Note 91 — Chapter V
Reading edition
On this subject, cf. any scientific collection of folk-tales, e.g., The Science of Fairy Tales, by Mr. E. S. Hartland, or in the same author's Legend of Perseus, the tabulated variants of the Dragon story in vol. iii. These would help the reader to realise the number of motifs often combined in a single story. The lais of Lanval, Graalent, and Guingamor, comparatively short though they be, yet combine at least three distinct story-motifs, i.e. what we may call the Joseph and Potiphar's wife, Tannhäuser, and Lohengrin themes. Any one of these lais would be capable of considerable expansion.