300 KOSHCHEI THE DEATHLESS 
working with his greater wealth of fancy at exactly the 
same problem. But the possession in common of the 
conception of the Sun as a slave or thrall in no wise 
proves community of culture between the Greek and 
the Polynesian, except in so far as it illustrates how 
the Greek came from ancestors who at some time 
passed through a stage of thinking more or less like 
that in which the Polynesian has remained. 
The resemblances between the folk-tales of civilized 
peoples are much closer, and enter much more into 
details, than the likenesses between simple mythical 
ideas which seem to be the common property of all 
races. Nobody would ever think of maintaining that 
the folk-tales of India and Scandinavia and Ireland 
had severally an independent origin. Long-continued 
community of tradition is the only cause which will 
account for the great body of the common lore. 
Let us now see how the elementary mythical inci- 
dents, out of which Aryan folk-tales are woven, are in 
many cases to be interpreted. I said a moment ago 
that all folk-tales are not nature myths, but undoubt- 
edly a good many folk-tales are. Our friend Koshchei 
the Deathless is a curious and interesting personage ; 
let us see what we can make of him. 
Between the Russian legend of Koshchei and the 
Hindu legend of Punchkin we have noted some gen- 
eral resemblances. Both these characters are mischief 
makers, with whom the hearer is not expected to sym- 
pathize, and who finally meet their doom at the hands 
of the much-tried and much-wandering hero of the 
story. Both carry off beautiful women, who coquet 
with them just enough to lure them to destruction. 
Such resemblances may not suffice to prove their 
