The ocean of story, being C.H. Tawney's translation of Somadeva's ...

FOREWORD xiii
the head of an ascetic who is invisible under water 1
must
surely be Indian inventions, because they are consonant only
with Indian manners. Mringankadatta's faux pas, 2
again,
could occur only in countries where betel-chewing is practised. 3
Spitting, however, is a pastime of universal distribution, and
it remains an open question whether the betel juice is just
an added touch of local colour and the Indian version is
consequently secondary,
or whether the form in which mere
mischievous spitting arouses the curse 4 is an adaptation from
a more specific Indian invention, which has been made by
story-tellers in countries where betel-chewing is unknown.
Sometimes, where social manners provide no test, the
peculiar or bizarre character of an episode may lead us to
suppose that it is very improbable that it could have been
independently invented more than once. Thus another
particular form of the " unintentional injury " is the story
that a young prince accidentally or mischievously throws a
stone which breaks an old woman's pitcher of oil or water.
" " Ah ! says she, " may you desire the Three Fair Ones
[or some other inaccessible heroine or magical object], even
as I desired that oil " or " water." Her wish bears fruit, and
the prince falls sick of longing, until he sets out upon his
hazardous quest. Now it is true that this episode could have
been invented wherever boys are mischievous and old women
to be too
carry liquids in pitchers, but it may be thought
distinctive in character for it to be likely that a number of
story-tellers in different countries thought of it independently.
The incident occurs frequently in the Near East and in Mediterranean
countries as far west as Sicily and Italy. I should
5
be surprised to find it in Northern or Western Europe. The
1 Vol. II, p. 147.
2 Vol. VI, p. 23.
3 The practice of betel-chewing and its distribution is discussed by
Mr Penzer in Appendix II of the present volume.
4 In the opening of an Italian story, which is quoted by Cosquin, Les
Contes Indiens et V Occident, p. 234, the prince spits from the palace window
upon a basket of white cheeses, which a peasant is carrying on his head.
"May you have no peace," says the outraged peasant, "until you have found
"
a girl who is white as the cheeses, and red as blood, and has green hair !
5 Dawkins, op. cit., p. 228 ; Cosquin, tudes Folkloriques, p. 555 ; Les Contes
Indiens, etc., p. 233, and above, Vol. V, p. 171n2 .