Note 41 — Chapter V · The Grateful Dead and The Ransomed Woman.

Webster, the collector of this tale, noticed41 its similarity to Gaelic, especially in the name of the hero, and surmised that the Basques must have borrowed it from the Celts in some way. The theory is tenable, though a comparison of the two variants shows that the Basques must either have borrowed it in a form considerably different from the Highland tale as we have it, or have altered the details largely. The first part of the story is entirely different; the hero goes on two voyages in Basque II., one only in Gaelic; the lady goes with the hero immediately in the former, he returns for her in the latter; the treachery and the signs are different; the ghost appears as an angel instead of a human being in Basque; and the promised division concerns the wife and three sons in Gaelic, a single babe in Basque. Thus, apart from the title, there is little to substantiate Webster’s theory. The differences are certainly more important than those between any two versions of Jean de Calais. In some particulars, like the voyages and the portrait on the ship, Basque is more nearly normal, while in others, like the account of the treachery and the appearance of the ghost, Gaelic conforms to the ordinary form. Certainly Basque II. is to be regarded as a fairly close relative of Lithuanian II. and Jean de Calais.