-sisters; and the younger
one is dressed up, and married, veiled, to the suitor of the other. When
the husband discovers the deception, he throws the false bride under the
ice of a river on the way, and takes his own bride instead. Next year,
the mother, on her way to visit her supposed daughter and her child,
gathers a water-lily, which tells her that it is her own daughter. Then
the mother and daughter are transformed into a black dog and a black
cat, with the aid of a magician; but their attempts at revenge are
frustrated by a sorceress, who had previously befriended the young
mother.

SECTION IV

_FAMILIAR STORIES OF NORTHERN EUROPE_

Under this heading we include variants of well-known but not
cosmopolitan tales, some of which are of considerable interest. Among
them is a variant of "Melusina," close in some points, but presenting
many features of difference.

THE FISHERMAN AND HIS WIFE.

Kreutzwald's story of "The Powerful Crayfish and the Insatiable Wife" is
almost identical with that of Grimm. At last the woman wishes to be God,
and the crayfish sends the foolish couple back to their poverty.

THE MERMAID.[29]

(KREUTZWALD.)

In the happy days of old, better men lived on earth than now, and the
Heavenly Father revealed many wonders to them which are now quite
concealed, or but rarely manifested to a child of fortune. It is true
that the birds sing and the beasts converse as of old, but unhappily we
no longer comprehend their speech, and what they say brings us neither
profit nor wisdom.

In old days a fair mermaid dwelt on the shores of the province of Laeaene.
She often appeared to the people, and my grandfather's father, who was
reared in the neighbourhood, sometimes saw her sitting on a rock, but
the little fellow did not venture to approach her. The maiden appeared
in various forms, sometimes as a foal or a calf, and sometimes under the
form of some other animal. In the evening she often came among the
children, and let them play with her, until some little boy mounted her
back, when she would vanish as suddenly as if she had sunk into the
ground.

At that time old people said that in former days the maiden was to be
seen on the borders of the sea almost every fine evening in the summer,
sitting on a rock, and combing her long fair hair with a golden comb,
and she sang such beautiful songs that it melted the hearts of her
listeners. But she could not endure the gaze of m