Besides those which have been spoken of, not a few other criterions of chastity occur in romantic tales.
Bed clothes and bed. 'Gil Brenton,' A, B; the corresponding Swedish ballad, A, B, E; Danish, Grundtvig, No 275:[247] see pp 64, 65, of this volume.
A stepping-stone by the bed-side. 'Vesle Aase Gaasepige,' Asbjørnsen og Moe, No 29: see p. 66.
A chair in which no leal maiden can sit, or will sit till bidden (?). 'Gil Brenton,' D, C.
Flowers [foliage]. 1. In the Sanskrit story of Guhasena, the merchant's son, and Devasmitá, this married pair, who are to be separated for a time, receive from Shíva each a red lotus: if either should be unfaithful, the lotus in the hand of the other would fade, but not otherwise: Kathá Sarit Ságara, ch. 13, Tawney, I, 86, Brockhaus, I, 137. 2. In the Tales of a Parrot, a soldier, going into service, receives from his wife a rose [flower, nosegay], which will keep fresh as long as she remains true: Rosen, Tuti-nameh, from the Turkish version, I, 109; Wickerhauser, also from the Turkish, p. 57; Iken, p. 30,[248] from the Persian of Kadiri. 3. So the knight Margon in the French romance of Perceforest, vol. IV, ch. 16 and 17. 4. In a Turkish tale found in a manuscript collection called 'Joy after Sorrow,' an architect or housewright, having to leave home for want of employment, is presented by his wife with a bunch of evergreen of the same property. 5. An English story of a wright reverts to the rose. A widow, having nothing else to give with her daughter, presents the bridegroom with a rose-garland, which will hold its hue while his wife is "stable:" 'The Wright's Chaste Wife,' by Adam of Cobsam, from a manuscript of about 1462, ed. Furnivall.[249]
A shirt [mantle]. 1. In connection with the same incidents there is substituted for the unfading flower, in Gesta Romanorum, 69, a shirt. This a knight's wife gives to a carpenter or housewright who has married her daughter, and it will not need washing, will not tear, wear, or change color, as long as both husband and wife are faithful, but will lose all its virtues if either is untrue. The shirt is given by a wife to a husband in several versions of an otherwise different story. 2. In the German meistergesang and the Flemish tale Alexander of Metz: Körner, Historische Volkslieder, p. 49, No 8; Goedeke, Deutsche Dichtung im Mittelalter, 2d ed., p. 569 ff; 'De Historia van Florentina,' etc., Van den Bergh, De nederlandsche Volksromaus, p. 52 f. 3. In the story 'Von dem König von Spanien[250] und seiner Frau,' Müllenhoff, Sagen, u. s. w., p. 586, No 607, a wife gives the shirt to her husband the morning after the wedding: it will always be white until she dies, when it will turn black, or unless she misbehaves, in which case it will be spotted. 4. 'Die getreue Frau,' Plönnies, in Wolf's Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie,' II, 377. An English princess gives her consort, a Spanish prince, at parting, a white shirt which will not spot as long as she is faithful. 5. 'Die treue Frau,' Curtze, Volksüberlieferungen aus Waldeck, p. 146. A merchant's son, married to a princess, goes away for a voyage; they change rings and shirts, and neither shirt will soil until one of the two shall be untrue. 6. 'Die getreue Frau,' J. W. Wolf, Deutsche Hausmärchen, at p. 102. A prince, going on a voyage, gives his sword to his wife; as long as the blade is not spotted, he is faithful. He receives from the princess a mantle; as long as it is white, her faith is inviolate.
A picture. For the rose, as in Perceforest, there is substituted, in a story otherwise essentially the same, a picture. A knight, compelled to leave his wife, receives from a magician a picture of her, small enough to carry in a box about his person, which will turn yellow if she is tempted, pale if she wavers, black if she yields, but will otherwise preserve its fresh hues: Bandello, Part I, nov. 21. This tale, translated in Painter's Palace of Pleasure, 1567 (ed. Haslewood, II, 471, nov. 28), furnished the plot for Massinger's 'Picture,' 1630. The miniature will keep its color as long as the woman is innocent and unattempted, will grow yellow if she is solicited but unconquered, and black if she surrenders: Act I, Scene 1. Bandello's story is also the foundation of Sénecé's tale, 'Filer le parfait amour,' with a wax image taking the place of the picture: Œuvres Choisies, ed. Charles et Cap, p. 95.[251]
A ring. The picture is exchanged for a ring in a French tale derived, and in parts almost translated, from Bandello's: the sixth in 'Les Faveurs et les Disgraces de l'Amour,' etc., said to have appeared in 1696.[252] A white stone set in the ring may become yellow or black under circumstances. Such a ring Rimnild gave Horn Child: when the stone should grow wan, her thoughts would have changed; should it grow red, she is no more a maid: see p. 192. A father, being required to leave three daughters, gives them each such a ring in Basile, Pentamerone, III, 4. The rings are changed into glass distaffs in 'L'Adroite Princesse,' an imitation of this story by Mlle. Lhéritier de Villaudon, which has sometimes been printed with Perrault's tales: Perrault, Contes des Fées, ed. Giraud, p. 239; Dunlop, ch. 13.
A mirror, in the History of Prince Zeyn Alasnam, reflecting the image of a chaste maid, will remain unblurred: Arabian Nights, Scott, IV, 120, 124; 1001 Nacht, Habicht, VI, 146, 150; etc. Virgil made a mirror of like property; it exposed the woman that was "new-fangle," wandelmüetic, by the ignition of a "worm" in the glass: Meisterlieder der Kolmarer Handschrift, Bartsch, p. 605 (Warnatsch). There is also one of these mirrors in Primaleon, l. ii, cap. 27; Rajna, Le Fonti dell' Orlando Furioso, p. 504, note 3. Alfred de Musset, in 'Barberine,' substitutes a pocket-mirror for the picture in Bandello, Part I, nov. 21: Œuvres Complètes, III, 378 ff.
A harp, in the hands of an image, upon the approach of a despucellée, plays out of tune and breaks a string: Perceval le Gallois, II, 149, vv 13, 365-72 (Rajna, as above).