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Vol. VI.
No. 2.
1
PUBLICATIONS
OF THE
MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION
OF AMERICA, 1891
EDITED BY
A. MARSHALL ELLIOTT
Secretary of the Association
1
APRIL-JUNE.
---
BALTIMORE:
PUBLISHED BY THE MOD. LANG, ASSOCIATION
1891.
CONTENTS:
&
GERBER, ADOLPH.-GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL Tales..
..i-xii, 1–103
, '
1
At the Fifth Annual Convention of the MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION OF
AMERICA, held in Cincinnati, December, 1888, it was determined by the Execu-
tive Council to publish the Transactions of the Society in quarterly instalments;
and, furthermore, to add other Papers that may not have been presented at the
Convention, provided, in the judgment of the Editorial Committee, they are suita-
ble to appear in the publications of the Association. The following contribu-
tion constitutes the second issue of volume vi of this series, which will be pushed
forward as rapidly as the material is furnished to the Secretary and as tí, e funds
of the Society permit. These PUBLICATIONS will be furnished to members gratis ;
to non-members, the price is $3.50 per annum; single copies $1.00. All com-
munications relating to the PUBLICATIONS should be addressed to the Secretary
of the Association, Professor A. MARSHALL ELLIOTT, Johns Hopkins Univer. ity,
Baltimore, Md.
Great Russian Animal Tales
A COLLECTION OF FIFTY TALES
WITH AN INTRODUCTION, A SYNOPSIS OF THE ADVENTURES AND
MOTIVES, A DISCUSSION OF THE SAME AND AN APPENDIX
BY
ADOLPH GERBER, Ph. D.
PROFISSOR OF GERMAN AND FRENCH, EARLHAM COLLEGE, RICHMOND, IND,
BALTIMORE:
PUBLISHED BY THE MOD. LANG. ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
1891
TO
HEINRICH VON BRUNN
PROFESSOR IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH,
THIS WORK
IS
GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED.
Copyright, 1897, by ADOLPH GERBER.
562 La
PREFACE.
THIS monograph is intended in the first place for folklorists
and students of the mediæval animal epics who are not
conversant with the Russian language, or who are without access
to the originals. It is also addressed to the lover of literature
who desires to see another manifestation of the Russian spirit,
and to all such as are interested in becoming acquainted with
other versions of some of the stories familiar to them from
Reynard the Fox, the Tales of the Brothers GRIMM or 'Uncle
Remus. As it has been necessary to bring this collection within
the limits of the publications of the MODERN LANGUAGE
AssociATION, I have not attempted to gather all the tales
published, but have selected fifty from among those contained
in the manuscript of the unpublished German translation of
professor LESKIEN, and I give these as a rule, not in full, but in
a more or less shortened form. Having satisfied myself of the
excellency of LESKIEN's version, I have made it the basis of
my translations and summaries without, however, neglecting
reference to the originals when occasion demanded.
In con-
densing the stories, I have been governed by the principle, both
not to omit any important detail and to preserve intact all such
passages as are characteristic of the style of the narrative or
which bear a special resemblance to anything in the literary
versions of the Middle Ages. In the arrangement of the stories
I have neither followed the originals nor the German manuscript,
but have grouped together such as resemble one another in their
principal parts. Accordingly, I give first those in which the fox
operates successfully against the wolf or bear; then those in
which she is more or less unfortunate in her dealings with
animals or men; then those in which a weak animal frightens
373951
iv
ADOLPH GERBER
a stronger one; thereupon those that relate the misfortunes of
the wolf. I note, next, those in which the tomcat holds the first
place, and, finally, a few that could not well be grouped with
any others.
The tales themselves are preceded by an introduction and
followed by a synopsis of the simple adventures and motives of
which the tales consist, discussions of the separate adventures, an
appendix and a bibliography. The Introduction gives the most
necessary information on the editions, the general character and
the actors of the tales; it states briefly the results of the investiga-
tions on the origin of folk tales and animal tales; dwells at some
length on the researches on the Russian and Northern animal
stories, and concludes with a few notes on the main phases of the
political and literary history of Russia. The Synopsis, which
may claim to be an innovation, affords a rapid survey of the
constituent parts of each tale, however much they may have been
changed in order to suit them to their surroundings, and enables
the reader to refer without delay to the place where they are
discussed in the following division of this monograph. The
peculiarity of this division consists in the fact that, not the
separate stories, but the simple adventures that constitute them
have been made the basis of the discussion. This was done, in
the first place, because the simple adventures are units and
homogeneous, while the tales in their present condition are often
agglomerations of a number of adventures and very complex ;
and, in the second place, in order to avoid the repetitions and
references which the recurrence of the same adventure in several
tales would have necessitated. In the study of each adventure,
the most important literary and oral variants are first presented,
and then the collections of variants and previous discussions that
have come to my knowledge, are mentioned; next a recon-
struction of the original form is attempted in the case where the
amount of material at my disposal warrants it; thereupon the
peculiarities of each Russian version and the way in which it
PREFACE.
V
reached that country are considered: and, finally, the possible
sources of the original adventure are examined; at the close of
these discussions the more important conclusions are stated.
The Appendix contains a summary of a modern Russian animal
epic entitled, 'Lisa Patrikjevna' (the Fox Patrickson), a work
which possesses some interest both on account of the manner in
which the tales are worked into a connected whole, and because
of its diversity from the epics of the Middle Ages. As for the
Bibliography, finally, it has not been my purpose to attempt to
be exhaustive, but only to give all essential works connected with
the subject and which are known to me, and the full or nearly
complete titles of all works cited in the text in abbreviated form.
There still remains for me the pleasant duty of acknowledging
my obligations to those men whose kind assistance has
encouraged me to undertake this work in spite of my limited
familiarity with the Russian language and Slavonic folk lore.
Prof. LESKIEN, of the University of Leipsic, has been so generous
as to allow me the use of the manuscript of his German translation
of Great Russian animal tales mentioned above; Dr. WOLLNER,
Privatdozent for Slavonic folklore in the same University has
furnished me numerous parallels from other Slavonic animal
tales; Mr. KAUSCHEN, a Russian student at Leipsic has read for
me those parts of Kolmčevskij that I myself had not translated;
Dr. KAARLE KROHN, of the University of Helsingfors, Finland,
has sent me some information on Finnish and Northern folklore,
together with two of his valuable works that otherwise might not
have come to my notice. To these men, as well as to Prof.
A. MARSHALL ELLIOTT, of Johns Hopkins University, who has
kindly read the whole of my manuscript and offered numerous
valuable corrections; to my brother, Dr. THEODOR GERBER, of
the Gymnasium of Wandsbeck, who has visited the libraries of
Hamburg and Kiel for me, and to all who have otherwise
facilitated my work, I tender my warmest thanks.
ADOLPH GERBER.
RICHMOND, INV., MARCH ist, 1891.
CONTENTS.
1-10
I
2
.
I1-39
II
Preface....
iii-V
I. Introduction..
1. The Russian dialects; editions, translations and sum-
maries of Russian animal tales..
2. Some characteristic features in which the tales differ
from the epics; the leading animals..
3. The proper names of the animals in the tales.......
3
4. Theories advanced in Western Europe on the origin
and transmission of folk tales and animal tales.
4
5. The investigations of KOLMAČEVSKIJ of Kazan...
6
6. The investigations of KAARLE KROHN of Helsingfors... 7
7. Conclusion ; a few facts of the political and literary
history of Russia..
9
II. The Texts of the Tales..
1. The Little Sister Fox and the Wolf..
*2. The Fox, the Bear, the Wolf and the Hare.
*3. The Little Fox with the Bast-Shoe...
13
4. The Little Fox Midwife, i..
14
5. The Little Fox Midwife, ii.
14
*6. The Little Fox Godmother.
15
7. The Fox Mourner, i....
15
8. The Fox Mourner, ii..
15
9. The Fox Physician....
16
Io. The Sheep, the Fox and the Wolf...
17
II. Animals in the Pit, i.
17
12. Animals in the Pit, ii...
18
13. The Fox and the Woodpecker...
19
14. The Dog and the Woodpecker, i.
19
15. The Dog and the Woodpecker, ii.
16. The Bear, the Dog and the Cat...
I2
20
20
*Titles marked with an asterisk are not found in the original, but are supplied by the
writer,
viii
ADOLPH GERBER
21
.
22
22
23
17. The Fox and the Gorcock.
20
18. The Fox Confessor.....
19. The Cat, the Cock and the Fox, i..
20. The Cat, the Cock and the Fox, ii.
*21. The Cat, the Ram, the Cock and the Fox..
23
22. The Fox and the Crab....
23. The Fox and the Crane..
23
24. The Fox and the Jug...
24
25. Snow-white and the Fox...
24
26. The Peasant, the Bear and the Fox, i.
25
27. The Peasant, the Bear and the Fox, ii...
25
28. The Peasant and the Serpent..
26
29. Old Hospitality is forgotten...
26
30. The Bear, the Fox, the Bull-fly and the Peasant..
27
31. The Tale of the Flayed Goat.
28
32. The Fox, the Hare and the Cock...
28
33. The Tale of the Ram that was flayed on one side.. 28
34. Animals in Winter-quarters..
29
35. The Bear and the Cock..
29
36. The Wolves and the Bear are frightened, i...
29
37. The Wolves and the Bear are frightened, ii.
30
38. The Wolves are frightened.
31
39. The Wolf Simpleton, i...
32
40. The Wolf Simpleton, ii...
34
41. The Wolf and the Goat, i.
42. The Wolf and the Goat, ii....
35
43. The Tomcat and the Fox, i.
44. The Tomcat and the Fox, ii.
37
45. The Tomcat and the Fox, iii.
*46. The Mighty Tomcat.
47. The Wolf...
39
48. The Bear
39
49. The Goat.
39
50. The Little Hen and the Little Cock.
39
III. Synopsis of the simple adventures and motives that con-
tute the tales.
.41-46
IV. Discussion of the separate adventures.
.47-84
i. The fox steals fish by feigning death..
47
ii. The wolf fishes through the ice with his tail...
.
35
36
.
38
.
38
.
48
CONTENTS.
ix
50
51
52
52
53
54
54
55
56
57
57
58
58
58
59
iii. The fox besmears her head and pretends to be wound-
ed......
iv. The well fox is carried by the wounded wolf.....
iv a. The fox seized by the wolf pretends his leg is a root...
tv. The fox steals provisions; she cheats in the sweating
test...
va. The male animal violates the larger female one.
fvi. The fox chosen to take charge of something eats it....
vii. Building......
viii. The bear is cheated in the division of the crops.
ix. The fox saves the peasant from the bear.
x. The fox receives dogs instead of chickens.
xi. The fox loses her life by sacrificing her tail..
xii. The bear is given a pied appearance...
xiii. Animals fall into a pit and eat one of their number...
xiv. The fox induces the bear to pull out his own entrails..
fxy. The fox driver; the draught animal devoured and
stuffed...
+xvi. The fox's night lodgings; dog substituted for girl.....
fxvii. The wolf claims a fur from the sheep; trap sanctuary.
fxviii. The fox eats the young birds; the old bird provides
food, drink and merriment; the bird avenged; the
animal provided for comes to grief.
xix. The bird helps the fox out of a pit....
xx. The bear rehabilitates the dog with his master.
xxi. The drinking bear betrays his presence by singing....
xxii. The fox with an edict is frightened by a horseman and
dogs....
xxiii. The fox is frightened by the cock's crowing..
xxiv. The fox outwits the cock; the cock outwits the fox....
txxv. The cat rescues the cock and kills the fox and her
children.....
xxvi. The crab outruns the fox...
xxvii. The fox and the crane invite each other....
xxviii. The fox frightened by the sound of a jug proceeds to
destroy it..
xxix. The fox is hampered by a jug and comes to grief.
xxx. The bull-fly is pierced with a straw..
59
60
61
64
.
65
65
66
66
67
67
68
68
69
70
+
70
+ Titles marked with a cross are abbreviated and appear in the text in a fuller form.
X
ADOLPH GERBER
xxxi. The fox shows herself helpful to Snow-white...
71
+xxxii. The snake threatens its rescuer; the fox saves him.... 71
+xxxiii. A goat takes possession of a house; the strong animals
are helpless; an insect expels the goat ..
72
xxxiv. Animals leave home.
74
xxxv. Animals return home...
75
xxxvi. Wolves are frightened by a wolf's head.
75
+xxxvii. Animals on a tree saved by a fall and by bold threats. 77
xxxviii. A wolf fares ill at the house of domestic animals..... 78
xxxix. The messenger of the robbers fares ill.......
78
xl. Domestic animals inspire terror and gain admission.. 79
li. The wolf catches the dog but loses him again...
79
+xlii. The wolf is stunned by the ram...
79
xliii. The wolf almost drowned while baptizing the pigs.... 79
xliv. The wolf is kicked by the mare...
80
+xlv. A wolf maltreated by a man; climbing, threats, fall, re-
venge
+xlvi. The wolf outwits the kids, but perishes in a pit...
81
xlvii. The tomcat marries the fox......
82
txlviii. The fox warns the wild animals against her husband;
the feast, the hiding, the flight.....
82
xlix. The wolf, or bear, sings before a house and obtains
prey..
1. Strings of reasons.
Conclusions..
85-87
Appendix : Summary of MožAROVSKIJ's ‘Lisa Patrikjevna '....89-96
Bibliography..
97-101
Errata...
103
80
84
84
PUBLICATIONS
OF THE
Modern Language Association of America
VOL. VI.
1891.
No. 2.
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
I. INTRODUCTION.
1. The Russian Dialects; Editions, Translations and Summaries
of Russian Animal Tales.
The Russians proper who constitute three fourths of the
whole population of European Russia are divided into the Great
Russians, the Little Russians and the White Russians, number-
ing about forty-five, twenty and five millions respectively. The
Great Russians occupy the central provinces around Moscow and
the greater part of the North and the East, the Little Russians
extend from the river Don to Eastern Galicia, the White Russians
live in the territory between Poland and the central provinces.
Each of these three divisions of the Russian people possesses a
rich treasure of folklore much of which has been published
during the last thirty years. The animal tales have not been
gathered separately, but form part of the various collections of
folk tales, or SKAZKAS, among which that of AFANASIEV is by
far the largest and most important. It comprises eight volumes,
draws its material from all sections of the country, and presents
the principal animal tales in the three dialects, in the edition of
1860-63 running through several volumes, in that of 1873 united
in the beginning of the first. The work of AFANASIEV has been
supplemented by others. To mention only the leading collections,
ROMANOV has edited White-Russian folk tales; RUDČENKO,
ČUBINSKIJ and DRAGOMANOV Little-Russian; CHUDJAKOV,
ČUDINSKIJ and SADOVNIKOV Great-Russian. To the public
2
ADOLPH GERBER
+
and the students of foreign countries, the Russian tales have been
introduced by the collections of RALSTON, LEGER, DIETRICH,
VOGL and others; through the notes on tales of other countries
through numerous publications and discussions in magazines and
periodicals, and by DE GUBERNATIS ‘Zoological Mythology. As
the collections contain but a few animal tales, and as the stray
publications are only accessible to specialists, DE Guber-
NATIS' work, which has been published in English, Italian, French
and German, is comparatively the most useful. Unfortunately,
however, the Italian scholar does not give his summaries of
Great-Russian animal tales connectedly and for their own sake,
but interspersed with tales from other peoples and in support of
a theory which resolves them into myths of the sun, the moon
or the atmosphere.
2. Some characteristic features in which the Tales differ
from the Epics; the leading Animals.
Like other folk tales, but in contrast with the mediæval animal
epics and the Æsopic fables, Ahe Russian animal tales are neither
allegorical, nor satirical, nor intended to impart a teaching or a
moral. They are often humorous, to be sure, but they never aim
to chastise or ridicule any class of people or any abuse of society;
they may convey a moral incidentally, their purpose, however,
is not to teach, but to entertain. Another difference between the
Russian tales and the Æsopic or Indian fables, or the epics,
arises from the fact that'the human element which characterises
the animals of all these productions varies according to the place,
times and surroundings in which they originated or lived.! While
many Indian fables thus bear a Buddhistic imprint, while the
Ecbasis Captivi' reflects the life of Benedictine monks, and the best
branches of the 'Roman de Renart,' together with the 'Reinhart'
and 'Reinaert,' give a faithful picture of mediæval society, the
Russian tales breathe the air of Russian peasant life. And in the
same way as the animals of the epics live as monks under their
abbot, or more usually as barons under their king, so those of
the Russian tales do not know of any king and live as nearly on
an equal footing with one another as do the members of a peasant
community. Among the wild beasts, the bear, the wolf, the hare
and the fox (who is always female) are the principal ones; among
the domestic animals the goat, the ram, the dog, the cock and
the tomcat occur most frequently, and the two that are most
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
3
fertile in intrigues, the fox and the tomcat—while some times
bitter enemies, appear at others connected by marriage. The
fox differs from her brother in the Western epics yet in other
points than her sex and her occasional conjugal relations with
the tomcat. She is neither so thoroughly unscrupulous and
malicious as Reynard, nor does she triumph over all her enemies,
but on the contrary she appears not unfrequently good-natured
and helpful to men, and she often perishes through misplaced
trust, or thoughtlessness. REINHOLDT' goes so far as to identify
her mythologically with the witch Baba-Jaga, the principal figure
among the powers of darkness in Russian folk tales, who is also
sometimes helpful. He even assumes that both the fox and Baba-
Jaga represent winter and death which finally succumb to the
power of light and life, a statement which I note with utmost
Other and minor differences between the tales and the
epics, will be shown in the discussion of the separate adventures.
I
1
1
reserve.
3. The Proper Names of the Animals in the Tales.
While the use of proper names is a necessity in all epics that
pass the stage of mere allegories, or mere agglomerations of
tales, it is less common and generally confined to a few of the
principal actors in folk tales. Yet as the fox and the wolf in the
Middle Ages probably received the names of Raganhard and
Isengrim before the first real epic originated, and as the
fox is called Mikkel, that is Michael, in all Scandinavian
countries, 3 though no epic was ever produced there, so we
find occasionally proper names for the animals of the Russian
tales under similar circumstances. I divide the proper names
according to their formation into three classes. First, names of
persons attributed to animals either without any apparent reason,
or on account of a similarity to the appellatives of the animals;
secondly, names formed from the appellatives of animals by
analogy with names of persons; thirdly, names indicating a
characteristic occupation of an individual animal, or of the
species. Instances in which the name of a person is given
to an animal without any apparent reason for it are: Jeremej
(Jeremias) or Vasilij (Basil) and its diminutive Vaska applied to
I REINHOLDT, pp. 38 and 44
f.
2 PAULIN PARIS, P. 329, thinks this possible. For the form of the names, compare GASTON
PARIS, P. 120.
3
KROHN C, P. 73.
4
ADOLPH GERBER
the tomcat; the patronymics Ivanovič, Ivanyč, Ivanovna (all
corresponding to Johnson) given to the cat, bear, wolf or fox;
perhaps also Mikitič for the goat, Dimesha and Remesha for the
little foxes and Levon for the wolf. Michajlo (Michael) and its
diminutives Mishka, or Misha which are names for the bear, may
possibly be used on acccount of the appellative medved; still
this seems rather improbable. 4 In other cases however there is
an unmistakable connection between the proper and ordinary
names. Thus Lizaveta (Elisabeth) for the fox (lisa); Petja or
Petinka, diminutives of Petr (Peter) for the cock (petuch);
Kosma (Cosimo) for the goat (kozel or koza); Terentij resembling
Terentsij (Terentius) for the gorcock (telerev). To the second
class belong names like the following: Kotofey formed from
kot (cat) according to Timofey (Timotheus); Kotonajlo through
koton according to Michajlo; Kotonevič through koton like an
ordinary patronymic. The third class consists of names like Scare
the bird, Sweep the hearth, Shut the pipe, Fan the fire and Bake
the cake, for the daughters of the fox; and Wash thyself nicely
and Bark át it, for the cat and the dog. I generally leave the
Russian names of the first two classes unchanged; sometimes
however I have attempted to translate them; I have rendered
petuch Petinka by cock Cox; teterer! Terentij by gorcock Gar-
rick; kot Kotonevič by tomcat Thomson ; kot k'otofey Ivanovič
by cat Cato Johnson.
4. Theories advanced in Western Europe on the Origin and
Transmission of Folk Tales and Animal Tales.
Though the limits of this monograph preclude even a brief
discussion of all theories on these subjects, we cannot refrain from
touching upon the principal ones. As for the European folk
tales, the GRIMM Brothers and their followers held that they
have their ultimate source in Aryan mythology and were spread
together with the Aryan languages; BENFEY thought that
Historical India and Buddhistic literature have given birth to
them and that they were transmitted through the agency of the
Islamitic peoples and the Mongols; LANG's supposition is that
they are incarnations of ideas common to all men, and identical
with all in their savage state; that they resemble one another and
4 REINHOLDT, p. 45, mentions a few proper names, and assumes that the bear was called
Michajlo on account of the appellative medved.
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
5
.
the tales of other countries not because they migrated with the
peoples, nor because they wandered from one people to another,
but on account of the general similarity of the human mind in
all countries ; CoSQUIN 5 modifies BENFEY's idea of the origin of
folk tales inasmuch as he accepts the view that the Buddhists
did not invent, but merely adapt: tales and fables for their
religious purposes, and carries BENFEY's theory of the
propagation so far as to suppose that the day will come when it
will be proved that not only all the themes and types of European
tales, but even all their characteristic variants go back to Indian
originals.
As for the animal tales, their origin and transmission has been
very largely discussed both in connection with the history of the
Æsopic fable in Antiquity and in later times, 6 and in connection
with the animal epics of the Middle Ages. 7 JACOB GRIMM 8
developed what is termed his 'Thiersagentheorie'; while granting
that some animal tales had come from India to Greece and
Germany in historic times, he assumed that the principal traits of
a ‘Thiersage' were common to the Aryan nations from the time
of their original union, and that the epics of the Middle Ages
grew up from a German ‘Thiersage' and not from foreign literary
sources, or contemporaneous satire. PAULIN PARIS, 9 on the
other hand, held that the epics had been inspired by the classical
fable; that clerical poets invented the war between the wolf and
the fox, of which there is no clear trace in antiquity, and that the
French trouvères did the rest. The strife between the representa-
tives of these two views and their adherents was very bitter and
has scarcely reached its end yet. GRIMM has not entirely
succumbed and PAULIN Paris has not won a complete triumph.
The best scholars seem rather to agree upon an opinion which
does equal justice to the popular origin of the epics upheld by
the former and their learned character emphasized by the latter.
Thus GASTON PARIS, 10 the son of PAULIN Paris, while not
ignoring the great share of the Æsopic fable and other literary
sources in the creation of the epics, admits at the same time,
5 Cf. CoSQUIN, PP. xxviii f. and xx.
6 Compare HertzBERG, BENFEY, Køller Fahrb. f. philol. suppl. IV, 307-418, Hervieux,
JACOBS and others.
7. Besides those mentioned before see POTVIN, JONCKBLOET, MÜLLENHOFF Zs. f. d.
Altert., xviii, 1 ff; Voigt ‘YSENGR., lxxxviii ff.
8 KLEINE, 'Schr.' vp. 462, R. F. and elsewhere. 9 Paulin Paris, p. 324 ff.
10 GASTON PARIS, P. 119 f.
6
ADOLPH GERBER
that many of their episodes are not arbitrary inventions of the
clerical poets, or the trouvères, but that they are based on
genuine folk tales current in Europe and elsewhere in early
times as they are now. The transmission and the origin of these
and other European animal tales, have recently been made the
subject of special investigations by two scholars in North Eastern
Europe, KOLMACEVSKIJ of KAZAN and KAARLE KROHN of
Helsingfors.
5. The Investigations of KOLMACEVSKIJ of Kazan.
KOLMAČEVSKIJ's work is entitled : 'The Animal Epic in the
Occident and among the Slavs.' As, therefore, part of it bears
directly on my subject, and as it has not been translated, I give
here an outline of its contents and its most important conclusions.
The author reviews at first the hypothesises on the origin,
development and propagation of the animal epic, then he
discusses the relation of the Slavic animal tales to the epics of
the Occident, thereupon he takes up the main questions in the
field of the mediæval animal poems and finally he makes some
remarks on the satirical element in the latter. In the discussion
of the relation of the Slavic animal tales to those of the West,
which dicussion occupies a hundred and twenty pages or two
fifths of the whole book, the author divides the tales into the
following nine groups: 11 The theft of the fish; The fishing; The
fox confessor or the abduction of the cock through the fox; The
unequal division of the crops; The liberation of the man from
the beast of prey; The animals on a pilgrimage; The fox judge
or old hospitality is forgotten; The wolf simpleton and The
thrush nurse. To these is added a tenth group of miscellaneous
tales, some of which are related to tales of the preceding divisions.
In each group all the Slavic and other variants of the theme are
first enumerated, then the summaries of their contents are given,
and finally their reciprocal relations and sources are discussed.
Of the conclusions which are summed up at the end of each of
the principal parts of the book, I will mention the following:
The majority of the European animal tales have come from
India and from literary sources and were transmitted, not through
the Mongols, but through the Musulmans and Byzantians. Two
main currents of tales poured into Russia. The first came from
• I2
I Cf. KOLM., pp. 57 ff., 68 fl., 93 ff., 105 ff., etc.
12. Ibid. pp. 53 ff., 172, 173 ff.
1
7
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
Byzantium and brought tales which had either come from the
East in their entirety, or developed from fragments of Indian
stories, Æsopic fables and other sources; the second arrived
from the West with tales from the Occident. These two streams
sometimes mingled in the South West of the country. Apart
from this, a limited number of tales arose on Russian soil entirely
independently. The effect of a long continued oral tradition
scarcely influenced by any literature was, that on the one hand
some of the original motives became obscured, and on the other,
all tales became thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the people
and thus gained the appearance of genuine folk tales.
6. The Investigations of KAARLE KROHN of Helsingfors.
KAARLE KROHN has published a collection of Finnish animal
tales, a monograph on the adventures of the bear and the fox,
and an article on the geographical propagation of a connected
series of Northern animal tales. The first book, which is printed
in Finnish and has not been translated, is remarkable both for
the wealth of its contents and the ingenuity of its arrangement.
It contains the text of almost five hundred stories followed by a
collection of several thousand Finnish variants. The latter are in
part merely quoted, partly given in the form of short summaries
and arranged in a hundred and one groups; as, The animals
tearing their entrails; The animal as a gossip eating the butter
and blaming another for it; The theft of the fish; Fishing with
the tail, and so on. The collection is of special importance for
the study of the Russian animal tales, since the tales of Northern
and Eastern Finland are of Russian origin and thus complete the
Russian material as those of the South and West of the country
have come from Scandinavia and supplement the Swedish stock;
scarcely any arose on Finnish soil.
In the second book, part of which has been translated into
German under the title "Bear (Wolf) and Fox, a connected series
of Northern Animal Tales,” (Eine nordische Tiermärchenkette),
the author does not confine himself to his Finnish home. After
a general introduction on folk tales and animal tales, he proceeds
to establish the fundainental difference between the Indian and
African tales, which he calls the Southern cycle of animal tales,
and the tales of the bear and the fox which he terms the
Northern cycle. 13 The jackal appears as the servant of the lion
13 KROHN C, pp. 13 ff, and 112 f.
8
ADOLPH GERBER
Sometimes, to be sure, the servant imposes upon his master, but
generally he helps him to obtain prey. 14 The fox on the other
hand is not the servant but the equal of the bear. By his
superior cunning he dupes his strong but stupid opponent
incessantly, until he finally causes his death. After this KROHN
examines the tales of the bear and the fox under three heads :
The bear in the company of the fox; The fox intruding himself
upon the bear and, The bear and the fox engaged in common
labour. In these groups each tale is traced separately and in a
strictly systematic manner through all its variants, and the con-
clusions are: first, that they arose in Northern Europe among the
Scandinavians, or among the Germans, before the Scandinavians
separated from them, or simply with a Northern people, thus
corresponding in a certain manner to what JACOB GRIMM termed
'deutsche Thiersage'; 15 and secondly, that in all of them the bear
represents the original animal, though he has been replaced by
the wolf in the majority of the tales everywhere except in parts
of Scandinavia and in the zone of Scandinavian influence in
Finland. Attention is also called to the similarity of the demon
tales which represent the same conflict between stupid power
and ingenious weakness.
Krohn's third publication, a paper read in May, 1889, and
printed in Fennia, 1890, proceeds on the same line of investigation
as his preceding publications. It first gives the supposed original
forms of eleven connected tales of the Northern cycle, then traces
their variants through Finland and the rest of the world and
finally presents an outline of the Finnish or geographical method
of studying folklore. 16 The number of variants collected in
Finland, (362) surpasses those of all other countries put together.
A map of Finland indicates the exact limits to which each tale,
or each group of tales, has penetrated in its Russian version with
the wolf, and in its Scandinavian variants with the bear. The
geographical method, employed by Julius KROHN, the author's
father, with such eminent success in the history of the 'Kalevala,'
is based on the assumption that every tale is in the beginning not
vague but perfectly logical and complete--a point emphasized
also by GASTON PARIS. 17 Accordingly it must be the endeavor
14 Compare however the lion and the hare, ' Panch'i, 8 and in African stories.
15 Krohn C, p. 61 ff.
16 KROHN D, p. 11 ff. 17 CoSQUIN, P. xxxvi.
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
9
of the folklorist to reconstruct the original form of each tale, to
define the time and place of its origin and to account for the
changes it has undergone on its migrations. To accomplish
this, a tale which is generally very complicated, must first be
resolved into actions consisting of one implication and one
dénouement only, that is, into simple adventures. Then all the
variants of such a simple adventure, or all adventures showing
the same implication and the same dénouement have to be
collected and arranged geographically and the literary versions
which may be among them, also historically. Thereupon each
of the elements of the adventure; as, the actors, the actions, the
objects, etc., has to be traced through the whole line until their
original forms have been determined. Then, finally, the original
form of the whole adventure, its place of origin, its nationality
and fundamental idea are obtained. This being done the
changes which the original form has undergone can be traced
from place to place, and it will be found that, above all, the
following factors have been instrumental in producing them :
The forgetting of a circumstance, 18 the combination with other
adventures or motives, the influence of an analogous adventure,
transposition of events, confusion of actors, acclimatization of
something foreign, modernisation of something ancient, antropo-
morphism or substitution of men for animals (or demons),
zoomorphism or substitution of animals for men (or demons)
and polyzoism or substitution of a number of animals in the
place of one.
7. Conclusion ; a few facts of the political and literary
history of Russia.
My own views regarding the questions treated in the last three
chapters, will be stated at some length at the end of the discussion
of the simple adventures. Suffice it to say here, that I agree on
the whole with BENFEY's theory of the propagation of folk tales
and with GASTON PARIS' views on the origin of the mediæval
animal epics; that I accept KOLMAČEVSKIJ's conclusions with
the restriction, however, that I would not admit quite so much
Indian influence, and that I believe in the existence of KROHN'S
18 In cases where episodes had lost some of the original motives, the narrators had to
invent new ones to fill the gaps, or to restore the sequence of the story, Gaston PARIS :
Cosq., P. xxxvi.
IO
ADOLPH GERBER
cycle of Northern animal tales, except that I would ascribe less
originality to them.
I will conclude this introduction by calling attention to a few
facts in the history of the Russian people and its literature which
ought to be borne in mind during the course of this investigation;
Russia was founded and for some time ruled by Scandinavians.
Before the end of the tenth century the country accepted
Christianity under auspices of the Greek church, and thereby
became subject to a religious and literary influence from
Byzantium 19 and Greeko-Slavonic civilization, which was all the
more powerful for the almost total absence of original literary
productions at home. From the middle of the thirteenth until
almost to the end of the fifteenth century, all the eastern and
central provinces of the country were under the supremacy of
the Mongols who were originally Buddhists, and later turned
Mahometans. During the same time the North West was open
to German influence through the flourishing emporium of the
Hanseatic league at Novgorod and the dominion of the German
order in the Baltic provinces, and the White-Russians were
connected with Middle Europe as subjects to the crowns of
Lithuania and Poland. From the sixteenth century on, when
Byzantium and the Southern Slavs had succumbed to the Turks,
the Czars commenced directly to invite Western civilization and,
as the lack of home talent in literature still continued, many
productions of the Occident, especially a great number of novels
and tales, were introduced into the country, mainly by way of
Poland. 20 During the whole time since the conversion of the
people, the clergy, who also represented the literary circles, drew
not only no inspiration from folklore, but did what they could
to exterminate it. Nevertheless the folk songs and folk tales
continued their existence in safe retreats and did not remain
uninfluenced by literature. In our own century, finally, Russia
has come into contact with the civilization of all the leading
nations of Europe and Asia, but at the same time, her literature
has attained to a truly national originality and independence, and
her folklore is no longer an object of persecution, but of warmest
interest.
19 Wollner, 'Volksepik,' pp. 43 ff.
20 Ibid., p.44 f. a few works came directly from Germany and other countries.
21 Ibid., p. 45, only one exception.
II. THE TEXTS OF THE TALES.
I will introduce the texts with a few remarks on the
geographical location of the provinces where they are found.
Kola is a peninsula on the White Sea and part of the government
of Archangel which extends along the Artic Sea from Finland to
Siberia. Vologda lies south of Archangel, and Perm southeast of
Vologda, both on the Siberian frontier. The three governments
of Nižni-Novgorod (Nižegorod), Vladimir and Tver follow each
other (from+the city that gives its name to the first) to a point
between Moscow and Petersburg. The provinces of Kaluga,
Tula, Tambov, Saratov and Astrachan extend from a point a
little towards the south west of Moscow to the Northern extremity
of the Caspian Sea; Voronež lies south of Tambov.
1. The Little Sister 22 Fox and the Wolf. AFANASIEV I, 1 app.1-5.
(Government of Voronež.)
1
There were once a husband and wife. The woman baked 23a
whitebread and the man went fishing. Driving home with a full
load of fish, he saw a fox lying dead by the road, and thinking
she might furnish a nice fur-collar for his wife, he laid her on the
fish. But alas ! The Fox was not dead, and having thrown all
the fish from the wagon, finally jumped down herself. When
the man got home he told his wife about the fish and the fur-
collar. She went out to see them, but finding neither the one
nor the other, scolded her husband for making fun of her. Then
he saw that the Fox had played a trick on him, and he became
very angry. In the meantime while the Fox was gathering her b
fish in a pile, the Wolf came along and asked for some of them,
but the Fox advised him to go to the river to catch fish for him-
self through the ice: he should put his tail in a hole and leave it
there for quite a long while. The Wolf did as he was told and
22. The fox is feminine in Russian, hence I use the English word as a feminine in the texts.
23. The letters on the margin refer to the synopsis of the simple adventures and motives
given at the end of these texts.
12
ADOLPH GERBER
e
the night being clear and cold his tail froze fast. In the morning
some women came to get water and they beat the gray fellow.
until he tore off his tail and fled, eager for revenge on the Fox.
C But the Fox, in the meantime had been in a house where they
were baking pastry and had put her head in a pan of dough
with which she covered it all over. Thus she met the Wolf
again and appeased his wrath by saying that she had fared
worse; he had only lost his blood, but her brains were oozing
d
out, and she could hardly drag herself along. So the Wolf
feeling compassion for her took her on his back, whereupon she
murmured 'the one that is beaten carries the one that is not,' but
the Wolf did not understand her. 24
Then the Fox proposed that they build huts, she making hers
of bark and the Wolf using ice for his. When im spring-time
the hut of ice melted, the Wolf saw that he had been tricked
f
again and he threatened to eat the Fox. But the Fox interposed
that they ought first to decide which is to eat the other by jump-
ing over a pit. The Wolf assented to this, fell into the pit and
was left there.
g Thereupon the Fox took a roller in her paws and asked a
peasant for a night's-lodging. Being admitted into the house
she burnt the roller early in the morning and made the peasant
give her a goose instead. At another peasant's house she ate
the goose unnoticed and received a turkey. At a third she got
h
the daughter-in-law in place of the turkey. The young woman
was put in a sack, but secretly replaced by a dog. The fox
asked the woman to sing a song, but when she heard the dog
i
growl instead, she was much frightened and ran off. While
running away, she saw a cock sitting on a gate, and asked him
to confess his sins for being such a transgressor as to have
seventy wives, and seized and ate him when he came down.
2. The Fox, the Bear, the Wolf and the Hare. AF.1, 1, pp. 14-15.
(Government of Tver.)
a
Once upon a time the fox stole a horse and a carriage and
while driving through the wood she allowed first the stupid Bear
to get in, then that grey thief, the Wolf, and finally the bandy-
24. Other variants of the first four adventures are found in the governments of Vladimir
and Tambov: in the latter the Wolf tears the Fox to pieces.
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
13
.
5
legged Hare. Suddenly the shafts broke and the Fox sent her
companions to get new ones; but the Bear and the Wolf brought
whole trees and the Hare only a little twig, so she was compelled
to look for shafts herself. While she was gone the Bear and the b
Wolf ate the horse, stuffed the hide and hitched it to the carriage
like a live horse. On her return the Fox saw her companions
had disappeared, but she fixed the shafts and did not discover
their trick until she tried to make the horse go; then she began
to cry and waiked through the wood.
She was in the habit of stealing fish out of the peasants' fish c
boxes, and on one occasion having gotten the fish, she met the
Wolf coming by who also wanted some. She persuaded him, d
however, to tie a bucket to his tail and catch them himself.
During the cold night his tail froze in the ice and he was killed
in the morning by the peasants.
Afterward the Fox came to the Bear's hole and asked him for e
quarters during the winter, and being admitted she placed under
her some chickens of which she ate from time to time. When the
Bear asked what she was eating, the Fox said she was tearing
out her own entrails whereupon Mishka, the Bear, having tasted
a piece of the supposed entrails of the Fox, thought them so
delicious that he tried to tear out his own, but died in the attempt.
Then the Fox was glad, for now she had food for a whole year,.
a soft bed and a warm hut.
:
3. The Little For with the bast-shoe. AF. I, 1 f., pp. 15-16.
One day a Fox found a bast-shoe, went with it to a peasant's a
and was permitted to stay there over night. While the others
were sleeping she threw away the shoe and obtained in the
morning a chicken to replace it. During the following night,
which she spent at another peasant's house, she hid her chicken
and received a goose in addition to it. Thus also she got a
sheep and an ox, killed them all, hid their flesh, stuffed the ox's b
hide and placed it by the road-side as if it were a live ox. The
Bear and the Wolf, who happened to pass by, are told to steal a
sleigh in order to have a ride, but by the time they returned with
the sleigh the Fox was gone, and when they wanted to eat the
ox and saw it was nothing but a hide and straw, each went
his way.
14
ADOLPH GERBER
a
4. The Little Fox Midwife, i. AF. I, 2 a, p. 17.
(Government of Vladimir.)
Two gossips, the Wolf and the Fox, once had a jar full of
honey. One night while they were lying in their house, the Fox
knocked secretly with her tail against the wall, and when the
Wolf, heard it he said : 'Gossip, Gossip, somebody is knocking;
the Fox muttered that she was probably called to assist at a
childbirth. The Wolf told her to go, but she went to the honey
and ate to her satisfaction and on her return being asked what
God had given, replied 'A firstling. The call was repeated
twice. The next time when she came back she answered 'A
middling ;' and the third time, having finished the honey, 'A
b lastling.' Soon afterward when the Fox fell ill and wished for
some honey, the Wolf discovered the theft. He accused the
Fox of it, but she protested her innocence, and proposed they
should lie in the sun and sweat, then the honey would show on
the one who did it. The Wolf was satisfied, lay down in the sun
and soon fell asleep. While he was sleeping the honey appeared
on the Fox who took it and smeared it on him, then awakened
him and inade him plead guilty.
a
5. The Little Fox Midwife, ii. AF. I, 2 d, pp. 21-24.
(Government of Vologda.)
The Wolf and the Fox build a hut of snow. He provides
calves and sheep, and she gets hens and chickens. One day
when all the peasants are making hay, they go into the village
b and steal some chickens and a pot of butter. The Wolf places
the butter on a high board that the Fox may not eat it, but she
has herself called to act as a midwife for the rabbit and eats the
concealed supply as narrated in the story just given above. The
Wolf does not discover the loss of the butter until he wants to
c give a feast to other animals. He then accuses the Fox of the
theft, and in the following trial which takes place before a fire in
the hut, the Fox wipes the pot with her paws and besmears the
sleeping Wolf and the floor in front of him with the remnants of
the butter. Thus convicted of the theft, the Wolf runs away
angrily and does not return. ‘He has told me the story himself
and he protested he would never live with the Fox again.'25
25. Other variants in the governinents of Perm, Nixni-Novgorod and Saratov; the second
has the Bear in place of the Wolf.
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
15
6. The Little Fox Godmother. AF. I, 2 c, pp. 19-20.
(Government of Archangel.)
The Wolf and the Fox were living in the same place, but the a
Wolf had a hut of bark and the Fox had one of ice. In the
spring-time the Fox's hut melted and she applied for admission
to the Wolf's abode. The Wolf admitted her; first, to a place
on the steps; then, to his room and finally to a place on his
stove. As the Fox had not eaten anything for three days, she b
looked where her host kept his provisions and discovered them
in the garret. Thereupon follows the usual trick of knocking
and an invitation for both to be godfather and godmother at a
baptism). The Wolf declines but sends the Fox, who succeeds in
eating the provisions, butter and flour, in the same manner as
noted above. When the Wolf discovers the theft, he lets it pass
and requests the Fox to go to Russia for provisions. There the c
Fox meets a peasant with a sledge full of herrings, has herself
thrown on them, gnaws a hole through the mat which contains
the fish and through the bottom of the sledge, and while the
peasant is asleep, both the herrings and the Fox disappear. The d
latter however collects the fish, takes them to the Wolf and
pretends to have caught them with her tail through the ice. The
Wolf starts out with a bag of bread to fish and puts his tail
through the ice while the Fox is praying that it may freeze.
Thus the Wolf freezes fast, and in the morning the daughters of
the pope 26 kill him and make a fur cloak of his hide, but the Fox
remained alive, is living still and will survive us all.'
a
7. The Fox Mourner, i. AF. I, 6 b, p. 36.
(Kola.)
An old man loses his wife and seeks a professional mourner.
The Bear whom he meets first, is willing to do the mourning but
fails to win the old man's favor in the stipulated trial and is
rejected. The Fox whom he meets next, is successful and is
engaged. While the Fox is mourning, the old man digs the
grave, but when he returns the Fox has eaten the dead body
and disappeared.
8. The Fox Mourner, iż. AF. I, 6 a, pp. 35-36.
A bean grows up to the sky. An old man climbs
heaven; first alone, then with his wife, drops the sack in which
26. The 'popes' (Russian pop=priest) are permitted to marry.
up toward
a
16
'ADOLPH GERBER
b he carries her and thus becomes the cause of her death. As
they have dwelt alone in a vast plain there is no mourner on
hand and the man has to go out to look for one.' At first he
meets a Bear, then a Wolf and at last a Fox. The lamentations
of the Bear and the Wolf do not please him, but that of the Fox
gratifies him so much that he engages her and promises her a
c pair of chickens for each lamentation. As he has the Fox chant
her lamentations four times and he possesses only three pairs of
chickens, he puts two dogs in a sack and the six chickens on top
of it. The Fox takes the sack and in turn eats six chickens, but
when she opens it for the seventh time the dogs jump out and start
to pursue her. She runs until she finds a place of refuge under
d a log. While lying there she asks her ears, her eyes, her feet
and her tail how they have acted. The ears, eyes and feet declare.
that they have promoted her flight, but the tail admits that it has
been an impediment. To punish this member for the hindrance,
she gives it to the dogs but by it they pull her out and tear her
to pieces.
9. The Fox Physician. AF. I, 5, pp. 32-34.
(Government of Archangel.)
An old man and an old woman each planted a cabbage-head;
that of the woman withered, but that of the man grew and grew
and grew until it reached heaven. Then the man climbed up, cut
a hole into heaven, feasted and slept there, and on his return told
his wife of the wonderful hand-mill there that turned out cakes
and other dainty things. The next time he went, she wanted to
go with him, and as she could not go up by herself he placed
her in a sack, took the sack between his teeth and commenced
to climb up again. When he had almost reached heaven he
inadvertently answered a question asked by his wife, the sack
slipped from his mouth and his wife was crushed to death.
b While he was bewailing his loss, a Fox came along, asked him
about his grief and offered to cure his wife. The man was
satisfied, gave the Fox flour and butter and left her alone with
the body. The Fox, however, gnawed off all the flesh from the
bones, made dough of the flour and butter and ate it, then ran
away and left the old man alone in his sorrow.
a
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
17
10. The Sheep, the Fox and the Wolf. AF. I, 9, pp. 45-46.
(Government of Archangel.)
A Sheep who had run away because she was always blamed a
for what the Ram did, met a Fox who had left home because she
was charged with the misdemeanors her husband committed.
After a while they fell in with a Wolf who was made responsible
for the lambs that the female wolf tore to pieces. While they b
were walking along together, the Wolf suddenly pretended that
the Sheep had on his fur, and the Wolf being asked by the Fox
whether he could swear to it, declared that he was willing to go
to the cross and take his oath on it. The Fox however led him
to a trap the peasants had set by the road and told him to kiss 27
it. No sooner had the Wolf touched the iron than he was caught.
The Sheep and the Fox ran away unhurt.
C
II. The Animals in the Pit, i. AF. I, 10 a, pp. 46-47.
Once upon a time a Hog was going to St. Petersburg to a
church. On its way it met a Wolf (who said]: 'Hog, Hog, where
are you going?' 'To St. Petersburg to church,' [he replied).
Take me with you' ſhe said); 'Come along, Gossip !' (the Hog
rejoined]. Thus the Wolf joins the Hog and in the same way.
they receive three more companions, first the Fox, then the Hare
and at last the Squirrel. They continue their journey together
until they fall into a pit. After they have been in it for some b
time and become very hungry, the Fox proposes that they try
their voices and eat the one whose voice is pitched highest
Then the Wolf begins with his coarse voice: 0-0-0!,' the Hog
sings a little higher: 'U-u-u !,' the Fox higher still: 'E-e-e,' and
the Hare and the Squirrel cry 'I-i-i.' Since the voice of the last
two is pitched highest, they are torn to pieces and devoured.
On the following day the Fox suggests that they ought to eat
next the one whose voice is pitched lowest, and this time the
Wolf is the unfortunate creature. The Hog and the Fox swallow
all of his flesh directly, but the Fox hides some of his entrails
under her and keeps eating of them day after day. Finally
when the Hog asks her what she is eating, she replies that she
is eating her own entrails and advises the Hog to tear open its
belly and do the same. Thereupon the Hog does tear open its
с
27. The kissing of the cross, or gospel, is a familiar part of the ceremony of swearing in
courts of justice.
18
ADOLPH GERBER
belly and dies of it and thus becomes the prey of the Fox.
'Whether the Fox has come out of the pit, or whether she is in
there yet, I am sure I cannot tell.'
а.
12. The Aniinals in the Pit, iż. AF. I, io b, 47-50.
(Government of Voronež.)
A Boar who is going into the woods to eat acorns, warns a
Wolf who is anxious to join him that there is a wide and deep
b pit which he cannot jump. Nevertheless the Wolf insists on
going, but when they come to the place and jump, he lands in
the pit. On the following day the Boar encounters a Bear; on
the third, a Hare; on the fourth, a Fox. None of them heeds
his warning and all fall into the pit. Thus there are four of them,
and as they can find nothing else to eat they have to choose
victims from among themselves. This time those who shout
C feeblest are eaten ; first, the Hare and next the Wolf. The Fox
hides some of the flesh under her and when asked by the Bear
what she is eating, makes him believe that she is eating her own
flesh, and induces him to take out one of his ribs. The Bear
d dies of this and the Fox consumes his flesh. When she has be-
come hungry again she perceives a Thrush that is building its
nest on a tree overhanging the pit, and threatens to devour its
e young ones if it does not give her something eat. The Thrush
muses and ponders for a while how it shall get food; then it flies
into the village and brings the Fox a chicken. The Fox acknowl-
edges that she has gotten something to eat, but declares she also
f needs something to drink. The Thrush muses and ponders
again then flies away into the village and brings her water.
Thereupon the Fox confesses that she has had something to eat
g and to drink but demands to be helped out of the pit. The
Thrush muses and ponders how to get her out of it and pres-
ently commences to cast sticks into the pit and throws in so
many that the Fox can jump out. Then she stretches herself,
admits that she has been fed and watered and rescued from the
h pit, but demands to have some amusement. The Thrush muses
and ponders once more and finally bids the fox to follow it into
i the village. There it lights on a gate and has the Fox lie
down under it, and when it begins to cry, 'Grandmother, grand-
mother, bring me a piece of tallow,' the dogs rush out and kill
the Fox. “I was up there, too, and drank mead; it passed my
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
19
lips but nothing came into my mouth. They gave me an offi-
cer's coat. I went away. Then the ravens flew and cried:
'Officer's coat! Officer's coat!' 28 I understood 'Off with your
coat' and took it off. They gave me a soldier's cap. The
ravens flew and cried : 'Soldier's cap! Soldier's cap!' 28 I
understood: 'Stole your cap,' took it off and then had nothing
at all."
13 The Fox and the Woopecker. AF. I, 12; pp. 50-51.
(Nizegorod.)
A Woodpecker had a nest with three young ones, on an oak
tree. Suddenly the Fox came, knocked with her tail against the
tree and declared she wanted it. The Woodpecker regretted
that it had, as yet, only one young one hatched out, but the Fox
answered she would teach it the blacksmith's trade. So the
Woodpecker threw it down and she ate it in the bushes. The
same thing happens to the other two to whom she offers to teach
the shoemaker's and the tailor's trade.
and
14. The Dog and the Woodpecker, i. AF. I, 32 a, pp. 106-8.
A Woodpecker finds an old Dog who is driven away from his a
master's house and promises to feed him on condition that he
guard the Woodpecker's children. Thereupon when they see b
some women carrying dinners in pots to their husbands, the
Woodpecker bespatters itself, rolls in the dust and flies so low
that the women set down their pots and attempt to catch it, and
the Dog eats the dinner. Then the two friends set out for theç
Woodpecker's nest and soon meet a Fox whom the Dog pursues d
at the Bird's request. The courses of the Fox and the Dog
cross a road which a peasant is passing with a cask of tar, and
while the Fox succeeds in jumping through the spokes of the
wheels, the Dog is caught in them and killed. To avenge his e
friend, the Woodpecker begins to peck at the horse's head and
on the cask and thus keeps on until the enraged peasant in his
attempts to kill the Bird has slain his beast and broken his cask.
The bird, still not satisfied, flies even to the peasant's home and f
pecks at his child's head until the child is wounded by its own
mother.
28 The Russian text has 'blue coat' and 'red cap,' which I have replaced by officer's
coat and soldier's cap in order to make the supposed misunderstanding possible,
20
ADOLPH GERBER
a
15. The Dog and the Woodpecker, ii. Ar. I, 32 b, pp. 108 9.
A Woodpecker undertakes to provide for a Dog who is
b driven away from home. At first it flies into a house where
they are celebrating a wedding and runs over the tables so that
the guests throw dishes at it, and the Dog finds plenty to eat on
€ the floor. The animals then go into another house where an old
man is tapping wine in the cellar. Here the Woodpecker pecks
on the cask until the man throws his funnel at it, and while the
man tries to recover the funnel the wine runs out and the Dog
d drinks his fill. The Dog is next taken to the thrasher's floor to
have some amusement. The Bird alights on the shoulder of
one of the thrashers and pecks his neck until his comrade wishing
to kill the Bird knocks him down with his flail. Thereupon the
animals proceed to plot against a Fox. While the Woodpecker
engages her attention by feigning lameness, the Dog watches his
opportunity and seizes her, but a peasant who is passing by with
g a load of pots, kills both the Fox and Dog. The Woodpecker
causes the peasant to slay his horse and break his pots.
e
and
f
a
16. The Bear, the Dog and the Cat.29 AF. I, 26, pp. 93-95.
An old Dog that is driven from his master's house lies down
b under a tree where he is found by a Bear. The Bear has sym-
pathy for him, paws the ground until his eyes become red, his
hair bristles, his tail stands erect and then he kills a stallion for
C the Dog. When the Dog is hungry again, the Bear tears a
peasant woman's child from its cradle, gives the Dog a chance to
save it and thereby induces his former master to receive him
d back into his house. Some time afterward, there is a great sup-
per at the house, and when the company is fairly drunk the
Dog leads his friend, the Bear, into the room. The Bear, how-
ever, after having drunk a few glasses of wine cannot keep still
e and is beaten so severely that he barely saves his life. The
f
same peasant drives a Cat also from his house. At first the
Dog provides the Cat with food from the house, but after he
has been beaten for this he tries to kill a stallion as he saw the
Bear do and perishes in the attempt.
17. The Fox and the Gorcock. AF. I, II, p. 50.
(Government of Tver.)
A Fox who was running through the woods, perceived a Gor-
29 This story is inserted here because of its supposed relation to those preceding.
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
21
cock and said to him : Garrick, Garrick! I was in town.'
Boo-boo-boo! Boo-boo-boo! You were? Then you were.'
'Garrick, Garrick, I have brought an ordinance with me.'
'Boo-boo-boo! Boo-boo-boo ! You have? Then you have.'
That you Gorcocks shall not sit any longer on trees, but always
go on the green meadows.' 'Boo-boo-boo! Boo-boo-boo !
We shall? Then we shall.'—'Garrick, who comes driving there,'
asked the Fox, as he suddenly heard tramping of horses and
barking of dogs. “A peasant.' 'What is running behind him?
'A colt. "What kind of a tail has it?' 'A crook tail.' 'Well,
good-bye Garrick! I am in a hurry to get home.”
18. The Fox Confessor. AF. I, 4 a, pp. 27-28.
Once upon a time a Fox had been roaming through the woods a
for a whole long night of autumn and had not found anything.
Toward daybreak she ran into a village, went into a barnyard
and climbed up on a chicken roost. While she was creeping
along on it and just about to seize one of the chickens, the time
came for the cock to crow. He flapped his wings, trod with his
feet and crowed with all his might. The-Fox was so terrified
that she fell from the roost and was sick with a fever for three
weeks. After that the Fox saw the Cock one day sitting on a b
dry tree in the wood. She waited in vain for him to fly down
and devised a plan to deceive him. She went to the tree and
cried : : Dear Cox, how are you to-day? What has the devil
brought you here for,' thought the Cock. But the Fox came
nearer and continued with a sanctimonious air : 'My dear Cox,
I have come to save you.
I wish to lead you on the right way
and teach you the truth. Don't you see, dear Cox, you have
fifty wives and have not confessed your sins once. Come down
to me and do penance! I'll take away all sins and will not allow
you to perish.' The Cock thereupon began to come down little
by little and finally fell right between the paws of the Fox. She
seized him and said: 'Well, now I'll make it uncomfortable for
you. Do you adulterer and debaucher recall your bad deeds ?
Remember how one dark night I came to help myself to a single
chicken; but you flapped your wings and trod with your feet.'
' Dear Fox,' answered the Cock, 'your words are gracious and c
wise. I'll tell you something: At our chief priest's there will
soon be a feast, then I'll ask them to let you bake the bread for
.
22
ADOLPH GERBER
supper and pancakes sweetened with honey and you will gain
honor thereby too.' Now the Fox opened her paws, and the
Cock flew upon a tree.
19. The Cat, the Cock and the Fox, i. Ar. I, 17 a, pp. 56-60.
(Government of Vologda.)
There was once a man who had a Tomcat and a Cock. The
man went out to work in the woods, the Tomcat carried dinner
to him, and the Cock was left behind to take care of the house.
a But when the Fox came and sang under the window : 'Kikeriki,
my Cock with the golden combs! Look out at me! I'll give thee
peas,' the Cock looked out and was seized and carried way.
While the Fox'was running off with him, he cried : 'The Fox is
carrying me away, is carrying away the Cock through the dark
woods, into the far distance, into foreign lands, over three times
seven countries into the thirtieth kingdom, into the thirtieth
b empire. Tomcat Thomson (Kot-Kolonaerič) save me!' The
Tomcat heard his cry and delivered him, warning dear Cox Cock
(Petja Petušok) never to look out of the window again. Never-
theless the Fox succeds in catching him again, and after he has
been rescued once more, she outwits him even for a third time.
The conclusion is told differently. According to one version
the Fox eats the Cock and leaves nothing but his tail and feathers.
'The man and the Tonicat were sad and said: 'That follows if
€ one does not heed advice.' According to the other version, the
Cat buys a coat, red boots, a cap, a bag, a sword and a gusli and
sings and plays as a guslar 30 before the Fox's house. First the
Fox sends her children, then the Cock, and finally she comes
herself. Her children and she herself are slain ; the Cock runs
home.
a
20.
a
and
b
С
The Cat, the Cock and the Fox, ii. AF. I, 17 c, pp. 61-62.
A Tomcat and a Cock are living together. In spite of his
friend's warnings the Cock is carried off three times. The last
time the Tomcat knocks with his tail against the window of the
Fox and wishes good health to her two sons, Dimeša and Remeša,
and her four daughters. The sons and daughters and the Fox
herself perish; the Cock and the Tomcat go home, have a pleasant
time and earn much money.
30 Giusli is a kind of harp, and gustir a harper.
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
23
21. The Cat, the Ram, the Cock and the Fox, iiz. AF. I, 17 b,
pp. 60-61.
A Cat, a Ram and a Cock are living together. While the Cat a
and the Ram are peeling bast in the wood, the Fox sings under
the window', beguiles the Cock and carries him off. Twice the b
Cock is rescued immediately, but the third time he is taken to the
Fox's house. Then the Ram and Cat make a harp and play
under the window of the Fox: Ding-ding, there lives a beautiful
Fox in a golden kennel and she has seven daughters; the first,
Scare-the-bird; the second, Little Scare-bird; the third (?); the
fourth, Sweep-the-hearth; the fifth, Shut-the-pipe; the sixth,
Fan-the-fire; the seventh, Bake-the-cake.' The Fox sends, first,
Scare-the-Bird to see who is singing the beautiful song, but when
she comes out she is killed by the Cat and the Ram and thrown
into a basket. In the same way the other daughters and the
Fox herself are slain and the Cock, who is found alive, is taken
home.
22. The Fox and the Crab. AF. 1,15, p. 54.
(Government of Tambov.)
The Fox and the Crab stood together and spoke with each
other. The Fox said to the Crab : 'Come, I'll run a race with
you.' The Crab replied, 'All right, Fox, come!' So they started
to run, but just when the Fox darted away the Crab caught hold
of her tail and did not let go till the Fox had reached the goal
and turned round. Then the crab said: 'I have been waiting
for you here for a long time.' So the Fox had to acknowledge
that she was beaten.
23.
The Fox and the Crane. AF. I, 13, pp. 51–52.
(Government of Tver.)
The Fox had made friends with the Crane and had even be-
come his gossip at a baptism. Thus the Fox invited the Crane
to a feast for which she had prepared manna in a pan. Please
eat, my dear gossip, I have prepared it myself.' The Crane
struck in vain with his long bill on the flat pan, he could not get
hold of anything. Still he thanked his gossip for her kindness
and in his turn, invited her to a feast. For this he had prepared
a soup which he served in a narrow-necked jug. 'Eat, my dear
24
ADOLPH GERBER
gossip! This is all I have to offer. This time the Fox tried in
vain to eat and when she saw that she could not get anything,
she became very angry, for she had expected to eat for a whole
week. · As one calls into the wood so the echo comes back.'
From that time on, the friendship between the Fox and the
Crane was over.
a
24. The Fox and the Jug. ERLENWEIN, No. 34.
(Government of Tula.)
The Fox used to go to a peasant's house to steal chickens.
The peasant suspended a jug, into which the wind was blowing,
and the jug made music: 21-2-u. The Fox came again and
listened, and when she saw the jug, she seized it by the ribbon
attached to the handle and hung it on her neck. Just wait, you
stupid old jug,' said she, “I'll drown you,' and carried the jug
b to a hole in the ice and set about to sink it. The jug gulped
itself full of water: cluck-cluck-cluck, and dragged the Fox with
it to the bottom. · Then the Fox prayed: Jug, jug, don't
drown me! Surely I wont do it, surely I just wanted to frighten
you. The stupid old jug, however, did not listen, but drew
her further and further to the bottom and drowned her.
a
25. Snow-white and the Fox. AF. I. 14, pp. 52–53.
(Government of Kaluga.)
Two old people had a granddaughter by the name of Snow-
white. Once upon a time when she had been permitted to go
into the woods to gather berries with her companions, she was
separated from them and being very anxious, she climbed a tree
and wept bitterly. At first a bear saw her there and offered to
carry her home, but she was afraid he might eat her and so she
did not come down. Then came a Wolf and wanted to take her,
yet she did not trust him either and also let him go. Finally a
Fox offered her services, was accepted and carried her home.
b Her grandparents gave the Fox milk, curd and eggs, yet she
asked for a chicken. Then they took two sacks, put a chicken
into one and a dog into the other and let the chicken go first,
and immediately afterward the dog. The Fox had a narrow
escape but saved her life.
GREAT RUSSLAN ANIMAL TALIS.
25
а
his crop
26. The Peasant, the Bear and the Fox, i. AF. I, 7 a, pp. 37–38.
(Government of Tula.)
A ploughman who was sowing turnips was surprised by a
Bear and could only save his life by promising him one half of
At harvest time the Bear came and got the leaves,
with which he was satisfied until he happened to taste the sweet-
ness of the roots. Then he became very angry and told the inan
he would tear him to pieces if he ever dared to enter the wood
again. For a long time the peasant stayed at home and burnt b
his wall-boards, his benches and his casks, but finally he was
compelled to start for the forest to get some firewood. While
he was going there slowly, a Fox ran up to him, learned the
cause of his grief and promised to imitate the noise of a beater
for game. When the Bear heard that noise he came to the man
to ask him what it was, and on learning that there were hunters
in the wood he begged the man to lay him on his sledge like a
log, to cover him with wood and to tie a rope around it. The
peasant did as he was told, laid the Bear on the sledge and
covered and bound him, and then took his axe and killed him.
The Fox went with the man to obtain a reward, but he whistled C
for his dogs and sent them after her. Having succeeded in reach- d
ing her hole, she asked her eyes, her ears and her tail as indicated
in a previous story (8d). Since her tail has hampered her flight,
she gives it up to the dogs who pull her out by it and kill her.
'So it often goes through the fault of the tail, the head also
perishes.
27. The Peasant, the Bear aud the Fox, iż. Ar. I, 7 b, pp. 38-40.
(Government of Tambov.)
A peasant and a Bear who were great friends raised a crop of a
turnips and a crop of wheat together. As the Bear did not
receive anything but the leaves of the turnips and the stubbles
of the wheat, and the man made fun of him in addition, he be-
came very angry and threatened to devour him. In this diffi- b
culty the man is saved by the Fox who asks him whether there
are no Bears and Wolves in the wood. At the Bear's request
he answers, 'No'! 'What is lying there by your wagon'?
continued the Fox. 'Say a log' whispered the Bear.' 'A log'
replied the peasant. 'If it were a log, it would be bound fast on
the wagon.' While the Fox is gone for a little while the Bear
26
ADOLPH GERBER
с
allows himself to be bound on the wagon. Then the Fox
returns. 'If it were a log, the axe would stick in it.' The Bear
whispers, he should strike the axe into him, but the man does it
so hard that he kills him. The Fox receives for her trouble a
sack with what is supposed to be two white chickens, but when
she opens it, she sees that it is two white dogs, runs off as hard
as she can and with difficulty succeeds in reaching a place of
d refuge. There follows here her conversation with ears and eyes,
feet and tail ; she sacrifices the latter and thereby loses her life.31
a
28. The Peasant and the Serpent. ERLENWEIN No. 22.
(Government of Tula.)
A peasant who was burning stubbles in spring, preserved a
Serpent's life by putting it into a sack. After the danger was
passed and the Serpent let out of the sack, it threatened to
devour its rescuer, but accepted his condition that three should
b decide whether it was right. A Hare and a Wolf declared that
c good was always recompensed by evil. The Fox said the same,
but pretended not to believe that the Serpent could go into the
sack, unless she saw it. The Serpent then crept in again and
d the peasant smashed it against a wheel. For his service, the Fox
was promised three chickens, but received three dogs instead
e and barely escaped to her kennel. There she asked her eyes,
ears and feet, and her tail what they have done and as her tail
has hampered her flight, she sacrifices it to the dogs and thereby
loses her life.
a
29. Old Hospitality is forgotten. AF. I, 8, pp. 43-45.
(Government of Astrachan.)
A Wolf pursued by hunters met a shepherd coming from a
field with a sack and a flail. The shepherd allowed him to get
into his sack and told the hunters he had not seen any Wolf, yet
when the danger was past and he opened the sack again, the
Wolf declared that he would eat him and met all his objections
b by saying: 'Old hospitality is forgotten.' The peasant then
consented to be eaten provided the first person they should
encounter were of the Wolf's opinion. This was an old Mare
who had lived at her master's for twelve years, had borne him
31 Another variant occurs in the government of Astrachan. The motive of the hunt
appears here still more obscured.
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
27
and
e
twelve colts, had worked for him with all her strength, and had
finally been dragged into a ravine from which she had hardly
been able to get out again. She agrees with the Wolf: 'Old
hospitality is forgotten. The peasant became quite sad at this,
but the Wolf was willing that he should ask the opinion of
another person. This was an old Dog who had served his master
faithfully for twenty years, had watched his house and protected
his herds and, at last, had been driven away because he could
not bark any more. He too says: 'Old hospitality is forgotten.'
Thereupon the peasant grew more discouraged still, but c
persuaded the Wolf to wait until they had seen a third person.
This was the Fox. She doubted that the big Wolf could have
been in the small sack and pretended to disbelieve both the
assertions of the man and those of the Wolf, until the latter had
gotten into the sack again. Then she told the peasant to tie it
d
up and to thrash on it with his flail. The man did this, but struck
the Fox dead, too, and said: 'Old hospitality is forgotten.'
30. The Bear, the Fox, the Bull-fly and the Peasant. AF. I, 20.
Pp. 77-79.
A Bear who saw a peasant driving into the wood with a pie- a
bald horse, wondered who had coloured it. On learning that the
man had done it himself he, too, asked to be coloured, yet no
sooner was he bound tight when he howled and wished to be
released again. Still the peasant went on, made his hatchet
red-hot and burnt and scorched him till he burst his fetters in
agony and ran away howling for revenge. On the following b
day a Fox drank a jug of milk which the peasant's wife, who
was mowing rye, had taken with her out into the field. When
she had finished it, however, she could not pull her head out
again. "Jug,' she said, “thou hast had thy fun, this will do!
Stop thy nonsense now and let me go! My dear jug, my little
dove.' I have had enough of thy silliness.' While the Fox was
pleading thus, the peasant who had come to look after the work
of his wife struck the Fox a blow that crushed one of her legs,
and wild with pain she made a jump, smashed the jug against a
stone and ran away. Finally when the peasant commenced to
load the rye on his wagon he was stung by a Bull-fly and pun-
ished it by sticking a straw into its belly. The Bull-fly, the
Bear and the Fox meet and concert a plan of revenge. (Rest
omitted).
C
1
28
ADOLPH GERDER
1
a
31. The Tale of the Flayed Goat. Ar. I, 28, pp. 98-100.
(Governinent of Tambov.)
A peasant who is living with a little Hare finds a Goat that is
flayed on one side and takes him to his house. While 'he and
the Hare are absent, the Goat bolts the door and does not allow
b the Hare to get in again. The Wolf and the Cock, who wish to
c help the Hare, are frightened by the Goat, but a Bee stings him
and drives him out. The Hare goes in his house and sleeps.
"When he shall have done sleeping, the story will begin again.'
a
32. The Fox, the Hare and the Cock. AF. I, 3, pp. 25-27.
(Government of Vladimir.)
Once upon a time there was a Fox who had a house of ice and
a Hare who had one of bark, but when spring came the Fox's
b house melted and she went to the Hare's and turned him out.
c The Hare cried and did not know what to do, and even the Dogs,
a Bear and a Bull who wished to restore his house to him were
d frightened away by the Fox's presumptuous words. The Hare
was quite sad till there came a Cock with a scythe who terrified
the Fox with his threats and killed her when she came out.
Thenceforth the Hare and the Cock lived together and were
always happy. “There you have your story, give me a jug of
butter!'
· 33. The Tale of the Ram that was flayed on one side. AF. I,
29, pp. 100-102.
(Government of Tver.)
а.
A master kills five sheep to get skins for a coat, and when he
finds that half a skin more is wanted, he flays a ram on one side.
b Being very angry the Ram runs away with a Goat and they build
a house. A Cow, a Hog, a Cock and Gander having become
c dissatisfied, leave home and when winter approaches, they ask
admission to the house of the Ram and Goat. The latter do not
wish to let them enter, but finally yield to their unceasing
d threats. After a while robbers come, yet their spy meets with so
e terrible a reception that they soon leave again. Later on, Wolves
try to get possession of the house, but their messenger fares as
ill as the spy of the robbers, and they do not dare to make an
f attack. A Hedgehog, however, who is with them knows that
the Ram is flayed on the side, so he rolls in and stings the Ram
and puts all the domestic animals to flight. Then the Wolves
go in and live there.
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
29
him put
34. Animals in Winterquarters. AF. I, 30, pp. 102-105.
A Ram who is seeking to escape the winter and cold and is a
looking for warm weather, is joined first by a Bull, then by a
Hog, then by a Gander and finally by a Cock. The Bull proposes b
to construct a house for the winter and asks the others to help
him to build it, but they all think they can do without it and let
it up by himself. After it has grown cold, however, they c
come to the house one after the other and gain admission by
their threats to destroy it.
Then they live happily together
until the Cock cannot help singing and thereby betrays their
place of refuge to the Fox, who soon comes to the house with
the Wolf and the Bear. First the Fox goes in to
First the Fox goes in to get the Cock, d
and is killed by the Bull and Ram, then the Wolf meets with the
same fate while trying to seize the Ram, and finally the Bear
has a very narrow escape when he attacks the Bull.
35.
The Bear and the Cock. AF. I, 31, p. 105.
An old man had a stupid son who threatened to break the a
stove to pieces if he did not give him a wife. The father objected
that they had no money, but the son replied that they had an
Ox which they might kill and sell, whereupon the Ox fled. The
same thing is repeated with their Ram and their Cock. No b
sooner had the three animals built a house in the wood than the
Bear learned of it and came to eat them. Still the Cock C
frightened him by his threats so terribly that he ran until he fell -
dead. Then the blockhead found him, sold his skin and got
married with the proceeds. The Ox, the Ram and the Cock d
however, went home again.
36. The Wolves and the Bear are frightened, i. Ar. I, 19 a,
pp. 67-70.
(Government of Vladimir.)
A Cat who is to be killed for having taken cream,
induces a
Ram to fee with him. They pick up a wolf's head lying by the
road-side and and go straight toward a fire which they see
shining in the distance. When they are close to it they perceive
twelve Wolves sitting around it and warming themselves. After b
having saluted them, the Ram asks the Cat: 'Brother, what is
there for supper?' 'You know we have those twelve wolves
head's.' Select the fattest.' The Ram went into the bushes and
نم
30
ADOLPH GERBER
+
lifted up their wolf's head and asked : 'Is this the one, brother
Cat?' 'No, choose a better one!' Then the Ram lifted up the
same head again: 'Is it this one?' Now the Wolves began to feel
uncomfortable and would have liked to run away at once, but
not daring to do so, four of them ask permission to go to get
..some wood, four others go after water and the last four follow
the rest. Though the Tomcat had ordered them to be back
soon, he and the Ram were very glad they were gone and hoped
€ they would never return. The Wolves, however, collected again,
met the Bear Michajlo Ivanovic and decided with him to invite
the Tomcat and the Ram for a feast. The Fox, however, who
had to deliver the invitation, gave on his return such a description
of the Cat, that the Bear considered it advisable to place one of
the Wolves on a high stump to give notice of the arrival of the
guests while he himself with the Marmot continued the prepa-
d rations of the feast. As soon as the Ram and the Cat had come,
the former knocked the Wolf on duty from his stump and the
latter scratched him up so terribly that all the Wolves dispersed,
e the Bear climbed a firtree, the Marmot hid in a hole and the Fox
concealed herself under a log. The two guests ate the viands
prepared for them until the Cat frightened by the tail of the
f Marinot climbed the firtree. This terrified the Bear so that he
let go the tree and in falling almost crushed the Fox, yet both
managed to escape.
a
37. The Wolves and the Bear are frightened, iï. AF. I, 19 C,
pp. 73-76.
In a distant country there lived a peasant who had a Goat and
a Ram. As the peasant was short of hay and treated them very
ill, they fled, taking with them a bag and a gun. On their way
they found a wolf's head. Then the Goat said : ‘Brother Ram,
take the head and put it in your bag !! What in the deuce shall
we do with it? Walking is tiresome enough any way.' 'Just
take it with you! When we get to our place we will make a
head-cheese of it.' Thereupon the Ram picked up the wolf's
head, put it in his bag and took it with him. Finally they
reached a wood. The Ram declared that he was almost frozen,
but the Goat said he had seen the light of a fire in the distance.
b So they went toward the fire and fell in with twelve Wolves who
were sitting round it warming themselves. The Ram was
frightened, but the Goat told him not to be afraid, walked right
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
31
up to the Wolves and said: 'How are you comrades? How are
you Kozma Mikitič?' answered the Wolves in anticipation of
a dainty bit, since the Goat and the Ram seemed to have come
of their own accord to enter their jaws. The Goat however
thought otherwise and said: 'Well, brother Ram hand me a
wolf's laead, we'll cook it and make a head-cheese of it.' The
Ram took the wolf's head out of the bag and presented it to the
Goat. 'Not this one! there is another, that of the oldest Wolf,
that's the one I want.' The Ram went to look into the bag and
after a long search brought back the same head. You block-
head,' cried the Goat angrily, stamping with his foot, that is not
the one either. The one I want is lying below on the bottom.'
"The Ram searched again and brought the very same head for
à third time. At last,' cried the Goat, 'that is the right one.'
Meanwhile the Wolves, who had been looking on, had become
suspicious : 'Good gracious, how many of our people they must
have killed! A whole sack full of nothing but heads. Now the
Goat asked: 'Brothers, do you not have anything for us to cook
our supper in?' Then the Wolves jumped up and ran away, one
after some wood, another after some water, a third after a pot,
but all were thinking only of how they might escape alive. The
Wolves return afterward, being encouraged to do so by a Bear,
but since the Goat has climbed to the top of a tree and the Ram
is clinging with his forefeet to one of the lower branches, the
Wolves and the Bear do not know what has become of them.
While the Bear is sitting under the tree and telling the Wolves
to gather some acorns that he may prophesy with them where
the Ram and the Goat are, the Ram falls down. At the same
time the Goat fires a shot and speaks so boldly that their
enemies flee. The Ram and the Goat return home and suffer d
!
no more want.
38.. The Wolves are frightened. Ar. I, 19 b, pp. 70-73.
A Tomcat Vaska (Basil) who has been beaten so cruelly that a
he can only walk on three legs, persuades a Goat and a Ram
who are to be killed in honor of a son-in-law, to flee with him.
The Goat takes Vaska on his back and so they run over
mountains and valleys until they reach a meadow with hay stacks
where they decide to spend the night. Since it is cold, however,
and they need a fire, Vaska bids his companions knock their
heads against each other, lights some birch bark with the sparks
32
ADOLPH GERBER
that fly from their eyes and soon has one of the stacks ablaze.
Then a peasant, the Bear Michajlo Ivanovic, who being badly
wounded by the farmers is on his way to the physician Fox,
comes and asks for shelter. He is welcomed and scarcely have
they chosen their places for the night: the Cat on a haystack,
the Bear under it. the Goat and the Ram by the fire, when
b suddenly eight Wolves, seven grey ones and one white one,
make their appearance.
The Cat warns the Wolves to keep away from the Goat, who
knocks down the beasts with his beard and pulls off their skins
with his horns, and advises them rather to try a game with the
Bear. While the Wolves are giving the Bear a hard time, the
three travellers set out and take refuge on a tree. The Cat
reaches the top, but the Goat and the Ram are only clinging to a
branch with their forefeet, when the Wolves, repulsed by the
Bear, come by and discover their retreat. As soon as they have
surrounded the tree the Cat, realizing the danger, commences to
throw cones at them and says: 'There is one Wolf, and another,
and one more; that makes one for each brother. Now I Vaska
have just eaten two Wolves and am satiated. You oldest brother
have been after the bears, but have not caught any. Take my
share too !' Scarcely had he said this when the Ram let go the
branch and fell with his horns directly on one of the Wolves.
Then Vaska quickly cried : 'Seize him, hold him,' and so
frightened the Wolves that they ran off without looking round.
a.
39. The Wolf Simpleton, i. AF. I, 24 a, pp. 86-89.
A peasant had a Dog who had become so old that he could
not watch his house any longer. He, therefore, took him out
into the wood in order to hang him, but seeing bitter tears
trickling from his eyes he had mercy on him and left him tied to
an asp-tree. Scarcely had the Dog begun to moan and curse
his fate when suddenly a mighty Wolf stepped forth from the
b bushes. The Wolf blamed him for having driven him away from
his master's house so many times, is glad the Dog has come to
him of his own accord and announces that the hour of retribution
is at hand. The Dog, however, explained to him, that his flesh
is like rotten wood and tasteless after delicious beef and mutton,
and persuades him to make his flesh more tender by rich and
abundant food, before he devours him. After having brought
the Dog half a mare, a fat sheep and a bear, the Wolf proposed
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
33
again to eat him, but now the Dog has grown so stout and
strong that his enemy himself has a narrow escape. Having c
licked his wounds, the Wolf started out again for prey, perceived
a big Goat standing on the mountain and declared his intention
to devour him. The Goat was satisfied, and to save the Wolf
the trouble of chewing him, offered to jump straight into his jaws.
Accordingly the Wolf took his stand at the foot of the mountain,
but the Goat came down on him so swiftly that he knocked him
senseless and then ran away. After three hours the Wolf came
to himself, but his head was bursting with pain and he grew
pensive. Had he swallowed the Goat, or not? He thought and
guessed for a long time. If I had eaten the Goat, said he finally,
my belly would be distended; it seems therefore the rascal has
deceived me. With that he ran to a village, saw there a Sow d
with her little Pigs and was just about to seize one of them when
the mother intervened. "How dare you be so rude toward me,
Hog's face?' [said the Wolf.] 'I shall eat you first and then
swallow all your Pigs at once. [To this the Sow replied :) 'I have
not been rude so far, but now I say, you are a great blockhead.'
'How is that?' 'How is it?' Decide yourself, Grey beast! How
can you eat my Pigs now? They have just been born and ought
first to be washed. We will join, you as a godfather and I as a
godmother and thus christen the little children. The Wolf
agreed to that, and they went to a great mill and the sow said to
the wolf: “Dear gossip, you stand on the other side of the
flood-gates where there is no water, then I'll take the pigs, dip
them into the pure water and hand them to you, one after
another. The Wolf was glad of this and thought to himself:
'There comes a prey between my teeth.' So the
So the grey blockhead
went and placed himself under the foot-bridge, but the Sow seized
the flood-gates with her teeth, raised them and let the water go.
The water rushed forth, carried the Wolf with it and whirled
him around, but the Sow went home with her Pigs, ate to
satisfaction and lay down to sleep with her children on her
soft bed.
The Wolf then saw the trickery of the Sow and with great e
difficulty having saved himself out of the mill-race, was shot one
night by a hunter, who had laid a bait for him near a thrashing-
floor.
34
ADOLPH GERBER
a
}
с
40. The Wolf Simpleton, ii. Ar. I, 24 b, pp. 89-91.
In olden times when Christ was still walking with the apostles
on earth, it happened that they met a Wolf on their way. The
Wolf said: 'Lord, I would like to eat something !''Go,' said
Christ, and eat the Mare!' The Wolf ran away to find the Mare
and when he beheld her, he walked up to her and said: 'Mare,
the Lord has bidden me eat you.' She answered : 'Oh no,
you won't eat me, that is not allowed. I have a certificate for it,
but it is strongly nailed up.' 'Well, show it !''Come nearer to
my hind feet!' The Wolf stepped up, and the Mare gave him a
kick in his teeth, so that he flew three yards, and then she ran
away herself. The Wolf went with his complaint to Christ and
said: 'Lord, the Mare has almost killed me.' 'Go, eat the Ram!'
b The Ram offered to run down a mountain and to jump straight
into the Wolf's jaws, but he struck him so violently that the
Wolf did not come to himself before he was out of sight. Now
the Wolf went with his grievance to Christ again and was told
to eat the Tailor. The Tailor answered : 'Wait let me first take
leave of my family.' 'No that won't do. Well, if it cannot be
otherwise, eat me, only let me take your measure to see whether
I can get the whole of me into you!' 'Measure !' answered the
wolf. Then the Tailor stepped behind the Wolf, seized him by
his tail, twisted the tail around his hand and gave the grey fellow
a thrashing. The Wolf writhed, pulled and pulled, until he
d finally tore off his tail and away he went. When he was run-
ning in this way he met seven Wolves, who cried: 'Stop, what
is the matter, Grey fellow? where is your tail’? 'The Tailor
has torn it off.' Where is the Tailor?' 'He is walking back
there on the road.' 'Come, we must pursue him!' and away
they went after the Tailor. The Tailor heard the pursuit and see-
ing that his case was desperate climbed quickly to the top of a
tree and sat there quietly. Then the Wolves came and said :
'Never mind, brother, we'll get the Tailor. You, Stumpy tail,
lie down there, the rest of us will step upon you, one upon the
other, and so we'll reach him, we think.' The stumpy tailed one
lay down on the ground, on him stepped one Wolf, upon that
one a second, a third, and so higher and higher. Already the last
one was climbing up, the Tailor saw the imminent peril and that
they would have him immediately and called down from above :
'Well, now all will fare like the stumpy tailed one. Then the
stumpy tailed one jumped up quickly from under the others and
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
35
ran off. All of the seven Wolves fell on the ground and sprang
up to chase the other. They succeded in overtaking him and
tore him to pieces. But the Tailor came down from the tree
and went home.
41.
The Wolf and the Goat, i. AF. I, 23 a, pp. 81-83.
(Government of Saratov.)
A Goat has built a house in the wood and given birth to a
many children. Whenever she went out to get food the kids
locked the door behind her and did not open it again until their
mother sang before it.
before it. Now the Wolf had overheard the song b
and tried to deceive them. The first time, to be sure, they
recognized him by his rough voice, but the second time when
he sang like their mother they opened the door and were all
devoured but one. When the Goat came home and learned of
her loss, she blamed the Wolf for it, but he protested his inno- c
cence and asked her to take a walk with him, in the course of
which they got to a pit where robbers had cooked grits and
which still contained a good deal of fire. On the proposal of
the Goat they tried to jump over it, but the Wolf fell into the
fire and when his belly burst with the heat, the kids jumped out
and had no more danger to encounter.
42.
The Wolf and the Goat, iż. AF. I, 23 b, pp. 83–86.
(Government of Tambov.)
A Goat gives birth to kids in a deserted house. The Wolf a
fails at first to deceive the kids on account of his rough voice, b
yet after having had his tongue made fine at the blacksmith's
he prevails on them to open the door and devours all but one,
leaving of them nothing but hair and bones. The old Goat col-
lects and dries the hair, grinds them and makes pastry of them
and invites her gossip, the Fox, and the Wolf who has eaten
her kids to take breakfast with her the next morning. They
come as early as five o'clock and after they have had their meal
the Goat puts glowing coals in the cellar, drives iron pins into
the ground around it, takes a board out of the floor and asks her
guests to join her in her favorite game of jumping over the hole.
The Goat and the Fox succeed, but the Wolf falls into the cellar
and is burnt to death. The survivors have a grand funeral feast
and henceforth the goat lives happily with her kid.
36
ADOLPH GERBER
a
43. The Tomcat and the For, 32 i. AF. I, 18, pp. 62-67.
There was once a peasant who had a Cat which did so much
damage that he put him in a bag, carried him into the woods and
there let him go.
The Cat made the hay loft in the wood-
keeper's house his home and lived comfortably. Once when he
was taking a walk, he met the Fox. She was very much
astonished when she perceived him, because she had never seen
b such an animal before. She therefore saluted the Cat and said:
'Tell me, valiant hero, who are you? For what reason have you
come? What is your name and your origin?' But the Cat
bristled up his fur and said: 'I am sent to you as a magistrate
from the Siberian woods and my name is Kotofej Ivanovič (Cato
Johnson)' 'O, Cato Johnson,' said the Fox, 'I don't know you
at all, come with me to my house and be my guest!' The Cat
went with her and she led him into her burrow, entertained him
with several kinds of game and asked him more questions.
How is it, Cato Johnson, are you married or single?' 'Single, '
answered the Cat; 'I am also still a maiden, take me for your
wife!' The Cat consented and they celebrated a merry wedding.
On the next day, the Fox went out to get some provisions for
her young husband, but the Cat stayed at home. While the
Fox was running along the Wolf came across her and began to
make love to her. "What has become of you, gossip' said
he, ' I have looked into every hole and have not found you.'
'Let me alone, you fool, and stop your flirting! Formerly I was
a maiden, but now I am married.' · Whom have you married,
Lisaveta Ivanovna?' 'Have you not heard that a magistrate
called Kotofej Ivanovič has been sent to us from the Siberian
woods?' No, I've heard nothing about it, Lisaveta Ivanovna,
how could I see him?' 'Well, my husband is very angry. If
any one does not please him, he eats him up immediately. See
that you get a ram and give it to him for a present. Just lay
down the ram and hide yourself, that he may not see you, other-
wise you will fare ill. The Wolf went to get the ram. Soon
afterward the Bear who also wants to make love to her, is
d informed of her marriage and engaged to bring an ox. The
Bear, Michajlo Ivanyc, and the Wolf whom he calls brother
Levon, come with their gifts, but neither dares to call out the Fox
and her husband. While they are in this dilemma the Hare
с
32 Note: Translated by LaCiui, p. 223 ff.
GREAT
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
37
e
comes running by. 'Come here, you bandy-legged devil,' cried
the Bear. The Hare obeyed terror stricken. Well, you bandy-
legged Eyerywhere and Nowhere, don't you happen to know
where the Fox lives?' 'Yes, I do, Michajlo Ivanovič.' Then
be quick and and tell her Michajlo Ivanovič and his brother,
Levon Ivanyc, wish to see the Fox and her husband to pay their
respects by the gift of a ram and an ox. While the Hare is run-
ning to the Fox, the Bear and Wolf look round for a hiding place;
the Bear covers the Wolf with dry leaves and he himself climbs
up a firtree. They soon see them coming. 'There come the Fox
and her husband, brother Levon Ivanyč. What a little fellow
he is !' When the Cat had gotten there he threw himself on the
ox, bristled up his hair and commenced to tear off the flesh with
his teeth and claws, growling at the same time as if he were
angry: malo, malo (too little, too little). 'He is little but a great
eater; four of us could not eat what is too little for him. May
God be gracious to us! He will come also to us.' The Wolf
would have liked to catch a glance at Kotofej Ivanovič, but he
could not do so on account of the leaves. He began, therefore, f
to scratch away the leaves from his eyes, but when the Cat heard
the leaves rustle, he thought it was a mouse, jumped right at the
Wolf's muzzle and struck his claws into it. The Wolf ran as if
there were fire under his feet, and off he was. The Cat, however,
was frightened himself and leaped on the very tree where was the
Bear. The Bear commended himself to God and let himself
drop to the ground, and though he was bruised all over, he
jumped up and ran away. The Cat and the Fox were provided
with meat for the whole winter and lived well on it.
44.
The Tomcat and the Fox, iż. AF. I, pp. 66-67.
The Fox is married to the Tomcat Kotonajlo Ivanyč. Once a
upon a time when she is carrying a duck to her husband, the
Bear, the Boar and the Wolf in turn want to take it from her
but do not dare to do so for fear of the Tomcat. Then they b
prepare a feast for him in order to win his good will, but the
Wolf who delivers the invitation becomes so frightened at his
purring and the fire of his eyes, that they all look for their safety.
The Bear climbs up a tree, the Boar rushes into a swamp, the c
Wolf buries himself in a hay-stack.
درن
ADOLPH GERBER
22
45.
The Tomcat and the Fox, iii. ERLENWEIN, 32.
(Government of Tula.)
Godmother Fox invited Tomcat Jeremej to stay with her
in her earth-house, and after he had procured some tow with:
which to make the house tight for the winter she proposed
b to marry him. Jeremej was satisfied and went out to invite as
wedding guests, the Hare, the Wolf and the Bear, who all
accepted, and promised to bring a chicken, a sheep and an ox.
© Then he took a bucket and started out to buy brandy, and as a
peasant was passing with a cask, he jumped on it and made the
man so angry that he broke his cask, and he could fill his bucket
with the brandy that flowed from it. The wedding was a merry
The Hare sang after two glasses, the Wolf after three and
the Bear after four, but when the groom began to eat of the cow
and cried : malo, malo (too little, too little), the guests were
e seized with fear, and they dispersed. Another time the cat went
out to get peas. Being scared by a bird, he climbed up a tree
on which there happened to be a Bear and frightened him so
badly that he fell to the ground and killed himself. On de-
scending again he caught a Thrush, but released it however, on
the proinise that it would get him the peas. Accordingly they
went to a barn where an old man and a boy were cleaning peas.
The Thrush alighted on the bald head of the old
man and
caused the boy to kill him with his flail. Then the Cat collected
all the peas he wanted and went home with them.
one.
os
a
46.
The Mighty Tomcat. AF. I, pp. 65-66.
(Var.)
A mighty Tomcat is living in a deep forest. The Bear, the
Wolf, the Stag, the Fox and the Hare determine to invite him for
a feast, but all are afraid to deliver the invitation. The Bear is
bandy-legged, the Wolf is not adroit enough, the Stag is timid,
the Fox cannot run fast enough on account of her long tail.
b Accordingly the Hare has to deliver the message, but on his
return he gives his companions such a description of their terri-
ble guest that the Bear climbs on a tree, the Wolf creeps into
some bushes, the Fox digs a hole for herself in the ground, and
the Stag and he himself run off,33
33 The end of the story is the same as that given above.
+
GREAT RUSSIAN ANİMAL TALES.
39
47. The Wolf. AF. I, 21 b, p. 80.
Two old people have a Cat, Wash-thyself-nicely; a Dog,
Bark-to-it, a sheep and a cow. A Wolf who has learned that
the old man has many animals comes and asks for the woman.
Gradually he gets all of the animals, but the man keeps his wife
and they are living yet.
48. The Bear. AF. I, 25 a, pp. 91–92.
(Government of Perm.)
An old man who has gone to the wood is challenged by a
Bear. In the ensuing struggle, the man cuts off one of the
Bear's paws and takes it home to his wife who skins and cooks
it. The Bear makes for himself a paw of linden wood, goes into
the village and sings a song before the old people's house.
They hide, but he discovers and devours them. 34
49. The Goat. AF. I, 27, pp. 96-98.
(Government of Vologda.)
The Goat sends his wife to gather nuts. When she does not
yeturn, she sends the Wolf after her; when the Wolf does not
return, he sends the Bear after the Wolf; People after the Bear;
a Stick after the People; a Hatchet after the Stick ; a Stone after
the Hatchet; Fire after the Stone; Water after the Fire; the
Tempest after the Water, etc.
50. The Little Hen and the Little Cock. Ar. I, 33, pp. 109-110.
(Government of Tambov.)
While the Cock and the Hen are picking nuts, a nut falls and
knocks one of the Hen's eyes out. The Hen blames the Cock
for it; the Cock the Nut-tree; the Nut-tree the Goat, etc.
Finally the Sow says the Wolf has taken a pig from her, and
the Wolf declares that he was hungry and God gave it to him.
34 In another variant the old man hides over the door in a basket which drops at the !
moment when the Bear enters and causes him to flee.
III. SYNOPSIS OF THE SIMPLE ADVENTURES AND
MOTIVES I THAT CONSTITUTE THE TALES.*
e.
I. AF. i, i a, pp. 1-5.
The fox steals fish by feigning death-i.
b. The wolf fishes through the ice with his tail-ii.
The fox besmears her head and pretends to be wounded-iii.
d. The well fox is carried by the wounded wolf-iv.
Building, (the fox takes bark; the wolf, ice)-vii.
f. The wolf is induced to make a fatal jump (test)-xlvi.
The fox loses several times what she is bringing with her to her
night-lodgings and each time gets something better in return-
xvi.
h. The girl in the fox's sack is secretly replaced by a dog-xvi.
i. The fox outwits the cock-xxiv.
.
2. AF. i, i e, pp. 14-15.
a. The fox as driver allows others to ride with her—XV.
Jb. The draught animal is devoured and stuffed-xv.
The fox steals fish by feigning death (obscured)-i.
d. The wolf fishes through the ice with his tail-ii.
The fox induces the bear to tear out his own entrails—xiv.
C.
e.
a.
3. AF. i, if, pp. 15-16.
The fox loses several times what she is bringing, etc.-xvi.
b. The draught animal is devoured and stuffed-xv.
4. AF. i, 2 a, p. 17.
a. The fox steals provisions on three different occasions--.
b. The fox cheats in the sweating-test-v.
5. AF. i, 2 d, pp. 21–24.
Building (fox and wolf have a snow-house)-vii.
b. The fox steals provisions on three different occasions-v.
The fox cheats in the sweating-test-v.
a.
C.
*The letters on the margin refer to corresponding letters on the margin of the texts in the
preceding section of this monograph; the Roman figures at the end of the lines indicate the
numbers under which the adventures and motives are discussed in the division of the work
immediately following this synopsis.
i Several adventures have been resolved in their motives in this list, because they appear
disintegrated in some of the tales.
42
ADOLPH GERBER
a.
6. AF. i, 2 C, pp. 19–21.
Building (implied: the fox has a house of ice, the wolf, one of
bark)-vii.
b. The fox steals provisions on three different occasions-v.
The fox steals fish by feigning death--i.
d. The wolf fishes through the ice with his tail-ii.
C.
a.
7. AF. i, 6 b, p. 36.
The fox is chosen to take charge of something—vi.
b. The fox eats what is committed to her charge (a dead body)-vi.
8. AF. i, 6 a, pp. 35-36.
A plant grows up to heaven and is climbed by an old man.2
b. The fox is chosen to take charge of something--vi.
The fox receives dogs instead of chickens—x.
d. The fox loses her life by sacrificing her tail-xi.
a.
C.
•
a.
b.
9. AF. i, 5, pp. 32–34.
A plant grows up to heaven and is climbed by an old man.2
The fox eats what is committed to her charge (a dead body)-vi.
10. AF. i, 9, pp. 45–46.
Animals leave home (bad treatment)-xxxiv.
b. The wolf claims that the sheep is wearing his fur-xvii.
The oath of the wolf on the sanctuary that is a trap---xvii.
a.
از قرن
C.
a.
C.
II. AF. i; 10 a, pp. 46–47.
Animals leave home (pilgrimage)-xxxiv.
b. Animals fall into a pit and eat one of themselves-xiii.
The fox induces the bear to tear out his own entrails (obsc. hog
for bear)-xiv.
12. AF. i, 10 b, pp. 47-50.
Animals leave home (to get food)--xxxiv.
b. Animals fall into a pit and eat one of theniselves- xiii.
The fox induces the bear to tear out his own entrails-xiv.
d. The fox threatens to eat the young birds—xviii.
The old bird provides food by feigning to be lame (obscured)-xviii.
f. The old bird causes a driver to break his cask and thereby
procures some wine (obscured)-xviii.
g. The bird helps the fox out of the pit-xix,
h. The bird induces a man to hit a bald man on the head and thereby
furnishes amusement (totally obscured)-xviii.
i. The animal provided for (fox) comes to grief-xviii.
13. AF. i, 12, pp. 50-51.
The fox cats the young birds-xviii.
2 Not treated in the next part because it is not an animal tale.
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
43
14. AF. i, 32 a, pp. 106-108.
Animals leave home (expulsion)-xxxiv.
b. The old bird provides food, etc.---xviii.
The dog avenges the bird on the fox (obscured)-xviii.
d. . The animal provided for (dog) comes to grief-xviii.
The old bird causes a driver to break his cask, etc. (obscured)-xviji.
f. The bird induces a man to hit a bald man, etc. (obscured)— xviii.
a.
C.
e.
a.
C.
15. AF. i, 32 b, pp. 108–109.
Animals leave home (expulsion)--xxxiv.
h. The old bird provides food, etc. (obscured)-xviii.
The old bird-procures some wine (obscured)-xviii.
d. The bird-furnishes amusement (obscured)-xviii,
The dog avenges the bird on the fox-xviii.
f. The animal provided for (dog) comes to grief-xviii.
g. The old bird causes a driver to break his cask, etc. (obscured and
enlarged)-xviii.
16. AF. i, 26, pp. 93-95.
Animals leave home (expulsion)--xxxiv.
b. The old bird provides food, etc. (mixed, bear for bird)—-xviii.
The bear rehabilitates the dog in the favor of his master--XX.
d. The drinking bear betrays his presence by singing-xxi.
Animals leave home (expulsion)--xxxiv.
f The old bird provides food, etc.-(mixed, dog for bird)—xviii.
17. AF, I, II, p. 50.
The fox with an edict is frightened by a horseman and dogs-xxii.
18. AF. i, 4 a, pp. 27–28.
The fox is frightened by the cock's crowing-xxiii.
• b. The fox outwits the cock-xxiv.
The cock outwits the fox--xxiv.
19 and 20. AF. i, 17 a and c, pp. 56-60 and 61-62.
The fox outwits the cock (three times)--xxiv.
b. The cat rescues the cock (twice)—xxv.
The cat sings before the fox's house, rescues the cock and kills
the fox and her children-XXV.
e.
ته نه
a.
C.
ن م ن
21. AF. i, 17 b, pp. 60-61.
Like the preceding, except that the ram' is with the cat.
22. AF. i, 15, p. 54.
The crab outruns the fox-xxvi.
23. AF. I, 13, pp. 51–52.
The fox and the crane invite each other—xxvii.
A
44
ADOLPH GERBER
a.
d.
a.
C.
a.
نه ن ز مینی
24. ERLENWEIN, 34.
The fox scared by the sound of a jug proceeds to destroy it--xxviii.
b. The fox is hampered by a jug and comes to grief (dies)—xxix.
25. AF. i, 14, pp. 52-53.
The fox shows herself helpful--xxxi.
b. The fox receives dogs instead of chickens-x.
26 and 27. AF. i, 7 a and b, pp. 37-40.
The bear is cheated in the division of the crop-viii.
b. The fox saves the peasant from the bear-ix.
The fox receives dogs instead of chickens (26 obsc.)-X.
d. The fox loses her life by sacrificing her tail-xi.
28 and 29. Erlenw. 22 and AF. i, 8, pp. 43-45.
The snake threatens its rescuer (29, wolf for snake)-xxxii.
b Two judges in favor of the ungrateful animal-xxxii.
The fox saves the man by demanding restitutio in integrum--xxxii.
d. The fox receives dogs instead of chickens (29, obscured)--X.
The fox loses her life by sacrificing her tail (29, obscured)-xi.
30. AF. i, 20, pp. 77–79.
The bear is given a pied appearance-xii.
b. The fox is hampered by a jug and comes to grief (wounded)-xxix.
The bull-Ay is pierced with a straw-xxx.
31. AF. i, 28, pp. 98-100.
A goat occupies a house and excludes the owner--xxxiii.
b. Strong animals that accompany the returning owner are frightened
by the usurper-xxxiii.
An insect expels the goat-xxxiii.
32. AF. i, 3, pp. 25-27.
Building (implied: the fox has a house of ice, the hare one of
bark). vii.
The rest is like 31, except that the fox and the cock are found
in the places of the goat and the insect.
a.
C.
a.
A
C.
a.
33. AF. i, 29, pp. 100-102.
Animals leave home (bad treatment)-xxxiv.
b. Building (ram and goat)--vii.
Domestic animals inspire terror and gain acmission-xl.
d. The messenger of the rolliers fares ill-xxxix.
A wolf fares ill at the house of clomestic animals-xxxviii.
f An insect expels the goat (obscured: hedgehog, all)—xxxiii.
C.
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
45
a.
34. AF. i, 30, pp. 102-105.
Animals leave home (flight from winter)--xxxiv.
b. Building (bull)-vii.
C.: Domestic animals inspire terror and gain admission-xl.
d. A wolf fares ill at the house of domestic animals (enlarged, fox,
wolf, bear)-xxxviii.
a.
1
C.
35. AF. i, 31, p. 105.
Animals leave home (impending wedding)-xxxiv.
b. Building (bull, ram, cock)-vii.
Strong animals that accompany the owner are frightened, etc.
(obscured: bear by owner)-xxxiii.
d. Animals return home (danger passed)--xxxv.
36. AF. i, 19 a, pp. 67–70.
Animals leave home (bad treatment)-xxxiv.
b. Wolves are frightened by a wolf's head-xxxvi.
The wild animals prepare a feast for the tomcat (and ram)-xlviii.
d. The wolf is stunned by the ram who offers to jump into his jaws
(obscured)--xlii.
The wild animals hide from the tomcat (and ram)-xlviii.
f. The wild animals are scared from their hiding-places-xlviii.
a.
C.
e.
a:
C.
a.
37. AF. i, 19 C, pp. 73–76.
Animals leave home (bad treatment)-xxxiv.
b. Wolves are frightened by a wolf's head-xxxvi.
Animals who have taken refuge on a tree save themselves by a
fall and bold threats-xxxvii.
d. Animals return home (circumstances better)-XXXV.
38. AF. i, 19 b, pp. 70–73.
Animals leave home (bad treatment; bear joins)-xxxiv.
b. and c. Animals who have taken refuge, save themselves, etc. (b
totally obscured: fighting bear for falling ass)--xxxvii.
39. AF. i, 24 a, pp. 86–89.
Animals leave home (expulsion)-xxxiv.
b. The wolf catches the dog but loses him again-xli (and xviii.)
The wolf is stunned by the ram, etc. (goat for ram)-xlii.
d. The wolf almost drowned while baptizing the pigs-xliii.
'The wolf is killed by a hunter.3
a.
C.
e.
2.
40. AF. i, 24 h. pp. 89-91.
The wolf is kicked by the mare-xliv.
b. The wolf is stunned by the ram, etc.--xlii.
A wolf is maltreated by a man-xlv.
C.
3 Not treated in the next part because it is rather an occurence of every-day life than an
animal tale. It is possibly a totally obscured form of the last adventure of De Lupo pedente
GRIMM“R, F.,' p. 431; CAXTON, ii p. 163.
: 46
ADOLPH GERBER
d. Wolves climb one upon another to reach a man on a tree; threat
scares the maltreated one; all fall; revenge on former-xlv.
41 and 42. AF. i, 23 a and b, pp. 81-86.
Building (goat; in 42 the house is found ready)—vii.
b. The wolf outwits the kids--xlvi.
The wolf is induced to make a fatal jump (trick)-xlvi.
a.
C.
43. AF. i, 18, pp. 62-67..
Animals leave home (expulsion)—xxxiv.
b. The tomcat marries the fox-xlvii.
The fox warns the wild animals of her husband-xlviii.
. The wild animals prepare a feast for the tomcat-xlviii.
The wild animals hide from the tomcat--xlviii.
f The wild animals are scared fron their hiding-places-xlviji..
e
44. AF. i, pp. 66-67.
Like 43, omitting a, b and f.
45. ERLENW., 32.
The tomcat marries the fox--xlvii.
b. The wild animals prepare a feast, etc. (wedding')-xlviii.
The old bird causes a driver to break his cask, etc. (cat for
bird)—xviii.
d. The wild animals hide, etc. (obscured : run off)-xlviii.
The fox eats the young birds (obscured: tomcat releases bird)-xviii.
f. The wild animals are scared, etc. (bear)--xlviii.
. The bird induces a man to hit a bald man, etc. (obscured: pur-
pose, food)-xviii.
46. AF. i, pp. 65-66.
Like 43, omitting a-c.
47 and 48. AF. i; 21 b and 25 a, pp. So and 91-92.
The wolf, or bear, sings before a house and obtains prey-xlix.
49. and 50. AF. i, 27 and 33, pp. 96-98, 109-110.
Strings of reasons—1.
IV. DISCUSSION OF THE SEPARATE ADVENTURES.
1. The for steals fish by feigning death.
Literary Variants. -Ren.,'iii, 1 ff.; vi, 750 ff.; xiv, 540 ff.=Méon,
749 ff., 14462 ff., 3919 ff. (?); Rothe, pp. 123 f., 192, 136; Carnoy, pp. 51
and 58: The fox feigns death and eats the fish : 'R'en.,'vi, 761 ff.; xiv,
586 ff.=Méon, 14473 ff., 4178 ff.; Rothe, pp. 192, 137; Carnoy, p. 58:
The wolf feigns death and is beaten : 'Rein.,' 208 ff. and 'Reinke' 165
ff. : The fox feigns death and the wolf eats the fish. Berachjah ha-
Nakdan 99 (Gr., R. F. p. cclxxxiii); Waldis, iv, 73: The fox feigns
death to obtain some bacon and gets it; the wolf tries the same trick,
but is beaten.
Oral Variants. Great Russia: Afanasiev, i, i a, with var, I, i e,
2 b and c.; Witte 1 (Krohn). White and Little Russia: Af. i, 1 b-d;
Cubinskij, 38 and 39, and Rudčenko, ii, 4 (Wollner): The fox feigns
death and eats the fish. South Eastern Europe: Haltrich 99: The
fox feigns death and the wolf eats the fish; ibid. 105: The wolf feigns
death and is beaten. Krauss, i, 8=Karadčič, 50: The fox feigns death
för cheeses. Hahn, 86: The fox pretends to be dead to obtain some
loaves of bread. Germany and France : Kuhn, p. 297: The fox feigns
death and eats the fish; Cosquin, ii, p. 159--Remarques : The fox feigns
to be dead to secure some provisions. Africa: Bleek, p. 131.: The fox
steals fish, the hyena tries to, and is beaten. America: 'Uncle Remus,'
II, lii, Brer Rabbit asks Mr. Man for a ride and flings out the money.
Ibid. I, xy, Brer Rabbit feigns death twice and runs off with Brer
Fox's game while he has gone to look for the first rabbit. This may
be a combination of the adventure of the fox who steals fish with that
of the bird who induces a woman, or child, to set down the provisions,
or that of a fox. who dupes a man in similar way. Ibid. II, iv, Brer
Fox feigns death three times but Mr. Man gives him 'a whack wid
his w'ip-han'le.'. Compare here and later F. M. Warren, 'Uncle
Remus and the Roman de Renard' Modern Language Notes v, 129
ff.; Alcée Fortier ‘Louisiana Folklore,' p. 131 f., 136 and 157 f.:
Compair Lapin (the rabbit) feigns death and obtains fish, Compair
Bouki 4 (the goat) tries the same thing and gets such a whipping that
he cannot go out for a month ; ibid.; p. 125 f., 135 and 151: Compair
Lapin feigns death in three places which Compair Bouki passes with
4 When I sent my copy of Roger, ‘Fables Sénégalaises,' to Prof. Fortier, he called my
attention to an extremely important note in it on the word bouki (p. 58) 'nom qu'en ouolof
on donne à l’hiène. Cet animal figure très-souvent dans les fables des negres. Ils lui font
jouer le rile d'un lourdaud, toujours dupe de lui-m îmc et des autres, caractère parfaitement
appropri: à ses habitudes et à son extérieur.' Thus the goat in the tales of the negroes.of
Louisiana was originally a hyena.
48
ADOLPH GERBER .
his cart. While Compair Bouki has left his cart to get the three
rabbits, Compair Lapin steals the cart with the kettle of hominy and
the kettle of gumbo on it and cuts off the tail of the horse and plants
it in the ground, in order to make Compair Bouki believe that the
horse and cart have sunk into a hole. Compare 'Uncle Remus,'.I,
xv above, and adventure xv.
Collections of Variants.- -Kolm., p. 57 f.; Cosq., ii, p. 159 f.; Krohn
B p. 172 ff. and C p. 46 ff. and A p. 355 ff., for Finland alone. In the
Fennia (D p. 8) Krohn has enumerated 117 variants, of which sixty
two or more than 50% were collected among the Fins; eleven among
the Scandinavians; twelve in Russia, ten with the Western Slavs and
Germans; three with the Southern Slavs and Greeks; six outside of
Europe, to which I have added four more.
Discussions of the theme are found with Kolm. and Krohn B and C,
1. c. . As the most characteristic versions and three-fourths of all that
have been collected have been found in Northern Europe, Krohn
justly locates the home of this tale in the North. From some part of
Europe it was carried to Africa and both thence and directly, perhaps
to America, In the same manner Europeans took the tale also to
Cambodja, however strongly Kolmačevskij may object to it, for that
version resembles the European variants too much to have arisen
independently, and there is no good reason why the European tales
should not have come to India as well as to Africa and America. The
originality of all modern Indian folk tales which are closely akin to
European stories is open to suspicion. The original form of this
adventure was according to Krohn almost like our version No. I a.
This and No. 5 b, do not call for any special remark; in No. 2 C, the
characteristic idea has become obscured.
Source. No particular source is known. It seems possible,
however, that the belief that the fox feigns death in order to catch
birds which has found expression in the ‘Physiologus,' (Lauchert, pp.
248 and 292) was also current in the North and that it furnished a point
of departure for this adventure.
II. The wolf fishes through the ice with his tail.
Literary Variants.--—Ysengr.,'i, 529 ff.; 'Ren.,' iii, 377 ff.=Méon,
1131 ff., Rothe, p. 124 f.; Carnoy, p. 52; 'Reinh.,' 727 ff.; 'Rein.,' 1502
ff.; Reinke,' 1451 f. and 5625 ff., Odo de Ceritona in ‘Kl. Denkm.' p.
135='Herv.,' ii, p. 656. Berachjah ha-Nakdan 99 (Gr., 'R. F.,' p.
cclxxxiii). "Fabulae extravagantes" in Gr., 'R. F.,' p. 425 f. and
Caxton, ii, p. 1-49 f.; Waldis, iii, 91.
Oral Variants. -Great Russia: Af. i, i a, with var. 1-3, I e, 2 b
and 2c; Witte 1. White and Little Russia: Af. i, i cand b. (Krohn);
Čub., i, 38 and 39, and Rudc., ii, 4 (Wollner); Transylvania : Haltr.,
101.
Germany and France ; «Kuhn, 'Sagen u. Märch.' p. 298 f.; Cosq.
liv; Sébillot Ivi'; Celts in Scotland: Campbell, I, p. 272 (Kolm.).
America: 'Uncle Remus,' 1, xxv, Brer Rabbit loses his fine bushy tail.
.
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
49
Collections of Variants. -Kurz, ii, 2 p. 139; Grimm, K.M.,'iii, p.
124; Voigt, Ysengr. p. lxxix, f.; Cosq., ii, 160 f.; Kolm., p. 68 ff.; Krohn
A p. 358 ff. and C p. 25 ff. Krohn, D p.8, has counted 171 variants of
this story: ninety eight or 60% of them with the Finlanders; twelve
with the Scandinavians; fourteen in Russia ; nineteen with the
Western Slavs and Germans; three with the Southern Slavs; three
outside of Europe..
The adventure has been discussed by Martin, 'Observations,' p. 36,
Sudré, Romania xvii, p. 1 ff., Kolm. and Krohn B and C, 1.c. Krohn
infers from the character and number of the northern variants, that it
is at home in Northern Europe. The African and American versions
were transmitted to those countries by European colonists, as in the
case of the preceding adventure.
All literary versions and most oral variants have the wolf for the
fisherman. The Scotch variant cited above has still a reminiscence
of the original animal, the bear, in its conclusion that is why the wolf
is stumpy-tailed,' (Kolm., p. 89) but the Scandinavian versions and
those from the territory of Scandinavian influence in Finland and
Esthonia only have actually retained the bear until to-day and thus
show more originality even than the Ysengrimus, composed over
seven hundred years ago. The original form of the adventure seems
to have been, that the fox induces the bear to fish in a place where
women go for water and that the bear tears off his tail when the
women come in the morning and attack him. The circumstance that
the fox brings the pursuers to the place, appears just as much as a
later addition made in different countries spontaneously as the
fastening of a jug, or a pail, to the tail of the fisherman. The Russian
versions, Nos. I b, 2 d and 5, end with the death or the escape of the
wolf according as other adventures are connected with them or not.
Those attacking him are women as in Scandinavia.
Source. -Martin, 'Observations,' p. 36, sees the source of this tale
in the fable of Phædrus, vi, 20, where the bear fishes with his legs,
not however as Martin states, with his tail; and Kolmačevskij, p. 87,
ff. seeks it in a notice of Ælian, vi, 24, where the fox catches fish
with his tail, and supposes this belief to have come from India.
Kolmačevskij thinks that in the course of time the story was told no
longer of the fox alone but of the bear and the fox, and cites, as a
parallel case, the Æsopic fable of the fox that eats so much that he
cannot get out through the opening where he came in (Æs. 31) which,
without doubt, gave rise to the story of the wolf and the fox in which
the wolf eats so much that he has to stay where he is. Nevertheless,
there are at least two points of difference between these two cases.
In the first place, the passage in Ælian contains nothing that suggests
the introduction of the bear while the fable possesses a second actor
in the person of another fox ; in the second place, the notice
of Ælian lacks the principal motive of the folk tale, the loss
of the tail in the ice, while the Æsopic fable has already the leading
50
ADOLPH GERBER
i
features of the later story and only wants the addition of some one to
trouble the wolf in his difficulty, a circumstance which could be added
by analogy with other tales without any new invention. It does not,
seem to me difficult to explain the origin of this adventure without
both Phædrus and Ælian. Nobody can carefully observe bears in a
zoològical garden without being struck with two things: first, that
they look as if they had lost their tales and then, that they are fond of
bathing. The latter observation is fully endorsed by naturalists who
affirm that bears not only bathe, but even fish extensively in some
Northern rivers (Brehm, ii, p. 163). This being the case, Northern
people who were struck with the apparent taillessness of the bear, and
wished to account for it, could easily imagine that it once froze in the
ice while he was engaged in his favorite occupation of fishing. This
idea or myth introduced into the cycle of tales of the fox who dupes
the bear would develop into the adventure as we have it.
III. The fox besmears her head and pretends to be wounded.
Literary Variants. -None known to me.
Oral Variants. Great Russia: Af. i, i a, with var. I and 3. Rest
of Russia: Af.i, I b and c, and Čub., i, 38 (Krohn). Esthonia: Gr.,
'R. F.,' p. cclxxxv, Transylvania : Haltr, 104. Portugal: Coelho, 7.
Collections of Variants.—Krohn, Ap. 361 ff., B p. 183 ff., C p. 54 ff.
Krohn, D p. 8, has counted fifty four variants of this adventure to which
I add the Portuguese story quoted above; of these fifty five, thirty
three or 60% are located among the Fins; four with the Sandinavians;
six in Russia ; seven with the Western Slavs and Germans; three
with the Southern Slavs; two elsewhere; none outside of Europe.
Krohn B and C, and Kolm., p. 85 ff., have discussed the adventure
and the former arrives at the conclusion that it arose in the North,
and that its orignal form was in short as follows: The fox puts his
head in a churn and thereby covers his head with cream. When the
mistress of the house (who has been after the bear) returns and per-
ceives the fox, she strikes at him with her churnstaff and hits him on
the end of his tail which has been white ever since. Our version, no.
Ic, does not call for any comment.
Source.--Kolm., p. 85 ff., considers the Indian story of the jackal
that becomes blue in the dyer's tub ( Panch,' I, 10; Benf. ii, p. 73 ff.
Touti Nameh 17; Tuti Nameh ii p. 146 ff.) the source of this adven-
ture and tries to strengthen his argument by calling attention to the
fact that the Indian jackal actually enters the houses and examines
the tubs. Yet the difference between the jackal who becomes unre-
cognizable and the fox who merely pretends to be wounded is so
great that the two stories need not be connected at all. Krohn sup-
poses the whole story was invented to account for the white.colour of
the end of the fox's tail, an explanation against which, however, it
can be urged that in Norway the fox receives the white spot on his
tail in an entirely different adventure; namely, in a story where he
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
51
eats the flocks committed to his charge (see vi). Neither of the two
assumptions can therefore be accepted as a certainty. Is the story of
the fox and the milk jug, AF. i, 20 (=No. 30) in any way whatever
connected with this one ?
IV.
The well for is carried by the wounded wolf.
Literary Variants. -- Perhaps the Middle High German poem of
the wolf and the castor, Gr., ‘R. F.,' p. 312 ff., may be considered an
obscured variant. The wolf catches a castor, but is induced to spare
him by the promise of a fat badger. The castor then rides on the
wolf to the badger's hole and asks the badger what he will give him
for his horse. The badger answers that he shall ride him into the
neighboring pond and make him wet that he may be better able to
judge how much he is worth. When the wolf has fairly entered the
pond, the castor jumps into the water and disappears.
Oral Variants.- -Great Russia: Af. i, 1 a with Var. I and 3; Witte
1 (Krohn). Little Russia: Af.iib, and Cub., i, 38 (Krohn); Esthonia,
Gr., ‘R. F.,' p. cclxxxv; Germany: Gr. 'K. M.,' 74: The she-wolf
carries the fox; Kuhn, p. 299 f.; South Eastern Europe: Haltr., 104;
Krauss i, 8=Karad., 50; Hahn, 86; Portugal: Coelho, 8; America :
I consider as somewhat obscured variants, 'Uncle Remus' I., vi and
vii: Brer Rabbit pretends he cannot walk and rides Brer Fox up
to Miss Meadows. A Louisiana story, Fortier, pp. 128, 136 and 154 f:
Compair Lapin makes Compair Bouki believe that he is too sick to
walk and thereby induces him to serve as his horse at the occasion of
his visit to some young ladies; the Amazonian Indian story hinted at
'Uncle Remus,'ii. p. xxv: The jaguar carries the cotia.
Collections of Variants.-Krohn, A p. 363 f., B p. 187 ff., C p. 59 ff.;
Kolm., p. 166. The theme is fully discussed by Krohn, B and C, 1. Ci,
in D. p. 8, he counts sixty-seven variants, of which thirty-four or fifty
per cent. in Finland, four with the Scandinavians, six in Russia, ten
with the Western Slavs and Germans, six on the Balkan peninsula.
The home of the story is in the North. The original form resembles
our No. I d, except that the bear held the place of the wolf. Af.i, 1 a.
Var. 3 ends with the death of the fox.
Source. None known. The eastern examples in which one ani-
mal carries another—'Benf.' ii, pp. 273 ff, 288 f, and 167 f. (iii, 15, iv and
ii)-mentioned by Kolmačevskij, p. 167, lack the essential character-
istics of our adventure: that the animal carried, feigns to be
wounded.
The four adventures thus far treated, appear as one connected
story not only in Russia, but also with the Swedes of Finland and in
the zones of Scandinavian and Russian influence among the Fins.
Krohn infers from this that they have existed in their united form for
a thousand years. This conclusion is correct in case there was no
more direct communication of tales from the Scandinavians to the
Russians after the Expeditions of Norsemen to Russia ceased.
52
!
ADOLPH GERBER
0
IVa. The for seized by the wolf pretends his leg is a roof.
Since this adventure does not occur in Russia I shall not dwell on
it. I mention it, however, because it appears in Finland some-
times connected with the preceding four, and because a variant of it;
Mr. Fox tackles old mau Tarrypin, occurs in 'Uncle Remuis,'i, xii.
3
V.
| The for steals provisions on three different occasions ;
The fox cheats in the sweating-test.
Literary Variants. It is not impossible that an episode in the
Roman de Renart'. Ren.,' xxiv, 219 tl.=MÉON 241 fl.; Rville, p. 130;
Carnoy, p. 49, is an obscured version of this adventure. Renart
is entertained at Yserigriu's house and longs for a piece of the
three hams he sees hanging there. Y. cleclares emphatically that he
wants to keep them for himself, but R. steals them during the night
while his uncle is asleep, and pretends afterwards not even to believe
that they are stơlen.
Oral Variants.- Great Russia-Af.i, 2a-e, Čudinskij 12, Witte i
(Krohn). Little Russia: Af., i, i b, and Dragomanov, 36 (Krohn);
Sonth Eastern Europe: Kraus i, ; Hahn 89; Germany and France:
Gr., 'K. M.,' 2 (Cat and mouse); Cosq. ii, liv; Siberia, Radloff, iii, p.
369. ; Africa: Bleek, p. 15, jackal and hyena; Americı: Uncle
Remus,' 1, xvii: Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox and Brer Possum.
Collections of Variants.---Gr. 'K. M.,'iii, p. 7; Cosq., II, p. 161 f.;
Krohn, Ap. 350, B p. 207 ff. and C 74 ff. Krohn (D p. 9) has counted
62 variants; ten, or only sixteen per cent. in Finland; eiglit among
the Scandinavians; nine in Russia ; seven with the Germans; four.
with the Southern Slavs and Greeks, etc.
Krohn's conclusion is again that the adventure originated in the
North because the most characteristic forms are found there. The
Siberian, African, and American versions were transmitted by colo-
nists. According to Krohn the original form resembled our No. 4,
provided we substitute the bear for the wolf and a beehive for the tub
of honey. The time when it arose depends upon whether the giving
of the name was originally connected with a baptism, or not. If it.
was, the adventure must be younger than the conversion of the Scan-
clinavians to Christianity; if it was not, it can be older.- The Russian
versions given in our texts, Nos. 4 a-b, 5 b and c, 6 b have the wolf
and the fox; the provisions consist of honey, or butter and flour, or
butter alone; the sweating-test is omitted in the case of the second.
Another variant, from the government of Nižni Novgorod, whose text
we have not privted, has the bear in place of the wolf and thus fur-
nishes an argument for Krohn's supposition that also in Russia all
tales of this cycle had originally the bear in place of the fox.
Source.--.No literary source of the adventure is known.
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
53
>
Va. The male animal violates the larger female one.
Literary Variants. - Ysengr.' v. 705 ff.; 'Ren.,' ii, 1027 ff.=Méon
344 ff.; Rothe, p. 120 f.; Carnoy 49 f.; 'Reinh.,' 1155 ff.; Rein.,' 72 ff.;
'Reinke,' 1583 ff. and 5625 ff.: In all preceding variants the fox vio-
lates the wolf; Marie d. F., 60 and English Romulus, Herv., II, p.
540 f. (not with Oesterley): The fox violates the bear.
Oral Variants.- Great Russia.—'Russk. zavetn. skazki'1; Lit-
tle Russia : 'Kryptadia,' i, p. 7 ff.: The hare violates the vixen ;
South Eastern Europe: Krauss, i, 7: The hare makes fun of the little
bears and their mother gets stuck in the crevice of a tree; Hahn, 94,
The hare kisses the female bear. Finland: Krohn A, p. 93.
Collections of Variants. Krohn, A p. 385 f., B p. 225 ff., and C
p. 89 ff.; Voigt, ‘Ysengr.,' p. Ixxxii. Krohn's collections add to the
variants given above, a Swedish version from Esthonia with the fox
and the female wolf, and seven from Finland with the hare and the
vixen.
Although not one of the popular variants of today contains the
fox and the female bear, Krohn holds that this story also arose
in the North, and ran originally as follows: The fox comes to the
young bears, asks after their mother and declares 'bis intention to
violate her. Soon afterwards the latter comes home and hears of the
threat. She starts out to punish the fox, but remains hanging be-
tween the branches of two trees and is violated on the spot. I admit
that the fable of Marie de France proves the existence of a similar
folk tale in Western Europe in the twelfth century; I grant also that
the bushes in which the female bear remains hanging according to the
story as given by Marie de Fr. are more original than the entrance of
Reynard's den, or the ice in which the wolf is caught in the epics; I
think, however, that this time the wolf may possibly have been the
original animal and have been replaced by the bear when the story
was incorporated in the cycle of the tales of the bear and the fox.
The reason why I insist upon this possibility is the popular belief of a
matrimonial union between wolves and foxes mentioned below. The
Russian and Finnish versions all add to the story of the violation that
the hare makes himself black and pretends to be a monk, or a priest,
so that the vixen does not recognize him again. The versions of the
Balkan peninsula seem to have the female bear for the vixen on
account of the adventure of the bear and the peasant (see below, ix)
connected with them. As to priority of the wolf story, see Martin O.,
'
.. .ܗܗܝ
p. 33 f.
Source.- The partial resemblance between the lioness and the
panther is probably the reason for Isidor's and Pliny's statements that
they have conjugal relations ('Etym.,' xii. 2. II), and the fox-like
appearance of the head of the female wolf was perhaps the cause for
the popular belief in the Middle Ages that wolf and fox cohabit and
give birth to the lynx (Gr., ‘R. F.,' p. xxv f. and 'Reinh.,' 1072 f.).
This belief may then have been the source of this adventure, if the
wolf and not the bear is the original animal. The addition of the
54
ADOLPH GERBER
Russian and Finnish variants ought rather to be derived from the
cat that is dyed black (Aes., 87), than from the story of the dyed
fox in the Roman de Renart': 'Ren.,' I, b, Kolm., p. 188.
.
.
· VI.
The fox is chosen to take charge of something.
The fox eats what is coinmitted to her charge.
Literary Variants. —None known to me
Oral Variants. -Great Russia. Af. i, 5, 6 a and b; Norway:
Asbj. i, p. 91 f.; America: Uncle Remus,'ji, fx: How the Bear
nursed the little Alligator; Africa, ibid. p. xvii from Theal, Kaffir
Folklore:' p. 84, Hlakanyana nurses and eats the cubs of the
Leopardess.
Collections of Variants.-Krohn, A p. 370 ff., B p. 229. ff., C p. 93
ff. The variants Krohn, D p.9 are limited to Norway, Finland and
Northern Russia. The two versions from Africa and America show
however that this story also was carried across the sea.
Krolin's discussion of this adventure is particularly interesting.
The original form, closely resembling thiose of Western Finland, is
that the bear after the death of his wife goes out to look for somebody
who may sing his orphans to sleep. The lare whose voice does not
suit him is rejected, the fox is accepted. While the bear is gone for
food the fox eats, one after another, his three young ones and then
runs away. În Norway the bear has been transformed into an old
woman, the three orphans into animals of three different kinds: geese,
pigs and cows, who have need of somebody to tend them. The first
two candidates, the bear and the wolf, do not sing properly and are
refused, the fox is accepted and eats, first all the geese, then all the
pigs and, finally, all the cows. The woman strikes at him with her
churn-staff and since then the end of his tail has been white. In
Russia the story has undergone other changes on account of its
connection with the tale of the plant that grows up to heaven. The
bear has become an old man who seeks a mourner or, in a more
corrupted version, an old man who accepts a physician for his dead
wife; the orphans for whom the singer was sought as noted above,
have disappeared. The applicants who wish to do the mourning are,
either the bear and the fox (No. 7), or the bear, the wolf and the fox
(No. 8). The physician who offers his services is the fox (No. 9). In
No. 7 and 9 the fox eats the body; in No. 8 the conclusion is different
because of the adventures there added.
Source.- None known.
VII. Building.
As the climate of Russia is very severe in winter, animals build
houses there more frequently than in other countries. For Russia,
compare our Nos. 5 a, 32 a, 33 b, 34 b, 35 band 41 a=Af. i, 2 d, 3, 29-31,
and 23 a; for other countries see Cosq. ii, lxxvi, p. 313 f.: “Le loup
et les petits cochons,'' with its, variants, and ibid., p. 104, a Norwegian
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
55
.
story in which domestic animals build a house in the woods. We
shall consider in detail only the story with its variants, of the fox who
builds a house of ice, while the wolf builds one of a material that lasts,
Literary Variants. None,
Oral Variants. Great Russia: Af. i, i a, 2 b-e, 3; Finland:
Krohn, A p. 66.
Collections of Variants.-Krohn, B p. 248, and C p. 109. Dis-
cussions, ibid. In the Finnish variant the fox builds a house of ice;
and the bear, one of wood; in the Russian variants there is to be found
not a little confusion. In No. 6 (Af. i, 2 c) the fox has a house of ice,
and the wolf, one of bark; in No. 32 (Af.i, 3) the fox again has a house
of ice, but the hare, one of bark; in No. 1 (Af.ira) the wolf builds the
house of ice, and the fox, one of bark~-no doubt because the people
saw that the fox was otherwise always smarter than the wolf-and in
No. 5 (Af. i, 2 d) both the fox and the wolf live in a snow house,
because the original idea was no longer understood.
Source. The adventure would seem absolutely inexplicable but
for a demon tale of France mentioned by the brothers Grimm in the
note to a tale of the peasant and the devil : Gr., ‘K.M.,'iii, p. 260. Its
contents are in short as follows: In Normandy the devil and St.
Michael contended as to who could build the best church; the devil
builds a beautiful church of stone, but St. Michael, a still much more
beautiful one, of ice. After St. Michael's church has melted, they
till the soil together. Krohn, C p. 110 gives some more instances
froni France in which the building is likewise followed by the farming
industry. The connection between the Northern animal tale and the
Norian' or North-French demon tale is unmistakable; and, like the
next adventure, and perhaps also the one following, is a proof of the
close relations between the tales of the bear and the fox and the
demon tales. The demon tale was most likely the source of the
other because it is inore natural. Is it in the relation between these
tales that we are to seek, perhaps the reason why the fox is called
Michael with all Scandinavians?
VIII.
The bear is cheated in the division of the crops.
Literary Variants.--None. Compare however the demon tales:
Conde Lucanor, chap. 41 (Krohn); Rabelais, Pantagruel,' iv chap.
45 f., and Rückert.
Oral Variants. Great Russia : Af. i, 7 a-c; Little Russia: Rudc.,
i, 29 (Krohn); Esthonia : Gr., ‘R.F.,' p. cclxxxviii, f.; Gerinany : Gr.,
‘K.M.,',189 (peasant and devil); Southern Slavs : Krauss, ii, 153 (saint
and devil).
Collections of Variants. —Gr., ‘K.M.,'iii, p. 259; Kolm., p. 111,ff.;
Krohn A, p. 411 f., B, p. 234 ff. and 241 ff., C, p. 97 ft. and 103 ff.
Discussions by Kolm. and Krohn. In Northern Scandinavia the bear
and the fox divide, in Scotland and in one of the French variants the
wolf and the fox; in other tales and in our Nos. 26 and 27 (Af. i, 7 a
56
ADOLPH GERBER
and b) the bear and the man; in a number of cases, finally, the devil
and a man, or saint. Thus this adventure makes the evidence for the
similarity and connection of the tales of the bear and fox, and the
demon tales conclusive. The settlement of their exact relation is not
yet possible.
Source.--The demon tale is probably again the source of the .
animal tale, because it is more natural.
IX. The fox saves the peasant from the bear.
Literary Variants. -Ren., ix, 79 ff, =Méon, 15387 ff.; Rothe, p.
197 f.; Carnoy, p. 77 f. Compare “Disciplina Clericalis,” xxiv, i.
Oral Variants.- Great Russia: Af. i, 7 a-c; Rest of Russia :
Af. i, 7 d; Rudč., i, 8 and Čub., i, 48 (Kolm.). Finland: Krohn, A pp.
71 ff. Esthonia : Gr., 'R. F.,' p. cclxxxvii ff.; Lithuania: Lesk., p.
352; South Eastern Europe : Haltr., 88; Valjavec, 64=Krauss, i, 7;
Hahn, 94.
Collections of Variants.- Martin, 'Observations,' p. 58 f.; Kolm.,
p. 111 ff.; Wollner; Lesk., p. 516 ff.; Krohn A p. 377 ff.; Krohn D p.
9, enumerates seventy-two variants, of which fifty-one or 70% are in
Finland. Discussed by Kolmačevskij, Martin and Krohn. The latter
assumes that the adventure is at home in the North, where the most
numerous and characteristic variants occur. Our versions are Nos.
26 and 27
Source.--Kolmačevskij regards, as the probable source of this
adventure, the Æsopic fable of the fox, who asks the woodcutter to
hide him from the hunter; the woodcutter promises to do so but
endeavors at the same time to betray him, (Aes. 35; Babr. 50). The
same fable bears a closer resemblance in some later versions, in which
a wolf is concealed from the hunters by a herdsman who is false
toward him. Rom. iv, 3=Herv. ii, p. 217 f.; two Middle High German
poems, Gr., 'R. F.,' p. 328 ff. and p. 348 f. If this fable furnishes the
main motive of the adventure, a demon tale in Rabelais 1. C.,
iv chap., 47, may possibly explain why the bear threatens to attack
the man, and how the fox spares him the struggle by his cunning.
The devil is furious at having been cheated in the division of the
crops and challenges the man to fight with him on a certain day. The
man is discouraged, but his wife promises him to attend to the devil,
•and frightens the latter so much that he renounces the duel. The
introduction of the adventure in the 'Roman de Renart' (and some of
the tales) is different. The bear comes, not to attack the peasant, but
to get one of his oxen which he had vowed to him by exclaiming :
'Mal ors hui cest jor vos requere!' In the same way the wolf makes
his appearance in a story of the “Disciplina Clericalis,” xxiv, i,
because he has overheard a ploughman crying to his oxen: 'Lupi vos
comedant!' Both of these episodes go back to the first fable of Avian
where a wolf expects to get a child because its mother has said she
will give it to him if it does not stop crying ('ni taceat, rabido quod
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
57
foret esca lupo'). Observe that the 'Roman de Renart' has the bear,
because the folk tale has put him in the place of the wolf.
X. The fox receives dogs instead of chickens.
Literary Variants.- -Ren., ix, 1360 ff.=Méon, 16724 ft. Rothe, p.198;
Carnoy, p. 78; interpolated: Méon, 17390 ff.=Rothe, p. 200, Carnoy,
p. 80, (dog in sack for fowls) Schimpff und Ernst, Frankf. 1565, fol 15;
Froschmeuseler of Rollenhagen i, 2, 19-22 (Martin).
Oral Variants. Great Russia: Af. i, 6 a, 14, 7 a and b; Erlenw.
12 ; South Eastern Europe : Gr., 'K. M.,'iii, p. 346; Haltr., 88; Val-
javec, 64=Krauss, i, 7; Hahn, 94 and 87. Lithuania, Lesk., p. 352 f.;
Schleicher, p. 8 f.
Collections of Variants. -Martin, 'Observations,'p. 59; Wollner,
Lesk., p. 516 ff.; Krohn, A p, 377 ff.; Krohn, D p.9, has counted sixty-
two variants, twenty with the Finlanders, eleven with Scandinavians,
nine with the Russians, eleven with the Lithuanians, Western Slavs
and Germans. If the Northern people created this adventure, as
Krohn supposes, they cannot at least claim more originality for it than
for the preceding adventure (ix). Our versions are Nos. 8 C, 25 b,
26 C, 27 c and 28 d.
Source.--The idea of the substitution of dogs for chickens, seems
to have been suggested by the widely spread tale of the young woman
who is given to somebody in a sack, but is afterward replaced by
some ferocious animal. See xvi and Cosq., ii, p. 202 ff., where literary
variants from the East, and numerous oral ones from Europe, are
given.
3
XI. The fox loses her life by sacrificing her tail.
Literary Variants.—None known to me.
Oral Variants. Great Russia: Af. 1, 6 a, 7 aand b, Ertenw., 12.
Little Russia: Rudc. I, 8 (Wollner); Southern Slavs: Valjavec 63
(Wollner)=Krauss I, 9. Lapland: Poestion, p. 9. Lithuania: Lesk,
p. 353
Collections of Variants.Wollner, Lesk., p. 516 ff. Krohn D p.9
has enumerated twenty variants, all of which are found with the Fins,
Laplanders, Slavs, Lithuanians and Germans. He considers this
also a Northern story, though it occurs only in the zone of Russian
influence in Finland, and seems especially at home among the Slavs.
Our versions are Nos. 8 d, 26 d, 27 d and 28 e.
Source. No immediate source known. For disputes among parts
of the body compare Jacobs, 'History of the Æsopic Fable' in
Caxton, i. p. 82 ff. Of all the examples given there, none can, how-
ever, have suggested this tale. The fox does not heed at all the
words of St. Paul, 1 Cor., xii, 20 ff.
Krohn considers all adventures discussed so far, with the exception
of that which has for its subject the building enterprise, as parts of
one connected series of tales.
58
ADOLPH GERBER
i
XII. The bear is given a pied appearance. .
Literary Variants.—None.
Oral Variants. Great Russia, Af. I, 20; Lapland: Poestion, p. 9
f.; Finland, Krohn A pp. 39 f. and 65 (bear), 50 f and 56 (wolf); com-
pare also p. 54=C. p. 121. Africa: Bleek, p. 83 f, (hyena).
Collections of Variants.-Krohn A p. 369 f, B p. 199ff., C p. 67 ff.
Discussed by Krohn, B and C, 1. C. His conclusion is that the origi-
nal form arose in the North and was about as follows: The bear and
the fox see a woodpecker on a tree, and as the fox declares that he
had colored such birds the bear wishes to be made variegated too.
The fox consents to do this, has him get on a hay stack, sets fire to
it and induces him to stay until his hair is singed. Since then the
bear's hair has looked as if it were singed. Krohn does not mention
our story No. 30 a among the variants of this tale, but it doubtless be-
longs there, though it is greatly obscured. See 'Uncle R.' II, xxvi.
Source.- -None known. The adventure appears to be a myth
devised to explain the singed appearance of the bear's hair:
XIII. Animals fall into a pit and eat one of their number.
Literary Variants, None.
Oral Variants.-_Great Russia: Af.i, ia, 10 a and b; Erlenw. 23 ;
Sadovnikov 53 (Krohn). Little Russia : Rudč. i, 10 (Krohn); Finland :
Krohn A p. 21; Syria : Prynı p. 266: No singing.
Collections of Variants:--Krohn A p. 348, B p. 216 ff., Cp. 81 ff.
Discussions, ibid. The adventure originated according to Krohn in
Russia, because common enterprises of the bear, the wolf, the fox
and the hare are not infrequent there. In No. II the pig has taken
the place of the bear, and the squirrel has been introduced in addi-
tion.
Source.—None known. All stories in which animals fall into a
pit: Benf. i, p. 184 f., ii, p. 128 f.; Panch. I, i Ap.p. 2; Æs., 45; 'Ren.'
xviii; "Sacerdos et lupus :': Grimm u. Schmeller, 'Lat. Gedichte, etc.,'
p. 340 ff., and others lack the essential trait that the occupants of the
pit try their voices to select a victim.
XIV. The fox induces the bear to tear out his own entrails.
Literary Variants.--None.
Oral Variants.- Great Russia : Af. ime I e, io a and b; Sadovnik-
OV 53 (Krohn). White Russia : Af.i, i c (Krohn); Siberia: Radloff iii,
p. 370; Finland: Krohn A, p. 20 etc.
Collections of Variants. Krohn A p. 34.7 f., B p. 220 f., C p. 84 f.
Discussions, ibid. Origin in Russia. In the original form the bear
tears out his entrails. In our version No. II, the hog appears in the
place of the bear; in No. 12 we have ribs for entrails. No. 2 is some-
what obscured because it lacks its ordinary introduction : xiii.
Source. -In almost all parts of Europe, there have been found
tales in which a giant (in the case of a Spanish tale, it is a bear) is in-
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
59
dụced by his cunning opponent to cut his belly open and to let his
entrails drop out, the alleged purpose sometimes being that he may
run faster, and sometimes that he may be able to eat more. Comp.
Cosq. II, xxxvi, p. 47 ff. 'Jean et Pierre,' with notes. The funda-
mental idea that somebody is induced to kill himself by tearing out
his entrails is, therefore, not to be credited to Russia, but its adapta-
tion only to an animal. Observe the connection of a tale of the bear
and the fox with a giant tale!
XV
s The fox driver allows others to ride with her.
1 The draught animal is devoured and stuffed.
Literary Variants. -None.
Oral Variants. Great Russia: Af.i, I eand f. Rest of Russia :
Af. i, i b and.c (?) (Kolm.) Rudč. ii, 4, and Čub., i, 38 (Wollner).
Finland: Krohn, A p. 418.
No collections of variants outside of Finland (Krohn, 1. c.). The
story is found only in Russia and Finland and Kolmacevskij (p. 169)
suggests that it arose independently on Russian soil. [Possibly the
Louisiana story-Fortier, p. 125 f., 135 and 151 f.-mentioned under i,
where Compair Lapin leaves nothing but the tail of Compair Bouki's
horse, belongs here, but the special device of planting an animal's
tail in the ground to give the impression that the animal had sunk
into a hole, points rather to other tales]. In Finland the driver is
once a fox, otherwise an old woman. The Russian versions are Nos.
2 a and b and 3 b of our collection. The latter contains the second
motive only and that quite obscured. The fox eats the draught
animal himself.
Source. -I suggest as parallels to the first motive, Grimm,
' K. M.,'80: The funeral procession of the hen, and an accident
following; Gr., 'K. M.,'iii, p. 129: The same subject. Haltr., 78:
The same again, but without the accompanying accident because of
another adventure following it. I cannot prove, however, that these
were the source of the first motive. For the second I do not know of
any certain parallel.
The fox loses what she brings with her to her night-lodgings
XVI and keeps getting something better instead.
The girl in the fox's sack is secretly replaced by a dog.
Literary Variants.- -None exstant covering the whole story. A
variant of the second motive is given below under Source.
Oral Variants. Great Russia: Af. i, I a and f., with variants.
Little Russia : Rudč., i, 7 (Wollner). Other countries below.
Collections of Variants.--Cosq., ii, p. 202 ff. The whole of the
adventure occurs in Northern Africa, France, Germany and Russia;
the first motive alone without the unfortunate denouement given in
the second is found in Russia, Esthonia, Transylvania, Southern
France and Brazil; the second motive forms a separate story in Spain
60
ADOLPH GERBER
and Portugal. The original form appears to have been about as
follows: A young man asks a peasant for quarters for himself and a
pea, or a millet-grain that constitutes all liis property. The peasant
kindly complies with his request and gives him, when he leaves, the
chicken which in the meantime has eaten bis pea, or millet-grain. At
another peasáut's house he receives the pig that has killed his chicken
and he thus continues the exchanges until he obtains possession of a
young maiden. He puts her in a sack and leaves the sack at another
house where a relative of the maiden lives. This relative frees the
girl and puts a dog in per place and, afterward, when the young man
opens the sack to take out the maiden, the dog jumps out and frightens
him, or according to certain forms of the story, even tears him to
pieces. Both of our Russian versions substitute the fox for the young
man, and a roller or a bast shoe, respectively, for the pea or the millet-
grain; No. 1, g and his complete; No. 3 a lacks the second motive,
perhaps on account of the adventure connected with it. The bast
shoe, together with the lack of the second motive, occurs also in
Esthonia.
Source. The source of both the first (?) and the second motive is
found in India. For the first, see an Indian tale of Miss Stokes
collection No. 17, Cosq., ii, p. 212 f., which, if not imported from
Europe, proves the Indian origin of the motive; it is the reverse of
Grimm's well known story of Haus im Glücke.' For the second,
compare the conclusion of the eleventh tale of the Mongolian Siddhi-
Kür, and of one of the Kathârnava, Cosq., ii, p. 210 f.; a tiger and a
nionkey take the place of the dog. It seems the two motives were not
combined into one story before they had reached Northern Africa and
Europe. In Northern Africa and Russia only, the hero is not a mai
but a jackal or a fox. Was the change made independently in the
two countries, or not? Has the episode Méon 17390 ff. anything what-
ever to do with this adventure ?
XVII. The path of the wolf on the sanctuary that is a trap.
wolf is .
Literary Variants.—'Ysengr.' vi, 349 ff. (wolf, fox, and ass).
Marner, Gr.,‘R. F.,'ccix f. (the same). For the second motive alone :
*Reinh.' 1121 ff., 'Ren.'x, 369 ff., i b 2929 ff.=Méon 18303 ff., 12699 ff.,
Rothe p. 205, 182; Carnoy p. 81, 73 f.
Oral Variants.Great Russia: Af. i, 9. For the second alone :
Krauss ii, 25, the fox makes the wolf swear on the gospel, a piece of
meat in the trap, that he won't eat his children again. Ibid. i, 27: the
trap is the judge's door. Archiv f. Slav. Phil. i p. 273. The hedge-
hog makes the fox swear on a trap; the fox is caught in it. Probably
the Russian version, No. 10 of our collection, came from the West.
Source:- We cannot go beyond the versions of the Christian
Middle Ages.
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
61
[1. The fox eats the young birds, or only threatens thein.
2. The old bird provides some food by feigning to be laine.
3- The old bird causes a driver to break his cask and there-
by procures some wine.
XVIII.
4. The bird induces a man to hit a bald man on the head and
thereby furnishes amusement.
5. The dog avenges the bird on the for.
6. The animal provided for comes to grief.
The six motives mentioned here are combined into simple and
complex adventures in so many various ways that it is impossible to
10 consider them under separate heads. They have been discussed
by Kolmačevskij, p. 152 ff., and Bahder, Germania, xxxi, p. 105–109.
Literary Variants.-John of Capua (Benf., i, p. 609 f.) The fox
frightens a dove so much that it throws down its young ones. Ren.,'
xi, 774 ff.=Méon, 25126 ff., Rothe, p. 233, Carnoy, p. 91. The fox pre-
tends to be a physician and priest and induces the sparrow to throw
his nine young ones down to have him, the fox, baptize them.
2.--Ren.,'xi, 989 ff.=Méon, 25343 ff., Rothe, p. 234, Carnoy, p. 92.
The bird who has engaged the dog to revenge him pretends to be
lame, by this means allures a driver away from his load of provisions
and gives the dog a chance to eat a ham.--Middle High German
Poem: "Des hundes nôt": Gr., 'R. F.,' p. 291 ff.: 'A lark who has
taken-pity on a hungry dog ſeigns to be unable to Ay and thereby
causes a boy to set down the bread, eggs and cheese he is carrying so
that the dog can eat.—No iinmediate variants, yet expressions of the
same idea, are the episodes in 'Ysengr.,'i, 179 ff., and 'Reinh.,' 449
ff., where the fox feigns lameness in order to get for the wolf alone, or
for the wolf and his family, the bacon which a peasant is carrying.
It seems difficult to decide whether the story with the bird gave rise
to that with the fox; or the episode of the fox, to that of the bird.
The adventure with the bird might seem to be prior because it is more
natural and since there are many instances in which, in tales and
fables introduced into the Epics, the wolf or the fox was substituted for
some other animal. The fox adventure might appear older as the
idea of the fox feigning death would lead to that of his feigning lame-
Like Kolm., p. 183 ff., I am in favor of the former assumption.
3.—'Ren.,'xi, 1151 ff.=Méon, 25505 ff.; Rothe and Carnoy, l. c. The
sparrow Aies to the head of the horse of a driver who has wine on his
cart. The man kills the horse while trying to hit the sparrow, the
cart is upset, the cask broken and the dog drinks his fill. Comp.
* Reinh.,' 499 ff. After Reynard has procured a bacon for the wolves,
he leads them into the wine cellar of a convent.
4.—"Des hundes nôt,"' 1. C., p. 296 ff. The lark takes the dog to a
place where two bald-headed men are thrashing. The dog gets on the
roof, while the lark alights first on the head of one and then on that
of the other. The two thrashers strike each other on the head in the
ness.
62
ADOLPH GERBER
:
attempt to kill the lark, upbraid one another for ît, lay down their
flails and scratch each other in such a ludicrous way that the dog falls
from the roof from laughing.
5.-'Ren.,' xí, 1219 ff.=Méon, 25575 ff.; Rothe and Carnoy, l. C.
(Continuation of 3). The sparrow flies to the fox, tells him that it is
tired of life since it has lost its young ones, and begs him to come and
eat it. The fox is willing to comply with this request, but whenever
he is about to catch it, it flies away some distance. Thus they
approach the place where the dog is hidden and the latter makes a
rush for the fox, seizes him and leaves him for dead.
6.—"Des hundes nôt,” 1. C., p. 299. (Continuation of 4). When the
dog falls from the roof on the thrashers, they stop their scratching-
At first they think the devil has fallen on them, but when they see the
dog they thrash him so terribly that he barely escapes through a hole
in the fence. (He asks the lark for a physician, yet suddenly gets well
when the physician appears in the person of a hungry wolf and runs
off as swift as ever).
Oral Variants. - Sorthern Slazs : Krauss i; 6 (motives 1. 5. 2. 3. 4).
The.fox eats the young of the starling during the absence of the old
bird. The dog kills the fox for the promise of food, drink and amuse-
iment. The starling procures food from a boy who sets down a
basket that he is carrying; wine from a driver who breaks his cask
with an axe; amusement from a son who splits his father's head with
a rail. Bird and dog go away unharnied. Transylvania : Haltr.,
111 (1): The fox cures the seven' sick children of the raven by giving
them a warm place in his stomach. Haltr., 81 (1-4, 6): The titmouse,
whose young the fox threatens to eat, procures him food by feigning
to be lame and inducing women to put down their baskets, wine by
causing a driver to break his cask with an axe, amusement by getting
one thrasljer to knock down the other. Then the fox laughs so much
that he falls from the roost on which he is perched and gets a
thrashing. Esthonia : Gr., 'R.F.,' p. cclxxxiv f.(1.2.5): The fox gets
the sparrow's children by threatening to cut down the tree on which
the rest is placed. The sparrow engages a dog and procures for him
the mush that a woman is carrying. The dog feigns death under the
sparrow's tree and kills the fox in spite of his precautions. Bretagne :
Sébillot, i, p. 333 ff. (1. 5. 2.4): The fox eats the young of a blackbird.
The blackbird goes to seek a dog who feigns cleath, and kills the fox.
To reward the dog, the bird gets for him the dinner that a woman is
carrying to some thrashers. When the woman comes to the latter
the bird lights on her shoulder and one of the thrashers knocks her
down with his flail. Germany : Gr., ‘K. M.,' 58. Confusion by the
death of the dog (2. 6.3.4): The sparrow has compassion on a hungry
dog, takes him to a baker's and a butcher's shop and pecks at some
bread and meat until it falls down and the dog eats it. Thereupon
the dog goes to sleep on the road and a driver who comes along and
in spite of the entreaties of the sparrow does not leave the road, kills
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES,
63
him with his wheels. To avenge the dog's death the sparrow pecks
at the bung of one of the casks until the wine runs out, sits on the
head of one of the horses until the driver kills it and thus gradually
deprives him of his wine and three horses. Not yet satisfied, it eats,
with other birds, the man's wheat and causes him to smash his
furniture. Finally when the man has caught it and asks his wife to
kill it in her mouth, he is slain himself and the bird flies away.
Original form.--I agree with Bahder that the accident to the dog
in the Middle High German poem is rather out of place. I assume
that the earliest form was about as follows: The fox eats the young
birds. The old bird engages his friend the dog to take revenge for
this. Either to strengthen him or to reward him, (the former seenis
the more probable) the bird procures food for the dog by feigning to
be lame and inducing a woman, or a boy, to set down the provisions
they are carrying, he furnishes the dog wine by making a driver break
his cask, and gives him amusement by causing a man to strike a bald
man on the head. There arose very early a variant in which the fox
merely threatens to eat the young birds, but spares them on the
promise of the bird to provide some food, drink and amusement for
him just as Isengrim spares Reynard's life on the first of these condi-
tions (* Ysengr.,'i, 181 ff.) Yet as Isengrim fares ill after he has had
food and wine (Reinb.,' 516 ff.), so also the fox comes to grief at
last. The conclusion of this variant was then soon transſerred to the
first form as appears from the Middle High German version, and later
the misfortune of the dog was not brought about by the third party,
the thresher, but by the second, the driver with the wine, and what
the bird did originally to give the dog drink and amusement he does
then to avenge his death. This stage
This stage is represented by Grimm's
tale, where besides other changes and one addition, the fox is omitted
entirely, as already in the Middle High German form. It seems not
unlikely that the original form and its early variant arose in the Bal-
kan peninsula and at latest in the eleventh century.
As for our Russian versions, No.13 shows the first incident of the
original form by itself; No. 12, d-f and h-i, presents the variant of the
original form, with the fox in the place of the dog, corresponding to
the second Transylvania tale, but considerably obscured. In No. 14
and No. 15 a 'remembrance of the original forn is combined with the
German version of the dog's death, caused by the driver and the
bird's revenge following upon it. In No. 45, finally, the cat once
replaces the bird and twice, the fox. Tlie corrupt state of most of
these versions gives certain evidence that the various adventures did
not arise in Russia, but were imported there from the South and
West. Again, we have to consider here a few other adventures in
whose formation the theme of the bird that provides for the dog,
seems to have played an important part. No. 16 b is a combination
of this theme with the idea of the friendship between the dog and the
bear, or wolf, expressed in adventures xx and xxi. No. 16 e is No.
64
ADOLPH GERBER
16 b with other actors and a different result, and No. 39 b is the same
with a difference in the relation of the actors to one another and in
the purpose of the feeding. Finally the stress which is laid on the
manner in which the horse is killed in No. 16, together with the suc-
cess of the bear and the failure of the dog, recalls an adventure
recorded by Krohn C p. 70, where the bear kills a horse and the fox
tries in vain to put it to death according as the the bear has told him
to do.
Sources. 1. The killing of young birds, or other young animals
while they are still under the care of their parents, and the grief of
the latter has been made the subject of not a few fables and stories.
Æs. 5: The eagle robs the young of the fox. Babr. 118. A snake eats
young swallows. 'Panch,'ii, p. 112 f.: A monkey destroy's a spar-
row's nest; ibid. p. 118 f.: A snake eats young cranes; p. 95 ff... An
elephant destroys a sparrow's nest. Other instances are cited by
Benf., i, p. 170 ff.
2. No source can be given, unless this motive be derived from the
story of the fox and the wolf ‘Isengr.,'i, 181 ff., and 'Reinh.,' 449 ff.
3. No special source is known; the manner in which the driver
breaks his cask is akin to and derived from the following motive.
4. The oldest source is the Makasa Jâtaka, Benf., i, p. 292 f.: A fly
sits on the head of a baldheaded carpenter whose son takes an axe,
strikes at the fly, but splits his father's head. Jacobs, Caxton, i, p. 64
f., has a mosquito instead of the fly and mentions, besides, the Rohini
Jâtaka where simply the sex and the weapon are changed. Other
similar instances may be found, 'Panch,' i, Ap. p. 12, and in the
references given by Benf., i, p. 292 ff. In the Occident I must
notice Phaedr., V, 3, the fable of the bald man and the fly in which
Benfey, i, p. 293, saw a possible source of the Jâtaka, and its
derivatives : Rom., ii, 13=Herv., ii, p. 195, Waldis, ii, 99 with notes,
Caxton, ii, p. 48 and others. In all these cases there is an insect in
place of the bird of our tales.
5. Revenge for the destruction of the young is taken as in several
of the cases above. The special source of the idea that a bird employs
a dog against the fox, seems to be the Æsopic fable 225, where the
fox asks the cock to come down from the tree on which he is perched,
but the cock's travelling companion, a dog, tears the fox to pieces.
6. No source known.
XIX. The bird helps the fox out of a pit.
Literary Variants.--No direct ones. Compare remarks under
Source.
Oral Variants.--Great Russia : Af. i, 10 b=No. 12.
Source. -The leading idea of this adventure may have been
suggested by the fable of the mouse that rescues the lion: Babr. 107,
and Æs., 256. More akin is Dubois, p. 40 ff., or Benfey, i, p. 324,
where we have the story of the mice that dig up the ground around
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES. .
65
the pit into which an elephant has fallen and throw in so much earth
that he can get out again. Compare also Benf., ii, p. 208 ff. A Finnish
tale of the fox and the mouse, and another of the bear and the mouse,
are closely connected with the Æsopic fable. (Krohn, A p. 386
and p. 93 f.
XX. The bear rehabilitates the dog with his inaster.
Literary Variants. Fabulae extravagantes,' Caxton, ii, p. 166 ff.
A wolf and a dog are friends. Since the dog gets hardly anything to
eat, the wolf proposes to rob a lamb and have the dog pursue him as
if ne intended to rescue it. This is done and the master who hears
of the efforts of the dog commences to feed him better. After a second
lamb has been robbed with the same success, the dog soon recovers
his former strength and forbids his friend to take another lamb.
Waldis, iii, 93: Like the preceding in all principal points.
Oral Variants.----Great Russia: Af. i, 26=No. 16 c. The bear
robs a child.
Collections of Variants--Finland: Krohn A p. 407. In seven the
wolf takes a child ; in one, a lamb. The variants are too few to enable
us to decide anything about the original form of the story and its home,
yet it seenis the wolf is this time the original animal. Generally the
wolf and dog'are antagonists in fable as in nature; however in 'Rom.,'
iii, 15 and its derivatives, they meet on friendly terms.
Source.--I cannot give any.
XXI. The drinking bear betrays his presence by singing.
Literary Variants.--'Reinh.,'499 ff. The fox leads the wolf with
his wife and sons into the cellar of a cloister. Isengrim sings when he
becomes drunk and all get a thrashing. Comp. “Ysengr.,' v, 889 ff.
* Fabul. extravag.,' Caxton, ii, 170 f. The dog tells the wolf to go
into his master's cellar and eat and drink there. The wolf does so
and after he has become drunk, he thinks he may sing as well as
drunken men. He is discovered and killed. Waldis, iii, 93, is similar
except that the wolf makes his escape.
Oral Variants. Great Russia : Af. i, 26=No. 16 d. The bear sings
at supper and escapes. Esthonia : Gr., ‘R. F.,' p. cclxxxiv f.: Wolf
and fox at a wedding. The wolf drinks beer and gets drunk. The
fox cannot keep him from singing. Narrow escape. Transylvania :
Haltr., 104: The fox takes the wolf to the cellar of a house where there
is a wedding. The wolf sings and is thrashed. An obscured variant
is that given by Karadč., 50, p. 268 f.
Collections of Variants.--Finland : Krohn A, p. 407 f. The wolf
sings without listening to the dog. More general : Voretzsch, Zschr.,
f. roman. Phil., xv, p. 172 ff. The number of variants scarcely allows
any definite conclusion as to the original form. We do not know
whether the bear and the fox, the wolf and the fox, or the wolf and
the dog, are the original animals.
66
ADOLPH GERBER
Source. -Several Eastern stories have been considered as the
source of the adventure. 'Panch.' iv, 7=Benf. ii, p. 308: The ass in
the lion's skin. 'Panch.'v, 7=Benf. ii, p. 339 and i, p. 494 f.: The ass
goes with a jackal to steal cucumbers and betrays himself by his
crying. Tuti-Nameh ii, p. 218 ff.: An ass betrays itself in a garden.
Touti-Nameh, p. 139'f.: Thieves are caught singing at a rich man's
house. I agree, however, with Voretzsch, that none of these can be
regarded with certainty as the source and that the Western adventure
may be independent. In other circumstances a wolf often gets into
trouble by singing: Compare Æs. 134 and its many derivatives.
XXII. The fox with an edict is frightened by a horseman and dogs.
Literary Variants. Ysengr.' v, 135 ff.: A hunter a hundred and
ten years old, on a white horse with two black dogs, saves the cock;
Marie 52 and the English Romulus : Rom., A pp. 46=Herv., ii, 533 f.
De vulpe et columba; two hunters on horseback, with dogs, help the
dove to escape: Ren., ii, 469 ff.=Méon, 1725 ff.(?); Rothe, p. 127 f.; Car-
noy, p. 53: men and dogs frighten the fox, who tries to deceive the
titmouse. 'Reinh.,' 177 ff.: The same scene without the men and
dogs; 'Rein.,' 356 ff. and 'Reinke,' 317 ff.: The fox takes a letter to
the cock. Nobody pursues him immediately. 'Fab. of Poge,' Caxton,
ii, 307 ff.: Two dogs, but no man, save the cock. Waldis, iv, 2:
Cock, hunter and two dogs.
Oral Variants.—Great Russia: Af. i, II, No. 17: Fox and
gorcock, peasant, horse, colt and dogs. Southern Slavs: Krauss, ii,
10 and 38: Fox, cock and two dogs. The Russian version came from
the West but not through the 'fable of Poge (Romulus) that lacks the
man on horseback. The treuga dei has been changed into an edict
from the authorities in the city to the effect that the gorcocks are no
longer to sit on trees, but always to stay on the ground. The idea
that the dogs are to examine the document had to be eliminated.
Collections of Variants. Voigt, 'Ysengr.' p. lxxxi. Voretzsch,
Zschr. f. roinan. Phil., xv, 147 ff. The latter shows how the fable of
the kiss is sometimes connected with this subject.
Source.--The story must have arisen in the Middle Ages.
Jacobs, Caxton i, p. 75 ff.; traces the idea that a beast of prey tries to
inveigle a bird to fly down to the Kukkuta Jataka.
XXIII. The fox is frightened by the cock's crowing.
Literary. Variants.- -None.
Oral Variants. -Great Russia: Af. i, 4 a. Our version is No. 18 a.
Source. Æs. 323 and 323 b: A lion is afraid of crowing. 'Panch.'
i, 2=Benf. ii, p. 21. Wolff i, p. 22, Keith-Falconer, p. 14, adventure
xxviii : The fox is frightened by an unknown sound. The Æsopic
fable, alone or combined with the idea of the Indian story, was the
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
67
basis of the Russian tale. Compare No. 35 c: The cock frightens the
bear; No. 32 d: The cock kills the fox.
XXIV.?
The fox outwits the cock.
The cock outwits the fox.
Literary Variants.--Alcuin: Du Mér. pp. 137 and 138, and Gr.,
R. F.,'p. 420, versus de gallo (wolf in place of fox); Fabulae antiquae :
Herv., ii, p. 132, perdix et vulpes. 'Ysengr.' iv, 811 ff.; Ren., ii, 23
ff.=Méon, 1267 ff.; Rothe, p. 126 f.; Carnoy, p. 52 f.; 'Reinh.,' 11 ff.;
Marie, 51 and English Romulus; 'Rom., A pp. 45=Herv., ii, p. 533 ;
Odo de Ceritona : Herv., ii, 644, (Cock devoured). John of Capua :
Benf., i, p. 309 f. (Cock devoured). Baldo Alter Æsopus 23: Du Mér.
p. 253 f.; ‘Fab. extravag.': Gr., 'R. F.,' p. 421, Caxton, ii, p. 132 f.;
Waldis, iv, 88 (Squirrel); Chaucer, 'Nun priest's tale.'5 Compare
'Ren.,' xiv, 160 ff.: Cat causes fox to speak so that he loses the cock.
Oral Variants. Great Russia: Af. i, 4 a, 17 a-c and ia=Nos.
18, 19, 21, 20 and 1. Transylvania : Haltr. 113: The fox physician
devours the cock. Southern Slavs: Krauss i, 14: Fox prays, cock
escapes. Africa: Bleek, p. 18: Jackal folds his hands, shuts his eyes
and prays, cock escapes. Compare also Lithuania, Schleicher, p.
100: The tomcat catches a sparrow but the latter protests that a great
Lord never eats before having washed his mouth and while the tom-
cat is doing this he escapes.
Wallachia: Review of Gaster's collec-
tion in Zschr. f. roman Phil., xv, p. 265. Similar, the lark asks the cat
to wash first. America: Uncle Remus ii, xxvii: Brer Rabbit escapes
while Brer Wolf folds his hands, shuts his eyes and says grace; very
similar to the African tale. Ibid., i, xix: Brer Sparrow wants to tell
Brer Fox some news, but the latter answers 'I'm de'f in one year, en
I can't hear out'n de udder.' The sparrow lights on his tail, his back,
his head, his tooth, and is swallowed. Great Russia: Af., i, 16; Fox
and cake; the same story in a fuller and peculiar form. Finland:
Krohn A, p. 55 and C, p. 122; Fox caught by the wolf makes him
speak names of trees and thus escapes.
Collections of Variants.--Voretzsch, p. 136 ff.; Voigt, p. lxxxi;
Benf. i, p. 310. The Russian versions came from the West, but No. 18
has been thoroughly nationalized. The reproach of polygamy is
made against the cock by the cat: Aes. 14, and Caxton ii, p, 197 f.
Source. -Cannot be traced beyond the earliest versions of the
Middle Ages. Compare, however, xxii 'Source.'
The cat rescues the cock.
XXV. The cat sings before the fox's house, rescues the cock and
kills the for and her children.
Literary Variants. ——None.
{
5 James RUSSELL LOWELL kindly directs my attention to this passage.
68
ADOLPH GERBER
Oral Variants.-Russia, Af., i, 17 a-c=Nos. 19, 21, 20; Rudč.; i,
9 (Wollner). Finland, Krohn A, p. 110. In the Little Russian variant
the son Ivan is the rescuer. The second motive appears to be an
enlargement of the first. For similar singing, compare Afii, 21 b and
25 a=Nos. 47 and 48.
Source.--The three unheeded warnings followed by three rescues
the first two of these rescues being easier than the third, may be
derived from the tale of Snow-white : Gr., ‘K. M.,' 53.
XXVI. The crab outruns the fox.
Literary Variants. Middle High German poem of the thirteenth
century. Gr., 'K. M.,' iii p. 255 f. quoted from Haupt's Zeitschrift,
vol. (?), p. 398-400. Kurz ii, 2 p. 135 has vol. x. The poem agrees
upon the whole with the Russian tale, No. 22.
Oral Variants. Great Russia : Af. i, 15. Germany : Kuhn p.
243 : The crab finally pinches the fox's tail so that the fox hurls him
to the goal. In a Wendish tale, Gr. 1. C., p. 256, a frog creeps on the
tail of the fox and wins the race. Finland: Krohn A. p. 388, gives
three variants of the race of the fox and the crab and prints one in
fùll, p. 104. Transylvania : Haltr., 112: The snail clings to the fox's
tail and is flung across the river when he turns.
I am inclined to locate the origin of this tale in Germany, though
the material bearing upon it is not sufficient to enable one to draw a
certain conclusion with reference to it.
Source.--None beyond the Middle Ages. For the general idea of
a race, in which the slow animal beats the swift one, compare Æs.
420, hare and tortoise; Gr., K. M.,' 187, hare and hedge-hog. Uncle
Remus, i p. 5, deer and tortoise, with the Amazonian Indians. Ibid.
p. 8: deer and terrapin, in the negro tales of the Sea Islands of the
South Atlantic States. Ibid. p. 80, xviii, Brer Rabbit is outrun by
Brer Tarrypin. Ibid. ii p. xxxi ff.; compair Chivreil and c. Torti.
XXVII. The fox and the crane invite each other.
Literary Variants. --Æs. 34; Alcónne ucri y Épavos. Phaedr. i, 28:
Vulpes et ciconia. Rom.,'ii, 14. Fox and stork=Herv. ii, p. 196,
• Fab. antiquae,' Æsopus ad Rufum; ibid. p. 144 and 153 f. Romulus
based on Marie, ibid. 560 f. Baldo. Du Mér. 255 f.: De vulpe et ibide.
Caxton ii, p. 49 f.; Of the foxe and of the storke. Waldis i, 27: Vom
Fuchss und Storchen.
Oral Variants. --Great Russia: Af. i, 13=No. 23. Portugal:
Coelho 7: (garça=heron). Since all literary versions of the West
from Phaedrus on, have the stork, it is evident that the Russian tale
has come from Greek and Byzantian sources. In Little Russia,
Rudč. i, 17, (Wollner) the connection between the fox and the crane
is not limited to this one invitation, but the crane lives in the same
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
69
hole with the fox, escapes from the hunter with him, takes him on his
wings and lets him drop. Also in Finland, Krohn A. p. 388, the
crane teaches the fox how to fly. Compare Uncle Remus, i, xxi :
Brer Rabbit on the wings of Brer Buzzard.
Source.--Not known before the Æsopic fable.
21 :
---
XXVIII. The fox scared by the sound of a jug proceeds to destroy it.
Literary Variants. See under "Source.'
Oral Variants.---Russia: Rudc. i, 8 (Wollner): A peasant who
pursues a fox, places a jug before the mouth of his burrow that he may
take the sound for the barking of dogs. At first the fox is afraid ; he
afterward destroys the jug. Af. iii, 4 of the old edition (Wollner):
The fox hears the sound of an old pot that is thrown away, passes
his
head through the handle and drowns himself with the pot. Cub. i, 37
(Wollner): The fox finds a milk pot and drowns himself with it.
Finally, Erlenw. 34=No. 24: A jug is suspended to protect chickens
from the fox. The fox listens for a while and then destroys the jug
and his own life.
Source.-The source
-The source of this adventure is a story in the
Panchatantra.'6 As it differs very considerably from the Russian
tales, I shall also give those of its derivatives which form, as it were,
the connecting links with Russian folklore. “Panch.,'i, 2=Benf., ii,
A hungry jackal who is roaming over a battle-field hears the
sound of a kettle drum which is struck by the ends of some branches.
moving in the wind. At first he intends to flee, but then he takes
courage, advances in the direction of the sound and sees that it is
produced by the drum. His fear is gone, now, and he walks up to the
drum and destroys it in the hope that it is filled with meat. Calila
und Dimna. ed. Wolff, i, p. 22: The same story, only the drum is
hanging on a tree in the woods. Stephanites kai Ichnelates' by
Simeon Seth, ed. Stark, p. 36 ff.: The same, with the following
changes. The drum is hanging in the woods and broken with a stick.
Its sound has prevented the fox, who in all European versions takes
the place of the jackal, from touching other food. Baldo, Alter
Æsopus;' Du Mér. p. 227: A bag filled with air is suspended from a
tree to scare birds. At first the fox also is frightened, but he soon
touches the bag with his feet, and breaks it with his teeth. I will omit
giving here the contents of all the other literary variants of this story
as collected by Benf., i, p. 132 ff. and Du. Mér., 1. c., and only mention
the circumstance, that in John of Capua', 'Directorium humanae
vitae,' in the younger Syriac version (Keith-Falconer, ‘Kalilah and
Dimnah,' p. 14) and in the German 'Buch der Beispiele' (Holland, p.
29), the instrument is hanging or lying near some water; furthermore,
6 Kaarle Krohn has kindly informed me that no variants of this adventure have been
found in Finland, a fact which strengthens my assumption of its literary origin.
70
ADOLPH GERBER
in the latter, in the 'Hitopadesa' (ii, 5) and in Thomas North's transla-
tion of Doni (Jacobs, 'Kalila and Dimna ') the kettle-drum has become
a bell, or a set of mule bells.
I will now proceed to trace, in detail the connection between the
Indian story and the Russian stories. The fundamental idea of the
adventure, that a jackal or fox is scared by the sound of an instrument
but overcomes his fear and destroys it, is the same throughout. The
changes in the minor points have taken place along a line which I
have indicated by the order in which the literary testimonies are
given. With Simeon Seth, the fox no longer supposes that the instru-
ment is filled with food, but he merely breaks it because it has
frightened him and kept him from eating other food, or in other words,
in order to take revenge on it. With Baldo, the instrument is even
suspended for the express purpose of keeping somebody (birds) from
eating something. While I am not prepared to establish any direct
connection between the adventures as narrated by Simeon Seth and
Baldo, I know that Seth's version has actually been translated into
Old Slavonic, 7 whence it can easily have reached Russia. The
further changes can be accounted for without serious difficulty. The
change from the drum to the jug is no greater than that from the
drum to a bag, a bell or a set of bells which I have noted above and
certainly a jug, or pot, is much more familiar to the Russian peasants
than a drum. Even the tragical denouement of the Russian tales has
perhaps its origin in the fact that the instrument in some versions was
near the water. But even if this is not the case, it was at least more
natural for the fox to drown a jug than to break it.
XXIX. The fox is hampered by a jug and comes to grief.
Literary Variants.----None.
Oral Variants.—See those mentioned under xxviii and No. 30 b,
Af. i, 20, where the fox drinks milk, is then wounded in his helpless
state by the peasant, and gets rid of the jug by smashing it acciden-
tally against a stone.
Source. Compare, for the vessel about the head of an animal
that has drunk out of it, Dubois p. 154. A cat which has drunk milk
cannot free her head again from the vessel. Two hares between
whom the cat is to settle a dispute, take it off and are devoured.
The idea of an animal in this predicament may have come from India,
but in Russia it received a different and peculiar application inas-
much as the animal does not escape unhurt, but either loses a leg or
its life.
XXX. The bull-fly is pierced with a straw.
Litorary Variants.--- None.
71 regret very much that this version, edited by Bulgakov under the title 'Stefanit i
Ichnilat,' Petersburg, 1877 (or 1878), has not been accessible to me,
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
71
Oral Variants. ----Great Russia : Af. i, 20=No. 30 C. Other oral
variants are found, if we remember that this adventure is the third of
a series of outrages inflicted upon animals, and this outrage is fol-
lowed by the attempt of a preconcerted revenge, which is omitted in
our text.
Collections of Variants.--Cosq. i, p. 30 f., Ibid. I, ii., a tale from
Lorraine Le militaire avisé : The animals are here a lion, a wolf and
a fox; the last is pierced with a stick. Ibid. p. 30, a tale from Normandy.
The first animal, the wolf, is again the same, the others are a hare
and a fox; the last is treated as noted above. Krauss, i, 20: The
anirnals are the bear, the fox and the hare; the injury done to the
third is accomplished with a stick applied to the hind part of his
body. The Russian tale agrees, therefore, in its general outline and
in the manner in which the third animal is treated, with the rest.
Furtherinore, the first two animals are the same as with the Southern
Slavs, and even the treatment of the first has some analogy in the
other tales.
Source.--—Cannot be determined.
XXXI. The fox shows herself helpful to Snow-white.
Literary Variants. --None.
Oral Variants. -R14ssia : Af. i, 143No. 25. This is not a true
aniinal tale. On the helpfulness of the fox, compare Introduction
p. 3. That animals assist men in time of trouble, is one of the
general traits of all fairy tales.
Source.--None can be given.
The snake threatens the life of its rescuer.
XXXII. Two judges in favor of the ungrateful animal.
The fox saves the man by demanding restitutio in integrum.
Though this is a complex adventure, I shall discuss it under one
head.
Literary Variants.- First theme: Æs. 97 and 97 b; Phaedr., iv,
19; ‘Rom.,'i, 10=Herv., ii, p. 181; Waldis, i, 7; Anvár-i-Suhailí, p.
209 (Benf.).. First and third theme : 'Disciplina Clericalis,' vii, 4 and
Gesta Romanorum,' 174. Caxton, ii, 134 ff.; obscured in the 'Touti-
Nameh,' p. 119 ff. The whole: Dubois, p. 49 ff.; ‘Anvár-i-Suhailí,' p.
264 (Benf.); Arabic MS., Benf., i, p. 118; Waldis, iv, 99; 'Reinke,'
4561 ff. Doni, Benf., i, p. 120, wolf for snake; and obscured.
Oral Variants.- Great Russia : Erlenw., 22; Af. i, 8; Lithuania:
Wollner, Lesk., p. 353 ff. and 520 ff.; Hungary: Gr., ‘K. M.,'iii, p.
346; Transylvania : Haltr., 87; Greece: Hahn, 87; Sicily: Gonzen-
bach, ii, p. 77 f.; Africa: Bleek, p. 8 f., 10, 10 f., 94 f.; Roger, p. 119
ff.; America: 'Uncle Remus,'ii, xlvi: The wolf under a rock is freed
by the rabbit and threatens to eat it. The terrapin makes the wolf
get under the rock again and leaves him there.
.
72
ADOLPH GERBER
2
Collections of Variants. ---Benf., p. 113 ff.; Kurz, ii, 2 p. 32 and
184 f.; Wollner, Lesk., p. 520 ff. General discussion of the subject:
Benf., 1. c.—Benfey considers the Æsopic fable quoted above as the
primary source of this tale. In India it was enlarged by the intro-
duction of an arbitrator and combined with the idea of alluring a
strong one, especially a demon, in a place whence he cannot escape.
Benf., 1. C., 115 ff.; Gr., K. M.,'iji, p. 179 ff. Both in the East and
the West the number of the judges was sometimes increased. Our
first version No. 28=Erlenw., 22, has the snake and the man, and, as
judges, the hare, the wolf and the fox; the second, No. 29==Af. i, 8,
has the wolf and the man and as arbitrators, the mare, the dog and
the fox. In a similar way Reinke has as judges two ravens, the wolf
and bear, and the fox; and Waldis, the horse, the dog and the fox,
so that in Russia, as in Germany, the first two judges are either wild
animals or domestic ones. The wolf in the second Russian version
must have taken the place of the snake under the influence of the fable
of the wolf concealed from the hunters: (Rom.,' 4, 3); comp. Doni.
Both of the Russian versions end with the death of the fox, a trait also
found with Waldis, in Hungary and elsewhere. The earliest case
where the fox is promised chickens for his arbitration between man
and animal is in the 'Disciplina Clericalis,' xxiv, 3.
Source.--Cannot be traced beyond Æsop.
A goat occupies a house and excludes the owner.
XXXIII.
Strong animals that accompany the returning owner are
frightened by the usurper.
An insect expels the goat.
Though the third motive does not form a part of the original simple
adventure, I cannot separate it from the others in the discussion.
Literary Variants.---None exist of the whole story. Stories that
might be called variants of the first two motives are given under
'Source.'
Oral Variants.--Great Russia : Af. i, 28, 3 and 29 and 31 partly
Nos. 31–33 and 35. · Portugal: Coelho 3: A rabbit is excluded from
its house by a goat and frightened by its threats. The ox, dog and
cock do not dare to attack the goat, but an ant kills it. The rabbit
and ant then make their home in the house. Gerinany : Gr. 'K.M.,'
36. A goat whose head is shaved hides in a fox's hole. The fox
does not venture to enter, nor does the bear, but a bee expels the
intruder. Bohemia : Benfey, ii, p. 550. A goat which has been half
skinned, hides in a fox's hole. The fox is scared by his threats, but
an earwig drives it out. Then the fox loses his fear and kills the goat.
Southern Slavs: Krauss i, 21, p. 61 ff. A goat that has been skinned
and salted, jumps from the spit and hides in a fox's hole. His threats
frighten the fox and those who wish to help him; at first, the hare,
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
73
then the wolf, bear and lion together. A hedgehog expels the
usurper.
Collections. of Variants. ----Cosq. ii., p. 116. ff.
There seem to have been at an early date two forms of this adven-
ture, in both of which the goat was the intruder. In the one the hare
or rabbit was excluded from its house and had domestic animals among
its helpers, in the other the fox was deprived of his burrow and was
assisted by wild animals. The expulsion was accomplished by an
insect, for which another animal that can sting, especially the hedge-
hog, was later substituted in some cases. In the course of time, the
second form of the adventure in Germany and in Slavonic lands, was
combined with another tale about the pranks of a goat and the pun-
ishment he suffered for them. The Russian versions distinctly show
a foreign origin. In No. 31 an explanation is lacking as to why the
goat is half skinned; in No. 32, the fox is the intruder and the cock
expels him; the introduction of the fox may be due to the preceding
adventure. In one of Rudčenko's tales the hare and cock catch the
fox, lock him up in a house, catch him again and finally kill him
(Wollner). No. 33 f. differs because it is connected with the motives
of the journeying animals.
Source. - The general idea of the first two inotives is contained in
an Indian story (Dubois, p. 99 ff.); in a Turkish one (“Tuti Nameh.'ii,
p. 127 ff.); in a Persian one (Benf., i, p. 508 f., or Cosq., i, 261), in an
African (Bleek, p-18 ff.) and elsewhere. The Indian story is as follows:
A goat who has lost his flock, seeks refuge in a cave in the woods,
which is occupied by a lion. As courage alone can save him he
walks up and tells hin that he is a worshipper of Siva and that
he has made a vow to let his beard grow until he has eaten one
hundred and one tigers, twenty-five elephants and ten lions, in honor
of the God, that he has devoured the tigers and elephants and is now
looking for the lions. Terrified at this, the lion fees, returns with a
fox, and fees again and leaves the goat in the possession of the cave.
In the Turkish tale, a lynx takes possession of a lion's den and by his
threats frightens, first, the lion alone and afterward the lion who
returns with a monkey. In Persia, Amîn, a man of Ispahan, frightens
a ghoul, an ogre, away from his cave and scares him once more when
he returns with the fox, With the Hottentots, a leopard meets a ram
and is frightened; he is persuaded to return with the jackal, but
becomes so terrified that he runs away and does not stop before the
jackal, which tied himself to him, is half dead. For other similar
stories, see Benfey, i, p. 505 ff. The examples given make it evident
that not only the fundamental idea of the adventure has been derived
from India ; namely, that a weak animal deprives a stronger one of its
abode and maintains itself there by bragging and threats against the
owner and its friends, but also the prominent part taken by the goat
shows the same origin. The conclusion also of the oral variants of
Europe, that an insect, or a hedge-hog, succeeds in expelling the
74
ADOLPH GERBER
usurper, has probably been suggested by an Indian story. A story in
the Panchatantra' (i, 15); an Æsopic fable (Æs., 261); an episode
in 'Reinhart' (1250 ff.); a fabte given by Eustache. Deschamps
(vol. iii, p. 287), and other fables contain the motive that a large
animal is killed or is seriously troubled by a small insect. While it
seems plausible that the Indian stories referred to, are the source of
the motives of the European variants, I am not able to decide where
the last motive was first connected with the other two, and where
consequently the adventure, as a whole, arose.
XXXIV. Animals leave home.
I shall discriminate between voluntary and involuntary leaving :
I. Voluntary: Literary Variants.--Benf. 'Panch..' ii, p. 156, offers.
according to Kolm. p 135, the oldest example of journeying animals.
Æs. 225: The dog and cock have concluded a friendship and set out
to travel together. 'Ysengr.,' iv, 1 ff. and 825 ff.. The chamois wishes
to make a pilgrimage ; some male domestic animals join her because
they are to be killed for a wedding feast; the donkey, because he
is to work unusually hard on that occasion, 'Ren.' viii, 165 ff=Méon,
13151 ff.; Rothe, 186 f.; Carnoy p. 75: The fox goes on a pretended
pilgrimage; the ram joins him because otherwise his skin is to furnish
gaiters to a pilgrim; the donkey follows them to improve his condi-
tion. Waldis i, 57: Dogs flee because other animals are killed. Rol-
lenhagen, 'Froschmeuseler,'iii, 1,9(Gr., ‘K, M.,'iii, p. 48 ff.): An ass,
ox, dog, cat, cock and goose move into a house in the woods because
they are homeless.
Oral Variants. -Great Russia : Af. i, 9; 10 a-b; 19 a-c; 29, 30,
31=our versions Nos. 10–12 and 33–38; Norway: Asbj. i, p. 213 ff.:
Animals flee because a hen has dreamed the world will come to an
end. Germany: Gr. 'K. M.,' 27 and iii, p. 47 f., they flee because
they are to be killed. Transylvania : Haltr., 93: Fleeing for the
France : Cosq. ii, xlv: Travelling. Southern Slavs :
Krauss i, 23 : Going on a journey.
Collections of Variants.--Kolm., p. 123 f.; Cosq. ii, 103 ff.
Source. -No special source. It seems that the idea of travelling
animals has come from India, but its specification that domestic ani-
mals leave their masters on account of ill-treatment, or impending
danger, must have been made in Europe. Notice the Aight on
account of a coming wedding, with the following return No. 35, and
compare it to the passage in the 'Ysengrimus.' In the other stories
also of this cycle, Western influence is apparent.
II. Involuntary: Literary Variants.--Implied in Phaedr., V, 10,
and its derivatives, 'Rom.' ii, 7=Herv. ii, 192 f.; Caxton ii, p. 40 f.;
Waldis i, 22, where a dog is treated ill because he is old.
Oral Variants.--Af. I, 18, 24 a, 26, 32 a-b=Nos. 14-16, 39 and 43,
to which may be added No, 29. They are quite pathetic.
same reason.
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
75
Source.-Tales in which animals receive such treatment cannot
have originated among the Buddhists of India, but only in the West
or in Russia.
XXXV. Animals return home,
Literary Variants.-_'Ysengr.,'iv, 821 ff. Cock and gander wish
to return, because the wedding feast for which they were to be killed
is past. Ren.,' viii, 452=Méon, 13448; Rothe, p. 188; Carnoy, p. 76.
The pilgrims return after they have realized the dangers of their
enterprise.
Oral Variants. -Russia : Af. i, 31 and 19 c=Nos. 35 d and 37 d.
The former corresponds to the passage in the ‘Ysengrimus,' the latter
to that in the 'Renart.' In the latter case the correspondence is so
close that it seems almost necessary to assume more than a mere oral
transmission from Western Europe to Russia, but through what
channels could the episode of the Roman de Renart,' so long
forgotten even in France, have reached there?
Source.--It is not possible to go beyond the 'Ysengrimus.'
XXXVI. Wolves are: frightened by a wolf's head.
Literary Variants.---'Ysengr.,' iv, 95 ff. The chamois Bertiliana
is making a pilgrimage together with Reynard the fox, the goat, the
ram, the deer, the ass, the gander and the cock. Reynard who is
anticipating a visit from the wolf, tells the ram to cut off the head of
a wolf whom they find suspended from a tree and instructs him what
to do with it. After dark, while Bertiliana and her companions are
staying in a hospice, the hermit Ysengrim enters with a salutation of
peace. The pilgrims regret exceedingly that they cannot offer him
anything except heads of old wolves. At Reynard's request, the ram
brings the wolf's head which, for the first time it is brought, is said to
be that of a hermit of Anjou. The fox asks for a larger one and the
same head is returned, but this time represented as that of an English
abbot; Reynard refuses it once more telling him to search in the
other corner where the large ones are. Then the ram brings back
the same head for a third time, but with the jaws distended by a hazel
twig and saying that it is that of a Danish bishop. Meanwhile the
wolf begins to tremble and seizes the first opportunity that offers for
flight, yet he does not get out without being very badly used.
· Ysengrimus abbreviatus,' v. 529 ff (Gr. 'R. F.'p. 19 ff.) contains the
same story without the satirical allusions and the torturing of the
wolf. The fox tells it himself.
Oral Variants. Great Russia: Af. i, 19 a and c=Nos. 36 h and
37 b; Little Russia : Rudč. i, 24 (Wollner); Finland: Krohn A. p. 141f
with variants, p. 396 f. Bulgaria : Čapkarev 27 (Wollner). In Fin-
land three rams, a goat and a ram, or a female goat and a ram, use a
76
ADOLPH GERBER
woll's head to frighten wolves. In Bulgaria an ass, a ram, a fox and
a cock find a wolf's skin and bid the ass pick it up and carry it. In
the evening they come to a cave where a supper is prepared. They
have scarcely made themselves comfortable, when bears and wolves,
the owners of the cave, arrive. The hosts and guests sing. First,
one of the bears sings : 'The flesh has come to the house of its own
accord'then, the ass answers, referring to the wolf-skin : 'Go out and
see what is hanging on the door! Go out and see what a wonderful
miracle it is.' The bears and wolves are seized with fear and disap-
pear one after another. In consequence of my limited material, I am
not prepared to decide as to whether manuscripts of the “Ysengri-
mus,' or variants of the folktale on which the episode in the 'Ysengri-
mus' is based, found their way to Russia, Finland and Bulgaria.
I am very strongly inclined, however, to the latter assumption,
because the difference is considerable ; because the Russian variants
have become thoroughly nationalized, and because the Bulgarian
form has even been altered by the influence of the well-known fable
of the ass in the lion's skin.
Source.-- - The general idea that a weak animal may frighten a
stronger one by its resoluteness is Indian as we have seen under adven-
ture xxxiii. For this story in particular, compare the following tale of
the Siddhi-Kür, p. 181, also given by Benfey, ii p. 548 f. 'A whole family
has died, their sheep are torn by the wolves; only one lamb has
saved itself and is staying in a hiding place. A hare without a hare-
lip perceives it there and promises to take it to another flock. On
their way they find a shuttle, a yellowish rag and a sheet of paper.
Suddenly a wolf appears. No sooner has the hare noticed him than
he orders the lanıb to prepare a throne of the shuttle and the rag and
to hand him the letter of the full moon. After the lamb has done this
the hare seats himself on the throne, and reads to the wolf the letter
from Churmusta which bids him send a thousand wolf skins. The
wolf flees, terror stricken, and the hare succeeds in taking the lamb
safely to the flock.'
The similarity between this story and the European versions is
great. In both of them, one of the journeying animals is more far-
seeing and self-possessed than the other; in both, the travellers pose as
wolf-hunters. We need only replace the find of pretended mytho-
logical significance by the finding of a wolf's head, and substitute
either the fox or the goat for the hare in order to reach either the
version of the 'Ysengrinus,' or that of most oral variants; the multi-
plication of the travellers, or of the wild beasts that attack them, is
only a slight additional change. Granted, then, that the episode in
the Siddhi-Kür, or its Indian original, is the source of the original
European folktale, it ought to be observed that it was not brought to
Europe through the Mongolic invasions, because they are later than
the date of the ‘Y sengrimus.'
1
.
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
.
77
XXXVII. The domestic animals who have taken refuge on a tree
save themselves by a fall and bold threats.
Literary Variants. -Ysengr.,' iv, 735 ff. The continuation of
the adventure above. Fearing the return of the wolf who summons
his kin, the pilgrims climb on the roof of the hospice, the ass only
staying below to eat hay. Ysengrim soon returns with eleven other
wolves and gives the pilgrims great anxiety. The ass now wishes to
get on the roof, but slips and crushes two wolves as he comes down on
the ground. The fox quickly takes advantage of this and the pilgrims
make such a noise that the wolves flee. “Ren.,' viii, 387 ff.=Méon,
13383 ff.; Rothe, p. 187 ff.; Carnoy, p.76. The fox climbs a tree and the
ass and ram cling to it with their forefeet. The wolves, unable to find
them, lie down to rest under the same tree. The ass and ram fall and
crush six wolves and, as Reynard cries at the same time: 'Hold
him! take him! hold them!' the others take to flight. The domestic
animals return home.
Oral Variants.--Great Russia: Af. i, 19 c and b=Nos. 37 and 38.
Finland: Several variants, Krohn A, p. 396 f. South America :
'Uncle Remus,'i, p. 5. North America: Ibid. I, x, p. 52 ff. Nos.
37 and 38 c resemble the passage in the Renart so closely that a liter-
ary transmission seems almost more likely than an oral one, espe-
cially if we compare the great changes that have occurred in the Fin-
nish variants. No. 38 b may be a greatly obscured variant of the
episode in the ‘Ysengrimus.' In a variant of Af. i, 25 a=No. 48,
a man saves his life by falling involuntarily when the bear enters his
house. In the Finnish variants, wolves or bears are scared by the
fall of the ram. With the Amazonian Indians the tortoise falls from a
tree on the head of the jaguar and kills him, and with the negroes of
the United States Brer Tarrypin saves Brer Rabbit by falling from the
shelf on Brer Fox.
Source. -The idea that wild beasts, scared by a weak or domes-
tic animal, return afterward with further aid, was traced, above under
xxxiii, to India. The circumstance, also, that the one who has once
scared a wild beast afterwards seeks refuge on a tree, has come from
the same source. "Panch.,' v, II; Benf, ii, p. 352 ff. A demon, a
rākshasa, who has entered a horse is scared by the man who rides
him; the latter climbs a tree and the demon returns encouraged by a
monkey, but soon flees again. In the Sandabar, Benf. i, p. 505, the
rākshasa is replaced by a lion, the other animals are the same. On
European soil this Indian motive underwent the influence of zoomor-
phism, and the man on the tree was replaced by the ram and other
animals—a change which could easily take place on account of the
analogy which these stories bear to tales like those mentioned under
xxxiii. Whether the accidental fall as a means of salvation has also
its prototypes in India cannot be proied with certainty. Compare,
however, a tale of Cashmere, Cosq. i, io1 f., where a mau on a tree
.
78
ADOLPH GERBER
kills a tiger by a dagger slipping from its sheath. The gun, which is
so entirely inappropriate for the story of the goat in No. 37 c, has an
analogy in the gun with which, in the Persian story, Benf. i, p. 509,
Amîn shoots the fox who encourages the ogre to return.
XXXVIII. A wolf fares ill at the house of domestic aniinals.
Literary Variants.—-'Ysengr.,'iv, 501 ff.: The wolf is pinched in
the door and mistreated by all the pilgrims. “Ren.,' viii, 293=Méon,
13287; Rothie, p. 187; Carnoy, p.76: Three pilgrims—the fox, the ram
and the ass—take possession of the house of the absent wolf, drink
his beer and attract his attention by their singing. The wolf himself
is killed in the attempt to force an entrance into his house. " Rollen-
hagen Froschmeuseler,"iii, 1, 9, in Gr., 'K. M.,'iii, p. 48 ff.: A wolf
suffers manifold injuries when he enters the house as a spy.
Oral Variants. -Great Russia: Af. i, 29 and 30.=Nos. 33 e and
34 d. The former represents the form in which the wolf is merely
wounded, the latter approaches the version of the Roman de Renart,'
except that the wolf is not accompanied by his wife, but by the bear
and the fox with whom we have so frequently seen him connected in
Russia. Transylvania : Haltr., 93: The cat, cock and horse have
occupied a wolf's house while the wolves are carousing and cele-
brating St. John's day; an old wolf is sent in and ill-used. Ibid: 98:
The ox, ass, cat and dog are in a robber's house. The wolf is full of
fear, but walks in because the fox expresses doubts with regard to his
courage; he barely makes his escape.
Collections of Variants.—Cosq., ii, p. 103 f. and Gr., 'K. M.,'iii,
p. 47 f. A Norwegian story found in Cosquin, 1. C., deserves special
notice. The wolf who comes to the house of the domestic animals,
asks for some fire to light his pipe.
Source.--It will be difficult to decide whether this adventure is
based, or not, on the one that follows here. The variants of xxxviii
are much older, those of xxxix extend over a greater territory:
XXXIX. The messenger of the robbers fares ill.
Literary Variants.- None.
Oral Variants.--Very common. Af. i, 29=No. 33 d; Gr., ‘K. M.,'
27: The Brenien musicians. Cosq., ii, p. 102 f.: The cat and its
companions.
Collections of Variants.- Cosq., ii, p. 103 ff., including one from
Batavia and one from Japan.
Source. If we suppose that the Asiatic variants have been
carried to the latter countries by European colonists, or traders, this
adventure may be based on the preceding; otherwise the reverse is
true.
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
79
34 c.
XL. Domestic animals inspire terror aud gain admission.
Literary Variants. ----Comp. Rollenhagen, Froschmeuseler iii, 1,9
Oral Variants. Great Russia: Af. i 29 and 30.=Nos. 33 c and
Germany : Gr., 'K. M.,' 27: 'Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten,'
considerably different from the Russian since the owners are expelled
and the aggressors act in concert.
Source.--None known to me. Perhaps invented as a contrast to
xxxviii and xxxiii.
XLI. The wolf catches the dog but loses him again,
Literary Variants.--None ; yet compare 'Source.'
Oral Variants.- -Russia: Af. i, 24 a=No. 39 b.
Source. Æs. 231: The wolf catches the dog. The dog pleads
that he is lean and his flesh dry and that he will be more acceptable
food after a wedding at his master's house has taken place. He is
released, but declines to surrender himself according to his promise
when the wolf calls again. Waldis, iii, 63, similar. In the Russian
version the motive of the Æsopic fable is combined with that of the
bear or wolf who rehabilitate the dog with his master, but they are not
allowed to continue their robberies after the dog has regained his
strength. Caxton, ii, p. 166 ff.; Waldis, iii, 93 ; see xx above. The
motive also of the bird that provides for the dog (xviii) has influenced
this adventure.
XLII. The wolf is stunned by the rain who offers to jump
into his jaws.
Literary Variants.- Ysengr.,' vi, 1–132.
Oral Variants. Great Russia: Af. i, 19 a, 24 a and b=Nos. 36,
39 and 40. The last has lost its characteristic trait on account of the
combination in which it occurs. Little Russia : Rudč., or Leger xviii,
" "Le loup nigaud.” Poland: Gliński, iii, 164. The Russians received
the adventure from the West by way of Poland. It appears rather
singular that we should find this adventure in the place where the
wolf simpleton of the 'Fabulae extravagantes ' has the wolf-surveyor:
Gr., 'R. F.,'p. 430; Caxton, ii, 158 f., derived from Calila and Dimna;
Wolffi, p. 29, through 'Ysengr.,'ii, 159 ff. and 'Ren.,' xx, I ff.=Méon,
6361 ff.; Rothe, p. 148 f.; Carnoy, p. 61. This is a proof that the influence
of the epics was in some cases much stronger than that of the 'Fabulae
extravagantes' however popular these were.
Source. Possibly this adventure arose under the influence of
that of the wolf-surveyor.
XLIII. The wolf almost drowned while baptizing the pigs.
Literary Variants.- - Fab. extrav.' Gr., 'R. F.,' p. 430, Caxton
i p. 160 : The sow pushes the wolf into the water while he is standing
on the little bridge of the mill; he passes under the wheel.
80.
ADOLPH GERBER
Oral Variants.- -Af.i, 24 a=No. 39. Transylvania : Haltr. 108,
the wolf first baptizes all the pigs, then he is pushed from the
bank into the mill-race and passes under the wheel. Germany.
Kuhn, p. 302 f., corresponds closely to 'Fabulae extravagantes'
noted above. The wolf is pushed into the water before he baptizes
anybody. Finland: Krohn A, p. 155 f.: The sow pretends that she
wants to baptize her little pigs and swims with them across the water;
the wolf cannot follow them. Ibid. p. 157 f.: The sows collect their
little pigs and throw them into a waterfall which they cross safely.
Then they take the wolf and throw him, also, into the waterfall so
that he with difficulty saves his life. The Russian version is evidently.
derived from the folktales that were written down under the name of
'Fabulae extravagantes.' I cannot accept Jacob's statement, Caxton,
i, p. 159 and 186, that they are closely connected with Alfred's and
and Marie's Æsop. Much more common than this adventure of the
wolf and the pigs is another: Rudc., i, izLeger, p. 161, Rudč., i, 2, 3
and
4,
Čub. i. 43 (Wollner) in which the pig takes the wolf on its back,
asks permission to sing a last song and is rescued by the people that
come, or by the other pigs. In this case the pigs tear the wolf to
pieces as in ‘Ysengr.' vii, 1 ff., for which Voigt, p. Ixxxiv, seeks such a
distant source.
Source. The origin of the adventure is unknown.
XLIV. The wolf is kicked by the mare.
Literary Variants. Æs. 334, with band c; Babr. 122: wolf and
ass; Rom. iii, 2=Herv. ii, 202 f.; Förster p. 59 ff. and 120 f., lion and
horse. "Ysengr.,' v, 1167 ff., wolf and horse; ‘Ren.,' xix, 1 f.=Méon,
7521 ff, Rothe, p. 157 f., Carnoy, p. 65; ' Rein.,' 3988 ff.; ' Reinke,' 3730
ff.: wolf and mare. Gr., 'R. F.,' p. 430, Caxton ii, p. 157 f., etc.
Oral Variants. Great Russia: Af.i,24 b=No. 40. Little Russia:
Leger p. 157 f. Poland: Gliński iii, 164 (Wollner). Germany: Kuhn
p. 300 f. Transylvania : Haltr., 106. Southern Slavs.: Krauss i, I.
Collections of Variants.--Voigt, p. Ixxxiii. A detailed discussion
of this tale is unnecessary. The Russian version resembles those of
the Western epics and not that of Æsop. In the Little Russian tale the
wolf goes, not to Christ, but to God himself. Doctor Wollner has
informed me that outside of these cases St. George is the patron of
the wolves.
Source: -None known before the Æsopic fables.
The wolf is inaltreated by a man.
XLV. Wolves climb one upon another to reach a man on a tree; threat
scares the maltreated one ; all fall; revenge on former.
Literary Variants. —None.
Oral Variants. -Russia: Af. l, 24 b=No. 40 c and d: The tailor
.
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
81
beats the wolf and tears off his tail; futile attempt at revenge follows.
Poland: Gliński, iii, 164 (Wollner): The smith wipes his hands on the
wolf's tail and beats him; revenge. In another story, Kolberg, xiv,
86? (Wollner), Christ sends wolf to eat the man; wolf being thrashed
thinks human flesh is bitter. France : Sébillot, p. 326 f: Fox burns
tailless wolf with a red-hot iron and carries the eels they possess in
common to the top of an oak tree; vain attempt at revenge. Portugal:
Coelho, 9: Man pours hot water on the wolf's head; revenge. Africa :
Bleek, p. 7 f.: Jackal is cooking on top of pole; lion being hoisted up,
strap is cut, first time; lion hoisted again, gets hot stone in mouth.
America: 'Uncle Remus,' II, xlv: Brer Rabbit smokes and chews on
his steeple; Brer Tarrypin safely hoisted by plough-line; Brer Wolf
hoisted, scalded when he comes to the top, and falls. All European
variants agree in the second motive, though they vary in the first.
The American story is clearly derived from the African. Both seem
to be obscured variants of the second motive; the idea of revenge is
forgotten, hoisting takes the place of climbing, and the threat is not
fictitious but is carried out. The African story may go back to the
French tale.
Source.--I do not know any source for the adventure as a whole.
Compare Aelian, iii, 6: the statement that wolves go safely through a
river by taking hold of each other's tales; ibid., viii, 14, that wolves are
said to pull a drowned ox out of the water by a similar co-operation.
3
XLVI.
The wolf outwits the kids.
The wolf is induced to inake a fatal jump.
Literary Variants.----_None of the whole story. For partial
variants, see under "Source.'
Oral Variants. Great Russia : Af. i, 23 a and b=Nos. 41 and 42.
Germany : Gr., 'K. M.,'5. France : Cosq., ii, lxvi. Transylvania :
Haltr., 83: bear for wolf. Southern Slavs : Karad., 50: colt for kids.
Greece: Hahn, 85: colt for kids. America: 'Uncle Remus,' II, xlii :
The wolf eats the young rabbits; the animals submit to a fire test by
jumping over a pit with fire in it. Brer Wolf perishes. Compare also
ibid., II, viii, the story of the pigs. Brer Wolf finally lands in the fire
on the hearth, and ibid., I, xvii, end, Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox and Brer
Possum jump over a burning pile of brushwood to see who is guilty.
of having nibbled up the butter; the last named perishes. The last
two stories lack the first motive of our adventure, but have the second.
Collections of Variants. Gr., K. M.,' iii, p. 15, including some
literary testimonies, Cosq. ii, p. 248 ff., principally from Romance
countries. In Pommerania (Gr., 1. c.), spectre for wolf. The wolf
attains his purpose in every case except in one of the Spanish versions
(Cosq., 1. C., p. 251) which is mixed with the theme where an animal
expels the owner from his house; and everywhere except in the same
Spanish variant, he perishes by tumbling into hot water or fire. In
Scotland (Campbell iii, p.93=Cosq., p. 251) the fox is substituted for the
82
ADOLPH GERBER
wolf; and in Italy little foxes, for the kids ; in Catalonia the wolf eats,
not the kids, but the cheeses of the goat.
Original form.-The wolf comes to the kids while their mother
is absent and tries to induce them to open the door by pretending
that he is the goat. He fails the first time, but afterward succeeds
and eats all the kids but one. The goat asks him to jump over some
water, or fire, into which he falls, dragged down by the weight of the
kids. The tale originated probably in Central Europe where the
bést variants occur.
Source. The source of the first motive is a mediæval fable which
agrees in everything except in the conclusion. “Fabulae Antiquae'
61: Herv., ii, p. 143 ; 'Rom.,' ii, 10=Herv., ii, p. 194; Marie, 90; Eng-
lish Romulus : Herv., ii, 545: Anonymus Neveleti or Walter of Eng-
land: Förster, p. 112; Herv., ii, 398; 'Yzopet;' Förster, p. 38 f; Middle
High German poem, Gr., ‘R. F.,' p. 346; Alex. Neckam; Du Mér., p.
211 f.=Herv., ii, p. 811 f.; Caxton ii, p. 44; Waldis i, 24.
A collection of variants of this fable has been made by Kurz. See
Kurz, ii, 2, p. 42. I do not know any special source for the second
motive.
XLVII. The tomcat marries the fox.
Literary Variants. None.
Oral Variants.—- Great Russia : Af. i, 18, and Erlenwein 32=Nos.
43 b and 45 a. Elsewhere the marriage is implied. Little Russia :
Rudč. i, 12 (Wollner): Tomcat and fox stay together and, in 'some
variants, they are married. Kryptadia' p. 16-17: Tomcat and fox
marry. Bulgaria: Čapkarev 67 (Wollner): The tomcat, the mur-
murer, marries the fox.
The marriage of the fox and the tomcat seems to occur among the
Slavs only. Both are dissemblers. The cat feigns death: Æs. 15,
Caxton, ii, p. 202 f.; it poses as a false physician for birds: Æs. 16; it
blames the cock for matrimonial union with his nearest relatives :
Æs. 14 ; Caxton, ii, 197 f.; it feigns piety: 'Panch.,'iii, 2=Benf. ii, p.
231 ff.; Marie 102; English Romulus, Herv., ii, p. 580; Odo, Herv., ii, p.
598; Prym., p. 319 and Benf. i, p. 350 ff. The fox and the cat occur
together in the fable of the sack full of tricks. Marie 98, English Rom.,
Herv., ii, p, 578 f.; Odo ibid. ii, p. 622 f.; Caxton ii, p. 137 f. The fox
and the cat try to deceive each other in the epics: Carnoy, p. 50 f.,
55 f., 67, 85, 88, 102; 54, 54, 56, 82 and 103. Thus the Russians and
Bulgarians have connected by marriage two animals resembling
each other in character, in animal poetry.
Source.
No special source known.
The fox'warns the wild animals against her husband.
XLVIII.
The wild animals prepare a feast for the tomcat.
The wild animals hide from the torncat.
The wild animals are scared from their hiding places.
I find it convenient to treat these motives together, though they
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
83
form, not a simple, but a complex adventure; they all seem to be
at home only among the Slavs and their neighbors.
Literary Variants.- -Daničić Starine iv, p. 70 ff. (Wollner): Old
Servian MS. of the sixteenth century the bear, wolf, and boar divide
some land among one another; the bear has the cat for his servant;
the wolf, the fox and the boar, the hedgehog. The masters part with
their servants, but afterward try to catch them again. The wolf who
is going out for this purpose, ineets the fox but is frightened by his
report that the cat has eaten a wolf. Consequently the bear, the
wolf and boar hide from their servants; the last-named, under some
straw. When the servants come near, the boar moves under the
straw and the cat, supposing a mouse there, jumps at him. The boar
knocks out his eyes in his attempt to run away and falls down, the
others kill themselves. . It is probable from a consideration of the
language that the story came from the Western Slavs.
Oral Variants.- Great Russia: Af.i, 18, 19 a, p. 65 f. and p. 66 f.;
Erlenw., 32. Esthonia : Gr., 'R. F.,' p. cclxxxv f. Finland: Krohn
A, p. 391 ff.: about eighty variants; the cat in the wood, more than
fifty; the cat and the dog in the wood, six; the cat in the house,
eleven; the cat, the goat and the ram in the house, eleven.
Transylvania : Haltr., 91, 82. Southern Slavs : Karad., 49, p. 262 ff.
Krauss, i, 5; Krauss, i, 3 and ii, 39.
In Esthonia, the bear, the wolf and the fox hunt together and
deprive the fox of his share, so that he goes to find help. The bear
hides on a tree, the wolf under a pile of brushwood. The allies of the
fox are a lame dog and a cat. The bear falls and dies, the wolf runs
off, the fox keeps all the flesh. In Sérvia (Karad., 49) the bear, hog
and fox till the ground and the fox is cheated out of his share. The
fox threatens to go and get an imperial magistrate, and returns with
the cat. The end is as above: the bear dies, the hog runs off. In
Transylvania (Haltr., 91) the bear and wolf hunt with the fox and take
his share from him. The allies of the fox are a cat, a lame dog and a
cock. Both climb a tree; the bear escapes with a broken foot, the
wolf dies. The following variants do not contain the motive that the
fox seeks the alliance of the cat to maintain his rights against the wolf,
bear or hog. With Krauss, ii, 39, the fox is invited to dine with the
bear, wolf and hog who contribute, each one, his share to the meal
and gets permission to bring his friend, a valiant hero, with him. On
the fox's advice the others hide. The end is as usual: the hog
runs away, the bear and the wolf die. The next two variants drop
also the motive of the friendship between the fox and the cat.
Krauss, i, 3: There is a war between the wolf and the dog; the
former is supported by the hog, bear and fox; the latter, by the
cat, gander and cock. The hog runs off, the bear and fox fall from
the tree and flee; the wolf remains trembling in his hiding place.
Haltr., 82: A cat is eating from a horse in the wood. The fox, bear,
wolf and hog are, in turn, frightened by this terrible sight. The
84
ADOLPH GERBER
cat pursues the hog; the hog hides in the hollow trunk of a tree; the
others, on a tree. When the cat seizes the hog's tail, the hog gives
so terrible a grunt that those on the tree fall. The fox is unhurt, the
bear breaks a foot, the wolf is speared, the hog dies in the hollow tree.
The Russian versions probably came from the Southern Slavs.
They do not contain the motive that the fox summons the cat as
an ally, except in the form of a warning against the cat (Nos. 43 c and
44 a). The cat is not an accidental guest at the meal, but is given
to conciliate him (Nos. 36 C, 43 d, 44 b, 46 a), or in honor of his
wedding (45 b). The fear of the wild beasts is caused by the purring
of the cat (Nos. 43, 44 and 45). The hiding and the scaring away from
the hiding places (Nos. 36 e and f.; 43 e and f.; 44, C; 45, d and f.;
46 b.) do not materially differ from the versions of other peoples.“
The fox is opposed to the cat only in Nos. 36 and 46.
Source.--Nothing known before the Servian tale.
XLIX. The wolf, or bear, sings before a house and obtains prey.
Russia : Af. i, 21 b and 25 a=Nos. 47 and 48. No variants with
other peoples have come to my notice. The adventure is son what
analogous to that of the cat who sings at the fox's house.
L. Strings of reasons.
Russia: Af. i, 27 and 33=Nos. 49 and 50. Tales like these are so
common among the Russians and other peoples that I may dispense
with any comment on them.
CONCLUSIONS.
In the following remarks, I will state in brief my views on
some of the general questions raised in the Introduction, and
sum up my conclusions concerning the sources of the tales
and the places whence they came to Russia.
1. I believe with KROHN that when simple tales, existing
with different peoples, agree both in the nouement and in the
dénouement of their plots, they must be derived from the same
source, but when they agree only in the one or the other they
may be of different origin.
2. The actors in animal tales change very freely. When one
or two animals are especially popular and prominent in the
tales, or in the poetry, of a people, they are introduced into
many tales and fables in the place of the original animals. This
has happened with the bear and fox in Northern Europe, with
the wolf and fox in the Epics of the Middle Ages, with the
rabbit 8 and sometimes the tortoise in the tales of the negroes of
Africa and America.
3. Tales migrate rather with the currents of civilization
(Krohn) and emigration than with language. Thus, Indian tales9
spread over the Old and New World, and European tales came
to Africa, America and parts of Asia. African tales found their
way to North and South America. The Indian animal tales
which reached Europe through Byzantium, and other points,
were transmitted by the agency of the Islamitic peoples. It has
not yet been proved that any tales were transmitted to Europe
by the Mongols.
4. The tales about the bear and the fox seem to have arisen
in Northern Europe; several of their elements, however, were
borrowed from other sources; as, demon tales, giant tales,
8 Brer Rabbit seems to owe his prominence in negro tales to a few Indian stories in which
the hare gets the better of the lion ('Panch.'i, 8), or other strong animals (* Panch.'iii, 1;
Siddhi-Kür' 21). According to JACOBS (Caxton, i, 136 f., and Bidpai xliv ff.) Brer Rabbit has
taken the place of Buddha himself in the story of the Tar-Baby (Uncle Remus,' I, ii; and
the chapter on Brer Rabbit and his famous foot, ibid; ii, xxx).
9 Modern Indian tales found within the sphere ef European influence and resembling
European stories, may be of European origi:.
86
ADOLPH GERBER
!
common folk tales and Æsopic fables. The relation between
the demon tales and the tales about the bear is especially inter-
esting and deserving of a minute investigation.
5. Sure proofs of the existence of a cycle of tales of the bear
and the fox in Northern France and the neighbouring countries
during the Middle Ages, are the story of the fishing through the
ice; that of the bear betrayed by the peasant; and that of the
fox violating the female bear. Also the fact that we find the
bear in the place of the wolf in the fable of the skinned wolf, as
given by PAULUS DIACONUS (Zs. f. d. Altertum, xii, p. 4.. and
xiv, p. 497); and in the place of the lion in the fable of the stag
without a heart, as presented in FROUMUND (GR.,'R. F.,' p. 1, f.,
from PEZ. 'Thesaur.'iii, 3, p. 494) may not be 'due to accident
but rather to the popular contrast between the cunning fox and
the stupid bear of the folk tales.
6. In Western Europe the tales concerning the bear and the
fox blended with classical fables and clerical productions about
the wolf and the fox, and finally became almost absorbed by the
łatter. The wolf, which in reality is more cunning even than the
crafty fox, would scarcely have become a type of stupidity, had
his character not thus been confounded with that of the bear
is in reality stupid.
7. I have -not the means at hand of deciding whether the
Russian tales, in which the wolf holds at present the place of the
bear, came from Scandinavia as tales concerning the bear, or
from Western Europe as tales about the wolf. KROHN bases his
theory of the Scandinavian origin on the fact that both in
Scandinavia and in Russia certain simple adventures appear
connected with one another in a series in a similar manner; and
on the supposition that direct relations between Norsemen and
Russians ceased a thousand years ago, and hence that the
similarity mentioned is due to the mingling of the two peoples
in the ninth century, or earlier. The main objection to this view
is that it is almost inexplicable how tales of the bear can have
changed to tales of the wolf, by the mere instrumentality of
other tales about the wolf in a country like Russia, where there
existed no extensive written animal poetry If the relations
between Scandinavians and Russians actually ceased at the
carly date mentioned, KROHN'S theory must be accepted ; if not
I prefer to believe that the tales came either from Western Eu-
:
87
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
rope by way of Novgorod, or from Scandinavia after the West-
ern tales about the wolf had become so popular as to assimilate
tales about the bear without difficulty.
8. While it must remain rather doubtful whence the tales
about the bear, or wolf, and the fox, came to Russia, there is a
reasonable degree of certainty with regard to the countries from
which some of the other tales were transmitted. A few came
directly from Byzantium ; quite a number, from the Southern
Slavs ; many more from Western Europe. The similarity between
Russian tales and episodes in the epics, in the 'Fabulae extrava-
gantes and the fables of Waldis, is sometimes so great that
literary transmission seems more probable than oral propagation.
I cannot follow up this question for lack of acquaintance with the
Polish and Russian literature in this line.
9. Hardly any of the Russian tales can be proved to have
arisen independently on Russian soil, yet the majority of them
has been so transformed as to show a pronounced local coloring.
Their great number and variety may be due in part to the
abundance of hares, foxes and wolves and the considerable
number of bears that are still found in Russia to-day.
10. Three adventures of Russian animal tales may be based
on myths, which account for peculiarities in the outward appear-
ance of the fox and the bear. None can be shown to contain
mythological elements such as DE GUBERNATIS assumes to find
in them.
+
APPENDIX.
LISA PATRIKJEVNA.
A tale in verse compiled from the folk. fables and folk songs of
the Russian animal epic by A. MOŽAROVSKIF. zed. Kazan,
1882.
The folkfables in their present form represent
separate parts of an old epic saga.--AFANASIBV.
This work consists of nearly seven thousand lines divided into
twelve cantos and subdivided into forty fables, a conclusion and a
word to the reader. The cantos are named September Canto, Octo-
ber Canto, etc., because the events related in them are supposed to
have happened during those months. I give in the following a short
summary of the work.
September Canto
1. One beautiful day in autumn Vukol, son of Sila goes
with a lyre and a basket into the wood to catch young foxes.
When he comes to the house of the fox he sees something
incredible. For there is the fox baking buckwheat pancakes
and her five daughters are sitting on logs and eating their cakes
while her sons are sleeping in a hole. Yet Vukol Silyč does not
lose his composure, since he has seen greater wonders than this;
he plays his lyre and sings a song in which he calls the fox's
daughters by name and asks for some pancakes. The old fox
charmed with the music sends her daughters with the cakes.
Vukol kills the daughters and puts them in his basket.
2. The fox seeks revenge for the death of her daughters. One
day when Vukol is coming up a road with a load of fish, she
stretches herself out as if she were dead. Vukol casts her on
the fish to take her home, but no sooner is she there than she
eats all the fish she can, throws the rest out of the
wagon and
90
ADOLPH GERBER
then jumps down herself. While Vukol continues- his way home
unsuspectingly, she collects the fish on the road and lays them
by as provisions for the winter.
October Canto.
3. Vukol sees the foot-prints of a wolf in the woods and sets a
trap for him. In a dark night the wolf scents the bait, rushes
toward it, mad with hunger, but yet does not dare to seize the
fat meat. He merely touches it with a foot, and alas ! he is
caught. He frees his paw only with great difficulty.
4. Advising with the fox he determines to have his revenge
also on Vukol Silyč. He goes to his gate and howls a song in
which he demands a sheep. Vukol is so frightened that he
grants his request this time and once again, but when he returns
a third time he refuses to open his gate.
The wolf tries to jump
over the fence, but gets caught in five great nails on the top of
it and barely makes his escape, badly thrashed by Vukol and
bitten by his dog. He also offends the fox by not giving her
anything of the other two sheep.
November Canto.
:
5. While Vukol and his wife and children have gone to a fair,
his old mother asks his father, Sila, to get her some bear flesh.
Sila goes with his axe into the wood and tumbles into the hole
of a sleeping bear. He tries to strike him on the head, but fails
and cuts off a paw instead. While he is hurrying home with
the paw the howling of the wounded bear attracts the wolf
and the fox. They console him by persuading him also to take
his revenge on Sila.
6. The bear makes for himself a foot of linden wood, comes to
Vukol's house and sings a request for honey. Twice he
receives a cask and buries it in the wood, but when he calls for
the third time he is refused admission and obliged to force open
the door. He is surprised by the dog and beaten by Sila until
he takes to flight. Soon afterward the fox visits him and asks
for some of the honey, but is told that it is bewitched. She de-
cides to retaliate.
December Canto.
7. After the wolf has eaten his sheep and become hungry
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES:
91
again, he begs the fox to give him some fish. The fox lets him
have all he wants, but when he returns to have another meal, the
fox sends him to the ice to catch fish with his tail. He freezes
fast, gets a terrible thrashing and leaves his tail in the ice.
8. In the mean time, the fox goes to Vukol's house and finds an
opportunity to put her head in a pan of dough. With the dough
on her head, she meets the tailless wolf again and completely
disarms his wrath by making him believe that Vukol's son Ivan
used her so ill that her brains are oozing out. He takes her on
his back and goes with her to the bear.
: 9. The bear entertains them hospitably, and all go to sleep.
During the night the fox pretends to be called as a midwife,
goes out to the bear's honey cask and eats her fill; she repeats
this on the second and third nights and hides what is left in a
hollow tree.
Io. On the fifth day the bear misses the honey and accuses
his guests of the theft. The fox offers to lie with the wolf in the
sunshine and the bear is to watch on which of the two the honey
appears. The warm sun soon overpowers the bear and, while
he is asleep, the fox gets some honey from the hollow tree,
besmears him all over with it, and persuades him that he him-
self must have eaten it while he was drunk. Thereupon all
separate.
.
January Canto.
II. Masha, the daughter of Vukol, loves Jermolaj, who recip-
rocates her affection and sends a woman to Vukol to ask Masha
in marriage. Masha is promised and bewails her fate after the
manner of the Russian maidens.
12. The domestic animals overhear Vukol saying that he is
going to kill them for the wedding feast and make from the
cat's skin a fur collar for his daughter. Accordingly the ram,
the hog, the goose, the cock and the cat, led by the ox, leave
the house. Vukol and his family are very indignant, but never-
theless celebrate a merry wedding.
13. Before long the ox suffers with the cold weather in the
woods and asks his companions to help him build a house.
Since they think, however, that they will not need a house, they
decline to assist him and he has to build it by himself.
14. Still, when it gets colder they all want to get in the house
92
ADOLPH GERBER
and force admission by their threats of destroying it. The ram
is received as servant, the hog as houskeeper, the goose as mes-
senger Loy, the cock as watchman and the cat as mouse-hunter.
February Canto.
15. During the butter-week' or carnival, Masha and her
husband visit their parents, eat, drink, take rides and have a fine
time generally.
16. When it grows warmer the cock flies on a tree and crows.
Presently the fox makes her appearance, pretends to be ninety
years old and to have renounced chicken flesh, and represents
to him that he ought to mend his ways and no longer keep forty
wives.
The cock repents, flies down to learn how to live
moderately, and is seized by the fox. Yet he does not lose
courage, offers to get for the fox a position as housekeeper and
escapes while she is thinking over the proposal.
17. Though baffled this time, the fox soon tries again to catch
the cock. She goes to the house while he is at home alone,
allures him by a song and seizes him, but before she has run far
the cat and the ram rescue him and she has failed once more.
Not yet discouraged, the fox returns in the garb of a physician,
makes the cock, who is again left by himself, believe that she is
sent to cure his wing that was hurt by the fox, and this time
really succeeds in carrying him to her ice house where she locks
him up below the floor.
18. The cat and the ram decide to rescue their companion
once more; go to Vukol's, steal his lyre, flute, sabre, red cap,
saffian boots and coat and recite a song before the fox's house as
Vukol has done. The fox sends, first, the cock and then, her
sons to find out who are the singers; the cock runs away and
the young foxes are slain.
March Canto.
19. Spring has come and the fox's house melts. She is kindly
received by the hare in his bast-house but soon expels her host
because the dwelling is rather narrow for two.
20. The hare cries and asks for assistance. The bear and the
wolf try in vain to restore his house to him, but the cock puts on
boots and a coat, takes a cap and a sabre and dislodges the
usurper.
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
93
21. Being homeless again, the fox concludes an alliance with
the bear and the wolf, and assaults with them the house of
the domestic animals. Yet their attack fails; she herself is
thrown out of the window, the wolf is badly bruised and cast
out, too, and the bear runs off at the mere sight of the ox.
22. In spite of the successful defense most of the domestic
animals think it safer to return now to Vukol, only the cat and
the hog are opposed to this plan. Of the four who start out for
their old home, the ox alone reaches it, the other three are
intercepted by peasants of the village of Volodeika. The fox
does not give up the idea of catching some of them after all.
April Canto.
23. On St. George's day when the men are sitting in the inns,
she asks for a night's lodging in Volodeika, hides her bast shoe
during the night and obtains the cock in place of it in the morn-
ing. The following night she spends at the peasant's who has
taken possession of the ram and gets the latter in the same man-
ner.
24. Thereupon she goes to Ivan, the stupid son of Vukol,
promises to make him the husband of a princess and for this
also gets the ox. Ivan hitches the ox to a sleigh, for lack of a
carriage.
25. The fox puts the ram in the sleigh and drives off with him.
On her way she meets the bear, the wolf and the hare, and per-
mits them to get in.
26. Suddenly the shafts break and since the poles which the
others bring are either too large or too small, the fox goes to look
for some herself. While she is gone, she eats the cock she has
concealed in the wood, but at the same time the bear and the
wolf dispose of the ox and the ram, stuff their hides and run away.
May Canto.
27. The celebration of Thursday of seventh week after Easter
is described. The young people dance and throw wreaths on
the water. The one whose wreath floats longest, will soon be
happily married. Ivan's wreath does not sink for a long time,
and he is rejoiced at it.
28. After having been robbed of the ox and the ram, the fox
has married the tomcat, and both are staying with the hog in the
ox's house"; the hog is finall: turned out.
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ADOLPH GERBER
29. The bear and the wolf learn from the fox that she is
married to the mayor Tomcat who has been sent from Siberia to
kill all wolves and bears. To conciliate him they bring the flesh
of the ox and the ram which they have saved, and send the hare
to invite the stranger and his wife for dinner. The hosts get
frightened and the wolf hides in the grass; the bear, on a tree.
When the tomcat appears, he jumps at the wolf with the idea
that a mouse is. concealed in the grass. Both the wolf and the
tomcat are frightened and the latter jumps on the very tree where
the bear is concealed. The bear and the wolf fee and the cat
leaves the fox because he thinks she has tried to betray him.
30. When Sila and his wife are eating two peas fall on the
ground, and while the one withers the other grows up to the
clouds. At first Sila climbs to the top alone, but the next time
he climbs up, his wife wants to go, too, and is taken by him in a
sack. Unfortunately the sack slips from between his teeth and
his wife is almost crushed to death. The fox offers to heal her
and has Sila put flour and butter in the bathroom for her. She
runs away with the provisions and the woman dies.
June Canto.
31. The hog who has lived for a while in a swamp discovers
a deep pit. Near it, he meets the cat who is still angry with the
fox for the supposed trick she has played on him, and both devise
a plan by which they hope to get rid of the wild animals. The
hog is to take them to a place near the deep pit, then the cat on
il tree is to make a sudden noise, and in the confusion that follows
the wild animals are expected to fall into the pit.
32. The hog finds the bear, the wolf and the hare still so much
afraid of the cat that they have decided to emigrate, and they
accept most eagerly his offer to lead them into a rich land.
The start accordingly, in the direction of the pit, commence to
run at the noise of the cat and arrive at the edge of the pit with
a speed that cannot be checked. They are obliged to jump and
while the hog gets across, the bear, wolf and hare land at the
bottom. Then the fox comes to inquire concerning the noise.
She is informed that the others have had a row and desire her
medical assistance, and she is pushed down accordingly among
the rest.
33. After those in the pit have become hungry, they decide
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
9.5
that they have to eat one of their number. At first they tear the
hare in pieces because he is least long-winded. then the bear and
the fox agree to kill the wolf; and finally the fox who hides some
of the wolf's entrails under her and eats them from time to time,
makes the bear believe she is eating her own entrails, and
induces him to tear open his belly. Thus the bear dies also and
becomes a prey of the fox.
July Canto.
34. The fox makes her escape from the pit by means of twigs
which a thrush throws down to her. A week later, however,
she returns to the kind bird and threatens to eat it and its young
ones, unless it procures her something to eat and to drink. The
thrush begs to be spared and promises to furnish her the dinner
which Stupid Ivan is just carrying to some reapers. The bird
feigns to be unable to fly, causes him to set down his pots and
make an attempt to catch it and thus furnishes the fox an
opportunity to eat the food of the reapers and to drink their
beer.
35. As the fox cannot get rid of the headache which the beer
has given her, she comes once more to the thrush and demands
to have some amusement. The bird complies with this request
also, and takes her to a place where Sila and Stupid Ivan are
threshing grain. It alights on Sila's head, Ivan kills his grand-
father and the fox has her laugh. Vukol banishes Ivan from his
house and sets his dog on the fox. After a long chase the fox
finds refuge in a hollow tree, but loses part of her tail by sticking
it out of the tree because it hampered her flight. Ivan goes to
the ox's house and there meets again with the fox. She renews
her promise to procure him a princess for a wife.
August Canto.
36. The fox goes to king Ogónj (Fire), his wife Mólnja
(Lightning),and their daughter Zarjá (Aurora), tells them that
Ivan the Czarevič desires to marry Zarja and wishes a bushel to
measure his money with. Both the fox and Ivan are invited to
court. Since Ivan, however, does not possess a kingdom, the fox
kills the snake tyrant Smiulán and persuades his people to swear
allegiance to Zarja and her husband Ivan, the son of the Czar.
37. In the mean time Ivan anluses himself catching crows;
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ADOLPH GERBER
he releases one of them upon the promise of getting him some
water of life that has the virtue of making the stupid clever and
the homely handsome. The crow keeps its word, and Ivan
becomes both clever and handsome.
38. As Ivan does not want to appear in his own clothes before
Ogónj, the fox goes to the king and tells him Ivan has lost all
his companions and the presents for the bride in a river and
soiled his own garments besides. Ogónj sends him others,
receives him with great honor and gives him his daughter Zarja
in marriage. The fox gets the finest chickens.
39. Zarja drives with her husband to the snake-kingdom,
wonders at his great wealth, and both are received in their
capital with great pomp.
40. The fox who has returned to her wood, finds a jug of milk
which Vukol has taken with him into the field. She drinks the
milk, but by chance the jug gets in such a position that the wind
blows into it and causes a strange sound. At first the fox is
frightened and hides under a shrub; soon, however, she sees
what is the matter and decides to punish the jug for the anxiety
it has given her. She therefore ties it round her neck and
takes it to a deep place in the river in order to sink it, but as the
jug fills with water and begins to sink she cannot free her head
from it, and thus is dragged to the bottom and drowned.
Conclusion, Ten years have passed. Wild animals have torn
the hog to pieces. Ogónj and Molnja, Ivan and Zarja, Masha
and Jermolaj live happily together.
The Word to the Reader. Young people are admonished not
to imitate the fox, but to learn from the other animals what is
good.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
The books in this list are cited either by the names of the
authors, or by those parts of their titles that are printed in italics,
or by special abbreviations given in parentheses that follow the
titles. Works marked with an asterisk were not accessible to
the author, so that quotations from them are naturally at second
hand. The consonants and vowels used in the transcription of
Russian words, have a value which corresponds approximately to
that of like signs used in German; y represents, however, a u
followed by a short i; v, z equal English v, z and, when final f,
s; Č=Engl. ch, ž=voiced Engl. sh.
ÆLIAN: De natura animalium ed. HERCHER. Leipz., 1866.
Æsop: Fabulae Æsopicae collectae ex recognitione C. HALMII.
Leipzig, 1881.--(Æs.)
AFANASIEV, A. N.: Skazki. Narodnyja russkija skazki. 2d edition,
Moskau, 1873.--(Af.)
ASBJÖRNSEN, P. Chr. and Moe J.: Norske Folkeeventyr. i4. Christi-
ania, 1867. ii. Ny Samling. Christiania, 1871.—(Asbj.)
BABRIUS: Babrii Fabulae ex recensione, A. EBERHARD. Berlin, 1875
—(Babr.)
BENFEV, Th.: Pantschatantra: Aus dem Sanskrit übersetzt mit
Einleitung und Anmerkungen. 2 Bände. Leipzig, 1859.-(Benf.)
BIDPAI: see Calila and Dimna, etc.
BLEEK, W. H. J.: Reineke Fuchs in Afrika. Weimar, 1870.
BREHM, A. E.: Thierleben. Grosse Ausgabe. 2te aufl. 1876 ft.
Calila und Dimna, oder die Fabeln Bidpai's, etc. WOLFF. Stuttgart,
1839.
CARNOY, H.: Les contes d'animaux dans les romans du renard.
Paris, 1889.
CAXTON'S Æsop: The fables of Æsop as first printed by W. CAXTON
in 1484, etc. by J. JACOBS. 2 vols. London, 1889.--(Caxton).
COELHO, A.: Contos populares portuguezes. Lisboa, 1879.
98
ADOLPH GERBER
COSQUIN, E.: Contes populaires de Lorraine, comparés avec les
contes des autres provinces de France et des pays, étrangers.
2 vol. Paris, 1886.-(Cosq.)
*ČUBINSKIJ, P. P.: Malorusskija skazki v Trydach etnografičesko-
statisticeskoj ekspeditsij v zapadno-russkij kraj, etc. St. Peters-
burg, 1878.-(Cub.)
*CUDINSKIJ, A. E.: Russkija narodnyja skazki, etc. Moskau, 1864.
Disciplina Clericalis, Petri Alfonsi. Herausgegeben von VAL.
SCHMIDT, Berlin, 1827.
DUBOIS, J. A.: Le Pantcha-Tantra ou les cinq ruses. Paris, 1826.
DU MÉRIL, E.: Poésies latines inédites du moyen âge précédées d'une
histoire de la fable ésopique. Paris, 1854.-(Du Mér.)
*ERLENWEIN, A.A.: Narodnyja skazki sobrannyja seljskimi učiteljami.
Moskau, 1863.-(Erlenw.)
Förster, W.: Lyoner Yzopet with Anonymus Neveleti. Heilbronn,
1882.
FORTIER, ALCÉE: Bits of Louisiana Folk-Lore. Transactions and
Proc. of the Mod. Lang. Association of America, vol. iii, p.
100 ff.
GASTER, M.: Greeko-Slavonic; Ilchester Lectures on Greeko-Slavonic
Literature and its Relation to the Folk-lore of Europe during
the Middle Ages. London, 1887.
*GLIŃSKI, A. J.: Bajarz polski. 4 vol.2 Wilno, 1862.
GONZENBACH, L.: Sicilianische Märchen mit Anmerkungen v. REIN-
HOLD KÖHLER. Leipzig, 1870.
GRIMM, BRÜDER: Kinder- und Hausmärchen. i and ii 22 in one vol.
Berlin, 1888. iii 3. Göttingen, 1856.—(Gr. 'K. M.' and Gr. “K.
M.'iii.)
GRIMM, JACOB: Reinhart Fuchs. Berlin, 1834.- (Gr. 'R. F.')
DE GUBERNATIS, A.: Zoological Mythology or the legends of animals.
2 vols. London, 1872.
HALTRICH, J.: Deutsche Volksmärchen aus dem Sachsenlande in
Siebenbürgen. 4te auf. Wien and Hermannstadt, 1885.-
(Haltr.)
HERTZBERG, W.: Babrios Fabeln übersetzt, etc. Halle, 1846.
HERVIEUX, L.: Les Fabulistes Latins depuis le siècle d'Auguste
jusqu'à la fin du moyen âge. Phèdre et ses anciens imitateurs
directs et indirects. i and ii, Paris, 1884--(Herv.)
JACOBS, see CAXTON.
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
99
JONCKBLOET, M.W.J, A.: Étude sur le Roman de Renart. Groningue,
Leipzig and Paris, 1863.
Kalilah and Dimnah etc. by J. G. N. KEITH-FALCONER, Cambridge,
1885.
KARADČIČ, VUK ST.; Volksmärchen der Serben, etc. Berlin, 1854.--
(Karad.)
Kleinere lateinische Denkmäler der Thiersage aus dem 12ten bis
I4ten Jahrhundert, VOIGT, E., Strassburg, 1878.-(Kl. Denkm.)
KOLMAČEVSKIJ, L.: Životnyj Epos na Zapadje i u Slavjan. Kazan,
1882.-(Kolm.)
KRAUSS, F. S.: Sagen und Märchen der Südslaven. 2 Bände. Leipzig,
1883 and 1884.
KROHN, KAARLE : Suomalaisia Kansansatuja. i, Eläinsatuja (Finnish
Folktales. i, Animal Tales). Helsingfors, 1886.-(Krohn A.)
KROHN, K.: Tutkimuksia Suomalaisten Kansansatujen alalta, i
(Researches on Finnish Folktales, i). Helsingfors, 1887.-
(Krohn B.)
KROHN, K.: Bär (Wolf) und Fuchs. Eine nordische Tiermärchenkette.
Aus dem Finnischen übersetzt von O. HACKMANN. Helsingfors,
1888.-(Krohn C.)
KROHN, K.: Die geografische Verbreitung einer nordischen Thier-
märchenkette in Finnland. Fennia, iii, No. 4. Helsingfors,
1890.-(Krohn D.)
Kryptadia: Recueil de documents pour servir à l'étude des traditions.
populaires. Vol. i, Heilbronn, Henninger.
KUHN, A.: Märkische Sagen und Märchen. Berlin, 1843.
KURZ, see WALDIS.
LAUCHERT, F.: Geschichte des Physiologus mit zwei Textbeilagen.
Strassburg, 1889.
LEGER, L.: Recueil de contes populaires slaves. Paris, 1882.
LESKIEN (A.) und BRUGMAN K.): Litauische Volkslieder und Mär-
chen. Part iii : Litauische Märchen übersetzt von BRUGMAN
mit Anmerkungen von W. WOLLNER. Strassburg, 1882.
(Lesk.)
MARIE DE FRANCE, Poésies de, publiées par B. de ROQUEFORT; 2 vol.
Paris, 1820 (vol. ii.: Fables.)--(Marie.)
MARTIN, see RENART and REINAERT.
*MÉON, M. D. M.: Le Roman du Renard. 4 vol. Paris, 1826.
MONE, F. J.: Reinardus Vulpes. Editio princeps. Stuttgart and Tü-
bingen, 1832.
100
ADOLPH GERBER
MOŽAROVSKIJ, A.: Lisa Patrikjevna. Skazka-pjesnja sostavlena iz
narodnych basen i pjesen russkago životnago eposa. 2d ed.,
Kasan, 1882. (Reynard the Fox in Russia.)
Panchatantra.: For references to books and stories of the work.
(Panch.)
Paris, GASTON: La Littérature Française au Moyen Âge. Paris,
1888.
PARIS, PAULIN: Les Aventures de Maître Renart et d'Ysengrin son
Compère-suivies de nouvelles recherches sur le Roman de
Renart. Paris, 1861.
PHÆDRUS: Phaedri Augusti Liberti Fabulae Æsopiae, ed. AL. RIESE.
Leipzig, 1885.-(Phaedr).
POESTION, J. C.: Lappländische Märchen, Volkssagen, Räthsel und
Sprichwörter. Wien, 1886.
POTVIN, CH.: Le Roman du Renard, etc., précédé d'une introduc-.
tion et d'une bibliographie. Paris et Bruxelles, 1861.
Prym (E.) and SOCIN (A.): Syrische Sagen und Märchen aus dem
Volksmunde gesammeltund übersetzt. Göttingen, 1881.-
(Prym.)
RABELAIS, F.: Gargantua, Pantagruel, etc.; ed. MOLAND, Paris.
RADLOFF, W.: Proben der Volksliteratur der Türkischen Stämme
Süd-Sibiriens. 4 Bände. St. Petersburg, 1866–72.
RALSTON, W.R. S.; Russian Folk-Tales. London, 1873.
Reinaert: Herausgegeben, etc., von ERNST MARTIN. Paderborn,
1874. (Rein.)
Reinhart, Fuchs, herausgegeben von K. REISSENBERGER. Halle,
1886.J(Reinh.)
VON REINHOLDT, A.; Geschichte der Russischen Litteratur. Leipzig,
1886.
Reinke de Vos, herausgegeben von F. Prien. Halle, 1887.-
(Reinke.)
Renart, Le Roman de, publié par E. MARTIN. 3 vol. et Supplément:
Observations sur le Roman de Renart. Strassbourg, 1882–87.—
(Ren.)
ROGER, Baron: Fables Sénégalaises recueillies de l'Ouolof et mises
en vers français. Paris, 1828.
Romnulus, Die Paraphrasen des Phaedrus und die Æsopische Fabel
im Mittelalter von H. OESTERLEY. Berlin, 1870.-(Rom.)
ROTHE, M. A.: Les Romans du Renard examines, analysés et.
comparés. Paris, 1845.
i
GREAT RUSSIAN ANIMAL TALES.
IOI
*RUDČENKO, I.: Narodnyja Južnorusskija skazki. 2 parts, Kiev,
1869-70. [South-Russian Folktales.]-(Rudc.)
*SADOVNIKOV, D. N.: Skazki i predanija Samarskago kraja. St.
Petersburg, 1884.
SCHLEICHER, A.; Litauische Märchen, Sprichworte, Rätsel und
Lieder. Weimar, 1857.
SÉRILLOT, P.: Contes populaires de la Haute Bretagne. Paris,
1880.
Siddhi-Kür: Die Märchen des Siddhi-Kür. Die neun Nach-
tragserzählungen des Siddhi-Kür und die Geschichte des
Ardschi-Bordschi Chan. Both translated by B. JÜLG. Leipzig,
1866. Innsbruck, 1868.
Touti Nameh, Eine Sammlung persischer Märchen von Nechschebi.
Translated by IKEN. Stuttgart, 1822.
Tuti-Nameh, Das Papageienbuch. Nach der türkischen Bearbeitung
zum ersten Male übersetzt von G. ROSEN. Leipzig, 1858.
Uncle Remus : His Songs and His Sayings. The Folklore of the Old
Plantation by J. CH. HARRIS. New York, 1880. (U. R., i.)
Uncle Reinus, Nights with : Myths and Legends of the Old Planta-
tion by J. CH. HARRIS. Boston and New York, 13 ed., 1890.
(U. R., ii.)
*VALJAVEC, M. K.: Narodne pripovjedke skupio u i oko Varaždina.
Varaždina, 1858.
VoreTZSCH, C.: Der Reinhart Fuchs Heinrichs des Glichezâre und
der Roman de Renart. Zschr. f. roman. Phil. 1891, vol.
XV, 1 and 2, pp. 124-182,
Voigt, E.: see Kleinere lat., etc., and Ysengrimus.
*VRČEVIĆ: Narodne basne skupio ih po Boki, Crnoj gori, Dalmaciji
a najviše po Hercegovini. Ragusa, 1883. •
Waldis: Esopus von Burkhard Waldis Herausgegeben und mit
Erläuterungen versehen von H. Kurz. 2 Bände, Leipzig, 1862.
WARREN, F. M.: 'Uncle Remus' and 'The Roman de Renard.' Mod.
Lang. Notes v, 129 ff., May, 1890.
WOLLNER, W.; Untersuchungen über die Volksepik der Grossrussen.
Leipzig, 1879.
Ysengrimus, Herausgegeben und erklärt von ERNST VOIGT. Halle,
1884.-(Ysengr.)
ERRATA.
Supply in the texts of the tales the following marginal letters ac-
cording to the Synopsis : b in No. 7, c in Nos. 38 and 42, d in No. 45;
remove the second a in No. 19.
Page 5, note 8, read : Kleine Schr.' V, p. 462, etc.
13, No. 3, title, read: Bast-shoe.
19, No. 13, title, read: Woodpecker.
29, 1. I read: Winter-quarters ; last two lines read:
wolves' heads.
30, 1. 12, read: her for his.
32, 11. 8, 5 and 1, from below, read: blames, explains,
proposes.
38, 1. 3, read: Gossip Fox.
48, 1. 27, read : 6 c for 5 b.
b
49, 1. 28, read: 6 d for 5.
51, 1. 8, from below, add: and mocks the carrier.
52, 1. 6, from below, read: third for second.
58, xiii, Source, line 2, read : App. for Ap. p.
60, 1. 10, read: her for per.
63, 1. 7, read: his for her; 1. 12, from below, read:
Transylvanian; last 1., read : 16 f for 16 e.
64, 1. 18, read: Ysengr.; 1. 26, read: App. for Ap. p.
APR 29 1921
CONTENTS OF PUBLICATIONS
OF THE
LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION
MODERN
OF AMERICA.
V.ol. I, 1884-85, 252 pp., $2.00.
, $.
CARTER, President Franklin, Richter's Correspondence with a Lady. Some unpublished Letters.
HEWETT, Professor W.T., The Aims and Methods of Collegiate Instruction in Modern Languages.
· PRIMER, Professor Sylvester, The Factițive in German.
BRANDT, Professor H. C. G., How far should our Teaching and Text-books have a Scientific Basis ?
Professor Hans C. , Genitive in French
HART, Professor James Morgan, The College Course in English Literature, how it may be Improved.
FORTIER, Professor Alcée, The French Language in Louisiana and the Negro-French Dialect. -;
PAINTER, Professor F.V. N., A Modern Classical Course,
HUNT, Professor Th. W., The Place of English in the College Curriculum.
LANG,'Professor Henry Ř., The Collective Singular in Spanish.
SHEPHERD, President Henry E., A Review of Edmund Gosse's 'From Shakespeare to Pope.'
GOEBEL, Dr. Julius, German Classics as a Means of Education.
GUMMERE, Dr. Francis B., What Place has old English Philology in our Elementary Schools ?
PRIMER, Prof. S., Adjectival and Adverbial Relations; their Influence upon the Government of the Verb.
McELROY, Professor John G. R., The Requirements in English for Admission to College.
STUERZINGER, Professor J. James, Remarks on the Conjugation of the Wallonian Dialect.
VON JAGEMANN, Professor Hans C. G., On the Use of English in Teaching Foreign Languages.
ELLIOTT, Professor A. Marshall, The Realgymnasium Question.
Vol. II, 1886, 297 pp., $2.50.
CARTER, President Franklin, Study of Modern Languages in our Higher Institutions.
SHEPHERD, President Henry F.., l'he Development of English Prose from Elizabeth to Victoria.
FORTIER, Professor Alcée, French Literature in Louisiana.
GARNETT, Professor James M., The Course in English and its Value as a Discipline.
SUPER, Professor 0. B., Some Disputed Points in the Pronunciation of German,
PAINTER, Professor F. V.N., Recent Educational Movements in their Relation to Language Study.
THOMAS, Professor Calvin, The Methods of Wilhelm Scherer as a Critic of Faust.
TODD, Dr. Henry Alfred, Guillaume de Dole: an unpublished Old French Romance.
ELLIOTT, Professor A. Marshall, Speech Mixture in French Canada : I., Indian and French,
Vol. III, 1887, 374 pp., $2.50.
PEPPER, Dr. William, Address of Welcome.
MACALISTER, Professor James, The Study of Modern Literature in the Education of Our Times,
, of -
WHITE, Prof. H. S., The Teaching of a Foreign Literature in Connection with the Seminary System.-
LANG, Professor Henry R., The Face in the Spanish Metaphor.
PRIMER, Professor Sylvester, Charleston's Provincialisms.
FORTIER, Professor Alcee, Bits of Louisiana Folk-Lore.
KROEH, Professor C. F., Methods of Teaching Foreign Languages.
KARSTÉN, Professor Gustaf, Speech Unities and their Rile in Sound Changes and Phonetic Laws.
COLLITZ, Prof. H., Die Herkunft der sogenannten Schwachen Verha der germanischen Sprachen.
SHELDON. Professor Edw. S., Some Specimens of a Canadian French Dialect Spoken in Maine.
GOEBEL, Dr. Julius, On Paul s ' Principien der Sprachgeschichte.'
SHEPHERD, President Henry E., A Study of Lord Macaulay's English.
SMYTH, Professor A. H., American Literature in the Class-room,
Vol. IV, 1888-89, 359 pp., $4.00.
COX, Jacob D., Address of Welcome.
MORRIS, Edward D., The Language and Literature of Wa
EASTON, Morton W., The Rhetorical Tendency in Undergraduate Courses,
WALTER, Edward L., Dante's Paradiso: Cantos xuriv-rxvi.
GARNETT, James M., Notes on Elizabethan Prose.
MCCARE, Thomas, The Geste of Auberi le Bourgoing,
SHEPHERD, Henry E., Some Points in the Study of English Prose Style,
OTTO, Richard, Italo-Keltisches.
GOEBEL, Julius, On the Impersonal Verb.
PAGE, Frederick M., Italian Poetry and Patriotism at the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century.
GREENE, Herbert Eveleth, The Allegory as employed by Spenser, Bunyan, and Swift,
#ISCHER, Frank, The Stressed Vowels in Ælfric's Homilies, Vol. I.
PRIMER, Sylvester, The Huguenot Element in Charleston's Pronunciation.
TODD, Henry Alfred, La Naissance du Chevalier au Cygne.
Vol. V, 1890, 337 pp., $3.50.
ELIOT, Charles W., Address of Welcome.
LOWELL, James Russell, Address.
BELL, Alexander Melville, Phonetics.
JOYNES, Edward S., Reading in Modern Language Study.
MARCOU, Philippe B., Influence of the Weakness of Accent-Stress on Phonetic change in French.
MATZKE, John E., Dialectische Eigenthümlichkeiten in der Entwickelung des Mouillierten ( im
Altfranzössichen.
KENT, Charles W., On the use of the Negative by Chaucer, with particular reference to the particle ne.
GRANDGENT, Charles H., Vowel Measurements.
FRANCKE, Kuno, Modern Ideas in the Middle Ages.
PRIMER, Sylvester, The Pronunciation of Fredericksburg, Va.
SCHMIDT-WARTENBURG, H, M., Ein Tiroler Passionsspiel des Mittelalters.
TOLMAN, ALBERT H., Shakespeare's Part in the Taming of the Shrew.'
DODGE, DANIEL KILHAM, A Bibliography of Danish and Swedish Dictionaries, together with a
Brief Account of Danish Lexicography
PROCEEDINGS FOR 1884, 100 PP.,
1885, 126 pp.,
$1.00
1.00
t
OFFICERS OF
THE MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION
OF AMERICA.
President:
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL,
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
Secretary :
Treasurer:
A. MARSHALL ELLIOTT,
HENRY ALFRED TODD,
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL:
(in addition to the above-named officers).
G. A. BARTLETT,
ALCÉE FORTIER,
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
Tulan. University of Louisiana.
H. S. WHITE,
CHARLES W. KENT,
Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y.
University of Tennessee.
M. CAREY THOMAS,
F. C. WOODWARD,
Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania.
University of South Carolina.
M. B. ANDERSON,
State University of Iowa,
A. GERBER,
JOHN E. MATZKE,
Earlham College, Richmond, Ind.
University of Indiana.
,
PHONETIC SECTION:
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Secretary:
A. MELVILLE BELL,
C. H. GRANDGENT,
Washington, D. C.
Cambridge, Mass.
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President :
Secretary :
E. S. JOYNES,
A, N. VAN DAELI,
Univ. of South Carolina,
Mass. Institute of Technology.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:
H. S. WHITE,
First Vice-President.
C. W. KENT,
Second Vice-President,
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE :
W. M. BASKERVILL,
Vanderbilt University.
M, B. ANDERSON,
Third Vice-Prezident.
WALLER DEERING,
Vanderbilt University.
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