'Captain Wedderburn's Courtship' is a counterpart of the ballad in which a maid wins a husband by guessing riddles (cf. Nos. 1 and 2). The ingenious suitor, though not so favorite a subject as the clever maid, is of an old and celebrated family. We find him in the Gesta Romanorum (cap. 70, Oesterley, p. 383), in Apollonius of Tyre (which has been carried back to the third or fourth century), in a Persian poem by Nisami (died 1180), and in the Persian story of Prince Calaf in Pétis de La Croix's Thousand and One Days. On Prince Calaf is founded Carlo Gozzi's play of La Turandot, now best known through Schiller's translation. There are also parallels in European popular tales. The Elder Edda presents us with a similar story in the lay of Alvíss.
This page most recently updated on 07-Dec-2010, 17:49:10. Return to main index
