Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 4 1886.djvu/356

 348 conjecture that this type has been developed from the former under the influence of the final situation. The transition is not difficult. In the one case a parent is brought face to face with the son, for whose slaughter he has long since been devoured by remorse, and whom he now finds to have escaped death and reached the predicted height of power. In the other case he has gone to fling himself at the feet of one whose God-given authority alone can absolve him from the same crime, and is confounded to learn that he to whom he prays for pardon is his ill-used child, yet living to prove to him the truth of his prophecy. The dramatic force of this position has been recognized in another Italian tale, in which the bastard child of a sister and brother, cast away at his birth, becomes pope, and receives the confession of his father and mother, to whom no meaner ecclesiastic has dared to give remission of so great a sin. This tale is well known in Italy and Sicily, where, perhaps, it would be more likely to arise than in other countries whose natives more rarely attain the pontifical dignity. A diligent search may, however, find it elsewhere. Its details do not resemble those we have been considering, except that the choice of pope is indicated by a dove.

VI.

In considering the story of The Outcast Child I have not allowed myself to deviate into any of the closely related groups. There are, however, several the detailed examination of which might possibly throw light upon the origin and transmission of the one now before us. These may be divided into two main classes,—the one dealing with the sufferings of a lady unjustly suspected by her husband, and the other narrating the relations of a band of brothers. I have already mentioned one of the latter; and additional instances, such as that of Codadad and his Brothers, will readily occur to the reader. One portion at least of the former class will, we may be sure, be adequately treated by Mr. Clouston in the studies on the origin of Chaucer's