“ The way in which Sisyphus cheated Death is not unique in folk-tales. Thus in a Venetian story the ingenious Beppo ties up Death in a bag and keeps him there for eighteen months; there is general rejoicing; nobody dies, and the doctors are in high feather. In a Sicilian story an innkeeper corks up Death in a bottle; so nobody dies for years, and the long white beards are a sight to see. ”

“ The Norse parallel is the tale of the Master Smith (E. W. Dasent, Popular Tales from the Norse) . For a Lithuanian parallel, see A. Schleicher, Litauische Märchen, Sprichworte, Rätsel und Lieder (1857) ”