88 ASHIEPATTLE: OR HANS SEEKS HIS LUCK 



found. It is in vain. The two last youths to come 

 are the brothers of Askelad, and the king demands of 

 them if there are no other youths in the kingdom. 

 " Oh yes, we have a brother, but he certainly has not 

 got the golden apples ; he did not leave the cinder heap 

 on any of the days." " It is all the same," said the 

 king, " if all the others have come up to the castle, he 

 can come too." Askelad comes and shows the apples. 

 He receives the king's daughter and half the kingdom 

 as reward. The reference to the lodging of the apples 

 in Askelads shoe seems clearly to point to an earlier 

 version, in which a search must have been made of all 

 the shoes of the youths of the kingdom. The corre- 

 spondence of Askelad with Aschenputtel would then, if 

 possible, have been still more complete. 



In the Lapp version (The Three Brothers) it is 

 Ruobba, or scurvy-head, who, by fulfilling the last duties 

 to his father, which his brothers neglect, receives the 

 wonder-staff, and so is enabled to get fine clothes and 

 a horse. The tale runs just like the Norse, except that 

 the contest is now a jumping-match. The princess sits 

 on a high stage, and the youth who can jump so high 

 that the princess can press the signet-ring bearing her 

 name on his forehead shall win her as bride. We have 

 all the usual incidents of Ruobba sitting at home among 

 the ashes, and his brothers coming back and recounting 

 the strange rider's prowess, Ruobba's apparent ignorance, 

 and the king's inspection of the foreheads of all the 

 youths in his kingdom to find his daughter's name. The 

 king, failing to find it, asks if there be no other lad in 

 the kingdom, and Euobba's brothers reply, " Yes, we 



