ASHIEPATTLE: OR HANS SEEKS HIS LUCK 77 



Scandinavian tales, which in many respects have 

 preserved a more primitive character than the German. 

 Thus out of nineteen Norwegian tales in which the 

 king's daughter and kingdom are won, it only goes 

 twice to a king's son, 1 but five times to the son of poor 

 folk, 2 twice to the son of farmer or peasant, 3 once to a 

 miller's lad, 4 and once to a fisher-lad. 5 On the re- 

 maining eight occasions it goes to Askdadf while on 

 the ninth occasion on which it goes to AsJcelad, he is 

 one of the king's sons already included in our list. 7 

 4 Ashlad ' is the Norwegian equivalent for Dumm- 

 ling, the insignificant member of a family, on whom 

 the drudgery of the household is thrust, 8 and it is of 

 significance that kings' sons can also be Askelad and 

 Dummling. 



If we go still farther north, to Lapland, we find 

 kings' sons have entirely disappeared, and the plebeian 

 character of kings is emphasised by peasant lads, poor 

 boys, and scurvy -heads winning kings' daughters, 9 and 

 obtaining royal power. 



1 Fugl Dam, and Om Risen, som ikke havde noget Hjerte paa sig. 



2 Poor widow's son in Enkesonnen, Tro og Utro, and Det blaa Baandet ; poor 

 folk's son in Lillekort and Herreper. 



3 Grimsborken and Jomfruen paa Glasbergct. 



4 Rige Per Kraemmer. 5 De tre Prindsesser i Hvidtenland. 



6 Om Askeladden som stjal Troldets Solvaender, Sengeteppe og Guldharpe, 

 Spurningen, Soria Moria Slot, De syv Folerne, Det har ingen Nod med den, som 

 alle Kvindfolk er forlibt i, Askeladden somfik Prindsessen til at logste sig, Per og 

 Paal og Esben Askelad, and Jomfruen paa Glasberget. 



7 Om Risen, som ikke havde noget Hjerte paa sig. 



8 Not without a secondary reference to one who sits stirring up the ashes and 

 gazing into them a dreamer. 



9 Compare the Lapp tales, The Silkweaver and her Husband, Alder-tree Boy, 

 The Three Brothers, The Boy and the Hare, The King and the Louse, etc. 

 " Lousyhead " of the Lapp tales corresponds to Askeladden in the Norwegian tale 

 of De syv Folerne, whose head an old woman offers to lice for him when he sets 

 about winning the princess. 



