Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 5, 1894.djvu/135

 The Roman van Walewein. ^ 127

alteration in the general scheme. Even in the shorter French tales, such as those of Marie de France, it would be hard to find as close an observance of the proportions of a common " fairy-story" as is to be found in the construction of the romance of Walewein.

I take advantage of the blank page to add a few notes to Prof. Ker's interesting paper. In Prof. G. Stephens' monograph on the " grateful dead" incident (Sir Amadace, Cheapinghaven, i860), the oldest example he cites is a middle thirteenth century Swedish translation of a French legend, the hero of which is Pippin. If, as may be reason- ably assumed, the "Walewein" represents a French original of the late twelfth or early thirteenth century, the present example is as old, and may be older. Moreover, it is here connected with a "task" story, as is the case with most of the examples of the theme collected in the British Isles.

The stepmother transformation (p. 123) is an interesting instance of the counterspell so characteristic of the Celtic folk-tale. As a rule, the " villain" is transfomied at the end as a punishm.ent.

Prof. Ker's remarks on the role of the hero in folk-tales and in romance are weighty. They afford another argument in favour of the contention : "the folk-tale underlies the romance, the romance does not originate the folk-tale". — A. N.