ns--it being itself a degraded form of the hammer
of Thor, the lance of Indra, which always came back to the divine hand
that had hurled it.

[295] Khudyakof, No. 19. The rest of the story is that of "Der Gaudief
un sin Meester," Grimm's _KM._ No. 68. (See also vol. iii. p. 118 of
that work, where a long list is given of similar stories in various
languages.)

CHAPTER IV.

MAGIC AND WITCHCRAFT.

Most of the magical "properties" of the "skazka-drama," closely
resemble those which have already been rendered familiar to us by
well-known folk-tales. Of such as these--of "caps of darkness," of
"seven-leagued boots," of "magic cudgels," of "Fortunatus's purses,"
and the like[296]--it is unnecessary, for the present, to say more
than that they are of as common occurrence in Slavonic as in other
stories. But there are some among them which materially differ from
their counterparts in more western lands, and are therefore worthy of
special notice. To the latter class belong the Dolls of which mention
has already been made, and the Waters of Life and Death of which I am
now about to speak.

A Water of Life plays an important part in the folk-tales of every
land.[297] When the hero of a "fairy story" has been done to death by
evil hands, his resuscitation by means of a healing and vivifying
lotion or ointment[298] follows almost as a matter of course. And by
common consent the Raven (or some sort of crow) is supposed to know
where this invaluable specific is to be found,[299] a knowledge which
it shares with various supernatural beings as well as with some human
adepts in magic, and sometimes with the Snake. In all these matters
the Russian and the Western tales agree, but the Skazka differs from
most stories of its kind in this respect, that it almost invariably
speaks of _two_ kinds of magic waters as being employed for the
restoration of life. We have already seen in the story of "Marya
Morevna," that one of these, sometimes called the _mertvaya voda_--the
"dead water," or "Water of Death"--when sprinkled over a mutilated
corpse, heals all its wounds; while the other, which bears the name of
the _zhivaya voda_,--the "living water," or "Water of Life"--endows it
once more with vitality.

[In a Norse tale in Asbjoernsen's new series, No. 72,
mention is made of a Water of Death, as opposed to a
Water of Life. The Death Water (_Doasens Vana_) throws
all whom it touches into a magic sleep, fr