A Study of Fairy Tales Part 16

200 B.C. (about). _Book of Esther_.

Second century, A.D. _The Golden a.s.s, Metamorphoses of Apuleius_.

550 A.D. _Panchatantra_, the _Five Books_. This was a Sanskrit collection of fables, the probable source of the _Fables of Bidpai_.

Second century, A.D. _The Hitopadesa_, or _Wholesome Instruction_. A selection from the _Panchatantra_, first edited by Carey, in 1804; by Max Muller, in 1844.

550 A.D. _Panchatantra_. Pehlevi version.

Tenth century, A.D. _Panchatantra_. Arabic version.

Eleventh century, A.D. _Panchatantra_. Greek version.

Twelfth century, A.D. _Panchatantra_. Persian version.

1200 A.D. _Sanskrit Tales_. These tales were collected by Somadeva Bhatta, of Cashmere, and were published to amuse the Queen of Cashmere. They have been translated by Brockhaus, 1844. Somadeva's _Ocean of the Streams of Story_ has been translated by Mr. Tawney, of Calcutta, 1880.

Tales of the West came from the East in two sources:--

1262-78. (1) _Directorium Humanae Vitae_, of John of Capua.

This was translated from the _Hebrew_, from the _Arabic_ of the eighth century, from the _Pehlevi_ of Persia of the sixth century, from the _Panchatantra_, from the _Sanskrit original_. This is the same as the famous Persian version, _The Book of Calila and Dimna_, attributed to Bidpai, of India. There was a late Persian version, in 1494, and one in Paris in 1644, which was the source of La Fontaine.

Thirteenth century. (2) _The Story of the Seven Sages of Rome_, or _The Book of Sindibad_. This appeared in Europe as the Latin _History of the Seven Sages of Rome_, by Dame Jehans, a monk in the Abbey of Haute Selve. There is a Hebrew, an Arabic, and a Persian version. It is believed the Persian version came from Sanskrit but the Sanskrit original has not yet been found.

Tenth century. _Reynard the Fox_. This was first found as a Latin product of the monks, in a cloister by the banks of the Mosel and Ma.s.s. _Reynard the Fox_ shares with _aesop's Fables_ the distinction of being folk-lore raised into literature. It is a series of short stories of adventure forming a romance. These versions are known:--

1180. German-_Reinhart_, an epic of twelve adventures by Heinrich Glichesare.

1230. French-_Roman de Renard_, with its twenty-seven branches.

1250. Flemish-_Reinaert_, part of which was composed by Willem, near Ghent.

1148. _Ysengrimus_, a Latin poem written at Ghent.

Thirteenth century. _Of the Vox and of the Wolf_, an English poem.

Later date. _Rainardo_, Italian.

Later date. Greek _mediaeval version_.

_Reynard the Fox_[5] was first printed in England by Caxton in 1481, translated from a Dutch copy. A copy of Caxton's book is in the British Museum.

Caxton's edition was adapted by "Felix Summerley"; and Felix Summerley's edition, with slight changes, was used by Joseph Jacobs in his Cranford edition.

A Dutch prose romance, _Historie von Reynaert de Vos_ was published in 1485. A German copy, written in Lower Saxony was published in 1498. A chap-book, somewhat condensed, but giving a very good account of the romance, was published in London in 1780, printed and sold in Aldermary Churchyard, Bow Lane. This chap-book is very much finer in language than many of the others in Ashton's collection. Its structure is good, arranged in nine chapters. It shows itself a real cla.s.sic and would be read with pleasure to-day.

Goethe's poem, _Reineke Fuchs_, was published in 1794. This version was more refined than previous ones but it lost in simplicity. Monographs have been written on _Reynard_ by Grimm, Voigt, Martin, and Sudre.

Raginhard was a man's name, meaning "strong in counsel," and was common in Germany which bordered on France. This name naturally was given to the beast who lived by his wits. Grimm considered _Reynard_ the result of a Teutonic Beast Epic of primitive origin. Later research has exploded this theory and has decided that all versions are descended from an original French one existing between 1150 and 1170. Modern editions have come from the Flemish version. The literary artist who compiled _Reynard_ took a nucleus of fables and added to it folk-tales which are known to have existed in the eleventh and twelfth centuries and which exist to-day as tradition among some folk.

The folk-tales included in _Reynard_ are: _Reynard and Dame Wolf_; _The Iced Wolf's Tail_; _The Fishes in the Car_; _The Bear in the Cleft_; _The Wolf as Bell-Ringer_; and _The Dyed Fox_. The method of giving individual names to the animals such as Reynard, Bruin, and Tibert, was current among the Folk before a literary form was given to _Reynard_. As this was the custom in the province of Lorraine it is supposed that the origin of these names was in Lorraine. Other names, such as Chanticleer, the c.o.c.k, and n.o.ble, the Lion, were given because of a quality, and indicate a tendency to allegory. These names increase in the later development of the romance. In the beginning when the beasts had only personal adventures, these were told by the Folk to raise a laugh.

Later there was a meaning underneath the laugh and the Beast Epic Comedy of the Folk grew into the world Beast Satire of the literary artist.

_Reynard_ exhibits the bare struggle for existence which was generally characteristic of Feudal life.

Cunning opposes force and triumphs over it. The adventurous hero appeals because of his faculty of _adjustment_, his power to adapt himself to circ.u.mstances and to master them. He also appeals because of his small size when compared with the other animals. In the Middle Ages _Reynard_ appealed because it was a satire upon the monks.

Of _Reynard_ Carlyle has said, "It comes before us with a character such as can belong only to very few; that of being a true World's Book which through centuries was everywhere at home, the spirit of which diffused itself into all languages and all minds."

About one tenth of European folk-lore is traced to collections used in the Middle Ages: _Fables of Bidpai_, _Seven Wise Masters_, _Gesta Romanorum_, and _Barlaam and Josophat_. These tales became diffused through the _Exempla_ of the monks, used in their sermons, through the _Novelle_ of Italy, the _Decameron_ of Boccaccio, the _Tales of Chaucer_, Painter's _Palace of Pleasure_, and the _Elizabethan Drama_ of England. One half of La Fontaine's _Fables_ are of Indian sources.

1326. The _Gesta Romanorum_, written in Latin. This was a compilation, by the monks, of stories with a moral appended to each. It was the most popular story-book before the invention of printing. In England it was printed by Wynkyn de Worde, of which edition the only known copy is at St.

John's College, Cambridge. The earliest ma.n.u.script of the collection is dated 1326. Between 1600 and 1703 fifteen editions of the book prove its popularity. One English version is by Sir Frederick Madden, who lived 1801-73. The author of the _Gesta Romanorum_ is unknown, but was likely a German. The stories included are miscellaneous and vary in different editions. Among its stories are Oriental tales, tales of the deeds of Roman Emperors, an early form of _Guy of Warwick_, the casket episode of _The Merchant of Venice_, a story of the Jew's bond, a tale of the Emperor Theodosius, being a version of _King Lear_, the story of the Hermit, and a tale of Aglas, the daughter of the Roman Emperor Pompey, being a version of _Atalanta and her Race_.

1000 A.D. (about). _Shah-Nameh_, or _King-book of Persia_, by Ferdousee, born about 940 A.D. This book is the pride and glory of Persian literature. It was written by the Persian poet at the command of the king, who wished to have preserved the old traditions and heroic glories of Persians before the Arabian conquest. Ferdousee declared that he invented none of his material, but took it from the _Bostan-Nameh_ or _Old-Book_.

The _King-Book_ is very ancient, it is the Persian Homer. It was the labor of thirty years. It consisted of 56,000 distichs or couplets, for every thousand of which the Sultan had promised the poet one thousand pieces of gold. Instead of the elephant-load of gold promised, the Sultan sent in payment 60,000 small silver coins. This so enraged the poet that he gave away one third to the man who brought them, one third to a seller of refreshments, and one third to the keeper of the bath where the messenger found him. After the poet's death the insult was retrieved by proper payment.

This was refused by his one daughter, but accepted by the other and used to erect a public dike the poet had always desired to build to protect his native town from the river.

The fine character of the tales of the _King-Book_ is shown in the tale of _Roostem and Soohrab_, taken from this book, which Keightley has translated in _Tales and Popular Fictions_. Keightley considered it superior to any Greek or Latin tale. Modern literature knows this tale through Matthew Arnold's poem.

1548 (not later than). _The Thousand and One Nights_, Arabian. 12 volumes. Galland's French translation appeared in 1704. This was supplemented by Chavis and Cazotte, and by Caussin de Percival. Monsieur Galland was Professor of Arabic in the Royal College of Paris. He was a master of French and a fairly good scholar of Arabic. He brought his ma.n.u.script, dated 1548, to Paris from Constantinople. He severely abbreviated the original, cutting out poetical extracts and improving the somewhat slovenly style. In his translation he gave to English the new words, _genie, ogre_, and _vizier_. His work was very popular.

Boulak and Calcutta texts are better than the Galland. They contain about two hundred and fifty stories. The Cairo edition has been admirably translated by Edward W. Lane, in 3 volumes (1839-41) published in London. This is probably the best edition. It also omits many poetical quotations. A recent edition using Lane's translation is by Frances Olcott, published by Holt in 1913. Editions which attempt to be complete versions are by John Payne (13 volumes, 1882-84), and by Sir Richard Burton (16 volumes, 1885-88).

Lane and Burton give copious notes of value. The recent edition by Wiggin and Smith used the editions of Scott and Lane.

The stories in _Arabian Nights_ are Indian, Egyptian, Arabian, and Persian. Scenes are laid princ.i.p.ally in Bagdad and Cairo. Lane considered that the one hundred and fifteen stories, which are common to all ma.n.u.scripts, are based on the Pehlevi original. The idea of the frame of the story came from India. This was the birth of the serial story.

There is authority for considering the final collection to have been made in Egypt. Cairo is described most minutely and the customs are of Egypt of the thirteenth century and later. The stories must have been popular in Egypt as they were mentioned by an historian, 1400-70. Lane considered that the final Arabic collection bears to Persian tales the same relation that the _aeneid_ does to the _Odyssey_. Life depicted is Arabic, and there is an absence of the great Persian heroes. Internal evidence a.s.sists in dating the work. Coffee is mentioned only three times. As its use became popular in the East in the fourteenth century this indicates the date of the work to be earlier than the very common use of coffee. Cannon, which are mentioned, were known in Egypt in 1383. Additions to the original were probably made as late as the sixteenth century. _The Arabian Nights_ has been the model for many literary attempts to produce the Oriental tale, of which the tales of George Meredith are notable examples.

Thomas Keightley, in _Tales and Popular Fictions_, considered Persia the original country of _The Thousand and One Nights_, and _The Voyages of Sinbad_, originally a separate work. He showed how some of these tales bear marks of Persian extraction and how some had made their way to Europe through oral transmission before the time of Galland's translation. He selected the tale, "Cleomedes and Claremond," and proved that it must have been learned by a certain Princess Blanche, of Castile, and transmitted by her to France about 1275. This romance must have traveled to Spain from the East. It is the same as "The Enchanted Horse"

in _The Thousand and One Nights_, and through Keightley's proof, is originally Persian. Keightley also selected the Straparola tale, _The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Beautiful Green Bird_, and proved it to be the same as Grimm's _Three Little Birds_, as a Persian _Arabian Night's_ tale, and also as _La Princesse Belle Etoile_, of D'Aulnoy.

But as Galland's translation appeared only the year after Madame D'Aulnoy's death, Madame D'Aulnoy must have obtained the tale elsewhere than from the first printed version of _Arabian Nights_.

No date. _The Thousand and One Days_. This is a Persian collection containing the "History of Calaf."

1550. _Straparola's Nights_, by Straparola. This collection of jests, riddles, and twenty-one stories was published in Venice. The stories were taken from oral tradition, from the lips of ten young women. Some were agreeable, some unfit, so that the book was forbidden in Rome, in 1605, and an abridged edition prepared. There was a complete Venetian edition in 1573, a German translation in 1679, a French one in 1611, and a good German one with valuable notes, by Schmidt, in 1817. Straparola's _Nights_ contained stories similar to the German _The Master Thief, The Little Peasant, Hans and the Hedge-Hog, Iron Hans, The Four Brothers, The Two Brothers_, and _Dr. Know-all_.

1637. _The Pentamerone_, by Basile. Basile spent his early youth in Candia or Crete, which was owned by Venice. He traveled much in Italy, following his sister, who was a noted singer, to Mantua. He probably died in 1637. There may have been an earlier edition of _The Pentamerone_, which sold out. It was republished in Naples in 1645, 1674, 1714, 1722, 1728, 1749, 1788, and in Rome in 1679. This was the best collection of tales formed by a nation for a long time.

The traditions were complete, and the author had a special talent for collecting them, and an intimate knowledge of dialect. This collection of fifty stories may be looked upon as the basis of many others. Basile wrote independently of Straparola, though a few tales are common to both. He was very careful not to alter the tale as he took it down from the people. He told his stories with allusions to manners and customs, to old stories and mythology. He abounds in picturesque, proverbial expressions, with turns and many similes, and displays a delightful exuberance of fancy. A valuable translation, with notes, was written by Felix Liebrecht, in 1842, and an English one by John Edward Taylor, in 1848. Keightley, in _Fairy Mythology_, has translated three of these tales and in _Tales and Popular Fictions_, two tales. Keightley's were the first translations of these tales into any language other than Italian. Among the stories of Basile are the German _Cinderella, How Six got on in the World, Rapunzel, Snow White, Dame Holle, Briar Rose_, and _Hansel and Grethel_.

1697. _The Tales of Mother Goose_, by Charles Perrault. In France the collecting of fairy tales began in the seventeenth century. French, German, and Italian tales were all derived independently by oral tradition. In 1696, in _Recueil_, a magazine published by Moetjens, at The Hague, appeared _The Story of Sleeping Beauty_, by Perrault. In 1697 appeared seven other tales by Perrault. Eight stories were published in 12mo, under a t.i.tle borrowed from a _fabliau_, _Contes de ma Mere l'Oye_. In a later edition three stories were added, _The a.s.s's Skin_, _The Clever Princess_, and _The Foolish Wishes_. The tales of Perrault were:--

1. The Fairies.

2. The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood.

3. Bluebeard.

4. Little Red Riding Hood.

5. Puss-in-Boots.

6. Cinderella.

7. Rique with the Tuft.

8. Little Thumb.

9. The a.s.s's Skin.

10. The Clever Princess.