rom literature, or from oral tradition? Is
the oldest literary version, that of the _Pantschatantra_, more akin to
the _original_ version than some of the others which meet us later?
Finally, might not the idea of wasted wishes occur independently to
minds in different ages and countries, and may not some of the versions
be of independent origin, and in no way borrowed from India? Is there,
indeed, any reason at all for supposing that so simple a notion was
invented, once for all, in India?

It is easy to ask these questions, it is desirable to bear them in mind,
so that we may never lose sight of the complexity and difficulty of the
topic. But it is practically impossible to answer them once for all.

The nature of the problem may now be illustrated by a few examples. In
the story of the _Pantschatantra_, the granter of the wish (there is but
one wish) is a tree-dwelling spirit. A very stupid weaver one day broke
part of his loom. He went out to cut down a tree near the shore, meaning
to fashion it for his purpose, when a spirit, who dwelt in the timber,
cried, 'Spare this tree.' The weaver said he must starve if he did not
get the wood, when the spirit replied, 'Ask anything else you please.'
The barber, being consulted, advised the weaver to wish to be king. The
weaver's wife cried, 'No, stay as you are, but ask for two heads, and
four hands, to do double work.' He got his wish, but was killed by the
villagers, who very naturally supposed him to be a Rakshasa, or ogre.
The moral is enunciated by the barber, 'Let no man take woman's
counsel.' The poor woman's lack of immoderate ambition might seem
laudable to some moralists.

Here the peculiarities are: A tree-ghost grants the wish.

There is only one wish.

It is made on a woman's advice.

It causes the death of the wisher[37].

The story is next found in the various forms of the _Book of Sindibad_,
Greek, Hebrew, Persian, Arabic, and old Spanish, a book mentioned by all
Arabic authors of the tenth century, and of Indian and Buddhistic
origin[38]. As told in the various forms of _Sindibad_, the tale of _The
Three Wishes_ takes this shape. A man has a friendly spirit (a she-devil
in the Spanish _Libro de los Engannos_), who is obliged to desert his
company, but leaves him certain formulae, by dint of repeating which he
will have Three Wishes granted to him. The tree-spirit has disappeared,
the one wish has become three. The man consults with his wife, who
sugg