64 ASHIEPATTLE: OR HANS SEEKS HIS LUCK 



the first two the descent is through the male ; in the 

 third the lucky hunter kills the dragon, marries the king's 

 daughter, and becomes ipso facto ' der junge Konig.' 

 The opposition of the primitive matriarchal civilisation 

 (with its elementary agriculture and domestication of 

 the smaller animals) to a hunting population, generally 

 with different marriage customs, should be borne in mind, 

 if the attitude of the witch is to be at all understood. 

 The hunter pursues Eeh, Hirsch or Hirschkuh, probably 

 animals sacred to some goddess, 1 and, failing to overtake 

 them, finds himself landed at some witch's hut in a 

 forest-clearing. Here the proprietress receives him, as 

 may be expected, with anything but a friendly greeting. 

 (Of. Die Goldkinder and Die zwei Sriider.) Of the 

 witch in Die Robe, who lives in the orthodox manner, in 

 a hut in a forest-clearing, it is not easy to determine the 

 character. She serves at first to test the strength of the 

 man's will, but when he at last surmounts all the 

 difficulties and wins the king's daughter, it is to her 

 castle that he comes, and there that the Hoclizeit is held. 

 We have thus the matriarchal law of descent. 



In De drei Viigelkens, the old magic-working fisher- 

 woman; in Dersusse Brei, the magic -working 'alte Frau'; 

 in Der Krautesel, the ' altes hassliches Miitterchen ' ; 

 in JSinduglein, Zweiduglein und Dreiauglein, the ' weise 

 Frau,' who aids Zweiauglein ; in Die Nixe im Teich, 

 the 'Alte mit weissen Haaren,' who overcomes the Nixe ; 

 in Die walire Brant, the ' alte Frau/ who performs 

 miracles for the little maid ; in Spindel, Weberschiffclien 



1 There are a considerable number of local saints fossils of district-goddesses 

 who have the roe or stag as their attribute. 



