FOOTNOTES:[1]Cfr. the chapter on the Duck, the Goose, the Swan, and the Dove.[2]Imâni trîṇi vishtapâ tânîndra vi rohaya çiras tatasyorvarâm âd idam ma upodare.[3]Khe rathasya khe 'nasaḥ khe yugasya çatakrato apâlâm indra trish pûtvy akṛinoḥ sûryatvaćam.[4]Sulomâm anavadyâñgîṁ kuru mâṁ çakra sutvaćâmTasyâs tad vaćanam çrutvâ prîtas tena purandaraḥRathaćhidreṇa tâm indraḥ çakaṭasya yugasya ćaPrakshipya niçćakarsha tris tataḥ sâ sutvaćâ 'bhavatTasyâṁ tvaći vyapetâyâm sarvasyâṁ çalyako 'bhavatUttarâ tv abhavad godhâ krikalâças tvag uttamâ.Godhâseems to signify he who has the form of a hair (go, among its other meanings, has that of hair). As an animal, the dictionaries also recognise in the godhâ a lizard. But perhaps we may also translate it by toad or frog; we could thus also understand the fable of the frog which aspires to equal the ox. I observe, moreover, to exemplify the ease with which we can pass from the ox to the frog, and from the frog to the lizard, how in the Russian story ofAfanassieff, ii. 23, a beautiful princess is hidden in a frog; in Tuscan and Piedmontese stories and in Sicilian superstitions, in a toad. In the stories of thePentamerone, the good fairy is alacerta cornuta(a horned lizard). Ghoshâ, too, has for its equivalent in Sanskṛit, karkaṭaçṛiñgî, which means a horned shrimp. In other varieties the young prince is a he-goat or a dragon.[5]For the persecuted maiden in connection with the hog or hogs, cfr. also thePentamerone, iii. 10.[6]Afanassieff, v. 38.[7]De Re Rustica, ii. 4.[8]Ṛigv.i. 61, 7.[9]Divo varâham arusham kapardinaṁ tveshaṁ rûpaṁ namasâ ni hvayâmahe;Ṛigv.i. 114, 5.[10]Paçyan hiraṇyaćakrân ayodaṅshṭrân vidhâvato varâhân;Ṛigv.i. 88, 5.[11]Agniǵiḥvâ manavaḥ sûraćakshasaḥ;Ṛigv.i. 89, 7.—In theEdda, the chariot of Frey is drawn by a hog. The head of the mythical hog is luminous. In the twenty-eighth story of the second book ofAfanassieff, Ivan Durák obtains from the two young heroes, who miraculously appear to him, three marvellous gifts,i.e., the hog with golden bristles, the buck with golden horns and tail, and the horse with mane and tail also of gold.[12]Viçvet tâ vishṇur âbharad urukramas tveshitaḥ çatam mahishân kshîrapâkam odanaṁ varâham indra emusham;Ṛigv.viii. 66, 10.—In the Thebaid of Statius (v. 487), Tydœus, too, is dressed in the spoils of a wild boar—"Terribiles contra setis, ac dente recurvo,Tydea per latos humeros ambire laborantExuviæ, Calydonis honos."[13]According to other fables, the three persons of the Trinity at one time disputed as to who had the pre-eminence. Brahmân, who, from the summit of the lotus where he was seated, saw nothing in the universe, believed himself the first of creatures. He descended into the stem of the lotus, and finding at last Nârâyaṇas (Vishṇus) asleep, he asked him who he was. "I am the first-born," replied Vishṇus; Brahmân disputed this title and dared even to attack him. But during the struggle, Mahâdeva (Çiva) threw himself between them, crying, "It is I who am the first-born. Nevertheless I will recognise as my superior him who is able to see the summit of my head or the sole of my feet." Vishṇus (as hidden or infernal moon), transforming himself into a wild boar, pierced through the ground and penetrated to the infernal regions, where he saw the feet of Mahâdeva. The latter, on his return, saluted him as the first-born of the gods; Bournouf,L'Inde Française.[14]ii. 119.[15]Asyed u mâtuḥ savaneshu sadyo mahah pitum papivâń ćarv annâ mushâyad vishṇuḥ paćataṁ sahîyâm vidhyad varâhaṁ tiro adrim astâ; str. 7.[16]Asya trito nv oǵasâ vṛidhâno vipâ varâham ayoagrayâ han; str. 6.[17]Varahoyam vamamoshah saptanâm girîṇâm parastâd vittam vedyam asurânâm vibharti, sa darbhapińǵûlam (pińǵalam?) uddhṛitya, sapta girîn bhittvâ tam ahanniti, already quoted by Wilson,Ṛigv. San.i. 164.—Cfr. the chapter on the Woodpecker.[18]Tvam sûkarasya dardṛihi tava dardartu sûkarah; str. 4.—The dog in relation with the hog occurs again in the two Latin proverbs: "Canis peccatum sus dependit," and "Aliter catuli longe olent, aliter sues."[19]i. 893.[20]iv. 13.[21]Daumas,La Vie Arabe, xv.[22]iii. 3, 26.[23]Cfr. Aldrovandi,De Quadrup. Digit. Viv.ii.[24]Ibid.[25]Cfr.Afanassieff, v. 28.[26]lxxxiii., quoted by Benfey in his Einleitung to thePańćatantram.—The fable is taken from the thirtieth of Avianus, where the wild boar loses his two ears and is then eaten, but the cook (who represents in tradition the cunning hero) has taken its heart to eat it:—"Sed cum consumpti dominus cor quæreret ApriImpatiens, fertur (cor) rapuisse coquus."[27]In Du Cange, too, "apersignificat diabolum; Papias M. S. Bitur. Ex illo Scripturæ: 'Singularis aper egressus est de silva.'"—Cfr. also Uhland'sSchriften zur Geschichte der Dichtung und Sage, iii. 141,et seq.[28]ii. 220,et seq., quoted by Uhland.[29]Leukophôs; a verse of Vilkelmus Brito defines it in a Latin strophe given in Du Cange—"Tempore quo neque nox neque lux sed utrumque videtur;"and further on—"Interquecanem distare lupumque."According to Pliny and Solinus, the shadow of the hyena makes the dog dumb,i.e., the night disperses the twilight; the moon vanishes.[30]The dog was sacred to the huntress Diana, whom we know to be the moon, hence the Latin proverb, "Delia nota canibus."[31]Indrasya dûtir ishitâ ćarâmi maha ićhantî paṇayo nidhîn vaḥ; str. 2.[32]Rasâyâ ataram payâṅsi; str. 2.—Ayaṁ nidhiḥ sarame adribudhno gobhir açvebhir vasubhir nyṛishṭaḥ; str. 7.—Svasâraṁ tvâ kṛiṇavâi mâ punar gâ apa te gavâṁ subhage bhaǵâma; str. 9.—Nâhaṁ veda bhrâtṛitvaṁ no svasṛitvam indro vidur añgirasaç ćaghorâḥ; str. 10.[33]Indrasyâñgirasâm ćeshṭâu vidat saramâ tanayâya dhâsim bṛihaspatir bhinad adrim vidad gâḥ sam usriyâbhir vâvaçanta naraḥ; str. 3.[34]Ṛitaṁ yatî saramâ gâ avindat.—Ṛitasya pathâ saramâ vidad gâh;Ṛigv.v. 45, 7, 8.[35]Apo yad adrim puruhûta dardar âvir bhuvat saramâ pûrvyaṁ te;Ṛigv.iv. 16, 8.[36]Vidad yadî saramâ rugṇam adrer mahi pâthaḥ pûrvyaṁ sadhryak kaḥ agraṁ nayat supady aksharâṇâm aćhâ ravam prathamâ ǵânatî gât;Ṛigv.iii. 31, 6.[37]vi. 9.[38]v. 62.[39]vi. 10.[40]Cfr. the Vedic text above quoted.[41]In theTuti-Name, instead of the dog with the bone or piece of meat, we have the fox. The dog who sees his shadow in the water; the fearless hero who, in Tuscan stories, dies when he sees his own shadow; the black monster (the shadow) who, in numerous stories, presents himself instead of the real hero to espouse the beautiful princess, carry our thoughts back to Indras, who, in theṚigvedas, after having defeated the monster, flees away over the rivers, upon seeing something which is probably the shadow of Vṛitras, killed by him, or his own shadow. In theÂitar. Brâhm.iii. 2, 15, 16, 20, this flight of Indras is also recorded, and it is added, that Indras hides himself, and that the Pitaras (i.e., the souls of the departed) find him again. Indras thinks that he has killed Vṛitras, but really has not killed him; then the gods abandon him; the Marutas alone (as dogs friendly to the bitch Saramâ) remain faithful to him. The monster killed by Indras in the morning rises again at eve. According to other Vedic accounts, Indras is obliged to flee, stung by remorse, having committed a brâhmanicide.[42]Ati drava sârameyâu çvânâu ćatarakshâu çabalâu sâdhunâ pathâ athâ pitṛînt suvidatrâṇ upehi—Yâu te çvânâu yama rakshitârâu ćaturakshâu pathirakshî nṛićakshasâu—Urûṇasâv asutṛipâ udumbalâu yamasya dûtâu ćarato ǵanâṅ anu—Tâv asmabhyaṁ dṛiçaye sûryâya punar dâtâm asum adyeha bhadram;Ṛigv.x. 14, 10-12.[43]Ni shvâpaya mithûdṛiçâu;Ṛigv.i. 29, 3.—The Petropolitan Dictionary explains the wordmith.by "abwechselend sichtbar."[44]Yad arǵuna sarameya dataḥ piçañga yaćhase vîva bhrâǵanta ṛishṭaya upa srakveshu bapsato ni shu svapa; stenaṁ râya sârameya taskaraṁ vâ punaḥsara stotrîn indrasya râyasi kim asmân dućhunâyase ni shu svapa;Ṛigv.vii. 55, 2, 3.[45]i. 657, 666.[46]Canto 62.[47]Thus Hecuba, the wife of Priam, after having suffered cruel tribulation as a woman, in Ovid—"Perdidit infelix hominis post omnia formamExternasque novo latratu terruit auras."In theBreviarium Romanum, too, in the offices of the dead, God is besought not to consign to the beasts (ne tradas bestiis, &c.) the souls of His servants.[48]Eta u tye patayanti çvayâtava indram dipsanti dipsavo 'dâbhyam—Ulukayâtuṁ çuçulûkayâtuṁ ǵahi çvayâtum uta kokayâtum suparṇayâtum gridhrayâtuṁ dṛishadeva pra mṛiṇa raksha indra;Ṛigv.vii. 104, 20, 22.[49]Ǵambhayatam abhito râyataḥ;Ṛigv.i. 182, 4.[50]Apa çvânaṁ çnathishṭana sakhâyo dîrghaǵihvyam—Apa çvânam arâdhasam hatâ makhaṁ na bhṛigavaḥ;Ṛigv.ix. 101, 1, 13.[51]Avartyâ çuna ântrâṇi peće na deveshu vivide marḍitâram apaçyaṁ ǵâyâm amaḥîyamânâm adhâ me çyeno madhv â ǵabhâra;Ṛigv.iv. 18, 13. The bird who brings honey has evidently here a phallical meaning, as also the intestine, the part that is inside of now the dog, now the fish, and now the ass (all of which are phallical symbols), desired as a delicacy by the women of fairy tales, must be equivalent to themadhubrought by the bird.[52]In the fifth story of the fourth book of thePentamerone, the bird does the same that a dog does in the third story of the third book; the bird brings a knife, the dog brings a bone, and the imprisoned princess, by means of this knife and bone, is enabled to make a hole in the prison, and to free herself.[53]In thePentamerone, i. 7, the enchanted bitch brings to the princess news of the young hero.[54]In the seventh Esthonian story, the man with the black horse binds three dogs tightly; if they get loose, no one will be able to keep them back.—In theEdda, Thrymer, the prince of the giants, keeps the grey dogs bound with golden chains.[55]Einen gelblichen Hund mit vier Augen oder einen weissen mit gelben Ohren;Vendidad, viii. 41,et seq., Spiegel's version. And Anquetil, describing theBaraschnon no schabé, represents the purifying dog as follows:—"Le Mobed prend le bâton à neuf nœuds, entre dans les Keischs et attache la cuillère de fer au neuvième nœud. L'impur entre aussi dans les Keischs. On y amène un chien; et si c'est une femme que l'on purifie, comme elle doit être nue, c'est aussi une femme qui tient le chien. L'impur ayant la main droite sur sa tête et la gauche sur le chien, passe successivement sur les six premières pierres et s'y lave avec l'urine que lui donne le Mobed."—In theKâtyây. Sû.the question is seriously discussed whether a dog, who was seen to fast on the fourteenth day of the month, did so on account of religious penitence.—Cfr. Muir'sSanskṛit Texts, i. 365.[56]Dog and horse, with bites and kicks, kill the monster doe and free the two brother-heroes in thePentamerone, i. 9.[57]Cfr. also the sixth of the third book.—In the second story of the third book of thePentamerone, the sister herself cuts off her own hands, of which her brother, who wishes to marry her, is enamoured.—Cfr. theMediæval Legends of Santa Uliva, annotated by Professor Alessandro d'Ancona, Pisa, Nistri, 1863; and theFiglia del Re di Dacia, illustrated by Professor Alessandro Wesselofski, Pisa, Nistri, 1866, besides the thirty-first of the stories of the Brothers Grimm.[58]The thirty-third of the collection of Karadzik, quoted by Professor Wesselofsky in his introduction to the story of theFiglia del Re di Dacia.[59]Cfr. my little essay on theAlbero di Natale.[60]King Richard II., act. i. scene 2.[61]Çrutaṁ tać ćhâsur iva vadhrimat yâ hiraṇyahastam açvinâv adattam;Ṛigv.i. 116, 13.—Hiraṇyahastam açvinâ rarâṇâ putraṁ narâ vadhrimatyâ adattam; i. 117, 24.—The dog in connection with a man's hand is mentioned in the Latin works of Petrarch, when speaking of Vespasian, who considered as a good omen the incident of a dog bringing a man's hand into the refectory.[62]Sadyo ǵañghâm âyasîm viçpalâyai dhane hite sartave praty adhattam; str. 15.[63]It is perhaps for this reason that the Hungarians give to their dogs names of rivers, as being runners; but it is also said that they do so from their belief that a dog which bears the name of a river or piece of water never goes mad, especially if he be a white dog, inasmuch as the Hungarians consider the red dog and the black or spotted one as diabolical shapes. In Tuscany, when a Christian's tooth is taken out, it must be hidden carefully, that the dogs may not find it and eat it; here dog and devil are assimilated.[64]Scylla laves her groin in a fountain, the waters of which the enchantress Circe has corrupted, upon which monstrous dogs appear in her body, whence Ovid—"Scylla venit mediaque tenus descenderat alvo,Cum sua fœdari latrantibus inguina monstrisAspicit, ac primo non credens corporis illasEsse sui partes, refugitque, abiitque timetqueOra proterva canum."[65]Hæc lucem accipiunt ab Joinville in Hist. S. Ludovici, dum fœdera inter Imp. Joannem Vatatzem et Comanorum Principem inita recenset, eaque firmata ebibito alterius invicem sanguine, hacque adhibita ceremonia, quam sic enarrat: "Et ancore firent-ils autre chose. Car ils firent passer un chien entre nos gens et eux, et découpèrent tout le chien à leurs espées, disans que ainsy fussent-ils découpez s'ils failloient l'un à l'autre."—Cfr. in Du Cange the expression "cerebrare canem."[66]In a fable of Abstemius, a shepherd's dog eats one of the sheep every day, instead of watching over the flock. The shepherd kills him, saying, that he prefers the wolf, a declared enemy, to the dog, a false friend. This uncertainty and confusion between the dog and the wolf explains the double nature of the dog; to prove which I shall refer to two unpublished Italian stories: the first, which I heard from the mouth of a peasant-woman of Fucecchio, shows the bitch in the capacity of the monster's spy; the second was narrated a few years ago by a Piedmontese bandit to a peasant-woman who had shown hospitality to him, at Capellanuova, near Cavour in Piedmont. The first story is calledThe King of the Assassins, and is as follows:—There was once a widow with three daughters who worked as seamstresses. They sit upon a terrace; a handsome lord passes and marries the eldest; he takes her to his castle in the middle of a wood, after having told her that he is the chief of the assassins. He gives her a she-puppy and says, "This will be your companion; if you treat her well, it is as if you treated me well." Taking her into the palace, he shows her all the rooms, and gives her all the keys; of four rooms, however, which he indicates, there are two which she must not enter; if she does so, evil will befall her. The chief of the assassins spends one day at home and then three away. During his absence she maltreats the puppy, and gives her scarcely anything to eat; then she lets herself be overcome by curiosity, and goes to see what there is in the two rooms, followed by the puppy. She sees in one room heads of dead people, and in the other tongues, ears, &c., hung up. This sight fills her with terror. The chief of the assassins returns and asks the bitch whether she has been well treated; she makes signs to the contrary, and informs her master that his wife has been in the forbidden rooms. He cuts off her head, and goes to find the second sister, whom he induces to come to him by under invitation to visit his wife; she undergoes the same miserable fate. Then he goes to take the third sister, and tells her who he is; she answers, "It is better thus, for I shall no longer be afraid of thieves." She gives the bitch soup, caresses her, and makes herself loved by her; the king of the assassins is contented, and the puppy leads a happy life. After a month, while he is out and the puppy amusing itself in the garden, she enters the two rooms, finds her two sisters, and goes into the other rooms, where there are ointments to fasten on limbs that have been cut off, and ointments to bring the dead to life. Having resuscitated her sisters, and given them food, she hides them in two great jars, furnished with breathing holes, and asks her husband to take them as a present to her mother, warning him not to look into the jars, as she will see him. He takes them, and when he tries to look in, he hears, as he had been forewarned, not one voice, but two whispering from within them, "My love, I see you." Terrified at this, he gives up the two jars at once to the mother. Meanwhile his wife has killed the bitch in boiling oil; she then brings all the dead men and women to life, amongst whom there is Carlino, the son of a king of France, who marries her. Upon the return of the king of the assassins he perceives the treachery, and vows revenge; going to Paris, he has a golden pillar constructed in which a man can be concealed without any aperture being visible, and bribes an old woman of the palace to lay on the prince's pillow a leaf of paper which will put him and all his servants to sleep as soon as he reclines on it. Shutting himself up in the pillar, he has it carried before the palace; the queen wishes to possess it, and insists upon having it at the foot of her bed. Night comes; the prince puts his head upon the leaf, and he and his servants are at once thrown into a deep sleep. The assassin steps out of the pillar, threatens to put the princess to death, and goes into the kitchen to fill a copper with oil, in which to boil her. Meanwhile she calls her husband to help her, but in vain; she rings the bell, but no one answers; the king of the assassins returns and drags her out of bed; she catches hold of the prince's head, and thus draws it off the paper; the prince and his servants awake, and the enchanter is burnt alive.The second story is calledThe Magician of the Seven Heads, and was narrated to me by the peasant-woman in the following terms:—An old man and woman have two children, Giacomo and Carolina. Giacomo looks after three sheep. A hunter passes and asks for them; Giacomo gives them, and receives in reward three dogs, Throttle-iron, Run-like-the-wind, and Pass-everywhere, besides a whistle. The father refuses to keep Giacomo at home; he goes away with his three dogs, of which the first carries bread, the second viands, and the third wine. He comes to a magician's palace and is well received. Bringing his sister, the magician falls in love with her and wishes to marry her; but to this end the brother must be weakened by the abstraction of his dogs. His sister feigns illness and asks for flour; the miller demands a dog for the flour, and Giacomo yields it for love of his sister; in a similar manner the other two dogs are wheedled away from him. The magician tries to strangle Giacomo, but the latter blows his whistle, and the dogs appear and kill the magician and the sister. Giacomo goes away with the three dogs, and comes to a city which is in mourning because the king's daughter is to be devoured by the seven-headed magician. Giacomo, by means of the three dogs, kills the monster; the grateful princess puts the hem of her robe round Throttle-iron's neck and promises to marry Giacomo. The latter, who is in mourning for his sister, asks for a year and a day; but before going he cuts the seven tongues of the magician off and takes them with him. The maiden returns to the palace. The chimney-sweeper forces her to recognise him as her deliverer; the king, her father, consents to his marrying her; the princess, however, stipulates to be allowed to wait for a year and a day, which is accorded. At the expiration of the appointed time, Giacomo returns, and hears that the princess is going to be married. He sends Throttle-iron to strike the chimney-sweeper (the black man, the Saracen, the Turk, the gipsy, the monster) with his tail, in order that his collar may be remarked; he then presents himself as the real deliverer of the princess, and demands that the magician's heads be brought; as the tongues are wanting, the trick is discovered. The young couple are married, and the chimney-sweeper is burnt.[67]Cfr. theBiblioteca delle Tradizioni Popolari Siciliane, edited by Gius. Pitrè, ii. canto 811.[68]In Richardus Dinothus, quoted by Aldrovandi.[69]From a letter of my friend Pitrè.[70]De Quadrup. Dig. Viv.ii.[71]Cfr. Du Cange,s. v."canem ferre." The ignominy connected with this punishment has perhaps a phallic signification, the dog and the phallos appear in connection with each other in an unpublished legend maliciously narrated at Santo Stefano di Calcinaia, near Florence, and which asserts that woman was not born of a man, but of a dog. Adam was asleep; the dog carried off one of his ribs; Adam ran after the dog to recover it, but brought back nothing save the dog's tail, which came away in his hand. The tail of the ass, horse, or pig, which is left in the peasant's hand in other burlesque traditions, besides serving as an indication, as the most visible part, to find the lost or fallen animal again, or to return into itself, may perhaps have a meaning analogous to that of the tail of Adam's dog.—I hope the reader will pardon me these frequent repugnant allusions to indecent images; but being obliged to go back to an epoch in which idealism was still in its cradle, while physical life was in all its plenitude of vigour, images were taken in preference from the things of a more sensible nature, and which made a deeper and more abiding impression. It is well known that in the production of the Vedic fire by means of the friction of two sticks, the male and the female are alluded to, so that the grandiose and splendid poetical myth of Prometheus had its origin in the lowest of similitudes.[72]Vṛiddhasya ćid vardhato dyâm inakshataḥ stavâno vamro vi ǵaghâna saṁdihaḥ;Ṛigv.i. 51, 9.[73]Vamrîbhiḥ putram agruvo adânaṁ niveçanâd dhariva â ǵabhartha;Ṛigv.iv. 19, 9.—Another variation is the hedgehog, which, as we have seen in Chapter V., forces the viper out of its den.[74]The dwarf-hermits, who transport a leaf upon a car, and are about to be drowned in the water contained in the foot-print of a cow, and who curse Indras, who passes smiling without assisting them, in the legend of theMahâbhâratam, are a variety of these same ants.—Cfr. the chapters on the Elephant and on the Fishes, where we have Indras who fears to be submerged.[75]Fa cunto ca no le mancava lo latto de la formica;Pentamerone, i. 8.[76]Biblion Istorikon, xii. 404.—In theEpist. Presb. Johannis, we find also:—"In quadam provincia nostra sunt formicæ in magnitudine catulorum, habentes vii. pedes et alas iv. Istæ formicæ ab occasu solis ad ortum morantur sub terra et fodiunt purissimum aurum tota nocte—quærunt victum suum tota die. In nocte autem veniunt homines de cunctis civitatibus ad colligendum ipsum aurum et imponunt elephantibus. Quando formicæ sunt supra terram, nullus ibi audet accedere propter crudelitatem et ferocitatem ipsarum."—Cfr.infra.[77]Of this expression a historical origin is given, referring it to a Bolognese doctor of the twelfth century, named Grillo.—Cfr. Fanfani,Vocabolario dell 'uso Toscano, s. v."grillo."[78]Here are the words of the song of this curious wedding, which I heard sung at Santo Stefano di Calcinaia, near Florence:—"Grillo, mio grillo,Se tu vuoi moglie, dillo;Se tu n' la vuoi,Abbada a' fatti tuoi.TinfillulilaleraLinfillulilalà."Povero grillo, 'n un campo di lino,La formicuccia gne ne chiese un filo.D'un filo solo, cosa ne vuoi tu fare?Grembi e camicie; mi vuo' maritare.Disse lo grillo:—Ti piglierò io.La formicuccia:—Son contenta anch' io.Tinfillul., &c."Povero grillo, 'n un campo di ceci;La formicuccia gne ne chiese dieciDi dieci soli, cosa ne vuoi tu fare?Quattro di stufa, e sei li vuo' girare.Tinfillul., &c."Povero grillo facea l'ortolanoL'andava a spasso col ravanello in mano;Povero grillo, andava a Pontedera,Con le vilancie pesava la miseria.Tinfillul., &c."Povero grillo, l'andiede a Monteboni,Dalla miseria l'impegnò i calzoni;Povero grillo facea l'oste a Colle,L'andò fallito e bastonò la moglie.Tinfillul., &c."La formicuccia andò alla festa a il Porto,Ebbe la nova che il suo grillo era mortoLa formicuccia, quando seppe la novaLa cascò in terra, stette svenuta un 'ora.La formicuccia si buttò su il letto,Con le calcagna si batteva il petto.Tinfillul.," &c.[79]Cfr. Zacher,Pseudo-Callisthenes, Halle, 1867.[80]Pliny,Hist. Nat.xi. 31.[81]Iyattikâ çakuntikâ sakâ ǵaghâsa te visham;Ṛigv.i. 191, 11.[82]iv. 1.[83]De Quad. Dig. Viv.ii.[84]i. 49.[85]ii. 22.[86]The forgetfulness of the lynx, as well as of the cat, is proverbial. St Jerome, in the Ep. ad Chrisog.—"Verum tu quod natura lynces insitum habent, ne post tergum respicientes meminerint priorum, et mens perdat quod oculi videre desierint, ita nostræ es necessitudinis penitus oblitus." Thus of the lynx it is said by Ælianos that it covers its urine with sand (like the cat), so that men may not find it, for in seven days the precious stone lyncurion is formed of this urine. The cat that sees by night, the lynx that sees through opaque bodies, the fable of Lynkeus, who, according to Pliny, saw in one day the first and the last moon in the sign of Aries, and the lynx that, according to Apollonios, saw through the earth what was going on in hell, recall to us the moon, the wise and all-seeing fairy of the sky, and the infernal moon.[87]Quoted by Benfey in the Einleitung to thePańćatantram.[88]v. 5421-5448.[89]"Let no man, apprised of this law, present even water to a priest who acts like a cat;" iv. 192, version of Jones and Graves'Chamney Haughton, edited by Percival, Madras, 1863.—In a Russian story quoted by Afanassieff in his observations to the first volume of his stories, the cat Eustachio feigns itself penitent or monk in order to eat the mouse when it passes. It being observed that the cat is too fat for a penitent, it answers that it eats from the duty of preserving its health.[90]iii. 147, Stuttgart, Cotta, 1857.[91]Translation by Ch. Potvin, Paris and Brussels, 1861.[92]From the peasant-woman Uliva Selvi, who told it to me at Antignano, near Leghorn.[93]Cfr.Afanassieff, v. 32, where a cat is bought by a virtuous workman for the price of a kapeika (a small coin), the only price that he had consented to take as a reward for his work; the same cat is bought by the king for three vessels. With another kapeika, earned by other work, the workman delivers the king's daughter from the devil, and subsequently marries her.[94]Cfr. analogous subjects in Chapter I.,e.g., Emilius the lazy and stupid youth, and the blind woman who recovers her sight.[95]
[1]Cfr. the chapter on the Duck, the Goose, the Swan, and the Dove.
[2]Imâni trîṇi vishtapâ tânîndra vi rohaya çiras tatasyorvarâm âd idam ma upodare.
[3]Khe rathasya khe 'nasaḥ khe yugasya çatakrato apâlâm indra trish pûtvy akṛinoḥ sûryatvaćam.
[4]
Sulomâm anavadyâñgîṁ kuru mâṁ çakra sutvaćâmTasyâs tad vaćanam çrutvâ prîtas tena purandaraḥRathaćhidreṇa tâm indraḥ çakaṭasya yugasya ćaPrakshipya niçćakarsha tris tataḥ sâ sutvaćâ 'bhavatTasyâṁ tvaći vyapetâyâm sarvasyâṁ çalyako 'bhavatUttarâ tv abhavad godhâ krikalâças tvag uttamâ.
Sulomâm anavadyâñgîṁ kuru mâṁ çakra sutvaćâmTasyâs tad vaćanam çrutvâ prîtas tena purandaraḥRathaćhidreṇa tâm indraḥ çakaṭasya yugasya ćaPrakshipya niçćakarsha tris tataḥ sâ sutvaćâ 'bhavatTasyâṁ tvaći vyapetâyâm sarvasyâṁ çalyako 'bhavatUttarâ tv abhavad godhâ krikalâças tvag uttamâ.
Godhâseems to signify he who has the form of a hair (go, among its other meanings, has that of hair). As an animal, the dictionaries also recognise in the godhâ a lizard. But perhaps we may also translate it by toad or frog; we could thus also understand the fable of the frog which aspires to equal the ox. I observe, moreover, to exemplify the ease with which we can pass from the ox to the frog, and from the frog to the lizard, how in the Russian story ofAfanassieff, ii. 23, a beautiful princess is hidden in a frog; in Tuscan and Piedmontese stories and in Sicilian superstitions, in a toad. In the stories of thePentamerone, the good fairy is alacerta cornuta(a horned lizard). Ghoshâ, too, has for its equivalent in Sanskṛit, karkaṭaçṛiñgî, which means a horned shrimp. In other varieties the young prince is a he-goat or a dragon.
[5]For the persecuted maiden in connection with the hog or hogs, cfr. also thePentamerone, iii. 10.
[6]Afanassieff, v. 38.
[7]De Re Rustica, ii. 4.
[8]Ṛigv.i. 61, 7.
[9]Divo varâham arusham kapardinaṁ tveshaṁ rûpaṁ namasâ ni hvayâmahe;Ṛigv.i. 114, 5.
[10]Paçyan hiraṇyaćakrân ayodaṅshṭrân vidhâvato varâhân;Ṛigv.i. 88, 5.
[11]Agniǵiḥvâ manavaḥ sûraćakshasaḥ;Ṛigv.i. 89, 7.—In theEdda, the chariot of Frey is drawn by a hog. The head of the mythical hog is luminous. In the twenty-eighth story of the second book ofAfanassieff, Ivan Durák obtains from the two young heroes, who miraculously appear to him, three marvellous gifts,i.e., the hog with golden bristles, the buck with golden horns and tail, and the horse with mane and tail also of gold.
[12]Viçvet tâ vishṇur âbharad urukramas tveshitaḥ çatam mahishân kshîrapâkam odanaṁ varâham indra emusham;Ṛigv.viii. 66, 10.—In the Thebaid of Statius (v. 487), Tydœus, too, is dressed in the spoils of a wild boar—
"Terribiles contra setis, ac dente recurvo,Tydea per latos humeros ambire laborantExuviæ, Calydonis honos."
"Terribiles contra setis, ac dente recurvo,Tydea per latos humeros ambire laborantExuviæ, Calydonis honos."
[13]According to other fables, the three persons of the Trinity at one time disputed as to who had the pre-eminence. Brahmân, who, from the summit of the lotus where he was seated, saw nothing in the universe, believed himself the first of creatures. He descended into the stem of the lotus, and finding at last Nârâyaṇas (Vishṇus) asleep, he asked him who he was. "I am the first-born," replied Vishṇus; Brahmân disputed this title and dared even to attack him. But during the struggle, Mahâdeva (Çiva) threw himself between them, crying, "It is I who am the first-born. Nevertheless I will recognise as my superior him who is able to see the summit of my head or the sole of my feet." Vishṇus (as hidden or infernal moon), transforming himself into a wild boar, pierced through the ground and penetrated to the infernal regions, where he saw the feet of Mahâdeva. The latter, on his return, saluted him as the first-born of the gods; Bournouf,L'Inde Française.
[14]ii. 119.
[15]Asyed u mâtuḥ savaneshu sadyo mahah pitum papivâń ćarv annâ mushâyad vishṇuḥ paćataṁ sahîyâm vidhyad varâhaṁ tiro adrim astâ; str. 7.
[16]Asya trito nv oǵasâ vṛidhâno vipâ varâham ayoagrayâ han; str. 6.
[17]Varahoyam vamamoshah saptanâm girîṇâm parastâd vittam vedyam asurânâm vibharti, sa darbhapińǵûlam (pińǵalam?) uddhṛitya, sapta girîn bhittvâ tam ahanniti, already quoted by Wilson,Ṛigv. San.i. 164.—Cfr. the chapter on the Woodpecker.
[18]Tvam sûkarasya dardṛihi tava dardartu sûkarah; str. 4.—The dog in relation with the hog occurs again in the two Latin proverbs: "Canis peccatum sus dependit," and "Aliter catuli longe olent, aliter sues."
[19]i. 893.
[20]iv. 13.
[21]Daumas,La Vie Arabe, xv.
[22]iii. 3, 26.
[23]Cfr. Aldrovandi,De Quadrup. Digit. Viv.ii.
[24]Ibid.
[25]Cfr.Afanassieff, v. 28.
[26]lxxxiii., quoted by Benfey in his Einleitung to thePańćatantram.—The fable is taken from the thirtieth of Avianus, where the wild boar loses his two ears and is then eaten, but the cook (who represents in tradition the cunning hero) has taken its heart to eat it:—
"Sed cum consumpti dominus cor quæreret ApriImpatiens, fertur (cor) rapuisse coquus."
"Sed cum consumpti dominus cor quæreret ApriImpatiens, fertur (cor) rapuisse coquus."
[27]In Du Cange, too, "apersignificat diabolum; Papias M. S. Bitur. Ex illo Scripturæ: 'Singularis aper egressus est de silva.'"—Cfr. also Uhland'sSchriften zur Geschichte der Dichtung und Sage, iii. 141,et seq.
[28]ii. 220,et seq., quoted by Uhland.
[29]Leukophôs; a verse of Vilkelmus Brito defines it in a Latin strophe given in Du Cange—
"Tempore quo neque nox neque lux sed utrumque videtur;"
"Tempore quo neque nox neque lux sed utrumque videtur;"
and further on—
"Interquecanem distare lupumque."
"Interquecanem distare lupumque."
According to Pliny and Solinus, the shadow of the hyena makes the dog dumb,i.e., the night disperses the twilight; the moon vanishes.
[30]The dog was sacred to the huntress Diana, whom we know to be the moon, hence the Latin proverb, "Delia nota canibus."
[31]Indrasya dûtir ishitâ ćarâmi maha ićhantî paṇayo nidhîn vaḥ; str. 2.
[32]Rasâyâ ataram payâṅsi; str. 2.—Ayaṁ nidhiḥ sarame adribudhno gobhir açvebhir vasubhir nyṛishṭaḥ; str. 7.—Svasâraṁ tvâ kṛiṇavâi mâ punar gâ apa te gavâṁ subhage bhaǵâma; str. 9.—Nâhaṁ veda bhrâtṛitvaṁ no svasṛitvam indro vidur añgirasaç ćaghorâḥ; str. 10.
[33]Indrasyâñgirasâm ćeshṭâu vidat saramâ tanayâya dhâsim bṛihaspatir bhinad adrim vidad gâḥ sam usriyâbhir vâvaçanta naraḥ; str. 3.
[34]Ṛitaṁ yatî saramâ gâ avindat.—Ṛitasya pathâ saramâ vidad gâh;Ṛigv.v. 45, 7, 8.
[35]Apo yad adrim puruhûta dardar âvir bhuvat saramâ pûrvyaṁ te;Ṛigv.iv. 16, 8.
[36]Vidad yadî saramâ rugṇam adrer mahi pâthaḥ pûrvyaṁ sadhryak kaḥ agraṁ nayat supady aksharâṇâm aćhâ ravam prathamâ ǵânatî gât;Ṛigv.iii. 31, 6.
[37]vi. 9.
[38]v. 62.
[39]vi. 10.
[40]Cfr. the Vedic text above quoted.
[41]In theTuti-Name, instead of the dog with the bone or piece of meat, we have the fox. The dog who sees his shadow in the water; the fearless hero who, in Tuscan stories, dies when he sees his own shadow; the black monster (the shadow) who, in numerous stories, presents himself instead of the real hero to espouse the beautiful princess, carry our thoughts back to Indras, who, in theṚigvedas, after having defeated the monster, flees away over the rivers, upon seeing something which is probably the shadow of Vṛitras, killed by him, or his own shadow. In theÂitar. Brâhm.iii. 2, 15, 16, 20, this flight of Indras is also recorded, and it is added, that Indras hides himself, and that the Pitaras (i.e., the souls of the departed) find him again. Indras thinks that he has killed Vṛitras, but really has not killed him; then the gods abandon him; the Marutas alone (as dogs friendly to the bitch Saramâ) remain faithful to him. The monster killed by Indras in the morning rises again at eve. According to other Vedic accounts, Indras is obliged to flee, stung by remorse, having committed a brâhmanicide.
[42]Ati drava sârameyâu çvânâu ćatarakshâu çabalâu sâdhunâ pathâ athâ pitṛînt suvidatrâṇ upehi—Yâu te çvânâu yama rakshitârâu ćaturakshâu pathirakshî nṛićakshasâu—Urûṇasâv asutṛipâ udumbalâu yamasya dûtâu ćarato ǵanâṅ anu—Tâv asmabhyaṁ dṛiçaye sûryâya punar dâtâm asum adyeha bhadram;Ṛigv.x. 14, 10-12.
[43]Ni shvâpaya mithûdṛiçâu;Ṛigv.i. 29, 3.—The Petropolitan Dictionary explains the wordmith.by "abwechselend sichtbar."
[44]Yad arǵuna sarameya dataḥ piçañga yaćhase vîva bhrâǵanta ṛishṭaya upa srakveshu bapsato ni shu svapa; stenaṁ râya sârameya taskaraṁ vâ punaḥsara stotrîn indrasya râyasi kim asmân dućhunâyase ni shu svapa;Ṛigv.vii. 55, 2, 3.
[45]i. 657, 666.
[46]Canto 62.
[47]Thus Hecuba, the wife of Priam, after having suffered cruel tribulation as a woman, in Ovid—
"Perdidit infelix hominis post omnia formamExternasque novo latratu terruit auras."
"Perdidit infelix hominis post omnia formamExternasque novo latratu terruit auras."
In theBreviarium Romanum, too, in the offices of the dead, God is besought not to consign to the beasts (ne tradas bestiis, &c.) the souls of His servants.
[48]Eta u tye patayanti çvayâtava indram dipsanti dipsavo 'dâbhyam—Ulukayâtuṁ çuçulûkayâtuṁ ǵahi çvayâtum uta kokayâtum suparṇayâtum gridhrayâtuṁ dṛishadeva pra mṛiṇa raksha indra;Ṛigv.vii. 104, 20, 22.
[49]Ǵambhayatam abhito râyataḥ;Ṛigv.i. 182, 4.
[50]Apa çvânaṁ çnathishṭana sakhâyo dîrghaǵihvyam—Apa çvânam arâdhasam hatâ makhaṁ na bhṛigavaḥ;Ṛigv.ix. 101, 1, 13.
[51]Avartyâ çuna ântrâṇi peće na deveshu vivide marḍitâram apaçyaṁ ǵâyâm amaḥîyamânâm adhâ me çyeno madhv â ǵabhâra;Ṛigv.iv. 18, 13. The bird who brings honey has evidently here a phallical meaning, as also the intestine, the part that is inside of now the dog, now the fish, and now the ass (all of which are phallical symbols), desired as a delicacy by the women of fairy tales, must be equivalent to themadhubrought by the bird.
[52]In the fifth story of the fourth book of thePentamerone, the bird does the same that a dog does in the third story of the third book; the bird brings a knife, the dog brings a bone, and the imprisoned princess, by means of this knife and bone, is enabled to make a hole in the prison, and to free herself.
[53]In thePentamerone, i. 7, the enchanted bitch brings to the princess news of the young hero.
[54]In the seventh Esthonian story, the man with the black horse binds three dogs tightly; if they get loose, no one will be able to keep them back.—In theEdda, Thrymer, the prince of the giants, keeps the grey dogs bound with golden chains.
[55]Einen gelblichen Hund mit vier Augen oder einen weissen mit gelben Ohren;Vendidad, viii. 41,et seq., Spiegel's version. And Anquetil, describing theBaraschnon no schabé, represents the purifying dog as follows:—"Le Mobed prend le bâton à neuf nœuds, entre dans les Keischs et attache la cuillère de fer au neuvième nœud. L'impur entre aussi dans les Keischs. On y amène un chien; et si c'est une femme que l'on purifie, comme elle doit être nue, c'est aussi une femme qui tient le chien. L'impur ayant la main droite sur sa tête et la gauche sur le chien, passe successivement sur les six premières pierres et s'y lave avec l'urine que lui donne le Mobed."—In theKâtyây. Sû.the question is seriously discussed whether a dog, who was seen to fast on the fourteenth day of the month, did so on account of religious penitence.—Cfr. Muir'sSanskṛit Texts, i. 365.
[56]Dog and horse, with bites and kicks, kill the monster doe and free the two brother-heroes in thePentamerone, i. 9.
[57]Cfr. also the sixth of the third book.—In the second story of the third book of thePentamerone, the sister herself cuts off her own hands, of which her brother, who wishes to marry her, is enamoured.—Cfr. theMediæval Legends of Santa Uliva, annotated by Professor Alessandro d'Ancona, Pisa, Nistri, 1863; and theFiglia del Re di Dacia, illustrated by Professor Alessandro Wesselofski, Pisa, Nistri, 1866, besides the thirty-first of the stories of the Brothers Grimm.
[58]The thirty-third of the collection of Karadzik, quoted by Professor Wesselofsky in his introduction to the story of theFiglia del Re di Dacia.
[59]Cfr. my little essay on theAlbero di Natale.
[60]King Richard II., act. i. scene 2.
[61]Çrutaṁ tać ćhâsur iva vadhrimat yâ hiraṇyahastam açvinâv adattam;Ṛigv.i. 116, 13.—Hiraṇyahastam açvinâ rarâṇâ putraṁ narâ vadhrimatyâ adattam; i. 117, 24.—The dog in connection with a man's hand is mentioned in the Latin works of Petrarch, when speaking of Vespasian, who considered as a good omen the incident of a dog bringing a man's hand into the refectory.
[62]Sadyo ǵañghâm âyasîm viçpalâyai dhane hite sartave praty adhattam; str. 15.
[63]It is perhaps for this reason that the Hungarians give to their dogs names of rivers, as being runners; but it is also said that they do so from their belief that a dog which bears the name of a river or piece of water never goes mad, especially if he be a white dog, inasmuch as the Hungarians consider the red dog and the black or spotted one as diabolical shapes. In Tuscany, when a Christian's tooth is taken out, it must be hidden carefully, that the dogs may not find it and eat it; here dog and devil are assimilated.
[64]Scylla laves her groin in a fountain, the waters of which the enchantress Circe has corrupted, upon which monstrous dogs appear in her body, whence Ovid—
"Scylla venit mediaque tenus descenderat alvo,Cum sua fœdari latrantibus inguina monstrisAspicit, ac primo non credens corporis illasEsse sui partes, refugitque, abiitque timetqueOra proterva canum."
"Scylla venit mediaque tenus descenderat alvo,Cum sua fœdari latrantibus inguina monstrisAspicit, ac primo non credens corporis illasEsse sui partes, refugitque, abiitque timetqueOra proterva canum."
[65]Hæc lucem accipiunt ab Joinville in Hist. S. Ludovici, dum fœdera inter Imp. Joannem Vatatzem et Comanorum Principem inita recenset, eaque firmata ebibito alterius invicem sanguine, hacque adhibita ceremonia, quam sic enarrat: "Et ancore firent-ils autre chose. Car ils firent passer un chien entre nos gens et eux, et découpèrent tout le chien à leurs espées, disans que ainsy fussent-ils découpez s'ils failloient l'un à l'autre."—Cfr. in Du Cange the expression "cerebrare canem."
[66]In a fable of Abstemius, a shepherd's dog eats one of the sheep every day, instead of watching over the flock. The shepherd kills him, saying, that he prefers the wolf, a declared enemy, to the dog, a false friend. This uncertainty and confusion between the dog and the wolf explains the double nature of the dog; to prove which I shall refer to two unpublished Italian stories: the first, which I heard from the mouth of a peasant-woman of Fucecchio, shows the bitch in the capacity of the monster's spy; the second was narrated a few years ago by a Piedmontese bandit to a peasant-woman who had shown hospitality to him, at Capellanuova, near Cavour in Piedmont. The first story is calledThe King of the Assassins, and is as follows:—
There was once a widow with three daughters who worked as seamstresses. They sit upon a terrace; a handsome lord passes and marries the eldest; he takes her to his castle in the middle of a wood, after having told her that he is the chief of the assassins. He gives her a she-puppy and says, "This will be your companion; if you treat her well, it is as if you treated me well." Taking her into the palace, he shows her all the rooms, and gives her all the keys; of four rooms, however, which he indicates, there are two which she must not enter; if she does so, evil will befall her. The chief of the assassins spends one day at home and then three away. During his absence she maltreats the puppy, and gives her scarcely anything to eat; then she lets herself be overcome by curiosity, and goes to see what there is in the two rooms, followed by the puppy. She sees in one room heads of dead people, and in the other tongues, ears, &c., hung up. This sight fills her with terror. The chief of the assassins returns and asks the bitch whether she has been well treated; she makes signs to the contrary, and informs her master that his wife has been in the forbidden rooms. He cuts off her head, and goes to find the second sister, whom he induces to come to him by under invitation to visit his wife; she undergoes the same miserable fate. Then he goes to take the third sister, and tells her who he is; she answers, "It is better thus, for I shall no longer be afraid of thieves." She gives the bitch soup, caresses her, and makes herself loved by her; the king of the assassins is contented, and the puppy leads a happy life. After a month, while he is out and the puppy amusing itself in the garden, she enters the two rooms, finds her two sisters, and goes into the other rooms, where there are ointments to fasten on limbs that have been cut off, and ointments to bring the dead to life. Having resuscitated her sisters, and given them food, she hides them in two great jars, furnished with breathing holes, and asks her husband to take them as a present to her mother, warning him not to look into the jars, as she will see him. He takes them, and when he tries to look in, he hears, as he had been forewarned, not one voice, but two whispering from within them, "My love, I see you." Terrified at this, he gives up the two jars at once to the mother. Meanwhile his wife has killed the bitch in boiling oil; she then brings all the dead men and women to life, amongst whom there is Carlino, the son of a king of France, who marries her. Upon the return of the king of the assassins he perceives the treachery, and vows revenge; going to Paris, he has a golden pillar constructed in which a man can be concealed without any aperture being visible, and bribes an old woman of the palace to lay on the prince's pillow a leaf of paper which will put him and all his servants to sleep as soon as he reclines on it. Shutting himself up in the pillar, he has it carried before the palace; the queen wishes to possess it, and insists upon having it at the foot of her bed. Night comes; the prince puts his head upon the leaf, and he and his servants are at once thrown into a deep sleep. The assassin steps out of the pillar, threatens to put the princess to death, and goes into the kitchen to fill a copper with oil, in which to boil her. Meanwhile she calls her husband to help her, but in vain; she rings the bell, but no one answers; the king of the assassins returns and drags her out of bed; she catches hold of the prince's head, and thus draws it off the paper; the prince and his servants awake, and the enchanter is burnt alive.
The second story is calledThe Magician of the Seven Heads, and was narrated to me by the peasant-woman in the following terms:—
An old man and woman have two children, Giacomo and Carolina. Giacomo looks after three sheep. A hunter passes and asks for them; Giacomo gives them, and receives in reward three dogs, Throttle-iron, Run-like-the-wind, and Pass-everywhere, besides a whistle. The father refuses to keep Giacomo at home; he goes away with his three dogs, of which the first carries bread, the second viands, and the third wine. He comes to a magician's palace and is well received. Bringing his sister, the magician falls in love with her and wishes to marry her; but to this end the brother must be weakened by the abstraction of his dogs. His sister feigns illness and asks for flour; the miller demands a dog for the flour, and Giacomo yields it for love of his sister; in a similar manner the other two dogs are wheedled away from him. The magician tries to strangle Giacomo, but the latter blows his whistle, and the dogs appear and kill the magician and the sister. Giacomo goes away with the three dogs, and comes to a city which is in mourning because the king's daughter is to be devoured by the seven-headed magician. Giacomo, by means of the three dogs, kills the monster; the grateful princess puts the hem of her robe round Throttle-iron's neck and promises to marry Giacomo. The latter, who is in mourning for his sister, asks for a year and a day; but before going he cuts the seven tongues of the magician off and takes them with him. The maiden returns to the palace. The chimney-sweeper forces her to recognise him as her deliverer; the king, her father, consents to his marrying her; the princess, however, stipulates to be allowed to wait for a year and a day, which is accorded. At the expiration of the appointed time, Giacomo returns, and hears that the princess is going to be married. He sends Throttle-iron to strike the chimney-sweeper (the black man, the Saracen, the Turk, the gipsy, the monster) with his tail, in order that his collar may be remarked; he then presents himself as the real deliverer of the princess, and demands that the magician's heads be brought; as the tongues are wanting, the trick is discovered. The young couple are married, and the chimney-sweeper is burnt.
[67]Cfr. theBiblioteca delle Tradizioni Popolari Siciliane, edited by Gius. Pitrè, ii. canto 811.
[68]In Richardus Dinothus, quoted by Aldrovandi.
[69]From a letter of my friend Pitrè.
[70]De Quadrup. Dig. Viv.ii.
[71]Cfr. Du Cange,s. v."canem ferre." The ignominy connected with this punishment has perhaps a phallic signification, the dog and the phallos appear in connection with each other in an unpublished legend maliciously narrated at Santo Stefano di Calcinaia, near Florence, and which asserts that woman was not born of a man, but of a dog. Adam was asleep; the dog carried off one of his ribs; Adam ran after the dog to recover it, but brought back nothing save the dog's tail, which came away in his hand. The tail of the ass, horse, or pig, which is left in the peasant's hand in other burlesque traditions, besides serving as an indication, as the most visible part, to find the lost or fallen animal again, or to return into itself, may perhaps have a meaning analogous to that of the tail of Adam's dog.—I hope the reader will pardon me these frequent repugnant allusions to indecent images; but being obliged to go back to an epoch in which idealism was still in its cradle, while physical life was in all its plenitude of vigour, images were taken in preference from the things of a more sensible nature, and which made a deeper and more abiding impression. It is well known that in the production of the Vedic fire by means of the friction of two sticks, the male and the female are alluded to, so that the grandiose and splendid poetical myth of Prometheus had its origin in the lowest of similitudes.
[72]Vṛiddhasya ćid vardhato dyâm inakshataḥ stavâno vamro vi ǵaghâna saṁdihaḥ;Ṛigv.i. 51, 9.
[73]Vamrîbhiḥ putram agruvo adânaṁ niveçanâd dhariva â ǵabhartha;Ṛigv.iv. 19, 9.—Another variation is the hedgehog, which, as we have seen in Chapter V., forces the viper out of its den.
[74]The dwarf-hermits, who transport a leaf upon a car, and are about to be drowned in the water contained in the foot-print of a cow, and who curse Indras, who passes smiling without assisting them, in the legend of theMahâbhâratam, are a variety of these same ants.—Cfr. the chapters on the Elephant and on the Fishes, where we have Indras who fears to be submerged.
[75]Fa cunto ca no le mancava lo latto de la formica;Pentamerone, i. 8.
[76]Biblion Istorikon, xii. 404.—In theEpist. Presb. Johannis, we find also:—"In quadam provincia nostra sunt formicæ in magnitudine catulorum, habentes vii. pedes et alas iv. Istæ formicæ ab occasu solis ad ortum morantur sub terra et fodiunt purissimum aurum tota nocte—quærunt victum suum tota die. In nocte autem veniunt homines de cunctis civitatibus ad colligendum ipsum aurum et imponunt elephantibus. Quando formicæ sunt supra terram, nullus ibi audet accedere propter crudelitatem et ferocitatem ipsarum."—Cfr.infra.
[77]Of this expression a historical origin is given, referring it to a Bolognese doctor of the twelfth century, named Grillo.—Cfr. Fanfani,Vocabolario dell 'uso Toscano, s. v."grillo."
[78]Here are the words of the song of this curious wedding, which I heard sung at Santo Stefano di Calcinaia, near Florence:—
"Grillo, mio grillo,Se tu vuoi moglie, dillo;Se tu n' la vuoi,Abbada a' fatti tuoi.TinfillulilaleraLinfillulilalà."Povero grillo, 'n un campo di lino,La formicuccia gne ne chiese un filo.D'un filo solo, cosa ne vuoi tu fare?Grembi e camicie; mi vuo' maritare.Disse lo grillo:—Ti piglierò io.La formicuccia:—Son contenta anch' io.Tinfillul., &c."Povero grillo, 'n un campo di ceci;La formicuccia gne ne chiese dieciDi dieci soli, cosa ne vuoi tu fare?Quattro di stufa, e sei li vuo' girare.Tinfillul., &c."Povero grillo facea l'ortolanoL'andava a spasso col ravanello in mano;Povero grillo, andava a Pontedera,Con le vilancie pesava la miseria.Tinfillul., &c."Povero grillo, l'andiede a Monteboni,Dalla miseria l'impegnò i calzoni;Povero grillo facea l'oste a Colle,L'andò fallito e bastonò la moglie.Tinfillul., &c."La formicuccia andò alla festa a il Porto,Ebbe la nova che il suo grillo era mortoLa formicuccia, quando seppe la novaLa cascò in terra, stette svenuta un 'ora.La formicuccia si buttò su il letto,Con le calcagna si batteva il petto.Tinfillul.," &c.
"Grillo, mio grillo,Se tu vuoi moglie, dillo;Se tu n' la vuoi,Abbada a' fatti tuoi.TinfillulilaleraLinfillulilalà."Povero grillo, 'n un campo di lino,La formicuccia gne ne chiese un filo.D'un filo solo, cosa ne vuoi tu fare?Grembi e camicie; mi vuo' maritare.Disse lo grillo:—Ti piglierò io.La formicuccia:—Son contenta anch' io.Tinfillul., &c."Povero grillo, 'n un campo di ceci;La formicuccia gne ne chiese dieciDi dieci soli, cosa ne vuoi tu fare?Quattro di stufa, e sei li vuo' girare.Tinfillul., &c."Povero grillo facea l'ortolanoL'andava a spasso col ravanello in mano;Povero grillo, andava a Pontedera,Con le vilancie pesava la miseria.Tinfillul., &c."Povero grillo, l'andiede a Monteboni,Dalla miseria l'impegnò i calzoni;Povero grillo facea l'oste a Colle,L'andò fallito e bastonò la moglie.Tinfillul., &c."La formicuccia andò alla festa a il Porto,Ebbe la nova che il suo grillo era mortoLa formicuccia, quando seppe la novaLa cascò in terra, stette svenuta un 'ora.La formicuccia si buttò su il letto,Con le calcagna si batteva il petto.Tinfillul.," &c.
"Grillo, mio grillo,Se tu vuoi moglie, dillo;Se tu n' la vuoi,Abbada a' fatti tuoi.TinfillulilaleraLinfillulilalà.
"Povero grillo, 'n un campo di lino,La formicuccia gne ne chiese un filo.D'un filo solo, cosa ne vuoi tu fare?Grembi e camicie; mi vuo' maritare.Disse lo grillo:—Ti piglierò io.La formicuccia:—Son contenta anch' io.Tinfillul., &c.
"Povero grillo, 'n un campo di ceci;La formicuccia gne ne chiese dieciDi dieci soli, cosa ne vuoi tu fare?Quattro di stufa, e sei li vuo' girare.Tinfillul., &c.
"Povero grillo facea l'ortolanoL'andava a spasso col ravanello in mano;Povero grillo, andava a Pontedera,Con le vilancie pesava la miseria.Tinfillul., &c.
"Povero grillo, l'andiede a Monteboni,Dalla miseria l'impegnò i calzoni;Povero grillo facea l'oste a Colle,L'andò fallito e bastonò la moglie.Tinfillul., &c.
"La formicuccia andò alla festa a il Porto,Ebbe la nova che il suo grillo era mortoLa formicuccia, quando seppe la novaLa cascò in terra, stette svenuta un 'ora.La formicuccia si buttò su il letto,Con le calcagna si batteva il petto.Tinfillul.," &c.
[79]Cfr. Zacher,Pseudo-Callisthenes, Halle, 1867.
[80]Pliny,Hist. Nat.xi. 31.
[81]Iyattikâ çakuntikâ sakâ ǵaghâsa te visham;Ṛigv.i. 191, 11.
[82]iv. 1.
[83]De Quad. Dig. Viv.ii.
[84]i. 49.
[85]ii. 22.
[86]The forgetfulness of the lynx, as well as of the cat, is proverbial. St Jerome, in the Ep. ad Chrisog.—"Verum tu quod natura lynces insitum habent, ne post tergum respicientes meminerint priorum, et mens perdat quod oculi videre desierint, ita nostræ es necessitudinis penitus oblitus." Thus of the lynx it is said by Ælianos that it covers its urine with sand (like the cat), so that men may not find it, for in seven days the precious stone lyncurion is formed of this urine. The cat that sees by night, the lynx that sees through opaque bodies, the fable of Lynkeus, who, according to Pliny, saw in one day the first and the last moon in the sign of Aries, and the lynx that, according to Apollonios, saw through the earth what was going on in hell, recall to us the moon, the wise and all-seeing fairy of the sky, and the infernal moon.
[87]Quoted by Benfey in the Einleitung to thePańćatantram.
[88]v. 5421-5448.
[89]"Let no man, apprised of this law, present even water to a priest who acts like a cat;" iv. 192, version of Jones and Graves'Chamney Haughton, edited by Percival, Madras, 1863.—In a Russian story quoted by Afanassieff in his observations to the first volume of his stories, the cat Eustachio feigns itself penitent or monk in order to eat the mouse when it passes. It being observed that the cat is too fat for a penitent, it answers that it eats from the duty of preserving its health.
[90]iii. 147, Stuttgart, Cotta, 1857.
[91]Translation by Ch. Potvin, Paris and Brussels, 1861.
[92]From the peasant-woman Uliva Selvi, who told it to me at Antignano, near Leghorn.
[93]Cfr.Afanassieff, v. 32, where a cat is bought by a virtuous workman for the price of a kapeika (a small coin), the only price that he had consented to take as a reward for his work; the same cat is bought by the king for three vessels. With another kapeika, earned by other work, the workman delivers the king's daughter from the devil, and subsequently marries her.
[94]Cfr. analogous subjects in Chapter I.,e.g., Emilius the lazy and stupid youth, and the blind woman who recovers her sight.
[95]