THE THREE BEARS.—A tale by Southey.

TOM THUMB.—Another English tale, a mere
play of the fancy. It is found in chap-books and in
metrical form. Stories of same character among
the Greeks: of Philytas, a poet of Cos, it was
related that he carried lead in his shoes to save
him from being blown away; and of Archestratus,
that when taken by the enemy and weighed, he
was found to be no heavier than an obolus.

THE WHITE CAT.—A tale by Mme. D’Auinoy
and imperishable. It combines the folk-tale of
setting tasks and that of transformation into
animal form. To that is added the task of cutting
off head and tail, as in ‘The Frog Prince.’ The use
of cold steel has been regarded as a means of
disenchantment ever since the introduction of iron.
The race of bronze workers, who used weapons of
this amalgam, was conquered by the Celt with his
implements of war of tempered steel, and the
subjugated race regarded the new metal with
feelings of terror, as something altogether super-
natural.

The fairies who enchant are in most stories the
members of the subjugated race. It is possible
enough that transformation into bear, or frog, or
cat may originally have meant no more than
adoption into a tribe of which bear or frog or cat
was the totem. Or it may mean, that in the race
regarded as endowed with supernatural powers,
the clothing was of skins, bear or cat-skin, or
even—as with the Ainu—fish-skin; and that the
man of the higher race, by means of his steel sword,
recovered one of the members of his own race who
had been carried away and adopted into the clan
of the inferior race.

THE FROG PRINCE.—A very ancient folk-tale.
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