was and the magician to be drowned in
the sea."[8]

Of almost equal popularity is the story of the "Forty Thieves," who are,
however, in the Italian versions, reduced to thirteen, twelve, or six in
number. The versions in Pitre (No. 23 and variants) contain but one
incident of the original story, where the robbers are detected in the
oil-jars, and killed by pouring boiling oil over them. In one of Pitre's
versions the robbers are hidden in sacks of charcoal, and the cunning
daughter pierces the bags with a red-hot spit. In another, they are
hidden in oil-skins, and sold to the abbess of a certain convent for
oil. One of the nuns has some suspicion of the trick, and invites her
companions to tap the skins with red-hot irons. Another Sicilian version
(Gonz. No. 79, "The Story of the Twelve Robbers") contains the first
part of the Arabian tale, the robbers' cave which opens and closes by
the words, "Open, door!" and "Shut, door!" The story ends with the death
of one of the brothers, who entered the cave and was killed by one of
the robbers who had remained. It is only in the version from Mantua
(Visentini, No. 7, "The Cunning Maid") that we find the story complete;
boiling water is used instead of oil in killing the thieves, and the
servant girl afterwards kills the captain, who had escaped before. The
story of the "Third Calendar" is told in detail in Comparetti (No. 65,
"The Son of the King of France") and the "Two Envious Sisters" furnishes
details for a number of distinct stories.[9] The story of "The
Hunchback" is found in Pitre and Straparola, and as it is also the
subject of an Old-French _fabliau_, it may have been borrowed from the
French, or, what is more likely, both French and Italians took it from a
common source.[10] The fable of "The Ass, the Ox, and the Peasant,"
which the Vizier relates to prevent his daughter becoming the Sultan's
wife, is found in Pitre (No. 282) under the title of "The Curious Wife,"
and is also in Straparola.[11] The beautiful story of "Prince Ahmed and
the fairy Peribanu" is found in Nerucci, No. 40, "The Three Presents, or
the Story of the Carpets." The three presents are the magic telescope
that sees any distance, the carpet that carries one through the air, and
the magic grapes that bring to life. The Italian version follows closely
the Oriental original. The same may be said of another story in the same
collection, No. 48, "The Traveller from Turin," which is nothing but
Sindbad'