Note 24.1 — Chapter XVI · THE RESCUE OF ANDROMEDA IN MÄRCHEN.

The tale is current in Italy, and is widely spread in the Levant. As it is told at Lesbos, the cause of the hero’s descent into the lower world is the robbery every year by a monster of the three golden apples growing on a tree in a king’s garden. The youngest brother succeeds in wounding the thief and tracking him to a pit. He slays the monster and delivers three maidens, whom he sends up to his brothers above. His brothers’ treachery and all the other incidents follow. Here he has to prove against other pretenders that it is he who has put the dragon to death. This he does in the ordinary way by means of his tongues. He rejects the king’s treasures, the half of his kingdom, and even his lovely daughter, and will only accept the provisions necessary for the eagle which is to carry him up to this world again. His father having awarded the youngest maiden to his eldest brother, she demands three dresses representing, one, the heaven with all its stars, another, the earth with all her trees and flowers, and the third, the sea with all the fishes that dwell therein. These, of course, can only be furnished by the hero from three walnuts handed by her to him before parting. When they have been obtained the master-tailor is summoned and compelled to declare whence he got them. The hero is recognised; but his vengeance on his brothers is limited to banishing them from the realm.24.1