oduction is almost identical with that prefixed to the German
story of "Allerleirauh,"[195] except in so far as the puppets are
concerned.

Sometimes it is a brother, instead of a father, from whom the heroine
is forced to flee. Thus in the story of _Kniaz Danila Govorila_,[196]
Prince Daniel the Talker is bent upon marrying his sister, pleading
the excuse so often given in stories on this theme, namely, that she
is the only maiden whose finger will fit the magic ring which is to
indicate to him his destined wife. While she is weeping "like a
river," some old women of the mendicant-pilgrim class come to her
rescue, telling her to make four _Kukolki_, or small puppets, and to
place one of them in each corner of her room. She does as they tell
her. The wedding day arrives, the marriage service is performed in the
church, and then the bride hastens back to the room. When she is
called for--says the story--the puppets in the four corners begin to
coo.[197]

"Kuku! Prince Danila!

"Kuku! Govorila.

"Kuku! He wants to marry,

"Kuku! His own sister.

"Kuku! Split open, O Earth!

"Kuku! Sister, disappear!"

The earth opens, and the girl slowly sinks into it. Twice again the
puppets sing their song, and at the end of its third performance, the
earth closes over the head of the rescued bride. Presently in rushes
the irritated bridegroom. "No bride is to be seen; only in the corners
sit the puppets singing away to themselves." He flies into a passion,
seizes a hatchet, chops off their heads, and flings them into the
fire.[198]

In another version of the same story[199] a son is ordered by his
parents to marry his sister after their death. They die, and he tells
her to get ready to be married. But she has prepared three puppets,
and when she goes into her room to dress for the wedding, she says to
them:

"O Kukolki, (cry) Kuku!"

The first asks, "Why?"

The second replies, "Because the brother his sister takes."

The third says, "Split open, O Earth! disappear, O sister!"

All this is said three times, and then the earth opens, and the girl
sinks "into that world."

In two other Russian versions of the same story, the sister escapes by
natural means. In the first[200] she runs away and hides in the hollow
of an oak. In the second[201] she persuades a fisherman to convey her
across a sea or lake. In a Polish version[202] the sister obtains a
magic car, which sinks underground with her, while the spot on which