ueller believed that the story of the "Master Thief" had its
origin in the Sanscrit droll of "The Brahman and the Goat" (Hitopadesa,
IV, 10 = Panchatantra, III, 3), which was brought to Europe through the
Arabic translation of the "Hitopadesa." Further, he did not believe
that the "Master Thief" story had anything to do with Herodotus's
account of the theft of Rhampsinitus's treasure (see Chips from a
German Workshop [New York, 1869], 2 : 228). Wilhelm Grimm, however,
in his notes to No. 192 of the "Kinder- und Hausmaerchen," says,
"The well-known story in Herodotus (ii, 121) ... is nearly related
to this." As Sir G. W. Cox remarks (op. cit., p. 98), it is not easy
to discern any real affinity either between the Hitopadesa tale and
the European traditions of the "Master Thief," or between the latter
and the "Rhampsinitus" story. M. Cosquin seems to see at least one
point of contact between the two cycles: "The idea of the episode
of the theft of the horse, or at least of the means which the thief
uses to steal the horse away .... might well have been borrowed from
Herodotus's story ... of Rhampsinitus" (Contes de Lorraine, 2 : 277).

A brief analysis of the characteristic incidents of these two
"thieving" cycles will be of some assistance, perhaps, in determining
whether or not there were originally any definite points of contact
between the two. The elements of the "Rhampsinitus" story follow:--

A Two sons of king's late architect plan to rob the royal
treasure-house.

(A1 In some variants of the story the robbers are a town thief and
a country thief.)

A2 They gain an entrance by removing a secret stone, a knowledge of
which their father had bequeathed them before he died.

B The king discovers the theft, and sets a snare for the robbers.

C Robbers return; eldest caught inextricably. To prevent discovery,
the younger brother cuts off the head of the older, takes it away,
and buries it.

D The king attempts to find the confederate by exposing the headless
corpse on the outer wall of the palace.

D1 The younger thief steals the body by making the guards drunk. He
also shaves the right side of the sleeping guards' beards.

E King makes second attempt to discover confederate. He sends his
daughter as a common courtesan, hoping that he can find the thief;
for she is to require all her lovers to tell the story of their lives
before enjoying her favors.

E1 The younger thief visits her and tells his story;