107:), she summoned fish to drink it. When the giant commanded him to bring down a bird's nest from a tall tree without breaking any of the eggs, she cut off her fingers and toes to make a stairway, but during that adventure one egg broke. The prince and the giant's daughter decided to flee. The giant chased after them. The girl had Nix Nought Nothing throw down her comb, which became a brier, and then her hair dagger, which became a hedge of razors, and then she dashed a magic flask, which produced a wave that drowned the giant (L. lacks account of various means by which the daughter thwarted or drowned the giant; presumably the giant died by chance during pursuit. Jacobs' has woven in these details borrowing from other tales, acting upon Lang's suggestions.).
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doing his own water chore, had discovered the giant's daughter up in the tree, and brought her inside his house, breaking the news that his daughter is to marry the stranger, and showed her Nix Nought
Nothing. (L. Gardener' daughter and wife, merely deceived by reflection into thinking they are too bonny to draw water from well. Giant's daughter learns from gardener Nicht's betrothal to king's daughter, i.e. his own sister.)
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162:#2. This is also the source from which Jacobs, acting on Lang's hint, borrows the detail about the heroine hurling an object (flask/water bladder) that turns into a lake to drown the giant. It might be noted that one of the variants of this tale group, "Widow's son" is one that mentions the "Sword of Light", the
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decided she was beautiful enough to be a contender to marry the sleeping stranger. After learning from the hen-wife a counteracting spell to ward off his sleepiness for as long as she wished, she succeeds in waking the prince for a while, and securing the promised marriage. Meanwhile, the gardener,
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The giant's daughter was too weary to go on, and sent Nix Nought
Nothing on ahead of her to the king's castle. But the hen-wife whose son had died cursed him, and he fell into a deep slumber as soon as he arrived at the castle. The king and queen still did not recognize their grown son, and the
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The giant's daughter now sang her imploring charm for her sleeping beloved to awaken, recalling all that she had done for him; it was to no avail. But she called him Nix Nought
Nothing, and the king and queen learned that he was their own son. They made the gardener's daughter remove the spell,
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A queen gave birth to a son while the king was away, and not wanting to christen him until his father returned, decreed that he should be called Nix Nought
Nothing (L: Nicht Nought Nothing) until that time. The king was gone for a long time, and Nix Nought Nothing grew into a boy. As the king
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king promised that whichever maiden can awaken the sleeping man shall marry him. (L. Nicht had already been given a head start even before the giant's pursuit began. No mention of curse or any cause for slumber. Promise for him to marry maiden who wakes him lacking.)
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The giant's daughter finally arrived at the king's castle, and climbed a tree over a well to watch for the prince. But when her reflection fell on the surface of the water, the gardener's daughter who came to fetch water mistook the image for her own.
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Lang's essay, "A Far-travelled Tale", argues that analogues are to be found even farther afield (Zululand, Madagascar, Samoa, among the
Algonquian Indians, Japan, to add to the list). He takes up "the formula of leaving obstacles behind"
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The giant had a daughter, and she and the prince grew very fond of each other. When the prince was grown and the giant sent him to clean the stables, she summoned animals to clean it for him. When the giant sent him to empty a lake (L:
499:(missing parts), and likely the heroine throws certain objects that turn into obstacles, including "a lake, in which the giant was drowned". He says "a comb which changes into a thicket" is a stock item, and footnotes the tale "
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III (1876–8) The tale was also reprinted later and incorporated in his essay "A Far-travelled Tale" (1885). Jacobs' version "Nix Nought
Nothing" (1898) with the altered title derives from Lang's Scottish tale.
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offered to help him over a river in return for "Nix Nought
Nothing", and the king, not knowing that he had a son by this name, agreed. When he learned what he had done, the king tried to give the giant the
99:'s son, and then the gardener's son, but both of the boys betrayed their origin, and the giant killed them. In the end the royal couple had to give the prince to the giant.
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1870) which shares the element of the royal family's attempt to trick the giant by delivering a commoner's child as the prince's surrogate.
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397:. Bibliographies and Indexes in World Literature, vol. 11. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. 1987. pp. 62-63.
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when she "throws behind the mangled remains of her own brother, Apsyrtos" to stop the
Colchians in pursuit.
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casting combs and headdresses to throw off the "ugle woman of Hades" (actually eight women, called
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28:(1898). It is a translation of the Scottish tale "Nicht Nought Nothing", originally collected by
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A Guide to
Folktales in the English Language: Based on the Aarne-Thompson Classification System
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motif D672. Obstacle flight) and lists counterparts such as the story of Śṛingabhuja in the
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An
American English variant was read by Mr Newell before the Folk-Lore Congress entitled
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executed the hen-wife (J only), and married Nix Nought Nothing to the giant's daughter.
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and other tales listed under that grouping contain similar plot elements and motifs.
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520:"Observation sur le conte précédent (cont. from Nicht Nought Nothing)"
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and honey, and the enticed Sea King gorges on them until he bursts.
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313. It has many widely distributed cognates and is similar to the
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195:), Italian, Basque and French examples. In the Russian tale
547:. London: Smith, Elder, & Company. pp. 120–132.
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publication notes several parallel folktales. First is
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From Ireland comes a similar tale, "The Three Tasks" (
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Koehler can be further consulted for Russian, gypsy (
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1830); as well as "The Giant and his Royal Servant" (
71:, and published the tale, "Nicht Nought Nothing", in
598:http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/eft/eft46.htm
541:Ralston, W.R.S.(William Ralston Shedden) (1873).
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479:. London: David Nutt. pp. 33–40, 235–6.
244:. The sorceress assists in the quest of the
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518:Koehler, Reinhold (1876–1878).
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295:Children's literature portal
186:Fireside Stories of Ireland,
45:Aarne-Thompson folktale type
595:English Fairy Tales: Notes.
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587:SurLaLune Fairy Tale site
415:Lang, Andrew (1876–1878).
353:The Nixie of the Mill-Pond
343:The Love for Three Oranges
473:"VII. Nix Nought Nothing"
232:Lang notes similarity of
152:and its eight variants,
142:, in a follow-up to the
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471:Jacobs, Joseph (1898).
363:The Two Kings' Children
323:The Battle of the Birds
236:with the Greek tale of
149:The Battle of the Birds
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67:" in the dialect of
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