ASHIEPATTLE: OR HANS SEEKS HIS LUCK 79 



look upon it as one of the many weird inventions of 

 Mdrclienland. 



It will not be without interest to note the phrase- 

 ology in which the tales describe the passage of the 

 kingdom to the successful wooer. Taking the German 

 first, we find the following accounts given of the transfer 

 of the kingdom to the hero the lucky Hans. In Das 

 Wasser des Lebens the hero gets the lady's whole 

 kingdom, and becomes Herr des Konigreichs at once ; 

 in Der Vogel Greif and Der Gevatter Tod we are 

 merely told that, as a result of the marriage, Hans 

 becomes king. In Das blaue Licht, the soldier at once 

 seizes the kingdom with his bride ; while in Hans mein 

 Igel, Hans receives the kingdom from the old king. In 

 three tales, namely, Mdrchen von einem der auszog das 

 Filrchten zu lernen, Die drei Schlangenbldtter, and 

 Die zwei Briider, we notice that, as a result of marrying 

 the princess, the plebeian husband is now entitled ' the 

 young king.' There are five Mdrchen in which we are 

 expressly told that the husband of the king's daughter 

 got the kingdom or the crown on the old king's death ; 

 these are Die iveisse Schlange, Die Bienenkonigin, Des 

 Teufels russiger Bruder, Der gelernte Jdger, 1 and Die 

 zertanzten Schuhe. Lastly, in Das tapfere Schneider - 

 lein we learn that the hero received the king's 

 daughter to wife and one-half the kingdom as marriage 

 portion (Ehesteuer) ; in Die vier kunstreichen Bruder 

 that the king's daughter and half a kingdom were won ; 

 and in Das Eselein that the half-kingdom at once, and 



1 This Mdrchen is of particular interest as it seems to mark, even in small 

 things, the joint ownership of the king and the king's daughter. 



