h it is easy to see the basis for the association (cf. Von
Hahn's formula 24 and bibliography). Very little distinction is made
between the good qualities of the three brothers, and the Negrito's
determination to help the last only is not motivated. The Negrito
himself, however, is necessary to the story,--he takes the place of the
miller in most of the European forms,--and he had to be fitted in as
best he could. The magic ring of the slave, with the aid of which he
is able to make himself look exactly like his master, does not appear
in any of the other variants that I know of. In many of the European
forms the occasion of the questions is this: A king or a nobleman
becomes angry with a priest or bishop, and threatens him with death
if he cannot answer within a definite time three questions that are
put to him. As the chief interest of the story is in the solving of
the riddles or problems, it is easy to see how there might be a wide
variation in setting if the story passed around much by word of mouth.

The questions themselves are curious. Here are some of those found in
the European versions: (1) How much water is there in the sea? (2)
How many days have passed since Adam lived? (3) Where is the centre
of the earth? (4) How far is it from earth to heaven? (5) What is the
breadth of heaven? (6) What is the exact value of the king and his
golden crown? (7) How long a time would it take to ride around the
whole world? (8) What is the king thinking of this very moment? (9)
How far is fortune removed from misfortune? (10) How far is it from
East to West? (11) How heavy is the moon? (12) How deep is water?

Some of the answers to these questions are clever; others are only less
stupid than the persons who asked the questions. The solutions to the
twelve just given are: (1) "A tun."--"How can you prove that?"--"Just
order all the streams which flow into the sea to stand still." This
reply is not unlike the counter-demand to the third question in our
story. (2) "Seven; and when they come to an end, they begin again." (3)
"Where my church stands: let your servants measure with a cord, and
if there is the breadth of a blade of grass more on one side than on
the other, I have lost my church." (4) "Just so far as a man's voice
can easily be heard." (5) "A thousand fathoms and a thousand ells:
then take away the sun and moon and all the stars, and press all
together, and it will be no broader." (6) This question is answered
ex