essed lady, on whom he laid a charge never to ask whence he came,
or in what country he was born. When she breaks this commandment the
swan reappears and fetches him away. So the nightmare-wife, as we have
seen, in one of the tales vanishes on being asked how she became a
nightmare. Again, the fay of Argouges disappears on the name of Death
being mentioned in her presence. A fair maiden in an Indian tale, who is
found by the hero in the neighbourhood of a fountain, and bears the name
of Bheki (Frog), forbids her husband ever to let her see water. When she
is thirsty and begs him for water, the doom is fulfilled on his bringing
it to her. A similar tale may be added from Ireland, though Liebrecht
does not mention it. A man who lived near Lough Sheelin, in County
Meath, was annoyed by having his corn eaten night after night. So he sat
up to watch; and to his astonishment a number of horses came up out of
the lake driven by a most beautiful woman, whom he seized and induced to
marry him. She made the stipulation that she was never to be allowed to
see the lake again; and for over twenty years she lived happily with
him, till one day she strolled out to look at the haymakers, and caught
sight of the distant water. With a loud cry she flew straight to it, and
vanished beneath the surface.[240]

Liebrecht's next reason is based upon the place where the maiden is
found,--a forest, or a house in the forest. In this connection he refers
to the tavern, or drinking-shop, on the borders of the forest, where
Wild Edric found his bride, and points to a variant of the story, also
given by Walter Map, in which she is said, in so many words, to have
been snatched _from the dead_.[241] The forest, he fancies, is the place
of the dead, the underworld. Lastly, he gives numerous legends of the
Middle Ages,--some of which found their way into the "Decameron," that
great storehouse of floating tales, and other literary works of
imagination, as well as into chronicles,--and instances from more modern
folklore, wherein a mistress or wife dies, or seems to die, and is
buried, yet is afterwards recovered from the tomb, and lives to wed, if
a maiden, and to bear children. He supports these by references to the
vampire superstitions, and to the case of Osiris, who returned after
death to Isis and became the father of Horus. And, following Uhland, he
compares the sleep-thorn, with which Odin pricked the Valkyrie,
Brynhild, and so put her into a magic