I. Holding up the rock. This story is told in the coyote cycle of stories cited above. They are all like 24 and 25 above.

31.

Thompson River: Teit, JAFL, xxix, 314.

J. Holding down the hat. [As in the general type above.]

32. Thompson River: Teit, JAFL, xxix, 315.

K. The defiler rewarded. Jack eases himself in a new church. The priests cannot tell how to get rid of the smell and finally decide to remove the church. They offer a reward which Jack wins by removing the defilement.

33.

Tepecano: Mason, JAFL, xxvii, 168.

A. Sale of worthless objects.

J. Holding down the hat.

C. Substitute for execution.

D. Diving for goats. All regular.

We have in these trickster tales undoubted borrowing from the French in Canada and the North, from the Spanish in the Southwest, and from the negroes in the Southeast.

XX. THE MASTER THIEF.

The widespread European tale of the Master Thief resembles some of the native Indian motives to such an extent that there has undoubtedly been amalgamation, as in the Chitimacha tale below. There are, however, several good versions of the European tale that show no influence of the native myths. For the European distribution of the story see Cosquin, ii, 274.

EUROPEAN VERSIONS.

1. French: Cosquin, No. 70. [Cf. New Mexican Spanish: Espinosa, JAFL, xxiv, 411.]

A. Youngest son robber. Three brothers go out to make their way in the world and the youngest becomes a robber.

B. Boastful parent. He returns home and tries to keep the secret of his profession, but his mother tells a neighbor and the king hears of it.

C.

Stealing horses from stable. He commands the boy to steal his horse, which is guarded in the stable by twelve men. The boy enters the stable dressed as a friar, makes the guards drunk, and steals the horse. One of the guards he leaves suspended by ropes from the top of the stable.

D. Stealing cows from herdsman. The next task is to steal six cows that are being driven by twelve men. The boy goes in front of the men and feigns to be hunting a rabbit. The drivers, becoming interested, leave the cows and join in the chase, while the boy makes a detour and steals the cows.

E. Frightening priest to death. The boy is commanded to frighten the priest to death. This he does by inticing the priest into a sack so that he may be taken to paradise. The priest is dragged about and left in a ridiculous situation in a chicken-house, and from the effects of the exposure dies in a few days.

2. German: Grimm, No. 192.

B1. Boastful thief. The thief himself boasts to the earl that he is a master thief. The earl tests his skill.

C. Stealing horse from stable. As in preceding tale.

F. Stealing sheet from bed. The thief waits till the earl and his wife are in bed. Then he takes a corpse from the gallows and raises it to the earl's window. The earl shoots the corpse, which falls. He follows it out the window, and soon the thief enters and tells the lady that he has killed the intruder and needs the sheet to wrap him for burial. Thinking her husband is speaking, she

gives the sheet to the thief.

F1. Stealing ring from hand. The lady is then persuaded to give up the ring that is on her hand, so that the thief may be buried in it. Soon the earl himself comes back, and they know that they have been duped.

E1. Stealing priest from church. As in preceding story, except that the priest does not die.

AMERICAN INDIAN VERSIONS.

3. Maliseet: Mechling, JAFL, xxvi, 224.

Impudent fool. Mteza, the son of a poor man, takes service

with a king. Having offended the king, he is exiled. He returns with a piece of sod, on which he stands. "Did I not tell you that you would be executed if you ever set foot on my land?" demands the king. "King," says Mteza, "I am not on your land, but in that of another king." The king dismisses him, telling him that he does not want to see his face again. Nevertheless Mteza returns and enters the presence chamber with his back toward the king. The king says, "Did I not tell you I did not want to see your face again?" Mteza replies, "That's not my face; that's my rump." [For this incident see: Bobertag, Küchners Deutsche Literatur, xxv, 9; W. Uhl, Murners Gauschmatt, p. 268.] At the king's advice, the boy's father sends him to sea with the pirates. The first place they rob is the king's castle. Mteza is sent down the chimney to rob, and after he has sent up all the booty he is deserted. By masking in a cow's hide he frightens the king so that he is let out of the castle. Later he frightens the pirates away from their treasure and keeps it himself. [Cf. with this last incident Chapter XIX, incident E.) The king gives Mteza tests of his ability to rob.

C1. Stealing horse from plowman. Mteza is ordered to steal a horse from a plowman. When the plowman is off his guard, Mteza lets a rabbit loose in front of him, and when the plowman chases the rabbit, Mteza steals the horse.

C. Stealing horse from stable. Exactly as in Nos. 1 and 2.
F. Stealing sheet from bed. Exactly as in No. 2.

G. Sleeping with princess. The king gives Mteza the task of gaining access to the princess's bed. Though the room is guarded by many soldiers, he accomplishes his purpose by having a large hollow golden calf made. This the princess takes a fancy to and takes to her room. Metza is concealed inside. He receives the princess as wife. [I have found no exact parallel in folk-tales to the last incident, but it has obvious resemblance to the Trojan Horse and to the entrance of Iachimo into Imogen's chamber in Cymbeline. For a French Canadian parallel to the latter story see Barbeau, JAFL, xxx, 117.]

[For the rest of the story see Chapter V, No. 11.]

4. Dakota: Riggs, CNAE, ix, 127.

B. Boastful parent. A boy tells his mother that he wants to be a robber. He finally gains her consent and steals until the chief hears about him and consults his mother. The chief tells the boy's

mother that he must steal the ring off the finger of his wife, or he will lose his head.

F1. Stealing ring from hand. Exactly as in No. 2.

Jack the trickster.

XIX, No. 9.]

[For the rest of the story see Chapter

5. Thompson River: Teit, JAFL, xxix, 316.

Thief hired to rob rival chief. A youth, continually dismissed from service on account of stealing, is employed by a chief to rob a former master.

C2. Stealing purse from chief. By making the guards drink, the thief steals the chief's purse.

F1. Stealing ring from hand. Regular, as in Nos. 2 and 4. Jack the Trickster. [For the rest of the story see Chapter XIX, No. 7.]

6. Wyandot: Barbeau, GSCan, xi, No. 69.1

[For the beginning of this story see Chapter XIX, No. 6.] B1. Boastful thief. The hero boasts of his skill to the chief. C1. Stealing oxen from plow. The thief accomplishes the task of stealing the horses by chasing quail and making the plowman leave his plow to join in the chase.

5.

F1. Stealing ring from finger. Regular, as in Nos. 2, 4, and

FRAGMENTARY AMERICAN INDIAN TALES

RELATED TO THE MASTER THIEF.

7. Micmac: Rand, No. 79.

PROBABLY

The hero is told in a prophecy that he will be king. He hears of a beautiful girl who has been told in a dream that she is to marry a man named Wisdom. He induces her to marry him by pretending that Wisdom is his name. Her supernatural protectors, the whales, kill her for disobedience.

The hero and a wise servant go to a king's court. He claims to be the king's long lost brother and is received with open arms. One day he walks with the princess in the woods and deserts her. When she is offered as a reward to her finder, he brings her in and marries her.

Soon after his marriage to the princess, he tells the king that

he has dreamed of the downfall of the city. During the panic into which this throws the king, the hero robs the palace of its treasure and escapes.

8. Micmac: Rand, No. 86.

Mouse and Weasel induce other mice to rob from the chief, and then they obtain concessions from the chief for keeping the robbers off. They finally go to the king's court where in the day they work as men. At night they take on their animal forms and steal the king's treasure.

9. Chitimacha: Swanton, JAFL, xxx, 475.

Rabbit goes to God and asks for more power. God tells him that he has enough power already, and to prove it sends him on verious missions.

Stealing teeth of alligator. He finds alligator asleep and ties a cord around his teeth. Then he sets the surrounding grass on fire so that the alligator jerks out his teeth.

Stealing tasks of elephant. In a similar manner he makes elephant jerk out his tusks.

Stealing rattlesnake. He persuade rattlesnake to let himself be tied to a stick. In this way he is able to take him to God. God tells Rabbit that he does not need more power.

The last three tales differ in detail from the Master Thief cycle, but have a striking general resemblance to it. The first two seem to be taken from a European version unknown to me. The last tale may be quite original with the Indians.

All the European borrowings are probably French Canadian in their origin.

XXI. THE LUCKY BOASTER.

The incidents included in the story of "The Lucky Boaster" are all of the same general type, but there is a