A man has two wives, one of whom is childless, the other bears in
succession seven sons and a daughter. The childless wife cuts off the
little finger of each and takes them one by one into the forest, where
they are brought up. An old woman comes one day and tells the daughter
that if her brothers love her they will give her a bat. The girl cries
to her brothers for a bat, and one of them consults an aged man, who
sends him to the sea-shore. He puts down his gun under a tree, and a bat
from above cries out, “What wild beast is this?” The youth replies, “You
just go to sleep, old fellow.” The bat comes down, touches the gun and
it becomes a piece of wood; touches the youth and he becomes
microscopic. This in turn happens to all the brothers, after which the
girl goes to the sea-shore, and when she is under the tree the bat calls
out, “What wild beast is this?” But she does not answer; she waits till
the bat is asleep, then climbs the tree, and catching the “bird”
(_sic_), asks it where her brothers are, and on her promising to clothe
the bat in silver and gold, the creature touches the guns and the
brothers, and they are restored to their proper forms. The bat then
conducts them to their father’s house, where he asks lodgings and is
refused by the childless wife. The husband takes them in however and
kills a sheep for their entertainment. The childless wife poisons the
meat, and the bat warns the children, bidding them try a cock, a dog,
and a cat with it, which is done, and the animals die. The brothers now
decline the food and ask that their sister be allowed to prepare
somewhat for them to eat. Then the bat touches the eyes of the children,
who immediately recognise their parents, and great is the rejoicing. The
childless wife is torn in pieces by being dragged at the tail of a wild
horse, and the bat, having been dressed in silver and gold, is sent back
to his tree.
Sir Richard has given (p. 491, note) some particulars of the version in
Hahn’s collection of modern Greek tales, which generally corresponds
with Galland’s story. There is a different version in M. Legrand’s
“Recueil de Contes Populaires Grecs” (Paris, 1881), which combines
incidents in the modern Arabic story of Arab Zandyk with some of those
in Galland and some which it has exclusively: