The Swan-Maiden Theme in the 

 Oceanic Area 



By Roland B. Dixon 



jNE of the best known and most widespread themes in 

 Indo-European mythology is that of the Swan-maiden, 

 or Bird-woman. Minor details and variations aside, the 

 essential features of the story are as follows: 

 Certain sky-maidens are accustomed to fly down to earth 

 in the form of birds, for the purpose of bathing; on reaching 

 their bathing-place they lay aside their winged garments; a youth 

 observes them from a hiding-place, and steals the garments of one 

 of the maidens ; she is thus unable to fly back with the others to the 

 sky-land, and becomes the wife of her captor; later she discovers 

 her wings which her husband had hidden, and putting them on, flies 

 back to the sky. 



In one form or another the tale has a wide distribution in Europe; 

 it occurs both in modern India and in the ancient literature, as well 

 as in Persia. Outside the Indo-European field it is known from 

 Siberia, Tibet, Burma, Annam, in the Thousand and One Nights, and 

 in Madagascar, and is of wide distribution in Indonesia and the 

 islands of the Pacific. Examples have also been reported from Amer- 

 ica. 1 In the present paper I propose to discuss the occurrence of the 

 tale in one portion of this large field, i.e. Indonesia and the islands 

 to the eastward. 



The great island of Sumatra, which so nearly touches the Asiatic 

 mainland at the Straits of Malacca, is occupied today by peoples who 

 may be roughly divided into two groups, (a) the great bulk of the 

 Malay population which has been for several centuries more or less 

 completely converted to Islam, and (6) the non-Mohammedan popu- 

 lation, comprising the Battaks, Achinese, and the still more primitive 

 Kubu, and other aboriginal tribes. The Kubu and similar wild tribes 

 may be left out of our consideration, owing to the absence of any 

 mythological material from them. The Achinese, who occupy the 

 northern tip of the island, have received considerable attention, and 

 from them myth material is known. The Swan-maiden story appears 



1 For numerous references to this tale, see Cosquin, Contes populaires de Lorraine, vol. II, 

 pp. 16 sq. 



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