 King of Moab sacrificed his eldest son and heir- 
 apparent when ''the battle was too sore for him." 
 Such sacrifices were made to the sun-god, called 
 Chemosh in Moab, and Milcom among the Am- 
 monites.^ The Phoenicians also used this practice, 
 and Israel adopted it from time to time, in spite of the 
 righteous anger of the prophets.^ The custom was 
 common among the pre-Semitic peoples, but even the 
 Babylonians seem to have adopted it for a time — the 
 child being sacrificed to redeem the life of the father,-^ 
 while among- the Carthaginians the extent of the 
 practice shocked the Romans, 
 
 " Flagrantibus aris, 
 Infandum dictu, parvos imponere natos."^ 
 
 Human sacrifices were common enough among 
 the Celts, and here, too, the offering of children was a 
 usual practice. In Ireland a god called Cromm 
 Cruach (Bloody Bow) was worshipped, and first-born 
 children were sacrificed to him ''with numerous cries 
 
 ^ 2 Kings iii. 27 ; recent excavations in Palestine have shown 
 the extent to which the custom prevailed among the Canaanites. A 
 "High Place " was unearthed, and a number of jars containing the 
 bones of newly-born infants discovered — the remains of ghastly 
 sacrifices. — Times report, 23rd June 1903. 
 
 2 The Phoenicians offered " the dearest of their offspring," 
 Eusebius, PrcBp.^ i. 10 ; Lev. xx. seq. ; Ps. cvi. 36 ; 2 Chron. xxviii. 3 ; 
 Jer. vii. 31. 
 
 ■' Sayce, Gifford Lecture^ i903> ?• 467. 
 
 * Silius Italicus^ iv. 767. 
 
426 THE SACRIFICE OF A CHILD 
 
 and wailings," for the purpose of obtaining- milk and 
 corn. Similarly we are told that the Fomore (inter- 
 preted as gfods of darkness and night), required a 
 third of the children, corn, and milk belonging- to 
 each tribe, on November first.^ There is sufficient 
 evidence to show that the practice occurred sporadi- 
 cally among- Scandinavians and Greeks, in Peru, 
 China, Melanesia, and Samoa.^ That it was uni- 
 versal and inevitable is not yet proved, but, if our 
 interpretation of the promise made in folk-tales is 
 correct, it was, at least all too common. In most of 
 these stories it is a ruler who offers his child, and Dr 
 Frazer has noted how often a king's son is devoted as 
 a victim, because being- of royal he is ipso facto of 
 divine blood. Meanwhile, a few instances of child 
 sacrifice at a lower stag"e of culture may be referred 
 to. Among the Khonds, who sacrificed young 
 maidens to the earth goddess, some would sell their 
 children for this purpose, and generally the victim 
 was purchased from people of another race. Compare 
 with this the bargain made by the parent in our tales. 
 Similar sacrifices occurred with the Pawnees, the girl 
 victim being carefully tended for six months before- 
 
 ^ Book of Leinster^ p. 213. Cf. the Leabhar Gabala. 
 
 2 Mallet, North. Ant., i. 112, 134. For the Greeks it is sufficient to 
 cite Agamemnon's sacrifice of Iphigenia and the myth of the annual 
 oflfering of boys and girls to the Minotaur. Peru., Reville, Hibbert 
 Lecture^ p. 218. Melanesia., Codrington, p. 135. Samoa, see p. 402 
 supra. Mr J. G. Frazer thinks that the account of the slaughter of 
 the first-born of Egypt before the Exodus is a corrupt following of an 
 earlier story which told how the first-born of Israel had to be put to 
 death. This he assumes to have been a regular custom. The argu- 
 ment is as ingenious and as worthless as many of those used to 
 explain away the force of the words in the Prayer-book which pre- 
 scribe the position of the priest at celebrating. The Australian 
 instance of sacrifice of the first-born is discounted by his own state- 
 ment that there is no propitiation of gods by sacrifice there. Neither 
 there is, but there is infanticide, quite a different practice, and one 
 which an uneducated settler might easily confuse with a religious rite. 
 — See Golden Bough, iii. 48. 
 
THE FOUNDATION SACRIFICE 427 
 
 hand ; while at Lagos the young girl who was impaled 
 at the spring- equinox was bred up in the king's 
 seraglio, and her mind so wrought on by the priests 
 that she would go cheerfully to the sacrifice.^ If the 
 practice of selling children for sacrificial victims was 
 ever common, it might easily give rise in later times 
 to the idea of selling a child to the devil. A very 
 striking case from the Brass River territory of an 
 animal divinity seeking its own victim is described by 
 Count de Cardi. The ju-ju snake sometimes secured 
 a child by going into a house when the elders were 
 absent or asleep. If the mother attempted to rescue 
 it, she was either killed or fined. ^ Such an instance 
 would make an admirable folk-tale : indeed, the pro- 
 cedure of the snake is not unlike that of the sea in 
 the Naxos story, or of the Sea-maiden in the Gaelic 
 tale. 
 
 The custom of sacrificing a human victim at the 
 foundation of any building, to propitiate the earth- 
 spirit, or to provide a guardian ghost for the building 
 itself, may also have influenced the Promise stories, 
 especially as the victim was most frequently a child. 
 Copious legends, Celtic, Teutonic, Slavonic, and 
 Scandinavian, show that the custom was once 
 common enough in Europe ; indeed, the necessity for 
 such a sacrifice remained till quite recently in folk- 
 belief^ The practice existed among the Semites : 
 Hiel, the Bethelite, laid the foundation of Jericho in 
 his first-born son ; there is a universal belief in such 
 sacrifices in India ; we find it also in Africa, in 
 Borneo, and in China. A curious illustration of 
 those tales where a child is bought from its parents 
 occurs in a Thuringian legend of the castle of 
 
 ^ MacPherson, Mem. of India, p. 115. G. Allen, Attis, pp. 53, 
 117. 
 
 ■^ Miss Kingsley, p. 490. 
 
 " Nennius, Hist. Brit., p. 40 ; O'Curry, Manners of Ancient Irish, 
 i. Intro. 133. 
 
428 THE SACRIFICE OF A CHILD 
 
 Liebenstein, where the mother sold her child, which 
 was then walled in.^ 
 
 Here two independent traces of child-sacrifice may- 
 be referred to. The folk-lore of witches in connection 
 with child-birth in Scandinavian and Teutonic 
 countries shows them as at once beneficent and 
 harmful. They assist the mother and lighten her 
 pains, but they will exercise evil influence on those 
 who do not submit to them, and all children born on 
 Walpurgis night belong- to them. Mr Karl Pearson 
 sees in this a relic of the time when the powerful 
 priestess of the Mother-age civilisation acted as 
 ''medicine- woman and midwife, relieving human 
 suffering, putting the symbol of the goddess in the 
 cradle, but taking her tithe of human life for sacrifice 
 to the goddess."^ Witches, in current belief, kill and 
 eat children, boiling them down — relic of a sacrificial 
 feast to the goddess of fertility. There is nothing 
 improbable in this theory ; indeed, it is difficult to 
 explain otherwise how such a piece of witch-lore could 
 have arisen. 
 
 Again, and still more universally, the fairy- 
 changeling superstition may, in part at least, have 
 had a sacrificial origin. Mother and child were in 
 special danger from the "good people," because, in 
 popular belief, they had to give a tribute of a living 
 soul to the devil, and preferred giving a human child 
 to one of their own.^ This, a late popular explanation 
 of the changeling superstition, may be dismissed. 
 
 1 I Kings xvi. 34. F.L.R., iv. 186. Waitz, Anthropologie, ii. 
 197. St John, i. 46. Dennys, p. 133. G. Allen, op. cit.^ p. 119. 
 Many other instances will be found in a paper by Mr Baring- 
 Gould, Murray s Magazine, March 1887. Cf. Tylor, Prim. Cult, 
 vol. i. 
 
 ^ Chances of Death, ii. 32. 
 
 ^ Scott's Minstrelsy, p. 221. Lady Wilde, Ancient Legends, i. 70. 
 Keightley, Fairy Mythology, passim. Mr Nutt offers another 
 theory for the origin of the changeling superstition, Voyage of Bran, 
 i. 229. 
 
FAIRIES AS KIDNAPPERS 429 
 
 But, as there is reason to believe that, in one 
 aspect, fairies were once a living' race — a pygrny 
 people living in different parts of Europe, who, as 
 many folk-tales show, stole the fair women and 
 children of the taller race, it is quite possible that 
 one reason of their taking the children was for sacri- 
 ficial purposes in order that their own children might 
 be exempt. 
 
 Other beliefs and customs may also have had 
 some influence in shaping- these tales of a promise. 
 There is a universal belief that mother and child 
 are particularly at the mercy of evil spirits as of 
 fairies,^ but such a belief is in itself enough to have 
 originated the idea of a father barg-aining with a spirit 
 for his child. Last of all, the common practice of 
 infanticide, orig^inating as a means of relief from 
 scarcity,^ and the custom of selling- children into 
 slavery — a custom which actually existed in cases 
 of necessity in Saxon Eng-land — may quite conceiv- 
 ably have coloured the stories which have been 
 discussed, and many of which speak of a poor man, 
 burdened with children, selling or giving up one of 
 them almost without regret. 
 
 The memory of all such sacrifices and customs 
 would remain long after the sacrifices themselves had 
 passed away. In many cases, such is the persistence 
 of custom, the sacrificial ceremony was gone through 
 in mimicry ages after the need for it had passed 
 away ; ^ in others it survived as a curious piece of 
 
 ^ Cf. Crawley, Mystic Rose, passim. 
 
 2 See Maclennan, Studies in Ancient History^ chap, vii., " Female 
 Infanticide." 
 
 ^ Among the Basaga, who worship trees, a little girl is laid at 
 the foot of one ; the sacrificial ritual is gone through ; a slight 
 incision is made in her neck, and she is thrown into the water, 
 where a man is ready to catch her. She is then dedicated to 
 a life of perpetual virginity. In former times the actual sacrifice 
 took place. — Johnston, ii. 720. Many similar empty rites might be 
 cited. 
 
430 THE SACRIFICE OF A CHILD 
 
 folk-lore symbolism. But the memory of such 
 sacrifices must have been weakened as time went 
 on, and gradually took the form of grivingf up a child 
 to some power more or less maleficent. That the 
 child should have escaped may have been a reflection 
 of actual escape from sacrifice ; more often, per- 
 haps, it arose from the necessity of finding a fitting 
 sequel to the injustice of handing- the child over 
 to such a power. That the designs of that power 
 were evil, is shadowed forth in some tales which 
 have been cited ; but as the idea of child-sacri- 
 fice became more and more incredible we find 
 that the being became benevolent, and only 
 meant well to the child in depriving it of 
 parental care. Hence arose those tales in which 
 Christ, the Virgin, or a saint becomes the child's 
 godparent, and brings him to prosperity and 
 success. 
 
 The practice of dedicating a child to a divinity has 
 been indicated in some of the tales cited, and it, 
 rather than actual sacrifice, has doubtless helped to 
 shape the Promise formula in some respects. This 
 comes out most clearly in tales of the Transformation 
 Combat cycle, already discussed, in which the father 
 either promises or apprentices his son to a sorcerer or 
 demon.^ Then, as in Danish and other versions, if 
 he cannot find him at the end of four years, the boy 
 will remain in the sorcerer's power for ever. In all 
 cases the boy escapes with great difficulty. The 
 sorcerer, of course, is the earlier medicine-m.an or 
 priest. We have already noted the case of the 
 fetich - child among the Otchi negroes, and the 
 dedication of the first-born to Yah-weh among 
 the Semites, e.g., Samuel. So Miss Kingsley in- 
 forms us that it is usual for parents in West 
 Africa to ''apprentice" a child to the fetich-priest, 
 
 ^ See p. 164 supra^ "Transformation." 
 
THE FETICH PRIEST 431 
 
 who gets a premium with him.^ This is not 
 unlike the introductory episode of some of our 
 tales. 
 
 ^ Miss Kingsley, p. 171. Cf. Maurice Delafosse, L Anthropologies 
 iv. 433) who says that among the Agni of the Gold Coast Httle girls 
 have to be given up to the confraternities of women priests, who are 
 much feared, with the view of bringing them up in perpetual virginity. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 JACK AND THE BEANSTALK 
 
 The mythological school represented by the writings 
 of De Gubernatis, Cox, Max M tiller, and others, 
 have found the origin of folk-tales in the myths of the 
 Aryan race. Folk-tales are the detritus of such 
 Aryan myths, when the meaning of the myths them- 
 selves was long forgotten. The whole theory falls to 
 the ground when it is discovered that exactly similar 
 stories are told by non-Aryan races, and that the 
 incidents of such stories are easily explainable by 
 actual customs and ideas of savages and primitive 
 folk everywhere.^ 
 
 On the other hand, many folk- tales have originated 
 as myths explanatory of existing customs, or by 
 way of explaining phenomena which seemed to 
 depend on these customs, and when the customs fell 
 into desuetude the myths remained as folk-tales. 
 The incidents of existing folk-tales, again, have 
 frequently been embodied in mythologies — Greek, 
 Celtic, Japanese.^ Thus there is throughout an 
 intimate connection between mythology and folk- 
 tales, though not of the kind which De Gubernatis 
 and others imagined. In studying the well-known 
 story of Jack and the Beanstalk we shall see an 
 excellent example of that connection ; a primitive 
 mythological way of regarding the universe has 
 
 1 The new way of regarding the Aryan problem makes the theory 
 still more untenable. 
 
THE ENGLISH VERSION 433 
 
 sug"g"ested and given rise to the chief incident of our 
 well-known nursery tale. 
 
 The main incidents in that story are these. Jack 
 was the idle son of a poor widow, who sent him to 
 sell her cow. Attracted by some coloured beans at 
 the butcher's, he bartered the cow for them, to his 
 mother's disgust. Next morning he found that the 
 beans, which his mother had kicked away, had taken 
 root, and formed, by intertwining, a ladder whose 
 top was lost in the clouds. He climbed up and found 
 himself in a strange land, where a fairy met him and 
 told him how a giant had murdered his father, ill- 
 treated his mother, and defrauded him of his 
 inheritance. It was now ruled that Jack should 
 revenge himself on the giant. The fairy directed him 
 to the giant's house, where he asked for shelter. 
 This the compassionate giant's wife gave him, though 
 in fear and trembling, lest her cannibal husband 
 should discover Jack. From, his hiding-place he saw 
 the giant at his supper, and after the meal was over, 
 observed that a hen was brought him, which he 
 commanded to lay an egg of gold. Then the giant 
 slept ; Jack crept forth from his hiding-place, seized 
 the hen, and made for home. There he could not 
 rest, and once more climbed the beanstalk, gained 
 admittance to the giant's house as before, and this 
 time stole his bags of gold. At the third visit he 
 made off with the golden harp which played of its 
 own accord, but as he was rushing away the harp 
 called out " Master," and the giant awoke and 
 pursued him. Down the road they both ran ; Jack 
 reached the tree, descended to the garden, and before 
 the giant had climbed down very far, hacked it in 
 two close to the root, so that tree and giant came 
 tumbling down, and the giant was killed. But, of 
 course, the way to the upper land was lost for 
 
 ever.^ 
 
 ^ Halliwell, p. 175. 
 
 2 E 
 
434 JACK AND THE BEANSTALK 
 
 This Engflish folk-tale of the magic bean has few 
 if any complete parallels to its main incidents, so far 
 as these are connected with the tree. Separately, 
 they have a wide range. The opening incident of 
 the foolish bargain is a well-known folk-tale ; some- 
 times the hero is ruined as the result of it ; some- 
 times, as in the case of Jack, though in quite a 
 different way, his bargain turns to fortune. The 
 thefts from the giant, the speaking harp, and the 
 giant s death, occur in many tales, some of which 
 have been already met with.-^ What is peculiar 
 to our story is the tree which reaches from earth 
 to heaven. Clearly it has been borrowed from 
 some earlier story to add more interest to another 
 tale. 
 
 This is also evident from another group of tales in 
 which the magic tree is introduced. That group, 
 already discussed in the chapter dealing with 
 magical objects, relates how a man obtains certain 
 gifts which produce food and riches. They are 
 stolen, but the thief is forced to replace them by 
 means of a magic baton, which beats him until he 
 confesses all.^ Several stories of this group give a 
 different turn to the usual introduction, relating how 
 the gifts are obtained, by borrowing the incident of 
 the magic tree. The usual formula is that a poor 
 man is possessed of a single bean, which he plants. 
 It grows and grows till it reaches heaven. He climbs 
 it, arrives in heaven, and meets St Peter, or some- 
 times (as in the Lorraine version) God himself, who 
 makes him a present of the magical objects one after 
 another, after which the story continues in the 
 stereotyped fashion. Of this there are Tuscan, Breton. 
 Lorraine, and Flemish variants; but in a Corsican 
 story the poor man arrives in a land where he sees a 
 chestnut-tree so high that it reaches to heaven. He 
 
 » Seep. 354. 2 See p. 214. 
 
SLAVONIC VERSIONS 435 
 
 climbs it and obtains the gfifts, as in the other 
 stories.^ 
 
 A third version of the magfic-tree story bring-s us 
 nearer what I imagine to be its primitive form. It 
 occurs mainly as a Slavonic tale, and readily explains 
 itself from Slavonic ideas of the future life. Among the 
 Slavs, as we have seen, the idea that the dead are Yf 
 alive in the grave and do not go elsewhere is miioh^^^j 
 accentuated.^ But apart altogether from the Christian 
 doctrine of heaven, and connected with earlier pagan 
 belief, it is held that there is a magnificent land 
 beyond the sky, where dwell supernatural beings, 
 wealthy and powerful. That country, according to 
 folk-tale, has been visited by favoured mortals, who 
 have returned, like Jack, laden with its spoils. 
 Some of these tales are fragmentary, others diverge 
 into other stories. One relates how an old man and 
 woman planted each a cabbage. The old man's 
 cabbage grew to the sky ; the woman's withered. 
 He climbed up and up, made a hole in the sky, and 
 saw^ there a magic mill which produced all sorts of 
 food, of which he ate his fill. Then he returned to 
 earth and told his wife, who at once wished to go 
 there. The old man carried her by his teeth in a 
 sack, but as he climbed his foot slipped, and the old 
 woman fell down and was killed. Other variants 
 have a bean or pea ; in one the climber finds a stove 
 garnished by all manner of desirable food, but 
 watched by a seven-eyed goat. He charms six of its 
 eyes to sleep, but the seventh sees him steal the food, 
 and the goat calls out to the ** house-master," who 
 turns the man out. When he comes to the hole he 
 finds the peastalk gone, but collecting cobwebs he 
 makes a cord and descends. From the variants of 
 this story group, as Mr Ralston points out, we learn 
 
 * Pitre, Novelle^ No. 29. Sebillot, i. No. 12. Cosquin, ii. 168. 
 Lootens, Kindervertelsels^ No. i. Ortoli, p. 171. 
 - See p. 103. 
 
436 JACK AND THE BEANSTALK 
 
 of a plentiful upper region, watched by many-eyed 
 goats, by whom, or by the house-master, the intruder 
 is turned out, while a second attempt to climb does 
 not succeed, or even ends fatally.^ 
 
 These folk-tales, and especially the Slavonic group, 
 point to a primitive tale or myth concerning the rela- 
 tion existing between the world above the sky and 
 this earth, and between their respective inhabitants, 
 and relating the possibility of reaching that upper 
 region. What that primitive story may have been 
 like is suggested by some savage folk-tales. Here is 
 a Dyak version. At one time men ate only fungi, till 
 a party of Dyaks, with Si Jura, sailed off and came 
 to a whirlpool, above which grew an enormous tree 
 out of the sky, its branches just touching the waves. 
 Si Jura climbed it to get fruit, then curiosity over- 
 coming him, went higher till he reached the country of 
 the Pleiades. There he met Si Kira, who gave him 
 some boiled rice. ''What! eat those maggots!" 
 cried Si Jura. "They are not maggots, but 
 rice," answered Si Kira, who thereupon instructed 
 him in rice-cultivation. After a time Si Jura looked 
 into a jar and saw his home and friends, and grew 
 homesick. Si Kira cheered him up, and after giving 
 him rice seeds, and instructing him as to harvest 
 feasts and omens, let him down to his father's house 
 by a long rope. Now the Dyaks order their farming 
 operations by the position of the Pleiades.^ 
 
 A Melanesian tale is the converse of this, so far as 
 the lesson of civilisation is concerned. Kamakajaku 
 was swallowed by a fish, which carried him to the 
 sun-rising, where he cut his way through by means of 
 a piece of obsidian. He followed the sun in its course 
 and reached the heavens. Going on, he arrived at 
 the village where the sun's children lived, and taught 
 them how to make fire and cook food. One place, 
 they told him, was tabu ; he must not go there. But 
 
 ' Ralston, p. 291 seq. ^ Ling Roth, i. 307. 
 
SAVAGE VERSIONS 437 
 
 after a time, curiosity overcame him ; he went there, 
 took up a stone, and found beneath it a hole in the 
 sky. Far below he saw his native village, and at sight 
 of it he wept. Then the people of the sky, taking* pity 
 upon him, lowered him down to earth by means of 
 canes tied together, and he rejoined his friends, who 
 had given him up for dead. The magic tree occurs 
 in a Fijian tale. A boy was the son of a Tongan 
 woman and Tui Langa, king of the sky. He setoff 
 to seek his father, and at night stuck his stick in the 
 ground, and lay down to sleep. In the morning he 
 found it had become a tree which reached to the sky. 
 Here was a ready means of reaching his father, and, 
 climbing up, he introduced himself as his son. Nothing 
 is said of how he was received, but when he returned 
 he was called '* The Slayer from the Sky," from his 
 habit of killing the local gods with one blow of his 
 fist.^ 
 
 An Australian story relates that when the divinity 
 Baiamee left this earth, all the flowers withered. 
 The wirreenuns (medicine-men) longed for them, and 
 set off to the great Oobi-oobi mountain. For four 
 days they climbed it, and at last reached the summit, 
 where Baiamee's spirit-messenger asked them what 
 they sought in that sacred place. On learning their 
 wishes, the spirit bade the attendant spirits of the 
 mountain carry them to Bullimah or heaven, where 
 they could pluck its fadeless flowers and would then 
 be carried back to the mountain. So they returned 
 and gladdened the hearts of men with the flowers and 
 with the spirit's message that earth would never be 
 without flowers again. Who would expect such a 
 poetic story from the despised black fellows? The 
 mountain reappears in a Samoan story. Two of 
 Tangaloa's heavenly people came down to earth and 
 stole Lu's fowls. He went up to heaven from the 
 top of a mountain to recover them, and reached the 
 
 ' Codrington, p. 365. F.L.J.^ v. 256. 
 
438 JACK AND THE BEANSTALK 
 
 tenth heaven, where Tangaloa grave him his daughter 
 to wife, and told him to call the earth Samoa. ^ 
 
 In other cases the ascent is made to recover a lost 
 wife, the divine lover of a mortal.^ I have already 
 referred to the Maori tale of Tawhaki and Hapai ; in 
 this legend he recovered her by climbing up to the 
 sky on a spider's web, as the Melanesian hero brought 
 back his ghost wife.^ This is a favourite Polynesian 
 story, and there are several versions of it ; in one the 
 husband ascends, not by a spider's web, but by a 
 creeper which hung down from heaven and had taken 
 root in the earth. There is also a Malay variant, in 
 which when the husband pulls out the single white 
 hair from the head of Utahagi, his heavenly wife, she 
 returns to the sky. There he and her child rejoined 
 her by clambering up the rattans, and he, like Taw- 
 haki, became a god. These are variants of the Swan- 
 maiden story, in which, when the supernatural wife 
 returns to her own land, her husband sets out to seek 
 her. That land is beyond the sea, or above the sky, 
 but in the latter case it is never so distinctly stated as 
 here how the husband reached it, save, perhaps, in the 
 Melanesian story of Qat. His wife was a beautiful 
 sky-woman, whom he had captured by taking her 
 wings. Some time after, his mother scolded her ; her 
 tears made a hole in the ground, and revealed to her 
 the hiding-place of her wings. She put them on and 
 mounted skywards. On his return Qat shot an arrow 
 
 *■ Parker, 2nd series, p. 84. Turner, p. 13. 
 
 ^ The converse idea — that of the descent of a mortal to the region 
 of the dead to rescue a dead wife or friend from the clutches of death, 
 to obtain a boon, etc., is well known in mythology and folk-tale. In 
 Greek mythology the story is told, e._g:, of Herakles, Dionysus, 
 Orpheus, Odysseus ; in Babylonian, of Ishtar and of Gilgames ; in 
 Scandinavian, of Hermode. Similar myths or tales are found among 
 the Finns, Tartars, Esthonians, Hindus, Chinese, Japanese, Ainos, 
 Maoris, Melanesians, Red Indians, and Eskimo. Folk-tales describing 
 a descent to the underworld will be found on pp. 178, 239, 326, 351, 388. 
 
 ■^ C/. p. 347. Grey, p. 66. Tylor, Early Hist. Man.^ p. 346. The 
 Melanesian tale is cited on p. 333. 
 
THE MAGIC TREE 439 
 
 into the air ; it stuck in the sky. Then he shot many 
 more in succession, every fresh arrow sticking in the 
 one before it until he was able to climb up into the 
 sky upon them, and on a banyan root which had 
 followed the arrows. He recovered his wife and was 
 descending with her, when a man, hoeing in the sky, 
 struck the banyan root. Poor Qat fell dead, and the 
 woman flew back to heaven. The banyan root 
 recalls Jack's beanstalk ; the fate of Qat is the fate of 
 other stormers of the sky in our tales. ^ 
 
 There is an Algonquin tale in which the maidens 
 descend from the sky in a basket, and the human 
 lover ascends thither with the one he has captured ; 
 while the descent is made by the daughters of the sun, 
 in a Santal version, with the help of a spider's web. 
 When an Arawak hunter went to the sky with the 
 vulture-maiden whom he had captured, and in- 
 discreetly longed for earth, her relations set him on a 
 prickly tree, from which spiders with their webs and 
 birds with their wings helped him to reach the earth.^ 
 The idea of reaching or leaving the upper world by 
 various means, tree, spider's web, basket, is thus 
 well-marked in those versions of the Swan-maiden 
 group of tales in which the lost wife is a divine 
 daughter of the sky. 
 
 The magic tree reaching from earth to heaven is 
 again found in stories relating how the sun was 
 captured by a mortal. The Tawyans, a Mongol 
 people, were once very powerful, but were ruined 
 through trying to catch the sun. '' Building a sort of 
 Jacob's ladder, they mounted higher and higher ; but 
 growing tired, quarrelled amongst themselves, and one 
 day while half of them were clambering up the pole, 
 the other half below cut it down just as they were 
 
 ' Codrington, p. 397. This Swan-maiden story is a close parallel 
 to European and other versions in which the mother-in-law is to 
 blame for the wife recovering her wings, etc. 
 
 - Farrer, p. 256. Cole, Indian Antiquary^ 1875. Brett, p. 29. 
 
440 JACK AND THE BEANSTALK 
 
 about to seize the sun." In the Kalevala, Vaina- 
 moinen, by his magic power, makes a fir-tree grow till 
 it touches the sky. The moon and the Great Bear 
 constellation rested on its branches. Ilmarinen was 
 persuaded to climb the tree to get them, but was 
 blown off by a magic wind raised by Vainamoinen, 
 and we hear no more of the tree. Among the 
 American- Indians the hero of the Sun-catching story 
 was more successful. The Wyandots say that a 
 strong child, having killed the destroyers of his 
 parents, wished to go to heaven, and climbed a tree 
 for that purpose. The tree was too short ; he blew 
 upon it and lengthened it, till at last it brought him 
 to the beautiful land above the skies. He descended 
 to fetch his sister, and then returned, breaking down 
 the tree so that none could follow him. Later he set 
 snares for game, but captured the sun instead, and so 
 long as it was in the snare day ceased on the earth 
 till it was set free by a mouse. The story is also told 
 among the Dog-rib Indians of the first man. A piece 
 of wood which he stuck in the earth grew till it 
 reached the sky. A squirrel ran up it, and was 
 chased by the hero, Chapewee, who set a snare for it 
 on the plain of the sky, catching the sun instead. 
 Many animals were sent to release it, but were 
 reduced to ashes. The mole alone was successful, 
 but it lost its eyes and scorched its face, and that is 
 why the mole is blind and has a brown nose.^ 
 
 These widely separate stories, so similar in their 
 incidents, of the ascent to heaven by a tree and the 
 obtaining therefrom of some possession by theft or by 
 gift, have their origin in man's myth-making faculty. 
 *' Why" was as much the question of early man as it 
 is of the child or the scientist, and he was always 
 wanting to know the causes of things. All parts of 
 
 1 Keane, Man: Past and Present, p. 191. Kalevala, Rune x. 
 Tylor, op. cit., pp. 342-3, from Schoolcraft, iii. 320, and Richardson, 
 Narrative of Fra?iklin's Second Expedition, p. 291. 
 
HEAVEN AND EARTH 441 
 
 the universe were as much living- as himself ; heaven 
 and earth, sun and moon, mountain and river, were 
 persons. Thus he saw the heaven above him and 
 the earth beneath him, and at once concluded that 
 these two vast persons must be man and wife. Why 
 then did they remain apart, and how had they been 
 separated? By their children, said the Polynesians, 
 and especially by Tane-mahuta, the god of the forest, 
 planting- his head on mother earth and pressing with 
 his feet against the sky.^ In other words, the lofty 
 forest trees were believed to separate heaven and 
 earth. From this it was an easy step to suppose 
 that access to heaven could be gained by climbing 
 some lofty tree. Ancient Greeks, Hindus, Chinese, 
 and Red Indians, to mention a few examples, have 
 similar ways of accounting for the separation.^ 
 
 The next step was to suppose that ** somewhere, 
 surely, afar " there was some way of reaching heaven 
 from earth. The apparent meeting of sky and earth 
 at the horizon helped this view; thus, in later 
 Egyptian mythology, heaven is represented as a 
 vast man bending like a bow above the earth, which 
 he touches with his hands and feet. Between are 
 gods and men.^ Sometimes, as in Japanese myth- 
 olog"yj it was believed that the sky was supported by 
 a pillar, while the country above where the gods 
 dwelt was reached by a bridge or ladder. An arrow- 
 shot from earth could reach the sky, and make a hole 
 in it.* The early Egyptians had a similar belief. 
 
 * Grey, chap. i. In Savage Island it is held that the first human 
 beings, finding themselves hampered for room, separated Earth and 
 Heaven by force. — Basil Thomson, Savage Island^ p. 85. 
 
 2 In the Red Indian myth a world-tree occurs, but it forms the 
 ladder from the lower world to the earth's surface. When men first 
 climbed thither, they found the sky resting on the earth, and Matcito, 
 one of their hero-gods, removed it upwards by magical means. — 
 Smithsonian Inst. Bureau of Ethnology, Report^ 1881, p. 25. 
 
 3 Wallis Budge, Papyrus of Ani^ ciii. 
 
 ^ Chamberlain, Ko-ji-ki, pp. 18, 19 ; Griffis, Rel. of Japan, p. 69. 
 
442 JACK AND THE BEANSTALK 
 
 Heaven was supported by four pillars, and its floor 
 was made of a huge plate of iron. The tops of the 
 mountains reached nearly to this plate, but the dead 
 gained access to it by means of ladders. So the 
 people of Borneo believe that Kina Balu, their lofty 
 mountain, is so near heaven that all g"ood people can 
 easily reach it from the top, while the wicked for ever 
 scramble up the side only to fall down again. The 
 Greeks had their myth of the Titans piling Mount 
 Ossa on Olympus, and Mount Pelion on Ossa ''with 
 the trembling forest leaves,'' in order to scale heaven, 
 as in the Semitic myth the builders of the tower of 
 Babel thought to reach heaven by its means. The 
 abode of Baiamee, as we have seen, is reached from a 
 mountain-top in an Australian story, as is Tangaloa's 
 heaven in the Samoan tale. According to pagan 
 Slavonic belief, the dead had to climb a steep 
 mountain of glass, on the top of which Paradise was 
 situated. This idea reappears in Slavonic and 
 Scandinavian tales, in which the young hero rescues 
 a princess, or gains the hand of a fair being from the 
 top of such a mountain.^ 
 
 The mountain suggests, however, that heaven is 
 far off ; the earlier idea is that it is near, it lies about 
 tis in our infancy. To early man, looking up to the 
 heavens through the leafy forest, it must have seemed, 
 as it did to the Polynesian myth-maker, that the sky 
 rested on the tops of the trees. Then as it seemed to 
 recede into a remoter distance, arose the fable of one 
 particular lofty tree which joined heaven and earth, 
 
 ^ Budge, Egyptian MagiCy p. 51. Pryer, J. A. I., 1886, p. 233. 
 Odyssey, x\. 347. Genesis xi. Ralston, Songs of the Russian People, 
 p. 109 ; cf. p. 368 supra. Sometimes the heaven of the gods is 
 situated on a lofty mountain-top, like the Greek Olympus, or the 
 Babylonian Arallu. So the Kirghiz say that on the top of Mus- 
 tagh-ata (like Mount Demavend in Persia) is an ancient city built in the 
 days of universal happiness. Since that ceased there has been no 
 intercourse between its inhabitants, who are still happy, and the 
 people of this earth. — Sven Hedin, Through Asia, i. 221. 
 
THIi WORLD TREE 443 
 
 as the mountains which the clouds touched did in 
 other cases. Here is the point de repere of our 
 magical trees, as it is also of the famous world-tree 
 Igdrasil of the Scandinavians, its roots in Hel, ''its 
 bougfhs the History of Nations, the rustle of it the noise 
 of Human Existence," its top reaching" to Heaven. In 
 the Kalevala we hear of a tree which, at the beginning 
 of things, grew up above all trees till it touched the 
 sky and darkened the sun and moon. But at 
 Vainamoinen's request a giant was sent to hew it 
 down.^ Such a world-tree is that of the Polynesians, 
 sixty miles high, or that other which forms a ladder 
 to heaven. On its different sections are various 
 repulsive insects which many people dare not pass. 
 Those who can, reach the clear branches above, from 
 which, as they sway to and fro in the wind, they are 
 swung off into heaven. In Mexican mythology the 
 brothers Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca after having, 
 by their strife, caused the heavens to fall, raised them 
 aloft and rested them on two mighty trees, The Tree 
 of the Mirror and the Beautiful Great Rose-tree, on 
 which they have ever since remained. I may refer to 
 a curious variation of the world-tree idea among the 
 Andamanese. Earth, not heaven, rests on a huge 
 tree which will one day be upset by an earthquake. 
 The living and the dead will then change places ; 
 hence the latter give the tree an occasional shake 
 to hasten on matters and so displace the wicker 
 ladder which connects it with heaven. The people 
 of Guiana know of a different kind of tree — 
 the Ceiba-tree, of vast dimensions, its branches 
 in the clouds, forming the seat of the Creator, 
 
 ^ Carlyle, Heroes^ p. 19. Kalevala^ Rune ii. The Bodhi tree 
 in Ceylon is revered by Buddhists, and is held to be a parable 
 of the universe ; its trunk the connection between the visible 
 and invisible worlds ; the up and down growth of its branches and 
 roots the restless striving of man after perfection.— Miss Busk, p. 
 332- 
 
444 JACK AND THE BEANSTALK 
 
 who made all living things from its twigs and 
 bark.^ 
 
 Sometimes the method of reaching the not very 
 distant sky-land is more or less magical. The 
 Australians have a story of two girls who escaped 
 from their persecutor, Beereeun, and, helped by their 
 dead relatives, became stars. Beereeun thereupon 
 took a spear and threw it up to the sky, where it hung 
 dangling down. Another spear caught on to it, 
 until, by throwing several, he had made a rope of 
 spears, up which (like the Melanesian hero with his 
 arrows) he climbed to the sky, where he is still 
 pursuing the star-maidens. Since then his tribe 
 have been good climbers. Compare with this the 
 Tchippewaya story of the giant who gave two 
 brothers two arrows, forbidding them to run and 
 take them up after shooting them, lest evil should 
 befall. The younger did so, when the arrow 
 mounted higher and higher till it carried him to the 
 land above the sky, whence, after some strange 
 adventures with two girls, ''of manners none and 
 customs nasty," their mother lowered him to earth 
 by a rope.^ 
 
 Sometimes the intercourse between the land above 
 the sky and this earth is referred to a distant past, 
 and since the connection has been destroyed no one 
 has ever been able to reach that land. This has 
 already been suggested in some of our folk-tales ; 
 usually it is part of a myth explaining the origin of 
 man, who, as is sometimes thought, came, though 
 not always, trailing" clouds of glory, from that glad 
 upper world. According to some of these myths, the 
 
 1 Turner, p. 199. Brinton, American Hero Myths^ p. 75. Keane, 
 op. cit., p. 160. Brett, p. 7. 
 
 •^ Parker, 2nd sen, p. 11. Petitot, p. 352. In the Australian story 
 cited on p. 340, the girls set to cut the tabued trees are carried with the 
 trees to the sky. Cf. an Algonquin story where two girls who have 
 become the wives of stars, descend to earth on a hemlock-tree through 
 a squirrel's magic. — Leland, A.L., p. 142 ; and cf. p. 344. 
 
GUIANA MYTHS 445 
 
 descent is made by means of a tree, thougfh other 
 methods occur, as in the myth of the Finnish Vogfuls, 
 who say that the first pair descended in a cradle of 
 silver wire, while their son became a squirrel, climbed 
 a tree to the sky and came down again. So in an 
 Eskimo myth the man and woman by whom the earth 
 was peopled fell from heaven.^ But the most elaborate 
 myths of this kind are found among- the Caribs and 
 the Indians of Guiana. The Caribs say that men 
 used to live above the sky, and descended to cleanse 
 the earth. While so engaged, the clouds on which 
 they came receded and they had to remain below. 
 However, the creator made a huge tree, which was 
 covered with all kinds of food. This was cut down, 
 and each man took slips from it and planted them 
 for his own use. Another tree reached from earth 
 to heaven, and during a great flood people climbed 
 it, headed by a woman, who stuck half - way 
 and was turned to stone, while all who tried to 
 pass her were also petrified. The survivors took 
 refuge on Mount Komoo, and were saved from 
 drowning.^ 
 
 These two myths seem to be combined in one 
 current among the Korobahana, who say men came 
 from the sky by means of a rope, which broke by the 
 weight of a heavy woman, thus for ever cutting off 
 communication between those who were below and 
 those left above. The latter were given wings, and 
 flew down to earth, where they live among the trees as 
 parrots. In the Guarani myth, men lived above the 
 sky, till one day a hunter, pursuing a bird, saw it 
 disappear into a pit. He looked down and beheld, 
 far below, forests, rivers, animals, and birds. Having 
 told his fellows of this, they made a rope-ladder, down 
 
 * Nansen, Eskimo Life^ p. 259. 
 
 2 Brett, pp. 103, 107. The tree was at first known only to the 
 tapir, who selfishly kept it to himself ; then the rat insisted on a share ; 
 finally men discovered and claimed it. 
 
446 JACK AND THE BEANSTALK 
 
 which he descended and captured a deer. Returning 
 with great difficulty, he shared the unwonted luxury 
 with the others, who resolved to visit the earth. The 
 descent was safely made, but the last woman stuck in 
 the hole, where she remains to this day, making- all 
 return to the sky impossible. The Mara people of 
 the Gulf coast of Australia believe that once a great 
 pine-tree reached from heaven to earth, and by its 
 means their ancestors used to climb up and down 
 between the two regions. But Kakan, the hawk, 
 discovered the secret of fire-making, and, while 
 disputing with another hawk, set fire to the 
 earth. The tree was destroyed, and the people 
 who had climbed to the sky were forced to re- 
 main there. Crystals were implanted in their 
 bodies, and the flashing of these by night causes 
 the light of stars. Some medicine-men have still the 
 power of ascending to the skies to speak to the 
 star-people.^ 
 
 Of these myths, some relate how men first came 
 "trailing clouds of glory" to earth from the skies. 
 Conversely, among myths which tell how men reached 
 the surface of the earth from below, it is sometimes 
 said that the ascent was made by means of a tree. 
 The Tusayans of North America think that all men 
 once lived in the lowest depths of the earth, suffering 
 misery. Through the intervention of Myuingwa, the 
 god of the interior, and Baholikinga, a huge serpent, 
 genius of the water, they obtained a seed from which 
 sprang a magic growth of cane. It penetrated 
 through a crevice in the roof, and by its means men 
 reached a higher plane of the earth's interior. Here a 
 dim light prevailed, and vegetation was produced. 
 By another magic seed they climbed to the next stage, 
 where the light was strong, and the animals came into 
 being. Lastly, the ascent to the surface was made by 
 
 1 Brett, pp. 55, 179. Spencer and Gillen, Northern Tribes, p. 
 628. 
 
THE ABODE OF THE GODS 447 
 
 similar mag"ic growths (in other versions of the myth, 
 by a pine-tree, or by a rush), and the people were 
 headed by two mythic twins, who sang* as the people 
 came up. When their song- was ended no others were 
 allowed to ascend, and they still remain below. But 
 through the outlet still come the germs of all livingf 
 things. In another Red Indian myth, the ascent to 
 the surface of the earth was made by means of a tree, 
 which broke when the inevitable fat man was climbing 
 it, causing many still below to remain there. ^ The 
 magic seed in the Tusayan myth is the closest 
 parallel to Jack's bean we have met with. 
 
 The destruction of the means of ascent or descent 
 occurs with great persistence in these tales and 
 myths ; it was clearly suggested by the evident 
 impossibility of man's now reaching the sky, while it 
 was easy to imagine that it was caused by some 
 unlucky or unwieldy individual. But the region 
 which was thus left usually becomes the paradise to 
 which men hope to go after death, as in the second 
 Red Indian myth. 
 
 Sometimes the upper region, as in the European 
 variants of Jack and the Beanstalk, as well as in the 
 Dyak, Australian, Samoan, Maori, Malay, Arawak, 
 and other myths, is the abode of supernatural beings 
 or of the gods. Sometimes they welcome the visitor, 
 and send him back with gifts ; in other cases he is 
 clearly an intruder, stealing their possessions, or where 
 he remains among them he must become as they, and 
 share their divine nature. When this occurs, the 
 myth has been influenced by the widely-spread belief 
 that the gods are jealous lest men enter their abode, 
 and share their immortality or their possessions — 
 jealous, even, of men's prosperity. We find this 
 
 1 Bureau of Ethnology, Report^ 1886-87, p. 16. The outlet is still 
 symbolised in the construction of the Tusayan Kiva, in the designs 
 on sand altars, and by the unconnected circle painted on pottery, etc. 
 For the other myth, see Knortz, Aus dem Wigwain^ p. 130. 
 
448 JACK AND THE BEANSTALK 
 
 among the Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, Hindus, 
 Dyaks, and Negroes. The Egyptian myth has 
 points of contact with those already studied : the 
 gods had formerly lived with men on earth, but being 
 angry with them, had withdrawn to the sky. Still 
 closer is the Negro belief that gods and men had 
 constant intercourse by means of a ladder reaching 
 to the sky, which the gods ultimately threw down.^ 
 
 We have traced the popular story of Jack and the 
 Beanstalk to man's early myth-making fancy, his 
 guesses at the origin of things, as to the region 
 beyond the sky and the method of reaching it. 
 We have found a folk-tale of "Aryan" peoples 
 current among very un-Aryan races, and connected 
 with myths from all parts of the world. But we have 
 nowhere seen any reason to suppose, with De 
 Gubernatis, that Jack and his beanstalk are really 
 the moon in another guise, because the moon, like 
 them, mounts the heavens and descends to earth 
 again. ^ Here, indeed, is a moon-struck fancy of a 
 mythologist. 
 
 On the whole. Jack and the Beanstalk with its 
 many versions is an excellent example of how a myth 
 or a saga may become a folk-tale. Or, perhaps, it 
 would be better to say that out of more or less 
 amorphous stories told to account for the nature of 
 things, both myths and folk-tales have been evolved. 
 
 ^ Cf. Jastrow, Rel. of Babylonians^ p. 544 seq.\ Maspero, xlix. ; 
 Odyssey^ iv. 181, xxiii. 207 (in Greek opinion excess of prosperity was 
 evil, as it awakened the jealousy of the gods) ; St John, i. 171 ; Lyell, 
 Asiatic Studies^ 2nd ser., p. 246. See also the Maori instance on 
 p. 63 supra, 
 
 2 Mitologica Vedica^ p. 96. It should be noticed that man's 
 preconceptions of the universe often affect his dreams. So Jacob saw 
 in his dream a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, and St Perpetua, 
 the North African martyr of the third century, had a vision of a 
 narrow golden ladder connecting earth and sky, and guarded by 
 weapons and a fierce dragon. She safely mounted it, and reached 
 a beautiful world above the clouds. — Migne Patrol. Eccl. Lat, 
 iii. 38. 
 
DISEASE OF LANGUAGE 449 
 
 No "disease of languagfe" is necessary to account for 
 the existence of such tales, the near relations of 
 myths ; they were evolved by a natural process, and 
 all alike are due to man's healthy imagination, not to 
 the pathology of philological processes ! 
 
 2 F 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE ORIGIN AND TRANSMISSION OF FOLK-TALES 
 
 Folk-tales, apart from stories known as Drolls, 
 
 Beast- Fables, etc., may be classed as Sagas and 
 
 Mdrchen. In the saga, incidents are related of 
 
 ' supernatural personages, of heroes and heroines, 
 
 \ who have definite names and are believed to have 
 
 once actually existed, while they are also attached 
 
 to definite places. The saga thus is to a large extent 
 
 equivalent to the myth. In the Mdrchen all is vague, 
 
 impersonal, indefinite; for, as M. Dozon says, ''the 
 
 absence of names is one of the characteristics of 
 
 true popular tales." Most countries have both kinds 
 
 of folk-tale ; among savages tales are mainly of the 
 
 saga order, though the stories of such races as the 
 
 Kafirs and Ainos, as well as some North American 
 
 ^ tales, are Mdrchen pure and simple ; while what is 
 
 told as a saga in one country occurs as a Mdrchen in 
 
 / another place. Possibly Mdrchen are the deteriorated 
 
 I form of sagas ; on the other hand, a saga may merely 
 
 ' be a Mdrchen to the personages of which definite 
 
 names have been given. Hence, we can hardly 
 
 affirm yet which is the earlier of the two ; nor is 
 
 there any good reason for supposing that both forms 
 
 of the folk-tale may not have been invented separately. 
 
 / But, judging by most collections of savage folk-tales, 
 
 / the earliest stories must have had more or less of the 
 
 V^aga form, more especially if we consider saga and 
 
 450 
 
SAGA AND MARCHEN 451 
 
 myth to be closely related. We have seen how many 
 European folk-tale incidents exist as separate stories 
 amongf savag"es, but told of this or the other tradi- 
 tional personage. These are sagfas or myths. They 
 may, however, be told occasionally of no one in 
 particular ; then they are savage Metre ken. Moreover, 
 where a more or less elaborate story told by savages 
 can be proved to have reached them by diffusion or 
 borrowing, almost invariably the actors in it have 
 become the well-known heroes or divinities of the tribe. 
 In other words, a story told in Europe as a M'drchen 
 becomes a saga when it is adopted by savages. 
 
 Thus in their origin folk-tales may have had some 
 other purpose than mere amusement ; they may have 
 embodied the traditions, histories, beliefs, ideas, and 
 customs of men at an early stage of civilisation. It 
 was only later that they became mere stories told 
 to amuse, or delight, or terrify an entranced audience. 
 Even savage tales of the Mdrehen type, or tales which 
 are variants of existing European stories, frequently 
 have a mythical ending. All that has been related 
 turns out to be the mythic explanation of certain 
 natural phenomena, or of various animal peculiarities 
 — markings, shape, etc., and the story concludes by 
 saying, ''and that is why such and such an animal 
 has red feathers," or *'why two animals always fight 
 when they meet," etc. Examples of this have already 
 been noted in citing savage folk- tales. Even in 
 collections of European tales instances of this are not 
 unknown. Thus in a Russian story the fox and the 
 hare go to get the Water of Life, which, as usual, lies 
 between mountains which for ever swing apart and 
 then clash together. The fox gets off safely, but the 
 hare is too late to clear the clashing rocks, and her tail 
 is jammed between them. Hence, hares have now no 
 tails. \ 
 
 ^ Ralston, p. 236. Cf. a Servian story explaining why the sole of 
 the foot is uneven. — Naake, p. 6. 
 
452 ORIGIN AND TRANSMISSION OF FOLK-TALES 
 
 In this sense, as indeed we have seen already in 
 discussing" Jack and the Beanstalk, folk-tales have a 
 vital connection with myth and saga, though the 
 connection is far from that insisted on by Max 
 Miiller and the mythological school. Still another 
 link of connection may be perceived in many 
 European Metre ken, where the gods and mythic 
 figures of an earlier faith have been metamorphosed 
 into ogres, witches, and fairies, and where the dimly- 
 remembered customs of that earlier religion have 
 supplied incidents for the story inventor of a later 
 age. 
 
 As we have seen, all folk-tale incidents are directly 
 connected with man's early ideas, beliefs, and 
 customs. These gave rise to short narratives which 
 we might call story germs. Most of those became 
 more elaborate sagas or myths ; but some may have 
 taken the form of genuine M'drehen even thus early. 
 Sometimes a myth or saga may have retained its 
 form, sometimes it may have been transmuted, as we 
 have shown, into a M'drehen. And, again, where a 
 mythological or epic cycle, or even a sacred book, 
 was being elaborated, floating M'drehen, native or 
 borrowed, were occasionally incorporated, divinities 
 or well-known heroes becoming the dramatis personce. 
 
 Our study of folk-tales and the theory advanced as 
 to the origin of folk-tale incidents, help to throw some 
 light on the problem of their diffusion. The various 
 solutions of that problem with which the theory of the 
 mythological school has been met err in narrowing 
 the locality of the centre of diffusion, i.e., the East, or 
 less vaguely, India. Benfey, in his famous Introduc- 
 tion to the Panehatantra, held that tales reached the 
 South of Europe via the Turks, and arrived in the 
 North via the Mongols, who passed them on to the 
 Slavs, from whom the Germanic peoples received 
 them. All this happened within historic times, and 
 the stories themselves had a Buddhist origin. But 
 
INDIAN ORIGIN OF FOLK-TALES 453 
 
 while it is true that Eastern literary collections of 
 tales, or individual legends like that of Barlaam and 
 Josaphat, may be traced step by step from India to 
 Europe, it is not necessarily true that all European 
 tales which resemble them were derived from those 
 literary stories. Such tales had been told in Europe 
 before they arrived in a literary form from the East, 
 just as they existed orally in India before a literary 
 form was given them. Later investigators, like 
 Cosquin, widened the Indian theory by admitting the 
 existence of tales in India in pre- Buddhistic times, 
 and by postulating a continuous oral transmission to 
 Europe from early ages. But the Indian parallels to 
 European tales in M. Cosquin's collection and else- 
 where are both few and incomplete, nor can we be 
 satisfied, from their form, that they were the source 
 of our European variants. Cosquin's admirable 
 volumes seldom show, as they ought to do if his 
 theory is correct, a complete Indian version of each of 
 his Lorraine tales of which he cites so many variants 
 from all countries. There are only six complete 
 Indian parallels in his first volume ; others have only 
 a partial likeness ; of many there is no Indian variant. 
 Indeed, his work might be used to prove that stories 
 reached India from some European country — say 
 Lorraine! Nor, as the theory demands, are the 
 incidents of these tales such as would exclusively 
 belong to Indian soil. Transformation, e.^., is said to 
 be borrowed from the Indian belief in transmigration. 
 But, as we have seen, every people under heaven 
 believe or have believed that shape-shifting is possible. 
 Nor are helpful animals or beast-marriages exclu- 
 sively Indian conceptions, unless indeed Ainos and 
 Australians, Negroes and Polynesians, have all 
 borrowed them from India! These and all such 
 incidents are the common property of the human race, 
 and this alone is sufficient to invalidate the Indian 
 hypothesis. On the other hand it is suggested that, 
 
4:U ORIGIN AND TRANSMISSION OF FOLK-TALES 
 
 while the incidents may be universal, the use of them 
 for folk-tale purposes, in other words the formation of 
 the folk-tales themselves with their elaborate plot and 
 numerous details, is Indian. But, as I have said, 
 Indian parallels to existing- European tales are few 
 and incomplete, while Mr Hartland points out that 
 the Indian version of any given tale is seldom the 
 most artistic. Again, even M. Cosquin finds a diffi- 
 culty, by the discovery of folk-tales in ancient Egypt 
 {e.£'., The Two Brothers), with Eastern and Western 
 parallels, and is driven to suggest that Hindu tales 
 were borrowed from non-Aryan peoples, and then 
 transmitted westwards. Yet, if Egyptians and other 
 non-Aryan races had tales at such an early date, 
 there is nothing to hinder us from supposing that 
 stories existed in Europe and India simultaneously, 
 or that even if stories filtered westwards they also 
 went eastwards as well. In fact, we are more and 
 more driven to the conclusion that tkere never has 
 been any one centre for story invention^ but that there 
 were many centres, and that diffusion by borrowing 
 or transmission has gone on steadily from prehistoric 
 times. This does not, however, exclude the possi- 
 bility that stories with similar incidents, even similar 
 sequence of incidents, may not have been invented 
 independently in different quarters.-^ 
 
 The various story cycles which we have examined 
 have revealed two facts, (i)^that the incidents of these 
 tales are exceedingly primitive, and (2) that, though 
 only in a few cases can exact savage variants of 
 elaborately detailed cycles be produced, most of the 
 details of these stories can be paralleled in abundance 
 
 ' Another Eastern theory is that of Dr Gaster, who derives folk; 
 tales from the old Slavonic religious literature, which, in turn, was 
 based upon Eastern origins. This theory, ingenious as it is, and 
 postulating the non-existence of tales in Europe before the tenth 
 century, is open to the same objections as the others. Cf. his Ilchester 
 Lectures on Greco- Slavonic Literature. 
 
THE WERWOLF SUPERSTITION um 455 
 
 from separate short tales existing- among- savages. 
 Elaborate stories, with a wealth of detail and incident 
 and a comparatively complicated plot, are not want- 
 ing- in any savage collection of tales, as Theal's, or 
 Cushing's, or Grinnell's, or Romilly's books will show, 
 for Kafirs, Zunis, Pawnees, and the people of New 
 Guinea. But on the whole the conclusion to which 
 we are driven after a wide survey of tales is that the 
 incidents of folk-tales, those of helpful animals, trans- 
 formation, beast-marriage, sacrifice, etc., were once 
 separate stories, and represent the earliest form of the 
 folk-tale. The foregoing chapters have supplied 
 abundant illustrations of this. But as these incidents 
 are based on world-wide belief and custom, we may 
 suppose that they, as stories, were invented separately, 
 and were not necessarily borrowed by one people from 
 another, or diffused from a common centre. For 
 example, if all men believe that shape-shifting is 
 possible, there is no reason to suppose that the most 
 widely separated peoples could not invent little stories 
 about shape-shifting, without help from each other^) 
 Again, to the similarity of man's myth-making fancy 
 in all ages and places may be attributed the remark- 
 able likeness which prevails in savage " Swallow" and 
 ''Jack and the Beanstalk" stories froi3;i the most 
 widely-separated regions of the globe. Simple tales 
 were evolved everywhere much in the same way. 
 This is also true of all beliefs and customs which have 
 a universal existence. But confining- ourselves to 
 shape-shifting we find that the particular form of the 
 idea which is contained in the werwolf superstition, 
 viz., that a man or woman may take animal form 
 and, if wounded in that form, will be found, on 
 resumption of the human shape, to have a wound 
 on the limb corresponding to that which was hurt, 
 can be traced in such widely-separated regions as to 
 preclude the possibility of borrowing or transmission. 
 It is found all over Europe, among the Malays, 
 
456 ORIGIN AND TRANSMISSION OF FOLK-TALES 
 
 among the Indians of South America, in Melanesia, 
 and elsewhere, and thus forms an excellent example 
 of a universal belief being worked up into a super- 
 stition or story bearing a common likeness in different 
 regions, the only difference being that due to local 
 colouring (in Europe the creature is a wolf or bear, 
 in Malaysia a tiger, in South America a jaguar).^ 
 So it is quite conceivable that a spider's web may 
 have more than once suggested the idea of weaving a 
 net. At all events we find in West Africa a folk-tale, 
 and in North America an Algonquin saga, telling how 
 the hero in each case learned the art of making hunt- 
 ing and fishing nets from a spider and her web.'^ 
 Here it is safe to say the stories have been invented 
 quite independently. ; It is, in fact, inevitable that 
 man's psychic life being everywhere one and the 
 same, similar conditions, social, geographical, etc., will 
 inevitably produce similar ideas, beliefs, and stories. 
 For the same reason archaeologists infer that the 
 stone weapons of a primitive culture found in all parts 
 of the world, like as they are to each other, may quite 
 well have been invented independently by different 
 peoples. For precisely the same reason the develop- 
 ment and details of culture have everywhere been 
 carried out on the same lines, while man's ideas about 
 sacrifice, ancestor or nature worship, magic, and the 
 like, have everywhere a common likeness. Diffusion 
 of ideas, copying, borrowing, doubtless went on, but 
 
 1 Cf, Keane, Ma7i : Past and Present^ pp. 239, 380. In Melanesia 
 the story is told of a " talamaur," the soul of a person which leaves the 
 body to eat a corpse. A woman said she would send her soul to eat 
 a certain dead man. Strict watch was kept in the darkness ; a 
 rustling was heard near the corpse ; the watchers threw a stone 
 and hit something. Next day the woman was found to have a bruise 
 on her arm caused by the stone which hit her soul. Codrington, 
 p. 222. 
 
 2 For the African tale, see Miss Kingsley's Travels in West 
 Africa; the American story is in Brinton, American Hero Myths^ 
 p. 40. 
 
PLEISTOCENE MAN 457 
 
 only to an infinitesimal extent as compared with the 
 production of similar results out of a common ground- 
 work of psychic life, surrounding's, and needs. To 
 this point we shall return later. Of course, it is open 
 to anyone to argue that the generalised Pleistocene 
 precursors of the great divisions of the human race, 
 before setting out on their migrations, had evolved 
 story-germs, ideas, beliefs, customs, and carried these 
 with them to the ends of the earth. Hence the 
 amazing likeness of such things from the most widely 
 separated regions. This is omne ig-notmn pro miri- 
 fico with a vengeance, and until we know more of the 
 mental equipment of Pleistocene man, the reasoning is 
 ineffective. 
 
 ^The earliest folk-tales were thus short, probably 
 confined to one or two incidents, and everywhere 
 presented the same characteristics.^ So far the 
 problem is simple ; it becomes more complicated as 
 the stories become more elaborate, and yet present 
 variants and parallels from the farthest removed 
 quarters. As time went on, and man's inventive and 
 imaginative faculties developed, these simple stories, 
 from being complete in themselves, became incidents 
 in longer tales. New episodes were invented ; the 
 growth of custom and belief would furnish ever 
 new material; while existing stories would lend 
 themselves to new combinations in kaleidoscopic 
 fashion. Again, there is no reason to doubt that 
 this process went on everywhere on similar lines, or 
 that the same combination of incidents, the same 
 elaboration of the tale, occurred in more places than 
 one. 
 
 Let us here glance at our savage parallels to 
 European stories. The profusion of savage parallels 
 to the incidents of elaborate '* civilised story cycles 
 has already been referred to, and independent inven- 
 
 1 Cf. the exact similarity of savage beast-marriage and cannibal- 
 istic tales everywhere. 
 
458 ORIGIN AND TRANSMISSION OF FOLK-TALES 
 
 tion claimed for them. But there are a certain 
 number of elaborate savage parallels to the European 
 cycles themselves, which may be arranged into two 
 groups. In the first of these we have incomplete 
 parallels, approaching the European versions. Taking 
 these in order, we note, e.g,, the Fjort and Basuto 
 variants of the Impostor cycle ; the Basuto, Negro, 
 Hottentot, Eskimo, and Guiana versions of the girl 
 who tidies up a man's house secretly, and, being 
 discovered, becomes his bride ; Eskimo and Red 
 Indian tales of transformation by eating ; Malagasy 
 and Kafir stories of inanimate objects personating a 
 fugitive ; the Uganda, Fjort, Menomini Indian, Zuni, 
 and Melanesian Puss in Boots tales ; the Pawnee story 
 of the sorry nag which proves to be a magic horse ; 
 the Red Indian Cyclops story and numerous other 
 tales of cannibalistic monsters ; Samoan and Eskimo 
 parallels to European stories of cannibalism as a 
 perverted taste ; Malagasy, Basuto, Melanesian, and 
 Negro tabu stories, in which a husband loses his 
 wife ; the Melanesian story of the dead father helping 
 his despised son, as in European Cinderella tales. 
 The parallelism is seldom complete over the whole 
 story, but it is close enough. How are we to explaiii 
 this? Are these merely inchoate stories, evolved 
 from simple incidental tales, which might themselves 
 in time become complete parallels without outside 
 influence? In other words, have they sprung up, 
 like the Red Indian story of Stone-shirt,^ without 
 suggestion from already formed story cycles (^.i^., 
 European) ; or, on the other hand, has that suggestion 
 been at work ; or, finally, has there been direct 
 borrowing, with subsequent loss of some incidents 
 and distortion of others? All theories will fit the 
 case, and while some of the stories suggest one theory, 
 others as evidently adapt themselves to another. We 
 know that diffusion of tales has been possible over a 
 
 ^ See p. 23 and note i. 
 
SAV^E^ PARALLELS 459 
 
 large area and during a long" period of time ; but, 
 again, the uniform workings of the human mind in 
 similar conditions by no means forbid our sup- 
 posing that out of similar independent story germs 
 everywhere existing, the same or nearly the same 
 more or less detailed narratives might have been 
 formed/ 
 
 In the second group the parallelism to elaborate 
 tales is much more complete. Thus the savage 
 parallels of the Magic Mirror, of the Dead Mother, of 
 the Life Token (the Fjort version of the Dragon 
 cycle), of the Transformation Flight (the Samoan 
 tale of Siati), of the cumulative tales where inanimate 
 objects talk (Hottentot, Berber), of the Friendly 
 Animals in the Aladdin cycle (Aino, Korean), of the 
 Magic Napkin and Cudgel (Kafir, Ashanti), of the 
 Youngest Son (Malagasy, Zuni), of the contrasted 
 Kind and Unkind, of Beauty and the Beast (Kafir, 
 Zuni, Guiana), of the child slain by her mother and 
 eaten by her father (Malagasy), of the Dragon 
 Sacrifice (Kabyle, Senegambian), seem to point to 
 undoubted borrowing and diffusion. The Basuto 
 versions of the Cap o' Rushes, of the Boy with the 
 Moon on his Breast, of Beauty and the Beast, of the 
 Dismembered Restored, and of the Cannibal Out- 
 witted cycles, may also be referred to. They have a 
 curious parallelism to European tales, with individual 
 differences of detail. Here, too, we may mention the 
 case of Indian, Swahili, and Japanese versions of 
 the Separable Soul story, in which a monkey's 
 heart is involved, without European parallels, so 
 far as I know, as well as the Aino, Japanese, 
 Chinese, and Eskimo fox stories, as showing that 
 borrowing may go on among races at a low level 
 without the story ever reaching the higher races 
 and becoming one of their folk- tales. (Yet, even 
 of this second group we cannot absolutely bar 
 occasional separate invention of similar incidents 
 
460 ORIGIN AND TRANSMISSION OF FOLK-TALES 
 
 in a similar sequence.^ We can only say, it is 
 unlikely. 
 
 Or, let us take the stories of a single tribe, e.g:., 
 those of the Menomini Indians of the Algronquin 
 stock. Some of these are myths, and in this group 
 we have those which are recited at the initiation of 
 candidates to the Mitawit by the shamans, as well as 
 others which are not now recited but are believed to 
 have formed part of the sacred ritual long ago. All 
 alike form part of a mythological cycle dealing with the 
 life of the hero-divinity, Manabush. Others are folk- 
 tales '' recited by the old Indians during the long winter 
 evenings." In both groups are tales which are clearly 
 authentic, as well as tales of which, because of their 
 likeness, greater or less, to European Marc ken, it is 
 impossible to assert anything with certainty. Yet, in 
 accordance with our theory of similar incidents 
 everywhere arising from similar ideas due to a 
 common psychic life, some of these tales, in spite of a 
 general parallelism to European stories, may quite 
 well have been invented without outside influence. A 
 few of the Menomini stories have been cited 
 throughout this volume, e.g"., those of the Bear Chief 
 and the Three Brothers, of the Wolf and the Hunter 
 (a Puss in Boots tale), and of the further adventures 
 of the third brother with the bears (Transformation 
 Flight).^ These tales may quite well have arisen 
 independently from ideas current among the Indians, 
 who believe firmly in animals having a chief, and in 
 the survival of their spirits, in help given by animals 
 to men, and in transformation and magic. On the 
 other hand, this people has for long been in contact 
 
 ^ The similar sequence of incidents is to me the crux of the 
 matter. A single incident, like that of the Celtic and Melanesian 
 stories of how a loch or the sea was formed, can be invented twice or 
 oftener, as this particular case shows. 
 
 2 Cf. pp. 175, 230, 380. This large group of myths and Miirchen 
 will be found in the \ifth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 
 p. 161 seq. 
 
BALL-CARRIER 461 
 
 with Europeans, and we have Mr Leland's sugfgfestion 
 that some Algfonquin tales are derived from the old 
 Norse settlers. Thus it is possible that their stories 
 may have been influenced by sugfgfestions derived from 
 European tales. But even this theory is not necessary 
 to account for the parallelism, and the stories are now 
 so coloured by Indian ideas that it would be difficult 
 to prove it. 
 
 Borrowing" is more clearly indicated in the long- 
 tale of Nanni Naioqta, or Ball-carrier, part of which 
 has already been cited.^ As the story now stands, it 
 bears every apparent mark of originality. It tells the 
 adventures of a boy who was enticed from home by a 
 witch, and only returned to his parents after a long 
 series of adventures. But in spite of the Indian 
 colouring, and the introduction of Indian beliefs and 
 customs, a closer analysis of the story sugfgests that 
 several native incidental tales and the incidents of 
 various European Marc ken have been worked up into 
 a long tale. The places of junction have now and 
 then been left obvious, though the ex hypothesi 
 borrowed incidents have frequently been modified to 
 exhibit Indian beliefs. The incidents of the story 
 may be tabulated as follows : — 
 
 1. The boy enticed from home by the Possibly European.^ Stories 
 witch's ball. of witches occur, how- 
 ever, in native folk-lore. 
 
 2. Treatment of the boy by the witch. This is doubtless original — 
 
 the boy receiving help 
 from the Manidos for 
 the task she is to set 
 him. 
 
 3. Adventure with the cannibal ogre, Qt Jack and the Beanstalk, 
 
 and flight with his magic ladder and Mally Whuppie, etc. 
 gold. 
 
 4. Marriage of the hero to a woman Original, 
 carved out of a block of wood. 
 
 » See p. 286. 
 
 2 In the Greek myth, Dionysus is lured away to his ruin with a 
 ball, top, mirror, and other articles, by the Titans. 
 
462 ORIGIN AND TRANSMISSION OF FOLK-TALES 
 
 5. Marriage to a woman whose sister is Original, 
 a cannibal, and who is killed by the 
 
 hero. Birds and beasts assist him 
 by their silence. 
 
 6. Adventure with a giant, and rescue 
 of a chiefs daughter, the giant's 
 victim. The hero draws the giant 
 up to the window of his cliff-dwelling 
 and cuts off his head ; then resusci- 
 tates his former victims. 
 
 7. Duplicate of Incident 5, but here the Original 
 cannibal sister races with the hero, 
 
 who wins the race by transforming 
 himself into a succession of swiftly- 
 flying birds, and then kills her. 
 
 8. Fight with a water-monster whose 
 venom causes Ball-carrier's death. 
 
 General resemblance to 
 Jack the Giant Killer 
 incidents. 
 
 9. Ball-carrier is buried on a scaffold 
 among a grove of trees. His ghost 
 takes the form of a bird, and causes 
 a miraculous supply of food for his 
 wife and children. 
 
 10. Marriage of Ball-carrier's daughter 
 to a chief, who, discovering the 
 miraculous food supply, demands 
 that the bird be killed to cure him 
 of a pretended illness. 
 
 11. Ball-carrier's sons, in anger at the 
 chief, eat the head and heart of the 
 bird, flee from home, but wherever 
 they sleep find gold lying in the 
 morning, because they have eaten 
 the bird. Chagrin of the chief. 
 
 12. Meanwhile the Ball attached to the 
 hero's foot has returned to the witch 
 on his death. She sets out to seek 
 him, finds his body, and restores him 
 to life. Then she takes the giant's 
 gold and magic ladder from under 
 his armpits, where they had been 
 hidden all along, and buries them, in 
 order that men may find gold through 
 hard work, and may learn to build 
 bridges. Then she sends Ball-carrier 
 home to his parents. 
 
 Possibly European. Cf. 
 the Dragon Combat 
 series. 
 
 This embodies native cus- 
 tom and belief, but cf. 
 European Cinderella 
 tales of the Dead Mother 
 as an animal. 
 
 Cf. European tales of the 
 jealous second wife or 
 stepmother, who causes 
 the death of the trans- 
 formed wife or children. 
 
 This is a common incident 
 in Mdrchen^ and is doubt- 
 less borrowed, but has 
 received original treat- 
 ment, viz., the bird is the 
 boys' father's ghost. 
 
 Cf the Life-token incident. 
 As usual, the tale ends 
 with a mythic explana- 
 tion of why gold is found 
 in the earth. 
 
METHOD OF DIFFUSION 46^, 
 
 If we are rig-ht In assig'ning' certain incidents of 
 this tale to borrowing: — the third and eleventh are 
 almost certainly borrowed — it affords an excellent 
 example of the manner in which these are coloured 
 to suit native beliefs, adapted to other existing- native 
 incidents, and the whole woven into a complex tale.^ 
 Where elaborate myths or tales already existed, as 
 with this tribe, the process of assimilating borrowed 
 incidents would be comparatively easy. But even 
 this tale shows that certain incidents may only bear a 
 g-eneral and accidental likeness to those of European 
 M'drchen, e.g:, the ninth, and need not have been 
 borrowed, while the complete tale, as it stands, might 
 quite easily have been diffused in time over a wide 
 area, and have given rise to many variants. We 
 shall now pass on to consider how diffusion occurred, 
 (jj/'herever there was communication between race 
 and race, whether by migration, war and consequent 
 capture of prisoners and slavery, trade, or marriage, 
 the stories of one race were bound to be communicated 
 to other races. The more striking of these would be 
 adopted, and thus each people would acquire a certain 
 number of new stories, their own having in the 
 meanwhile been handed on elsewhere. Thus these 
 more elaborate tales travelled far and wide, were 
 adopted everywhere, and became common property — 
 each people, however, giving them in time local 
 colouring. The process must have gone on for long- 
 ages ; many fresh tales would be invented, and they 
 too would be disseminated over a wide region. In 
 the process many stories must have been lost ; others 
 again were forgotten, and perished. Qnly the fittest 
 to, survive, viz., those which were most popular 
 because of their appeal to the universal elements of 
 human life, or on account of their more striking- 
 imag-inative qualities, would survive. But sometimes 
 a story, popular with this or the other race, may have 
 
 ^ The tale occupies fourteen quarto pages of the Report. 
 
464 ORIGIN AND TRANSMISSION OF FOLK-TALE 
 
 failed to catch the mind of other peoples. In some 
 such way as this we may account for the existence of 
 story cycles and their variants. A very popular 
 story will have variants elsewhere ; a less popular 
 tale will occur only here and there ; many more may 
 have an exceedingly circumscribed locale. 
 
 To put the case in graphic form, suppose there are 
 six races, A, B, C, D, E, F, each of which invents ten 
 more or less elaborate tales. Three of A's ten are 
 disseminated, and reach B, C, D, E, F. They thus 
 become the common property of all alike. Two more 
 of A's are accepted by D and F, but B, C, and E 
 reject them, though they may in turn borrow another 
 of A's ten which does not appeal to D or F. The 
 remaining four of A's stories may never leave A, or, if 
 they (do, are speedily forgotten elsewhere, and thus 
 remain peculiar to A. At the same time any of these 
 five races may be already in possession of a story of 
 A's, or one closely resembling it, by reason of that 
 unity of man's psychic life already referred to. We 
 will then have three story cycles with variants among 
 six races ; two cycles with three variants ; one cycle with 
 four variants, and four stories which have no variants 
 outside A. In course of time any of these variants 
 may be dropped by any given race, say, C or E, and 
 then the later twentieth-century collector will look in 
 vain for them in these regions. The same process of 
 dissemination or rejection will be going oxv pari passu 
 with B, C, D, E, and F's groups often. In this way 
 stories become common property, receive local colour- 
 ing, and in time lose all trace of their originating 
 centre. On this theory we are not bound to admit 
 that all story cycles had one and only one centre of 
 origin. I see no reason against the supposition that, 
 say, A invented Cinderella, B Bluebeard, C Puss in 
 Boots, D Beauty and the Beast, and so on. When 
 first invented, each of these stories may have borne 
 clear trace of its birthplace, but the, changes of" time 
 
MINGLING OF STORY CYCLES 465 
 
 and local colouringf due to dissemination make it 
 impossible now to discover it. Backward and isolated 
 races would, of course, have few opportunities of 
 hearing the stories of other races, while they would 
 not advance much beyond the simpler tales once 
 common to every race. As Mr Lang says, " Where 
 there is no distinction of wealth and rank, there are 
 no Cinderella and Puss in Boots tales." ^ 
 
 Another aspect of the problem now presents itself. 
 Not only does a story with, say six incidents, occur 
 in several countries, but it also presents itself in some 
 of these and in other countries lacking- certain inci- 
 dents, or with others added, borrowed occasionally 
 from a quite different story cycle. There is hardly 
 any story cycle of which this may not be pre- 
 dicated, and we have had many examples of it in 
 the course of this book. The central incidents are 
 frequently the most unvarying ; the introductory and 
 final incidents differ more.. The truth is, that once a 
 popular story was invented containing several in- 
 cidents it would be liable to constant modification, 
 and each of these modified and altered forms might 
 be as popular as the first, and might conceivably oust 
 it or each other here and there. There would thus 
 arise two or three types of a story cycle, with several 
 variants, and also with lacunce in the variants in this 
 or the other country. If any given incident in a story 
 cycle struck the imagination, it would have a larger 
 chance of being introduced into other cycles already 
 complete in themselves. To take an example. Let 
 us say that the central incident of a cycle is the search 
 for the Water of Life. In this story cycle the other 
 incidents grouped round it are these — a king with 
 three sons who go to seek the water for him ; the 
 youngest discovers it, is maltreated by the others, who 
 pretend they have discovered it, and get the credit, to 
 be at last punished for their crime. Now, supposing 
 
 ^ Introduction to Mrs Parker's Australian Legendary Tales ^ xv. 
 
 2 G 
 
466 ORIGIN AN13 TRANSMISSION OF FOLK-TALES 
 
 another cycle already existing with the incident of a 
 child promised to a monster, followed by his Ipkse- 
 quent adventures ; another telling how a hero escaped 
 with an ogre's daughter who had helped him in per- 
 forming certain tasks ; another relating how a hero 
 forgot his bride and was about to marry another, when 
 the rightful bride appeared and claimed him. EacJPM^ 
 these cycles might supply incidents which would modil^ 
 the first cycle while preserving its central incident^ — 
 that of the quest. Thus we might have the promised 
 child, and his escape from the monster. He wanders 
 on, and reaches a city where a king is offering a large 
 reward for the Water of Life, say, his daughter's 
 hand. Off he goes to seek it in the kingdom of the 
 ogre who possesses it. The ogre sets him several 
 tasks before he will yield it up ; the hero is helped by 
 the ogre's lovely daughter, with whom he straightway 
 falls in love. She brings him the Water of Life, and 
 flees with him. He leaves her outside the king's city, 
 but as soon as he gives the king the Water of Life, 
 and is presented with the princess as his reward, he 
 forgets his true love, who, however, opportunely 
 appears and claims him, possibly saving him from a 
 shrewish wife. This instance, not altogether imagi- 
 nary, shows how a new type of any given cycle might 
 be formed by discreet borrowing from other cycles. 
 (The process is the inevitable result of any given cycle 
 having been built up out of separate incidents which 
 were once stories in themselves. 
 
 The number of incidents in folk-tales is not so 
 great as the vast numbers of the tales themselves 
 might lead us to suppose. Most novels deal with the 
 way of a man with a maid, but how varied are the 
 forms of this theme ! So the incidents of folk-tales 
 occur over and over again, but often in a different 
 setting. Thus the incident of blindness being cured 
 by the Water of Life occurs in two cycles — Truth 
 and Falsehood and the Abandoned Wife. The 
 
FORMATION OF NEW CYCLES 467 
 
 rescue of the maiden from a dragon is attached to the 
 in^^nt of a miraculously-born hero, or to that of the 
 Bear's Son, while it sometimes occurs with, some- 
 times without, the later incident of the hero's death 
 and restoration. The tabu against opening a certain 
 door occurs as the central episode of at least four 
 ^M^es — Bluebeard, stories of the type of the Russian 
 ^^oshchei the Deathless, of the King and the Wild 
 Man, and of the Traitorous Sister or Wife. Or take 
 the Cinderella group, and we have Miss Cox's verdict 
 that its incidents ''are interchangeable with a large 
 proportion of the incidents of the ' Catskin ' and * Cap 
 o' Rushes' stories."^ Again, the loss of his posses- 
 sions by a reckless man, careless of the promise he 
 has made, occurs both in Puss in Boots and Cupid 
 and Psyche tales from Africa. The cycles we have 
 examined afford many other examples, and prove the 
 truth of M. Dozon's words. ''Sometimes several 
 tales are made out of a single tale, sometimes several 
 are united in one. What was an introductory becomes 
 a final incident, or the chief motif becomes a second- 
 ary detail, and vice versa. Ce sont des veritables 
 Chimeres ! " - Thus, in reading any folk-tale one 
 begins to have the feeling of dreaming, with its 
 bizarre association of ideas. A single incident recalls 
 many others which have been encountered in connec- 
 tion with it elsewhere, and the mind, in spite of itself, 
 is being perpetually switched on to new tracks, and 
 can scarce preserve the clue. 
 
 But whenever a new type of any given cycle was 
 formed by a fresh combination of incidents, that new 
 type would also be disseminated far and wide, and 
 take its place along with the first type wherever that 
 was to be found. And by new combinations fresh 
 types would be evolved, with variants in as many 
 countries as they reached. Some of these variants 
 
 ' Cinderella^ xxv. - Contes Albanais^ xvi. 
 
468 ORIGIN AND TRANSMISSION OF FOLK-TALES 
 
 would be lost in course of time, and thus again we 
 will have lacuncB in the variants as before. 
 
 That stories have been disseminated in this way 
 by transmission, diffusion, or borrowing, may be 
 illustrated by actual proof. Many of the existing 
 Swahili tales are directly borrowed from Arab and 
 Indian peoples with whom the Bantu people of that 
 region have been for long in contact.-^ The same is 
 true of the people of Uganda, as Sir Harry Johnston 
 has pointed out.^ Many Red Indian tales, strangely 
 disguised though they be, may yet be traced to the 
 Norse settlements in the past — Lox, the wicked and 
 tricky hero, being the equivalent in name and deeds 
 of Loki in Scandinavian mythology, while others 
 again have resulted from native contact with the 
 French-Canadian population.^ Spanish and Portu- 
 guese tales have also been acclimatised in Brazil. 
 There is also some evidence of borrowing in long 
 past ages between Ainos and Eskimo, as Rink has 
 shown, and as is amply suggested by a study of their 
 respective folk-tales.* Lonnrot asked a Finlander 
 where he had obtained so many stories. He replied 
 that he had been for years in the service of Russian 
 and Norse fishermen on the coast of the Arctic Sea, 
 and that when the storms were very bad they passed 
 the time telling folk-tales to each other. Those which 
 he heard he told on returning home, seizing the 
 general sense, omitting what he did not understand, 
 and adding bits from his own stock.^'^ Here we see 
 an example of the process of dissemination as it has 
 doubtless gone on for long ages, while it also shows 
 how variants, with their curious differences of detail 
 
 ^ Steere, Swahili Tales^ Introduction. 
 
 '^ Uganda Protectorate^ ii. 700. 
 
 ^ See Leland, Algonquin Legends^ and V^iiiot passim. 
 
 '^ American Anthropologist^ June and July, 1898. 
 
 ^ Cosquin, i. 34. Cf. Campbell, i. 59, on the method by which 
 Celtic tales might be diffused in our own time by emigrants to the 
 farthest corners of the world. 
 
BORROWING OF TALES 469 
 
 in spite of a general likeness, as well as different cycle 
 types, may arise. Dr Nassau says that in West 
 Africa there are tales common to all the tribes in that 
 region, but that each tribe has also its own dis- 
 tinctive tales, and that it is **part of native courtesy 
 to ask a visitor to contribute his local story to the 
 amusement of the evening." In this way isolated 
 tales will tend to become common property. Most of 
 these stories are ancient and of native origin ; some, 
 however, may have been borrowed in remote times 
 from Egypt as a result of ethnical movements. 
 In one or two cases borrowing has been much more 
 recent. We have seen this in the case of the story of 
 the Magic Mirror ; there is also a Negro version of 
 AH Baba, borrowed from Arab sources, or, as Dr 
 Nassau suggests, itself a native tale with incidents of 
 Ali Baba overheard from some white trader tacked 
 on to it. Certainly the tale, while obviously due to 
 the Arab story, has adapted itself to native manners 
 and customs, and has become pure Negro.^ Such an 
 adaptation to local needs is once more illustrated by 
 Mr Gushing. He told some Zunis the Italian cumu- 
 lative story of the Cock and Mouse. A year after, a 
 rZuni told it to him, and he found that it had been 
 ( given a Zuni dress, elaborated and lengthened in- 
 ordinately, and was full of racy dialogue. Character- 
 I istically, too, of a people in the mythopoeic stage, the 
 ' biting-off of the mouse's tale by the cock was now 
 said to be the reason why field-mice have a short tail, 
 while the wound on the cock's head explained its welt 
 and proud flesh. There could be no better example of 
 the local adaptation and local colouring of an existing 
 
 * Nassau, pp. 330-1. The Ali Baba story will be found on p. 358 
 of his volume. Among the Bantu peoples of South Africa many 
 legends are " tinged with European ideas to such an extent that it is 
 difficult to discover the original under the more recent crust." Thus 
 they have seized upon the idea of Satan, and adapted him into local 
 tales with extraordinary ingenuity. Rev. J. Macdonald in Folk-Lore^ 
 iii. 337. 
 
 
470 ORIGIN AND TRANSMISSION OF FOLK-TALES 
 
 folk-tale. The mythical explanatory addition has 
 been already remarked on/ 
 
 When we have a story cycle with many incidents, 
 some of them unique, the chances of explaining- its 
 occurrence in several lands by dissemination increase 
 in proportion to the number of variants as well as the 
 number of incidents, especially if these have every- 
 where the same sequence. On the other hand, if a 
 story with several incidents is found, say, only in India 
 and among the Alg-onquins, there would be strongf 
 presumptive evidence of its independent invention in 
 both these places. And, as I have said, there is no 
 reason why this should not have happened over and 
 over again, granting-, as we must, similarity of psychic 
 life, social conditions, and environment. Examples 
 of independent invention may be drawn from other 
 fields in addition to those I have already cited. Both 
 Negroes and South American Botocudoes disfigure 
 their faces by a lip ornament. Here a widespread 
 custom of disfigurement has expressed itself inde- 
 pendently in the same way among peoples so far 
 apart. The method of cooking a hedgehog, adopted 
 by European gipsies, viz., by encasing the whole 
 animal in clay and placing it in the fire, after which it 
 is taken out and the clay, to which the skin adheres, 
 is broken off, is precisely similar to the plan adopted 
 by Australian black fellows in cooking birds and 
 small animals.^ So the carved wooden mortuary 
 columns erected before Maori houses bear the 
 strongest resemblance in design and form to the 
 totem posts of the Indians of British Columbia, yet 
 both have been arrived at independently.^ Again, on 
 fragments of ancient Mexican pottery a variety of the 
 classic frette ornament has been noted, ''which, if 
 found on any European site, among fragments of 
 
 ^ Gushing, p. 410. 
 
 2 RH. Mathews,/.^./., XXV. 257. 
 
 ^ Keane, Man: Past and Present^ p. 379. 
 
SIMILAR INDEPENDENT INVENTION 471 
 
 Samian ware, would be unhesitatingly ascribed to a 
 Roman origin " ; while ancient Peruvians and Egyp- 
 tians as well as the Chinese have alike fabricated a 
 double bottle quite independently and with considerable 
 likeness of form.^ The curious custom of couvade, 
 discovered in the most remote ages and places, may 
 be due to diffusion, but it is much more likely that it 
 has been the result of mental processes working out 
 the problems of life in precisely the same way among 
 different peoples. Its presence among American 
 tribes who, when discovered, had had no intercourse 
 with non- American races (among some of whom it is 
 found, e.g"., the Basques) since Pleistocene times 
 certainly proves this. Even such an instance as that of 
 the scenes from the Japanese Buddhist purgatory and 
 those from the Aztec hell as described in the Vatican 
 codex, which are so similar, need not, as Dr Tylor 
 supposes, be due to the presence of Asiatic culture in 
 America.'^ As Mr Keane points out, the range of 
 thought is limited to a river of death, mountains, and 
 knives.^ These occur in many religions as obstacles] 
 which the soul must pass through ; they are the mera' 
 exaggerations of actual dangers existing everywhere ; 
 and their occurrence in two widely separated regions in 
 the same sequence is no more than an accidental 
 coincidence. But it once more suggests that similar 
 conditions of life, similar environments, similar stages 
 of culture, similar mental and psychic states, will 
 
 ^ Wilson, Pre Az'sfofic Man/ii. gy, 170. Ma.rrya.t, Nisfory 0/ FoUery, 
 
 p. 398. 
 
 2 The Buddhist scenes are — (i) the soul wading through a river of 
 darkness ; (2) passing through iron mountains ; (3) climbing a 
 mountain of knives ; (4) being gashed by knives hurled through the 
 air. The Aztec are — (i) passing through a river ; (2) passing between 
 two mountains which clash together ; (3) climbing a mountain set 
 with obsidian knives ; (4) beset by these knives blown about by the 
 winds. See Dr Tylor, in Report of Brit. Ass. Meeting at Oxford, 
 1894. 
 
 ^ Ethnology, p. 218. 
 
472 ORIGIN AND TRANSMISSION OF FOLK-TALES 
 
 almost inevitably work out mental, artistic, and 
 mechanical products in precisely the same way. ^ The 
 occurrence of such a similar sequence, however, shows 
 us that the separate incidents of folk-tale may have 
 been actually combined in exactly the same way more 
 than once, and in different regions, even if we cannot 
 always lay our finger on what are cases in point. 
 
 On the whole, however, the existence of similar 
 variants of elaborate story cycles in widely separated 
 districts, especially where these contain, always in 
 the same relative position to the other incidents, some 
 one incident which can hardly have been twice 
 invented, or if so, hardly placed twice independently 
 in that relative position, is most easily explained as 
 we have done it, by diffusion from different centres 
 through long periods of time, probably from pre- 
 historic ages onwards. Here, again, the possibility 
 of dissemination may be illustrated from other fields. 
 ( The presence of jade axes in prehistoric graves far 
 removed from the districts where jade is found, 
 proves how articles could be carried far and wide at 
 an exceedingly remote period, and the same is true of 
 Chinese ware found in old Egyptian tombs. The 
 diffusion of the bronze culture all over Europe and 
 Asia from the -^gean centre within a comparatively 
 limited space of time, is another case in point. If 
 traffic in material products was possible then, 
 exchange of intellectual and imaginative products 
 was equally possible, and one people could easily 
 pass on a tale, a belief, a custom, to another. What 
 we now know of the migration of peoples in long 
 past ages, and their union in distant lands with those 
 who had already become possessed of the soil, makes 
 the process of diffusion certain. The presence of a 
 Malay element in Madagascar shows how, in spite of 
 a wide intervening ocean, Malaysian settlers travelled 
 there in long past ages. So, too, the presence of 
 a Caucasic element in the eastern limits of Asia and 
 
PROVERBS AND CHARMS 473 
 
 in Polynesia from prehistoric times is now recognised, 
 while it is equally certain that the cradle of the 
 Caucasic race itself was North Africa. Thus peoples 
 have spread to the ends of the earth in the dark 
 backward of things, carrying- customs, and ideas, and 
 stories with them, while the later contact of races, 
 in the manner already described, has also made 
 diffusion and borrowing possible. 
 
 The diffusion of folk-tales might be illustrated by 
 the diffusion of other products of man's psychic 
 existence, which have easily passed over from one 
 people to another, (i) Thus what is true of folk- 
 tales is also true of proverbs and of magical charms. 
 Among primitive peoples everywhere a proverb is an 
 end of controversy, and the number of proverbs 
 existing with any one people is enormous. Many 
 of these are doubtless of independent invention ; 
 many more, though often coloured with the indi- 
 viduality of the people who use them, are so unique 
 in form and, in spite of this, are found in so many 
 regions, that they must have passed from mouth to 
 mouth, and from country to country.^ The peculiar 
 form of many magical charms, their rhythm, their 
 reiterated appeals, in all of which there is a close 
 resemblance in different lands, show that they too 
 have at some very early period been diffused all over 
 the world, especially when this likeness occurs in the 
 very words and phrases used. In the childhood of 
 the race, magic had immense power over men's minds, 
 and the very potency of a charm used by one people 
 would cause it, when heard of, to be at once adopted 
 by another. Certainly the close identity of Celtic, 
 Etruscan, and ancient Babylonian magical spells 
 cannot be wholly accidental.'^ 
 
 ^ See Farrer, Primitive Manners^ p. 78. 
 
 '^ Cf. the Etruscan spells given by Leland, E.R.R., and those in 
 Lenormant's Magie Chaldiene^ and the charms in Carmichael's 
 Carmina Gadelica with both. 
 
474 ORIGIN AND TRANSMISSION OF FOI.K-TALES 
 
 (2) Over a somewhat more restricted field, ballads 
 or folk-song-s present a close analogy to folk-tales. 
 Not only are many of their incidents and themes 
 identical in different European countries, not only 
 does the likeness extend to phrases or whole verses, 
 but variants of the same ballad frequently occur, 
 e.g:., in Scotland, Eng-land,^_Scandinavia, Finland, 
 Russia, Greece, and Spain. (They are in verse what 
 folk-tales are in prose. They have arisen in much 
 the same way, indeed as we shall see, it is sometimes 
 claimed that folk-tales have sprung- from them. They 
 have been borrowed by one people from another ; 
 diffused by wandering- minstrels, by slaves or women ; 
 carried far and wide, everywhere taking- a local 
 colouring, and seldom revealing- any trace of their 
 birthplace. Their themes, too, are not infrequently 
 those of the folk-tale — transformation, visits to 
 fairyland, or, as in The Twa Sisters, murder is 
 revealed by the harp-string-s made from the victim's 
 hair. 
 
 (3) Few things have more vitality than relig-ipus 
 symbols, which, like the Christian Cross, convey a 
 wealth of meaning- to those who are in the secret. 
 Their power to spread far and wide is also most 
 marked, while wherever the conditions of relig-ious 
 belief are similar, their adaptability by various races 
 is g-reat. The fylfot or svastika, which is most easily 
 explained now as a symbol of the solar disc, occurs 
 over a wide area, but there is little doubt that it 
 spread outwards from a common centre, and was 
 everywhere adopted as a symbol of what was 
 universally worshipped very much in the same way. 
 In this case, however, unlike proverbs, ballads, 
 charms, or folk-tales, it is almost possible to point 
 to the centre of diffusion, viz., Troas and Mycenae. 
 Thence, it reached the east, and ultimately India, 
 China, and Japan ; thence, too, it was carried to 
 Greece and Asia Minor, and to North Africa ; 
 
DIFFUSION OF FOLK-TALES 475 
 
 thence, lastly, to Etruria, Gaul, Scandinavia, and 
 Germany.^ 
 
 By analogy, then, we see how folk-tales may have 
 been carried far and wide. But, agrain, the migration 
 and consequent mingling" of peoples from early times, 
 the existence of what we may call ''trade-routes" in 
 the remote past, the carrying of slaves and prisoners 
 of war to lands far removed from their homes, the 
 frequent marrying of women of another stock accord- 
 ing to the law of exogamy, the drifting of castaways 
 to unknown shores^ — all these have helped the 
 diffusion of tales as well as those other products of 
 man's psychic existence during the long ages in which 
 he has existed on the earth. The presence of 
 irrational incidents in folk-tales, the savage customs, 
 so far removed from anything in the life of those who 
 have told and listened to them for centuries, prove 
 that the stories themselves, even the most elaborate, 
 must have been invented long ago. This is not to 
 say, of course, that incidents may not have become 
 conventional and have been used as the material of 
 fresh stories by comparatively recent inventors. 
 Many stories are undoubtedly modern in this sense. 
 But taking most story cycles, it is impossible not to 
 feel that they are hoary with antiquity, that even the 
 combination of incidents into an elaborate whole 
 dates from the time when the incidents themselves 
 were entirely credible to their auditors. Details have 
 
 ^ See Count Goblet d'Alviella, The Migration of Symbols. 
 
 ^ And, we may add, following Mr Hindes Groome's theory, the 
 diffusion of tales by gipsies, many of whose stories are versions of 
 European tales. See Nat. Rev.^ July, 1886 ; In Gypsy Tents^ p. 169. 
 Cf. the number of tales Campbell collected from wandering tinkers. 
 , Apropos of this theory, it is interesting to note how the knowledge of 
 metals may have been spread through neolithic Europe, from the 
 centres where it had been discovered, by wandering tribes whom 
 M. Bataillard connects with our gipsies, and who either had made 
 the discovery themselves, or were the "commercial agents" of those 
 who had done so. See Bertrand, La Gaule avant les Gaulois^ pp. 226, 
 260, 313. 
 
476 ORIGIN AND TRANSMISSION OF FOLK-TALES 
 
 been added as time went on ; details borrowed from 
 increasing civilisation, like Cinderella's slipper or her 
 fairy godmother, or references to our Lord and the 
 saints, or to Christian ideas, or the making a soldier 
 of Napoleon's army or a modern Irishman the hero 
 of a story which is obviously of a far earlier date. 
 These additions do not disprove the antiquity of our 
 tales.l 
 
 But is it possible that not only incidents but 
 elaborate stories also could exist so long ? To argue 
 thus is to reveal ignorance of the tenacity with which 
 men hold to tradition, of the extraordinary vitality of 
 beliefs, customs, and the products of human imagina- 
 tion everywhere. (The Vedic poems were orally 
 handed down unchanged for thousands of years ; 
 Christian peasants in Europe go on practising pagan 
 rites which ought to have died long ago, but did not.) 
 It is even possible that the art of Palaeolithic man, his 
 extraordinarily exact rendering of animal forms, which 
 has generally been believed to have become extinct 
 with the dawn of the Neolithic age, may have lingered 
 on in some out-of-the-way corner, and sixty cen- 
 turies after its supposed extinction may have been 
 introduced by artists into Greece, where it originated, 
 in the Minoan artists, the love of life and movement 
 which we see in their animal representations.^ Many 
 similar examples might be adduced ; we turn to the 
 tales themselves, and we find that the variants of the 
 Egyptian story of the Two Brothers (the literary 
 version of a tale already old four thousand years ago), 
 of Polyphemus, of Cupid and Psyche, of Danae, and 
 of a score of others, are still told among European 
 peasants. Age can not wither nor custom stale 
 their infinite variety. The works of man's hands 
 decay and die with but a few exceptions — stone 
 
 ^ Salomon Reinach, The Story of Art throughout the Ages^ p. 31. 
 This is also the opinion of Professor Sergi, The Mediterranean Race^ 
 p. 273. 
 
STYLE OF FOLK-TALES 477 
 
 weapons, the Pyramids, pottery, coins. But the 
 products of his intellect and imagination, of his soul 
 and spirit — religion, poetry, folk-tale — 07ice they have 
 struck root in the soil of humanity — are practically 
 immortal. They have been sprinkled with the Water 
 of Life ! These ancient folk-tales come to us out of a 
 remote past, with their freshness and fairness 
 undimmed, as does the light of the stars out of 
 inconceivably remote space. ^ 
 
 Something- may here be said regarding" the style of 
 folk-tales. A story which is found in twenty countries 
 will inevitably, in its outward dress, bear some/ 
 relation to the characteristics of each country. With 
 a poetical people like the Celts it will be highly 
 imaginative and beautiful ; among the Slavs, super- 
 stitious to a degree, it will be full of the horrible and 
 ghastly; among Italians or Frenchmen it will have 
 an airy grace. Most Eastern tales spin out their 
 incidents to an extreme length, and deal largely in 
 gorgeous magnificence and vastness. Many savage 
 or barbaric stories, like the Malagasy and Swahili 
 tales, are interminably prolix ; others, like the Aino 
 
 ^ The fact that tribal legends and myths are represented on 
 certain sacred occasions by rude drawings or other primitive devices, 
 e.g.^ among the Australians, the Navajoes, etc. ; that certain groupings 
 of figures in Australian rock-drawings may represent some well-known 
 legend ; and that pictographic representations have so often served to 
 embody primitive history, makes one wonder whether some of 
 Palaeolithic man's life-like drawings may not have depicted legends, 
 myths, and folk-tales. It is tempting to think that, e.g.^ the famous 
 Femme au Renne of Laugerie- Basse may represent some story 
 now lost for ever, perhaps a tale of beast-marriage ! For some 
 Australian instances, see R. H. Mathew's paper in J.A.L^ xxv. 146. 
 Among several Red Indian tribes the chief outlines of the myths 
 recited in the sacred ceremonies are recorded in picture-writing on 
 birch-bark or wood for the use of the shamans (Bur. of Eth., ^th Report 
 (Ojibways) ; \A,th Report (Menominis) ; Tanner's Narrative^ p. 192 
 (Pawnees) ). From private information I learn that, in Calabar, tales 
 which seem to be Mdrchen are recorded in a curious kind of symbolic 
 writing or hieroglyphic diagrams. Further investigation may lead to 
 the discovery of other instances of " illustrated " folk-tales. 
 
478 ORIGIN AND TRANSMISSION OF FOLK-TALES 
 
 and Australian, are terse and short ; others, again, 
 Polynesian and Maori, are extremely delicate and 
 poetic in style. Everything depends upon the 
 intellectual outlook of the race or of the folk among 
 whom the story has been localised. Here, as 
 elsewhere, le style, cest rhomme. This, coupled with 
 the fact that all localised tales are full of local beliefs, 
 allusions, customs, etc., gives to the variants of a 
 cycle much individuality in spite of their fundamental 
 likeness, and makes one, familiar with many tales, 
 easily refer any given story to its proper present-day 
 habitat. If we could only do as much for its original 
 source, how much would folk-lore be enriched ! 
 
 It is curious to observe how similar the intro- 
 ductory and concluding formula of tales from widely 
 separated lands are^ — a fact which proves how 
 conservative the story-teller is, as well as that diffusion 
 does not affect the essential parts of the story, since 
 such unessential details are so strictly adhered to. 
 *' It was what once took place, and if it had never 
 been, it would not now be related," is a common intro- 
 ductory phrase in Hungarian, Basque, Roumanian, 
 and other tales, reduced to ''There was once a time" 
 (the ''once upon a time" of our nurseries) in Celtic 
 tales. To conclude a story, we have the comforting 
 phrase concerning the dramatis per sonce, " And if they 
 have not died since then, they are alive to this very 
 day," which occurs in tales from all parts of Europe. 
 A frequent device of the story-teller is to pretend, e.g., 
 if the story closes with a wedding, that he himself 
 was present, or to make some allusion to his personal 
 acquaintance with the hero or heroine ; while in all 
 lands, savage or civilised, he acts the story with much 
 dramatic ability. Even in the case of savage tales 
 we find stereotyped formulae existing, like the 
 Melanesian introduction, "A story to tell," or the 
 ending, " It is finished," or "That is the end of it" ; 
 or, in the case of a short tale, " Finished is the story 
 
CONSERVATISM IN TALE TELLING 479 
 
 of so-and-so ; not a very long" one." As to the tales 
 themselves, it is obvious that, in the course of ages, a 
 certain liberty has been allowed in transferring 
 incidents from one tale to another, in adding bits 
 from the teller's own inventive skill, and in altering. 
 Local colour, too, has been inevitable as stories 
 passed from land to land, and there are few story- 
 tellers who can resist the temptation of ** padding," 
 while their possession of the dramatic faculty, 
 greater or less, would always tend to modify and 
 alter the material of a tale. Yet this is not always 
 the case. With the Eskimo, "the art requires the 
 ancient tales to be related as nearly as possible in 
 the words of the original version, with only a few 
 arbitrary reiterations, and otherwise only varied 
 according to the individual talents of the narrator, as 
 to the mode of recitation, gesture, etc. . . . Generally 
 the smallest deviation from the original version will 
 be taken notice of, and corrected, if any intelligent 
 person happens to be present. This circumstance 
 accounts for their existence in an unaltered shape 
 through ages."^ And in all tales we observe how 
 incidents, common to various cycles, are related in 
 stereotyped phrases, or, when they occur more than 
 once in the same story, they are repeated in much 
 the same way ; while, if the hero has to visit two or 
 three personages in succession (giants, witches, kings, 
 etc.), each successive visit is simply a duplicate or 
 triplicate of the first. This is the manner of all 
 primitive literature : it is the manner, too, of the 
 child who has a story to tell. The real marvel is how, 
 within these stereotyped formulae, there is so much 
 vivid incident, so many romantic situations, so much 
 . poetry — a world of blithe hearts, strong arms, and 
 brave deeds. 
 
 It has sometimes been supposed that all stories 
 were told at first in primitive verse. We have seen 
 
 ^ Rink, p. 85. 
 
480 ORIGIN AND TRANSMISSION OF FOLK-TALES 
 
 how ballads reproduce exactly the conditions of folk- 
 tales ; in some lands a story, current elsewhere in 
 folk-tale form, is found occasionally as a ballad, and 
 lacks a folk-tale version. It is certain, too, that 
 among all primitive peoples, in telling a story or 
 relating the events of the past day, there is a strong 
 tendency, like that of Silas Wegg, to drop into 
 poetry. The narrative becomes a rhythmic chant, 
 with recurring formulae — a kind of chorus, which is 
 taken up by the audience whenever it occurs.^ The 
 Celtic and Teutonic bards turned into extempore 
 verse the daily doings of their chiefs and kings, and 
 this is but a more modern instance of what was 
 common in far-off ages, and still exists among 
 savages. Now, in many European and other tales 
 we note a mingling of prose and verse, as if a ballad 
 had been partially metamorphosed into a folk-tale. 
 Such compounds are known as cante-fables. They 
 are probably to be distinguished from tales in which 
 recurring incidents are put into a rhymed formula, or 
 where the emotional and emphatic parts are versified, 
 or others in which scraps of old magical spells are 
 given in their poetic form. Some, like Mr Jacobs, 
 have thought that the cante-fable is the primitive germ 
 out of which sprang ballad and folk-tale both.^ But 
 such minglings of prose and verse rather suggest a 
 gradual disintegration of existing ballads into prose. 
 The truer theory seems to be that of M. Jacottet 
 regarding similar tales among the Basutos, who sing 
 the metrical parts of their cante-fables. He thinks 
 that all Basuto tales once possessed these verses, and 
 is certain that in some, at least, the "song has been, 
 as it were, the nucleus round which the whole story 
 was formed " ; in others, however, it has only a 
 
 1 Cf. Batchelor, 2nd edition, p. 370. St John, i. 104. Wallace, 
 Amazon^ p. 64. Yrjo Hirn, Origin of Art, Grosse, Anfdnge der 
 Kunst, p. 222 seq. 
 
 - Jacobs, p. 247. 
 
WERE FOLK-TALES ONCE POEMS? 481 
 
 secondary importance. Amongr the Negroes the 
 interested audience at intervals join in singfing- lines in 
 the story, and repeat them till they are tired ; while the 
 Eskimo have prose tales with interspersed recitatives 
 and songfs, besides tales chanted throughout, and 
 rhythmic poems. In India, by a reverse process, the 
 bards often insert prose pieces between the metrical 
 parts of their chants — an actual instance, perhaps, of 
 verse disintegration into prose. ^ 
 
 Are we, then, to suppose that all folk-tales were 
 once ballads, or at least, possessed a metrical or 
 rhythmic form ? Algonquin sagas, told of the mythical 
 heroes of the past, were once, in Mr Leland's opinion, 
 in verse form, and so handed down from one genera- 
 tion to another. Among the Menomini Indians, too, 
 myths (some of which are folk-tale variants) are 
 chanted by the shamans at the initiation of youths, 
 while the Samoan tale of Siati, already referred to, is 
 an epic poem of twenty-six stanzas,^ We cannot 
 assert dogmatically, however, in spite of such 
 instances and of the cante-fable wherever found — 
 European, Eskimo, Negro, or Basuto — that <3;// folk- 
 tales once were poems or ballads, though some no 
 doubt were. Even among savages, e.g., the Dyaks, 
 actual prose narratives occur alongside those which 
 are sung or chanted, and both forms are transmitted 
 from generation to generation. There may have 
 been some primitive rhythmic narrative, neither verse 
 nor prose, out of which ballads on the one hand and 
 folk- tales on the other, were evolved. In other cases 
 there may have been ballads which degenerated 
 partly (the cante-fable) or wholly into prose. While, 
 
 1 Jacottet, Intro., p. ix. Dennett, p. 25. Bureau of Ethnology, 
 hth Annual Report, p. 409 seq. Temple, i. 5. 
 
 2 Leland, A.L., p. 12. Bureau of Ethnology, 14/// Annual Report, 
 p. 87. A full account of the universality of ballads or poems as the 
 earliest historical documents will be found in Buckle, History of 
 Civilisation, i. 268. See also Gummere, Beginnings of Poetry. 
 
 2 H 
 
485 ORIGIN AND TRANSMISSION OF FOLK-TALES 
 
 again, prose tales may have existed from the very first. 
 A comparison of ballads and folk-tales preserving the 
 same story or incident would do much to elucidate 
 this problem, if pursue'd over a sufficiently wide field. 
 
 Though folk-tales, as we have studied them here, 
 have a vital interest as exhibiting the beliefs and 
 customs of early men, this is only one side of the 
 subject. Their true appeal is not only an anthro- 
 pological one. They appeal to us as literature — the 
 unwritten literature of far -back ages ; they show us how 
 the imagination, the inventive skill, the literary instinct, 
 of men worked in the dark backward and abysm 
 of time. Fancy held men captive in its airy bonds 
 quite as much then as it has done at any later age. 
 We are charmed by these tales as children, rapt away 
 into a mystic land of noble heroes and lovely heroines, 
 giants, ogres, witches — a land of enchantments, where 
 animals and things talk and are the friends of men, 
 where transformation occurs every day, where death 
 and pain are vanquished ; a land, too, of grim and grisly 
 shapes, and deeds, and thoughts, where horror and 
 fear stalk abroad in the daylight. But even from 
 these there are ways of escape- — magic arms, incred- 
 ible strength, the undaunted spirit. Who does not 
 recall with joy the glad time 
 
 "When the breeze of a joyful dawn blew free 
 In the silken sail of infancy," 
 
 as he read or heard those unceasingly charming folk- 
 and fairy-tales. In sooth it was a goodly time. As 
 grown men and women, we take up a volume of these 
 tales, and perhaps, ingrates that we are, we are 
 ashamed that they should still charm and please us ! 
 But we are inevitably drawn to study them, and then 
 we are amazed, as an investigation of their contents 
 reveals to us, that such marvellous invention and 
 execution, such tender and moving situations, such a 
 
FOLK-TALES AS LITERATURE 483 
 
 world of romance, should have been the work of men 
 and ages so remote from us, so backward and bar- 
 barous, as we suppose. But so it is. The shuttle of 
 fancy shot fast across the loom of thought, and 
 wrought rich fabrics of imaginative art out of the 
 things of everyday life. And if these tales contain, 
 as was inevitable, wild passions, rough combats, brutal 
 lusts, there exists side by side with tKem much that is 
 tender and beautiful — rainbow-hued romance, love 
 and heroism, sunshine and sparkling seas, and birds 
 and flowers. Those who can thus look on these tales 
 as primitive literature will not look askance at us who 
 seek to determine the stuff out of which they were 
 woven, and who resolve their magical elements into 
 once-living belief and custom. For such a method 
 takes nothing from their value ; it shows us early man 
 as the idle child playing with the grim realities of life ; 
 it sends us back to the tales themselves with a new 
 enthusiasm. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX 
 
 / The following list includes such works as are only referred to 
 under the author's name in the notes throughout the volume. 
 
 Allen, Grant— 7"-^^ Attis of Catullus^ 1892. \The Evolution of the 
 
 Idea of God, 1897. ^ 
 
 Arabian Nights Entertainments. See Burton, Payne, Scott. 
 Arnason, Jon. — Icelandic Legends. Translated by G. Powell and 
 
 E. Magnusson ; 2 vols., 1864-66. 
 ASBjoRNSEN, P. C— Tales from the Fjeld. Translated by G. W. 
 
 Dasent; 1874. 
 Bancroft, H. Yi.— Native Races of the Pacific States of North 
 
 America, 5 vols., 1875-76. 
 Baring-Gould, Rev. S.— Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, 1888. 
 Basile, G. — II Pentamerone. Translated by Sir R. Burton ; 2 vols., 
 
 1893. 
 Basset, ^Y.^t.—Contes Populaires Berbdres, Paris, 1887. 
 Batchelor, Rev. J. — The Ainu of Japan, 1892. The Ainus and 
 
 their Folk- Lore, 1901 (referred to as 2nd edition of the above). 
 Beauvois, E. — Conies Populaires de la Norvege, de la Finlande, et 
 
 de la Bourgogne, Paris, 1862. 
 Benfey, Theodore — Panchatantra. Translation and commentary ; 
 
 2 vols., Leipzig, 1859. 
 Bent, J. Theodore — The Cycladesj or. Life among tlie Insular 
 
 Greeks, 1883. 
 Berenger-Feraud, L. J. B. — Conies de la Sencgambie, Paris, 1885. 
 
 Superstitions et Survivances : leurs origines et transformations, 
 
 5 vols., 1896. 
 Bernoni, D. G. — Fiabe popolari veneziane, Venezia, 1873. Tra- 
 
 diziane popolari veneziane, 1875. 
 Blade, J. Y. — Contes Populaires recueillis e7i Agenais, Paris, 1874. 
 Bleek, W. H. I. — Reynard the Fox in South Africa; or, Hottentot 
 
 Fables and Tales, 1864. 
 Brett, Rev. W. H. — Legends and Myths of the Aboriginal Tribes of 
 
 British Guia?uz, N.D. 
 Burton, Sir Richard — The Arabian Nights Entertainments, 10 
 
 vols., 1885. Supplemental Nights, 6 \o\s., i%2>6-^Z. 
 [Busk, }A\ssy— Sagas from the Far East, 1873. 
 
 485 
 
486 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX 
 
 Caballero, Fern an — Cuentos y poesias populares Andaluces, 
 Leipzig, 1866. 
 
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 Ko-ji-ki. 
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 Comparetti, D. — Novelline Popolari Italiane, Rome, 1875. 
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 N.D. 
 
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 Marriage, \i^7.. - - - — • - — - - - 
 
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 1896. 
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BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX 487 
 
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 Griffis, W. ^.^JapaTtese Fairy World. 
 
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 1870.— Cited as Z.M. 
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488 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX 
 
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 1843. 
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 1879. 
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 1889. 
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 1883. 
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 1883-84. 
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 1898. Myth, Ritual, and Religion, 2 vols., 1887. See also 
 
 Perrault. 
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BIBLIOGRAPHICxVL APPENDIX 489 
 
 Leitner. — Races and Languages of Dardistan. 
 
 Leland, C. G. — Algonquin Legends of New England^ 1892. — Cited 
 
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 Gypsy Sorcery^ 1891. 
 Leskien, a., and K. Brugman — Litauische Volkslieder und Mcercken 
 
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 1887. Legendes Chretiennes de Basse-Bretagne, 2 vols., Paris, 
 
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490 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX 
 
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 1862. 
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 1877. 
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 1867. 
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 1845. 
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 1884. 
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BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX 491 
 
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 1852. 
 
INDEX 
 
 [Titles of stories are in italics. Numbers in brackets show that the 
 reference is to a note on the page cited.^ 
 
 Abigail, 132 
 
 Abipones, 161, 186 
 
 Abistanooch, 344 
 
 Aborigines of India, 116, 251 
 
 Abyssinians, 21, 25 
 
 Achilles, 203 
 
 Actaeon, 329 
 
 Acta Sanctorum, 223-4 
 
 Adolphe^ 241 
 
 Adonis, 99 
 
 ^neas, 115 
 
 Aerial flights, 222 
 
 -(Esculapius, (97) 
 
 Africans, 39, 116, 125, 161, 181, 200, 
 
 203, 209, 277, 317, 335, 337-8. 
 
 See Bantus, Negroes, etc. 
 Agricultural magic, 99 
 Agrippa of Nettesheim, 96 
 Ainos, 29, 42, 101-2, 117, 124, 186, 
 
 196, 247, 261, 264, 275, (277), 
 
 289, 337 
 Ai Tolysy^ 170 
 Alberic, 374 
 Albert the Great, 96 
 Alexander the Great, 66, (266) 
 AH Baba, 469 
 Allen, Grant, 99, 115, (128) 
 Alpine race, 104 
 Amalthea, 221 
 Amazimu, 301 
 Amboina, 144 
 Americans, Central, 250, 266 
 
 North. See Red Indians 
 
 South, 100, II 6-7, 456 
 Amis and Ainile, 422 
 
 Amphiaraus, {77) 
 
 Amrita, 54 
 
 Amulets, 201, 208 
 
 Anacreon, (189) 
 
 Anansi, 216 
 
 Ancestor as animal, 116, 249, 251 
 
 as tree, 115, (128) 
 
 reincarnation of, 123 
 
 worship, 375 
 Andamanese, 100, 345 
 Andrianoro^ 243 
 Andromeda, 408 
 Angurboda, 263 
 Anichkof, Prof., (96) 
 Animal ancestors, 116, 249, 251 
 
 births, 263, (278), 360-1 
 
 kings, 39, 245 
 
 mother, 30, 220, 232, 273 
 
 ^yorship, 193,248,(397) 
 Animals abducting women, 277 
 
 acting as men, 38, 183 
 
 at first men, 182, 248 
 
 dead, restored, (84), (loi) 
 
 descent from, 183, 260, 263, 
 266 
 
 friendly, 57, (171), 201, 7.\o seq.^ 
 221, 225 seq.^ 249 
 
 future life of, (102) 
 
 gold-producing, 220, 462 
 
 living underground, 245 
 
 men at first were, 182, 248 
 
 rogue, 39 
 
 suckled by women, (277) 
 
 suckling children, (277) 
 
 talking, 38 seq., 247 
 
494 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Animals, wisdom, 41 
 
 see Animism, Totemism, Trans- 
 formation 
 
 Animism, 38, 180, 188, 199, 247, 273 
 
 Annamese, 33, 86 
 
 Anthropological school, 1 5 
 
 Anpu^ 127 
 
 Anubis, 90 
 
 Apep, 407 
 
 Aphrodite, 198 
 
 Apollo, 408 
 
 Apollodorus, (78), (90) 
 
 Apollonius, (97) 
 
 Apuleius, 325 
 
 Arabian Nights, 14, 60, 69, (139), 
 155, 165, 201, 212, 314, 385 
 
 Arabs, 41, 198, 335 
 
 Arawaks, 184, 374 
 
 Areoi, 317 
 
 Argo, 241 
 
 Argonautica, 10, (59) 
 
 Aristotle, 389 
 
 Arnold, M., 10 
 
 Art, primitive, (2), 476, (477) 
 
 Artemis, 96 
 
 Arthur, 203 
 
 Aryans, 249 
 
 Assiepattle, (49), 402 
 
 Assyrians, 37, 348 
 
 Asura, (72) 
 
 Atalanta, 177 
 
 Athenaeus, 295 
 
 Attis, 99, (128) 
 
 Augustus, (266) 
 
 Australians, 29, 87, loi, 108, 115, 
 117, 123, 145, 180, 182, 206, 219, 
 247-8, 249, 316, 322, 335, 338, 
 343, 376, 398, (407), 470 
 
 Awiri, 330 
 
 Aztecs, 471 
 
 Baba Yaga, 52, 55, (78), 197, 285, 
 
 290, 303 
 Babylonian spells, 473 
 Bacchic mysteries, 88 
 Bacon, R., 96 
 Bahar i Danush^ 28 1 
 Baiamai, 87, 154 
 Bakalai, 275 
 Balder, 142 
 
 Ballads, 42, 104, 105, (in), (116), 
 162, 164, 256-7, (298), 388, 
 480 seq. 
 diffusion of, 473 
 themes of, 473 
 
 Ball-Carrier^ 286, 461 
 Balmung, 204 
 Banks Islanders, 147 
 Bantus, 39, 86, 345, 392 
 Bata, 113, 127 
 Bathing images, 76 
 Baptism, pagan, (76) 
 Barlaaju and Josaphat, 453 
 Barrenness, 413 
 Barrett, Prof., 210 
 Basile, 14, 326 
 Basques, 38, 471 
 Basutos, (407) 
 Batchelor, Rev. J., 275 
 Battle of the Birds, 193 
 Bayle, 379 
 Bear Chief, 175, 379 
 BeaT^s Ear, 388 
 Beast children, (277) 
 
 fables, 38 
 
 marriage, 10, 253 seq., 273, 339 
 Belgium, 100 
 
 Benfey, (166), (228), 246, 452 
 Bent, T., -j^ 
 Beowulf, 408 
 Berbers, 39 
 Berchtha, 303 
 Berenger-Feraud, (76) 
 Bergoia, 294 
 Bheki the Frog, 346 
 Bird that made Milk, The, 256, 32] 
 Birth, magic, 234 
 
 monstrous, 263 
 Black Bull d* Norroway, 328 
 Blackstone, 374 
 Blood talking, 214 
 
 covenant, 250 
 Blue-beard, 10, 307 
 Boand, 317 
 Boccaccio, 14 
 Bodhi-tree, (443) 
 Boece, H., 11 
 Bolotoo, 204 
 Bona Dea, 319 
 Bondeis, 20c 
 
 Bones of dead preserved, 100, 1 1 1 
 Bony, 168 
 
 Book of Dead, (128) 
 Boots, 371 
 Bora, 316 
 Borneo, 427 
 
 Borough-English, 372 seq. 
 Boston of Ettrick, (104) 
 Botocudoes, 470 
 Brazil, 322 
 
INDEX 
 
 495 
 
 Brer Rabbit, 39 
 Bretons, 25, 144 
 Briar Rose, The, 85 
 Bride hiding, 2 1 
 
 the true, 23 
 Bronte, E., 42 
 Bronze culture, diffusion of, 472, 
 
 (475) , , , 
 
 Buddhism, 97, 116, (215), 224, 303, 
 
 (443), 471 
 
 influence of, on folk-tales, 237, 
 (243), 246 
 Buddhist origin of folk-tales, 452 
 
 literature, 38, (228) 
 Buite, 341 
 Bulgarians, (103) 
 Bull-roarer, 87, (88), 316 
 Bundle of life, 132 
 Bunjil, 337 
 Bunyarl, 182 
 Bunyip, (407) 
 Burial rites, 99 
 Bushmen, 39, 184, 196 
 Bush soul, 147 
 Butler, Bishop, 182 
 
 Cadmus, 90 
 Callaway, 209 
 Cambodjans, 86, 318 
 Campbell of I slay, 98, 166, 367 
 Cannibalism, 22, 279 
 
 in folk-tales, 302 seq., 32 1 
 
 legal, 299 
 
 magic, 299 
 
 origin of, 298 seg. 
 
 ritual, 297, 303 
 
 witch, 303, 428 
 Canrig the Stumpy, 290 
 Cante-fable, 480 
 Cap of InvisilDility, 221 
 Carcase turning into insects, (265), 
 
 (289) 
 Caribs, iii 
 Carpet, magic, (221) 
 Caucasic element in the East, 472 
 Caucasus, peoples of the, 335 
 Caul, 144 
 Celebes, 21, 318 
 
 Celts, (26), (28), (35), 41, 44, 54, 65, 
 88, 102, (103), 104, 184, 200, 
 204, 222, 349, 406, (407), 425 
 Celtic spells, 473 
 Ceramese, 108 
 Ceramic art, 470 
 Ceridwen, 165 
 
 Ceylon, 295 
 
 Chamberlain, B. H., 247 
 
 Champa Dal, 138, 291, 390 
 
 Chao Gnoh, 311 
 
 Charlemagne, 203 
 
 Charles II., 66 
 
 Charms, 201, 214, 473 
 
 Chederles, 388 
 
 Childe Rowland, 22 
 
 Childe Wynd, (151) 
 
 Children suckled by animals, 277 
 
 Chinese, 156, 161, 198, 207, 261, 
 335, 401, 427 
 
 Chinese ware in ancient Egypt, 472 
 
 Christianity, influence of, on cus- 
 toms, 303 
 influence of, on folk-tales, 9, 19, 
 388, 476 
 
 Church built over holy well, 'j'j 
 
 Churinga, 123, 145, 322 
 
 Circe, 10, 150 
 
 Clairvoyance, 208, (315) 
 
 Cleostratus, 397 
 
 Clodd, E., 143 
 
 Clouston, W. A., 314 
 
 Comb, (180) 
 
 Comoetho, 126 
 
 Conception, 123 
 
 Connla's Well, 317 
 
 Core, 266 
 
 Coreans, 39 
 
 Corpse, vitality of, 101-2 
 
 Cosquin, E., 246, 453-4 
 
 Couvade, 471 
 
 Covenanters, 224 
 
 Cox, Miss, 15 
 
 Cox, Sir G. W., 14, 432 
 
 Creation myths, (102) 
 
 Criminal as victim, 400 
 
 Cromm Cruach, 425 
 
 Cronus, 49, (288) 
 
 Crookes, Sir W., 208 
 
 Crystal-gazing, 34 seq., 208 
 
 Culture heroes, 299 
 
 Cumulative tales, 188, 469 
 
 Cupid and Psyche, 476 
 
 Cushing, F. H., 455, 467 
 
 Cyclades, Tj, 88, 100 
 
 Cycles of tales — 
 Abandoned Wife, (24), 67, 466 
 Aladdin, 14, 137, 201, (216), 237, 
 
 321 
 AndrocleSj 246 
 
 Ass, Table, and Cudgel, 214, 434 
 Barrenness removed, 410 
 
496 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Cycles of tales — 
 
 Bear's Son, 270, 385, 467 
 Beauty and Beast, 150, 253, 269, 
 
 273j 327, 338, 346, 361 
 Blue-Beard, 53, 142, 293, 306, 467 
 Briar Rose, 31 
 Cannibal Captor, 195 
 Husband, 178, 292 
 Wife, 298 
 Cap o' Rushes, 362, 467 
 Catskin, (197), 467 
 Churlish Brothers, 356 
 Cinderella, 15, 30, 31, 46, 106, 
 108, 220, 231, 273, 283, 297, 
 
 357 
 Clever Bargain, 366 
 Covetous Companion, 106 
 Cupid and Psyche, 26, 190-1, 227, 
 (243), 253, (257), 261, 325, 
 338, 361, 467 
 Cyclops, (49), 195, 279 seq., 299 
 Danae, (411) 
 Dancing Daughters, (222) 
 
 Water, 59, 119 
 Dead Mother, 42 
 
 Rider, 105 
 
 Visitor, 103 
 Devil Outwitted, 416 
 Dog Gellert, 246 
 Dragon Sacrifice, 17, (49), 234-5, 
 
 (267), 381 
 Eating Bird, 41 
 Flight from Giant, 193 
 Forbidden Chamber, 173, 306, 
 
 421 
 Fortunate Youth, 365 
 Fountain of Youth, 65 
 Friendly animals, 224 seq.^ 297 
 Frog Bridegroom, 256, 269, 273, 
 
 361, 405 
 Giant with no Soul, 133 seq.^ 211 
 Godfather, 415 
 Golden Bird, 230 
 Gluttonous Girl, 294 
 Grateful Debtor, 416 
 Hand of Glory, 32 
 Impostor, 56, 213, 240 
 Jack and Beanstalk, 30, 286, 432, 
 
 455 
 Jealous Brothers, 355 
 Jealous Sisters, 12, (114), (263), 
 
 359 
 Kind and Unkmd, (191), (246) 
 King and Wild Man, 312, 384, 
 
 467 
 
 Cycles of tales — 
 
 Koshchei the Deathless, 312, 
 
 467 
 Language of Birds, 40 
 Lost Husband or Wife, 325 seq. 
 
 Member, 98 
 Magic Horse, 173, 310 
 
 Mirror, 34, 469 
 
 Pipe, no 
 
 Sack, 84, 216, 434 
 
 Treasures, 158 
 Master Thief, 122 
 Melusina, 158, 329, 346 
 Mermaid or Seal Wife, 275 
 Ogre Outwitted, 282, 299 
 Ogre's Daughter, 98 
 Old Woman and Pig, 188 
 Osiris, 90 
 Outcast Son, 364 
 Perseus, 55, 119, 159, 202, 206, 
 
 234, 378, 381 
 Promised Child, 239, (246), (253), 
 
 311, \iQseq. 
 Puss in Boots, 13, 38, 195, 225, 
 
 467 
 Quest, 61, 353 
 Ransomed Parent, 421 
 Red Riding Hood, 47, 5 1 
 Robber Bridegroom, 37, 308, 
 
 323 
 Rumpelstiltskin, 422 
 Separable Soul, 118 seq.^ 211, 
 
 239 
 Shoes of Swiftness, 218 
 Sleeping Beauty, 85 
 Supernatural Bride, 340, 342 
 Swallow, 47, 455 
 Swan Maidens, 125, 162, 272, 
 
 333, 342, 438 
 Tasks set by Captor, 205, 240, 
 
 (392) 
 Talking Fish, 235 
 Theft from Grave, (114) 
 Tom Thumb, 47 seq.^ 5 1 
 Tom-Tit-Tot, 27 
 Traitress, 58, (246), 314, 467 
 Transformation, 113 seq.^ (128) 
 
 Combat, 164, 430 
 
 of Fugitives, 167 seq. 
 
 of objects, 171 
 Transformed Brothers, 81, 152, 
 
 159 
 Treacherous Brothers, 211, 350 
 True Bride, 23, 45, (67), 150, i53, 
 
 159 
 
INDEX 
 
 497 
 
 Cycles of tales — 
 
 Truth and Falsehood, 12, 68, 
 
 (78), 466 
 Two Brothers, 113, 127, 153 
 
 Caskets, 191 
 Ungrateful Serpent, (241) 
 Unnatural Mother, 112, 295 
 Value of Salt, 362 
 Watchers by Tomb, 367 
 Water of Life, 52 seq.^ 314, 353 
 Wicked Queen, (141) 
 World's Beauty, 31, 34, 358 
 Youngest Son, 12, 17, 22, 47, 
 106, 150, 217, 239, 271, 286, 
 350 seq. 
 Cycles, mingling of story, 465 
 savage parallels to, 458-9 
 
 Damaras, 115 
 
 Danae, 476 
 
 Dances, symbolic, 88 
 
 Darien tribes, 22, 39 
 
 Darwinism, primitive, 183, 248 
 
 David, 132 
 
 Dead helping, 220, 232, 370, 376 
 
 in animals, 116 
 
 in trees, 115 
 Deae Matres, (28) 
 Death, 52, 85, 102-3 
 
 contagion of, 76 
 
 savage idea of, 52, 82, 85, 89 
 Dedication of child to divinity, 430 
 De Gubernatis, 14, (246), 269, 432, 
 
 448 
 Delilah, 127 
 Detnane^ 288 
 Demeter, 78, 90, 288 
 Demons, 103, 105, 299, 303, 323, 
 
 339,412 
 Dennett, R. E., 86, 247 
 Destroyer of Hearts, 128 
 Dev, Devis, Div, 85, 212, 290 
 Devil, 423 
 Dhuramoolin, 87 
 Diana, 329 
 
 Diffusion of folk-tales. See Folk- 
 tales 
 Dionysus, 90, 98, (102), 301, (461) 
 Disease of Language, 51, 449 
 Dismembered, 89 seq. 
 Dismemberment of dead, 99, 100, 
 
 106 
 Divination, 209 seq.^ 348 
 Diviners, 207, 209 
 
 Divining Rod, 210 
 
 Boghead^ 140 
 
 Dolls, magic, 194, 197 
 
 Donica^ 103 
 
 Don Joseph Pear^ 226 
 
 Dozon, A., 450, 467 
 
 Dragon, 41, 140, 195, 381 seq. 
 
 and water, 404 seq. 
 
 tongues of, (409) 
 Drako, 136, (407) 
 Dravidians, 116 
 Dress tabu, 343 seq. 
 Dyaks, 17, 29,^37, loi, 115, 116, 
 125, 263, 277, 300 
 
 Ea, 78 
 
 Eagle fed with hero's flesh, 239 
 
 Earl of Mar's Daughter^ 162 
 
 Earth goddess, 303 
 
 Easaidh Ruadh^ 135 
 
 East (f the Sun^ 2i^7 
 
 Edda, 31, (loi) 
 
 Efwa-eke, 123, 166 
 
 Eggs as omens, 196 
 
 Egyptians, 21, 37, 86, 99, 100, 102, 
 
 107, 116, 128,249,335,348 
 Elesa, 322 
 Eleusinia, 88 
 Ellis, Major, 331 
 
 Rev. W., 323 
 Elton, C, 371, 373, 375-6 
 Embalming, loi 
 Emerson, 22 
 Endophagy, 299 
 English folk-customs, 38, 100, 115, 
 
 125 
 Epics, Babylonian, 11 
 
 Esthonian, 70-1, 177, 203, (375) 
 
 Finnish, 91, 174, 203, 440, 443 
 
 Hindu, 10, 83, 314 
 
 Persian, 404 
 Erskine, J. E., 404 
 Ematalunga, 123 
 Eskimos, 29, 47, 101-2, 116, (127), 
 
 184, 200, 207, (278), 300 
 Esthonians, 25, 200 
 Ethics of folk-tales, 12 
 Ethiopians, fountain of, 66 
 Etruscan spells, 473 
 Eurydice, 45 
 Euryphilus, 316, 388 
 Evil, driving out, 81 
 Excalibur, 203 
 Exophagy, 299 
 
 2 I 
 
498 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Fabliaux, 39, 65 
 
 Fairies, 22, (28), 44, (45), 83, 146, 
 153-4, (192), 290, 330, 339, 412, 
 428, 452 
 
 and Witches, (147), (i95), 222-3 
 Fairy changeling, 428-9 
 
 dance, 223 
 
 eddy, 222 
 
 paradise, (315) 
 
 wife, 46, 334, 34o 
 Farrer, J. A., 14 
 Fates, 120 
 Fatima, 358 
 Feather-bird^ 2P7 
 Feathers, magic, 211 
 Fenris wolf, 263 
 Fergusson, J., 408 
 Festivals, folk, (222) 
 
 sex, 223 
 Fetich, child, 414, 430 
 
 family, 321 
 
 tabu, 320-1 
 Fetichism, 10, 196, 199, 201, 209 
 Fertility, 413 
 Fians, (17), 165 
 Fie-fo-fum, (305) 
 Fingal, 152, 203, 280 
 Fijians, 108, 204 
 Finns, 196 
 Firdausi, 404 
 First-born, 414, 426 
 Fletcher, 66 
 
 Flinders-Petrie, W. M., (128) 
 Folk-Songs. See Ballad 
 Folk-Tales and Art, 2, (477) 
 
 and myths, 432, 448, 452 
 
 antiquity of, 13, 476 
 
 as fiction, 4 seq., as literature, 482, 
 as nature myths, 246 
 
 ballads, 482 
 
 Christian influence on, 9, 19, 388, 
 476 
 
 classes of, 450 
 
 collections of, 2 
 
 conservatism in telling 479 
 
 detritus of myths, 432 
 
 diffusion of, by gipsies, 475 
 
 dissemination and diffusion of, 
 452, 463 seq., 468, 472, 
 
 475 
 Eastern and Buddhist origin of, 
 
 452 
 earliest, 457 
 ethics of, 12 
 first told in verse, 479 
 
 Folk-Tales and Art- 
 incidents of, II, 453 
 
 similar in various cycles, 466 
 seq. 
 independent invention of similar, 
 
 459, 470 
 in epics and sacred books, 10, 
 
 279-80, 432, 452 
 instances of borrowing, 468 
 introductory formulae of, 478 
 invented in many centres, 454, 
 
 464 
 literary collections of, 13 seq. 
 mythical ending of, 451, 469 
 origin of, i, 5, 451 
 primitive life in, 4, 7, 452 
 recital of, 2, 479-80 
 style of, 477 
 used by teachers, 247, 252, 363 
 
 to inculcate morals, 336 
 various strata in, 3, 8, 9, 476 
 African, East, 281, (285) 
 Afghan, 367 
 Aino, 81, 154, 163, 172, 202, 238, 
 
 260, 262, 289, 297, (372), 394, 
 
 468, 477 
 Albanian, 23, 31, 57, 137, 212, 
 
 237, 358, 389, 410 
 Annamese, 114 
 Arab, 40, 59, 60, 119, 201, 237, 
 
 356, 412 
 Araucanian, 106 
 Arawakan, 439 
 Armenian, 234 
 Ashanti, 216 
 Asia Minor, 151 
 Australian, 12, 48-9, 81, 94, 129, 
 
 154, 297, 340, 396,437, 444, 
 
 478 
 Austrian, 96, 215 
 Avar, 270, 356, 388 
 Balochi, (82), 159 
 Basque, 59, 62, 71, 98, 119, 133, 
 
 152, 159, 171, 195, 202, 205, 
 
 253, 279, 284, 307, 328, 356, 
 
 362, 366,415-6,478 
 Basuto, 24, (43), (46), 48, 112, 
 
 120, 129, 172, (178), 195,227, 
 
 264, 267, 321, 360, 363, (364), 
 
 480 
 Berber, 189, 211 
 Bohemian, 49, 73, 158, 217, 237, 
 
 242 
 Borneo, 387 
 Brazilian, 396 
 
INDEX 
 
 499 
 
 Folk-Tales— 
 
 Breton, 41, 55, 57, (73), 95, 97, 
 119, 134, 150, 158, 168, 202, 
 215, 237, 296,415,416 
 
 Buddhist, 363, (381) 
 
 Burmese, 155 
 
 Bushman, 94 
 
 Cambodian, 311 
 
 Carib, 91, 317 
 
 Catalan, 98, in, 151 
 
 Celtic, 40, 41, 54, 61, 85, 134, 
 151, 158, 193, 195, 270,284, 
 307,315, 317, 329, 342,367, 
 393, 417, 420, 477-8 
 
 Chilian, 108, 232, 326 
 
 Chinese, 212, 218, 244, 261, 277, 
 289, 344, 389 
 
 Corsican, 108, 232, 434 
 
 Croatian, 270, 342 
 
 Czech, 215, 309 
 
 Dalmatian, 297 
 
 Danish, 20, 41, 73, 190, 230, 241, 
 
 327, 419 
 Dardistan, 141, 270 
 Dyak, 18, 36, 262, 267, 277, 285, 
 
 333, 369, 394, 436, 481 
 
 Eastern, 31, 40, 69, 121, 131, 155, 
 157-8, 205, 212, 242, 262, 
 314, 346, 355, 364, 422, 477 
 
 Egyptian, 63, 113, 127, 198, (281), 
 362, 433 
 
 English, 22, 32, 85, (151), 214, 
 256, 296 
 
 Eskimo, 12, 126, 160, 163, 179, 
 244-5, 261, 263-5, 267, 272, 
 289, 292, 295, 468, 479, 481 
 
 Esthonian, (24), 70-1, (109), 154, 
 169, 177, 198,203,215,(219), 
 220, 256, (281), 307, 311,331, 
 35 5, 360, 368, 386, 390, 405, 420 
 
 Fijian, 437 
 
 Finnish, 30, 40, 45, 71-2, 91, (103), 
 109, 174, 177, 203, 232, 418, 
 421, 440 
 
 Flemish, 270 
 
 French, in, 212, 232, 312, 389, 
 
 392, 477 
 Gaelic, 30, 31, 35, 42, 98, 109, 
 
 165, 171, 232-3, 317 
 Georgian, 109, 217, 290 
 German, 17, 30, 40-1, 96, in, 
 
 119, 135, 150, 158-9, 169, 
 1 95, (2 1 4), 2 1 7, 218,230, 240, 
 270,282, 307, 309, 311,328, 
 352, 420 
 
 Folk-Tales — 
 Greek, ancient, (82), 93, 120, 
 136, 150, 179, 189, 295, 325, 
 
 387, 389, 393 
 modern, 32, 53, 55-6, 62, -Ji, 
 114, 119, 121, 127, 153, 
 157, 159, 201, 205, 211, 
 216, 241, 254, 280, 285, 
 290, 293, 297, 298, 326, 
 357, 362, 410, 418 
 Guiana, 155, 160, (162), 245, 258, 
 
 342 
 Gypsy, 238,411 
 Hebrew, 127 
 Hessian, 213, 308 
 Hindu, 40, 69, 74, 83, 84, 94, 109, 
 114, 122, 138, 141, 151, 174, 
 192, 197, 202, 205, 214, 218, 
 
 226, 232, 237, 255, 267, 281, 
 291, 298, 327, 353, 367, 372, 
 390, 394, 411, 413 
 
 Hottentot, 48, 129, 163, 170, 189, 
 
 244, 268 
 Hungarian. See Magyar 
 Icelandic, 28, 32, 106, 154, 287 
 Irish, 31, 42, 103, 163, 172, 179, 
 
 215, 317, 344, 376 
 
 Italian, 24, 53, 55, 58, 60, 96, 108, 
 110,(114), 137, 142, 151,158, 
 176, 189,196-7, 214,218,226, 
 232, 237, 238, 240, 254-5, 270, 
 284, 308, 326-8, 416, 469, 477 
 
 Jaina, 45 
 
 Japanese, 18, (23), 84, 131, (191), 
 (219), 235, 243, 270, (285), 
 290, 326, 333, 386 
 
 Kabyle, 59, 109, 352, 383, 391 
 
 Kafir, 6, 46, 49, (93), 120, 172, 
 179, 213, 220, 234, 256-7, 
 (265), (277), 283, 288, 292, 
 298, 321, 327-8, 340, 362-3, 
 378, 421, 456 
 
 Kalmuk, 217-8, 220 
 
 Kashmiri, 40, 60, 67, 69, 70, 83, 
 85, 95, 121, 138-9, 141, 159, 
 174, 178, 211, 214, 218,220, 
 
 227, 232, 255, 313, 364, 367, 
 390, 405 
 
 Khyoungtha, 292 
 Kirghiz, 69, 176, 281, 354 
 Korean, 202, (238) 
 Kuki, 176 
 
 Kumaun, 139, 215, 311, 412 
 Lapp, 131, 138, 235, 281, 3n, 
 421 
 
500 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Folk-Tales— 
 
 Lithuanian, 31, 53, 72, ii9j2I5, 
 
 254, 308, 328 
 Lorraine, 32, 57, 60, 63, 68, 84, 
 
 96, 98, 134, 151, 169, 173, 
 
 205, 215, 239, 261, (269), 270, 
 
 309, 327, 362, 370, 380, 415-6, 
 
 434 
 Lusatian, 270 
 Magyar, 26, 40, 61, 65, 67-8, 83, 
 
 140,(151), 159,167, 171,194, 
 
 202, 215, 225, 235, 242, 254, 
 
 269, 283, 295, 350 (369), 380, 
 
 382,411,419,478 
 Malagasy, 93, 131, 162, 175, 177, 
 
 194, 232, 243, 250, 267, 285, 
 
 293, 296, 329, 340, 352, 354, 
 
 357-9, U72), 477 
 Malay, 297, 438 
 Maori, 63, 80, 94, 178, 366, 398, 
 
 478 
 Melanesian, 120, 228, 232, (261), 
 
 282, (318), 321, 333, (394), 
 
 436, 438, 478 
 Mmgrelian, 36, 53, 367 
 Mongol, 40, 54, 119, 122, 133, 
 
 159, 227, 238, 285, 297, 393, 
 
 405, 439 
 Negro, I, 5,6,34,36,72,82, III, 
 178, (191), 217, 229,245,260, 
 268, 272, 277, 293, 298, 321, 
 329,i-^$r., 339, 341, 348,(361), 
 371,383,386,388,456,468-9, 
 481 
 New Caledonian, 13, (192) 
 New Guinea, 259, 269, 344, 394, 
 
 455 
 
 Norman, 332 
 
 Norse, 23, 30, 31, 40, 58, 72, 96, 
 103, 135, 164, (171), 215, 226, 
 233,255,285,291,307-8,311, 
 342, 352, 365, 371, 389, 392 
 
 Pamir, 141 
 
 Persian, 62, 140, 155, 158, 281, 
 
 334, 355, 391 
 Peruvian, 352 
 Picardy, 270 
 Pisan, 57, 240, 308 
 Polish, 45, III, 132, 168, 193,215, 
 
 254, 418 
 Polynesian, 42, 70, 80, 93, 160, 
 
 162, 236, 290, 438, 478 
 Pomeranian, 344 
 Portuguese, 32, in, (151), 168, 
 
 254, (388), 468 
 
 Folk-Tales— 
 
 Red Indian, 12, 18, 22, 39, 65, 
 70, 72, 84, 91-2, 95, 102, 105, 
 126, 132, 142, 158, 160, 163, 
 166, 169, 177, 191, 214, 221, 
 230-1, 236, 243, 245, 258, 
 261-3, 265, 267-8, 271, 274-5, 
 281, 286, (289), 290, 297, 320, 
 332, 358, 379, 386, 391, 394, 
 396, 439-40, 444, 455-6, 460, 
 468-9 
 
 Romagnan, 67, 156 
 
 Roman, 120 
 
 Roumanian, 63, 90, (93), 311, 390, 
 478 
 
 Russian, (23), 24, 30-1, 35, 42,45, 
 52, 55, 58, 71, 78, 91, 95-6, 
 103, 108-9, no, 113, 119, 120, 
 132, 136, 150, 168, 173, 176, 
 191, 195,197,205,214,232-3, 
 235, 237, 257, 270, 281, 285, 
 294, 313, 315, 328, 344, 346, 
 350,369,420,435,451 
 
 Samoan, 81, 147, 173, 295, 437 . 
 
 Samoyede, 130, 133, 176 
 
 Scots, 27, 44-5, 104, 109, 206, 
 233, 240, 296, 328, 354, 
 402 
 
 Servian, 40, 57, 108-9, 126, 137, 
 185, (211), 232, 270, 312-3, 
 
 356, 365, (388), (451) 
 Siamese, 131, 174, 292 
 Siberian, 365 
 Sicilian, 53, in, 119, 159, 169, 
 
 190, 193, 254, 280, 288, 359, 
 422 
 
 Slavonic, 41, 72-3, 212, 242, 248, 
 
 477 
 Spanish, 63, in, 121, 270, 468 
 Suabian, 96, 119, 308-9 
 Sumatran, 127 
 Swahili, 131, 226, 236, 312, (314), 
 
 352, 412, 468, 477 
 Swedish, 41, 45, 53, 150-1, 169, 
 
 191, 194, 197, 226, 233, 270, 
 284, 296, 309, 326-7, (353), 
 420-1 
 
 Swiss, 392 
 Syriac, 215, 351, 412 
 Tamil, (74), 165, 243 
 Tartar, 49, 139, 170 
 Tasmanian, 81 
 Thuringian, 427 
 Transylvanian, in, 232 
 Turkish, 355, 388 
 
INDEX 
 
 501 
 
 Folk-Tales— 
 
 Tuscan, 30, 95, (104), iii, 137, 
 294, 327,411,416 
 
 Tyrolese, 63, 67, 98, iii, 119, 
 169, 173, 215, 254, 270, 309- 
 10 
 
 Uganda, 194,227,(411) 
 
 Venetian, 411 
 
 Wallachian, 308 
 
 Welsh, 27, 142, 165, 290, 317, 334 
 
 Wend, 308 
 
 Yaos, 49, III 
 
 Zanzibar, 112 
 
 Zulu, 25, 112, 129, 234 
 Folk- Songs. See Ballads 
 Fomor6, 204, 426 
 
 Food of dead and of fairyland, 
 (178) 
 
 forbidden, 316 
 
 supply by magical methods, 219 
 Fortunatus^ 219 
 Foundation, sacrifice at, 427 
 Fountain of Youth, 65 
 Fox-demon, 156 
 
 women, 261 
 France, folk-lore of, 38, 100, 125, 
 
 373 
 Frazer, J. G., 14, 89, 99, 143, 146, 
 
 426 
 Fuji Yama, 66 
 Fuller, 224 
 Fylfot, 474 
 
 Galgen-mannlein, 200 
 
 Ganviviris and Ro Sont, 228-9 
 
 Gaster, Dr, 454 
 
 Genie, 201, 214 
 
 Genius, 147, 250 
 
 German folk-lore, 38, 76, 125, 200, 
 
 303, 373, 376 
 George of Cappadocia, 38 1 
 
 of Nicomedia, 381 
 Ghosts in folk- tales, (43), 102-3, 
 III, (114), (147), (195X (200) 
 
 in stones, (156) 
 
 in trees, 115 
 Ghost-wife, 333 
 Giant, 19, 133 seq., 148, (157), 195, 
 
 289 
 Gibbon, 379, 381 
 Gilgames, 329 
 Gipsies, 470, (475) 
 Girdle, 346 
 Giviok, 289 
 Glaucus, (82) 
 
 Glooskap, 70, 95, 142, 181, 281 
 Gods, abode of, 442, 447 
 and goddesses as demons, etc., 
 
 303, 423, 452 
 jealous of men, 447 
 with animal form, (258), 260, 323 
 Goethe, 296 
 Goibniu, 65 
 Golden Bird, 233 
 Gomme, G. L., 14, 375 
 Gram, (203) 
 Greek folk-lore, 37, 65, 76-7, (97), 
 
 161, 198, 207, 290, 301, 319, 
 
 346, 348, 426 
 Greenland, 181 
 Green well, Canon, 107 
 Green Bird, 205 
 Grey N orris, I'ji, 344 
 Grimm, 2, 17, 31, 35, 85, 153, 179, 
 
 217, 233, 282, 296, 307, 328, 384 
 Grinnell, J. B., 455 
 Gronw, 143 
 Guardian spirit, 144, 147, 199, 250, 
 
 320 
 Guatemalans, 250 
 Guiana, 39, 196, 206-7, 300, 345 
 Guppy, H. B., 224 
 Gumey, E., (43), 47 
 Gwion, 165 
 
 Hagiology, 97, 199 
 Hahn, J. G. von, 14, 127 
 Hair, 126, 144, 193, 213, 343 
 
 floating down stream, (127), 369 
 
 magic animals', 211 
 
 speaking, 193 
 
 strength in, 143 
 
 string, 126 
 
 witch's, (157) 
 Half -Iron, 137 
 Hallucinations, 185-6, (315) 
 Hamedben Ceggad, 211 
 Handsome Paul, 167 
 Hansel and Grethel, i'^t. 
 Hanuman, 83, 131 
 Haoma, 65 
 Hapai, 346 
 Harald, 392 
 Harischandra, 413 
 Hartland, S., 119, 272, 319, 454 
 Heart as seat of life, 128 
 
 eaten by witches, 146 
 Hearth-place, 373, 375 
 Heaven and earth, myth, 441 
 Hebrew folk-lore, 74, 132 
 
502 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Hedgehog, cooking, 470 
 
 Heimdal, 203 
 
 Hera, 90 • 
 
 Hercules, 387, 408 
 
 Hermes, 90 
 
 Hermodr, (221) 
 
 Herodotus, 66, 267, 374 
 
 Hesione, 387, 408 
 
 Hesperides, 408 
 
 Hindu folk-lore, 39, 54, 65-6, (72), 
 76, 102, (103), 116, 162, 198, 
 201, (258), 266, 276, (277), 294, 
 301, 318, 337 
 
 Hinernoa and Tutane, 366 
 
 Hippomenes, 177 
 
 History of Nassar, 140, 155, 334, 
 
 391 
 Hitopadesa, 314 
 Hoel, laws of, 373 
 Home, D. D., 224 
 Homer, 10, 150 
 Hop o' my Thumb, 354 
 Horse, magic, 173, 236, 323 
 Hottentots, 247 
 Hovas, 102, 113 
 Huldre folk, 291 
 Hun, Hungar, 300 
 Hungarians, 373 
 Husband and Wife, 20, 335 seq. 
 Hymir, (143) 
 Hypnotism, 32, 85, 88, (186), 208, 
 
 333 
 Hyperaesthesia, 210 
 
 Icelandic folk-lore, 144, 294 
 
 Idhunn's apples, 65 
 
 Ifara, 177 
 
 Igdrasil, 443 
 
 Ikutama, 326 
 
 Images buried with dead, 198 
 
 of gods, 197, 323 
 
 reflected, 407 
 
 replacing human sacrifices, 198 
 
 speaking, 198 
 Im Thurn, E. F., 38 
 Inanimate objects, 188 seq. 
 Inao, 124 
 Incanti, 392 
 
 Incidents of folk-tales, 11, 16,155, 
 454, 457 
 
 savage parallels to, 457-8 
 
 similar, in various cycles, 466 
 India as centre of diffusion, 452 
 Indra, (72), 407 
 Ine, 162 
 
 hie and Tuna, 260 
 
 Infanticide, 429 
 
 Inheritance, in law and custom, 373 
 
 Initiation rites, 87, 107, 144, 146, 
 318, 380, 460 
 
 Intellectual and imaginative pro- 
 ductions, immortality of, 477 
 
 Invisibility, 221 
 
 Iphicles, (78) 
 
 Iron, fear of, 204, 339 
 
 Irrational ideas in folk-tales, 3 seq., 
 . 278, 475 
 
 Irvingites, 224 
 
 Ishtar, 78, 329 
 
 I sis, 90 
 
 Isonokami's sword, 204 
 
 Italian folk-lore, 125, 186, 222 
 
 Jack and the Beanstalk, 433 
 
 Jacobs, J., 480 
 
 Jacottet, E., 360, 480 
 
 Jade axes, 472 
 
 Jahn, Dr, 14 
 
 Japanese folk-lore, 66, 81, 156, 184, 
 
 197-8, 203-4, (258), .261, 264, 
 
 290 
 Jason, 10, 179 
 Java, 263 
 Jean d' Arras, 329 
 Jenik, 237 
 
 Jevons, F. B., 336, 349 
 Jewel, magic, 201, 214 
 Johnson, R., 106 
 Johnston, wSir H., 11, 468 
 Jonah, 50 
 
 Jones, Rev. W. H., 350 
 Joseph, 127 
 Joyeuse, 204 
 Jumala, 174 
 
 Jiingsten-recht, 372 seq. 
 Juniper Tree, The, 296 
 Jupiter Ly casus, 316 
 Jurupari pipes, 317, 322 
 Juveignerie, 372 seq. 
 
 Kafirs, 39, 116, 221, 318, 337, 378 
 
 Kalangs, 264 
 
 Kalevala, 10, 30, 31, 91, 174, 177, 
 
 203, 440, 443 
 Kalevide, 10 
 
 Kalevipoeg, 70-1, 177, 203, (375) 
 Kali, 413 
 Kalkagari, 89 
 Kanteletar, 174 
 
INDEX 
 
 503 
 
 Karens, 147, 289, 406 
 Kashmiri, 39 
 Kathakoga, 157, 413 
 Katha Sarit Sagara, 197 
 Kavirondo, 345 
 Keane, A. H., 471 
 Keats, 256, (257) 
 Kempion, 257 
 Khasi hill tribes, 196 
 Khonds, 426 
 Kings in folk-tales, 16 
 
 animal, 245 
 King Ye I low hammer, 225 
 King's child as sacrifice, 426 
 Kingsley, Miss, 147, 341, 430 
 Kintu, 194 
 Kirk, Rev. R., 44 
 Ko-ji-ki, II, 84, 172, 204, 243, 326, 
 
 333) 386 
 Koshchei, 91, 120, 136, 313 
 Kovavelsky, M., 336 
 Kullervo, 203 
 Kumaun, 335 
 
 Lady Godiva, 319 
 
 La Fontaine, no 
 
 Laidly Worm, (151) 
 
 Laksmana, 141 
 
 Lamia, 256-7 
 
 Lamiae, 290, (294), 389 
 
 Lang, A., 14, 49, (171), (174), (210), 
 
 336, 346, 370, 464 
 Language of animals, 41 
 Laomedon, 387 
 Lapps, (102), 117, 198, (201), 318, 
 
 322 
 Legends, mediaeval, 96 
 Leland, C. G., 170, 320, 461, 481 
 Lemminkainen, 91, 177 
 Leopard, human, 105 
 Levitation, 224 
 Life-hair, 126 
 
 restoration to, 80, 230 
 
 separable, 123 seq. 
 
 token, 118 
 
 tree, 144 
 Limbang, 369 
 Limbs restored, 67 
 Lip ornament, 470 
 Lithuanians, 403 
 Little Peachling, 235 
 Littleton, 374 
 Livonians, 403 
 Livy, 38 
 
 Llew, 143 
 
 Loki, 263, 468 
 
 Lonnrott, 468 
 
 Lord of Underworld, 326 
 
 Peter, 226 
 Lorraine, 21 
 Lox, 91, 468 
 Lucky stone, etc., 202 
 Lusifee, 169 
 
 Mabinogion, id, 142 
 Macdonald, Rev. J., 86 
 Magic, 19, 32, 34, 54, 84, 99, 107 seq., 
 206, 210, 212 seq., 276, 323, 343, 
 
 345, 473 
 
 articles inherited, 376 
 
 mimetic, 214, 219, 348 
 
 sympathetic, 118, 121, 125, 144, 
 198, (370) 
 Maiden stolen, 21 
 Mainetd, 372 seq. 
 Mairavana, 141 
 Malagasy folk-lore, 37, 83, 198, 267, 
 
 406 
 Malaise, 160 
 Malay folk-lore, 21, 39, (103), 125, 
 
 147, 161, 456, 472 
 Malbrouk, 133, 204, 415 
 Mally Whuppie, (285), 354 
 Malsumsis, 142 
 Manabush, 175, 230, 380, 460 
 Manchuria, 335 
 Mandeville, 66 
 Mandrake, 200, 376 
 Manitou, 146, 198-9, 209, 230, 249- 
 
 250 
 Manorial right, 373 
 Maol a Chliobain, 284 
 Maori folk-lore, 31, 11 1, 125, 
 
 470 . 
 Mdrchen and Saga, 450 
 Maria MorevTia, 313 
 Marquesas Islands, 300 
 Marriage, 17, 20, 25, 98, 336 
 
 with beasts, 233 
 Mars, 121 
 Maspero, G., 335 
 Mathab Mathonwy, 142 
 Matiamoo, 209 
 Matriarchate, 18, 428 
 Maui, 50, 64, 93, 160, 366 
 Mavunga, 330, 382 
 Max Miiller, 14, 269, 432, 452 
 Medea, 10, 93, 179 
 
504 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Medicine-man, 19, 32, 37, 85-6, 107, 
 133, 146, 148, 153, 162, 177, 
 184-5 ^^^'i 200, 206, 208-10, 
 222-4, (303), 316, 318, 333, 392, 
 
 413, 430 
 of life, 83 
 Mediums, 209, 224 
 Medusa, 382 
 Melampus, 78 
 Melanesian folk-lore, 100, 124, 181, 
 
 196, 210, 404, (407), 426, 456 
 Meleager, 120 
 Melusina, 46, 257, 329 
 Men, rites of women tabu to, 318 
 Menelaus, 166 
 Menomini Indians, 175, 209, 230, 
 
 460, 481 
 Mentone, 100 
 Merchant of Venice^ (191) 
 Mermaid, (145), (169), 275, 345 
 Merodach, 408 
 Metempsychosis, 166 
 Mexican folk-lore, 76, 88, 128, 198, 
 
 348, 403 
 Michabo, 408 
 Micron esians, loi 
 Midgard serpent, 263 
 Migration of peoples, 472 
 MikumwisSj 391 
 Minos, 126, 397 
 Minotaur, 263, 397 
 Miracles, 97, 224 
 
 Mirror divination, 34 seq., 123, 384 
 Miru, 290, 304 
 Mithraism, 88 
 
 Mohammed the Languid, 236 
 Mohammedanism, 66, 97, 116, 198, 
 
 (215) 
 Mongols, 29, 39, 107, 275, 374 
 Monkey, stories of, 131 
 Monsters, prehistoric, 395 
 Mons Tro, 241 
 Montaigne, (157) 
 Moors, 300 
 Morgan le Fay, 120 
 Morocco, 335 
 Mortuary columns, 470 
 Moses, 66 
 Mosimodi, \ii 
 
 Mother, descent through, 376 
 Mother-in-law, 338 
 Mountain as world of dead or of 
 
 gods, 442 
 Mugain, 263 
 Mulieres sub-introductas, 379 
 
 Mullyan, 297 
 
 Mummification, 99, 102, 128 
 Mycenaean art, 474-6 
 Myers, F. W. H., 208 
 Mysteries, 88, 266, 317, 323, 380 
 Myth and Marchen, 452 
 
 story germs, 79, 448, 452 
 
 of sun catching, 439 
 Mythic explanation of things, 181, 
 
 436, 440 
 Mythological school, 342, 432, 452 
 Mythologies, 11, 15, 65, 166 
 Myths, Aino, (102), 248 
 
 Andaman, 443 
 
 Ashanti, (191) 
 
 Australian, 87, 94, 182, 337, 444-6 
 
 Babylonian, 64, 78, (102), 329, 408 
 
 Borneo, 442 
 
 Bushman, 50, 94 
 
 Celtic, 65, 160, 263 
 
 Chinese, 83, 441 
 
 Cingalese, 316 
 
 Egyptian, 90, 160, 407, 441, 448 
 
 Eskimo, 336, 445 
 
 Esthonian, (102) 
 
 Finnish, 445 
 
 Greek, 49, 65, (82), 90, (97), (102), 
 126, 149, 160, 166, 221, 260, 
 263, 266, 288, 329, 387-8, 397, 
 408, 441-2, (461) 
 
 Guiana, 50, 443, 445 
 
 Hindu, 50, 65, (102), 160, 166, 
 407, 441 
 
 Japanese, 266, 441 
 
 Kirghiz, 275 
 
 Lithuanian, 64 
 
 Malay, 50, 83 
 
 Maori, 346 
 
 Melanesian, 51 
 
 Mexican, 443 
 
 Mongol, 64, 274 
 
 Negro, 203, 275, 448 
 
 Persian, 65 
 
 Polynesian, 50, (59), 66, 70, 80, 
 83, 93» 160, 260, 266, 276, 
 304, 366, 441 
 
 Red Indian, 50, (102), 123, 142, 
 175, (191), 230, 274-5, 316, 
 380,407,440-1,446,460 
 
 Roman, (97) 
 
 Samoan, 50, 81, 173, 401 
 
 S. American, 337 
 
 Scandinavian, 65, 83, (102), 142, 
 (143), 160, 263, 408 
 
 Semitic, 83, 316, 442 
 
INDEX 
 
 505 
 
 Myths, Tibetan, (275) 
 Tongan, 316 
 chanted, 481 
 depicted, (477) 
 
 Nagas, 266 
 
 Nagual, 146, 250 
 
 Naiad, 187 
 
 Nail clippings, 144, 213, 343 
 
 Nakedness in folk-custom, 318, 336 
 
 Name, 26, 220, 337, 343 
 
 Nassau, Dr., i, (37), 217, 318, 322, 
 330, 469 
 
 Natal, 209 
 
 Nectar, 65 
 
 Negro folk-lore, i, 33, 36, 88, 105, 
 117, 123, 125, 146-7, 184, 196, 
 199, 210, 247, 249-50, 300, 318, 
 403, 427, 430j 470 
 
 Negroes of America, 161 
 
 Neolithic burials, 98 se^. 
 
 Neoplatonists, 224 
 
 Nephthys, 90 
 
 Neptune, 387 
 
 Nereid, 153, 241, 343 
 
 New Britain, 318 
 
 Guinea, 86, 100, (106), 161, 182, 
 
 207, 338, 345 
 Zealand, 86, 100, 116, 209 
 
 Ngaru^ 304 
 
 Nisus, 126 
 
 Njembe society, 318 
 
 Norka, 350 
 
 Noum, 127 
 
 vNovelist, methods of primitive, 5, 
 -]-], 148, 179, 187, 251, 319 J^^-, 
 323-4, 341, 349, 377, 385, 424, 
 
 457, 479 
 Nufoers, 335 
 Nzambi, 245 
 
 Oblivion Incident, 167, 171, 
 
 (173), 332, 338 
 Odm, (203) 
 
 Odysseus, 150, 279 seq. 
 Ogier the Dane, (120) 
 Ogma, 204 
 Ogre, 19, 21, 135, 148, 299, 300-1, 
 
 3^1, 452 
 Okikurumi, 81, 172 
 Oni, 290 
 
 Orgiastic rites, 5, (223), 319 
 Orphic myth, (102) 
 Ornai, 204 
 O sella, 190 
 
 Osiris, 90, (93), 98, 113 
 Ossian, 151, 315 
 Ovid, 187 
 
 Pacarissa, 250 
 Packet, magic, (155) 
 Palaeolithic art, 476, (477) 
 
 burials, 100, 106 
 Panchatantra, 131, 212, 452 
 Pandora, 316 
 Panj Phul, 121 
 Paracelsus, 97 
 Parker, Mrs, 343 
 Parsis, loi 
 Pasiphae, 263 
 Passover, (189) 
 Patriarchate, 376 
 Pausanias, 316, 393 
 Pawnees, 39 
 
 Peasant folk-lore, 25, 38, TJ, 102, 
 117, 125, 144, 184-5, 196, 200, 
 207, 212, 222, 428, 476 
 Pelew Islands, 337 
 Pelias, 93 
 
 Pelion and Ossa, 442 
 Pelops, 288 
 Penda, 260 
 
 Pentamerone, 14, 177, (226), 326,416 
 Peppino, 328 
 
 Perrault, 14, no, 225, 253 
 Persephone, 78, (191) 
 Perseus, 203, 408 
 Persians, 37, 65-6, 335 
 Personality, alternating, 333 
 
 savage idea of, 181-3 
 Peruvians, 76, 198, 250, 403, 426 
 Petitot, 92 
 
 Petrifaction, 156, 206 
 Phantasms, 43 
 Philippines, 100, 115 
 Philostratus, (257) 
 Phorloe, 387 
 Pictographs, (477) 
 Pzvi a?id Kabo, (192) 
 Placenta, 144 
 
 Plant, girl emerging from, 1 14 
 Plants, magic, 54, 83 
 Pleistocene man, 457 
 
 time, 471 
 Plutarch, 317, 336, 403 
 Poetry, primitive, 480 
 Pohjola, 177 
 Poland, 25 
 Pointing sticks, 206 
 Polyandry, (131) 
 
 2 I 2 
 
506 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Polydorus, 115 
 
 Polygamy, 9, (138) 
 
 Polyidus, (82) 
 
 Polynesians, 37, 39, 66, 116, 125, 
 
 183, (194), 290, 338, 443 
 Polyphemus, 10, 279, 476 
 Pondoland, 223 
 Poseidon, 126 
 Potions, magic, 222 
 Prehistoric graves, 204, 472 
 
 life, 399 
 Pressina, 329 
 Prester John, 374 
 Priestesses, 303 
 Priests, 86, 207, (303), 323, 348 
 Primogeniture, 372, 377 
 Prince Csihan, 225 
 
 Hatt, 326, 422 (424) 
 
 Mirko, 202 
 
 Vildering, 419 
 
 Wolf, 327 
 Princess as sacrificial victim, 400 
 
 seg. 
 Prior, 162 
 Procne, 288 
 Promiscuity, 376 
 Proteus, 166 
 Proverbs, 473 
 Psychic life of man, sameness of, 
 
 456, 460, 463, 470-1 
 Psychical Research Society, 208 
 Psychology, 118, (128), 149, 180 
 
 of saints, 224 
 Pterelaus, 126 
 
 Pulowech the Partridge, 344 
 Punchkin, 109, 138 
 Puppets, magic, 197, 199, 200, 209 
 Puruvaras, 336 
 Pygmalion, 198 
 
 Qat, 51, 438 
 Quetzalcoatl, 443 
 
 Ra, 407 
 
 Rabbit, Master, 169, 387 
 
 Raiko, 290 
 
 Rain, producing, 219 seq. 
 
 Raja Siung, 297 
 
 Rakshasa, 74, 138, 205 
 
 Rakshasi, 67, 94, (138), 148, (162), 
 
 291, (297), 301 
 Ralston, W. R. S., 435 
 Rama, 131, 141 
 Ramayana, 83, 221 
 Raskin Coatie, 109 
 
 Rata, 236 
 
 Raven, (78) 
 
 Reade, W., 123, 209, 318 
 
 Red Bull o' Norroway, 328 
 
 Red E tin, 206 
 
 Red Indians, 29, 32, 37, 39, 66, 83, 
 86, 88, 100-2, 107, 116, 128, 
 161, 181-3, 186, 196, 198, 204, 
 207, 209, 247, 249, 274, 337-8, 
 426, 470- 1 
 
 Red Indian tales derived from 
 Norse, 461, 468 
 
 Reinach, S., (125) 
 
 Reincarnation, in, 115-6, (128), 
 
 234, 363, (381) 
 Relics, 198 
 Reptiles and water, 406 
 
 sacrifice to, 403 
 Rider of Grianaig, 54 
 Ring, magic, 201 
 
 speaking, 195, 214, 280 
 Rink, H., 6, 468 
 Ripley, W., 104 
 Ritual, Australian, 88 ; Babylonian, 
 
 78 ; Dyak, 88 ; Egyptian, 98 ; 
 
 Greek, 98 ; Jewish, (189) ; Red 
 
 Indian, 88 
 Rocks, clashing, 59 
 Roland, 203 
 Rolf, 179 
 Romans, 37, 76, (97), i47, 161, 198, 
 
 250, 319, 348 
 Romilly, H. H., (106), 345, 455 
 Romulus, (277) 
 Rongo, 194 
 
 Rooney and the Seal, 163 
 Rose of Bakawali, 62, 157 
 Roumania, 25, 38 
 Rupe, 162 
 Russian folk-lore, 125, 146, 258, 267, 
 
 294, 373 
 Rhythmic chants, 480 
 
 Sabazios, 266 
 
 Sabbat, witch, 197, 222-3, 3^9 
 Sacred books — Babylonian, 10 ; 
 Egyptian, (128) ; Greek, 166 ; 
 Hindu, 166, 336, 413 ; Japanese, 
 11,84, 166, 172, 204, 243, 326, 
 333, 386 ; Norse, (loi) 
 things, 316 
 Sacrifice, lo, 348 
 by fairy or witch, 428-9 
 foundation, 427 
 human, 303, 399 seq., 403, 424 seq. 
 
INDEX 
 
 507 
 
 Sacrifice, mock, 429 
 
 of children, 410, 423, 425 
 
 of twins, 414 
 
 of virginity, (410) 
 
 propitiatory, 423 
 
 rationale of, 397 
 
 removal of barrenness by, 4 1 3 
 
 to reptiles, 403 
 
 to water divinities, 405, 423 
 Sagas, Algonquin, 481 ; Arthurian, 
 10 ; Ossianic, 10 
 
 and Mdrchen^ 45 1 
 Saints, 84, 95, 97, 215, 224 
 
 legends of, 95-7, 187, 224, 319, 
 381, 388, 392 
 Saliva, 193 
 
 Samoans, loi, 115, 179, 196, 426 
 Samoyedes, 123 
 Samson, 127, 145 
 Sanchoniathon, 401 
 Santals, 115 
 
 Savage Island, 100, 300 
 Savage folk-tale parallels, 457-8 
 Savages and X region, 208 
 Saxons, loi 
 Scales, magic, 212 
 Scandinavian folk-lore, 28, 65, 102-3, 
 157, 200, 222, 393, 401, 426, 
 
 443 
 Scheme of the work, 5 1 
 Scott, Sir W., 44 
 Scythians, 204 
 Sea divinity, 423 
 
 maiden, 126, 135, 417, 423 
 Secret societies, 317-8 
 Semites, 249, 401, 425 
 Senart, 247 
 
 Sending, magic, (155), 200 
 Senkepeng^ 264 
 Serpent. See Snake 
 Servians, (103), 337 
 Set, 90 
 
 Sex, change of, (157) 
 Shah Mannsur, 140 
 Shakespeare, 29 
 Shoes of swiftness, 221 
 Siam, 198 
 
 Siati and PuapcE^ 173 
 Siberians, 210 
 Siegfried, 204 
 Sight restored, 67 
 Si Jura, 436 
 
 Sikulume, 120, 172, 213, 283 
 Silvia, 120 
 Sina, 147 
 
 Sinbad, 281 
 
 Sinend, 317 
 
 Singhpos, 374 
 
 Singorra, 194, 197 
 
 Siva, 202 
 
 Six Swans, The, (153) 
 
 Skin, 145, 156, 163, 182, 276, (328), 
 
 347-8 
 Slavs, 104 
 Sleep, Id 
 
 magic, 30 seq., (194) 
 
 thorn, 85 
 Sleeping beauties, 85 
 Slipper, magic, 212, (369) 
 Snake, 116, 212, 258 
 
 descent from, 266, 275 
 
 genius as, 250 
 
 lovers, 256 seq., 264 
 
 race under water, (258) 
 
 sacrifice to, 403 
 
 wisdom of, 41 
 
 see Dragon 
 Snee witchen, (358) 
 Snow-White Rose-Red, 193 
 Snuff-box, magic, 202 
 Solomon, 66 
 
 Islands, 116, 337 
 Solidarity, human and animal, 181 
 Soma, 65 
 
 Sorcerer. See Medicine-man 
 Soul, bush, 250 
 
 eaten by witches, 146 
 
 in bone, spine, etc., (93), 1 1 1 
 
 leaving body, 143, 146 
 
 placed in safety, 143 
 
 separable, 118 seq., 250 
 
 several kinds of, in one body, 
 
 147 
 
 sorcerer and, 133, 146 
 
 see Spirit 
 Southey, (103) 
 Spine, seat of life, (93), 1 1 1 
 Spirit, controlling, 201 
 
 evil, 339, 429 
 
 leaving body, 146, 181 
 
 of well, (318) 
 
 recalling, 207 
 
 underground, 207 
 
 see Ancestor ; Reincarnation ; 
 Soul 
 Statue, living, 198 
 Stoll, Dr, 33 
 Stone age, 339 
 
 shirt, 23, 458 
 
 weapons, 456 
 
508 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Storm myths, 222 
 Story germs, 79, 452, 457 
 Straparola, 14 
 Strigla, 294 
 Struwelpeter, 336 
 Subconscious self, 208, 210 
 Suhman, 199 
 Sulta?t Darai, 226 
 Sumatra, 86 
 Sun-god, (410) 
 
 impregnation by, (410) 
 
 myths, 222 
 Sunshine, producing, 219 
 Svastika, 474 
 Swahilis, 41 
 
 Swan- maidens, 162, 343 seq. 
 Swiftness, miraculous, 222 
 Sword of chastity, 55 
 
 magic, 202 
 Symbols, diffusion of, 474 
 
 Table, magic, 214, 219 
 
 Tabu, 6, 12, 26, 46, 76, (112), 124, 
 
 (171), 261, 306 seq., 325 seq. 
 Tahitians, 196 
 Tajul-Muluk, 157, 205, 212 
 Takinga, 285 
 Talamaur, (456) 
 Taliesin, 165 
 
 Talisman, 121, 155, 201, 231, 239 
 Tamaniu, 124 
 Tammuz, 78 
 Tane, 66, 70 
 Tangaroa, 80, 93 
 Taoism, 86, 207 
 Tartaro, 279, 301, 374 
 Tasmanians, loi, 124, (277) 
 Taunton Dene Manor, 373 
 Tawhaki, 347, 438 
 Tchuds, 374 
 Telepathy, (168), 208 
 Telikinesis, 208 
 Temples, tabued, 316-7 
 Tennyson, 401 
 Tent, magic, (220) 
 Tereus, 288 
 Tethra, sword of, 204 
 Teutons, 28, 184 
 Theal, G. M., 455 
 Thesmophoria, 319 
 Thor, (loi), (143), 408 
 Thyestes, 288 
 Tiamat, 408 
 Tibetans, 29 
 
 Tidying up hut incident, (261), 
 
 (331) 
 Timbuctoo, 335 
 Tipperahs, 335 
 Tirawa, 245 
 Tirnan'Og, 315 
 Titans, 90 
 Todas, 337 
 Tona, 250 
 Tongans, 196 
 Torres Straits, 100 
 Totemism, 88, 144, 146, 181, 183, 
 249, 272-4, 339-40 
 
 survivals of, 249 
 Totem, ceremonies, 348, 398 
 
 clan, 146, 249, 274 
 
 divinities, 348 
 
 myths, 274 
 
 personal, 146, 248 
 
 posts, 470 
 
 rock drawings, 316 
 
 sacrament, 42, 299 
 "Towers of silence," loi 
 Transformation, 453, 455 
 
 as punishment, 150, 154 
 
 by bathing, 157 
 
 by drinking, 159, 186 
 
 by eating, 158, 186 ■ 
 
 by sorcerer, 149 seq., 186, 273^ 
 
 327 
 
 by talisman, 155 
 
 cause of belief in, 181 seq. 
 
 combat, 164 
 
 of divinities and spirits, 160, 181 
 
 of fugitives, 167, 180 
 
 of objects, 171, 180 
 
 of sex, (157) 
 
 self, 160 
 
 to stone, (156) 
 
 through magic, 162 
 Transmigration, 11 5-6, 251, 453 
 Transylvania, 20, 318, 374 
 Tree as life token, 124 
 
 birth, 124 seq. 
 
 bleeding, 115 
 
 burial, loi, (358) 
 
 growing from body, (115), 232 
 
 healing by, (125) 
 
 marriage, 276 
 
 of life, 83 
 
 spirits in, 115, (253), (344) 
 
 world, 443 
 
 worship, (128), 191, 193 
 Troll, 294 
 Tschm-timani, 201 
 
INDEX 
 
 509 
 
 Tulisa, 328 
 
 Turanians, 301 
 
 Turks, 66 
 
 Turo, 174 
 
 Twelve Brothers^ The, 153 
 
 Two Brothers, The, 476 
 
 Tylor, Dr, 50, (66), 188, 396, 471 
 
 Typho, 90 
 
 Twins, folk-lore of, (393), 414 
 
 Uganda, ii 
 
 Ui and Luamae, 402 
 
 Ulysses, 203 
 
 Underworld, 9, (44), 71, 78, 160, 
 
 172, 177-8, 204, 207, 239, 290, 
 
 326, 422 
 . descent to, 438 
 Unnatural lusts, 277 
 Urvasi, 336 
 Uvengwa, 105 
 Uzzah, 316 
 
 Vainamoinen, 440, 443 
 Vampires, (25), 102-3, 130, (195) 
 Vasilissa the Fair, 197 
 
 Vedas, 
 
 )36, 476 
 
 Vergil, 96 
 Vijara Nada, 66 
 Vikramaditya, 166 
 Viravara, 422 
 Virgin Mary, 319, 430 
 Voguls, 317 
 Volsunga Saga, 41 
 Voodoo, 103 
 Votiaks, 318 
 
 Walpurgis, 428 
 
 Wands, magic, 85, 205, 232 
 
 Water divinities, 76, (78), 258, 405, 
 
 423 
 folk-lore of, 75, 405 seq. 
 guardianship of, 404, 407 
 king, 420 
 living, 75 
 monsters, 406 
 of Death, 73 
 of Life, 52 seq., 241 
 
 and raven, (78), 241 
 
 and dragon, 408 
 
 Water divinities, of Strength, 7 1 
 spirit, 392-3, 405-6 
 world, (45), 131-2, 258, 330, 332, 
 (397), 418, 420 
 Weapons, magic, 203 seq. 
 Weendijoes, 301 
 Weeoomben, 182 
 Well - Intentioned and Doiible- 
 
 Minded, The, 69 
 Well at Worlds End, 256 
 of the World, 54 
 sacred, 76, 317, (317), (344) 
 Werwolf, 144, 161, 185, (259), 455 
 Wer-tiger, 176 
 Wife tabu, 26 
 
 lost, recovered, 438 
 Wise woman, 19, 185, 323 
 Witch, 19, 86, 145-6, 149 seq., 153, 
 161, 179, 184-5, (195), 197, 200, 
 (207), 208, 222-4, (259), 287, 
 294, 299, 303, 323, 343, 412, 
 421, 428, 452 
 Witchcraft, African, 5, 10, 146-7, 
 (195), (223) 
 in folk-tales, 19, 185 
 Wizard. See Medicine-man 
 Wollunqua totem ceremonies, 398 
 Women abducted by animals, 277 
 and serpent, 46. See Snake 
 and tabu, 316 
 and wells, 317 
 in primitive civilisation, 18, 170, 
 
 303 
 suckling animals, (277) 
 World of Blessed, 10 
 
 X region, 32, 37, 85, 208-9, 224 
 
 Yak, 292 
 Yakuts, 148 
 Youngest son, 350 
 
 as villain, 380 
 Yucatan, 39 
 
 Zapotecs, 250 
 Zeus, 49, (90), 226 
 Zulus, 21, 32, 116, 147, (200), 207, 
 209, 251, 301 
 
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 Oliver and Boyd 
 
 Edinburgh 
 
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