from the third act follows closely the last portion of the folk-tale, including the scene at the well.
The Tempest of Shakespeare is connected with Ayrer's drama, in what way is not clear. The Tempest is founded on the earlier part of the tale as given by Ayrer; it corresponds, therefore, to the bride-winning section of the märchen. It is true that the resemblance is remote; nevertheless it is sufficient to show that the ground-idea of The Tempest is ultimately derived from the folk-tale.
Closely related to the European märchen, already mentioned, is a story contained in the collection of Somadeva of Kashmir (about 1080 A.D.). This story seems to be a hterary recension of the folk-tale; it does not contain the final section of the European variants, that in which the hero is represented as forgetting his bride. It does not appear that the written narrative has had any influence on the European variants; the close correspondence has arisen from a common oral tradition.[1]
- ↑ The tale ot Somadeva includes the following incidents: I. A prince pierces with a golden arrow a Rakshasa or cannibal giant, who has taken the form of a crane. He is sent to seek the arrow, and follows the drops of blood to a city in the forest, II. Sitting down at the foot of a tree, in order to rest, a maid approaches, who tells him the name of the city, and who becomes amorous of him; this maid is the giant's daughter. III. The prince proceeds to the city, where the girl requests her father to marry her to the youth. The giant requires the stranger to choose out the maiden from among her hundred sisters; this he is enabled to do by the aid of a signal which she has previously arranged. The first task imposed on him is to sow grain in an unploughed field, and afterwards to collect it again; this is performed by the aid of ants, created by the girl. The next task is to invite to the wedding the giant's brother; the latter pursues the prince, but is repulsed by obstacles created by throwing out magical objects given him by the princess (earth, water, thorns, fire). The giant, concluding that the youth is a god, gives him his daughter in marriage: the latter advises flight. When tiie couple are pursued, she transforms herself into a woodcutter, who tells the silly giant that he is preparing to perform funeral ceremonies for the King of the Rakshasas. The latter goes home to find out whether he is dead or not; the transformation is repeated, and the lovers escape. (Kathá Sarit Ságara, translation of C. H. Tawney, Calcutta, 1880,1,355.)
That the bird-maiden incident, suppressed in Somadeva, formed part of the folk-tale which he (or his source) used, is rendered probable, not only by its presence in the European variants of the story, but also by a modern folk-tale of Kashmir, given by F. T. Knowles, Folk-tales of Kashmir, London, 1888, p. 211. A prince, who is practising archery, shoots a merchant's wife, and is banished by the king his father. Proceeding into the forest, he sees reflected in a lake an
