The combination of narrative themes is so frequent a phenomenon in folk and formal literature that one almost forgets to wonder at it. Yet in point of fact the reason for it and the means by which it is accomplished are mysteries past our present comprehension. If we could learn how and where popular tales unite, if we could formulate any general principle of union or severance, we should be well on the way to an understanding of the riddle which has hitherto baffled all students of narrative, n

Yet one who follows imperfectly the counsels of perfection may discover certain defects in Hippe’s work. He neglects altogether Cosquin’s hint as to the combination of the theme with The Water of Life and allied tales, thus leaving out of account an important element, which is intimately connected with the chief motive in a large number of tales. Indeed, his effort to simplify, commendable and even necessary as it is, brings him to conclusions that in some respects, I believe, are not sound. Tho

Reischer, Schaare Jeruschalajim , 1880, pp. 86–99. Summarized by Gaster, Germania , xxvi. 200–202, and from him by Hippe, pp. 143, 144. A modern folk-tale from Palestine. Annamite. Landes, Contes et légendes annamites , 1886, pp. 162, 163, “ La reconnaissance de l’étudiant mort. ” A modern folk-tale. Siberian. Radloff, Proben der Volkslitteratur der türkischen Stämme Süd-Siberiens , 1866, i. 329–331. See Köhler, Arch. f. slav. Phil. v. 43, note. Simonides. Cicero, De Divinatione , i. 27, referre

The probability that The Grateful Dead once existed in a simple, uncompounded form, which became the parent on one side of the more important combined types, is strengthened by the minor compounds in which it is found. How can the correspondences of detail seen in a considerable number of different compounds, as far as they run parallel, be otherwise explained? Surely it is more reasonable to believe in the existence of such a parent form than to suppose that an originally complicated form was h

In Gypsy a youth gives his last twelve piasters for the release of a corpse, which is being maltreated by Jews. The ghost of the dead man follows him and promises to get him a bride if he will share her with him. The youth consents and marries a woman whose five bridegrooms have died on the wedding night. The companion keeps watch in the chamber and cuts off the head of a dragon that comes from the bride’s mouth. Later he demands his half of the woman, and takes a sword to cut her asunder, when

The course of events is not very different from that of Lithuanian I. , since the variant has all the normal elements save the agreement between the ghost and the hero. A peculiarity is the final scene in which the hero tests his lady. It will be evident, I think, that this is an obscured and modified form of the test to which the ghost elsewhere submits the hero, a test of fidelity likewise, though different in its nature. In the Transylvanian variant, a merchant’s son while on a journey pays f

Dr. Wünsche gives as subsidiary types stories where a princess wishes the magic water for herself, and, when her two brothers fail to return with it, goes on a quest which results in obtaining the water and releasing the enchanted brothers; where a mother and son are the chief actors; where a bird, or fruit, or the water of death is substituted for the water of life; and where thankful beasts appear. All of these elements and more appear in the accessible variants, yet not all of them can be sai

Yet it by no means follows that the suggestion for the combination was not present in the version of The Grateful Dead , which was used in making Oliver . Indeed, it seems probable that this source or prototype had the division of the child in somewhat the form in which it appears in so many tales. That such was the case is likely from the fact that of the twenty-two folk variants which refer to the child all but two are of the type The Grateful Dead + The Ransomed Woman , to which Oliver is app

The Annamite tale cited in the third chapter 12 and Servian VI. , likewise summarized in connection with variants having the story-theme in simple form, 13 bear witness to the effect that the widespread belief has had upon folk-tales now in circulation. The connection of these two tales with the märchen as such is so vague that they serve the end of illustrating its growth from popular belief rather than the relationship of one form to another. So also the story from Brittany, printed by Sébillo

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