Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 25, 1914.djvu/530

496 She said: "Why did you not come?" He answered: "I killed you just now, and here you are again!" So she gave food to him and his comrades. When they had eaten she said: "Come, let us go back to our own country. Once you saved my life by not shooting me, and now I have saved your life in return." When she had said this she became a doe again. The man who had been a frog and the man who had been a snake took their original forms again, and the man went home.

[The saving of the doe's life savours of Buddhism or Jainism. The tale seems to be imperfect because the companions do little in the story. For numerous variants of the friendly animals which assist the hero see J. A. Macculloch, The Childhood of Fiction, pp. 225 sqq. The tasks performed with the wife's aid is a common incident.]

Matsuo used to rob the children of their food every day, until at last they told their parents. Then the parents took counsel to kill Matsuo, and they said: "What shall we do with him?" He said: "Shut me up in a box and fling me into the river. That will be the last of me." They did so, and when he was floating down the river he saw two girls fishing. He said: "If you will let me out, I will fill your baskets with fish." So the girls let him out, and as they were crossing the river he filled their baskets with dirt. Then the girls said in the village: "Matsuo has made a fool of us!" So Matsuo came back to his own village and began to rob the children as before. The parents, when they heard of his doings, said: "What shall we do with this rascal?" He said: "Pile a lot of thatch over me and set it alight. That will punish me." They did so, and the whole village was burnt down. But Matsuo escaped safe and sound.

[Mr. E. Sidney Hartland compares Uncle Remus, "Bred and born in a briar patch."]

Once there was an orphan boy who was very poor. He went to the Chief's village and heard that he had a daughter fit to be