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THE FOLK-LORE SOCIETY
LX.
[1907]
THE
GRATEFUL DEAD
TH^ HISTORY OF A FOLK STORY
BY
GORDON HALL GEROULD
B. LiTT. (OXON.)
PRECEPTOR IN ENGLISH IN PRINCETON UNIVERSn-ir
FOLCROFT LIBRARY EDITIONS / 1973
<b5^0-09«7
V7.A
I
hAI:^/
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Gerould, Gordon Hall, 18??-
The gratefxil dead. ,
Reprint of the 190S ed. published by D. Nutt,
London, which was issued as no. 60 of the Publications
of the Folk-lore Society.
Bibliography: p.
1. The grateful dead. I. Title. II. Series:
Folk-lore Society, London. Publications, 6o,
GR75.G6G3 1973 398.2 73-1576?
ISBN 0-8414-A472-2 (lib. bdg.)
LIMITED too COPIES
Manufactured in the United States of America
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THE
GRATEFUL DEAD
THE HISTORY OF A FOLK STORY
BY
GORDON HALL GEROULD
B. LiTT. (OXON.)
PRECEPTOR IN ENGLISH IN PRINCKTON UNIVERSITY
J^nblislub tax the ^olV.-'^oxt (Socittj b]?
DAVID NUTT, 57—59 LONG ACRE
LONDON
1908
GLASGOV;: PRINTKD AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
BY ROBERT MACLEHOSE AND CO. LTD.
TO
PROFESSOR A. S. NAPIER
IN GRATITUDE AND FRIENDSHIP
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAP.
PACK
Introduction ut
I. A Review i
II. Bibliography 7
III. Tales with the Simple Theme and Miscel-
laneous Combinations 26
IV. The Grateful Dead and The Poison Maiden - 44
V. The Grateful Dead and The Ransomed Woman 76
VI. The Grateful Dead and The Water of Life or
Kindred Themes 119
VII. The Relations of The Grateful Dead to The
Spendthrift Knight, The Two Friends, and
The Thankful Beasts 153
VIII. Conclusion 162
Index
175
INTRODUCTION.
The combination of narrative themes is so frequent a phe-
nomenon in folk and formal literature that one almost forgets
to wonder at it. Yet in point of fact the reason for it and
the means by which it is accomplished are mysteries past our
present comprehension. If we could learn how and where
popular tales unite, if we could formulate any general principle
of union or severance, we should be well on the way to an
understanding of the riddle which has hitherto baffled all
students of narrative, namely, the diffusion of stories. We have
theories enough; our immediate need is for more studies of
individual themes, careful and, if it must be, elaborate discussions
of many well-known cycles. Happily, these are accumulating
and give promise of much useful knowledge at no distant day.
One principle has become clear. Since motives are so
frequently found in combination, it is essential that the complex
types be analyzed and arranged, with an eye kept single
nevertheless to the master-theme under discussion. Collectors,
both primary and subsidiary, have done such valiant service
that the treasures at our command are amply sufficient for
such studies, so extensive, indeed, that the task of going
through them thoroughly has become too great for the unassisted
student. It cannot be too strongly urged that a single theme
in its various types and compounds must be made predominant
in any useful comparative study. This is true when the sources
and analogues of any literary work are treated; it is even truer
when the bare motive is discussed.
The Grateful Dead furnishes an apt illustration of the
necessity of such handling. It appears in a variety of different
ix
X The Grateful Dead.
combinations, almost never alone. Indeed, it is so widespread
a tale, and its combinations are so various, that there is the
utmost difficulty in determining just what may properly be
regarded the original kernel of it, the simple theme to which
other motives were joined. Various opinions, as we shall see,
have been held with reference to this matter, most of them justified
perhaps by the materials in the hands of the scholars holding
them, but none quite adequate in view of later evidence. The
true way to solve the riddle appears to be this : we must ask
the question, — ^what is the residuum when the tale is stripped
of elements not common to a very great majority of the
versions belonging to the cycle? What is left amounte to
the follov/ing, — the story reduced to its lowest terms, I take it.
A man finds a corpse lying unburied, and out of pure
philanthropy procures interment for it at great personal in-
convenience. Later he is met by the ghost of the dead man,
who in many cases promises him help on condition of receiving,
in return, half of whatever he gets. The hero obtains a wife
(or some other reward), and, when called upon, is ready to
fulfil his bargain as to sharing his possessions.
Nowhere does a version appear in quite this form ; but
from what follows it will be seen that the simple story must
have proceeded along some such lines. The compounds in
which it occurs show much variety. It will be necessary to
study these in detail, not merely one or two of them but as
many as can be found. Despite the bewildering complexities
that may arise, I hope that this method of approach may
throw some new light on the wanderings of the tale.
Of my debt to various friends and to many books, though
indicated in the body of the work, I wish to make general
and grateful acknowledgment here. My thanks, furthermore,
are due to the librarians of Harvard University for their courteous
hospitality; to Professor G. L. Kittredge for his generous
encouragement to proceed with this study, though he himself,
as I found after most of my material was collected, had under-
taken it several years before I began; and to Professor R. K.
Root for his help in reading the proofs.
CHAPTER I.
A REVIEW.
To Karl Simrock is due the honour of discovering the
importance of The Grateful Dead for the student of
literature and legend. In his little book, Der gute Gerhard
und die dankbaren Todten} he called attention to the
theme as a theme, and treated it with a breadth of know-
ledge and a clearness of insight remarkable in an attempt
to unravel for the first time the mixed strands of so
wide-spread a tale. Using the Middle High German
exemplary romance, Der gute Gerhard, as his point of
departure, he examined seventeen other stories, all but
two of which have the motive well preserved.^ Unhappily,
the versions which he found came from a limited section
of Europe, most of them from Germanic sources. Thus
he was led to an interpretation of the tale on the basis
of Germanic mythology. This, though ingenious enough
and very erudite, need not detain us. It was done
according to a fashion of the time, which has long since
been discarded. Simrock took the essential traits of the
theme to be the burial of the dead and the ransom from
captivity,^ "Wo nur noch eine von beiden das Thema
zu bilden scheint," he said, "da hat die Ueberlieferung
gelitten." Here again he was misled by the narrow
» 1856.
* Gtiter Gerhard, as will be seen later, does not follow the theme at all.
"P. 114.
A
2 The Grateful Dead.
range cf his material, as later studies have shown. Nearly-
all lLc versions he cited have the motive of a ransomed
pilncess, though the majority of the stories now known
to be members of the cycle do not contain it.
Three years after the publication of Simrock's mono-
graph Benfey treated some features of the theme in a
note appended to his discussion of The Thankful Beasts
in the monumental Pantschatantra)- Though he named
but a few variants, he found an Armenian tale which he
compared with the European versions, coming to the
conclusion not only that the motive proceeded from the
Orient but also that the Armenian version had the
original form of it. That is, he took the ransom and
burial of the dead, the parting of a woman possessed by
a serpent, and the saving of the hero on the bridal night
as the essential features. This was a step in advance.
George Stephens in his edition of Sir Amadas^ held
much the same view. He added several important versions,
and scored Simrock for admitting Der gute Gerhard, saying
that he could not see that it had " any direct connection "
with The Grateful Dead? He was at least partly in
the right, even though his statement was misleading.
According to his opinion,* "the peculiar feature of the
Princess (Maiden) being freed from demonic influence by
celestial aid, is undoubtedly the original form of the
tale."
In a series of notes beginning in the year 1858 Kohler^
supplied a large number of variants, which have been
invaluable for succeeding study of the theme. Nowhere,
^ 1859, i. 219-221.
"^Ghost-Thanks or The Grateful Unburied, A Mythic Tale in its Oldest
European Form, Sir Amadace, i860.
»P. 9. *P. 7.
* Germania, iii. 199-210, xii. 55 ff. ; Or. u. Occ. ii. 322-329, iii. 93-103;
Arch.f. Slav. Phil. ii. 631-634, v. 40 ff. ; Gonzenbach, Sicilianische Marchen,
i870,ii. 248-250.
A Review. 3
however, did he give an ordered account of the versions
at his command or discuss the relation of the elements —
a regrettable omission. The contributions of Liebrecht,^
though less extensive, were of the same sort. In his
article published in 1868 he said that he thought The
Grateful Dead to be of European origin,^ but he added
nothing to our knowledge of the essential form of the
story. The following decade saw the publication by Sepp
of a rather brief account of the motive,^ which was chiefly
remarkable for its summary of classical and pre-classical
references concerning the duty of burial. Like Stephens
he assumed that the release of a maiden from the pos-
session of demons was an essential part of the tale. In
1886 Cosquin brought the discussion one step further by
showing ^ that the theme is sometimes found in combination
with The Golden Bird ?LVid The Water of Life. He did
not, however, attempt to define the original form of the
story nor to trace its development.
By all odds the most adequate treatment that The
Grateful Dead has yet received is found in Hippe's
monograph, Untersiichungen zu der mittelenglischen Romanze
von Sir Amadas, which appeared in 1888.* Not only did
he gather together practically all the variants mentioned
previous to that time and add some few new ones, but
he studied the theme with such interpretative insight that
anyone going over the same field would be tempted to
offer an apology for what may seem superfluous labour.
Such a follower, and all followers, must gratefully acknow-
ledge their indebtedness to his labours.
"^ Heidelberger Jahrhuchtr der Lit. 1868, Ixi. 449-452, 1872, Ixv, 894 f. ;
Cermania, xxiv. 132 f.
»P. 449.
' Altbayerischer Sagenschatz zur Bereicherung der indogermanischen Mylho-
logic, 1876, pp. 678-689.
•* Contes populaires de Lorraine, i. 214, 215.
^ Archivf. d. Stud. d. neueren Sp-achen, Ixxxi. 141*183.
4 The Grateful Dead.
Yet one who follows imperfectly the counsels of perfection
may discover certain defects in Hippe's work. He neglects
altogether Cosquin's hint as to the combination of the
theme with The Water of Life and allied tales, thus
leaving out of account an important element, which is
intimately connected with the chief motive in a large
number of tales. Indeed, his effort to simplify, com-
mendable and even necessary as it is, brings him to
conclusions that in some respects, I believe, are not
sound. Though he states the essential points of the
primitive story in a form^ which can hardly be bettered
and which corresponds almost exactly to the one that I
have been led to accept from independent consideration
of the material,^ he fails to see that he is dealing in
almost every case, not with a simple theme with modified
details but with compound themes. Thus he starts out
with the " Sage vom dankbaren Toten und der Frau mit
den Drachen im Leibe"^ and explains all variations from
this type either by the weakening of this feature and that
or by the introduction of a single new motive, the story
of The Ransomed Woman. He would thus make it
appear* that we have a well-ordered progression from
one combined type to various other combined and simplified
types. Such a series is possible without doubt, but it
can hardly be admitted till the interplay of all accessible
themes, which have entered into combination with the
chief theme, is investigated. Hippe passes these things
^P. 167. " Ein Jlingling zeigt sich menschenfreundlich gegen die Leiche
eines Unbekannten (indein er dieselbe vor Schimf bewahrt, bestattet, etc.).
Der Geist des Toten gesellt sich darauf zu ihm und erweist sich ihm dankbar,
indem er ihm zu Reichtum und zum Besitze des von ihm zur Frau begehrten
Madchens verhilft, jedoch unter der Bedingung, dass er dereinst alles durch
ihn Gewonnene mit ihm teile. Der Jiingling geht auf diesen Vertrag ein, und
der Geist stellt sich nach einer gewissen Zeit wieder ein, um das Versprochene
entgegen^unehmen, verlangt aber nicht die Halfte des gewonnene Gutes,
sondem die der Frau. (Schluss variabel.)"
*See p. X. above. 'P. 180. *See his scheme on p. 181.
A Review. 5
over silently and so gives the subject a specious air of
simplicity to which it has no right.
I should be the last to deny the necessity of treating
narrative themes each for itself, and I have nothing but
admiration for the general conduct of Hippe's investigation ;
but I wish to show that his methods, and therefore his
results, are at fault in so far as he does not recognize
the nature of the combinations into which The Grateful
Dead enters. Traces of other stories, unless their presence
is obviously artificial, must be carefully considered, since
in dealing with cycles of such fluid stuff as folk-tales it
is certainly wise to give each element due consideration.
Certain minor errors in Hippe's article will be mentioned
in due course, though my constant obligations to it must
be emphasized here.
Since the appearance of Hippe's study no one has
treated The Grateful Dead with such scope as to modify
his conclusions. Perhaps the most interesting work in
the field has been that of Dr. Dutz^ on the relation of
George Peele's Old Wives' Tale to our theme. He follows
Hippe's scheme, but gives some interesting new variants.
Of less importance, but useful within its limits, is the
section devoted to the saga by Dr. Heinrich Wilhelmi
in his Studien iiber die Chanson de Lion de Bourges?-
Though he added no new versions, the author studied in
detail the relationship of some of the mediaeval
forms to one another, basing his results for the most
part on careful textual comparison. His gravest fault
was the thoroughly artificial way in which he mapped
out the field as a whole, a method which could lead
only to erroneous conclusions, since he classified accord-
ing to a couple of superficial traits. An English
study by Mr. F. H. Groome on Tobit and fack the
^ Der Dank des Todten in der englischen Literatur, Jahresbericht der Stoats-
Oberreahchule in Troppau, 1894.
* Marburg diss. 1894, pp. 43-63.
6 The Grateful Dead.
Giant-Killer'^ unhappily was written without regard to
the previous literature of the subject, and simply rehearses
a number of well-known variants.
In this brief review I have touched only on such
studies of The Grateful Dead as have materially enlarged
the knowledge of the subject or have attempted a dis-
cussion of the theme in a broad way. In the following
chapter reference will be made to other works, in which
particular versions have been printed or summarized.
^/J?//f-Z<?rtf, ix. 226-244 (1898).
CHAPTER 11.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
The following list of variants of The Grateful Dead
includes only such tales as have the fundamental traits,
as sketched above, either expressed or clearly implied,
Thus Der gute Gerhard, for example, is not mentioned
because it has only the motive of The Ransomed Woman^
while one of the folk-tales from Hungary is admitted
because it follows in general outline one of the combined
types to be discussed later, even though the burial of
the dead is obscured. I cite by the short titles which
will be used to indicate the stories in the subsequent
discussion. The arrangement is roughly geographical.
TOBIT.
In the apocryphal book of Tobit. According to Neubauer,
The Book of Tobit, a Chaldee Text from a unique MS. in the
Bodleian Library, 1878, p. xv, Tobit was originally written in
Hebrew, although the Hebrew text preserved was taken from
Chaldee. Neubauer (p. xvii) quotes Graetz, Geschichte der fuden,
(2nd ed.) iv. 466, as saying that the book was written in the time of
Hadrian, and he concludes that it cannot be earlier because it was
unknown to Josephus. The correspondence with Sir Amadas^
and thus with The Grateful Dead generally, seems to have been
first noted by Simrock, p. 131 f., again by Kohler, Germania^ iii.
203, by Stephens, p. 7, by Hippe, p. 142, etc.
8 The Grateful Dead.
Armenian.
A. von Haxthausen, Transkaukasia, 1856, i. 333 f. A mcdern
folk-tale. Reprinted entire by Benfey, Pantschatantra^ i. 219,
note, and by K6hler, Germania, iii. 202 f. A somewhat inadequate
summary is given by Hippe, p. 143 ; a better one is found in Arch.
f. Slav. Phil. V. 43, by Kohler, who mentioned the tale again in
Or. und Occ. ii. 328, and iii. 96. Summarized also by Sepp,
p. 681, Groome, Folk-Lore^ ix. 228 f., and mentioned by Wilhelmi,
P- 45-
Jewish,
Reischer, Schaare Jeruschalajim, 1880, pp. 86-99. Summarized
by Gaster, Germania, xxvi. 200-202, and from him by Hippe,
pp. 143, 144. A modem folk-tale from Palestine.
Annamite.
Landes, Contes et Ugendes annamiteSt 1886, pp. 162, 163, "La
reconnaissance de I'etudiant mort." A modern folk-tale.
Siberian.
Radloff, Proben der Volkditteratur der turkischen Stdmme Siid-
Siberiens, 1866, i. 329-331. See Kohler, Arch. f. slav. Phil. v.
43, note.
SiMONIDES.
Cicero, De Divinatione, i. 27, referred to again in ii. 65 and 66.
Retold by Valerius Maximus, Facta et Dicta, i. 7 ; after him by
Robert Holkot, Super Libros^Sapientie, Lectio 103 ; and again by
Chaucer in the Nun's Priest's Tale, Cant. Tales, B, 4257-4294.
For the relationship of Chaucer's anecdote to those in Latin see
Skeat, note in his edition, Lounsbury, Studies in Chaucer, 1892, ii.
274, and Petersen, On the Sources of the Nonne Prestes Tale,
1898, pp. 106-117. Connected with The Grateful Dead by
Freudenberg in a review of Simrock in Jahrbiicher des Vereins von
Alterthumsfreunden im Rheinlande, xxv. 172. See also Kohler,
Germania iii. 209, Liebrecht in Heidelberger Jahrbiicher der Lit.
Ixi. 449, 450, and Sepp. p. 680. Not treated by Hippe.
Gypsy.
A. G. Paspati, Ahtdes sur les Tchinghianis ou Bohimiens de
VEvipire Ottoman, 1870, pp. 601-605, Translated from Paspati
Bibliography. g
by F. H. Groome, Gypsy Folk-Tales, 1899, pp. 1-3. Summarized
by Kohler, Arch. f. slav. Phil. v. 43 and carelessly by Hippe,
p. 143. This tale was heard near Adrianople. Cited by Foerster,
Richars It Biaus, p. xxviii, and by Wilhelrai, p. 45.
Greek.
J. G. von Hahn, Griechische und albanesische Mdrchen, 1864,
°o- 53» PP- 288-295, " Belohnte Treue." Summarized in part by
Hippe, p. 149. See also Liebrecht, Held. Jahrbiicher, Ixi. 451, and
by Groome, Folk-Lore, ix. 243. This tale was found in northern
Euboea.
Maltese.
Han5 Stumme, Maltesische Mdrchen, GedichU und Rdtsel, i904>
no. 12, pp. 39-45.
Russian I.
Afansjew, Rtissische Volksmdrchen, Heft 6, p. 323 f. Analyzed
by Schiefner, Or. tmd Occ. ii. 174, 175, and after him by Hippe,
p. 144, with some omissions. See Kohler, Or. und Occ. iii. 93-
103, and Sepp, p. 684.
Russian II.
Chudjakow, Grossrussische Mdrchen, Heft 3, pp. 165-168.
Translation by Schiefner, Or. und Occ. iii. 93-96 in article by
Kohler. In English by Gxoome, Folk-Lore, ix. 229 if. Summarized
by Kohler, Arch. f. slav. Phil. v. 43, and (with an important
omission) by Hippe, pp. 144, 145. See Kohler's notes in
Gonzenbach, Sicilianische Marchen, ii. 250.
Russian III.
Reproduced from an illustrated folk-book in the Publications of
the Society of Friends of Old Literature in St. Petersburg, 1880, no.
49. Summarized by V. Jagic, Arch, f slav. Phil. v. 480, and by
Hippe, p. 145. Jagic remarks that the tale must have been
widely known in Russia in the eighteenth century, though clearly
of foreign origin.
Russian IV.
Dietrich, Russische Volksmdrchen in den Urschrift gesammelt,
1 83 1, no. 16, pp. 199-207. English translation, Russian Popular
Tales. Translated from the German Version of Anto7t Dietrich,
10 The Grateful Dead.
1857, pp, 179-186. "Sila Zarewitsch iind Iwaschka mit dem
weissen Hemde." Like other tales in the collection this was
taken from a popular print bought at Moscow. Mentioned by
Benfey, Pantschatantra^ i. 220, and by Kohler, Or. u. Occ. ii.
328.
Russian V.^
P. V. §ejn, Materialien zur Kenntniss der russischen Bevolkerung
von Nordwest-Russlandy 1893, ii. 66-68, no. 33. Cited by Pollvka
in Arch. f. slav. Phil. xix. 251.
Russian VI.
P. V. §ejn, work ciied^ ii. 401-407, no 227. Cited by Pollvka,
Arch. f. Slav. Phil. xix. 262.
Servian I.
Vuk Stefanovid Karadzic, 2nd ed. of his Servian folk-tales,
1870. Translated by Madam Mijatovies (Mijatovich), Serbian
Folk-LorCy 1874, p. 96. Summarized from Servian by Kohler,
Arch.f. Slav. Phil. ii. 631, 632, and from him by Hippe, p. 145.
Servian II.
Summarized from Gj. K. Stefanovic's collection, 187 1, no. 15,
by Jagic in Arch. f. slav. Phil. v. 40 f. with the title " Vlatko und
der dankbare Todte." Thence by Hippe, p. 145.
Servian III.
Jagic in Arch.f. slav. Phil. v. 41 f, from Stojanovic's collection,
no. 31. Hippe's summary, p. 146, is exceedingly brief and
faulty.
Servian IV.
Jagic, Arch. f. slav. Phil. v. 42, from Matica^ B. 105 (a.d.
1863, St. Novakovic). Summary of this by Hippe, p. 146. Jagic
calls the tale "Ein Goldfisch."
Servian V.
Krauss, Sagen und Marchen der Siidslaven, 1883, i. 385-388,
"Der Vilaberg." Summarized by Dutz, p. 11.
^ I have to thank the kindness of Professor Leo Wiener for my knowledge
of the content of Russian V. and VI., which he was good enough to translate
for me from the dialect of White Russia.
Bibliography, 1 1
Servian VI,
Krauss, work cited^ i. 114- 119. "Fuhrmann Tueguts Himmels-
wagen." From the manuscript collection of Valjavec.
Summarized by Dutz, p. 18, note 2.
Bohemian.^
Waldau, Bohmisches Mdrchenbuch, i860, pp. 213-241.
Mentioned by Kohler, Or. und Occ. ii. 329, and by Hippe, p. 146.
Summarized by the former, Oc. und Occ. iii. 97 f.
Polish.
K. W. W6jcicki, Klechdy, Staro'zytne podania i powiesci ludowe^
2nd ed., Warsaw, 185 1. Translated into German by F. H.
Lewestam, Polnische Volkssagen und Marchen, 1839, pp. 130 ff;
into English by A. H. Wratislaw, Sixty Folk-Tales from exclusively
Slavonic Sources, 1889, pp. 121 ff.; and into French by Louis
Leger, Recueil de conies populaires slaves, 1882, pp. 119 ff.
Summarized by Kohler, Germania, iii. 200 f., and by Hippe, pp.
146 f. See also Sepp, p. 684, Dutz, p. 11, Groome, Gypsy Folk-
Tales, p. 3, note, and Arivau, Folk-Lore de Proaza, 1886,
p. 205.
Bulgarian.
Lydia Schischmanoff, Ligendes religieuses bulgares, 1896, no. 77,
pp. 202-209,2 "Le berger, son fils, et I'archange."
Lithuanian I.
L. Geitler, Litauische Studien, 1875, pp. 21-23. Analyzed by
Kohler, Arch. f. slav. Phil. ii. 633, and after him briefly by
Hippe,^ p. 147, as his " Lithuanian IL"
Lithuanian II.
Kohler, Arch. f. slav. Phil. ii. 633 f. From Prussian Lithuania.
Summarized by Hippe, p. 147, as his "Lithuanian III."
^What the two Bohemian variants contain, which are mentioned by
Benfey, Panischatautia, i. 221, note, by Stephens, p. 10, by Kohler, Genitania,
iii. 199-209, and Or. und Occ. ii. 328, note, and by Hippe, p. 146, I have been
unable to ascertain.
'On pp. 194-201 is found a curious " ficho de rhistoire de Tobie."
' Hippe's first Lithuanian tale is a variant of The Water of Life and will
be treated in another connection.
12 The Grateful Dead.
Hungarian I.
G. Stier, Ungarische Sagen uiid Mdrchen, 1850, pp. 110-122.
Mentioned by Kohler, Germania, iii. 202, and by Hippe, p. 147.
Hungarian II.
G. Stier, Ungarische Volksmdrchen, 1857, pp. 153-167.
Summarized by Kbhier, Germania, iii. 199 f., and too briefly by
Hippe, p. 148.
Rumanian I.
Arthur Schott, Neue walackische Marchen, in Hacklander and
Hoefer's Hausbldtter, 1857, iv. 470-473. Mentioned by Stephens,
p. 10, Hippe, p. 147, and Benfey, Pantschatantra, ii. 532.
Rumanian II.
F. Obert. Romdnische Mdrchen und Sagen aus Siebenbiirgen, in
Das Ausland, 1858, p. 117. Mentioned by Kohler, Germania,
iii. 202, and by Hippe, p. 147.
Transylvanjan.
Haltrich, Deutsche Volksmdrchen aus devi Sachsenlande in
Siebenbiirgen, 1^56, pp. 42-45. Analyzed by Kohler, Or. und Occ.
ii. 326, and incompletely by Hippe, p. 148. Mentioned by
Stephens, p. 10, and Sepp, p. 684.
ESTHONIAN I.
Schiefner, Or. und Occ. ii. 175 f., whence the analysis by Hippe,
p. 148.
ESTHONIAN II.
Reisen in mehrere russische Gouvernements in den Jahren 1801,
i8oy U7id 18 13, 1830, V. 186-192, from Ein Ausflug nach
Esthland im Junius 1807. Reprinted by Kletke, Mdrchensaal,
1845, ii. 60-62. Summarized by Dutz, p. 18, note 3.
Finnish.
Liebrecht, Germania, xxiv. 131, 132. Communicated by
Schiefner from Suomen, Kansan Satuja, Helsingfors, 1866.
Summarized by Hippe, pp. 148 f.
Catalan.
F. Maspons y Labrds, Lo Rondollayre : Quentos populars
Catalans. Segona Serie, 1872, no. 5, pp. 34-37. Analyzed by
Bibliography. 13
Liebrecht, Heid. Jahrbiicher der Lit. Ixv. 894 (1872), and after
him by Hippe, p. 151. Mentioned by d'Ancona, Romania^ iii.
192, and by Foerster, Richars It Biaus, p. xxviiL
Spanish.
Duran, Romancero general, 1849-51, ii. 299-302, nos. 1291,
1292. Summarized by Kohler, Or. und Occ. ii. 323 f. and after
him by Cosquin, Cotttes populaires, i. 215, and by Hippe, p. 151.^
Mentioned by Sepp, p. 686.
Lope de Vega.
Comedy in two parts, Don Juan de Castro. According to
J. R. Chorley, Catdlogo de comedias y autos de Frey Fdix de Vega
Carpio, p. 5, this play is to be found in Part xix. of the Comedias
published in 1623 (later issues 1624, 1625, and 1627). A.
Schaeffer, Geschichte des spanischen Nationaldramas, 1890, i. 141,
says that the second part, called Las aventuras de don Juan de
Aiarcos, is in Part xxv. of Lope's comedies. The entire play is
edited by Hartzenbusch, Comedias Escogidas de Lope de Vega, iv.
373 ff. and 395 ff. in the Biblioteca de auiores espaiioles, Hi.
Schaeffer, pp. 141, 142, gives a careful summary of the play, and
Kohler, Or. und Occ. iii. 100 f., gives another. The latter is
followed by Hippe, p. 151. Mentioned by Duran, Romancero
general, ii. 299, by Sepp, p. 686, and by Wiihelmi, pp. 45 ff.
and 60.
Calderon.
El Mcjor Amigo el Muerto, by Luis de Belmonte, Francisco de
Rojas, and Pedro Calderon de la Barca, in Biblioteca de antores
espaiioles, xiv. 471-488, and in Comedias escogidas de los vicjores
ingenios de Espana, 1657, ix. 53-84. Analyzed by Kohler, Or.
und Occ. iii. 100 f., and briefly after him by Hippe, p. 151.
Mentioned by Sepp, p. 686, and by Wiihelmi, pp. 60 f. Schaeffer,
work cited, ii. 283 f., says that a play of this name was written by
Belmonte alone in 16 10, which was revised about 1627 with the
aid of Rojas and Calderon.
* Hippe speaks of "zwei spanische Romanzen." Had he consulted the
Spanish text or read Kcihler's note more attentively, he would have seen that a
single story runs through nos. 1291 and 1292 of the Hotnaucero.
14 The Grateful Dead.
Trancoso.^
Contos e historias diproveito e exempio, by Gongalo Fernandez
Trancoso, Parte 2, Cont. ii., first published in 1575 and frequently
re-issued during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In the
edition published at Lisbon in 1693, our tale is found on pp.
45r.-6or. ; and in that published at the same place in 17 10, on
pp. 1 10-177. Menendez y Pelayo, Origenes de la Novela {Nueva
Biblioteca de autores espanoles vii.), 1907, ii. Ixxxvii fif., gives a
bibliography, the table of contents, and a description of the
work on the basis of seventeenth century editions; on p. xcv.
he connects the tale above-mentioned with The Grateful Dead.
See T. Braga, Contos tradicionaes do povo portuguez, 1883, ii.
63-128, who prints nineteen of the tales in abbreviated form, but
not ours.
Nicholas.
Johannes Junior (Gobius), Scala Celt, 1480, under Elemosina.
Gobius was born in the south of France and lived about the
middle of the fourteenth century.^ Summary by Sinirock, pp.
106-109. Mentioned by Hippe, p. 169.
RiCHARS.
Richars Ii Biaus, ed. W. Foerster, 1874. A romance written in
Picardy or eastwards in the thirteenth century (Foerster, p. xxi).
Analyzed by Kohler, Revue critique, 1868, pp. 412 ff., and Hippe,
p. 155. Compared in detail with Lion de Bourges by Wilhelmi,
pp. 46 flf.
Lion de Bourges.
An Old French romance known to exist in two manuscripts,
the earlier dating from the fourteenth century,^ the later from
^ My attention was called to this variant by the kindness of Professor
F. De Haan, and I was supplied with a first summary from the 1693
edition by the friendly aid of Professor G. T. Northup.
^See Crane, Exetnpla of Jacques de Vitry, 1890, p. Ixxxvi.
'P. Paris, Manuscritsfrattfois, 1840, iii. I, and Foerster, Richars Ii Biaus,
1874, p. xxvii, date it from the fifteenth century ; Suchier, Oeuvres poitiques de
Philippe de Beaumanoir, 1884, p. Ixxxiv, and Wilhelmi, p. 15, from the
fourteenth century.
Bibliography. \ 5
about the end of the fifteenth. ^ It has never been edited, but the
portion which concerns us was analyzed in detail by Wilhelmi, pp.
18-38. This summary I have made the basis of my discussion.
The romance was mentioned by P. Paris, Foerster, and Suchier
(as cited in note below), Gautier, Les ipopies franfaises, ist ed.
1865, i. 471-473, 'Ehtrt, Jahrbuch f. rom. tind engl. Lit. iv. 53, 54,
and Benfey, Pantschatanira, i. 220. A prose translation into
German is found in manuscripts of the fifteenth century, which
does not differ materially from the original.^ This was printed in
15 14, and summarized by F. H. von der Hagen, Gesamtntabenteuer^
1850, i. xcvii-xcix, Simrock, pp. 104-106, and Hippe, p. 154.
See E. Miiller, Uberlieferung des Herpin von Surges, iQoSj who
analyzes the work and treats its relations to Lion.
Oliver.
Olivier de Castille et Artus d'Algarbe, a French prose romance
composed before 1472, according to Foulche-Delbosc {Revue
hispanigue, ix. 592). The first and second editions were printed at
Geneva, the first in 1482, the second before 1492.^ There exist
at least three manuscripts of the work from the fifteenth century :
MS. Bibl. nat. fran. 12574 (which attributes the romance to a
David Aubert, according to Grober, Grundriss der rom. Phil. ii.
I, 1145); MS. Brussels 3861; and Univ. of Ghent, MS. 470.
The designs of the last have been reproduced, together with a
summary of the text, by Heins and Bergmans, Olivier de Castille,
1896. An English translation was printed by Wynkyn de Worde
in 1 5 18. A translation from the second French edition into
Castilian was made by Philippe Camus, which was printed thirteen
times between 1499 ^"^^ 1845.* The edition of 1499 ^^^ lately
been reproduced in facsimile by A. M. Huntington, La historia de
los nobles caualleros Oliueros de castilla y artus dalgarbe, 1902.
A German translation from the French was made by Wilhelm
Ziely in 152 1, and this was translated into English by Leighton
and Barrett, The History of Oliver and Arthur, 1903. From the
^ P. Paris, place cited, and Foerster, plcue cited, say the sixteenth century,
but Wilhelmi, place cited, the fifteenth.
'^See Wilhelmi, p. 43. "Foulche-Delbosc, pp. 589, 590.
« Work cited, pp. 587, 588.
1 6 The Grateful Dead.
German prose Hans Sachs took the material for his comedy on the
theme (publ. 1556). A summary of Ziely's work is given by
Frolicher, Thiiring von Ringoltingeri s "Melusine" Wilhelm Ziely's
" Olivier und Arlus" und " Valentin und Orsus" 1889, pp. 65 f.,
which is used by Wilhelmi, pp. 55, 56, in his comparison of the
romance with Richars and Lion de Bourges. An Italian translation,
presumably from the French, was printed three or four times from
1552 to 1622.^ A summary of the story is given in Milangcs tiris
d'une grande bibliothtque, by E, V. 1780, pp. 78 ff., with an
incorrect note about the romance, reproduced by Hippe, pp.
155 f., with an analysis from the same source of the part of the
tale belonging to our cycle. Robert Laneham in his list of
ballads and romances, made in 1575, mentions Olyuer of the Castl.
See Furnivall, Captain Cox, his Ballads and Books, Ballad Soc.
1 87 1, vii. xxxvii and 30.
Jean de Calais.
I. Mme. Angelique de Gomez, Histoire de Jean de Calais, 1723.
Sketched in the BibliotKeque tmiverselle des romans, Dec. 1776,
pp. 134 ff. Kohler, Gcrmania, iii. 204 ff., gives a summary of the
work, which Mme de Gomez stated was "tire d'un livre qui a
pour titre : Histoire fabuleuse de la Maison des Rois de Portugal^
A later anonymous redaction of this Jeaji de Calais exists in
prints of 1770, 1776, and 1787, and it continued to be issued in
the nineteenth century. Summarized by Hippe, pp. 156 f., and by
Sepp, pp. 685 i. Mentioned by Kohler in Gonzenbach, Sicil.
Mdrchen, ii. 250.
II. Blade, Contes populaires de la Gascogne, 1886, ii. 67-90.
This and the following folk -versions of Jean deserve careful
consideration because of the interesting character of their
variations.
III. J. B. Andrev/s, Folk-Lore Record, iii. 48 ff., from Mentone.
See Liebrecht, E7igl. Stud. v. 158, and Hippe, p. 157.
IV. and V. J. B. Andrews, Contes ligures, traditions de la
Riviere, 1892, pp. 111-116, no. 26, and pp. 187-192, no. 41.
These two versions differ slightly from one another, but more from
the preceding.
1 Place cited.
Bibliography. 17
VI. P. Sebillot, Conies populaires de la Haute-Bretagne, jme.
serie, 1882, pp. 164-171.
VII. Wentworth Webster, Basque Legends^ 1877, pp. 1 51-154.
See Luzel, Ligendes chritiennes, p. 90, note.
VIII. A. Le Braz, La ligende de la mart chez les Bretons
armoricains, nouv. ^d., 1902, ii. 211-231.
IX. L. Giner Arivau, Folk-Lore de Proaza (Asturia), in Biblioteca
de las tradiciones populares espaiiolas^ viii= 194-201 (1886).
X. Gittee and Lemoine, Conies populaires du pays Wallon^
1891, pp. 57-61.
Walewein.
Roman van Walewein^ ed. Jonckbloet, 1846. Analyzed by G.
Paris, Hist. Hit. de la France, xxx. 82-84, and by W. P. Ker, The
Roman van Walewein (Gawain)\n Folk-Lore, \. 1 21-12 7 (1894).
My analysis is a combination made from these two summaries.
LOTHARINGIAN.
Cosquin, Conies populaires de Lorraine, 1886, i. 208-212
(no. xix). Noted by Hippe, p. 157.
Gasconian.
Cenac Moncaut, Conies populaires de la Gascogne, 1861, pp.
5-14, " Rira bien qui rira le dernier." Summarized by Kohler,
Or. und Occ. ii. 329. Mentioned by Hippe, p. 157, and by
Groome, Folk-Lore, ix. 239.
DiANESE.
Novella di Messer Dianese e di Messer Giglioiio, ed. d'Ancona and
Sforza, 1868. Analyzed by Liebrecht, Held. Jahrbiicher der Lit.
Ixi. 450 (1868), by d'Ancona, Romania, iii. 191, (reprinted in his
Studj di critica e sioria, 1880, p. 353), and by Hippe, p. 152.
D'Ancona's summary is from Papanti, nov. xxi. The variant is of
the fourteenth century, according to the writer of the introduction
of the edition of 1868, p. 5. See also Foerster, Richars Ii Biaus,
p. xxiv, and Wilhelmi, pp. 44 and 57.
Stellante Costantina.
D'Ancona, Romania, iii. 192, mentions the popular poem Istoria
bellissima di Stellante Costantina figliuola del gran turco, la quale
fit rubata da certi crisiiani che teneva in corte suo padre efu venduta
1 8 The Grateful Dead.
a un mercante di Vicenza presso Sakrno^ con molii intervalli e
successiy cotnposta da Giovanni Orazio Brunetto. I have not been
able to find this poem and do not know how closely it accords
with Dianese.
Straparola I.
Notti piacevoliy notte xi, favola 2. Analyzed by Grimm,
Kinder- und Hausmdrchen^ 1856, iii. 289 ; and rather too briefly
by Simrock, pp. 98-100, and Hippe, p. 153. See Benfey, Pant.
i. 221, Kohler in Gonzenbach, Sicil. Mdrchen, ii. 249, and Groome,
Tobit and/ackt Folk-Lore^ ix. 226 f., and Gypsy Folk-Tales, p. 3,
note.
Straparola II.
Notti piaccoolii notte v, favola i. See Benfey, Pant. ii. 532.
Tuscan.
G. Nerucci, Sessanta novelle popolari, 1880, pp. 430-437, no. Iii.
A folk-tale from the neighbourhood of Pistoia. See Webster,
Basque Legends, pp. 182-187, Crane, Italian Popular Tales, p. 350,
and Cosquin, Contes pcpulaires, i. 215.
ISTRIAN.
Ive, Novelline pcpolari rovignesi, 1877, p. 19, See d'Ancona,
Studj di critica, 1880, p. 354, and the summary by Crane, Italian
Popular Tales, 1885, no. xxxv. pp. 131-136, from whom, as Ive's
collection has been inaccessible to me, I derive my knowledge of
the story. Crane gives the title of Ive as Fiabe, etc., d'Ancona
as above.
Venetian.
G. Bernoni, Tradizioni populari veneziane, 1875, pp. 89-96.
Referred to by Crane, Italian Popular Tales, p. 350.
Sicilian.
Laura Gonzenbach, Sicilianische Mdrchen, 1870, ii. 96-103.
Summarized briefly by Hippe, pp. 153 f.. and by Groome, Folk-
lore, ix. 239 f.
Brazilian.
Romero and Braga, Contos populares do Brazil, 1885, no. x.
pp. 215. See Cosquin, Contes populaires, i. 215.
Bibliography. 19
Basque I.-
Wentworth Webster, Basque Legends^ i^77, PP- 182-187. See
Cosquin, Coxites populaires, i. 215, and Luzel, Ligendes chriiiennes^
p. 90, note.
Basque II.
Webster, work died, pp. 146-150. See Crane, Italian Popular
Tales, p. 351.
Gaelic.
Campbell, Popular Tales of the West Highlands, new ed. 1890,
ii. 121-140, no. 32, " The Barra Widow's Son." Summarized by
Kohler, Or. und Occ. ii. 322 f., by Sepp, p. 685, by Hippe,
p. 150, and by Groome, Polk-Lore, ix. 235. See Kohler in
Gonzenbach, Sicil. Marchen, ii. 249, and Groome, Gypsy Polk-
Tales, p. 3, note.
Irish I.
W. Larminie, West Irish Folk-Tales and Romances, 1893,
pp. 155-167, "Beauty of the World." Mentioned by Kittredge,
Harvard Notes and Studies, viii. 250, note.
Irish II.
Douglas Hyde, Beside the Pire. A Collection of Irish Gaelic
Polk-Stories, 1890, pp. 18-47, "The King of Ireland's Son."i
Mentioned by Kittredge, place cited.
Irish III.
P. Kennedy, Legendary Pictions of the Irish Celts, 1866,
pp. 32-38, "Jack the Master and Jack the Servant."
Breton I.
Souvestre, Le foyer breton, contes et ricits populaires, nouv.
ed. 1874, ii. 1-2 1. Analyzed by Simrock, pp. 94-98, by Sepp,
p. 685, and in part by Hippe, p. 149. See Luzel, Ugendes
chritiennes, i. 90, note.
Breton II.
F. M. Luzel, Ugendes chritiennes de la Basse-Bretagne, 1881,
i. 68-90, " Le fils de Saint Pierre." Cited by von Weilen, Zts. f
^My attention was first called to this storj' by the kindness of Professor
A. C. L. Brown.
20 The Grateful Dead.
vergl. Liiterafurgeschichie, N.F. i. 105. Analyzed in part by
Hippe, pp. 149 f.
Breton III.
Luzel, work cited, ii. 40-58. Mentioned by von Weilen, place
cited, and analyzed by Hippe, p. 150. The title, slightly
misquoted by Hippe, is " Cantique spirituel sur la charite que
montra Saint-Corentin envers un jeune homme qui fut chasse de
chez son p^re et sa m^re, sans motif ni raison."
Breton IV.
P. Sebillot, Conies populaires de la Haute-Bretagne, 1880,
pp. 1-8. Noted by Luzel, work cited, p. 90, note, and by Cosquin,
Contes populaires, i. 215.
Breton V.
F. M. Luzel, Contes populaires de Basse-Bretagne, 1887, ii.
176-194, "La princesse Marcassa."
Breton VI.
F. M. Luzel, work cited, ii. 209-230, "La princesse de
Hongrie."
Breton VII.
F. M. Luzel, work cited, i. 403-424, "louenn Kermenou,
I'homme de parole."
Old Swedish.
Stephens, pp. 73 f., reprinted with translation from his Ett
Fom-Svenskt Legendarium, 1858, ii. 731 f. This variant from
1265-1270 is analyzed by Hippe, pp. 158 f.
Swedish.
P. O. Backstrom, Svenska Folkbocker, 1845-48, ii. 144-156, from
H — d (Hammarskold) and I — s (Imnelius), Svenska Folksagor,
1 81 9, i. 157-189. Backstrom also cites several editions of the
folk-book, which he says is of native origin. Mentioned by
Stephens, p. 8. Summarized by Liebrecht, Germania, xxiv. 130 f.,
and by Hippe, p. 158.
Danish I.
S. Grundtvig, Gamle Danske Minder i Folkemunde, 1854,
pp. 77-80, "Det fattige Lig." Mentioned by Stephens, p. 8, by
Bibliography, 2 1
Hippe, p. 1 60, and by Wilhelmi, p. 45. Summarized by Kohler,
Or. und Occ. iii. 99.
Danish II.
Grundtvig, work cited, pp. 105-108, "De tre Mark."
Summarized by Kohler, Or. und Occ. iii. 100. Cited by Hippe,
p. 160, and Wilhelmi, p. 45.
Danish III.
Andersen, " Reisekammeraten," in Samlede Skrifter, xx. 54 ff.
(1855). Found in most English editions of Andersen's tales
as "The Travelling Companion." Based on Norwegian II.
Analyzed by Sepp, p. 678. Cited by Kdhler, Or. und Occ. ii. 327,
by Hippe, p. 159, and by Groome, Gypsy Folk-Tales, p. 3, note.
Norwegian I.
Asbjomsen, luletraeei, 1866, no. 8, and Norske Folke-Eventyr,
187 r, no. 99, pp. 198-201. Summarized by Liebrecht, Held.
Jahrbilcher der Lit. Ixi. 451 (1868), and by Hippe, p. 159. See
Liebrecht, Germania, xxiv. 131.
Norwegian II.
Asbjomsen, Illustreret Kalender, 1855, pp. 32-39, luletraeet,
no. 9, and Norske Folke-Eventyr, no. 100, pp. 201-214. Translated
by Dasent, Tales from the FJeld, 1874, pp. 71-88. Cited by
Stephens, p. 8, Liebrecht, Germania, xxiv. 131, and Groome,
Gypsy Folk-Tales, p. 3, note. Somewhat inadequate summaries
by Liebrecht, Heid. Jahrbilcher der Lit. Ixi. 452, Hippe, p. 159,
and Groome, Folk-Lore, ix. 230.
Icelandic I.
Arnason, Islenzkar pjddsogur og /Efintyri, 1864, ii. 473-479.
English translation in Powell and Magnusson, Legends Collected by
J6n. Arnason, 1866, pp. 527-540. German translation in Poestion,
Isldndische Mdrchen, 1884, P- 274. Cited by Liebrecht. Heid.
Jahrbilcher, Ixi. 451, and Germania, xxiv. 131, and by Wilhelmi,
p. 45. Summary by Kohler, Or. und Occ. iii. 10 1 f., and by
Hippe, p. 159.
Icelandic II.
A. Ritterhaus, Die neuisldndischen Volksmdrchen, 1902, no. 57,
pp. 232-235. From MS. 537, Landesbibliothek, Reykjavik.
22 The Grateful Dead.
RiTTERTRIUWE.
F. H. von der Hagen, Gesammtabenteuer, 1850, i. 105-12&, no.
6. A poem of 866 lines from the fourteenth century. Summaries
in Benfey, Pant. i. 221, in Simrock, pp. 100-103, and, with a
rather bad error, in Hippe, p. 164. See Foerster, Richars li Biaus,
p. xxiv. Compared with Richars^ Oliver, and Lion de Bourges by
Wilhelmi, pp. 56 f.
Treu Heinrich.
Der Junker und der treue Heinrich^ ed. K. Kinzel, 1880.
Previously edited and analyzed by von der Hagen, Gesammt-
abenteuer, iii. 197-255, no. 64. Summary by Simrock, pp. 103 f.
Cited by Hippe, p. 165.
Simrock I.
J. W. Wolf, Deutsche Ifausmarchen, 1858, pp. 243-250,
contributed by W. von Plonnies. Summary by Simrock, pp. 46-51,
by Kohler, Or. und Occ. iii. 98, and by Sepp, p. 683. Cited by
Hippe, p. 165.
Simrock II.
W. von Plonnies in Zts. f. deutsche Myth. ii. 373-377. From
the Odenwald. Summary by Simrock, pp. 51-54. See Hippe,
p. 165. This is the story analyzed by Sepp, p. 688 f., though
he also refers to Wolf's and Zingerle's tales.
Simrock III.
E. Meier, Deutsche Volksmdrchen aus Schwaben, 1852, no. 42.
pp. 143-153. Summarized by Simrock, pp. 54-58, Kohler, Or,
und Occ. iii. 99, and Sepp, pp. 686 f. See Hippe, p. 165.
Simrock IV.
H. Prohle, Kinder- und Volksmdrchen, 1853, pp. 239-246.
Summary by Simrock, pp. 58-62. See Hippe, p. 165.
Simrock V.
Simrock, pp. 62-65, contributed by Zingerle, who afterwards
printed it in the Zts. f. deutsche Myth. ii. 367 ff., in Sagen, Mdrchen
und Gebrduche aus Tirol, 1859, pp. 444 f., and in Kinder- una
Hausmdrchen aus Tirol, 2nd ed., 1870, pp. 261-267. Analyzed
without mention of source by Sepp, pp. 687 f. See Hippe,
p. 165.
Bibliography. 23
SiMROCK VI.
Simrock, pp. 65-68, from Xanten. See Hippe, p. 165.
SiMROCK VII.
Simrock, pp. 68-75, ^o^i Xanten. See Hippe, p. 165.
Simrock VIII. ^ — _
F. Woeste, Zts. f. deutsche Myth. iii. 46-50, from Grafschaft
Mark. Given by Simrock, pp. 75-80. Analyzed by Sepp, p. 685,
who inadvertently speaks of it as "nach irischer Sage." See
Hippe, p. 165.
Simrock IX.
Simrock, pp. 80-89, contributed by Zingerle, who afterwards
printed it in Sagen, Mdrchen und Gebrduche aus Tirol, 1859,
pp. 446-450, and in Kinder- und Hausmdrchen aus Tirol, 2nd ed.,
1870, pp. 254-260. See Stephens, p. 9, Hippe, pp. 165 f., and
Wilhelmi, p. 45.
Simrock X.
Simrock, pp. 89-94, from the foot of the Tomberg. Summarized
by Kohler, Or. und Occ. ii. 326. See Hippe, p. 166, and
Wilhelmi, p. 45.
Oldenburgian.
L. Strackerjan, Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogtum
Oldenburg, 1867, ii. 308 ff. Cited by Hippe, p. i66, and by
Foerster, Richars Ii Biaus, p. xxviii.
HaRz I.
A. Ey, Harzmdrchenbuch, 1862, pp. 64-74. Summary by
Kohler, Or. und Occ. iii. 96. Cited by Hippe, p. 166.
Harz II.
A. Ey, work cited, pp. 11 3- 118. Summary by Kohler, Or. und
Occ. iii. 97. Cited by Hippe, p. 166.
Sir Amadas.
Ed. Weber, Metrical Romances, 1810, iii. 241-275, Robson,
Three Early English Metrical Romances, 1842, pp. 27-56, Stephens,
Ghost-Thanks, i860. Stephens seems to have been the first to
note the connection of Sir Amadas with The Grateful Dead. The
romance, as it is preserved in two manuscripts of the fifteenth
24 The Grate/ill Dead.
century, must accordingly have been composed as early as the
second half of the preceding century. It contains 778 verses in
the tail-rhyme stanza. Summarized by Kohler, Or. und Occ. ii.
325, by Foerster, Richars li Biaus, pp. xxiv-xxvi, by Groom e,
Folk Lore, ix. 236, and by Hippe (with great care), pp. 160-164.
Compared with Oliver by Wilhelmi, pp. 58 f.
Jack the Giant Killer.
Found without essential difference in several chapbooks, the
earliest owned by the British Museum being entitled : The Second
Part of \ Jack and the Giants. \ Giving a full Account of his
victorious Conquests over \ the North Country Giants ; destroying
the inchanted \ Castle kept by Galligantus ; dispersed the fiery
Grif- \fins ; put the Conjuror to Flight; and released not \ only
many Knights and Ladies, but likewise a Duke^s \ Daughter, to
whom he was honourably married. Newcastle-on-Tyne, 1711.^
Other editions with the story are : Th£ History of Jack and the
Giants, Aldermary Churchyard, London ; same title, v Bow
Church Yard, London ; same title, Cowgate, Edinburgh ; The
Pleasant and delightful History of Jack and the Giants, Notting-
ham, Printed for the Running Stationers, and The Wonderful
History of Jack the Giant-Killer, Manchester, Printed by A.
Swindells; all without date. The Newcastle edition was
reprinted by Halliwell-Phillipps in Popular Rhymes and Nursery
Tales, 1849, i^ which our tale appears at pp. 67-77. Apparently
the British Museum copy dated 171 1 is that owned by Halliwell-
Phillipps. From his edition it has been reprinted by Groome,
Folk-Lore, ix. 237 f., and summarized by Kohler, Or. und Occ.
ii. 327 f., and Sepp, p. 685. See also Stephens, p. 8. Hippe, p. 164,
and Wilhelmi, p. 45.
Factors' Garland.^
The Factor^ s Garland or The Turkey Factor, a tale in English
verse, which may be regarded as a popular ballad, though by no
^ An edition with an almost identical title " Printed and sold by Larkin How,
in Petticoat Lane," of which a copy is in the Harvard College Library, does
not contain our story.
*My attention was called to this variant by the kindness of Professor
Kittredge.
Bibliography. 25
means as a primitive one. It has often been reprinted as a
chapbook or broadside. The library of Harvard University
possesses copies of no less than eight different editions (see W. C.
Lane, Catalogue of English and American Chap-Books and
Broadside Ballads in Harvard College Library y 1905, nos. 809-815,
2420). An examination of these shows that they differ from each
other in no essential point, though they vary considerably in
statements of time. The British Museum Catalogue of Printed
Books lists seven editions, all different from those at Harvard,
with one possible exception. The popularity of the story, at one
time at least, is thus strikingly illustrated. Another variant,
reported from oral tradition, has been found in North Carolina.
See the paper read by J. B. Henneman before the Modern
Language Association of America on Dec. 29, 1906.
Old Wives' Tale.
George Peele, The Old Wives' Tale (1590), published in 1595,
Ed. by Dyce, 1828 and 186 1, by Bullen, 1888, and by Gummere
in Gayley's Representative English Comedies^ i903» PP- 349-382.
See H. Dutz for an elaborate discussion of the connection of the
play with our theme.
Fatal Dowry.
Philip Massinger (and Nathaniel Field), The Fatal Dowry.
First printed in 1632. Ed. A. Symons, Mermaid Series, 1889,
ii. 87-182.
Fair Penitent.
Nicholas Rowe, The Fair Penitent, The Dramatick Works of
Nicholas Rowe Esq., 1720, vol. i.
CHAPTER III.
TALES WITH THE SIMPLE THEME AND MIS-
CELLANEOUS COMBINATIONS.
Of the tales enumerated in the previous chapter, over one
hundred in number, all but seventeen fall into well-defined
categories as having The Grateful Dead combined with one
or more of three given themes : The Possessed Woman,
The Ransomed Woman, and The Water of Life. Of these
seventeen variants, moreover, only four can be regarded as
having the simple motive of The Grateful Dead ; and they
are in part doubtful members of the family.
The first of them is Simonides, thus related by Cicero :
" Unum de Simonide : qui cum ignotum quendam proiec-
tum mortuum vidisisset eumque humavisset haberetque in
animo navem conscendere, moneri visus est ne id faceret ab
eo, qUem sepultura adfecerat ; si navigavisset, eum nau-
fragio esse periturum ; itaque Simonidem redisse, perisse
ceteros, qui tum navigavissent." The source of Cicero's
story we do not know, but in all probability it was Greek.
Whether it really belongs to our cycle, being so simple in
form and nearly two centuries earlier in date than any
other version yet unearthed, is a matter for very great
doubt. It may have arisen quite independently of other
similar tales in various parts of the world, and have no
essential connection with our tale ; but it deserves special
consideration, not only from its antiquity, but also from
its subsequent history in lineal descent through Valerius
Tales with the Simple Theme, 27
Maximus, and possibly Robert Holkot^ to Chaucer. We
are at least justified in looking for some influence of so
well-known an anecdote upon better-authenticated members
of the cycle.
The three other variants with the simple theme are all
folk-tales of recent gathering. The first of them is Jewish^
which runs as follows : The son of a rich merchant of
Jerusalem sets off after his father's death to see the
world. At Stamboul he finds hanging in chains the
body of a Jew, which the Sultan has commanded to be
left there until his co-religionists shall have repaid the
sum that the man is suspected of having stolen from
his royal master. The hero pays this sum, and has the
corpse buried. Later during a storm at sea he is saved
by a stone on which he is brought to land, whence he
is carried by an eagle back to Jerusalem. There a white-
clad man appears to him, explaining that he is the
ghost of the dead, and that he has already appeared as
stone and eagle. The spirit further promises the hero
a reward for his good deed in the present and in the
future life.
The second variant is the Annamite tale. Two poor
students were friends. One died and was buried by the
other, whose fidelity was such that he remained three years
by the tomb. He dreamed that his friend came to him
and said that he should gain the title of trqng nguyen. So
he built a chapel by the tomb, where the dead friend often
appeared to him. When the king heard of his loyalty,
he was praised and rewarded with a title. After his
^ Miss Petersen's conclusion, Sources of the Nonne Prestes Tale, p. 109, note,
is not altogether convincing, since the vogue of Valerius Maximus was so great
that other authors than Holkot are likely to have quoted Cicero's stories from
him. The book may yet be found in which the one follows the other " right
in the nexte chapitre."
* Given by Hippe, pp. 143 f. Wherever Hippe's summaries are adequate
and careful, I shall refer the reader to his monograph for comparison.
28 The Grateful Dead.
death the two friends appeared to their son and daughter,
bidding them marry.^
The third story is Servian VI. An uncle of Adam, who
honoured God and the "Vile,"^ was so good a man that
God came to him in human form one day. After a battle
between the good and evil in the world, the latter would
not bury the slain. The Vile told Tuegut that this would
not do, so he hitched up his wagon and carried the slain
to their graves. Then God came to earth, told him to
put all he possessed in his wagon, and carried him on a
cloud to heaven, where he was made the constellation
now called Driver Tuegut's Heavenly Wagon.
Of these three tales the Annamite does not fulfil the
usual condition that the dead man shall be a stranger to the
one who does the good action. Together with Siinonidcs,
all of them vary widely in the reward given the hero. In
Simonides he is warned against embarkation, and thus
saved from shipwreck ; in the Jewish he is actually rescued
from a storm- lossed vessel by the ghost, which masquerades
as a rock and an eagle, and afterward promises him further
rewards here and hereafter; in the A7inainite he is pro-
vided with earthly glory; and in Servian VI. he becomes
a part of the galaxy of heaven. Only the underlying idea
is the same, — that the burial of the dead is a pious act and
a 'sacred duty, which will meet a fitting reward.^ This
belief is so widespread and ancient that it is not difficult to
surmise how stories inculcating the duty might have grown
up independently in many lands. At the same time, the
very diversity of reward in these simple tales allies them to
one or another of the compound types, which, though
^ T*^!s story has nothing in common v/ith the mediaeval tale of the compact
between two friends that the frst to die shall appear to the other. See the
v/rter's North-English Homily Collection, 1902, pp. 27-31.
^Apparently beneficent spirits, whose nature is half fairy and half angel.
See Serzian V. below.
^ See chapter viii. and Sepp, pp. 678-680 for illustrations of the belief.
Tales with the Simple Theme. 29
multiform and widespread, are yet unmistakably the off-
spring of a single parent form, or better, of a chance union
between two motives.^ Thus Simonides and Jewish recall
the combination of The Grateful Dead with The Ransomed
Woman, since they have the hero rescued from drowning
by the ghost, and they suggest one point of union between
the two themes. It therefore seems best to include them
in our list, not only for the sake of completeness, but
because they point to the reason which sometime and
somewhere gave rise to a more developed form of the
motive, — to the marc hen as we i:h2.II study it. A con-
sideration of these basal principles can be undertaken,
however, only after the story theme in its various
ramifications and modifications has been thoroughly
discussed.
The probability that The Grateful Dead once existed in
a simple, uncompounded form, which became the parent on
one side of the more important combined types, is
strengthened by the minor compounds in which it is
found. How can the correspondences of detail seen in a
considerable number of different compounds, as far as they
run parallel, be otherwise explained? Surely it is more
reasonable to believe in the existence of such a parent
form than to suppose that an originally complicated
form was hacked and hewn asunder to produce new
compounds. This will become clearer, I hope, as we
proceed.
In Greek, a boy was sold to a pasha, who betrothed
him to his daughter. Because of the mother's objections,
however, he was sent away as a shepherd, while the girl
was promised to another pasha's son. The hero fed his
flock under the shelter of the castle, and was summoned
by the maiden, who gave him her betrothal ring in a
^ One can conceive of separate generation of a very simple story under similar
conditions, but not, I think, that a series of events showing combination of
themes or detailed correspondence would so arise.
30 The Grateful Dead.
beaker, though pretending not to know him. The next
day she asked her parents to let the two suitors go into the
Vv'orld with a thousand piasters apiece, and see which came
back with the most money. So they were sent forth. The
pasha's son remained in a city enjoying his money, while
the shepherd went on till he met an old man, to whom he
told his story. The man gave him a thousand piasters
more, and told him to buy an ape in a town hard by. He
succeeded in doing this, and brought the ape back to the old
man, who cut it in pieces, much to the youth's disgust, and
made eye-salve of the brain. With this he sent the hero
away after exacting a promise of half of what was obtained.
The youth won a thousand piasters by curing the blind,
and later a great sum, besides thirty ships, by healing a
very rich man. With this wealth he returned to the old
man, and with him to the city where the pasha's son had
sojourned. The latter agreed to let the shepherd's seal be
burned on his arm in return for the payment of his debts ;
but, while the hero and the old man sailed home, he rode
fast by land with the story that his rival was dead. The
shepherd arrived at home just in time for his rival's
wedding, and at the end of it showed the bride her ring.
She recognised her lover, called her parents, and, after
the hero had told his story and proved it by the seal on his
rival's arm, married him. That night the old man knocked
on the door of their chamber, and demanded that the bride
be divided. According to his promise, the hero prepared
to cut her in twain, when the intruder said that he wished
only to test his fidelity, explaining that he was God,
Who had taken him under His protection because his
father had sold him in order to keep the lamp burning
in honour of his saint.
In this variant the elements of The Grateful Dead have
been merged with a story about how a young man of low
birth won a princess by overcoming another suitor in spite
of the treachery of the latter. As I have met with but one
Tales with the Simple Theme. 31
example of this, from Lesbos,^ I will summarise it briefly.
A princess becomes enamoured of the son of her father's
gardener, and refuses to marry the son of the first minister.
So the two suitors are sent out to a far country with the
understanding that the one who returns first shall have the
princess. On the way the gardener's son helps an old
beggar-woman, whom his rival has spurned, and is told by
her how to cure a sick king (by boiling him and sprinkling
him with a certain powder). For this service the youth
obtains a ring of bronze, which has the virtue of giving
whatever its possessor desires. By means of this he gets a
wonderful ship, and sails to the city where the minister's
son, through extravagance, has fallen into poverty. He
provides him with a wretched ship, in which to return
home, on condition that he may mark him with his ring.
The minister's son reaches home in his crazy vessel, and is
about to marry the princess, when the hero appears on his
beautiful ship of gold, exposes his rival, and weds the
lady. The remainder of the story, which tells how the
magical ring was lost and afterward recovered, does not
concern us. It will be seen that Greek has preserved only
the later part of The Grateful Dead at all clearly, though
that combination with a tale of the type of the Lesbian
narrative has actually taken place is evident from the part
which the helper plays. He not only obtains a promise of
division, but calls for its fulfilment. His first appearance
is, however, quite unmotivated, while the old woman of the
Lesbian story serves the purpose, according to a common
formula, of showing the hero's kindness in contrast to his
rival's hard heart. The point common to the two tales,
which led to their combination, is without doubt this
helping friend.
In Servian V. a youth on a journey pays his all to
rescue a debtor from hanging. By his new-found friend
^Camoy and Nicolaides, Traditions populaires de I'Asie Mineure^ 1889,
PP- 57-74.
32 The Grateful Dead.
the youth is led to the wondrous Vilaberg, where he is left
with the admonition that he must not speak. He disobeys,
and is made dumb and blind by an enchantress ; but he is
cured by the man whom he rescued, who plays on a pipe
and gives him a healing draught. So he dwells for some
years in the mountain with one of the ladies as his
wife, but afterward goes home, though every summer he
returns to his friends in the Vilaberg.
Here we have our theme combined with a form of The
Swan-Maiden} which occurs in only one other case, as far
as I am able to discover. The reason for the combination
is not far to seek. The latter part of the tale represents
the reward of the rescuer by the rescued. That the benefit
does not take the form of actual burial need not disturb us.
The man was at least far gone towards death, and he was a
debtor — a trait found in about two-thirds of the variants
known to me. Moreover, the supernatural character of the
comrade is indicated by the adventure into which he leads
the youth. The tale has been partly rationalised, that is all.
Esthonian I?- shows a different combination, which is
unique as far as I know. In a gorge not far from the
village of Arukala (near Wesenberg) a howling was heard
every night for years. Finally a bold man went by night
to the place and found the skeleton of a murdered king,
which told him that it had howled thus for a hundred
years because it had not been buried with holy rites.
The next day the man took the bones to a priest, and,
while burying them, discovered an enormous treasure.
As Schiefner said,^ when he first printed the story, it
recalls the Grimms' Der singende Knochen} which in turn is
^See Baring-Gould's Curious Myths, 2nd ed. 1869, pp. 561 ff. for a popular
account. The philosophical basis of the tale is discussed by Liebrecht,
Zur Volkskunde, 1 879, pp. 54 ff. (from Germania, xiii. l6lff.), and by
Hartland, Science of Fairy Tales, 1891, pp. 255-332, 337-347-
2 See Hippe, p. 148. ^ Or. und Occ. ii. 176.
* Kinder- und Hausm'drcken, no. 28. See notes (ed. 1856), iii. 55, 56;
also Kohler, Kleinerc Sc/irifien, i. 49, 54.
Tales with the Simple Theme. '^^t
a compound of The Water of Life, with the idea of murder
discovered by means of a dead man's bones. The
Esthonian tale has, however, only the latter circum-
stance, combined with a simple form of The Grateful
Dead. The hero's reward is immediate — he finds gold
in the earth while digging the grave; and the ghost
does not appear. The variant is thus of no great
significance.
The group of tales that must next be considered
furnishes rather more important evidence as to the
development of the theme. It is a compound of The
Grateful Dead with the motive which we may call The
Spendthrift Knight. As far as I know, the type is
purely mediaeval. The group includes Richars^ Lion de
Bourges, Dianese, Old Swedish, Ritteririuwe, and Sir
Amadas.
The plot of Richars, as far as it concerns us, runs
thus : Richars, in the pursuit of knightly exercises, wastes
all his father's property as lord of Mangorie. When he
hears that the King of Montorgueil has promised the
hand of his daughter to the victor in a tourney, he is
sad at the thought of his inability to engage. Through
the generosity of a provost, however, he is enabled to
set out with a horse, three attendants, and a supply of
gold. At the city of Osteriche he spends part of his
money in giving a great feast. In the roof of the house
where he stays he is astonished to see a corpse lying
on two beams, and he learns that it is the body of a
knight, who. died owing the householder three thousand
pounds. Richars gives everything he has, even to his
armour, to secure the release and burial of the dead man.
He then proceeds to the tourney on a poor horse that
his host gives him, and quite alone, since his attendants
have deserted him. On the way he is joined by a White
Knight, who offers him help in the tourney and places
at his disposal his noble steed. Richars wins the tourney
c
34 The Grateful Dead.
and obtains the hand of the Princess Rose. He now
offers the White Klnight his choice of the lady or the
property. The stranger, however, refuses any division,
explains that he is the ghost of the indebted knight,
and disappears.^
Lion de Bourges runs thus : Lion, son of Duke Harpin
de Bourges, was found by a knight in a lion's den and
reared as his son. When he grew up, he wasted his
foster-father's property in chivalry. Finally, he heard
that King Henry of Sicily had promised the hand of
his daughter to the knight who should win a tourney
that he had established. So Lion started for the court,
and on the way ransomed the body of a knight, which
he found hanging in the smoke, on account of unpaid
debts. At Montluisant the hero won the favour of the
Princess Florentine, and, before the tourney, obtained
from a White Knight the charger which he still lacked,
on condition of sharing his winnings, the princess ex-
cepted. With the help of this knight Lion was victorious
and obtained the princess. He was then asked by his
helper to give up either the lady or the whole kingdom,
and did not hesitate to do the latter. At this, the stranger
explained that he was the ghost of the ransomed knight
and disappeared, though he afterwards returned to assist
the hero at need.
^ See Hippe, p. 155. This analysis includes only the second of two
well-defined parts. The first section is related to the English Sir Degarre
(ed. from Auchinleck MS. for the Abbotsford Club, 1849; from Percy
Folio, Hales and Furnivall, Percy Folio A/S., 1S68, iii. 16-48; early prints
by Wynkyn de Worde, Copland, and John King ; see G. Ellis, Specimens
of Early English Metrical Romances^ iSir, iii. 458 ff., J. Ashton, Romances
of Chivalry, 1887, pp. 103 ff., Paul's Grundriss, ii. i. 643). This con-
nection was pointed out by Foerster, p. xxiii. The same material was
used also in a Dutch chapbook, Jan wt den vergiere, of which a copy
printed at Amsterdam is preserved at Gottingen. See the article " Nieder-
landische Volkslmcher," by Karl Meyer, in Sammlung bibliotheksvjissenschaft-
licher Arbeiten, ed. Dziatzko, viii. 17-22, 1S95. I ^i" indebted for this
last reference to the kindness of Dr. G. L. Hamilton.
Tales with the Simple Theme. 35
According to Dianese} the knight of that name has
wasted his substance. When he hears that the King of
Chornualglia (Cornwall) has promised his daughter and
half of his kingdom to the knight who wins the tourney-
that he has called, Dianese gets his friends to fit hira
out and sets forth. On the way he passes through a
town where the traffic is diverted from the main street
because of a corpse which has long been lying on a bier
before a church. He learns that it is the body of a
knight, who cannot be buried till his creditors have been
paid. At the cost of everything he possesses, save his
horse, the hero satisfies the creditors and has the knight
buried. When he has gone on two miles, he is joined
by a merchant, who promises him money, horses, and
weapons if he will give in return half of what he wins
in the tourney. Dianese agrees, is fitted out anew, and
succeeds in overcoming all comers in the contest. Thus
he obtains the hand of the princess and half the kingdom.
With his bride, the merchant, and his followers he starts
for home ; but, when they are only a day's journey from
their destination, he is required by the merchant to fulfil
his promise — to choose between his bride as one half,
his possessions as the other. Dianese takes the lady
and rides on. Soon, however, he is joined by the
merchant, who praises his faithfulness, gives up the
treasures, explains that he is the ghost of the debtor
knight, and disappears.
In Old Swedish^ the daughter and heiress of the King
of France promises to marry whatever knight is victor
in a tourney which she announces. Pippin, the Duke
of Lorraine, hears of this and sets out for France. At
the end of his first day's journey he finds lodging at
the house of a widow, who is lamenting because her
husband, once in good circumstances, has died so poor
that she cannot bury him properly. Pippin takes pity
^See Hippe, pp. 152 f. ^See Hippe, pp. 158 f.
36 The Grateful Dead.
on her, and pays for the man's funeral. On his further
journey he falls in with a man on a noble steed, who
gives him the horse on condition of receiving half of
whatever he shall win. Unthinkingly Pippin agrees and
wins the tourney with the help of the horse. After he
has married the princess, he is asked by the helper to
fulfil his promise. He offers at first half, then the whole
of his kingdom, in order to keep his bride, and is finally
told by the man that he is the ghost of the dead, while
the horse was an angel of God.
Rittertriuwe is of the same romantic character. When
Graf Willekin von Montabour had spent his substance in
chivalrous exercises, he learned that a beautiful and rich
maiden had promised her hand to the knight, who should
win a tourney, which she had established. Thereupon he
set forth and came to the place announced for the combats.
There he found lodging in the house of a man, who would
only receive him if he would promise to pay the debts of a
dead man, whose body lay unburied in the dung of a
horse-stall.^ Willekin was moved by this story and paid
seventy marks, almost all his money, to ransom the corpse
and give it suitable burial. He then had to borrow from
his host in order to indulge in his customary generosity.
On the morning of the jousting he obtained from a
stranger knight a fine horse on condition of dividing
everything that he won. He succeeded in the tourney
above all the other contestants, and so wedded the
maiden. On the second night after the marriage the
stranger entered his room and demanded a share in his
marital rights. After he had offered instead to give all
his possessions, the hero started from the room in tears,
when the stranger called him back and explained that
he was the ghost of the dead, then disappeared.
• This trait recalls the first of Chaucer's two stories in the Ntiii's Pn'esfs
7'alc, Cant. Tales, B. 4174-4252, wliere the comrade is found buried with
dung on a cart.
Tales with the Simple Theme. 37
A brief summary of Sir Amadas} the last of the six
variants, must now be given. Amadas finds himself finan-
cially embarrassed, and sets forth for seven years of errantry
with only forty pounds in hand. This he pays to release
and bury the body of a merchant who has died in debt.
When thus reduced to absolute penury, Amadas meets a
White Knight, who tells him that he will aid him on con-
dition of receiving half the gains. The hero finds a rich
wreck on the seacoast, and so with new apparel goes to the
court, where he wins wealth in a tourney and the princess's
heart at a feast. After he marries her and has a son born
to him, the White Knight reappears and demands that
the accepted conditions be complied with. Hesitatingly
Amadas prepares to divide first his wife and afterwards
his son, but he is stayed by the stranger, who explains
that he is the ghost of the dead merchant. So Amadas
is at last released from misfortune and lives in happi-
ness.
In all six of these stories we have a knight, who sets
out to win a tourney in which the victor's prize is to be
the hand of a princess. In all of them save Old Swedish
he is represented as being impoverished by previous
extravagance, in Richars, Lion de Bourges, and Ritter-
triuwc it being expressly stated that he had wasted his
fortune by over-indulgence in his passion for jousting.
On his way to the place appointed for the contest the
hero pays for the burial^ of a man whose corpse is held
for debt.^ He goes on and is approached either before
{Richars, Lion de BourgeSy Dianese, Old Swedish, and Sir
^For a fuller analysis see Hippe, pp. 160-164.
* In Richars, Lion de Bourges, Dianese, and Sir Amadas he pays his all,
even to his equipment for war, the most logical and, on the whole, pro-
bably the earlier form of the story.
3 In all except Old Swedish and Sir Amadas the man was a knight ; in
these he was a merchant, the husband of the woman at whose house the
hero lodges.
^8 The Grateful Dead.
Amadas) or after {Rittertriuwe) he reaches the h'sts by a
man, who provides him with a horse, by the aid of which
he wins the tourney and the princess. In Dianese the
hero is a merchant, in Old Swedish his estate is not
mentioned, but in the other four variants he appears as
a knight (a white knight in Richars, Lion de Bourges,
and Sir Amadas). In Dianese the hero is also provided
with armour; in Richars and Lion de Bojirges he is
assisted in his jousting by the White Knight; and in
Sir Amadas he finds a wreck on the coast from which
he obtains all things needful. In Richars we find the
somewhat inept conclusion that the hero asks his friendly
helper whether he will take the princess or the property^
as his share. The latter responds that he wishes only
his horse, explains who he is, and vanishes. In all the
other variants, however, the condition is made that the
hero divide whatever he shall gain.^
With reference to Richars and Lion de BotirgeSy
Wilhelmi's careful discussion ^ has made it clear that,
though they agree in many points as against all the
other related versions, not only in respect to TJie Grateful
Dead, but to the further course of a complicated narrative,
neither one could have been taken from the other. The
difference in the matter of the division between Richars
and all the other variants he neglects, though it
strengthens his position. Back of Richars 2t.nd Lion de
Bourges, earlier than the thirteenth century, there must
have existed a literary work which was their common
source. This hypothetical French romance may be con-
sidered as the foundation of the whole group which we
are discussing.
Since Old Swedish agrees with most of the other
variants with regard to the division, and furthermore
' "V le femme u I'auoir ares," v. 5316.
-Though in Lion de Bourges he excepts the lady specifically.
^See Uber Lion de Bourges, particularly pp. 46-54.
Tales with the Simple Theme. 39
with Rittertriiiwe, in stating that the hero offered all his
property in order to keep his wife, there seems to be
no doubt that it belongs to this particular group, despite
the fact that it says nothing about the hero's poverty.
The connection is not improbable on the score of chron-
ology, if we suppose that the source of Richars and Lion
de Bourges, or some similar tale, found its way into the
North by translation in the first half of the thirteenth
century, a time when translations into Icelandic at any-
rate were made in great numbers. Indeed, the names
Pippin, Lorraine, etc., immediately suggest a French
source ; and the story is not really a legend at all,
though it appears in a legendary, but a narrative quite
in the style of the romans d'aventure.
With reference to Sir Amadas, two points of special
interest appear. The hero is provided the wherewithal for
his successful courtship by means of a wreck to which he
is directed by the White Knight ; and he is required to
divide his child as well as his wife with his helper. These
peculiarities, together with the different opening, make it
improbable that Richars, as preserved, was the direct source
of the romance, though its author may have known some
text either of that romance, or of Lion de Bourges. It
seems more likely, however, that the source of Sir Amadas
was rather the common original of both those versions.
In the present state of the evidence it is impossible to do
more than to show, as I have attempted to do, that the
fourteenth-century Sir Amadas is a member of the little
group under discussion.
The proposed division of the son is peculiarly important
in that it connects the group with the stories in which The
Grateful Dead is compounded with the theme of Amis and
Amiloun. Indeed, the general relationship of The Spend-
thrift Knight to that theme must be considered in a later
chapter^ after more important compounds have been
* See chapter vii.
40 The Grateful Dead.
discussed. It will be noted that the group just considered
is purely literary and purely mediaeval. Though it has
representatives in Italy, Germany, Sweden, and England,
it is to all intents and purposes French in source and
character. Five of its members are the only variants
treated in this chapter where the question of dividing
the hero's prize is brought up. The group thus stands
by itself, and may be considered as an entity when we
come to a discussion of the larger matters of relationship.
A solitary folk-tale now demands attention — my Breton
II. The Grateful Dead in a simple form is here com-
bined with a story told of Gregory the Great,^ as Luzel,
to whom the tale w^as recounted by a Breton peasant,
indeed briefly noted. ^ The Breton tale runs as follows :
A rich lord and lad)'^ had no children. While the lady
was praying to St. Peter in a chapel that was being
repaired, she fell a victim to a young painter, and had
by him a son, who was named after St. Peter. When
the boy was twelve years of age, he carried St. Peter
across a stream one day, while his shepherd companion
^ The Trentall of St. Gregory. The Old French text has been edited by
P. Meyer, Romania, xv. 281-283. The English versions, of which the first
seems to be taken from this, are found in the following MSS. : (A) Vernon
MS. fol. 230, ed. Horstmann, Engl. Stud. viii. 275-277, and The Minor
Poems of t/u Vernon MS. i., E.E.T.S. 98, 1892, pp. 260-268; Vernon MS.
fol. 303, variants given in Horstmann's ed. for E.E.T.S.; MS. Cotton
Caligula A II., ed. Furnivall, Political, Religious, and Love Poems, E.E.T.S.
15, 1866, pp. 83-92, reprinted by Horstmann, E.E.T.S. pp. 260-268; MS.
Lambeth 306, variants given by Furnivall ; a critical text with variants of
the four was made by A. Kaufmann, Trentalle Sancti Gregorii, Erlanger
Beitrdge, iii. 29-44, 1889. (B) MS. 19, 3, I, Advocates' Libr., Edinburgh,
ed. Turnbull, The Visions of Tundale, 1843, pp. 77 ff., and Biilbring, Anglia,
xiii. 301-308; MS. Kk. I, 6, Camb. Univ. Libr., ed. Kaufmann, pp. 44-49.
Kaufmann in his introduction discusses the relations of the versions. See
further Varnhagen, Anglia, xiii. 105 f. Another legend of Gregory in
popular fiction is treated by Bruce in his edition of De Ortu Waluuanii,
Publications Mod. Lang. Ass. xiii. 372-377. The story in the Gesta
Romanorum. to which Luzel, i. 83, note, refers is this rather than our tale.
-i. 83 and 90, notes.
Tales with the Simple Theme. 41
carried Christ. The companion died soon after, Pierre
then set forth to visit his patron in Paradise. On his
way he stopped overnight at the house of an old woman,
whose husband lay unburied because there was no money
to pay the priest. Pierre gave all his money for the
interment, and went on. When he came to the sea, a
naked man, who said that he was the dead, carried him
across to a point near the gates of Paradise. There he
found Peter, and was shown the glories of heaven by the
Saviour, as well as Purgatory and Hell. In the last he
saw a chair reserved for his mother, but by his entreaties
induced the Lord to grant her a release on condition of
doing penance himself for her. So he was told to put on
a spiked girdle, to throw the key of it into the sea, and
not to take it off till the key should be found. After
donning this instrument Pierre was carried by the ghost
back to his own land, where he lived on alms — first on
the public ways, and later, without discovering himself, in
his father's castle. During his father's absence he was
killed at the command of his mother, but was dug up
alive by his father and treated with respect. One day
at a feast he found the key in the head of a fish. When
the girdle was opened, he died, and his soul was borne
to heaven by angels.
Two Danish variants present a curious but not inex-
plicable combination of The Grateful Dead with Ptiss in
Boots, as was noted by Kohler.^ Danish I. relates how a
youth pays three marks, which is his all, to bury the
body of a dead man, for whose interment the priest has
demanded payment in advance. He is then joined by
another youth, who is the ghost of the dead, and goes to
a certain city. There, by giving himself out as a prince
at the advice of his companion, who provides him with
proper trappings, he wins the hand of a princess. In
Danish 11. an old soldier pays his last three marks to
1 Or. und Occ. iii. 99 f.
42 The Grateful Dead.
prevent three creditors from digging up a corpse. He is
joined by a pale stranger, who takes him in a leaden
ship to a land where he marries a princess, who is fated
to marry no one save a man who comes in this way.
The stranger secures, by a lying ruse, a troll's castle for
the hero, and, after explaining that he is the ghost of
the buried debtor, disappears.
The traces of the Puss in Boots motive^ are, I think,
sufficiently clear, especially in the first of the two
variants, since the point of that familiar tale is certainly
that the hero marries a woman of high estate by
making himself out as of equal rank, substantiating
his statements by a succession of clever ruses. That the
grateful dead enables him to fulfil the required conditions
is an introduction that could easily replace the ordinary
one, especially since a helper of some sort is necessary
to the story, just what the relation of these two variants
is to other Pitss in Boots stories does not here concern
us. From the side of The Grateftil Dead, however, it is
possible to see how the combination — found only in two
folk-tales from a single country, it will be observed — may
have arisen. The benefits bestowed on the hero show an
essential likeness to those found in a widespread com-
pound type to be studied in a later chapter,^ where the
thankful dead helps his friend to obtain a wife by the
performance of some feat. Since the combination now in
consideration seems to be confined to the region about
Denmark, while mediaeval and modern examples of the
other are found in many lands, it may be regarded as
a mere variation on the better-known compound type,
produced by the similarity of the two endings. Yet
^ See Pas Md^chen x'an gcsticfcltai L'aier, Leipzig, 1843; Benfey, Pant-
sihatantra, i. 222 ; Grimm, Kinder- mid Hansiiiiirchtn, iii. 288 ; Liebrecht,
Dtinlofs Geschichtc der Prosadichtungcn, 1851, p. 2S6 : Polivka, Arch. /.
Slav. Phil. xix. 24S ; etc.
-Chapter vi.
Tales with the Simple Theme. 43
it has to be treated separately, because it involves an
independent theme.
An echo of the simple theme of The Grateful Dead is
found in two English plays — Massinger's Fatal Dowry
and Rowe's Fair Penitent. In the former young Charalois
goes to prison to release his father's body from the clutch
of creditors, who wish to keep it unburied for vengeance.^
He is rescued by Rochfort, who pays the debts and gives
him his daughter in marriage. The intrigues of love and
vengeance that follow do not concern us. In Rowe's
play, which was based on Massinger's, this part has been
curtailed to a few slight references. Altamont gives
himself as ransom for his father's body to the greedy
creditors, who will not allow burial to take place. He
is rewarded by the care and bounty of Sciolto, who
becomes a second father to him.
Stephens was certainly right in connecting^ the story
in The Fatal Dowry with The Grateful Dead, though it
is only a fragment and lacks some of the most essential
features of the complete theme. The ghost, indeed, does
not appear at all, but the part played by Rochfort may
be regarded as a greatly sophisticated reminiscence of
that trait, especially since he not only rescues the hero,
but provides him with a wife. The echo of the theme
is too vague for us to distinguish the form in which it
was found by Massinger, though I think that we should
not go far wrong in supposing that he had in mind some
narrative, either popular or literary, nearly approaching
the compound type treated in chapter vi. below. As one of
the comparatively few traces that the motive has left in
England this double dramatic use is not without interest.^
^ An unnecessarily nauseating reason is given by one of them (Act i. sc. i, ),
but this seems to be of Massinger's invention.
»r. 8.
^ It is interesting also to note that a Viennese dramatist of our own day has
adapted Massinger's drarha, retaining a vague reminiscence of the thankful dead.
The curious may see Der Graf von Charolais by Richard Beer-Hofmann, 1905.
CHAPTER IV.
THE GRATEFUL DEAD AND THE POISON MAIDEN.
One of the most prevalent types of The Grateful Dead
is that in which it has combined with The Poison Maide7i,
a theme almost world-wide in distribution and applica-
tion. From the time of Benfey and Stephens^ the
connection between the two themes has been regarded
as vital. Though Hippe recognised that the stories
were perhaps originally independent,^ he took the com-
pound as his point of departure and derived all other
forms from it. As will be seen in the course of our
study, such a filiation is exceedingly improbable, if the
essential features of The Grateful Dead and The Poison
Maiden be closely examined. Hippe went wrong, I
should say, in failing to differentiate between what traits
belong to the former and what to the latter theme.
As a matter of fact, The Poison Maiden exists in a
cycle of its own. Any doubt about this and any necessity
of studying the theme in detail here is removed by the
valuable monograph of Wilhelm Hertz, Die Sage vo7n
Giftmddchenf in which the literature of the subject has
been marshalled with masterly skill. Starting with the
^See pp. I and 2. "P. l8i.
^ Abhandlungeii dcr k. bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1893,
pp. 89- 166. Reprinted, with some additional notes by the editor, in Gesam-
melte Abkandltmgcn von Wilhelm Hertz, ed. F. von der Leyen, 1905,
pp. 156-277.
The Poison Maiden. 45
stories of how a maiden, who had been fed with snake-
poison, was sent to Alexander the Great from India by
an enemy, and how the plot to kill the emperor through
her embraces was foiled by the cunning of Aristotle,^
Hertz shows 2 that the central idea of the tale is the
belief that a man could be killed by sexual connection
with a woman who had been nourished on poison. In
most of the variants, to be sure, it is the bite of the
woman that is venomous, while in others it is her glance
or her breath ; but these are natural modifications. With-
out following the study into details, the important fact
to remember is that there has existed from early times
a tale relating how a man was saved by a watchful
friend on his bridal night from a maiden whose embraces
were certain death.* With this in mind we can safely
proceed to a consideration of the variants of The Grateful
Dead which have similar features.
Twenty-four of the stories in my list fall into this
category, viz. : Tobit, Armenian, Gypsy, Siberian, Russian
^The existing versions go back to the pseudo- Aristotelian De secretis
secreiorum or De regimine principum, which was taken from the Arabic
in the twelfth century (Hertz, p. 92). It is probable, however, that the
tale existed far earlier than this and came from India (Hertz, pp. 151-155)-
2 Pp. 115 ff.
^Two Asiatic parallels not cited by Hertz will serve to illustrate the
theme further. One of these is "The Story of Swet-Basanta " from Lai
Behari Day, Folk-tales of Bengal, 1883, pp. lOO f. The hero is found by
an elephant and made king of a land, where the successive sovereigns are
killed every night mysteriously. He watches and sees something like a
thread coming from the queen's nostrils. This proves to be a great serpent,
which he kills, thus remaining as king. The other is from J. H. Knowles,
Folk-tales of Kashmir, 1888, pp. 32 ff., "A Lach of Rupees for a Bit of
Advice." A prince pays a lach of rupees for a paper containing four rules
of conduct. His father exiles him for this extravagance. In his wanderings
the prince finds a potter alternately laughing and crying because his son
must soon marry a princess, who has to be wedded anew each night. So
the prince marries the woman instead and kills two serpents that come
from her nostrils, thus retaining the kingdom. In these two stories there
is no question of aid coming to the hero ; he is saved by his own watch-
fulness.
46 The Grateful Dead.
I., II., Ill, and IV., Servian II., Ill, and IV., Bulgarian,
Esthonian II., Finnish, Rumanian I, Irish /., //., and
///., Breton I, Danish III., Norwegian II., Simrock X.,
Harz I, Jack the Giant Killer, and Old Wives' Tale. All
but three of them ^ are folk-tales, a fact that considerably
simplifies the discussion.
According to the apocryphal story, Tobit buries by
night the dead who lie in the street. He is thrown into
prison, and later becomes blind and poverty-stricken. He
sends his son Tobias to his brother Gabael for the return
of a loan. The youth is accompanied by the angel
Raphael in disguise, who calls himself Azarias. On the
journey Tobias catches a fish and preserves the heart,
liver, and gall at the bidding of his companion. When
they arrive at their journey's end, the angel, as go-
between, asks Gabael's daughter Sara in wedlock for
Tobias, though seven men have died while consummating
their marriage with her. By burning the heart and liver
of the fish at the command of the angel, and by prayer,
Tobias escapes ; for the demon Asmodeus is driven out
of the maiden and bound by Raphael. With his bride
and companion Tobias goes home, where he cures Tobit's
blindness by means of the gall of the fish. After being
offered half of the wealth that he has brought the family,
Raphael explains his identity and disappears.
This variant is peculiar in that the father does the
good action, while the son is chiefly rewarded. Indeed,
it is the son whose life is saved from the possessed
womai;. v.'hom he marries. Moreover, the grateful dead
is replaced by an angel, who indeed commends Tobit
for his good deed, but is certainly a substitute for the
ghost. Obviously Tobit with such peculiarities as these
cannot be regarded as the general source of the wide-
spread folk-tale. At the same time we must not forget
that it has been, perhaps, the best-loved story in the
» Tcbit, Dcnish TIL (Andersen's tale), and Teele's Old U'ize:' TaU.
The Poison Maiden. 47
Apocrypha,! and that its influence on details of the
narrative may be looked for almost anywhere in
Christendom.
In the Armenian story from Transcaucasia ^ a man
finds a corpse hanging in a tree and being beaten by
his late creditors. The man pays the debt and buries
the body. Some years later he becomes poor. A rich
man offers him in marriage his daughter, with whom
five bridegrooms have already met death on the wedding
night. While thinking over the proposition, he is
approached by a man who offers to become his servant
for half of his future possessions, and counsels him to
marry the woman. On the night of the marriage the
servant stands with a sword in the chamber, cuts
off the head of a serpent that comes from the bride's
mouth, and pulls out its body. Later he asks for his
share of his master's gains. When he is about to split
the woman through the middle, a second snake glides
from her mouth. The servant then says that he is the
ghost of the corpse long ago rescued, and disappears.
Here the story appears in a very normal form, except
that the hero is not taking a journey at the time of
his kind deed, and that he waits several years for his
reward. Moreover, the second snake appears to be due
to reduplication.
In Gypsy a youth gives his last twelve piasters for
the release of a corpse, which is being maltreated by
Jews. The ghost of the dead man follows him and
promises to get him a bride if he will share her with
him. The youth consents and marries a woman whose
five bridegrooms have died on the wedding night. The
companion keeps watch in the chamber and cuts off" the
head of a dragon that comes from the bride's mouth.
• For example, it appears in SchischmdnofTs Ligendes religieuses bulgares,
1896, pp. 194-201, side by side with our Bulgarian tale.
^ I summarise from Kdhler's reprint in Germania, iii. pp. 202 ff.
48 The Grateful Dead.
Later he demands his half of the woman, and takes a
sword to cut her asunder, when she screams and dis-
gorges the dragon's body. The ghost then explains the
situation and disappears.^
With the Siberian variant some very important modi-
fications enter. A soldier buys a picture of the Saviour
from a peasant and maltreats it. A merchant's son then
buys it out of reverence and takes it to his mother.
Later he helps an old man on a raft and goes with him
to market. There he meets the daughter of a priest
and, by the advice of his friend, marries her. When
the old man strikes her with a whip, she splits open, and
the devil comes out. She is put together again by the
mysterious companion, and accompanies them home, where
the old man asks for a division of the gains they have
made together. Again he divides the woman. After she
has been burned, she is found living and purified. Then
the old man says that he is God and departs.
This tale, found among the Turkish race of southern
Siberia, has transformed the opening incident altogether.
For the burial of the corpse it substitutes a good deed,
which is entirely different from the original trait. Yet
it is evident that we have to do with The Grateful Dead,
after all, since the divine image is rescued from senseless
contumely and God himself appears in the role of the
thankful ghost. It is evident also that the theme is
combined with The Poison Maiden. Though we do not
hear of any misadventures of other men with the priest's
daughter, the marvels which attend her purification in-
dicate the danger in which the hero stood.
Russian I. is likewise peculiar in several respects.
The younger of two brothers angers his parents by going
' Paspnti's tale on pp. 605 ff. also has a dragon slain on a wedding
night by a j-omh, who keeps watch. This single trait in a totally different
setting must be borrowed from a Gypsy form of the simple or compound
theme.
The Poison Maiden. 49
to the wars witliout their permission. He is killed.
Later he appears to his brother, asking him to implore
pardon of their mother, whose anger prevents him from
resting quietly in his grave. The elder brother thus
succeeds in giving peace to the ghost. Later, when he
marries a merchant's daughter, whose first two husbands
have been killed by a dragon on the wedding night, he
is saved by the ghost of the dead, which keeps watch
in the chamber with a sword and kills the nine-headed
dragon.
This tale stands almost alone ^ In giving the two chief
characters personal relations, since it is nearly always a
total stranger whom the hero benefits. That actual burial
of the dead does not come in question is not so remark-
able, as various changes have been made in this trait.
One story,^ indeed, which otherwise has no likeness,
similarly makes the dead man uneasy in his grave.
The beginning of Russian I. has thus suffered con-
siderable modification. The ending is also different from
the normal type in that the division of the property
and the woman has entirely disappeared.
Russian II. has also some peculiarities, though none
which is difficult to explain. A youth named Hans
receives three hundred rubles from his uncle, who has
taken his inheritance, and goes into the world. In
another province he ransoms with his whole stock of
money an unbeliever, who is being bled by the people.
He has the poor man baptised, but is not able to save
his life, so sorely has he been wounded. The people,
however, pay for proper burial. Hans goes on and is
joined by an angel, who proposes that he take him as
uncle and divide with him whatever they get while in
one another's company. They come to a city where
^See Annamiie, Greek, Oliver, and Walciveift. There is something
approaching it in Rumanian I.
'^Icelandic J.
D
50 The Grateful Dead.
the king proposes that Hans marry his daughter, and
to this the hero agrees at his companion's advice, despite
the protests of the citizens, who say that the princess has
already strangled six bridegrooms. On the wedding
night the uncle keeps watch, and slays a dragon which
is approaching to kill the young man. After two months
the pair set out for home with the uncle. On the way
they are saved by the old man from robbers, and get a
store of gold. When they arrive at the place where the
uncle first appeared, he calls for a fulfilment of their
agreement, and saws the bride asunder. Young dragons
come out of her; but, when she has been washed and
sprinkled with water, she is made whole. The angel
thereupon parts with the couple.
For the burial of the dead we have in this tale the
interesting substitution of an unsuccessful attempt of the
hero to save a man's life by paying his entire inheritance
as ransom. That the man dies and is buried shows how
the change probably arose, Strangely enough, as in the
case of Tobit^ an angel appears in the role of the grateful
dead, and, even more oddly, takes the form of the hero's
uncle, who gave him the money with which he set forth
on his journey. The recurrence of the angel in this and
in one other variant^ inclines me to the belief that the
essential feature of the reward in the original story was
that it came from heaven. The remainder of Rnssian II.
has no characteristic unusual in the tales where the
woman is actually divided to get rid of the snakes or
dragons.
In Russian III? the youngest of three brothers rescues
a swimming coffin from the sea and takes it on his ship.
From the coffin comes a man clothed in a white shirt,
who enters the service of his rescuer, and helps him win
a beautiful princess as wife. A six-headed dragon has
hitherto killed all her bridegro'oms on the wedding night,
"^ Shnrock IV. ^See Hippe, p. 145.
The Poison Maiden. 51
but it is overcome by the hero through his obedience to
the advice of his servant. The latter cleanses the bride's
body of the dragon brood and goes away. Here the
opening has been modified, though not beyond recogni-
tion, since the rescued man is clearly enough the grateful
dead.
Russian IV., taken like the preceding from a folk-
book, differs from that in only minor points, though the
ampler form in which I have found it makes it of more
importance. The three sons of a czar go out in separate
ships to see the world. The youngest, named Sila,
rescues a swimming coffin, which his brothers have not
heeded, and buries it on shore. There he leaves his
companions, and goes on alone till joined by a man
dressed in a shroud, who says that he is the rescued
corpse and proposes that Sila win a certain Princess
Truda as wife by his aid. The hero is dismayed when
he sees the walls of her city decorated with the heads
of countless former suitors, but he is told by his servant
not to fear. On the bridal night he is counselled to
keep silence, and, when his wife presses her hand on his
breast, to beat her, as she is in league with a six-
headed dragon. Sila obeys, the dragon appears, and
the servant cuts off two of its heads. Two more heads
are cut off on the second night, and the remaining two
on the third. The bride is not completely cleansed, how-
ever, till the end of a year, when the servant cuts her
in two, burns the evil things that emerge from her body,
and sprinkles her with living water to make her well
again. He then disappears.
Here the grateful dead appears with perfect clearness,
as he did not in Russian III. The course of events by
which the lady is won does not differ materially from
that of Rttssian II. Presumably III. would follow the
same procedure, had we an adequate summary. ///.
and IV. are like /., and different from //., in omitting
52 The Grateful Dead.
all mention of any division of property or of the woman
between hero and assistant. The division for the sake
of cleansing in IV. is, however, actual.
Not without contamination from another source,
Russian V, and VL still belong to the class containing
variants with The Poison Maiden. In Russian V. the
only son of a rich man went out into the world to seek
his fortune. On the road he gave a large sum of money
for two horses. Later he stopped at an inn, where the
widow of the landlord was weeping because she had no
money to pay the debts of her husband, who was
cursed by all the people, though he had been dead two
\'ears. The hero gave all his money to save the memory
of the dead man, and proceeded. Soon he met two
unsatisfied creditors, who still cursed the dead landlord,
and to them he gave his two horses. Not long afterward
he was joined by a man, who accompanied him on
condition of receiving half of what they might win
together. They came to a place where a lord offered a
thousand rubles to anyone who would watch his daughter's
corpse over night in a chapel. The hero undertook the
adventure, and received payment in advance. At dark
his companion came to him, and gave him a cross as
protection. At midnight the lady came out of her coffin,
but could not find the man because he held the cross.
The same adventure v/as repeated the next night. On
the third night the hero, according to his companion's
advice, got into the coffin when the vampire rose, and
would net get out for all her entreaties, being protected
by the cross. So in the morning both were found alive,
and were betrothed. Then came the companion, cut the
maiden into halves, took out her entrails, and put her
together again, when she became very beautiful. Next
day he called the hero aside, explained his identity with
the He?.d landlord, and disappeared.
Russian VI. differs from the above in several points.
The Poison Maiden. 53
but is closely allied to it. There were two brothers, one
good and the other stingy. The former expended in
benevolence all his wealth, save a hundred rubles, while
the latter grew richer and richer. A poor man borrowed
a hundred rubles from the miser, calling St. George as
witness that he would pay ; but he died in debt. The
rich brother came to the widow, and said that he would
get his money from St. George if not from the dead
man. He pulled down an image of the saint from the
wall, dug up the corpse, and spat upon them both. At
this juncture the good brother came by, and gave his
last hundred rubles to put the matter right. He then
went to a large city, where the king's daughter had eaten
all the deacons who watched with her dead body. So
when volunteers were called for to stay with her, the
hero offered to undertake the task at the advice of an
old man, who promised to pray for his safety on condition
of receiving half his winnings. He received payment in
advance from the king, and divided with the old man,
by whom he was given a sanctified coal, a taper, a cross,
and a scapulary, together with advice how to act. So
he entered the chapel, lighted his taper, closed his eyes,
made the sign of the cross, and enclosed himself in a circle
marked with the coal near the head of the bier. At
cockcrow the vampire came out all blue and grinning ;
but, though she yelled horribly, she could not touch the
man in the circle, who put the cross in the coffin. At
the second cockcrow she tried to get into the coffin, and
unavailingly begged him to take out the cross. At the
third cockcrow he put the scapulary on her, whereupon
she rose and thanked him, promising to be his wife and
servant. So in the morning the hero married her and
received the kingdom from her father. To their chamber
that night came the old man, and recalled the agreement
to divide. He cut the lady into halves, minced her flesh
on the table, and blew on the bits, whereupon she came
54 The Grateful Dead.
together more beautiful than ever. The helper then
threw off his gaberdine, and showed himself to be St.
George.
In the two stories just summarized The Grateful Dead
is clear enough, though in VI. St. George has ousted
the ghost from part of its proper functions, just as the
angel does in Tobit, Russian 11., and Simrock IV., God
in Siberian, and various saints elsewhere. The intro-
duction in VI. 15 a unique trait, as far as I know.
In both the variants the main features of the theme
appear without distortion, including the picturesque
cleansing of the woman by actual division. The Poison
Maiden, however, has been replaced by a story of similar
character, but of different content, which I have not else-
where found compounded with The Grateful Dead. A
vampire infests a church (or a churchyard). A soldier is
sent to watch nights, and to try to dislodge her. He
successfully counters her tricks, and finally gets hold of
something belonging to her, which he refuses to return.
Thereupon she is reduced to submission, promises him
happiness, and is married to him with the consent of the
king.^ This tale, it will be evident, bears a strong
likeness to The Poison Maiden in the figure of the
^References to this story have been collected by G. Polivka, and printed
in Archiv f. slav. Phil. xix. 251, in citing our Russian V. He says :
"Vgl. PoMaHOBt, iv. S. 124, Nr, 65; Weryho, Pod. biaioruskie, S. 46;
XysHKOBi., i. Nr. II, 12; Ca^iOBmiKOB-B, S. 44, 310; Matiacypa, 61 ;
JlparoiiaHOBTj Manop. Ilpun, S. 268 f. ; Dowojna Sylwestrowicz, ii. 129 f.;
Kariowicz, Nr. 19; Kolberg, viii. S. 1385., Nr. 55, 56; xiv. S. 72f.,
Nr. 16, 17; Ciszewski, i. Nr. 128; Kulda, iii. Nr. 14; Strohal, Nr. 18, 19;
Kres, iv. S. 350, Nr. 19; Th. Vernaleken, Oesten: K.H.M. S. 44 f. ; Ul.
Jahn, i. 92, 356; Prohle, Mdrchen fUr die Jugend, S. 42; Wolf, D.H.M.
258 f. ; Sebillot, Contcs des marins, S. 38." As far as I have been able to
ascertain, these references are all to the tale sketched above, uncompounded
with Tke Grateful Dead. I must thank Professor Wiener for my know-
ledge of the Slavic forms, which he very generously examined for me as
far as the books were available, viz. Romanov, Khudyakov, Sadovnikov,
Manfura, Dragomanov, Sylwestrowicz, and Kolberg.
The Poison Maiden. 55
heroine, though it certainly is independent. The vital
difference between the two is the absence of any helping
friend in the story of the vampire. Because of the lack
of this figure it seems improbable that the tale was
compounded with The Grateful Dead without the inter-
mediary stage in which The Poison Maiden appears. I
regard the vampire as usurping the place of the possessed
maiden, and the two Russian variants as a secondary
growth. Given the normal form of the compound as it
appears in Russian IL, for instance, there would be no
difficulty in substituting an even more gruesome figure
for that of the heroine there depicted, and in making
the hero's danger lie in a prenuptial attack on her part.
The three Servian tales, which fall in this section,
differ widely in their characteristics. The first of them,
Servian IT.,^ is the most nearly normal. Vlatko goes
into the world to trade, but pays all his money to free
from debt a corpse, which creditors are digging up in
order to vent their spite upon it. He returns home,
and is sent out again by his parents, receiving a greater
sum of money and, from his mother, an apple by means
of which he can tell the intentions of anyone who
desires his friendship by the way.^ He is joined by a
man, who cuts the apple into two exact halves, and so
is accepted as a friend. After Vlatko has prospered
in trade, the friend proposes that he marry the
emperor's daughter, with whom ninety-nine men have
already died on the wedding night. Arrangements are
made, and the friend keeps watch in the bridal chamber.
During the night he cuts off the heads of three snakes,
which come from the lady's mouth. Sometime after-
wards all three set out for Vlatko's home; and on the
way the hero divides his property with his friend.
^See Hippe, pp. 145 f.
'^For the test of friendship with an apple, see Kohler's notes in Gonzen-
bach, Sicil. Mdrchen, ii. 259 f., and in Arch. f. slav. Phil. v. 44 ff.
56 The Grateful Dead.
Jestingly the latter proposes that they divide the wife,
and, after blindfolding the husband, shakes her three
times, when three dead snakes come out of her. There-
upon he disappears.
Like Armenian and Gypsy, this variant has the ghost
cut off the head of the monster (here three snakes) that
possesses the maiden. The actual division of the woman
as it appears in those tales occurs here as a mere jest,
which is the case with most of the European versions.^
Servian III. has a more romantic character. The
daughter of an emperor had been married thirteen
times, but each of her bridegrooms had died on the
wedding night. A certain prince, who had fallen in love
with her through a dream, set out for her castle. On
the way he paid the debts of a poor man, whose corpse
was held by creditors, and buried him. Soon after,
he was met by a man who became his servant, and won
a castle for him by a wonderful adventure. After the
wedding this man killed the snakes that came out of
the bride, and also caused her to disgorge three snake
eggs by threatening her with his drawn sword. He then
disappeared.
This variant shows traces of foreign substance in the
dream and the winning of the castle by the unrevealed
companion. Possibly the latter trait unites it with the
combined t5^pe of which The Water of Life is one of the
elements. It will be noticed that the division of the
propert}/ and of the woman is not brought into question,
though the sword is used somewhat incongruously for
the removal of the last traces of the heroine's snaky
infestation. Thus, by an evident change in structure,
^ Hippe is in error, however, when he says (p. 178) that the division is
everywhere modified in the European variants. See Russian 11., IV., V. and
VI., Bulgariaii, and Esthonian II. Moreover, I believe that Hippe's theory
puts the can before the horse — that the actual division is not so ancieni a
trait as it seems. See pp. 74, 75 below.
The Poison Maiden. 57
the identity of the hero's companion is never ex-
plained.
With Servian IV} we encounter a most serious
problem, which must receive special treatment later on,^ —
the relation of The Grateful Dead to The Thankful
Beasts theme. A poor youth three times set free a
gold-fish which he had three times caught. Later he
was cast out of his father's house and sent into the
world. He was joined by a man, who swore friendship
with him on a sword, and accompanied him to a city
where many men had been mysteriously slain while
undertaking to pass a night with the king's daughter.
The hero undertook the adventure, and was saved by
his companion, who cut off the head of a serpent that
came from the princess's mouth. In the morning the
youth was married to the lady, and divided all his pro-
perty with his helper. On their way home the latter
demanded half of the bride, and, while she was held by
two servants, swung a sword above her. With a shriek
she cast first two sections, and finally the tail, of a
serpent from her mouth. Thereupon the friend leaped
into the sea, for he was the gold-fish.
The burial of the dead has here been ousted by a
good deed which the hero does to a gold-fish. That
the trait is foreign to the type, however, seems clear.
From the time when the companion appears to the hero,
the story follows the normal course until the very end,
when the man unexpectedly leaps into the sea. The
thankful dead has been replaced by the thankful beast,
but the tale really belongs to the present category, since
otherwise it has all the characteristics of the type. Thus
the division of the woman is almost precisely similar to
that of Armenian and Gypsy — that is, the sword is raised,
and the woman disgorges the serpent with a scream.
That it comes out piecemeal may be a faulty recollection
^ See Hippe, p. 146. ^ See chapter vii.
58 The Grateftil Dead.
of the actual division. As so often, it is not stated that
the companion made a share of the gains a condition of
his help.
Bulgarian is in some respects very primitive, though
fragmentary. A father sends his son out into the world
to gain experience. The youth is joined by an arch-
angel, who promises him assistance on condition that he
will pay their joint expenses and will be obedient. The
companion kills a negro and a serpent, and goes with
the hero into their den, where the adventurers find, but
leave, great treasure. They come to a city where the
king's daughter has been thrice married, each time only
to have her bridegroom die on the wedding night. Now
she is to be given to any man who can live with her
one night ; and many wooers have died in the attempt.
The youth offers himself as a suitor, and is saved by the
archangel, vno draws a serpent out of the woman.
Later he helps the hero to get the wealth previously
found in the cave, and demands the division of every-
thing, even the wife. When he cuts her in two, many
little snakes fall out of her body. He then unites her,
and gives the hero all the riches they have obtained.
The burial of the dead has entirely disappeared, as will
be observed, though the other traits of the story show
that we must regard it as of the type now under
consideration. The appearance of the archangel as com-
panion, and the plunder which they take by the way,
suggest the influence of Tobit, which indeed appears as a
folk-ta!e in the same collection.^ The conditions made
by the angel are only slightly altered from the normal
form, while every other feature is found intact, even to
the actual division of the woman.
Estkonian II. has altogether lost the essential features
of our theme ; and it has besides put in several traits
from a indrchen, which, as ^^'e shall soon see, is joined
•'See p. 47, note, above.
The Poison Maiden. 59
to ours with considerable frequency. The inclusion of
this variant here is justified only by some vague traces
indicating that the extraneous parts of the narrative have
replaced others which, if preserved, would make it an
ordinary representative of The Grateful Dead.
A certain couple had a weak-minded son, who could
not learn. Wishing to get rid of him, the father took
the boy into a forest and gave him gladly to an old
man whom he chanced to meet. From the man the
youth received books in foreign tongues, which he learned
to read in a day. He then wandered till he came to a
city, where lived a princess who was in the power of
devils and went to church with them every night. The
hero watched in the church for three nights, with three,
six, and twelve candles, successively. Thus on the third
night he freed the princess and married her, receiving
half the kingdom. He then sought the old man, who
told him to cut the woman in halves and divide her.
The old man halved her himself, when there sprang out
a serpent, a toad, and a lizard. After this he gave her
back to her husband.
The obscurity of motivation in this tale makes apparent
the extensive revision that it has undergone. The intro-
duction is nowhere else found combined, as far as I
know, with the stories of our cycle. The characteristics
of The Poison Maiden are sufficiently evident in the con-
clusion ; but there seems to be no way to account for the
peculiar form of demonic possession, together with the
actual division of the woman, except by supposing, with
Dutz,^ that the variant has lost the part concerning the
burial of the dead man. If this be true, the story belongs
in the category where it is here placed.
The Finnish variant^ presents difficulties of a some-
what different sort. A merchant's son, to whom it has
been foretold that he will marry a three-horned maiden,
ip. 19. 'See Hippe, pp. 148 f.
6o The Grateful Dead.
goes abroad to escape this fate. There he sees the
corpse of a debtor hanging nailed to a church wall, and
insulted by the passers-by. He expends all but nine
silver kopecks in rescuing the body, and turns homeward.
He is joined by a companion, who makes the money
last three days, and on the fourth arranges for him to
marry the three-horned daughter of a king. On the
wedding night the helper brings the hero fresh-cut twigs.
By beating the maiden with these her blood is purified,
the horns drop off, and she becomes very beautiful.
No new material is here introduced ; but the handling
is considerably changed, and the narrative abridged. The
woman in the case is three-homed instead of possessed
by snakes, nor is there any hint of harm to the bride-
groom. A reminiscence of the division of the woman,
though not of the dowry, appears in the beating which
the ghostly companion gives her, whereby she is freed
from her horns and made very beautiful. The variant
appears to be weakened by frequent retelling.
Rumanian I. is more striking, since it has undergone
both revision and addition. The only daughter of an
emperor wears out twelve pairs of slippers every night,
until her father offers her hand and the heirship of the
kingdom to any man who can explain this extraordinary
and costly habit. Many men of high birth and low
make the attempt unsuccessfully. Meanwhile, a certain
peasant, whose servant had died when his year of service
was but half ended, had placed the body in a chest
under the roof in revenge for his disappointment. The
new servant had discovered this, and had given the corpse
the rites due the dead, as far as permitted by his master.
When he departs at the end of his year of service, the
dead man comes from the earth, thanks him, and pro-
poses that they swear on the cross to be brothers. So
they do, and go on together till they come to an iron
wood. The vampire breaks off a twig, and casts it to
The Poison Maiden. 6i
the earth in the place where the emperor's daughter
comes at night with the sons of the dragon. When she
appears, she sees the broken twig, and is afraid. So she
goes to the copper wood, where she sees another twig
broken by the vampire, and hastens on to the place
where the sons of the dragon dwell. It is in going so
far that she wears out her slippers. When she comes to
the place, and is about to sit down at table, she drops
her handkerchief. The vampire, who has followed her
from the copper wood in the form of a cat, takes it away,
as he does also the spoon that falls from her hand and
the ring that falls from her finger. He goes back to the
copper wood with them, and explains everything to his
friend. The latter takes them to the emperor and wins
the lady.
This curious tale has several elements which make
it difficult to classify. As far as the kindness to the
dead goes, the matter is simple. Instead of an agree-
ment between the companions to divide their gains,
however, an oath of brotherhood is introduced. This is
probably a local substitution, since it has long been
a custom of the Slavs of the south to swear brotherhood
on the cross,^ but it necessitates the further loss of
important features at the end of the narrative such as
the saving of the bridegroom on the wedding night and
the division of the maiden (or some modification of that
feature) by the vampire. Indeed, the heroine is rather
enchanted than possessed. The whole series of acts by
which she is freed introduces traits into the narrative
which we have hitherto met only in Esthoniatt IT. Were
it not that they are repeated in all the other members
of the group save Breton /., which we have still to
consider, there would be considerable doubt about placing
^ See note by Schott, p. 473, in which he gives evidence based on personal
knowledge, and Grimm, Gesckichte der deiitschen Sprache, p. 92. I have
touched on the matter in Engl. Stud, xxxvi. 195-201.
62 The Grateful Dead.
this variant under the category of The Grateful Dead
+ The Poison Maiden. As it is, we can with security
say that this and the following versions belong here.
They have simply modified the normal form by the
addition of certain elements from another theme.
The three Irish versions all have this form. In Irish I.
a king's son, while hunting, pays five pounds to the
creditors of a dead man, so that he may be buried.
Later the prince kills a raven, and declares that he will
many only that woman who has hair as black as the
raven, skin as white as snow, and cheeks as red as blood
upon the snow.^ On his way to find her he meets a
red-haired youth, who takes service with him for half of
what they may gain in a year and a day. The youth
obtains for him from various giants by threats of what
his master will do^ horses of gold and silver, a sword
of light, a cioak of darkness, and the slippery shoes.
When they come to the castle of the maiden, he helps
the Prince to keep over night a comb and a pair of
scissors in spite of enchantment, and he obtains at her
bidding the lips of the giant enchanter, which are the
last that she has kissed. He then tells the prince and
the maiden's father to strike her three times, when three
devils come from her mouth in fire. So the prince
marries her, and is ready at the end of a year and a
day to divide his child ^ at the servant's command. But
the latter explains that he is the soul of the dead man,
and disappears.
Irish II. differs little except in details from the above.
The king of Ireland's son sets forth to find a woman
with hair as black as the raven, skin as white as snow,
^This trait is found not infrequently in other settings. See, for example,
\"ernaleken, Oesterreichische Kinder- und Hatisiniirchen, p. 141.
^This trait recalls Pitss in Boots, which is otherwise compounded with
The Grateful Dead. See preceding chapter, p. 42, 'and p. 70 below.
^ See chapter vii.
The Poison Maiden. d^^
and cheeks as red as blood. Ten pounds of the twenty
which he takes with him he pays to release the corpse
of a man on which writs are laid. He meets a short
green man, who goes with him for his wife's first kiss ;
and he comes upon a gunner, a man listening to the grow-
ing grass, a swift runner, a man blowing a windmill with one
nostril, and a strong man, all of whom accompany him for
the promise of a house and garden apiece. After various
adventures in the castles of giants, they arrive in the
east, where the prince's lady dwells. She says that her
suitor must loose her geasa from her before she can marry
him. With the help of the short green man he gives
her the scissors, the comb, and the King of Person's
head, which she requires. He is then told to get three
bottles of healing water from the well of the western
world. The runner sets out for them, and is stopped
and put to sleep by an old hag on the way back ; but
the earman hears him snoring, the gunman sees him and
wakes him up, and the windman keeps the hag back
till he returns. Finally the strong man crushes three
miles of steel needles so that the prince can walk over
them. Thus the bride is won. The short green man
claims the first kiss, and finds her full of serpents, which
he picks out of her. He then tells the youth that he is
the man who was in the coffin, and disappears with his
fellows.
In Irish III. three brothers set out from home with
three pounds apiece. The youngest gives his all to pay
a dead man's debts to three giants. He shares his food
with a poor man, who offers to be his servant, saying
that the corpse was his brother, and had appeared to
him in a dream.^ Jack the servant frightens the first
giant into giving up his sword of sharpness, the second
giant his cloak of darkness, and the third giant his shoes
^Kennedy says, p. 38: "In some versions of 'Jack the Master,' etc.,
Jack the servant is the spirit of the dead man."
64 The Grateful Dead.
of swiftness. The two Jacks come to the castle of a
king, whose daughter has to be wooed by accomplishing
three tasks. Jack the servant follows the princess in the
cloak of darkness to the demon king of Moroco and
rescues her scissors. Next day Jack the master runs a
race with the king and beats him because shod with the
shoes of swiftness. That night Jack the servant goes
again to the demon king and cuts off his head with the
sword of sharpness, thus accomplishing the third task.
So Jack the master marries the princess.
These three variants make evident the nature of the
foreign material in Esthonian II. and Rumanian I. The
whole sub-group, indeed, has in combination with Tke
Grateful Dead + The Poison Maiden important elements
from the themes of The Water of Life and The Lady
and the Monster. These features will be considered in
detail in a later chapter,^ when we study the general
type The Grateful Dead + The Water of Life. For the
present it is enough to indicate how the addition has
affected the type with which we are immediately con-
cerned.
Of the three Irish tales, the first two have best pre-
served the characteristics of the compound as found in
Asia and Eastern Europe, Irish I. has all the essential
features of Armenian and Gypsy, — for example, the
burial, the agreement to divide what is gained, and the
removal of the evil things by which the woman is
possessed. To be sure, the latter are devils, not serpents,
and the woman is beaten, not divided. Yet the division
appears in another form, since the hero is ready to share
his child with the red-haired man, a trait connected with
the theme of Amis and Amilounr Irish II. is in some
respects more changed, and in some respects less, than
Irish I. The agreement to divide is changed to a
promise that the green man shall have the first kiss of
^ Chapter vi. - See chapter vii.
The Poison Maiden. 65
the bride. On the other hand, the serpents in the
woman's body are retained, a trait which is very primitive
and very important in enabling us to identify the position
of these variants. Irish III. has lost most of the typical
features of the compound. Kennedy's evidence shows
that Jack the servant is to be regarded as really the
thankful dead ; but the agreement to divide the gains
and the removal of the demons or serpents have entirely
disappeared under pressure from the secondary theme,
the essential idea of which is the accomplishment by the
hero of certain unspelling tasks. In conjunction with
the other two variants, however, the position of Irish III.
is clear.
Very different from the Irish tales is Breton /., since
under the influence of a tendency very common in
Brittany, the narrative has become a Mary legend and
has lost its clearness of outline in the process. Yet it
really belongs to this group, replacing by a dragon-fight
and a rescue of the hero from the villain the cleansing
of the bride. At least, I am led to the belief that such
is the case by the fact that the story fits into no other
category. Nor is it surprising that the position of the
tale should be obscure in view of the grotesque trans-
formation which it has undergone.
A youth named Mao pays all his money to have the
body of a beggar interred. The spirit of the dead man
helps him win the daughter of a rich man after killing
a dragon in the stables. The lady's treacherous cousin
tries to burn him alive in an old mill, whence he is
saved by the ghost. He forgives the man, and is
tricked into promising him half of all his possessions
in order to save his wife. When a son is born,
the villain demands its division. At the hero's appeal,
the Virgin comes with the ghost and takes Mao
and his family to heaven, while the cousin is sent to
hell.
B
66 The Grateful Dead.
Norwegian II. and Danish III. stand together, since
the relation of the latter (Andersen's Reisekammeraten)
to the former is simply that of a literary redaction
to its original. A brief analysis of each is, however,
necessary.
In Norwegiaft II. a young peasant on account of a
dream sets forth to win the hand of a princess. On his
way he gives most of his money to bury a dishonest
tapster, who has been executed and left frozen in a
block of ice outside a church for passers-by to spit upon.
As he proceeds, the youth is joined by the ghost of the
tapster, who accompanies him. They go to a hill,
where they get a magic sword from one witch, a golden
ball of yarn from another, and a magical hat from a
third. Of the yarn they make a bridge, and so come
to the princess's castle. The hero is told to keep her
scissors overnight and loses them ; but the companion
rides behind the princess on her goat in the hat of
invisibility, when she goes to her troll lover, and so
rescues them. The hero is told to keep a golden ball
overnight, and the same adventure is repeated. The
hero is then told to bring what the princess is thinking
of. The companion rides again with the princess and
beats her with his sword, gets the troll's head for his
master, and so enables him to win the lady. On the
wedding night the hero flogs his wife at the advice of
the companion, only just in time to save himself, indeed,
as she is about to kill him with a butcher-knife. He
dips her into a tub of whey, whence she comes out
black as a raven, but after a rubbing with buttermilk
and new milk she becomes very beautiful. The com-
panion discovers his identity and disappears.
In Danish III. poor John, whose father has died,
dreams of a beautiful princess, and sets forth to find
her. He does various kind deeds by the way, and one
night takes refuge from the storm in a church. There
The Poison Maiden. 67
he sees two evil men dragging a corpse from its coffin,
and pays his all that it may be buried. He is joined
by the ghost of the dead man, who accompanies him.
They get three rods from an old woman, who is healed
by the comrade's salve, and they come to a city, where
they get a sword from a showman, whose puppets are
made alive by the salve. They come to a mountain,
where the companion cuts off the wings of a great white
swan and carries them along. They come at length to
the city of the beautiful princess, who is a witch. Any-
one can marry her who guesses three things, but every
man who has tried has failed and been killed. John
tells the king that he will try to win her, and is told
to come the next day. In the night the comrade puts
on the wings of the sw^n, takes the largest of the rods,
and follows the princess when she flies out to the palace
of her wizard lover. There he hears that she is to
think of her shoe when her suitor comes in the morning.
All the way to the mountain and back the comrade
beats her so that the blood flows. The next morning
he tells John to guess her shoe when asked what she
has thought of Everyone save the princess rejoices
when the youth guesses right. The next night the
companion beats the princess with two rods as she flies,
and learns that she is to think of her glove. Again
everyone is pleased with John's answer. The third night
the companion takes all three rods and the sword. He
cuts off the wizard's head when he learns that the
princess is to think of that, and he gives it to John,
wrapped in a handkerchief John produces this when
asked by the Princess what she has thought about, and
so he wins her. That night, at the bidding of the com-
panion, he dips her three times in a tub of water, into
which have been shaken three swan's feathers and some
drops from a flask. The first time she becomes a black
swan, the second a white swan, and the third a more
68 The Grateful Dead.
beautiful princess than ever. The next day the comrade
explains his identity and disappears.
It will be seen that Andersen simply embroidered the
Norwegian tale as was his wont, adding a good many
picturesque details, and softening some features. The
changes do not materially affect the course of the
narrative, nor need they delay us here, interesting
though they are of themselves,^ since the position of the
variant with reference to the story-type under considera-
tion is perfectly clear. Norwegian II. demands further
attention. Like Esthonian II., Rumanian I., and Irish
/., //., and ///., it has the form The Grateful Dead +
The Poison Maiden + The Water of Life. The burial
of the dead is undisturbed, but the agreement between
the companions to divide their gains has entirely dis-
appeared, perhaps because the secondary theme takes so
large a place. The removal of the poisonous habitants
of the bride is clearly indicated, though it has been
weakened into a flogging, which is given, however, only
just in time to save the bridegroom from death. The
subsequent milk bath seems to show a conflict between
the conclusions of the two subsidiary motives — the end of
The Poison Maiden being release from something like
demonic possession, and that of The Water of Life in
this form being release from a spell — though perhaps the
bath is only a reduplication of the purifying process.
Simrock X. is not unlike the two variants just cited.
A king's son wastes his property, and is sent out to
shift for himself. He pays the debts of a naked corpse,
and has only enough money left to pay his reckoning
at his inn. So he takes the body to a wood, and buries
it there. As he goes his way, he is met by a man, who
becomes his follower and secures three rods, a sword,
and a pair of wings from a dead raven. They come to
^ The three rods with which the princess is flogged arc found in Harz I.
See pp. 69, 70 below.
The Poison Maiden. 69
a castle, where to win the king's daughter the prince
has to guess her thoughts for three days in succession.
The companion flies with her each night when she goes
to her wizard for counsel, and learns that the prince
must say "bread," "the princess's jewels," and "the
wizard's head" in turn. On the last night he cuts off
the wizard's head and brings it to his master, who
displays it at cOurt and so breaks the spell. When the
couple are married, the companion explains that he is
the spirit of the dead man, and disappears.
This variant obviously belongs to the same type as
those preceding. As in Irish I. and //. the hero is a
prince instead of a youth of low birth ; but there is no
general uniformity in this trait The agreement of
division and the violent dispossession of the heroine
have disappeared. Indeed, so far has The Water of Life
supplanted the other motives that the position of the
tale is only evident when it is placed side by side with
other versions of the same class. When so considered,
however, the peculiar features of the succession of feats
by which the bride is won appear very prominently, and
establish the type.
Harz I. stands closer to Norwegian II. than the pre-
ceding. A youth pays his all for the burial of a poor
man, whose ghost joins him. They go to a city, where
a bespelled princess kills all her suitors who cannot
answer a riddle. The companion spirit tells the youth
to save her, explaining his own identity. He gives
wings and an iron rod to the hero, who flies with the
princess to a mountain spirit, and hears that he must
guess that she is thinking of her father's white horse.
The next night the youth follows her with two rods
and is thus enabled to guess that she is thinking of her
father's sword. The third night he follows her with two
rods and a sword, with which he cuts off the monster's
head. This he shows her in the morning when asked
yo The Grateful Dead,
the usual question, and so he breaks the spell. On the
wedding night he dips her thrice in water. The first
time she comes from the bath a raven, the second time
a dove, and the third time in her own shape, but
purified.
The burial is here retained, but the agreement is
entirely lost. Though the variant follows Norwegian II.
in general, even to such details as the preliminary beating
of the lady, and the bath of final purification, the im-
portant trait of flogging the bride, by which the hero is
saved on the wedding night, has altogether disappeared.
Like Simrock X., the tale has obscured the first of the
two secondary themes for the benefit of the second. Its
position seems sure, however, as a member of the little
group now being considered.
Jack the Giant- Killer clearly belongs to this group,
approaching Irish I. in form. The earliest complete
version that I know is unfortunately not older than the
eighteenth century, and perhaps has lost several features
of interest which might be found in earlier forms. King
Arthur's son sets forth to free a lady possessed of seven
spirits. At a market town in Wales he pays almost all
his money to release the body of a man who died in
debt. He gives his last twopence to an old woman,
who meets him after he has left the town. Jack the
Giant-Killer is so pleased with these good deeds that
he becomes the prince's servant. They go to a giant's
castle together. Jack tells the giant that a mighty
prince is coming^ and locks him up, so that the two
take all his gold. Jack takes also an old coat and cap,
a rusty sword, and a pair of slippers. They arrive at
the lady's house. She tells the prince to show her in
the morning a handkerchief, which she conceals in her
dress. By putting on the coat of darkness, and the
shoes of swiftness, and following her when she goes to
^See p. 62, note 2.
The Poison Maiden. 71
her demon loyer, Jack gets the handkerchief for his
master. Next day the lady tells the prince to get the
lips which she will kiss the last that night. Jack follows
her again and cuts off the demon's head, which the
prince produces, thus breaking the spell that has bound
her to the evil spirits.
This variant, even in what is probably a mutilated
state, is strikingly similar to Irish I. in such details as
the means used to follow the lady, and the tasks imposed
upon the suitor. Indeed, the fact that the adventures
take place in Wales might lead one to suppose that the
story in this form was Celtic, were not the knowledge
of it so persistent in England also. Several features are
obscured, at least in the form from which I cite. Though
the burial of the dead is given clearly enough, and the
fact that the lady is possessed is insisted on, the prince
is kind to an old woman as well as to a dead man, and
Jack is certainly not understood to be a ghost. All
mention of an agreement between the companions, and
of the means taken to free the heroine from her posses-
sion by dividing her or flogging her, has likewise dis-
appeared. However, the correspondence both in outline
and in detail with Irish I is sufficient to establish the
position of the variant.
In the Old Wives' Tale the theme of The Grateful
Dead is imbedded in such a mass of folk-lore and folk-
tales that it is quite impossible to restore adequately
the narrative as Peele found it. He treated the story
as a literary artist, of course, modifying and adding
details to suit the scheme of his play. The outline of
the story, as Peele gives it, is as follows : A king, or
a lord, or a duke, has a daughter as white as snow and
as red as blood, who is carried off by a conjurer in the
form of a dragon. Her two brothers set forth to seek
her, and by a cross meet an old man named Erestus,
who calls himself the White Bear of England's Wood.
72 The Grateftd Dead.
He, they learn, has been enchanted by the conjurer, and
is a man by day and a bear by night. He tells them
of his own troubles, and gives them good advice. Later
he is met by the wandering knight Eumenides, who like-
wise is seeking the lady Delia and is counselled :
"Bestowe thy almes, give more than all.
Till dead men's bones come at thy call."
Eumenides pays all his money except three farthings to
bury the body of Jack, while the conjurer compels Delia
to goad her brothers at the work to which he has set
them. Eumenides is overtaken by the ghost of Jack,
who becomes his servant, or "copartner," provides him
with money, and slays the conjurer while invisible, thus
breaking the spell of all the enchanted persons. Jack
then demands his half of Delia, refuses to take her
whole, and, when Eumenides prepares to cut her in
twain, explains that he has asked this only as a trial
of constancy. He quickly disappears.
Dutz has already shown ^ that Old Wives' Tale has
three of the essential features of The Grateful Dead,
viz. : the burial of the dead with the peculiar prophetic
advice of Erestus, the reward of the hero by assistance
in getting a wife, and the sharing of the woman. Because
of the non-schematic nature of his discussion he did not
make any attempt to classify the variant more specific-
ally. In his edition of the play,^ Professor Gummere,
in indicating some of the folk-lore which Peele used,
has likewise called attention^ to the connection with our
theme. Of particular importance is his hint as to the
likeness of the variant to the story which I call Irish III.
It is practicable, however, to carry the matter somewhat
further. The adventures of Delia, Eumenides, and Jack
are all that really concern us. It will be seen that
ipp. lOf.
-Gayley, Rcpresentath'e English Comedies, 1903, pp. 333-384-
'P. 345.
The Poison Maiden. 73
these conform in essentials to the type under considera-
tion. There is the burial, the agreement, the death of
the wizard, and the division. To be sure, as in other
instances, the dispossession of the woman has been
obscured by other elements ; yet the type is unmis-
takable, it seems to me. One trait in particular connects
Old Wives' Tale with Irish I. and //. In all three the
hero seeks a maiden who is white as snow and red as
blood. On the other hand, the ghost is called Jack as
in Irish III. and the English tale which bears Jack's
name. Because of these similarities and discrepancies
one is forced to conclude that for this part of his play
Peele drew upon some version of Jack the Giant-KilUr,
which was far better preserved than the forms known
to-day. His original must have had many points in
common with the tale as extant in Ireland, though we
need not believe that he knew it in other than English
dress.
It yet remains to consider the relations of the two
sets of variants discussed in this chapter to The Poison
Maiden and to one another. The group is peculiar in
that all the members of it are folk-tales, save three:
Tobit, Danish III. and Old Wives' Tale. The two latter
are, however, immediately derived from popular narratives
of an easily discernible type. Thus Tobit is an anomaly
from almost any point of view, obscure in its origin and
possessed of only trivial influence upon the other tales
belonging to the same group. Of the twenty-six variants,
fifteen have The Grateful Dead -^^ The Poison Maiden
simply, while the other eleven add thereto more or less
distinct elements of The Water of Life.
In the following versions the hero is saved on the
wedding night, or the bride is purified by some means :
Tobit, Armenian, Gypsy, Siberian, Russian /., Russian II.,
Russian III, Russian IV., Russian V., Russian VI.,
Servian II., Servian III, Servian IV., Bulgarian,
74 '^^''^ Grateful Dead,
Esthonian IT., Irish I, Irish 11, Danish III., Norwegian
11, and Harz I. Not all the stories which I have placed
in the group, it will be observed, have this feature ;
but, out of all the variants of The Grateful Dead enum-
erated in the bibliographical list, not one has it except
members of the group. Now this purification of the
bride, by means of which the hero is saved, is pre-
cisely the element of The Poison Maiden which is
most essential. There can be no doubt, therefore, that
this theme actually united with a more primitive form
of The Grateful Dead to form the compound discussed
in this chapter. The combination must have been made
very early and in Asia, as Tobit and Armenian bear
witness. It will be noted that all the variants, save
Finnish, which have the simple compound, retain the
rescue of the bridegroom, while only half of those where
a subsidiary motive has been introduced have the like.
Apparently the intrusion of new matter of a very
romantic sort tended to obscure the original climax of
the combined type.
Another feature of much importance in this connection
is the division of the woman, or whatever is substituted
for it. In a large majority of the variants studied,
which have the trait at all, the purpose of the division
proposed or accomplished is to test the fidelity of the
hero. Hippe believed ^ that this was a modification of
the original trait, an opinion which would be justified if
the compound type The Gratefid Dead -\- The Poison
Maiden only were considered. The versions which have
the purification are the following: Armenian, Gypsy,
Siberian, Russian II., Russian IV., Russian V., Russian
VI., Servian II., Servian III., Servian IV., Bulgarian,
Esthonian II., Finnish, Irish I, Irish II., and Old Wives
Tale. In these the purpose of the division, or beating,
whether actually performed or not, is the disposal of
>Pp. 176-178.
The Poison Maiden. 75
serpents or other venomous creatures by which the
woman is possessed.^ It will be noted, however, that all
of these variants are of the type treated in the present
chapter. If the division for the sake of purification were
then regarded as more primitive and older than the division
for the sake of sharing the gains or of testing the hero,
it would naturally follow that all the combined types
must proceed from The Grateful Dead + The Poison
Maiden. Hippe followed the logical course from his
premises in so regarding the relationship of the groups.^
However, it seems clear to me — and it will be
increasingly evident as we study the other groups —
that the division for purification belongs solely to the
compound treated in this chapter. It would follow
logically from combining The Poison Maiden, where a
friend saves the hero from the fatal embraces of a
woman, with The Grateful Dead, where the hero is
willing to divide his wife to satisfy the agreement which
he has made with his benefactor. Only by such an
explanation is it possible to account for the development
of the several groups from a common root. The bar-
barous character of the division for purification, and the
softening which it has undergone in the group which we
have been studying, give it an appearance of antiquity
to which it has no right. In point of fact, it belongs
only to this group, which is thus clearly set off from all
the others as an independent branch. The division for
the sake of fulfilling an obligation is more widespread,
though it has suffered many modifications.
^Russian V. and VI. are, of course, exceptions, since the woman is
there a vampire.
^See his scheme on page l8l.
CHAPTER V.
THE GRATEFUL DEAD AND THE RANSOMED WOMAN.
As has already been shown,i Simrock regarded as an
essential feature of The Grateful Dead the release of a
maiden from captivity by the hero. Stephens and Hippe^
saw that such was not the case. The latter's treatment
of the matter' leaves little to be desired as far as it
goes, save that it implies a derivation of the compound
The Grateful Dead •\- The Ransomed Woman from the
compound treated in the last chapter — a view which I
believe erroneous.
The Ransomed Woman appears as a separate tale or
in combination with other themes than The Grateful
Dead more than once. A prolonged study of the motive
would probably yield a rich harvest of examples, though
it is sufficient for the present purpose to refer to Hippe's
article as establishing the existence of the form. His
Wendish folk-tale* and Guter Gerhard, from the latter
of which Simrock started his enquiry, are of themselves
evidence enough.^ Neither example has anything what-
ever to do with The Grateful Deadfi The characteristics
^ See above, p. I. 'See above, pp. 2 and 5.
3 Pp. 170-175. <P. 173.
*See also the school drama cited by Kcihler, Ger mania III. 208 f. The
elements of Der gate Gerhard, foreign to The Ransomed Woman, I have
treated in the Publications of the Modem Lang. Ass. 1905, xx. 529-545.
*The same is true of the story related of St. Catharine, analyzed by
Simrock, pp. 110-113, ^i"^ cited by Hippe, p. 166, ifrom Scala Cell, by
The Ransomed Woman. 77
of TJie Ransomed Woman will appear as we consider the
compound type, which contains folk-tales almost ex-
clusively, as was the case with the type studied in
the previous chapter, but in most cases from Western
Europe instead of from both Asia and Europe.
Nineteen variants have The Grateful Dead and The
Ransomed Woman combined in a comparatively simple
form without admixture with related themes. These
are : Servian /,, LWniaman I.} Hungarian II,, Transyl-
vaman, Catalan, Spanish, Trancoso, Nicholas, Gasconian^
Straparola /., Istrian, Gaelic, Breton III} Swedish, Nor-
wegian I., Icelandic I and //., and Simrock IV. and VI,
In Servian L a merchant's son, while on a journey,
ransoms a company of slaves whom he finds in the hands
of freebooters. Among them is a beautiful maiden with
her nurse. He marries the lady, who proves to be the
daughter of an emperor. On a second voyage he ransoms
two peasants, who have been imprisoned for not paying
their taxes to the emperor. On his third journey he
comes to his father-in-law's court, and is sent back for
his wife. He is, however, cast into the sea by a former
lover of the princess, and succeeds in getting ashore on
a lonely island, where he remains for fifteen days and
fifteen nights.^ Then an angel in the disguise of an old
man appears to him, and, on condition of receiving half
of his possessions, brings him to court, where he is
Johannes Junior (Gobius), under Castiias. Hippe, as shown by his scheme
on p. 181, places this under " Legendarische Formen mit Loskauf." As a
matter of fact, it is plainly a specimen of The Calumniated Woman.
^ Hippe's "Lithuanian II."
2 Brdon III. , though placed here, has peculiar traits, which require
special consideration.
'Kohler, followed by Hippe, p. 145, makes the hero live for fifteen
years on the island, while Mme. Mijatovich gives the time as stated. As
I have no knowledge of Servian, I cannot tell which is in the right.
Hippe's analysis is otherwise faulty.
78 The Grateful Dead.
reunited with his wife. After renouncing his claim, the
old man explains who he is, and disappears.
The most striking peculiarity of the variant is the loss
of the burial, for which appears rather awkwardly the
ransoming of some peasants on the hero's second voyage.
That substitution has occurred is apparent, however, both
from the clumsiness of the device by which the original
trait is replaced, and from the angel in the form of an
old man, who takes the role of the ghost. It will be
remembered that the same substitution has already been
met with in the case of Tobit and Russimi II.
In Lithuanian I. is found a variant which, as we shall
find, is of a common type. A king's son pays three
hundred gold-pieces, all that he possesses, to release a
dead man from his creditors and have him buried. The
hero then becomes a merchant, and finds a princess on
an island, whither she has been driven by a storm. He
takes her to a city, where he makes his home, and marries
her. A messenger, sent out by her father to seek her,
arrives, takes them aboard ship, and pitches the hero
into the sea in order to obtain the offered reward. He
is saved by a man in a boat, who says that he is the
ghost of the dead, and instructs him how to rejoin his
bride. So everything ends happily.
The events as here related follow a very normal
course, which is repeated again and again in stories of
this type : a burial, a ransom, an act of treachery, a
rescue by the ghost, and a happy reunion of the lovers.
The agreement between the hero and the ghost, which
is found in Servian /., and very frequently elsewhere, is
lacking, however, A peculiarity of the variant is the
change in status of the hero. He is a prince, but
becomes a merchant, thus uniting the two characters
given him in the other tales of this class.
Hungarian II. is in some respects more interesting
than the variant just cited. A merchant's son while in
The Ransomed Woman. 79
Turkey pays the debts and for the burial of a mistreated
corpse. After returning home, he goes to England and
rescues a French princess with her two maids, but by
his cunning saves the gold that he has agreed to pay
for them. At her bidding he goes to Paris and tells
the king that she is safe. On his return to bring her to
her home, where he is to marry her, he is placed on a
desert island by a general who is enamoured of the
princess. Thence he is rescued by an old man, the ghost
of the dead, who takes him to the Continent. He goes
to Paris, where he is recognised by the princess, when he
drops a ring that she has given him into a beaker. When
she comes to him in his room, he threatens to kill her
if she does not go away ; but when she agrees that he
has the right to do so since he has saved her life, he
says that his threat was only a test of loyalty. So the
story ends happily.
The course of events is not very different from that
of Lithuanian /., since the variant has all the normal
elements save the agreement between the ghost and the
hero. A peculiarity is the final scene in which the hero
tests his lady. It will be evident, I think, that this is
an obscured and modified form of the test to which the
ghost elsewhere submits the hero, a test of fidelity like-
wise, though different in its nature.
In the Transylvanian variant, a merchant's son while
on a journey pays fifty florins, half of his capital, for the
burial of a dead man. On a second journey he pays
one hundred florins, again one-half of his store, for the
ransom of a princess who has been imprisoned while out
doing charity incognito. She gives him a ring and sends
him to the castle, where her father turns him out of
doors. He then meets an old man— the ghost — and
promises him one-half of his gains after seven years for
his help. He is then enabled to marry the princess,
who recognizes him at the castle by his ring. They
8o The Grateful Dead.
have two children. When the old man comes back at
the end of seven years, the hero gives up one of his
children, and, after offering her whole, is ready to divide
his wife. The old man renounces his claim, and dis-
appears.
Every step in the narrative is here clearly marked, even
to the conditional agreement with the ghost, which so
frequently is wanting. The variant thus appears to be
entirely normal as far as The Grateful Dead goes, though
it does not have the rescue by the ghost — an important
feature of The Ransomed Woman.
In Catalan'^ a young man on a journey has a poor
man buried at his expense, and ransoms a princess.
Later he goes to the court of her parents with a flag on
which she has embroidered her name. They recognise
this, and send the youth back for the lady. On the
way he is case into the sea by the sailors, but is saved
by the thankful dead and brought to the court again,
where he espouses the princess.
In Spanish^ a young Venetian merchant pays the
debts of a Christian at Tunis, and has him buried. At
the house of the creditor he also buys a Christian slave
girl. He takes her back to Venice and marries her.
At the wedding a sea-captain recognizes the lady, and
lures the couple aboard his ship. The young man is
cast into the sea, but by clinging to a plank reaches
land, where he lives seven months with a hermit. At
the end of that time he is sent to the coast, where he
finds a ship, and is transported to Ireland. There he is
entrusted by the captain with two letters to the king.
The one says that he is a great physician, who will heal
the sick princess ; the other that the plank, the hermit,
and the captain who has brought him to Ireland are
one and all the ghost of the man whom he buried. The
hero is recognized at court by the princess, who has
^See Hippe, p. 151. ^ Ibid.
The Ransomed Woman. 8i
been brought thither by the traitor, and has explained
all to her father.
In these tales the theme of TJu Grateful Dead is
somewhat abbreviated for the sake of the romantic
features of the secondary motive. In both, the agree-
ment with the ghost and every trace of a division have
disappeared, though they differ in the details of the
treachery by which the lovers are separated. In the
former^ much is made of the manner by which the hero
gets a favourable reception at the court of the princess's
father, while in the latter this is suppressed. Recogni-
tion by some such means, it will appear, is an important
feature of the majority of the variants in this section.
It must be remembered, of course, that Spanish is a
semi-literary version, even though popular in origin.
Trancoso, the work of a sixteenth century Portuguese
story-teller, is even more consciously literary. It shows,
besides, the tendency of the narrative to take on a
religious colouring. The son of a Lusitanian merchant,
while in Fez on a trading expedition, buys the relics of
a Christian saint. In spite of his father's anger, he does
this a second time, and is so successful in retailing the
bones that he is sent out a third time with instructions
to buy as many relics as possible. On this expedition,
however, he succeeds merely in ransoming a Christian
girl, whom he takes home. At her request he carries
to the King of England a piece of linen, on which she
has embroidered the story of her adventures. He learns
that she is the king's daughter, and restores her to her
father. Subsequently he wanders over Europe in despair,
for he has hoped to marry the princess, till he meets
with two minstrels, who accompany him to the English
court. There he makes himself known to the princess
^Hippe fails to note that the hero used all his money on the first
journey in burying the dead, and that it was on a second trip that he
bought the king's daughter.
F
82 The Grateful Dead.
by a song; and, by the aid of the two minstrels, he
wins her hand in a tournament. Later the two friends
reveal themselves as the saints whose bones he had
rescued from the Moors.
Though this version clearly belongs in the category
now under discussion, it has certain features that can
be explained only on the supposition that Trancoso
altered his source to suit his personal fancy. The clever
substitute for actual burial, the duplication of that trait
(which occurs nowhere else), the humorous touch with
reference to the hero's success in selling relics, and the
appearance of the ghosts as minstrels, are all strokes of
individual invention. The wanderings of the hero and
his manner of revealing himself to the princess are
doubtless reminiscences from the popular romances of
Spain, while the tournament probably comes, as Menendez
y Pelayo hints,^ from an earlier version of our theme,
Oliver, which will be treated below. In spite of these
peculiarities, the ordinary features of the combined theme
are not more obscured than in the two preceding variants.
The agreement, the division, and the rescue are the only
ones that disappear.
In the fourteenth century variant from Scala Cell,
NicholaSy our story is altogether transformed into a legend.
The only son of a widow ^ of Bordeaux is sent as a
merchant to a distant city with fifty pounds. He gives it
all to help rebuild a church of St. Nicholas, and returns
home empty-handed. Much later he is sent out with one
hundred pounds, and buys the Sultan's daughter. His
mother disowns him, and he is supported by the em-
broidery which the princess makes. With her wares he
goes to a festival at Alexandria, but, at her bidding,
keeps away from the castle. When he journeys to
* Origincs de la Navela, ii. xcv.
^ .^n Olid inconsistency apjjears in the st.iicment of the Latin that after
the hero's second voyage " pater suns ct mater" were angry with him.
The Ransomed Woman. 83
Alexandria a second time, however, he goes to the castle
and is imprisoned, as the handiwork of the princess is
recognized. She is sent for, while the hero is released
and goes home. Since he does not find the maiden
there, he returns to Alexandria with a piece of embroidery
which she has sent him, meets her, and elopes by the
aid of St. Nicholas, who sends them a ship opportunely.
Because of its legendary character the variant has been
materially transformed, but not beyond recognition. The
thankful dead is replaced by the saint throughout, so
that the burial is altered into church building, and both
the agreement and the division of the gains disappear.
The various elements of Tke Ransouied JVommi fare
better : the act of treachery done the hero is the only
one lacking, and that perhaps is replaced by his im-
prisonment in the Sultan's castle. It is remarkable that
the details of the narrative have been so little altered in
spite of its complete change of purpose.
In the Gasconian folk-tale Jean du Boucau, the son
of a mariner, goes to fight the corsairs. On the shore
of the sea he rescues a man named Uartia, who is pre-
tending death to escape from his creditors. Later this
man becomes a prosperous freebooter, and is sailing with
a load of captives when met again b}' Jean. The latter
is so shocked by his evil deeds that he encloses him in
the coffin prepared for him on the previous occasion, and
throws him into the sea. Jean then marries the most
beautiful of the captives, who is the daughter of the
King of ]>ilbao.
The variant is excessively rationalized, it will be
observed, and most traces of The Grateful Dead have
disappeared. Though various substitutions for the burial
are found in each of the groups, this is the only case
that J know where the man plays 'possum to escape his
creditors. The story is likewise unique in making the
hero take vengeance on the man wliom he has helped
84 The Grateful Dead.
earlier, and accordingly in making him rescue the maiden
from the hands of the person who is in the character of
the thankful dead. The variant has been modified by a
free fancy ; yet its position in the group remains per-
fectly clear in spite of the loss of such traits as the
agreement, the act of treachery, the rescue of the hero,
and the division of the gains.
Straparola /., one of the Italian novelist's two renderings
of our theme, is far more normal than the abpve, and is
probably based directly on a folk-story. Bertuccio pays
one hundred ducats to free a corpse from a robber and
bury it, greatly to his mother's disgust. He goes out
again with two hundred ducats, and pays them for the
ransom of the daughter of the King of Navarre. His
mother is still more angry. The princess is taken home
to Navarre by officers of the court who have been searching
for her, but first she tells Bertuccio to come to her, and
to hold his hand to his head as a sign when he hears
that she is to be married. On his way to Navarre he
meets a knight who gives him a horse and clothing on
condition of his returning them, together with half of his
gains. He marries the princess, and is returning home,
when he meets the knight again and offers to give up
his wife whole rather than kill her by division. Where-
upon the knight explains that he is the spirit of the
dead, and resigns his claim.
All the traits previously mentioned are here evident
save the act of treachery by which the hero comes near
losing his bride. The sign appears as a means of com-
munication between the lovers, as in Transylvanian and
elsewhere. The question of division is simply a matter
of fulfilling a bargain, but it shows how easily by a slight
shift of emphasis the test of loyalty could be made the
important element.
None of the Italian folk variants, which I know, con-
forms to the above closely enough to be regarded as a
The Ransomed Woman. 85
near relative. Istrian, however, belongs in the same
category. A youth called Fair Brow sets out to trade
with six thousand scudi, which he pays to bury a debtor
on the shore, for whom passers-by are giving alms. On
his return home, he tells his father that he has been
robbed, and again is sent out with six thousand satdi. He
pays these for a maiden, who has been stolen from the
Sultan, and he is consequently disowned by his father.
After his marriage to the girl, the young couple live by
the sale of the wife's paintings. Some sailors of the
Sultan see these, and carry the lady off home. Fair
Brow goes fishing with an old man whom he meets by
the sea. They are driven by a storm to Turkey, and
are sold to the Sultan as slaves, but they escape with
the wife and considerable treasure. The old man then
asks for a division of the property, even of the woman.
When the hero offers him three-quarters of the wealth
in order to keep the woman, the old man declares that
he is the ghost, and disappears.
All of the essential traits, except the preliminary agree-
ment and the rescue of the hero, are here clearly
marked. The latter is, indeed, probably accounted for
by the storm which the hero and the ghost encounter
together. The fact that the young couple live by the
sale of the wife's handiwork, and that this in some way
or other leads to her restoration to her parents or earlier
connections, is an important feature of The Ransomed
Woman, being found clearly in the Wendish tale as well
as in many variants of the compound type.
Gaelic is an interesting example of the theme. Iain,
the son of a Barra widow, becomes the master of a ship
and goes to Turkey, where he pays the debts of a dead
Christian and buries the corpse. He ransoms a Christian
maiden, the daughter of the King of Spain, with her
servant, on the same journey, and takes her back to
England, together with much gold. At her advice he
S6 The Grateful Dead.
goes to Spain and attends church, where the king recog-
nizes by his clothing, his ring, his book, and his whistle
that he has news of the lost princess. Iain then returns
to England for the maiden, whom he is to marry. While
going with her to Spain he is left on a desert
island by a general, who has secreted himself on the
ship ; but after a time he is rescued by a man in a boat,
to whom he promises half of his wife and of his children,
if he shall have any. In Spain the princes.^, who has
gone mad, recognizes him when he plays his whistle.
So they are married, and the general burned. When
three sons have been born, the rescuer appears and asks
for his share; but as soon as Iain accedes he declares
himself to be the ghost, and disappears.
jA part from the dressing of the story, which is unusually
good, tlie variant follows the normal course. The several
signs by which the hero is recognized by the king and
the princess mark the imaginative wealth of the Celt,
though the appearance of a ring, and the fact that the
hero is left on a desert island by an infatuated general,
show a close correspondence with Hungarian II. The
introduction of the children as part of the property
to be divided is interesting, since it shows the connecting
link by which the simple compound now under con-
sideration passed into combination with the theme of
The Two Friends} Gaelic, however, clearly belongs
where it is here placed. The healing of the princess at
the hero's coming reminds one of the similar trait in
SpanisJi.
Breton III'- is peculiar in several ways. A young
man, who had been unjustly cast off by his parents, put
himself under the protection of St. Corentin and the
Virgin. To an old woman he gave all his stock of
money that she might bury her husband and have
' So, too, with Transylvaiiian. See above, pp. 70 f.
-.*ee Ilippe, p. 150.
The Ranso7ned Woman. 87
masses said for his soul. The saint and the Virgin then
led the hero to a nobleman, whose daughter he married.
On a hunt he was cast into the sea by an envious
uncle of his wife, at a time when she was pregnant ; but
he was brought to an island by some mysterious power
and nourished there for five years by St. Corentin.
Finally an old man appeared and took him home after
he had promised half of his possessions to the rescuer.
When a year had passed, the old man came back and
demanded half of the child ; but just as the mysterious
stranger was about to divide the child St. Corentin and
the Virgin appeared and explained their identity, together
with that of the old man, who was the saint himself. They
told the hero, furthermore, that God was well pleased
with him, and would take his son and himself to
Paradise. Father and son fell dead immediately, while
the wife went into a convent.
This tale, like NicJiolas, has been dressed up as a
legend, chiefly in the praise of St. Corentin, with the
result that the elements are confused. The burial, how-
ever, persists, though the ransoming of the woman has
been feebly replaced by the aid of the saint and the
Virgin. The hero is cast into the sea by an avaricious
uncle of the bride, again a weakened trait. The rescue
and the agreement to divide are normal in essentials,
though adorned with superfluous miracles, as is again
the conclusion of the tale. It illustrates how easily such
a narrative may be adapted, whether consciously or not,
to a religious purpose. The division of the child, which
comes in question, is of precisely the same character as
in Gaelic; it does not imply the presence of a new
motive, though it indicates the possibility of a new com-
bination.
Siucdish^ is a somewhat abbreviated form of the
normal type. Pelle Batsman, while on a journey, pays
' See Ilippe, p. 158.
88 The Grateful Dead.
the debts of a dead man, and so brings repose to him ; for
he has been hunted from his grave and soundly beaten
every night by his creditors, who are likewise dead.
Pelle then falls in with robbers, with whom he finds the
daughter of the King of Armenia. He escapes with her,
and goes on board a ship to seek her father, but he is
thrown overboard by the envious captain. He is saved
by the thankful dead and brought to Armenia, where he
marries the princess. Here the burial is peculiar in that
the dead man is harassed by creditors who are already
dead. This is a marvel, which need excite no surprise
in view of the modifications of the trait found elsewhere.
The 'ransom in this case does not imply a money pay-
ment, since the hero escapes from robbers with the
maiden. The way in which the hero is left behind by
the master of the vessel on which the lovers sail is a
trait similar to the one in Catalan and Spanish. The
agreement between the hero and the ghost, the sign
employed by the hero, and the division of gains are all
lacking ; but no new feature replaces them.
Norwegian 1} is not very diflferent from the preceding
tale. A man in the service of a merchant pays all he
has, while on one voyage, to bury the body of a dead
man. On his next voyage he ransoms a princess, and
sets out with her for England. On the way she is
carried off by her brother and a former suitor. The
hero overtakes them and is given a ring by the lady,
but is cast into the sea by the suitor. For seven
years he lives on a desert isle, till an old man
appears, tells him that it is the princess's bridal day,
carries him to England, and gives him a flask. This
the hero sends to his lady, is thus recognized, and is
married. The agreement with the ghost and the division
of the woman are entirely lacking, though the burial,
the ransom, the treachery of the suitor, and the aid of
' Hippe's brief analysis, p. 159, fails to give a satisfactory outline.
The Ransomed Woman. 89
the ghost apppear in normal fashion. The sign enters
only as a means of communication between the lovers.
The tale thus has no very unusual traits.
Icelandic 1} is a fuller, and, for our purpose, more
interesting variant than the last. Thorsteinn, a king's
son, who has wasted his substance, sells his kingdom
and sets forth into the world. He pays two hundred
rix-doUars to free from debt a dead man, whose grave
is beaten every day by a creditor to destroy his rest.
The prince goes on, and in the castle of a giant finds
a princess hanging by the hair. He frees her, and is
taking her home when he meets Raudr, a knight to
whom her hand has been promised if he can find her.
Raudr puts the prince to sea alone in a boat and
carries the lady home. Thorsteinn, however, is brought
thither also by the ghost and is recognized by the
princess, when she is about to be married to the traitor.
So Raudr is punished, and Thorsteinn obtains the
princess.
Here, again, the agreement, the sign, and the division
do not appear, though the version is otherwise normal.
To be sure, the ransom of the lady is replaced by a
rescue, as in Swedish, and the beating of the grave
preserves a bit of northern superstition, which is interest- '
ing even though not primitive as far as our tale is
concerned.^
Icelandic II. is similar to the variant just cited in
several particulars, though it has important differences.
Vilhjalmur, a merchant's son, loses his property and
becomes the servant of twelve robbers. In their den he
finds a princess named Asa hanging by the hair. He
escapes with her by sea, taking along the thieves' treasure.
This he pays to have the body of a debtor buried. To
'Hippe's analysis, p. 159, is not quite adequate.
^Russian /. is the only other variant that I know which makes the
dead man uneasy in his grave.
90 The Grateful Dead,
the haven where this happens comes RauSur in search of
the princess, takes the couple on his ship, but puts the
hero to sea in a rudderless boat. A man appears to
Vilhjdlmur in a dream, saying that he is the ghost of
the man whom he has buried, and that he will bring
him to land and show him treasure. So the hero is
brought to the land of the princess and tells his story
at the wedding of the traitor with the princess. Thus
the bride is won for him.
The hero, it will be observed, is a merchant instead of
a prince, as in Icelandic /., and the burial of the dead is
customary in form though exceptionally placed in the
narrative. Otherwise the two variants correspond rather
closely, even in such a detail as the name of the traitor.
There is the same omission of elements peculiar to The
Grateful Dead, the same preponderance of the secondary
motive, found in all the northern versions of this particular
group. The two Icelandic variants seem to be perfectly
distinct, though they are nearly related.
The two German folk-tales which fall into this group
are not very different from one another. In Simrock IV.
a merchant's son pays the debts of a man who is being
devoured by dogs, but does not succeed in saving his life.
He goes on, finds two maidens exposed on a rock, and
takes them home. In spite of his father's objections, he
marries one of them. He goes to sea again, wearing a
ring that his wife has given him, and carrying a flag
marked with her name. Coming to the royal court of
her father, he is sent back for the princess with a minister.
On his voyage to court again he is put overboard by the
minister, who hopes thus to win the princess. However,
he is cast up on an island, where the ghost of the dead
man appears to him in sleep and transports him mir-
aculously to court. There he is recognized by his ring
and reunited to his wife.
Details such as those concerning the burial, the rescue
The Ransomed Woman. 91
of the lady, and the help given miraculously by the ghost
mark the independence of the variant, though they do
not alter the normal course of the narrative. As so often
in this group, the agreement with the ghost and the
division are entirely lacking.
In Simrock VI. the variations from the normal are
even slighter. Heinrich of Hamburg buys a beautiful
maiden in a foreign land. On the sea-coast, when he is
returning home with her, he pays the debts of a corpse
and has it buried. He wishes to marry the girl, but she
asks that he delay the wedding for a year and make a
journey first. So she gives him two coffers, with which
he crosses the sea. By the help of a shipman he finds
his bctrothed's royal father, but on his v/ay back to fetch
her home is cast overboard by the mariner, who is the
original kidnapper of the maiden. This man gets her
and carries her to the court with the hope of marrying
her. The hero is saved from the sea, however, by the
ghost of the dead man, who brings him to the garden
of the princess's palace, where he is found by his bride.
The order of the burial and the ransoming^ is here
reversed, but the facts are given in the ordinary form.
Otherwise the variant does not differ essentially from
the preceding.
In Transylvanian} and more clearly in Gaelic and
Breton III.^ a tendency has been remarked to introduce
the children of the hero as part of the gains which he
is asked to divide with the thankful ghost. In a series
of tales belonging to the general type The Grateful
Dead + The Ransomed Woman this tendency has been
accentuated so far that it seems best to group them
together, because of their approach to the theme of The
Tivo Friends. Since an actual combination of this motive
'So also in Servian I. and Icelandic II., cited above, as well as
Bohemian and Simrock VII., for which see below.
* See pp. 79 f. ^ See pp. S5-S7.
92 The Grateful Dead.
with The Grateful Dead in its simple form is found in
only three variants, all of them literary, it will perhaps
be best to discuss the relationship of the main to the
minor theme at this point.
The Two Friends is the chief motive of Amis and
Amiloun, which in its various forms ^ is the mediaeval
epic of ideal friendship. Its essential feature, as far as
the present study is concerned, is the sacrifice of his two
sons by Amis to cure the leprosy of Amiloun. They are
actually slain, but are miraculously brought to life again
by the power of God. This story, which exercised a
powerful influence on the imagination of European peoples,
easily became connected with the sacrifice of his wife by
the hero of The Grateful Dead.
The three variants with the simple compound, or
forming a group on that basis, are those entered in the
bibliography as Lope de Vega, Calderon, and Oliver.
The plot of Oliver runs as follows''^: Oliver, the son
of the King of Castille, becomes the close friend of
Arthur of Algarbe, the son of his stepmother. When
he has grown up, he flees from home because of the
love which the queen declares for him, leaving to Arthur
a vial in which the water would grow dark, were he to
come into danger. He is shipwrecked while on his way
to Constantinople, but, together with another knight, is
saved miraculously by a stag, which carries them to
England. Talbot, the other knight, is ill, and asks
Oliver to take him to his home at Canterbury, where he
dies. Because of debts that his parents will not pay he
cannot be buried in consecrated ground till Oliver him-
^See Amis et Aviiles und Jourdains de Blaivies, ed. K. Hofmann, 2nd
ed. 1882; A7nis und Amiloun zugleich mit der altfranzosischen Quelle,
ed. E. Kolbing, 1884, with the comprehensive discussion of versions in the
introduction ; also Kolbing, " Zur Ueberlieferung der Sage von Amicus und
Amelius," in Paul und Braune's Beitrdge iv. 271-314; etc.
'Hippe's analysis, p. 156, is different from mine, and is taken from a
'ess trustworthy source. I use the summary of the Ghent text.
The Ransomed Woman. 93
self attends to the matter. The hero then starts for a
tourney where the hand of the king's daughter is the
prize. On the way he loses his horse and money, but
is supplied anew by a mysterious knight, on condition
of receiving half of what he gets at the tourney. Here
he is victor, and after a further successful war in Ireland
marries the princess, who bears him two children. While
hunting he is taken prisoner by the King of Ireland
and placed in a dungeon. Arthur, who is acting as
regent in Spain, notices that the vial has grown dark,
and sets out to rescue his brother. In Ireland he is
wounded by a dragon, but is healed by a white knight,
who notices his resemblance to Oliver, and takes him to
London to solace the princess. He only escapes her
embraces by the pretence of a vow, and sets forth to
deliver Oliver. On their way back he tells of his visit
at London, and so excites Oliver's jealousy, who leaves
him. At home, however, Oliver discovers his mistake,
and determines to find his brother, who, after a punitive
expedition into Ireland, falls gravely ill. Oliver learns
in a dream that Arthur can only be cured by the blood
of his children, whom he slays accordingly. On his
return home, however, he finds them as well as ever.
Later appears the mysterious knight to demand his share
of wife and children, as well as of all his property. As
Oliver raises his sword to divide his wife, he is told to
desist, since his loyalty is proved. The knight then
explains that he is the ghost of Talbot. Later Arthur
marries Oliver's daughter, and eventually unites the king-
doms of England, Castille, and Algarbe.
Oliver has certain elements not to be accounted for
by the combination of The Two Friends with The
Gratcfid Dead. Such are the motive of the hero's
journey, for example, which allies it with the tales of
incestuous step-mothers; and the tourney in which the
hero wins his bride. Yet the burial of the dead man
94 T^he Grateful Dead.
(here a knight and a friend of the hero's)^ corresponds to
the normal form of the episode in that Oliver pays the
creditors and the sum necessary for the man's interment.
So, too, the demand made by the ghost for half of all
that has been won runs true to the original form. The
distinctive trait of Amis and Amiloun, at the same time,
comes out more clearly than in the case of such folk-
tales as Gaelic — the hero actually kills his little children
to save the life of his old friend and foster-brother. One
factor leads me to think that the romance and the two
romantic plays are to be regarded as forms of the
general type treated in this chapter, with additions from
other stories. The ghost rescues the hero from imprison-
ment. A rescue of the sort — normally after the hero
has been cast into the sea or left behind by his rival —
is characteristic of Tke Grateful Dead + The Ransomed
Woman. In Oliver this rescue takes place, to be sure,
after the marriage instead of before, which is the normal
order, yet it is a factor of considerable importance. The
romance takes a position somewhat apart ; and even
though this is partly due to the literary handling which
it has undergone, it must remain doubtfully classed with
the immediate circle of variants belonging to the com-
pound type.
The position of the play by Lope de Vega is involved
with that of Oliver. Don Juan de Castro flees to England
because of the unlawful love of his stepmother, the
Princess of Galicia. His ship is wrecked on the English
coast, and the captain, Tibaldo, is cast ashore in a dying
condition. To free the latter's mind from unrest, Don
Juan pays his debts of two thousand ducats, though this
is half of the hero's possessions. He hears that the
princess Clarinda is promised to anyone of princely
blood who wins an approaching tournament. While he
1 See p. 49 for other tales in which the dead man is a friend of the
hero's.
The Ranso77ied Wo7nan. 95
is sorrowful that he cannot enter the contest, because
of his poverty, the ghost of Tibaldo appears to him
one night and promises the necessarj' equipment on
condition of receiving one-half the gains. The next
morning he finds everything ready and wins the princess.
He is later taken prisoner by one of the contestants
through a ruse, and is carried off to Ireland. By the
ghost's advice, his stepbrother and double comes to
London and takes his place, while Don Juan is freed by
force of arms and restored to his wife. After some
years, when the couple have two children, the step-
brother falls ill of a dreadful malady, which can only be
cured, Don Juan learns in a dream, by the blood of his
children. So he slays them and gives their blood to the
sick man to drink. They are found alive by a miracle;
but Don Juan is troubled, and does not find rest till the
ghost appears and tells him that the only remedy for
his affliction is to fulfil his promise of a division. The
hero prepares to divide his wife, when the ghost stops
him and explains that the demand was only a test.
As Schaeffer pointed out,^ Lope's plot is clearly taken
from Oliver, probably from the Spanish translation issued
in 1499. Indeed, the drama follows the romance with
far more fidelity than could have been expected of such
an adaptation. The various elements of the motive
appear without essential alteration.
The play El mejor amigo el muerto, listed for con-
venience as Calderon, has suffered, in contrast to Lope's
play, from many changes. Prince Robert of Ireland and
Don Juan de Castro are wrecked on the English coast.
The former finds the sea-captain Lidoro in a dying con-
dition, and refuses to give him aid. Don Juan, on the
other hand, finds Lidoro's body, which a creditor keeps
from interment, and pays for his burial out of his
scanty savings from the wreck. He then goes to London,
^ Ceschichte des ipanischen Natioiialdramas , i. 141.
g6 The Grateful Dead.
where there is trouble because Queen Clarinda will not
marry Prince Robert. Don Juan is cast into prison on
a false charge, his identity being unknown to the queen,
though he is recognized by Robert. He is saved by
the aid of Lidoro's ghost, nevertheless, lays siege for
Clarinda's hand, overcomes Robert, and so becomes king
of England.
The correspondence of names and details makes it clear
that the source of this play is Lope de Vega, though
the plot has been modified in several features. In the
process of adaptation all trace of The Two Friends has
dropped out, a fact which would make the position of
the variant difficult to ascertain, had the authors not left
most of the characters their original names. The change
in the position of the rescue of the hero from prison,
indeed, gives a specious resemblance to the normal type
The Grateful Dead ■\- The Ransotned Woman, which is
quite unjustified by the real state of the case.
All the other variants in which there is question of
dividing a child, save one,^ are folk-tales ; and all of
them save three ^ clearly belong in the category now
under discussion. If they did not group themselves in
this way, I should be unwilling even to consider the
possibility of any general influence from The Two Friends
upon these tales, since the only trait borrowed by any of
them is precisely the division. Only in Oliver and Lope
de Vega is this sacrifice made for the healing of a
friend ; and we have seen in the case of Transylvanian,
Gaelic, and Breton IIL how naturally the division of
the child grows out of the division of the wife. As
the matter stands, however, the case for the influence
of The Two Friends is sufficiently strong to warrant
the grouping of these tales together. The general
^ Sir Amadas, for which see p. 37.
^ Irish /., for which see pp. 62 ami 64, Breton I., p. 65, and Sir
Amadas.
The Ransoined Woman. 97
relationship of the theme may be deferred to a later
chapter.^
Lithuanian II? is a characteristic specimen of the class
of tales just referred to. A prince, while travelling, sees
a corpse gnawed by swine in a street. He pays the
man's creditors for his release and has the body buried.
Later, on the same journey, he buys two maidens, one of
whom is a king's daughter, and takes them home. After
a year he goes on a second journey with the princess's
picture for a figure-head on his ship, and a ring, which
she has given him. The picture is recognized by the
maiden's father, and the prince is sent back in the com-
pany of certain nobles to fetch her. While they are
returning to her home with the princess, one of the
nobles pushes the prince overboard. He lives on an
island for two years, until a man comes to him and
promises to bring him to court before the princess marries
the traitor, on condition of receiving his first-born son.
The agreement is made, and the prince wins his bride.
After a son has been born to them, the man appears
and demands the child. He is put off for fifteen years,
and at the end of that time explains that he is the
ghost of the rescued dead man.
All the traits of the compound type, as it has already
been analyzed, are here apparent, save that the sacrifice
of the child is substituted for that of the wife. The
variant does not demand any further comment.
We come now to the various forms of Jean de Calais,
which make up a little group by themselves. The ten
examples of the story that I have been able to find differ
from one another sufficiently to make separate analyses
of most of them necessary.
The version by Mme. de Gomez (/.) runs as follows i^
Jesn, the son of a rich merchant at Calais, while on a
journey, comes to the city of Palmanie on the island of
'vii. -Hippe's Liihaiiische III. ^See Hippe, pp. 156 f.
98 The Grateful Dead.
Orimanie. There he pays the debts and secures the
burial of a corpse which is being devoured by dogs.
He also ransoms two slave girls, one of whom he
marries and takes home. The woman is the daughter
of the King of Portugal. While taking her to her father's
court, Jean is separated from her by a treacherous general,
but is saved by the grateful dead, and enabled to rejoin
his wife. Later the ghost, who appears in the form of a
man, demands half of their son according to the agree-
ment of division which they have made. When Jean
gives him the child to divide, the stranger praises his
loyalty and disappears.
This story has all the characteristics of the type The
Grateful Dead + The Ransomed Woman + the demand
that the hero's son be divided. In general outline it is
scarcely distinguishable from Lithuanian II., save that
the hero Jean is a merchant's son instead of a prince.
In details, however, it differs considerably. For example,
Jean marries one of the captive maidens as soon as he
buys her ; there is no question of signs by which the
hero is recognized by his wife's father or by the princess
herself; and the ghost is less dilatory in his demands.
Some of these differences are doubtless to be accounted
for through the unfaithfulness of the rendering, which is
semi-literary.
At all events, Jeait de Calais III., IK, and V., all
three of which were heard on the Riviera, have several
changes from /., though they vary from one another
only in very minor matters.^ A single analysis will
suffice for the three. Jean de Calais, the son of a
merchant, on his first voyage gives all his profits to bury
the corpse of a deceased debtor. On his second he
ransoms a beautiful woman (with or without a com-
^Thus ///. makes the princess a daughter of the King of Portugal, as
in /. ; /y. gives no names whatever ; and F. makes the heroine's father
King of England.
The Ranso7ned Woman. 99
panion), and lives with her in poverty because of his
father's displeasure. On a subsequent voyage he bears
her portrait on the prow of the ship, where it is seen by
her father. A former suitor meets him on his return to
court with his wife (in ///. goes with him) and throws
him into the sea either by violence or by a ruse. He is
cast up on an island (in ///. is carried thither in a boat
by the ghost in human form), whence he is conveyed
by the ghost, on condition of receiving half of his first
son, or half of what he loves best, to the court just as
the princess is to marry the traitor. By a ruse he enters
the palace and is recognized. Later the ghost appears,
but stays Jean when he is about to sacrifice his son.
Jean de Calais VI., though from Brittany instead of
southern France, does not differ greatly from the above,
nor from /. Jean buries the dead man and ransoms two
women on a single voyage, as in /. He is kindly received
at home in spite of his extravagance, in which the
variant differs from ///., IV., and V., and he marries
one of the maidens there. On his next voyage the King
of Portugal (as in /. and ///.) recognizes his daughter's
portrait and that of her maid, which the hero has dis-
played on his ship. He brings his wife to the court,
after which they go back, together with a former suitor,
for their possessions. On the voyage Jean is thrown
overboard, but is washed up on an island, whither the
ghost comes, announces himself immediately, and bargains
rescue for half of the hero's child. Jean is transported
to court miraculously, and there meets with the customary
adventures at the close of the tale.
The variant is chiefly peculiar, it will be remarked, in
placing the treachery of the former suitor after the
marriage has been recognized by the king, and in making
the ghost announce himself at once. Jean makes no
blind bargain, a fact which detracts somewhat from the
interest.
lOO The Grateful Dead.
Jean de Calais II. and VII. differ from the other
forms of the story in several ways. In the former ^ Jean
is the son of a rich merchant, and has wasted much
money. He is sent out to seek his fortune on land with
seven thousand pistoles, but he pays his all for the
debts and burial of a poor man. On his return, he is
commended by his father, but again falls into evil ways.
Once more he is sent forth with seven thousand pistoles,
and passes the cemetery where he buried the debtor.
As he does so, a great white bird speaks from the cross,
saying that it is the soul of the dead man and will not
forget Jean buys the two daughters of the King of
Portugal from a pirate and takes them home, where,
with his complaisant father's approval, he marries the
eider. Later he journeys to Lisbon with the portraits
of the sisters, which are recognized by the king.^ He is
sent back for his wife, but is pushed overboard by a
traitor, being driven on a rock in the sea, where he is
fed by the white bird. Meanwhile, the traitor goes to
Calais and remains there seven years as a suitor for
the princess's hand. He is about to be rewarded, when
Jean, after promising half of what he loves best to
the white bird, is miraculously transported to Calais,
whither the King of Portugal comes at the same time.
The white bird bears witness to the hero's identity, and
demands half of his child. When Jean is about to
divide the boy, however, it stops him and flies away.
Version VII. has certain characteristics in common
with the above. It is a Basque tale. Juan de Kalais,
the son of a widow, sets off as a merchant, but sells his
cargo and ship to pay the debts of a corpse, which is
being dragged about on a dung-heap. On his return,
his mother is angry. Again he goes on a voyage, but
^ From Gascony, like ///., IV., and V.
'The portraits are not displayed on the ship, but on Jean's carriage, — a
curious deviation.
The Ransomed Woman. loi
with a very poor ship, and is compelled by an English
captain to ransom a beautiful maiden with all his cargo.
The hero's mother is again angry at this seemingly bad
bargain, but she does not forbid his marrying the girl.
Juan is now sent to Portugal by his wife with a portrait
on a flag, a handkerchief, and a ring. At the same time
she tells him that she has been called Marie Madeleine.
When the King of Portugal sees the portrait, he sends
the hero back with a general to fetch Marie, who is his
daughter. The general pitches Juan overboard and goes
for the princess, whom he persuades to marry him after
seven years. At the end of that time, a fox comes to
Juan on an island, where he has lived, and bargains to
rescue him for half of all he has at present and will have
later. The hero arrives in Portugal, is recognized by
the king, tells his story, and has the general burned-
After a year the fox appears and demands payment,
but, when Juan is going to divide his child, it says that
it is the soul of the dead man whom he buried long
before.
The two variants are chiefly peculiar in that they
introduce a new element into the compound, — The
Tha7ikful Beast. This substitution of some beast for
the ghost has been encountered twice before^ in con-
nection with Jewish and Servian IV., and must receive
special treatment later on.^ For the present it is sufficient
to remark the variation from all other forms of Jean de
Calais except X? In both //. and VII. Jean makes
two journeys,^ as in ///., IV., and K, as against /. and
VI. The attitude of the parent differs widely in the
two. The maiden whom the hero marries is a Portuguese
princess, which is the prevailing form of the tale. The
1 See pp. 27 and 57. - See chapter vii. ' See pp. 104 f.
*//. is the only version which has Jean make his first two voyages on
land, a trait which contradicts the general testimony of the tales throughout
the chapter.
I02 The Grateful Dead.
poi'lrait is also found in each, and both state the time
of Jean's exile as seven years. //. differs from all the
other versions in placing the later adventures of the story
at Calais rather than at the court of the heroine's father.
In //., as in VI., the ghost announces himself at the first
meeting, which is undoubtedly a modification of the
original story. Thus the two forms are sufficiently inde-
pendent of one another, in spite of their common use of
an animal as the hero's friend.
Jean de Calais VIII., though like VI. from a
Breton source, differs from all the other variants, chiefly
in transposing the burial and the ransom. Jean Carre,
sent out by his godmother as a sea-captain, ransoms an
English princess with her maid, and marries the former.
After two years, when a son has been born to them,
Jean goes on another voyage, and adorns the stern of
his vessel with portraits of his wife, the child, and the
maid, which he is begged to show while anchored at
London, He does so, and is received by the king as a
son-in-law. One day he sees a poor debtor's body
dragged along the street, pays the debts, and has it
buried. He then sets out with a fleet to seek his wife,
and is cast overboard by a Jew, who is the pilot ; but he
is saved by a supernatural man, who carries him to a
green rock in the sea. The princess refuses to go to
England when the fleet arrives, and is wooed by the Jew
so persistently that after two years she promises him
marriage At this juncture Jean, who has been asleep
during the whole interval, is awakened by his rescuer
and carried over the sea, where the man explains that
he is the ghost of the debtor. Jean is first recognized
by his little son, the Jew is burned by the gendarmes,
and all ends well.
The transposition mentioned above is clearly a change
due to the individual narrator or some local predecessor,
since everywhere else the burial takes place before the
The Rajisomed Woman. 103
ransom. The mention of a Jew as traitor is also peculiar
and unreasonable, since no motive for his action appears
until later, and then incongruously. The variant is like-
wise defective in not having any bargain between the
ghost and the hero. In other respects it is normal save
in minor details. As in Fi, the heroine is made an
English princess, which occurs nowhere else. On the
whole the version is picturesque, but defective.
Jean de Calais IX. is unique in certain features,
thougli in most respects normal. It is from Asturia in
Spain. Juan de Calais goes out into the world to seek
his fortune with a single peseta as his store. This he
gives to bury a corpse, and proceeds. In a certain king-
dom he attracts the notice of a princess, who marries
him after considerable opposition. When the wedding
is over, he takes his wife to seek his father's blessing,
but is cast off the ship by a former suitor of the lady,
her cousin. He is carried to an island by invisible
hands, where he lives until a phantom bargains to take
him to court for half of what he gets by his marriage.
He arrives on the day of the princess's wedding. He is
recognized by the king, who puts to his guests a parable
of an old key found just when a new one has been made,
while the suitor flees. On the following night, when
Juan is dejected at the thought of giving up half his
son, the phantom appears and releases him from his
agreement, explaining its identity.
Juan wins the gratitude of the dead man, and obtains
his bride in this version on a single journey, as in /.
and VI., but its chief peculiarity is the manner in
which he gets his wife, with the sequel that the couple
set out to seek his father instead of hers. Tlie ransom
is replaced by a romantic but more natural wooing, while
the ghost appears somewhat unusually in propria persona.
One of the oddest traits in the whole version is the
parable of the key, by which the king introduces the
I04 The Grateful Dead.
hero to the assembled guests. This will be encountered
again in Breton VII.
In Jea7t de Calais X., finally, a Wallon variant, appear
certain interesting changes in the fabric. The King of
Calais sent his son Jean to America to trade, but the
prince was shipwrecked on the coast of Portugal, and
there ransomed and rescued a corpse, which was being
dragged through the streets because the man had died
in debt. The king scolded his son for wasting so much
money, but the next year sent him to Portugal to trade.
There he encountered brigands, who had captured the
king's daughter with her maid, and ransomed them. On
returning to Calais with his bride, he was ill received,
and resolved to go back to Portugal. A young lord of
Calais accompanied them and threw Jean into the sea,
while he took the princess onward and obtained from
her a promise of marriage in a year. Happily Jean
found a plank by which he reached an island, where a
crow fed him every day. At the end of a year he pro-
mised the crow half his blood for rescue, and was taken
to Portugal by a flock of crows. There he was recog-
nized, and the traitor hanged. One day the crow appeared
and demanded the fulfilment of the promise. Jean was
about to slay his son, when the bird explained its identity
with the ghost of the dead man.
This is the only version which makes Jean a prince ;
and it is curious that the change should occur in a tale
from a region not very remote from Calais. Most of
the events of the tale take place in Portugal, however,
which is an extension of the ordinary appearance of that
country as the home of the heroine. The most striking
peculiarit)'- of the version is the home of the traitor, who
is a lord of Calais instead of Portugal. All mention of
signs is lacking, which is doubtless due to the changes
just mentioned. In the matter of the appearance of the
ghost as an animal the variant allies itself with //. and
The Ransomed Woman. 105
VIL, though it has no special likeness to them in other
respects.
Basque II. is like Gaelic'^ in general outline. Juan
Dekos is sent out with a ship to complete his education.
He pays all that he gets for his cargo to ransom and bury
the corpse of a debtor. His father is not pleased, but
sends him out again. This time he uses all his money
to ransom eight slaves, seven of whom he sends to their
homes, but carries one home with him. His father is
still n'ore angry, and casts him off; but Juan has a
portrait of Marie Louise painted for the figure-head of
his ship, and sets off with her for her own land. The
lame mate pitches him overboard, and carries the lady
to her father's dwelling-place, where he is to marry her
after a year and a day. Juan is saved by an angel and
placed on a rock. On Marie's wedding-day the angel
returns, and offers to take the hero to his bride for half
of the child that will be born. The angel was the soul
of the dead man. So Juan arrives in time, is recognized
by a handkerchief, and tells his story, which causes the
burning of the mate. After a year the angel comes for
his half of the babe, but when Juan starts to divide it
stays his hand.
Webster, the collector of this tale, noticed ^ its similarity
to Gaelic, especially in the name of the hero, and surmised
that the Basques must have borrowed it from the Celts
in some way. The theory is tenable, though a com-
parison of the two variants shows that the Basques must
either have borrowed it in a form considerably different
from the Highland tale as we have it, or have altered
the details largely. The first part of the story is entirely
different ; the hero goes on two voyages in Basqtie II.,
one only in Gaelic ; the lady goes with the hero imme-
diately in the former, he returns for her in the
latter ; the treachery and the signs are different ; the
iSee pp. 85 f. -V. 146.
io6 The Grateful Dead.
ghost appears as an angel instead of a human being in
Basque ; and the promised division concerns the wife
and three sons in Gaelic, a single babe in Basque. Thus,
apart from the title, there is little to substantiate
Webster's theory. The differences are certainly more
important than those between any two versions of Jean
de Calais. In some particulars, like the voyages and the
portrait on the ship, Basque is more nearly normal,
while in others, like the account of the treachery and
the appearance of the ghost, Gaelic conforms to the
ordinary form. Certainly Basque II. is to be regarded
as a fairly close relative of Lithuanian II. and Jean de
Calais.
In Breton VII. a normal form appears, though with
some embroidery of details. A merchant's son, louenn
Kerm6nou, goes out with his father's ship to trade. He
pays the greater part of the proceeds of the cargo to
ransom and bury the corpse of a debtor, which dogs
are devouring. On his way home he gives the rest of
his money to ransom a princess, who is being carried to
a ravaging serpent, which has to be fed with a royal
princess every seven years. He is cast off by his father
when he reaches home, but is supported by an aunt and
enabled to marry his lady. After a son has been born
to them, he is sent out by an uncle on another ship,
which by his wife's counsel has the figure of himself
and herself with their child carved on the prow. He
comes to her father's realm, and after some misunder-
standing is sent back with two ministers of state for the
princess. While returning with her, he is pushed over-
board by the first minister, who is an old suitor for the
lady's hand, but swims ashore on a desert island. The
wife goes to court, and after three years consents to
marry the minister. All this time louenn lives alone on
his rock, but at the end is greeted by the ghost of the
n.an whose body he buried, which appears in a very
The Ransomed Wo7nan. 107
horrible form. On condition of giving in a year and a
day half of what he and his wife possess, he is taken to
court by this being, where he is recognized by means of
a gold chain, which the princess had given him. At
the wedding feast, which takes place that day, the wife
recounts a parable of how she has found the old key of
a coffer just as a new one was ready, brings in louenn,
and has the minister burned. At the end of a year and
a day comes the ghost, and demands half of the child
(the older one has died) that has been born to them.
As the hero reluctantly proceeds to divide the child, the
ghost stops him, praises his fidelity, and disappears.
It will be seen that this variant does not differ in
essentials from those previously summarized, though its
details exactly coincide with none of them. The order
of events is normal, very like that of Litktianian 11., for
example, yet it has marks of peculiarity. Chief among
these are the events connected with the ransom of the
lady and the parable by which she introduces her long
lost husband to court. The first is a trait borrowed
from the Persejis and Andromeda motive,^ the second
is the same as the riddle in Jean de Calais IX? How
this latter feature should happen to appear in these two
widely separated variants and nowhere else I am not
wise enough to explain.
S'lvirock I. introduces still another complication in the
way of compounds. A merchant's son on a journey
secures proper burial for a black Turkish slave, thereby
using all his money. His father is angry with him on
his return. On his second voyage he ransoms a maiden
and is cast off by his father when he reaches home.
The j'oung couple live for a time on the proceeds from
the sale of the wife's handiwork, but after a little set off
to the court of her father, who is a king. On the way
^ See The Legend of Perseus, E, S. Harlland, 1896, volume iii.
-See p. 103 above.
To8 The Grateful Dead.
they meet one of the king's ships, and go aboard. The
hero is cast into the sea by the captain, but is saved by
a black fellow and brought back to the ship. Again he
is cast overboard. When the princess arrives at home,
she agrees to marry whoever can paint three rooms to her
liking. The hero, meanwhile, is again saved by the black
man, and in return for the promise of his first child on
its twelfth birthday he is given the power of obtaining
his wishes. After a year and a day he is taken to
court by his friend, where by wishing he paints the three
rooms, the third with the story of his life. So he is
recognized. On the twelfth birthday of his first child
the black man comes to him and is offered the boy, but
instead of taking him explains his identity.
As far as The Grateful Dead, The Ransomed Woman,
and the sacrifice of the child are concerned, this follows
the normal course of events, except perhaps as to the
child, of actually dividing which there is no question.
Like Lithuanian II., Jean de Calais III., IV., V., and X.,
Basque 11, and Norwegian /., it makes the hero and
heroine set out for her father's court together and of
their own free will.^ The colour of the thankful dead is
a peculiar trait. Yet the element which complicates the
question, as mentioned above, is the feat by which the
hero obtains his wife. If I am not mistaken, this allies
the variant on one side with stories of the type of The
Water of Life, where the bride is gained by the per-
formance of some task obviously set as impossible. The
questions involving the relations of such motives with
The Grateful Dead will occupy the next chapter, so that
it needs simply to be mentioned at this point.
In Simrock II. a miller's son goes with merchandise to
England. In London he pays all his money for the
debts and the burial of a poor man. He is again sent
to England by his father, and this time he gives his
^ In lean dc Calais IX. they set out together, but to the hero's home.
The Ransomed Woman. 109
whole ship to ransom a beautiful maiden. When he
returns with her, he is cast off by his father, marries the
girl, and lives on what she makes by her needle. He
takes a piece of her embroidery with him to England,
where it is seen by the king and queen, whose daughter
has become his wife. He is sent for her in company
with a minister, who pitches him overboard and goes on
for the princess, hoping to marry her. The hero swims
ashore, in the meantime, and communicates with his wife
by means of a dove, which also feeds him. Finally a
spirit conveys him to London, after receiving the promise
of half of his first child. He obtains work in the kitchen
of the castle, and sends a ring to his wife, by means of
which they are reunited. At the birth of their child he
refuses to give the spirit half, but offers the whole instead,^
whereupon ensues an explanation.
This variant is of the same type as Jean de Calais II.
and F7/.,2 resembling the latter more than the former
in details. The three are sufficiently unlike, however,
to make any immediate relationship quite out of the
question, even did not geography forbid. As in Hzin-
garian II., Oliver, Lope de Vega, Calderon, Jean de Calais
V. and VIII., and Nortvegian I, the heroine is an
English princess, a point of interest, but not of much
importance.
Simrock VIII. differs from the above in only two
points. The beginning states that a merchant while in
Turkey pays the debts and burial expenses of a poor
man. On his next voyage he buys three hundred slaves
from the Emperor of Constantinople. Three of them he
keeps at his home, one of whom he marries. The
further adventures of the hero agree with Simrock II.
even in names and most details, except that the hero is
^ So also in Transylvanian. Similarly the hero ofTfers to give all of his
wife, instead of dividing her, in Dianese, Old Swedish, and Old Wives' Tale,
- See pp. ICK)-I02.
no The Grateful Dead.
recognized at the court by dropping his ring in a cup
of tea, which the princess gives him to drink. It will
be evident that the two tales are nearly related.
Last, but not least interesting of the versions in which
the child appears, is the Factor's Garland or Turkey
Factor, which must have been almost as well known in
England at one time as the form of the story in Jack
the Giant-Killer. It has no very remarkable features in
its outline. A young Englishman, while acting as a factor
in Turkey, pays fifty pounds to have the body of a
Christian buried. A little later he pays one hundred
pounds to ransom a beautiful Christian slave, and takes
her back to his home, where he makes her his house-
keeper. Later he sets out again, and is told by the
woman to wear a silk waistcoat that she has embroidered,
when he comes to the court whither he is bound. The
work is recognized by her father, the emperor, and the
factor sent back to fetch her. While returning with
the princess, he is pushed overboard in his sleep by the
captain, but swims to an island, whence he is rescued
by an old man in a canoe, who bargains with him for
his first-born son when three (or thirty) months old. The
hero is recognized at court and marries the princess,
while the captain dies by suicide. In two (or three)
years the old man returns, just when the couple's son is
three (or thirty) months old, and demands the child.
On the hero's yielding, he explains that he is the ghost,
and disappears.
Like Gaelic'^ and Simrock VIII. — the latter just dis-
cussed — this version makes the hero undergo his early
adventures in Turkey. Indeed, the similarity to Gaelic
throughout is very notable, far more so than in the case
of Basque 11^ The only point in which it differs
materially is the division of property, which in Gaelic
concerns the wife and the three children, in the Factor s
^See pp. 8s f. ^See pp. 105 f.
The Ransomed Woman. iii
Garland one son only. In this matter there is agree-
ment between the present variant, Basque II., and Simrock
VIII. Despite the likeness to Gaelic, there is no good
reason for arguing any immediate connection with that
version. They stand close to one another geographically
and in content, that is all ; they cannot be proved to be
more than near relatives in the same generation.
The variants which introduce the division of the child
have row all been considered. It is necessary to turn to
a i^"^ scattered specimens in which the compound, The
Graiefid Dead + The Ransomed Woman ^ has been joined
with other material.
Bohemian is a curious and instructive example of the
confusion which has resulted from welding various themes
together. Bolemir, a merchant's son, is sent to sea,
where he is robbed by pirates and imprisoned. He
finds means to help an old man, who gives him a magic
flute, and a princess, who gives him half of her veil and
ring. By the aid of the flute he succeeds in winning
the chiefs permission to leave the island in the company
of his friends. He sails with them to another island.
There, at the old man's request, he strikes him on the
head and buries him. He then goes home with the
princess. On his second voyage he displays from his
mast-head a golden standard, which the princess has
made. He reaches the city of the lady's father, tells his
story, and returns for the princess with the chamberlain.
While they are all returning together, he is cast into the
sea by the chamberlain, who takes the woman to court
and obtains a promise of marriage, when a church has
been built to her mind. Bolemir is saved from the sea
by the ghost of the old man, and is given a wishing ring.
He turns himself into an eagle and ?\\&s to court, into
an old man and becomes a watchman at the church.
By means of his ring he builds the structure, and paints
it with the story of his life. At the wedding breakfast
112 The Grateful Dead.
of the princess, who cannot longer delay the bridal, he
tells his story, and so marries her.
The peculiar form of the burial in this variant will be
at once evident, though the reason for it is not clear to
me. Disenchantment by decapitation is a common phen-
omenon in folk-lore and romance;^ but though the blow
on the head, which the hero gives the old man in our
tale, surely stands for beheading, it is hard to see where
any unspelling process comes in. It is perhaps best to
suppose the trait a confused borrowing, without much
meaning as it stands. The ransoming of the woman is
closely connected with the benefits done the old man.
That it occurs on the same journey has been shown by
the variations in Jean de Calais to be a matter of little
consequence. With respect to the standard and the
ring, by which the hero restores his wife to her father,
and later to himself, the tale is perfectly in accord with
the prevalent form of the compound type; and so also
in regard to the rescue of the hero by the ghost. No
hint is given of any agreement of division between the
hero and the ghost. The chief peculiarity of the variant,
however, is the means by which the heroine is won. The
feat recalls Simrock I.^ even in details like the demand
on the part of the bride for mural decoration. It again
shows the combination of the present type with a theme
akin to The Water of Life.
Simrock III. has several points of contact with the
above. Karl, the son of an English merchant, on his
first voyage to Italy pays the debts of a merchant who
has died bankrupt. On his way home he buys two
sisters from some pirates at an inn. His father casts
him off, so he marries the older of the maidens, who
tells him that she is a princess. They start for Italy
^ See the paper by Kittredge, Journal of Avierican Folk-Lore, xviii. 1-14,
1905-
-See pp. 107 f.
The Ransomed Wo7nan. 113
together, and on the way meet an Italian prince, who is
a suitor for the wife's hand. The hero is cast overboard,
but is brought to land by a great bird, which tells him
that it is the ghost of the man whom he has buried. It
directs him to go to court and give himself out as a
painter. The bird again comes to him there with a
dagger in its beak, and tells him to cut off its head.
Unwillingly Karl obeys, and sees before him the spirit
of the dead man. The ghost paints the room in which
they are standing with the hero's history. So on the
wedding-day of the princess with the traitor, Karl explains
the meaning of the pictures and wins his bride again.
This Swabian story has preserved the decapitation ^ in
much better form than Bohemian, though the reason for
its introduction is still hard to understand. The ghost
is obviously released from some spell when it is beheaded,
and is thus enabled to help the hero to better advantage
than before. The episode also occurs in a more logical
position than in Bohemian. It replaces the more ordi-
nary and normal test of the hero by the ghost. Probably
the introduction of it in the two cases is sporadic, though
some connection between the two is conceivable. As far
as The Grateful Dead and The Ransomed Woman proper
are concerned, the variant has no peculiarities of special
importance, being of the type in which the hero and
heroine set out for court together.^ It contains, how-
ever, the feat by which the bride is won, in the same
form as in Simrock I. and Bohemian, which is due to
an alliance with the type of The Water of Life. Yet it
differs from them in making the ghost appear first as a
bird, which connects it with fean de Calais II., VII.,
and X., and with Simrock II. and VIII., variants that
have the thankful beast playing the r61e of ghost.^
^ In this connection it is cited by Kittredge in the study above mentioned,
pp. 9 f.
2 See p. loS. ^fSee p. loi.
H
114 '^^^ Grateful Dead.
Simrock VI L, together with some other peculiarities,
again has the feat of winning the bride, though it is a feat
of another sort. Wilhelm catches a swan-maiden, and
later releases her from an enchanted mountain by hewing
trees, separating grain, and finding his wife among three
hundred women. Thus by her help he breaks the spell,
and carries her back home. Later they journey together
to her father's court. On the way Wilhelm pays the
debts of a corpse, and has it buried. They meet two
officers of the king, who toss Wilhelm overboard from
the ship in which they sail, but he is saved by the
ghost of the dead man and brought to court. He is
recognized by the princess, and proves his identity to
her father by means of a ring and a handkerchief.
The most salient point here is the fact that the maiden
is not ransomed at all, but instead is captured like any
other swan-maiden. We have already met with the theme
of The Swan-Maiden in combination with The Grateful
Dead in simple form ;^ but Servian V. has evidently
nothing to do with Simrock VII., since the part played
by the borrowed motive is different in each. In the
former it is introduced as the reward bestowed on the
hero by the ghost, while in the latter the swan-maiden
simply replaces the ransomed maiden, as is shown by the
subsequent events of the story, which follow the normal
order as far as she is concerned. The feats by which
the hero disenchants her are essentially like those in
Bohemian, Simrock I, and Simrock III., though they are
differently placed. Probably the introduction of this new
material accounts for the transposition of the ransoming
and the burial, as the latter is in other respects regular.
It is curious to observe that the process of changing
about various features, thus begun, continued in other
ways, as in the matter of the signs by which the hero
is recognized by his father-in-law and his wife. These
^See pp. 31 f.
The Ransomed Woman. 115
things go to show, however, that back of the variant
must have existed the compound type in a normal form.
In Simrock V, the thankful beast again appears, but
in a less complicated setting than in the case of Jean de
Calais II., VII., and X., or Simrock II., Ill, and VIII.
A widow's son on his way home from market pays the
debts of a corpse and buries it, thus using all his money.
The next time he goes to market, he gives all his
proceeds to ransom a maiden, whom he marries. She
does embroidery to gain money, and one day holds out
a piece of it to the king, who is passing. He recognizes
her as his daughter, and accepts the hero as son-in-law.
The young couple start back home for the widow, but
on the way the servants cast the young man into the
sea. He escapes, however, to an island, where he is fed
by an eagle. Later the eagle declares itself to be the
ghost of the dead man, and brings its benefactor to
court.
Oldenburgian is a similar tale. A merchant's son while
on a voyage pays thirty dollars to bury a man, and also
buys a captive princess with her maid. Though ill-
received by his father on his return, he marries the girl.
Later he goes on another voyage, with his wife's portrait
as the figure-head of his ship. This is recognized by
the king, who sends him back for the princess in the
company of a minister. The latter pitches him over-
board, goes on for the princess, and does not tell her
of her loss till they arrive at court. She finally consents
to marry the traitor after five years. Meanwhile, the
hero lives on an island, whither on the day appointed
for the princess's bridal comes the ghost of the dead in
the form of a snow-white dove. It takes him to the
court, where he is recognized by a ring, a gift from his
bride, which he drops into a cup that she offers him.
Of these two variants, Oldenburgian is much better
preserved than the Tyrolese story {Simrock V). The
1 1 6 The Grateful Dead.
latter is dressed in a homely fashion, which probably
accounts for some of the changes, since the gap between
the visits to market and the romantic or miraculous
features of the couple's later adventures was too wide to
be easily bridged. The disappointed suitor is not men-
tioned, which leaves the attempt on the hero's life without
motivation, and clearly indicates some loss,^ The trait
is distinctly marked in Oldenburgian, as are all the other
events connected with The Ransomed Woman, though
Simrock V. provides an entirely original reason for the
voyage of the young couple, — their wish to get the hero's
mother. The features concerning the rescue by the
ghost and the hero's return to court are better preserved
again in Oldenburgian, though both lack the agreement
to divide, which is probably obscured as elsewhere by
the prominence given the rescued woman. The most
striking similarity between the two, however, lies in
the fact that the ghost first appears as a bird. This
clearly shows the existence of a type of The Grateful
Dead + The Ransomed Woman, on which The Thankful
Beasts has had some influence.
It remains to consider the general relations of the
variants discussed in this chapter. The wide variety in
detail of the incidents concerned with the history of the
hero's wife, yet the essential uniformity which they show,
would indicate clearly, for one thing, that The Ransomed
Woman is a motive originally quite independent of The
Grateful Dead, — that the type of story which is our
present concern is a true compound. It would even be
possible to reconstruct the independent theme in a form
not unlike the Wendish folk-tale cited in the beginning
of the chapter. The hero, while on a journey, ransoms a
princess, takes her home, goes on another journey with
some sign that attracts her father's notice, goes back to
^The same loss is evident in Catalan, Spanish, Simrock I., and Simrock
VII.
The Ransomed Woman. 1 1 7
her and is cast into the sea by some man who hopes to
marry her himself, is rescued, and returns to court to
claim his bride, usually by means of a token.
The points of contact between this motive and The
Grateful Dead would seem to be, first, the journey which
the hero undertakes at the opening of the plot. It will
be rioted that in the compound he usually makes two
voyages, burying the dead on the first and ransoming
the maiden on the second, though the two are some-
times welded. The second point of contact, I take it,
was the rescue of the hero. In each story he did a
good act for which he was rewarded in some way. It
has been shown that this reward sometimes took the form
of a rescue in the simple form of The Gr'ateftd Dead^
and in the compound with The Poison Maiden?- What
more natural than that it should lead to another com-
bination with a story where the hero was saved from
death } The difference in the case of the latter, of
course, would be that the agency of rescue was of little
importance. Could Simonides be shown to have any-
thing more than a literary life in mediaeval Europe, I
should be inclined to think that the rescue in that tale,
even though the tale itself is not necessarily connected
with The Grateful Dead as we know the theme, might
have had some influence on the union. As the matter
stands, howev^er, it is probably better to believe that the
two motives were united in eastern Europe, the one being
Oriental and the other of uncertain derivation. That
each motive had a wife as part of the hero's reward
must be taken for granted, and it must have helped to
combine them.
It follows from this that the compound The Grateful
Dead -^^ The Ransomed Woman is quite independent of
1 Sec p. 27 for Jewish.
-That is, the rescue of the bridegroom from the creatures which possess
the bride.
1 1 8 The Grateful Dead.
the one discussed in the previous chapter, and could not
have proceeded from it as Hippe thought.^ It would
have been next to impossible for that combined type to
divest itself of the features peculiar to The Poison Maiden,
and to absorb in their place those of The Ranso7ned
Woman without leaving some trace of the process. Thus
the existence of the compound as an independent growth
is assured. In this connection it is interesting to note
that the rescue of the hero from drowning in consequence
of an act of treachery (or from an island) occurs in all
the variants of the type save four, Transylvanian, TrancosOy
Gasconian, and Straparola L^ but in no other version
of The Grateful Dead as far as I know.
From this general type developed minor varieties with
traits borrowed from The Water of Life, The Thankful
Beasts, and The Two Friends, or some such tale. Thus
very complex variants arose. The question of the con-
nection which these subsidiary elements sustain to the
central theme cannot properly be discussed until they
have been seen in other combinations. The part they
play in the development of the story, it is evident, must
have been a secondary one both in importance and in
time,
^See p. 4 above.
^Of course this excludes the group connected with Oliver, which has no
proper connection with the compound type.
CHAPTER VI.
THE GRATEFUL DEAD AND THE WATER OF LIFE
OR KINDRED THEMES.
The mdrcheji known in its various forms as The Water
of Life '^ is based on the myth which goes by the same
name.2 The myth, as has been shown quite inde-
pendently by two recent investigators, Dr. Wiinsche^ and
Dr. E. W. Hopkins,^ is of Semitic origin, and is found
among the traditions of the Assyrio-Babylonian cycle.
It is to be distinguished from the very similar myth of
The Fountain of Youth, which apparently originated in
India.^ The latter concerns the magic properties of the
" water of rejuvenation " ; the former in its uncontamin-
^ The most adequate treatment of the motive yet published is by August
Wiinsche, Die Sagcn vom Lebensbaum uml Lebensivasser, 1905, pp. 90-104.
This is the same study which had previously been printed in the Zts. f.
rergleichoide Lillc-raturgeschichte, 1899, N.F. xiii. 166180, but is furnished
with a new introduction and a few additional illustrations. Dr. Wtinsche's
monograph, thoroughgoing amd conclusive as it is with reference to the
myths of the Tree of Life and the Water of Life, leaves much to be desired
as an account of the folk-tale based on ihe latter belief. He himself says in
his preface, p. iv : '* Man sieht auch daraus, dass es sich um Wanderstoffe
handelt, an die sich immer neue Elemente ankristallisiert hahen." These
elements he has not studied with any degree of completeness. Thus, for
example, he does not use Cosquin's valuable contributions in Contes populaires
de Lorraine, i. 212-222, which would have given him valuable assistance.
The theme yet awaits definitive treatment.
'-See Wiinsche, p. 92. * P. 71.
■•"The Fountain of Yo\i\.\\,^' Jouitial of the American Oriental Society',
xxvi. 1st half, 19 and 55.
•"'Hopkins, pp. 19, 42, 55, etc.
I20 The Grateful Dead.
ated form, at least, deals with water which cures, revivifies,
or revitalizes. The two have been frequently confused,
not only in popular tradition of all ages, but in critical
writings of contemporary date as well. It is the great
merit of Professor Hopkins' article, to which reference
has been made, that their essential difference in origin
and character is clearly marked. Though he makes no
pretence that his study of The Fountain of Youth is
definitive, he has broken ground which sadly needed the
plough, and incidentally has thrown light upon The
Water of Life.
The myth which is properly known by this name is
•intimately connected in origin and development with that
of The Tree of Life} which finds expression in the
legends of the Cross. In the words of Dr. Wiinsche :^
" Wie wir aus den kosmogonischen und theogonischen
Mythen und Sagen der Volker das Rauschen des Lebens-
baumes vernehmen, durch dessen Friichte sich Gotter und
Menschen ihre ungeschwachte Lebenskraft und ewige
Jugendfrische erhalten, so nicht minder das Sprudeln
einer Quelle des Lebenswassers, die Leben schafft und
zu Ende gehendes oder bereits erloschenes Leben wieder
zu neuem Sein erweckt." Both myths are Semitic, and
both have profoundly influenced Christian doctrine. It
is with the " water of life," however, that we are
immediately concerned, and with that only as it has
found embodiment in a widely disseminated and variously
modified tale. Whence this ntdrchen came we must
presently inquire, in order to reach some conclusion as
to the point in space and time where it joined The
Grateful Dead, but we must first fix its essential traits.
Owing to the complex variations which the tale
^Wiinsche, p. iii : " Es sind altorientalische Mythen, die in alle Kultur-
reHgionen iibergangen sind, Zeit und Ort haben ihnen ein sehr verschie-
denes Geprage gegeben, der Grundgedanke ist derselbe geblieben."
'P. 71. See also Hopkins, p. 55.
The Water of Life. 121
presents in its various combinations with really foreign
themes, there is great difficulty in getting at the outline
of the original story or even the characteristics common
to all the known variants. To do this satisfactorily
would require a searching and detailed study, which it is
impossible to undertake here, — an examination with The
Water of Life as the point of attack. It is possible,
however, to arrive at a rough sketch of the theme.
" Dans tous ces contes," says Cosquin, in his notes on
The Water of Life} " trois princes vont chercher pour
leur pere I'eau de la vie ou un fruit merveilleux qui doit
le guerir, et c'est le plus jeune qui reussit dans cette
entreprise. Dans plusieurs . . . les deux ain^s font des
dettes, et ils sont au moment d'etre pendus, quand leur
frere paie les creanciers (dans des contes allemands et
dans les contes autrichiens, malgre I'avis que lui avait
donne un hermite, un nain ou des animaux reconais-
sants, de ne pas acheter de *gibier de potence'). II est
tue par eux ou, dans un conte allemand (Meier, no. 5),
jete dans un grand trou ; mais ensuite il est rappele
a la vie dans des circonstances qu'il serait trop long
d'expliquer."
Dr. Wiinsche's summary is somewhat different : ^ " Ge-
wohnlich handelt es sich um einen Konig und seine drei
Sohne. Der Konig leidet an einer schlimmen Krankheit,
von der ihn kein Arzt zu heilen vermag. Da wird ihm
durch irgendeine Gelegenheit die Kunde, dass er von
seinem Siechtum durch das Lebenswasser eines fernen
Landes befreit werden konne. Aus Liebe zu ihrem
Vater machen sich die drei Sohne nacheinander auf den
Weg, das Lebenswasser zu holen. Doch die beiden
altesten erliegen den auf dem Wege ihnen begegnenden
Versuchungen, nur der jiingste ist wegen seiner Stand-
haftigkeit und Bescheidenheit so gliicklich, es zu erhalten.
Ein Riese, ein Zwerg, ein alter Mann oder ein alte Frau
^ Contes populaires de Lorraine, i. 213. *Pp. 90 f.
122 The Grateful Dead.
sind ihm zur Auffindung der Wunderquelle behilflich,
indem sie ihm guten Rat erteilen und ihm sagen, wie er
es anzufangen und wovor er sich in acht zu nehmen
habe. Hier und da greifen auch dienstbare Tiere, Vier-
fiissler, Vogel und Fische hilfreich ein, indem sie dem
Jiinglinge genau die Ortlichkeit des Wassers angeben,
Oder auch selbst ihn mit Schnelligkeit dahin bringen.
Die Lebensquelle sprudelt in einem Berge, der sich nur
zu gewissen Zeiten, gewohnlich gegen Mittag oder Mitter-
nacht von 11-12 Uhr offnet Im berge steht in der Kegel
in einem prachtigen Garten ein versunkenes Schloss, das
die grossen Schatze und Kostbarkeiten birgt, durch deren
Anblick der Eintretende geblendet wird. In einem
Gemache des Schlosses wieder ruht auf einem Bett eine
Jungfrau von wunderbarer Schonheit, die spater als Prin-
zessin hervortritt und den Prinzen, der durch das Schop-
fen des Lebenswassers sie von ihrem Zauber gelost hat,
zum Gemahle heischt. Der Prinz hat nur kurze Zeit
bei ihr geruht oder ihr einen fliichtigen Kuss auf die
Lippen gedriickt. In vielen Fallen wird der Eingang
zur Quelle von einem Drachen oder einem anderen
Ungeheuer bewacht, die erst aus dem Wege geraumt
werden miissen. Es kostet einen schweren Kampf. Auf
dem Heimweg trifft der jiingste Konigssohn gewohnlich
mit seinen alteren Briidern wieder zusammen, die ihr
Leben durch tolle Streiche verwirkt haben und die er
vom Tode loskauft. Zuweilen sind aber die Briider
durch ihre Unbedachtsamkeit in schwarze Steine ver-
wandelt worden und liegen am Abhange des Zauber-
berges, oder stehen als Marmorsaulen auf demselben,
oder sind infolge ihres Hochmutes in einen tiefen
Abgrund eingeschlossen. Auch in diesem Zustande
werden sie durch den jiingsten Bruder bald durch das
geschopfte Wasser des Lebens, bald auf seine Bitten hin
wieder ins Leben gerufen. Vereint reisen sie nun mit
ihrem Bruder nach Hause zum Konige. Unterwegs
The Water of Life. 123
aber erfasst die Beiden Falschen Neid und Missgunst,
well ihr Bruder allein in den Besitz des Lebenswasser
gelangt ist und sie sich vergeblich darum gemiiht haben.
Daher vertauschen sie das Lebenswasser, wahrend der
Bruder schlaft, mit gewohnlichem Wasser und eilen nun
voraus und machen mit dem erbeuteten Trank den
kranken Konig gesund, oder sie erscheinen nach der
Ankunft des Bruders, dessen vertauschtes Wasser den
Konig nur noch elender gemacht hat. Dabei raunen sie
dem Konige Heimlich ins Ohr, dass der jiingere Bruder
ihn habe vergiften woUen, infolgedessen dieser vom
Konige verbannt oder gar zum Tode verurteilt wird.
Dersclbe lebt nun langere Zeit zuriickgezogen in einer
untergeordneten Stellung, bis endlich durch die von ihm
entzauberte Frinzessin seine Unschuld an den Tag
konimt."
Ur. Wiinsche gives as subsidiary types stories where a
princess wishes the magic water for herself, and, when
her two brothers fail to return with it, goes on a quest
which results in obtaining the water and releasing the
enchanted brothers ; where a mother and son are the
chief actors; where a bird, or fruit, or the water of
death is substituted for the water of life ; and where
thankful beasts appear. All of these elements and
iiiore appear in the accessible variants, yet not all of
them can be said rightly to represent The Water of
Life as such. The basal traits of the story are much
more simple than Dr. Wiinsche would have us believe.
They do not include, for example, the wonderful com-
panions whom the hero finds nor the adventures with
the enchanted princess, since these are in reality traits of
originally separate themes, as will presently be shown.^
. On the other hand, Cosquin's outline seems to me
defective in two ways. First, he does not recognize that
there existed in the original theme some reward due the
^ See pp. 125-127 l>elow.
124 The Grateful Dead.
hero for his constancy and intelligence in the pursuit of
his quest. A priori this conclusion would be expected
from the general manner of folk-tales, and as a matter
of fact it appears in all the versions which have come
to my attention. The reward almost always takes the
form of a princess, though the manner in which she is
won varies very greatly. In the second place, Cosquin
seems to regard The Golden Bird as a theme quite inde-
pendent of The Water of Life} This, I think, is to
lose sight of the essential likeness between the two tales,
despite their difference of introduction. As Dr. Wiinsche
notes,* not only a bird, but a fruit or the water of death
may be substituted for the usual object of the quest.
Indeed, certain variants have more than one of these
magical forces.' To be sure, this superfluity of riches
doubtless results from the fusion of subsidiary types, but
none the less it points to the original unity of the
central theme, which is all that I wish to suggest.
From this discussion we emerge with an outline of
The Water of Life in something like the following form :
A sick king has three sons, who go out to seek some
magical water (or bird, or fruit) for his healing. The two
older sons fall by the way into some misfortune due to
their own fault ; but the youngest, not without aid of
one sort or another from beings with supernatural
powers, succeeds in the quest and at the same time wins
a princess as wife. While returning, he rescues his
brothers, and is exposed by their envy and ingratitude
to the loss of all he has gained (sometimes even of his
^ Pp. 212-214. He regards the story in Wolf, Hausmdrchen, p. 230, as
linking the two.
^ P. 91. Cosquin, it will be noted, makes the fruit an alternative of the
water of life.
^For example, "The Baker's Three Daughters" in Mrs. M. Carey's
Fairy Legends of the French Provinces, 1887, pp. 86 ff., unites the water of
.'ife with both the magical apples and the bird.
The Water of Life. 125
life). In the end, however, he comes to his own either
because the cure cannot be completed without him or
because his wife brings the older princes to book.
This summary I should be unwilling to have con-
sidered as anything more than a tentative sketch, since
a systematic study of the material may bring to light
certain features which I have overlooked.^ It will, how-
ever, serve its purpose here.
This simple form of The Water of Life is not that
with which The Grateful Dead has combined. Indeed,
the opinion that this union was secondary to that of
The Grateful Dead with The Poison Maiden and The
Ransomed Woman^ is strengthened by the fact that it
is found with both of these compound types, and that
The Water of Life almost invariably appears in a some-
what distorted form. In point of fact, the latter tale
seems to have lent itself with remarkable facility to
combination with other themes. Thus it is frequently
found mixed with The Skilful Companions^ (both with
* The need of such a study may be shown by stating that, while WUnsche
has treated about thirty variants, I know at present of something like four
times that number.
^See p. 118 above.
'This well-known vidrchen has been treated by various scholars, most
recently by G. L. Kittredge, in Arthur and Gorla^on {studies and Notes
in Philology and Literature, viii.) 1903, pp. 226 f., from whom I take the
liberty of transcribing the following references, some of which would other-
wise be unknown to me. In note 2 to p. 226 he says : " See Bcnfey,
Das Marchen voii den ' Menschen mit den wunderbaren Eigenschaflen,'
Ausland, 1858, pp. 969 ff. (Kleinere Schiiften II. iii, 94 ff.); Wesselofsky,
in Giovanni da Prate, // Paradiso degli Alberti, 1 867, I. ii. 238 ff, ;
d'Ancona, Studj di Critica e Storia Letteraria, 1880, pp. 357-358 ;
Kohler-Bolte, Zisch. des Ver. f. Volkskunde, vi. 77 ; Kohler, Kleinere
Schri/ten, i. I92ff., 298 ff., 389-390, 431, 544; ii. 591; Cosquin,
Contes pop. de Lorraine, i. 23 ff.; Crane, Italian Popular Tales, p. 67;
Nutt, in Maclnnes, folk and Hero Tales, pp. 445 ff. ; Laistner, Rdtsel
der Sphinx ii. 357 ff. ; Steel, Tales of the Punjab, pp. 42 ff. ; Jurkscliat,
Litattische Miirchen, pp. 29 ff. ; etc." A peculiarly interesting specimen
is that in Blade, Contes pop. de la Gascogne, 1886, iii. 12-22, See also
126 The Grateful Dead.
and without The Grateful Dead), The Lady and the
Monster} and Tlie Thankful Beasts.
The reason for the existence of the compounds just
mentioned is not far to seek. With The Skilful Com-
panions^ there is a ready point of contact in the hero's
need for aid in the accomplishment of his quest, another
in the circumstance that three or more companions set
out together with a common end in view, and still another
in the fact that a maiden is rescued by them. To The
Lady and the Monster, at least in those variants where
The Grateful Dead appears, The Water of Life has the
necessary approach in the r61e of the lady herself. As
for The Thankful Beasts, their appearance at opportune
Luzel, Contes pop. de Basse- Bretapie, 1887, iii. 296-311; Caraoy and
Nicolaides, Traditions pop. de VAsie Minettre, 1889, pp. 43-56; and Gold-
schmidt, Kussische Miirchen, 1883, pp. 69-78.
^ So I venture to call the story of the woman, who through enchant-
ment or her own bad taste is the mistress of an ogre or some other
monster. She is rescued by a hero, who is able to solve the extraordinary
riddles or to accomplish the apparently impossible tasks which she sets him
at the advice of the monster, after other suitors have perished in the attempt
See Kittredge, Arthur and Gorlagon, p. 250 (note to p. 249) ; Wesselofsky,
Arch. f. Slav. Phil. vi. 574, A good specimen tale is "The Magic
Turban" in R. Nisbet Bain's Turkish Fairy Tales, 1901, pp. 102-111.
^ Kittredge thus summarizes the tale {work cited, p. 226) : " Three or
more brothers (or comrades) are suitors for the hand of a beautiful girl.
While her father is deliberating, the girl disappears. The companions^
undertake to recover her. One of them, by contemplation (or by keenness
of sight), finds that she has been stolen by a demon (or dragon) and taken
to his abode on a rock in the sea. Another builds a ship by his magic
(or possesses a magic ship) which instantly transports them to the rock.
Another, who is a skilful climber, ascends the castle and finds that the
monster is asleep with his head in the maiden's lap. Another, a master
thief, steals the girl without waking her captor. They embark, but are
pursued by the monster. One of the companions, an unerring shot, kills
the pursuer with an arrow. The girl is restored to her parents." This
analysis would not hold for all variants, even when uncompounded [^e.g.
Grimm, Kinder- und Hausmiirchen, No. 71, " Sechse kommen durch die
ganze Welt") but a better could scarcely be made without a systematic
study of the type. As Kittredge notes, the companions are not at all
constant in number and function.
The Water of Life. 127
moments when the heroes of folk-tales need assistance is
too frequent to require justification in any particular case.
It is with such combinations as these, intricate and in-
volved, that many variants of The Grateful Dead are
found joined. Sometimes one element, sometimes another,
predominates, so that the threads which unite them are
hopelessly snarled. Sometimes The Water of Life is
lost in the entanglement, or only appears as a distorted
trait, while The Skilful Companiotis or The Lady and the
Monster come out more clearly. Through this labyrinth
we must painfully take our way, exercising what caution
we can. The present guide recognizes the danger of
losing the road and does not pretend to more than a
rough and ready knowledge of the wilderness. Accord-
ingly, he undertakes only to conduct the curious wayfarer
by the least difficult of the paths that traverse it.
Let us first consider the tales into which The Poison
Maiden and The Ransomed Woman do not enter, which
have only The Grateful Dead -f- The Water of Life or
some kindred theme. These include Maltese, Polish,
Hungarian L, Rumanian II., Straparola II., Venetian,
Sicilian, Treu Heinrich, and Harz II. They are as
widely different in their characteristics as in their
sources.
Maltese has the following form : The three sons of a
king successively go out in search of a bird, the song of
which will make their father young. The elder two lose
their all by gambling with a maiden in a palace by the
way. The youngest brother pays four thousand pounds
sterling to bury properly a man who has been dead
eight months. He is warned against the maiden by a
ghost, and so wins all from her (by using his own cards),
thus rescuing his brothers. When he comes to the
castle, the ghost again appears, and tells him to take the
bird that he finds in a dirty cage. On the way back he
is thrown overboard from the steamboat by his brothers,
128 The Grateful Dead.
but is saved by the ghost, who appears in the form of a
rock with a tree on it. He is rescued by another steamer,
and comes home in rags, where he is recognized by the
bird, which has hitherto refused to sing. The brothers
are banished.
According to the Polish story, a poor scholar pays his
all for the burial of a corpse lying maltreated by the
way. Later he goes to sleep under an oak, and on
awaking finds his purse full of gold. He is robbed of
this while crossing a stream, by some scoundrels who
cast him into the water ; but he is rescued by the ghost
of the dead man, who appears in the form of a plank
and gives him the power of turning himself into a crow,
a hare, or a deer. He becomes a huntsman to a king,
whose daughter lives on an inaccessible island. In her
castle is a sword with which a man could overcome the
greatest army. When war threatens, the king offers the
princess to any man who can obtain the sword. By
means of his power of metamorphosis the hero carries
her a letter and wins her love. When he exhibits his
magical powers, she cuts off a bit of the fur, or a feather,
from each creature into which he turns. With the sword
he then starts back to court, but on the way he is shot
by a rival and robbed of the sword and a letter from
the princess. He lies in the way in the form of a dead
hare till the war is ended and the rival is about to marry
the princess, when he is revived and warned by the ghost
At court he is recognized by the princess, who proves his
tale by having him turn into various shapes and fitting
the samples which she has taken.
In Hungarian I. a soldier gave all he had to an old
beggar, who in turn gave him the power to change at
will into a dove, a fish, or a hare. He took service with
a king, and one day was sent back to the castle for a
magic ring. There he met the princess, and exhibited
to her his powers of metamorphosis, permitting her to
The Water of Life. 129
pull two feathers, take eight scales, and cut off his tail.
While running back to the king in the form of a hare,
he was shot by an envious comrade, who took the ring
and was rewarded. The hero was restored to life by
the old beggar, and returned to the castle, where he was
brought to the princess. She succeeded in proving the
truth of his story by means of the feathers, the scales,
and the tail, which she had so fortunately preserved.
Rumanian II., though changed into legendary form,
does not differ greatly from the two variants just cited.
A shepherd boy gave his one sheep to Christ, when He
asked for food. In return, he received a knife with three
blades. Later he took service with a man, with whom
he entered the army of the emperor. One day the
monarch found that he had forgotten his ring, and pro-
mised half his kingdom to anybody who could bring it
to him from the palace within twenty-four hours. By
means of his magical knife the hero changed into a
hare, obtained the emperor's ring as well as one from the
princess's own hand, and returned to the army. There
he was met by his master, who plundered him, threw
him into a spring, and went to the emperor for reward.
When the battle was over and all had returned to the
capital, the princess said that the man who was presented
as her bridegroom was not he to whom she gave the
ring. Meanwhile, Christ had rescued the hero from the
spring and sent him to the palace in the form of a fox
with his ring in a basket. The princess recognized from
the token that he was her true bridegroom, and brought
him to the emperor.
Straparola II. introduces certain new elements to our
notice. A king's son releases a wild man, whom his.
father has incarcerated, in order to get back an arrow
that the man has taken from him. The man is really
a disappointed lover, who had given himself up to a savage
life. The boy's mother, in fear of the king, sends him
I
130 The Grateful Dead.
away in the care of two faithful servants, with whom he
lives in obscurity till he is sixteen years old. Covetous
of his wealth, they are about to kill him, when the wild
man, transformed into a splendid knight by a grateful
fairy, joins them. They go to a beautiful city called
Ireland, which is devastated by a ferocious horse and an
equally savage mare. The traitorous servants plot to
destroy the prince by giving out, first, that he has boasted
that he can overcome the horse, and, second, the mare.
By the advice of his unknown friend and the help of
the latter's fairy horse, he accomplishes these labours.
He is told by the king that he may have one of his
daughters in marriage, if he can tell which has hair of
gold. He is told by his companion that a hornet, which
he has released, will appear at the test and fly three
times around the head of the princess whom he is to-
choose. The man explains at the same time the cause
of his benevolence, — gratitude because by him he has
been delivered from death. The prince is thus enabled
to pick out the princess with golden hair, and is married
to her, while his companion receives the sister.
In the Venetian tale, again a peculiar variant, twelve
brothers seek twelve sisters as wives. Eleven of them
go out at first, and are turned to stone. The youngest
brother sets out after a year, and on the way has a
poor dead man buried. Later, when he. has saved his
eleven brothers, they become envious, and throw him into
a well. The thankful dead man then comes, draws him
out with a cord, and explains who he is. The hero
proceeds to his home and tells his story.
Sicilian is more extended but less difficult to place.
The three orphaned sons of a rich man try to win the
daughter of a certain king, who has announced that he
will marry the princess to anyone who can make a ship
that will travel alike on land and water. The eldest
and middle brothers are unsuccessful because they are
The Water of Life. 131
unkind to the poor who ask for work. The youngest
brother gives work to both old and young, and, when
an old man (St. Joseph) appears, makes him overseer.
After the work is done, he agrees to give half of what
he obtains to the old man, and goes with him in the
ship to court. On the way he takes in a man who is
found putting clouds in a sack, another who is bearing
half a forest on his back, another who has drunk half a
stream, another who is aiming his bow at a quail in the
underworld, and another who stands with one foot at
Catania and the other at Messina. At the court the
king refuses to give up his daughter till the hero can
send a message to the underworld and get an answer in
an hour, which he does by means of the long-strider and
the shooter ; and till he can find a man who will drink
half the contents of his cellar in one day, which the
drinker easily accomplishes. The king then offers as
dowry only what one man can carry away, but he is
foiled by the man who bore half the forest on his back,
v/ho now takes all the contents of the palace and departs
with the hero, the princess, and their companions. The
king pursues them, but is befogged by the man with the
clouds. When they arrive at home, the saint demands
his half, even of the king's daughter ; but when the hero
takes his sword to divide her, he cries out that he merely
wished to test his faithfulness.
In Treti Heinrich a noble youth lost his property
through prodigality in tournaments. Finally he sold his
all to enter a tourney for the hand of the daughter of
the King of Cyprus, but he gave half to his faithful
follower Heinrich. After they set out for Cyprus, they
were joined by a knight, who shared the hero's hospitality,
for fourteen days, agreeing to do the same in return, but
at last riding away. In destitution they arrived at
Famagust in Cyprus. While Heinrich was in the city,
the hero found a clear stone left by a bird, through which
132 The Grateficl Dead.
he obtained power to become a bird. He then established
himself in the city, met the princess with the result that
they fell in love, and flew to her chamber as a bird.
He obtained from her not only his desire but an orna-
ment which he gave to the strange knight, who had
again joined him. Later he overcame this knight in the
tourney, but the latter was mistaken for himself. Again
he flew to the princess, who gave him a crown, and
again, after giving it to the stranger, he overcame him
in a fight The princess now gave him a helmet, which
he kept; and he was proclaimed victor of the jousting.
Once more he flew to the princess, and obtained from
her an ornament for his helmet, made by herself. Thus
he won her as wife.
In Ham II. our primary motive is far less obscure
than in the version just summarized. A youth pays his
all, thirty-eight dollars, to free a dead man from indebted-
ness. He goes his way, and meets a young fellow, who
accompanies him. They fall in with a man bearing two
trees, a man with a hat on one side, a man with a
wooden leg, and a man with a blind eye. The six go
together to a city, where the princess can be won only
by performing feats, with the penalty of death attached
to failure. The companions aid the hero by bringing
water from a distant spring and by keeping a fiery
furnace habitable, so that he wins the princess.
These nine variants are, it will be seen, related in
very different degrees to The Grateful Dead. What a
debased type of the mdrchen they represent is shown
by the fact that in no less than five^ the burial of the
corpse, v/hich is the most fundamental trait of the theme,
has been lost. Yet for two reasons it is clear that they
are really scions of the stock. In the first place, wher-
ever the burial has been cut away, other elements of
'^Hungarian /., Rumanian II., Straparola II., Sicilian, and Treu
Heinrich.
The Water of Life. 133
the motive in its simple form have been retained. Thus
in Hungarian L and Rumanian IL the deeds of the old
beggar (or Christ) make his identity with the ghost
unquestionable ; in Straparola II., despite its sophistica-
tion, the wild man fills the same role, while his ex-
planations at the end show that the burial has been
merely blurred ; in Sicilian both the agreement to divide
and the division of the woman as a test are introduced ;
and in Treu Heitirich there is double division in a way,
since the hero divides his property with his faithful
follower to begin with and afterwards agrees to an
exchange of hospitality with the helpful knight, going
so far as actually to give him two of the four gifts
received from the princess. In the second place, certain
variants without the burial are very closely allied with
others which retain it,i as will be seen in a moment.
Thus all those treated here may safely be admitted to
the group.
The reader must, however, have been struck, while
examining the summaries just given, with the great
diversity of the residuum which would be left if the
parts properly belonging to The Grateful Dead were
taken away. Indeed, they may be separated on this
score into four categories with a couple of minor divisions.
Polish. Hungarian /., and Rumanian II. are very similar
in respect to these matters, having a princess who is won
by the feat of obtaining something left at home by her
father (this feat made possible by the power given the
hero to change his form) and a treacherous rival, Polish
has the peculiarity that the article to be obtained by
the hero is a magical sword.- Treu Heinrich stands a
little apart from these, since the rival does not appear
^Thus Hungarian I. and Rumanian II. with Polish, Sicilian with
Harz /I.
^Possibly a trace of some such story as The Quest of the Sword of Light
disCiisscd by Kittredge, Arthur and Gorlagon, pp. 214 ft".
134 "^^^ Grateful Dead.
cud the princess is won by a tourney ; yet it has the
curious metamorphosis, and must be considered as having
some connection. Maltese and Venetian fall together.
Venetian has retained from The Water of Life only the
misfortune and the treachery of the older brothers,^ while
Maltese keeps also the magical bird and the features
naturally connected therewith. The introduction of two
steamboats in the latter is a curious illustration of the
ease with which popular tales change details without
altering essentials. Sicilian and Harz II. again are alike,
both being compounded with The Skilful Companions^
and making the winning of the princess depend on feats
really accomplished by the helpers characteristic to that
tale. Straparola II. must be placed alone, having nearly
all trace of The Water of Life lost in the traits of The
Lady and the Monster, with a princess won by the hero's
happily directed choice.^
All of these features will appear again when we come
to discuss variants which combine the compound types
The Grateful Dead ■\- The Poison Maiden or The Ran-
somed Woman with The Water of Life. They may,
therefore, be passed over for the present, together with
the question as to whether such a simple combination as
The Grateful Dead -^ The Water of Life may be regarded
as being the original from which the more complicated
types have sprung. It is sufficient for the moment to
recognize the tendency of the simpler variants to fall
^ Since twelve brothers set out to win twelve sisters, there is probably a
union here with the widespread tale of The Brothers and Sisters,
^ The ship that will travel equally well on land and water is seemingly a
common trait in forms of TAe Skilful Companions. See the variant cited
from Blade on p. 125, note 3. It occurs in a curious tale from Mauritius,
given by Baissac, Le Folk-lore de rile- Maurice, 188S, p. 78.
'For examples of stories in which a king's son liberates one or more
prisoners, and has the service returned in an emergency, see Child, English
and Scottish Popular Ballads, v. 42-48.
The Water of Life. 135
into groups on the basis of the residuum left by sub-
tracting traits belonging to The Grateftd Dead.
Let us now consider the tales where a thankful beast
plays the part of the grateful dead through at least a
portion of the narrative, and where there is still no trace
of either The Poison Maiden or The Ransomed Woman.
The change of beast for ghost is so obvious and easy
that the separation of these variants from the preceding
appears at first sight to be of merely formal use. Yet
thus considered, they may serve to define the sub-
divisions already noticed. Nine such versions have come
to my knowledge : Walewein, Lotharingian^ Tuscan,
Brazilian^ Basque /,, Breton IV., V,, and F/., and
Simrock IX. All but one are folk-tales, and that,
curiously enough, an episode in a thirteenth century^
Dutch romance translated from the French.^
Walewein, the variant in question, has the following
form : Walewein (or more familiarly Gawain) sets forth
from Arthur's court to secure a magical chessboard. He
is promised it by King Wonder if only he will get the
sword of rings from King Amoris, who in turn will give
that up if Walewein will bring him the princess of the
Garden of India. On this quest the hero mortally
wounds a certain Red Knight, who prays him for
Christian burial and is properly interred. He then pro-
ceeds to the castle of King Assentin, whose daughter
recognizes in him the ideal knight whom she has seen
in a dream. He is led under the dark river which
surrounds the castle by the Fox Roges, and wins the
princess. The lovers and the fox (a prince transformed)
escape by the help of the Red Knight's ghost. After
many adventures they come together to the court with
a chessboard, which is given up by King Wonder in
exchange for the sword. Walewein is able to keep the
princess for his own because of the death of Amoris.
'See Jonckbloet, ii. 131 ff. -Paris, Hist. Hit. de la France, xxx. Sz.
136 The Grateful Dead.
Lothavingian runs as follows : A king has three sons.
He sends them successively to seek the water of life.
Two of them refuse to help a shepherd on the way, and
rest from their search in Pekin. The third, who is
deformed, aids the shepherd, and receives from him some
arrows, which will pierce well whatever they strike, and
a flageolet, which will make everyone dance within hearing
of it. Arrived at Pekin, the humpback pays the debts
of a corpse, and has it buried. He goes on till his
money is exhausted. When he is about to shoot a fox
one day, he is stayed by pity, and is directed by the
creature to the castle where the water of life is to be
found. There he is detained by an ogre, and wins
battles for him by the aid of the magical arrows. There
is a princess in the castle, who refuses to marry the
ogre. The hero makes her dance, and obtains from the
ogre as recompense the promise of whatever he wishes.
He asks for the most beautiful thing there and the right
to circle the castle three times. So he takes the princess,
a phial of the water of life, as well as the uglier of the
two mules and of the two green birds, as the fox has
told him, and flees away. He meets the fox again, and
is warned not to help any one in trouble. Nevertheless,
he rescues his two brothers from the scaffold in Pekin,
and is cast into a well by them. They go home, but
are not able to heal the king. Meanwhile, the prince is
saved by the fox, and is made straight of body. He goes
home, and at his coming the king becomes young again,
while the brothers are burned. So the prince marries
the lady.
In Tuscan we learn that the youngest of three princes,
while wandering, paid the debts of a man whose corpse
was being insulted. When he had buried the man, he
found himself without a farthing, and' so slept in the
forest. In the morning he was greeted by a hare
{lieprina) with a basket of food in its mouth. He took
The Water of Life. 137
this gladly, and reflected that the creature must be the
soul of the man whom he had buried. He then came
to an inn, and took service with the host, whose beautiful
daughter he soon discovered to be a princess, who had
been bought while an infant. After winning her love,
the hero went on into two kingdoms, where he obtained
a magical purse and a wonderful horse from two ugly-
daughters of innkeepers. With these possessions he
returned to the princess, and started with her for his
home. On the way he saved from death his two older
brothers, who had gone out to seek adventures at the
same time as himself They repaid the kindness by
trying to drown him and by carrying the princess off
home, where only by feigning illness could she frustrate
their plan that she choose one of them as husbands
Meanwhile, the hero was rescued from drowning by the
hare, and came home. By pretending to be a physician
he obtained access to the princess, was recognized, and
then revealed himself to his father.
The Brazilian tale is brief but not unusual in type.
A prince, while seeking a remedy for his father, passes
through a town and sees a corpse, which is held for debt.
He pays the creditors, and has the corpse buried. Later
he is met by a fox, which helps him obtain not only the
remedy for his father but in addition a princess as his
wife. On its last appearance the beast declares that it
is the soul of the man whom he buried.
Basque /. has the following form : Three sons go out
to seek a white blackbird by which their father can be
healed. Two of them get into debt to the same three
ladies, and, according to the custom of the land, are
imprisoned. The third son resists the sirens, ransoms
his brothers, and also pays the debts of a dead man,
whose corpse is being maltreated. He arrives at the .
house of the king who has the white blackbird, and is
told to get a certain young woman from another king.
i^o The Grateful Dead.
Ke goes far on till he comes near the castle, where he
nieets £. fox and is instructed by it to enter a certain
vGom, in which he will find the lady dressed in poor
clothing. He must have her put on good clothes, and
she will sing. He follows the advice, but is interrupted,
while the lady is singing, by the king of the castle, who
tells him that he must get a white horse from still
another king. He meets the fox again, and is instructed
that, when he finds the horse with an old saddle on it,
lie must put on a good one, so that it will neigh. Again
he follows the fox's advice, and is interrupted by people
who rush in when they hear the horse neigh. From them
he obtains the steed, and retraces his steps, eloping with
the lady at the second king's castle and at the first king's
carrying off the blackbird. On his arrival at home he
is thrown into a cistern by his treacherous brothers, who
take his spoil to the king. He is saved by the fox,
however, which draws him out with its tail. When he
comes into the presence of his father, and not till then,
is the healing accomplished.
In Breton IV. we find again three sons of a king, who
set forth to get the white blackbird and also the lady
with locks of gold. Jeannot, the youngest of them, pays
for the interment of a beggar on the way. Later a fox
comes to him, saying that it is the soul of the poor
man. It helps him procure the youth-giving blackbird
and afterward the lady with the marvellous hair. He
then meets his brothers, who for envy push him over a
precipice, but he is saved and sent homeward by the fox.
Breton V. does not differ materially from the pre-
ceding, though it has interesting minor variations. The
three sons of a king seek the bird Dredaine in its golden
cage in order to cure their father. The two elder
brothers go to England, and there meet jolly com-
panions, but find no trace of the bird. The third brother,
the ugly one, comes thither, is mocked and robbed by
The Water of Life. 139
them, but goes his way. One night he lodges in a
forest hut, and there finds a man's body, which the widow
cannot bury for lack of money to pay the priest. He is
now poor, but pays for the interment of the corpse, and
proceeds. He is followed by a white fox, which instructs
him how to achieve his quest. He soon reaches the
castle, traverses three courts, comes to one chamber
where he finds a piece of inexhaustible bread, enters a
second where he gets an unfailing pot of wine and
makes love to a sleeping princess, and goes on to a
third where he finds a magical sword and the bird. He
hastens away with his booty, guided for a time by the
fox, sells his bread and his wine to innkeepers on con-
dition that they be given up to the princess if ever she
comes for them, and arrives at the city where his brothers
are now in prison. He ransoms them by helping the
king, and pays their debts by selling his sword. On
their way home he is thrown into a well by his brothers,
who take the bird to their father, but do not succeed in
curing him. Meanwhile, the hero is saved by the fox,
which now explains that it is the soul of the man whom
he has buried, and definitely disappears. He arrives at
his home as a beggar, and takes service with his father.
Later the princess comes thither with the son that is
the fruit of their union, and brings with her the bread,
wine, and sword which she has found on the way. The
bird sings, the king is healed, and the wicked brothers
are executed.
Breton VI. lacks some of the interesting traits of the
variant just given, but embroiders the theme with con-
siderable grace. The three sons of a king set out to find
the princess of Hungary, who has the only remedy that
will cure their father. The eldest forgets his purpose,
and wastes his money in rioting. The second finds him
just as he is being led to death on account of debt,
ransoms him, and shares his riotous pleasures. The third
140 The Grateful Dead.
brother, a humpback, goes out with Httle money, but on his
Wi-y procures burial for a man's corpse, which the widow
has been unable to do because of lack of money to pay
the priest. The next day a fox with a white tail meets
him, and in return for a bit of cake leads him to the
castle of a princess. There the prince resists the lady's
advances, which he suspects are derisive, and is sent to
her sister's castle, where he has the same experience.
When he arrives at the castle of the third sister, he yields
to her proposals, is given the remedy for his father and
a magical sword, and is told how to go home. On the
way he rescues his brothers from the scaffold by waving
his sword, and is robbed and thrown into a well by them.
Thence he is rescued by the fox, which comes at his
call, and before it disappears explains that it is the
ghost. Meanwhile, the older brothers have cured the
king by the water of life in a phial ; so when the hero
comes home he is not believed. In a year and a day
the princess arrives there according to her promise, and
with a little son. At a feast she proclaims the truth,
cuts her husband into bits, sprinkles the heap of frag-
ments with the water of life, and marries the handsome
youth who at once arises — the humpback transformed.^
According to Simrock IX., finally, the three sons of a
king seek the bird phoenix to cure their blind father.
The two elder enter the castle of a beautiful maiden, and
are lost; but the youngest resists the temptation, and
takes lodging at an inn. There at night he is startled
by a ghost, which tells him that it is the spirit of a man
whom the host has buried in the cellar for non-payment
of a score, and which implores his help. The youth
arranges for payment of the debt and for proper burial,
then goes his way. In the wood he meets a wolf, which
instructs him how to find the bird phcenix in a cage in
^The only instance kno\vn to me where such transformation occurs with
reference to the hero.
The Water of Life. 141
the magical castle, and carries him thither. Because he
fails to take the worse-looking bird according to instruc-
tions, he has to get a steed as swift as wind for the lord
of the castle. Again he is disobedient when told to
take the worst-looking horse only, and so has to get the
most beautiful woman in the world for the lord of this
castle. Again he is brought by the wolf to a castle,
where he obediently chooses a black maiden instead of
one who is apparently beautiful. With maiden, horse,
and bird he turns home. The wolf in parting from him
explains that it is the ghost of the dead man, and warns
him not to buy gallows flesh. When he meets his brothers
on their way to be hanged, however, he forgets this, and
ransoms them. In return he is nearly murdered by them
and left for dead, but is rescued and healed by the wolf,
and so at last reaches his destination.
In none of these nine stories is the burial of the dead,
one of the two most fundamental features of our leading
motive, in any way obscured. They are thus less difficult
to treat than was the preceding group, in spite of the
added complications introduced by the advent of the helpful
animal. This creature should naturally take the role of the
ghost, appear as the embodiment of the dead man's soul
indeed ; and with but tv/o exceptions ^ it actually fulfils the
part In those two there has been, apparently, imperfect
amalgamation, so that the helper is duplicated, and the
motivation obscured. In Walewein, a literary version,
consciously adapted to the requirements of a rovian
(Vaventnre, this need excite no wonder. The ghost does
its part properly, and the fox is merely an additional
agency in the service of the hero, acting out of pure
kindness of heart ^ as far as one can see. Lotharingian,
not contented with duplicating the trait, triplicates it.
^ IVaU^i'cin and Lotharingian.
-Like the wolf in Guillaiimc de Palentc, which is likewise a transformed
prince.
142 The Grateful Dead.
The fox, as in the ordinary form of The Thankful Beasts,
helps the hero because of a benefit received ; the shepherd
bestows magical gifts, as in a common type of The Water
of Life, because of the hero's kindness ; while the dead
debtor remains inactive after the burial, and plays no
further part in the narrative.
As for The Water of Life, there are fewer complica-
tions in this group than in that where the thankful beast
does not appear. In all of the variants some of the
fundamental traits of the theme remain intact. In all
save Walewein and Brazilian (which is a degenerate
form presumably carried across the sea by Spaniards or
Portuguese) the three brothers set out from home in
quite the normal way. Walewein again lacks the water
of life, which Brazilian retains. All the other versions^
save Tuscan, keep this water or replace it by some other
restorative agency. Two variants only fail to make the
older brothers act treacherously towards the hero, these
being again Walewein and Brazilian. The former thus
lacks three of the essentials of the theme, the latter two.
Yet since Walewein makes the hero win his princess by
going on from adventure to adventure quite in the
normal manner, and since Brazilian makes him obtain
both water of life and princess, though with loss of
interesting details, we are surely justified in placing both
in this category.
It is worth our while to note in this connection that
all these nine variants come from southern Europe,
directly or by derivation.^ Geographical proximity,
though not sufficient in itself as a basis of classification,
adds welcome confirmation to other proof in cases like
this, where a small group of highly complicated tales is
found to exist in neighbouring countries only. That
^ Lotharingian comes from a region farther north than any other, since
the Dutch romance is merely a translation from Old French. Simrock IX.
is from Tyrol.
The Water of Life. 143
Walewem can be connected with this specialized sub-
division has important bearings on the question whence
the material for that romance was taken. In view of
the limited territory which this form of the story has
covered as a folk-tale in six hundred years, and the fact
that France would be the centre of the region, it seems
fair to assume that some thirteenth century French writer
took a vidrchen of his own land as the basis for his work,
thus elaborating with native material the adventures of
a Celtic hero.
The question now arises as to what light the group
just considered throws upon the variants which combine
the simple theme of The Grateful Dead with The Water
of Life or some such motive. It appeared, the reader
will remember, that according to the elements foreign to
the main motive they must be separated into four classes.
Reference to these classes^ will show that the variants
with The Thankful Beasts are in many respects different
from any one of them as far as the features peculiar to
The Water of Life, or kindred themes, are concerned.
Yet because Maltese and the brief Venetia7i, though
otherwise transformed, are the only tales aside from
these ^ that preserve the treachery of the hero's brothers,
it is safe to class them together. Both Maltese and
Venetian come, it will be observed, from the same
general region as all the other members of the
group.
Since the elements left by subtracting The Grateful
Dead from the variants of the four categories thus dis-
covered are very diverse, we cannot postulate a parent
form from which all four classes might have sprung.
Indeed, the evidence thus far obtained all points to a
separate combination of already developed themes with
The Grateful Dead. The test of this will be found in
^See pp. 133-135-
2 1 include all the tales treated in this chapter.
$44 "^^^ Grateful Dead.
£11 examination of those variants of those larger com-
pounds, which have also traces of The Water of Life
or some allied motive.
Turning first to such versions of the combination The
Grateful Dead •\- The Poison Maiden, we find eleven on
our list, all of which have already been summarized and
discussed in connection with the simple compound.^
These are Estlionian II., Rumanian /., Irish /., Irish II.,
Irish III, Danish III, Norwegian II., Simrock X.y
Harz I, fack the Giant-Killer, and Old Wives' Tale.
Since we know definitely that Danish III. (the tale by
Christian Andersen) was taken from Norwegian II, it
may be left out of account. Ten variants thus remain
to be studied with reference to the subsidiary elements.
In Esthonian II. the hero releases a princess, who goes
with devils every night to church, by watching in the
church for three nights with three, six, and twelve candles
on successive nights. In Rumanian I. the hero wins a
princess by explaining why she wears out twelve pairs
of slippers every night ; and he accomplishes this by the
aid of his helper, who follows the lady in the form of a
cat, and picks up the handkerchief, spoon, and ring
which she drops in the house of the dragons. According
to Irish I. the helper obtains for the hero horses of gold
and silver, a sword of light, a cloak of darkness, and a
pair of slippery shoes; he helps him keep over night a
comb and a pair of scissors, in spite of enchantment, and
finally gets the lips of the giant enchanter, so that the
hero unspells and wins the lady of his quest. In Irish II.
the hero is joined by a green man (the grateful dead), a
gunner, a listener, a blower, and a strong man. By the
aid of the first he gives his princess a pair of scissors, a
comb, and the enchanter's head ; by the aid of the others
he obtains water from the well of the w^estern world, and
is enabled to walk over three miles of needles. Irish III.
» See pp. 58-73.
The Water of Life. 145
has a helper who obtains for the hero a sword, a cloak
of darkness, and swift shoes, rescues a pair of scissors,
and obtains the enchanter's head, while the hero wins a
race by the aid of the shoes. According to Norwegian II.
the hero and helper get a sword, a ball of yarn, and a
hat, while the latter follows the princess and rescues a
pair of scissors and a ball, finally obtaining the troll's
head. In Simrock X. the helper secures three rods, a
sword, and a pair of wings, follows the princess, and
learns how to answer her riddles, emphasizing his know-
ledge by getting the wizard's head. Harz I. has the
helper give wings and a rod to the hero, who flies with
the princess and learns to guess her riddles, cutting off
the monster's head. \n Jack the Giant-Killer ]a.c\i obtains
gold, a coat and cap, a sword, and a pair of slippers for
his master, follows the princess, and secures the handker-
chief and the demon's head, which are requisite to the
unspelling. Finally, according to Old JVives' Tale, the
helper, while invisible, slays the conjuror, and so obtains
the princess for his master.
It will at once be recognized that all of these variants
are of one type as far as the traits just specified are
concerned. The basal element is the hero's success in
winning an enchanted princess either by accomplishing
difficult feats or answering riddles. The water of life,
as such, appears in only one story, Irish II., and there
not as the prime goal of the hero's quest, but merely as
the object of a subsidiary labour. Clearly these tales
not only form a group by themselves, but have in com-
bination with The Grateful Dead and The Poison Maiden
a theme which is not properly The Water of Life. This
theme is as clearly The Lady and the Monster} which is
closely allied to The Water of Life, but is essentially
distinct. It has already been found compounded with
the simple form of The Grateful Dead in the somewhat
^See p. 126, note I.
K
146 The Grateful Dead.
degenerate and literary Straparola 11.} though the method
by which the enchanted princess was won in that variant
was different from that given in the present group.
Within the group there are minor differences with
reference to the manner of unspelling the princess, which
resolve themselves either, on the one hand, into the hero's
keeping or obtaining something for her, or, on the other,
into his guessing the object of her thoughts. These
details are not, however, of much importance for the
purpose in hand, though they might become so if an
attempt were made to sub-divide the group. Thus
Esthonian I J. is decidedly unusual in its treatment of the
matter just mentioned. Irish I. has traces of the Sword
of Light^ and of The Two Friends? In Harz I. the
hero himself follows the princess instead of leaving the
actual work of unspelling to the helper, as is elsewhere
the case. Irish II., finally, is peculiar not only in bring-
ing in The Water of Life, as mentioned above, but also
the motive of The Skilful Companions, which we have
already met with in Sicilian and Harz 11.^
Irish II. is, indeed, of great importance to our study
at this point. It is in some way a link between Sicilian
and Harz II. and the subdivision now under discussion.
Furthermore, the fact that Straparola II. has some traits
of The Lady and the Monster in common with all
the members of the group under consideration shows
that it can safely be placed in the same category as
Sicilian and Harz II. Though the feats by which the
princess is won are somewhat different in the last-named
variants from the feats in Straparola II. on the one
hand and in the compound The Grateful Dead + The
Poison Maiden -f The Water of Life (The Lady and the
Monster) on the other, there can be little doubt, it seems
^See p. 134. '^See p. 133, note 2.
' See pp. 92 ff. above, and pp. 1 56- 1 58 below.
* V.'i'^h the form The Grateftd Dead + The Water of Life simply.
The Water of Life. 147
to me, that all of them belong together. Irish II. by
the introduction of The Skilful Companions thus furnishes
a clue by which the tales having the compound just
mentioned may be classed with two varieties of the
simple combination, and permits us to reduce the total
number of categories with reference to The Water of
Life from four to three.
Before proceeding to a general discussion of the means
by which this theme was brought into connection with
The Grateful Dead and the comparative date of the
•combination or series of combinations, it is necessary
to examine four other versions, — those which have the
form The Grateful Dead + Tlie Ransomed Woman 4-
The Water of Life. Like the group just treated, all
of them have been summarized and discussed with refer-
ence to the prime features of the compound.^ They are
Bohemian, Simrock /., Simrock III, and Simrock VII.
The elements of these variants, apart from those due
to the main compound, are as follows. In Bohemian
the hero is given a flute and a captive princess by his
helper, and escapes with them from prison. Later he is
cast into the sea by a rival, but is rescued by the helper
and given a wishing ring. By means of this ring he
turns first into an eagle and afterwards into an old man,
and succeeds in winning the princess by building and
painting a church. In Simrock I. the hero is rescued
by the helper after being cast overboard by a rival, and
is given the power of obtaining his wishes. Thereby
he paints three rooms to the liking of the princess, and
is recognized by her. Simrock III. differs from this
only in making the helper do the painting and in having
one room painted instead of three. In Simrock VII.,
finally, the hero releases a princess by hewing trees,
separating grain, and choosing his mistress among three
hundred women, all without aid. Later he is rescued
^Pp. 107 f., 111-115.
148 The Grateful Dead.
from the sea and recognized by means of a ring and
£L handkerchief.
The first three of these variants clearly show in the
subsidiary elements just enumerated their relationship to
71ie Water of Life. They lack the quest for some
magical fountain or bird, to be sure, but they preserve
the quest for the lady, which is an important factor
in the mdrchen. Of the three, Bohemian has the most
extended and probably the best presentation of the details
of the difficult courtship; and it gives the hero that
power of metamorphosis which was noted in four variants
of the type The Grateful Dead + The Water of Life
simply. It may, therefore, on the basis of general and
particular resemblance be classed with Polish^ Hun-
garian /., Rumanian IL^ and Treu Heinrich} Along
with it, of course, go the briefer Simrock I. and Si^n-
rock III. There is this important difference between the
two sets of tales, that in the simpler form the princess
is won by the hero's success in bringing something
from a distance, in the more complicated form by build-
ing and decorating. Yet the resemblance is sufficient
to warrant the classification proposed.
With Simrock VII. the case is altogether different.
There the subsidiary elements are connected with The
Lady and the Monster rather than The Water of Life
proper, yet not with that theme as it appears in combin-
ation with The Poison Maiden^ since in that group the
hero disenchants the princess by guessing some secret,
here by performing two feats of prowess or discrimin-
ation and by choosing the proper lady from a host of
maidens. With Straparola II., however, which has the
simpler combination The Grateful Dead -\- The Lady and
the Monster, the resemblance is very close,^ as both have
the happily directed choice. The complicated Simrock
VII. thus falls into the same category with reference
^See pp. 133 f. 2 See pp. 145-147. »See pp. 146 f.
The Water of Life. 149
to this matter as Straparola II., Sicilian, and Harz II.,
and the group having the form The Grateful Dead +
The Poison Maiden + The Water of Life {The Lady and
the Monster specifically).
A summary of our three categories will be of service
in discussing their relations to one another and to the
themes with which The Water of Life or The Lady and
the Monster are combined.
Class I.
Polish.
Hungarian I.
Rumanian II.
Treu Heinrich.
Bohemian. \
Simrock I. \ (With The Ransomed Woman.)
Simrock III. I
Class II.
Sicilian.
Harz II.
Straparola II.
All recorded variants with The Poison Maiden.
Simrock VII. (With The Ransomed JVoman.)
Class III.
Maltese.
Venetian.
All variants with The Thankful Beasts.
Class I. forms a territorially homogeneous group, all
the members of it coming from eastern and central
Europe. It is not altogether homogeneous in content,
but preserves the theme of The Water of Life proper
in a form where the hero wins a princess by means,
among other feats, of metamorphosis. Class II. is the
most widespread of all territorially, as its members come
from all parts of Europe. It has instead of The Water
of Life proper what must be regarded, in the present
150 The Grateful Dead.
state of the evidence, as the closely allied theme of
The Lady and the Monster, Class III,, the most com-
pact of all in the region that it inhabits, preserves The
Water of Life better than any other group, though not
without frequent admixture and, in many instances, the
loss of some elements.
It has been stated above ^ that it would be hard to
imagine such various traits coming from a single type
of story. This becomes even more evident from the
tabulation just made. To suppose that The Grateful
Dead first united with The Water of Life, and that this
compound gave rise to the varieties, as enumerated,
would involve us in the direst confusion. If such were
the case, how could Class II. with its introduction of
The Lady and the Monster be explained ? Why, more-
over, should one variant having The Ransomed Woman
fall into Class 1 1., while three others fall into Class I. }
Such an assumption, it is clear, would be self-destructive.
The only alternative is to suppose that TJu Water
of Life entered into combination with simple or com-
pound types of The Grateful Dead at more than one
time and in more than one region. That The Grateful
Dead united with The Poison Maiden and The Ran-
somed Woman rather early and quite independently
abundant evidence goes to show ; that The Water of
Life is an independent motive and that, like at least
two of the other themes, it was of Asiatic origin has
likewise been made clear ; that the latter could not have
united with The Grateful Dead so early as did The
Poison Maiden and The Ransomed Woman is proved by
the discrepancies noted above. If it be assumed, on
the contrary, that after the compounds The Grateful
Dead -\- The Poison Maiden and The Ransofned Woman
had arisen, both they and the simple theme in one or
ajnother form came into connection with one or another
»P. 143-
The Water of Life. 151
form of The Water of Life our difficulties are in great
measure resolved.
With this in mind let us consider the three categories.
Sometime before the fourteenth century^ TJu Water of
Life, perhaps in a rather peculiar form, came into contact
with The Grateful Dead, both simple and combined
with The Ransomed Woman,^ in eastern or central
Europe. With each form it seems to have united, giving
rise in the century named to the German romance of
Treu Heinrich and the legend of Nicholas by Gobius,
as well as, sooner or later, to the folk-tales with which
it has been found combined in those regions within
the past hundred years. The territorial limitation of
the resulting type is a point in the favour of the
proposed theory, though I cannot but be aware that
this may be disturbed by a variant outside the seem-
ingly fixed circle. Yet even so, the relation of the
variants of Class I. to the themes concerned appears
to be pretty definitely established. With Class III.
the matter is even simpler. According to my view,
some form of The Gratefid Dead, more or less confused
with one of the countless versions of The Thankful
Beasts met with a very clear type of The Water of Life
in southern or south-western Europe by or before the
thirteenth century,^ With this it united and gave rise
to an Old French romance (later turned into Dutch)
and to a considerable body of folk-tales, which have not
strayed far from the point of departure save in one
instance,* where the means of transmission is not difficult
to ascertain. Apparently the thankful beast was not
absolutely in solution, since in Maltese and Venetian the
human ghost resumes its characteristic role.^ With Class
'The date of Treu Heinrich. This gives the date a quo.
-The compound existed before the fourteenth century certainly. See pp. i I7f.
* The date is here determined by the existence of IValewein. * Brazilian,
' Venetian has, however, united with other material, which may account
for this in the one case.
152 The Grateful Dead,
II. the case is different and more difficult of explanation.
Here the compound has no definite territorial limits,
and it is besides of a very complicated character. We
have to suppose that The Lady and the Monster, a
mdrchen allied to The Water of Life, was afloat in
Europe somewhat before the early sixteenth century,^
There it met and united with The Grateftd Dead, in
its simple form on the one hand, giving rise to three
of our variants, and on the other hand separately with
the compounds having The Poison Maiden and The
Ransomed Woman. The former double compound must
have been made fairly early,^ since it has been found
in such widely separated countries as Rumania and
Ireland, and furnished one of the most important ele-
ments to the making of a sixteenth century English
play, Peele's Old Wives Tale. The second of the double
compounds is unfortunately represented on our list by a
single folk-tale only, and may possibly be a later formation.
Such, then, seems to be the relationship of The Water
of Life and allied motives to the 'main theme of our
study, — purely subsidiary and relatively late. The theory
v/hich has been proposed involves the necessity of placing
the entrance of the Semitic mdrchen into Europe not
much earlier than the twelfth century, though such
matters of chronology must be left somewhat to specu-
lation; it shows the points of contact between the
various motives concerned; and it avoids contradictions
of space and time. Writer and reader may perhaps con-
gratulate themselves on finding so clear a road through
the maze. Should subsequent discovery of material
necessitate modification of the views here expressed, it
should be welcomed by both with equal pleasure.
* The date of Straparola, one of whose stories belongs to this class.
^The compound 71ie Grateful Dead -r The Poison Maiden had been in.
existence since the end of the first century, as Tobit proves.
CHAPTER VII.
THE RELATIONS OF THE GRATEFUL DEAD TO THE
SPENDTHRIFT KNIGHT, THE TWO FRIENDS,
AND THE THANKFUL BEASTS.
We have met at various points in our study with tales
in which the motive of the hero's fateful journey was
his impoverishment through extravagance ; we have seen
that many variants make the division of a child part of
the agreement between the ghost and the hero ; and we
have noted the appearance of the ghost in the form of
a beast in a large number of instances. The bearing of
these phenomena we shall do well to investigate before
proceeding to general conclusions. Occurring as they
do in versions which have been assigned on other
accounts to different categories, are they of sufficient
importance to disturb the classification already proposed .-'
Furthermore, what cause can be found for their intro-
duction .'' Are they in reality sporadic, or are they the
result of some determinable factor in the history of the
cycle }
Eleven variants, namely, Richars, Oliver, Lope de Vega.
Dianese, Old Swedish, Icelandic I., Icelandic II., Ritter-
triuzve, Treu HeinricJi, and Sir Amadas, have more or
less clearly expressed the motive of a knight who has
exhausted his patrimony and goes out to recruit his
fortunes by winning a princess in a tourney. The figure
of such a knight or adventurer is not an uncommon
one in the fiction of Europe, and scarcely requires illus-
154 ^-^^^ Grateful Dead.
tration. Of the variants just named all except Oliver,
Lope de Vega, and Old Swedish actually state that the
hero sets out from home on account of his poverty.
In the two former the motive of the incestuous step-
mother is introduced in place of this, and in Old
Swedish the trait is obscured without any substitution,
implying that the hero is led merely by ambition to
undertake the tourney. On the other hand, the tourney
occurs in all save Icelandic I. and //., which are the
only folk-tales in the list. The second of these, more-
over, makes the hero a merchant instead of a knight ;
but since the two come from the same island and are
in other respects rather similar,^ this is perhaps not very
significant.
Looking at the matter from another point of view,
we find that Richars, Lion de Bourges, Dianese^ Old
Swedish, Rittertriuive, and Sir Amadas form a group
by themselves,^ and are uncompounded with any one of the
themes with which The Grate/id Dead is most frequently
allied. Oliver and Lope de Vega are treated under the
compound with The Ransomed Woinati, where on
account of the rescue of the hero by the ghost they
probably belong ; ^ and Icelandic I. and //. are clearly of
that type. Treu Heinrich^ shows the combination of
the central theme with The Water of Life, and can in
the nature of the case have no direct connection with the
other romance stories under consideration, even though it
belongs to a class in which The Ransomed Woman
sometimes appears.^ In view of these discrepancies of
position with reference to compounds which are clearly
established, we are certainly not justified in assuming
that The Spendthrift Knight has had anything more
than a superficial relationship to The Grateful Dead.
To make it a basis of classification or to attach any
^ See pp. $9 f. * See pp. 33-40. ' See pp. 92-96.
*See pp. 131-134- ^P. 149-
The Spendthrift Knight. 155
considerable weight to its appearance here and there
would be contrary to the only safe method of procedure,
which is to follow the evidence of events in sequence
rather than isolated traits. The very fact that none of
the compounds with The Poison Maiden contains any
such motive as this of the knight and the tourney shows
that it must be comparatively late and really an inter-
loper in the family.
As to the way by which it entered the cycle, one
must conclude that it was afloat in Europe before the
thirteenth century,^ and furnished a very natural opening
for a tale in which a youth goes into the world to
seek adventure or profit. Were a lady to be won by
the help of the ghost, it would magnify the hero's part,
if he were given an opportunity to take some very
direct share in the wooing. So in the group of which
Richars and Sir Amadas are members the new theme
supplied the means of winning a lady, which would
otherwise be lacking. In Oliver and Lope de Vega it has
perhaps supplanted the ransom of a maiden, which is
the trait to be expected, if they are rightly placed
among the variants of the type The Grateful Dead +
The Ransomed Woman. It will be noted that in
the two Icelandic tales, which conform closely to the
type, the tourney does not appear. There seems to be
reason, therefore, for supposing that the new material
touched our central theme at least twice, combining with
the prototype of the Amadas group and of the Icelandic
folk-stories. The authors of Oliver and Treu Heinrich
may have adopted it consciously, and so these variants
should be left out of account.
Before leaving the matter, however, it must be noted
that in Tobit the hero leaves home on account of the
poverty of his father to seek the help of a relative.
The ever-recurring possibility of a recollection of Tobit
1 The date of Richars.
156 The Grateful Dead.
Oii the part of the European story-tellers^ should not be
forgotten. To argue that the suggestion of adapting
The Spendthrift Knight was due to a conscious or
unconscious recollection of the Apocrypha would be
laying too much stress upon what can at best be nothing
more than conjecture, but there can be no harm in the
surmise that such may have been the case.
The matter of the division of his child or children by
the hero to fulfil the bargain made with his helper must
next be discussed. This occurs in twenty-five of the
variants which we have considered, namely : Lithuanian
II., Trausylvanian, Lope de Vega, Oliver, Jean de Calais
I.-X., Basque II., Gaelic, Irish I., Breton I., Ill, and Vll.y
Simrock I., II., and VIII., Sir Amadas, and Factoids Gar-
land. With reference to one group where the trait appears'''
I have already spoken at some length of The Two Friends^
and I have referred to the introduction of the children
as they have appeared in scattered variants. I now
wish to call the reader's attention to the general aspects
of the question. What relation has the use of this trait
in versions of The Grateful Dead to the theme which
I call The Two Friends 1
It must first be noted that the motive as it appears
in Amis and Amiloun requires^ that the hero slay his-
children for the healing of his foster-brother and sworn
friend. Now of the twenty-five variants of The Grateful
Dead just named only Oliver and Lope de Vega have
this factor, — the others merely state that the helper
asked the hero to fulfil his bargain by giving up his
only child,"* or giving up one of his two children, ^ or
dividing his only child,^ or dividing his three children.'
^See pp. 50, 58. '^See pp. 92-1 11. ^See p. 92.
••As in Lithuanian 11., Breton VII., Simrock I., and Factoids Garland.
' As in Transylvanian.
*As in Jean dc Calais I.-X., Basque II., Irish I., Breton I. and ///.,
Simrock II. and VIII., and Sir Amadas.
'As in Gaelic.
The Spendthrift Knight. 157
The query at once suggests itself as to whether the
simple division of the child or children as part of the
hero's possessions gave rise to the introduction of the
whole theme of The Two Friejids in Oliver and Lope de
Vega, or whether the twenty-two folk-tales have merely
an echo of the theme as there found. To put the
question is almost equivalent to answering it. One sees
at once that the former is the case. Lope de Vega derives
directly from Oliver} and to the author of that romance
must be due the combination of the two themes there
presented. Reference to the earlier discussion of the
variant^ will show that he was a conscious adapter of
his material.
Yet it by no means follows that the suggestion for
the combination was not present in the version of The
GratefiU Dead, which was used in making Oliver.
Indeed, it seems probable that this source or prototype
had the division of the child in somewhat the form in
which it appears in so many tales. That such was the
case is likely from the fact that of the twenty-two folk
variants which refer to the child all but two are of the type
The Grateful Dead •\- The Ransomed Woman, to which
Oliver is approximated. Considering the alterations
which the theme was likely to suffer at the hands of a
writer who was more or less consciously combining
various material in a romance, the wonder is that the
type was not more changed than it seems to have been.
In point of fact, the position of Oliver and its literary
successors as examples of the compound comes out more
clearly 2 through this examination of their relationship
to The Two Friends.
As to the introduction of the child, the trait by means
of which, according to my theory, the actual combination
of motives came about, the two folk-tales of the type
The Grateful Dead + The Poison Maiden as well as Sir
^See p. 95. 'See pp. 93 f. 'See p. 94.
158 The Gratefjil Dead.
Ar.iadas, are of great inipcrtance. Since the great
majority of the variants which have the child belong
clearly to tliC compound type with The Ransomed
Woman, it is only by reference to these three that one
C2r^ sr,y with assurance that the modified trait indicates
no vital connection with The Two Friends. Yet with
these in mind there can be little doubt about the matter.
The story-tellers have simply extended the division of
the hero's possessions from property and wife to child, a
process perhaps made easier by the existence of such
stories as The Child Vowed to the Devil'^ and some
forms of the Souhaits Saint Martini This might have
happened to any particular variant with equal facility.
At the same time, the fact that the change was made
in only three cases outside the group, which has The
Ransomed Woman in combination, gives that family
additional solidarity.
In Oliver, Lope de Vega, and Sir Amadas the motive of
The Spendthrift Knight appears together with the change
or combination just referred to. At first sight, it might
appear that there was some essential connection between
these two elements foreign to the main theme. Such
does not seem to be the case, however, when the matter
is further considered. At any rate, I am unable to
discover any such link, and am inclined to ascribe the
simultaneous appearance of these two factors to chance
pure and simple. Neither one is more than a rather
late and comparatively unimportant phenomenon as far
as The Grateful Bead is concerned.
Not infrequently in the course of this study attention
has been called to the substitution of a beast for the
helping friend of the hero, and in a few cases to the
transference of the ghost's entire role to an animal.
While considering matters of greater importance, it
' See references in Pubi. Mod. Lang. Ass. xx. 545.
-See my article in Publ. Mod. Lang. Ass. xix. 427, 430-432.
The Spendthrift Knight. 159
seemed best to ignore this in order to avoid unnecessary-
confusion. The matter is of considerable importance^
however, and must here be considered. The question
that concerns us is whether the appearance of the beast
is of any real moment in the development of the theme.
It is sufficiently clear that the well-known stories of
grateful animals and ungrateful men, which were first
traced by Benfey,^ have general outlines different from that
of The Grateful Dead. Benfey's contention, however, that
"konnte der Gedanke von der Dankbarkeit der Thiere
schon tief genug auch im Occident einwurzeln, um auch
in andere Marchen einzudringen und vielleicht selbst
sich in Bildung von verwandten zur Anschauung zu
bringen "^ should be kept in mind. This statement is truer
than his later remark* that fairies and other superhuman
creations of fancy are substituted for animals, instancing
our theme as such a case. To argue relationship from the
entrance of either helpful beasts, fairies, or ghosts would
be dangerous unless the stories in question had the same,
motive, since they are so frequently found in folk-
literature. Indeed, as I have already remarked,* one is
scarcely called upon to explain the intrusion of thankful
or helpful animals at any given point, in view of the
fact that the device is almost universally known. Yet if it
does not require justification, it may well be of service
in the grouping of particular variants.
It is certainly worthy of notice that in eighteen forms
of The Grateful Dead a beast appears. That these are
of several different compound types would show, if it
were not clear from what has been said above, that the
appearance of an animal furnishes of itself no evidence
of any actual amalgamation of narrative themes. It is
rather a case where one stock figure of imagination's
realm is substituted for another. The better-known
character is perhaps more likely to replace the less-known
^ Patitschaiantra, i. §71. 'i. 207. *i. 2 1 9. * Pp. 126 f.
i6o I'he Grateful Dead.
than vice versa, but the latter event may happen if the
obscurer figure will serve to enliven the tale.
Of the twenty variants in our cycle which have a
thankful beast, Jewish has the simple theme ; Servian IV.
the combination with The Poison Maiden ; Jean de Calais
IL, VII., and X, Sinirock II, III, V, and VIII, and
Oldenburgian the combination with The Ransomed Woman;
-and Walewein, Lotharingian^ Tuscan, Brazilian, Basque /.,
Breton IV., V., and VI, and Simrock IX. the combination
with The Water of Life.
Now in Jewish 1 the hero is saved from shipwreck^ by a
stone, carried home by an eagle, and there met by a
white-clad man, who explains the earlier appearances.
This is mere reinforcement of the tale by triplication, and
Implies nothing more than a certain vigour of imagination
on the part of the story-teller. In Servian IV.,^ where the
hero spares a fish which he has caught, there appears, on
the contrary, to be actual combination with The Thankful
Beasts as a motive. The fish comes on the scene in
human form, and fulfils the part of the grateful dead till
the very end, when it leaps back into its element. As for
the variants of the compound type with The Ransomed
Woman there is considerable diversity, yet all of them
have merely substitution, not combination. So in Jean de
Calais II, VII and X.,'^ which are closely allied with other
members of the group so named, the beast appears, but in
one case as a white bird, in the second as a fox, and in the
third as a crow. That this is anything more than a sub-
stitution due to the story-teller's individuality cannot be
admitted, though knowledge of The Thankful Beasts as a
motive is not barred out. Simrock II and VIII^ are
likewise nearly related to one another and to Jean de
' See p. 27.
*So in Polish of the type The Grateful Dead -^ The Water of Life the ghost
appears as a plank. See p. 128.
'Seep. 57. ■'See pp. 100-102, 104 f. » See pp. 108 ff.
The Spendthrift Knight. i6i
Calais^ and they have the same adventitious substitution.
Simrock V. and Oldenburgian are a similar pair,^ while
Simrock I 11.,^ which is otherwise allied to Bohemian,
cannot be shown to have any vital connection with The
Thankful Beasts as a motive. Of all these tales it can
be said that they show some influence from such a theme
without actual combination. Finally, all the variants of
the type The Grateful Dead + The Water of Life, which
have the animal substituted,* belong to a well-defined and
centralized group* which has had independent existence
for centuries. Here the entrance of the beast is of con-
siderable importance to the classification and development
of the theme.
Of the part which The Thankful Beasts as a motive has
played in connection with The Grateful Dead it must be
said that, on the whole, it has been of very secondary
importance. It illustrates, as do The Spendthrift Knight
and The Two Friends^ how one current theme may touch
and even influence another at several different points
without becoming embodied with it. This trait or that
may be absorbed as the motives meet, yet the two waves
may go their way without mingling.
^See pp. ii5f. *See pp. ii2f.
'See pp. 135 ff. *See also p. 151.
CHAPTER VIII.
CONCLUSION.
In considering the general development and relations of
The Grateful Dead, to which we must now turn, it is
proper to inquire first of all as to its origin. Hitherto
the existence of the story-theme as such has been taken
well nigh for granted, though the discussion of variants
in simple form necessitated some reference^ to the point
of separation between the mdrchen and whatever beliefs
or social customs lie beyond. Now that the tale has
been followed through its various modifications and has
been proved by a systematic study of its forms to be, if
I may use the expression, a living organism, the debateable
land outside can be entered with measurable security.
There can be no doubt that The Grateful Dead as a
theme is based upon beliefs about the sacred duty of
burial and upon the customs incident to withholding
burial for the sake of revenge or recompense. To study
these phenomena in detail is not necessary to the scheme
of this book, but belongs rather to the province of
primitive religion and law. It is sufficient for our
purpose to show the nature and extent of such obser-
vances and beliefs for the sake of the light which they
may throw on the genesis of the tale itself
The belief that no obligation is more binding on man
than that he pay proper respect to the dead is as old
as civilization itself Indeed, it probably antedates what
iSee pp. 28 f.
Conclusion. 163
we ordinarily call civilization, since otherwise it could
not well be found so widely distributed over the earth
in historical times. It evidently rests upon the notion
that the soul, when separated from the body, could find
no repose.^ Herodotus tells ^ of the Egyptian law, which
permitted a man to give his father's body in pledge,
with the proviso that if he failed to repay the loan
neither he nor any of his kin could be buried at all.
The story, also related by Herodotus,* of Rampsinit and
the thief, which turns on the latter's successful attempt
to rescue his brother's body, illustrates again the value
that the Egyptians set upon burial. Their notion seems
to have been that the more honour paid the dead,
the more bearable would be their lot, though it was
regarded as unenviable at best.* Among the Magi of
Persia, though both burial and burning were prohibited
because of the sanctity of earth and fire, the bodies of
the dead were cared for according to the strictest of
codes, being left to the sun and air on elevated structures.^
In India the Rig-Veda^ bears witness to similar careful-
ness in the performance of this sacred duty.
In classical times belief in the necessity of proper
burial was widespread. Patroclus, it will be remembered,
appears to his friend Achilles, and admonishes him that
he should not neglect the dead, at the same time giving
a dire picture of the state of the unburied.^ Pausanias
speaks^ of the conduct of Lysander as reprehensible in
not burying the bodies of Philocles and the four thousand
slain at Aegospotami, saying that the Athenians did as
' See the comment of von der Leyen, Arch. j. d. St. d. n. Spr. cxiv. 12.
«ii. 136.
'ii. 121. The story, however, belongs to the domain of general literature.
*See A. Wiedemann, Die Toten und ihre Reiche im Glauben der alten
Aegypter, p. 21 {Der alte Orient, ii, 1900).
^Zend-Avesta, Vendldad, chaps, v.-xii. *x. 18. I.
''Iliad, xxiii. 71 ff. *ix. 32.
L 2
164 The Grateful Dead.
much for the Medes after Marathon, and even Xerxes
for the Lacedaemonians after Thermopylae. The story
told by Cicero^ of Simonides gives definite proof of the
concrete nature of the reverential feeling among both
Greeks and Romans. Suetonius in his hfe of Caligula
relates that when the emperor's body was left half
burned and unburied, ghosts filled the palace and garden.
An example of the mediaeval belief is found in the
Middle High German Kudrun, written at the end of the
twelfth century or the beginning of the thirteenth.
"Daz h&st wol geriten," sprach der von Sturmlant.
"j& sol man verkoufen ir ros und ir gewant,
die di ligent tdte, daz man der armen diete
nich ir libes ende von ir guote disen frumen biete."
D6 sprach der degen frolt: "sol man ouch die begraben,
die uns den schaden tdten, od sol man si die raben
und die wilden wolve iif dem wdrde lizen niezen ? "
d6 rieten daz die wisen, daz sie der einen ligen niht enliezen.*
The Annamite tale cited in the third chapter^ and
Servian VI., likewise summarized in connection with
variants having the story-theme in simple form,* bear
witness to the effect that the widespread belief has had
upon folk-tales now in circulation. The connection of
these two tales with the mdrchen as such is so vague that
they serve the end of illustrating its growth from popular
belief rather than the relationship of one form to another.
So also the story from Brittany, printed by Sebillot,^
which tells how a ghost came to workmen in a mill
demanding Christian interment for its body then buried
under the foundations, serves the same end, though no
reward is mentioned. Sometimes the neglect of burial
by a person brings unpleasant results to him, as is
witnessed by a tale from Guernsey.^ A fisherman neg-
^ See pp. 26 f.
2 Ed, Bartsch, xviii. st. 910 and 911. 'P. 27. ^p 28.
^ Traditions et superstitions de la Haute- Bretagne, 1882, i. 238 f.
"^ r.CacCulloch, Guernsey Folk Lore, 1903, pp. 283 f.
Conclusion. 165
lected to bury a body which he encountered on the coast,
and, when he reached his home, found the ghost awaiting
him. An Indian tale illustrates the belief that the dead
become vampires when funeral rites are not performed.^
Ii; most versions of The Grateful Dead a corpse is left
unb\jried either because creditors remain unpaid or the
surviving relatives cannot pay for Christian burial. From
sixteenth century Scotland we have evidence that the
latter trait is based on actual custom. Sir David
Lyndesaye, in The Motiarche^ while describing the ex-
actions of the clergy, says:
Quhen he hes all, than, vnder his cure,
And Father and Mother boith ar dede.
Beg mon the babis, without remede:
They hauld the Corps at the kirk style;
And thare it moste remane ane quhyle,
Tyll thay gett sufficient souerte
For thare kirk rycht and dewite.'^
This evidence for the widespread belief in the pious
duty of burial and for the custom of withholding burial
in cases where the dead man was poor, though it might
easily be increased in bulk, makes very clear at least
two matters. The tale of The Grateful Dead might have
arisen almost anywhere and in almost any age since
the time of the Egyptians. Again, when once it had
been formed, it was likely to be reinforced or changed by
the beliefs and customs prevalent in the lands to which
it came.
The first matter at once suggests the question as to
whether, after all, the mdrchen has not been more than
once discovered by the imagination of story-tellers, —
whether it has not sprung up again and again in dif-
ferent parts of the world like different botanical species,
^ See W. Crooke in Folk-Lore, xiii. 280-283.
*Bopk iii. w. 4726 ff. of the whole poem (2nd ed. J. Small, 1883,
E. E. T. S. orig. set. 11, p. 153).
1 66 The Grateful Dead,
instec.d of being a single plant which has propagated
itself through many centuries. In spite of the evident
possibility that such sporadic development might have
taken place, I cannot believe that it happened so. If
we had to do with some vaguely outlinedftjijmyth in
which only the underlying idea was the same in the
several groups of variants, and if this vague tale were
narrated among peoples of absolutely no kinship to one
another, say by the Indians of North America and the
Zulus, one could have no reasonable doubt that similar
conditions had produced similar tales. Such stories
exist in numbers sufficient to render untenable the old
hypothesis of Oriental origins in anything like the form
in which it was held by Benfey or even Cosquin.
In cases like that of The Grateful Dead, however, the
matter is entirely different. The theme is comparatively
a complicated one, and it is found only in lands whose
inhabitants are connected either by blood or by social
and political intercourse.^ It has preserved its integrity for
nearly a score of centuries, though suffering many
changes of details, and a variety of combinations with
other themes. To my mind such an involved relation-
ship as that worked out in the preceding chapters proves
conclusively that the story is one, that the connection
between variants is more than fortuitous. Inductive
logic makes the belief inevitable. Any other theory
would involve us in a bewildering net of contradictions,
from which escape could be found only in the avowal
that nothing whatever can be known about narrative
development
If the seemingly inevitable conclusion be accepted
that The Grateful Dead is an organism with a life
history of its own, the question at once suggests itself
as to when and where it came into being. As to its
^ Annamite is an exception, but it cannot be regarded as having any
organic connection with the cycle.
Conclusion. 167
ultimate origin, however, only a very imperfect answer can
be given. Surmise and theory are all that can aid us
here. Liebrecht was of the opinion that the story was
of European rather than Oriental origin,^ even though
he did not accept Simrock's theory that it was Ger-
manic. Notwithstanding the fact that most variants are
European, this hypothesis seems to me very improbable.
Tobit, the earliest variant which we possess,^ is distinctly
Semitic in origin and colouring. Other versions from
Asia, like Jeivish, Armenian, and Siberian^ though modern
folk-tales, add weight to the evidence of the apocryphal
story, especially since the one last named comes from
a somewhat remote region where European narratives
could not without difficulty have much direct influence.
Of course it is possible to suppose that the theme
came to the Semites from the West, and was by them
disseminated in Asia ;» but the early date of Tobit
renders it unlikely that such was the case. Certainly
it is more reasonable from the evidence at hand to
believe in the Oriental origin of the mdrchen. As to
the particular region of Asia where it was probably
first related, nothing can be said with security. Yet
since there is no evidence that it has ever been known
in India, Western Asia, and perhaps the region in-
habited by the Semites, may be considered, at least
tentatively, its first home.
The age of the theme cannot definitely be measured.
It is possible, however, to say that it must have existed
at least as early as the beginning of our era. Tobit
is of assistance again here. As the book is believed to
have been written during the reign of Hadrian (76-138
A.D.) ^ and as it has the motive in a compound form,
which is unlikely to have arisen immediately after the
^ See Ihiddberger Jahrbiicher, 1868, p. 449.
- Ruling out Sivtonides, of course, as not clearly belonging to the cycle.
^Siberian, it will be remembered, is of the same type as Tobit.
1 68 The Grateful Dead.
simple story was first set afloat, there is little danger of
over-statement in saying that the latter must have been
known at least as early as the first part of first century
A.D., or more probably before the birth of Christ.
Any statement beyond this would rest on idle specu-
lation.
After The Grateful Dead was once established as a
narrative, its development can be traced with some
degree of precision, though not without many gaps here
and there. Its history is largely a matter of combin-
ations with originally independent themes, with an occa-
sional landmark in the form of a literary version. The
most notable compounds into which it has entered are
those with The Poison Maiden, The Ransomed Woman,
and certain types connected with The Water of Life.
That it entered into other minor compounds at various
stages gives evidence that it retained its independence long
after the first union took place, even though examples
of the simple type are so hard to find and in some
cases of such doubtful character.
Probably the first combination of the theme was with
The Poison Maiden, which the valuable evidence of
Tohit enables us to date as taking place as early as
the middle of the first century and in western Asia.
The Poison Maiden probably came originally from India
by way of Persia,^ and was certainly widely distributed.
Among the Semites it would naturally first meet any
tale which had other than Indian origin, so that the
existence of Tobit at so early a date is only what one
would expect, looking at the matter in this retrospective
fashion. The amalgamation of these two themes, when
once they had come into the same region, was natural.
They had the necessary point of contact in the treat-
ment of the hero's wife by a helpful friend, who played
an important part in each. In The Poison Maiden she
^ See Hertz, pp. 151-155.
Conchision. 169
received short shrift, being possessed of a poisonous glance
or bite, or of snakes ready to destroy the man who
married her.^ In The Grateful Dead she was innocent,
but had to be divided to satisfy the claims of a being
who had helped her husband,^ The part of the friend
was less well motivated in The Poison Maiden than in
The Grateful Dead, so that it was natural for the themes
to unite at a common point and produce a compound
at once, m'ore complete and more thrilling than
were . the simpler forms. This combination must have
been made not by a conscious literary worker, for, had
it been, Tobit would surely stand less independent of
the later versions than is actually the case, but by the
tellers of folk-tales, in a manner quite unconscious and
altogether unstudied. The stories combined of them-
selves, so to say.
From Semitic lands, if it was indeed there made,
the compound seems to have travelled ihto Europe as
well as into other parts of Asia.^ It has spread during
the intervening centuries throughout the length and
breadth of Europe, always remaining a genuinely pop-
ular tale. As far as my knowledge goes, it did not
appear in literature from the time when the Hebrew
book of Tobit was written till Peele's Old Wives^ Tale
was presented some fifteen centuries later on the English
stage. In the nineteenth century it again appeared
to the reading public in the version which the Dane
Andersen made from a Norse folk-tale. Yet the story
in all versions of the compound extant is unmis-
takably the same, though it has suffered more changes
in detail than would be worth while to enumerate here,
^For examples, see Hertz, pp. 106-115.
- It is not clear whether she was actually divided in the primitive forms, or
merely threatened. In either case the union would take place as stated.
^ A)-meuian and Siberian give adequate evidence as to the truth of the
latter statement, though more Asiatic variants of this type are to be desired.
I70 The Grateful Dead.
since they have already been noted in the chapter deal-
ing with the type. The most important modification
v.liicL it sustained was due to its meeting The Lady
crnd the Monster and absorbing elements of that tale.
How early this took place it is impossible to say, since
George Peek's play is the only literary monument that
helps to fix any date. A considerable stretch of time
must, however, be allowed for the passage of a folk-
tale from the extreme east of Europe to England.
That the secondary combination was indeed made in
eastern Europe admits of definite proof. All the known
variants of The Grateful Dead ■\- The Poison Maiden
from the west have The Lady and the Monster as well,
while three Slavic east-European versions ^ are of this
type. It follows that the compound must have been
formed in the east and carried to the west, since other-
wise the distribution should be precisely the opposite
of that which obtains. Moreover, had the compound
been made in Asia, it is improbable that it would have
left such a comparatively feeble trace in the eastern
part of the continent of Europe and later have conquered
all the west. Other combinations, primary and secondary,,
have also arisen ; but, if the collection of variants hitherto
made is at all adequate, they are of inconsiderable
importance.
Meanwhile, the simple theme of The Grateful Dead
passed into Europe by other paths. Once over the
border, it met a tale with which it readily combined,
producing a type not less influential than the one just
mentioned. This new motive was The Ransomed Woman,.
the origin of which is at present quite unknown. Though
it is seemingly Oriental in character, all versions yet
unearthed come from Europe, so that its provenance must
be left in uncertainty. At all events, it was known in
eastern Europe, and it was there in all probability that.
''■Servian III., Esihonian II., and Rumanian I.
Conclusion. 171
it became amalgamated with The Grateful Dead. How
early this took place cannot be stated, but long enough
before the fourteenth century to allow the passage of the
compound type to France by that time, when it was retold
by Gobius with a good deal of mutilation in his Scala
Celi} The points of contact, which led to the combina-
tion, have already been discussed in the chapter dealing
with the type.2 Suffice it to say at this point that they
were, in brief, the journey of the hero, his rescue, and the
wife whom he gained at the end of the story. As in the
case of The Poison Maiden, the compound seems to
have arisen quite naturally by means of these corre-
spondences, with the end of making a more romantic
and satisfactory tale. That it took place quite uncon-
sciously seems clear,' but that the result was successful
is proved by the solidarity of the type thus produced,
though it has subsequently been carried into every part
of Europe. The relationship of versions, between thirty
and forty in number, is unmistakable.
That the simple motive of The Grateful Dead was not
exhausted by the two remarkable combinations just
treated, that it retained its individuality and indepen-
dence, is shown by the various minor combinations dis-
cussed in the third chapter. It is altogether probable
that other examples of such simple compounds as those
containing The Swan-Maiden, Puss in Boots, and a story
like that told of Pope Gregory ^ are in existence, and may
be found by later study. One can speak only with refer-
ence to material at command. Very likely other combina-
tions than those treated here are in existence and may
also appear, either in sporadic cases or in groups. But,
the reader may ask, if the motive is found in so many
compounds, both with and without The Poison Maiden
and The Ransomed Woman, why does it not occur
^See p. 82. 2 See pp. ii6f.
'See pp. 40 f.
172 The Grateful Dead,
more frequently, at least in folk-literature, without com-
bination ? To this I should reply that the story is an
ancient one, which has many points of correspondence with
other themes. By reason of these traits it has absorbed,
or has been absorbed by, these other tales, until now it
is difficult to find examples of the simple form. A
thousand years ago, or some such matter, they may, indeed,
have been frequently retold by the firesides of Europe,
though now they are practically unknown. The constant
tendency of folk-tales to change from simplicity to com-
plexity would in time cause the pure theme to be generally
forgotten. Nevertheless, its existence could be proved,
even though no example still remained, for the various
independent compounds would be inexplicable on any
other theory. In the case of The Grateful Dead, the
tales, to which it has been joined, have been so inter-
woven with its substance that it is quite impossible to
believe, for example, that the combination with The
Ransomed Woman proceeded from that with The Poison
Maiden.
But these simple compounds v/ith a single foreign
theme do not complete the tale. When once they were
formed, they in turn had each a history of its own, with
infinite possibilities of absorbing traits from other stories
or even entire themes. In the case of the latter, a reason
could always be found in such points of contact as I
have already mentioned, or so I believe, if the material
were sufficient for proper comparison. In this way arose
the complicated types treated in chapter six, where the
manner of combination is readily seen.^ Sometimes, it
is probable, subtraction has taken place as well as
addition, but apparently only when it has not involved
the disentangling of various traits. For example,
many variants have been noted where one of the two
most striking features of our central theme, the burial
^See pp. 125-127, 151 f.
Conclusion. 173
of the dead debtor, has disappeared ; yet in every
case the rest of the plot has remained unimpaired.
The more complicated the variant, the better able is
the investigator to place its kinship to other variants,
provided that he has the requisite material and the
patience to follow up the clues that every such labyrinth
affords.
The most striking facts of general import to the study
of folk-narrative that have developed in the course of
this prolonged consideration of The Grateful Dead may
be briefly summarized in conclusion. It has been shown
once again that the story has an organic life of its own,
whether it comes from the East or the West, whether it
be founded upon some fact of social custom or belief, or
on the imaginings of a moralist of antiquity.^ Once
started, it will go its way through divers lands and ages,
yet retain unaltered the essential features of its plot.
Call it story-skeleton, or better, living organism, it always
keeps its structural integrity, no matter whether told as
a pious legend or a conte d rire. Of no less importance
than this is the fact that whatever serious changes take
place in its form are not fortuitous, mere whimsical altera-
tions due to the fancy of story-tellers, but are due to
capabilities of expansion or combination in the plot itself.
Whenever two themes with points of resemblance or
contact come into the same region, they are in the long
run pretty certain to unite, each retaining its individuality,
but merging in the other. This principle is well illustrated
in the history of The Grateful Dead. The marriages of
stories seem never to be merely for convenience, except
in the hands of conscious writers, but to be the result
of attraction and real compatibility. That, I take it, is
why and how narratives develop.
Were it necessary to justify such studies as the present,
'See the author's study, "Forerunners, Congeners, and Derivatives of
the Eustace Legend " in Publ. Mod. Lan^. Ass, xix. 335-448,
174 ^>^^ Grateful Dead,
one might add that, apart from helping to the settlement
of such more general questions as those just mentioned,
they ttiicw light on the sources of particular literary works
Lcwtei thaii does the haphazard search for parallels, and
tuej^ often enable the student to sec the relations between
the literatures of neighbouring countries more clearly than-
he would be able to do without the perspective gained
by a comparative consideration of a single theme in
many lands. In ways like these the author hopes that
this history of The Grateful Dead may be serviceable.
The End.
INDEX.
In order to avoid duplication, variants of The Grateful Dead are cited according to the
names given them in Chapter 11., references to which are printed in italics.
Agreement to divide possessions, 30,
34-37." 47> 49, S2, S3. 62, 65, 72,
77-79, 84, 86, 87, 93, 95, 97-101,
103-105, 107-110, 131.
Amis and Atniloun, 39, 64, 92, 156.
Andersen, H- C, 66, 68, 144, 169.
Annamiie, 8, 27 f., 49, 164, 166.
Armenian, 8, 45, 47, 56, 57, 64, 73,
74, 167, 169.
Basque /., jg, 135, 137 f., 160.
„ //., ig, 105 f., 108, iiof., 156.
Beer-Hofmann, R., 43.
Benfey, Th., 2, 44, 159, 166.
Bokeinian, 11,^1, ill f., Ii3f., I47£,
149, 161.
Brazilian, 18, 135, 137, 142, 151, 160.
Breton /., ig, 46, 61, 65, 96, 156.
„ //., ig, 40 f.
„ ///. , 20, 77, 86 f. , 91, 96, 156.
„ IV., 20, 13s, 138, 160.
„ v., 20, 13s, 138 f., 160.
„ VI., 20, 135, 139 f., 160.
,, VII., 20, 104, 106 f., 156.
Brotherhood sworn on cross or sword,
57, 60, 61.
Brothers and Sisters, The, 134.
Bulgarian, 11, 46, 58, 73 f.
Calderon, 13, 92, 95 f., 109.
Catalan, 12/., 77, 80 f., 88, 1 16.
Chaucer, 27, 36.
Child Vowed to the Devil, The, 158.
Cicero, 26, 164.
Cosquin, E., 3, 4, 121, 123 f., 166.
Corpse buried under foundations, 164.
Corpse held for debt, 33-37, 41-43,
47, 52, 55. 56, 60, 62, 63, 68-70,
78-80, 85, 86, 88-92, 95, 97, 98,
100, 102-106, 108, 109, 112, 114,
115. 127, 128, 13c, 132, 136-138,
140.
Danger indicated by colour of water
in vial, 92 f.
Danish I., aof., 41.
„ //., 21, 41 f.
,, ///., 21, 46, 66-68, 73, 74,
144.
Dianese, 17, 33, 35, 37 f., 109, 153 f.
Disenchantment by decapitation, iil-
113-
Dutz, H., 5, 59, 72.
Esthonian /., X2, 32, 74.
„ //., 12, 46, 58 f., 61, 64,
68, 74, 144, 146, 170.
Factor's Garland, 24/., no f., 156.
Fair Penitent, 23, 43.
Fatal Dowry, 2£, 43.
Finnish, 12, 46, 59 f. , 74.
Fountain of Youth, The, 119 f.
Gaelic, ig, 77, 85 f., 87, 91, 96, 105 f.,
no f., 156.
Gasconian, 77, 77, 83 f., 118.
Gerhard, Der gute, I, 2, 76.
Ghost uneasy in grave, 32, 49, 89.
Golden Bird, The, 3, 124.
Greek, g, 29 f., 49.
Grimm brothers, 32.
Groome, F. H,, 5.
Guillaume de Paleme, 141.
Gummere, F. B., 72.
Gypsy, 8, 45, 47 f-, S6, 57, 64, 73. 74-
Harz I., 23, 46, 69 f., 74, 144. 145 f-
„ //., 23, 127, 132, 134, 146, 149-
Herodotus, 163.
Hertz, W., 44.
Hippe, M., 3-5, 44, 56, 75-77, 81,
88, 118.
Holkot, Robert, 27.
Hopkins, E. W., 119 f.
176
Index.
Hi:;.^ciian /., la, 127, 128, f., 133,
I4S, 149-
Hungarian 11. , 12, 7'/, 78 f.j 109.
Icelandic /., sr, 49, 77, 89 f., I53-I5S-
//., ^/, 77, 89f. 91. 153-155-
I lied, 163.
Incestuous step-mother, 92-94.
Irish /., ig, 46, 62, 64, 68-71, 73, 74,
96, 144, 146, 156.
Irisk II., ig, 46, 62-65, 68, 69, 11,
74, 144-147-
Irish III, ig, 46, 63-65, 68, 73, 144.
Istrian, 18, 'J'J, 85.
Jack the Giant- Killer, 5, 34, 46, 70 f.,
73, no, 144, 145.
Jean ds Calais, 97, 106, 1 12, 156, 160 f.
„ „ /., 16, 97 f-. loi, 103.
„ ,, //., 16, 100-102, 104,
109, 113, 115, 160.
Jean de Calais III., 16, 98 f., lOi, 108.
„ ,, /K, 76, 98f., 101,108.
„ „ F:,/6, 98f., loi, 108,
109.
Jean de Calais VI., 77, 99, loi f., 103.
„ VIL, 17, 100 f., 105,
109, 113, 115, 160.
Jeande Calais VIII., jy, 102 f., 109.
„ „ /A'.,77,io3f.,io7,io8.
„ „ A'.,77, ioi,i04f.,io8.
113, 115, 160.
Jewish, 8, 27-29, loi, 117, 160, 167.
Key in head of fish, 41
King's son liberates prisoner and has
service returned, 129, 134.
Kittredge, G. L., 113, 125, 133.
Kohler, R., 2, 41.
Kudrun, 164.
Lady and the Monster, The, 64, 126 f.,
134, 145-152, 170.
Liebrecht, F., 3, 167.
Lion de Bourges, 5, 14 f., 33, 34, 37-
39, 154.
Lithuanian /., 77, 77, 78 f.
,, //., 77, 97, 98, 106-108,
156.
Upe d' Vega, 13, 92, 94 f., 96, 109,
153-158.
I^iharingzan, ly, 135, 136, 141 f.,
Lyndecye, Sir D., 165.
Maltese, r 127 f., 134, 143, 149.
I.'r.^ringer. Philip, 43.
Men^ndez y Pelayc, 82.
MetamoipliodE, in, 128-130, 132.
Nicholas, 14, 77, 82 f., 87, 151.
Norwegian, I., 21, 77, 88 f., 108, 109
„ //., ^7, 46, 66, 69f., 74,
144, 145-
Oldenburgian, 23, IIS f., 160 f.
Old Swediash, 20, 33, 35 f., 37 f., 109,
153 f-
Old Wives' Tale, 5, 2s, 46, 71-73, 74,
109, 144, 145, 152, 169.
Oliver, is, 49, 82, 92-94, 96, 109,
118, 153-158.
Parable of old and new keys, 103, 107.
Pausanias, 163.
Peele, Geo., 5, 71, 73, 152, 169 f.
Perseus and Andromeda, 107.
Petersen, Miss, 27.
Poison Maiden, T^tf, 26, 44-75, 117 f.>
125, 127, 134, 144-147, 149-152,
155, 157, 160, 168-170, 171 f.
Polish, ji, 127, 128, 133, 148, 149,
160,
Possessed Woman, The. See Poison
Maiden.
Possessions offered in return for
favours, 34, 46.
Ptiss in Boots, 41 f., 62, 70, 17 1.
Quest of the Sword of Light, The, 133,
146.
Rampsinit, 163.
Ransomed Wovian, The, 4, 26, 76-
118, 125, 127, 134, 147-152, 154,
157, 160, 168, 170 f., 172.
Rescue by ghost, 27, 46, 47, 50-53,
55-58, 77-80, 86-91, 96-106, 108-
in, 113-115, 128-130, 136-141.
Richars, 14, 33 f., 37-39, 153-155.
Rig- Veda, 163.
Ring in beaker, 29, 79, no, 115.
Rittertrijrwe, 22, 33, 36-39, 153 f.
Rival suitors, one kind and one un-
kind, 29-31.
Rowe, Nicholas, 43.
Rumanian I., 12, 46. 49, 60 f., 64,
68, 144, 170.
Rumanian II., 12, 127, 129, 133, 148,
149.
Russian /., 9, 45, 48 f., 51 f., 73, 89,
„ //., 9, 46, 49 f., 5: f., 54»
55, 73, 74, 78.
Russian III., 9, 46, 50-52, 73.
Index.
177
Hussion IV., 9, 46, SI f., 73, 74.
F., 10, 52, 73.75.
„ r/., 10, 52-54, 73-75.
6Vra/o Ce/i, by Gobius, 76, 82, 171.
Schaeffer, 95.
Sepp, 3.
Set-vian /., 10, ^^ f., 91.
„ //., j-o, 46, 55, 73, 74.
„ ///., 10, 46, 56, 73, 74, 170.
„ IV., 10, 46, 57, 73, 74, lOl,
160.
Servian V., 10, 31 f., 114.
„ VI., II, 28, 164.
Ship that will travel on land, 130.
Siberian, 8, 45, 48, 54, 73, 74, 167.
Sicilian, 18, 127, 1 30 f., 1 33, 134,
146, 149.
Simonides, 8, 26, 28 f., 117, 164, 167,
169.
Simrock, K., i, 2, 76, 167.
Simrock I., 22, 107 f., I12-II4, 1 16,
147-149, 156.
Simrock II., 22, Io8f., II3, 115, 156,
160.
Simrock III., 22, 112 f., 114, 115,
147 f., 149, 160 f.
Simrock IV. , 22, 50, 54, 77, 90 f.
„ v., 22, 115 f., 160 f.
„ VL, 23, 77, 91.
VIL, 23, 91, 114-116, 147-
149.
Simrock VIII., 23, 109-III, 113, 115,
156, 160.
Simrock IX., 23, 135, 140-142, 160.
„ X., 23, 46, 68-70, 144, 145,
Sir Amadas, 2, 23/., 33, 37-39, 96,
153158.
Sir Degarre, 34.
Skilful Companions, The, 125-127,
134, 147-
Sotthaits Saint Martin, 158.
Spanish, 13, 77, 80 f., 86, 88, 116.
Spendthrift Knight, The, 33, 39, 153-
156, 161.
Stellanie Costantina, ij f.
Stephens, Geo., 2, 43, 44, 76.
Straparola I., 18, 77, 84, 1 18.
„ //., t8, 127, 129 f., 133,
134, 146, 148 f., 152.
Suetonius, 164.
Swan-Maiden, The, 32, II4, 171.
Swedish, 20, 77, 87 f., 89.
Test of fidelity by division of wife,
30. 36. 37. 56, 57, 72, 80, 84, 85,
93. 95. 131.
Test of fidelity by division of child
or children, 37, 62, 80, 86, 87, 93,
97-IOI, 103-105, 107-109.
Test of fidelity by division of property,
93- •
Test of fidelity by choice between
wife and property, 34-36.
Test of friendship by apple, 55.
Thankful Beasts, 2, 27, 57, loi, II3»
116, 118, 126, 135-143, 149. 151,
158-161.
To6it, 5, 7, 45-47, 50, 54, 58, 73, 74,
78, 152, 155 f., 167-169.
Tourney for hand of lady, 33-37, 93»
94. 131.
Trancoso, 14, 77, 81 f., 1 1 8.
Transylvanian, 12, 77, 79 f., 84, 86,
91, 96, 109, 118, 156.
Tree of Life, The, 120.
Trent all of St. Gregory, 40, 171.
Treu Heinrich, 22, 127, 131 f., 1 33,
148, 149, 151, 153-155.
Tuscan, 18, 135, 137 f., 142, 160.
Two Friends, The, 86, 91-97, 118,.
146, 156-158, 161.
Valerius Maximus, 26 f.
Vampires, 52-54, 61, 88, 165.
Venetian, 18, 127, 130, 134, 143, 149,^
151-
Walerwein, 17, 49, 135, I4I-143. ^S^*
160.
Warning by ghost, 26.
Water of Life, The, 3, 4, 26, 33, 56,.
64, 68, 69, 73, 108, 112, 113, 118,
I19-152, 154, 160 f., 168.
Webster, W., 105.
Wilhelmi, H., 5, 38.
Woman divided (or threatened with
division), 30, 37, 47, 48, 5°. 52. 53.^
57-59, 79. 80, 84, 85.
WUnsche, A., 11 9- 1 24.
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