The Grateful Dead: The History of a Folk StoryGerould, Gordon Hall
General
The Grateful Dead: The History of a Folk Story
Gerould, Gordon Hall
Dead -- Folklore; Folk literature -- Themes, motives; Grateful dead (Tale)
Breton V. does not differ materially from the preceding, though it
has interesting minor variations. The three sons of a king seek the
bird Dredaine in its golden cage in order to cure their father. The
two elder brothers go to England, and there meet jolly companions,
but find no trace of the bird. The third brother, the ugly one, comes
thither, is mocked and robbed by them, but goes his way. One night
he lodges in a forest hut, and there finds a man's body, which the
widow cannot bury for lack of money to pay the priest. He is now poor,
but pays for the interment of the corpse, and proceeds. He is followed
by a white fox, which instructs him how to achieve his quest. He soon
reaches the castle, traverses three courts, comes to one chamber where
he finds a piece of inexhaustible bread, enters a second where he
gets an unfailing pot of wine and makes love to a sleeping princess,
and goes on to a third where he finds a magical sword and the bird. He
hastens away with his booty, guided for a time by the fox, sells his
bread and his wine to innkeepers on condition that they be given up to
the princess if ever she comes for them, and arrives at the city where
his brothers are now in prison. He ransoms them by helping the king,
and pays their debts by selling his sword. On their way home he is
thrown into a well by his brothers, who take the bird to their father,
but do not succeed in curing him. Meanwhile, the hero is saved by the
fox, which now explains that it is the soul of the man whom he has
buried, and definitely disappears. He arrives at his home as a beggar,
and takes service with his father. Later the princess comes thither
with the son that is the fruit of their union, and brings with her
the bread, wine, and sword which she has found on the way. The bird
sings, the king is healed, and the wicked brothers are executed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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