No. 22: St. Stephen and Herod
CONTENTS:
1. Child's Narrative
2. Footnotes (added at the end of Child's Narration)
3. Brief (Kittredge)
4. Child's Ballad Text A;
5. Endnotes
6. "Additions and Corrections"
ATTACHED PAGES (see left hand column):
1. Recordings & Info: St. Stephen and Herod
A. Roud Number 3963: St. Stephen and Herod (11 Listings)
2. Sheet Music: St. Stephen and Herod (Bronson's texts and some music examples)
3. US & Canadian Versions [There is one US version from George Edwards in Vermont, 1934]
4. English and Other Versions (Including Child versions A with additional notes)]
Child's Narrative
A. Sloane Manuscript, 2593, fol. 22 b; British Museum.
The manuscript which preserves this delightful little legend has been judged by the handwriting to be of the age of Henry VI. It was printed entire by Mr. T. Wright, in 1856, for the Warton Club, under the title, Songs and Carols, from a manuscript in the British Museum of the fifteenth century, the ballad at p. 63. Ritson gave the piece as 'A Carol for St. Stephen's Day,' in Ancient Songs, 1790, p. 83, and it has often been repeated; e. g., in Sandys' Christmas Carols, p. 4, Sylvester's, p. 1.
The story, with the Wise Men replacing Stephen, is also found in the carol, still current, of 'The Carnal and the Crane,' Sandys, p. 152, in conjunction with other legends and in this order: the Nativity, the Wise Men's passage with Herod, the Massacre of the Innocents, the Flight into Egypt, Herod and the Sower.
The legend of Stephen and Herod occurs, and is even still living, in Scandinavian tradition, combined, as in English, with others relating to the infancy of Jesus.
Danish. 'Jesusbarnet, Stefan og Herodes:' A, Grundtvig, No 96, II, 525. First printed in Erik Pontoppidan's little book on the reliques of Paganism and Papistry among the Danish People, 1736, p. 70, as taken down from the singing of an old beggar-woman be fore the author's door.[1] Syv alludes to the ballad in 1695, and cites one stanza. The first five of eleven stanzas are devoted to the beauty of the Virgin, the Annunciation, and the birth of the Saviour. The song then goes on thus:
6 Saint Stephen leads the foals to water,
All by the star so gleaming:
'Of a truth the prophet now is born
That all the world shall ransom.'
7 King Herod answered thus to him:
'I'll not believe this story,
Till the roasted cock that is on the board
Claps his wings and crows before me.'
8 The cock he clapped his wings and crew,
'Our Lord, this is his birthday!'
Herod fell off from his kingly seat,
For grief he fell a swooning.
9 King Herod bade saddle his courser gray,
He listed to ride to Bethlem;
Fain would he slay the little child
That to cope with him pretended.
10 Mary took the child in her arms,
And Joseph the ass took also,
So they traversed the Jewish land,
To Egypt, as God them guided.
11 The little children whose blood was shed,
They were full fourteen thousand,
But Jesus was thirty miles away
Before the sun was setting.
B. A broadside of fourteen four-line stanzas, in two copies, a of the middle, b from the latter part, of the last century, b was printed "in the Dansk Kirketidende for 1862, No 43," by Professor George Stephens: a is given by Grundtvig, in 1881. The first three stanzas correspond to A 15, the next three to A 6-8: the visit of the Wise Men to Herod is then intercalated, 7-10, and the story concludes as in A 9-11.
C. 'Sankt Steffan,' Kristensen, II, 128, No 36, from recitation about 1870, eight four-line stanzas, 1-3 agreeing with A 3-6, 4-6 with A 6-9, 7, 8 with A 9, 11. The verbal resemblance with the copy sung by the old beggar-woman more than a hundred and thirty years before is often close.
A Färöe version, 'Rudisar vísa,' was communicated to the Dansk Kirketidende for 1852, p. 293, by Hammershaimb, twenty-six two-line stanzas (Grundtvig, II, 519). Stephen is in Herod's service. He goes out and sees the star in the east, whereby he knows that the Saviour of the world, "the great king," is born. He comes in and makes this announce ment. Herod orders his eyes to be put out: so, he says, it will appear whether this "king" will help him. They put out Stephen's eyes, but now he sees as well by night as before by day. At this moment a cock, roast and carved, is put on the board before Herod, who cries out:
'If this cock would stand up and crow,
Then in Stephen's tale should I trow.'
Herod he stood, and Herod did wait,
The cock came together that lay in the plate.
The cock flew up on the red gold chair,
He clapped his wings, and he crew so fair.
Herod orders his horse and rides to Bethlehem, to find the new-born king. As he comes in, Mary greets him, and tells him there is still mead and wine. He answers that she need not be so mild with him: he will have her son and nail him on the cross. "Then you must go to heaven for him," says Mary. Herod makes an attempt on Jesus, but is seized by twelve angels and thrown into the Jordan, where the Evil One takes charge of him.
Swedish. A single stanza, corresponding to Danish A 6, B 4, C 4, is preserved in a carol, 'Staffans Visa,' which was wont to be sung all over Sweden on St. Stephen's day, in the Christmas sport, not yet given up, called Staffansskede; which consisted in young fellows riding about from house to house early in the morning of the second day of Yule, and levying refreshments.[2] One of the party carried at the end of a pole a lighted lantern, made of hoops and oiled paper, which was sometimes in the shape of a six-cornered star. Much of the chant was improvised, and both the good wishes and the suggestions as to the expected treat would naturally be suited to particular cases; but the first stanza, with but slight variations, was (Afzelius, in, 208, 210):
Stephen was a stable-groom,
We thank you now so kindly!
He watered the five foals all and some,
Ere. the morning star was shining.
No daylight 's to be seen,
The stars in the sky
Are gleaming.
or,
Stephen was a stable-groom,
Bear thee well my foal!
He watered the five foals all and some,
God help us and Saint Stephen!
The sun is not a-shining,
But the stars in the sky
Are gleaming.
There is also a Swedish ballad which has the substance of the story of Danish A 6-8, but without any allusion to Stephen. It occurs as a broadside, in two copies, dated 1848, 1851, and was communicated by Professor Stephens to the Dansk Kirketidende, 1861, Nos 3, 4, and is reprinted by Grundtvig, in, 882 f, and in Bergström's Afzelius, II, 360 f. There are eleven four-line stanzas, of which the last six relate how Mary was saved from Herod by the miracle of the Sower (see 'The Carnal and the Crane,' stanzas 18-28). The first five cover the matter of our ballad. The first runs:
In Bethlem of Judah a star there rose,
At the time of the birth of Christ Jesus:
'Now a child is born into the world
That shall suffer for us death and torment.'
Herod then calls his court and council, and says to them, as he says to Stephen in the Danish ballad, "I cannot believe your story unless the cock on this table claps his wings and crows." This comes to pass, and Herod exclaims that he can never thrive till he has made that child feel the effects of his wrath. He then steeps his hands in the blood of the Innocents, and falls off his throne in a marvellous swoon. Mary is warned to fly to Egypt. It, is altogether likely that the person who speaks in the first stanza was originally the same as the one who says nearly the same thing in the three Danish ballads, that is, Stephen, and altogether unlikely that Herod's words, which are addressed to Stephen in the Danish ballads, were addressed to his court and council rather than to Stephen here.
Norwegian. Two stanzas, much corrupted, of what may have been a ballad like the foregoing, have been recovered by Professor Bugge, and are given by Grundtvig, m, 883.
St. Stephen's appearance as a stable-groom, expressly in the Swedish carol and by implication in the Danish ballads, is to be explained by his being the patron of horses among the northern nations.[3] On his day, December 26, which is even called in Germany the great Horse Day, it was the custom for horses to be let blood to keep them well during the year following, or raced to protect them from witches. In Sweden they were watered "ad alienos fontes" (which, perhaps, is what Stephen is engaged in in the carol), and treated to the ale which had been left in the cups on St. Stephen's eve; etc., etc[4] This way of observing St Stephen's day is presumed to be confined to the north of Europe, or at least to be derived from that quarter. Other saints are patrons of horses in the south, as St. Eloi, St. Antony, and we must seek the explanation of St. Stephen's having that office in Scandinavia, Germany, and England in the earlier history of these regions. It was suggested as long ago as the middle of the sixteenth century by the Archbishop Olaus Magnus, that the horseracing, which was universal in Sweden on December 26, was a remnant of heathen customs. The horse was sacred to Frey, and Yule was Frey's festival. There can hardly be a doubt that the customs connected with St. Stephen's day are a continuation, under Christian auspices, of old rites and habits which, as in so many other cases, the church found it easier to consecrate than to abolish.[5]
The miracle of the cock is met with in other ballads, which, for the most part, relate the wide-spread legend of the Pilgrims of St. James.
French. In three versions, Chants de Pauvres en Forez et en Velay, collected by M. Victor Smith, Romania, II, 473 ff. Three pilgrims, father, mother, and son, on their way to St. James, stop at an inn, at St. Dominic. A maid-servant, enamored of the youth (qui ressemble une image, que serablavo-z-un ange) is repelled by him, and in revenge puts a silver cup [cups] belonging to the house into his knapsack. The party is pursued and brought back, and the young pilgrim is hanged. He exhorts his father to accomplish his vow, and to come that way when he returns. When the father returns, after three [six] months, the boy is found to be alive; his feet have been supported, and he has been nourished, by God and the saints. The father tells the judge that his son is alive; the judge replies, I will believe that when this roast fowl crows. The bird crows: A, le poulet se mit a chanter sur la table; B, le poulet vole au ciel, trois fois n'a battu l'aile; C, trois fois il a chanté, trois fois l'a battu l'aile. The boy is taken down and the maid hanged.
Spanish. A, Milá, Observaciones sobre la Poesia Popular, p. 106, No 7, 'El Romero;' B, Briz, Cansons de la Terra, I, 71, ' S.Jaume de Galicia,' two copies essentially agreeing. The course of the story is nearly as in the French. The son does not ask his father to come back. It is a touch of nature that the mother cannot be prevented from going back by all that her husband can say. The boy is more than well. St. James has been sustaining his feet, the Virgin his head. He directs his mother to go to the alcalde (Milá), who will be dining on a cock and a hen, and to request him politely to release her son, who is still alive. The alcalde replies: "Off with you! Your son is as much alive as this cock and hen." The cock began to crow, the hen laid an egg in the dish!
Dutch. 'Een liedeken van sint Jacob,' Antwerpener Liederbuch, 1544, No 20, Hoffmann, p. 26; Uhland, p. 803, No 303; Willems, p. 318, No 133. The pilgrims here are only father and son. The host's daughter avows her love to her father, and desires to detain the young pilgrim. The older pilgrim, hearing of this, says, My son with me and I with him. We will seek St. James, as pilgrims good and true. The girl puts the cup in the father's sack. The son offers himself in his father's place, and is hanged. The father finds that St. James and the Virgin have not been unmindful of the pious, and tells the host that his son is alive. The host, in a rage, exclaims, "That 's as true as that these roast fowls shall fly out at the door!"
But ere the host could utter the words,
One by one from the spit brake the birds,
And into the street went flitting;
They flew on the roof of St. Dominic's house,
Where all the brothers were sitting.
The brothers resolve unanimously to go to the judicial authority in procession; the innocent youth is taken down, the host hanged, and his daughter buried alive.
Wendish. Haupt und Schmaler, I, 285, No 289, 'Der gehenkte Schenkwirth.' There are two pilgrims, father and son. The host him self puts his gold key into the boy's basket. The boy is hanged: the father bids him hang a year and a day, till he returns. The Virgin has put a stool under the boy's feet, and the angels have fed him. The father announces to the host that his son is living. The host will not believe this till three dry staves which he has in the house shall put out green shoots. This comes to pass. The host will not believe till three fowls that are roasting shall recover their feathers and fly out of the window. This also comes to pass. The host is hanged.
A Breton ballad, 'Marguerite Laurent,' Luzel, I, A, p. 211, B, p. 215, inverts a principal circumstance in the story of the pilgrims: a maid is hanged on a false accusation of having stolen a piece of plate. This may be an independent tradition or a corrupt form of the other. Marguerite has, by the grace of St. Anne and of the Virgin, suffered no harm. A young clerk, her lover, having ascertained this, reports the case to the seneschal, who will not believe till the roasted capon on the dish crows. The capon crows. Marguerite goes on her bare knees to St. Anne and to Notre-Dame du Folgoat, and dies in the church of the latter (first version).
'Notre-Dame du Folgoat,' Villemarqué, Barzaz Breiz, p. 272, No 38, 6th ed., is of a different tenor. Marie Fanchonik, wrongly condemned to be executed for child murder, though hanged, does not die. The executioner reports to the seneschal. "Burn her," says the seneschal. "Though in fire up to her breast," says the executioner, "she is laughing heartily." "Sooner shall this capon crow than I will believe you." The capon crows: a roast capon on the dish, all eaten but the feet.
Religious writers of the 13th century have their version of the story of the pilgrims, but without the prodigy of the cock. Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum Historiale, 1. 26, c. 33, who bases his narrative on a collection of the miracles of St. James incorrectly attributed to Pope Callixtus II,[6] has but two pilgrims, Germans, father and son. On their way to Compostella they pass a night in an inn at Toulouse. The host, having an eye to the forfeiture of their effects, makes them drunk and hides a silver cup in their wallet. Son wishes to die for father, and father for son. The son is hanged, and St. James interposes to preserve his life. [7] With Vincent agree the author of the Golden Legend, following Callixtus, Graesse, 2d ed., p. 426, c. 99 (94),[8] 5,[9] and Csesarius Heisterbacensis, Dialogus Miraculorum, c. 58, II, 130, ed. Strange, who, however, does not profess to remember every particular, and omits to specify Toulouse as the place. Nicolas Bertrand, who published in 1515 a history of Toulouse, places the miracle there. He has three pilgrims, like the French and Spanish ballads, and the roast fowl flying from the spit to convince a doubt ing official, like the Dutch and Wendish ballads.
But, much earlier than the last date, this miracle of St. James had become connected with the town of San Domingo de la Calzada, one of the stations on the way to Compostella,[10] some hours east of Burgos. Roig, the Valencian poet, on arriving there in the course of his pilgrimage, tells the tale briefly, with two roasted fowls, cock and hen: Lo Libre de les Dones e de Cone, ells, 1460,) as printed by Briz from the edition of 1735, p. 42, Book 2, vv. 135-183. Lucio Marineo, whose work, De las cosas memorables de España, appeared in 1530, had been at San Domingo, and is able to make some addition to the miracle of the cock. Up to the revivification, his account agrees very well with the Spanish ballad. A roast cock and hen are lying before the mayor, and when he expresses his incredulity, they jump from the dish on to the table, in feathers whiter than snow. After the pilgrims had set out a second time on their way to Compostella, to return thanks to St. James, the mayor returned to his house with the priests and all the people, and took the cock and hen to the church, where they lived seven years, and then died, leaving behind them a pair of the same snowy whiteness, who in turn, after seven years, left their successors, and so on to Marineo's day; and though of the infinite number of pilgrims who resorted to the tomb each took away a feather, the plumage was always full, and Marineo speaks as an eye-witness. (Edition of 1539, fol. xliii.) Dr. Andrew Borde gives nearly the same account as Marineo, in the First Book of the Introduction of Knowledge, 1544, p. 202 ff, ed. Furnivall.[11] Early in the sixteenth century the subject was treated in at least two miracle-plays, for which it is very well adapted: Un miracolo di tre Pellegrini, printed at Florence early in the sixteenth century, D'Ancona, Sacre Rappresentazioni, in, 465; Ludus Sancti Jacobi, fragment de mystere provencale, Camille Arnaud, 1858.[12]
Nicolas Bertrand, before referred to, speaks of the miracle as depicted in churches and chapels of St. James. It was, for example, painted by Pietro Antonio of Foligno, in the fifteenth century, in SS. Antonio e Jacopo at Assisi, and by Pisanello in the old church of the Tempio at Florence, and, in the next cen tury, by Palmezzano in S. Biagio di S. Girolamo at Forli, and by Lo Spagna in a small chapel or tribune dedicated to St. James, about four miles from Spoleto, on the way to Foligno. The same legend is painted on one of the lower windows of St. Ouen, and again on a window of St. Vincent, at Rouen. Many more cases might, no doubt, be easily collected.[13]
It is not at all surprising that a miracle performed at San Domingo de la Calzada should, in the course of time, be at that place attributed to the patron of the locality; and we actually find Luis de la Vega, in a life of this San Domingo published at Burgos in 1606, repeating Marineo's story, very nearly, with a substitution of Dominic for James.[14] More than this, this author claims for this saint, who, saving reverence, is decidedly minorum gentium, the merit and glory of delivering a captive from the Moors, wherein he, or tradition, makes free again with St. James's rightful honors. The Moor, when told that the captive will some day be missing, rejoins, If you keep him as close as when I last saw him, he will as soon escape as this roast cock will fly and crow. It is obvious that this anecdote is a simple jumble of two miracles of St. James, the freeing of the captives, recounted in Acta Sanctorum, vi Julii, p. 47, 190 f, and the saving the life of the young pilgrim.[15]
The restoration of a roasted fowl to life is also narrated in Acta Sanctorum, I Septembris, p. 529, 289, as occurring early in the eleventh century (the date assigned to the story of the pilgrims), at the table of St. Stephen, the first king of Hungary. St. Gunther was sitting with the king while he was dining. The king pressed Gunther to partake of a roast peacock, but Gunther, as he was bound by his rule to do, declined. The king then ordered him to eat. Gunther bent his head and implored the divine mercy; the bird flew up from the dish; the king no longer persisted. The author of the article, without questioning the reality of the miracle, well remarks that there seems to be something wrong in the story, since it is impossible that the holy king should have commanded the saint to break his vow.
But the prime circumstances in the legend, the resuscitation of the cock, does not belong in the eleventh century, where Vincent and others have put it, but in the first, where it is put by the English and Scandinavian ballads. A French romance somewhat older than Vincent, Ogier le Danois, agrees with the later English ballad in making the occasion to be the visit of the Wise Men to Herod. Herod will not believe what they say,
'Se cis capon que ci m'est en présant
N'en est plumeus com il estoit devant,
Et se redrece a la perche en cantant.'
vv 11621-23.
And what he exacts is performed for his conviction.[16] Nevertheless, as we shall now see, the true epoch of the event is not the Nativity, but the Passion.
The ultimate source of the miracle of the reanimated cock is an interpolation in two late Greek manuscripts of the so-called Gospel of Nicodemus: Thilo, Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti, p. cxxix f; Tischendorf, Evangelia Apocrypha, p. 269, note 3. After Judas had tried to induce the Jews to take back the thirty pieces, he went to his house to hang himself, and found his wife sitting there, and a cock roasting on a spit before the coals. He said to his wife, Get me a rope, for I mean to hang myself, as I deserve. His wife said to him, Why do you say such things? And Judas said to her, Know in truth that I have betrayed my master Jesus to evil-doers, who will put him to death. But he will rise on the third day, and woe to us. His wife said, Do not talk so nor believe it; for this cock that is roasting before the coals will as soon crow as Jesus rise again as you say. And even while she was speaking the words, the cock flapped his wings and crew thrice. Then Judas was still more persuaded, and straight way made a noose of the rope and hanged himself.[17]
The Cursor Mundi gives its own turn to this relation, with the intent to blacken Judas a little more.[18] When Judas had betrayed Jesus, he went to his mother with his pence, boasting of the act. "Hast thou sold thy master?" said she. "Shame shall be thy lot, for they will put him to death; but he shall rise again." "Rise, mother?" said Judas, "sooner shall this cock rise up that was scalded yesternight."
Hardly had he said the word,
The cock leapt up and flew,
Feathered fairer than before,
And by God's grace he crew;
The traitor false began to fear,
His peril well he knew.
This cock it was the self-same cock
Which Peter made to rue,
When he had thrice denied bis lord
And proved to him untrue.
A still different version existed among the Copts, who had their copies of the apocryphal writings, and among them the gospel of Nicodemus.
The Copts say, according to Thévenot, "that on the day of the Supper a roasted cock was served to our Lord, and that when Judas went out to sell Jesus to the Jews, the Saviour commanded the cock to get up and follow him; which the cock did, and brought back his report to our Lord that Judas had sold him, for which service this cock shall be admitted to paradise."[19]
The herald of the morn is described in other carols as making known the birth of the Saviour to the animal creation, or the more familiar members of it.
"There is a sheet of carols headed thus: 'CHRISTUS NATUS EST, Christ is born,' with a wood-cut ten inches high by eight and one half inches wide, representing the stable at Bethlehem; Christ in the crib, watched by the Virgin and Joseph; shepherds kneeling; angels attending; a man playing on the bag pipes; a woman with a basket of fruit on her head; a sheep bleating and an ox lowing on the ground; a raven croaking and a crow cawing on the hay-rack; a cock crowing above them; and angels singing in the sky. The animals have labels from their mouths, bearing Latin inscriptions. Down the side of the wood cut is the following account and explanation: 'A religious man, inventing the conceits of both birds and beasts, drawn in the picture of our Saviour's birth, doth thus express them. The cock croweth Christus natus est, Christ is born. The raven asked Quando, When? The crow replied, Hac nocte, This night. The ox cryeth out, Ubi, ubi? Where, where? The sheep bleated out, Bethlehem, Bethlehem. A voice from heaven sounded, Gloria in excelsis, Glory be on high!'" London, 1701. Hone's Every-Day Book, I, col. 1600 f.
So in Vieux Noels français, in Les Noels Bressans, etc., par Philibert Le Due, p. 145.
Joie des Bestes
à la nouvelle de la naissance du Sauveur.
Comme les Bestes autrefois
Parloient mieux latin que françois,
Le Coq, de loin voyant le faict,
S'écria: Christus natus est;
Le Boeaf, d'un air tout ébaubi,
Demande: Ubi, ubi, ubi?
La Chèvre, se torchant le groin,
Respond que c'est à Bethleem;
Maistre Baudet, curiosus
De Taller voir, dit: Eamus;
Et, droit sur ses pattes, le Veau
Beugle deux fois: Volo, volo.[20]
And again, in Italian, Bolza, Canzoni popolari comasche, p. 654, No 30:
Il Gallo. È nato Gesù!
Il Bue. In dôva?
La Pecora. Betlèm! Betlèm!
L'Asino. Andèm! Andèm! Andèm!
A little Greek ballad, 'The Taking of Constantinople,' only seven lines long, relates a miracle entirely like that of the cock, which was operated for the conviction of incredulity. A nun, frying fish, hears a voice from above, saying, Cease your frying, the city will fall into the hands of the Turks. "When the fish fly out of the pan alive," she says, "then shall the Turks take the city." The fish fly out of the pan alive, and the Turkish admiraud comes riding into the city. Zambelios, p. 600, No 2; Passow, p. 147, No 197. (Liebrecht, Volkskunde, p. 179.)
With Herod's questions and Stephen's answers in stanzas 5-8, we may compare a passage in some of the Greek ballads cited under No 17, p. 199.
Σκλάβε, πανᾷς; σκλάβε, δυψᾷς; μὴ τὀ ψωμὶ σοῦ λείπει;
Σκλάβε, πανᾷς; σκλάβε, δυψᾷς; σκλάβε, κρασὶν σοῦ λείπει;
Lakkyt þe eyþer mete or drynk?
Μήτε πεινῶ, μήτε διψῶ, μήτε ψωμὶ [κρασὶν] μοῦ λείπει.
Lakit me neyþer mete ne drynk.
Jeannaraki, p. 203, No 265:
Sakellarios, p. 37, No 13.
Σκλάβε, πεινᾷς; σκλάβε, διψᾷς; σκλάβε, ῥόγα σοῦ λείπει;
Σκλάβε, πεινᾷς; σκλάβε, διψᾷς; σκλάβε, μου ῥοῦχα θέλεις;
Lakkyt þe eyþer gold or fe,
Or ony ryche wede.
Οὔτε πεινῶ, οὔτε διψῶ, οὔτε ῥόγα μοῦ λείπει.
Μήτε πεινῶ, μήτε διψῶ, μήτε και ῥούχα θέλω.
Lakkyt me neyþer gold ne fe,
Ne non ryche wede.
Tommaseo, III, 154;
Passow, p. 330, No 449:
Tommaseo, III, 152;
Zambelios, p. 678, No 103; Passow, No 448.
A Danish translation of the English ballad is printed in Dansk Kirketidende for 1852, p. 254 (Grundtvig). Danish A is translated by Dr. Prior, I, 398.
Footnotes:
1. Everriculum fermenti veteris, sen residuse in Danico orbe cum paganism! turn papismi reliquiae in apricum prolate. "Rogata anus num vera esse crederet quse canebat, respondit: Me ilia in dubium vocaturam a Terruncet Deus!" Grundtvig, II, 518.
2. "Staffans-skede, lusus, vel, ut rectius dicam, licentia pueroruta agrestium, qui in Festo S. Stephani, equis vecti per villas discurrunt, et cerevisiam in lagenis, ad hoc ipsum praeparatis, mendicando ostiatim colliguut: " a dissertation, Upsala, 1734, cited by Bergström in his edition of Afzelius, n, 358, note 28. Skede is gallop, or run, Icelandic skeið (Bergström), Norwegian skeid, skjei. Many copies of the Staffansvisa have been collected: see Bergström's Afzelius, II, 356: and for a description of the custom as practised among Swedes in Finland, with links and lanterns, but no foals, Fagerlund, Anteckningar om Korpo och Houtskars Socknar, p. 39 ff. Something very similar was known in Holstein: see Schütze, Holsteinsches Idioticon, in, 200, as quoted by Grundtvig, 11, 521, note **. From Chambers' Book of Days, II, 763 f, it appears that a custom, called a Stephening, was still existing at the beginning of this century, of the inhabitants of the parish of Dray tonBeauchamp, Bucks, paying a visit to the rector on December 26, and lightening his stores of all the bread, cheese and ale they wanted. Chambers, again, in his Popular Rhymes of Scotland, p. 168 f, gives a song closely resembling the Staffansvisa, which was sung before every house on New Year's eve, in Deerness, Orkney, with the same object of stimulating hospitality. Similar practices are known in the Scottish Highlands: see Campbell, Tales of the West Highlands, in, 19, and Chambers, at p. 167 of the Popular Rhymes.
3. Stephen in all the ballads can be none other than the first martyr, though Ihre, and other Swedes since his day, choose, for their part, to understand a "Stephanum primum Helsingorum apostolum," who certainly did not see the star in the east. The peasantry in Helsingland, we are told, make their saints' day December 26, too, and their St. Stephen is a great patron of horses. The misappropriation of the glories of the protomartyr is somewhat transparent.
4. Grundtvig, whom I chiefly follow here, II, 521-24. In a note on page 521, supplemented at III, 883 e, Grundtvig has collected much interesting evidence of December 26 being the great Horse Day. J.W. Wolf, cited by Grundtvig, II, 524, had said previously: "Nichts im leben des ersten christlichen blutzeugen erinnert auch nur fern an pferde; trotzdem machte das volk ihn zum patron der pferde, und setzte ihn also an die stelle des Fro, dem im Norden, und nicht weniger bei uns, die pferde heilig waren." Beitrage zur deutschen Mythologie, i, 124.
5. Jean Baptiste Thiers, Traité des Superstitions, etc., 2d ed., Paris, 1697, as cited by Liebrecht, Gervasius von Tilbury, Otia Imperialia, p. 233, No 169, condemns the belief, "qu'il vaut bien mieux. . . saigner des chevaux le jour de la fête de S. Estienne qu'à tout autre jour." This may be one of the practices which Thiers had learned of from his reading (see Liebrecht's preface, p. xviif), but might also have migrated from the east or north into France. Superstitions, like new fashions, are always sure of a hospitable reception, even though they impose a servitude.
6. From a copy of this collection the story is given in Acta Sanctorum, vi Julii, p. 50, 202 ff.
7. Vincent, as pointed out by Professor George Stephens, knew of the miracle of the cock, and tells it at 1. 25, c. 64, on the authority of Pietro Damiani. Two Bolognese dining together, one of them carved a cock and dressed it with pepper and sauce. "Gossip," says the other, "you have 'fixed' that cock so that Peter himself could not put him on his legs again." "Peter? No, not Christ himself." At this the cock jumped up, in all his feathers, clapped his wings, crew, and threw the sauce all over the blasphemous pair, whereby they were smitten with leprosy.
8. So, naturally, the Fornsvenskt Legendarium, i, 170, and the Catalan Recull de Eximplis e Miracles, etc., Barcelona, 1880, i, 298.
9. Opus de Tholosanoram gestis, fol. 49 verso, according to Acta S., p. 46, of the volume last cited. Toulouse rivalled with Compostella in the possession of relics of St James, and was amply entitled to the honor of the miracle. Dr Andrew Borde, in his First Book of the Introduction of Knowledge, says that an ancient doctor of divinity at Compostella told him, " We have not one hair nor bone of St. James; for St James the More and St James the Less, St Bartholomew and St Philip, St Simon and Jude, St Bernard and St George, with divers other saints, Carolus Magnus brought them to Toulouse." Ed. Furnivall, p. 204 f. I do not know where the splenetic old divine got his information, but certainly from no source so trustworthy as the chronicle of Turpin. Besides other places in France, the body, or at least the head, of St James was claimed by churches in Italy, Germany, and the Low Countries. But the author of an old Itinerary of the Pilgrims to Compostella asserts that James the Greater is one of four saints who never changed his burial-place. See Victor Le Clerc in Hist. Liu. de la France, xxi, 283.
10. See 'La grande Chanson des Pelerins de Saint-Jacques,' in Socard, Noels et Cantiques, etc., p. 76, last stanza, p. 80, third stanza, p. 89, fifth stanza; the last = Romancero de Champagne, i, 165, stanza 5.
11. Southey follows Marineo in his Christmas Tale of "The Pilgrim to Compostella."
12. "Auch eine deutsche Jesuitenkomodie, Peregrinus Compostellanus, Innsbruck, 1624, behandelt diesen Stoff. F. Liebrecht, in Serapeum, 1864, S. 235."
13. Vasari, v, 184, Milan, 1809; Crowe and Cavalcaselle, in, 124, II, 566 ff, ed. 1866; Mrs. Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art, i, 241, ed. 1857. Professor N. Høyen indicated to Grundtvig the picture of Pietro Antonio, and d'Ancona refers to Pisanello's.
14. He denies the perpetual multiplication of the feathers, and adds that the very gallows on which the pilgrim was hanged is erected in the upper part of the church, where everybody can see it. It is diverting to find Grossenhain, in Saxony, claiming the miracle on the ground of a big cock in an altar picture in a chapel of St. James: Grasse, Sagenschatz des Koriigreichs Sachsen, 2d ed., i, 80, No 82, from Chladenius, Materialien zu Grossenhayner Stadtchronik, i, 2, Pirna, 1788; in verse by Ziehnert, Volkssagen, p. 99, No 14, ed. 1851.
15. For Luis da la Vega, see Acta Snnctorum, m Maii, p. 171 f, §§ 6, 7, 8, Vi Julii, p. 46, § 187. The Spanish and the Dutch ballad give due glory to St James and the Virgin; French C to God and St James. The Wendisb ballad can hardly be expected to celebrate St James, and refers the justification and saving of the boy to the Virgin and the saints. French A has St Michas; B, God and the Virgin.
Luis de la Vega, with what seems an excess of caution, says, p. 172, as above, § 8: appositique crant ad comedendum gallus et gallina, ussali nescio an elixi. Of boiled fowl wc have not heard so far. But we find in a song in Fletcher's play of 'The Spanish Curate,' this stanza:
The stewd cock shall crow, cock-a-loodle-loo,
A loud cock-a-loodle shall he crow;
The duck and the drake shall swim in a lake
Of onions and claret below.
Act III, Sc. 2; Dyce, viii, 436.
In Father Merolla's Voyage to Congo, 1682, a reference to which I owe to Liebrecht, there is a story of a stewed cock, which, on the whole, justifies Luis de la Vega's scruple. This must have been introduced into Africa by some missioner, and, when so introduced, the miracle must have had an object, which it had lost before the tale came to Father Sterol la.
One of two parties at feud having marched upon the chief city of his antagonist, and found all the inhabitants fled, the soldiers fell to rifling the houses and killing all the living creatures they met, to satisfy their hunger. "Amongst the rest they found a cock of a larger size than ordinary, with a great ring of iron about one of his legs, which occasioned one of the wisest among them to cry out, Surely this cock must be bewitched, and it is not at all proper for us to meddle with. To which the rest answered, Be it what it will, we are resolved to eat it. For this end they immediately killed and tore it to pieces after the manner of the negroes, and afterwards put it into a pot to boil. When it was enough, they took it out into a platter, and two, according to the custom, having said grace, five of them sat down to it with great greediness. But before they had touched a bit, to their great wonder and amazement, the boiled pieces of the cock, though sodden, and near dissolved, began to move about and unite into the form they were in before, and, being so united, the restored cock immediately raised himself up, and jumped out of the platter upon the ground, where he walked about as well as when he was first taken. Afterwards he leaped upon an adjoining wall, where he became new feathered all of a sudden, and then took his flight to a tree hard by, where fixing himself, he, after three claps of his wings, made a most hideous noise, and then disappeared. Every one may easily imagine what a terrible fright the spectators were in at this sight, who, leaping with a thousand Ave Marias in their mouths from the place where this had happened, were contented to observe most of the particulars at a distance." It appears that the brother of one of the two contending parties was said to have had a very large cock, from whose crowing he took auguries, but whether this was the same as the one restored to life is not known. Churchill's Collection of Voyages and Travels, 1704,1,682, Pinkerton's Collection, xvi, 229
16. La Chevalerie Ogier de Danemarche, par Raimbert de Paris, Poëme da xii siecle, etc., II, 485, vv 11606-627.
17. The gospel of Nicodemus was introduced into the French and the Italian romance of Perceforest, but unfortunately this "narratio ab inepto Grseculo pessime interpolata " (Thilo) seems to be lacking.
18. Cursor Mundi, a Northumbrian poem of the 14th century, in four versions, ed. by R. Morris, p. 912 f, vv 15961-998. This passage was kindly pointed out to me by Professor George Stephens.
19. Relation d'un Voyage fait an Levant par Monsieur DeTheVenot, Paris, 1665, i, 502. Cited by Thilo, p. xxxvii, and by Victor Smith, Romania, n, 474, who adds: "Panni les manuscrits rapporte's d'Ethiopie par M. d'Abbadie, il se trouve un volume dont le iitre a pour equivalent, Actes dels passion. Un chapitre de ce volume, intitule Le livrc du coq, de'veloppe la legende indiquee par Thevenot. Catalogue raisonne' des manuscrits e'thiopiens, appurtenant a M. A. T. d'Abbadie, in 4°, imp. impe'riale, Paris, 1859."
20. "Ce couplet se débite en imitant successivement le chant du coq, le mugisaement du bœuf, le cri de la chèvre, le braiment de l'âne, et le beuglement du veau." Bolza makes a similar explanation with regard to the Italian colloquy.
Brief Description by George Lyman Kittredge
The manuscript which preserves this delightful little legend has been judged by the handwriting to be of the age of Henry VI. The manuscript was printed entire by Thomas Wright, in 1856, for the Warton Club, under the title, Songs and Carols, from a manuscript in the British Museum of the fifteenth century. The story, with the Wise Men replacing Stephen, is also found in the carol, still current, of 'The Carnal and the Crane' (No. 55). The legend of Stephen and Herod, with the miracle of the roasted cock, occurs in a number of Scandinavian ballads. The same miracle is found in other ballads, which, for the most part, relate to the wide-spread legend of the Pilgrims of St. James. The miracle occurs as an interpolation in two late Greek manuscripts of the so-called Gospel of Nicodemus (Tischendorf, Evangelia Apocrypha, p. 269, note 3), and seems to have originated in the East.
Child's Ballad Text A
'St. Stephen and Herod'- Version A; Child 22
Sloane Manuscript, 2593, fol. 22 b, British Museum.
1 Seynt Steuene was a clerk in kyng Herowdes halle,
And seruyd him of bred and cloþ, as euery kyng befalle.
2 Steuyn out of kechone cam, wyth boris hed on honde;
He saw a sterre was fayr and bryȝt ouer Bedlem stonde.
3 He kyst adoun þe boris hed and went in to þe halle:
'I forsak þe, kyng Herowdes, and þi werkes alle.
4 'I forsak þe, kyng Herowdes, and þi werkes alle;
Þer is a chyld in Bedlem born is beter þan we alle.'
5 'Quat eylyt þe, Steuene? quat is þe befalle?
Lakkyt þe eyþer mete or drynk in kyng Herowdes halle!'
6 'Lakit me neyþer mete ne drynk in kyng Herowdes halle;
Þer is a chyld in Bedlem born is beter þan we alle.'
7 Quat eylyt þe, Steuyn? art þu wod, or þu gynnyst to brede?
Lakkyt þe eyþer gold or fe, or ony ryche wede?'
8 'Lakyt me neyþer gold ne fe, ne non ryche wede;
Þer is a chyld in Bedlem born xal helpyn vs at our nede.'
9 'Þat is al so soþ, Steuyn, al so soþ, iwys,
As þis capoun crowe xal þat lyþ here in myn dysh.'
10 Þat word was not so sone seyd, þat word in þat halle,
Þe capoun crew Cristus natus est! among þe lordes alle.
11 Rysyt vp, myn turmentowres, be to and al be on,
And ledyt Steuyn out of þis town, and stonyt hym wyth ston!'
12 Tokyn he Steuene, and stonyd hym in the way,
And þerfore is his euyn on Crystes owyn day.
[Same text with more modern letters:]
1 Seynt Steuene was a clerk in kyng Herowdes halle,
And seruyd him of bred and cloth, as euery kyng befalle.
2 Steuyn out of kechone cam, wyth boris hed on honde;
He saw a sterre was fayr and bryyt ouer Bedlem stonde.
3 He kyst adoun the boris hed and went in to the halle:
'I forsak the, kyng Herowdes, and thi werkes alle.
4 'I forsak the, kyng Herowdes, and thi werkes alle;
Ther is a chyld in Bedlem born is beter than we alle.'
5 'Quat eylyt the, Steuene? quat is the befalle?
Lakkyt the eyther mete or drynk in kyng Herowdes halle!'
6 'Lakit me neyther mete ne drynk in kyng Herowdes halle;
Ther is a chyld in Bedlem born is beter than we alle.'
7 Quat eylyt the, Steuyn? art thu wod, or thu gynnyst to brede?
Lakkyt the eyther gold or fe, or ony ryche wede?'
8 'Lakyt me neyther gold ne fe, ne non ryche wede;
Ther is a chyld in Bedlem born xal helpyn vs at our nede.'
9 'That is al so soth, Steuyn, al so soth, iwys,
As this capoun crowe xal that lyth here in myn dysh.'
10 That word was not so sone seyd, that word in that halle,
The capoun crew Cristus natus est! among the lordes alle.
11 Rysyt vp, myn turmentowres, be to and al be on,
And ledyt Steuyn out of this town, and stonyt hym wyth ston!'
12 Tokyn he Steuene, and stonyd hym in the way,
And therfore is his euyn on Crystes owyn day.
End-Notes
12, 51. be falle.
31. a douw.
32, 41. for sak.
52. There is room only for the h at the end of the line.
91. also ... also ... I wys.
92. dych.
102. among.
Additions and Corrections
P. 236 a. Spanish. Milá's new edition, Romancerillo Catalan, No 31, 'El romero acusado de robo,' pp 36-38, adds six copies, not differing in anything important. In C, the youth, un estudiant, n'era ros com un fil d'or, blanch com Santa Catarina.
I may note that Thomas Becket stands by his votaries when brought to the gallows as effectually as St. James. See Robertson, Materials, etc., I, 369, 471, 515, 524.
238. Note ‡ should have been credited to R. Köhler.
238 b, second paragraph. Professor George Stephens informs me that the miracle of the cock is depicted, among scenes from the life of Jesus, on an antependium of an altar, derived from an old church in Slesvig, and now in the Danish Museum. Behind a large table sits a crowned woman, and at her left stands a crowned man, who points to a dish from which a cock has started up, with beak wide open. At the queen's right stands an old woman, simply clad and leaning on a staff. This picture comes hetween the Magi announcing Christ's Birth and the Massacre of the Innocents, and the crowned figures are judged by Professor Stephens to be Herod and Herodias. Who the old woman should be it is not easy to say, but there can be no connection with St. James. The work is assigned to the last part of the fourteenth century.
239. Most of the literature on the topic of the restoration of the roasted cock to life is collected by Dr. R. Köhler and by Ferdinand Wolf, in Jahrbücher für romanische u. englische Literatur, III, 58 ff, 67 f. Dr. Köhler now adds these notes: The miracle of St. James, in Hermann von Fritslar's Heiligenleben, Pfeiffer's Deutsche Mystiker des vierzehnten Jahrhunderts, I, 168 f; Hahn, Das alte Passional (from the Golden Legend), p. 223, v. 47-p. 225, v. 85; Lütolf, Sagen, Bräuche und Legenden aus Lucern, u.s.w., p. 367, No 334; von Alpenburg, Deutsche Alpensagen, p. 137, No 135; Sepp, Altbayerischer Sagenschatz, pp 652 ff, 656 f.
239 b. Three stone partridges on a buttress of a church at Mühlhausen are thus accounted for. In the early days of the Reformation a couple of orthodox divines, while waiting dinner, were discussing the prospect of the infection spreading to their good city. One of them, growing warm, declared that there was as much chance of that as of the three partridges that were roasting in the kitchen taking flight from the spit. Immediatcly there was heard a fluttering and a cooing in the region of the kitchen, the three birds winged their way from the house, and, lighting on the buttress of Mary Kirk, were instantly turned to stone, and there they are. Thüringen und der Harz, mit ihren Merkwürdigkeiten, u. s. w., VI, 20 f. (Köhler.)
240 a. The monk Andrius has the scene between Judas and his mother as in Cursor Mundi, and attributes to Greek writers the opinion that the roasted cock was the same that caused Peter's compunction. Mussafia, Sulla legenda del legno della Croce, Sitz. Ber. der phil.-hist. Classe der Wiener Akad., LXIII, 206, note. (Köhler.)
"About the year 1850 I was on a visit to the rector of Kilmeen, near Clonakilty, in the county of Cork. My friend brought me to visit the ruins of an old castle. Over the open fireplace, in the great hall there was a stone, about two or three feet square, carved in the rudest fashion, and evidently representing our Lord's sufferings. There were the cross, the nails, the hammer, the scourge; but there was one piece of sculpture which I could not understand. It was a sort of rude semi-circle, the curve below and the diameter above, and at the junction a figure intended to represent a bird. My friend asked me what it meant. I confessed my ignorance. 'That,' said he, 'is the cock. The servants were boiling him for supper, but when the moment came to convict the apostle he started up, perched on the side of the pot, and astonished the assembly by his salutation of the morning.'" Notes and Queries, 5th series, IX, 412 a. (Köhler.)
A heathen in West Gothland (Vestrogothia) had killed his herdsman, Torsten, a Christian, and was reproached for it by Torsten's wife. Pointing to an ox that had been slaughtered, the heathen answered: Tam Torstenum tuum, quem sanctum et in cœlis vivere existimas, plane ita vivum credo prout hunc hovem quem in frusta cædendum conspicis. Mirum dictu, vix verba finiverat, cum e vestigio bos in pedes se erexit vivus, stupore omnibus qui adstabant attonitis. Quare sacellum in loco eodem erectum, multaque miracula, præsertim in pecorum curatione, patrata. Ioannis Vastovii Vitis Aquilonia, sive Vitro Sanctorum regni Sveo-gothici, emend. et illustr. Er. Benzelius filius, Upsaliæ, 1708, p. 59. (Köhler.)
240 h. Man begegnet auf alten Holzschnitten einer Abbildung von Christi Geburt, welche durch die dabei stehenden Thiere erklärt werden soll. Der Hahn auf der Stange krähet da: Christus natus est! der Ochse brüllt mit überschnappender Stimme drein: Ubi? und das Lämmlcin bläheret die Antwort: Bethlehem! Rochholz, Alemannisches Kinderlied und Kinderspiel aus der Schweiz, p. 69 f. (Köhler.)
241 a. Wer sind die ersten Vorbothen Gottes? Der Hahn, weil er kräht, "Christ ist geboren." Der Tauber, weil er ruft, "Wo?" Und der Ziegenbock, weil er schreit, "Z' Bethlehem." Pater Amand Baumgarten, Aus der volksmässigen Ueberlieferung der Heimat, I, Zur volksthümlichen Naturkunde, p. 94. (Köhler.)
Hahn: Kikeriki! Gott der Herr lebt!
Ochs: Wo? Wo?
Geiss: Mäh! zu Bethlehem!
Simrock, Das deutsche Kinderbuch, 2d ed., p. 173, No 719; 3d ed., p. 192, No 787. (Köhler.)
Quando Christo nasceu disse o gallo: Jesus-Christo e ná ... á ... á ... do (nádo). J. Leite de Vasconcellos, Tradiçôes populares de Portugal, p. 148, No 285 b.
242. Note. Add: W. Creizenach. Judas Ischarioth in Legende und Sage des Mittelalters, in Paul and Braune's Beiträge, II, 177 ff.
P. 234. The Färöe 'Rudisar vísa' is No 11 of Hammershaimb's Færøsk Anthologi, p. 89. Three copies are now known.
238 b. A description of San Domingo de la Calzada, with a narration of the miracle of St. James, is cited by Birlinger from a manuscript of travels by a young German, 1587-93, in Alemannia, XIII, 42-44. The traveller had heard "the fable" in Italy, too, and had seen a painting of it at Savona. R. Köhler.
De Gubernatis, Zoölogical Mythology, II, 283 f, note 2, after citing the legend of San Domingo de la Calzada, adds: A similar wonder is said, by Sigonio, to have taken place in the eleventh century in the Bolognese; but instead of St. James, Christ and St. Peter appear to perform miracles. G.L.K.
239. In The Ely Volume, or, The Contributions of our Foreign Missions to Science, etc., 2d ed., Boston, 1885, the editor, Dr. Laurie, discoursing of the Yezidees, says they speak of Satan an Melek Taoos, King Peacock, and the cawals (a sort of circuit-riders), "carry round with them brazen images of a bird on a sort of Oriental candlestick, as vouchers for their mission, and a means of blessing to their followers. One of them gave Dr. Lobdell the following account of the origin of this name [Melek Taoos]. In the absence of his disciples, Satan, in the form of a dervish, took Christ down from the cross and carried him to heaven. Soon after the Marys came and asked the dervish where Christ was. They would not believe his reply, but promised to do so if he would restore the chicken he was eating to life. He did so, and when he told them who he was they adored him. When he left them he promised always to appear to them as a beautiful bird, and so the peacock became his symbol." P. 315. G.L.K.
241 a and 505.
Em dezembro, vintecinco,
Meio da noite chegado,
Urn anjo ia no ar
A dizer: Elle é já nado.
Pergunta lo boi: Aonde?
La mula pergunta: Quern?
Canta lo gallo: Jesus.
Diz la ovelha: Bethlem.
Azevedo, Romanceiro do Archipelago da Madeira, p. 3. R. Köhler.
The Taking of Stamboul, in Bezsonof, Kalyeki Perekhozhie, I, 617, No 138.
P. 234 a. 'Rudisar visa' is now No 11 of Hammershaimb's Færøsk Anthologi, p. 39. There are two other copies.
237. 'Skuin over de groenelands heide,' Dykstra en van der Meulen, p. 121, resembles the Breton stories, but lacks the miracle of the capon.
239. Miracle of the roasted cock. Jesus visits a Jew on Easter Sunday and reproaches him with not believing in the resurrection. The Jew replies that Jesus having been put to death it was as impossible for him to come to life again as it would be for a roast chicken which lies before them. Faith can do anything, says Jesus. The fowl comes to life and lays eggs; the Jew has himself baptized. Kostomarof, Monuments of the older Russian Literature, I, 217. In a note, a Red-Russian ballad is mentioned which seems to be identical with Golovatsky, II, 6, No 8. A young Jewess, who was carrying water, was the first to see Jesus after his resurrection. She tells her father, as he sits at meat, that the God of the Russians is risen from the dead. "If you were not my daughter, I would have you drowned," says the father. "The God of the Russians will not rise again till that capon flies up and crows." The capon does both; the Jew is turned to stone. (W.W.)
P. 236 a. French. 'Trois Pelerins de Dieu,' Meyrac, Traditions, etc., des Ardennes, p. 280.
240 f., 505 f., II, 501 b. Add:
Cantou il gatsu:
¡Cristu naciti!
Dixu il buey:
¿Agu?
Dixu la ubecha:
¡En Bilén!
Dixu la cabra:
¡Catsa, cascarra,
Que nació en Grenada!
Munthe, Folkpoesi från Asturien, III, No 24, cited by Pitrè in Archivio, VIII, 141.
"Quando Christo nasceu, disse o gallo: Jesus-Christo é8 ná ... á ... á ... do." Leite de Vasconcellos, Tradições pop. de Portugal, p. 148, No 285 b.
241. Greek ballad, The Taking of Constantinople. There is a Bulgarian version. A roasted cock crows, fried fish come to life: Sbornik of the Ministry of Public Instruction, II, 82. In other ballads the same incident is transferred to the downfall of Bulgaria: Kačanofskij, p. 235, No 116; Sbornik, II, 129, 2, and II, 131, 2. (W.W.)
P. 233 ff. 'Stjærnevisen,' Kristensen, XI, 207, No 76 A, B, has nothing about Stephen, but is confined to the scripture-history, piety, and New Year's wishes.
P. 236 a, IV, 451 b. French. An imperfect French ballad in Mélusine, VI, 24, from a wood-cut "at least three centuries old."
Add a Piedmontese popular tale communicated by Count Nigra to the editor of Mélusine, VI, 25 f.
M. Gaidoz, at the same place, 26 f., cites two versions of the resuscitation of the cock, from example-books. The first, from Erythraeus (i.e. Rossi), ch. CLV, p. 187, is essentially the same as the legend of St. Gunther given from Acta Sanctorum (p. 239 a). The other, from the Giardino d' Essempi of Razzi, is the story told by Vincentius (p. 237, note f).
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P. 236 a, last paragraph. Here, and in other places in volumes I, II, Catalan is treated as if it were a dialect of Spanish. The corrections required are as follows: I, 236 a, last paragraph, 384 a, 2d par., 505 a, 2d par.; II, 174 a, 2d par., 347 a, 2d par., 512 a, No 72, read Catalan for Spanish, and I, 384 a, 2d par., drop K. I, 462 a, 3d par., read Catalan for C. II, 69 a, 7th line, 113 b, 11th line, 158, 2d par., read Spanish and Catalan, and at the last place insert Catalan before the 3d and 4th citations and transfer them to the end.
237, III, 502 b. The Breton story with the miraculous sustentation of the maid (but without the marvel of the capon): Böhme's Erk, I, 637 ff., No 213 a, 'Die Weismutter,' b, 'Die unschuldig gehangene und gerettete Dienstmagd,' and note to b; Wolfram, p. 38, No 10, 'Zu Frankfurt steht ein Wirtshaus.'
240 f., 505 f., II, 501 b, IV, 451 f. Joie des Bestes. Add: Marin, Cantos Populares, I, 61, No 124; Iglesia, El Idioma Gallego ('a maldicion d'a ovella'), cf. II, 8, note †, III, 174, both cited by Munthe.
240, 241, 505 b, II, 501 b, III, 502 b, IV, 452 a, V, 212 a. A roast pheasant gets feathers and flies away in attestation of a tale: M. Wardrop, Georgian Folktales, p. 10 f., No 2. G.L.K.
Fish flying out of the pan. See Wesselofsky, Archiv f. slavische Philologie, VI, 574.
241 b. Herod's questions. Compare Bergström and Nordlander, 98, 3; Pidal, p. 128.