Amongst the many stories in which time passes rapidly, see Gilmour, Among the Mongols, "The Wizard," p. 344; Ralston, Russian Folk-Tales, p. 304; Baring-Gould, Curious Myths, "The Seven Sleepers," p. 93; and Friis, "Troldkjaerringen og Jes," from Swedish Lapmark, p. 38.
In the Lapp tale, Friis, No. 45, swan-maids come and steal the corn, and the two elder sons fail to catch the thieves, Gudnavirus (Ashiepattle) the youngest, succeeding in doing so.
Page [99]. Concerning the bird enticing the boy, cf. the bird that steals the jewel in "Kemerezzam and Budour," in Payne's Arabian Nights, vol. iii. p. 157.
Cf. also Rink, Tales of the Eskimo, "The Sun and the Moon," p. 236; S. ja T., i., "Lippo ja Tapio," from Ilomantsi, p. 6; and Friis, Nos. 44 and 45.
In some other Magyar tales a lame wolf or a lame eagle takes the woodpecker's place. Cf. Gaal, "Többsinsckirályfi" ("Prince Non-such"). In a Bohemian story it is a limping cock-pigeon, see Vernaleken, p. 359.
Page [101]. Numerous incidents in folk-tales bear on the widespread superstition against looking (or going) back after setting out on a journey.
Cf. Friis, "Ulta-Pigen," where a lad is returning home with his bride; the girl warns him not to look back but he does, and lo! there is a great herd of beasts his wife's parents have given him. The moment he turned all those outside of the gate vanished; in "Jætten og Veslegutten," the lad fools the giant, because he dare not look back; and in "Bondesønnen og Solens Søster," the hero stumbles and falls and so sees behind him and in a moment the king's town and palaces disappear.
See also Rink, Tales of the Eskimo, "The Revived who came to the underground people," p. 300; Hofberg, Svenska Sägner, "Soåsafrun"; Stokes, Indian Fairy Tales, "The Bél Princess," pp. 140, 283; and Gregor, Folk-Lore of North-East Scotland, Folk-Lore Society, 1881, p. 91.
A Lincolnshire labouring man, when I lived in the north of the county, told me he knew a wizard who wished to mend the road that led to his house across a field. He ordered one of his men to take a cartful of stones and a rake and to set off to mend the road, which was to be done as follows. The cart was to be taken to the far side of the field, and driven slowly along the road that needed mending, but the man was under no circumstances to look back. He did as he was ordered, but there was such a noise behind him that when he had got nearly over the field he looked round, and lo! there were thousands of devils at work, who disappeared the moment he looked round, and the road is not done yet.
In the same part of Lincolnshire, one day when a lady had gone out with a child to be baptized she turned back as she had forgotten something; when she entered the house one of the servants begged her to sit down before she went out again or something terrible would happen. The same superstition exists in Holderness, Finland, Hungary, Algeria, and Sweden.