Author : American Folklore Society
Publisher : Forgotten Books
Page : 725 pages
File Size : 26,92 MB
Release : 2015-06-05
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781330273388
Book Description
Excerpt from The Journal of American Folk-Lore, 1919, Vol. 18 Then the Turk bade Gawain strike off his head; and when this was done, he "stood up a stalwart knight," sang Te Deum, and thanked Gawain heartily. On another occasion I hope to discuss these romances fully. For the present, I will, with your permission, confine myself to the single incident of Unspelling Decapitation, which is common to them both. In the Carl, the bespelled person is a cruel monster until he is released from enchantment; in the Turk, he takes the role of Helpful Attendant, performing superhuman tasks as a substitute for the hero. In both, he urges the reluctant Gawain to cut off his head, and this is the final act in a somewhat complicated process of disenchantment. The efficacy of decapitation in undoing a spell is a widespread popular belief, and many of the tales in which it occurs are otherwise parallel either to The Carl of Carlisle or to The Turk and Gawain. In what follows, there is, of course, no attempt at exhaustiveness. My purpose has been to illustrate the belief by means of typical examples, and to bring out its significance as an article of the popular creed. We may begin with the Decapitation of Helpful Animals. In a Gaelic tale a serviceable steed bids the hero "take a sword and... take the head off me." The hero objecting, the horse replies: "In me there is a young girl under spells, and the spells will not be off me till the head is taken off me." In the same story a serviceable raven makes a similar request: "A young lad under spells am I, and they will not be off me till the head comes off me." The pair are transformed and make a fine couple. This is an instructive example because it is outspoken. Usually, however, and more properly, the animal does not tell the hero or heroine why the beheading is to be performed. So, for instance, in a Swedish tale, Den underbare Hasten, the horse simply asks the hero to strike off his head, and when this is done he recovers his proper shape, that of a prince, the brother of the heroine. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.