Better swerde bar never knight.
Horn, to thee ich it thought,
Is nought a knight in Inglond
Schal sitten a dint of thine hand;
Forsake thou it nought."
Charlemagne had his "Joyeuse"; Roland his "Durendal"; Arthur his
"Excalibur"--
"All the haft twinkled with diamond sparks,
Myriads of topaz-lights, and jacinth work
Of subtlest jewellery."
A wondrous thing that "rose up out of the bosom of the lake," held by an
arm "clothed in white samite, mystic and wonderful;" and when the sword
was thrown back to the lake (its master's life being well nigh run) by
the bold Sir Bedivere--
"behold an arm
Clothed in white samite, mystic and wonderful,
That caught him by the hilt, and brandish'd him
Three times, and drew him under in the mere."
Cf. Wagner's _Epics and Romance; Asgard and the Gods; Morte d'Arthur_,
book 1, cap. xxiii. and book 21, cap. v.; _Mythical and Mediæval
Swords_, by Lady Verney, in _Contemporary Review_, October, 1880; _The
Seven Champions of Christendom;_ and Payne's _Arabian Nights_, vol. xi.
pp. 129, 164.
In the Finnish "Oriiksi muutettu poika," the devil has a wonderful
sword, which the hero obtains by the help of the horse: see also "The
Water Smith," Keightley's _Fairy Mythology_, p. 260.--"Shortshanks," in
_Dasent_, p. 153, gets possession of the only eye an old hag had, and so
obtained "a sword, such a sword! It would put a whole army to flight, be
it ever so great;" and certainly it chopped up sundry ogres later on in
the tale; cf. p. 188 in the same collection.
The trap-door by which Mirkó entered the nether world appears in many
stories, such as "St. Patrick's Purgatory"; see Baring Gould's _Curious
Myths_, p. 230, and note to "Shepherd Paul" in this collection, _infra_.
_Page 68._ In the Lapp stories it is said that if Stallo's[25] dog is
not killed as well as the monster himself, that it will lick its
master's blood and then Stallo will come to life again, just as the
witch in this story is evolved out of the morsels of unburnt ribs. See
"Stallo" and "Fogden i Vadsø, som gjorde sig til en Stallo," in _Friis_,
pp. 74, 97.
_Page 71._ The flashing eyes of the princess remind us of the Gorgons.
Her repentance is like that of the queen in the Russian story, who slays
and restores the hero; _Ralston_, p. 235.
The "strength-giving fluid" occurs in numerous stories, _e.g._, in the
Finnish stories, "Alder Block," _S. ja T._, ii., p. 2, and the
"Enchanted Horse," where the hero cannot move an immense sword until he
wets his head with the blood that is in a tub in the middle of the
forbidden room in the devil's house. Cf. also _Ralston_, p. 237;
_Dasent_, "The big bird Dan," pp. 445, 459; _Folk-Lore Record_, 1879, p.
99; and, "Irish Folk-Tales," _ibidem_, 1883, p. 55.
Sometimes it is a belt or ointment that gives strength, as in "The Blue
Belt" and "The Three Princesses of Whiteland," in _Dasent_, pp. 178,
209. Cf. _ante_, p. 248.
A daughter explains to the hero how to conquer her father, in Brockhaus,
_Märchensammlung des Somadeva Bhatta_, vol. i., p. 110.
_Page 72._ In the Karelian story "Awaimetoin Wakka," _S. ja T._ i., p.
151, the lad threw a great iron pole against Vääräpyärä's castle, in
order to let the inmates know he was coming. In the Finnish "Alder
Block," _S. ja T._ ii. p. 2, the hero throws or kicks off one of his
shoes, and it flies to his comrades, and they come and help him.
In "The History of Gherib and his brother Agib," Terkenan threw an iron
mace at his son with such power that it smote three stones out of a
buttress of the palace; Payne's _Arabian Nights_, vol. vi., p. 152. See
also "Story of Vasilisa" in Naake's _Slavonic Tales_, p. 57; and "Sir
Peppercorn," in Denton's _Serbian Folk-Lore_, p. 128: where Peppercorn
hurls the giant's mace back to him just as Mirkó did; and _Roumanian
Fairy Tales_, p. 64.
As to the name "Doghead," see Notes to "The Three Dreams," _infra_, p.
377.
_Page 74._ The castle that collapses into an apple also appears in "The
Three Princes," p. 206, in this collection.
For a variant of Knight Mezey cf. "Zöldike," a Magyar tale, in _Gaal_,
vol. iii., in which the beautiful meadow, the tent, the sleeping knight,
and the witch weaving soldiers, all occur.
THE STUDENT WHO WAS FORCIBLY MADE KING. Kriza vii.
_Page 77._ Heroes of folk-tales often attain wealth, &c., by picking up
some apparently useless thing on the road. See Halliwell, _Nursery
Rhymes_, "The Three Questions;" "The Princess of Canterbury," pp.
153-155.
Oriental writers, Indian and Persian, as well as Arab, lay great stress
upon the extreme delicacy of the skin of the fair ones celebrated in
their works, constantly attributing to their heroines, bodies so
sensitive as to brook with difficulty the contact of the finest shift,
and we may fairly assume that the skin of an Eastern beauty, under the
influence of constant seclusion and the unremitting use of cosmetics and
the bath, would in time attain a pitch of delicacy and sensitiveness
such as would in some measure justify the seemingly extravagant
statements of their poetical admirers, of which the following anecdote
(quoted by Ibn Khellikan from the historian Et Teberi) is a fair
specimen. Ardeshir Ibn Babek (Artaxerxes I.), the first Sassanian King
of Persia (A.D. 226-242), having long unsuccessfully beseiged El Hedr, a
strong city of Mesopotamia, belonging to the petty king Es Satiroun, at
last obtained possession of it by the treachery of the owner's daughter,
Nezireh, and married the latter, this having been the price stipulated
by her for the betrayal of the place to him. It happened afterwards
that one night as she was unable to sleep and turned from side to side
in the bed, Ardeshir asked her what prevented her from sleeping. She
replied, 'I never yet slept in a rougher bed than this; I feel something
irk me.' He ordered the bed to be changed, but she was still unable to
sleep. Next morning she complained of her side, and on examination a
myrtle leaf was found adhering to a fold of the skin, from which it had
drawn blood. Astonished at this circumstance, Ardeshir asked if it was
this that had kept her awake, and she replied in the affirmative. 'How,
then,' asked he, 'did your father bring you up?' She answered, 'He
spread me a bed of satin, and clad me in silk, and fed me with marrow
and cream and the honey of virgin bees, and gave me pure wine to
drink.'--Payne's _Arabian Nights_, vol. ix., note to p. 148. Cf. "the
Tale of the Dragon," in Geldart, _Folk-Lore of Modern Greece_, p. 142.
The same idea is the theme of _Andersen's_ "The Princess and the
Pea."--Cf. Finnish verse about the lovely Katherine, p. 314.
_Page 78._ The castle turns round upon the approach of the dragon in the
story of "Vasilisa," in _Naaké_, p. 51; see also _Ralston_, p. 66.
THE CHILDREN OF TWO RICH MEN. Kriza viii.
For another variant cf. the Magyar tale "The Poor Man and His Child's
Godfather" in Merènyi's _Eredeti Népmesék_, vol. i. See also the Finnish
story, "Lehmää wuohena myöjä," ("The Man who sold his Cow as a Goat")
from Tavastland and Karelia, _S. ja T._ ii. p. 126, which tells of a man
being fooled into the belief that his cow was a goat, but in the end he
overreaches the sharpers.
Cf. Dasent's _Tales from the Norse:_ "Gudbrand on the Hill Side," p.
172; "Not a Pin to choose between them," p. 198; and "Big Peter and
Little Peter," p. 387.
_Grimm_, "Wise Folks," vol. ii. p. 73; "Hans in Luck," vol. i. p. 325.
Ralston, _Russian Folk-Tales_, "The Fool and the Birch Tree"
(Afanassieff V. No. 52), p. 49. Also the latter part of the "Bad wife,"
_ib._ i. No. 9.
_Gubernatis_, vol. i. pp. 44, 200, and 388.
_Dublin Magazine_ 1868, p. 707, "Bardiello."
Payne's _Arabian Nights_, vol. iv. p. 223, "The Simpleton and the
Sharper."
_Udvalgte Eventyr og Fortœllinger_ ved C. Molbech. _Kjöbenhavn_,
1843, p. 317, "Lön som forskyldt, et jydsk eventyr."
Myllenhoff, _Sagen, Märchen und Lieder der Herzogthümer Schleswig
Holstein und Lauenburg_. (Kiel, 1845.) "Die reichen Bauern."
J. W. Wolff (Leipzig, 1845), _Deutsche Märchen und Sagen_, ii. p. 52,
"Die betrogenen Schelme."
Kletke, _Märchensaal aller Völker_, i. p. 98, "Herr Scarpacifico."
_Il Pentamerone_, ii. 10, "Lo compare."
_Grimm_, vol. i. "Clever Elsie," p. 138; Stokes, _Indian Fairy Tales_;
"Foolish Sachúli," pp. 27, 257; _Folk-Lore Record_, 1884, p. 40, Variant
of "The Three Noodles." See also Halliwell's _Nursery Rhymes_, "Mr.
Vinegar," p. 149, and the well-known verses about the pedlar called
Stout, and "The Wise Men of Gotham," pp. 24, 56.
Amongst the numerous other simpleton stories we may note those where
people harrow up their feelings about that which might happen to as yet
unborn children.
The following are Magyar simpleton tales:--
The people in one village tried to carry a ladder through a forest
_across_ their shoulders and cut all the trees down so as to get
through.
_In another_: A stork soiled the new gold nob on the spire and they shot
it so awkwardly that it hung there and disfigured the place worse than
ever.
_In another_: Some grass was growing upon an old church: so, instead of
cutting it and throwing it down, they erected an elaborate scaffold and
pulled a bull up by a rope tied round his neck. The poor brute, half
strangled, put out his tongue, whereupon they said, "See, he wants it
already."
_In another_: When the Turks were coming they put a foal in a little
grotto, and when it grew they could not get it out.
_In another_: By mistake they made it out that they ate the _same_
lentils twice, which is still a joke against them.
In Finland there are many such tales current, of which the following are
specimens. There is a village called Hölmöla, the inhabitants of which
are said to be very cautious, and who always considered well before
doing anything, lest they might get into trouble by overmuch haste. For
instance, when they are going to cut their rye, they always take seven
persons, one bent the rye-stalk down; another held a piece of wood under
it; the third cut the straw off; the fourth carried it to the sheaf; the
fifth bound the sheaf; the sixth piled the sheaves together; and the
seventh ricked them. Matti chanced to see them one day, and was struck
with their manner of working. When evening came there was but a quarter
of the field cut; so he thought he would do them a good turn, and set to
work to cut and bind the rest. When he had finished he laid his sickle
on the last shock and went to sleep. Next morning, when the Hölmöla
people came, they found all cut, and the sickle lying on the shock. They
were all astounded, and came to the conclusion that work done in such
hurry must have been done by witchcraft, and that the sickle was the
wizard who had transformed himself into that shape, and concluded that
he ought to be drowned in order to prevent him interfering with honest
folks' work for the future. As it was not deemed wise to touch such a
creature, they fished it down by means of a long pole with a loop at the
end, and dragged it to the shore, although it was very troublesome, as
it would stick into the stubble and ditches, and try to prevent them
dragging it along. At last it was got into a boat, and rowed off into
the middle of the lake. They then tied a large stone to the handle with
a strong rope, so that it might not float, and then with joyous shout
threw it into the water. Unfortunately the sickle caught the bulwark of
the boat; and, being weighted with a heavy stone, the boat canted over,
and the good folks barely escaped with their lives from the wicked wiles
of the wizard.[26]
Once they built a hut, and did it so thoroughly that they forgot the
windows. When it was done, it was very dark, and so they sat down to
consider how to get the light in. At last they hit upon a plan: the
light was to be brought in a sack! So they opened the bag wide in the
sunlight, and then, when it was full, tied it carefully up, and brought
it in; but alas! the darkness was not enlightened. They were very much
cast down at this; and while they pondered over it Matti passed by, and,
hearing of their trouble, offered to get them the needed light for one
hundred marks; and they were delighted to get it for so little. Matti
cut a hole in the wall, and lo! the hut was flooded with light. The
people were so delighted that they decided to take the whole wall down.
Now they had light enough, but unfortunately, just then the hut fell
down.
The writer of this has often heard in Holderness of a man who could not
get into his trousers, and used to get up hours before his comrade, and
get into his trousers by setting them up by a chair and jumping into
them; till at last he was told to sit down, and put on first one leg and
then the other. This was a great revelation to him. Another man took his
wheelbarrow to wheel daylight in, and worked away till he was told to
open his shutters, and it would _come_ in. One day another brilliant saw
some grass in a church steeple, and was just going to hoist his cow up
to it, when a friend pointed out to him that it was easier for _him_ to
go up and bring it down. When at school at Newcastle-on-Tyne, some
twenty years ago, we were very fond of the story of a Dutchman, who,
with his comrades, went out walking one night; saw the moon's reflection
in the water, and thought it was a Dutch cheese. He determined that the
best way to get it was to go on to the bridge, and by taking hold of
each other's feet to form a chain, and so reach the cheese. The Dutchman
was top man, and held on to the bridge. Just when the bottom man was
about to seize the cheese, the Dutchman hollowed out, "Hold on a minute,
till I spit on my hands!" and so they all fell into the water, and
destroyed the cheese, besides other calamities![27]
Amongst the Lapps, it is the Giants, and Stallo who are fooled, _e.g._:
"Patto-Poadnje hævner sig paa Stallo," "En Askelad narrer Stallo," and
an amusing story of how a dressed-up log was palmed off as a Lapp girl
("Stallobruden"). _Friis_, pp. 78, 90 and 98.
See also "Den listige Lappen," Hofberg, _Svenska Sägner_, p. 195; and a
Russian variant given in _Ralston_, p. 53.
Forgetting to put the spigot into the vessel, and so losing all the
wine, occurs in "The Husband who had to mind the House," _Dasent_, p.
310, and in _Grimm_, vol. i.; cf. also note to "Frederick and
Catherine," p. 238; and "Clever Hans," p. 381.
_Page 82._ In _S. ja T._ ii. pp. 113-126, under head "Kuolema Kummina"
("Death as Godfather"), two stories are given which resemble this part
of the Magyar tale. In "Taiwaan wuohen synty" ("Heaven's Goat's Origin")
from Karelia, a poor man has a child, and goes to look for a godfather.
He meets a stranger, who turns out to be God; but the poor man will not
have him, as he makes one poor and another rich. Soon after he meets
Death, and him he accepts, for with him there are no favourites. Death
gives his godchild three gifts: a chair that whoever sits down on it
cannot get up without leave; a bag that is never empty; and the power to
know whether a person will recover, by noticing whether Death stands at
the head or foot of the bed. The man lived to be over three hundred
years old by tricking Death; and when he died he was not admitted into
heaven because he called God a deceiver, and so he still goes wailing in
mid-air: and this was the origin of the Snipe. In the other story,
"Taiwaasen menijä," (Going to Heaven,) from Kivigari in Tavastland,
Death gives the man an ointment, as a christening present, to heal all,
providing the man sees him standing at the foot of the patient's bed.
Death is grossly deceived, and when the man does die, he only gets into
heaven by a fluke. A variant of the whole story is "Gambling Hansel,"
_Grimm_, No. 81. See also: _Grimm_, vol. i. "The Godfather," p. 168;
"Godfather Death," p. 171, and note, p. 391; and "Brother Lustig," p.
312. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_, ii. p. 951; _Dasent_, "The Master
Smith," p. 120; C. Molbech, _Udvalgte Eventyr_, No. 70: "Döden og hans
Gudsön," and "Brave Petrus en zign Zak," a Flemish Tale in _Volkskunde_.
Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsche Folklore onder redactie van Prof. A.
Gittée 3ᵉ Aflevering 1888, may be quoted as further instances.
Mistress Death appears in "Starving John, the Doctor," in _Patrañas_, p.
125; and in _Vernaleken_, "Hans with the Goitre," p. 238, it is a
skeleton.
In a Wendish Story, St. Hedwige stands as godmother; see _Dublin
Magazine_, 1861, p. 355.
In the Russian Story, "The Bad Wife," _Afanassieff_, i. No. 9, quoted in
_Ralston_, p. 39, the devil flies out of Tartarus, to get out of the bad
wife's way, and assists her husband to become a great doctor. See also a
Lapp variant, from Utsjok, "Kjærringen og Fanden," in _Friis_, p. 138.
THE HUSSAR AND THE SERVANT GIRL. Kriza xix.
Cf. _Dasent_, "The Dancing Gang," p. 507; and the "Drop of Honey," in
Payne's _Arabian Nights_, vol. v. p. 275, where, we are told, "a certain
man used to hunt the wild beasts in the desert, and one day he came upon
a grotto in the mountains, where he found a hollow full of bees' honey.
So he took somewhat thereof in a water-skin he had with him, and,
throwing it over his shoulder, carried it to the city, followed by a
hunting dog which was dear to him. He stopped at the shop of an oilman,
and offered him the honey for sale, and he bought it. Then he emptied it
out of the skin, that he might see it, and in the act a drop fell to the
ground; whereupon the flies flocked to it, and a bird swooped down upon
the flies. Now, the oilman had a cat, which pounced upon the bird, and
the huntsman's dog, seeing the cat, sprang upon it and killed it;
whereupon the oilman ran at the dog and killed it; and the huntsman in
turn leapt upon the oilman and killed him. Now the oilman was of one
village and the huntsman of another; and when the people of the two
places heard what had passed, they took up arms and rose on one another
in anger, and there befel a sore battle; nor did the sword cease to play
amongst them till there died of them much people; none knoweth their
number save God the Most High." See also, "_The Book of Sindibad_,"
Folk-Lore Society, 1882, p. 133.
MY FATHER'S WEDDING. Kriza x.
Cf. Halliwell, _Nursery Rhymes:_ "Sir Gammer Vans," p. 147.
_Grimm_, vol. ii., "The story of Schlauraffen land," p. 229; "No-beard
and the Boy," p. 518; "The Turnip," p. 213, and notes, pp. 413, 442,
452.
_Vernaleken_, "The King does not believe Everything," p. 241.
Caballero, _Fairy Tales_, "A tale of Taradiddles," p. 80.
Denton, _Serbian Folk-Lore_, "Lying for a Wager," p. 107.
Stokes, _Indian Fairy Tales_, Nos. 4, 8, and 17.
Ralston, _Russian Folk-Tales_, p. 295.
Mr. Quigstad has kindly sent the following Lapp variants collected at
Lyngen. There was once a pot so large that when cooking was going on at
one end, little boys were skating at the other. One of the men to whom
the pot belonged set to work to make his comrade a pair of shoes, and
used up seven ox-hides on the job. One of them got a bit of dust in his
eye, and the other sought for it with an anchor, and found during his
search a three-masted ship, which was so large that a little boy who
went aloft was a white-haired old man when he got back again. There were
seven parishes in that ship!
"Lügenmärchen" are common in Finland, and generally turn on a big fish,
or a big turnip, and a big kettle to boil it in, giant potatoes, huge
mushrooms, and so on. A schoolboy's story in Newcastle-on-Tyne relates
how one man told his comrade of a remarkable dream he had had of an
enormous turnip; whereat his comrade replied he had dreamt about an
enormous kettle which was to boil the turnip in.
The other day a Boston friend told the writer a Lincolnshire story of a
man who grew such splendid turnips that there were only three in a
ten-acre field, and one grew so big it pushed the other two out. This
man had a mate who made such a big kettle, that the man at one side
could not hear the rivetting at the other! I am told by my friend Prof.
Gittée that similar tales are current in Flanders.
Another north country yarn tells of a naked blind man going out to
shoot, and seeing six crows, he shot them, and put them in his pocket.
_Page 88._ The river Olt rises in Transylvania, and flows into the
Danube in Wallachia, in which country it is called the Aluta.
THE BAA-LAMBS. Kriza xiv.
Cf. "Saint Peter's Goddaughter," in _Portuguese Folk-Tales_. Folk-Lore
Society, 1882, p. 54.
Dasent, _Tales from the Norse_, "The Seven Foals," p. 349.
Naaké, _Slavonic Tales:_ "The Three Brothers", p. 254.
Stokes, _Indian Fairy Tales_, "The King's Son," p. 234; and the Servian
tale quoted on p. 294.
_Page 93._ Kriza notes that the "rotting, dead dog's head" occurs in the
"Historiae Tripartitae ex Socrate, Sozomeno et Theodorico in unum
collectae," by Cassiodorus; ii. 12. The first edition appeared in 1472.
FAIRY ELIZABETH. Kriza xv.
Cf. Vernaleken, _In the Land of Marvels_, "The Outcast Son," p. 151.
_Page 98._ The Judas she-devil's service lasted for three days in "The
Three White Doves," _Vernaleken_, p. 269.
Amongst the many stories in which time passes rapidly, see Gilmour,
_Among the Mongols_, "The Wizard," p. 344; Ralston, _Russian
Folk-Tales_, p. 304; Baring-Gould, _Curious Myths_, "The Seven
Sleepers," p. 93; and _Friis_, "Troldkjaerringen og Jes," from Swedish
Lapmark, p. 38.
In the Lapp tale, _Friis_, No. 45, swan-maids come and steal the corn,
and the two elder sons fail to catch the thieves, Gudnavirus
(Ashiepattle) the youngest, succeeding in doing so.
_Page 99._ Concerning the bird enticing the boy, cf. the bird that
steals the jewel in "Kemerezzam and Budour," in Payne's _Arabian
Nights_, vol. iii. p. 157.
Cf. also Rink, _Tales of the Eskimo_, "The Sun and the Moon," p. 236;
_S. ja T._, i., "Lippo ja Tapio," from Ilomantsi, p. 6; and _Friis_,
Nos. 44 and 45.
In some other Magyar tales a lame wolf or a lame eagle takes the
woodpecker's place. Cf. Gaal, "Többsinsckirályfi" ("Prince Non-such").
In a Bohemian story it is a limping cock-pigeon, see _Vernaleken_, p.
359.
_Page 101._ Numerous incidents in folk-tales bear on the widespread
superstition against looking (or going) back after setting out on a
journey.
Cf. _Friis_, "Ulta-Pigen," where a lad is returning home with his bride;
the girl warns him not to look back but he does, and lo! there is a
great herd of beasts his wife's parents have given him. The moment he
turned all those outside of the gate vanished; in "Jætten og
Veslegutten," the lad fools the giant, because he dare not look back;
and in "Bondesønnen og Solens Søster," the hero stumbles and falls and
so sees behind him and in a moment the king's town and palaces
disappear.
See also Rink, _Tales of the Eskimo_, "The Revived who came to the
underground people," p. 300; Hofberg, _Svenska Sägner_, "Soåsafrun";
Stokes, _Indian Fairy Tales_, "The Bél Princess," pp. 140, 283; and
Gregor, _Folk-Lore of North-East Scotland_, Folk-Lore Society, 1881, p.
91.
A Lincolnshire labouring man, when I lived in the north of the county,
told me he knew a wizard who wished to mend the road that led to his
house across a field. He ordered one of his men to take a cartful of
stones and a rake and to set off to mend the road, which was to be done
as follows. The cart was to be taken to the far side of the field, and
driven slowly along the road that needed mending, but the man was under
no circumstances to look back. He did as he was ordered, but there was
such a noise behind him that when he had got nearly over the field he
looked round, and lo! there were thousands of devils at work, who
disappeared the moment he looked round, and the road is not done yet.
In the same part of Lincolnshire, one day when a lady had gone out with
a child to be baptized she turned back as she had forgotten something;
when she entered the house one of the servants begged her to sit down
before she went out again or something terrible would happen. The same
superstition exists in Holderness, Finland, Hungary, Algeria, and
Sweden.
_Page 101._ Amongst the numberless examples of swan-maidens, cf. the
following:
_Friis_, "Pigen fra Havet," p. 27; "Bæivekongens eller Solkongens
Datter," p. 152; and "Goveiter-Pige," p. 39, where the girls appear in
gorgeous dresses.
_S. ja T._ i. p. 35, "Tuhkamo"; and ii. p. 53, "Ei-niin-mitä."
Hofberg, _Svenska Sägner_: "Jungfrun i Svanhamn," p. 27.