(Hahn, No. 15) a prince finds in the forbidden
fortieth a lake in which fairies of the swan-maiden
species are bathing. In a third (No. 45) the fortieth
room contains a golden horse and a golden dog which
assist their bold releaser. In a fourth (No. 68) it
imprisons "a fair maiden, shining like the sun," whom
the demon proprietor of the castle has hung up within
it by her hair.

As usual, all these stories are hard to understand.
But one of the most important of their Oriental
equivalents is perfectly intelligible. When Saktideva,
in the fifth book of the "Kathasaritsagara," comes
after long travel to the Golden City, and is welcomed
as her destined husband by its princess, she warns him
not to ascend the central terrace of her palace. Of
course he does so, and finds three chambers, in each
of which lies the lifeless form of a fair maiden.
After gazing at these seeming corpses, in one of which
he recognizes his first love, he approaches a horse
which is grazing beside a lake. The horse kicks him
into the water; he sinks deep--and comes up again in
his native land. The whole of the story is, towards
its termination, fully explained by one of its
principal characters--one of the four maidens whom
Saktideva simultaneously marries. With the version of
this romance in the "Arabian Nights" ("History of the
Third Royal Mendicant," Lane, i. 160-173), everyone is
doubtless acquainted. A less familiar story is that of
Kandarpaketu, in the second book of the "Hitopadesa,"
who lives happily for a time as the husband of the
beautiful semi-divine queen of the Golden City. At
last, contrary to her express commands, he ventures to
touch a picture of a Vidyadhari. In an instant the
pictured demigoddess gives him a kick which sends him
flying back into his own country.

For an explanation of the myth which lies at the root
of all these stories, see Cox's "Mythology of the
Aryan Nations," ii. 36, 330. See also Professor de
Gubernatis's "Zoological Mythology," i. 168.]

We will now take one of those versions of the story which describe how
Koshchei's death is brought about by the destruction of that
extraneous object on which his existence depends. The incident is one
which occupies a prominent place in the