Shakespearian Story in Serbian Folklore. 75
is much shorter and lacking in detail. A poor peasant borrowed thirty purses from a Jew, on the condition that the latter might cut off the half of his tongue, if the debtor should fail to repay the borrowed sum ; but the term is not fixed. The peasant's wife — for there is no preliminary love-story in this version — begs the judge for permission to take his place during her husband's trial. The judge consents, and the wife, clad in the judge's robes, conducts the trial. The sentence is the same as in the other story. The Jew is permitted to cut the exact half of the tongue, on pain of having his own cut instead. Finally the Jew is obliged to pay another thirty purses to free himself of the disastrous bargain.
In the two remaining tales — the fourth and fifth — the plot is not so fully related as in the first three. The essential feature is lacking. Portia's part has quite dis- appeared. Instead of the woman replacing the judge, it is the judge himself who conducts the trial. The tales are one from Ragusa and the other from Hercegovina.
In the Ragusan tale (Karadjic, 1903), a Christian — ^for thus he is called without further specification — is in debt to a Jew for the sum of ten ducats. The bond is as follows : " If the Christian fail to render the money to the Jew by the following October " — the date of the bond is not mentioned — " the Jew shall be entitled to cut a drachma from his tongue." The Cadi, — the real Cadi, not the wife — gives sentence for the Jew. " Be careful," he adds, " lest thou cut more or less than one drachma, or I shall cut thy tongue instead." Finally the Jew is condemned to pay the Christian thirty ducats.
In his edition of the Pantchatanira (vol. i, p. 402), Theodor Benfey quotes a Mahommedan Indian tale which is exactly the same as the Serbian tale from Hercegovina (Pamucina, Saljive srpske narodne pripovijetke, 1902, p. 39). The plot of this Serbian tale is somewhat complicated, and the hero has several adventures which have nothing to do
