find three lads who would spend three nights with them without putting a question—had he refrained they were free."
In one variant the time of probation lasts a year, and the talismans are: a cup that empties not, and a lamp of light, the table-cloth of meat, and a bed for rest. In another the damsels are swanmaids,[1] and the visitors are bidden "not to think nor order one of us to be with you in lying down or rising up."[2]
There can, I think, be little doubt that this last variant represents the oldest form of the story, and that the swanmaid damsels belong to the otherworld, as do the daughter of King Under the Waves and the maiden who fetches Connla. There is nothing surprising in swanmaids being the object of a taboo, this is so invariably the case in myth and folk-lore that it is needless to accumulate instances; what is unique to my knowledge, I speak under correction, is the fact of these damsels being in possession of the talismans, one of which is so obviously connected with the Grail. It may be noted that the obligation laid upon the hero is the direct opposite of that in the Grail romances, in the one case a question must not be asked, in the other it must. In this respect Campbell's tale of course falls into line with all the widely spread and varying versions of the Melusine legend. The supernatural wife always forbids her husband some special act which, as is perhaps natural, he can never refrain from doing.
The next form of the Bespelled Castle legend is one which has attained far greater celebrity than any other on account of its traditional association with historical personages. It pictures the inmate of the castle as a King, with his warriors around him, sunk into magic sleep, and awaiting a signal to come forth and free his folk. To many English readers this legend will be more familiar in connection with Frederick Barbarossa[3] or with Holger
- ↑ This recalls the fact that Oengus of the Brug fell in love with a swan-maid. See text and translation Revue Celtique, Vol. III., pp. 341, et. seq. The story is alluded to in the catalogue of epic tales (dating from the tenth century) found in the Book of Leinster.
- ↑ In a variant from Kashmir (Knowles' Folk-tales of Kashmir, London, 1888 p. 75, et. seq.), Saiyid and Said, this tale is found embedded in a twin-brethren one.
- ↑ Frederick (I.) Barbarossa is a mistake, as old as the seventeenth century
