The legend of Perseus, Volume 1 (of 3)

Chapter II · THE STORY IN MODERN FOLKLORE—THE KING OF THE FISHES TYPE.

Reading edition

In our previous chapter we have examined the classical legend of Perseus, and a few of the recently recorded popular traditions of Europe most nearly akin to it, all of which I have ventured to class together as the Danae type. Turn we now to another type, not less interesting and even more widely diffused, which may be called The King of the Fishes type, from the title of the Breton story I am about to summarise.

The plot as developed in this story consists of four incidents, distinguishable as—

1. The Supernatural Birth,

2. The Life-token,

3. The Dragon-slaying, and

4. The Medusa-witch.

Of these the only one we did not find in the classical legend is that of the Life-token. It has already appeared in the German, Swedish, and Russian stories cited in the last chapter. There, however, it assumed an arbitrary form: the brothers stuck their knives into a tree, or threw them into a fountain, or buried a measure of wine apiece. In the present type the Life-token is frequently a consequence of the Supernatural Birth; it is then inseparably connected with the hero whose well-being it indicates; it is not dependent on his will, but is, in fact, part of himself. Born with the heroes, and as inseparable from them as the Life-token, are usually also their horses and dogs, and sometimes their weapons.

It would be tedious to relate all the variants of the tale found in Europe; nor do the minuter differences between them concern us at this moment. I am anxious merely to lay before the reader the general outlines of the plot as they are found in the more striking and important examples. For that purpose it will be needful to mention one or two more variants falling under the present type, before proceeding to consider some in which one or more of the essential incidents are wanting.

This long and not very coherent story gains a little in unity in a variant by the identification of the second and “more wonderfully terrible beast” with the sea-maiden to whom the hero had been promised ere his birth. Omitting this episode and that of the giants, we have the ordinary plot of the King of the Fishes with little change, beyond the substitution of the sea-maiden for the wizard-fish. The alteration does not affect the substance of the tale, for it matters little whether the food which results in the birth of the twin heroes be the flesh of the King of the Fishes, or some other gift of supernatural power.

Here we have the Supernatural Birth, the Dragon-slaying, and the Medusa-witch, though the two latter are somewhat disguised. For the Life-token a miraculous dream is substituted. And the whole is overlaid by the practices and beliefs of the revived Hinduism paramount in India after the expulsion of Buddhism.

Notes in this chapter

Note 1 · A poor and childless fisherman once caught in his net a fish whose scales shone like gold. He was going to put it into his basket, when, to Note 2 · In the story of The Fisherman’s Sons, collected in Lorraine by M. Cosquin, the fish puts forth no claim to royalty. It is caught thrice ere Note 3 · In this tale we have the additional detail of the charcoal-burners who pretend to the princess’ hand on the ground that they have slain the Note 4 · A Gascon variant was told to M. Bladé by an illiterate peasant-girl. Here the speaking fish directs its head to be given to the bitch, its t Note 5 · The foregoing story doubtless once contained the episode of the impostor. So many are the variants wherein the episode is found, and usually Note 6 · The encounters with the one-eyed hags here fuse together into one thrice-repeated episode the divine gifts bestowed upon Perseus and the adv Note 7 · The Greek story of The Little Red Mullet-Sorcerer contains some curious variations. There the desire to eat the fish does not arise in the b Note 8 · An Argyllshire story runs as follows:—A sea-maiden appears at the side of a fisherman’s boat one day, and gives him three grains for his wif Note 9 · The opening of the North German tale of The Two Similar Brothers approaches that of The Sea-Maiden, while it also recalls one of the great s Note 10 · In the Pentameron the magical food is a sea-dragon’s heart, which must be cooked by a pure maiden. A king who wants offspring is advised by Note 11 · That Basile took some liberties with the story might thus be suspected from internal evidence. How slight those liberties really were has be Note 12 · In a Pisan tale of the same collection we are brought back to the talking fish of the typical story. The life-token is a bone tied to a beam Note 13 · When the childless fisherman, in a Lettish tale, catches a certain pike, the latter gets its freedom by giving two fishes in its stead, both Note 14 · A Gipsy tale from Hungary attributes the Supernatural Birth to the mother’s having drunk from the two breasts of an urme, or fairy, who also Note 15 · In two Russian tales the Medusa-witch incident precedes that of the Rescue of Andromeda. One of these calls for no special mention. But in t Note 16 · A Sanskrit tale departs more widely from the type than any of the foregoing. In The Ocean of the Streams of Story, a work of the end of the Note 17 · We have now surveyed the stories of the Danae type and those of the King of the Fishes type. There remain a large number of variants wherein Note 18 · Here, after the beginning, the hero’s brothers drop out of the story. The more complex Lithuanian tale of Strong Hans and Strong Peter retai Note 19 · In a Sicilian tale, a dethroned king catches a golden fish, which desires to be cut into eight pieces, two to be given to his wife, two to h Note 20 · Another type, wanting the Dragon-slaughter, contains the Life-token. The best-known story of this type is Grimm’s tale of The Gold Children.Note 21 · As told in Flanders, the talking fish directs the fisher to cut it into three pieces, one for himself, one for his wife, and the third to be Note 22 · This type is found not only in Germany and Flanders, but also among the southern branches of the Slavonic race, as well as in Greece, in nor Note 23 · A Bosnian märchen presents us with a type wherein only the Supernatural Birth and the Medusa-witch are preserved. A pilgrim gives an apple t Note 24 · A type more interesting, because more various in its evolution, is that which comprises only the Life-token and the Medusa-witch. It is usua Note 25 · Another variant is found in the Tirol as a pendant to a story of an innocent persecuted wife. The elder brother exhibits a dancing bear to t Note 26 · A tale from Normandy leads us back to the fisherman. He catches the King of the Fishes, who recommends that, after frying, its bones be buri Note 27 · The Scottish märchen of The Red Etin represents the three youths as the sons of two widows. The two sons of one of the widows depart success Note 28 · The Tirolese tale of The Knife-grinder’s Sons will afford us the next type. Two brothers catch a bird on whose head is inscribed the words: Note 29 · In this type only the Supernatural Birth is wanting. The story is found in almost identical terms elsewhere in the Tirol and other German la Note 30 · The Slavs of various parts of Russia are familiar with the type now under consideration. In a Lettish tale the brothers steal and eat the bi Note 31 · The incident of the sister’s treachery, which forms part of the Lithuanian tale, is found in several Slav versions. In a Swedish tale from n Note 32 · The Kabyles are tribes of Libyan stock, inhabiting the mountains of Algeria. They have a tale of two brothers, sons of a man by different wi Note 33 · Two Italian variants omit the Life-token. As Basile tells the tale, there are two brothers, sons of a Neapolitan merchant. The elder, playin Note 34 · From the remaining types the Medusa-witch is absent, and from the first of them the Life-token also. Traces of the witch’s influence, howeve Note 35 · An African variant, told, presumably at Blantyre, on Lake Nyassa, to the Rev. Duff Macdonald of the Church of Scotland Mission, by a native Note 36 · In an Abruzzian version the fisherman has but one son, born after his wife has consumed broth made of the magical fish. The bitch, having ea Note 37 · Three Swabian variants substitute the Life-token for the Supernatural Birth. Two of them, almost exactly the same, display, so far as they g Note 38 · Here the Life-token has dwindled into a mere token of the brothers’ having returned home, and all its magic is lost. The remaining variant p Note 39 · Finally, there is a type, not very common, which includes only the three incidents of the Supernatural Birth, the Life-token, and the Dragon Note 40 · The mention of the seven tongues, as it were by accident, is a reminiscence of what I hold to be the ancient and typical form of the Impostu