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.

In the curious Egyptian story of the "Two Brothers," the younger brother says to the elder one, "When thou shalt take a jug of beer into thy hand and it turns into froth, then delay not; for to thee of a certainty is the issue coming to pass." _Records of the Past_, vol. ii. p. 144.

See also Isìlakòlona in "Malagasy Folk-Tales," _Folk-Lore Journal_, 1884, p. 130.

In folk-stories the giants were gifted with a keen sense of smell; and no sooner did they enter the room where a man was than they knew of his being there. The Norwegians and Swedes have stories of beings, which are called "Trynetyrk," or "Hundetyrk," and so have the Lapps and Finns. The Lapps call them "Bædnag-njudne," _i.e._, dog's nose; and the Finns, "Koiran-Kuonalanien," which means the same. These monsters were men who had noses like dogs, and so could track men by their scent. They were said to be enormously large, and to have had one eye in the middle of their forehead; and were much dreaded on account of their being cannibals. A Lapp story tells how once a Lapp girl got lost, and came to a Bædnag-njudne's house. He was not at home, but his wife was. The girl was little, poor, and quite benumbed by the cold, and looked so terrified that the wife thought it would be a sin for Bædnag-njudne to eat her when he came home. So she took her and hid her under her gown. When Bædnag-njudne came home, he at once began to sniff about, and said, "I smell some one." His wife said all sorts of things to make him believe it was not so; and, when she did not dare to conceal the girl any longer, she let her out of the house secretly, and told her to fly for her life. Meanwhile, Bædnag-njudne was long sniffing about the house; and when he could not find anyone inside he went outside, and soon found the footprints. So soon as the girl saw the monster was after her, in her terror she sprang from a bridge and hid herself under it. So the monster lost the track, and the girl was saved. _Friis_, p. 43.--Cf. "Jack the Giant Killer," where the giant says,

"Fa, fe, fi, fo, fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman; Be he alive, or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread." _Grimm_, vol. ii. p. 504.

In the northern ballad we are told how a girl is carried off by the fairies. Two of her brothers set off to rescue her, but fail, because they do not carry out Merlin's instructions. The third one succeeds; and, while he sits talking to his sister, the hall doors fly open and the elf king comes in shouting:

"With _fi_, _fe_, _fa_, and _fum_, I smell the blood of a Christian man, Be he dead, be he living, with my brand, I'll clash his harns frae his harn pan."

See Dr. Jamieson's _Illustrations of Northern Antiquities_.

In the Eskimo story of "The Girl who fled to the Inlanders," (_Rink_, p. 218,) the inlanders know a coast woman has come, by the smell: In "Inuarutligak," we are told of singular people, whose upper parts are human, and lower little dogs: and are endowed with a keen sense of smell.--Cf. p. 199, in this collection.

The cutting up of the hero's body reminds us of the Egyptian story of Typhon cutting up Osiris, who is restored to life by Horus; see _Uarda_, note to cap. viii. Cf. also _Sagas from the Far East_, tale v. p. 75, and _Vernaleken_, "The Three White Doves," p. 269.

In the Eskimo stories the heroes are restored to life by the singing of certain mystic songs.

In the legend of Gurû Guggâ, the bullocks are restored to life by the singing of charms; Temple's _Legends of the Punjâb_, p. 124. Cf. _Grimm_, vol. ii. "Water of Life," and note, p. 399; Ralston's _Russian Tales_, p. 236.

The "wound-healing grass"[20] is in all probability flixweed (_Sisymbrium Sophia_), the Magyar name for which signifies "wound-healing leaf;" see article on Székely Folk-Medicine in _Folk-Lore Record_, April, 1884, p. 98, and the Finnish story of "Golden Bird."

With regard to the passage "Rose ... was so beautiful that though you could look at the sun you could not look at him," cf. the reply of Curidach to Attila, as related by Priscus. "He, (Attila,) then invited Curidach, chieftain of the Akatziri, to come and celebrate their joint triumph at his court, but that chieftain, suspecting that his benefactor's kindness was of the same nature as the promised boon of Polyphemus to Ulysses, courteously declined, saying, 'It is hard for a man to come into the presence of a god, and if it be not possible to look fixedly even at the orb of the sun, how shall Curidach gaze undistressed upon the greatest of God's' (_i.e._ Attila)." _Italy and her Invaders_, by T. Hodgkin, London, 1880, vol. ii. p. 84.

The story of a girl assuming a snake's skin reminds us of the daughter of Ypocras, who dwelt at Lango, in the form of a great dragon; see _The Voyages and Travels of Sir John Maundeville_, cap. iv. See also, "Snake-skin," in this collection, p. 283.--A Snake Friend occurs in the Swahili "Blessing or Property," (_Steere_, p. 405); in the Finnish "Haastelewat Kuuset," ("The Talking Pines,"); in "Melusina," B. Gould's _Curious Myths_, p. 471, and in Keightley's _Fairy Mythology_, p. 480.--In the Norse story of the "Three Princesses of Whiteland," (_Dasent_, p. 210,) the princesses gradually rise out of the earth as the lad destroys the trolls. See also _Vernaleken_, "The Fisher's Son," p. 250.

In the Serbian tale of "The Three Brothers," _Denton_, p. 275, the witch destroys two of the brothers, having first persuaded them to throw one of her hairs on their animals. The third brother resuscitates them, and all goes well. Cf. "The Enchanted Doe," in _Pentamerone_.[21]

Cf. "To Lappepiger gifte sig med Stall," _Friis_, 106, and "Ivan, Kupiskas Son," _Friis_, p. 170. Cf. exhaustive note in Stokes's _Indian Tales_, pp. 163, 268; and the Portuguese tale, "Slices of Fish," in _Pedroso: Folk-Lore Society_, p. 102. For animals that help, cf. "The Three Princes," p. 113 of this volume.

To defeat a witch by drawing her blood is well known in the lore of the people.

Cf. Lapp stories, "Ulta Pigen," where the lad catches an Ulta girl by pricking her in the hand with a pin, so as to draw blood. A similar incident occurs in "Goveiter Pige," from Næsseby. In "Bondesønnen, Kongesønnen og Solens Søster," from Tanen, the herd is told to prick his bride (who has gone from him on account of his looking behind) in her hand till blood comes, and then suck the drop off. He did so and secured his bride. _Friis_, pp. 23, 39, 140.

The same superstition is well known in the North of England. In Lincolnshire there is a tale still told (1888) of a farmer who could not get his horses to go past a certain cottage until he got down and thrashed the old woman, who lived there, till the blood came. Whereupon the horses went past without further ado. In Sykes's _Local Records_ of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, under March 26th, 1649, we are told how it was decided that certain women were witches, because blood did not come when they were pricked with pins by the "witch-finder." See also _Witch Stories_ by L. Linton, p. 260, &c.

We must not feel surprised when we learn that it is still customary among the Servians and other half-civilised nations to subject women who are suspected as witches to the trial by water, since there are still many persons living who can remember the same thing having been done in the Netherlands and Germany. Thus, in 1823, it went through all the papers that a middle-aged woman at Delten, in Guelderland, being suspected of being a witch, volunteered herself to prove her innocence by the trial of water, that the trial actually took place in broad daylight before a crowd of people in a neighbouring canal, and that the result of the trial turned out in her favour. The following case is more horrible. It happened about thirteen years after the above date on the Peninsula Hela, near Dantzic. A man living in the Cassubian village Ceynowa was taken ill with dropsy, and a quack pointed out a poor widow fifty-one years old, and mother of five young children, as the witch who had caused the man's illness. In order to force her to undo the charm, the quack beat her and jumped on her in a most brutal manner, and she was led to the bed of the patient, who beat her with a stick until she was covered with blood. Not content with this, the quack and some fishermen took her into a boat and rowed out to sea twice; they tied her hands and threw her into the water. On the second occasion they towed her after the boat so long that the poor creature was drowned. The further particulars are so revolting that one is apt to think that one reads a description of a punishment among the cannibals. And this happened in the Prussian State in the month of August of the year 1836!--From _Die Gartenlaube_, December 1884.

See also _Folk-Lore Record_, vol. v. p. 156, and Feb. 1883, p. 58; and Henderson's _Folk-Lore of Northern Counties_, p. 181, and notes, which says, "In Brittany, if the lycanthropist be scratched above the nose, so that three drops of blood are extracted, the charm is broken. In Germany, the werewolf has to be stabbed with knife or pitchfork thrice on the brows before it can be disenchanted."

_Restoration to Life_. Cf. "Marya Morevna," _Ralston_, p. 91; Panch-Phul Ranee, _Frere_, p. 140; "Loving Lailí," _Stokes_, p. 83, where Majnún is restored to life by Lailí cutting her little finger inside her hand straight down from the top of her nail to her palm, out of which the blood gushed like healing medicine; and the Bél-Princess, where the blood of the little finger again comes in. Also "Golden Hair," _Nauké_, p. 108, and the Lapp story "Ivan," _Friis_, p. 176. Mr. Quigstad, of Tromsø, to whose courtesy and learning I am deeply indebted, says he has heard a similar incident in a Lapp story from Lyngen.

PRINCE MIRKÓ. Kriza, xiii.

_Page 59_. In the Finnish "Leppäpölkky" ("Alder Block"), _S. ja T_. ii. p. 2, one half of the castle laughs and one half cries. The crying being on account of a great three-headed snake which arose from the sea, and would devour half the castle, half the men, and half the precious stones if the king did not give his eldest daughter in their stead.

_Page 63_. The Tátos is a mythic horse possessed of the most marvellous powers. It is generally represented (as in the present tale) as being a most wretched creature to begin with. Cf. "The Little Magic Pony," p. 157; "The Three Princes, &c.," p. 197, where it is hatched from a five-cornered black egg; "the wretched foal which lies seven fathoms deep in the dung-heap," in "The Pelican," p. 256; the ugly creature in "The Girl with the Golden Hair," p. 264; and the piebald in the "Fairies' Well," p. 289. It feeds on burning cinders, and its breath changes the most wretched things into the most glorious. Sometimes, however, the first breath has an extraordinary effect, as _e.g._ p. 198, where Ambrose becomes like "a diseased sucking pig." The name is still a favourite one among the peasants for their horses. The word Tátos also meant a priest in the old pagan days, but it never has this meaning in the folk-tales.

The Tátos also appears in "Die Königstöchter," in Mailáth's _Magyarische Sagen_, vol. i. p. 61. See also "Zauberhelene," vol. ii. of the same collection, where we are told "Taigarot war ein wunderbares Pferd; es verstand die Reden der Menschen, antwortete auch und hatte neun Füsze." The whole story tells how Argilus carries off his wife, Helen, from the power of Holofernes, the fire-king, who has got her in his underground home. Taigarot belongs to Holofernes, and tells him where Helen is carried off, and so he recovers her. Argilus hears that the magic horse has a younger brother still more powerful although possessing but four legs. This horse belongs to one Iron nose, a witch, and so Argilus enters her service in order to obtain it. His duties are, first to control the witch's stud of brazen horses; next to look after her twelve black mares, who are her daughters, and then to milk them, and make a bath of their milk. He manages to do all by means of a magic staff, and so obtains the horse; whilst the witch is burnt to death in the bath which she thinks will make her young. The horse tells Argilus to wash it in the bath, and it at once becomes the colour of gold, and from every hair hangs a golden bell. With this horse Argilus carries off his wife. Holofernes follows on Taigarot, and not being able to overtake them, digs his spurs into Taigarot, who in his indignation at such treatment kicks Holofernes off, and so breaks his neck.

For magic horses in other lands cf. the following tales:--the Finnish "Oriiksi Muntettu Poika;" "The Little White Horse" in "Ferdinand the Faithful," _Grimm_, ii. p. 156; Katar, in "The Bay with a Moon and Star," _Stokes_, p. 131, which becomes changed by twisting his right ear; "Weisnittle," in Stier's _Ungarische Volksmärchen_, p. 61; Sleipnir, Odin's eight-legged horse that used to carry the father of the gods as swift as the wind over land and sea, in Wagner's _Asgard and the Gods;_ and "Bayard, Faithful Bayard!" the good steed in the Carolingian Legends in Wagner's _Epics and Romances of the Middle Ages_, pp. 367-396; "the shaggy dun filly" in "The Young King of Easaidh Ruadh," in _Campbell's Tales of the Western Highlands_, vol. i. p. 4; and the "steed," in "The Rider of Grianaig," vol iii. p. 14 of the same book.

A magic horse appears in the Lapp story "Jætten og Veslegutten," (The Giant and the Vesle Boy), from Hammerfest; _Friis_, p. 48. In this case it assists the boy to escape from the giant, and to marry a king's daughter; and finally becomes a prince when its head is cut off. "A winged horse" appears in "Ivan, Kupiskas Søn," a story from Akkala, in Russian Finland; _Friis_, p. 170. In "Jætten Katten og Gutten" (the Giant, the Cat, and the Boy), from Alten, _Friis_, p. 63, the boy saves the giant's son from a troll cat, and is told by the lad he saves, that his father will offer him a gold horse and "a miserable one," and he is to be sure and choose the miserable one; and in like manner he was to choose a miserable box, and a miserable flute, in preference to golden ones, which would be offered to him. There is a somewhat similar Finnish story, "Paholaisen antamat Soittoneuwot" (Musical Instruments Given by the Devil), _S. ja T._, vol. i. p. 181, where the hero, when in the woods, sees the devil[22] running for his life, with a pack of wolves at his heels. The lad shoots into the pack, killing one wolf, and thus terrifying the rest. The grateful devil promises the lad whatever he wishes. Acting on the advice of a maid in the devil's house, he asks "for the mare which is in the third stall, on the right-hand side of the stable." The devil is very loath to give this, but is obliged to do so, and gives the boy a kantele, a fiddle, and a flute besides. The mare acts the part of a Tátos for part of the tale, and then changes into a woman, being the wife of the king, who appears at the latter part of the story, and who orders the hero to perform difficult tasks. The kantele is like the fiddle in the "Jew in a thicket" (_Musical Myths_, vol. ii. p. 122; _Grimm_, vol. ii. p. 97), it makes every one dance that hears it. The woman drops out of the story, and the persecuting king is kicked up into the clouds by the irate devil who comes to help the hero, and is never heard of again.

A horse that can talk plays a prominent part in another Finnish tale, "The Golden Bird."--"Dapplegrim" is the magic foal in the Norse; see _Dasent_, pp. 313 and 367. See also the "brown foal" in _Grimm_, "Two Brothers," No. 107, and the "white horse," in "Ferdinand the Faithful," No. 126, and _note_.

Note also horses in "Der goldne Vogel," "Das Zauberross," and "Der Knabe und der Schlange," in Haltrich's, _Siebenbuergische Märchen_; "La Belle aux cheveux d'or," in _Contes des Fées_, par Mme. D'Aulnoy; "Schönchen Goldhaar," _Märchensaal aller Völker für Jung und Alt_, Dr. Kletke, i. p. 344; "Der goldne Apfelbaum," in Kaiadschitsch, _Volksmärchen der Serben_, p. 33; and Denton, p. 43. Enchanted horses play a prominent

## part in "Simple Johnny," p. 36, and "The Black Charger of Hernando," p.

292, in _Patranas or Spanish Stories_.--Cf. "The little Mare" from Mentone, _F. L. Record_, vol. iii. p. 44. The Russians tell of "a sorry colt rolling in the muck," which possesses marvellous powers in "Marya Morevna," _Ralston_, p. 94; and in "Koshchei, the Deathless," there is an heroic steed, _ibidem_, p. 101. See also "Ivan Kruchina," _Naake_, p. 124. "The marvellous white horse" appears also in Austria; see _Land of Marvels_, pp. 48, 256, 260, 272, 342.

In the story of the third royal mendicant, in the _Arabian Nights_, Agib mounts a black horse and flies through the air. Similar incidents will be found in Nos. 1, 2, 4, 10, 17 of Dietrich's _Runische Volksmärchen_. Several variants, together with the author's view of their significance, are to be found in _Gubernatis_, vol. i., chap. ii.

The following, quoted from Stokes's _Fairy Tales_, p. 278, is worthy of notice:--

"On the morning of the day which was to see his last fight, Cúchulainn ordered his charioteer, Loeg, to harness the Gray to his chariot. 'I swear to God what my people swears' said Loeg, 'though the men of Conchobar's fifth (Ulster) were around the Gray of Macha, they could not bring him to the chariot.... If thou wilt, come thou, and speak with the Gray himself.' Cúchulainn went to him. And thrice did the horse turn his left side to his master.... Then Cúchulainn reproached his horse, saying that he was not wont to deal thus with his master. Thereat the Gray of Macha came and let his big round tears of blood fall on Cúchulainn's feet. The hero then leaps into his chariot and goes to battle. At last the Gray is sore wounded, and he and Cúchulainn bid each other farewell. The Gray leaves his master; but when Cúchulainn, wounded to death, has tied himself to a stone pillar to die standing, then came the Gray of Macha to Cúchulainn to protect him so long as his soul abode in him, and the 'hero's light' out of his forehead remained. Then the Gray of Macha wrought the three red routs all around him. And fifty fell by his teeth and thirty by each of his hooves. This is what he slew of the host. And hence is (the saying) 'Not keener were the victorious courses of the Gray of Macha after Cúchulainn's slaughter.' Then Lugaid and his men cut off the hero's head and right hand and set off, driving the Gray before them. They met Conall the Victorious, who knew what had happened when he saw his friend's horse. And he and the Gray of Macha sought Cúchulainn at the pillar-stone. Then went the Gray of Macha and laid his head on Cúchulainn's breast. And Conall said, 'A heavy care to the Gray of Macha is that corpse.' Conall himself, in the fight he has with Lugaid, to avenge his friend's slaughter, is helped by his own horse, the Dewy-Red. When Conall found that he prevailed not, he saw his steed, the Dewy-Red, by Lugaid. And the steed came to Lugaid and tore a piece out of his side."

("Cúchulainn's Death," abridged from the "Book of Leinster," in _Revue Celtique_, Juin, 1877, pp. 175, 176, 180, 182, 183, 185).

See also, Grimm's _Teutonic Mythology_, Stallybrass, vol. i. pp. 328, 392; McGregor's _Folk-Lore of the North-East of Scotland_, p. 131; and Belludo, the goblin horse of Alhambra. Nor must we forget "Phooka," the wild horse of Erin's isle.

Note also the "Iliad"; cf. book ii . 760, book viii . 157, book x . 338, 473; specially Xanthus and Balius who talk,