288 KOSHCHEI THE DEATHLESS 
to the window and discovers six robbers drinking 
whiskey punch. He listens to their talk, and overhears 
how they lately bagged a fine booty at Lord Dun- 
lavin’s, with the connivance of the gatekeeper. The 
house is then taken by storm, as in the German ver- 
sion, and when the bravest robber returns in the dark 
he meets with a similar ill-reception. The stolen 
treasure is all found secreted in the house, and next 
morning Jack loads it on to the donkey, and they pro- 
ceed to Lord Dunlavin’s castle. The treasure is 
restored, the gatekeeper is hanged, the faithful beasts 
get well provided for in the kitchen and farm-yard, and 
Jack marries the lord’s only daughter, and eventually 
succeeds to the earldom. 
Taken as a whole, this fantastic story may not have 
any consistent mythological significance, but it has 
certainly been pieced together out of genuine mythical 
conceptions. It is impossible to read it without being 
reminded of the lame ass in the Zend Yagna, who by 
his fearful braying terrifies the night monsters and 
keeps them away from the sacred oma, or drink of 
the gods. In the Veda this business of guarding the 
soma is intrusted not to an ass, but to a centaur or 
gandharva. The meaning of these creatures is well 
enough understood. The Vedic ganxdharvas, corre- 
sponding to the Greek kevravoo, were cloud deities, 
who, among other accomplishments, were skilful per- 
formers on the kettledrum; and their musical per- 
formances, as well as the braying of the ass in the 
Zendavesta, appear to have represented neither more 
nor less than the thunder with which Indra terrified 
the Panis, or night robbers. The ass, indeed, plays a 
considerable part in Hindu mythology; and the pro- 
eee 
