That the author of our book utilized other non-Jewish sources in composing it is very probable. There is, for example, a striking resemblance in one or two particulars between the Book of Tobit and the “Story of the grateful dead man,” an Armenian tale, according to which a wealthy man was once riding through a forest when he came upon some men misusing a corpse; on inquiring the reason for this he is told that the dead man had owed them money; he pays the dead man’s debt, and buries the corpse. He then continues his journey home. Now in the city in which he dwelt there lived a rich man who had an only daughter; she had married five husbands, but in each case the husband had died on the night of the wedding. The hero of the tale resolves, at the instance of an unknown serving-man, to seek this woman in marriage in spite of what has occurred. He succeeds in his desire. But on the night of the wedding there issues forth from the mouth of his bride a serpent which seeks to bite him and thus kill him; but the unknown serving-man, who had been keeping guard, slays the serpent, and thus saves the life of the bridegroom, to whom he then makes himself known as the dead man whose corpse the bridegroom had buried in the forest.[382] The _traits_ common to this story and the Book of Tobit are so marked that it is difficult to believe that there is no connection between the two; that the latter is indebted to the former is probable because of the very widespread existence of the “Story of the grateful dead man” in various forms in Asia and Europe.[383] Another possible source, but less striking than that just referred to, is “The Tractate of Khons,” which was originally written for the purpose of propagating the cult of the Egyptian god Khons; in it occurs the story of a beautiful princess who was possessed by a demon, but by the help of Khons the demon was expelled and the princess cured.[384] III. THE CONTENTS OF THE BOOK OF TOBIT