At this point, though much still remains to be said, I will for the present bring my remarks to a close. Incomplete as is the account I have given of the Skazkas, it may yet, I trust, be of use to students who wish to compare as many types as possible of the Popular Tale. I shall be glad if it proves of service to them. I shall be still more glad if I succeed in interesting the general reader in the tales of the Russian People, and through them, in the lives of those Russian men and women of low degree who are wont to tell them, those Russian children who love to hear them.
FOOTNOTES:
[424] Afanasief, Legendui, p. 6.
[425] These two stories are quoted by Buslaef, in a valuable essay on “The Russian Popular Epos.” “Ist. Och.” i. 438. Another tradition states that the dog was originally “naked,” i.e., without hair; but the devil, in order to seduce it from its loyalty, gave it a shuba, or pelisse, i.e., a coat of hair.
[426] Buslaef, “Ist. Och,” i. 147, where the Teutonic equivalents are given.
[427] Tereshchenko, v. 48. For a German version of the story, see the KM., No. 124, “Die Kornähre.”
[428] Afanasief, P.V.S. i. 482.
[429] Afanasief, Legendui, p. 19.
[430] Tereshchenko, v. p. 45. Some of these legends have been translated by O. von. Reinsberg-Düringsfeld in the “Ausland,” Dec. 9, 1872.
[431] According to a Bohemian legend the Devil created the mouse, that it might destroy “God’s corn,” whereupon the Lord created the cat.