Page:Grimm's household tales, volume 2 (1884).djvu/479

Rh Musäus in part 1, The Three Sisters, the notes to which should be consulted. See The Three Enchanted Princes, Pentamerone (4. 3).

From Müllenhoff, No. 5, p. 391. This is an excellent tale, both as regards matter and completeness. The oft-told recognition of the true bride is beautifully described. In Swedish, see Cavallius, p. 320; in Danish, Molbech, p. 88.

From Friedmund Arnim, p. 22. Another but inferior version is to be found in Wolf's Hausmärchen, p. 65, Die schlechten Kameraden.

From Hesse. There is a similar story from the neighbourhood of Bernburg, in Adolf Gutbier's Deutsches Sprachbuch. (Augsb. 1853), 843. The little hen finds a little key among the cinders, and the little cock finds a little box. They open it, and a small red silk fur-coat is inside it. If the fur-coat had but been longer, the story would have been longer too.

Of these stories the first seven were obtained from the neighbourhood of Paderborn through the kindness of the Harthaus family, to which we are indebted for so much that is contained in this collection. They are stories applied to sacred history, which, like many folklore rhymes have grown into popular beliefs. Thus, for instance, it is believed that on every Saturday the sun shines once; or every Friday the Mother of God walks through Purgatory, and then the unhappy souls come and kiss the hem of her robe, and weep so much that it is quite wet. Therefore on Saturday the sun shines once to dry it again. Also that when the Virgin Mary crosses the mountains, small flowers of a particular kind spring up in great profusion. These are called the Virgin's slippers (Lady's slippers) because she has crossed the mountains in them. Every year God looks down from Heaven three times, and if he then sees any one sitting idle, that man may sit idle as long as he lives, and yet have enough to live on, and no need to provide for the morrow, but he who happens to be working just then, will have to work all the days of his life. This is why