Notes

Two other variants, which were collected by Mr. Rusk, and which I have only in abstract, run about as follows:—

The cycle of tales to which all our variants belong, and which may appropriately be called the “Master Cheat” cycle, is one of the most popular known. It occurs in many different forms; indeed, the very nature of the story—merely a succession of incidents in which a poor but shrewd knave outwits his rich friend or enemy (the distinction matters little to the narrator), and finally brings about his enemy’s death while he himself becomes rich—is such as to admit of indefinite expansion, so far as the number and variety of the episodes are concerned. There have been at least four comprehensive descriptive or bibliographical studies of this cycle made,—Köhler’s (on Campbell’s Gaelic story, No. 39), Cosquin’s (notes to Nos. 10 and 20), Clouston’s (2 : 229–288), and Bolte-Polívka’s (on Grimm, No. 61). Of these, the last, inasmuch as it is the latest (1914) and made use of all the preceding, is the most complete. From it (2 : 10) we learn that the characteristic incidents of this family of drolls are as follows:—

A¹ A rabbit (goat, bird) as carrier of messages. A² A wolf sold for a ram.

B A gold-dropping ass (or horse).

C A self-cooking vessel.

D A hat which pays the landlord.

E¹ Dirt (ashes) given (sold, substituted) for gold. E² Money which was alleged to be in a chest, demanded from the storer of the chest.

F¹ Cowhide (or “talking” bird) sold to adulteress, or (F²) sold to her husband, or (F³) exchanged for the chest in which the paramour is concealed, or (F⁴) elsewhere exchanged for money.

G¹ A flute (fiddle, staff, knife) which apparently brings to life again the dead woman. G² The dead mother killed a second time, and paid for by the supposed murderer.

H Escape of the hero from the sack (chest) by exchanging places with a shepherd.

J Death of the envious one, who wishes to secure some “marine cattle.”

The opponents in this group of stories, says Bolte, “are either village companions, or unacquainted marketers, or a rich and an avaricious brother.” In addition to the episodes enumerated above, might be mentioned two others not uncommonly found in this cycle:—

F⁵ Frightening robbers under tree by dropping hide or table on them.

F⁶ Borrowed measure returned with coins adhering to it.

As these last two occur in other stories, both droll and serious (e.g., Grimm, No. 59; and “1001 Nights,” “Ali Baba”), they may not originally have belonged to our present group. However, see Cosquin’s notes on his No. xx, “Richedeau” (1 : 225 f.). It is hard to say with certainty just what was originally the one basic motif to which all the others have at one time or another become attached; but it seems to me likely that it was incident H, the sack-by-the-sea episode, for it is this which is the sine qua non of the cycle. To be sure, our third story (c) lacks it, but proves its membership in the family by means of other close resemblances.

Of the elements mentioned by Bolte-Polívka, our five stories and two variants have the following: “How Salaksak became Rich,” F⁴BE¹HJ; “Clever Juan and Envious Diego,” G¹F⁵HJ; “Ruined because of Invidiousness,” F⁴F⁵F⁶; “The Two Friends,” F²G²HJ; “Juan the Orphan,” F⁴H (modified) J; “Juan the Ashes-Trader,” E¹F⁵; “Colassit and Colaskel,” F³. In a Visayan tale (JAFL 19 : 107–109) we find a combination of HJ with a variant of our No. 1. Incident D (hat paying landlord) forms a separate story, which we give below,—No. 50, “Juan and his Painted Hat.” Incident B is also narrated as a droll by the Tagalogs; the sharper of the story scattering silver coins about the manure of his cow, and subsequently selling the “magic” animal for a large sum. An examination of the incidents distributed among the Filipino members of this cycle reveals the fact that episode A¹ (hare as messenger) is altogether lacking. I have not met with it in any native story, and am inclined to believe that it is not known in the Islands. It is found widespread in Europe, but does not appear to be common in India: among fifteen Indian variants cited by Bolte it is found only twice (i.e., Indian Antiquary, 3 : 11 f.; Bompas, No. 80, p. 242). These Indian versions show, however, that the story in one form or another is found quite generally throughout that country, the Santali furnishing the largest number of variants (six, in all). It would seem reasonable to conclude, therefore, considering the fact that at least seven forms of the tale are known in the Philippines, extending from the Visayas to the northernmost part of Luzon, that the source of the incidents common to these and the Indian versions need not be sought outside the Orient. The case of incidents F¹F²F³ seems different. They are lacking in the Far-Eastern representatives of this cycle; and their appearance in the Philippines may be safely traced, I think, to European influence. However, an Indian source for these incidents may yet be discovered, just as sources already have been for so many Italian novella and French fabliaux of a similar flavor. The fact that the earliest form of the “Master Cheat” cycle known is a Latin poem of the eleventh, possibly tenth, century (Köhler-Bolte, 233–234), is of course no proof that elements F⁴G¹HJ, found in that poem, were introduced into India from Europe, though it might be an indication.