of MM. Grimm, who give two versions of it. It resembles in some instances the "Scarpafico" of Straparola, i. 3; and also Pentamerone, ii. 10; as well as an adventure in the English History of Friar Bacon and his Man.
Hans and his Wife Grettel, p. 192.—This comprises the three stories of Grimm, "Die kluge Grethel," "Der gescheidte Hans," and "Die faule Spinnerin," which we have taken the liberty of ascribing to one couple. The first is taken immediately by MM. Grimm (though a story also of popular currency) from what they describe to be a rare book, Ovum Paschale (Salzburg, 1700). It is also a subject of a Meistergesang in a MS. in the possession of Arnim, and of one of Hans Sachs' tales, "Die Vernascht Köchin." The second resembles two different stories given in books printed in Germany in 1557 and 1565. "Bardielio," in the Pentamerone, i. 4, resembles the story in several particulars. The third is from Zwehrn, and resembles Pentamerone, iv. 4, as well as an old German tale printed in the Altdeuche Wälder.
Cherry, or the Frog-Bride, p. 201.—This is a translation of "Das Märchen von der Padde," from Büsching's Volks-Sagen; changing the heroine from "Petersilie " (Parsley) into Cherry.
Mother Holle, p. 207.—The "Frau Holle" of MM. Grimm: from Hesse and Westphalia, and several other places, but with variations. It is a common saying in Hesse, when it snows, "Mother Holle is making her bed." Mother Holle, or Hulda, is a potent personage of some repute, excercising her power for the public good, in rewarding the industrious and well-disposed, and punishing the slovenly and mischievous. MM. Grimm have collected some of her traditions in vol. i. of their Deutsche Sagen; and the same will be found in Prætorius. She seems to be of heathen origin.
The Water of Life, p. 211.— "Das Wasser der Lebens;" from Hesse, Paderborn, and (with variations) other places. The story has in many particulars a very Oriental cast. It resembles one of the Arabian Nights; but it is also connected with one of the tales of Straparola, iv. 3. Another of MM. Grimm's stories, "De drei Vügelkens," with which it coincides in several respects, has still more of the Oriental character. The "Water of Life" is a very ancient tradition, even in Rabbinical lore. In Conrad of Wurtzburg's Trojan War (written in the 13th century), Medea gets the water from Paradise to renew the youth of Jason's father.
Peter the Goatherd, p. 218, is the "Ziegenhirt" of Otmar's Collection of the Ancient Tales and Traditions current in the Hartz. The name of Frederic Barbarossa is associated with the earliest cultivation of the Muses in Germany. During the Suabian dynasty (at the head of which he is to be placed), arose and flourished the Minnesingers, or poets of love, contemporary with the Troubadours, whom they rival in the quantity, and far excel in the quality, of their compositions. Frederic was a patron of the minstrel arts; and it is remarkable that the Hartz traditions still make him attached to similar pursuits, and tell how musicians, who have sought the caverns where he sits entranced, have been richly rewarded by his bounty.
The author of The Sketch Book has made use of this tale as the plot of his "Rip van Winkle." There are several German traditions and ballads which turn on the unsuspected lapse of time under enchantment; and we may remember, in connection with it, the ancient story of the "Seven Sleepers" of the fifth century (Gibbon, vi. 32). That tradition was adopted by Mahomet, and has, as Gibbon observes, been also adopted and adorned by the nations from Bengal to Africa, who profess the Mahometan religion. It was translated into Latin before the end of the sixth century, by the care of Gregory of Tours; and Paulus Diaconus (de gestis Longobardorum), in the eighth century, places seven sleepers in the North under a rock by the seashore. The incident has considerable capability of interest and effect, and it is not wonderful that it should become popular, and form the basis of various traditions. The next step is to animate the period dropped from real life—the parenthesis of existence—with characteristic adventures, as in the succeeding story of "The Elfin Grove;" and as in "The Dean of Santiago," a Spanish tale from the Conde Lucanor, translated in the New Monthly Magazine for August 1824, where several similar stories are referred to.
The Four Clever Brothers, p. 222.— "Die vier kunstreichen Brüder;" from Paderborn. There is a story exceedingly like this in the Pentamerone, v. 7, "Li cinco Figlie;" and in Straparola, vii. 5. In another old German story, a smith arrives at such perfection, as to shoe a fly with a golden shoe and twenty-four nails to each foot. In the Persian Tuhti Nameh, there is also a story closely resembling the one before us. In a fabliau (to which we cannot refer at the moment), we recollect the thief is so dexterous as to steal off his companion's breeches without his observation.
The Elfin Grove, p. 227.—This is an abridgment of a story in Tieck's Phantasus, founded on an old and well-known tradition, but considerably amplified by him. We have reduced it nearer to its primitive elements; but it is, of course, to a great extent, a fancy piece, and does not pretend to that authenticity of popular currency which is claimed for the other stories. The principal incident resembles that in "Peter the Goatherd;" and, more closely, that which has been turned to so much account by Mr. Hogg, in the Queen's Wake. The song is written by a friend, and has been adapted to a German popular air.
The Salad, p. 234.—The "Krautesel" of MM. Grimm. The transformation will of course remind the reader of Apuleius. See also Prætorius, ii. 452, where the lily has the restorative power. But the whole is only another version of the story of Fortunatus, the origin of which is not known, though the common version of it was probably got up in Spain, if we may judge by the names Andalusia, Marsepia, and Ampedo. One version of it is in the Gesta Romanorum.
See some observations, on the nature of the precious gifts, on which the plot of this and the following story turns, in the preface to the new edition of Warton's History of English Poetry (p. 66),
The Nose, p. 240.—This story comes from Zwehrn, and has been given by MM. Grimm only in an abridged form in their notes; but we wished to preserve the adventures substantially, as connected with the last story, and as illustrating the antiquity and general diffusion of the leading incidents of both.
