[5] See Vol. I, pp. 224 and 576, and p. 268 of the present volume. To the parallels quoted by Ralston may be added, Prym and Socin’s Syrische Sagen, p. 116; Bernhard Schmidt’s Griechische Märchen, p. 94; and Coelho’s Contos Portuguezes, p. 63.
[6] Cp. Hagen’s Helden-Sagen, Vol. II, pp. 341, 342. Here Hagen steals the clothes of some Meerweiber, who were bathing in the Danube; in this way he induces the elder of the two to prophesy the fate of himself and his companions at the court of Attila. In the Russian story of Vasilissa the Wise (Ralston’s Russian Folk-Tales, p. 126,) the hero steals Vasilissa’s shift. She promises to do him good service if he gives it back, which he does. She turned into a spoonbill and flew away after her companions. (See Ralston’s remarks on p. 120.) We find the incident of stealing the robes of bathing nymphs in Prym and Socin’s Syrische Sagen und Märchen, p. 116; in Waldau’s Böhmische Märchen, p. 250; Veckenstedt’s Wendische Märchen, pp. 119–130; Gonzenbach’s Sicilianische Märchen, Part I, p. 31, (with Köhler’s notes). In the above tales the dress stolen is what our great folk-lore authority terms a “plumage-robe.”
The Nereids in modern Greek stories are swan-maidens; see Bernhard Schmidt’s Griechische Märchen und Sagen, p. 134. The subject of Swan Maidens is thoroughly worked out by Baring Gould in his Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, New edition, pp. 561–578. See also Benfey’s Panchatantra, Vol. I, pp. 263 and ff. He expresses his firm conviction that tales of this kind will be found in Indian collections.
[7] Or possibly, “clothed in moisture.”
[8] The three India Office MSS. read sam̱stavád.
[9] Cp. Vol. I, p. 250; and for what follows p. 230 of the same volume.
[10] Cp. p. 8 of this volume and the note there. In Sagas from the Far East there is a story of a gold-spitting prince. In Gonzenbach’s Sicilianische Märchen, Quaddaruni’s sister drops pearls and precious stones from her hair whenever she combs it. Dr. Köhler in his note on this tale gives many European parallels. In a Swedish story a gold ring falls from the heroine’s mouth whenever she speaks, and in a Norwegian story gold coins. I may add to the parallels quoted by Dr. Köhler, No. 36 in Coelho’s Contos Portuguezes, in which tale pearls drop from the heroine’s mouth.
[11] All the India Office MSS. read ’dyápi for yo ’pi and two seem to read ápátane. I find ápatana in the Petersburg lexicon, but not ápátana. I have translated the passage loosely so as to make a good sense. The Sanskrit College MS. gives a reading which exactly suits my translation; Sachandrárdhaḥ Śivo ’dyápi Harir yaś cha sakaustubhaḥ Tattayorvedmi kuṭṭanyá gochar ápatane phalam.
[12] More literally “smeared with blood and relishing it.” Böhtlingk and Roth seem to think rasat refers to some noise made by the swords.
[13] All the India Office MSS. read bhitam for the bhímam of Brockhaus’s text.