ent countries and different
languages; thus the Tree Rhyme is found in the _Archivio_ (Cox, p.
139) and in Ive (p. 265), in Bechstein (p. 166), and in Grimm (p.
222), and in Hahn (p. 244), and Moe (p. 322), each pair having
practically identical rhymes. Thus we have the existence of a Tree
Rhyme, shown in Italy and Germany, Greece and Denmark. So, too, the
Feet Rhyme is found in Scotland and Denmark, Germany and Brittany. It
is scarcely possible to doubt that all these came from one original
form of the story in which similar rhymes occurred at the same stage
of the narrative. The possibility of such coincidences arising
casually may fairly be regarded as out of the question.

The subordinate incidents growing out of these essential elements of
the formula are of course more flexible, but the Shoe Marriage Test
itself involves some remarkable dresses used to disguise the identity
of the Cinder Maid at her meetings with the hero, and this again
involves, though not so directly, a series of metal carriages. The
Pursuit Rhyme might easily give rise to the expedients of the Honey
and Tar Traps though these do not occur in very many of the variants.
I have never-the-less inserted them for the sake of the children if
not for that of Folk-Lore Science.

Thus, from what may be called the artistic logic of the Cinderella
story, one is enabled to reconstitute its original formula somewhat as
follows:

Noble Father--Single Daughter--Mother's Death--Tree Planted on
Mother's Grave--Second Marriage--Two Ugly Step-Sisters--Menial
Heroine--Cinder-Maid--Prince Coming of Age--Royal Ball--Step-Sisters
Dressing--Tree Rhyme--Bird Aid--Magic Dress (blue heaven with
stars)--Copper Chariot from Tree--Copper Shoes--Caution Rhyme--Ball
Success--Pursuit Rhyme--Step-Sisters' Envy--Second Ball--Magic Dress
(golden brown earth with flowers)--Silver Chariot--Silver Shoes--Honey
trap--Pursuit Rhyme--Third Ball--Magic Dress (green sea with
waves)--Golden Chariot--Golden Slippers--Tar Trap (lost shoe)--Time
Expired--Shoe Marriage Test--Mutilated Foot--Feet Rhyme (_bis_)--Happy
Marriage.

It is in accordance with the above formula that the version presented
in the preceding pages has been written, the rhymes being, in most
cases, compounded from the various renderings given in Miss Cox's
volume. I have only added the Caution Rhyme about returning at
midnight, which is in prose in the versions; it would be incongruous
for the little bird to change h