Two Sinhalese stories not unlike our [No. 38] are given by Parker,—“The Three Questions” (1 : 150–152), “The Four Difficult Questions” (153–154).
[40].
Page 299, “Pitong.” In a Oaxaca story (Radin-Espinosa, 204, No. 104) occur the abandoned-children opening, corn-trail, fruit-trail, ogre’s house, advice of rat, ogre pushed in oven. A Chile version of “Le Petit Poucet” is “Piñoncito” (Saunière, 262). The following American Indian versions are noticed by Thompson (361–365): Thompson River (3), Shuswap (2), Ojibwa, Maliseet, Ponka, Bellacoola, Mewan, Uintah Ute.
[45].
For a Negro (Bahamas) version of “Cinderella,” see MAFLS 13, No. 17; for American Indian versions, Thompson, 384–385.
[47].
Compare a Negro story from the Bahamas (MAFLS 13, No. 14); also a Sinhalese tale, “The Roll of Cotton” (Parker, 1 : 364–366, No. 69), in which the two women are sisters.
[48].
Two Hindoo (Sinhalese) versions of the “Puss-in-Boots” cycle are Parker, No. 49 (1 : 278–283) and No. 235 (3 : 243–248). These are of extreme importance in trying to establish the provenience of our stories: for in both the helpful animal is a monkey; both contain the incident of the borrowed measure, the incident of the killing of the demon by the monkey (obscure but unmistakable in No. 49) and the claiming of the monster’s palace as his master’s; in both the monkey marries his master to a king’s daughter. These two stories differ from ours in the conclusion: the master proves ungrateful, and the faithful monkey runs off into the forest. Again, too, in the opening, these two Sinhalese stories differ from ours: the monkey’s gratitude is not motivated; the animal is not a thieving animal, hence there is no tar-baby device.
Page 336, Tar-Baby. For the distribution of the “Tar-Baby” story among the American Indians, see Boas (JAFL 25 : 249), supplemented by Thompson (444–446). For Negro versions, see MAFLS 13 : Nos. 10, 11, 12; JAFL 30 : 171, 222; Thompson, 440. Other American versions are Mexico (JAFL 29 : 549); Guatemala (JAFL 31 : 472 f.); Oaxaca (Radin-Espinosa, 120–121, 183, 197; JAFL 25 : 200, 201, 235–236).