of Sanskrit fables; and it
has even been discovered in a Chinese work which dates from A. D. 668.
Usually the hero is a dog, but sometimes a falcon, an ichneumon, an
insect, or even a man. In Egypt it takes the following comical shape:
"A Wali once smashed a pot full of herbs which a cook had prepared.
The exasperated cook thrashed the well-intentioned but unfortunate Wali
within an inch of his life, and when he returned, exhausted with his
efforts at belabouring the man, to examine the broken pot, he discovered
amongst the herbs a poisonous snake." [4] Now this story of the Wali is
as manifestly identical with the legend of Gellert as the English word
FATHER is with the Latin pater; but as no one would maintain that
the word father is in any sense derived from pater, so it would be
impossible to represent either the Welsh or the Egyptian legend as a
copy of the other. Obviously the conclusion is forced upon us that the
stories, like the words, are related collaterally, having descended from
a common ancestral legend, or having been suggested by one and the same
primeval idea.

Closely connected with the Gellert myth are the stories of Faithful John
and of Rama and Luxman. In the German story, Faithful John accompanies
the prince, his master, on a journey in quest of a beautiful maiden,
whom he wishes to make his bride. As they are carrying her home across
the seas, Faithful John hears some crows, whose language he understands,
foretelling three dangers impending over the prince, from which his
friend can save him only by sacrificing his own life. As soon as they
land, a horse will spring toward the king, which, if he mounts it, will
bear him away from his bride forever; but whoever shoots the horse, and
tells the king the reason, will be turned into stone from toe to knee.
Then, before the wedding a bridal garment will lie before the king,
which, if he puts it on, will burn him like the Nessos-shirt of
Herakles; but whoever throws the shirt into the fire and tells the
king the reason, will be turned into stone from knee to heart. Finally,
during the wedding-festivities, the queen will suddenly fall in a swoon,
and "unless some one takes three drops of blood from her right breast
she will die"; but whoever does so, and tells the king the reason, will
be turned into stone from head to foot. Thus forewarned, Faithful John
saves his master from all these dangers; but the king misinterprets
his motive in bleeding his wife,