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,

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:

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.