Page:The folk-tales of the Magyars.djvu/379

 NOTES TO THE FOLK-TALES,

PRINCE CSIHÁN. Kriza xvii.

In this tale and some others (e. g. "Fairy Elisabeth") it is said that in order to celebrate a wedding the clergyman and the executioner were sent for. Several of the clergy who live among the Szèkely people on the very spot have been applied to for an explanation of the perplexing word, but they were unable to furnish any clue. The word is not given in Kriza's Glossary. It appears to be one of those curiosities of popular nomenclature so often found in Hungary, and may be a fanciful name for "sacristan," or sexton. One of the many names of this official is "harangozó," i. e. the bellringer; hence the individual who holds the corresponding office among the Jews is in small villages sometimes called "the Jewish bellringer," a clear case of lucus a non lucendo. A friend of the editors (who is a Székely) says that "hóhér" in his part means any one who torments, maltreats, or brutalises another. It is also made into a verb thus, "hohérholja a lovat," "he maltreats the horse." He says that the hóhér is nearly always mentioned in fairy tales in connection with the priest, who was generally accompanied by him: but he does not think the word has any special significance in Folk-Lore.

Page 5. "Vasfogú Baba." Baba, in Magyar, as in Japanese, means a midwife: in Slavonic, an old woman. See Ralston's Russian Folk Tales: note, p. 137. "The French are coming." This must be unique. The usual exclamations are, "The Turks are coming," or "The Tartars are coming." The nurse will frighten a naughty child with Turks or Tartars. For the heroic deeds of a popular hero against the French, cf. " Le Chevalier Jean, Conte Magyar, par Alex. Petoefi .... traduit par A. Dozon." Paris. 18o.

The present story is one of a host wherein the gratitude of beasts is compared with the ingratitude of man; and is a more perfect version of the well-known Puss in Boots. Cf. Schiefner, Avar Tales. There is