Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

finally killed with help of the magic sword. [For this latter incident see Dasent, Norse Tales, (1874), p. 59.]

E1. Restoration of stolen women. The women are all taken back to their husbands, and the hero and his wife live happily.

There seems to be no reasonable doubt that the Micmac version goes back to a French original in which the same combination of stories occurs.

XVI. MAKING THE PRINCESS LAUGH.

Some versions of "the literal fool" (Chapter XVIII, incident B) end by making the lucky hero win a princess who has been offered to the man who make her laugh. Most often, however, the incident occurs in connection with the story outlined below. For discussion see Bolte und Polívka, ii, 39, and Polívka, Pahádkoslovné studie (1904), pp. 67-106.

EUROPEAN VERSION.

1. German: Grimm, No. 64.

A

A. Magic objects from old man as reward of kindness. youngest son divides food with an old man whom his brothers have refused to take pity on. [See Chapter VII-VIII, incident I.] In exchange for the kindness, he gives the boy a golden goose that will magically bind whomever the hero desires to have bound.

B. Magic binding. At an inn where he lodges the landlord's three daughters, one after the other, try to steal feathers from the golden goose but they stick to the goose and cannot free themselves. The hero takes them with him the next morning and on the way encounters the priest and three peasants who join the crowd and cannot get away.

C. Making the princess laugh. Because of the ridiculous plight of the parson, the peasants, and the girls, the hero causes a princess to laugh. She has been offered by her father to the man who can make her laugh.

D. Final winning of the princess with magic help. The king

does not want to give the princess to the hero; consequently he demands that he perform certain tasks. These are accomplished with the aid of the old man who gave the magic goose.

AMERICAN INDIAN VERSIONS.

2. Micmac: Rand, No. 6.

Ai. Magic objects obtained by exchange. An unpromising hero takes a cow to town to sell. On the way he meets a man who asks for the cow. When the boy refuses to give up the cow, the man gives him a magic morsel of food which is inexhaustible and which compels a person to eat until the master orders it to stop. The boy is forced in this way to give up the cow and receives the magic food in exchange. When he returns home, he prevents his mother's punishing him through the power of the magic morsel.

B. Magic binding. In the same manner the hero acquires a magic belt that will tighten magically around anything as the hero commands, and a magic fiddle that compels people to dance. He tries these on his mother and forces her to forego punishing him. Later, when the king comes for the rent they compel him to deed them the house they are living in. The hero then leaves home in search of adventures.

C. Making the princess laugh. He enters a contest, the end of which is to make a princess laugh three times. This he does by means of his magic objects which, one after the other, he uses on her and her suitors. He calls them off only when she laughs.

D. Final winning of princess by magic. The king, being unwilling to give the princess to the hero, throws him into a prison filled with wild beasts. The hero ties them with his magic belt and renders them helpless. When the princess is married to a rival, the hero through the use of his magic fiddle causes a swarm of wasps to attack the bridegroom in the bridal chamber. The princess leaves the groom, and when this same experience occurs to succeeding bridegrooms, the king realizes that he is dealing with a magician and gives the princess to the hero as wife.

3. Wyandot: Barbeau, GSCan, xi, No. 67.

A2. Magic object obtained from helpful animals. An unpromising hero is helped by a magic steer. In spite of the unsuccessful attempts of the boy's stepmother to get rid of the steer, the anima' and the boy escape. When the steer dies, he tells the boy to take a belt from his back. This the boy uses as a charm.

A1. Magic object obtained by exchange. The boy is adopted by an old woman. He defeats a wicked neighbor and wins all his land for the old woman. He takes a cow to town but exchanges it for a magic fiddle and dancing mice. Later he exchanges a cow for a veil by means of which he can magically cut wood. With the veil he makes much money for himself and the old woman.

C. Making the princess laugh. By means of the fiddle and the dancing mice he makes a princess laugh and thus wins her as wife.

D. Final winning of princess by magic. The hero is thrown into prison with lions, but he subdues them by means of the veil. Finally, the lions roar so much that he is rescued and, after taking revenge on his chief rival, he lives happily with the princess.

4. Maliseet: Mechling, JAFL, xxvi, 219.

A. Magic objects obtained from old man because of kindness. A numskull sells for a penny apiece some cows that he is sent to market to dispose of. He then divides the last penny with an old man who gives him a horse whose droppings are of gold.

(B). Magic objects lost but recovered at an inn. The hero takes his horse to an inn and boasts of its ability to drop gold. At night the landlady exchanges his horse for another. [Cf. No. 1.] When he returns home and boasts to his mother about the horse, he is chagrined to find that he has only a worthless horse. The old man who has been his benefactor before gives him a magic cudgel, and with this he belabors the landlady until she gives him back the gold-producing horse. [This incident is similar to No. 1 above, but it really belongs to quite another tale. For a discussion of the variants, see Bolte und Polívka, i, 346. For a French Canadian version see Barbeau, JAFL, xxix, 93.]

C. Making the princess laugh. Having obtained a magic selfmoving wagon and a wishing ring from his benefactor, the hero goes to the city. As he rides by the palace, the princess sees him and laughs at his strange wagon. He is angry and wishes her pregnant. When the child is born, it has an apple in its hand. This no one but the father can take from the child's hand, and thus the hero is proclaimed the father of the princess's child.

D. Final winning of the princess with magic help. The king will not yet give him the princess, but demands other tests. First

he sends him in a leaky vessel in search for gold. By means of his wishing ring, he turns the ship into a luxurious vessel, on which he goes to a foreign country and receives a shipload of gold. On his return he finds the princess about to be wedded to a rival. When he proves his claim, the king imprisons him. The hero wishes himself a beautiful uniform, and becoming magically fair and strong, kills his rivals and the king, marries the princess, and reigns over the kingdom.

5. Penobscot: Speck, JAFL, xxvi, 81.

Parricide prophecy. A caribou gives a prophecy that a man will some day kill his father. The man flees the country to avoid the fulfilment of the prophecy. [Cf. the story of Oedipus.]

A. Magic objects obtained from old man because of kindness. Exactly as in No. 4.

B. Magic objects lost and recovered at an inn. As in No. 4.
C. Making the princess laugh. Exactly as in No. 4.

D. Final winning of princess with magic help. Exactly as in No. 4.

Parricide prophecy fulfilled. In spite of the hero's precaution, he does finally kill his father. These incidents, which occur in Maliseet tales as well, do not rightly belong to this story.

The two last tales cited have obscured the incident of making the princess laugh, but the sequence of events makes it quite certain that we have here the same story as the German tale given as No. 1. It is likely that French Canadian variants which have not been collected account for the divergence of all the Indian tales from the European types.

XVII. OUT-RIDDLING THE PRINCESS.

The American Indian version of the tale of "Outriddling the Princess" preserves incidents from several European types. It is probably derived from an unpub

lished French Canadian version. For a discussion of the tale see Bolte und Polívka, i, 192.

EUROPEAN TYPES.

1. German: Grimm, No. 22.

A. Princess offered to propounder of riddle. A princess is offered in marriage to the youth who can propose a riddle which she cannot solve.

B. Accidental clues furnished hero on way to princess. On the way to the contest the hero is given a clue. He sees a horse poisoned and then eaten by a raven who in turn falls dead. The ravens are then eaten by twelve men who die of the poison.

C. Princess won by riddle. The hero propounds the riddle: "One killed none, and yet killed twelve."

D. Outwitting the princess. The princess tries to find the answer by visiting him at night and learning it from his dreams. He is, however, aware of her visit, keeps a token, and proves that she has visited him.

Variants:

A1. Hero obtains magic objects. The hero obtains a foodsupplying cloth, an inexhaustible purse, and a fiddle that compels people to dance. [See Bolte und Polívka, i, 192.]

B1. Accidental clues found. The hero picks up objects while on his way to the princess-usually an egg and other things. [See next incident.]

C. Princess won by riddle. The hero asks the princess why her mouth is so red. She replies that there is a fire in it. He then tells her to cook the egg with it. She continues thus and he answers each time by producing one of the objects he has brought. The answers are usually indecent. [For many variants see Bolte und Polívka, i, 201.]

D1. Magic objects help hero from prison. The hero is treacherously imprisoned and escapes from prison by means of his magic table-cloth, purse, and fiddle. [See next incident.]

D. Outwitting the princess. The hero gets the princess into his power through the magic of the fiddle. She obtains release only by promising to answer all the hero's questions by "No." That night by means of this strategem he gains access to her bed

« AnteriorContinuar »