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The Folk-Lore Society
For Collecting and Printing
Relics of Popular Antiquities, &c.
Established in
The Year MDCCCLXXVIII.
Publications
Of
The Folk-lore Society
LX.
[1907]
THE GRATEFUL DEAD
The History of a Folk Story
By
GORDON HALL GEROULD
B. Litt. (Oxon.)
Preceptor in English in Princeton University
Published for the Folk-Lore Society by
David Nutt, 57--59 Long Acre
London
1908
To
Professor A. S. Napier
In gratitude and friendship
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chap. Page
Introduction ix
I. A Review 1
II. Bibliography 7
III. Tales with the Simple Theme and Miscellaneous
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 phenomenon
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 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 amounts to the following,--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 inconvenience. 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 undertaken 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, [1] he called
attention to the theme as a theme, and treated it with a breadth
of knowledge 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. [2]
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. [3] "Wo nur noch
eine von beiden das Thema zu bilden scheint," he said, "da hat die
Ueberliefertung gelitten." Here again he was misled by the narrow range
of his material, as later studies have shown. Nearly all the versions
he cited have the motive of a ransomed princess, 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 monograph Benfey treated
some features of the theme in a note appended to his discussion of
The Thankful Beasts in the monumental Pantschatantra. [4] 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 [5] 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. [6]
He was at least partly in the right, even though his statement was
misleading. According to his Opinion, [7] "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 Koehler [8] supplied
a large number of variants, which have been invaluable for succeeding
study of the theme. Nowhere, 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, [9] 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, [10]
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, [11] 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 possession of demons was an essential part of the tale. In
1886 Cosquin brought the discussion one step further by showing [12]
that the theme is sometimes found in combination with The Golden
Bird and 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, Untersuchungen zu der
mittelenglischen Romanze von Sir Amadas, which appeared in 1888. [13]
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 acknowledge their indebtedness to his labours.
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, commendable 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 [14] 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, [15] 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" [16]
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 [17]
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 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 [18]
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 ueber die Chanson
de Lion de Bourges. [19] 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 according to a
couple of superficial traits. An English study by Mr. F. H. Groome
on Tobit and Jack the Giant-Killer [20] 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 discussion 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.