all four (six) versions.[2] The introductory incidents
vary somewhat. Chambers has evidently a maimed version of the
introduction of Catskin (see No. lxxxiii.). The remaining three enable
us, however, to restore with some confidence the _Ur-_Cinderella in
English somewhat as follows: _Helpful animal given by dying
mother--Ill-treated heroine--Menial heroine--cornucopia--Spy on
heroine--Slaying by helpful animal--Tasks--Revivified bones_. I have
attempted in my version to reconstruct the "English" Cinderella
according to these formulae. It will be observed that the helpful animal
is helpful in two ways (a) in helping the heroine to perform tasks; (b)
in providing her with magic dresses. It is the same with the Grimms'
_Aschenputtel_ and other Continental variants.

Turning to the Celtic variants, these divide into two sets. Campbell's
and Macleod's versions are practically at one with the English formula,
the latter with an important variation which will concern us later. But
the other two, Curtin's and Sinclair's, one collected in Ireland and the
other in Scotland, both continue the formula with the conclusion of the
Sea Maiden tale (on which see the Notes of my _Celtic Fairy Tales_, No.
xvii.). This is a specifically Celtic formula, and would seem therefore
to claim Cinderella for the Celts. But the welding of the Sea Maiden
ending on to the Cinderella formula is clearly a later and inartistic
junction, and implies rather imperfect assimilation of the Cinderella
formula. To determine the question of origin we must turn to the purer
type given by the other two Celtic versions.

Campbell's tale can clearly lay no claim to represent the original type
of Cinderella. The golden shoes are a gift of the hero to the heroine
which destroys the whole point of the _Shoe marriage test_, and cannot
have been in the original, wherever it originated. Mr. Macleod's
version, however, contains an incident which seems to bring us nearer to
the original form than any version contained in Miss Cox's book.
Throughout the variants it will be observed what an important function
is played by the helpful animal. This in some of the versions is left as
a legacy by the heroine's dying mother. But in Mr. Macleod's version the
helpful animal, a sheep, is the heroine's mother herself! This is indeed
an archaic touch, which seems to hark back to primitive times and
totemistic beliefs. And more important still, it is a touch which
vitalises the othe