"What! Did you not make me promise that she should never be killed? How
is it you ask me that?"
The witch considered that one her greatest enemy; and, as she left
him no peace, he sent a servant to fetch the cows. He finds them all
seven by the precipice; they were lowing, and he tried to drive them
to the house, but he could not do it in any way; and he hears a voice,
which says,
"It is not for myself that I grieve so much, but for my child, and for
my husband, and for my dearly-loved cows. Who will take care of them?"
The lad could not succeed (in driving them), and goes and tells to the
king what is taking place. The king himself goes to the precipice,
and hears this voice. He quickly throws a long cord down, and, when
he thinks that she has had time to take hold of it, he pulls it up,
and sees that they have got the princess there. Judge of the joy of
the king! She relates to her husband all that the witch had done
to her, both formerly and now. The king goes to the witch's bed,
and says to her,
"I know your villanies now; and, if you do not immediately change
these cows, as they were before, into fine boys, I will put you into
a red-hot oven."
The witch makes them fine men, and, notwithstanding that, the king had
her burnt in a red-hot oven, and threw her ashes into the air. The
king lived happily with his wife, and her seven brothers married
ladies of the court, and sent for their mother, and they all lived
happily together.
Louise Lanusse.
We have also, in Basque, a version of Madame d'Aulnoy's "Abenan." It
seems to be a mixture of various legends strung together by this
fanciful writer; but we do not think it worth either our own or our
readers' while to try to disentangle its separate parts. The pretty
little tale of "The Faded Roses" has been told us from two quite
different sources. This tale, though without doubt derived from the
French, we can trace up in Basque further than any other. It was
told us by a lady of between seventy and eighty, who heard it as a
child from an old nurse, whom she distinctly remembers to have told
her that she learnt it as a child from her mother. It must thus have
existed in Basque over a century.
We have also two versions of Tom Thumb, who is called in the one
"Ukhailtcho," or "Baratchuri"--"a clove of garlic;" [170] in the other,
"Mundua-mila-pes," both containing the episode of his being swallowed
by an ox; in the last, he himself is swallowed, as they are washing
out the ox' entrails, by "a thief of a dog"--"Ohoñ chakhurra." It
is singular that the same episode is preserved in the Gaelic;
cf. Campbell, Vol. III., p. 114.
We have in MS. a long Rabelesian legend, which opens like
Cenac-Moncaut's tale of "Le Coffret de la Princesse," in his
"Littérature Populaire de la Gascogne" (Paris, 1868). A king will
give one of his daughters to whoever can guess what the skin of a
certain animal is. It is the devil who guesses it, and who marries
the princess. She is saved by the "white mare," which appears in
so many of our tales. She then dresses as a man, but, nevertheless,
a prince falls in love with her; and then follow a lot of scenes, the
converse of the adventure of Achilles in Scyros. They marry; but, after
seven years, the devil-husband reappears. After strange adventures,
they are again succoured and united by the "white mare," who binds
the devil for ever, and then flies to heaven as a white pigeon, and
the rest live happily ever after. This legend is from "Laurentine,
Sister of Toutou," and may be mingled with Cascarrot legends. We have
given it as derived from the French, partly because the heroine's name
is Fifine, and because this, and "Petit Perroquet and the Tartaro,"
are the only tales in our collection in which the term "prince" is
employed in the Basque instead of "the king's son." Cf. Campbell's
"Highland Tales," passim.
We owe the following notes to the kindness of M. H. Vinson, Judge at
La Réole, Gironde. They may be of assistance to some of our readers
in the endeavour to trace out the length of time which is required
for the translations of exotic legends to become popular traditions
among a people who know the language of the translation only by
"social contact."
Premières Editions de la Première Traduction en Français des Mille
et une Nuits.
Les Mille et une Nuits, Contes Arabes, trad. par
Galland. Paris, 12 vols. in 12mo. 1704-1717
Les Mille et une Nuits, Contes Arabes, trad. par
Galland. Paris, 6 vols. in 12mo. 1774
Les Mille et une Nuits, Revues et Corrigées par
M. Caussin de Percival. Paris, Lenormant, 9 vols. 8vo. 1806
Première Traduction de Bidpai et Loqman.
Contes et Fables Indiennes de Bidpai et de Loqman,
trad. (posth.) par Ante Galland. Paris, 2 vols. in 12mo. 1724
Contes et Fables Indiennes, Traduction d'après la
Version Turque d'Ali-Tchelebt-ben-Salet, par Galland,
terminée et publiée par D. Gardonne. Paris, 3 vols. 12mo. 1778
Fables de Loqman, Édition Arabe, accomp. d'une Traduction
Franc: (par M. Mariel) au Caire, de l'imp. Nation, au VII.
8vo. [171] 1799
Contes de Grimm.
Contes de la Famille, par les Frères Grimm, traduit de
l'Allemand, par M. Martin et Pitre-Chevalier. Paris,
Renouard, 12mo. 1846
Edition Originale, Kinder und Hausmärchen. Berlin,
2 vols. 16mo. 1812-14
Les Plus Anciens Recueils de Contes en Français.
Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles. Paris, Ant. Verard,
pet. in fol. Goth. 1486
Le Parangon de Nouvelles Honnestes. Lyon, in 8vo. 1531
Les Nouvelles Récreations de Bonaventure des Periers.
Lyon, in 4to. 1558
L'Heptameron de Margaret de Valois. Paris, 8vo. 1559
Baliverneries ou Contes Nouveaux d'Entrapel, publ.
par Noel Du Fail. Paris, 16mo. 1548
Les Serées de Guillaume Bouchet. Poitiers, 4to.
Paris, 3 vols. 12mo. 1584, 1608
Nouvelles Choisies, par Ch. Sorel. Paris, 2 vols. 8vo. 1645
Contes des Fées, par Madame d'Aulnoy. 1630-1705
Contes des Fées, par Ch. Perrault. 1697