inside he went outside, and soon found the footprints. So soon as the girl saw the monster was after her, in her terror she sprang from a bridge and hid herself under it. So the monster lost the track, and the girl was saved. Friis, p. 43.—Cf. "Jack the Giant Killer," where the giant says,
"Fa, fe, fi, fo, fum,
I smell the blood of an Englishman;
Be he alive, or be he dead,
I'll grind his bones to make my bread."
In the northern ballad we are told how a girl is carried off by the fairies. Two of her brothers set off to rescue her, but fail, because they do not carry out Merlin's instructions. The third one succeeds; and, while he sits talking to his sister, the hall doors fly open and the elf king comes in shouting:
"With, fi, fe, fa, and fum,
I smell the blood of a Christian man,
Be he dead, be he living, with my brand,
I'll clash his harns frae his harn pan."
See Dr. Jamieson's Illustrations of Northern Antiquities.
In the Eskimo story of "The Girl who fled to the Inlanders," (Rink, p. 218,) the inlanders know a coast woman has come, by the smell: In "Inuarutligak," we are told of singular people, whose upper parts are human, and lower little dogs: and are endowed with a keen sense of smell.—Cf. p. 199, in this collection.
The cutting up of the hero's body reminds us of the Egyptian story of Typhon cutting up Osiris, who is restored to life by Horus; see Uarda, note to cap. viii.—Cf. also Sagas from the Far East, tale v. p. 75, and Vernaleken, "The Three White Doves," p. 269.
In the Eskimo stories the heroes are restored to life by the singing of certain mystic songs.
In the legend of Gurû Guggâ, the bullocks are restored to life by the singing of charms; Temple's Legends of the Punjâb, p. 124.—Cf. Grimm, vol. ii. "Water of Life," and note, p. 399; Ralston's Russian Tales, p. 236.
The "wound-healing grass"[1] is in all probability flixweed
- ↑ A similar plant occurs in "The Merchant," in the Pentamerone.
