e original
reading of MSS. or by the Higher Critics in recovering the J.
narrative of Joseph or the E. narrative of Lot. But I think I have
shown that the incidents selected by me are those which are
necessitated by the artistic logic of the Shoe Marriage Test which
forms the decisive incident in the Cinder-Maid formula. Where the
majority of the incidents contained in the reconstruction occurred in
the same order in far distant countries it is practically impossible
to imagine that the resemblance is due to chance. Nor is it pertinent
to point out that the separate incidents occur equally widespread in
connection with other formulae, since it must not be forgotten that no
folk teller ever indulges in a single incident; he tells a tale of
many incidents. At the same time it is obvious that a series of
incidents may be transferred appropriately (or inappropriately) from
one tale to another; and this has occurred with the Cinderella tales,
as is shown abundantly in Miss Cox's notes. It is thus quite easy for
a folk teller, who is familiar with other stories, to introduce an
analogous set of incidents in the Cinder-Maid formula, just as Rob
Roy's son can introduce variations of an air when playing the
bagpipes; but the air remains the same throughout.

If the formula I have reconstructed for the Cinder-Maid compares at
all with the original, one ought to be able to take any variant and
see where the teller of it has diverged from the original, inserted
new incidents or adopted new ones to local conditions. When one reads
over Miss Cox's variants one can often discern such additions or
variations introduced by the fancy of the teller. It is even possible
that in Cinderella itself the original folk artist who conceived it
made use of the Catskin formula to embellish the details of the three
meetings of the lovers; even in my own telling I fear there may be
traces of the same process. There is still doubt whether the bird in
the hazel tree was meant to represent the soul of the mother in whom,
we may even say, there is a double identification involved, as in the
Golden Bough. The tree rising from the mother's grave is obviously
connected spiritually with her; the relation of the bird in the tree
to the Cinder-Maid also implies a similar relation to the mother. In
my telling of the tale I have purposely avoided emphasizing this,
which might lead to inconvenient questionings from the little ones. In
the scheme of the story the