pisode of Nala
and Damayanti we have the assemblage of suitors, and the public choice
of a husband by a princess (_svayamvara_). Damayanti recognizes the
mortal Nala among the gods, (each of whom has made himself resemble
Nala) from the fact that the flowers of which Nala's garlands were
composed had faded while the garlands of the gods were blooming
freshly. In a story from Manipuri told by Mr. G. H. Damant in the
_Indian Antiquary_, September 1875, vol. IV. p. 260, Prince Basanta,
effectually disguised by misery, and travel-stained, arrives with the
merchant at a certain place where the king's daughter that day is to
choose her husband. The merchant takes his seat among the princely
suitors; Basanta a little way off. There is a general storm of
scoffings when the princess hangs her garland of flowers round
Basanta's neck. In one of Laura Gonzenbach's Sicilian stories, "Von
einem muthigen Koenigssohn, der viele Abenteuer erlebte," vol. II. p.
21, we have three kings' sons (brothers) and three princesses
(sisters.) The two elder brothers marry the two elder sisters. At a
tournament held on purpose that she may choose her husband, the
youngest sister, to the general disgust, chooses the youngest prince
(disguised as the dirty, ill-dressed servant of the court tailor), and
who is not even present as a suitor. Her suitors, princes, have passed
before her for three days. After the marriage the prince keeps up the
disguise. His brothers by way of amusing themselves at his expense
take "Stupid Peppe," as they call him, to the wood to shoot birds; he
shoots a great number, while they run here and there and cannot find
one. They agree to let him brand them with black spots on their
shoulders, on condition he gives them his birds. In the notes to this
story, vol. II. p. 240. Herr Koehler gives Spanish, Russian, South
Siberian, and others parallels. And in Stier's _Ungarische
Volksmaerchen_, p. 61, in the story of "Weissnittle," we have not only
the hero-horse mentioned in paragraph 4 of these notes, but also the
assemblage of suitors for the princess to choose her husband: her
choice of a seemingly stupid gardener's boy, who has partially
revealed himself to her; the prince retaining his disguise, after his
marriage, towards every one, even his wife: two brothers-in-law, who
are kings' sons and the wife's elder sisters' husbands; their hunting
on three different days, each time meeting a handsome prince in whom
they do not recog