plough with two oxen, and led them, as an intelligent being ought, to
the river's brink to drink. But, just as now, beauty is the first thing
among girls, and the good-looking ones often gaze into the
looking-glass. So, also, did she, the handsome Videvik. She let her oxen
be oxen, and went to the river's edge; and lo! there on the silver
looking-glass of the water lay reflected the eyebrows black as dung
beetles, and the charming gold-coloured cheeks, and her heart was glad.
The moon, who in accord with the Creator's command and ordinance, was
going to light the land, in place of the sun, who had sunk to rest,
forgot to attend to his duty, and threw himself, like an arrow, with
loving desire into the earth's deep bosom, down to the bottom of the
river; and there, mouth to mouth, and lip to lip, he sealed his
betrothal to Videvik with a kiss, and claimed her as his bride. But,
during this he had quite forgotten his duties; and, see! deep darkness
covered the land whilst he lay on Videvik's bosom. Then occurred a sad
misfortune. The forest robber, Wolf, who now had all his own way, as no
one could see him, tore one of Videvik's oxen, which had gone to the
forest to feed, and seized it as food for himself. Although the shrill
nightingale was heard, and its clear song from the forest rang through
the darkness:
"Lazy girl! lazy girl! the long night! the striped ox!
To the furrows! to the furrows! fetch the whip! fetch the nag!
Tsät! Tsät!"
"Laisk tüdruk, laisk tüdruk, ööpik! kiriküüt!
Raule, raule, too püts, too püts!
Tsät! Tsät!"
Yet Videvik heard not: she forgot all but love. Blind, deaf, and without
understanding is love. Of the five senses but feeling is left! When
Videvik at last woke from her love, and saw the Wolf's deed, she wept
bitterly, and her tears became a sea. The innocent tears did not fall
unobserved by Vana-isa (the old father). He stepped down from his golden
heaven to punish the evil-doers, and to set a watch over those who had
broken his commands. He scolded the wicked Wolf, and the Moon received
Videvik to wife. To this day Videvik's mild face shines by the Moon's
side, longingly looking at the water where she tasted for the first time
her husband's love. Then Vana-isa said, "In order that there may be no
more carelessness about the light, and lest darkness grows in power, I
command you, guardians, go each one to your place. And you, Moon and
Videvik, take charge of the light by night. Koit and Ämarik I put
daylight into your hands. Do your duty honestly. Daughter Ämarik in your
care I place the setting sun. See that in the evening every spark be put
out, so that no accident happen, and that all men be in peace! And you
my son Koit take care when you light the new light of the new day that
every place has its light." Both the Sun's servants honestly attended to
their duty, so that he was never missing, even for a single day, from
the heavens. The short summer nights now drew near, when Koit and Ämarik
stretched hand and mouth to each other: the time when the whole world
rejoices, and the little birds make the forests ring with their songs in
their own language; when plants begin to bloom, and shoot forth in their
beauty; when Vana-isa stepped down from his golden throne to keep
Lijon's festival. He found all in order, and rejoiced greatly over his
creation, and said to Koit and Ämarik, "I am pleased with your
watchfulness, and wish you continued happiness! You may now become man
and wife." But they both replied together, "Father, perplex us not. We
are satisfied as we are, and wish to remain lovers: for in this we have
found a happiness which never grows old, but is ever young." Vana-isa
granted their wish, and returned to his golden heaven.
Cf. Castrén, _Finsk Mytologi_, p. 66, and "Kalevala," Run. 17, line 478.
The Rev. Dr. Taylor kindly points out Dr. Donner's observation in his
_Lieder der Lappen_, p. 55: "Diese Anschauung ist doch bekanntlich auch
unter den arischen Völkern vielfach verbreitet."
For the discovery of the hero by his shooting, and the rest of the
incidents of the story, cf. _Grimm_, ii. "The Skilful Huntsman," p. 103,
and notes, p. 412: and the marshal in "The Two Brothers," _Grimm_, i. p.
252. In the Lapp. _Friis_, No. 18, the Vesle boy compels the nobles who
go out shooting with him to give him the rings they had received from
the princesses they are betrothed to, before he will give them some
ptarmigan he had shot, and which they are anxious to have, as they had
been unsuccessful in their search for game; and this in order to prevent
false boasting on the part of the nobles, as we find in other variants.
Juanillo, in the Spanish tale, makes each of his brothers give him a
golden pear, and then one of their ears; and next insists upon branding
them on the shoulder, as if they were his slaves: and so in the end
proves their treacherous conduct; see _Patrañas_, "Simple Johnny," p.
38.
In "Gutten, Havfruen, og Ridder Rød," from Lyngen, _Friis_, p. 131,
Knight Red[15] acts the part of a traitor, and is shown to be so by the
hero, who exhibits part of a ring, the other part of which the princess
has, and which they broke when the lad entered the princess' tower to
fetch the king's sword, which was hidden there. The reward for bringing
it to the battle-field being the princess' hand.
See also Ritter Red in "Shortshanks," and the "Big Bird Dan," pp. 155,
443, in Dasent's _Tales from the Norse_.
In a Russian tale (_Afanassieff_, vi. 52), Ivan, by the help of his
animals, kills the twelve-headed serpent that is killing all his people,
and then goes to sleep on the princess's knees. A water-carrier passing
cuts off Ivan's head, and presents himself as the hero. The beasts
return, and find a crow upon Ivan's body, which they spare on condition
that it brings the water of life and death. (This incident occurs in the
Finnish "Golden Bird" a raven coming with its young ones to eat the
corpse.) Ivan is resuscitated, and the water-carrier punished.
_Gubernatis_, vol. i. 216. Dogs restore the dead hero to life in the
story of "John and the Amulet." _Folk-Lore Record_, 1884, p. 197. The
candle at the princesses' heads suggests the Indian stories which tell
of sticks placed at the head or feet, and whilst they are there the girl
cannot move. _Stokes_, pp. 54, 186.
THE LAZY SPINNING GIRL WHO BECAME A QUEEN. Kriza, iv.
The story of the mannikin who is clever at spinning or weaving is
widespread. Thus, in a rubric of the "Catalan" map of the world, in the
National Library at Paris, the date of which map has been fixed at A.D.
1375, we read, "Here [N.W. of Catayo] grow little men who are but five
palms in length; and though they be little, and not fit for weighty
matters, yet they be brave and _clever at weaving_, and at keeping
cattle...." (Col. Yule's translation in _Cathay, and the Way Thither_.)
A Swedish story tells how a young newly-married girl is terribly upset
by the constant calls of household work; and one morning, in despair at
the many things to be done, she shut herself in the room, and, throwing
herself on the couch, wept bitterly, saying, "Oh, unhappy me! Is there
no one to help me, or comfort a poor woman?" "I can," said a voice; and
lo! there was the old man of Hoberg, a good sprite, who had been a
friend to the family for generations.
"You bewail your slave life," said the old man, "but that comes from
your want of practice in real work. I will give you ten obedient
servants who will faithfully assist you in all your doings." Just then
he shook his coat, and ten droll little creatures sprang out, and began
to put the room in order. "Stretch forth your hands to me," said the old
man. Elsa tremblingly put out her hands to the old man, who said--
"Tummetott, Hjertehand
Slikepott, Lille Per Roligman."
Långestång,[16]
"Be quick and take your places!" In a moment the ministering spirits
disappeared into Elsa's fingers, and the old man vanished.
The young wife sat staring at her hands for a time, but soon felt a
strange desire to work.
"Here am I sitting dreaming," said she, with unwonted cheerfulness, "and
it's already seven o'clock. Everyone is waiting for me," she continued;
and, hurrying out, she began her work. From that time she was the model
housewife of the district; see _Hofberg_, p. 58. "De tio tjenstandarna,"
from Småland.[17]
Cf. the mannikin called "Panczimanczi," in Lad. Arany's "_Eredeti
Népmesék_," p. 277. His height is half an ell, his moustache two ells,
his beard three ells long. He is seen leaping merrily over a fire, and
heard singing the following: "I am Panczimanczi; no one knows my name; I
roast, I cook, I boil; the day after to-morrow I shall fetch my pretty
bride home."
In Kriza's tale his name is Dancing Vargaluska. "How the name is held to
be part of the very being of the man who bears it, so that by it his
personality may be carried away, and, so to speak, grafted elsewhere,
appears in the way in which the sorcerer uses it as a means of putting
the life of his victim into the image upon which he practises;" _e.g._
the widespread making of wax images to represent certain persons, and
then melting them, that the persons named may waste away. Magyar
peasants say, that hair combings must not be thrown away, lest the birds
get them, and build them in their nests; for whilst they are doing so,
you will have headache; and again, if a young girl wishes to compel a
young man to marry her she must steal something from the young man, and
take it to a witch, who adds to it three beans, three bulbs of garlic, a
few pieces of dry coal, and a dead frog. These are all put into an
earthenware pot, and placed under the threshold, with the words, "Lord
of the infernal regions and of the devils, and possessor of the hidden
treasure, give to N. or M. some incurable illness (or inflame him with
unquenchable love for N. or M.), and I will join you."
See also "The two Orphans," where the witch's daughter steals a lock of
the queen's hair, p. 222. Cf. the Finnish method of curing "knarr"
(German "Knirrband"), a complaint that is common at harvest-time among
those who are not used to the reaping-hook. Amongst its symptoms are
curious crackings of the wrist. The sick one asks someone who is well
"to chop his knarr" for him, which is done as follows. The patient lays
his sick hand upon a chopping block, and three pieces of three-jointed
straw are so laid, side by side, as to correspond joint for joint. The
"doctor" then takes an axe, and chops with all his strength into the
block through the first joint. "What are you chopping?" asks the sick
one. "I'm chopping the 'knarr' out of your joint into the wood." The
same question and answer is repeated after second blow; after the last
blow the chopper cries "Now he's gone!" In North Germany the ceremony is
performed on the threshold, and ends with the sign of the cross. Cf.
_Finnish Folk-Lore_ in "_Notes and Queries_," 6th S. xi. p. 23. Also,
_Suomen Muinaismuisto-Yhdistyksen Aikakauskirja_, v. p. 103.
Algerian peasants have a great objection to their portraits being taken;
and Holderness folks rub warts with stolen beef, &c., and let it rot,
saying the warts will disappear with the decaying of the meat, &c., &c.
"A similar train of thought shows itself in the belief that the
utterance of the name of a deity gives to man a means of direct
communication with the being who owns it, or even places in his hands
the supernatural power of that being, to be used at his will." Tylor's
_Early History of Mankind_, pp. 124, 129, and Lubbock's _Origin of
Civilisation_, p. 245.
Cf. Swedish "Jätten Finn och Lunds domkyrka." _Hofberg_, p. 12. The
giant promises to build a church for the white Christ if Laurentius can
find out his name, and if not he must forfeit his eyes--
"Helt visst
Är hvite krist
En gud, som sitt temple är värdig.
Jag bygger det jag, om du säger mig blott
Hvad namn jag fått,
Se'n kyrkan är murad och färdig.
Men kan du ej säga mitt namn, välan,
Du vise man!
Gif akt på hvad vite jag sätter:
Då måste du ge mig åt mina små
De facklor två,
Som vandra på himmelens slätter."[18]
Laurentius found out that the giant's name was "Finn" by hearing the
giantess hush her crying child.
Similar tales are told of many churches. _E.g._ Drontheim Cathedral,
where the giant is called "Skalle"; see Sjöborg, _Collections_, Part ii.
p. 182. Of Eskilssäter's Church, where the giant's name was "Kinn," see
Fernow, _Verml. Beskr_, i. p. 318.
Also of a church in Norrland, where St. Olaf found out the troll's name,
"Wind and Weather," see _Iduna_, vol. iii. p. 60; and about Kallundborgs
Church, in Själland, cf. Thiele, _Danske Folkesagn_, i. p. 43.
_Tales from the Land of Hofer_, "The Wild Jäger and the Baroness";
secret name, "Buzinigala," p. 110.
In the _Land of Marvels_, Vernaleken, "Winterkolble," p. 24; and
"Kruzimügeli," p. 28.
_Grimm_. vol. i. "Rumpelstiltskin," pp. 221, 412.[19]
The tale appears to be confused towards the end, the three deformed
beggars being the three aunts of the Norse; see _Dasent_, p. 222. The
ordinary story has no dwarf or secret name in it; cf. Spanish tale of
"Guardian Spirits," in _Caballero_, p. 64.
Also, _Patrañas_, "What Anna saw in the Sunbeam," p. 193.
And in _Portuguese Folk-Tales_. "The Aunts." _Folk-Lore Soc_. p. 79.
On the other hand, in the Swedish story from Upland the girl who could
spin gold from clay and long straw was helped by a dwarf whose name
turned out to be "Titteli Ture!". See Thorpe's _Yule Tales_, p. 168.
See also, _Grimm_, ii. p. 163, "The Lazy Spinner," in which the woman by
her wit contrives to evade her spinning; notes, p. 428. The Finnish
story of "The Old Woman's Loom," from Korpo, is almost identical with
Grimm's.
THE ENVIOUS SISTERS. Kriza, v.
Cf. the beginning of the tale "The Three Princesses," in the present
volume, p. 144. The tale is frequently found in Hungary, also amongst
the Germans and Servians.
For cruelty towards the best (generally the youngest), cf. pp. 36, 152,
182 in this collection; _Chaucer_ and _Boccacio_; _Grimm_, i. "The Girl
without Hands," p. 127, and Notes, p. 378. The Finnish variant tells how
there was once a brother and sister, and when the father was dying he
said to his son, "Treat your sister well." All went on comfortably until
the brother married a girl who was "the devil's wife's daughter," and
before long, owing to her slanders, the sister was turned out. The girl
then went to the king's castle, and lived there as a beggar. In the
spring the king's son went to sow his field, and said: "Who first eats
of these peas, she shall be my wife." This he said in a joke to the
others. But the girl was there, behind the fence, and she heard and
remembered it all.
Summer came--the peas were ripe. Then the girl dug a hole under the
fence, and went and ate some peas. Suddenly the king's son remembered
his pea-field, and thought, "I will go and see how the peas are getting
on." He went and saw some one had been eating them, and so he watched for
some time, and lo! a girl came cautiously through a hole and began to
eat the peas. The king's son seized her and carried her home in a sheet.
Then he dressed her in a royal dress, and made her ready to be his wife,
as a king's bride ought to be. They lived together till the king's son
made his wife pregnant, then he was obliged to go to the war, and he
said to his wife, "If you have a boy send me a letter, and I will come
back: if it is a girl, send me a letter, and I will come back when I
can." Well! the wife had a son. She sent a letter asking her husband to
come home at once, and sent a slave with it. The slave went to spend the
night in the girl's home. When he had been there a little time the
mistress said, "Would you like to sleep here?" "Yes," answered the
messenger, and began to bathe; but the devil's daughter, in the
meantime, opened his bag and changed the letter's meaning, and put "a
female child is born." The slave knew nothing of it, but set off with
the letter to the king's son. When he read it he sent the same slave
back with the answer, "I will come when I have time," and the slave
returned. On his way he came to the same house, and the mistress in the
same way sent him to the bath and opened the bag and changed the letter,
"As the child is born, the woman must put off the royal dress and put on
her own rags, and she may, with her child, go where she likes." The
slave brought the letter to the wife, who did as the letter said, and
set off begging and moaning. She began to be thirsty, and sought for
water in the wood. In a little time she found a well, where there was
wonderfully clear water and a beautiful golden ladle. She put down her
child, and went a little way from the well. When the child was alone it
stretched out to the ladle and fell head first into the well. The mother
rushed to help him and got her child out before he was drowned. Wherever
the water touched her she became much more beautiful and white. The
child also became like no other in the world. The woman set off with her
child, and at last came to her own home, where her brother was still
living with his wife. She was not recognised, and asked for a night's
lodging. The mistress shouted, "Outside the door is a good place for
you." "Very well," said the woman, and stayed there with her child all
night.
She sat there all night, and the king with his soldiers from the war
came there. As the king walked in his room, the woman let her child
crawl on the floor. It crawled to the king, who took it and said, "Who
are you, poor woman, who are so beautiful, and have so handsome a
child?" "I have been in this house before, but my sister-in-law hated
me." "Hold your noise, you blackguard," shouted the woman, and wished
to stop her. But the other went on, "My sister-in-law hated me, and
thrashed me, and drove me away almost dead. I then went to the king's
castle, and became the king's son's wife. When I was pregnant the king's
son went to war, and I sent him a letter that I had got a boy; but he
was so angry, that he ordered me and my child out; and so I had to leave
a good home." "Hold your noise!" shouted the brother's wife again. But
the king said, "I am lord here;" and the woman continued and explained
all. The brother's wife again shouted, "Hold your noise, you
good-for-nothing!" Then the king seized her by the hair, and hanged her
from the gutter, and took his wife and boy home, and they lived happily.
If they are yet alive, I don't know. "Neitonen Hernemaassa."--"The maid
in the pea-field," _S. ja T._ 1, p. 116.--Cf. "Neitonen Kuninkaan
Sadussa," ("The maid in the king's garden,") _id_. 108; "Pigen uden
Haender," in _Udwalgte Eventyr og Fortaellinger, en Laesebog for Folket
og for den barnlige Werden_, (Copenhagen, 1843). No. 48, p. 258; "The
Girl without Hands," p. 182, in this collection; and Steere's _Swahili
Tales_. "Blessing and Property," p. 403.
The Finnish tale, "Tynnyrissä kaswanut Poika," ("The boy who grew in a
barrel,") _S. ja T._ 1, 105, tells how a king's son heard the three
daughters of a peasant woman talking. The eldest said, "I would like to
make all sorts of foods and drinks out of one corn;" the middle one, "I
would like to make all sorts of clothes out of one flax thread;" the
youngest said, "I don't like work, but will bear children three times,
and have three sons each time, who shall have:
"Kun kupeesta kuumottawi,
Päiwyt ompi pääla' ella,
Käet on kultaa kalwoisesta,
Jal'at hopeiset polwista."
"The moon shining in the temples,
The sun on the top of the head,
Hands of gold to the wrist,
Feet of silver from the knees."
The king's son marries the youngest girl and, when she is pregnant, goes
to war. She bears three sons, which the midwife exchanges for three
whelps; the same thing happens a second time; and also a third time,
when the wife manages to save one son. The people insist upon her being
sent away; and so she and her child (which she takes secretly in her
bosom) are put in a barrel and thrown into the sea. The barrel grows too
small, so the lad kicks the bottom out, and they land, and live in a
hut, where the woman makes nine cakes of her milk, and finds her other
eight boys. The king's son soon discovers them, and all goes well. The
changed letter also occurs in Antti Puuhaara.
Cf. Hahn, _Griechische Märchen_; "Sun, Moon, and Morning Star;" in which
the king's son marries all the three girls.
_Deccan Days_, "Truth's Triumph," p. 54, where Guzra Bai had one hundred
and one children, which the nurse threw out of the palace on the
dust-heap, and substituted stones for them.
_In the Land of Marvels_, "The Blackbird," p. 34.
Stokes' _Indian Tales_. "The boy who had a moon on his forehead, and a
star on his chin:" also Phúlmati Ráni who had on her head the sun; on
her hands, moons; and her face was covered with stars.
Gonzenbach, _Sicilianische Märchen_, vol. i. p. 19.
Stier, _Ungarische Volksmärchen_: "Die verwandelten Kinder."
Stier, _Ungarische Sagen_: "Die beiden jüngsten Königskinder."
Schott, _Wallachische Märchen_: "Die goldenen Kinder."
_Gubernatis_, vol. i p. 412, says, "In the European story, when the
beautiful princess, in the absence of the prince, her husband, gives
birth to two beautiful sons, the witch induces the absent prince to
believe that, instead of real sons, his young wife has given birth to
pups. In the seventh story of the third book of Afanassieff, the young
queen gives birth, during the king's absence, to two sons, of whom one
has the moon on his forehead, and the other a star on the nape of his
neck (the Açvinâu). The wicked sister of the young queen buries the
children. Where they were buried a golden sprout and a silver one sprung
up. A sheep feeds upon these plants, and gives birth to two lambs,
having, the one the sun on its head, the other a star on its neck. The
wicked sister, who has meanwhile been married to the king, orders them
to be torn in pieces, and their intestines to be thrown out into the
road. The good lawful queen has them cooked, eats them, and again gives
birth to her two sons, who grow up hardy and strong, and who, when
interrogated by the king, narrate to him the story of their origin:
their mother is recognised, and becomes once more the king's wife. The
wicked sister is put to death." In vol. ii. p. 30, another story of
Afanassieff, bk. iii. 13, is quoted, which resembles the "Envious
Sisters"; also a Servian story, p. 31, where the cut-off hands are
replaced by golden ones, by means of the ashes of three burned hairs
from the tails of a black stallion and a white mare. Reference is also
made to _Pentamerone_, bk. iii. No. 2; _Afanassieff_, bk. iii. No. 6;
_the Mediæval Legends of St. Uliva_, by Prof. A. d'Ancona, Pisa, Nistri,
1863; and, _Figlia del Re di Dacia_, by Prof. A. Wesselofski, Pisa,
Nistri, 1866.
Cf. Notes in _Stokes_, pp. 242, 250; _Grimm_, vol. i.: "The Gold
Children," p. 333.
_Portuguese Tales_, by Pedroso: "The Maiden with the Rose on her
Forehead," _F.L.S._ p. 65.
KNIGHT ROSE. Kriza vi.
In folk-stories we often find the heroes erecting some post or pole, or
leaving some article behind them, which will tell of their danger. Cf.
"The Three Princes," p. 111 of this volume. In "The Two Brothers,"
(_Grimm_, vol. i. p. 244,) the foster-father gave to each of the boys a
bright knife, and said, "If ever you separate, stick this knife into a
tree at the place where you part, and then when one of you goes back, he
will be able to see how his absent brother is faring, for the side of
the knife which is turned in the direction by which he went will rust if
he dies, but will remain bright as long as he lives." Cf. "The Gold
Children," where death is shown by the drooping of the brother's gold
lily: and notes, _ib._ p. 453.
In the Russian story "Ivan Popyalof" (_Afanassieff_, ii. 30), Ivan hung
up his gloves, and said to his brothers, "Should blood drop from my
gloves, make haste to help me."
In "Marya-Morevna" (_Afanassieff_ viii. No. 8), the silver left by
Prince Ivan turned black when evil befell him.
In "Koschei, the Deathless" (_Afanassieff_, ii. 24), Prince Ivan let
some drops of blood run from his little finger into a glass, gave it to
his brothers, and said "If the blood in this glass turns black, tarry
here no longer; that will mean I am about to die."
See Ralston's _Russian Folk-Tales_, pp. 67, 88, 102.--The Serbian story
of "The Three Brothers" tells how the brothers stuck their knives into
an oak tree, and when a knife fell out it was a sign that the owner was
dead. Vide _Denton_, p. 273.
In "Five to One," _Sagas from the Far East_, p. 107, six youths set out
and travelled till they came to where six streams met, and each planted
a tree at the head of the stream he chose, and if any tree withered away
it was a sign evil had befallen its planter.
In the Greek story, "Sun, Moon, and Morning Star," (Hahn, _Griechische
Märchen_,) the brothers give their sisters two shirts, and if they
become black it means misfortune.--Cf. also _Folk-Lore Record_, vol. i.
p. 207.