FOREWORD
one is told that Bevis of Hampton is ages old in Russia, however the names have been re-furbished by the printer to—not the English, but—the Italian form. Some of the tales are evidently of German origin—adopted and made Russian, like that of the "Seven Simeons" or "Emelyan, the Fool"; others are as evidently Eastern. A few date from the Russian Epics, like that of "Iliya of Murom"; and "Ivan the Peasant's Son"; others are of later date, like that of "The Judgment of Shemyaka," who was a historic character who lived about 1446.
It is hardly necessary to dilate on the peculiar expressions here to be found; how that a child grows "not day by day, but hour by hour," how that when the Tsar wants to drink "beer is not brewed or brandy distilled," seeing he is served at once, how the hero passes through "thrice nine lands to the thirtieth country," how brothers are always in threes, and how the youngest always succeeds where his elders fail. Students of folk-lore will know all about them, and the rest of us must take them on trust. Do you know why you must never go under a ladder?
R. S.
viii
