as stolen one of her golden slippers. He
denies the charge, and swears that he has never seen his accuser
before. Thus self-convicted, he is imprisoned for many years.

The Mentonese folk-tale and "Rodolfo" emphasize not only the virtue
of the wife, but her cleverness as well, and definitely connect the
"Chastity Wager" cycle with our No. 7. While it would be difficult
to maintain successfully that the "Chastity Wager" cycle and the
"Clever Lass" group are descended from the same parent,--I really
believe the latter to be much the older,--it seems that we have a sort
of combination of the two as early as the time of the "Tuti-nameh"
collection. In the following story taken from that compilation,
traces of both cycles may be discerned, though clearly the tale is
more nearly related as a whole to the "Chastity Wager" group. This
Persian story is entitled "The Nobleman and the Soldier's Wife, whose
Virtue he put to the Proof" (No. 4, pp. 42 ff., of "The Tootinameh;
or, Tales of a Parrot" in the Persian Language, with an English
Translation; Calcutta, 1792). An abridged version of it follows:--

In a certain city dwelt a military man who had a very beautiful
wife. He was always under apprehension on her account; and one
day, after he had been idle a long time, she asked him why he had
quitted his profession. He answered, "I have no confidence in you,
and therefore I do not go anywhere in quest of employment." The wife
told him that he was perverse; for no one could seduce a virtuous
woman, and a vicious woman no husband could guard successfully. Then
she told him a story to illustrate the second type of wife. When
he asked if she had anything more to say to him, she replied,
"It is right for you to travel and seek service. I will give you
a fresh nosegay: as long as the nosegay continues in this stare,
you may be assured that I have not committed any bad action; if the
nosegay should wither, you will then know that I have been guilty of
some fault." The soldier heeded her words, and set out on a journey,
taking the nosegay with him. When he arrived at a certain city,
he entered the service of a nobleman of that place. Winter came on,
and the nobleman was astonished to see the soldier wearing a fresh
nosegay every day, though flowers were practically unattainable,
and he asked him about it. The soldier told him that his wife had
given the nosegay to him as an emblem of her chastity; that as long
as it continued fresh, he