Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 3 1885.djvu/204

 196 which in most of the tales of this type varies but slightly in its circumstances. A few differences may, however, be noted. In the Swabian story the heroine's sister plays a part, in endeavouring to dissuade her from opening the Forbidden Chamber, which is not very usual in fairy-tales. Generally the heroine's sisters lead her into mischief, as for example in stories of the Cupid and Psyche group; and in at least one version of the tale we are now considering a sister plays the same unlucky part and slinks away when the disobedience is discovered. But the faithful sister who advises obedience represents the friends who in Perrault's tale by their presence retard the gratification of the heroine's curiosity. In the Tuscan story of "The Three Cauliflowers" little lap-dog appears and protests against the opening of the closet which contains the dead wives; but the heroine's two sisters, who preceded her in the economy of the Mago's household, if not in his affections, having come to grief through disregarding these protests, the heroine is applauded for putting the dog to death to prevent his telling tales of her. In another Tuscan tale the monster distinctly threatens that the bitch, which is the only servant in his castle, will tell him if his wife disobey. The heroine in the Icelandic story of "A Giant Tricked," seeking for a certain little dog, finds him lying before the door of a room which the giant forbids her to enter; but in this case the dog himself offers no opposition.

The contents of the chamber are usually, as in the typical tale, the monster's previous wives. They are not always dead; sometimes only their heads are found; sometimes bodies whose sex is unrecorded; a prince is occasionally discovered in rather a sad plight;