k all the fresh water in
the world?"

"Yes," said the prince.

"Well, then," said the king, "drink it."

"But here," answered the prince, "in many parts of the world the
water of the ocean mixes with the fresh water: so, before I drink,
you must separate the fresh water from the salt." As the king was
unable to do this, he acknowledged himself vanquished.

"All right," said the king. "To-morrow come here for the wedding." The
Negrito hastened home, and told his young master all that had
happened. The prince gave him five thousand pesetas, and promised him
that he would urge the princess to give her consent to the marriage
of the Negrito with her maid of honor. The next morning the prince
and the princess were married, and the following day the Negrito
received the maid of honor for his wife.

Notes.

Like the preceding, this story was doubtless imported from Europe,
and probably through the medium of the religious. The occasion for the
three questions, as well as the questions themselves, varies widely
in the many different forms of the story; but the relationship among
the members of the cycle is unmistakable. A general outline that would
embrace most of the variants is this: A certain person, on penalty of
losing his head if he fails, is required to give satisfactory answers
to three (or four) difficult questions; a friend of the contestant,
who resembles him, wears the other's clothes, and answers the questions
ingeniously, thus saving his friend's life and winning a considerable
reward for him and himself. The fullest bibliography of this cycle
is that given by Oesterley in his edition of Pauli's "Schimpf und
Ernst" (Stuttgart, 1866), p. 479. For other references to the group
of stories, see Grimm, No. 152, and his notes; Rittershaus, 404-408
(No. CXV, "Der Koenig und der Bischof"); Koehler-Bolte, 82 (on Moncaut's
French story "Le Meunier et le Marquis"), 267 (on J. F. Campbell's
No. 50), and 492 (on the Turkish Nasreddin's 70th jest).

The opening of our story is like that of many of the tales in the
"Bride Wager" group, in which the youngest of three brothers, after
the two older have lost their lives, risks his. Compare, for instance,
the European variants cited in our notes to No. 21. This opening,
which does not belong to our present cycle, was doubtless attached
to the story of the three questions in the Islands themselves. The
combination does not appear to have been very happily effected,
althoug