OF THE turtle-dove the Rumanian popular poetry relates that when she loses her mate she never associates with any bird, but sits solitary on the branches of trees, not on the green or the high bough, but on the low, and on the withered branches of the tree. She no longer goes to clear water, but she first stirs the mud and then drinks the troubled water, and when she sees the hunter she goes to meet him cheerfully, hoping that he will kill her. The tears of the turtle-dove are the most powerful antidote against every spell and sorcery.
An incident in one of the Rumanian Fairy Tales reminds us of the story of the Shirt of Nessus given to Hercules.
It is of a step-mother who tries to kill her daughter-in-law by inducing her to buy such a poisoned shirt. As soon as she has put one on she becomes very ill, and her illness grows with every day that passes.
Her father, who has been absent, comes home and sees what is the cause of her illness, so he washes her in tears of the turtle-dove. The spell is broken, the fire is driven out, and the young woman recovers her health.
