LADY FEATHERFLIGHT: ON THE FORGOTTEN BRIDE

Remarks by William Wells Newell.

From a comparison of the English versions, it would appear that our tale, as narrated in England, formerly included the following incidents:

IV. Forgetfulness of the Bride.—The hero goes home in advance to arrange for the suitable entry of his bride. He violates her caution, receives a kiss, and is caused to fall into oblivion of the lady.  After a time, when the prince is about to wed another, his bride, disguised as a juggler, appears at the ceremony, and by magic enacts a drama, which has the effect of reviving the youth's memory.

The Tempest seems to be a literary recension of the folk-tale; it does not contain the final section of the European variants, that in which the hero is represented as forgetting his bride. It does not appear that the written narrative has had any influence on the European variants; the close correspondence has arisen from a common oral tradition. As the concluding part of our tale, relating to forgetfulness of the bride, is not found in Asiatic versions, it would seem likely that this last section was added in Europe; these variants, existing in all European countries, must have depended on the narration of a single story-teller, who constructed his tale by adding a new section to an Oriental story. The similarity of these versions would indicate that this narrator lived in a time comparatively recent; the probability is that he belonged to Central Europe, and to one of the most civilised nations.