goodan," and "Den förtrollade fästemön."
_Contes des fées par Mdme d'Aulnoy_, "La chatte blanche."
_Polnische Sagen und Märchen des K. Woycicki._ "Die Kröte."
Cf. also an interesting article by Mr. Ralston, on "Beauty and the
Beast." _Nineteenth Century._ December, 1878.
THE FAIRIES' WELL.
The chief points in this tale have already been noted in others. We may,
however, note the following: The Devil in Stephen the Murderer, p. 7, in
this collection, at once appears, when summoned, as in this tale.
_Page 290._ With regard to the _menu_ of the devil, cf.
"Here lies the carcass of a curséd sinner
Doomed to be roasted for the devil's dinner."
Poems of Robert Wilde. Strahan, 1870.
_Page 296._ There is a hunt for the father of a child in the Lapp.
"Jætten, Katten og Gutten." _Friis_. Cf. Payne, _Arabian Nights_, vii.
p. 227.
_Page 297._ Hot Bath, see p. 276, in this collection; and _Afanassieff_,
v. 23.
THE CROW'S NEST.
The following version is still known to old nurses in Holderness, where
I collected it. It is called "Orange and Lemon": "There were once a
mother and a father who had two daughters, Orange and Lemon. The mother
liked Lemon best, and the father Orange. The mother used to make Orange
do all the dirty work, as soon as the father had turned his back. One
day she sent her to fetch the milk, and said, 'If you break the pitcher
I'll kill you.' As Orange returned she fell down and broke the pitcher,
and so when she came home she hid herself in the passage. When the
mother came out she saw the broken pitcher and the girl, and took her
into the house, when the girl cried 'Oh, mother! Oh, mother! Don't kill
me!'
The mother said, 'Close the shutters in.'
'Oh, mother! Oh, mother! Don't kill me!'
'Light the candle.'
'Oh, mother! Oh, mother! Don't kill me!'
'Put the pan on.'
'Oh, mother! Oh, mother! Don't kill me!'
'Fetch the block we chop the wood on.'
'Oh, mother! Oh, mother! Don't kill me!'
'Bring the axe.'
'Oh, mother! Oh, mother! Don't kill me!'
'Put your head on the block.'
'Oh, mother! Oh, mother! Don't kill me!'
But the mother chopped off her head, and cooked it for dinner. When the
father came home, he asked what there was for dinner.
'Sheep's head,' replied the mother.
'Where's Orange?'
'Not come from school yet.'
'I don't believe you,' said the father. Then he went upstairs and found
fingers in a box; whereupon he was so overcome that he fainted. Orange's
spirit flew away to a jeweller's shop and said--
'My mother chopped my head off,
My father picked my bones,
My little sister buried me
Beneath the cold marble stones.'
They said, 'If you say that again we will give you a gold watch.' So
she said it again, and they gave her a gold watch. Then she went off to
a boot shop and said--
'My mother, &c., &c., &c.'
And they said, 'If you say it again we will give you a pair of boots.'
So she said it again, and they gave her a pair of boots. Then she went
to the stonemason's and said--
'My mother, &c., &c., &c.'
And they said, 'If you say it again we will give you a piece of marble
as big as your head.' So she said it again, and they gave her a piece of
marble as big as her head.
She took the things, and flew home, and sat at the top of the chimney,
and shouted down--
'Father! Father! come to me,
And I will show thee what I've got for thee.'
So he came, and she gave him a gold watch.
Then she shouted down--
'Sister! Sister! come to me,
And I will show thee what I've got for thee.'
So she came, and she gave her a pair of boots.
Then she shouted down--
'Mother! Mother! come to me,
And I will show thee what I've got for thee.'
The mother, who thought the others had got such nice things, put her
head right up the chimney, when the big block of marble came down and
killed her.
Then Orange came down and lived with her father and Lemon happily ever
after."
Cf. The story of the child that was murdered at Lincoln by a Jewess. See
a fragment of it quoted in Halliwell, _Nursery Rhymes_, p. 276[84].
Shouting down the chimney occurs in several Lapp stories; also in the
Finnish stories of the "Wonderful Birch" and "The Girl who seeks her
Brothers," where songs somewhat like the above-mentioned occur. Also Cf.
_Vernaleken_, "Moriandle and Sugarkandle," and Naake, _Slavonic Tales_,
"Story of the little Simpleton." A story of a somewhat similar kind is
current in Sweden. See Hofberg. _Svsnska Folksägner_, "Mylingen"[85] and
Hyltén-Cavallius _Värend och Virdarne_, ii. p. 1.
Also _Grimm_, vol. i. "The Juniper Tree" and notes, and _ib._ "The
Brother and Sister" and notes; _ib._ vol. ii. "The Lambkin and the
Little Fish," and notes.
WOMAN'S CURIOSITY. Merényi.[86]
Cf. _S. ja T._ ii. p. 73, "Haastelewat Kuuset" (the Talking Pines),
which is very like the whole story.
_Payne_, i. p. 14. Dasent, _Tales from the Norse_, ii. p. 4. Denton,
_Serbian Folk-Lore_, "The Snake's Gift." Naake, _Slavonic Tales_, "The
Language of Animals" (from the Servian), and _Grimm_, vol. ii. p. 541.
The power to understand the language of animals is often referred to in
folk-tales, _e.g. Grimm_, vol. i. "The White Snake" and note, and _ib._
vol. ii. p. 541, _et seq._
_Gubernatis_, vol. i. p. 152.
_Tales of the Alhambra_, "Legend of Prince Ahmed al Kamel."
Tylor, _Primitive Culture_, vol. i. pp. 190, 469.
The power of animals to speak still remains amongst the superstitions of
the people. In Neudorf, near Schärsburg, there is a prevalent
superstition that on new year's night--at midnight--the cattle speak,
but in a language which man may not hear, if he does so he dies. See
Boner, _Transylvania_, p. 372; and I have heard a similar story as to
their speaking (or kneeling) on Christmas Eve in Lincolnshire. Curious
remnants, too, are to be found in the doggrel rhymes of the people,
_e.g._, a few years ago I heard a woman in North Lincolnshire say,
"What do doves say?
"Croo! pee! croo!
"Gillivirens and Jackdaws lay eight or ten eggs to my poor two."
It is very interesting to compare a Finnish fragment entitled "The
Dove's Cooing" with the foregoing. A dove and a hen had each a nest, but
the dove had ten eggs and the hen only two. Then the hen began to try
and make the dove change with her. At last the dove consented, and gave
the hen her ten eggs and took her two. Soon the dove saw she had lost,
and began to repent her foolish bargain, and she still laments it, for
as soon as you hear her voice you hear her sad song,
"Kyy, Kyy, Kymmenen munaa minä,
waiwainen waihdoin tanan, kahteen munaan."
"I've foolishly bartered my ten eggs
For the hen's two!" [87]
[1] Cf. _Finska Kranier jämte några natur och literatur-studier inom
andra områden af Finsk Antropologi_ Skildrade af Prof. G. Retzius,
Stockholm, 1878, p. 121. A most valuable and interesting work which
ought to be known to all students of anthropology. See also Du Chaillu's
_Land of the Midnight Sun_, vol. ii. p. 277.
[2] Hereafter quoted as _S. ja T._
[3] This valuable collection will hereafter be quoted as _Friis_.
[4] Villon Society. London, 1884; and hereafter quoted as Payne's
_Arabian Nights_.
[5] Such a window as they had in old times: a hole with sliding door or
shutter. _Vide_ Retzius, p. 110.
[6] The bath-house is a separate building with a stove in the corner
covered with large stones which become red hot and then water is thrown
upon them which fills the house with steam. Round the sides are shelves
where the bathers (both sexes) recline, and whip themselves with
branches of birch on which the leaves have been left to die. _Retzius_,
p. 119. Cf. also _Land of the Midnight Sun_, vol. ii. p. 207.
[7] A John Twardowski is said to have been a doctor of medicine in the
university of Cracow, who, like Dr. Faust, signed a contract in his own
blood with the devil. He is said to have been wont to perform his
incantations on the mountains of Krzemionki, or on the tumulus of
Krakus, the mythic founder of Cracow. The demon was to do all the
magician bade him and to have no power over him until he met him at
Rome, where he took good care not to go. Whether this gentleman is
supposed to have ultimately become the lame fiend I know not. See
_Slavonic Folk-Lore_, by Rev. W. S. Lach-Szyrma, in _Folk-Lore Record_,
vol. iv. p. 62.
[8] A division of South Sweden washed by the Skaggerack and Kattegat.
[9] Cf. "Haastelewat Kuuset" (The Talking Pines), _S. ja T._ ii. p. 73,
where the man is about to reveal to his wife, who has been plaguing him
to tell her, why he laughed when he heard some birds twittering, and, as
this means death, he puts on all his clothes and lays himself out on a
bench. Just then the hens are let loose, and as they run about the floor
of the chamber where the man is the cock struts about and says, "Cock,
cocko, cock, cocko! See, I have fifty wives and govern them all; the
master has only one and can't manage her, therefore the fool is going to
die." The man heard that, got up and kept his secret. Animals' language
must not be revealed. Cf. Benfey, _Ein Märchen von der Thiersprachen_ in
_Orient und Occident_. Naake's _Slavonic Tales_, Servian story of the
Language of Animals, 71-99; and "Woman's Curiosity," p. 301, in the
present volume.
[10] _Old Deccan Days_, "Rama and Luxman," p. 66.--Thorpe's _Yule-Tide
Stories_, "Svend's Exploits," p. 343.--_Grimm_, "Faithful John," vol. i.
p. 33, and Notes, p. 348.--"Secret-Keeping Little Boy," p. 233, in this
volume.
[11] Near the bath-house (_vide supra_, p. 308) is the kiln to dry corn,
a most important building in the Finnish farmstead. It is built of wood
like the bath-house. On one side of the doorway is a stove (built of
stones, see _Land of the Midnight Sun_, vol. ii. p. 274, where there are
illustrations of somewhat similar stoves or ovens), that gives out a
great heat and _smoke_, which fills the inside of the building,
especially the upper part. This "ria" or kiln is used to dry the corn
in. All Finnish rye is dried in this way. _Retzius_, p. 120.
[12] Ruobba, scurfy skull, or Gudnavirus, _i.e._ Ashiepattle.
[13] Cf. _Dasent_: "Boots and His Brothers," p. 382, where Boots finds
an axe hewing away at a fir tree, and a spade digging and delving by
itself, and by their means he got the princess and half the kingdom.
[14] Wagner's _Asgard_, p. 208. Roman intruders are called "the Roman
dragon, the bane of Asgard." Wagner's _Epics and Romances_, "the
Nibelung," p. 3; "the Dragonstone," p. 243. Henderson's _Folk-Lore of
the Northern Counties_, p. 283.
[15] Professor Ebers says: "Red was the colour of Seth and Typhon. The
Evil One is named the Red, as, for instance, in the papyrus of Ebers
red-haired men were _typhonic_." See "Uarda," note on p. 58. Red-haired
people are still in some parts looked on as unlucky to meet when going
to sea, or as "first foot." See also Black's _Folk-Medicine_, pp.
111-113. According to a Magyar jingle:
"A red dog; a red nag; a red man; none is good!"
[16] A finger song, common, with slight variations, in Sweden, Norway,
and Denmark, and Swedish speaking people in Finland. Cf. Yorkshire--
Tom Thumbkins, Bill Wilkins,
Long Daniel, Bessy Bobtail,
And Little Dick.
See Halliwell's _Nursery Rhymes_, p. 206.
[17] It is interesting to note the finger-lore of the people, _e.g._
_Gubernatis_, vol. i. 166, says: "The little finger, although the
smallest, is the most privileged of the five." It is the one that knows
everything; in Piedmont, when the mothers wish to make the children
believe that they are in communication with a mysterious spy, who sees
everything that they do, they are accustomed to awe them by the words,
"my little finger tells me everything." See also vol. ii. p. 151.
In Holderness, Yorkshire, it is a common superstition that if you pinch
anyone's little finger when they are asleep, they will tell you their
secrets; or, as some say, "if you can bear your little finger pinching
you can keep a secret." If you see a white horse, spit over your little
finger for luck. Schoolboys make their bargains irrevocable by spitting
over their little fingers.[A] In Petalaks (a parish in East Bothnia,
about twenty miles from Wasa) every one believes in a "bjero"[B] or
"mjero," which is one respect resembles Sampo in Kalevala, insomuch as
he brings good luck to his possessor. Sometimes he looks like a ball of
yarn, but more often like a hare. The way he is manufactured is as
follows:--A wafer spared from the Communion, some wool stolen from seven
cow-houses on Maundy Thursday, and a drop of blood from the _little
finger_ of the left hand. During the performance the manufacturer must
curse and swear without ceasing. The wool is to be spun on Easter morn
when the sun dances; the thread to be wrapped round the wafer, and the
whole put in the churn. Whilst churning, the spellmaker sings, "Milk and
butter thou must bring to me; I shall burn in hell-fire for thee." After
a time the "bjero" springs out, and asks, "What will you give me to
eat?" "Raisins and almonds," is the reply. And all is complete. See
_Suomen Muinaismusto-yhtiön Aikakauskirja_, ii.; _Helsingissa_, 1877, p.
133; _Vidskepelser insamlade bland allmogan i Petalaks_, 1874; _Skrock
och vidskepliga bruk hos svenska allmogen i Vasabygden_. Af. Prof.
Freudenthal, _Helsingfors_, 1883, p. 8; and Rink's _Tales and Traditions
of the Eskimo_, p. 440.
[A] Cf. Tylor's Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 103; vol. ii. p. 439-441.
[B] _Några åkerbruksplägseder bland svenskarne i Finland_, af. dr. J.
Oscar Rancken, pp. 17, 24, 32.
[18] Tegnér: Prologen till Gerda.
[19] See variants given in _Henderson's Folk-Lore of the Northern
Counties_, pp. 258, 262.
Cf. Riddle set to three soldiers by the devil, and found out by the help
of his grandmother. _Grimm_, vol. ii. pp. 152, 425. Also, _Vernaleken_,
p. 206.
[20] A similar plant occurs in "The Merchant," in the _Pentamerone_.
[21] Taylor's Edition. London. 1848.
[22] Of the word "devil" one cannot do better than quote Mr. Ralston's
words: "The demon rabble of 'popular tales' are merely the lubber fiends
of heathen mythology, being endowed with supernatural might, but
scantily provided with mental power; all of terrific manual clutch, but
of weak intellectual grasp." Cf. _Castrén, Finsk Mytologi_, p. 163.
[23] A similar tale still exists in Holderness under the name of "The
Glass Stairs."
[24] _Morte d'Arthur_, book I, cap. iii. tells how "in the greatest
church in London, there was seen in the churchyard a great stone
foursquare, and in the midst thereof was like an anvil of steel a foot
on high, and therein stuck a fair sword naked by the point, and letters
there were written in gold about the sword that said thus: whoso pulleth
out this sword of this stone and anvil is rightwise king born of all
England." Which sword was drawn out by Sir Arthur. Cf. book 2, cap. i.
where a maiden comes girt with a sword, that no one could pull out but
the poor knight Balin.
[25] This man-eating being was said to be something like a very big and
mighty man, and was to be found in waste places. He was generally
dressed in a white coat, with a silver belt round his waist, from which
hung a silver-hafted knife, and a great many silver ornaments. He was
exceedingly stupid, and the butt of Gudnavirucak. (Ashiepattle) They
were probably nothing more than the old Vikings, and Stallo is thought
to be derived from "Staalmanden," or men dressed in steel (Lapp,
_staale_ = steel).
[26] Cf. _Grimm_, "The Three Sons of Fortune," i. p. 291.
[27] I have heard similar stories amongst the peasants in Flanders.
[28] The magpie is an important bird in folk-belief, and Swedish
peasants say you must not kill it lest it be a troll in disguise as in
this story. If they build in a house it is a sign of luck; if in the
fields and come to the house and laugh, woe be to the house.
[29] Cf. Amelia Ferrier, _A Winter in Morocco_, p. 172, _et seq_.
[30] It is curious that the Magyar word for a marriageable girl, "eladó
leány," also means "a girl for sale."
[31] In old times in Finland, a "spokesman" used to go beforehand to the
girl, in order to find out whether the young man was likely to be
acceptable. Cf. Scheffer, _The History of Lapland_. London, 1751, p. 71;
and Boner, _Transylvania_, p. 488.
[32] "Given the basket:" in Finland the same phrase is used. Cf. the
English phrase, "to give the sack."
[33] Cf. Note to "Handsome Paul," p. 317, _ante_.
[34] In the Russian Church there are two distinct services, which are
performed at the same time, the "betrothal" when rings are given and
exchanged, and the "coronation." Lansdell, _Through Siberia_, vol. i. p.
168.
[35] Cf. Denton, _Serbian Folk-Lore_, p. 205.
[36] Cf. this with the Finnish "bride-dresser," who looked after the
bride's toilette, even providing the necessary dresses if the girl did
not possess them.
[37] See Scotch "feetwashing," _Folk-Lore of North-East Scotland_;
Folk-Lore Society, p. 89. In Finland, before a wedding, the friends of
the bridegroom-elect invite to a party, which is called the "bachelor's
funeral," at which he is oftentimes carried on a sofa shoulder-high as a
mock funeral.
[38] The royal Hungarian bodyguard wear leopard-skins clasped with
silver buckles.
[39] I have heard of racing for ribbons, &c., at weddings in Yorkshire;
and of young men racing home from the church to tell the good folk at
home that the marriage was _un fait accompli_. Cf. Napier, _Folk-Lore_,
p. 49, and _Henderson_, p. 37.
[40] A remain of the marriage by force. Vámbéry notes the existence of
this amongst the Turkomans. The bride's door in Transylvania is often
locked, and the bridegroom has to climb over; or sometimes he has to
chase her, and catch her: _Boner_, p. 491. Cf. also _Tissot_, vol. i. p.
94; _Scheffer_, p. 75; Gilmour, _Among the Mongols_, p. 259; _Napier_,
p. 50.
[41] For accounts of English wedding-feasts in the north, see Sykes'
_Local Records_, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 1833, vol. i. pp. 194, 205, 209.
[42] The vizier's daughter is displayed in seven dresses in the story of
"Noureddin Ali of Cairo, and his son Bedreddin Hassan": Payne's _Arabian
Nights_, vol. i. pp. 192-194. And in old times the brides in Japan
changed their dress three to five times during the ceremony: Mitford,
_Tales of Old Japan_, p. 370.
[43] Cf. _Lappbönder, Skildringar Sägner och sagor från Södra Lappland_.
af. P. A. Lindholm, p. 89.
_Fra Finmarken. Friis_, ("Laila" in S.P.C.K. translation), cap. xi.
Dancing the crown off the bride in Finland. See "A Finnish wedding in
the olden times." _Notes and Queries_, 6th s. x. p. 489.
They cut the long hair off the Saxon brides in Transylvania; and in
Spain, when the bride goes to her bedroom, the young unmarried men
unloose her garter.
Just as in our land old shoes are thrown after the bride when she leaves
home, and never matter how they fall, or how young relatives batter the
backs of bride and bridegroom with aged slippers, you must not _look
back_: so they say in Holderness, at least. The sumptuary laws of
Hamburg of 1291, enacted that the bridegroom should present his bride
with a pair of shoes. According to Grimm, when the bride put the shoe on
her foot it was a sign of her subjection. (Boner, _Transylvania_, p.
491). See old Jewish custom, _Rath_. iv. 7.
See also _Napier_, p. 53, where he refers to the Grecian custom of
removing the bride's coronet and putting her to bed.
Henderson, _Folk-Lore of Northern Counties_, pp. 36, 37, 42.
Aubrey, _Remains of Gentilisme_, Folk-Lore Society, p. 173.
Gregor, _Folk-Lore of North-East of Scotland_, pp. 96, 100.
[44] From a paper read before the Hungarian Historical Society, by Baron
Béla Radvánszky, on Feb. 1st, 1883; Cf. _A magyar csalàdi èlet a_ xv.
_es_ xvi. _szàzadban_, by the same author.
Cf. Tissot, _Unknown Hungary_, vol. i. p. 227.
Boner, _Transylvania_, pp. 488-495.
Fagerlund, _Anteckningar om Korpo och Houtskärs Socknar_, Helsingfors,
1878, p. 42.
_Lindholm_, "Ett bondbröllop," p. 86; and "Ett lappbröllop," p. 91.
[45] Laulu Lapista.
[46] See also Swedish Songs in Du Chaillu, _Land of the Midnight Sun_,
vol. ii. p. 424.
[47] Cf. another group of stories, where trouble comes from the advice
of those at home, such as _Dasent_, "East o' the Sun, and West o' the
Moon," p. 29; _Afanassieff_, vol. vii. No. 15, and "Cupid and Psyche,"
see also notes to "The Speaking Grapes, &c." in this collection.
[48] Cf. _Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii_ by the Baron Sigismund von
Herberstein. London, 1852. (Hakluyt Soc.) vol. ii. pp. 46 _et seq_.
[49] _Untersuchungen zur Erläuterung der ältesten Geschichte Russlands._
St. Petersburg. 1806.
[50] Loc. cit.
[51] Cf. Hunfalvy Pál, _Magyarország Ethnographiája_. Budapest. 1876.
chap. 41.
[52] _Notes and Queries_, 7th S. ii. pp. 110, 111.
[53] Cf. also, _Folk-Lore Record_. 1879, p. 121; _Gesta Romanorum_, "The
Knight and the Necromancer;" _Records of the Past_, vol. i. p. 136.
"Tablet V."; Rink, _Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_, p. 302; and
Leland, _The Gipsies_, p. 159, where we are told gipsies object to
having their photographs taken unless you give them a shoe-string.
[54] _Magyar Népmeséinkröl_ in the _Kisfaludy Társaság évlapjai_. New
Series iv. p. 146.
[55] A Worcestershire woman told the writer that she had a nephew born
with a caul, and when he was at the point of death it became quite
moist.
[56] The Csángós are Magyar settlers in Moldavia; they are now assisted
to return to Hungary by the Government. This story is told of the feud
between two races. There are others which strike off the characteristics
of neighbouring races, such as the story of the angels, current in
Hungary, which is as follows:--
When Adam and Eve fell, God sent Gabriel, the Magyar angel, to turn them
out of the garden of Eden. Adam and his wife received him most
courteously, and most hospitably offered him food and drink. Gabriel had
a kind heart, and took pity on them. He was too proud to accept any
hospitality from them, as he did not consider it quite the right thing.
So he returned to the Deity, and begged that somebody else should be
sent to evict the poor couple, as he had not the heart to do it.
Whereupon Raphael, the Roumanian angel, was sent, who was received and
treated by Adam and Eve in like manner. He, however, was not above a
good dinner, and having finished, he informed the couple of the purpose
of his coming. The two thereupon began to cry, which so mollified
Raphael that he returned to his Master, and begged Him to send some one
else, as he could not very well turn them out after having enjoyed their
hospitality. So Michael, the German angel, was sent, and was treated as
the others. He sat down to a sumptuous meal, and when the last morsel of
food had disappeared, and the last drop of liquor was drained, he rose
from the table, and, addressing the host and hostess said, "Now then,
out you go!" and the poor couple, though they cried most pitifully and
begged hard to be allowed to remain, were cruelly turned out of the
garden of Eden. See Arany's collection.
[57] The mound was opened in 1870, and found to contain bones.
[58] As late as 1875, a farmer near Mariestad buried a cow alive, upon
disease breaking out in his herd. See also _Contemporary Review_, Feb.
1878, "Field and Forest Myths," p. 528, "Within the last few years, at
least one Russian peasant has been known to sacrifice a poor relation in
hopes of staying an epidemic."
[59] I heard this story again the other day in South Lincolnshire.
[60] Remains of a Roman camp near Brocklesby.
[61] Vide _A History of the County of Lincoln_. By the author of _The
Histories of London, Yorkshire, Lambeth, &c. &c._ London and Lincoln:
John Saunders gent., 1834.
[62] Boswell's _Variorum Edition of Shakespeare_, vii. pp. 162, 163.
[63] "Prince Unexpected." _Folk Lore Record_, 1884, p. 10.
[64] Cf. Lion Bruno. _Folk Lore Record_, 1878, p. 209.
[65] See Ralston's "Beauty and the Beast" in _The 19th Century_,
December, 1878.
[66] In "The Raksha's Palace" in the same work, p. 203, the young
princess found "the skeleton of a poor old beggar-woman, who had
evidently died from want and poverty. The princess took the skin and
washed it, and drew it over her own lovely face and neck, as one draws a
glove on one's hand."
[67] The giant who demands human flesh of his wife, and the giantess who
has only one eye in the middle of her forehead, are proofs of the
foreign origin of this tale.
[68] See p. 340 _ante_.