ete story. It is a pity that the
other nine are missing.]

The cycle of tales to which all our variants belong, and which
may appropriately be called the "Master Cheat" cycle, is one of
the most popular known. It occurs in many different forms; indeed,
the very nature of the story--merely a succession of incidents in
which a poor but shrewd knave outwits his rich friend or enemy (the
distinction matters little to the narrator), and finally brings about
his enemy's death while he himself becomes rich--is such as to admit
of indefinite expansion, so far as the number and variety of the
episodes are concerned. There have been at least four comprehensive
descriptive or bibliographical studies of this cycle made,--Koehler's
(on Campbell's Gaelic story, No. 39), Cosquin's (notes to Nos. 10
and 20), Clouston's (2 : 229-288), and Bolte-Polivka's (on Grimm,
No. 61). Of these, the last, inasmuch as it is the latest (1914)
and made use of all the preceding, is the most complete. From it
(2 : 10) we learn that the characteristic incidents of this family
of drolls are as follows:--

A1 A rabbit (goat, bird) as carrier of messages. A2 A wolf sold for
a ram.

B A gold-dropping ass (or horse).

C A self-cooking vessel.

D A hat which pays the landlord.

E1 Dirt (ashes) given (sold, substituted) for gold. E2 Money which
was alleged to be in a chest, demanded from the storer of the chest.

F1 Cowhide (or "talking" bird) sold to adulteress, or (F2) sold to
her husband, or (F3) exchanged for the chest in which the paramour
is concealed, or (F4) elsewhere exchanged for money.

G1 A flute (fiddle, staff, knife) which apparently brings to life
again the dead woman. G2 The dead mother killed a second time, and
paid for by the supposed murderer.

H Escape of the hero from the sack (chest) by exchanging places with
a shepherd.

J Death of the envious one, who wishes to secure some "marine cattle."

The opponents in this group of stories, says Bolte, "are either
village companions, or unacquainted marketers, or a rich and an
avaricious brother." In addition to the episodes enumerated above,
might be mentioned two others not uncommonly found in this cycle:--

F5 Frightening robbers under tree by dropping hide or table on them.

F6 Borrowed measure returned with coins adhering to it.

As these last two occur in other stories, both droll and serious
(e.g., Grimm, No. 59; and "1001 Nights," "Ali Baba"), they may not
originall