Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 22, 1911.djvu/518

 482 Collectanea.

to his sister, — " My father and mother have come ; let us go and meet them." They mount a horse together, and ride to the top of a lonely crag. There they dismount, and, as they sit there resting, the girl falls asleep. The brother is loth to kill his sister, so he leaves her there and rides away. But he has previously taken a handkerchief from the girl's bosom, and further on he kills a bird, and dips the kerchief in its blood.

He then goes to his father and mother and says, — " I have killed her, and I have brought you this as a proof" The father and mother come home. The chief makes them believe his story.

After the girl had slept well, she awoke, but there was no sign of brother or anyone. She arose and beat about the thickets, searching for him. She wandered on, and on, until she was lost in the woods. By and by she came to a pond, and near it stood a cedar tree. She climbed to the top of the tree. After some time, she sees the son of the King of Vostan,^ come there hunting. He dismounted beside the pond. The sun cast the shadow of the cedar tree across the pond, and in it the shadow of a person could be discerned. Then the Prince peered among its branches, and saw a figure crouching there. "What are you, man or devil? Come down, or I will bring you down with my bow and arrow," he cried.

Then the girl replied, — " I am no beast nor devil, but a human being like yourself. Why should you shoot me? I will come down, but I have no clothing, and I am a maiden. Take off your cloak, and leave it at the foot of the tree, and, when you with- draw, I will come down and put it on." The girl came down and put on the cloak. The Prince returned, and saw a maiden so beautiful that one would rather gaze upon her than feast upon dainties. He mounted her upon his steed, and took her home with him. After that, what was hunting compared with being with her ? A year or two passed.

The King urges his son, saying, — "Arise, go and see what Princess you like, and I will ask her in marriage for you." The son replies,— " The maiden I brought is the one I wish." The father and mother say, — " Son, who knows who she is, a girl found in the woods ? Does she come of men, of devils, or of what ? "

^Near Lake Van.