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.