Page:Grimm's Household Tales, vol.1.djvu/68

 away from. their relatives. Like Hänsel and Grethel they fall into the hands of cannibals, and escape by a ruse. Ip their flight they are carried over the water, neither by a ram nor a beaver, but by a white duck.

Here, then, we see how widely diffused are the early ideas and incidents of the Jason cycle. We see, too, that they are consistent with the theory of a savage origin, if cannibalism be a savage practice, and if belief in talking and protective animals be a savage belief.

The Jason myth proceeds from the incidents of the flight of the children, and enters a new cycle of ideas and events. We come to incidents which may be arranged thus:


 * 1) The attempt to evade prophecy. (Compare Zulu Tales, p. 41).
 * 2) The arrival of the true heir.
 * 3) Endeavour to get rid of the heir by setting him upon a difficult or impossible adventure. (Callaway's Zulu Tales p. 170).
 * 4) The hero starts on the adventure, accompanied by friends possessed of miraculous powers. (Compare Kalewala).

In the Jason Legend the true heir is Jason himself. His uncle, Pelias, the usurper of his kingdom, has been warned by prophecy to guard against a one-shoe'd man. Jason has lost one shoe crossing the river. His uncle, to get rid of him, sends him to seek, in far away Colchis, the golden fleece of the talking ram. He sets forth in a boat with a talking figure-head, and accompanied by heroes of supernatural strength, and with magical powers of seeing, hearing, and flying.

All these inventions are natural, and require no comment. The companions of the hero, "Quick Sight," "Fine Ear" and the rest, are well known in European Household Tales, where their places are occasionally taken by