THE PHILOSOPHY OF FOLK-TALES.
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most fortunate son is usually the youngest, whether on the folk-tale principle that as the youngest he was the most simple, and therefore likely to be most lucky, or as a recompense for his position in the family, which is one of inferiority and therefore of poverty, is doubtful. The hero in the following stories is the younger or youngest son, unless, as in Nos. 2, 4, and 5, he is the only son, and poor or stupid:—
- 1. Tale of one who travelled to know what shivering meant.
- 2. The Three Snake Leaves.
- 3. The Singing Bone.
- 4. The Giant with Three Golden Hairs.
- 5. The Three Languages.
- 6. The Table, the Ass, and the Horn.
- 7. The Golden Bird.
- 8. The Knapsack, the Hat, and the Horn.
- 9. The Two Brothers.
- 10. The Queen Bee.
- 11. The Three Feathers.
- 12. The Golden Goose.
- 13. The Three Luck-Children.
To these may he added:—
- 14. Thumbling (who was an only son); and
- 15. The Feather-Bird (in which the youngest [third] daughter was the most prudent).
A chief object of some other stories appears to have been to denounce the cruel treatment to which children were exposed at the hands of their step-mothers or step-sisters. The following are such stories:—
- 1. Little Brother and Sister.
- 2. The Little Men in the Wood.
- 3. Hansel and Grethel.
- 4. Cinderella.
- 5. Old Mother Frost.
- 6. The Almond Tree.
- 7. The Six Swans.
