Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 4 1886.djvu/332

324 to take her into "the wood of the Savage King," and there put her to death, bringing him, as a token of obedience, her ensanguined vest. The general takes pity on her, lets her go, and brings back her vest covered with the blood of a puppy. The Savage King (who gives his name to the story) feeds on human flesh. His son, while hunting, finds the maiden, and brings her home. Struck with her beauty, he prevails on his father to abstain from gratifying his cannibal passion, and to treat her as a daughter. But a dove, belonging to a neighbouring king, whose palace was in undesirable proximity to this ogre's dwelling, declines to believe in his friendly professions towards the heroine, and taunts her with the expectation that she will be eaten after all. This is nothing but spite because the maiden declines to feed her; and, taught by the Savage King, she replies the next day that she will be the dove's master's wife. The dove sheds all its feathers with rage; and this, as in Dr. Pitre's variants, brings about the marriage. The heroine's father is invited to the wedding feast. It is proposed that tales shall be told, and she takes the opportunity to extort her father's acknowledgment of his injustice.

The Sicilian tale of The Holy Father takes a similar turn. Here a merchant, having a son and daughter, sets out on a journey, taking the son with him. He commits his daughter to the care of a cleric, who spends on his own enjoyment the money consigned to him for the girl's support, and thrusts her into a dungeon. On her father's return he accuses her of wicked practices (cattivi costumi), and the father directs her brother to put her to death. The latter, however, sets her free in a wood, and killing a dog takes its blood home to his father, who drinks it ferociously. The maiden arrives at the palace of another holy father, who treats her kindly. A turkey plays the part of a prophet of evil. Ultimately she marries a king's son, and by the holy father's advice she invites her father, her brother and the wicked priest to the wedding. There, by treating her father and the priest differently from the other guests, she provokes explanations, which end in the punishment of the ecclesiastic by burning. I should