Part Two

The Folktale from Ireland to India

II – The Complex Tale

2. Supernatural adversaries

In nearly all complicated fairy tales there is some kind of conflict. The hero must overcome obstacles in order that he may at last win his reward. A large series of stories throughout the European and western Asiatic area confront the hero with some type of supernatural adversary. Frequently the exact nature of the opponent is not made clear or will vary from one version of the story to another. In those which we shall first consider this adversary is sometimes a dragon, a horrible animal, or simply an undefined monster.

In spite of the unstable character of the chief opponent, the tales relating to these adventures are well defined and are among the best known of all narratives current in this area. [p. 24]

If one wished to study the ways in which a tale in the course of centuries becomes scattered over the whole of Europe he could not do better than to direct his attention to the two closely related folktales, The Two Brothers (Type 303) [11] and The Dragon Slayer (Type 300). The Two Brothers, as a regular part of its construction, contains almost the whole of The Dragon Slayer, so that it is necessary to study the two tales together if one is to secure an accurate picture of their mutual relationships, and of the history of the two stories, both when they are merged together and when they exist separately. In his thorough study of these two types Ranke [12] has had available for analysis some 770 versions of The Two Brothers and 368 of The Dragon Slayer. When it is realized that practically all examples of the first story contain the second, and that since the appearance of Ranke's study more than a hundred additional variants of the two stories have been reported, it will be clear that about 1100 examples of The Dragon Slayer are now known, and new ones are being constantly collected.

It will be convenient to discuss The Dragon Slayer as an independent story before considering its relationship to other tales with which it has combined. As a result of his analytical study Ranke has arrived at a form of the tale which would seem to include all the original elements. From this form, or one very much like it, all the other thousand or more variants seem to have been derived. This reconstruction is as follows: A poor married couple have two children, a boy and a girl. When the parents die they leave behind them only a small house and three sheep. The girl inherits the house, and the boy the animals. He exchanges these animals for three marvelous dogs and sets out with them into the world. On the way he meets an old man (or a woman) from whom, in recognition of a courtesy which he has shown, he receives a magic sword or a magic stick. Everything that he strikes with it will fall dead.

He arrives at the royal city which he finds all hung with black cloth, and he learns at an inn of the cause of the mourning. He discovers that a seven-headed dragon who lives on a mountain in the neighborhood demands periodically a maiden as a sacrifice, else he will lay waste the entire country. The sacrifice has been agreed upon and the lot has fallen to the princess. The king promises that whoever saves her shall have her hand and half his kingdom.

The young man goes with his animals to the place where the dragon lives and reaches there at the same time as the princess, who has been brought by the king's coachman. He approaches her, comforts her, and promises to fight the dragon for her. The monster appears with a great roar, but the young man does not let himself be frightened. He goes against him and with his [p. 25] sword strikes off all his heads. In this action, the dogs help him by holding the dragon fast. The hero now cuts out the tongues from the dragon's heads and puts them into his pocket. The rescued princess wishes him to go back with her to her father to receive the promised reward, but the hero wants to wander about for a while and to experience adventures. They agree upon a definite time when they will see each other again. He bids her to preserve silence in spite of everything, and goes on his way.

The coachman, who has accompanied the princess and has remained near by so as to see what happens, comes now and threatens her with death if she will not agree, on oath, to tell the king that it is he who has slain the dragon. As further witness, he takes along the heads of the slain dragon. These he shows to the king and, supported by the declaration of the princess, demands the promised reward. The king is much pleased, and sets a time for the wedding. His daughter, however, is able to have it postponed until the time when she has agreed to meet her rescuer. But when at this time he still does not appear, the time for the wedding is definitely fixed.

On the very day of the wedding the young man arrives in the city which is now, in contrast to the first time, decorated in red. In the same inn he inquires about the rejoicing and learns of the wedding. The innkeeper expresses the wish that he may have food to eat from the royal table, and the young man sends his dogs several times with a basket and with a message written on a card tied to their necks. The princess recognizes the animals and fulfills the directions of her rescuer. She, or the king, orders him to be invited in and he appears at the castle. He immediately declares that he is the real dragon slayer and asks whether the dragon heads have tongues in them. The heads are brought forth and it appears that they have none. The young man takes them out of his pocket and lays each of them in that particular head where it fits. The king and all those present acknowledge him as the true rescuer of the princess and immediately carry out the marriage of the two. The impostor is punished.

The related story of The Two Brothers actually provides a larger number of examples of that part of the story given above containing the dragon slaying, the impostor, the dragon-tongue proof, and the marriage with the princess than does the form we have just discussed. Nearly 800 of these stories are known, and only a few lack the dragon fight. This story in outline is as follows: [13]

A fisherman who has no children catches the King of the Fishes, who begs to be let loose. In return for his freedom he promises the fisherman other fish or shows him the place where they can be caught. When the fisherman catches him the second time the Fish once more persuades him to let him swim away. When this happens a third time, the Fish advises the fisherman to cut him up into a certain number of pieces and to give one part each to his [p. 26] wife, to his mare, and to his dog, and to bury the rest in the garden under a tree. The wife bears two sons, and at the same time the mare and dog each give birth to two young ones, and in the garden there grow two swords and trees. The twin boys are nearly identical, as are also the animals.

When the boys grow up, the first of them wishes to go out into the world. If any misfortune should happen to him his particular tree will fade and the brother will come to his rescue.

He sets forth with his sword, horse, and dog, and after a while arrives at a royal city. From this point on the story is identical with The Dragon Slayer tale given above, but after the marriage with the princess the narrative proceeds:

On the marriage night the curiosity of the young king is aroused by an extraordinary sight, a fire in the woods or on a mountain. He asks his wife about the appearance of this fire, and she tells him that no one who has gone to the fire has ever returned. She warns him not to follow it. But he is overcome with the desire for adventure and decides to find out the cause of this mystery. He saddles his horse and rides with his dog and sword toward the light of the fire. He comes to a house in which lives an old woman who is a witch. She pretends to be afraid of his dog and bids him to lay one of her hairs on it so that the dog will be quiet and not harm her. The young man performs her bidding. The hair transforms itself into a chain. She now approaches and strikes him with a rod and turns him to stone.

Back home the tree fades, and the second brother sees from this that the first is in dire peril or possibly dead. He saddles his horse, takes his dog and sword, and sets forth. After a long wandering he comes to the city in which his brother has become king. The innkeeper with whom he first stops and the young queen to whom he then goes mistake him for her husband, since he looks exactly like his brother. He realizes immediately that people are mistaking him for his brother and he lets them believe this, so that he may more easily find out something about his brother's fate.

At night when he is to sleep with his sister-in-law, he lays the naked sword between her and him.

He also sees the curious light and asks about its occurrence. The queen is astonished at his question, which she remembers to have already answered once, and warns him a second time. But he rides away, since he realizes now where his brother has had his misfortune, and comes to the hut and finds the old woman. He does not obey her order to lay the hair on the dog, but he sets the dog on to the witch and threatens her with death. She gives him the rod with which she has enchanted the first brother, and he strikes the stone with it and in this way disenchants him. The old woman is killed, and both brothers return together to the city.

Such, in a general form, are these two well-known tales. It will be noticed that when the incident of the dragon slaying is used in the Two Brothers [p. 27] story the only modification necessary is that the hero be accompanied by only one dog instead of three. Several other possible introductions are to be found and some differences in detail, but the story as given above has a remarkable stability over the entire area where it is found.

Both forms, the longer Two Brothers tale and the simpler Dragon Rescue story, have approximately the same distribution. A definite indication of this distribution will be interesting as showing the relative importance of boundary lines, national, racial, cultural, or linguistic, for determining the dissemination of a widely-known tale which has been handed down by word of mouth for a long time. In the following list the number of reported versions of the Two Brothers story are given first and then those for the simpler Dragon Rescue tale. It will be noted that all of them contain the central core: the rescue from the dragon, the impostor, the dragon-tongue proof, and the marriage with the princess. The distribution is as follows:

 

German	65	57	Cashubian	5	0	Jewish	2	0
Dutch	1	0	Polish 0	11	5	Caucasian	11	1
Flemish	14	9	Great Russian	15	0	Armenian	1	0
Danish	66	129	White Russian	6	0	Persian	2	0
Swedish	11	8	Little Russian	13	0	Indic	6	2
Finnish-Swedish	8	13	Lithuanian	47	88	Cambodian	1	0
Norwegian	42	18	Lettish	67	9	Malayan	2	2
Icelandic and Faroe	3	0	Estonian	31	1	Japanese	0	1
French	14	2	Livonian	3	0	Arabian in Africa	3	3
Rhaetian	3	2	Finnish	141	2	Berber and Kabyle	8	2
Italian	27	14	Lappish	3	5	Central African	5	8
Spanish	8	4	Volga peoples (Mordvinian)	1	0	Madagascar	1	0
Portuguese	5	3	Votyak	1	0	North American Indian	8	8
Roumanian	21	2	Hungarian	15	0	Cape Verde Island	3	1
Breton	3	2	Osman	3	0	French Canadian	1	0
Scottish	3	1	Chuvassian	7	0	Jamaican	2	1
Irish	10	4	Basque	2	4	Puerto Rican	5	3
Serbo-Croatian	15	1	Albanian	4	0	Haitian	0	1
Bulgarian	3	0	Greek	5	4	Mexican	0	1
Czech and Slovak	38	23	Gypsy	5	5	Brazilian	2	2
Wend	0	2

 

If certain countries in this list seem to be represented with a disproportionate number, it must be borne in mind that collecting has been much more thoroughly carried out in Germany, Denmark, Norway, Czechoslovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Finland than in most other countries. It seems quite certain, for example, that if French tales had been thoroughly collected during the last generation their showing would be much better. As it is, every French collection which we possess indicates the presence of these tales in the area which it covers. [p. 28]

The place where a folktale is most likely to suffer change is in its introduction, where a preliminary action really proper to another story but capable of being logically joined to the one in question is easily substituted. Such a substitution may very well be accepted and may set up a new tradition which, in a limited area, may live on side by side with the more regular form of the tale. This has happened with the two stories we are considering.

In The Two Brothers there has occurred confusion with the story of The Magic Bird-Heart (Type 567). [14] Since this is a tale of two brothers with magic objects, the confusion is not strange. This introduction generally appears as follows: A poor man comes into possession of a magic bird which lays golden eggs. The man sells the eggs and becomes rich. Once he goes on a journey and leaves the bird behind with his wife. She is persuaded to serve the bird to her lover for dinner. The bird possesses a marvelous characteristic—that whoever eats of its head will become ruler and whoever consumes the heart will have gold appear under his pillow while he sleeps. The bird is prepared, but by chance falls into the hands of the sons of the house hold, and the young men, without knowing of the wonderful power of the bird, eat the head and the heart. From this point on in the story we usually have an account of the loss and recovery of the magic powers, but the narrative may also proceed with the parting of the brothers and the regular adventures proper to The Two Brothers.

Another story frequently amalgamated with The Two Brothers is the East European tale of The Three Brothers. This begins with the fishing episode of The Two Brothers, proceeds with adventures proper to supernaturally strong men (Type 650), then, with some variation, goes into The Two Brothers tale. The very nature of the story, however, makes it necessary to repeat many episodes. For example, the first two brothers fall into the hands of the witch, and the sleeping with the naked sword is repeated.

In some twenty percent of all versions of The Two Brothers occurs the motif of The Jealous Brother. In these tales the younger brother, having been resuscitated and having heard that his brother has slept with his wife, kills his rescuer. Then on hearing the truth he repents and resuscitates him. Ranke feels that this ending is hardly an original part of the story since it is far from uniform in its occurrence, and since the means of resuscitation is usually the same as that already used for disenchantment in the same tale. On the other hand, the motif is not a recent invention. It occurs in Basile's Pentamerone (1634-36) and also has a wide distribution, indicative of a relatively long history.

These are the most important variations of The Dragon Slayer and The Two Brothers. Ranke has attempted, on the basis of his huge collection and his careful analysis, to arrive at some conclusions as to the history of the stories. It seems clear that The Dragon Slayer is the older of the two stories, [p. 29] and that The Two Brothers has simply taken over this old tale as a cluster of motifs in its composition. Ranke's study is not concerned with any possible earlier forms of The Dragon Slayer before it assumed its present definite structure. He realizes that the concept of the dragon is old; he sees unmistakable resemblances between this story and the Greek myth of Perseus and Andromeda, and with many older tales of rescues from monsters. He knows also that, as Hartland has pointed out in his three-volume work on The Legend of Perseus, many of the separate motifs in the story, such as the life-token, the enchantment and disenchantment, and the magic birth, are found in nearly all parts of the world, and may appear in a multitude of narrative connections. But with more than a thousand examples of the fully developed stories before him, he has confined his task to the establishment of a typical form of the tale which would approximate the original from which all the rest have been derived. These typical forms of the tale are those which we have outlined here.

On the basis of the entire study, he is convinced that The Dragon Slayer as we know it at present was developed in western Europe where the versions are closest to the typical form. As one goes east, greater and greater variation occurs. Particular departures from type show special geographic distribution, and are therefore to be listed as different redactions of the tale. To illustrate once for all the way in which such a story develops new forms, let us examine these redactions of The Dragon Slayer (and the Dragon Rescue episode of The Two Brothers) as worked out by Ranke.

I. The Romance Cycle of Redactions

(a) French. Like type except that in about half of versions impostor is a charcoal burner.

(b) French Colonial. On the periphery of French, and in the colonies (Cambodia, North America, Malay peoples).

(c) Spanish. Like French but not so regularly developed. Impostor a charcoal burner or Negro. In 63 percent of Type 303 no dragon fight. Spain, Puerto Rico, Jamaica.

(d) Portuguese. Like French. But one Portuguese and Brazilian have introduction from Hansel and Gretel. Portugal, Cape Verde Islands, Brazil.

(e) Italian. Near to original form. Basile's version (1634), recent Italian, Albanian.

(f) General Romance redaction. Main characteristics: periodic sacrifice to dragon. Change of details as one gets away from France. Found (in addition to Romance countries) in all parts of Europe. This form has apparently spread through Germany to Scandinavia, the Baltic Countries, and Russia and sporadically to Japan. [p. 30]

II. Central European. No periodic sacrifice to dragon. Sometimes this may be an unintentional omission. The spread is from Germany eastward and in a few cases northward. Some of these tales may be influenced directly by Grimm's version.

III. The Murder Redaction. The dragon slayer is killed by the impostor and later resuscitated. About half the Two Brothers tales in this group have The Magic Bird Heart (Type 567) as introduction, and thus show the influence of Grimm. It is a German reworking of the Romance redaction and then a dissemination (a) to Scandinavia and the Baltic, (b) to South Germany and the Balkans, and (c) to Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Little Russia.

IV. The Northern Redaction Cycle.

(a) General Northern Redaction. Giant adventure precedes dragon fight. Red Knight attempts rescue but in fear climbs tree and witnesses fight, later to appear as impostor. Three dragons. Battle at sea side. Princess louses hero and leaves ring in his hair. Recognition by ring. This version is certainly Scandinavian, probably from Norway (1) to Denmark and North Germany, (2) to Sweden and the Baltic countries, (3) to Scotland.

Of this Northern cycle, Ranke distinguishes a number of sub-groups: (b) Porter (hero as porter for king; dragon knocks at door). Denmark to Schleswig-Holstein. (c, d, e) "Peril" redactions (no sacrifice, but king has promised daughter to monster to save his life). Denmark to rest of Scandinavia and Finland, (f) Danish hesitation redaction (dragon postpones sacrifice three days), (g) Lillekort ("little short"). Tiny hero. Dragon fight plus experience with sea troll. Recognition by costly garments of princess. Norway to all parts of Scandinavia, (h) Finnish wake redaction. Like Norwegian but princess awakens hero who sleeps with his head on her lap. (i) Glass mountain tradition. Continuation with Type 530. In Denmark and Holstein. (k) Swedish Dragon Slayer redaction (no examples of Two Brothers). Three trolls, three princesses. First two brothers successful. Third brother rescued by his dogs. Sweden (1) to Pomerania, Schleswig Holstein and Denmark (2) to Finland. (1) Troll redactions. Miscellaneous adventures with trolls. Only in Denmark.

V. Binding redaction. Ogre magically bound. A mixture with Type 330. Seven German versions and scattered to Baltic countries, Denmark and as far southeast as Serbia. Only a few versions.

VI. Irish shoe redaction. Slipper recognition like Cinderella. Otherwise resembles Northern redaction.

VII. Spring redaction. Dragon guards spring and refuses to give people water. Arose in Balkans. Then (1) to Hungary, Russia, Poland, and [p. 31] Baltic States, (2) to Greece and Turkey and around the Mediterranean to North and Central Africa and to Cape Verde Islands.

VIII. Baltic Impostor redaction. Like Central European (II) but hero places the dragon tongues under a stone which the impostor cannot lift. From Baltic to Finland, Poland, and Russia.

IX. Slavic Waking redaction. Hero sleeping with head in princess's lap is awakened by hot tears. Expansion of Central European (II). Great Russia to (1) Baltic lands, (2) Little Russia, Roumania, Greece, Arabia.

X. Baltic Wrestling redaction. Hero and dragon sink into ground as they struggle. Baltic countries and Denmark.

XI. Lettish Devil redaction. Like Central European (II) but devil or devils instead of dragon. From Latvia to other Baltic countries.

This investigation of the Dragon Rescue both in The Dragon Slayer (Type 300) and in The Two Brothers (Type 303) shows certain obvious facts about its history. The place in which the form characteristic of these two tale-types took shape would seem to be France, both because the French versions are nearer to the typical form and also because dissemination from France in all directions offers the best explanation of the distribution of the tale. From France it went to the Hispanic peninsula and thence to the New World. Eastward it spread to Germany and southeastward to Italy. Secondary centers of dissemination in these two places sent the tale, modified in many ways, into surrounding countries. From Germany it went to Scandinavia, the Baltic countries, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and the Balkans. In both Norway and Denmark new redactions arose and spread —the Norwegian to Denmark, Scotland, and Ireland, and the Danish to all the rest of Scandinavia, to North Germany and Finland. From Italy it traveled to the surrounding islands of Sicily and Malta and to Albania, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia. Less important centers of dissemination are the Baltic States, Great Russia, and Yugoslavia.

The very few versions of this tale found outside of Europe are clearly the result of the telling of the story by travelers or colonists. The American Indian variants are all from the French or Spanish, and the Cape Verde Island from the Portuguese. The appearance in Cambodia, Sunda Island, and Japan is purely sporadic.

Careful analysis of the Dragon Slayer story indicates that literary versions have had very little, if any, influence on its development. It has apparently spread east over Europe and only slightly into countries beyond, where it has undoubtedly been carried long distances by travelers or colonists.

The Two Brothers (Type 303) seems likewise to have arisen in western Europe and very likely in northern France. From there it has traveled in all directions, and the farther it has gone from this center, the more changes [p. 32] have taken place in its structure. The redactions do not correspond exactly to those of the Dragon Slayer episode which forms a part of it, but the general picture of the dissemination shows a similar group of centers: France as primary and Germany, Italy, Spain, and Denmark as secondary. It is impossible to tell just how old these two tales are. They have usually been placed as among the oldest stories belonging to the European tradition. As for The Dragon Slayer(Type 300), Ranke cites four reasons for believing that it is very old. (1) It has a great variety of redactions, each of which has taken time to develop and to spread far and in great numbers. (2) It is combined with other forms (especially Type 303) in spite of the fact that it has developed a form of its own which has a wide and active distribution. (3) Since it is possible to show special developments within particular redaction cycles, but often no direct connection between the various redactions, these fundamental differences must go far back. (4) Its presence Type 303 shows that it is at least as old as that type.

As mentioned before, Ranke is not attempting a history of The Dragon Slayer before it assumed the typical form found in the modern folktale. What its connection with Perseus and Andromeda or with Saint George and the Dragon may be he does not consider. There may well have been such older dragon fight stories which served as a foundation for the present tale, but the special complex which seems to have spread outward from France had taken on all of its present characteristics before its dissemination began. And it is only with the history of this fully formed tale that he is concerned.

As to The Two Brothers (Type 303) Ranke considers it as distinctly younger than the Dragon Rescue episode which it contains. It appears in the Bjarka saga of the fourteenth century and in Basile in the seventeenth. Its distribution would indicate considerable age, though its logical and complex structure, Ranke thinks, prevent it from being placed too far back.

In the case of both these tales (Types 300 and 303) the conclusions about age are extremely vague. They both have old elements, but as well-formed tale-types they would not seem to go back to antiquity. A combination of the currents of population movements since the beginning of the Middle Ages and the natural slow spreading of tales from place to place offers sufficient explanation for the present phenomenal distribution of these two tales over Europe and their sporadic occurrence in other continents.

Although the two stories which we have just considered in detail are those usually associated with the dragon fight, the dragon may also figure as the supernatural adversary in several other well-known tales. There is a tendency in these other stories, however, to leave the nature of the ogre or monster very vague—sometimes with human form, sometimes as a giant, and some times as a frightful being in half animal form.

Probably the best known of this whole group of stories is John the Bear, [p. 33] or The Bear's Son (Type 301). [15] In the most usual form of this tale, the hero has supernatural strength because of his marvelous birth. He has been supernaturally conceived or else he is the son of a bear who has stolen his mother. Even as a small boy he shows his extraordinary strength by breaking tools or by killing his playmates. He is eventually sent off from home and on his way he is joined by several extraordinary companions, a man of extraordinary sight, a keen hearer, and a great runner. [16] The three companions come to a house in the woods. They take turns in keeping house while the others are abroad. One after the other they are attacked by a monster who comes from an opening in the earth. On the third day, the hero keeps house and chases the monster through the hole to his abode in the lower world. His two companions let him down after the monster by means of a long rope, and they await his return while he has adventures in the lower world. There he finds a marvelous sword and conquers several monsters and rescues three maidens. He returns to the rope and has his companions raise the girls to the upper world. They take the girls off with them and leave him to his fate below.

He eventually reaches the upper world through the help of a spirit or, more often, of an eagle who carries him on his back and who demands to be fed. The hero feeds the eagle with his own flesh. He arrives at the home of the rescued princesses on the wedding day and, just as in the Dragon Rescue story, he sends his dogs to steal from the wedding feast, presents tokens, unmasks his rivals, and marries the most beautiful of the princesses.

Most versions of the tale are fairly true to the outline just given. Frequently, however, an entirely different introduction appears. A monster comes in the night and steals from the king's orchard. One after the other, the king's sons guard the orchard and watch for the monster. The youngest son pursues the thief and follows him into the lower world. The elder brothers wait for the hero, expecting to pull him up on a rope. The treacherous abandonment, the theft of the girls, and the conclusion of the story are exactly alike, whether introduced by John the Bear or by the Watch for the Devastating Monster.

This story is one of the most popular in the world. It is scattered over the whole of Europe, being especially well known in the Baltic states and in Russia. It is found in the Near East and North Africa but seems to have traveled only in fragments as far east as India. It is very popular among the French and Spanish who have taken it to America, where it has been adopted by American Indian tribes and also is told by the French in Canada and in Missouri. [p. 34]

In the story of The Skillful Hunter (Type 304) the supernatural opponents are usually spoken of as giants. With his magic gun which he has received from a green-clad huntsman or from an old woman, the hero displays his skill as a marksman. Among other exhibitions is the shooting of meat from the hands of giants. With these giants he agrees to go to abduct a queen. He enters the palace and then calls the giants in. As they enter one by one, he cuts off their heads. In the palace he finds a sleeping princess and lies with her without waking her. When he leaves he takes from her a handkerchief, a ring, or the like to use as a token. As in the Dragon Rescue story, an impostor comes forth and this time claims to be the unknown father of the princess's child. She refuses to marry him, however, and is punished by being made to live in a house in the woods and cook for everyone, or else to stay at an inn where all comers must tell their life history. In due time the hero appears to her, tells his story, produces his token, and receives the princess in marriage.

This tale has some interesting motifs, especially the deception of the giants and the princess's recognition in the inn, but it has never achieved great popularity among taletellers. Although it is current through most of central Europe and as far east as the Caucasus, only a single version appears in France, and no other so far west. Even in Finland, where tales have been so well collected, there are but few variants, and in the huge Lithuanian collections it does not appear at all, nor has it been carried by travelers or colonists to other continents. In all, not more than seventy-five versions have thus far been reported. [17]

The tale of The Danced-out Shoes (Type 306) presents the supernatural opponent of the hero in human form and as the lover of the princess. [18] It is discovered that a princess absents herself at night and always returns with her shoes danced to pieces. She is offered in marriage to the man who can solve the mystery of her conduct. She has succeeded in giving a narcotic to all those who have tried to follow her, but the hero refuses to drink and accompanies her on a magic underground journey. He possesses the power of making himself invisible and is able to observe her when she dances with the super natural being whom she visits every night. By means of tokens which he has brought from this subterranean realm, he is able to prove his story and to claim his reward.

This tale, like the last, seems to be primarily Central European with most frequent appearance in the area from Serbia north to Finland. It does not, so far as is now known, go east of Russia and is represented but once in France and Portugal. A single version is found in central Africa, and it has not thus [p. 35] far been reported in any other continents. Within its rather narrow geographical range it seems to be fairly popular, since somewhat more than a hundred variants are known.

The heroine in The Danced-out Shoes does not seem to be anxious to be rescued from her otherworld lover. In most tales, however, these supernatural lovers have forced themselves upon the princess and keep her in duress. One of the most popular tales of rescue from such an ogre lover is the story of The Monster with His Heart in the Egg (Type 302). The hero comes into possession of certain magic objects or powers which he finds useful in his adventures. He secures these magic aids in various ways: in some versions from grateful animals for whom he has made a just division of food, in some from giants whom he tricks into trading him their magic objects, in some from his animal brothers-in-law who give him the power of self-transformation. In any case, he hears that a princess has been carried off by an ogre and he goes to her rescue. He finds her and together they plot against the life of her unwelcome lover. She beguiles the ogre into telling her where he keeps his heart or what his life is bound up with. He tells her that his heart is to be found in a certain egg, very difficult of access or in a bird or insect which is guarded by dangerous beasts. The hero follows the instructions she gives him and finds the ogre's heart. When he destroys the heart, the ogre dies and the hero returns the princess to her home and receives his reward and takes the princess as his wife.

In the whole area from Ireland to India this tale has had a deserved popularity. It is frequently well told and the adventures of the hero and the princess in overcoming the monster lover have wide appeal to those who listen to tales of wonder. Within this area the tale has been reported some 250 times and seems to be well represented everywhere. In contrast to all the stories thus far mentioned it is popular in India. It has been pointed out that the versions in Asia place the ogre's heart in a bird or insect, whereas the typical European form has it in the egg. The story has been carried several times to Africa and to America, where it has taken its place in the traditions of the native Africans and the American Indians.

[11] This and similar numbers in parentheses after the title of a tale refer to Aarne-Thompson, The Types of the Folk-Tale (hereafter referred to as "Types").

[12] Die zwei Brüder.

[13] This reconstruction of the typical form of the tale is taken from Ranke, op. cit., p. 341.

[14] See p. 75, below.

[15] This story has never been thoroughly studied, though Panzer (Beowulf) has written a monograph pointing out the relations of this tale with the Beowulf epic. His conclusions are dubious.

[16] These extraordinary companions belong also to another story, Types 513, 514.

[17] This is to be compared with the 770 versions of The Two Brothers and more than a thousand versions of both The Dragon Rescue and The Bear's Son.

[18] For a series of other tales in which the heroine has a supernatural and usually monstrous lover, see Types 506-508.

Types:

300, 301, 302, 303, 304, 306, 330, 506-508, 513, 514, 530, 567, 650

II - The Complex Tale

2. Supernatural Adversaries

C. Devils and Demons

The people who tell folktales are not always clear in their conception of the supernatural creatures whom their heroes must meet in combat. In the stories of the return from the dead which have just been considered, the gruesome opponent is certainly no mere spectre, but has enough solidity to be dangerous and often unconquerable in combat. But just what these vampires or wandering dead men look like is never clearly stated. The same situation is found in tales about the devil.

Three or four different concepts seem to be thoroughly confused when the term "devil" is used by the teller of tales. In Germany and Scandinavian countries, it frequently means nothing more than the vague word "ogre." Thus when they speak of the "stupid devil" they may equally well say "the stupid ogre" or "the stupid giant." Again the term "devil" is frequently equivalent to the Oriental "demon," or even the "djinn" of the Arabian Nights. The English usage is likely to be somewhat narrower than those just suggested. "Devil" is likely to have some connection with Satan, the devil of Christian theology, and to have the outward appearances made familiar by long centuries of medieval writers and artists. Indispensable as part of his equipment are his cloven hoofs, his tail, and usually his pointed ears—the whole possibly a reminiscence of Pan and the satyrs of old Greek legend. [26]

Except when conceived of as an ogre, the devil does not usually engage his opponent in open combat. The power which he exerts is normally super-natural.

Most "devil" stories consist of a single incident. Such, for example, is The [p. 43] Snares of the Evil One (Type 810), in which the man who is promised to the devil is permitted by the priest to spend the night when the devil should come for him in the church. The priest draws about the man a ring which the devil may not enter. The man resists the devil's temptation to come out and in this way saves himself. This little story is hardly known outside of Scandinavia and the Baltic states, but is very popular there.

Entirely confined to the Baltic states are two other simple tales of adventures with the devil. In one of these he takes service as a mower and works under an evil overseer. The devil has a magic sickle and mows so fast that when the overseer tries to keep up with him he dies of exhaustion (Type 820). In the other (Type 815) a rich man's money is buried in his grave within the church. When the devil comes to get the money, the cobbler draws a circle about him and keeps him away. The cobbler himself steals the money and nails the devil fast.

Though most of these stories of the devil as an adversary are short and simple, they are not always so. The Devil's Riddle (Type 812), a tale especially popular in Germany and the Baltic states and sometimes heard in southern and western Europe, has a complex plot and frequently an elaborate treatment. It begins with the well-known devil's contract, by the terms of which the hero (sometimes three heroes) promises himself to the devil at the end of a certain time if he cannot solve the riddles which the devil propounds. The devil has various objects which appear to be different from what they really are. The hero must guess their real nature. For example, what really seems to be a horse is a he-goat. Some of the other illusions are a piece of cloth (a goat-skin), a gold cup (a cup of pitch), roast meat (a dead dog), a spoon (a whale rib), a wine glass (a horse's hoof), and the like. Sometimes the devil asks seemingly impossible questions such as What is sweeter than honey? What is softer than swan's down? or What is harder than stone? Sometimes he asks for symbolic interpretations of the numbers one to seven. Or he may set the hero a series of impossible tasks. It will be seen that this part of the tale offers opportunity for large variation. The methods whereby the hero learns the solution are much more uniform, for most of them depend upon the fact that in some way the hero overhears the devil. Sometimes he masks and sometimes he hides with the help of the devil's grandmother. If it is tasks he must perform, the hero gets the help of some supernatural being. In all cases he succeeds in outwitting the devil and escaping from the fulfillment of the contract.

Certain of the details of this story appear elsewhere. The contract in which the hero, like Faust, promises himself to the devil forms the introduction to several other well-known complex tales. [27] Besides these there is to be found a considerable number of short anecdotes, consisting of only a single motif, in which the man who sells his soul to the devil saves it by deceit, usually [p. 44] by imposing some impossible task (Types 1170-1199). The devil in these stories is stupid and the principal point of these tales is the contrast between him and the clever hero. All these stories are popular in Scandinavia and the Baltic countries, though most of them are not unknown in the rest of Europe. Such is the tale of the man who is to belong to the devil as soon as he has sold all his goods, but if he has any goods that no one will buy he is to go free. He puts an evil old woman in a glass case and offers her for sale. When the devil sees her, he realizes that no one will buy her, and releases the man (Type 1170).

Among the impossible tasks assigned the devil in stories of this kind are catching rabbits in nets set out in high trees (Type 1171), collecting all stones from the brook or field, making knots from drops of spilled brandy, making a rope from sand, straightening curly hair, catching a man's breath, pumping out water from the whole sea, or catching water in a sieve (Types 1171-1180). Other kinds of cheats are perpetrated on the devil. Having agreed to give the devil a part of his body, the man gives him a paring from his fingernail (Type 1181).

Three other deceptive bargains are The Level Bushel, The Last Leaf, and The First Crop (Types 1182, 1184, and 1185). In the first, the student is to come into the devil's power if, at the end of a year, he does not at least return for the heaping bushel of gold a level one. The student immediately hands back the level bushel and keeps the surplus. In the second the man is to pay the devil when the last leaf falls from the tree. It is an oak tree and the leaf never falls. The oak also figures in the third of these stories. The man is to pay the devil as soon as he harvests his first crop, but he plants acorns and the devil must wait long. These three tales are widely distributed and popular over most of Europe.

Frequently the escape from the devil takes place at the last minute. The hero asks for a delay while he repeats a prayer for the last time (Type 1199). The man arranges never to finish the prayer and the devil is cheated. Sometimes other last requests are made, to be allowed to finish dressing or the like. [28]

Most of these short anecdotes about escape from the devil belong primarily to the oral tradition, but the tale of The Devil and the Advocate (Type 1186) has received first-rate literary treatment. Chaucer uses it as his "Friar's Tale," but it had already appeared more than a century before in Der Strieker's Pfaffe Amis. In spite of its primary literary association, the anecdote is also handed around by word of mouth and has been so reported from Scandinavian countries. The devil refuses to take anything which is not offered him with the whole heart. He hears the advocate cursed for fraud ("The devil take you!") with such sincerity that he carries him off.

The tales about the devil thus far mentioned have assumed that the devil [p. 45] was wandering about upon the face of the earth. We shall find several stories, treated later in other connections, in which the devil is found in hell. [29] One short anecdote of this kind tells how the devil is deceived into putting on "the chains of Solomon." He is thus bound and must stay in hell. [30]

We shall find the devil in two other connections. As mentioned once before, he is sometimes conceived of as a stupid ogre, [31] as in some of the tales we have already met. Sometimes, however, the devil is by no means stupid and turns out to be a very valuable ally and helper of the hero. In such stories [32] the devil's cleverness is emphasized and not, as in the tales we have just discussed, his malevolence or stupidity.

[26] For literature on the subject of the devil, see motif G303.

[27] See Types 330, 360, and 756B. For this motif, see M211.

[28] For a discussion of this motif in its many varieties, see K551.

[29] See pp. 66, 131, and 252, below.

[30] Type 803. See also J. Balys, "Lithuanian Legends of the Devil in Chains," Tautosakos Darbai (Publication of the Lithuanian Folklore Archives), III (1937), 321-333 (25 Lithuanian variants).

[31] See p. 35, above.

[32] See p. 66, below.

Types:

330, 360, 756B, 803, 810, 812, 815, 820, 1170, 1170-1199, 1171, 1171-1180, 1181, 1182, 1184, 1185, 1186, 1199

Motifs

G303, K551, M211

II - The Complex Tale

2. Supernatural Adversaries

D. Death in Person

In his malevolent character, the devil is sometimes thought of as the equivalent of Death, or even its personification. This confusion is particularly apparent in the tale generally known as The Smith and the Devil or The Smith and Death (Type 330).

This story has been told in so many forms, both literary and oral, that a clear history of it would be very difficult to trace. Motifs are added or omitted with the greatest freedom, though a central core serves to maintain its identity. The following generalized statement of the tale contains most of the incidents which occur with any frequency. The smith has made a contract with the devil that in return for becoming a master-smith he is to belong to the devil after a certain time. In some way, occasionally from the Lord or Saint Peter, who is wandering on the earth, he receives three objects: a tree and a bench that cause people to stick to them, and a knapsack that draws persons into it. In the course of his adventures he causes the devil (or Death) to stick to the tree or the bench. Sometimes Death is put in the knapsack and pounded on the anvil until he gives up his claim on the smith. At last the smith goes to hell, but he is not admitted, since the devil has lost power over him. He therefore goes to heaven, but he is unknown there and is refused admittance. But he gets permission to throw his knapsack inside and the knapsack pulls him after it.

Though the versions are confused and the motifs freely interchanged, there is a tendency for the adventures with the Lord and Saint Peter to appear in connection with Death sticking to the tree (Type 330A). The magic knapsack is naturally found where the smith enters into heaven by a trick (Type 330B). In the course of his experiences with the Lord and Saint Peter, the [p. 46] story may tell of how he unsuccessfully attempts to imitate a miracle by which the Lord rejuvenates an old woman or shoes a horse by cutting off his leg and later putting it back (Type 753).

The idea of Death sticking to the tree or to a stool can be traced back to antiquity, where it is found in both Greek and Hebrew originals. The story with most of the motifs mentioned above appeared in literary form in Italian as early as 1525 and became the subject of a very popular French chapbook, "Histoire nouvelle et divertissante du bonhomme Misère, par le sieur de La Rivière" (Rouen, 1719). This was often reprinted and has been the basis of many literary treatments. The most striking part of the story, Death on the Tree, was recently used as the central motif of the cinema production "On Borrowed Time." [33]

The story has had considerable popularity as an oral tale, whether or not the tradition may eventually go back to a written form. It is known literally all over Europe and as far east as the Caucasus and Palestine. It is found in Iceland, Scotland, Spain, and Italy, but its greatest popularity is in central and northern Europe—Germany, Lithuania, Estonia, and Finland. At least 25 versions are found in Russia.

An adequate study of the history of this tale remains to be made. Even a superficial glance at the material indicates that such a study, while extremely exacting on the scholar who undertakes it, would show many interesting results. Such problems as the looseness or stability of a folktale type, and the mutual relations of written and oral versions would be ever present. One problem, however, the scholar would escape: the story does not seem to have been carried and transplanted into remote parts of the earth.

Also the subject of frequent literary handlings from at least as early as the year 1300 is the story of Godfather Death (Type 332). The tale begins with the well-known motif of the search for a godfather. For this office a poor man chooses Death, since he considers him more just than either God or the Devil. As godfather, Death gives to him (or sometimes to his son) the power of seeing Death standing at the head or the foot of a sick bed, and thus forecasting the progress of sickness. By using this power, the man becomes a famous doctor. When the man himself sees Death approaching he escapes by a trick. In some versions he turns the bed around and thus confuses Death; in others he asks for time to finish the Lord's Prayer, but never gets to the end. [34] At last, however, Death gets his revenge. In some way he tricks the man into finishing the prayer, or else he takes the man to the lower world, where all the living are represented by life-lights. When he comes to the man's own light, he puts it out. [35] The history and distribution of this tale [p. 47] is almost identical with the one we have just discussed, The Smith and Death. Though it appears frequently in medieval literature and has continued to be a subject for artistic and literary treatments, [36] it is widely. known by tellers of oral folktales in all parts of Europe and as far afield as Iceland and Palestine. Its greatest popularity is in the Baltic countries, Scandinavia, and Germany. It is also well established in the folklore of France, Spain, and Italy. The interrelation of the oral and the written versions is not easy to untangle.

While we are discussing stories concerning Death mention should be made of a literary tale, "Death's Messengers" (Type 335), popular with such collectors of exempla and moralistic tales as Bromyard, Johannes Pauli, and Hans Sachs, and having its ultimate origins in Buddhistic literature. Death promises a man to give him warning of his approach. He gives the man a blow, blindness, white hairs, etc. In spite of these messengers of Death, the man fails to understand the signs and lives happily on. This tale cannot be said to have found a place in folklore, since it has been so rarely reported by collectors.

Finally, before leaving those stories which concern supernatural adversaries, there remains the tale of The Spirit in the Bottle (Type 331) or The Bottle Imp. Though its treatment in the Arabian Nights is undoubtedly most familiar to the literary world, it has been frequently told in every century since the Middle Ages, and the experiences have been attributed variously to such worthies as Paracelsus, Theophrastus, or Virgil. Oral versions are only occasionally encountered and these are likely to be closely related to some literary retelling. The essential point in all versions is that a man frees an evil spirit from a bottle and in return receives some magic power. Finally he succeeds in tricking the spirit back into the bottle.

What kind of spirit is meant in this tale of the bottle is never clearly defined. He is apparently a demon of some kind, but is seldom or never to be identified with the devil. This indeterminate quality has been observed also in many of the other stories of supernatural adversaries which we have now considered. In the next group of tales, where we shall encounter a group of extraordinary helpers, a similar confusion in the exact nature of the helpers will be observed.

[33] For a discussion of the literary forms of this tale, see Bolte-Polívka, II, 186ff.

[34] We have already seen this motif (K551.1) in another connection ( style="color: #ff0000;">Type 312).

[35] This tale has been studied by R. Th. Christiansen in Danske Studier (1915), pp. 72-78. His study is based upon 124 variants.

[36] For these, see Bolte-Polívka, I, 382.

Types:

312, 330, 330A, 330B, 331, 332, 335, 753

Motifs

K551

Part Two

The Folktale from Ireland to India

II – The Complex Tale

10. The three worlds

A. Journey to the Other World

If one considers the multiform origins of the European and Asiatic folktale—the basic traditions going back perhaps to prehistoric times, the older Oriental tale collections with their reflections of ancient religions, the Celtic and Norse mythological stories, and the legends of the medieval Church—he will not be surprised to find that beliefs in other worlds than this in which we live are not only to be taken for granted as a part of the imaginative background of folktales but constitute the real focus of interest in a number of stories. We have already noticed tales in which the hero makes a journey to the other world. Sometimes this is thought of as the lower world, like Dante's Hell. Such it was in The Devil's Contract (Type 756B) and in The Man as Heater of Hell's Kettle (Type 475), to mention only two. In other tales the concept [p. 147] of an upper world, the Christian Heaven, is clear. We have already seen the smith who tries unsuccessfully to get into both Hell and Heaven (Type 330). Sometimes the direction in which the journey to the other world is made is very vaguely indicated. It is not unusual to find this realm across a body of water, [218] but it must be remembered that Charon's boat seemed to carry Greek souls across a lake or stream, but nevertheless into a lower world. Celtic tradition has been particularly interested in terrestrial other worlds lying across mountains or on distant islands.

It is all but impossible to come to any understanding of the way in which a story-teller visualizes his other world. For most of the European folktales, it seems fair to assume a belief in three worlds: the earth on which one lives in his normal state of being; the upper world, or the Christian Heaven, but sometimes merely another realm where extraordinary things happen; thirdly, a lower world compounded of ideas from vision literature as illustrated in Dante, of old Greek conceptions of Hades, and perhaps of even more ancient beliefs in a hierarchy of worlds. These upper and lower worlds are not always far removed, for trees may grow to the upper world in a single night [219] and a rope may be sufficient to let one down into the lower. [220]

In the two somewhat related stories which we shall now notice, the other world seems very vaguely imagined. The first of these, Friends in Life and Death (Type 470), is known in literature through the legend of Don Juan. [221] The tale frequently begins with the pledge of two friends never to part. When one of them dies, the living friend invites the dead man to visit him on Christmas, and he goes with him when he returns to the other world. The other opening of the story is that peculiar to the Don Juan legend: a man in a churchyard invites a skull, or a memorial statue, to dinner, and then is compelled to go off with the skull. In any case, the living man makes the journey to the other world. On the way he sees many strange sights. Among them are fat and lean kine (as in the story of Joseph), a broad and narrow road, people and things that continually strike one another, and the like. The living man goes to sleep by a stream of water and when he wakes he finds that he is covered with moss. He also sees in the other world houses of feast and of mourning. When he returns to this world he finds that he has been away for many centuries. All is changed and he knows no one. The ending of the tale varies. Sometimes he dies the next day by falling from a tree or from a high place. Other versions report that he vanished after prayer.

This story has appeared in Europe in literary form since the beginning of [p. 148] the thirteenth century [222] and it was popular in the collections of exempla used by the priesthood. But its oral history is by no means confined to Roman Catholic countries. An excellent Tartar version is reported from Siberia, and it is also popular in Scandinavia and the Baltic countries.

Closely related to this in many of its motifs is The Bridge to the Other World (Type 471). As far as its introduction is concerned, the action is already familiar to us. [223] Three brothers, one after the other, set out on a quest. Sometimes this is to find their lost sister, but it may be any kind of quest to a distant land. On the way, the boys are appointed to herd seven foals (or oxen) and at the end of the day they are to bring back a sample of the animals' food. The elder brothers get into trouble. Sometimes they are lured away by a bird, or they yield to the suggestions of an old woman that they rest. In any event, they turn aside from a certain bridge which they should have crossed and are consequently turned into stone. The youngest brother, on the other hand, crosses the bridge which leads over into another world. In this world most unusual things happen. Animals pass in and out of a church and become human beings. Stones continually strike on each other. Wild boars fight. And the hero sees fat and lean kine and many another strange sight. From the altar in the church he takes bread and wine to carry back with him. The animals follow him back and he cuts off their heads and disenchants them. A religious explanation is given of everything that he has seen. The story ends, with the disenchantment of his brothers.

The relation of certain parts of this tale with the one immediately preceding is obvious. The strange sights in the other world are frequently the same in the two stories, and in both cases constitute the center of interest. There may be some connection between these tales and the story of The Angel and the Hermit, already noticed (Type 759), in which we have peculiar events which are later explained and made reasonable.

But the story of The Bridge to the Other World is well known as an independent tale. There are early literary parallels in India, and the tale appears as we know it in Europe in the Seven Sages tradition. [224] Orally, it does not seem to have become really popular except in Norway, Iceland, and Russia, though excellent versions are reported from Brittany, Mexico, North Africa, and especially from the Tartars of Siberia.

[218] Such is usually true in the stories of The Three Hairs from the Devil's Beard (Type 461).

[219] See Jack and the Beanstalk, Type 328.

[220] See The Bear's Son, Type 301.

[221] For a discussion of the relation of the Don Juan legend to this tale, see Bolte, Zeitschrift für vergleichende Litteraturgeschichte, XIII, 389.

[222] For its use in literature, see Köhler, Kleinere Schriften, II, 224ff. A recent definitive study is Dorothy Epplen MacKay, The Double Invitation in the Legend of Don Juan, Stanford University, 1943.

[223] See, for example, a number of the tales discussed on pages 105ff., above, under the heading "Tasks and Quests."

[224] For these Oriental relationships, see: Oertel, Studien zur vergleichenden Litteraturgeschichte, VIII, 123, and Chauvin, Bibliographie, VIII, 160, No. 168.

Types:

301, 328, 330, 470, 471, 475, 756B, 759

Part Two

The Folktale from Ireland to India

II – The Complex Tale

10. The three worlds

B. At The Gate of Heaven

The other world in these two stories of extraordinary sights has no striking counterpart in the teachings of the Christian Church and, though they [p. 149] were beloved of the medieval clergy, it is likely that concepts from other systems of thought have entered in. In the stories about Heaven, however, and especially those which picture Saint Peter as acting as the doorman of Paradise, [225] no such exotic influence is probable. It is entirely in line with traditions current in all Christian countries.

Already, in the tale of The Smith and The Devil (Type 330), we have seen the rascally smith getting permission from Saint Peter to throw his magic knapsack inside the door of heaven and then successfully wishing himself in it. This is but one of the many tricks employed to get by the heavenly porter. [226] Not all the tales of the gate of heaven, however, are concerned with merely deceiving the gateman. Of those which develop this basic situation otherwise, there are four which have acquired some popularity in folklore.

First may be mentioned The Tailor in Heaven (Type 800). One day, when God is absent, Peter admits an unworthy tailor into heaven. Thereupon the tailor becomes censorious of behavior on earth and finally throws God's foot stool at an old woman thief in the world below. For his presumption, he is expelled from heaven. This story was a favorite among the writers of jestbooks in the Renaissance. Presumably from these written accounts it has been taken over by story-tellers in various parts of Europe and as far east in Asia as the Buryat in Siberia. [227]

Another grumbler to be admitted into heaven is Master Pfriem (Type 801). He has been warned by Saint Peter that he must never find fault with what he sees. When he enters, he sees so many absurd things happening that he cannot keep from complaining and is eventually expelled. A considerable part of the story is concerned with a description of the absurd things the cobbler sees: men carrying a beam crosswise through a narrow gate; others putting water in a tub full of holes, and the like. He is able to remain silent for a long time, but his resolution is broken down when he sees horses hitched both before and behind a wagon and pulling against each other. We have really two traditions in this folktale. The first is the admission to heaven, provided no fault be found. The tale in this simple form appears in both the fabliaux and the jestbook literature, and was known orally as early as the sixteenth century in Germany. As to the illogical and absurd events used to test Master Pfriem's restraint, these have a much older history. Some of them go back to Greek myths and some are found in the saints' legends of the Middle Ages. [228] In modern folklore, the tale of Master Pfriem has a very limited popularity. It is probable that the few versions reported from France and Scandinavia and sporadically elsewhere are really only retellings of the version in Grimm or in one of the older jestbooks. [p. 150]

Much better established as an oral narrative is the tale of Saint Peter's Mother (Type 804). Though she has been sent to hell for her uncharitableness, the Saint receives permission to pull her out of hell on a stalk and thus raise her to heaven. When the other dead catch hold of her feet, she kicks them off and, as punishment, falls back into hell herself. This story has been traced back to a German poem of the fifteenth century, but it has existed primarily on the lips of illiterate story-tellers in eastern and southern Europe, where more than a hundred versions have been recorded. It has also traveled far into Siberia, where it is told by the Mongols.

The Grimms also told the story of The Peasant in Heaven (Type 802), though it seems to be very little known elsewhere. [229] The peasant is received in silence because the entrance of peasants into heaven is not unusual. But when at length a rich man comes in, there is song and dance and great festivity in celebration of the rare event.

[225] For this whole series of tales, see Köhler, "Sanct Petrus, der Himmclspförtner," Aufsätze, pp. 48-78.

[226] See Motif K2371.1 and all its subdivisions.

[227] For the Buryat tale, see Holmberg, Siberian Mythology, p. 441.

[228] For a discussion of these motifs, see Bolte-Polívka, III, 302f.

[229] For the scattering German, Danish, Catalonian, Serbian, and Lithuanian versions, see Bolte-Polívka, III, 274.

Types:

330, 800, 801, 802, 804

Motifs

K2371.1

Part Two

The Folktale from Ireland to India

II – The Complex Tale

12. Origin and history of the complex tales

Not every complex tale known to story-tellers of the area we are considering has found a place in the discussion just concluded. But practically all of those omitted are of very limited distribution. [283] With each tale the main facts about its history and its occurrences in oral tradition have been indicated wherever conclusions seemed possible. While discussing each tale, I have had before me a summary of the scholarship which has been devoted to it and a complete list of oral versions insofar as the extensive reference books and regional surveys now available made this possible. Frequently the mere bringing together of this material was sufficient to compel conclusions about the tale which do not seem likely to need revision. But when all tales with such clear-cut histories have been considered, there remain a large number which present problems sufficient to occupy the attention of scholars for many a decade to come.

Of these complex tales, along with a few closely related simple anecdotes, we have examined somewhat over two hundred. The order in which they have been taken up has been determined by their subject matter. And that means that tales about the same kinds of characters or incidents have been brought together, often when there was no organic relationship between them and when they had little if anything in common in their origin and history. When so much remains dark about the beginnings and about the vicissitudes of so large a number of our folktales, no complete account of them can be based upon historical categories.

Nevertheless, in a very tentative way it may be of interest to see which of our tales have a history that can be proclaimed with some confidence, which of them show great probabilities of proper solution, and which of them still present difficult problems.

That many of our European and Asiatic folktales go back to a literary source is as clear as any fact of scholarship can be made. There would thus seem to be no reason to doubt that an Oriental literary text is responsible for the subsequent development of a considerable number of tales which have received oral currency in Europe and sometime in the Orient. In the older Buddhistic sources [284] are found: Death's Messengers (Type 335); Six Go Through the Whole World (Type 513A); The Three Snake Leaves (Type 612); [p. 177] The Two Travelers (Type 613); The Animal Languages (Type 670); "Think Carefully Before You Begin a Task" (Type 910C); The Brave Tailor (Type 1640); and Doctor Know-All (Type 1641). In the Ocean of Story, a Sanskrit collection brought together in the twelfth century but based upon much older material, there appear, as probable originals of the European oral tradition, versions of: Wise Through Experience (Type 910A); The Servant's Good Counsels (Type 910B); and Faithful John (Type 516). From other collections of literary tales originating in India appear to come: The Bridge to the Other World (Type 471); The Four Skillful Brothers (Type 653); The Wise Brothers (Type 655); and One Beggar Trusts God, the Other the King (Type 841). From various literary sources in India the incidents which make up two of our related tales have been taken and unified at some point before they entered into the oral tradition of the west. [285] These two are : The Son of the King and of the Smith (Type 920); and The King and the Peasant's Son (Type 921). Whatever may be the ultimate source of the stories in the Thousand and One Nights, several of our old folktales are found in that work in much the form in which these stories first reached European taletellers. Among these tales appearing in the Arabian Nights are: Siddhi Numan (Type 449*); Aladdin (Type 561); Open Sesame (Type 676); Luck and Wealth (Type 736); Hatch-penny (Type 745); Oft Proved Fidelity (Type 881); The Treasure of the Hanging Man (Type 910D); and The Forty Thieves (Type 954). Finally, of these tales of Oriental origin, may be mentioned one which appears in the Persian collection, The Thousand and One Days. This is The Prophecy (Type 930).

Similarly, an ultimate origin in European literature seems unmistakable for a dozen or more of the stories current today, whether locally or over the complete European-Asiatic area. Three of the tales which we have noticed certainly go back to Greek literature: Oedipus (Type 931) to Sophocles; Rhampsinitus (Type 950) to Herodotus; and The Wolf and the Kids (Type 123) to the Aesop collection. A fourteenth century Latin poem, the Asinarius, is responsible for the very few oral versions of The Ass (Type 430). Folktales have borrowed very freely from saints' legends: certainly Pride Is Punished (Type 836) is a mere oral treatment of the legend of Polycarp. The great collections of illustrative tales which in the Middle Ages went under the name of Exempla contained a considerable number of folktales. Frequently it is impossible to tell whether they may be reworkings of oral tradition, but sometimes it is quite evident that the oral tale is taken directly from the literary collection. This is clearly true of: Friends in Life and Death (Type 470); The Boy Who Learned Many Things (Type 517); The Three Languages (Type 671); The Angel and the Hermit (Type 759); and Who Ate the Lamb's Heart (Type 785). At least two tales seem to have been learned from the work of the German Meistersinger: The Faithful Wife (Type 888); and [p. 178] The Pound of Flesh (Type 890). Of course, both of these tales were used by Shakespeare, and that fact has doubtless been of influence on their subsequent popularity. Many stories have undoubtedly originated among the people of Italy, and it is sometimes difficult to know whether a tale recounted by those great writers of novelle beginning with Boccaccio was learned from the people or was invented by the author. For at least three of our folktales such literary invention by the novella writer seems the most reasonable hypothesis. The Wager on the Wife's Chastity (Type 882) is in Boccaccio's Decameron; The Luck-Bringing Shirt (Type 844) in the Pecorone of Ser Giovanni; and The Taming of the Shrew (Type 901) in the Nights of Straparola. The Pentamerone of Giambattista Basile of the early seventeenth century is almost completely made up of oral folktales, though transformed into an extraordinary literary style. But it is probable that he invented several tales by freely combining traditional material. Such seems to be the situation with The Forsaken Fiancée (Type 884). Finally, at least one tale given currency by the Grimms, The Two Girls, the Bear, and the Dwarf (Type 426), comes directly from a German literary collection of stories which appeared in 1818.

The fact that one may cite a literary form of a story, even a very old version, is by no means proof that we have arrived at the source of the tradition. Nothing is better authenticated in the study of traditional narrative than the fact that the literary telling of a tale may represent merely one of hundreds of examples of the story in question and have for the history of the tradition no more significance than any other one of the hundreds of variants at hand. Apuleius's telling of Cupid and Psyche and the author of Tobit's version of The Grateful Dead Man tale appear both to be rather late and somewhat, aberrant forms of much older oral tales. With this warning in mind, the careful student should be slow in arriving at the conclusion that a stated literary document is the fountainhead of a particular narrative tradition. For those tales which we have just listed, the actual dependence on the literary source has seemed well established. In addition to these, there are a considerable number for which there is a well-known early literary form to which the weight of evidence would point probably, but not quite certainly, as the actual source. Some of these tales have been very popular among story-tellers, and have spread over two or more continents, and some have had only a very limited acceptance among the people. The degree of popularity and the geographical extent of the distribution is a fact which must be taken into consideration with every tale when we are trying to judge the question of its ultimate literary or oral invention. For this reason, in listing the tales with probable literary sources, it is helpful to indicate briefly what type of oral distribution each has.

At least related to the old Greek story of The Cranes of Ibycus is the tale The Sun Brings All to Light (Type 960; oral: Spain to Russia). From saints' [p. 179] legends at least two oral tales appear to have been taken: Hospitality Rewarded (Type750B; oral: scattered thinly over most of Europe); and Christ and the Smith (Type 753; oral: all Europe, especially the Baltic states). Certainly influenced by some of the legends of the popes, if not directly borrowed from them, is The Dream (Type 725; oral: moderately popular in eastern Europe and the Baltic states). In addition to the folktales which we are sure have come from books of Exempla, there are several where such an origin seems likely: The King and the Robber (Type 951A; oral: Germany and the Baltic states, sporadic in Hungary and Russia); The Old Robber Relates Three Adventures (Type 953; oral: thinly scattered, Ireland to Roumania); and "We Three; For Money" (Type 1697; oral: thinly scattered over all Europe). The influence of the chivalric romance in general is seen in The Bride Won in a Tournament (Type 508) which was told in Straparola's Nights and received frequent literary treatment in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, but has been collected orally only in three versions in Lithuania.

The rich prose literature of medieval Iceland has in it many folktale elements, most of which doubtless go back to popular tradition. But this may not have been true in all cases: an Icelandic prose tale of 1339 seems to lie back of the oral tale Godfather Death (Type 332; oral: Iceland to Palestine, especially the Baltic states, but not Russia). A medieval chronicle of 1175 probably forms the beginning of the tradition later carried on through French and German jestbooks and at least one English play, and connected with the name of a famous Lord Mayor of London. This is Whittington's Cat (Type 1651; oral: scattered from western Europe to Indonesia, especially popular in Finland).

The jestbooks of the Renaissance contain a number of folktales. In many cases, these were taken from older literary collections, or indeed from oral tradition. But occasionally they seem to have served as a real source for tales which now belong to the folk. Such would seem to be true of The Wishes (Type 750A; oral: popular throughout Europe, sporadic in China); The Tailor in Heaven (Type 800; oral: scattered thinly over Europe, sporadic among Buryat of Siberia); The Devil as Advocate (Type 821; oral: all Europe, especially Baltic, moderately popular); Sleeping Beauty (Type 410; oral: scattered thinly over Europe, one-third of versions Italian, based on Basile); and The Three Brothers (Type 654; oral: confined to Europe).

A German literary tale of the thirteenth century may well be the beginning of The Frog King (Type 440; oral: Germany to Russia only). The habit of writing literary folktales was carried on into the eighteenth century, both in France and in Germany. Many of these tales never assumed any oral popularity. On the other hand, The Girls Who Married Animals (Type 552), although concocted by Musäus at the end of the eighteenth century of authentic oral material, combined with an analogous tale in Basile, has since entered into the stream of oral tradition in the form he then designed. Its [p. 180] oral distribution shows the greatest inconsistency and indicates frequent direct use of the literary source.

For all the tales mentioned thus far in this summary there seems a strong probability of ultimate literary origin. But it cannot be too frequently repeated that the fact of the appearance of a tale in some literary document is no proof that it did not originate among the people. Oral tales have been a very fruitful source For literary story-tellers everywhere. It thus happens that frequently the literary appearance of a story only represents one of many hundreds of versions and is, of course, less important in the history of the tale than the oral variant from which the story was borrowed. It is not always easy to tell when a story belongs primarily to oral tradition and frequently the problem of priority is quite unsolvable. But a very considerable number of tales appearing in literary collections show such a preponderance of oral variants, as well as other indications of popular origin, that their literary appearance would seem to be purely incidental. There can be little doubt that they are all essentially oral, both in origin and in history.

Several such oral tales have found a place in Oriental literary collections. In the Hindu fable collection, the Panchatantra, occurs a good part of the tale of Luck and Intelligence (Type 945); it also occurs in recent literary form in India, but has a vigorous life in popular tradition of India and the Near East, and sporadically as far afield as Germany and the Philippines. In the Ocean of Story, as well as in the Thousand and One Nights, occur fragments of Devils Fight over Magic Objects (Type 518; oral: all Europe, western Asia, and North Africa) and of The Prince's Wings (Type 575; oral: sparingly over north and eastern Europe). In the Ocean of Story, likewise, there is an analogue of The Girl as Helper in the Hero's Flight (Type 313). This story does not otherwise appear in central Asia but is one of the most popular of all oral folktales in Europe and America; it is no wonder that it has been retold by such story-tellers as Straparola and Basile. Two tales popular in the tradition of the Near East appear in the Persian Tuti Nameh: The Grateful Animals (Type 554; oral: Europe and Asia, especially Baltic countries) and The Magic Bird-heart (Type 567; oral: eastern and southern Europe, and Persia; origin probably in Persian tradition). In an Arabic history of the ninth century appears an abbreviated version of The King and the Abbot (Type 922), though Walter Anderson has shown that the tradition is certainly oral, in spite of frequent literary treatments in Europe. Likewise, the occurrence of the story of The Monster in the Bridal Chamber (Type 507B) in the apocryphal Book of Tobit does not carry the implication that this version is the source of the tradition: it is obviously a late and considerably modified form of the story, which appears to have developed orally in the Near East.

Much more frequently have oral tales found a place in one or more European collections of literary stories. In another place more specific mention [p. 181] is made of popular tales embedded in the Greek or Latin classics. [286] Sometimes these retellings represent rather faithfully what must have been the plot of one of our oral tales at the time and place it was heard, though there may be radical adaptation to literary form or fashion. Such is true of the retelling of the tale of Polyphemus (Type 1137) by Homer, of Cupid and Psyche (Type 425) by Apuleius, and of Perseus and Andromeda (a version of Type 300? ) by various writers of myths.

It is sometimes difficult to tell whether such a classical story as that of Perseus is really a version of a folktale now current in Europe. There is little doubt, however, that the appearance of the story of The Dragon-Slayer (Type 300) in connection with that of The Two Brothers (Type 303) in Icelandic saga does represent an actual version of an oral tale, apparently originating in France, and now known by almost every taleteller in the world. In Icelandic saga there also appears a version of The Clever Peasant Girl (Type 875), though this does not represent its source, which is certainly oral and central European. The learning of animal speech by eating the flesh of a serpent occurs in a German and Baltic oral tale (Type 673) and also in the Siegfried story, but this is the only parallel, and the resemblance may not indicate actual relationship.

In other literary forms of the Middle Ages there occasionally appear oral tales. Geoffrey of Monmouth, in telling the story of King Lear, includes the incident of Love Like Salt (Type 923), widely known, not only through Shakespeare's treatment, but also as a part of the Cinderella cycle (Type 510). The chivalric romances, likewise, contain much that must have been taken directly from the people. Marie de France thus tells the tale of The Prince as Bird (Type 432), which, though certainly oral, has been frequently retold by both medieval and Renaissance writers. In some versions of the Tristram story occur elements of The Clever Horse (Type 531; oral: western Europe to the Philippines, origin probably India), and in an Icelandic saga of the fourteenth century there is a much clearer version. In the Fortunatus romance, which occurs in many forms, there is found a version of The Three Magic Objects and the Wonderful Fruits (Type 566), essentially west European folk tradition. The Gesta Romanorum, and later, Hans Sachs, have versions of The Three Doctors (Type 660), a tradition well known from Ireland to Russia. Despite the fact that the French and German fabliaux are usually literary in content, at least two oral tales are used in such collections: The Hero Catches the Princess with Her Own Words (Type 853) and King Thrushbeard (Type 900).

Though the jestbooks which were in vogue during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries normally consist of very simple anecdotes, occasionally they included a complex folk story, like Hansel and Gretel (Type 327A); Master Pfriem (Type 801); One-Eye, Two-Eyes, Three-Eyes (Type 511); The [p. 182] Student from Paradise (Type 1540); or The Three Lucky Brothers (Type 1650). The latter story also appears in a collection of novelle. These prose tale collections, beginning as early as Boccaccio's Decameron, sometimes contain stories which the author had heard, though they are usually much changed in style from what must have been the oral original. Such is true of The Smith Outwits the Devil (Type 330), and of Six Go Through the Whole World (Type 513). The latter tale appears in many other literary collections, both Oriental and European.

For the history of the folktale, two collections in the novella tradition are especially important. Insofar as they contain folktales, they are either purely oral stories or else tales of literary origin which had already become a part of the folklore of Italy. Many of these oral tales have their first literary appearance in these collections. In the Pleasant Nights of Straparola in the sixteenth century are versions of: The Magician and His Pupil (Type 325; apparently of oral origin in India); The Youth Who Wanted to Learn What Fear Is (Type 326); The Youth Transformed to a Horse (Type 314; one of the most popular of oral tales); Cap o' Rushes (Type 510B); The Three Golden Sons (Type 707); Our Lady's Child (Type 710); The Cat Castle (Type 545A); Puss in Boots (Type 545B); and The Lazy Boy (Type 675).

An even longer list of oral tales is found for the first time in the Pentamerone of Basile, 1634-36. Among them are: The Maiden in the Tower (Type 310); The Black and the White Bride (Type 403); The Three Oranges (Type 408); Little Brother and Little Sister (Type 450); The Maiden Who Seeks her Brothers (Type 451); The Spinning-Woman by the Spring (Type 480); The Three Old Women Helpers (Type 501); Dung-beetle (Type 559); The Magic Ring (Type 560); The Louse-Skin (Type 621); The Carnation (Type 652); Snow-White (Type 709); and The Good Bargain (Type 1642).

The folktale collection of Charles Perrault which appeared in 1697 is hardly to be considered as literary at all, but rather as a group of fairly faithful versions of oral tales. The later French collections of Madame D'Aulnoy, on the other hand, were definitely literary, and seldom contained any real folktales which had not already appeared in writers like Straparola or Basile. Exceptions are The Mouse as Bride (Type 402) and The Shift of Sex (Type 514).

Such are the principal collections of literary tales which have given us versions of oral stories. To complete the list, one would have to make several miscellaneous additions. The King and the Abbot (Type 922) appears in a German poem of the thirteenth century and frequently thereafter; the oral tradition of how Peter's Mother Falls from Heaven (Type 804) is given in a fifteenth century German poem; The Monster's Bride (Type 507A) appears in a sixteenth century English comedy; Bearskin (Type 361) is [p. 183] retold by Grimmelshausen in 1670; and Demi-coq (Type 715) is given a French name because of his appearance in a French story written in 1759.

Such is the list of those tales which, although they have appeared in one or more literary collections, seem quite certainly to be oral, both in origin and in history. Sometimes their subsequent popularity has been greatly increased by the fact that they have been charmingly retold by Basile or Perrault. Otherwise, their history is in no essential respect different from that large group of stories to which we shall now turn. These belong to the folklore of Europe and Asia, and have never had the fortune to appeal to any literary story teller. We know them only in oral form and can therefore speak with almost complete certainty of their origin among the people. Here belong some of the most interesting of all folktales.

Most of the European stories which originated in the Orient either go back to literary sources in the East or else, in spite of their origin in popular Oriental tradition, have received literary treatment in Asia or in Europe. Such tales, of literary origin or handling, have just been discussed. There remain a few which seem to have developed orally in Asia and to have reached Europe entirely by word of mouth. Such is true of Three Hairs from the Devil's Beard (Type 461), very often told in connection with the tale of The Prophecy (Type 930). The latter story is Oriental, but is found in early Buddhistic material. [287] The widely diffused tale of The Little Red Bull (Type 511*), while showing relation to several well-known European stories, probably comes from Oriental folk tradition.

By far the largest number of purely oral European and Asiatic tales seem quite certainly to have developed in Europe. The great majority of these are confined to the European continent, but some of them are worldwide in their distribution. Examples of the latter are The Dragon-Slayer (Type 300), John the Bear (Type 301), and The Two Brothers (Type 303). [288] Some European oral tales have traveled far into the Orient: Bluebeard (Type 311); The Journey to God to Receive Reward (Type 460A); The Journey in Search of Fortune (Type 460B); The Wild Man (Type 502); The Speaking Horsehead (Type 533); and The Profitable Exchange (Type 1655). Others have gone no further than the Near East: The Princess Transformed into Deer (Type 401); The Princess on the Glass Mountain (Type 530); Strong John (Type 650); The Juniper Tree (Type 720); and The Greater Sinner (Type 756C).

A considerable number of oral stories have received very wide distribution over the entire European continent but, except for purely sporadic occurrences, they do not appear elsewhere. To this list belong: The Hunter (Type 304); [p. 184] The Dwarf and the Giant (Type 327B); Hiding from the Devil (Type 329); The House in the Wood (Type 431); The Water of Life (Type 551); The Fisher and His Wife (Type 555); The Rabbit-herd (Type 570); The Self-righteous Hermit (Type 756A); The Devil's Contract (Type 756B); The Singing Bone (Type 780); The Peasant in Heaven (Type 802); The Birthmarks of the Princess (Type 850); The Golden Ram (Type 854); The King and the Soldier (Type 952); The Robber Bridegroom (Type 955) and The Clever Maiden Alone at Home Kills the Robbers (Type 956B).

The stories just listed are well represented in all parts of Europe, so that without special investigation it is not easy to say just where the story has developed. With a large number of tales, however, we find that, in spite of occurrences over the entire continent, their area of great popularity is clearly limited, sometimes to a single country, more often to a group of neighboring peoples. Such tales with occurrences primarily in eastern Europe are: The Princess in the Shroud (Type 307); The Faithless Sister (Type 315); and The Prince and the Arm Bands (Type 590). These last two are closely related and seem to have their center in Roumania.

General European tales most popular in eastern and northern Europe are: The Danced-Out Shoes (Type 306); Lenore (Type 365); The Helpful Horse (Type 532); and The Snares of the Evil One (Type 810).

Especially characteristic of Scandinavia and the Baltic states are: The Boy Steals the Giant's Treasure (Type 328, the English story of Jack the Giant Killer); Bear-skin (Type 361); The Man as Heater of Hell's Kettle (Type 475); The King is Betrayed (Type 505); The Spirit in the Blue Light (Type 562—popularly influenced by H. C. Andersen's treatment); The Greedy Peasant Woman (Type 751); Sin and Honor (Type 755; also very popular in Ireland); The Devil's Riddle (Type 812); The Hero Forces the Princess to Say "That is a Lie" (Type 852); The Youth Cheated in Selling Oxen (Type 1538); The Clever Boy (Type 1542); and The Man Who got a Night's Lodging (Type 1544).

Rather widespread traditions having their focus definitely in Scandinavia are: The Man from the Gallows (Type 366); The Princess Rescued from Robbers (Type 506B); The Wonder Child (Type 708); The Princess Confined in the Mound (Type 870); and The Little Goose-Girl (Type 870A).

Oral tales distributed over all Europe, but especially characteristic of the western countries, are: The Giantkiller and his Dog (Bluebeard) (Type 312); The Nix of the Mill-pond (Type 316); Little Red Riding Hood (Type 333); Bargain of the Three Brothers with the Devil (Type 360); The Healing Fruits (Type 610); and The Presents (Type 620).

Finally, at least two tales seem to be especially characteristic of British tradition: Tom-Tit-Tot (Type 500) and Out-riddling the Judge (Type 927). The special form of Type 328 known as Jack the Giant Killer and that known as Jack and the Beanstalk represent peculiar British developments. [p. 185]

There has been no attempt in this book to give notice to all folktales known in Europe and Asia, especially to the hundreds of oral stories which are told in only a single locality or which have never traveled far from their original home. A considerable number of such stories local to Roumania, Hungary, Wallonia, and Russia may be examined in the excellent folktale surveys of these countries. [289] Of such of them as appear in the Aarne-Thompson Types of the Folk-Tale, it will be noticed that a large number of the local tales are characteristic of the Baltic area. It must be borne in mind that very exhaustive lists have been made of the Finnish and Estonian tales, [290] so that these large numbers are no cause for wonder. Of these oral tales in the main part of the Aarne-Thompson index, the following seem to be confined to the Baltic states: a version of The Black and the White Bride (Type 403C); The Girl in the Form of a Wolf (Type 409); Punishment of a Bad Woman (Type 473); "Iron is More Precious than Gold" (Type 677); The Rich Man's and the Poor Man's Fortune (Type 735); The Cruel Rich Man as the Devil's Horse (Type 761); The Princess who Murdered her Child (Type 781); Solomon binds the Devil in Chains in Hell (Type 803); The Deceased Rich Man and the Devils in the Church (Type 815); The Devil as Substitute for Day Laborer at Mowing (Type 820); The Boastful Deer-slayer (Type 830); The Dishonest Priest (Type 831); The Disappointed Fisher (Type 832); How the Wicked Lord was Punished (Type 837); and The Wolves in the Stable (Type 1652).

Local to the Baltic and Scandinavian countries are: [291] a version of The Children and the Ogre (Type 327C); The Vampire (Type 363); The Prince as Serpent (Type 433); The Raven Helper (Type 553); The Magic Providing Purse (Type 564); The Magic Mill (Type 565; sporadic in Ireland, Greece, and France); Beloved of Women (Type 580); The Thieving Pot (Type 591); Fiddevav (Type 593); The Gifts of the Dwarfs (Type 611); The Beautiful and the Ugly Twin (Type 711); The Mother who Wants to Kill her Children (Type 765); the Prodigal's Return (Type 935); and At the Robbers' House (Type 956A).

A much smaller group are limited to the Baltic states and Russia: The Strong Woman as Bride (Type 519); The Man Who Flew like a Bird and Swam like a Fish (Type 665; also in Bohemia); The Punishment of Men (Type 840); The Bank Robbery (Type 951B); and Cleverness and Gullibility (Type 1539; 253 versions in Finland alone, sporadic in Greece, Turkey, and America).

Though the groups of peoples just noticed are represented by a large number [p. 186] of local stories, some tales of limited dissemination occur almost everywhere. Thus The Faithless Wife (Type 315B*) belongs to the Baltic and Balkan states and Russia. Hans my Hedgehog (Type 441) is known from Norway to Hungary, but depends entirely upon the Grimm version. Born from a Fish (Type 705) seems purely Scandinavian, and four tales apparently are known only in Norway: The Animal Sons-in-law and their Magic Food (Type 552B); The King's Tasks (Type 577); The Children of the King (Type 892); and Like Wind in the Hot Sun (Type 923A). Confined to south eastern Europe is The Serpent Maiden (Type 507C). Primarily Italian, but also known in Russia, is The Wolf (Type 428). Central European, primarily German, are the three varieties of The Serpent's Crown (Types 672A, B, and C). And two tales, except for occasional appearances of the Grimm version in other countries, seem to be limited to German tradition: Jorinde and Joringel (Type 405) and The Girl as Flower (Type 407).

In the rapid summary just completed it seems clear that for most of the complex tales of the European and Asiatic areas some generalizations are safe. Though we may not be able to say just when or just where a tale originated, or whether it was first an oral story or a literary creation, the general probabilities are such as we have indicated. Many questions of detail within the limits of these probabilities will engage the efforts of future scholars.

There still remain a considerable number of these complex tales where the evidence at present available is either insufficient to lead to general conclusions or else is so overwhelming in amount that it has never yet been properly utilized for systematic investigation.

For some tales, when the data are all assembled, the question as to whether they are essentially literary or oral seems quite unsolvable without much further study. Among such tales are: The Gifts of the Little People (Type 503); The Princess Rescued from Slavery (Type 506A); The Jew Among Thorns (Type 592); Tom Thumb (Type 700); The Maiden Without Hands (Type 706); Christ and Peter in the Barn (Type 752A); The Forgotten Wind (Type 752B) ; The Saviour and Peter in Night-Lodgings (Type 791); The Lazy Boy and the Industrious Girl (Type 822); The Princess who Cannot Solve the Riddle (Type 851); and The Parson's Stupid Wife (Type 1750).

In another group the question as to whether the tale is essentially Oriental or European is still not satisfactorily solved: The Ogre's (Devil's) Heart in the Egg (Type 302); The Spirit in the Bottle (Type 331); The Prince as Bird (Type 432); The Man Persecuted because of his Beautiful Wife (Type 465); The Table, the Ass, and the Stick (Type 563); and "All Stick Together" (Type 571).

Finally, a half dozen stories well known over the entire world present major problems of investigation, because of the great mass of materials at [p. 187] hand, much of unorganized. Each of them offers a challenge to scholarship. These six tales The Man on a Quest for his Lost Wife (Type 400); Cinderella (Type 510A); The Bird, the Horse, and the Princess (Type 550); The Knapsack, the Hat, and the Horn (Type 569); The Master Thief (Type 1525); and the Rich and the Poor Peasant (Type 1535). [p. 188]

[283] An exhaustive treatment would include a considerable number of such tales of purely local development for Lithuania, for Roumania, for Russia, and for India. The material for the first three of these countries may be examined in the surveys of Balys, Schullerus, and Andrejev, respectively (see references on pp. 420f.). No adequate survey of the material for India has yet been made. I have been working upon one for some years and have reasonable hopes of completing it.

[284] These are best represented by (1) Cowell, The Jātaka; (2) Chavannts, 500 Contes.

[285] For a discussion of this point, see p. 160, above.

[286] See pp. 278ff., below.

[287] See pp. I39f., above.

[288] The other tales which are distributed over the world and have received literary treatment have already been discussed.

[289] For Roumania, Hungary, and Wallonia, see FF Communications Nos. 78, 81, and 101 respectively. For the Russian, see Andrejev, Ukazatel' Skazočnich Siuzhetov.

[290] The number of purely Baltic tales would be greatly increased by inclusion of all those listed in Balys' Motif Index, which appeared after the Aarne-Thompson Index, and also by citing many of the "Types not Included" from the Aarne-Thompson Index.

[291] Single sporadic occurrences elsewhere are disregarded.

Types:

123, 300, 301, 302, 303, 304, 306, 307, 310, 311, 312, 313, 314, 315, 315B*, 316, 325, 326, 327A, 327B, 327C, 328, 329, 330, 331, 332, 333, 335, 360, 361, 363, 365, 366, 400, 401, 402, 403, 403C, 405, 407, 408, 409, 410, 425, 426, 428, 430, 431, 432, 433, 440, 441, 449*, 450, 451, 460A, 460B, 461, 465, 470, 471, 473, 475, 480, 500, 501, 502, 503, 505, 506A, 506B, 507A, 507B, 507C, 508, 510, 510A, 510B, 511, 511*, 513, 513A, 514, 516, 517, 518, 519, 530, 531, 532, 533, 545A, 545B, 550, 551, 552, 552B, 553, 554, 555, 559, 560, 561, 562, 563, 564, 565, 566, 567, 569, 570, 571, 575, 577, 580, 590, 591, 592, 593, 610, 611, 612, 613, 620, 621, 650, 652, 653, 654, 655, 660, 665, 670, 671, 672A, 672B, 672C, 673, 675, 677, 700, 705, 706, 707, 708, 709, 710, 711, 715, 720, 725, 735, 736, 745, 750A, 750B, 751, 752A, 752B, 753, 755, 756A, 756B, 756C, 759, 761, 765, 780, 781, 785, 791, 800, 801, 802, 803, 804, 810, 812, 815, 820, 821, 822, 830, 831, 832, 836, 837, 840, 841, 844, 850, 851, 852, 853, 854, 870, 870A, 875, 881, 882, 884, 888, 890, 892, 900, 901, 910A, 910B, 910C, 910D, 920, 921, 922, 923, 923A, 927, 930, 931, 935, 945, 950, 951A, 951B, 952. 953, 954, 956A, 956B, 960, 1137, 1525, 1535, 1538, 1539, 1540, 1542, 1544, 1640, 1641, 1642, 1650, 1651, 1652, 1655, 1697, 1750

Part Two

The Folktale from Ireland to India

III – The Simple Tale

4. Legends and traditions

B. Marvelous Beings and Objects

2. Other Marvelous Creatures

In spite of the enormous variety of marvelous creatures believed in throughout the world, there are certain general concepts which are known in many lands, although these concepts vary in detail from one circle of tradition to another.

One of the most widely accepted of all such beliefs, particularly in the countries of western Europe, concerns fairies. [385] They are known by many names, the Irish sidhe or little folk, the English fairy or elf, and the corresponding German elf or fee. The shading off of such concepts into the French fee (apparently a thoroughly human woman with miraculous powers) and [p. 247] the frightful Italian fata brings it about that an accurate translation of folk tradition from one of these countries to the other is all but impossible. In a consideration of fairies it is perhaps easiest to think primarily of fairy beliefs of the British Isles, especially Ireland, and to realize that in other countries many of these identical beliefs are ascribed to similar, but actually different, imaginary creatures.

In contrast to most other creatures, the fairies are usually thought of as living in a land of their own, in an otherworld generally known as fairy land (F210). The Irish usually think of this world as being entered through the side of a hill or under the roots of trees. But sometimes the land is supposed to be across a body of water or even under a lake or river.

There is no agreement on the size of fairies. Between Mercutio's description of Mab, the minute queen of the fairies in Romeo and Juliet, and Oberon, the man-sized fairy king of Midsummer Night's Dream there is room for a large exercising of human imagination. It would seem that in general the Irish fairies are thought of as being much smaller than mortals. They are sometimes pictured as having bird feet and as having breasts long enough to throw over their shoulders (though these are qualities of many similar creatures). Fairies are normally invisible to the generality of men, but particular individuals may secure a magic soap or ointment which permits them to see the little folk, and it is sometimes possible to have a view of them (and of other spirits as well) by treading on someone else's foot. Various theories are advanced for the origin of fairies (F251). Some say they are the descendants of an early race of gods; others that they are the souls of the departed, particularly of unbaptized children.

Those who have seen fairies relate many interesting things about their lives. It is well known that they have rulers, Oberon, it may be, and Titania, or perhaps it is Queen Mab. One of their principal pastimes is dancing (F261), as anyone may see the next morning who observes the rings they leave on the grass. They have feasts and weddings, and they perform labor. Like the dwarfs, they may be skillful as blacksmiths (F271.3 and F451.3.4.2), and like some other creatures, they have been known to milk the farmer's cows and ride his horses sweaty at night.

The romantic imagination has long played with the idea of the fairy lover. There are many things that a young girl must not do—pluck flowers, lie under a tree, or pull nuts—or she may well be carried off by a fairy lover or elf knight. Mortal men have similar difficulties, if difficulties they are. Many is the story of the man who marries the fairy woman. Sometimes he goes to fairyland and stays with her, and sometimes he marries her and takes her to his home. In the latter case, he is always strictly forbidden to do certain things (C31), to utter her name, to see her on certain specified occasions, or to offend her in some trifle. Best known of such legends is that of Melusine (C31.1.2). This lady is not always actually a fairy, but may be a water-spirit or some [p. 248] related creature. In any event, the mortal husband breaks the prohibition against seeing her on a certain occasion, usually when she is transformed. When she learns that her secret has been discovered, she disappears forever.

The dealings of fairies with mortals are sometimes advantageous to people, but they are nearly always fraught with danger. In one of the common folk tales (Type 503) they remove a hunchback's hump only to replace it on someone else; and they give the hero coals which turn into gold, but in the hands of the wrong man the gold will again become worthless (F344.1 and F342.1). It is dangerous to accept a gift from the fairies. This is seen in the story of The Luck of Edenhall (F348.2). Here the fairies give a cup which is to be kept in the family. When the cup is broken, bad luck descends upon the house.

Stories of changelings (F321.1) are very common all over Europe. A fairy steals a child from its cradle and leaves a fairy substitute. The changeling is usually mature and only seems to be a child. There are various ways in which he is eventually deceived into betraying his age. The problem then arises as to how he may be disposed of, and this is not easy. Sometimes the fairy does not desire a mortal child, but only to have herself assisted in childbirth by a human midwife (F372.1). The women who have actually gone to fairy land to perform this service bring eternal good luck upon themselves and their families.

Many of these legends of fairies are told also of other kinds of spirits and demons. The resemblance is especially notable in stories of water-spirits (F420) and wood-spirits (F441). We nearly always find that the female spirits have the long breasts which they can throw over their shoulders and that they have a tendency to entice mortal men. Even the trolls (F455), large and ungainly mountain creatures, dance and do skillful work as blacksmiths.

Most like the fairies, especially in the wealth of the traditions concerning them, are the dwarfs (F451). In the countries of northern Europe they are considered as spirits of the underground. [386] They are certainly more ungainly, as generally conceived, than the fairies, and are nearest in appearance to the little house-spirits which the English know as brownies (F482) and the Danes as "nisser." In his production of "Snow White" [387] Walt Disney was particularly successful in catching the traditional conception of the dwarf.

As far as legend and tale are concerned, the dwarfs seldom play a leading role. They are either subsidiary actors in a complex narrative like Snow White or The Two Girls, the Bear, and the Dwarf (Types 709 and 426), or else they are merely reported as being present or as having certain appearances or habits. Some of the latter characteristics may be mentioned. They are sometimes spoken of as having their feet twisted backward, or as having [p. 249] bird feet; as being long bearded; as having red heads and red caps; as having their home underground beneath the cow stable; as always turning to stone at sunrise; and as having great fear of hymn-singing or the sound of church bells. These last two features they share with the trolls (G304.2.5 and G304.2.4.1). Like fairies, they seek human women as midwives; they exchange children in the cradle; and they give perilous gifts to mortals. They sometimes act as the servants of human beings, but if a man is ever so foolish as to pay them all he owes them, they disappear. [388]

Several other kinds of spirits are generally believed in, and some of them have characteristic traditions. Such are the many tales of the Rübezahl (F465), a spirit of the mountain and storm, and the beliefs in the Nightmare or Alp (F471.1) who presses and almost strangles one in his dreams, or the Incubus (F471.2) who consorts sexually with women in their sleep, or the Huckauf (F472) who jumps on one's back as he walks along the road at night. Cobolds (F481) and brownies (F482) stay close to the house but have few distinctive traditions, unless we include as such the brewing in an eggshell in order to drive away a cobold. [389]

If there is confusion in the concept of a dwarf, sometimes a pigmy or thumbling and sometimes a creature of the underground, there is even a greater variety of ideas suggested by the word giant. The term has become confused with that of the French ogre and the German Teufel, so that mere size is only a small consideration in a tale like Jack the Giant Killer. Giants are even equated sometimes with the dragon concept, so that the dragon fighter is said to go out and kill the seven-headed giant. They may, of course, be thoroughly human, like Goliath. As far as the traditions of northern Europe are concerned, however, neither of these concepts is valid. The giant there is thought of as being an enormous person of human shape many times the size of a mortal. Such giants live ordinary lives and have usual family relationships. A huge number of stories are known about their activities, [390] though many of these parallel the stories of fairies or dwarfs.

Polyphemus was a typical giant in this sense, for he had one eye in the middle of his forehead (Type 1137; F531.1.1.1). Other giants are headless, and some have shaggy hair all over their bodies, and sometimes long beards. Some of them wade the ocean, and nearly all of them throw great rocks around and produce changes in the landscape. [391] They have been known to move churches or other buildings, and they are frequently said to be the builders of certain great structures. [392] All these are rather general ideas unless indeed it be the Polyphemus story. But there is one specific tale about the life [p. 250] of the giants which has had a very general appeal—"The Giant's Toy" (F531.5.3). A young giantess sees a plowman with his team. She thinks it would be fun to have such a toy, and she picks up the man and his horses and takes them to her mother. Her mother tells her, "You must take him back. He will drive us away." It is probable that the homely wisdom of the giantess who fears the conflict of brute strength with human intelligence has done most to give popularity to this pretty tale.

Two specific cycles of giant legends deserving mention are those of Gargantua in France and of Paul Bunyan in America. Readers of Rabelais are familiar with the satirical use a great author can make of such popular traditions, but they are perhaps not always aware of the extent to which such legends are actually a part of the folklore of France. [393] Whether these French traditions were preserved by the colonists in New France, or whether stories of gigantic persons reached the French Canadians from other sources there seems little doubt that these people have had much to do with the spreading of the tradition of a purely American giant, that of Paul Bunyan, the enormous woodsman. [394] In spite of all the discussion of Paul Bunyan during the last thirty years, much about the tradition of him and his enormous ox remains very dark. [395] But the popularity of this legend among lumbermen today, whatever its origin may have been, shows that the stories of giants are perennially interesting.

The giant concept is so varied in its appearances that it is hard to be sure of the role which a giant will play in popular tradition. Frequently he is thought of as a kindly helper, benevolent if slightly stupid; sometimes he is the acme of stupidity; and very often he is an ogre quite as frightful as any monster conjured up by the folk imagination. The same double nature may be found in stories of dwarfs and trolls. But about two important classes of supernatural beings there is never any ambiguity. Nothing but evil can be said for witches and their like, or for the devil. Some of the traditions of witches resemble fairy legends, but never enough to affect the essentially evil nature of the witch.

Unmistakably wicked as she is, the witch presents no clear-cut picture to the folk. Sometimes she is simply a human old woman who has, by some foul means, acquired mystic powers of evil. We hear rumors of them in Massachusetts and New York in Colonial times, and even in our own day in Pennsylvania. The three weird sisters of Macbeth are certainly superhuman [p. 251] and belong much nearer to the world of trolls and fairies than to that of demented old women. It is this latter concept of the witch as essentially other than human that has had most appeal to the popular imagination and that seems to be implied whenever a witch is mentioned in a folktale.

As in the Macbeth legend, such witches are usually thought of as sisters, most often as three (G201). The witch may appear in almost any form, even that of an animal (G211), particularly a horse. As with some of the other creatures we have met, witches sometimes have seven heads (G215.1) or they have goose feet (G216.1). They are sometimes said to have iron members (G219.1) and are usually represented as bearded (G219.2). Being evil, the witch is opposed to Christianity and she parodies Christian expressions and religious services (G224.1). Particularly well known is the witches' sabbath (G243). In this, on certain saints' days, they meet and go through a mockery of divine service. No reader of Goethe's Faust can ever forget their meeting on Walpurgis Night. A few habits of witches are believed in almost everywhere they themselves are known. Such are the fact that they fly through the air on broomsticks (G242.1); that they ride on unusual animals (G241.1), a wolf, a goat, or a cat; that they have familiar spirits who serve them (G225), frequently insects or cats; that they love to steal children (G261) and to suck blood (G262.1); that, like fairies, they ride horses sweaty at night (G265.3) and make cows give bloody milk (D2083.2.1). Sometimes witches are pictured as beautiful and attractive women enticing lovers and then deserting them (G264). Such was Keats's La Belle Dame sans Merci and such, indeed, is a whole legion of Circes and Calypsos in both popular and literary tradition.

Tarn o' Shanter learned much about witches in the short hour he spent in haunted Kirk Alloway, the dancing, the fiddling, and the suggestion of intimate relations with the devil (G247, G303.9.8.2, and G243.1). He, too, yielded to their female charm and forgot himself. But eventually he escaped because he knew one of the sure ways of ridding oneself of witches. They can never cross a stream, and especially if a man can induce one of them to grab his horse's tail as he crosses the bridge, he is always safe (G273.4). There are, of course, other ways of escaping from the witches which Tarn did not need to employ. If he had only waited in some safe place until cock-crow (G273.3), or had even thought—good Protestant though he was—to make the sign of the cross (G273.1), all would have been well.

The most important ally of witches as a power of evil is the Devil (G303 and subdivisions). He seems to have been walking up and down on the face of the earth since long before the days of Job, and his presence is widely known, and felt, in all the lands of western civilization. There is little consistency to be looked for in such a legend. As already suggested in connection with the devil's appearance in folktales, [396] the concept seems to be an [p. 252] inconsistent merging of the Biblical Satan, the general idea of evil spirits abroad, the goat-footed god Pan, or the satyrs, and sometimes the Oriental demon or "jinn." Sometimes also any ogre is spoken of as a devil, especially in German tradition.

With a figure built up from an adaptation of so many others, some of them contradictory, it is no wonder that legends about the devil should be impossible to reconcile with one another. As he appears in folktales, we have seen him enforcing bargains with those who have promised to give themselves to him at a certain time. In others, the devil is stupid, and the interest is entirely devoted to cheating him. [397] The devil sometimes is pictured as living in hell (Type 803). In at least one case he is equated with Death, and is kept magically sticking to a tree so as to keep people from dying (Type 330).

The devil, as we have seen, [398] opposed God in His creations from the first, and in the form of a snake caused the loss of paradise for mankind. Contrary, we assume, to God's intentions, he found a place on the ark and survived into the new world inaugurated by Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sometimes he appears as the Adversary at the court of God, sometimes as Lucifer, the bearer of light. It is in the Middle Ages that the devil legends, grow and proliferate. More and more in the thought of the western world there appears the antithesis between God, or Christ, and Satan. He took on during these centuries some well recognized physical characteristics: the cloven hoof, a tail, a beard, the latter always trimmed in the most stylish fashion. He often appeared as a fine gentleman, and it was only by accident that the cloven hoof or the tail betrayed him. As finally evolved into Mephistopheles, he is the essence of seductive evil, and we are far from the popular tradition of the unattractive and ogre-like demon which the devil can sometimes be.

It is easily seen, then, that devil legends are not all of one piece, so that it would be a mistake to expect the same kinds of tales in Finland and in Spain. Such differences depend not only on a fundamentally different ancient tradition, but also upon the more recently developed separation in religion.

A thorough study of devil legends would involve many things beyond our scope. Oriental demonology and, indeed, the world-wide belief in evil spirits present interesting suggestions to the student of western tradition. But the actual influence of such ideas from one culture to another is extremely difficult to trace out with any degree of certainty. Thus far no one has even attempted to give to this subject a serious scholarly investigation.

Although a complete view of all the imaginary beings in Occidental tradition would give attention to dozens of additional beliefs current in [p. 253] one country or another, those which have been mentioned here will serve as sufficiently typical of the traditional background from which so much of the literary and artistic life of Europe and western Asia has sprung.

[385] For a collection of fairy motifs, see F200 to F399. Perhaps the best general book on fairies in folklore is Hartland, The Science of Fairy Tales (London, 1891).

[386] They should by no means be confused with the pygmy tradition, for the dwarf is not simply a very small person.

Types:

330, 426, 709, 803, 1137

Motifs

C31, C31.1.2, D2083.2.1, F200-F399, F465, F210, F251, F261, F271.3, F321.1, F342.1, F344.1, F451.3.4.2, F372.1, F420, F441, F451, F455, F471.1, F471.2, F472, F481, F482, F531.1.1.1, F531.5.3, G201, G211, G215.1, G216.1, G219.1, G219.2, G224.1, G225, G241.1, G242.1, G243, G243.1, G247, G261, G262.1, G264, G265.3, G273.1, G273.3, G273.4, G303.9.8.2, G304.2.4.1, G304.2.5