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As has already been shown, Simrock regarded as an essential feature of The Grateful Dead the release of a maiden from captivity by the hero. Stephens and Hippe saw that such was not the case. The latter's treatment of the matter leaves little to be desired as far as it goes, save that it implies a derivation of the compound The Grateful Dead+The Ransomed Woman from the compound treated in the last chapter—a view which I believe erroneous.

The Ransomed Woman appears as a separate tale or in combination with other themes than The Grateful Dead more than once. A prolonged study of the motive would probably yield a rich harvest of examples, though it is sufficient for the present purpose to refer to Hippe's article as establishing the existence of the form. His Wendish folk-tale and Guter Gerhard, from the latter of which Simrock started his enquiry, are of themselves evidence enough. Neither example has anything whatever to do with The Grateful Dead. The characteristics