de us to say that he was alive, threatening to slay
us if we did."

Then the King was wroth with those sons, and punished
them as he thought best. And afterwards three weddings were
celebrated.

[The conclusion of this story is somewhat obscure.
Most of the variants represent the Prince as forgiving
his brothers, and allowing them to marry two of the
three princesses, but the present version appears to
keep closer to its original, in which the prince
doubtless married all three. With this story may be
compared: Grimm, No. 166, "Der starke Hans," and No.
91, "Dat Erdmaenneken." See also vol. iii. p. 165,
where a reference is given to the Hungarian story in
Gaal, No. 5--Dasent, No. 55, "The Big Bird Dan," and
No. 56, "Soria Moria Castle" (Asbjoernsen and Moe, Nos.
3 and 2. A somewhat similar story, only the palaces
are in the air, occurs in Asbjoernsen's "Ny Samling,"
No. 72)--Campbell's "Tales of the West Highlands," No.
58--Schleicher's "Litauische Maerchen," No. 38--The
Polish story, Wojcicki, Book iii. No. 6, in which
Norka is replaced by a witch who breaks the windows of
a church, and is wounded, in falcon-shape, by the
youngest brother--Hahn, No. 70, in which a Drakos, as
a cloud, steals golden apples, a story closely
resembling the Russian skazka. See also No. 26, very
similar to which is the Servian Story in "Vuk
Karajich," No. 2--and a very interesting Tuscan story
printed for the first time by A. de Gubernatis,
"Zoological Mythology," vol. ii. p. 187. See also
ibid. p. 391.

But still more important than these are the parallels
offered by Indian fiction. Take, for instance, the
story of Sringabhuja, in chap. xxxix. of book vii. of
the "Kathasaritsagara." In it the elder sons of a
certain king wish to get rid of their younger
half-brother. One day a Rakshasa appears in the form
of a gigantic crane. The other princes shoot at it in
vain, but the youngest wounds it, and then sets off in
pursuit of it, and of the valuable arrow which is
fixed in it. After long wandering he comes to a castle
in a forest. There he finds a maiden who tells him she
is the daughter of the Rakshasa whom, in the form of a
crane, he has wounded. She at once takes his part
against her dem