disgust. An Indian tradition also tells us that the inhabitants of
Chamba were under the necessity of digging a canal for irrigation, but
when it was dug, owing to the enchantments of an evil spirit, not a
drop of water could be got to flow along its course. A magician at last
found out that the spell could be dissolved if the beautiful and
virtuous young princess of Chamba would consent to traverse a given
distance of the plain entirely naked, in full view of the populace, and
to lose her head when the journey was accomplished. After much
hesitation, her compassion triumphed over her shame; and she undertook
the task. But lo! as she advanced, a thick line of young trees arose to
right and left, completely hiding her from cynical eyes. And the shady
canal is shown to-day by the good people of Chamba as one of the most
authentic monuments of their history.[53]

So far the stories. Concerning which it must be observed that they are
evidence that the myth of Lady Godiva is widely diffused in the East,
and that the spy is usually, though not always, part of the tale. The
Smyrnoean version must probably be thrown out of the reckoning. It is, as
I have already mentioned, a variant of the Cinderella cycle. The problem
of the plot is how to get the heroine unseen out of her father's
clutches. This is commonly effected by the simple mechanism of a
disguise and a night escape. Other methods, I need not now detail, are,
however, sometimes adopted; and the excuse of going to the bath, with
the order to the people to close their shops and keep within doors,
would seem to reveal nothing more than the unconscious influence of
Aladdin or some other of the Eastern stories. Throwing this out, then,
as accidental, an overwhelming proportion of the analogues cited
contains the spy. It would be dangerous to reason on the supposition
that the proportions of all the Asiatic variants extant correspond with
those of the variants cited; but we are at liberty to assume that a
large number, if not the majority, comprise the incident of Peeping
Tom. None of them was known in Europe until Galland published his
translation of the "Arabian Nights" in the year 1704--upwards of two
centuries later than the latest period at which the story as given in
the Coventry manuscript can have come into existence.

But the stories, though they may go a little way to help us in regard to
the incident of Peeping Tom, throw no light on the origin of the legend,
or o