and the princess is won by a tourney; yet it has the curious metamorphosis, and must be considered as having some connection. Maltese and Venetian fall together. Venetian has retained from The Water of Life only the misfortune and the treachery of the older brothers,[1] while Maltese keeps also the magical bird and the features naturally connected therewith. The introduction of two steamboats in the latter is a curious illustration of the ease with which popular tales change details without altering essentials. Sicilian and Harz II. again are alike, both being compounded with The Skilful Companions,[2] and making the winning of the princess depend on feats really accomplished by the helpers characteristic to that tale. Straparola II. must be placed alone, having nearly all trace of The Water of Life lost in the traits of The Lady and the Monster, with a princess won by the hero's happily directed choice.[3]
All of these features will appear again when we come to discuss variants which combine the compound types The Grateful Dead + The Poison Maiden or The Ransomed Woman with The Water of Life. They may, therefore, be passed over for the present, together with the question as to whether such a simple combination as The Grateful Dead + The Water of Life may be regarded as being the original from which the more complicated types have sprung. It is sufficient for the moment to recognize the tendency of the simpler variants to fall
- ↑ Since twelve brothers set out to win twelve sisters, there is probably a union here with the widespread tale of The Brothers and Sisters.
- ↑ The ship that will travel equally well on land and water is seemingly a common trait in forms of The Skilful Companions. See the variant cited from Bladé on p. 125, note 3. It occurs in a curious tale from Mauritius, given by Baissac, Le Folk-lore de l'Île-Maurice, 1888, p. 78.
- ↑ For examples of stories in which a, king's son liberates one or more prisoners, and has the service returned in an emergency, see Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v. 42-48.
