Chapter III: Witches (17)

_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, book xix. 440; and, Martial's splendid epigram, beginning "Phosphore redde diem, cur gaudia nostra moraris?"

Thus on every side we find this noble creature entwined in the lore of the people, from the peasants' dull superstition to great Milton's song,--

"Of the wondrous horse of brass,
On which the Tartar king did ride."

The horse still plays an important part in the folk-lore. Thus _e.g._ Yorkshire people say, that if you see a piebald horse, and do not look at his tail, or think of a fox, whatever you wish for will be granted; also, that you must spit over your finger for luck when you see a white horse. The four black horses and chariot still rush through Penzance streets in the night, according to some, and the white horse is carried by the Christmas mummers in various parts of England and Germany. In the Midlands a horse's head and skin is dragged about on Christmas eve; a simulacrum, as some think, of Odin's heroic steed. Cf. _Henderson_, p. 70, also F. Finn and Magyar Songs on St. Stephen's Day. _Academy_ 1884. pp. 150, 315.

_Page 63_. For breathing on old things and causing them to change, see p. 92, where the baa-lambs restore the lad's body by blowing; and a Finnish tale tells how a snake commands the hero to create with his clean breath a copper battlefield that they may fight, and is told by the man to create an iron one with his heathen breath, which he does; and other snakes come in the story who in turn create copper and silver battlefields, see Leppäpölkky, _S. ja T._ 2.

Sometimes the change is effected by a bath, as in "Fairy Elizabeth," p. 110, _supra_.

Cf. _Grimm_, "Iron John," vol. ii. p. 195.

_Page 65._ A glass mountain appears in the "Iron Stove," _Grimm_, vol. ii. p. 161; "the princess on the glass mountain" in Thorpe's _Yule-Tide Stories_, p.86; and "The crystal mountain" in _Vernaleken_ p. 276. It occurs also in a Lincolnshire story, where the forsaken wife sits at her husband's door and sings:

"Bare bull of orange return to me,
For three fine babes I bore to thee,
And climbed a glass hill for thee,
Bare bull of orange return to me."
_Folk-Lore Journal_, 1885, p. 188.[23]

See also notes to "The Little Magic Pony," _infra_.

The giant in "Handsome Paul," p. 26, like the Tátos in the present tale, tells his friend to shut his eyes and open them at intervals on account of the great speed they are going at; just as in the Finnish "Golden Bird," the young man on the wolf's back is obliged to rub his eyes with his handkerchief because the pace they are going at makes them water. In the hurry he drops it and asks the wolf to stop a minute to pick it up and is told it is already 1,000 miles behind them.

_Page 66._ Knight Mezey's wonderful sword is one of a numberless group of incidents wherein the sword plays an important part; in this story Mirkó ordered out his magic sword to protect him while he slept, and then to join with Knight Mezey's in mowing down the enemies. When he met Doghead (p. 73), their swords in like manner flew out of the scabbards and fought their masters' battles; and in the "Secret-keeping little Boy," p. 233, in this collection, the hero is born with a scabbard at his side, whilst a sword point appeared in the garden and grew as the scabbard grew; this sword cut up into pulp any one who came near its master on mischief bent. Alderblock's sword in the Finnish story in like manner flew out and cut Syöjätär into mincemeat. The Greeks told of "Harpé," the sword Hermes lent to Perseus, and of the honoured swords of Ulysses and Achilles.

Norse legends tell of wondrous swords, such as Odin's "Gram" that he drove into an ash tree there to remain till the man should be found strong enough to draw it out.[24] Cheru's sword, forged by the dwarfs, "shone every morning on the high place of the sanctuary, sending forth its light afar when dawn arose like a flame of fire;" then there is Heimdal, born of nine mothers, the sword "Ase" of the Edda, who with his mighty sword made even cunning Loki cry for mercy.

In the Niebelungen there is "Balmung," craftily made by the dwarfs and tempered in dragons' blood, wherewith Siegfried smote the giants, and did mighty wonders, yea, even after its master's death slaying his enemies, till at last it rested on his grave by Brunhild's side. Roland wielded his good sword "Durindart," the gift of an angel, against the Paynim foe and did great wonders.

Dietrich in terrible conflict won "Eche-sax": Flammberg and the good horse Bayard wrought wonders in the days of Haymon and his children: Hunford's token of reconciliation to Beowulf, was the gift of "Hrunting" hardened in dragon's blood: Nägling, Nagelring, and Rosen, too, smote their worms, whilst "Mimung," good trusty Mimung, in the hands of heroes, did mighty wonders, even splitting asunder a floating pack of wool; and was so keen that Amilias did not know that Mimung had cut him in two till he shook himself; and lo! he fell into two pieces. Wayland Smith laboured in our own land, and brought forth a wondrous sword.

"Bitterfer, the sword hight,
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.

A story is current in Småland of a clergyman's son who assisted his father as curate. One morning when the young man awoke he saw the sun-beams coming in through a knot-hole in the floor, and suddenly a woman of marvellous beauty came floating in on the light and stood before him. He sprang up and threw his cloak over her and took her to his parents. She became his wife and lived happily with him for many years. One day he chanced to say how strange her coming was, and in order to emphasize his words he took the knot out of the hole in the floor, and in a moment she was gone!

In a Lapp story, _Friis_, No. 7, the girl tells her husband to drive a nail into the threshold to prevent her going away. See also "Lappen i Skathamn." _Hofberg_, p. 174.[28]

Other examples of the swan-maiden kind are to be found in:--

Rink, _Tales of the Eskimo_, "The Man who mated himself with a Sea-fowl," p. 146.

Keightley's _Fairy Mythology_, "The Peri Wife," p. 20; also p. 163, where seals are said to put off their skins; and "The Mermaid Wife," p. 169.

_Legends of the Wigwam_, "Son of the Evening Star," p. 81.

Stokes, _Indian Fairy Tales_, "Phúlmati Ráni," p. 6.

Steere, _Swahili Tales_, "Hasseebu Kareem Ed Deed," p. 355.

_Household Stories from the Land of Hofer_, "The Dove Maiden," p. 368.

Vernaleken, _In the Land of Marvels_, "The Three White Doves," p. 263; "The Maiden on the Crystal Mountain," p. 274; "How Hans finds his Wife," p. 281; and "The Drummer," p. 288.

_Grimm_, vol. ii. "The Drummer," p. 333.

Ralston, _Russian Folk-Tales_, p. 120.

Croker, _Fairy Legends of the South of Ireland_, "The Lady of Gollerus," p. 177.

_Sagas from the Far East_, pp. 29, 91.

Payne's _Arabian Nights_, "The Story of Janshah," vol. v. p. 98;

"Hassan of Bassora," and the "King's Daughter of the Jinn," vol. vii. p. 145.

_Portuguese Folk-Tales_, Folk-Lore Society 1882, "The Spell-bound Giant," p. 35.

_Folk-Lore Record_, 1879, p. 12; 1883, pp. 203, 250, 284, 320; and 1884, p. 11.

Wägner's _Epics and Romances_, p. 280, see "Valkyrs"; _Asgard and the Gods_, sub voce "Walkyries."

Baring Gould, _Curious Myths_, sub "Swan-maidens."

_Page 103._ Anent the wedding here mentioned, it may be interesting to note some ceremonies connected with Magyar weddings in olden times. Love-making was very simple: there was no long courtship before the betrothal, and one meeting of the couple was often deemed quite sufficient.[29] The young folks did not choose their future companions, that being the parents' prerogative; and very often the match was arranged when they were in their cradles. It was not considered desirable to make connections with foreign families, and in case a girl was given away to a foreigner, one of the conditions insisted upon was that the husband should learn the language of the country. Francis Csáky was thrown into prison by his father because he would not marry Miss Homonmay, who had been selected as his wife. Occasionally, however, some choice was allowed; thus, for instance, Nicholas Bethlen was allowed to choose his wife from among the daughters of Paul Béldy and Stephen Kun. It was considered an offence if a young man, not being a relative, paid a visit to a house where marriageable girls[30] were, as he was suspected of courting the young ladies on the sly; if the young man was one whom the parents approved, a day was fixed for him to come and "see" the girls. On the appointed day the young man started on his journey with great pomp, and generally arranged to arrive about supper time (7 to 8 p.m.); if the sight was satisfactory, the girl's hand was at once asked for.[31] During supper the young couple sat opposite to each other, and after supper there was a dance. Some parents left it to their daughters to decide, while others endeavoured "to enlighten them." If the father was dead the widow sought the advice of her eldest son, or of the children's guardian. If the young man was refused[32] he left the place, sometimes carrying the young lady off by force, as John Mikes did Sarah Tarnóczy. The asking for the young lady's hand was performed by that member of the family who had the greatest authority; if the offer was accepted the bridegroom fixed a day for the betrothal. Then came the interchange of rings. The betrothal ring was not a plain hoop, but one enamelled and set with diamonds or rubies. From the day of the betrothal they were considered engaged, and henceforth called each other "my younger sister" (hugom), and "my elder brother" (bátyám),[33] and the young man was allowed to make his offerings of gold and silver. The betrothal--called in Magyar "the clasping of hands"--and interchange of rings was considered binding on both parties, and a breach of promise was considered the greatest insult. Sometimes a sort of preliminary wedding was celebrated, thus Nicholas Bethlen went through the marriage ceremony soon after the interchange of rings, but a whole year elapsed before, he took his bride to his house.[34]

Sometimes an agreement was drawn up; and the wedding-day having been fixed by the bridegroom, it was communicated to the bride's father, so as to allow him to make his preparations. The number of the wedding guests often amounted to several hundreds. At the wedding of Barbara Thurzó, in 1612, seventy Magyar nobles of the highest rank appeared personally, besides several from the Austrian dominions. The king of Poland sent his sons and several ambassadors, the number of the guests' horses being 4324.[35] The wedding-feast was sometimes utilized for the discussion of politics. All the inhabitants of the village were invited, bullocks with gilt horns were roasted, and a goodly number of knives stuck into them for the use of the people. The bread was exposed in troughs, and the wine in vats. Amongst people of modest means the forms were the same, the supplies being smaller. The expenses of the wedding were borne by the serfs.

The bridegroom chose his best man from among his near relations, the groomsmen were young friends. A widower had neither best man nor groom's men. The bride had a matron[36] who gave her away, and who, together with the bridesmaids were chosen from near relatives. There was generally also "a host" chosen from the higher nobility, and he carried a gold stick in his hand; the deputy host carried a stick painted green; these two walked about and looked after the guests. A few days before the wedding the guests met at the bridegroom's house, and on the night previous to starting a weeping soirée was held, when the bridegroom took leave of his bachelorship.[37] On the night previous to the wedding the bridegroom and his guests journeyed to a village near the bride's residence, and slept there. So far the bridegroom had come on horseback; but now he took his seat in a carriage, and in front of him rode two young nobles clad in wild animals' skins,[38] who were called "fore-greeters" (elölköszöntök). These were followed by pipers, drummers, and buglers. In the bridegroom's carriage the best man sat by his side, his groomsmen in the opposite seat. The "matron of the bedchamber" (nyoszolyó asszony) followed in another carriage preceded by two young nobles dressed in skins and on horseback. The procession was closed by the servants, leading gaily caparisoned horses. The two "fore-greeters" saluted the chief host of the bride, who returned the greeting, and sent a message saying that the master would be heartily welcome: this was conveyed to the assembled guests, who thereupon proceeded to the bride's residence. When they arrived at the outskirts of the village, the bride's chief host sent a gold ring and some saddled horses, and a horse-race was at once got up,[39] the prize being the gold ring. Then the bridegroom sent his presents to the bride; the guests, too, sent their presents; as did also the representatives of the united towns and counties.

If the wedding was kept in a fortified town the guests were saluted by the firing of guns. The best man greeted the family of the bride, to which the chief host replied: thereupon the best man asked for the bride[40] and the chief host replied, endeavouring to pass a joke on the bridegroom and his best man, to which the latter replied as best he could. Then the chief host delivered up the bride, and, with a long speech, invited the guests to the midday meal.[41] The meal was a sumptuous feast; musicians discoursing sweet music as it proceeded. The chief host assigned the proper places to the guests. The bride was not expected to eat, but to weep. The banquet over, dancing began. The first dance was danced by the best man and matron, who were followed by the bride and bridegroom; the former simply walking through her dances: several other dances followed. The bride appeared in three different dresses on the wedding-day;[42] the bridegroom in three different dresses on the three days of the wedding. When the bride appeared they played the "bride's dance." During the parting ceremony the bride went down upon her knees before her parents, and was handed over to the bridegroom, who unsheathed his sword and cut off the wedding wreath.[43] This ceremony was called "taking possession of the girl." The fortress guns thundered out to let the world know when it took place. The young couple remained with the bride's parents till the third day, when she distributed her presents, and then set off to her new home.[44]

See also an account of the Palócz wedding customs in the Notes to the "Girl with the Golden Hair," _infra_.

There is a host of wedding and love songs, especially in cases where the ardent lover had to go far to meet his beloved, as for instance, the Lapps had to do. Two are given in Nos. 366 and 406 of the _Spectator_. The following[45] I do not think has ever been translated before:

No, not under the wide spreading heaven
Is there so sweet and rich a flower
As my own, dear, sweet, beloved one, she has all my poor heart.

When I travel over the windy Alps
I remember my own belov'd one,
And in a moment it's calm and warm, as after Midsummer.

The tune is very sweet and plaintiff, like so many of the folk-songs, the translation conveys no idea of the sweet and liquid music that even the words of the original are brimful of.[46]

"_Six-ox farmers._"--To say that a farmer ploughs his land with six oxen yoked to his plough means that he is very wealthy.

_Page 104._ The giant in an Austrian story (_Vernaleken_, p. 95) draws circles in the sand and a fowl appears; and in the Lapp story ("Ulta-Pigen." _Friis_, No. 7) the lad marks out on the ground the plan of a house, &c., at night, and in the morning all is found complete.

"My lad, it is a _burial_ feast." Halotti tors or burial-feasts are still very common among the Magyar rural population.

_Page 105._ The trouble that comes from those at home[47] occurs over and over in all manner of folk-tales, _e.g._, in the Lapp story ["Fattiggutten, Fanden og Guldbyen"] the lad, after meeting a beautiful girl who becomes his bride, insists upon going home to tell of his good luck, and when there wishes for his bride and her attendants to appear, to prove that his story is true. They come, but vanish almost at once, and then comes the numerous troubles before the lost bride can be found. _Friis_, p. 161. In another, the son of the swan-maiden shows his mother her dress, which she at once puts on and vanishes, "Pigen fra Havet," _id._ p. 27, with which Cf. _Dasent_. "Soria Moria Castle," p. 466.

_Vernaleken._ "The Drummer," p. 289.

Payne, _Arabian Nights_, "The Story of Janshah," vol. v. p. 109, and "Hassan of Bassoria," vol. vii. p. 175.