story of the Soaring Lark, and the Celtic story of the Battle of
the Birds, are all one and the same in their general character,
their origin, and their meaning; and in all these respects they
resemble the story which we know so well in English--that of
Beauty and the Beast. The same kind of likeness has already been
shown in the story of Cinderella, and in those which resemble it
in the older Aryan legends and in the later stories of the
Greeks. If space allowed, such comparisons might be carried much
further; indeed, there is no famous fairy tale known to children
in our day which has not proceeded from our Aryan forefathers,
thousands of years ago, and which is not repeated in Hindu,
Persian, Greek, Teutonic, Scandinavian, and Celtic folk-lore;
the stories being always the same in their leading idea, and yet
always so different in their details as to show that the
story-tellers have not copied from each other, but that they are
repeating, in their own way, legends and fancies which existed
thousands of years ago, before the Aryan people broke up from
their old homes, and went southward and westward, and spread
themselves over India and throughout Europe.

Now there is a curious little German story, called "The Wolf and
the Seven Little Kids," which is told in Grimm's collection, and
which shows at once the connection between Teutonic folk-lore,
and Greek mythology, and Aryan legend. There was an old Goat who
had seven young ones, and when she went into the forest for
wood, she warned them against the Wolf; if he came, they were
not to open the door to him on any account. Presently the Wolf
came, and knocked, and asked to be let in; but the little Kids
said, "No, you have a gruff voice; you are a wolf." So the Wolf
went and bought a large piece of chalk, and ate it up, and by