but she was so ugly and so wizened that one could scarcely recognise
a human countenance. Not knowing who she was, the wild man thrust her
into the chamber where the young girl was: very likely he wanted to
kill her later on, as he had killed all the others, but possibly he
wanted first to feed her up, as she was only skin and bones. When the
young girl saw that bag of bones, she was very frightened; but the old
woman spoke in friendly fashion to her, and asked her who she was and
how she came to be in that house, telling her at the same time that she
was a great witch, she could do anything, change everything, and that
she had cursed her son for his cruelty, when he was still a young boy,
and that she had come now to punish him. She had disguised herself in
this ugly form, for she knew that if her son recognised her he would
not wait long, but would kill her at once without mercy. The girl then
told her her pitiful tale, and begged of her to save her. She told her
what a terrible life she was leading, how she had been fed on human
flesh, and that he was probably only waiting for an opportunity to
kill her also and to give her flesh to others to be eaten. The old
woman took pity on her, and told her she need not fear; though her
son had put her in the innermost recess and there was no outlet, yet
she would be able to escape. She must kill the little dog, and taking
out a small bit from the heart was to swallow it. While she was doing
it, the old woman took out some ointment from her bosom and began to
rub her with it all over her body, when she suddenly became changed
into a duck. There she sat quietly in a corner, and when the wild man
came and opened the door she flew away and escaped into the open. The
man looked round, and not finding the girl he went all over the place
searching for her. At that moment the mother followed him out of that
room, and uttered a terrible curse, on which the whole house fell
down over him and killed him. When the duck had flown some distance
away, she turned back to see what had happened, for the old woman had
foretold her that she was going to destroy it. When she turned round
she saw the heap of ruins, but as the old woman had not told her how
she could again become a human being, the spell remained unbroken,
and she has remained a duck to this very day.
It is for this reason that ducks are so fat, and they seek their food
among the dead bodies and dirty places.
It will be seen that we have here a remarkable parallel of the
Bluebeard story, but in a much more primitive form, for this Bluebeard
does not kill only his wives, but he kills indiscriminately all those
upon whom he can lay his hands, and then he uses the flesh of his
victims for food. There are dim recollections of cannibalism in this
tale, which in a way also reminds us of Polyphemus, who keeps Ulysses
and his companions for the purpose of killing them and eating them,
and the same story is found in another form in the adventures of
Sindbad the Sailor.
LXXXVI.
WHY HAS THE STORK NO TAIL?
The Story of the Water of Life and Death.
This tale, though part of a longer fairy tale, is still complete
in itself.
The hero of the tale, Floria, having shown some kindness to a stork,
who afterwards turns out to be the king of the storks, receives from
him a feather, which when taken up at any time of danger would bring
the stork to him and help him. And thus it came to pass that the hero,
finding himself at one time in danger, remembered the gift of the
stork. He took out the feather from the place where he had hidden it,
and waved it. At once the stork appeared and asked Floria what he
could do for him. He told him the king had ordered him to bring the
water of life and the water of death. [5]
The stork replied that if it could possibly be got he would certainly
do it for him. Returning to his palace, the stork, who was the king
of the storks, called all the storks together, and asked them whether
they had seen or heard or been near the mountains that knock against
one another, at the bottom of which are the fountains of the water
of life and death.
All the young and strong looked at one another, and not even the
oldest one ventured to reply. He asked them again, and then they
said they had never heard or seen anything of the waters of life and
death. At last there came from the rear a stork, lame on one foot,
blind in one eye, and with a shrivelled-up body, and with half of
his feathers plucked out. And he said, "May it please your majesty,
I have been there where the mountains knock one against the other,
and the proofs of it are my blinded eye and my crooked leg." When
the king saw him in the state in which he was, he did not even take
any notice of him.
Turning to the other storks, he said: "Is there any one among you who,
for my sake, will run the risk and go to these mountains and bring the
water?" Not one of the young and strong, and not even any of the older
ones who were still strong replied. They all kept silence. But the lame
stork said to the king, "For your sake, O Master King, I will again
put my life in danger and go." The king again did not look at him,
and turning to the others repeated his question; but when he saw that
they all kept silence, he at last turned to the stork and said to him:
"Dost thou really believe, crippled and broken as thou art, that thou
wilt be able to carry out my command?"
"I will certainly try," he said.
"Wilt thou put me to shame?" the king again said.
"I hope not; but thou must bind on my wings some meat for my food,
and tie the two bottles for the water to my legs."
The other storks, on hearing his words, laughed at what they thought
his conceit, but he took no notice of it. The king was very pleased,
and did as the stork had asked. He tied on his wings a quantity of
fresh meat, which would last him for his journey, and the two bottles
were fastened to his legs. He said to him, "A pleasant journey." The
stork, thus prepared for his journey, rose up into the heavens, and
away he went straight to the place where the mountains were knocking
against one another and prevented any one approaching the fountains of
life and death. It was when the sun had risen as high as a lance that
he espied in the distance those huge mountains which, when they knocked
against one another, shook the earth and made a noise that struck
fear and terror into the hearts of those who were a long distance away.
When the mountains had moved back a little before knocking against
one another, the stork wanted to plunge into the depths and get the
water. But there came suddenly to him a swallow from the heart of
the mountain, and said to him, "Do not go a step further, for thou
art surely lost."
"Who art thou who stops me in my way?" asked the stork angrily.
"I am the guardian spirit of these mountains, appointed to save every
living creature that has the misfortune to come near them."
"What am I to do then to be safe?"
"Hast thou come to fetch water of life and death?"
"Yes."
"If that be so, then thou must wait till noon, when the mountains rest
for half an hour. As soon as thou seest that a short time has passed
and they do not move, then rise up as high as possible into the air,
and drop down straight to the bottom of the mountain. There, standing
on the ledge of the stone between the two waters, dip thy bottles into
the fountains and wait until they are filled. Then rise as thou hast
got down, but beware lest thou touchest the walls of the mountain or
even a pebble, or thou art lost."
The stork did as the swallow had told him; he waited till noontide,
and when he saw that the mountains had gone to sleep, he rose up into
the air, and, plunging down into the depth, he settled on the ledge of
the stone and filled his bottles. Feeling that they had been filled,
he rose with them as he had got down, but when he had reached almost
the top of the mountains, he touched a pebble. No sooner had he done
so, when the two mountains closed furiously upon him; but they did
not catch any part of him, except the tail, which remained locked up
fast between the two peaks of the mountains.
With a strong movement he tore himself away, happy that he had saved
his life and the two bottles with the waters of life and death,
not caring for the loss of his tail.
And he returned the way he had come, and reached the palace of the king
of the storks in time for the delivery of the bottles. When he reached
the palace, all the storks were assembled before the king, waiting to
see what would happen to the lame and blind one who had tried to put
them to shame. When they saw him coming back, they noticed that he
had lost his tail, and they began jeering at him and laughing, for he
looked all the more ungainly, from having already been so ugly before.
But the king was overjoyed with the exploit of his faithful messenger;
and he turned angrily on the storks and said, "Why are you jeering
and mocking? Just look round and see where are your tails. And you
have not lost them in so honourable a manner as this my faithful
messenger." On hearing this they turned round, and lo! one and all
of them had lost their tails.
And this is the reason why they have remained without a tail to this
very day.
Compare the story of the lark, No. 78, who alone of all the birds obeys
the king's command; for the story of the stork, the only bird that can
reach the fountains of life and death, v. Cosquin (i. No. 3, p. 48).
LXXXVII.
WHY HAS THE SWALLOW A FORKED TAIL AND A RED SPOT ON ITS BREAST?
The Story of the Young Maiden and her Husband the Demon.
Once upon a time there was a widow who had one only child. She had a
flock of sheep and a magic dog. The widow died, and the girl was left
quite alone. So she took the flock of sheep and went to feed them in
the mountain, accompanied only by her faithful little dog. After some
time, there came also to the same pastures a young shepherd leading
his flock. Before leaving, the girl had put on man's clothes, and
so when the other shepherd, who was the son of a she-demon, came,
they got very friendly, and the girl often went with her flock to
spend the night in the house of the demon. She did not know who the
other shepherd was, nor who was his mother. After a time, the young
man began to feel suspicious about his comrade, and he said to his
mother, "Methinks my friend is a girl, despite his man's clothes;
his gait and his speech are just like that of a maiden." The mother
would not listen; but after a time, when the son went on saying that he
believed his mate to be a maiden, she said to him, "Very well, then,
we will put him to the test, and we can easily find out what he is. I
will take a special flower and put it under his pillow, and if it is
faded in the morning he is for sure a maiden." The dog, who knew what
the old woman was up to, called the girl aside and told her: "Listen
to me, my mistress. Follow my advice, it will go well with thee. The
old dragon is going to put a flower under thy pillow as soon as thou
hast gone to bed; now keep awake, take it out from under the pillow
and put it on the pillow. Early in the morning, before any one else is
awake, put it back under the pillow, and nothing will happen to thee."
The girl did as the dog had told her. She took the flower from under
her pillow, and kept it on her pillow all through the night, and put
it back again early in the morning. The old woman afterwards took the
flower out; she found it was even fresher than it had been the night
before. So she told her son that he must be mistaken. His companion
could not be a maiden. He persisted in his belief despite of it,
and so the woman said to him, "Go and ask your companion to bathe,
and if he is eager to do so, be sure it is not a girl; but if he
makes any difficulties, you will know that you are right."
The dog, who knew of the plotting of the old woman, told the girl to
put on a pleasant face, and not to hesitate to go to the river with her
companion, "for," he said, "no sooner will you be near the water than I
will get among the flock, and so you will have to jump up and run after
the sheep, and there will be no more question of bathing." As the dog
said, so he did, and again the young man did not know what to make of
his companion. The mother then told him to go with his companion to
the forest, and to find a big tree, and to ask his companion what it
would be good for. If he replied for distaff and spindle, then it is
a girl; but if he answered it was good to make carts out of, then it
was a boy." So he took her into the forest, and, finding a big tree,
he asked her what could be best made out of the wood. The girl replied
"carts." When the girl saw that the boy troubled her too much, she went
to the sea-shore, and, smiting the waves with her shepherd's staff,
she rent the waters in twain, and passed dryshod with her flock and
dog to the other shore of the sea. The other shepherd--the demon--came
to the sea-shore just when she had already passed over to the other
side. She removed her fur cap, and her long golden hair fell down
to her knees. Then she moved her wand, and the waters again closed
up. When he saw that she had escaped him, he was very angry, and he
went to his mother and told her all that had happened. She said to him,
"Do not mind; I will help you to get her into your hands." So the old
woman went to the sea and built there a huge ship. This she filled
with all kinds of merchandise, and told the young man to sail in it
across the sea, and try and find his beloved; and she told him how
to get hold of her when he had found her. So sailing along in the
boat he got across, and anchored near a great town. The people came
out to look at the wares which he had brought. The last to come--led
by curiosity--was the girl. As soon as he saw that she had entered
the boat, he set sail, and off he went. When the girl saw what had
happened, she recognised him, and, finding herself in his power, she
offered no resistance. But when they were in the middle of the sea,
she took off the ring which she had on her finger, and, casting it
into the sea, she said to him, "From this day onward I shall remain
dumb. I shall not speak to thee until this ring is brought back to me";
and she kept her word faithfully. For many a year she lived with him,
but never spoke a word. One day her mother-in-law thought that it
would be better to get rid of her. As she herself dared not kill her,
she sent the girl with a message to her elder sister to bring her
the sword and the threads, knowing full well that her sister would
kill her. When her husband heard the errand on which she was sent,
he came out quietly, and, meeting her outside the house, he whispered:
"When you go to my mother's sister, she is sure to offer you some
food; take the first bite, and keep it under your tongue. Then
you may eat; otherwise you will be lost." The girl never replied,
but listened attentively to what he had said. So she came to the old
crone, who was ever so much worse than her own mother-in-law, and she
certainly was bad enough. As soon as she entered the house, the young
woman greeted her. Great was the surprise of the old woman, who said,
"Now who is to believe my sister; she made that girl out to be dumb,
and now she speaks so sweetly. Come in, my child."
Then she went out, killed a cock, grilled it, and gave it to her
to eat.
The young woman, remembering her husband's advice, took the first
bite and put it under her tongue; then she sat down and made a
hearty meal of the cock. When she had finished, the old woman said,
"I do not have the sword or the threads; they are with my younger
sister. She lives not very far from here; you just go to her."
Taking leave, she went a little way further, and she came to the
second sister, who was worse than the other. She saluted her when
she came in, and this sister also said:
"How is one to believe your mother-in-law? She made you out to be dumb,
and now you speak so sweetly and so nicely. What have you come for?"
She said, "I have come for the sword and the threads."
"Sit down and eat, my child," she said, and, going out, she took a
young lamb and killed it and prepared it for her. Remembering the
advice given to her, she put the first bite under her tongue, and
then she went on eating until she had satisfied her hunger.
When she had finished eating, the old woman said, "I do not have that
sword; it is with my younger sister. You must go further; she lives
quite close by, and she will give it to you."
So she went to the third sister, and greeting this third one, who was
the worst of all and the ugliest of all, said to her, "Sit down and
eat." Then she took out the hand of a dead man and gave it to her to
eat. But this the wife could not do.
Meanwhile the old woman had gone up into the loft of the house,
saying she was going to fetch the spade, but in reality to watch the
young woman to see what she was doing.
When she was left alone, she took the hand and threw it under
the hearth. Then came a voice from the loft crying. "Hand, hand,
where art thou?" and from under the hearth the hand replied, "Here
I am under the hearth." So she turned on the young woman and said,
"You eat this or something worse will happen to you; I am going to
eat you." She was very frightened; so she took it and put it in her
bosom under her girdle. And again the old woman cried, "Hand, hand,
where art thou?" and the hand replied, "I am under her heart." The old
witch thought that she had eaten it, and coming down, she brought the
sword and gave it to her together with the threads. Before she left,
the old witch asked her to give her back the hand; so she put her hand
in her bosom, and drew out the dead hand and gave it back to her. And
so she had to let her go in peace, as she had retained nothing.
Then, coming to the other sister, this one said to her, "Give me back
my lamb." The young woman heaved, and out came the little lamb quite
alive and started frolicking through the house. It was because she had
kept the first bite under her tongue. She therefore had to let her
go unharmed. Then she came to the eldest one. And she said to her,
"Give me back my cock," and then the young woman spat, and out came
the cock, running and crowing through the house. And so she came back
to her own house with the sword and the threads.
Shortly before she had come, some fishermen had caught a large number
of fish, among them a huge fish which her husband had bought. When
he opened that fish, he found the ring which his wife had cast into
the sea. So, full of joy, he ran out to meet her and to give her the
ring. He embraced her with one hand, and with the other, which was full
of the blood of the fish, he stroked her chin gently, saying to her,
"O my dear little girl, here is thy ring." No sooner had he spoken
these words, when the woman was changed into a bird with a red breast,
the mark of the blood stains on her chin; then, breaking a pane of the
window (lit. an eye of the window), she flew away. Her husband tried
to catch hold of her, but he only got hold of the middle feathers of
the tail, which remained in his hand. The bird flew away. The young
woman had become a swallow. For that reason the tail looks like two
prongs of a fork, for the middle part was plucked out by the husband
in his attempt to catch her.
In this legend we have a combination of many tales. The central
incident of the magical ring recovered from the depth of the sea
inside the fish, upon which the whole future depended, is somewhat
obscure in this tale. It is part of the Polykrates tale, but still
more so of the Solomonic legend, where the recovery of the ring means
the recovery of power by King Solomon. It is a curious romance,
in which Solomon is married as a poor man, i.e. in disguise, to a
princess, for his ring by which he was able to rule all the spirits
and demons had been cast into the sea by a demon and swallowed by a
fish. From that fish Solomon recovered it later on, and with it his
kingdom and power. The incident of the sword and the threads is an
obscure episode. No doubt it is a magical sword, by which the power
of the ogre is to be broken, and the threads are magical threads,
by which he is to be tied and made powerless.
LXXXVIII.
WHY DOES THE SWALLOW LIVE IN HOT PLACES?
The Story of the Swallow and Holy Mother Sunday.
In another tale the swallow was originally a servant of Holy
Sunday. Holy Sunday, going to church, told her servant, whom she had
left at home, that she was to prepare the dinner for her, and that
she should take care that it should neither be too hot nor too cold,
but just as she liked it best. The servant remaining at home did as
she was told; she cooked the dinner, but forgot to take the food off
the hob in time to get it cool enough for Holy Sunday when she came
home from church.
When Holy Sunday came home and began to eat the food burned her
mouth, as it was too hot, having been left on the fire so much
too long. So she got very angry, and cursed the servant, saying,
"As thou hast not done my will and hast burned me with the food,
so mayest thou now be henceforth a bird burned and frizzled up by
the great heat of the places and the countries where thou shalt dwell."
No sooner had Holy Sunday spoken these words, when the servant girl was
changed into a swallow, and therefore it makes its nest in the lofts
of houses where it is hottest, and travels the countries where the
sun is burning like fire, frizzling up the inhabitants with its heat.
Holy Sunday is here merely a Christianised form of some of the older
divinities, who did not scruple at the slightest provocation to vent
their feelings and to punish their sub-ordinates without pity and
without mercy.
It is not here the place to discuss the personification of the
days of the week in the form of divinities. They occur very often
in Rumanian legends and tales, and are in most cases described as
choleric old women, spiteful and revengeful. On rare occasions they
are helpful. They resemble much more the three parcae, Moirai or
Fates of the Roman and Greek mythology and the Norns of the Teutonic
mythology, than Christian saints. That these divinities are identified
with special days of the week belongs to that process of heretical
teaching to which I have referred already, and in which certain days
of the week are endowed with a peculiar character of sanctity; and
the apotheosis has reached such a degree that they are looked upon
as real saints. And the swallow still is looked upon as a more or
less sacred bird. According to popular belief, swallows will not
build nests in bewitched or cursed houses; to kill a swallow is
considered a heinous sin, almost tantamount to killing one's wife
and children. As the people believe that the swallow was originally
a girl, they refrain from eating it. They consider it wrong to eat
a swallow. They are also called "God's hens," and are a sign of luck
to the people where they build their nests.
LXXXIX.
WHY IS THE DOVE A HOMING BIRD?
The Story of the Bewitched Calf and the Wicked Step-mother.
It is very curious that, so far, very few tales and legends have been
collected referring to the dove, a bird which plays so prominent a part
in Ancient Greek and heathen worship. I have not been able hitherto to
discover more than passing references to the dove in legendary tales,
nor is there anything in Rumanian folk-lore that would explain the
origin of the dove. There is only one legend, which is in a way a
distinct variant of the Cinderella cycle.
I will give it here briefly.
The beginning agrees on the whole with the usual type. There is
the bad step-mother, who has an ugly daughter, and persecutes the
beautiful daughter of her second husband. Among other trials, besides
keeping her unkempt and dirty and sending her out to feed the cattle,
she gives her one day a bag full of hemp, and tells her that in the
evening she is to bring it home carded, spun, woven into cloth and
bleached. The poor girl did not know what to do. Her father had given
her a calf. This calf was "a wise one." So the calf came to the girl
and said, "Do not fear; look after the other cows: by the evening it
will be all ready." So it was.
When she brought the white cloth home, her step-mother did not know
what to say. The next day she gave her two bags full of hemp, and again
the little calf worked at it and got it ready by the evening. When
the woman saw what had happened, she said, "This is uncanny; no human
being can do such work in one day. I must find out what is happening."
The next morning she gave her three bags full of hemp and followed her
stealthily to the field to see what she was doing. There, hidden in
a bush, she overheard the conversation between the little calf and
the girl. Straightway she went home, put herself to bed, and said
that she was very ill and was sure to die.
Her husband, coming home and finding her in what he thought was a very
sorry plight, believed that she was really very ill. She called him
to her bedside, and said, "I know I am dying; there is only one way,
however, by which I can be saved, and that is to kill the little calf
and to give me some of its meat roasted." The poor man did not know
what to do, and he said to his wife, "Why, that is all that my little
girl has, and if that calf is killed she will remain with nothing."
"Do as you like," she replied, "if you prefer a calf to my life." The
little calf, which was "wise," knew what was going to happen, and
told the girl that the step-mother was sure to have it killed, but
she must not grieve. The only thing the calf wanted her to do was to
gather up all the bones after the meal, and to hide them in a hollow
of a tree not far from the field. Everything happened as the calf
had foretold, and on the next day the woman ate as one who had been
starving for a week, as ravenously as if the wolves were fighting at
her mouth. The old man also ate of the calf, but the girl refused to
touch the meat. After the meal was over she took all the bones and
put them in the hollow of a tree as she was told.
Soon afterwards, the step-mother again put her to a trial. Going with
her husband and her own daughter to church, she left her at home in
her dirty clothes, and giving her a bag full of linseed and poppy-seed
mixed, she told her that she must sweep the room, get the meal ready,
wash the plates, clean the pots and separate the linseed from the
poppy seed.