Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 2,2): Zeus god of the dark sky (thunder and lightning): Appendixes and index (Cambridge, 1925)

IOI 2

Appendix F

(77) The Myth of Zethos and Amphion as an 'Expulsion' Tale.

It would be easy, but needless, to cite other variants. Tales of this type are,
in fact, spread throughout the south of Europe, and with sundry modifications
and adaptations could be traced yet further afield1. J. G. von Hahn, regarding
them as essentially tales of ' expulsion' ( Verstossiing), formulated their common
characteristics as follows2:

{a) Jealous relatives deprive the mother of her new-born children, who are
found and brought up at a distance from the father's home by a childless
foster-parent.

ib) Beasts are substituted for the new-born children ; or the mother is
accused of having devoured them.

(c) Expulsion or punishment of the mother.

(d) The children, found again by the father, deliver the mother.

Von Hahn has done good service by thus emphasising the permanent features of
the tale. But, when he states that they cannot be illustrated from Greek mytho-
logy3, he has somewhat seriously misconceived the situation and has thereby
missed a certain number of interesting parallels. Ancient Greek folk-tales have
for the most part come down to us through the discriminating sieve of ancient
Greek literature. Sometimes, as in the case of Sophokles, that sieve had a very
fine mesh, the result being that the primitive traits still to be seen in Sophoclean
dramas are but few. Sometimes, as in the case of Euripides, the mesh was broad,
and traits of this kind are comparatively numerous. Nevertheless, Euripides too
made his appeal to one of the most aesthetically cultivated audiences of all time ;
and it is certain that he would not have thought the folk-tale as outlined above
immediately suitable for dramatic presentation in the theatre at Athens. How,
then, would Euripides, say, have manipulated such a theme to suit his purpose ?
We may here with some assurance hazard a twofold guess. On the one hand, he
would have excised the whole of the second or bestial episode: nowhere in
Greek tragedy do we find any precedent for a scene which, to Euripides' gener-

1 See L. Gonzenbach Sicilianische Mdrchen Leipzig 1870 i. 19 ff. no. 5 ' Die verstos-
sene Konigin und ihre beiden ausgesetzten Kinder,' ib. ii. 206 f., G. Pitre Fiabe novelle e
raccontipopolari siciliani Palermo 1875 i ( = Biblioteca delle tradizioni popolari siciliane iv)
328 f. ' La cammisa di lu gran jucaturi e 1' auceddu parlanti' (Montevago), ib. 330 'Suli
e Luna' (Capaci), ib. 330 f. 'Stilla d' oru e Stilla Diana' (Casteltermini), ib. 331 ' Lu
Re Turcu' (Noto), ib. 331 ff., G. Pitre Nuovo saggio de fiabe e novelle popolari siciliane
Imola 1873 ( = Rivista di Filologia Romanza vol. i fasc. 2 f.) no. 1 'Re Sonnu ' (Palermo),
G. Finamore Tradizioni popolari Abrnzzesi Lanciano 1882 i (Novelle) 192 ff. no. 39
' Lu fatte de le tre ssurelle,' II Pentamerone trans, by Sir R. Burton London 1893
i. 390 ff. 'Fifth Diversion of the Fourth Day,' F. M. Luzel ' Les trois filles du boulanger'
(Plouaret) variants in Milusine 1878 i. 209 n. 1, 210 n. 1, R. Koehler ib. 213 f.,
T. F. Crane Italian Popular Tales London 1885 p. 325 f., J. F. Campbell Poptdar
Tales of the West Highlands Edinburgh i860 i. p. Ixxxiii f., J. Curtin Fairy Tales of
Eastern Europe London s.a. pp. 91—119 'The Golden Fish, the Wonder-working Tree,
and the Golden Bird' (a Hungarian tale of a prince with a golden sun on his breast
and a princess with a golden moon on her bosom, who sought a Golden Fish, a branch
cut from a Music-tree, and a Golden Bird, all kept in the Glass Mountain beyond the
Crimson Sea: the old queen is burned on the public square), L. A. Magnus Russian Folk-
tales London 1915 pp. 269—273 'The Singing-Tree and the Speaking-Bird' (two princes
and a princess seek the Talking-Bird, the Singing-Tree, and the Water of Life on the
top of a steep mountain). Most of these authors refer to further sources.

2 J. G. von Hahn Griechische und albanesische Mdrchen Leipzig 1864 i. 46.

3 Id. ib. ' Hellenische und germanische Sage: fehlt.'