and unaltered, that many of the wilder features of the original tale (discarded in early artistic and national epic) linger on in märchen. Thus, in most peasant versions of the Cinderella theme, the wonder-working character is a beast, a sheep in Scotland; sometimes that beast has been the heroine's mother. In our usual Cinderella, derived from Perrault's version (1697), the wonder-working character is a fairy godmother. Thus I seemed to detect a process of genealogy like this:
| Original Tale, probably of Savage Origin. | |||
| Popular Tale of Peasants. | |||
| Ancient Literary Heroic Myth. (Homer. Cyclic Poems. Argonautica. Lays of Sigurd. Nibelungenlied. Perseus Myth, etc.) |
Modern Literary Version. (Perrault.) | ||
Discovering an apparent process of refinement and elaboration, and behind that ideas very barbaric, I examined the more peculiar incidents of popular tales. Talking beasts are common, beasts acting as men are common: no less common, among savages, is the frame of mind in which practically no distinction is taken between gods, beasts, and men. The more barbaric the people, the more this lack of distinction marks their usages, ritual, myth, and tales. Of magic and cannibalism it is needless to speak. The more civilised the people, the less of these elements appears in their ritual, usage, and myth: most survives in their popular tales, and even in these it is gradually mitigated. My conclusion was that the tales dated from an age of savage fancy.
Lastly, I seemed to note, in European popular tales, some relics of ancient legal custom. The constant preference of the youngest child, boy or girl, might conceivably point to a time when the youngest child was the heir, as in Borough English: a very widespread custom. On this I would not now lay stress; another natural reason may suggest the favour always shown to Benjamin. Besides, in adventures, if there is to be accumulating interest, someone must fail; the elder sons would attempt the adventure
