Source.--Steel Temple, Wideawake Stories, pp. 98-110, originally published in Ind. Antiq. x. 147 seq.
Parallels.--A long variant follows in Ind. Antiq., l. c. M. Cosquin refers to several Oriental variants, l. c. p. xxx. n. For the direction tabu, see Note on Princess Labam, supra, No. ii. The "letter to kill bearer" and "letter substituted" are frequent in both European (see my List s. v.) and Indian Folk-Tales (Temple, Analysis, II. iv. b, 6, p. 410). The idea of a son of seven mothers could only arise in a polygamous country. It occurs in "Punchkin," supra, No. iv.; Day, Folk-Tales of Bengal, 117 seq.; Ind. Antiq. i. 170 (Temple, l. c._, 398).
Remarks.--M. Cosquin (Contes de Lorraine, p. xxx.) points out how, in a Sicilian story, Gonzenbach (Sizil. Mühr. No. 80), the seven co-queens are transformed into seven step-daughters of the envious witch who causes their eyes to be taken out. It is thus probable, though M. Cosquin does not point this out, that the "envious step-mother" of folk-tales (see my List, s. v.) was originally an envious co-wife. But there can be little doubt of what M. Cosquin does point out--viz., that the Sicilian story is derived from the Indian one.