CHINESE FOLKLORE AND SOME WESTERN ANALOGIES. 597 



Stories of this type suggest the characteristic element of the l/ndine 

 or Mehisina group of legends in Keltic mythology. Here a nymph 

 or fay desires an immortal soul or escape from enchantment/ which 

 can only be secured by union with a mortal. -In Europe the condition 

 imposed upon the man is finally broken. Undine, for example, is 

 brought to a stream in violation of the contract with her lover, and in 

 a quite pardonable transport she subsequently kisses him to death. 

 So it is in the Hindu tales belonging to the same family group, as in 

 the experience of Urva^-i, an apsaras, or heavenly maiden, who 

 o>)tained the mortal Puravaras as bridegroom upon the condition that 

 she should never see him naked. The infraction in this case was not, 

 like Psyche's, due to her own weakness, but to the jealousy of her 

 celestial companions, who most unfairly enticed him from bed one 

 dark night and then revealed his nudity to his wife by a flash of 

 lightning. 



The wanderings of a soul while the Iwd}^ is still alive are not imag- 

 ined alone in the East. Dreamland travels are, of course, familiar 

 experiences everywhere, and there is no great step from belief in 

 sleep-absence to belief in a longer absence during trance. In Asia 

 generally there is a settled conviction that the soul departs from its 

 mortal frame while unconscious, and the greatest care is exercised by 

 friends of a sleepei' not to move his body lest the wandering soul fail 

 to discover it upon her return, and death result. Meantime the soul 

 in its excursions may be animating some other body, human or animal; 

 hence the motive of many a strange tale like the following, which may 

 bear quotation in extenso as a fair example of the Chinese marchen 

 typically developed. It is entitled: 



THE PAKROT. 



A young savant of the province of Shensi had six fingers on one 

 of his hands; more than this, his character was one of singular naivete. 



Whenever he found himself in a social gathering where there were 

 ladies, he was sure to run away. If a woman came up to speak with 

 him, he blushed to the neck. Everyone made fun of his timidity and 

 gave him the name of the '' Innocent Seng." 



In the same district there dwelt a great merchant, wlu) was nclier 

 than princes and noblv connected as well; he had a daughter named 

 A-Pao, whose beautv was famous. She had already reached a mar- 

 riageable age, but was extremely hard to please in the choice of a 



'^^ 'innocent Sgng had just lost his betrothed^^ To rally him they 

 told him that he ought to make his addresses to Miss A-Pao. 1 his h. 

 actuallv did, thinking he was following good advice. 1^;^;;;';| ^ 

 his poverty his proposal was not favorably received. The^go^between 



'Baring-Gould, "Curious Myths," Philadelphia, 1869, p. 488. 



