Note 28 — Chapter V · The Grateful Dead and The Ransomed Woman.
Reading edition
All the other variants in which there is question of dividing a child, save one,28 are folk-tales; and all of them save three29 clearly belong in the category now under discussion. If they did not group themselves in this way, I should be unwilling even to consider the possibility of any general influence from The Two Friends upon these tales, since the only trait borrowed by any of them is precisely the division. Only in Oliver and Lope de Vega is this sacrifice made for the healing of a friend; and we have seen in the case of Transylvanian, Gaelic, and Breton III. how naturally the division of the child grows out of the division of the wife. As the matter stands, however, the case for the influence of The Two Friends is sufficiently strong to warrant the grouping of these tales together. The general relationship of the theme may be deferred to a later chapter.30