ourse,
Thumbkin is known as Tom Thumb (see _English Fairy Tales_). In the
days when mythological explanations of folk-tales were popular, Gaston
Paris, in a special monograph ("Petit Poucet," Paris 1875) tried to
prove that Tom Thumb was a stellar hero because his French name was
given to the smallest star in the Great Bear. But it is more likely
that the name came from the tale than the tale from the star.

According to Gaston Paris, the chief variants known to him were
Teutonic and Slav. Those of the Roumanians, Albanians, and Greeks were
derived from the Slavs. He concludes that the French form must have
been borrowed from the Germans, and declares that it is not found in
Italy or Spain, but Cosquin, ii., gives Basque and Catalan variants,
as well as a Portuguese one, and Crane gives a Tuscan variant, 242,
with other occurrences in Italy in note 3, p. 372. This only shows the
danger of deciding questions of origin on an imperfect induction.

The opening is not found in Grimm; I have taken it from Andrews; for
which an excellent parallel is given in Crane, lxxvii., "Little
Chick-pea." A similar beginning occurs in Hahn, 56, "Pepper-corn."

XXV. SNOWWHITE

Snowwhite is of special interest to the students of the folk-tale as
being obviously a late product combining many _motifs_ from different,
more primitive, or at least earlier formulae. E. Boeklen, in his
_Schneewitchen Studien_, I, Leipzig 1910, suggests influence by Hansel
and Gretel; The Seven Ravens; The Sleeping Beauty; The Maiden without
Hands; One Eye, Two Eyes, Three Eyes; False Bride, etc.; and Bolte,
i., 453, appears to agree with him. Certainly almost every one of the
incidents can be paralleled in other sets of folk-tales. The
combination "white as snow," "red as blood," "black as ebony," has
already been given in the present volume (see p. 173). Bringing back
an animal's heart instead of the proposed victim's is common form as
early as the Book of Genesis; and the trial of the three beds is
familiar to English children in Southey's "Three Bears." It would seem
that a story something like "Snowwhite" was known in Shakespeare's
time, as there appears to be a reference to it in the main plot of
"Cymbeline" (see _Germania_, ix., 458).

The form I have given to the formula follows very closely that of the
Grimms' 53. It is one of their best stories and occurs widely spread
throughout Germany. Whether that implies original composition in
Central Europe