[175] Hahn, No. 11. Schleicher, No. 20, &c., &c. [176] Wenzig, No. 2. [177] "Tales of the West Highlands," ii. p. 15. Mr. Campbell says "I believe such a mode of torture can be traced amongst the Scandinavians, who once owned the Western Islands." But the Gaelic "Binding of the Three Smalls," is unknown to the Skazkas. [178] Erlenvein, No. 3. [179] Afanasief, vii. No. 30. [180] Khudyakof, No. 97. [181] Khudyakof, No. 14. Erlenvein, No. 9. [182] Afanasief, iv. No. 44. [183] The first _krasavitsa_ or beauty. [184] _Chulanchik._ The _chulan_ is a kind of closet, generally used as a storeroom for provisions, &c. [185] _Prigovarivaya_, the word generally used to express the action of a person who utters a charm accompanied by a gesture of the hand or finger. [186] Became a _nevyesta_, a word meaning "a marriageable maiden," or "a betrothed girl," or "a bride." [187] _Ishbushka_, a little _izba_ or cottage. [188] "Phu, Phu! there is a Russian smell!" the equivalent of our own "Fee, faw, fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman!" [189] _Luchina_, a deal splinter used instead of a candle. [190] _Chernushka_, a sort of wild pea. [191] _Krasnoe solnuischko_, red (or fair) dear-sun. [192] Equivalent to saying "she liked to wash her dirty linen at home." [193] I break off the narrative at this point, because what follows is inferior in dramatic interest, and I am afraid of diminishing the reader's admiration for one of the best folk-tales I know. But I give an epitome of the remainder within brackets and in small type. [194] From the Poltava Government. Afanasief, vi. No. 28 _b_. [195] Grimm, No. 65. The Wallachian and Lithuanian forms resemble the German (Schott, No. 3. Schleicher, No. 7). In all of them, the heroine is a princess, who runs away from an unnatural father. In one of the Modern Greek versions (Hahn, No. 27), she sinks into the earth. For references to seven other forms of the story, see Grimm, _KM._, iii. p. 116. In one Russian variant (Khudyakof, No. 54), she hides in a secret drawer, constructed for the purpose in a bedstead; in another (Afanasief, vi. No. 28 _a_), her father, not recognising her in the pig-skin dress, spits at her, and turns her out of the house. In a third, which is of a very repulsive character (ibid. vii. No. 29), the father kills his daughter. [196] Afanasief, vi. No. 18. [197] The Russian word is _zakukovali_, _i.e._, "They began to cuckoo." The resemblance between the word _kukla_, a puppet, and the name and cry of the cuckoo (_Kukushka_) may be merely accidental, but that bird has a marked mythological character. See the account of the rite called "the Christening of the Cuckoos," in "Songs of the Russian people," p. 215.