Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 27, 1916.djvu/363

Rh geschichte aus dem fünfzehnten Jahrhundert. The oldest print is: J. StiasskyStiassny [sic], Prag, 1798. Many times reprinted after this. Even the German tale is not original: its source was an article by Prof. J. A. Eberhard in the Berlinische Monatschrift, i. 1783, p. 3, speaking of the tale according to Nagel's Dissertatio historico-metaphysica de celebri spectro weisse Frau, 1743, with an addendum by Prof. Gedicke, giving the life of Bertha v. Rosenberg according to Balbín. The German work has a story of Bohemian history from Jesuit sources. The story is much corrupted in these popular versions. Miloslav's "White Lady" in the Česká Včela of May 6, 1842, p. 141, No. 36, sings of the servant returning from her sweetheart to find the White Lady sitting by the cradle. This is from the story of the White Lady at the Cradle of Peter Vok von Rosenberg, and it is taken from Balbín. Boieldieu's play, performed at Prague in 1853, has nothing to do with this White Lady. Grillparzer's Ahnfrau appeared in Spott's version in 1854. This has only the name Bertha in common with our story, and she is Berta von Borotin. He based his play on Kristina B. Naubert's Die weisse Frau, a working up of Eberhard's article.

Jos. Pečírek's White Lady: a National tale, 1859, is an original and artistic compilation, under Balbín's influence. The tale of the establishment of the "sweet pap," and of the refusal of it by the besieger of Rosenberg are given. Even the incident of the treasure being shown to the disguised Peter Vok von Rosenberg by his ancestress appears here. Cf J. Wenig, Kytice pověstí, 1811, p. 54 note, for some parallels pointing to a common literary source.

J. K. Hraše gives one of the episodes in "Tales from S. Bohemia," in Hvězda, iii. 1861, No. 36, p. 584 n., No. 37, p. 599 n. But this is not a folk-tale. Another version in Babiččina vypravování, 1880, p. 149.

In the seventies appears the anonymous romance, ''The White Lady and the Last Knight of Hohenstein, or the Gipsy's Prophecy. A noteworthy historical romance of the time of the Reformation, with pictures''. Prague, 2 vols., no date. Its heroine is Jitka v. Hohenstein. This is a complicated version of the story, and shows traces of incidents taken from J. Müller's Erzählungen und Sagen des Taborer Kreises, pt. 2, Die Burgkapelle von Borotin. The White Lady incident is not central in this worthless book, but