Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 3,1): Zeus god of the dark sky (earthquake, clouds, wind, dew, rain, meteorits): Text and notes (Cambridge, 1940)

Water-carrying and the Dana'ides 359

Nevertheless Laistner deserves credit for suggesting1 that the
'ncident of Lynkeus being saved by his bride was borrowed from
some other folk-tale such as an Icelandic version2 of the Hop d my
Thumb formula3. Acting on this hint, C. Bonner4 went further and
reached the conclusion that the whole episode of the Dana'ides
Murdering the Aigyptiadai was comparable with a folk-tale still
Current in Greece5 and in many other parts of Europe from the
Caucasus to the Pyrenees: ' A band of brothers lose their way in
a forest, and take refuge in the hut or cavern of an ogre or witch.
Ane youths pass the night with the daughters of their host. The
youngest and shrewdest of the brothers suspects that treachery is
'"tended, and by a trick, such as an exchange of head-dress or
a shifting of positions6, causes the ogre to cut off the heads of his
°wn daughters. Thus the youths escape7.' Sundry variants of the
oik-tale assimilate it more closely to the Greek myth, for instance

e Icelandic version mentioned above8 in which a captive maiden
Warns tne vjsjtors Df their danger, or again a Milanese version9 in
lcn the father of the youths is their companion and himself

Sgests the stratagem. Nevertheless it is distinctly unfortunate for
_ Oner's hypothesis that in the folk-tale all the brothers escape and
the sisters are killed, whereas in the myth all the brothers but
are killed and all the sisters escape10,
p he foregoing criticisms must not be taken to imply that both
saw 5r anC* ^onner were wholly off the track. The former at least
* Dana'ides had some essential connexion with water,
the latter maintained with success that their myth bore much

1 L t •

2 j ' ^aistner op. cit. ii. 88 f.

^auslers P°estion /s/andische Marchen Wien 1884 p. 297 ff. no. 36 ('Thorstein, der

3 Q S R ^*

Thiimb t ' e The Handbook of Folklore London 1914 p. 346 no. 13 ('Hop 0' my
'e^ds th ^'le Parents> ver>' poor, desert their children. 2. The youngest child

a superna^est llome several times, but at last fails to do so. 3. They fall into the power of

4 C ^eing, but the youngest robs him and they all escape').

in H m T' ansacl*0"s °f the American Philological Association 1900 xxxi. 30 ff.,

1908 P- 447"^ Studies '" Classical Philology 1902 xiii. 149 ff. Cp. Gruppe Myth. Lit.

denes'* .^a^n Criechische und albanesische Marchen Leipzig 1864 i. 75 ff. no. 3

6 J- Bolt h°"en V°m Drakos')' "• 178 ff> (four variants> and notes).
^ri»im t ■ e Polfvka Anmerkungen zu den Kinder- it. Hausmiirchen der Briidcr

8 ■S,««»°nner 'n Transactions of the American Philological Association 1900 xxxi. 31.
" V InV'- 2"

10 c! B^nr'ani. La N<™Uaja Milanese Livorno 1877 no. 1.
i>at in schoi K Harvard Stud<" >>> Classical Philology 1902 xiii. 151 notes, however,
%Permestr' , Ur' Hec- 886 Lynkeus avenges his brothers by slaying all the Danaides but
b»pra pp. 356 n. 3, 357 n. 3).