Thomas Keightley, in _Tales and Popular Fictions_, has given interesting examples of the transmission of tales. Selecting _Jack the Giant-Killer_, he has shown that it is the same tale as Grimm's _The Brave Tailor_, and _Thor's Journey to Utgard_ in the Scandinavian _Edda_. Similar motifs occur also in a Persian tale, _Ameen of Isfahan and the Ghool_, and in the _Goat and the Lion_, a tale from the _Panchatantra_. Selecting the _Story of Dick Whittington_ he has shown that in England it was current in the reign of Elizabeth; that two similar tales, Danish legends, were told by Thiele; that a similar Italian tale existed at the time of Amerigo Vespucci, which was a legend told by Arlotto in 1396-1483; that another similar Italian tale was connected with the origin of Venice, in 1175; and that a similar tale existed in Persia in 1300, before 1360, when Whittington of England was born. He also pointed out that the _Odyssey_ must have traveled east as well as west, from Greece, for Sindbad's adventure with the Black Giant is similar to that of Ulysses with the Cyclops. Another interesting set of parallels shown by him is connected with the _Pentamerone_ tale, _Peruonto_. This is the Straparola _Peter the Fool_, the Russian _Emelyan the Fool_, the Esthonian tale by Laboulaye, _The Fairy Craw-Fish_, and the Grimm _The Fisherman and his Wife_. The theme of a peasant being rewarded by the fish he had thrown back into the water takes on a delightful varied form in the tale of different countries. The magic words of Emelyan, "Up and away! At the pike's command, and at my request, go home, sledge!" in each variant take an interesting new form. Literary transmission. The travels of a tale through oral tradition are to be attempted with great difficulty and by only the most careful scholarship. One may follow the transmission of tales through literary collections with somewhat greater ease and exactness. Popular tales have a literature of their own. The following list seeks to mention the most noteworthy collections:-- No date. _Vedas_. Sanskrit. No date. _Zend Avesta_. Persian. Fifth century, B.C. _Jatakas_. Probably the oldest literature. It was written at Ceylon and has been translated into 38 languages, in 112 editions. Recently the Cambridge edition has been translated from the Pali, edited by E.B. Cowell, published by Putnam, New York, 1895-1907. 4000 B.C. _Tales of Ancient Egypt_. These were the tales of magicians, recorded on papyrus. 600 B.C. (about). _Homeric Legends_. 200 B.C. (about). _Book of Esther_. Second century, A.D. _The Golden Ass, 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_.