Notes on the “magical articles” motif in folk-lore

Note: this text is extracted from Book I, chapter 3.

A similar incident to that in our text is found in Grimm’s Fairy Tales, translated by Mrs Pauli, p. 370. The hero of the tale called “The Crystal Ball” finds two giants fighting for a little hat. On his expressing his wonder, “Ah,” they replied, “you call it old, you do not know its value. It is what is called a wishing hat, and whoever puts it on can wish himself where he will, and immediately he is there.” “Give me the hat,” replied the young man. “I will go on a little way and when I call you must both run a race to overtake me, and whoever reaches me first, to him the hat shall belong.” The giants agreed, and the youth, taking the hat, put it on and went away; but he was thinking so much of the princess that he forgot the giants and the hat, and continued to go farther and farther without calling them. Presently he sighed deeply and said: “Ah, if I were only at the Castle of the Golden Sun.”

Wilson (Collected Works, vol. iii, p. 16.9, note) observes that “the story is told almost in the same words in the [Persian] Bahār-i-Dānish, a purse being substituted for the rod; Jahāndār obtains possession of it, as well as the cup, and slippers in a similar manner. Weber [Eastern Romances, Introduction, p. 39] has noticed the analogy which the slippers bear to the cap of Fortunatus. The inexhaustible purse, although not mentioned here, is of Hindu origin also, and a fraudulent representative of it makes a great figure in one of the stories of the Dasa Kumāra Charita [ch. ii; see also L. Deslongchamps, Essai sur les Fables Indiennes, Paris, 1838, p. 35 et seq., and Grässe, Sagen des Mittelalters, Leipzig, 1842, p. 1 9 et seq.].” The additions between brackets are due to Dr Reinholdt Rost, the editor of Wilson’s Essays.

The Mongolian form of the story may be found in Sagas from the Far East, p. 24. A similar incident also occurs in the Swedish story in Thorpe’s Scandinavian Tales, entitled “The Beautiful Palace East of the Sun and North of the Earth.” A youth acquires boots by means of which he can go a hundred miles at every step, and a cloak that renders him invisible in a very similar way.

I find that in the notes in Grimm’s third volume, p. 168 (edition of 1856), the passage in Somadeva is referred to, and other parallels given. The author of these notes compares a Swedish story in Cavallius, p. 182, and Prohle, Kindermärchen, No. 22. He also quotes from the Siddhī Kūr, the story to which I have referred in Sagas from the Far East, and compares a Norwegian story in Ashbjörnsen, pp. 53, 171, a Huṅgarian story in Mailath and Gaal, No. 7, and an Arabian tale in the continuation of The Thousand Nights and a Night (see later in this note). See also Sicilianische Marchen, by Laura Gonzenbach, part i, story 31. Here we have a tablecloth, a purse and a pipe. When the tablecloth is spread out one has only to say: “Dear little tablecloth, give macaroni”—or roast meat or whatever may be required—and it is immediately present. The purse will supply as much money as one asks it for, and the pipe is something like that of the Pied Piper of Hamelin—everyone who hears it must dance. Dr Kohler, in his notes at the end of Laura Gonzenbach’s collection, compares (besides the story of Fortunatus, and Grimm, iii, 202), Zingerle, Kinder und Hausmärchen, ii, 73 and 193; Curze, Popular Traditions from Waldeck, p. 34; Gesta Romanorum, ch. cxx; Campbell’s Highland Tales, No. 10, and many others. The shoes in our present story may also be compared with the bed in the ninth novel of the tenth day of The Decameron. See also Ralston’s Russian Folk-Tales, p. 230; Veckenstedt’s Wendische Sagan, p. 152; and the story of “Die Kaiserin Trebisonda” in a collection of South Italian tales by Woldemar Kaden, entitled Unter den Olivenbáumen, published in 1880. The hero of this story plays the same trick as Putraka, and gains thereby an inexhaustible purse, a pair of boots which enable the wearer to run like the wind, and a mantle of invisibility. See also “ Beutel, Mäntelchen, und Wunderhorn,” in the same collection, and No. 22 in Miss Stokes’ Indian Fairy Tales, pp. 153-163. The story is found in the Avadānas, translated by Stanislas Julien (Lévêque, Mythes et Légendes de l’Inde et de la Perse, p. 570; Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde, p. 117). M. Lévêque thinks that La Fontaine was indebted to it for his fable of L’Huître et les Plaideurs. See also De Gubernatis, Zoological Mythology, vol. i, pp. 126-127 and 162. We find a magic ring, brooch and cloth in No. 44 of the English Gesta. See also Syrische Sagen und Märchen, Von Eugen Prym und Albert Socin, p. 79, where there is a flying carpet. There is a magic tablecloth in the Bohemian “ Story of Büsmanda” (Waldau, p. 44), and a magic pot on p. 436 of the same collection; and a food-providing mesa in the Portuguese story “A Cacheirinha” (Coelho, Contos Populares Portuguezes, No. 24, pp. 58-60). In the Pentamerone, No. 42 (see Burton’s translation, vol. ii, p. 491), there is a magic chest. Kuhn has some remarks on the “ Tisccen deck dich” of German tales in his Westfälische Märchen, vol. i, p. 369.

For a similar artifice to Putraka’s, see the story entitled “Fischer Märchen” in Gaal’s Märchen der Magyaren, p. 168; Waldau, Böhmische Märchen, pp. 260 and 564 (at this point Tawney’s notes end and mine begin —n.m.p.); Dasent’s Popular Tales from the Norse, 2nd edition, p. 263; and A. C. Fryer’s English Fairy Tales from the North Country. See also “Some Italian Folk-Lore,” H. C. Coote (Folk-Lore Record, 1878, vol. i, pp. 204-206). In the first story of Basile’s Pentamerone (Burton’s translation, 1893, vol. i, pp. 11-19) we find the hero, after receiving two magical gifts from a ghul, has them stolen by a landlord. A third gift, a magical mace, enables him to recover his stolen property. Similar incidents will be found in L. Leger’s Contes Populaires Slaves, Paris, 1882; E. H. Carnoy’s Contes Franqais, Paris, 1885; T. F. Crane’s Italian Popular Tales, London, 1885; and “The Legend of Bottle Hill” in J. C. Croker’s Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland. The incident of an attempt to steal magic articles, usually inherited or given as a reward for some kindness, is common in folk-tales. We find it again in Busk’s Folk-Lore of Rome, 1894, p. 129, where three sons each inherit a magical object—an old hat (of invisibility), a purse (always containing money) and a horn (which summons “One” who accedes to all requests). A wicked queen gets hold of all these articles, but the second son (who, strange to say, is the hero of the story) finds magical figs which produce long noses and cherries which counteract the effect. He has his revenge on the queen, takes the magic articles, and leaves her with a nose twelve feet long. The story also occurs in Grimm’s Kinder und Hausmärchen. See also the fourteenth tale of Sagas from the Far East.

The lengthening and diminishing noses remind us of the “three wishes” cycle of stories, which started in India (Pañcatantra), went through Persia (see Clouston’s Book of Sindibād, 1884, pp. 71, 72, 190 and 253) and Arabia (see Burton’s Nights, vol. vi, p. 180, and Chauvin’s Bibliographie des Ouvrages Arabes, 1904, viii, pp. 51, 52), and via Turkey into Europe, where it appeared in La Fontaine’s Trois Souhaits, Prior’s Ladle and Les Quatre Souhaits de Saint Martin. Apart from the North European variants of the “magical articles” motif already mentioned, we find the shoes of swiftness worn by Loki when he escaped from Hell. It is not often one finds a recipe for making magic articles, but in an Icelandic story is the following:—

“The giant told her that Hermôdr was in a certain desert island, which he named to her; but could not get her thither unless she flayed the soles of her feet and made shoes for herself out of the skin; and these shoes, when made, would be of such a nature that they would take her through the air, or over the water, as she liked”

(.Icelandic Legends, translated by Powell and Magnusson, 2nd series, p. 397).

The invisible coat is identical with the Tamhut, or hat of darkness, in the Nibelungenlied and in the Nifflunga Saga, and with the Nebelkappe, or cloud-cap, of King Alberich, a dwarf of old German romance.

In the Norse tale of the “Three Princesses of Whiteland” (Dasent, 2nd edition, 1859, p. 209 et seq.) the wandering king procures a hat, cloak and boots from three fighting brothers.

In the Italian tale of “Liar Bruno” the articles are a pair of boots, a purse and a cloak.

In a Breton version (vol. i of Mélusine, under the title of “Voleur Avisé”) they are a cloak of transportation, an invisible hat, and gaiters which make the wearer walk as fast as the wind (cf with the story of “Die Kaiserin Trebisonda” mentioned on p. 26).

In tale 21 of Portuguese Folk-Tales (Folk-Lore Society, 1883) a soldier comes across two separate couples fighting. From the first couple he gets a cap of invisibility and from the second a pair of magical boots. Similar caps and coats occur in Mitford’s Tales of Old Japan, where Little Peachling is given these articles by the conquered ogres.

There is a curious Mongolian legend (Folk-Lore Journal, 1886, vol. iv, pp. 23, 24) in which a man obtains a gold-producing stone from two quarrelling strangers. The interest in the tale lies in the fact that from this incident the entire Chinese nation can trace its origin!

Returning to Arabia, we read in the Nights (Burton, vol. viii, p. 120) that Hasan of Bassorah

“came upon two little boys of the sons of the sorcerers, before whom lay a rod of copper graven with talismans, and beside it a skull-cap of leather, made of three gores and wroughten in steel with names and characters. The cap and rod were on the ground and the boys were disputing and beating each other, till the blood ran down between them; whilst each cried, ‘None shall take the wand but I.’ So Hasan interposed and parted them, saying, ‘What is the cause of your contention?’ and they replied, ‘O uncle, be thou judge of our case, for Allah the Most High hath surely sent thee to do justice between us.’ Quoth Hasan, ‘Tell me your case, and I will judge between you.’”

The cap made the wearer invisible and the owner of the rod had authority over seven tribes of the Jinn. For numerous references to incidents similar to those contained in " Hasan of Bassorah” see Chauvin’s Bibliographic des Onvrages Arabes, vii, pp. 38, 39, under the headings of “ Ruse pour s’emparer d’un objet précieux” and “ Invisible.”

There is another story in the Nights (Burton, vol. iv, p. 176), called “Abu Mohammed hight Lazybones,” in which the hero is presented with a sword of invisibility. Burton suggests in a note that the idea of using a sword for this purpose probably arose from the venerable practice of inscribing the blades with sentences, verses and magic figures.

Finally to get back to our starting-place—India. In Steel and Temple’s Wide-Awake Stories from the Pañjāb and Kashmir there are four magical articles—a wallet with two magic pockets, a staff which will restore to life, a brass pot providing food, and a pair of sandals of transportation.

In Lai Behari Day’s Folk-Tales of Bengal (p. 53 et seq.) a Brāhman receives from Durgā an earthen pot which provides sweetmeats. It is stolen, and Durgā gives a second pot, out of which issues Rākṣasas who soon help to recover the original gift. A similar story occurs in Freer’s Old Deccan Days (No. 12.— “The Jackal, the Barber and the Brahman”), where a food-producing chattee is recovered by another containing a magical stick and ropes by means of which the offenders are punished until they restore the stolen property.

In a manuscript at Le Bibliothèque Nationale is a story described as a “ Conte Hindoustani.” It has been translated into French by Garcin de Tassy as “L’inexorable Courtisane et les Talismans” (see Revue Orientate et Américaine, 1865, vol. x, pp. 149-157). It is a combination of two motifs. The first is that of the "magical articles.” The king finds four robbers quarrelling over a sword (capable of cutting off heads of enemies at any distance), a porcelain cup (providing food), a carpet (giving money), and a jewelled throne (of transportation). The king gets them in the usual way and arrives at a city where he sees a palace of great splendour. He is told it belongs to a wealthy courtesan whose fees are enormous. The king, however, falls in love with the girl and by means of the magic carpet gets enough money for a long stay. She learns the king’s secret and awaits her opportunity, until she obtains possession of the four magical articles. The king is reduced to beggary. During his wanderings while in this state, he discovers some magical water which turns those who touch it into monkeys. He collects some, and has his revenge on the courtesan, finally getting back his articles.

This second part of the tale belongs to that cycle of stories where a courtesan tries to ruin men and finally meets her match. The original of this motif is “The Story of the Merchant’s Son, the Courtesan and the Wonderful Ape, Ala,” which occurs in Chapter XVII of the Ocean of Story. I shall give numerous variants of the motif in a note to the tale when we come to it.

Apart from all the above there are numerous tales in which single magical articles appear. Several have been mentioned, but only as far as they have any analogy to the tale in the Ocean of Story. Further details will be found in W. A. Clouston’s Popular Tales and Fictions, 1887, vol. i, pp. 72-122, from which some of the above references have been derived.

See also P. Saintyves, Les Contes de Perrault, Paris, 1923, pp. 281-292.

As I have already stated in the Introduction, it is the incidents in a story which form the real guide to its history and migration. The plot is of little consequence, being abbreviated or embroidered according to the environment of its fresh surroundings. Thus we find a distinct theme, trait, or motif, as we may call it, appearing again and again—not only in Eastern fiction, but also in that of the West. If the motif be of a simple nature it seems much more probable that it forms part of the general stock of ideas common to every nation. Certain definite fiction motifs would naturally suggest themselves to most people, such as letting the youngest son marry the princess or find the treasure, or obtaining magical articles or help from supernatural beings. In cases like these there is no necessity to suspect any Eastern origin, although the Western tale may have been improved or enriched from the East.

In the “magical articles” motif we notice two distinct varieties: (1) where the articles are stolen by the hero; (2) where they are stolen from the hero. In (1) he nearly always meets two or more people fighting and, without any scruples, proceeds to trick them out of their belongings—in only one case (the first in this note) are the articles taken through absent-mindedness. In (2) the hero inherits or earns the articles; he is tricked into telling their secrets and then has them stolen, only to recover them by the help of the original donor.

A glance through the above references to the numerous variants of the “ magical articles” tale in East and West will show that it is in the Eastern stories in which the hero is allowed to steal with impunity, while in the Western tales he comes by the articles honestly. The Easterns have a highly developed sense of humour, and any successful trick played off against a Kāzi, fakir, or in fact anyone, is sure to bring a round of applause. I therefore suggest this as a possible explanation.

In conclusion, then, I would not class this motif as migratory to the same extent as is the story of “Upakośā and her Four Lovers,” which is to be discussed shortly. There is no doubt that it did travel from the East, but it seems probable that it found more or less the same ideas already in common circulation, for the simple reason that the particular motif happened to be rather a commonplace one. Perhaps the Eastern imagination could add a more amusing incident, portion of an incident, or a more striking dénouement to a tale already current in a Western land. It seems very probable that the incident of the fight over the magical articles was directly derived from the East, while the idea of the magical articles themselves was, in some form or other, already established in Western Märchen. — n.m.p.