fails." They all approved his words, and they abolished the cruel custom which had hitherto prevailed of killing the old.
In the note which Schott adds to the story (p. 342-343) he refers to the Theseus and Minotaur legend of the maze. We have thus here in the Roumanian version the two elements of the Serbian tales published by Mr. Georgevitch—the hiding of the old man in the wine vat and the mare and colt incident combined together. It is curious to find a reference in the second version to the time of the Romans just as the Roumanian tale places the history in that period. The Minotaur legend has thus far been better preserved in the Roumanian tale, for which the Serbian has substituted the dark forest. It is not at all unlikely that the Alexander legend, one of the oldest Roumanian popular books, may have influenced the tale. The mare and colt which figures so prominently in the Alexander legend, and the dark cave mentioned also by Mr. Georgevitch, have evidently taken the place of the thread of Ariadne. In my copy of Schott's collection I noted many years ago the references to Gervasius, Otia imperialia, ed. Liebrecht, pages 83 to 86, who gives numerous parallels and quotes further, Geiler, Narrenschiff (the moths eat the salt).
The other Roumanian tale belongs to Macedonia. It has been published in Roumania from the unpublished collection of Commesco, Taineu, Basmele Romane, Bucuresci 1895 (page 968). In spite of the great merit of that work on the Roumanian fairy tales it has remained a closed book to the students of the West. The story in the Vlaco Macedonia version belongs to the cycle of the "Riddle" tales. Through the wisdom of an old man such riddles are solved.
The story runs as follows:
The custom in olden times was to take the old men to the mountain, where they were left to die of hunger or to be torn to pieces by wild beasts. This was done to prevent famine and starvation, and those children who did not do it were killed by the people.
A young man was taking his father to the mountain when he started to cry. The son took pity on him and took him home and locked him up in the cellar. There came an order
