(Sisymbrium Sophia), the Magyar name for which signifies "wound-healing leaf;" see article on Székely Folk-Medicine in Folk-Lore Record, April, 1884, p. 98, and the Finnish story of "Golden Bird."
With regard to the passage "Rose . . . was so beautiful that though you could look at the sun you could not look at him," cf. the reply of Curidach to Attila, as related by Priscus. "He, (Attila,) then invited Curidach, chieftain of the Akatziri, to come and celebrate their joint triumph at his court, but that chieftain, suspecting that his benefactor's kindness was of the same nature as the promised boon of Polyphemus to Ulysses, courteously declined, saying, "It is hard for a man to come into the presence of a god, and if it be not possible to look fixedly even at the orb of the sun, how shall Curidach gaze undistressed upon the greatest of God's' (i.e. Attila)." Italy and her Invaders, by T. Hodgkin, London, 1880, vol. ii. p. 84.
The story of a girl assuming a snake's skin reminds us of the daughter of Ypocras, who dwelt at Lango, in the form of a great dragon; see The Voyages and Travels of Sir John Maundeville, cap. iv. See also, "Snake-skin," in this collection, p. 283. A Snake Friend occurs in the Swahili "Blessing or Property," (Steere, p. 405); in the Finnish "Haastelewat Kuuset," ("The Talking Pines,"); in "Melusina," B. Gould's Curious Myths, p. 471, and in Keightley's Fairy Mythology, p. 480. In the Norse story of the "Three Princesses of Whiteland," (Dasent, p. 210,) the princesses gradually rise out of the earth as the lad destroys the trolls. See also Vernaleken, "The Fisher's Son," p. 250.
In the Serbian tale of "The Three Brothers," Denton, p. 275, the witch destroys two of the brothers, having first persuaded them to throw one of her hairs on their animals. The third brother resuscitates them, and all goes well. Cf. "The Enchanted Doe," in Pentamerone.[1]
Cf. "To Lappepiger gifte sig med Stall," Friis, 106, and "Ivan, Kupiskas Son," Friis, p. 170. Cf. exhaustive note in Stokes's Indian Tales, pp. 163, 268; and the Portuguese tale, "Slices of Fish," in Pedroso: Folk-Lore Society, p. 102. For animals that help, cf. "The Three Princes," p. 113 of this volume.
- ↑ Taylor's Edition. London. 1848.
