n her
alive." Another: "Put her in the pillory." Another: "Fry her in oil in
the public square." This was agreed to. The youths had been informed by
that same old man whom Diana had met, and who was a magician, where
their sister was and what she had done for them. Then they made
themselves known, and embraced Diana and their brother-in-law the king,
and after the greatest joy, they all started off to see their parents.
Imagine the satisfaction of the king and queen at seeing again all their
seven children. They gave the warmest reception to the king, Diana's
husband, and after they had spent some days together, Diana returned
with her husband to their city. And all lived there afterward in peace
and contentment.[20]

* * * * *

We shall now turn our attention to another wide-spread story, which may
be termed "The True Bride," although the Grimm story of that name is not
a representative of it. One of the simplest versions is Grimm's "The
Goose-Girl," in which a queen's daughter is betrothed to a king's son
who lives far away. When the daughter grew up she was sent to the
bridegroom, with a maid to wait upon her. On the journey the maid takes
the place of the princess, who becomes a poor goose-girl. The true bride
is of course discovered at last, and the false one duly punished. "The
White and the Black Bride," of the same collection, is a more
complicated version of the same theme. The first part is the story of
two sisters (step-sisters) who receive different gifts from fairies,
etc.; the second part, that of the brother who paints his sister's
portrait, which the king sees and desires to marry the original. The
sister is sent for, but on the journey the ugly step-sister pushes the
bride into a river or the sea, and takes her place. The true bride is
changed into a swan (or otherwise miraculously preserved), and at last
resumes her lawful place. In the above stories the substitution of the
false bride is the main incident in the story; but there are many other
tales in which the same incident occurs, but it is subordinate to the
others. Examples of this latter class will be given as soon as we reach
the story of "The Forgotten Bride."

The first class mentioned is represented in Italy by two versions also.
The first is composed of the two traits: "Two Sisters" and "True Bride";
the second, of "Brother who shows beautiful sister's portrait to king."
This second version sometimes shows