n, and makes the servant maid
his wife. The substitution is similar to that which takes place in
such stories as the Norse "Bushy Bride;" but closer parallels are
supplied by some of the stories of southern Europe. Mrs. Stokes refers
in her Notes to the dead prince in one of Gonzenbach's Sicilian tales,
who is brought to life by a wandering princess, who for more than
seven years rubs his body with grass from Mount Calvary. Pitre's great
collection of Sicilian _Fiabe_ also offers several variants of the
substitution story, in some of which occurs the singular incident,
known also to Swedish and Finnish folk-tales, of the imprisonment of
the heroine, after she has been flung into the sea, by a submarine
supernatural being. In some instances it is not water which the
heroine has to dread, but light. The true bride must be conveyed to
the bridegroom's palace in a darkened vehicle. Her supplanter draws
aside a curtain. The sunlight shines in. The princess turns into a
lizard or some other animal, and the false bride takes her place.

The Calumniated Wife story which occurs in No. 20 of the present
collection, closely resembles many European variants. A king hears a
girl say that when she is married she will have a son with a moon on
his forehead and a star on his chin. So he marries her. She gives
birth to a boy who really is thus decorated. But the king's other
wives, naturally jealous of her, put a stone in her bed, and pretend
that it is the object which she has brought into the world, upon which
she is disgraced and turned into a servant maid. In other variants of
the story she is often accused of having murdered her children, and
even eaten them. In one instance her mortified husband is represented
as twice forgiving her, after remonstrating with her on her inordinate
appetite, but as thinking it necessary to take some precautions when
the possibility of her committing the crime for the third time makes
itself manifest. Sometimes all the innocent wives of a king are
accused of murderous habits by a guilty wife, who is in reality a
destroying and devouring demon. Such is the case in No. 20 of the
present collection, which ends with the restoration of the seven
calumniated wives, and the death by burning of the demon spouse.

* * * * *

Besides illustrating the themes or leading ideas of many groups of
European tales, these Indian stories frequently serve to throw light
upon some of thei