This task, beyond the power of Psyche, was accomplished
by the ants which came to her aid, and thus she conquered the task set by
her cruel mother-in-law.
[9] Hanoteau, Essai de Grammaire Khabyle, p. 282 et seq. Alger.
This same trial we find in a Berber story. It is an episode in a Khabyle
story of the Mohammed ben Sol'tan, who, to obtain the hand of the daughter
of a king, separated wheat, corn, oats, and sorghum, which had been mingled
together. This trait is not found in Arab stories which have served as
models for the greater part of Khabyle tales. It is scarcely admissible
that the Berbers had read the "Golden Ass" of Apuleius, but it is probable
that he was born at Madaure, in Algeria, and retained an episode of a
popular Berber tale which he had heard in his childhood, and placed in his
story.
The tales have also preserved the memory of very ancient customs, and in
particular those of adoption. In the tales gathered in Khabyle by General
Hanoteau,[10] T. Riviere,[1] and Moulieras,[2] also that in the story of
Mizab, the hero took upon himself a supernatural task, and succeeded
because he became the adopted son of an ogress, at whose breast he
nursed.
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