CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. PAGE. The Folk-tale in general, and the Skazka in particular--Relation of Russian Popular Tales to Russian Life--Stories about Courtship, Death, Burial and Wailings for the Dead--... CHAPTER II. MYTHOLOGICAL. _Principal Incarnations of Evil._ On the "Mythical Skazkas"--Male embodiments of Evil: 1. The Snake as the Stealer of Daylight; 2. Norka the Beast, Lord of the Lower World; 3. Koshchei the Deathless, The Stealer of Fair Princesses--his connexion with Punchkin and "the Giant who had no Heart in his Body"--Excursus on Bluebeard's Chamber; 4. The Water King or Subaqueous Demon--Female Embodiments of Evil... CHAPTER III. MYTHOLOGICAL. _Miscellaneous Impersonations._ One-eyed Likho, a story of the Polyphemus Cycle--Woe, the Poor Man's Companion--Friday, Wednesday, and Sunday personified as Female Spirits--The L