As for Perrault, he probably drew from a popular tradition his _Aune de Boudin_. Collin de Plancy (_OEuvres Choisies de Ch. Perrault_, Paris, 1826, 240) gives a curious rustic version. Three brothers dance with the Fairies, who offer them a wish apiece. The eldest, as heir of the paternal property, wants no more, but, as wish he must, asks that their calf may cure the colic of every invalid who seizes it by the tail. (How manifestly Indian in origin is this introduction of the sacred beast whose tail is grasped by the pious Hindoo in his latest hours!) The youngest brother wishes the horns of cow and calf on his brother's head, the second wishes a bull's head on his brother's shoulders, and the Fairies make these wild wishes of none avail. Manifestly the fundamental idea is capable of infinite transformations, literary or popular: a good example is the play of _Le Bucheron_, by Guichard and Philidor, acted in 1763. The story has no connection with the three successful wishes by aid of which the devil is defeated in a number of popular tales belonging to a different cycle. All these are inspired, however, by the great god Wunsch, who presides over Wishing Gates. 'Would I could wish my wishes all to rest, And know to wish the wish that should be best, says Clough, better inspired than Perrault's _Bucheron_. [Footnote 34: _Selected Essays_, i. 504.] [Footnote 35: Benfey, ii. 341.] [Footnote 36: See _Poesies de Marie de France, Poete Anglo-Normande du xiiie Siecle_, vol. ii. p. 140. Paris, 1820.] [Footnote 37: Benfey, _Pantschatantra_, ii. 341.] [Footnote 38: Comparetti, _Book of Sindibad_, p. 3. Benfey, _Pantschatantra_, i. 38.] [Footnote 39: _Poesies de Marie de France_, vol. ii. p. 53.] LA BELLE AU BOIS DORMANT. _The Sleeping Beauty._