Note 511 — Appendix. VARIANTS AND ANALOGUES OF SOME OF THE TALES IN THE SUPPLEMENTAL NIGHTS. VOLS. I. AND II. (continued 2)

There is a similar tale by the Spanish novelist Isidro de Robles (circa 1660), in which three ladies find a diamond ring in a fountain; each claims it; at length they agree to refer the dispute to a count of their acquaintance who happened to be close by. He takes charge of the ring and says to the ladies, “Whoever in the space of six weeks shall succeed in playing off on her husband the most clever and ingenious trick (always having due regard to his honour) shall possess the ring; in the meantime it shall remain in my hands.” (See Roscoe’s “Specimens of the Spanish Novelists,” Chandos edition, p. 438 ff.) This story was probably brought by the Moors to Spain, whence it may have passed into France, since it is the subject of a fabliau, by Haisiau the trouvère, entitled “Des Trois Dames qui trouverent un Anel,” which is found in Méon’s edition of Barbazan, 1808, tome iii. pp. 220–229, and in Le Grand, ed. 1781, tome iv. pp. 163–165.