Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 3, 1892.djvu/39

Rh age of seven fallen into a death-in-life condition, her body is enclosed in seven crystal coffers by her mother, and is locked up in a room. The mother dies, leaving her house and all her belongings to her brother, whom she strictly charges to let no one enter the locked room. The brother lays the charge upon his wife, but she, of course, no sooner his back turned, has no first thought save to enter the forbidden chamber. Her reflections contrast amusingly with those of Guildeluec. Some may think them more legitimate as well as more natural: "Well done, Mr. Keep-your-troth, Mr. Clean out- and dirty in-side, so this was the cause of your precious anxiety to let no one in, this is your idol which you needs come and worship daily." After which, having by her violence caused the enchanted comb which kept the maiden entranced to drop out, and thereby brought her back to life, she treated her worse than a slave. Finally, in a Roumanian version (Schott, 6), otherwise closely akin to Schneewittchen, the heroine, blinded by her mother, is healed by the Virgin, even as Guilliadun is brought back to life by Guildeluec.

These few examples show more likeness between the two narratives than one could guess from the study of Schneewittchen alone. Still one cannot say that these parallels carry us very far, and as a matter of fact no one ever thought of comparing märchen with lai. The greatest of living storyologists, Dr. Reinhold Köhler, has annotated both Eliduc and the Sicilian versions of Little Snow-White, and in neither case did he attempt to connect the two stories.

When, nearly twelve years ago, I read my first paper before the Folk-lore Society—that critical examination of Campbell's collection which contained the germ of all the scientific work I have been able to accomplish since—I noticed the absence of the Schneewittchen formula from the Gaelic märchen store. It was therefore with profound interest that in 1888 I noted a Scotch-Gaelic version collected by Mr. Kenneth Macleod, printed by my friend