round, so that at one shot he hits more than he wishes, and could easily clear all the country of game; Fine-ear, who hears the grass and herbs growing (Heimdallr hears the grass growing; in the ground, and the wool growing on the hacks of the sheep, Snorra Edda, p. 30); the Blower, who when he only blows a little can turn fifty wind-mills; Drink-all, who can empty out a pond; and lastly, Eat-all, who can eat up many thousand loaves. With these seven servants, Kunigunda, disguised as a man, goes through many kinds of adventures. She ties up a dragon, while Drink-all drinks up the pond where the monster quenched its thirst, and fills it with wine, whereby the monster becomes drunk. After this she wins away the treasure of a rich Emperor; one of her seven servants each time fulfilling the imposed conditions. Eat-all eats six heaps of bread; Drink-all drinks all the wells and the water that came through the pipes in the city. A race too, as here, occurs. Bird-swift is stupified with a strong drink, and falls asleep when he ought to be running. His opponent is just reaching the goal when Fine-ear listens, and hears the sleeper snoring two miles off; so Sharp-shot shoots an arrow into the tip of his ear, which wakens him; he bethinks himself, starts up quickly, and runs so fast that with the arrow still in his ear, he arrives first at the goal. Marrow-bone carries away the treasure they have won; they come to a river over which they cannot carry it as there are no ferry-boats, but Drink-all drinks up the river. The enemy's horsemen follow them, but the Blower raises such a storm that all the boats sink, and not a single man is left. Afterwards the servants quarrel, each declaring that he has done the most, but Kunigunda pacifies them. The whole is interwoven with a love story. Kunigunda, disguised as a man, and bearing the name of Felix, serves the King of Poland. A magician who is favourably disposed to her, has sent her the seven servants, and has also given her an excellent speaking-horse. She secretly falls in love with the King; the Queen, on the other hand, falls in love with her; and because she slights the Queen's love, the latter forces all kinds of dangerous enterprises on her. At length the Queen accuses Kunigunda of having grossly insulted her. She is condemned to death, but then her sex is revealed. The Queen dies of poison, and Kunigunda becomes the King's wife. An Arabian tale, in the continuation of The 1001 Nights by Chavis and Cazotte, in the Cabinet des Fées, 39, 421–478,[1] is altogether in
- ↑ It was believed to be not genuine, but afterwards Caussin de Perceval found the Arabian manuscript which Chavis took as the foundation which Cazotte repolished. From this source Perceval gives the stories in his continuation of the Thousand and One Nights (usually the eighth or ninth vol,), see preface to vol. viii.; but this particular one is not found among them. Chavis must, therefore, have borrowed it from another not yet re-discovered Arabian MS., for its authenticity admits of no doubt.
