xiv. and xiv_a_, "The King who Wished to Marry his Daughter," and
one by Kennedy's _Fireside Stories_, "The Princess in the Catskins."
Goldsmith knew the story by the name of "Catskin," as he refers to it in
the _Vicar_. There is a fragment from Cornwall in _Folk-Lore_, i., App.
p. 149.
_Remarks._--_Catskin, or the Wandering Gentlewomen_, now exists in
English only in two chap-book ballads. But Chambers's first variant of
_Rashie Coat_ begins with the Catskin formula in a euphemised form. The
full formula may be said to run in abbreviated form--_Death-bed
promise--Deceased wife's resemblance marriage test--Unnatural father_
(desiring to marry his own daughter)--_Helpful animal--Counter
tasks--Magic dresses--Heroine flight--Heroine disguise--Menial
heroine--Meeting-place--Token objects named--Threefold flight--Lovesick
prince--Recognition ring--Happy marriage_. Of these the chap-book
versions contain scarcely anything of the opening _motifs_. Yet they
existed in England, for Miss Isabella Barclay, in a variant which Miss
Cox has overlooked (_Folk-Lore_, i.
Pages:
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311