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märchen known in its various forms as The Water of Life is based on the myth which goes by the same name. The myth, as has been shown quite independently by two recent investigators, Dr. Wünsche and Dr. E. W. Hopkins, is of Semitic origin, and is found among the traditions of the Assyrio-Babylonian cycle. It is to be distinguished from the very similar myth of The Fountain of Youth, which apparently originated in India. The latter concerns the magic properties of the "water of rejuvenation"; the former in its