Note 133 — Appendix. VARIANTS AND ANALOGUES OF THE TALES IN THE SUPPLEMENTAL NIGHTS, VOL. III.

Sir Richard has referred, in note 2, pp. 23, 24, to numerous different magical tests of chastity etc., and I may here add one more, to wit, the cup which Oberon, King of the Fairies, gave to Duke Huon of Bordeaux (according to the romance which recounts the marvellous adventures of that renowned Knight), which filled with wine in the hand of any man who was out of “deadly sin” and attempted to drink out of it, but was always empty in the hands of a sinful man. Charlemagne was shown to be sinful by this test, while Duke Huon, his wife, and a companion were proved to be free from sin.—In my “Popular Tales and Fictions” the subject of inexhaustible purses etc. is treated pretty fully—they frequently figure in folk-tales, from Iceland to Ceylon, from Japan to the Hebrides.