TRANSFORMATION IN FOLK-LORE AND FAIRY-TALE
In folk-lore and mythological legends all animals are originally human
and most human beings are able to turn into animals. Women who married
tigers, women who gave birth to serpents, men who became goats, cows
or sheep, frog-princes and monkey-servants, abound in the standard
fairy-tales of almost every country.
Grecian women are said to change their cold lovers into donkeys, Persian
princesses, on the contrary, cause their too passionate adorers to
metamorphose into numerous animal shapes and Circe, disgusted with the
depraved conduct of the companions of Ulysses, changed them into swine
and shut them up in sties. The story of Circe typifies, of course, the
fact that man's lower nature is the animal part of him, and the story of
Malec Muhammed, which follows, points the same moral.
A repetition of the well-known Circe story needs no apology in a book
which deals at length with the subject of transformation. Circe was the
daughter of Sol and Perse, and was celebrated for her skill in magic.
She married a prince of Colchis, and then murdered him to obtain his
kingdom. Being expelled by her subjects for her crime, she was carried
away by her father to Aea, an island on the coast of Italy, which
Ulysses visited on his return from the Trojan War. His companions,
giving way to excess, were changed into swine by Circe's magic potions.
Ulysses was himself made immune from her spells by a herb called Moly,
given to him by the god Mercury, and he demanded that his companions
should be restored. Circe complied with his request. Eurylochus and his
companions found Circe's palace in an open space in a wood, and Ulysses
had the following account from the lips of Eurylochus:--
"All about were wolves and lions," he said, "yet these harmed not the
men, but stood up on their hind-legs, fawning upon them, as dogs fawn
upon their master when he comes from his meal, because he brings the
fragments with him that they love. And the men were afraid. And they
stood in the porch and heard the voice of Circe as she sang with a
lovely voice and plied the loom. Then said Polites (who was dearest of
all his comrades to Ulysses), 'Someone within plies a loom, and sings
with a loud voice. Some goddess is she, or woman. Let us make haste
and call.'
"So they called to her, and she came out and beckoned to them that they
should follow. So they went, in their folly. And she bade them sit, and
mixed for them a mess, red wine, and in it barley meal and cheese and
honey, and mighty drugs withal, of which, if a man drank, he forgot all
that he loved. And when they had drunk she smote them with her wand. And
lo! they had of a sudden the heads and the voices and the bristles of
swine, but the heart of a man was in them still. And Circe shut them in
sties, gave them mast and acorns and cornel to eat."
And Eurylochus fled back to the ship to tell Ulysses what had befallen
his comrades.[77]
Circe also changed Picus into a bird, when he did not respond to her
advances.
When love from Picus Circe could not gain
Him with her charming wand and hellish bane
Changed to a bird and spots his speckled wings
With sundry colours....
Geti Afraz, the heroine of a typical Eastern transformation story, on
the other hand, changes Malec Muhammed the moment he grows too ardent
in his caresses.
One day when Malec was on his travels, he arrived at the city of
Ekbalia and took up his lodging in a caravanserai.[78]
At dusk that evening he saw a remarkable illumination in the sky and
heard intoxicating music. Presently a procession of beautifully
dressed people passed by, and he caught a glimpse of a lovely
princess. "Who is she?" he asked of the neighbours. "Geti Afraz,
daughter of the King of the Peris, is riding through the city," they
answered. "Her palace is close by."
Entranced by the beauty of her appearance, Malec Muhammed inquired
whether she received visitors. "Yes, she does," was the answer; "but
it is at their own risk, as she usually changes her visitors into the
shape of some animal." Malec, nothing daunted by this strange remark,
set out at once for the abode of the princess.
The door of the palace was shut, and knocking loudly he cried, "Open
to Malec Muhammed." The Peri's reputation was well-known, and no one
ever arrived at the palace who was not brave enough to risk being
turned into an animal. In a moment the door was opened and Malec was
invited to step inside.
In the reception hall he saw a throne composed of a single jacinth,
adorned with the richest cushions, on which was seated a lady,
beautiful as the silver moon, surrounded by a thousand handmaids,
brilliant as stars.
Malec stood stupefied in wonder at this vision of paradise. The princess
pointed to a golden seat near the throne, and when he sat upon it she
asked, "Whence come you, who are you, and why have you visited me?"
Malec Muhammed answered like one in a dream,
"Drunk with the wine of love I roam
This path and seek no other home."
Then Geti Afraz ordered one of her handmaidens to bring some
ruby-coloured wine to her guest, and after he had taken it she asked
whether the company of the maiden would give him entertainment. But he
refused her offer, saying that his devotion to herself prevented him
talking to, or even looking at, any other woman.
The princess seemed pleased with this compliment, but said in a
pensive tone, "Man is an impatient creature and from his impatience
many misfortunes result which he lays to our charge." Malec replied
that whilst in her presence he could never give way to impatience for,
if he were allowed to gaze into her adorable eyes, life needed nothing
more to make it perfect.
Geti Afraz smiled sarcastically, saying, "I fear you will not remain
satisfied gazing for ever into my eyes, and take heed, for if you show
the least tendency to lose your head over me you will be punished by
being banished from my society."
Thus they spent many hours in each other's company, he gazing into her
eyes but never presuming even so far as to touch her hand.
Overcome by her beauty, at last he threw himself at her feet and asked
whether the lifelong devotion he was prepared to offer was acceptable
in her sight. "Be patient and cautious," she said, to calm his
protestations, "otherwise you will be transformed into an animal,
which is not an easy matter to remedy."
So Malec went back to his golden seat and mastered his passionate
feelings as well as he could. Just then one of the handmaidens brought
in a scented rose to present to the princess. Malec Muhammed led her
forward in hopes that his fingers might chance to touch those of Geti
Afraz. The princess stretched out her hand to take the rose when Malec
Muhammed lost his self-control and planted an impassioned kiss upon
her fingers. "Ah! you cursed billing dove!" cried Geti Afraz, "Why do
you do that?" and at her words Malec gave a sudden spring into the air
and whirled round and round in the form of a dove.
The poor bird was desperate on account of this strange way in which
his affection had been received. All day long he flew from turret to
turret, and hopped from branch to branch, before his unrelenting
mistress; but finding his appeals no use he flew away and took the
quickest road to his house. There his servants set traps to catch him,
and he fluttered about in great fear, until one remarked, "Poor little
dove, let it go, for the love of our master, who has not been seen
here for some days."
Malec then flew to the house of his uncle, the Vizier, and perched on
his knee. The Vizier, suspecting enchantment, sent for a box of
medicine and inserted a dose in the bird's bill; the dove fluttered
round and round in a circle and suddenly resumed human form.
But the attraction of the princess proved too much for Malec, and though
he tried to forget her he found it impossible. At last, in desperation,
he cried out that he must see her again, cost what it might.
"Make me a dog, make me an ass,
From her presence ne'er shall pass
Her fond adorer!"
he exclaimed as he set out once more for the palace.
He was admitted into the presence of the princess, who expressed great
surprise at the fate which had overtaken him.
"Ah," he said, "it was hard to be so severely punished for one kiss of
those charming fingers."
"Well," she replied, "I approve of you so well that to compensate you
for your misfortune I will give you leave to kiss both my hands and my
feet as often as you please, but you must not presume any further than
that."
That evening he was allowed to stay beside her couch, because when she
suggested sending him away he reminded her of her promise. How could
he kiss her hands and her feet if he was forced to leave her side?
This concession made Malec believe that she had more affection for him
than she was willing to show. "I asked her only for the opportunity of
admiring her at a distance and she has given me a place close beside
her," he thought.
Hour after hour he kissed her hands and feet, and all the time he
aspired to her lips. There she lay slumbering, beautiful as a goddess,
and as he bent over her to approach his lips to hers, she awoke and
reminded him of his promise, saying, "Be cautious, or you will have to
take your departure."
At this rebuke he retired ignominiously from her side, but his love
for her increased by leaps and bounds, and she fostered it by walking
with him in the lovely palace gardens and by taking him with her in
her gorgeous carriage when she followed the hounds. In the evening
they feasted, and, after quaffing wine, Malec, driven to madness by
her beauty, forgot himself as she lay slumbering and, bending forward,
pressed his lips to hers.
At that moment she awoke, crying, "Cursed ass! what have you done?"
Even as she uttered the words, Malec gave a spring and galloped away
in the form of an ass.
The servants of the princess beat the animal with sticks and drove him
out of the palace.
After nine long months, in which Malec endured the ignominy of being
in animal form, his uncle, who had been greatly annoyed by his
nephew's repeated folly, softened sufficiently to help him out of his
dilemma, by giving him a further dose of the magic medicine which
brought him back to his natural appearance.
When once again he arrived at the palace Geti Afraz welcomed him warmly.
"All that has befallen you has happened through your own impatience,"
she said. "What can a man expect who loses his self-control as you did?"
Nevertheless the princess bound him to her in flowery chains, which
entangled him more and more, until the tortured Malec, whilst visiting
King Anushah in her company, exceeded the limits of propriety she had
laid down for him and was turned into an ox.
In this form he was set to draw water, and tears trickled down his
ox-like face at the indignities he had to undergo. His uncle, seeing
the animal's distress, said, "Malec Muhammed, if this be you, make
some sign to let me know!"
The ox nodded as a sign.
"The curse of God light on you and your doings," said the Vizier, and
he had the ox driven to a stall and ordered his servants to fatten him
up for the winter, when he intended to make mince-meat of him.
After six months had passed, however, King Anushah interfered and
asked the Vizier to pardon Malec's folly. Enough medicine was sent for
to serve its purpose even if Malec had been metamorphosed a hundred
times and he was called into his uncle's presence.
"Gallows face!" cried the Vizier, "this time you must thank the Shah
that you are to become a man once more, for _I_ should have let you
die in disgrace. If you take an oath never to behave so foolishly
again I will give you the medicine."
The ox pleaded and nodded, the dose was administered and Malec became
himself again.
"Really," said the Shah, "you have made a beast of yourself often
enough, Muhammed," and he made him promise not to do it again.
But even then Malec had not learnt wisdom, and after many
vicissitudes, when he was brought once more into the presence of his
charmer, he found her fascination too much for his senses.
The languid Narcissus-like eyes of Geti Afraz yielded to slumber after
a banquet, and she fell asleep on her sofa with Malec by her side. In
tenderest mood he rained kiss after kiss upon her lips:
"Bless the sweet power of wine," he cries,
"That seals so sound her lovely eyes."
Unable to restrain himself further he laid one hand upon her
lily-white bosom, and she started up with the cry, "Cursed dog, what
are you doing?" and he became a dog.
For many months Malec endured this new indignity, for his uncle, the
Vizier, declared that he should wear a dog's collar round his neck
till the day of his death, but the princess herself, relenting of the
cruel fate to which she had condemned her lover, contrived that the
Shah's wife, Ruh Afza, should transform her husband into an animal in
order that he might suffer what Malec was suffering.
As soon as the Shah offered his caresses to her, Ruh Afza cried out:
"Ha! you cat, what? Would you scratch me?" and immediately the Shah
found himself whirled round and round, and, taking a spring with his
head down and his heels up, he assumed the form of a cat. All the rest
of the night he strolled through the garden caterwauling piteously.
In the morning he met the Vizier, who recognised his master, King
Anushah, at once, and restored him to his normal condition.
The Shah, wishing to vent his anger on Geti Afraz for this insult to
his dignity, decided to execute Malec, "to sear her bosom with a
lasting wound," for he believed her to be fond of Malec in spite of
her conduct. Sending for the poor dog he lashed the animal severely.
Then, in his pain, Malec cried out to his enchantress to rescue him
from danger, and she relented, restoring him to human form and
rewarding him with her love.
One of the best descriptions of transformation by use of ointments, in
which details of the process are given, is to be found in "The
Metamorphosis or Golden Ass of Apuleius," in which Lucius, the hero,
happening to use the wrong salve, transforms himself into a donkey
instead of into a bird as he intended. The manner in which he has to
resume human shape is by partaking of rose leaves.
Lucius witnesses the transformation of Pamphile into a bird. Watching
through the chink of the door leading to her chamber he sees Pamphile
divest herself of her garments and after opening a certain small
chest, take several boxes therefrom, uncover one of them and rub
herself for a long time with the ointment, from the soles of her feet
to the crown of her head. Holding a lamp in her hand she uttered a
long incantation, and then shook her limbs with a tremulous agitation;
and from these, lightly fluctuating, soft feathers extended and strong
wings burst forth, her nose hardened and incurvated, the nails were
compressed and made crooked, and Pamphile turned into an owl. Giving
voice to a querulous sound, she made trial of her new attributes,
gradually leaping from the earth, and soon after, being raised on
high, she flew out of doors with all the force of her wings. Thus she
was voluntarily changed by her own magic arts.
Lucius then asked Pamphile's maid, Fotis, for a little ointment from the
same box, as he much desired to experience a similar transformation. At
first Fotis demurred, but at last agreed to do what he asked, telling
him that a change back to human form could be effected by "small and
frivolous herbs," such as dill put into fountain water, with the leaves
of the laurel given as a lotion, and also to drink.
The matter being decided, Fotis went into the bedchamber of her
mistress and fetched a box of ointment from the chest, which she
brought to Lucius, who thus tells the story of what took place.
"Having obtained the box from Fotis, and having prayed that
transformation would favour me with prosperous flights, I hastily
divested myself of all my garments, and having ardently put my hand
into the box and taken from it a sufficient quantity of the ointment,
I rubbed with it the members of my body. And now, balancing my arms
with alternate efforts, I longed to be changed into a bird. No plumes,
however, germinated, but my hairs became evidently thickened into
bristles, my tender skin was hardened into a hide, and the extremities
of my hands, all my fingers having lost their number, coalesced into
several hoofs and a long tail proceeded from the extremity of my
spine. My face was now enormous, my mouth was long, and my limbs
immoderate and pendant. Thus, also, my ears increased excessively, and
were clothed with rough hairs. And while destitute of all hope, I
consider the whole of my body, I see that I am not a bird, but an ass;
and, complaining of the deed of Fotis, but being deprived both of the
human gesture and voice, I silently expostulated with her (which was
all I could do) with my underlip hanging down, and beheld her sternly
and obliquely yet with humid eyes. But she, as soon as she beheld me
thus changed, struck her forehead with her indignant hands, and
exclaimed, 'Wretch that I am, I am undone. Trepidation, and at the
same time festination, have beguiled me, and the similitude of the
boxes has deceived me. It is well, however, that a remedy for this
transformation may be easily obtained; for by only chewing roses you
will put off the form of an ass and will immediately become again my
Lucius. And I wish I had prepared for this evening, according to my
custom, some garlands of roses, for then you would not have suffered
the delay of even one night. But as soon as it is morning, a remedy
shall hastily be procured for you.' After this manner she lamented.
But I thought I was a complete ass, and instead of Lucius a labouring
beast, yet I retained human sense."[79]
Lucius deliberated whether he should kick and bite Fotis to death, but
was only deterred by the knowledge that if he did so he would not be
able to return to human shape, so he ran to the stable and spent the
night with the horses there. But unfortunately he was driven off by a
band of robbers, and under these circumstances, necessarily abstaining
from roses which he could not get, he was forced to continue under the
form of an ass, in which he had numerous adventures.
A most remarkable series of transformations occurs in the Welsh
romance "The History of Taliesin," written about the thirteenth
century. Caridwen, who is boiling a charmed mixture from which she
hopes to secure "the three blessed drops of the grace of inspiration,"
for her ugly and deformed son, leaves her cauldron for a moment, in
which space of time one of her servants unfortunately obtains the
benefit of her wisdom. In her anger she threatens him and he, in fear,
takes to his heels. She gives chase and he changes into a hare. Then
she becomes a greyhound and gains on him. Throwing himself into the
river he takes the form of a fish, and she, as an otter, pursues him,
and he assumes the shape of a bird. She follows him as a hawk. Then he
drops to earth upon a heap of winnowed wheat, disguising himself as a
grain. Caridwen transforms herself into a high-crested black hen and
scratches among the wheat till she sifts him out and swallows him.
These kaleidoscopic changes are positively bewildering and may be
regarded as purely symbolic. They contrast with the simple and
pathetic transformation which follows.
The Ebesoana race among the Arawaks of Guiana, take their name from
"Ebesotu," the transformed heroine of the following legend:--
A love-sick maiden prayed her father, a sorcerer, to transform her
into a dog, so that she might follow her lover, who had been utterly
indifferent to her charms.
Her father treated the affair very practically indeed, in spite of
the fact that he thought his daughter very foolish.
"Take this skin," he said sadly, "and draw o'er thy shoulders,
A dog in the eyes of the loved one to be,
Its wonderful magic deceives all beholders!
Be rid of thy madness--then come back to me!"
The young lover, who was a huntsman, used to start out every morning
into the woods, followed by four dogs, but when he returned in the
evening only three of them were at heel, for one always ran home when
it came to the point of slaughtering the prey. When the hunter reached
his cottage he found it swept and clean, the fire burning, and bread
freshly baked, and he imagined a kind neighbour had done this for him.
"When they all denied it, he said, ''Tis some spirit,
Who seeing me lonely, thus strives to be kind,'
Then he saw gazing at him that dog void of merit,
Whose look was so strange it puzzled his mind."
Next day, when he noticed there were only three dogs instead of four,
he tied the hounds to a tree and went in search of the missing animal.
Peeping through a crack in the door of his cottage he saw a lovely
maiden, and the dogskin lying over a chair close by. Making a sudden
dart into the room, he seized the skin and thrusting it into the fire,
claimed the maiden as his bride.
FOOTNOTES:
[77] Homer, "The Story of the Odyssey." People's Edition, 1902, pp.
51-2.
[78] "The Tale of Malec Muhammed and Geti Afraz the Queen of the
Peris," translated from the Persian. From a MS. in the British Museum.
[79] "The Metamorphosis or Golden Ass of Apuleius," 1822, pp. 60-3.