Note 10 — Chapter III · Tales with the Simple Theme and Miscellaneous Combinations.

As Schiefner said,10 when he first printed the story, it recalls the Grimms’ Der singende Knochen,11 which in turn is a compound of The Water of Life, with the idea of murder discovered by means of a dead man’s bones. The Esthonian tale has, however, only the latter circumstance, combined with a simple form of The Grateful Dead. The hero’s reward is immediate—he finds gold in the earth while digging the grave; and the ghost does not appear. The variant is thus of no great significance.