KOSHCHEI THE DEATHLESS 293, 
amphitheatre. Hardly less common is the notion of 
a man whose life depends on the duration or integrity 
of something external to him, as the existence of 
Meleagros was to be determined by the burning of a 
log. The idea of a Delilah-like woman, who by amor- 
ous wheedling extorts the secret of her lover’s invul- 
nerability, is equally widespread. And the conception 
of human beings turned into stone by an enchanter’s 
spell is continually repeated, from the classic victims 
of the Gorgon to the brothers of Parizade in the 
Arabian Nights. 
These elements are neatly blended in the South 
Indian legend of the magician Punchkin, who turned 
into stone six daughters of a rajah, with their hus- 
bands, and incarcerated the youngest daughter in a 
tower until she should make up her mind to marry 
him. He forgot, however, to enchant the baby son 
of this youngest daughter, who years afterward, when 
grown to manhood, discovered his mother in the 
tower, and laid a plot for Punchkin’s destruction. 
The princess gives Punchkin to understand that she 
will probably marry him if he will tell her the secret 
of his immortality. After two or three futile attempts 
to hoodwink his treacherous charmer, he confesses that 
his life is bound up with that of a little green parrot 
concealed under six jars of water in the midst of a 
jungle a hundred thousand miles distant. On his 
journey thither, the young prince rescues some eaglets 
from a serpent, and they reward him by carrying him 
on their crossed wings out of the reach of the dragons 
who guard the jungle. As he seizes the parrot, Punch- 
kin roars for mercy, and immediately sets at liberty all 
the victims of the enchantment; but as soon as this 
