Page:Transactions of the Second International Folk-Congress.djvu/94

 58 it appears clear that there must have existed, probably before our era, a Hindu folk-tale of great length, in which the several sections of the tale were fully and clearly narrated. I will add, that this early Hindu tale appears to me to be indicated as the source from which all the variants of the märchen, of both types, in Asia and in Europe, have descended.