82 ASHIEPATTLE: OR HANS SEEKS HIS LUCK 



hearth and home. We have to seek for fossils which 

 have been preserved by their being superficially unrecog- 

 nisable ; we can find only indirect evidence of what the old 

 forms of marriage were like. Thus a trace of the old kindred 

 group -marriage may, I think, be found in the frequency 

 with which in the Mdrchen a group of brothers marries 

 a group of sisters. Thus in Die Bienenkonigin three 

 brothers wander out and marry the three daughters of 

 a king ; l in Schneeweisschen und Rosenrotli two sisters 

 marry two brothers ; and in De beiden Kunigeskinner 

 we have distinct traces of the hero marrying all three 

 king's daughters. In the more primitive Lapp tales 

 we hear, as in The Tschuds and Russleleaf, of "two 

 brothers who were married each to his sister " ; and, as 

 in The Giant-bird, of the two lads who had one king's 

 daughter between them to wife ; while, as in the German 

 tales, the marriage of two or three brothers to two or 

 three sisters is common, e.g. TJie Tschuds in Sundegjeld. 

 A trace of the old sex-festival may further be found in 

 the tale of Die zertanzten Schuhe. Here twelve kings' 

 daughters slip out at night through a mysterious forest 

 to a wonderful Schloss, and dance with twelve princes. 

 The old choral character of the marriage feast is 

 evidenced in Der liebste Roland, where we are told that 

 it was a custom in the land that all the maidens should 

 come and sing in honour of the bridal pair. In Das 

 singende springende Loweneckerehen we hear of the 

 marriage-lights, and the bridal procession being accom- 

 panied by many torches. In Der Konig vom goldenen 



1 In the Norse Om Risen, som ikke havde noget Hjertepaa sig, no less than 

 six brothers take as brides six sisters, king's daughters ; see also Essay XL below. 



