6).
(9) For wearing of shoes only when crossing rivers, and raising
umbrella only when sleeping under a tree, see again "Juan the Fool." A
rather close parallel to this incident, as well as to the seemingly
foolish questions Rodolfo asks Estela's father, and the daughter's
wise interpretation of them, may be found in the Kashmir story,
"Why the Fish laughed" (Knowles, 484-490 = Jacob 1, No. XXIV). See
also a Tibetan story in Ralston 2 : 111; Benfey in "Ausland," 1859,
p. 487; Spence Hardy, "Manual of Buddhism," pp. 220-227, 364. Compare
especially Bompas, No. LXXXIX, "The Bridegroom who spoke in Riddles."
Finally mention may be made of two Arabian stories overlooked by Bolte
and Polivka, in one of which a woman sends supper to a stranger, and
along with the food an enigmatical message describing what she has
sent. The Negress porter eats a part of the food, but delivers the
message. The stranger shrewdly guesses its meaning, and sends back a
reply that convicts the Negress of theft of a part of the gift. The
other story opens with the "bride-wager" riddle, and later enumerates
many instances of the ingenuity of the clever young wife. See Phillott
and Azoo, "Some Arab Folk-Tales from Hazramaut," Nos. I and XVII
(in JRASB 2 [1906] : 399-439).
Benfey (Ausland, 1859, passim) traces the story of the "Clever Lass"
back to India. The original situation consisted of the testing of the
sagacity of a minister who had fallen into disgrace. This minister
aids his royal master in a riddle-contest with a neighboring hostile
king. Later in the development of the cycle these sagacity tests were
transferred to a wife who helps her husband, or to a maiden who helps
her father, out of similar difficulties. (Compare the last part of my
note to No. 1 in this collection.) Bolte and Polivka, however (2 :
373) seem to think it probable that the last part of the story--the
marriage of the heroine, her expulsion, and her theft of the sleeping
king--was native to Europe.
The Filipino folk-tales belonging to this cycle appear to go back
directly to India as a source. Incident 4 (see above) seems to me
conclusive evidence, as this is a purely Oriental conception, being
recorded only in India, Tibet, and South Siberia. The chap-book version
(A) doubtless owes much to popular tradition in the Islands, although
the anonymous author, in his "Preface to the Reader," says that he has
derived his story from a book (unnamed),--hango sa novela. I ha
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