F. "Variants," enumerated under 101 headings. These are all confined to Finnland.
As space is limited, it is better to confine our attention to what is perhaps the most interesting section in the collection—to section B.
It may seem a little astonishing to find a Karelian, in 1885, telling the editor that "a lizard is a human being," and a Bothnian narrating, in 1884, that "a frog seems to be of the human species," but such is the case. Story No. 306 runs as follows:—"The lizard is a human being, on account of which it is not the custom to kill it, but only to break off its tail, there is something of the snake at the tip of the tail. In Finnland we call it 'Sister-Liisa';[1] in more elegant language it is a lizard (F. sisilisko)." No. 307 tells of a king's daughter who was so lazy she would not take the trouble even to put on her clothes. At last she says, "How would it be if food came into my mouth without the necessity of eating?" This took place, and she used to hop about the floor on her stomach, and merely open her mouth. But finally she was turned out of doors, and became a frog. "In our country, therefore, one may not kill a frog, as it seems to be of the human family, and lives an idle life." No. 299 informs us how the waterfowl is developed out of a frog. "When all the fishy tribe formed a shoal together, a pike swallowed a frog that was in the shoal. The spawning season came in spring. The other pike came to look: 'What is the matter with thee, that thou hast to give birth to so large an embryo?' The frog had turned into the form of a water-fowl. And afterwards down began to grow upon it, and webs grew between its toes, like the feet of a frog. And from that frog old people say the water-fowl has come into the world, as the Creator forgot to make it on the day of creation." Another story tells of three brothers. One went into the forest, and from him came a bear; another went into a lake, and from him came a frog; while
- ↑ Sister-Liisa, in F. Sisär-Liisa and Sisärliesko, is merely a corruption of the correct word Sisilisko, so it is possible this piece of "folk-etymology" may be the reason that led the narrator to connect the lizard with the human species; though undoubtedly, as I myself have found, there does exist a prejudice in Finnland against killing these reptiles. In the "Finnish Charms" (Loitsurunoja), edited by Dr. Lönnrot, the origin of the lizard in one instance is assigned to the spittle Syöjätär (the Ogress) spat into the water.
