The Enchanted Princess. Page [238]. (Part viii. p. 138.)
This tale contains a good deal of myth material. Specially interesting is the withering of the trees when the soldier is put to sleep, and their budding forth when South Wind brings him back.
Vassilissa the Cunning, and the Tsar of the Sea. Page [249]. (Part vi. p. 218.)
Vassilissa is written Vasilisa in Russian. I have doubled the s to assist the reader, but regret now that I did not preserve the Russian orthography and call attention to the pronunciation.
Tsar Unchristened Forehead is in the original text, and Tsar of the Sea is given as a variant. I have taken the variant, which is undoubtedly earlier than the name in the text. The battle between beasts and birds in the beginning of the tale is very curious. In Indian mythology struggles between beasts and birds are common; not, however, beasts and birds of the present kind, but the beings who lived before men appeared, and who fell from their former high places, becoming such beasts and birds as those that we see now. The eagle in this story corresponds in character to the mythologic birds before their fall.
It is noteworthy that the struggles for superiority in Indian myths are not carried on through fighting (the usual method in Aryan myths), but through trials of skill, strength, dexterity,—through playing ball, dice, foot-races, wrestling, and shooting. The opponents always bet their heads, and the head of the losing party is cut off without delay.
The “Chekh Myths and Folk-Tales,” except “The Cuirassier and the Horned Princess,” are taken from a work in two parts called, “Folk-Tales,” by J. K. z. Radostova.[10] Prague, 1872.