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Folk-Lore — Volume 1 (1890)

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The Folk-Lore Society — London: David Nutt, 270 Strand

Folk-Lore was the flagship journal of the Folk-Lore Society, launched in 1890 to succeed and merge two earlier organs: the Folk-Lore Journal (1883–1889), which had published the Society's own transactions, and the Archaeological Review, a separate periodical devoted to institutional antiquity. The Editorial that opens this first volume explains the merger and states the journal's expanded ambition plainly: folklore, its editors argued, had grown from the "unconsidered trifles" catalogued by antiquarians like Brand into a discipline in active dialogue with comparative mythology, comparative religion, institutional archaeology, and anthropology, and the new journal would carry that wider brief.

Volume I collects the four 1890 quarterly numbers — March, June, September, and December — under Andrew Lang's presidency of the Society. It is a working record of the discipline at the moment of its own self-definition: Lang's presidential address on the state of folk-tale study; Alfred C. Haddon's first published legends from the Torres Strait, gathered in the field before his famous 1898 Cambridge expedition; J. G. Frazer's early comparative-religion essays, written while The Golden Bough was still new; contributions from Sidney Hartland, Alfred Nutt, Joseph Jacobs, W. A. Clouston, Solomon Schechter, and other founders of English folklore studies; ethnographic reports on Finnish magic songs, Mordvin and Manchu marriage customs, and Chinese and Rabbinic folklore; and the Society's own working apparatus — correspondence, book reviews, a running bibliography of the international folklore literature, minutes of the annual meeting, the membership roll, and two working supplements (a tabulation scheme for classifying folktale motifs, and an index to contemporary archaeological journals).

This edition presents the volume complete: every article, report, correspondence item, review, and society record printed in 1890, in the order the Society printed them, with the volume's own index and bibliography retained as reader tools in their own right.

Contents

No. I — March 1890

Editorial

INCE* Mr. Thoms invented the term in 1846, Folk-

O lore has undergone a continual widening of its meaning and its reference. It was confined at first to the unconsidcred trifles of popular thought and usage that go to make up the bulk of such; books as Brand's (or rather Bourn's) Popular Antiquities ■ But it was soon found that these were only to be explained, if explained at all, by comparison with the larger and more definite products of the popular mind—the folk-tale, the folk-song, and the folk-institution—which in their turn formed the raw material, the protoplasm as it were, out of which Literature itself and the Institutions of the State were evolved. In short, Folfc-lore has now been extended to include the whole vast 'background of popular thought, feeling, and usage, out of which and in contrast to which have been developed all the individual products of human activity which go to make up what is called History.

As the meaning of the term Folk-lore has expanded, -o the relations of the science that studies its manifestations have extended, till it has been correlated with all the groups of organised studies that deal with the Past of Man. Folk-lore, in its investigations into popular belief, gives aid to, and receives help from, the cognate studies of Comparative Mythology and Comparative Religion. Folk-lore, in investigating popular usages, often finds traces of past

vol. 1.

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institutions which are being studied by the new and vigorous science of Institutional Archaeology. And in studying the literature of the people—the ballad, the fairy-tale, the proverb, the chap-book—Folk-lore has often to resort for elucidation to the products of individual artistic creation which go to form Literature properly so-called, especially in that mediaeval phase of it that is known as Romance. And finally, as it has been foui^d by practice that much of Folk-lore that eludes explanation from the thoughts and customs of civilised peoples finds ready elucidation from savage practice and belief, Folk-lore has here points of contact with Ethnography and Anthropology.

It has been thought fit that the enlarged scope and outlook that Folk-lore has reached in the present state of the science should find full recognition in the official organ of the Folk-Lore Society, henceforth to be called by the name of the science. Folk-Lore will accordingly welcome contributions dealing with the above-named cognate sciences so far as they throw light on popular usage and belief It will record from time to time, in special reports, recent research in these studies that may tend to throw light on the obscurer problems of Folk-lore. One of these studies is so intimately connected with it that no research in Institutional Archaeology can be considered as altogether alien to Folk-lore. Folk-Lore will, therefore, in this direction take over the functions performed almost exclusively in this country by the Archaeological Review, and will welcome any contribution throwing light on the origin or development of institutions other than those brought into existence by the direct action of the State. And In ail these studies an attempt will be made to give exact and prompt bibliographical information of noteworthy contributions in books or articles published at home and abroad. Readers of 'Folk-Lore are requested to aid it in this attempt by forwarding to its Editor references to any of this kind that they think likely to escape notice.

The Instalment in the present number, with the unavoidable deficiencies of a first attempt, will at least indicate the ideal at which we aim*

While paying attention to those cognate studies, Folk- Lore will continue the work so efficiently carried on by its predecessors, the Folk-Lore Record and the Folk-Lore journdl\ of recording, classifying, and discussing the facts of Folk-lor^ properly so tailed. In doing this, the aid of members of the Folk-lore Society and of others interested in the subject is cordially invited Such aid can consist of forwarding to this journal any instances of popular <£ superstition”, legend, or practice, that still linger in the British* Islands or in the outlying parts of the British Empire. In particular, there is reason to hope that a number of genuine English “fairy tales” akin to, but not identical with, “ Grimm's Goblins”, still linger among old nurses and elderly peasants. It is eminently desirable that these should be saved from oblivion while there is yet time. Correspondence on points relating to tile methods of Folklore, the best means of obtaining facts and of dealing with them when obtained, is also cordially invited.

Lastly, while addressed primarily to the members of the Folk-lore Society and folk-lorists in general, this Journal also hopes to meet with sympathetic readers among all those whn> are interested in the lives of the people. For when it is asked! who are the Folk whose Lore we study, the answer must be that they are those who have borne and who bear the burden of the world’s work. Indeed, the Humanity in whose name we are called upon to exercise our highest strivings is nothing other than the Folk whose feelings and inmost thoughts find their sole expression in the utterance and usages which Folk-lore collects, classifies, and reverently examines.

Annual Address to the Folk-Lore Society, Session 1889–90

Andrew Lang

ADDRESS TO THE FOLK-LORE SOCIETY.

Session 18S9-90.

■I*

L ADIES AND GENTLEMEN,—Before making the usual remarks on the position and prospects of Folklore, 1 ought, I think, to read you a letter just received from the Secretary of the French Society akin to our own, M, Paul Sebillot.

“ Minis tire des Travaux Publics, Cabinet du Minis!re.

I£ Paris, le 19 AW. [889,

fi< Monsieur le President,—Au nom de la Society des Traditions populates, je viens adresser h Folk-lore Society* k ^occasion de son meeting annuel, tons nos voeux pour la continuation de sa prosperity.

a Voire Soci&e, dont beaucoup de membres font en raeme temps par tie de la n&tre, apprendra sans doute avec plaisir que le n ombre de nos Sodetaires depasse trois cents, et qu’amsi son existence est assur^e. L hiver prochain, nous allons pouvoir tenirdes Assemblies pyriodiques, dans les que lies seroht discutes les problemes qui intdressent le Folklore, et k cot6 de not re Revue , et sans en diminuer Pi importance, nous allons fonder la Bibliotheque de Ma M£re FOye*

l£ Dans FavatiTdemier num&ro de la Revue, vous avez pu voir qua notre tour nous abordons la £ tabulation* des Contes et dfes Ldgendes* La Revue des Traditions popuiaires est ouverte a ceux des membres de Folk-lore Society qui ddsireraient discuter cette importante question* A la fin du Congrfcs des Traditions populates term a Paris, les deux veeux suivants onr ctd adopts, sur la proposition de M* Henri Cordier

ut i% Adopter d'une fa^on generate la classification de Folk-lore, Society, en donnant moins d'importance au sommaire et en subdivlsant Hndex alphabdiique des incidents en : personnages, animaux, iieux, incidents des objets, etc; au point de vue pratique r^diger les tables par fi dies en prenant, par exemple, pour models la Bibliotheca belgica , de Van der Hagen, afin que des ^changes puissent ctre faits entre les diflferentes socidtes folk-loriques,

* 4 ' 2 ■ Te Congr^s des Traditions populaires, rduni pour la premiere

fois ^ Paris, se r^unjra comine le Congr^sdes Orient alistes d'une fa^on pfriodique ; la prochaine session se tiendra Londres dans deux ans, et M. Ch. T. Leland, president de Gypsy-lore Society, sera chargd de Morgan iser. J

a j J auraiaureste Fhonneur detransmetter d Folk-lore Society F analyse sommaire du Congr^s qui est public par les soins de F Administration, et les Memoires in extenso qui seront imprimis part.

H Veuillez agrder, Monsieur le President, Fassurance de mes sentiments les plus distinguds

K Paul S^rillot,

i{ Secretaire gineral de la Socictc des Traditions populaires , Secretaire giniral du CongresT

You will authorise me, I trust, to express to Monsieur Seblllot our sense of his courteous communication, and our hope that the French Society may go on “ from strength to strength advancing” ' Though she came rather late into the field of scientific folk-lore, it is to France that we owe our most familiar and dearest fairy-tales, those of Perrault and Madame d’Aulnay. If the French collected their volkstieder and their marcfUn later than did Germany, Denmark, and England, at least they collected them with assiduity and success, and have criticised them with learning and acuteness. It is not needful to do more than mention M. Sebillot himself, M. Cosquin, my own esteemed adversary in theory, M. Henri Gaidoz, to whose energy and erudition our science Is such a debtor, M. Carnoy, M. Loys Bruevre, M. Eugene"Holland, and M. Gaston Paris, whose learning is so vast and so genial, with all the many living French authors who, not only at home but in Africa and Asia, widen the boundaries of our knowledge.

M. Sebillot speaks particularly of folk-tales, and their »class! heat ion. From the Journal of the Society, and its reports, you know how that labour of the Danaids is speeding. For one, I look almost in despair at the vast mass of material, at the myriad tales told in every language known of mortals. “ There is a deep, and who shall drain it?” says Sophocles; and who, indeed, shall drain and diedge what the Hindoos call the Ocean of the Stream of Stories?

Who shall classify all its very queer fish, and who shall decide the course of their evolution and differentiation?

I would not be discouraging to labourers in this field, and yet, when I look at the tables and analyses, it is rather despair than hope that animates me. Among these innumerable forms and shapes of fancy I seem to see that the elements are comparatively few, that the myriads ol forms arc the result of a few elements in infinite combinations. Is it impossible to exhaust these elements ? I occasionally dream, most of us who dabble in the matter do, of some new analysis, some swift and royal road to truth.

It appears that we do not yet know how far to discern between recently borrowed stories, when we meet them among alien peoples, Red, Black, or Yellow, and stories which are older than the recent visits from Europeans. How are we ever to get over this initial difficulty? Our only certainties we win, when a nation has a literature The nursery talcs in Egyptian MSS. are, at all events, not of later date in Egypt than the age of those MSS. themselves. More we cannot say. We cannot maintain that they came from India, of which we know nothing at the time of the second Rameses, nor that they were indigenousto Egyptian soil, nor that they floated, like the golden and fragrant hair of the wife of Bitiou, down the Nile from Central Africa. We merely note that, even fifteen hundred years before our era, the elements of tales current in om nurseries had already been interwoven with the official mythology and the popular religion of Egypt. Now we may affirm that imported tales would not instantly and hastily be blended with the stories of native and local gods. Beyond that, all is conjecture. If we could read the MSS. of the old Aztecs, and if in them we found nursery tales like ours, we could then be sure that they were not derived from the Spanish conquerors nor from later European visitors. But we cannot read the Aztec MSS. The nearest we get to indubitably old American marchen is the scanty collection of Huarochiri tales, printed by the Hakluyt Society. In

these the elements of familiar European stories are interwoven (as in Egypt) with the legends of native and local gods, heroes, and sacred animals. To some of us this will be proof that they had existed in Southern America before Pizarro came. Others may sceptically allege, either that the Huarochiri borrowed their myths from the conquerors and inserted them in their native divine legends, or that the Spanish collector, like the Ettrick Shepherd’s grandmother, was “aiblins an awfu 5 leearT My own sympathies are not with the sceptics.

Cases like this are very rare : the oldest voyagers seldom thought of collecting miirchen; it is quite by chance that we learn ►from Herodotus how the Scythians had the tale of the fortunate youngest son. Nor does that help us much ; people will say that the Scythians borrowed it from India, and though they cannot prove, we cannot disprove, the statement We seem on safer ground with the Zulus, They have only been in contact with Europeans for little over a century, and they have seen more of our bayonets than of our story-tellers. Whence, then, their wealth of miirchen analogous to our own, but most closely intertwined with their peculiar national usages? Could the borrowing and the acclimatising have been accomplished since the first English crew landed in Natal ? For my own part f think not* I think, if the elements of the stories were borrowed, they drifted south from the great lakes, in the course of commerce and national wanderings. There is no certainty, but an experiment might be tried. A missionary might tell his black flock tales out of Grimm, and, by careful watching, might learn how rapidly and to what extent they are modified into conformity with native usage. But *here would be all the difference between intentional instruction, and the chance sowing of the seeds of story. There is also hope wherever we reach virgin soil. The natives of New Guinea can have learned, it might seem, but little of European miirchen , yet their legends, of which Mr. Romilly has collected a few, are analogous to our own,

though not very closely analogous* These considerations lead me to a suggestion which is not intended to supersede, but to accompany, the regular process of tabulation. That process, as we practise it, seems to me to do little but offer us a series of summaries. We have the bones of the tale, the skeleton—and a very dry skeleton it is—that is all. We might as well compare the stories with* the life and blood in them. No harm could be done If some student would take two sets of stories—say, those of Dr, Callaway from the Zulus, .and those of Asbiornsen and Moe, from the Norse. He might analyse each book apart, thus :

Supernatural Incidents* Traits of Manners,

Incidents not supernatural* Characters—Supernatural*

5, Animal,

rHuman.

r

Dividing the latter into 4

Names of Kindred*

Of Trades and Occupations, Of Ranks and Offices, Personal Names*

All this is not free from cross divisions ; far from it. But when the typical tales of Scandinavians, Swahilis, Zulus, Hindoos, Samoyeds, Finns, Eskimo, Celts, Samoans, Maoris, had been analysed thus, perhaps we should havd a general idea of what is common to humanity in theif narratives, and what is peculiar to different peoples and tribes, if I may guess, I think the universal elements would be far greater than the isolated features. And, though many will disagree with me, i think the barbaric would be out of all proportion to the civilised factors in the stories Each, analyser would, to the best of his ability, explain the chances and processes of borrowing, from European or native neighbours of higher or lower civilisation than the tellers of the tales. For example, if we find the story of Rhampsinitus and the Thief among modern Egyptians, we should have to decide, Is it traditional there, or can it

be shown to be derived from modern travellers acquainted with Herodotus? Turning from this to a kindred topic, it would be pleasant to discuss Mr. Cl odd's theory of Rumpdstiltzkin. Wherever we find a form of this tale, the result hangs on the discovery of the name of a supernatural being. Mr. Clodd, if I understand his article in our Journal explains this as a survival of the world-wide belief that to know a map's name gives you power over the man—a belief shown in the dislike of savages to reveal their own or their neighbours' names. Rome, as we all know, had a secret name, for similar reasons. To myself, the story of Whuppity 5tonne or Rumpelstiltzkin seems not necessarily to have. so archaic an origin. The elf or fairy simply relies on possessing a name so unusual and odd that nobody is likely to guess it. It answers to the anecdote of Mr, R. L. Stevenson and the curious American, who met him on the plains, found a mystery in him, and did everything to know what his name was, Mr, Stevenson mystified him till he met him in San Francisco, and then disappointed him horribly by saying that Stevenson, plain Stevenson, was his name. There is no more than a jest of that sort, to my mind, in Rumpelstiltzkin. The heroine gets no magical hold over the elf by knowing the name, no hold at all beyond what the elf has himself given by way of a wager on a kind of riddle. Wagering on divinettes or riddles Is ntself a savage amusement, and we have many examples m the Scotch ballads, Mr, Clodd would have convinced me, if the power secured over the elf was magical, if it was not, in all cases, a wager or bet, the elf being confident in the possession of a very odd name. That of . Whuppity Stourie, perhaps, is derived from the stour, or flying dust, in which Scotch and other fairies are believed to fly about.

As to the origin and diffusion of popular tales, it does not-seem that we learn much more, with all our labour. Other members of the Society no doubt understand better than I do the theories of a White Archaian Race, which, it

to Address to the Folk-Lore Society .

seems, in some very distant past, invented the essentials of civilisation, myths, art, and everything, and handed them on to races who,were neither Archaian nor White* How we know the colour of this important people, and wherefore they are called Archaian, where they came from, whither the}" went, and what, in the words of the son of Father William, “ made them so awfully clever”, I confess that I do not understand. This, of itself, proves nothing ; we arc as ignorant of whence the Egyptians came, and of the, beginning, which must have preceded the art of the ancient empire* The spade may yet let air and light into this dark place, or geographers in pathless downs of unexplored Central Africa may find the Archaian whites all at home, or may hit on the ruins of their primeval civilisation* But, so far, the Archaian race seem to me to dwell in Laputa, or Zu Vend is, or El Dorado, rather than in any more substantial city. Qti this point, too, we may receive information.

Another important example of recent folk-lore study is Mr* Gomme's essay on “Totemism in Britain”. I need not explain to the Society what totemism is—the belief that certain kindreds descend from animals, plants, and other natural objects and phenomena, the naming of the kindred after these objects, and a certain sacredness which, in each kin, is ascribed to the animal, plant, or what not. Many years ago, I mentioned the existence in old England of stocks called by the names of plants and animals, That of ltsejf at least raises a presumption, and suggests research. A man may be called Fox or Hare, a stock may be called Wallings, Derings, and so forth, yet their ancestors may never have traced descent to whale or deer, hare or fox. I have since, I think in Myth, Ritual, and Religion , given a few traditions, mainly Celtie, of descent from seals, wolves, and so forth, as, in the case of* Conaire, from a bird, coupled, in Conaire’s case, with the totemlistic prohibition to eat birds* Now, when you get confessed belief in animal descent, a name declaring that

descent, and sacredness attached to the animal or other fancied ancestor, you have totemism scarcely to be argued against Mr. Gomme has found examples in Clan Connolly, derived from Coneely, a seal, the clan holding it unlucky to kill seals, and maintaining that some of their ancestors were changed into seals in ancient times. This is good Enough for me; here, I think, we have totemism. It is almost beyond the calculus of chances that such a foolish faith should have arisen accidentally, separately, unconnected with the causes, whatever they may be, which produce totemism among red men, black men, yellow men. But I think we must be extremely cautious in regarding superstitions at large about animals as vestiges of totemism. The whole superstition of metamorphosis may exist apart from totemism. People may believe that witches turn into hares, and souls into spiders or butterflies ; they may decline to kill spiders like the Bruces, or to mention salmon ; they may wear the salmon as a badge, like the Campbells ; they may dress up in the skins of beasts in sacred dances ; they may assume names from animals, and object to killing certain animals, and yet totemism may have nothing to do with any of these customs. They arc all customs or beliefs which tote mists do practise, yet the animal name may be a mere nickname; the wearing of animal sk'uis may have a magical purpose, the badge may be a mere amulet or fancy, the metamorphosis may be not totemistic, but a myth derived from a name, a pun, or from a poetic guess ; there may be special causes, in fact, and totemism may have nothing to say in the matter. Is it not plain that a white night-moth may be fancifully or superstitious!)’ called a “ soul” from its soft, ghostdike flight in the darkness, though no tribe ever claimed descent from the moth? The birds into which the Huron witch and her son were changed, in Lafltau, were not said to be the totems of the family, any more than a lion, or an elephant, or a mouse was the totem of the Ogre in Puss in Boots* In short, I cannot, even provisionally, call cats, hares, magpies, butterflies,

sparrows, swans, wrens, ravens, otters, u totem objects” in England, with Mr. Gomme, They may, or may not, have been totems, but the superstitions about most of them may have a dozen different and lion-totemistic origins* Where salmon are not named by fishers, as usual in Scotland, 1 fancy the superstitious fear is that the fish may hear his name, and make off. The minister, also, may not be named at salmon fishing ; will Mr* Gomme say thst the worthy clergyman has been a totem ? You may object to cut down a tree, not because your ancestors once believed in descent from it, but because it is the home of a bogie or fairy, or what not, which is unconnected with totemism. A grove maybe sacred like that of Lycelan Zeus, for the same sacred reason. People have abstained from eating cows, not because they were totems, but because they were so valuable in other ways* Again, totemists are said to keep pet specimens of their totems, like the sacred mice in the temple of Sminthian Apollo, but who would argue that boys keep guinea-pigs, rabbits, toads, ravens, and so forth, as a survival of totemism? Even where the'animals are sacred, totemism may have nothing to do with it. It is a question of proof in each case. The swallow is esteemed, as in the old Greek popular song, because he ls brings the spring”, not because he is a totem. Ceyx and Halcyone were metamorphosed in a poetical myth, totemism has no part here* Pregnant women , u if frightened hy h hare”, are said to have children with hare lips* What on earth has this to do with disrespect to the totem ? A woman frightened by a black man may have a black baby for all that l know, but the black man is not a totem* Mr* Gomme includes the peacock, because the screams of a peacock are thought to forebode death* Is the peacock a native bird, or was this superstition brought from his native home? Is a death-watch a totem? If a trout catch worms, is that because a trout was once a totem, or because trout eat worms and are their natural enemies?

It will be observed that I speak as Advocates diabdt<

Nobody is more apt to believe in totems than myself* and perhaps I am more inclined than Mr. Gomme to think that the Aryans went through a stage of society and culture so very common as this totem ism was. Why should the Aryans have been better than other people ? The myths of Greece and the ritual of Greece are full of what I regard as very probably totemistic survivals. People may say these were borrowed. They cannot prove it ; and, if it-is true* so much the worse for the Greeks. But* at the cost of seeming to claim to be the only true believer in totemism* I must protest that I think we cannot be too careful Mr. Gomme has found some two or three cases of totemism in these countries* mainly in an isle notorious for its verdure and its wrongs* which seem beyond doubt. Others he has found where there is a very strong presumption of totemism. The vast mass of his examples may spring from totemism, but other explanations, and singular causes are admissible. To me it seems premature to f * colligate” all those scattered superstitions by the totemistic hypothesis. It may give the enemy^%vho believes in the omnipresence of solar myths turning on a Disease of Language, it may give him occasion to shoot out the tongue. This does not prevent Mr. Gomme’s essay from being most interesting* and, In a few cases, 1 think conclusive. But it is a long way from presumption to proof. In short, it is true that totemism if once prevalent in Britain would have left behind it just such relics as Mr. Gomme has carefully collected. But the prevalence of these relics docs not demonstrate the previous existence of totemism.

Among Mr. Gomme’s possible relics is the custom of wearing beasts’ skins in certain old merry-makings. These are curious; but to “hang a calf-skin on thy recreant limbs” may be practised without totemistic intention, I think Gatlin mentions dances of men thus draped* for the purpose of securing luck in the chase. As to names from beasts* even critical totemists derive their personal as we should say, their Christian names from beasts without any

!4 Address to Ike Folk-Lore Society.

totemistic meaning. Chingachgook, the Mohican, was not a serpent by family or totem ism. We were all at school with boys called Pussy, Piggy, Monkey, and so forth. Thus, on the whole, we feel driven back to the opinion that, though our folk-lore may, and probably does, hold traces of totemisrn, the evidence is by no means good enough to convince our opponent, except in two or three cases, and those Irish.

It would be pleasant, were it possible, to review all the fresh contributions to the year's folk-lore. But for that purpose a man would need much leisure, and a knowledge of all European languages, including Finnish.

I shall offer a few remarks on ballads. Professor Child of Harvard has put forth the sixth of his eight volumes, and we cannot too kindly congratulate America on his most valuable and really exhaustive work. On one point Mr. Child has not yet convinced me. We all know the ballad of Marie Hamilton, Executed for killing her own child, by Daniley, at the Court of Mary Stuart Now Kirkpatrick Sharpe fancied that this ballad was founded on the death of a Miss Hamilton, a maid-ofhonour at the Court of Peter the Great. Mr. Child adopts this opinion, “however surprising it may be, or seem, that, as late as the eighteenth century, the popular genius, helped by nothing but a name, should have been able so to fashion and colour an episode in the history of a distant country as to make it fit very plausibly into the times of Mary Stuart" Now it is true that none of the Queen's Maries died for an intrigue with Damley But a French woman of the Queen's chamber did suffer for child-murder, and Knox expressly states that there were ballads about “ the Maries and the rest of the dancers of the court' 1 . To me it seems more plausible that, given an actual scandal, and given ballads about the Maries, the ballads finally adapted the scandal, than that, in the eighteenth century, so many ballads were made about Miss Hamilton in Russia, and were fitted into the time of

x 5

Mary Stuart. So late a ballad would have been more historical and less poetical The lady was executed in Russia in iyig. Burns quotes a verse of the ballad in 1790. Could eighteen very diverse variants have been made of a ballad on a contemporary event, in less than a century? Perhaps no ballad has so many variants ; one of them even enables the lover to save the lady's life. 1 cannot believe that this mass of myths is the growth of part of the last century, nor sprung from an event in a distant though contemporary court But Mr. Child seems to think this tlic only tenable opinion, and it is certainly curious that the lady seems to be dying across seas far from home. But her parents might have been in France, or might have lived near a Scotch seaport, hence her address to the mariners, which, itself, has a parallel in a Romaic ballad.

The problems of Folk-Lore are infinite* We have only guessed at a few of them, and, perhaps, have only demonstrated that we are likely to go on guessing. But that is a very old form of the sport; and, if the Philistines mock us, it may be by an inherited distaste, for Samson, when it came to guessing riddles, had the better of the Philistines.

Andrew Lang.

Discussion.

Mr. Nutt drew the attention of the meeting to Jeanroy's theory of the origins of the ballad literate re of modern Western Europe as derived from mediaeval French lyric poetry, which has now disappeared, but the existence of which was postulated by the author in order to account for folk-poesy.

Mr. Gomme thought it was a good thing once a yean in taking stock of our progress, to hear objections to our methods, instead of being content with compliments. But objections raised, even by the great authority of our President, need not off-hand be considered as objections proved. He (Mr. Gamine) was concerned chiefly with two subjects, one a personal one, the other a general one. 1 he President had done him the honour of specially criticising his paper on 11 Tote mi sin in Britain.' 3 The President objected to some of his

evidence, because certain superstitions and customs might be referred to some other origin than that of totemism. Mr. Gomme’s argument throughout the paper was that totemism, having been suggested by the evidence of place-names and some other evidence—if it existed among the tribes of Britain like it existed elsewhere, it must have imprinted itself on folk-lore. Then, with this hypothesis he had classified the superstitions of animals and plants current in Britain under heads derived from savage totemism, and he had found that they fitted the classification so completely, each section overlapping to such an extent as to justify such a classification being established as a working hypothesis only for future labourers. With reference to the more general question of criticism by the President, the Society’s method of tabulation, Mr. Gomme wished to enter a strong protest against any plea for change of action. Of course, no one would use for scientific purposes the abstract of tales only, but they would use the abstracts as a guide to the tales themselves, Mr. Gomme thought the President’s suggestion to compare whole collections of one savage or barbaric people with whole collections such as Grimm’s a most valuable one, but still the tabulations would assist in such work as this. The tabulation of folk-tales was not a process like Mr, Spencer’s tabulation of sociological phenomena, because no choice was left to the tabulator of folk-tales ; he had simply to set down all and everything. We might possibly improve the form, and certainly the index of incidents was one branch of the tabulation which needed close attention, great care, and considerable improvement of method by the tabulators. But this could be accomplished, and still the present method might stand. The present method had been decided upon by a committee of eminent specialists in folk-tales, and he thought, until some considerable progress had been made, it was too early to speak of the scantiness ' r of results. There were many workers, and they were working hard. 4 - He hoped that when some of this work was garnered, the President would admit that the Society’s plan was valuable. It ivould be enhanced ten-fold if other countries could be got to adopt the same or a slightly modified plan, and he thought some of M. Ploix’s suggestions in a recent issue of Revue des Traditions might be acted upon.

Prof Rhys brought forward some examples of anecdotes about . animals from Celtic saga which, he thought, might plausibly be traced to totemism.

Rev. A. L6 wy remarked that a knowledge of a person’s name played a great part in many Oriental legends.

Magic Songs of the Finns, I

Hon. J. Abercromby

MAGIC SONGS OF THE FI AT NS.

T^ROM the earliest recorded times, spells, charms, in- Jl cantations* and exorcising formulas have been in use* They were employed in the past by peoples enjoying a higher civilisation, like the Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, and are current at this moment among those whose culture has never reached the stage of making pottery, like the Australians. We must, therefore, believe that magic songs and eliarms were a very early expedient for defence against the dangers of the unseen world* Indeed, they are almost the inevitable result of an animistic view of nature. When once man supposed that every visible object, whether possessed of organic life or no, is inhabited by a spirit in its nature but a double of himself, and capable of injuring or benefiting him, he would naturally imagine the invisible personage could be influenced and controlled in the same way as an ordinary individual. A Finnish hunter before starting for the forest could sing:

O Mffiitarf 1 2 bake a suet cake,

A honeyed bannock, Faivatar With which I’ll make the Forest kind.

Will make the Backwoods well disposed Upon my hunting days.

During the times 1 seek for game.

^ (. Loiim-runoja , p. 201.)

After he has made an offering he can say :

Approve, 0 Forest, of my salt—my dish of oats, O Tipiol

(Z. Z, p. 226.}

1 Moon’s daughter, or Mrs. Moon.

2 Sums daughter, or Mrs. Sun.

3 The forest god.

i 8 Magic Songs of the Finns .

When about to undergo a water-cure the patient may reci te:

O pure water ! water’s Mistress !

Water’s Mistress ! water’s Master !

Make me now both well and healthy.

Beautiful as formerly,

Since 1 pray in chosen language.

Since X give thee as an offering Blood in order to appease thee,

Salt as well to reconcile thee.

(L . p. 232.)

If the presence of a spirit is considered undesirable, it may be appealed to either by threats or promises to remove elsewhere. As spirits, like men, are not of equal strength, and may prove quite as obstinate, it may become necessary to threaten them with the vengeance of a greater and more powerful spirit who happens to be on the other side. For naturally they divide into two classes, good and bad, according as they seem such in their behaviour towards mam In this case the man of understanding and magic lore will menace the recalcitrant spirit with the anger of his strong ally, the powerful beneficent spirit, just as a small boy threatens a bully that he will tell his big friend, who will certainly punch the tyrant's head. For instance, rust in corn is thus addressed in a Finnish spell:

Depart, O Rust, to tufts of grass,

<f Frog " ! get inside a lump of clay,

If thou should raise thy head from there,

Ukko 1 will split thy head in two With a silver knife, with a golden club.

(Z. p. 150.)

Another incantation, for a somewhat similar purpose, ends much in the same way:

If that should be of no avail,

Yet there is Ukko in the sky.

1 The thunder god.

May Ukko smash thy head,

O may he crush it into pulp

With his copper waggon—his iron cart*

(X. M., p. 115,)

A sleigh, with posting horses, is all that a spirit requires in order to take his departure, a Finn is quite ready to furnish him with that One formula begins:

If thou should ask to travel post—

Should for a driving-horse beseech,

I’ll give thee, troth, a posting-horse—

Procure for thee a dark grey nag 3 * That thou may journey to thy home.

To thine own country may return*

(X, i?., p* 20,)

In the year 188b Dr* Lonnrot edited and published a very large collection of magic songs, Loitsu-runoja , abounding in curious ideas, quaint expressions, and, to us moderns, strange ways of regarding nature, which demand the attention of folk-lorists* He has classified their contents under a number of headings to denote their purpose* After a long introduction the collection begins with eighteen general formulas, which he terms : Preliminary, Defensive, Envy, Vengeance, Origination, Reparation, Inflammation, Expulsion, Posting, Pain, Reproaching, Ecstasy, Distress, Boasting, Stilling, Menacing, Exorcising, and Fastening formulas* Then follow forty liberating or healing charms for as many ailments or other evils ; fiftyone classes of magic spells and charms to be recited on such occasions as when divining, going out hunting, fishing, at a marriage, etc. ; seventy-three classes of prayers which hardly differ from many of the preceding ; and, finally, fifty-one births or origins of animals and things* Altogether there are 893 magic songs under 233 separate heads*

They are, without exception, in the same metre as the

Kalevala y the readers of which must be already acquainted

c 2

with the general nature of h inrush spells, charrrfs, and incantations, The Preliminary formulas were used when the wizard was about to begin operations. Defensive charms were of use when going on a journey to avert the attacks of witches and evil wishers. Envy formulas ward off the baleful effects of envious glances. The Vengeance formula inspires any kind of enemy with fear. In healing the sick the Origination formula was employed to detect the origin of a disease should that be uncertain. In the Reparation formula the originator or cause of any disease or injury was invoked to come and repair the damage he had committed. The Inflammation formulas were useful for snake-bites and inflammatory wounds. The Expulsion charms were employed in many diseases, but especially in such as were thought to originate from “ elfshots’ 1 and witchcraft. The Posting formula might be recited after an Expulsion or Menacing formula. The Pain formula assuaged pain, aches, and contusions. The Reproaches were used after a bite from a snake or from any animal, also in cases of toothache, hurts from fire, cold, stones, etc, Ey means of the Ecstasy formula a wizard's nature became hardened and invigorated. The Distress formula was available in sudden attacks of pain and disease. In the Boasting formula a wizard, by dint of brag, hoped to inspire other wizards, witches, and opponents with alarm, and himself with confidence. Great pain was assuaged by reciting the Stilling formula. The Menaces were sung after an Expulsion formula when that had proved insufficient Diseases, curses, and evils wrought by witchcraft were conjured away by means of the Exorcising formula. When this had been effected, these evil spirits were pinned to the spot by the recitation of a Fastening formula

It Is undoubtedly a matter of regret that Lbnnrot has not given these magic songs In their original form. Several of the same Contents, sometimes as many as twenty, have been welded Into one to fill up the deficiences which each

Magic Songs of the Finns , 2 t

individual one contained. This he did on the score that a collector is never given a charm complete ; either through the forgetfulness of the reciter, or fear lest by doing so it should become inoperative when he again requires it for liis own purposes.

Though the births or origins come last in the collection, I propose to take them first, on account of their greater variety of contents, and perhaps their greater Interest. It does not seem difficult to understand what may have led the Finns to lay stress upon knowing the name, origin, and birthplace of a malevolent Being, such as a disease, a pain, a beast of prey, etc. To do so was highly natural, was only to act in conformity with every day's experience. If a wizard were called in to exorcise the evil spirit, say of Ague, he would feel confident that a charm in which it was conjured to depart under the name of Rheumatism would be of no avail. He would be sure Ague would refuse to budge unless addressed by his proper name, and might even strongly resent being called Rheumatism. In fact it would be like serving a man with a summons in which someone elsc’s name had been substituted, thereby rendering it inoperative. It was therefore the business of a wizard to find out the real name of the evil Being, which in the case of disease was tantamount to correctly diagnosing the symptoms. With the ravages of wild beasts it would be just the same. If through them a farmer lost his cows or his horses pasturing in the forest, he would naturally think that reciting charms against wolves would be useless if the damage had been committed by a bear. He would feel bound to ascertain the true cause of the mischief But in Jthe collection of origins about to follow, several will be found that seem to be rather fragments of ordinary songs, with a sly vein of sarcastic humour running through them, than serious incantations or magic songs.

In the original the origins are given in alphabetical order, but here I have roughly classified them under the following heads:

Mankind—man, wizard.

Animals—bear, cat, dog, elk, horse, pig, seal, wolf— snake, viper—lizard, snail.

Birds—raven, titmouse*

Fish—pike.

I n s ects—c abb age-wo rm, wasp.

Vegetable kingdom—birch, flax, oak, trees.

Metals—copper, iron.

Instruments—arrow, boat, net.

Diseases—ague, cancer, colic, rickets (atrophy), scab, skin eruption; stitch (pleurisy), swelling on the neck, toothworm (toothache), whitlow.

Miscellaneous—^ale,brandy, cow-house-snake, fire, injuries caused by spells, law-courts, particles of chaff In the eye, rust in corn, salt, salves, sharp frost, stone, water.

With regard to the translation, I have tried to make it as literal as is compatible with intelligibility, and without doing too great violence to English idiom. For I think folk-lorists require a greater adherence to the letter than a translation from a purely literary point of view ought to exhibit. Yet, as the original is in metre, a certain rhythmical measure has been preserved when that could be done without loss in other more important directions. In Finnish, the second line of a couplet is nearly always a repetition in other words of its predecessor, and stands in apposition to it. If there is no subject or no verb in the second line, this must be understood from the line above, though sometimes it is vice versd. As I think intelligibility is gained by placing the parallel members of the couplet side by side, instead of one below the other, I have given two Finnish lines in one line in English The apposition is marked by a dash when any portion of the first member-subject, verb, or preposition—has to be understood in the second member to complete its meaning. \ hen a variant (a.) consists of a single couplet or only half a one, it is given in the body of the text; when of

several it is added at the end. A capital F before an English word, both in round brackets, means that the latter is the literal meaning in Finnish of the word it follows. To save an inordinate number of footnotes, a word is put in single inverted commas to show that it must not or need not be taken quite literally. For instance, in nine cases out of ten the epithet 4 golden' means * dear, precious'; 4 fiery', 4 holy' are occasionally synonymous with 1 terrible 1 , ‘ awful’,- 1 dangerous*. ‘ Iron 1 as an attribute may also denote ‘ iron-colouredk ‘Toad* as a term of abuse might equally be translated fiend, wretch, loathsome creature*. Double inverted commas are used to call attention to certain epithets applied to animals or personified objects. In Finnish words the dotted vowels arc the narrowed open sounds of the corresponding undotted vowels ; a — a in hand, 6 = French eu, ii = French u t j = y in you. The double consonants must be sounded twice. The main stress is always on the first syllable.

The first ‘birth* is evidently a late composition, and throws no light upon early Finnish speculation regarding the origin of man.

i _The Origin of Man.

The strange phenomenon [called] man, great creature of the tribe,

\V as made from a clod of earth—fashioned from a cake [of mould].

To him the Lord give breath, the Maker breathed it from his mouth.

xi.—T he Origin of the Wizard { noita ).

Of course I know the wizard’s birth-the fortune-teller’s (arfoja)

origin. , .

There the sorcerer (noita) was bom-fortune-tellers took their

rise

Behind the limits of the north, in Lapland’s flat and open hind ;

There the sorcerer was born* there the fortune-teller was bred

Upon a bed of pine-boughs* upon a pillow made of stone*

The word noita, here translated wizard* sorcerer, is the equivalent of the Lapp nomdtfe, with the same meaning* It is a native word* and probably of the same origin as the Votyak nodes, node, “wise”, for nodes mart\ “wise man”* is the word used in their translation of St. Matthew, just as noaidde is used in the Lapp version as the equivalent of magus, wise man, magician. Among the epithets applied to the noida are “ fire-throated”* “ vehement 1 '* “ obliqueeyed, and “Laplander”. Another common word for “wizard, wise man”, but with a less bad connotation, is tiei&fti, a derivative from tietcia, to know, to understand* literally * the knower, he that understands how to do something”. The arfiaja is the man who makes use of an arpa, " lot, instrument of divination”, to divine by. It is a question whether this word is not a loan-word from the Scandinavian varp, “casting”. A third common word for “witch sorcerer” is velhoy from the Russian volkhvo , “ a magus, magician”.

hi.—The Origin of the Bear*

Where was “broadforehead” born* was “ honey-paws” produced ? There was “broadforehead” born, was “honey-paws” produced* Close to the moon* beside the sun* upon the Great Beads shoulders,

From there was he let down to earth—to a honeyed wood’s interior,

Into a verdant thicket’s edge* into a liver-coloured deft.

SinkirkkitP forest maiden* rocked and swayed him to and fro In a golden cradle, in silver straps,

Under a fir with branching crown, under a bushy pine.

1 “ Blue siskin or finch . 31

£i Broadforehead” then was christened, the 11 scanty-haired one 1 * was baptised

xo Close to * her/ rapids, at the eddy of a 4 holy' stream,

! Who undertook to christen him ? The King of Hzmmerkki 1 himself.

Juhanms , priest of gods.

(He undertook to christen—to baptise the “ scanty-haired”.

\ v. Promised to christen him.

The Virgin Mary* mother dear, the holy little serving-maid, Both acted as his godmother and to the christening carried him. What was the name they gave him? “Hulking fellow” “ Little Play-stack”,

“Lovely shaggy coat of hair”, “Honey-paws”, “The Corpulent”.

10-12 Beside the river Jordan, at an eddy of the holy stream,

E'en Christ was at the christening, the Almighty at the baptism.

(*•>

My dear “broadforehead”, my beloved, my lovely little “ honeypaws”,

Of course, I know thy stock—where thou wast born, “ broadforehead”,

Wast gotten, thou 44 blue stumpy tail”, wast formed, 44 clawfooted one”.

There waft “ broadforehead” born—aloft within the sky,

On the M pen's points, upon the Sun, upon the Seven Stars' back,

Beside the maidens of the Air, near Nature's daughters.

Fire shot in flashes from the sky, air turned upon a whorl 2 *

While “ broadforehead” was produced —* fl4 lover of honey” took his shape.

1 Himmertki — Swedish Himmel-rike ,, kingdom of heaven.

- In Karelia ilma, “ air”, is sometimes used for mmUma ,, “ world”,

which may be the meaning here. But in general terms the meaning

is clear enough that when the bear was born there was a great commotion, and Nature's general arrangements were disturbed. 14 Whorl” might also be taken as short for “ the Lord's whorl”, r'.t., the sum

From there was he let down to earth—into a honeyed thickets’ edge,

To be well nursed by Hmgatar 1 —-well rocked by Tuonuiar , 1 2 Close to a stunted fir-tree root, under an aspen’s branching head, At the edge of “Forest-castle ”, 3 at die t golden forest home. Then was “broadforehead” christened, the “dark grey-haired one"' was baptised Upon a honeyed knoll.

At the mouth of Sara-joki 4 sound, in the arms of Po/tja's 3 4 daughter.

There he swore his oatli on the knee of PoZijaZs dame,

In the presence of the well-known^ God, under the Blessed’s beard,

To do the innocent no harm—no injury to harmless folk.

To walk in summer properly, to trudge along beseemmgly,

To live a life of joyousness

Upon a swamp, on rising knolls, at the farthest end of rutting [#. playing] heaths,

To rove shoeless in summer—in autumn stockingless.

In the worst season to abide—pass the winter’s cold in laziness Within an oaken room near u Firbranch castle’s ” 3 edge,

Beside a handsome fir-tree’s root (F, shoe), in a recess of junipers.

to

A maiden walked along the air's edge—a girl along the f nave? of the sky,

Along the outline of a cloud, along the heaven's boundary,

In stockings of a bluish hue, in shoes with ornamented heels,

A wool-box in her hand, under her arm a hair-filled pouch.

She Hung the wool on the waters—cast the hair upon the waves, Upon the clear and open sea, on the illimitable waves.

1 Fids daughter, or Mrs. Fir.

2 Wild bird-cherry's [Primus pad its) daughter.

s —Melsola^ the Forest home. “Golden”, as an attribute of the forest, means “ abounding in game”.

4 Sedge Stiver.

r > Pohja means the north. Pohjola^ the northern home, a Or manifest.

These the wind rocked to and fro—the restless breeze swang back and fore*

The water's current (F. breath) swayed,

As if five tufts of spinning-wool, as if six hanks of flax To a honeyed forest's edge—a honeyed [v. pagan] promontory''s point.

11 The forest mistress, Mklikki ,* the careful wife of Tapia's home, Fan waist-deep into tire water—up to her garter in the wet, Snatched the tuft from the water, stuffed the wool into her bosom. Speedily she tied it up, neatly folded it up,

Placed it in a maple basket—in a pretty little cradle,

She walked then to a grove of firs—to a blue wood’s interior, To a ( golden' hillock's side under a * copper'-breasted hill She saw a fir with branching bead, with branching head with golden sprays,

Lifted the swaddling bands, raised up the golden chains To the stoutest of the boughs—the widest spreading branch of fir She rocked her friend, swang her darling to and fro Under five woollen coverlits—eight sheepskin coverings,

In a blue wood's interior—the centre of a / golden * 1 ring * 2 She tended wee “ broadforfehead" there, reared the 41 splendid coat of hair"

j In a den of spruce—a bush of tender fir.

( v* Under a little shed of oak,

E *Broadforehead" grew magnificent—shot up to be extremely grand,

Short of foot and bent of knee, with flattened nose, and corpulent, Broadheaded, with a stumpy nose and splendid shaggy coat of hair.

As yet he had no teeth—no claws whatever had been formed. The forest mistress, Mietikki\ expressed herself in words :

« I’d put together daws for him—would also procure teeth * If he would not begin to harm—not hurry off to evil deeds." Therefore “ broadforehead" swore his oath on the forest mistress' knees

In presence of the well-known God, below the Almighty’s countenance*

1 “ The benevolent, the friendly."

1 a place surrounded by trees where there was plenty of game,

That he would never do a wrong—not perpetrate atrocious deeds. The Maker was himself the judge, the Maker’s children— jurymen,

The forest mistress, Midikki, the careful wife of Tapia's home. Started to make a search for teeth, to make inquiries after claws From hard-wooded rowans, from rough and dried-up junipers, From tough and knotty roots, from resinous and hardened stumps.

From them she did not get a claw—she did not light upon a tooth.

A pine was growing on a heath, a fir stretched upwards on a knoll,

A silver bough was on the pine, a golden branch upon the fir. The woman (kapo) seized them with her hands,

From them she put together claws.

Fastened them in the jaw-bones, planted them in the gums.

Then she let go her “ little shock”—sent her darling out To tramp the countries of the North—scurry through woody tracts.

She sent him forth to tramp a swamp—ramble through bushy copse,

To pass the sides of fields run wild—scramble o s er sandy heaths, But no permission did she give to come where cattle range, Within the sound of cattle-bells, on tracts where tinkling bells are heard.

%

Variants. t

i-4 The prominent bridegroom, George, son of the supreme man, i-S Kmhiaiui was moving upon the waters,

Dropt wool on the waters, kept dealing out tufts of wool,

Six years they moved about—bobbed up and down for seven summers,

Moved [lightly] as a hank of flax, rolled [lightly] as a shock of wool.

1 “ The emaciated or complaining creature.” The name does not occur elsewhere that I know of. The word may be a mistake for Kuippana — “long-necked”, king of the forest, and supposed to be an alias of Tapia,

j 1 The Virgin Mary, mother dear, the holy little serving-maid.

1! The honeyed Virgin Mary saw the wool-tuft on the water*

A considerable portion of this last piece (r) will be found in the Kakvdla , xlvi, 363, etc.

<*)

j “ Shaggy,” I remember thy birth, thy bringing up, “ horror of the land”.

( a I remember £( shaggy V’ birth, the bringing up of 11 evil soot”. There wast thou bom, “ cunning one” 1 2 3 —brought up, O “ horror

In furthest limits of the North, in Lapland’s wide-extending woods—

/ On an alder-mountain’s slopes—the shoulders of a pine-branch hill*

{ v. Under a birch-tree’s triple root, in the recess of two stumps.

Thy father is Puthinais thy mother Futktiarp \ Thy other kinsfolk Putkimns, thou art thyself a Puikincn*

1 v. Thy kin are in a grove of firs, thy den is in a clump of pines. On moss thou wast begotten—reared in a heather clump,

In a dense copse of willows—-a grove of wild bird cherry-trees, f On the north side of a brook—the south (F. sun) side of a hill, i v. On the lee-side of a stone—the north side of a hill.

Indeed I was there myself as highest juryman.

While the ‘reindeer-cow’ was being made—the ( cow’ fashioned. The open-handed Pbhja dame knocked out a head from a knoll. Dashed out a hack from a pine—teeth from a water-compassed stone,

r Eyes from quartz stone—ears from the stuffing of a shoe,

) v. Eyes from a moonshine stone—feet from a tuft of spinning ( wool,

, Then rattled off to the christening, carried him off to be baptized.

J Or <E tangled ball".

2 prom putkiy angelica, beanvort cows-parsnip; plants on which bears are said to feed.

3 Mrs. Puikinm ,

iv. —The Origin of the Cat,

I know of course cat's origin—the incubation of “ greybeard". The cat was gotten on a stove—has a girl's nose, a hare's head,

( A tail of TliisPs plait of hair, claws of a viper, i v. A tail of snake’s venom,

Feet of cloudberries, the rest of its body is of the wolfs race.

v. —The Origin of the Dog,

(*■>

f Whelp’s genesis is from the wind, dog's origin from chilly wind.

I v . a pup-5 from shining of the sun.

I' The old worn an Louhiatar , mistress of Pohjola v the whore,

< v. Untamola's l * 3 [ Ulappalccs~\ blind one, the wholly blind of { VainoliP

Slept with her back to the wind—her side to the north-west. The wind made her pregnant, chilly wind made her womb heavy.

Why is her womb heavy ? She bore a dog in her womb,

A puppy dog below her spleen, an earthly creature in her liver Of one month old, of two months old.

She at the end of three months’ time Began to throw her litter—to lighten her belly,

From her womb she threw a dog—a whelp from under her * spleen.

Who carried the swaddling clothes—the pup’s coarse swaddling bandages ?

The furious Pineforest Crone carried the swaddling clothes, Rocked [the pup] in her own linen, dandled it in her lap, Caused the whelp to tread [the ground]—the “woolly tail” to mark the way.

1 An alias of Pohjola, derived from unz\ il sleep n , ,

“ A remote, distant land; a wide, open, flat, barren district; a land behind the open sea”, ulapfia is another name for Pohjola ,

3 41 Vainiiptdifwrfs home. 1 ’ In the old Kakvala , in a variant to ii, &9> 9°j Untamotnen is the parallel word to Vmnmwinen^ and at xvi, 271, “the waters of the Vi end 1 ' (the Dwina, falling into the White Sea), are parallel “to the open utappa” (open sea), Faina is the Finnish and Esthonian word for the other Dvina, falling into the Gulf of Riga.

The best maiden of Pokjola

Was standing near a wall, was underneath the window front, Engaged in melting virgin honey,

The honey hardened on her finger-points, with it she smeared [its] teeth,

A useful dog was the result, a neat, white-collared dog was got That does not eat one up, that does not bite the very least

2* The choice [v* little] woman, Penifar 1 * * [v. Penza far],

(i,)

1 know of course dog's genesis, I guess a puppy's origin.

He was made on a dust heap—prepared on a meadow, Begotten of eight fathers, 5 born of one mother.

Earth's mistress, Manuhutar? knocked out a head from a knoll, Procured legs from fence stakes—ears from a water-lily's leaves, Struck out gums from the east [wind], formed the muzzle from wind.

Parts of (a) will be found in the old Kalevala, vil, 206, etc. In a variant added at the end of that edition it says : “ That the blind old man of Ulofpala —another name for Pokjola —slept with his own mother, threw himself powerless on her breasts, on the surface of a swamp, on a hillock, where muddy water moves/’ After this she becomes pregnant with a dog, as in the versions here given*

' vl—The Origin op the Elk*

Where was the elk born—the son of Rock 4 reared ?

There was the elk bom—-the son of Rock reared On the surface of a windy marsh,

In a dense clump of wild bird cherries—a thick grove of willows* Its back is from a bent birclvtree,

1 Derived from pent , i£ a pup, whelp ?! *

a Compare this with the Syrian expression for a bastard—a - twelve

father child”* s

a A derivative of m(tnu> (i the dry land, continent .

4 Karin poika.

Its legs from fence-stakes, its head from a root of ash,

The rest of its body from rotten wood—its hair from horsetail grass*

This short piece may be compared with the humorous description in the Kalevala , xiii, 105-194, of the elk, made by the Husi folic, after which L cm m ink amen had such a wild-goose chase. There are several Finnish riddles in which Host's elk means a pine-tree pure and simple. Hizsis elk has 100 horns, its skin is eaten, its blood is sold, its flesh is burnt? Answer.—A pine, its bark (eaten in seasons of scarcity), tar and wood.

Father was seeking lynxes, was hunting Hiisis elks ; he struck down an elk in I lit sis land, its bones rattled down on the heath, he carried off the blood to Abo? Answer.— A tar-burner is seeking tarwood in the forest, lops off the branches, and carries the tar to a town.

An elk was killed in ’Hiisi 1 s land, the bones were charred upon the heath, the blood was carried to a town? Answer, — Tar-burning; a pine-tree, the branches, the tar.

As Hiisi? s name is of frequent occurrence, a word of explanation is due to those who are not conversant with Finnish mythology. The Finns have several words for “devil, fiend', such as Hiisi, and its diminutive Hitta , Lempo , Perkdey Pirn, Pirulainen , pa/m henki (evil spirit), Paholainm (the Evil One), Juntas. Of these, 'Perkele and Pirn are derived from the Sclavonic Perkmms; Per mi (the thunder god); Juntas is thought to be the New Testament Judas ; the others are native words. To Finnish ears Hiisi sounds less bad than Perkele; " Go to HiisP means « Go to the deuce” while “ Go to Perkele” means "Go to the Devil 51 , The reason probably is that the latter is the Biblical word for Devil, and therefore connotes all that the Christian doctrine teaches of him, Husi in the genitive, before the adjective big , corresponds with the English expression “devilish big” or "deuced big”. Originally he seems to have been a mountain or a wooded mountain, divinity. In die magic songs he and his people are sometimes said to

*

inhabit a mountain ; and In one couplet, given below, Hiisi stands as a parallel word to mountain, just as we have seen above that Tapia can be used as a synonym of forest. Indeed, in the middle of, the sixteenth century, Bishop Agricola uses the plural of hiisi in the sense of “ heights, wood-grown heights, grove 1 ', 1 though in his metrical epitome of Finnish mythology occurs the line, f( Hiisi procured profit from the forest”, that is, he aided a hunter in obtaining game. In course of time we shall find u Ifiisi's dog” or cat used as an epithet for disease in general and for toothache in particular; "his seal” (phoca) is rickets, atrophy ; H his fungus'* is a tumour or a boil; f< his bird” is the wagtail— Tempo's is the raven ; he is the ancestor of the wolf; from his loohorned ox with 1,000 nipples on its breast magic salves and ointments arc obtained. This wonderful animal must surely be a pine or fir-tree, with its innumerable projecting points like nipples.

vil—The Origin of the Horse.

The horse’s origin is from Hiisi— the choice foal’s from a mountain,

In a room with a door of fire—-a smithy with an iron ridge- Its head is made of stone, its hoofs of rock,

Its legs aje constructed of iron, its back is made of steeh

In several riddles Hiisfs horse, or simply a horse, means thunder and lightning, or fire and flame, fire and smoke.

For instance : ,

A horse neighed from HiisSs land ; the knocking of its

collar, the shaking of the harness was heard here ?

1 Answer.-—Thunder in the clouds, and lightning.

A horse neighed in Hitits land, the collar shoke, the harness gleamed in this direction ? Thunder and lightning.

A horse is in its stall, its tail is above the door ? I he fire in a stove and the flame at its mouth ; fire and smoke.

i Viriitaja, , ii, p- I 7 1 *

VOL, I,

I have given these examples to suggest that a singer in a joking humour might occasionally have in mind something other than a real animal when narrating its origin.

viil—The Origin or the Pig.

The origin of a pig is known—of “downwards-carried snout” is guessed,

j Tynymys 1 is thy mother, Kynymys* is thy father.

{ Kynonen 2 [v. Kynmeu] is thy father.

With snout and hoofs plough up the ground, with snout rout up the turf,

[But] pray don’t tear the fences down—don't roll .away the gates,

A couple of amusing Finnish stories about pigs will be found in the Folk-Lore Journal , v j p. 164,

ix.—T he Origin of ti-ie Seal,

A fellow- rises from the sea—raises himself from out the waves That counts the ocean isles—keeps watch on water's fish.

Six flowers [v. cups] are in his hand, six at the tip of every flower,

All arc full of train-oil.

a

They congealed into seals.

O seal 1 “ round boy 3 '

That roves about the sea, ** rough creature” of the ocean fields, Refuse 3 was thy father. Refuse was thy mother,

Thou art Refuse thyself.

Go hence, wdiither I command,

Into the sea’s black mud—[its] blue clay,

Into a dragon's (F. salmon-snake) throat.

1 A derivative from fynv } tynos , “ a hog”

a f Provided with a short stump, snout” {kyna%

3 FyUy (refuse) seems to be a pun on hylke y a seal.

JO

x—T he Origin of the Wolf.

<*>

0 great hungry wolf, excessively fat * dog* l

I know thy stock, I know, sly brute, thine origin.

A country girl, a dry-land lass, was travelling on her way,

Trod over swamps, trod over lands, trod over sandy heaths.

Trod over places trod before, trod over quite untrodden ground.

She plucked flowers from withered grass—pellicles from tufts of grass,

Wound them about her winding-cloth—into her tattered headattire.

At last she sat upon a stone at a verdant thicket's edge.

There she combed her locks—she brushed her hair.

She caused her pearls to rattle—her golden ornaments to clink,

A pearl dropt down among the grass—a golden trinket with a crash,

From this the “crafty one” was born-—the “hairy foot” was reared.

The “ woolly tail” has thriven, the wolfish breed was bred,

m

0 everlasting “gad about”, an evil son for all thy life,

Whence isithy stock, from what, “dread one”, thine origin?

Is it from, wind or from the sky—from a lake’s deep eddy (F, navel)?

It’s not from wind, not from the sky, not from a lake's deep edd) r .

“Dread one,” I know thine origin—thine upbringing, “horror

1 Syojdtar 1 spat on the waters—“ defective shoulder” 2 on the waves,

1 The Ogress, from syojdj “ an eater, devoured', with a suffix to denote a woman,

2 Lapa-iicto. Elsewhere she is called Lapa-hiiifo ^ tf shoulder Lapa can also be translated “ hip-bone”

o a

3 j 5 Magic Songs of the Finns .

( Then Rwtaiaf 1 appeared, from out the sea rose Ruolaiar, i v. from out the sea rose Nuoratar* [v. Maamfar]

Upon a treeless isle—a stoneless reef She rubbed her two palms, scrubbed both of them.

Obtained a little scurf,

[Then] flung it on the waters—on the undulating sea Over her left shoulder.

A wind wafted it ashore into a secluded forest.

There wast thou born, 0 “ windy throat”, there didst arrive, 0 “hairy nose”

Didst appear on the open sea, wast reared in a secluded forest,

(O.

Wolfs origin is known—where the wolf was born, j Fhe old woman Loveatar , mistress of Pohjola^ the whore, l ik A crone of Vtro^ a rampant quean, an old woman raging mad When bringing forth her sons—giving birth to her children f in the hollow of a frosty pool, in an icy well's recess ^ v - on the lid of an icy well

The fruit of her womb is not born, the foetus is not brought to birth.

She removed to another place, was delivered of her sons In a dense grove of wild bird cherries, J mid branches broken by the wind.

The fruit of the womb was born there, fhe feetus brought to birth.

There she begat a splendid 1 3 boy I hat eats up bone, bites flesh, draws blood quite fresh.

When she had begotten him she said ;

Alas for my wretched son, seeing my wretched son is one lhat eats up bone, bites flesh, draws blood quite fresh, i tt ere I to bring him to a room (he would destroy my room),

. iK t fire would burn my room, *

f H ere I to build for him a bath (he would reduce my bath to bits) water would sweep my timber work away.'*

1 From kuoldy “slaver, driver

2 From nuara, “ a cord, rope 5

3 Fsthonia,

4 tronieah

Old wgnaminnen said :

Just let him live in happiness

Near a wilderness, where squirrels live, in a secluded forest.”

xi.—T he Origin of the Snake.

<*■)

I know, u crafty one”, 1 thine origin—thine upbringing, 44 horror

Why thou, O snake, wast born in grass—wast formed on the earth by spells* O 4 worm’.

Thou wast born, 44 crafty one'V wast reared, “ horror of the land”, f Upon a .rugged rock, upon the earth's lowly ing depths.

[ v. Upon a smooth rock in a dark secluded forest,

Must ran along the earth, Him ran, the earth perspired.

He ran o'er swamps, ran over lands, o’er Lapland's ample wooded tracts,

Sweat trickles from his hair, from his beard a lather pours.

The 44 dread one” as he ran succumbed—wearied as he sped along.

The 44 strong one 1 ' sank upon a stone—fell to the ground upon a rock,

Swooned upon a hilltop, slept on a boulder in a mead.

He slept awhile upon the hill—for long upon the point of rock, He snored extremely as he slept, snorted as he lay asleep,

From the * c toady mouth saliva poured—froth from 44 ugly's” jaws, ,

Foam from the 44 strong one's” nose, a clot from Lemptfs stumpy nose

Upon fresh quartz stone (K thunderstone) upon a rugged rock. Byijatar was passing by and ate the slaver on the rock.

The ; slaver burns her in the throat—caused a pricking in her teeth.

She spat it from her mouth on the waters, dropt the slaver on the waves.

Wind rocked it to and fro, the ocean swell kept swaying it Upon the clear and open sea, upon the lumpy waves.

3 Or 44 tangled ball”.

S Magic Songs of the Finns .

Water stretched it long, and twisted it into a ‘distaff A wind then wafted it ashore, water drew it to a cape,

A current flung it on a rock into a high cliffs cavity*

A wind blew it hard, a chill wind dried it by degrees.

The sun baked it into a spiral form in the cliff’s cave upon the beach,

At the side of a speckled stone^the bosom of an evil flagstone* Hud gave life to it, Pint gave it eyes by spells,

Lempo formed the jawbones, the " vile one” assembled theteeth, Hence came #-Tuom’s* grub”, “ Tuonis grub” ^ worm of the earth”.

Origin was given to the snake, a name was given to the * 1 “evil one”

(A)

Oho ! “ evil pagan”, thy stock is known,

A Juntas started off to nm-a weak-legged man to totter off The wretch became dizzy with anxiety’ as he had done an evil deed.

He ran all day, he ran for two, forthwith he ran a third besides. The villain came from the east—the £ toad’ from the place of dawn.

When he had come a long distance, at the close of the third day,

The Juntas? as he ran, succumbed—wearied as he tottered on,

1 Fell to the ground upon a rock, flopped upon a heap of stones, Upon Jesus' stone of joy , 4 upon the Creator’s rock of sports, f Sank upon a mountain slope, drooped upon a weathered stone, l v* upon the south (F. sun) side of a hill,

He snorted as he slept [v. died], he violently writhed.

Jesus pursued his way, was travelling on a journey With three of his disciples—two talkative companions.

Juntas sprang from the path—“ worn out shoe” from the rock Piru began to hurry off—made sudden efforts for a bolt.

Slaver ran from the £ toad’s’ mouth—-slime from the nostrils of the scamp.

1 = snake ; cf, XI, /J line 5.

3 The £Qd of death. 3 Puotus, Herod.

1 A stone where festivities and sports are held.

The sun baked it hard, Piru stretched it long,

£f, Peter sees the * toad’s' slaver on the rock.

The evil one's slime upon the weathered rock.

2i He looks at it, he turns it [to see] what the clod on the rock is. He began to talk about it.

“What would become of that and Into what would it take shape,

If thou. Lord, bestowed life. If thou, O God, gave it eyes by spells ? 7f

25 The great Creator says, the spotless God'speaks thus t “ Evil would come from evil, a £ toad' from a * toad's' seed,

A hideous one from a fatherless one, a useless one from a motherless."

St. Peter says-—breaks forth in words a second time :

<c Kindly accord it life, O Lord, form eyes for it by spells, O God,

Let it move through withered grass, go rustling through grassy tufts.

Creep among roots of trees, observe the heather stalks," Immediately the Lord gave life—God made it eyes by spells, To the vomit of the evil man—the slaver of the hideous Hoad’ From that then the “cunning one ,J originated—the evil ‘pod* increased,

A snake began to hiss'—a black £ worm' to writhe.

To move on its belly along the ground, to crawl upon its stomach.

25. Good fe'siis made reply ; “ No need to give an evil being life. 35

to

Whence is ‘autumn worm's' origin—* winter worm’s’ occurrence? , Hence ‘autumn worm?:originated—‘ winter worm' has occurred.

j KiZwkuola , 1 A ijlZs- son.

v, Ikoma * v. Kihamaf v. Kttamo sat upon a stone,

1 “Bubbling slaver,"

a Supposed to be another name for I7kk &, the thunder god, and to have the same meaning ; cf. Lapp. mja t “grandfather, thunder 11 , and the Esthonian tUjoAe, “ go to the devil"

3 u The sobber, stammerer" (?)

4 “The hissed 1 (?)

The " good for nothing” sat on a stone, the “ useless fellow” slept on a rock.

From it he slipt off suddenly down on the north side of a stone. Slaver dript from the beast’s mouth—-saliva from the 4 toad’s 1 jaws.

Sybjaffir remarked it—ate up the slaver on the stone,

Spat it upon the waters— splashed it down upon the waves.

The spittle moves upon the sea, the flat lump rolls upon the waves,

The * * froth'— upon the mighty waters,

Wind came and gathered it together, waves drifted it against a rock,

Into the inside of an iron [coloured] reed, 1 into the side of a thick grass,

I-Ience its origin arose, its production was produced.

Whence was life obtained for it, whence was its poison flung ? Thence was life obtained for it, thence was the poison dung, From the fire of hell, from the flame of the evil power.

(<*■)

O underground black 4 worm 5 , O 1 grub s 3 the hue of death ( Tuoni),

1 know thy stock with all thy bringing up.

Sy'ojatar is thy mother, a water-devil 2 thy parent.

Syojatar was rowing on the water, “ fir e-throat 1 ’was bobbing up and down

In a copper boat wtth a red sail.

6 Syojatar spat on the water—let drop a lump upon the waves,

A wind rocked it to and fro, a water current swayed it,

Rocked it for six years, for seven summers,

Upon the clear and open sea—the illimitable waves.

The water stretched it long, the sun baked it soft, l he water’s surge directed it, the billows drive it ashore.

The ocean breakers dash it against the sides of a thick tree.

1 Or “pipe, tube 3 ’; u closed-up reed or tube 51 is an epithet of the watersnake in the Kah vata, xv, 592,

* Vetehinen*

Three of Nature's daughters {Luotmoiar) were walking On the shore of the raging sea* at the edge of the oceaiPs swell,

They saw the [spittle] on the shore and spoke with these words : -* What would become of that

If the Creator gave it life—put eyes in its head by spells ?” Bust happened to overhear, the bad man to observe [it all].

He himself began to create. Hit si gave liie to it,

To Sy&j&tdr’s spittle—the hideous * toad's* slaver.

Then it turned into a snake—changed into a black 1 wormk

6 She combs her head, brushes her hair,.

A hair disappeared from the brush, a hair fell into the water.

(O

Pain's daughter, girl of Death, fell asleep upon a held,

Threw herself down upon a slope-—against the side of a speckled stone.

A great blast of wind came-—a bitter tempest from the east, And made the girl parturient, quickened her into pregnancy. Then the offspring was born, the evil progeny was yeaned,

A snake began to hiss, a 1 red ant’ to move about,

A ‘ worm of the earth’ to crawl—to stick a little 1 needle’

Into a human being’s skin or into a creature’s \kave ] ‘ hair

n (/> ■

A tree was growing on holy ground 1 —a reed on tmdefiled land. The reed grew up against the tree-the sedge under shelter ot

[its] moss.

Pint blew into the reed, made the ‘ring’ clatter.

From it a ‘ worm’ appeared, rather round and rather long,

Then it turned into a ‘ distaff’, twisted into a snake,

’ Into a crawler on the ground—a wriggler on the path.

(?■)

Black ‘worm’! O hissing viper, ‘grub’ of the hue of Deatn

(Tumi), ____ .

• Or, in a churchyard.

Of course I know thy stock, I know all 'thy bringing up,

Of what thou wast formed, w useless wretch”, from what thou hast originated, O u cunning oneV TuonPs iron-toothed erode, crooked fingered, crumple jawed. Was spinning on a summer's day—at midnight of an autumn night*

Blood spashed from the distaff—from the copper spinningstaff

From that wast thou formed, O “ useless wretch”, from that didst originate, 0 il cunning one” 1 2 * 4

(A.)

Evil Beings {kelmot) formed a snake, wretches span a viper,

A snake was formed, a malignant viper was fashioned In a single summer night-—an evening hour in autumn*

Of what was the head placed on the evil one ?

5 The head was made of an evil bean.

Of what were the malignant creature’s brains ?

Of the foam of a mighty torrent of ‘fiery 7 rapids]*

S Whence has the fiend- its eyes ? From the seeds of Loupe's flax.

9 Whence the ears on the 1 toadV head? From leaves of Lem fids birch*

( Of what was the snout formed ? Of a scrap of Tuonvs pick.

^ Of the evil one x s thong,

J Of what was the mouth prepared ? Of Sydjiitarfi'zlzs®,

* Vy Of a stump of Lempo’s feather,

1 2 AY hence was the tongue obtained ? From the tip of JCeitds

spear*

13 Whence were the teeth procured ? From needles of Manaldd

Jilt sis] girl.

1 4Whence [came] the wretch’s gums? From the gums of KalmaV girl.

15 Of what was the body made ? Of an evil maiden's hair-plait.

1 Or “tangled ball.”

2 Sr/feaj a loan word from the Russian s//id t u a Jew,”

Th e place of the dead underground*

4 A god of death, the .grave.

Slagu Songs of the Finns. 4 ’

16 Of what was the back composed? Of ffiisPs pole for raking

coal.

17 Whence has the evil one a tail? From the hair-plait of HiisPs

girl.

18From what were the guts knotted up? From /fiis?s belt appendages.

r 9 Whence has the vagabond life? From Min's hearth of coals. Whence has the bane its disposition? From ‘fiery’ rapids’ froth*

21 W hence was the heart thrown ? From Syo/afar's hearths core.

22 Whence was its poison flung? From an angry torrent’s foam.

5 The head was made of broken pots, zk Of an evil man’s (spirit’s) thumb*

5 Of the end (F, head) of a shirt-wearer’s 1 * thong.

5 Of a belt-ring of VatmtarJ

5 Of an evil one’s shirt lappet, v. Of the belt clasp of one behind a stream.

5 Of the breast clasp of Syojatdr [v.

8 The eyes were made of mussel pearls (F. seeds).

8 One eye was of a mussel pearl (E. stone), the other of a golden

bean. v* the other of an iron \v. Riga] bean.

S One eye of a golden [v. Tuoni's] mussel shell, the other of a bird cherry’s berry* v, the other of a seed of flax.

9 They were composed of willow leaves, zk Of river horsetail

were the ears.

12 From the spear of Aijffs \v. Keif of) son* v. From Ian pas [v* Jtei/ds] spear.

12 From a fiery pointed sword, a From the sword of JCakzta’s son.

12 From the hair of Hiisi's girl, v, From a female creature’s 3 » hair.

12 It’s JTizst'S hayfork.

1 An epithet of Ruofus (Herod) in the Kahvala^ 1 , 237. It means' a man in his bare shirt, staying at home and unoccupied with work.

- Vdindnwinafs daughter. Elsewhere she is identified with Pain’s daughter, Kipuiar , whose character suits her in this instance.

J Or, ( full grown creature’, emakave *

Marie Songs of the Finns.

12 A Hiitolaineiis hayfork, a Piitolainen s iron goad.

12 The pricking tool of sudden death,

12 [One fork] is the shoe-awl of ICeiio s son, the other fork of

the tongue was brought—-was obtained from a comb of Vtiinola,

13 From spikes of Tuonps barley-ears, from pannicles of growing

corn,

The other halves of the teeth are from the teeth of Trnnfs pike,

14 From the gums of TuonPs girl. v. The gums were from a full-

grown fish.

f 4 From shoots of Tuohfs] growing corn [zk barley]—husks of HHsPs oafs,

Which are twining [v* blowing] into stalks, which are becoming bloody, 1

14 From a tender grain of wheat—a husk ot tender oafs Which is turning into food—’rolling m its blood,

15 The body is made of the top of Lempds skull [v. crack],

15 Of the end of a hornet's sting (F, rod)—of a devil's thong,

15 Is a KyroiiiimrPs ploughing whip—a Virolainen fence-rail.

15 Is a: KyytdBinai'A* [zk Kyynalainen’s*} ploughing whip—an A h tola inch V fe nce-rai 1,

15 Is an AMkdimhW [v.A/wtaAs? Aja far’s*] fence-rail—a Manalainen- s travel!i ng-staAT.

15 The lace of a Vifolaintn's bark shoe, a Kerolametis distaff,

15 A Keitolainen*s boot-lace, a Lempolaitmis hair-plait band.

15 A hair-plait of Lempo’s girl—of an evil brood.

15 A HiUolaineA hair, a beard-hair of one that’s damned,

1 The line seems to mean, " which are already growing into straw,

are becoming fit for food.” s An Esthonian.

3 An epithet of the viper or adder, from the stripes, kyylo, on its skin,

4 A derivative from kyy^ a viper or adder. t

b An inhabitant of A Mala , the abode of the sea-god AMg (diminutive of A lift).

(1 — Ahtikaimn = Aktolainen . 1 * 3 4 — Ahdotar— Ahto’s wife.

s Ajaiar , In the plural, is found in the Finnish Bible, Levit, xvii. 7, where the original is literally “the hairy ones”, in English versions “ devils, h e-goats, satyrs".

3 An inhabitant of Hiilola y Must's home; here it means Hell.

Magic Songs of the Mims.

16 The belt from the belt of Tapio's wife, the shirt-belt of a shirt-wearer*

16 It’s 'Iflist's hay [v. coat] fork, the evil spirit's toasting-fork.

16 A woman {kapa) had dropt on a path, Air's girl had fallen

asleep,

A copper quiver on her back, a copper arrow within it.

From that the back was fashioned—the back-bone was composed,

17 From an evil willow-shoot* v* From the sheath of Kalnm's son. 17 From the shirt-string of a shirt-wearer.

rS From the shirt-belt of a shirt-wearer.

19 The life from Uiisi’s glowing coals* v. From the fire of Hell* 19 From Satan's charcoal hill.

19 From evil steam, from the spray of Hiisi's rapids* a 1 [The heart is] the heart's core of Syajatar —a fragment of Ma m mota r*s l liver.

22 From the surge of Hitsfs stream.

xn.—T he Origin of the Viper (Adder)*

(a.)

Night's girl, Dusk's maiden, who keeps the long evening watch. Was spinning a stony thread—twist mg a gravelly one On a stone distaff—a copper spinning staff.

The stony thread broke—the gravelly one in her fingers From the stony distaff—the copper spinning stuff*

What was the end of the broken end? from that an evil brood

was gotten,

From that “ striped back" 2 originated—the a worm of Mana/a” was bred*

<«

Sturdy old VdindmMnm

Was splitting mountains, cutting [v, rolling] down

rocks .

In iron gloves, protected by copper mitts.

He had seized a fiery-pointed sword,

Kept swinging his sword in an iron mountain’s rift,

In the space between two rocks—the recess between five boulders,

[PIIs] golden ring fell rattling down into the iron mountain s rift. Into the space between two rocks—the recess between five boulders.

From that the "crafty one” 1 originated—"striped back”- was produced.

Some of these lines (i, 4 * 5 ) are introduced in the Kaievahiy xxxix, 93-110, and L 6, in the Old ^KaL^ xxi, 72 where Vainavioimn is trying a new sword, forged for him by Ilmatintn, previous to his departure for Pohjola. He is probably making essay of a sword in this fragment also.

1 Or, «tangled balP. * KyytdlLiimn,

J, Aeercromby.

(To he continued)

e

Legends from Torres Straits, I

Alfred C. Haddon

Introduction*

I N collecting these myths and legends I could not take down the actual native words, being ignorant of the language, but I have given a faithful rendering of the stories as told to me in broken English. I have nowhere embellished the accounts, and I have given most of the conversations and remarks of people in the very words my informants used ; thus preserving, as far as possible, the freshness and quaint ness of the original narrative. I believe that in most cases the native idiom was bodily translated into the “ Pigeon English”,

As to the age of the legends I can form no idea. One point is noteworthy, that not in a single instance did I ever hear of any reference to a white man nor of anything belonging to white men ; for example, a knife was always E upi\ the old bamboo knife, never l gi or 'gi tariff ( £ knile*; iurik also meant ‘ iron*). I think I am safe in asserting that thirty ygars ago there was no intelligent intercourse with white men; this period may practically be reduced to twenty years, and in some islands to even less, I usually checked the genuineness of the legends by inquiry of other men than the original informants; not un« frequently old men were present, who were often referred to. My narrators were, almost without exception, middleaged men, and I am always careful to impress on them the importance of giving me the story as they had heard it from the old men. Experience showed me that they were as conservative as children of traditional phrases and modes of expression. Therefore I can confidently claim that this collection of legends really represents the folk-

4S Legends from Torres Straits,

lore of the last generation, and the stories may therefore be of any age previous to the influence of Europeans and South Sea men*

I have taken very great trouble in satisfying myself as to the sense of the narratives, and in appreciating and confirming incidental allusions to customs now passed away. There are, however, a certain number of phrases and customs which are obscure to me. On the other hand, one must remember that logical and connected accounts are, so to speak, unsavage ? and such narratives from a savage race may justly be regarded with a certain amount of suspicion.

The legends are arranged, as far as possible, in geographical order, beginning with those islands nearest to New Guinea and passing southward to Muralug, the island nearest to Cape York, Queensland. Thus the first seventeen relate to the Western tribe. The legends of the Western tribe, u The Story of Gelam” “ The Fightings of Kwoiam”,and “The Six Blind Brothers”, I hope to publish shortly in a more popular form. Of the Eastern tribe, or that inhabiting the volcanic islands of Uga, Erub, and the Murray Islands, I have collected only a very few legends, having purposely left many others for my friend, the Rev. A. S. Hunt, the resident missionary on Mer, to record.

In vol, xix (Feb. 1890) of the Journal of ike Anthropological Institute will be found a fairly complete record of the customs of the Western tribe of Torres Straits, and I hope to add an account of the Eastern tribe in about a year's time. The two tribes differ considerably in their customs and language.

I have adopted the following vowel pronunciation, :~ a y as in 4 father* ; h } as in * at*; c, as a in f date' ; f as in 4 dcft J ; h as ce hi 1 fcet ! ; I as in f if ; o i as in * own*; d } as in ‘on’; it, as 00 in * soon*; ft, as in * up*; ai as in 4 aisle*; an as ow in 4 cow\

The numbers in brackets refer to explanatory notes, which will be found at the end of the communication*

i.—T he Birth of Kusa Kai\

(Told by Nagu {now Wain/) of Badui)

One day Maiwasa of Dauan went along the reef looking for the feeding ground of a dugong (i); with him walked his wife, Bukari, a fine, well-favoured woman, possessing a notable pair of large ear-pendants {mutt) ornamented with seeds (kusd)* Now it happened that a Dorgai (2) named Gidzo had perched in a large tree {Bant) near by, and she cast longing glances at Maiwasa, saying to herself, 11 Why, that woman go along my man—that man belong to me/'

Maiwasa was successful in his search, and erected a dugong platform or mU on that part of the reef where he found the grass eaten by a dugong ; he spent that night on Ms neet, but speared nothing.

The next day Maiwasa went a long way on the reef at low water to look for marks of the dugong, and Bukari took a pat, or short simple spear, to do a little fishing.

Gidzo, taking a large drum, wurup (4), and going to a dry place on the rocks, transformed herself into an octopus \sugu\ and waited in this form for the coming of Bukari. Meanwhile Maiwasa wandered a Jong way off, and was so engrossed iivhts own business that he paid no attention to his wife’s movements.

Bukari, looking in crevices and under stones in her search for fish, came at length upon the octopus and attempted to spear it, whereupon the Dorgai resumed her usual form, put her big drum completely over Bukari, and, after changing faces with her, set the unlucky woman adrift on the sea in the drum.

Gidzo then went to look for Maiwasa, who called out on seeing her, “ Come on, we must go home now, the tide is , rising?, and Gidzo followed ; when she moved or bent down she broke the wind. " Hulloa f cried Maiwasa,

E

VOL, I,

5 °

Legends from Torres Str&iis.

“what kind of woman is that? Bukari was not like that before/ 1 Gidzo lived with Maiwasa as his wife for some time, but though like Bukari in features, she differed from her in many details, and the sudden change in his wife greatly perplexed Maiwasa, who at length concluded that she was a DorgaL

The warufi containing Bukari drifted away towards Boigu, and was cast up on the sand beach of Baiibai, a small island close to Boigu ; on stranding, Bukari came out of the drum, and looking round, saw Dauan to windward, and exclaimed, “ I am a long way off from my man/ 1 On this islet there was neither food nor water, and feeling hungry, she pulled two seeds from one of her ear-pendants and ate them.

She continued to eat two seeds every morning and evening till she had finished one ear-pendant, and she wondered what she could do next, for there was no water to drink. When commencing on the second ear she discovered she was pregnant, and by the time she had eaten nearly all the seeds she laid an egg like that of the sea eagle {Nagaidg). Instead of throwing it away she sat on it, and after a short time a bird was hatched, whom his mother named “ Kusa Kap”, or “ fruit of the seeds”, H as no man made him” Kusa Kap immediately but unsuccessfully attempted to fly. t

When all the seeds were finished Bukari had nothing to eat and “ was all bone”, but soon the bird-son learnt to fly, and the first thing he did was to catch a small fish and give it to his mother, who exclaimed, Hulloa ! I have a fish now” ; the bird sang out, “ Go on, you eat that”; but Bukari, saying, 14 He no cooked”, gave it back to the bird, who ,ate it up and then slept, as it was evening.

Early next morning Kusa Kap hulloa ed and flew away, caught a fish, and brought it to his mother, who exclaimed, “Hulloa! got another fish now” but again refused to eat it, as it was not cooked. The bird looked at his mother, and observed that though she was “ all bone” she would

5i

not eat the raw fish, but, as before, returned it to her son, who then ate it At daybreak the bird hulloa-ed again; by this time he had grown to a large size* When out looking for fish he saw a dugong floating ; he again brought a fish home to his mother, but with the same result as before,

The following day Kusa Kap hulloa’ed at sunrise; he was now grown a gigantic bird. Bukari took a piece of string and tied a small seed to his leg ; he then fiew away, caught a dugong, and carrying it by its claws, dropped it at his mothers feet. Bukari said, “We haven't an upi" (bamboo knife) (5) ; but the bird stood on the back of the dugong, cut it open with his beak, and removed the bones and viscera, and cut the meat up into small pieces. Leaving the dugong, he flew away and caught another, which he also brought to his mother, who delightedly exclaimed, “ Hulloa 1 got another now—piccaninny along me gets big food now/’ Kusa Kap then cut up the second dugong with his beak as before.

Early next morning Bukari told the bird to go to Daudai (the neighbouring coast of New Guinea), to ask two of her uncles living there for some fire with which to cook, and for some water to drink, instructing him, when he found their house, to sit down close beside them, and to catch hold &f a burning stick in the fire, and also of a pair of te fettstl * 3 (ie. t coco-nut water-bottles) (6), and “when they see the seed on your leg they will know who sent you”.

Away fiew Kusa Kap, and all befell as Bukari predicted ; the uncles filled up all their water-bottles and slung them over his wings, and gave him a bamboo knife and a burning stick (moii} > which he carried in his claws and brought to his mother, remarking to himself, “ Now Bukari will have a better class inside.” Kusa Kap then caught another dugong which was pregnant, gave it to his mother and cut it up for her, and this time she was able to cook the meat and eat as much as she needed.

Next day Kusa Rap caught another dugong, which his mother told him to take to his uncles, and at the same time return the coco-nuts for more water. He did so, and his uncles filled up the water-bottles and gave him another upi to take to his mother. The untiring bird then caught another dugong, which he gave to the uncles; he had grown so large that he looked " all along same as island in the sky”.

Next clay Bukari asked Kusa Kap to go to Dauan to look after her husband, telling him, “ When you see my man you sit down close beside him ; he will savvy that kusa as belonging to my muti (ear-pendant) ; when lie savvy you go, fly to canoe, catch hold of rope and mast and mat-sail ; he will know you come from me and will follow you ” So Kusa Kap flew off to Dauan, and all happened as Bukan expected Maivvasa took some of his countrymen in the cause and followed Kusa Kap in his flight. On reaching Banba, Kiisa Kap flew to his mother and sat down beside her; as they neared the beach Maiwasa and his friends wondered who had killed all these dugong—the bones strewed the beach “ thick like (drift) wood on beach”

Directly they landed Bukari ran up to Maiwasa, and catching hold of him, asked what woman was that who had stayed along with him. She then told him all her adventures, including the laying of the egg and* the hatching of Kusa Kap, being at the same time careful to explain that 14 no man make him along of me”. Next morning they put all the dugong into the canoe, and Bukari told Kusa Kap to go to Daudai and remain with her uncles, but added that she herself would go home to Dauan, and Bukari wept at parting from her bird-son. <

The canoe then started for Dauan, but first sailed close to Saibai before making that island ; on nearing the shore Bukari went aft and took a lump of wood which was in the .canoe, then the sails were lowered, and the canoe was run fast on to the beach, Gidzo meanwhile was stopping in Maiwasa’s house, and had no idea that Bukari had been

discovered and was now returning; on seeing Malwasa's canoe nearing shore she went down to welcome him home, but when she reached the canoe, Bukari, who had been crouching down, sprang up *and killed Gidzo by a blow with the piece of wood across the bridge of her nose,

il—The Legend of Dorgai Meta Kurabr

A man named Nadai, living on the island of Boigu, went once into the bush to collect eggs of the mound-bird (jw&?)(i); he found a large mound, and dug into it till he came to what he took to be an egg ; he tried to pull it-up, but" it stuck fast; then he tried to get another, but neither would that come away, Now a Dorgaj was sleeping under that mound, and she had attached to various parts of her body numerous large white cowry-like shells {kolmtm) (2), and these were what Nadai was pulling at, mistaking them for brush-turkey eggs.

Nadai at length caught hold of the hoboum attached to the Dorgai’s chin, and giving a tremendous pull, unearthed the bogey, when he was so terrified by her appearance that he fled back to his village, Suam, and urged the inhabitants to arm themselves and slay the Dorgai, who was sure to follow*

By-and-bye a fly came, and behind it arrived the Dorgai (3), but the men no sooner saw her terrible face than they threw down their weapons and fled in dismay. Nadai then ran on to Pali, where he exhorted the warriors to make a stand against the Dorgai; but when the Dorgai appeared, preceded as before by a fly, they also scattered in terror. Nadai sped on to Kowai, and then to Gunilai, on the eastern side of the island, but all Ms appeals for help were answered by a stampede of the warriors as soon as the Dorgai showed herself. At last, having nearly completed the circuit of the island, he came to ICerpai, on the north side (he started on the lee or western side), where he once more entreated the people to stand firm and attack

the Dorgai. They valiantly armed themselves, but when the fly was followed by the Dorgai they took to their heels, as the others had done before, with the exception of one man named Bu. This warrior remained in the kwod , or bachelors’ quarters, and armed himself with a bow and arrow, the arrow being of a pattern named sfeUrf (4). When the Dorgai arrived B11 shot her in the stomach, which was ripped open by the well-aimed arrow, and thus she was at last killed.

The Jverpai people, however, brutally murdered Bu by piercing him through the eyes (5). They are both now in the sky, the Dorgai going first, being continually followed by Bu.

m.—T he Legend of Dorgai I.

A long time ago, in a village on the lee side of Mabuiag, a young girl cried in the niight for food, but her mother either would not or could not give her anything to cat. Attracted by the continual crying, a Dorgai came out from the bush, entered the house, stole away the girl, and killed her. When morning came the mother called together all her male friends and told what had happened in the night; the men armed themselves with every variety of weapon, even taking their dugong harpoons, and hurried into the bush to look for the Dorgai. They found her sitting asleep with the dead girl on her lap; the men tried to kill the Dorgai, but she was proof against their weapons, and sank into the ground; they seized an arm and hand and pulled, till at length the arm was severed from the trunk of the Dorgai The men washed the arm and hung it up to dry, but in the night the Dorgai came and carried it away 1 hence the single hand in the constellation into which tlie Dorgai was transformed.

iv.— Why the Spirits of the Dead go to Kibuka.

{luf&rmanfy the Chief of Maiming. )

There was once a Mabuiag woman named Uga, who went along with the mart of a good-looking man named Tabepa (or Tabepa mart). The latter lived at Pulu, a small island off the far side of Mabuiag. The mother of Uga said to her,Don't you go along with the Mabuiag men, you go with Tabepa," Tabepa cut a quantity of grass for a dance at Kalaliig, a hilly promontory on the western side of Mabuiag. Uga knew he was there, and went to him, Tabepa took her over to Pulu. Tabepa told the other mari who lived in Pulu to leave some turtle and dugong meat at Pulu for the father and mother of Uga, or else by-and-bye his wife's parents would kill them all (r).

The mari then took a canoe and ail went to Kibuka. They did not go straight, but first made Kaiola and then touched at some other islands, till finally a fair wind brought them to Kibuka, After they had been there a month Uga found that she was expecting ("got family inside"), and Tabepa said to her, “ I think I will take yon home and pay your parents for it" (2). The people of Mabuiag saw the rain-clouds and numerous waterspouts in the north-tfest, and at once concluded that Tabepa was returning. ’

Now a Mabuiag man named Kwoia was a former admirer of Uga’s, and bore a grudge against Tabepa, because he was selected by Uga (3). On Tabepa’s arrival Kwoia suddenly killed Tabepa and all the mari who accompanied him with a stone club, and ran a speai into Uga’s abdomen, killing her too. One and all of the murdered folk were transformed into porpoises (4), and they swam back to Kibuka. They, however, did not long stay there, but returned to Mabuiag, accompanied by heavy rain-clouds and a large number of waterspouts. The storm swept over Mabuiag, the force of the waterspouts even

breaking stones. Men who, hiding from the tempest, had secreted themselves in crevices of the rock, were sucked out by the wind and waterspouts. Thus perished Kwoia and all the inhabitants of Mabutag. The marl of the newly deceased were conducted to Kibuka by the original marl ; they were all porpoises*

v.— The Story of Mutuic

( 7old by Malakula of Badu, who has since changed names with Manageta of Mabutagi)

Once upon a time a Badu man named Mutuk Y'as fishing in the sea off a rock, when his line fouled and he dived into the water to free it; a passing shark swallowed him (“ swilled 1 him down") without hurting him.

The shark swam on northwards, and on passing over the reef of Mangrove I. Mutuk felt warm, and said to himself, “ Now we are in shallow water,** When the shark plunged into deeper water Mutuk felt cold and knew they had descended again ; later on the shark swam to Boigu and was left stranded on the reef by the receding tide, Mutuk felt the heat of the sun beating upon the body of the fish and knew that he was high and dry, so taking a sharp shell (id or ido) which he carried behind his ear(i), he hacked away at the belly of the shark until he had sufficiently ripped it open ; on emerging from his strange prison he found all his hair had fallen off

Mutuk found his way to a water-hole on the island and climbed a tree which overhung it, Byandbye a woman came to draw water, and it happened that she was no other than Mutuk s sister, Mctalap, who had married Piti, the chief of Boigu. Looking into the well whilst getting water, she saw in it the reflection of two faces; one was her own face, but whose was the other? She pondered, she moved her head, and the reflection of it simultaneously shifted also, but the other one did not move, so she proved it was

not hers ; then she looked up and saw her brother In the tree. She asked If it was really he, and assuring her of his identity, he explained how he got there, and implored her to persuade her husband to take him back to Radii, as his wife and piccaninny were crying because they thought he was dead, and the people would perform funeral ceremonies for him (“make him devil”) (2). She told him to wait where he was till the evening and she would then take him to her house; she went home and brought him good dugong meat and yams and a bamboo knife, upi, to cut the meat with. At night time Metalftp brought Mutuk into her house, and sent a boy to her husband, who was away, to tell him to come home ; he sent back word that he would not come unless told for what he was wanted ; she replied through the boy that he must come, and then he returned.

On hearing the whole matter Piti decided that Mutuk could not be sent home then, but must wait a month ; to enliven his term of exile three wives were given him, and his hair began to grow again.

At the expiration of the month the chief took Mutuk in a canoe full of Roigu men back to Eadu. When the canoe was sighted by the Radii men they said, “ It is a Badu canoe—no, it is from Mabulag—no, it is from Radii/- On the canoe nearing shore they recognised Mutuk standing up, and were much astonished, as they thought him dead ; at first they could scarcely believe it was he, but, when sure of his identity, they felt much chagrined at having held the funeral ceremony for a live man. They prepared to receive their guests by taking all the bows and arrows out of a house arid by hiding a stone club under a mat near at hand, some one sitting upon it. The Boigu chief said that he and Mutuk would go to the village, but that all the rest of the men were to stay in the canoe. When these two were seated Mutulds wife identified her husband, and then both ffe and Piti were killed with the stone club, and the men in the canoe murdered (3).

f

AI! the dead men were then immediately transformed into flying foxes (“ sapura* = Pteropus) (4). who wheeled round and round and flew away to the north.

As they passed over the island of Murtai a twig of a piner tree tumbled off one of the flying foxes, and subsequently took root and grew into a tree which is there now, for the Boigu men had previously ornamented themselves with bunches of leaves and smalt twigs of the piner (coral tree, Erythrind) and of the ubu tree (5)-

As they hew over the island ofWidul another piner twig fell down and took root; on the point of Auboit on Mabuiag an ubu twig fell, and a piqer- branch was dropped at Dabungai, in the same island, as witness the trees now growing. Once more the flying foxes sped northwards and wheeled above their native island of Boigu ; the women, looking up, recognised them and wept, for they then knew their husbands had been murdered at Radu.

The flying foxes passed on to Daudai and came to a hollow znnga tree ; all entered it except Mutuk and the chief, who sat on the top of the tree.

Shortly afterwards a man named Rudzi, who possessed a large family of daughters, came along with a basket looking for crabs (gitttii) and “iguana” {karum — monitor); as he was stooping to pick up a crab the flying foxes in the hollow tree looked out and laughed. In great surprise, he looked up, saying, M Who laughs T and proceeded to catch another crab ; again the flying foxes laughed, and Budzi once more looked up and said, “ Who laughs?” This time he saw the flying foxes in the hole, and jumped up and caught all of them and put them in his basket Then he sat down at the end of a log, and ^taking the flying foxes out of the basket, he bit off the head of Mutuk and threw the body on one side. Mutuk immediately resumed his proper form and, unknown to Rudzi, sat down on the log beside him ; all the rest were served in the same way until only two flying foxes remained. Budzi, thinking to himself, I ve got plenty kaiki now/' turned to look at his heap

of headless flying foxes* and to his great surprise saw, instead of them, a row of men sitting on his log. I-Ie then bit off the heads of the two remaining flying foxes and saw them transformed into men. Budzi said to the men, 11 You are my men now— IVe got a lot of daughters at home, you shall have them and stay along with me 1 ; so they all went off to Budzi's house, which lay to windward (/.?., to the east or south-east). Budzi gave his eldest daughters to Mutuk and the chief, and the rest, fell to the lot of the other men (d). That night, as soon as Budzi was asleep, Mutuk said to his wife, “You come along—we no stop here,” and all the men departed with their wives and went a long way in the darkness.

In the morning, when Budzi woke, he found his hut empty ; he rubbed his eyes and looked again, but saw no traces of his daughters or their husbands; outside he easily found their tracks, and immediately followed them. On coming up with- the fugitives he asked why they had deserted him ; they replied that there were too many mosquitoes at his place. “ There are no mosquitoes here,” said Budzi ; “ we will stop here.” That night, as soon as the father slept, his family again decamped ; when Budzi discovered their second flight he saw it was useless to attempt to retain his daughters, so refrained from following the

party. 0 *

Budzi, thinking to himself that it was no good one man living in a house by himself, went into the bush to find a madub bushman who would Share his house. He called out, and a man replied. Budzi asked his name; it was Madub, “Well,” said Budzi, “you come along and live with me, your name is no longer Madub, it is Budzi—same name as my name—what is your name?" The bushman made no reply, so Budzi caught hold of him and pulled him, and his arms and legs came off. A second time Budzi went into the bush, and the whole adventure was repeated, even to the dismembering of the unfortunate bushman. A third attempt brought better results, for the bushman answered

6 o Legends from Torres Straits*

fl Budzi H , on being asked his new name, and then followed the original Budzl

At sunset they came to what they took to be a laige mound of the wild-fowl (snrka — Megapod ins) and slept on the top of it In the morning Budzi found a white-egglike body, and tasting It, found it sweet—it was the root of a wild yam (7) ; his namesake also awoke and saw and tasted it; they then discovered that the hillock was not the nest of the mound-birjd, but the heap at the roots of a gigantic yam, <£ By God !* Budzi exclaimed, he 110 gammon fine yam \ this yam belongs to me ; if any man take him may he have elephantiasis ( koingnar ) in his legs’ 3 ($). They then wended their way homewards, and the two B.udzi lived together.

vi—T t-ie Adventure of Gabakwoikai.

[Told by Kirer of Badut)

On the southern side of Badu there are two islands, Zurat and Kwoberkelbai, much resorted to by turtle, great numbers of which were caught by the inhabitants.

On Kwoberkelbai lived a man named Gabakwoikai, and one morning the men at the village told him they had seen turtle-tracks on the beach at Zurat K All right, w lie replied, H l will go.” So he*' started off, but, instead of taking a canoe, he simply sat on the steering-board {walungd) of a canoe and paddled himself across to SMrat, He soon found the eggs, dug them up, and rolled them in a bundle of grass, leaving them on the shore while he went to look for some fruit

The Dorgai who lived, on the other side of the island had made a basket ready, and then had gone to sleep for a week, so that plenty of fruit might ripen and fall ready for her, and it chanced that she woke the same day and went to gather her harvest. Gabakwoikai having picked up all the fallen fruit, climbed up into the tree to gather more, and did not see the Dorgai’s approach. The latter,

not finding fruit lying on the ground as she expected, exclaimed, “ UUoa! where all fruit go to?” Gabakwoikai, hearing the Dorgai*s voice, looked and saw the dreadful apparition of a hideous, big-bodied woman with long legs but small feet, and ears so enormous that she could sleep on the one, whilst the other covered her like a mat. The Dorgai, hearing him say in great fear, “ What I do now?” looked up and saw him in the tree. "Who tell you come here? place no belong to you—fruit belong to me—you steal—bring down all the fruit." Gabakwoikai said, « You think I bloody fool take fruit for you. I can't, my belly no got kaikai (food)/ 1 u Give me the unripe ones, so I fill my basket,” replied the Dorgai ; so the man dropped one, and it fell close to her ; she stretched out her hand for it. Gabakwoikai threw another, and the Dorgai took two steps to get it ; a third was thrown still further, so that the Dorgai had to take four steps ; having picked it up she returned to the tree. Gabakwoikai then heaved one on to the top of a tree near the Dotgkfs house, and whilst she went for it he clambered down the tree and ran to the shore, carrying the fruit. On arriving at the beach he picked up the eggs and embarked on his board.

The Dorgai, returning to the tree, found that Gabakwoikai had decamped, and followed his footprints; the latter, seeing he was pursued, said, “ He (yik=she) come now/ 3 The Dorgai, arriving on the beach, called after him, “You come, come now”; to which he replied, “ Think I bloody fool go along you— I go back/ 1 The men at Kwoberkelbai, looking across the strait, exclaimed, “ Ulloa! Gabakwoikai run; Dorgai frighten him.” Gabakwoikai returned home, gave the eggs to the old men, then put some red paint in the kwod (men’s or bachelors 1 quarters) ; a brother-in-law took some, saying, “ All right, we go and kill Dorgai/ 1 All equipped themselves with their dugong and fish-spears, leaving their bows and arrows behind.

The Dorgai was in her house asleep when the men arrived. Gabakwoikai said, “ Dorgai wants to sleep” ; he

then took a clugong harpoon, whilst all the rest sat on her house, aimed it at her, but managed only to transfix her arm with the dart to which the rope was attached. The Dorgai jumped up and ran away to windward, the men holding by the rope just as if she were a dugong. The Dorgai sank into the ground and made water—the spot is to this day a water-hole or well—but soon emerged and ran away again. The Dorgai sank a second time, more deeply, in soft ground. £I What we do now ?" said the puzzled men ; ** Dorgai go a long way/ 1 They took a turn of the rope round a tree and pulled ; they tugged so vigorously, in fact, that the arm of the Dorgai was wrenched off. Shouting in triumph, the men returned to the beach, filing the arm into the sea, and the tide being low, it projected above the level of the water, and is still to be seen as a rock on the reef named Dorgai Zug . The men then returned home, but the Dorgai died in the ground.

vii.—T he Dorgai of Karapar,

. (As related hy Malakula of Badu.)

\

A Dorgai resided on the small island of Karapar, which lies close to the island of Matu, on the south side of Badu.

One day some Badu men on a turtling expedition stopped at Matu to look for gapu (sucker-fish) (l), and caught nine. They slept there that night, and next day all the men sailed to where two rocks (“ Mugigu n and Kaigu”) stand up from deep water on the far side of Matu* They lowered the sails, rolled up the mats of which they were formed, fastening them by means of wooden skewers, and deposited them in the baskef-like receptacles built on each side of the platform of the canoes. All had good fortune in the turtle-fishing, the crew of each canoe catching from 10 to 15 turtle. There being a head-wind, they were obliged to paddle back to Matu for the night. On reaching the Island they put the best turtle on the beach and cut up the poorer ones for their evening meal.

The captain told the man at the bow to look after the gapu all night, and to put them directly in the water if they began to turn white (2). In the morning the captain asked if the gapu were all right, and, on receiving a satisfactory reply, the canoes put off, leaving some boys to look after the turtle.

The men went to the same fishing-ground, and again had good luck. On returning to Matu, they cut up the inferior turtle for supper, leaving the best to take back to Badu. Again the captain enjoined the man in the bow to look after the gapu, and he kept awake all night, mindful of his duty. The following morning they sailed to the same spot and caught a number of turtle, one canoe securing one of the turtle-shell variety* The fishers returned to Matu and put their captures on the sand-beach, all the fine ones being placed on their backs in a row with the turtle-shell turtle at one end ; they then stuck a flag (dado) (3), which they made, at each extremity of the row.

The Dorgai came and looked, and exclaimed, “ By golly, no gammon, those men got plenty turtle! 11 That night the captain repeated his orders to the man at the bow concerning the gapu*

Next day they went to the same rocks, lowered theii sails, and caught many turtle* Meanwhile, the boys left behind at Matu took a swim in the sea ; by-and-bye their eyes were sore, and they returned to the shore and slept all in a row—the small boys in the middle and one big boy at each end. The Dorgai then came with a large basket on her back hanging from her forehead (4) and a small one on the top of it ; on reaching the sleeping boys, she smothered them all with the mat which covered them, with the exception of the two big boys at the ends of the row* The latter watched the operations of the Dorgai, who took the small boys from beneath the mat and threw the bodies behind her, then replacing the basket-strings round her forehead (for during her murderous work she had relieved herself of the baskets), she put the boys in the basket and

went to look at the turtle ; the two big boys now sprang up and ran away into the bush. The IDorgai took the turtle-shell turtle, but left the edible ones behind.

Arrived at Karapar the turtle bit the neck of the Dorgai, and she exclaimed, “What’s the matter with you—what do you play with me for? I’m not a girl !” She threw the turtle down and left the boys in the basket whilst she made an earth oven (amai) (5); when this was completed she threw in the turtle without cutting it first; then she took it out, and the turtle was dead. She cut the turtle and drank its blood, then removed the liver and ate the viscera raw ; lastly, she put the rest of the turtle at the bottom of the oven, and all the boys above it. She sat down till the feast was cooked ; when she opened the oven all the bones of the boys were sticking up through the meat. She said,

“ 1 will eat all the boys first and the turtle last.” So she devoured the boys and the turtle, leaving nothing but the bones. Feeling thirsty, she said, “ By golly, I want drink of water now, my skin belong to me heavy.” She drank, and feeling queer, exclaimed, “By golly, what name I kaikai now?” (i.e., what have I eaten?) She had eaten the gall-bladder (gerka) of the turtle ! Then she ate two kinds of plants which are used to kill fish in the water.

The canoes now returned to Matu, for the men had caught no turtle, and wondering at their bad luck, and 1 Tearing some ill had befallen the boys, had determined to go back to the island. On landing, the men noticed the Dorgai's footsteps in the sand, and exclaimed, “ Hulloa ! who’s been here and taken a turtle ? Then they shouted to the boys, and the two big ones emerged from the bush. " Where are all the small boys ?” asked the men. “ Dorgai has killed them aJL’’ “ Ye® ? ” “ Yes ”, “ Where he stop ? ” “ He stop at Karapar.” The men took some red paint and put it in the middle of the group, all standing round ; the two best men, Maniibau and Salsalkazi, jumped forward and caught bold of the paint, saying, “ All you fellow no come with us, we two only go (6). I hey each provided themselves with a

dugong harpoon, but all the men accompanied the two warriors, contrary to the latter's wishes.

When dose to the Dprgai’s house (probably a hollow rock or cave) one man first looked inside, and made a sign to his companions that the Dorgai was asleep. I he two champions inserted the dart into the shaft of the harpoon, and whilst all the men formed a ring round the dwelling, they speared the Dorgai, and the men said, (t What he sleep, he dead 1 look at the bones of our boys l and all the fathers wept

Manilban and Salsalkazi then pulled their darts out of the Dorgai, and all returned to Matu, and fed on turtle, intending to go to Badu on the morrow. Early in the morning they returned home, and said to the assembled crowd, “ Dorgai take all boys, take one turtle-shell turtle too; Dorgai eat all, now he dead,” All the mothers and relatives mourned in their houses.

VIII.—The Story of Ufi.

{JLarrdted ty Tahiti of Baduh)

Once upon a time a baby-boy named Upi lived in Badu. One day his mother, wanting to go into the bush to make her garden and not wishing to take Upi with her, put him in a basket, which she hung up in the house near the open door. A strong south-east wind was blowing, and after some time had elapsed a gust of wind blew down the basket and carried it outside the house on to some grass, and Upi rolled out. As the mother was digging she broke the stick used for that purpose, and at once she thought something amiss. “ I leave my boy/’ she spoke to herself; “good, I go look, perhaps someone he take him,” So she returned home, to find neither basket nor baby in the house. Crying all the while, she searched far and near outside the house, but could not find her boy ; for it had so happened that a man and his wife had passed that way and taken the child.

The man, as usual, was walking in front, followed at a

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VOL* T,

short space by the woman, when the former heard Upi cry. “ What name (i) that make a noise ?” he exclaimed. Twice he heard the cry, but his wife heard nothing. On looking about he found Upi, and called out, “ Holloa 1 boy there in grass,” and close by he found the basket, and putting Upi inside, the latter said to his wife, “ You come along , I find boy belong you and me” (2). Thus, having no son of their own, they adopted this one—' they sorry for boy.’

The man and his wife returned home with Upi, but before they entered their house they left the baby in the bush. The man said, “ By-and-bye night he come, we go and take that boy*”

The next morningthey told the men of their village that they had found a boy, and the man carried Upi about to show him to them. Two noted warriors, M an alb o a and Sasalkadzi, said, “ All right, you take him, we look.” Later on they said, “We go play.” Then they stuck two posts into the ground a foot or so apart When this was done they said to the father by adoption, f< Give we boy firsts we spear him.” “ No, I won’t give you fellow, I take him back to the house.” To which the two men replied, “ S’pose you no give to we, we fight you” So the man was forced to give up the boy ; but he and his wife enjoined them, “ No good you spear eyes and belly, you spear arms and legs.” The men made fast aiA arm and leg of Upi to each pole, and after spearing him they went into the bush to get some food. In the afternoon they again practised javelin-throwing at the luckless Upi, who remained tied fast to the posts all day and during the night He, however, thrived well in spite of the treatment he had received, and grew amazingly, t

Next day the men went to the bush, and on their return in the afternoon took their javelins and throwing-stick and again amused themselves with Upi for a target. The fosterparents prayed the men, “No take large spear, take small one.” The boy cried. That night the man and his wife took Upi away and washed and fed him/but tied him up again.

In the morning the men once more played and speared Upi; at noon they went into the bush, but in the afternoon they cast their javifin$ at the boy. Afterwards the fosterfather went to have a look at Upi, who by this time had grown up into a big boy ; the latter said, “ You take rope off me, when you sleep I will go away/ 1 The man did so, and when all the men slept the boy went

Whilst running through the bush Upi came to a small house, and, entering it, found two corpses {merkai) Inside. He took their skulls, washed them, and put * bushes' on them, and placed them together on one side and spoke to them, saying, f< All men spear me, you two give me good road” (3}. They told him to go in a certain direction, where he would find a particular kind of bamboo growing. He was to go up to it and kick the base of the stem with his heel, and the bamboo would split, and he was to go inside the bamboo, and “ by-and-bye upi sorry for you”, Upi replied, “ All right, you two finish telling me? I go now”—'him, he go/ All happened as the skulls had foretold, and after entering the bamboo Upi came out again and made a fire close by.

The men at the village looked round the next morning, and, finding Upi had vanished, told his adopted parents that they suspected them of taking him away, to which they replied, fi We no take him out, he did it himself/' The men took their bows and arrows and went into the bush to look for Upi. They tracked him by the bloodspots to the house where the dead bodies were ; on going inside they saw that the skulls had been used for divining, and resuming their search for Upi, they ultimately found him >

Manalboa and Sasalkadzi said to Upi, “ You see us, we kill you.” u All right,” replied Upi, “you two kill me/’ All the men came close. Upi struck the bamboo, went inside, and it closed up. The cane then jumped about, and its leaves 1 fought* ail the men and killed them ; no man went home. The boy Upi remained passive Inside;

6 S Legends from Lorres Straits.

the bamboo ufii did it alL The bamboo stood up, the blood from the slain men ran down its leaves and dripped into a couple of melon-shells (alup = Cymbium) which were on the ground. The bamboo apt jumped up again, took the skin off all the men and pot them in the place, and, cutting off their heads, deposited them close to the base 1 head' of the bamboo upi The leaves swept away the bodies'of the men. To this day bamboos grow in-clear spaces, with no bushes beneath them (4).

(I have something in my notes here about Upi getting outside the bamboo, and all the Dorgai coming and wanting to kill him, and a round house with a central pest was mentioned, but this part is now illegible ; round houses are characteristic of the Eastern tribe.)

The remaining men of the village went to look for Upi, and said to him, “ You fight men belong to us?” “Yes/' he replied, “ I been fight them fellow/ 1 and he re-entered the bamboo, which jumped about and fought all the men, and the Dorgai too. 4 No one go home, all he dead.’ Upi still remained passive within the bamboo while the blood was again collected.

When Upi came out he returned to the skulls and told them what had happened, and asked them, “ What you say, finish ?” . “All right/ 1 they replied, “ finish. You go and split all the upi, by-and-bye the women Will come, you take them all, they belong to you.” When he had finished cutting up all the bamboos the women came, and he took them all and went home and told his foster-father, “ You take all them women and put in your house, then you come on ; we two go and look for my mother”

hey went to Upi’s mother's house, and found that she was away in the bush making her garden, but they remained in the house, closed the entrance, and pretended to be asleep. When the mother returned she put down her basket outside and looked at the doorway and said, “ W ho shut my house? She removed the obstruction and entered her house. Upi looked up and said, ft You my

mother?” She said, “What your name?” “My name Upi.” His mother caught hold of him and cried, and told Upf “ I been look round before, no find you ; I could not ay, that my throat he fast” LIpi said that they had come to take her to another house.

They looked at a house in the other village and decided to live there. Upi gave all the mothers among the women whose husbands had been killed to his foster-father, but kept all the girls and young women for himself.

ix.—S esere, the Dugong Hunter.

Once upon a time a man named Sesere lived by himself at a place called Seserenegegat, in the island of Badu. One day Sesere took his bow and arrow, and went on the reef at low tide to look for fish (1) ; walking along, he came to that portion of the reef which was opposite to the village of Tul, and there he found a pool containing numerous fish, all of which he shot The men of Tul, envious of his success, came up to Sesere and demanded why he did not stop in his own place instead of encroaching on their reef (2). Then they took the fish away from him, broke his bow and arrow, flinging the pieces away, and, catching hold of his head, pushed him along. Sesere returned home.

Next morning Sesere again took a bow and arrow and went to the same pool in the Tul reef and shot plenty fish. Once more the Tul men attacked, robbed, and drove him home. Later in the day he walked on the reef talking and grumbling to himself; looking about him, he noticed that the 'grass-like plant which grows on the reef had been bitten so cleanly as if cut with some sharp instrument, and he fell to wondering what fish had eaten the grass, and whether that fish was fit to eat. “I dent know what name—fish he kaikai ?”

That evening Sesere went into the bush and picked a quantity of scented leaves, with some of which he

thoroughly rubbed the skulls of his father and mother, and on the remainder placed these relics of his departed parents. Then he lay down with the skulls close to his head, but before he went to sleep he told them what had befallen him on that and the previous day, and inquired what fish it was that ate the grass, and how he could catch it.

When he slept the skulls made a small noise, and spake to Sesere, informing him it was the dugong which ate the grass, that it was good to eat, and that if he wanted to catch it he must take six pieces of wood and stick them on the reef where he had seen the marks of the dugong, for it would return to its feeding ground until all the grass was eaten* Three poles were to be erected to windward and three to leeward, they were to be well lashed together, and the steering-board of his canoe was to be tied on to the top. When this was finished he was to go into the bush till he came to a tree on which a Topi bird was perched and making its noise. There he would find a harpoon and rope. These he was to use for harpooning the dugong when it returned on the following night. As soon as the skulls had finished talking Sesere pushed them aside, saying, “Go, you two, you give me bad word”; then he said, “Come on” and putting them back again, “You speak good word.” Nothing further transpired (3), but Sesere did not go to sleep again, lie waited till “small daylight”,and when the wild-fowl called out he started for the bush, where he found the dugong-harpoon and two pieces of rope, to one of which a dart was affixed (4)

Further following out his instructions, Sesere constructed the platform (5), and at night sat on the top of it waiting the arrival of the dugong In due time it came, and Sesere successfully harpooned it Leaving the harpoon with its rope on the platform, he hauled the dugong to the beach by means of the spare rope, where he cut it up, and the method of carving a dugong which he then originated has been followed ever since. The platform, or ne & 9 is still erected according to the plan revealed to Sesere by the

skulls of his parents. After he had cut up the dugong with his bamboo knife (tipi) he cooked some of it in an earth-oven (amai) (6), and some he boiled in a large conchshell (6u t Fusus X using a small clam-skull (ahcl), as a spoon.

Next day Sesere reconstructed the neet in another place, further out from the shore than before. The Tul men saw him and wondered what it was. At sundown Sesere mounted the neet, taking some dugong meat to eat while waiting. At high water a dugong came ; Sesere harpooned it and dragged it on to the beach ; he returned to the neet, ate some more food, stood up, and soon killed another dugong. Then he thought he had enough food, as a male and pregnant female had succumbed to his*harpoon. He cooked some meat on the beach and slept. At daybreak he smoked a large number of pieces of meat over his fire and hung them on a tree to dry. His neighbours, wanting to know what Sesere was doing, came up and said, “Hulloa! he got plenty food,” and Sesere gave them some meat, but only that of inferior quality, saying, “ I give you all my food” ; to which they remarked, “ Why, he gammon, he got plenty left 1 *

The following night Sesere captured three dugong, and was so busy cutting up their carcasses and cooking the meat that he had no time for sleep. In the morning the Tul men made a yooden framework in the form of a dog, large enough for a man to get inside. They covered it over with the cloth-like sheath or spathe' (itvai) which covers the base of the leaves of the coco-palm, and inserted into this natural cloth the brown fibres of the husk of an old coco-nut, so as to imitate hair. As a test of the efficacy of the disguise, the man inside the dog ran on all-fours along a sand-pit, and the sea-birds hew away screaming.

The dog was next despatched to pry about Sesere^ house, so as to discover where he kept his meat v W hen Sesere saw the dog running towards him he called out to it and said, 41 That's my dog now,” and he threw it a piece of meat, which the man inside ate, The dog then

7 2

L egcn ds f ro vi 1 o r res S tret its .

went sniffing all over the house and round about outside, and it was not long before he discovered choice pieces of meat hanging up. When Sesere was not looking, as much of the latter as could be carried was surreptitiously hidden beneath the skin of the false dog, who then decamped, heedless of the whistling of Sesere and deaf to his reproaches for its deserting him.

That day Sesere made the neet in another place, and at night he harpooned four dugong, two males and two females. The Badu men employed the day in making another dog, and the following morning two dogs went to Sesere, who received them kindly and gave them meat. When they had eaten their fill they began to steal the best meat, and Sesere exclaimed, "Why you take it? It belongs to all of us; if you stop here It is your meat as well as mine’* ; but the dogs ran off with all they could carry.

The next day another dog was constructed, and Sesere re-erected his neei That night five dugong were captured, and going ashore with his prey, he cut them up, and so busy was he that daylight surprised him at his task. Then the three dogs came to his house and were well treated by Sesere, who was repaid with the same treachery as before.

On the following occasion Sesere harpooned six dugong, and four dogs came to thieve. He now began to turn matters over in his mind, and soliloquised : fv What name that [what is it], that a dog? I think he man. Dog sometime he come he steal, not all timed* Once more he took some scented leaves, and after washing the parental skulls he anointed them with fragrant herbs, and spoke to them, saying, "Please, father and mother, tel] me whether* they are dogs or men ? If they are men, and you tell me to, I will kill them.” “Yes,” they replied, "Badu men inside, outside is coco-nut, the bones are wood. Suppose you like to kill ^hem, Take your bow and five poisoned arrows (tank kinms) } and put them handy in a corner. When the dogs come to-morrow morning you give them a little food, not too much, or they will run away with it." "Go avrajV J

exclaimed Seserc ; a you two give me bad word/ 1 and he pushed the skulls away* Then he drew them back to him saying, “ Come on—you are all right*”

Seseredid not make a neet or go fishing that night, but brought all his gear to the shore. Next morning five dogs came running towards him, and he called out to them and gave them each a piece of meat and observed them closely ; then he went outside his house, put on his arm-guard (kadig) (7), and seizing his bow and arrows, shot four dogs dead* The fifth ran away, but he too received a parting shot which sorely wounded him* The Badu men who were on the look-out exclaimed, H See there’s only one dog, where are the "rest ?” The fugitive cried, 16 Sesere shot all the others, he shot me too ; ,J then he fell down dead* Sesere took the coverings off the four dogs he had killed and discovered the men, and having tied a rope round their necks, he dragged them off to the river.

On the following day the brothers of the slain men took some red paint (parma) and placed it in the middle of the kwod or bachelors' quarters, saying, li To-morrow we will kill that man,” Two great warriors, Mftmilbau and S a sal k adz, took some of the red paint, and rubbing it over their bodies, said they would go*

Sesere, meanwhile, consulted his domestic oracle, informing the skiflls that he had killed four men from the big village, and asked whether he would live or be killed* They replied that there would be a big fight on the morrow, and that ultimately he would be killed ; and they further instructed him, when he saw the men coming, to take a large bu shell (Fiisus), put it behind his house, and get into it when he was out of breath with fighting, and he would be transformed into a small black bird with a white breast.

On the eventful morning Seserc straightened his arrows over the fire and painted himself black and white* The Tul men marched to Seserenegcgat in double file, Manulbau and Sasalkadz heading each row* They called out, “ Where are you, Sesere ?” Sesere slung a bundle of

arrows (konll) over his shoulder and sang out, "I am here,” But, seeing the number of his antagonists, he deemed discretion the better part of valour, and, transforming himself into the bird, flew on to the top of Manulbau's head. Sasalkadz tried to kill Sesere, but he flew away, and the blow intended for the bird killed Munulbau. Then he flew on the head of Sasalkadz, wlto also was brained by a blow from a stone club aimed at Sesere ; the latter continued the same tactics until all the men but one were slain by their comrades. This man fled and informed the inhabitants of the three villages of Zauma, Baiil, and Kaulkai what had happened, and then be died too (8). The men of these villages said that on the following day they would go and fight Sesere.

After the sole survivor had run away, Sesere resumed his human form, tied a rope round the necks of the slain, and dragged them off to the river. That night he inquired ot the skulls whether all the men had finished fighting, and was informed that the men of three villages would attack him on the morrow.

Next morning three rows of men marched upon Sesere, and when the latter saw their numbers he thought his end was near. He stood upon a fiat stone and again painted himself. When dose to the house, the avengers of blood cried out, “ Where J s Sesere ?” To which Sesere replied, “ Tm here,” Once more he turned into a bird, and perched upon the head of the foremost man, who bent down so as to enable his neighbour to strike at the bird ; but the wily Sesere escaped, and the blow killed the man instead. Again and again this occurred, the men struck wildly at the nimble Sesere, but always to the discomfiture of one of their own party. At last but two men survived ; these retreated, and spread the news of the fighting to the four villages of Wakaid, Dorgai, Ngaur, and Upai, and when their tale was told they too fell down dead (8).

That night Sesere again consulted the skulls, and said to them, “ I think 1 finished them all this “ No,” replied

the skulls, “plenty men come. When you arc tired go inside the bu-shell.”

After breakfast four rows of men came, one for each village, and Sesere changed himself into a bird and pursued the same course as before. When two rows of men had fallen, Sesere grew tired and" flew into the shell, creeping round and round until he reached the apex of the spire. The men began breaking the shell at the large end, and when they came to the extremity of the shell, Sesere in his bird-form was discovered. The latter, emerging from the shell, jumped away into the bush, and, still covered with the remnant of the shell, ran up a small hill as a human being, and said, “I am here,” and again became a bird. “All right* 1 shouted the men, “Your name is 'Sesere'. Now you will always remain in the bush, and when you see men, you will always' call out your own name; 1 For the moment regaining his own form, Sesere replied, “All your women from henceforth are x Kobehe\ and will live in the bush, and all your men are DriS

The men and the women who had accompanied them went to Sescre’s house, took his dugong harpoon, stuck it in the ground, and it grew into a large tree, the dart similarly developed into another tree, and the rope flourished as a creeper. They said that in future these would not be found raady to hahd, as in Sesere *s case, but men would have to hew the dugong harpoon out of the tree, cut and fashion their own darts, and plait their ropes from the long creepers. No sooner had they taken Sesere’s dugongmeatand burnt his house than the charm began to work. The women found themselves turned into birds, the men flew away screeching as cockatoos, and Sesere took flight as the black and white bird which, flitting from bush to bush, still may be heard chirruping out “ Sesere, Sesere, Sesere.

NOTES ON THE PRECEDING LEGENDS.

i.—T he Birth of Kusa Kap.

This legend records the miraculous conception by a woman, fioni eating seeds, and the laying of an egg from which a bird was hatched. The bird speedily grew to a gigantic size. Here we have the original of the rumour which d 1 Albertis records in his book on New Guinea. “They [the captain and engineer of tlie EUangowa?i —the mission steamer, Dr. James of the Macleay expedition and his companion] told me of the discovery of the river Baxter [Mai Kusa], and of a bird of a huge species, which measures 22 feet between the tips of its wings. The engineer, however, diminished these dimensions, as slated by Air, Stone, to 16 feet. They compare the dapping of its wings to the noise made by a steam-engine, and assure me that they had heard from the natives that It has often been seen to carry a dugoiig into the air. Some of my companions were offended because 1 expressed my doubts of the credibility of this story” (i, p. 3S7). Later on he writes : “As to the gigantic bird of Eaxter, on the Maieussar river, I have ascertained that it was a Buceros ruficoUis [hombill], which makes a peculiar noise in flyings This sound, especially when several birds fly together, resembles the noise of a steamengine ; and I succeeded in convincing two or three discoverers of the great bird, who are now on board the Ellangowmty of the fact’ 1 (iij p. 33)' Accounts of this marvellous bird also appeared in Australian papers about the month of October, in 2S75, D'Albertis may be credited with having discovered what Tnay be termed the real element in the story, the remainder is doubtless due to tlie imperfect apprehension by the leaders of the expedition of the local legend which the natives, probably Saibai men, were telling them, as the island of Boigu lies qfif the mouth of the Alai Kusa riven

(1) The dugong (Halitor £ australis) is a large marine mammal, something like a whale in appearance, which feeds on a kind of seagrass which grows on portions of the reef and in deep water. It is said to always return to its feeding ground until the latter i's exhausted, (2) A Dorgai is a kind of bogey, which seems to be confined to Torres Straits, The nature of a Dorgai may be readily gleaned by a perusal of many of these legends. (3) The dugong* platform is described in the legend of Sesere. (4) Drums are hollowed out of a tree-trunk, and the tympanum is at one end only, (5) The only knife these people had was that made by splitting a bamboo, the siliceous particles in the rind forming a sharp-cutting edge ; when this

was blunted a fresh edge could be made by tearing off a strip from the blade. These knives are still used on the mainland of New Guinea, but in the islands they have been entirely superseded by iron knives of European manufacture. The well-known beheading knife is made of bamboo, and Dr. MacFarlane, the pioneer missionary, has informed me that lie has seen dugong cut up with a bamboo knife. (6) An old coco-nut, in which.one 1 eye* is perforated, is the waterbottle of the district ; these are carried in pairs by means of a string, the knotted ends of which are inserted into the hole in the nut, and this is then plugged by a rolled-up fragment of a pandanus leaf. The water is sucked through the latter,

it,—The Legend of Dorgai Metaeurabl

"This legend and the following are star myths. This one is associated with two constellations, one (Dorgai kukiiaig') consisting of three stars in a row ; the central one is called ga t and the other two get (* hand 7 ) ; the other, fot t is the Pleiades. These constellations belong to the north-west monsoon, and “when Dorgai come up (from the east) that time make kag —or the dance.

(i) The * wild-fowl’ or mound-bird (Megafiodiws) heaps up a large mound of earth and decaying leaves, within which it places its egg, to be hatched by the heat engendered by the decaying vegetable matter. These eggs are a favourite article of food with the natives, (2) The egg-cowries (A mp hiper as [Ovulum ] ovum) are sometimes worn as personal ornaments by the islanders, and are very frequently used to decorate canoes and drums. (3) 1 have no explanation of the fly episode. (4) The head of this kind of arrow is made of split bamboo and sharpened to a point. It is used in pig hunting, and I was more than once informed that when used in warfare it was invariably aimed at the abdomen, in order to rip it open, (5) 1 do not understand why Bu was murdered by his friends; generally those who encompass the death of a Dorgai are themselves destroyed by supernatural means.

in,—T he Legend of dorgai I.

This star myth is supposed to account for the fact that the Dorgai vAaralaig constellation has only one lateral star {get — hand). I believe this is the constellation of the south-east season.

xv. _Why the Spirits of the Dead go to Kibuka.

The natives of Torres Straits believed that the spirit of a man left the body at death and went to dwell in an island to the westward. Among the western tribe the spirit is called man T in the eastern it is iamarj t he same word also signifies shadow or reflection. 1 he island

78 Legends from Torres Sirmts.

of the shades is called “ Kibuka’ 3 by the western tribe, and i( Boigu” by the eastern. There is no island known by the farmer name, but the most western island of the Straits, close to New Guinea, is named Boigu, As the eastern tribe does not appear to have had any business dealings with the westernmost islanders, it is quite possible that they really believed that this particular island was the abode of spirits. From what I gathered at Mer, T have very little doubt on this point* The western islanders projected their mythical island beyond geographical recognition. Strangely enough, however, in the legend of Tiai of Badu, the mari of that infant went to Boigu ; and in the story of Mutuk the murdered men flew as flying foxes to the mainland of New Guinea (Daudai)*

In speaking of Kibuka, it was always described to me as being to ‘ leeward 7 : in these latitudes a steady and strong south-east trade wind blows for seven or eight months in the year, and geographical relations arc usually expressed in terms of this wind. Owing to the influence of sun-worship in so many countries, and the analogy of death and sunset, it is not surprising that the land of the dead should be so often placed in the west I venture to suggest that another reason may be worthy of consideration. A nautical people such as our islanders would naturally conceive of their spirits as sailing with the prevailing wind, and would hardly be likely to locate the spiritland in a quarter which would necessitate the spirits beating to woodward- We have no reason for supposing that the sun was regarded by tire Papuans with any feeling of veneration, or that sunset was compared with decease. Possibly the same can be shown for oilier peoples, and the westerly location of the land of spirits by different races may be a pure coincidence.

I have been able to gather very little concerning the condition of the mari in Kibuka. Dr. MacFarlane states in MS* that they are said to sit crying on the lops of the trees, wishing to return to their friends* Possibly this was suggested by the Hying foxes ( sapura , Pteropus), and in the legend of Mutuk \ve And that he and his murdered friends were transformed into flying foxes* The best men among them appear to have been better off as spirits in some undefined manner—* best r in this application has no moral significance* but solely applies to such characteristics as bravery, bloodthirstiness, and other savage virtues.

I was told that when a mari arrived at Kibuka, “ by-and-byc the 1 devils 1 hit the mari with a stone dub and killed him/' What this means I do not know ; by £ devils' 1 suppose the resident mari are meant* Unfortunately the word L devil/ 1 has been adopted into the jargon English spoken in the Straits, and has no definite meaning ; thus it may mean a man's spirit, or spirits which haunt a locality, or

Legends from Lorres Straits . 79

the bogies known as Dorgai, and now the Christian (!) idea of devil and devils is being taught.

(1) The meat Tabepa destined for Ms parents-in-law was evidently intended as payment for his bride* (2) it was customary for a man to make a present to his parents-in-law on the birth of a first child, and I believe also for subsequent births* (3) In the western tribe it is usual for the girls to propose marriage to the men. After marriage the men entirely or partially live with their wife's people* in this, case the wife followed her spirit-husband. (4) The natives of Mabuiag and of many other islands do not eat the flesh of the porpoise ; the only reason I could get was that it was too fat* There may be some superstitious reason which they were ashamed to acknowledge.

* v.—T he Story of Mutuk,

(1) Eivalved shells with sharp edges were the common cutting implements of the islanders before iron was introduced* Small objects are very frequently carried behind the ear ; Mutuk carried his shell there, just as we carry knives in our pockets* (2) “Make him devil 55 is the jargon English for a funeral dance and ceremony ; 4 devil' in this case means mart or spirit* (3) The funeral ceremonies and those connected with the initiation of theads were the most sacred functions in the lives of these savages ; Mutuk had evidently committed the crime of rendering his own funeral ceremonies null and void, he was therefore executed for committing sacrilege, (4) This is the only instance 1 know of in which dead men were transformed into fruit-eating bats (5) It is customary for men to decorate themselves with leaves, flowers, and so forth on special occasions, such as dances, and the return of Mutuk would be a fit occasion for such display. A bunch of leaves is inserted in the belt behind and in the armlets, possibly also in the hair and behfad the ears ; flowers are constantly worn in the hair* (6) This appears to be the regular method of distributing marriageable daughters, the eldest is given first and to the most distinguished man, or to the eldest brother of a family of young men, and so on downwards* (7) My informant called th-2 plant £ bua'y which be said was a kind of wild yam, I find that Macgilivray gives bua as the:Muralug name for CaUadmnf escuknfum {Voyage of u RaiitesnaM\ ii, p* 288)* (8) Elephantiasis is not an

uncommon disease in these parts*

vx P —T he Adventure of Gabakwoikai. This story calls for no special remark*

So

Legends from Lorres Straits.

vn.— The Doxgai of Karapar,

This story does not appear to contain any important fact, but in it we have mention made of two legendary heroes of Badu, Mamlbau and Sasalkadzi (the pronunciation of these two names varied slightly, hence the discrepancies in the spelling); in the two following legends these-warriors'are killed twice over under different circumstances*

(i) The sucker-fish {Echemis naucrates) is used in catching turtle in a manner I have already described in the notes on the migration of Eire They are suspended in the water, over the side of the canoe, by two pieces of string, one of which is passed through the tail and then lashed round, and the other is inserted through the mouth and out at the gills, (2) It appears that at night-time the gapu were kept in the canoe, probably in the bilge-water, in order to prevent their being seized by predatory fish, and when they began to show signs of asphyxiation the man in charge was to restore them by hanging them over the side of the canoe* (3) The dadu is a flag-like streamer made from the leaf of a coco-palm* (4) This is a common way of carrying baskets in New Guinea* (5) The earth-oven of the Papuans is very similar to that in use all over the Pacific. (6) This custom, which we shall meet with again, appears to have been a general practice when volunteers were required to avenge a death,

*

vm.— 'The Story of Upi.

This legend illustrates many old customs, and I fancy that Upi is the 1 culture hero 3 who invented the bamboo knife (-. upi ).

( t ) 4 What name* is the local English jargon for an interrogation, meaning, who ? what? who is it? what is it? etc. (2) This is the ordinary method of appropriating anything “(such and such) he belong me" ; or even sometimes, when asking for anything, they will say, “It belong me?” or in giving anything one will say, “That belong youd* Thus the*phrase here used does not imply previous possession. (3) Skull divination was very commonly practised; usually the skulls of relatives were preserved for this purpose, as in the legend of Sesere ; but it appears from this legend that even a stranger’s skull could be thus utilised, (4) A mythical explanation of a v eil-known fact,

ix,—S esere, the Dugong Hunter.

This legend relates the manner in which the dugong was first discovered to be an article of food, and how men w r ere taught to bunt it.

(1) This is the only Instance in which I heard of a bow and arrow being used for catching fish, X particularly inquired of my, informant, and he assured me that so it was in the legend ; whether it has been

practised in recent times I cannot say* (2) Ownership of land extends also on to the adjoining' reef, and all fish caught on that portion of a reef which lies oft private property belongs, as a matter of right, to the owner of the soil; Sesere was therefore poaching. Once, when I was dredging between the Murray Islands, we saw turtle-ti acks on the beach of an uninhabited island; we landed and dug up the turtle-eggs ; when we went to the neighbouring island I had to pay a cripple who lived there for the eggs, or, rather, for those that I and my boatmen had eaten, for the eggs were laid on a sandbeach that belonged to him ; the fact that he did not know they were there, or that he could not have got them personally if he had, did not affect the question, (3) 1 do not know whether this pushing Lhe oracle away in pretended distrust and then appealing to it again was a common practice, but there is a second example of it in the story of the “ Six Blind Brothers’’; both legends, however, were narrated by the clever story-teller, Malakula of Badu, (4) I certainly understood that Sesere found everything ready-made to hand in the bush, but I may have been mistaken, (5) A figure of a dugong-platform or nett, and an account of the way in which the dugong is caught, will be found in my paper in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute . The* earth-oven is a hole in the ground in which hot stones and leaves are placed along with the meat, the whole being covered with earth. (7) This is a cylindrical armlet of woven split rattan, which is worn on the left fore-arm to prevent abrasion of the skin in the recoil of the bow-string when shooting, (8) There is no evidence t ha t these men were even wounded; a similar instance of the bearer of bad news falling down dead when he had told his tale occurs In the legend of Khvoiam,

Alfred C Haddox.

)

{To be couimued.)

vol. 1,

g

The Greek Trade-Routes to Britain

William Ridgeway

THE GREEK TRADE-ROUTES TO BRITAIN.

O subject has had more attraction for inquirers

IN into the early history of these islands than the question of the earliest intercourse between Britain and the ancient peoples of the Mediterranean, to whom all the civilisation of Europe is due* Camden, the Father of English Archaeology, identified the Cassiterides of the ancients with the Scilly Isles, and gave currency to the belief, which has prevailed ever since, that the Phoenicians traded to Britain, Mr. Elton (Origins of English History) has given good reasons for doubting this hypothesis, and has shown that the Tin Islands of the ancient writers are rather a group of small islands off the coast of Northern Spain.

But we can have no doubt that there was an extensive trade between Gaul and Britain before Julius Caesar ever set foot on this island. The nature of this trade in general we learn from Strabo; for it is not likely that there had been great variation in the nature of the objects exported and imported between 55 b. c. and the thine when the geographer wrote (cir. A,D. 1 - 19 ). Strabo (iv, 199 ) enumerates corn (wheat, uffo?), cattle, gold, silver, iron, skins, slaves, and dogs, used by the Kelts for war as well as the chase, and gives us likewise the list of imports into Britain, which comprised “ivory bracelets and necklaces, and red amber beads (X1/77 ovpta) and vessels of glass (vaXa (TKzvrf) } and such like trumpery wares (aX\o$ pwTro? toiovtos)." Strangely enough, Strabo omits tin from his schedule of products and exports, although elsewhere, as we shall see, he quotes a passage from Posidonius referring to that trade, and Caesar mentions it amongst the products of Britain as being found in the interior (inmediferraneh regwinlw$,B.G. %

v, 12). It is quite possible, as we shall see hereafter, that the tin trade with the Continent had died out in the time of Caesar, and that it was not until after the Roman conquest, in the middle of the following century, that the mines of Cornwall were again developed. To the list of imports given by Strabo we may add copper, on the authority of Gsesar {cere utuntwr import l aio, v, 12). Diodorus Siculus (v, 22) gives an account of the tin raining in Cornwall, which is probably based on the account of the Stoic Posidonius, who travelled in Britain about B.C* 90 :

“ The inhabitants of that part of Britain which is called Bclcrion are very fond of strangers, and, from their intercourse with foreign merchants, are civilised in their manner of life. They prepare the tin, working very carefully the earth in which it is produced* The ground is rocky, but it contains earthy veins, the produce of which is ground down, smelted, and purified. They beat the metal into masses, shaped like astragali, 1 and carry it to a certain island lying off Britain called Ictis* During the ebb of the tide the intervening space is left dry, and they carry over into this island the tin in ab uridance i n t hei r w aggon s* ttf0 w the re is a p ecu 1 i ar phe - nomenon connected with the neighbouring islands, I mean those that lie between Europe and Britain ; for at the floodtide the intervening passage is overflowed, and they seem like islands; but a large space is left dry at the ebb, and then they seem to be like peninsulas. Here, then, the merchants buy the tin from the natives and carry it over to Gaul; and after travelling overland for about thirty days, they finally bring their loads on horses to die mouth of the Rhone ,” 5

1 Vvo TVTrovi’VCS tf c-fa iiGrpttr'fftXwv pit&ftovS* Vaqlect, atrrpat'jaXov*?, As the lilt was conveyed on pack-horses, lumps shaped like astragali do not seem very suitable* At Truro and in other Museums there are ancient pigs of tin shaped like saddles, evidently to facilitate carriage* Is ariypqfi&v the true reading?

- Jt is impossible that ctcj3a\i)v 70D Po£rti'ov 77070/101/ can mean,

0 :

Next let us take the following passages, both of which are taken from Posidonius. “ Posidonius says (in refeience to Spain) that the tin is not found on the surface, as many authors have alleged, but is dug up ; and that it is produced among the barbarians above Lusitania, and also in the islands called Cassiteridcs. And that from the British Isles tin is carried to Marseilles” ( StrabOy iii, 147)* Diodorus (v, 38) is beyond doubt quoting from the same authority when lie writes: “Tin likewise is found in many parts of Iberia, not being found on the surface, as some have alleged in their accounts, but being dug up and smelted, just like silver and gold. For above the land of the Lusitanians there are many mines of tin -along the little islands which lie in front of Iberia in the Ocean, which arc called from the circumstance Tin Islands. Much is likewise conveyed across from the British Island to Gaul, which lies right on the opposite side, arid is conveyed on horses through the interior of Gaul by the traders to the Massallotes, and the city called Narbo, The latter is a Roman colony, and, on account of its favourable position and wealth, is the greatest trading centre of all the cities in these parts / 1 These two passages are valuable (as Mr. Elton has pointed out, p. 3.7) <f as showing the distinction which was known to exist between the Cornish tin trade and the commerce with the Cassiterides^ which was of a much higher antiquity / 1

Let us now observe that when Strabo, writing as a contemporary, is describing the exports from Britain, he omits the mention of tin, whilst from the extract from Posidonius, quoted alike by him and Diodorus, it is plain that when the Stoic explorer visited North-Western Europe ^the British tin trade was still of importance. From the quotation from Diodorus we learn also that the tin passed to two different marts on the Mediterranean littoral, Massalia

as Mr. Elton takes it, fi the junction of the Rhone and Saone, where the wharves for the tin-barges were erected/ 1 What is the authority for the last statement ?

and then to Narbo. This implies that there were either two distinct routes, or that the tin first passed to Narbo and thence to Massalia. For a glance at the map will show the absurdity of the third alternative, that is, to suppose that the tin passed round by Massalia and then to Narbo* That our first alternative is probably the true one for the epoch when Posidonius wrote, we shall adduce evidence hereafter* On the other hand, it is probable that in earlier times there was only one route* that from Narbo* The greatest loss which early English history has sustained was the destruction of the Travels of Pytheas, that clever Mas sabot e, whom Polybius and Strabo called the “ arch-haP 3 , because he related certain matters connected with the climate and geography of Northern Europe which the modern world knows to be undoubted facts. Pytheas went on a voyage round the west and north of Europe, probably about 330 B*C What the circumstances were under which the voyage was undertaken we have no means of knowing. The statement that he was sent out by rt a committee of merchants” is of course a mere piece of romance, like much more which has been written about his expedition. All that we know about it is contained in a few broken fragments embedded chiefly in the writings of Polybius and Strabo, who quoted him usually for the purpose of holding up' his mendacity to execration. One of these quotations is given by Strabo (iv, 190) from Polybius : “ The Liger (Loire) debouches between the Fictones and Namnitre. Formerly Corbilo was an emporium on this river of which Polybius has spoken, when he made mention of the fables told by Pytheas, that none of the Massaliotes who conversed with Scipfo could tell anything worth recording, when questioned by Scipio about Britain, nor yet any of those from Narbo, nor of those from Corbilo ”

It may be observed that the experience of modern times entirely explains the statement of Pytheas* When we know that it is only within very recent years that we have found out the sources and plants from which some of our

best-known drugs are procured (for instance, it was only in 1867 that that most familiar of drugs, Turkey rhubarb, was discovered by a missionary in Thibet), the jealousy of the Eastern traders having kept the secret so well ; and when we recall the success with which the Arabs until recent years had withheld all information about the interior of Africa, we need not wonder if the shrewd merchants of Marseilles and Narbonne professed an intense ignorance about the land from whence came the tin, the source of which was, no doubt, the object of the Roman inquiries.

But to return : these three towns, called by Pytheas the best cities in this region”, indicate the line of trade to Britain, There are two emporia on the southern* but only one on the western shore of Gaul. From this we may infer with some confidence that as yet the route to Britain across the Straits of Dover was undeveloped, and that the flourishing city of Corbilo, on the mouth of the Loire, probably in the territory of the Namnetes (Nantes)^ and whose name possibly is still found in that of the village of Comeron f was the port of embarkation and debarkation to and from Britain,

This passage is of great importance also in other respects, for it puts beyond all doubt that the route between Massalia, Narbo, and the mouth of the Loire was already well known, although a writer of repute like Mr. Elton assumes (on very mistaken grounds, as we shall sec presently) that Pytheas opened up this route for the Massaliotes, l uithermore, it can also be inferred, from Scipio’s questions, that there was trade with Britain by this route ; whilst there is the further probability that tin was comprised in this trade, although the common theory at present is that Pytheas first opened this trade. Nor is this opinion without further evidence. In none of the Greek fragments of Pytheas have we any reference to tin, but there is a short quotation from TinuEus (fior. 350-326 B.C.), the Sicilian historian, who was a contemporary of Pytheas, and whose quotations from the latter are frequently given by Pliny.

It runs as follows: “Timaeus the historian says that the island of Mictis is distant inwards from Britain six days’ voyage, in which the tin is produced (provemat % others read venial) ^ and that the Britons sail to it in vessels made of wicker-work covered with hide.* 1 We shall have to discuss this passage at greater length later on, but for our immediate purpose it is enough to point out that whether Timaats is quoting from Pytheas or not, already in the time of Pytheas the Greeks were aware of the British tin trade. This is supported by a passage in the pseudo- Aristotelian Book of Wonderful Stories, which, with others, is regarded as a genuine fragment of Aristotle by Bekker {Fragm.y 2*48). In it we have mention of Keltic tin (rbv KadG-Lrepov toi/ KeXTweoy Trjkeo$at cpaa-L ttqXu Tayim tov pLo\v/ 38 Qv) m If this be really Aristotle’s, at first sight we might found on it an argument of considerable force to show that there was a trade In tin across Gaul from Britain before the voyage of Pytheas, especially as it is commonly held that the term KeXrcKrj was confined to that part of Gaul which lay to the north of the Loire. Mr. Elton, for example, builds on this assumption his Interpretation 01 the aim of the explorations of Pytheas. H In a short time " he writes (page 25), they (tie,, Pytheas and his companions) arrived u at the mouth of the Loire, then the northern boundary of the Iberian population and the limit of the Celtic advance. Here Pytheas declared, and was afterwards followed by Artemidoms, that it would have been far easier to have come to Celtica by the overland route from Marseilles than to have undertaken the difficult and tedious voyage by sea. J>

Even though Mr. Elton's assumption as to Celtica were right, whatever may be the meaning of the famous sentence which he has paraphrased, it certainly cannot be

1 Timams historicus a Britannia introrsunf sex' diemm'navigatione abesse dicit insulam Mictim, in qua candidum plumbum provemat; ad earn Britannos vitilibus navigiis corio circumsutis navigare (Pliny, H* N„ w, 16),

made to give his rendering. The words as given by Strabo (iii, 143) are ro wpoo-apKTira pep?} r?/? lfiijpta? GvirapoScorepa Given, 7 rpos T7}V KgXtuctjv i} Kara rov Q-kguvov 1tXeovol. The literal translation of these words is: “The fact that the northerly parts of Iberia are more accessible by a side route in the direction of Keltica than for those sailing by the ocean.” Instead of Celtica being the goal aimed at, as Mr. Elton supposes, it is the northern part of Iberia which is the object of the statement Blit we may at once dispose of this point by showing from indubitable testimony, drawn from the writings of the age of Pytheas, that the country which the Greeks called Keltiled included all Gaul down to the Pyrenees, and even some partsof Spain. Aristotle (Meteor, i, 350), speaking of the Pyrenees, describes them as mountains in Keltike—e Uvptfvrjs

(TQVTQ 5* O/JOS 7T/?6? Sv&flijV l<71]pL€pivT}V £v T?} K e\TLfCT}) tcj .

He does not merely regard the Pyrenees as bounding Keltikd, but as being actually in it Aristotle had no doubt good information respecting this region, as is shown by his various references in the Politics to the habits and institutions of the Kelts and Iberians, and his evidently complete knowledge of the polity of Massalia. But his testimony is completely confirmed by the historian Ephorus (363- 300 B.C.), as we know from Strabo (iv, 199). “Ephorus both speaks of Keltike as exceeding great fh its extent, so that he assigns to them (the Kelts) the greatest part of what is now called Iberia, as far as Gadeira, and he represents the people as lovers of the Greeks, and he is our sole authority for many statements respecting them which do not resemble their present conditions.” Aristotle may well speak of the Pyrenees as being in Keltike, wken Ephorus makes that name extend as far south as Cadiz,

1 he only inference, then, which we are warranted in drawing from the “Keltic tin” is that Aristotle was aware that the tin-supply came from the land of the Kelts, but as that might have, in his mind, included all Northern Spain with the tin islands, it is impossible to base any

argument on it. But even without this the evidence already given makes it very probable that the tin trade with Britain already existed. The tin derived from the Cassiiertdes could only have reached the Greeks through the medium of the merchantmen of Gades, That ancient city, almost alone of all the Tyrian colonies in the West, had managed to keep free from the yoke of Carthage. It is not improbable that friendly trade relations existed between her and Massalia and her colony Emporise, For instance, we find all three employing the same peculiar monetary system ; besides, there was the strong bond of a common hatred and dread of Carthage, who was now almost at the zenith of her power.

By the time of Pytheas the trade of Massalia with Southern Spain and Gades must have been most sensibly hindered. For the Phocaic cities which had once fringed the coast of Spain as far as Malaga (the most southern of which was Msenaca) were falling one by one before the Carthaginians, whose “ fleet commanded, without a rival, the whole western Mediterranean”. “ They endeavoured still more thoroughly to monopolise the maritime commerce of this region at the expense alike of foreigners and of their own subjects, and it was not the wont of die Carthaginians to recoil from any violence that might help forward thefr purpose. A contemporary of the Punic wars, Eratosthenes, the father of geography (275-194 E.C.), affirms diat every foreign mariner sailing towards Sardinia or towards the Straits of Gades, who fell into the hands of the Carthaginians, was thrown by them into the sea ; and with this statement the fact completely accords that Qurthage, by the treaty of 348 E.C, declared the Spanish, Sardinian, and Libyan ports open to Roman tradingvessels, whereas by that of 308 e.g it totally closed them, with the exception of Carthage Itself, to the same” (Mommsen, Roman NisL Y ii,p, 15,)

Under such circumstances Massaliote trade with Gades must have been indeed fraught with dangers, and it was

natural that the Massalkm traders should wish for some safer route by which to obtain the produce from the famous tin islands, the navigation to which the shipmen of Gades kept a close secret, both then and for long after*

Strabo (iii, 17S}, after having described the situation of the Kassi ter ides (probably borrowing his accounts from Posidonius, under whose name the paragraph which immediately precedes** is given), their number, natural products, and inhabitants—“men clad in sable raiments, with flowing garments down to their feet, girt round the bosom, walking about with staves, resembling the Furies in Tragedy 11 —proceeds as follows :

u They live like pastoral people from the produce of their flocks, and as they possess mines of tin and lead, in exchange for these and the skins of their flocks they obtain by way of barter pottery and salt and articles of bronze, in dealing with the traders. Formerly the Phoenicians alone used to ply this trade from Gadeires, keeping the way thither a secret from all And on the Romans following a shipmaster, in order that they too might find out the marts, the shipmaster through rivalry purposely cast away his ship on a shoal, but having enticed ’ likewise those who followed him into the same destruction, he himself escaped by means of the wreck, and received back at the public expense the price of the freight which he hadMost 1 The Romans, nevertheless, by making frequent attempts, succeeded in finding out the way* But when, moreover, Publius Crassus crossed over to visit them,and found the mines being worked at a shallow depth, and the people peaceful, he made it known to those who were already exceeding willing to ply on this sea, although it is greater in extent than that which divides off Britain/ 1

1 Mr. Elton (p* 13) says the captain “was rewarded by the Senate of C arthage 53 . Strabo’s words are simply £ V t W <tca The

bonl'2° f C ^ thagG intr f UCeS a total misconception of the rdalions between that city and Gades.

The statement about Publius Crassus 1 is of course not* from Posidonius, but is added by Strabo himself There can be little doubt that this Roman is none other but Caesar’s famous lieutenant who conquered all Aquitania (Caesar, B. (?., iii, zi-20). lie is all the more likely to have passed into Northern Spain, inasmuch as the people of that region had given great assistance to the Aquitam in their struggle against him (B> G iii,-23). Without doubt he was fully aware of the mineral wealth of that country, as is shown by Oesads remark (iii, 21) on their skill in defending cities, in consequence of their having numerous copper mines and other works in that region. As is plain from Strabo’s words, the Romans already knew how to reach the tin islands by sea, coasting round from the Mediterranean and up from Gades on the old Phoenician track. Crassus, then, by opening up a far shorter route, that of a short sea voyage from the Cassiterides to the coast of Gaul (possibly to the Garonne), at once

1 Mr. Elton (p, 19) has missed completely both grammar and sense ; i( Publius Crassus conquered the north-west of Spain about a century before Christ, and found the Cassiterides, the situation of which was not up to that time known to the Romans. * As soon as he reached them 1 , says Strabo, f he perceived that the mines were very slightly worked, and the natives were peaceable, and already employing they leisure in learning navigation ; so he taught all that were willing how to make the voyage, the voyage from Vigo to Marseilles.’ He adds that this passage was longer than the journey to Britain, by which he appears to mean that it was thought worth while to carry the tin round to Marseilles, even though the merchants of that place had an easier way of getting it by the caravan-route across Gaul” Here is the original: hiretBij ce teal IIoTrXios Kptia&as aviom €*fino. ric pemWa ftuepov

ftilOom opi)TToti£im 7 rat tov* ttvBpas clptjvctiQv* t ir Trcptovutfi^ T) I if OaXd'TTTfa tp^a^eoQat vattT-qv -rots £dl\ov<ttv t—tBcigc tcaiwep ovtxar 7r\etti> T}j& StQip^ovaTfS t>}k Epe-(ivi/tK^tt m He misses the point of^V fjLitcpov /3d@ow 7 which means that the metal, because it lay near the surface, was worked without difficulty. The benevolence of the kindly Roman in teaching the islanders the art of navigation is delightful. Finally, why should a Roman be so anxious to serve the merchants of Marseilles ?

92 The Greek Tradc-Routes to Britain.

.developed this trade. The ore lay near the surface. The distance by sea was greater than that across the English Channel, but the readiness with which the tin was obtained, combined with the shorter land transit, more than compensated this. Strabo is evidently contrasting the rival tin-producing regions when he introduces the allusion to Britain, and it is equally certain that the two distances by sea which he has in mind are measured from the coast of Gaul In the case of Britain there can be no doubt at all respecting the region from which the sea divides it, and he of course is estimating the extent of the sea which divides the tin island from land by referring to France likewise.

To refer this to the extent of sea round by the Pillars of Herakles is impossible, for the Romans already knew that route, and at the same time it would be absurd to compare in any wise so long a voyage with the short extent of sea separating Britain from the Continent. The right interpretation of this passage has some very important results. In the first place it explains why, when Strabo was writing, tin is no longer mentioned among the exports from Britain, The new development of the Spanish mines has evidently driven the British tin out of the market, as in recent times the fresh development of the most ancient source of tin, the famous mines of Malacca, the Kastira of the ancients, has once more driven Cornish tin out of the markets of the world.

From this achievement of Crassus and its results we can now understand in its proper light the famous expression of Pytheas, that u the northern parts of Iberia are more accessible towards Keltike than for those who sail by the ocean". We saw above that at this time the Carthaginians had shut out the Greeks from all trade in the west of the Mediterranean. The Massaliotes had sought, about the beginning of the fourth century B.C., to make up for their losses on the coasts of Southern Spain by planting the strong colony of Emporia; near the foot of the Pyrenees in the hopes of still keeping some share in the mineral

wealth of Spain. Fabulous stories are told of the richness of the silver mines worked in this region. It was natural, then, that they would seek to gain access to the famous tin region which lay beyond Lusitania, the only approach to which by sea was beset by their enemies, and the very direction of which was a secret jealously guarded by the traders of Gad dir. The statement of Pytheas now finds its full force. He found, as Publius Crassus found three centuries later, that the rich mineral regions and islands of North-Western Spain were far more accessible for the Massaliotcs by a land journey across Gaul and a short sea voyage, than by the long and perilous route round by Gibraltar. His information seems to have led to no practical end. The political power of Massalia was too weak for such an enterprise, and, as we have seen above, it was not until all Gaul fell under the strong hand of Rome that the idea of Pytheas became an accomplished fact.

ITaving thus obtained a clear view of what was meant by Keltike in the days of Pytheas, and having also seen reasons for regarding the tin route from Britain as passing from Corbilo on the mouth of the Loire to Narbo and Massalia, let us examine the channels by which in historical times trade passed through Gaul, and between Gaul and Britain j at a later time. Transit through Gaul had great natural facilities by means df the great river-systems. Strabo (iii, 177) calls attention to the advantages thus afforded ; “The whole of this region is watered by rivers, some coming down from the Alps, others from the Cevennes and Pyrenees, and part flowing into the ocean, and past into our sea. For the most they flow through plains, or through low hills, with channels between that admit of navigation; and nature has so well appointed the interrelations of the streams that transit, is possible from one sea to the other, as the merchandise has to be conveyed only for a short distance overland, and that through plains which offer no difficulty, but for the greater part of the way

by the rivers, being conveyed up some and down others* 1 Diodorus (v, 27) likewise speaks of the river trade in Gaul Such, then, being the main highways of commerce across Gaul, Strabo (iii, ipp) supplies us with explicit

information regarding its connection with Britain ; “ 1 here are four passages usually followed by travellers from the Continent to the island (Britain), those from the mouths of the rivers, the Rhine, the Seine, the Loire, and the Garonne* Travellers putting out from the Rhine do not sail from the very mouths, but from the Morini, who border on the Menapii; in their territory is also Ition (Grisnez), which the divine Csesar used as the station for his fleet when crossing over to the island” From-these two passages we may infer with safety that in the time ol Pytheas, when Gorbilo was the chief emporium in that region, that the course of trade from Massalia passed either through Narbo, in the land of th£ Tectosages, and down the Garonne, and by a coast voyage to the mouth of the Loire, or directly by the Loire itself to the same emporium* The more northerly route up the Rhone and down the Seine had not yet been developed, whilst with the fourth crossing-place, that from the Rhine, we have nothing to do in this investigation, as it is not likely that it ever formed a direct medium between the Mediterranean and Britain, For practical purposes the remaining three passages resolve themselves into two only, as it is hardly likely that any’shipmaster ever sailed boldly across from Rurdigala (Bordeaux) to Britain. Mariners sailing from thence would therefore follow the same course as those starting from the Loire. It is obvious that those who started from the Seine would tand in Kent* But to what point*in Britain did those who set out from Armorica direct their course? Unfortunately, Strabo has not given us any account of the points on the British coast at which travellers from the Continental points landed. Caisar (B. G. t v, 13) has, however, to some extent supplied this want Speaking

1 Strabo (iv, 193) gives some further details*

of the shape of Britain, he says: “ The island is a natural triangle, one side of which lies opposite Gaul; one angle, which is in the region of Can tin m, at which almost all ships from Gaul put to land, faces east {quo fere mums ex Gallia naves afpdlu?iiur } etc,).

By the time when Strabo wrote the tin trade had virtually ceased ; and with it all trade with Western Britain, Devon, and Cornwall, would have fallen into decay. But we may infer from Caesar’s expression, w almost all ships from Gaul”, that some few ships put in at some other part of Britain, Beside the passage across the Strait, there was also that from Armorica by the Channel Islands to, the south coast, and there are various considerations which will make us regard the Isle of Wight as its terminus on the English side. Wc saw above that Diodorus, following Posidonius, gives Ictis as the name of the island on the coast of Britain to which the tin was brought. We also found that Timieus, probably from Pytlieas, gives the name of the island where the tin was produced as Mictis, or rather Pliny, in his brief fashion, gives a reference to T a mams ; for how far it represents the exact words of that author we have no means of judging. Now there can be no doubt that the Vectis (Wight) of the Romans, of Ptolemy,

T/m? of Diodorus, are the same island, and we can hardly doubt thatj Pliny s Mictis refers to the same spot, (whether the initial M be a genuine form of the word as it sounded to the ear of Pytheas, or, as some have suggested, a mere scribe’s blunder in the text of Pliny, the final m of the preceding insulam getting attached to the following Ictinf The similarity of form in local names is ,always of great weight, for the appellations of islands and rivers do not easily change. Thus, the Uxisana of JPytheas, the Uxantis of later writers, appears almost unchanged in the modern Ushant The only difficulty in identifying Ictis with the Isle of Wight is the statement

1 Such clerical blunders have given us two names of islands off our coasts—Hebrides, from older Ebrides, which was a misreading of Ebudesby Hector Boethius, and Iona, where the n is a mistake for

of Diodorus {vide supi) that the tin was conveyed across to the island at low water. Geologists maintain that Wight could not have been joined to the mainland in historic times, hence some have identified it with St. Michael’s Mount, and Mr* Elton with the Isle of Thanet, against all the evidence of nomenclature* If it was Thanet, it follows that the tin was brought overland all the way from Devon, which was both unlikely and impossible, as the great forest of Andcrida stretched right from Hampshire into Kent, On the other hand, the tin island mentioned by Timseus is plainly not joined to the mainland, as the Britons sailed across in their coracles* lienee the best solution is, that Diodorus has confused tlie-account of Ictis given by Posidonius with that of some other island off the coasts of the Channel* * The phenomenon of the ocean tides was a continual source of wonder to the Greeks and Romans, who knew only the almost tideless waters of the Mediterranean.

This is certainly the simplest explanation of the difficulty. Mr. Elton, who also identifies Mictis with Thanet, is thereby involved in great difficulty, for he seems to forget that If the Britons brought the tin a six days’ voyage from Cornwall to Thanet, there would be no need to bring It overland by waggons across the estuary at low water , 1 But where the authorities are at variance <we can only emplo}' for purpose of argument the matters In which both aie agreed* In this case Diodorus and Timseus are substantially agreed that there was an island where the tin

Mr. Eiton seems to lay stress on The word iniror$um y thinking that, as Pythias sails by the North Sea, he would mean by intronum something which lay towards himself. But the reference in Lexis and Short rather points in the opposite direction, away from the point where the spectator is supposed to be. Cesar’s statement that the tm was found in the interior {in 7uedikrraneis regionibus) may throw some light on it. It may be worth adding that the statement of Diodorus respecting the civilization of the people of Belerion is m favour of a trade route far more direct to the south-west than the mere intercourse with the traders in the isle of Thanet

came to market, and that its name was Idas or Mictis. The Isle of Wight is, after all, the most natural point to find the emporium* The tin could not be carried overland on account of the forests, and they certainly would not convey it all round the south and south-east coasts to the Straits, and then round the coast of Gaul to Corbilo, if it was at all possible to get across at a nearer point The passage from the Isle of Wight to the Channel Islands, and thus to Armorica and Corbilo, would best attain this 4 object. The Armorican peninsula was'the home of various tribes, all most skilful mariners* The Vencti, who were the most powerful, had established a sovereignty over the sea by the time of Caesar, and they and their allies offered to his arms the most stubborn resistance which he had met in Northern Gaul Caesar (iii, 8) describes them as by far the most powerful people of the coast, giving as the cause that they had a great number of ships in which they were accustomed to voyage to Britain {qtdbus in Britanniam namgare comueruni )* He describes their ships as built of solid beams of oak, fastened together with iron bolts an inch thick, with high prows and sterns to resist the violence of the seas ; they had their anchors fitted with iron chains instead of ropes, and sails of hide instead of canvas. Strabo (Jy, 194) follows Caesar's account, but gives some additional details, one .being suitable for our purpose : “They were ready to stop Csesar from sailing to Britain, inasmuch as they enjoyed the trade.”

We cannot doubt the capacity of these old seamen to sail to the Isle of Wight, and right along to Devon and Cornwall There were thus two main routes to Britain, and it jp probable that it was by the route from Armorica across to the Isle of Wight that Pytheas passed. For he averred that it was a voyage of some days from Keltike to Katition {teal to K dvrtov lyxepwv Tivmv'irkovv a^%uv rqsK Strabo, i, 63). If he sailed across by the Channel Islands, and so to the Isle of Wight, and from thence coasted to

VOL l

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9 §

Kantion, we see a reasonable explanation of his remaik on the time it took to sail thither from Keltike. 1

Such, then, are all the data which we can draw from the ancient literary sources. Let us now see if we can derive any aid towards substantiating this account, and for helping to determine the priority of either the short sea passage or the long sea passage, from the evidence afforded by the numismatic remains of the Greek cities of Massalia, Emporia;, Rhoda, and from the Gaulish and British imitations of Greek coins.

Now, if we can trace certain well-defined coin-types along these routes from the Greek settlements into Britain, we shall obtain a substantial proof of the lines of early trade : furthermore, if we find that the types along one of those routes are prior in date to those found along the other, we must infer that the former is the more ancient. A short survey of the numismatic history of the regions referred to is here necessary. The famous Phocsean colony of Massalia was founded about 600 B.C. at the mouth of the Rhone, and in Its turn it planted many colonies along the coasts of Spain, Gaul, and Liguria, the most Important of which was Emporia: (Ampurias), planted {cir. 400 B.C.) on the Gulf of Lyons, close to the eastern extremity of the Pyrenees, A little to the north of it lay Rhoda, a town originally (according to certain authorities) a oniony from Rhodes, but which had long fallen under Ehod§an influence. These were the only Greek cities in Spain which issued a coinage.

The earliest coins of Massalia, little coins of archaic appearance, have Invariably the incuse square on the

1 Mr, Elton, having assumed that Keltike only began on the north side of the Loire, seems to make It only comprise the Armorican peninsula, for he explains this passage to mean that fc he sailed up the Channel as far as Caution, the North Foreland, or a port In its neighbourhoods If Pythias sailed up the Strait he could not have made this statement of the distance between the opposite coasts.

reverse, but in all probability they do not date earlier than 450 B.C.

Rhoda began to coin about the beginning of the third century B.C., but soon ceased, her rival, Emporlse, having commenced about the same time, and continued to issue coins down to Roman times. The Phoenicians of the island of Ebusus had learned tile art of coining from the Greeks, as had likewise the most ancient Tyrian colony, Gaddir, the Gadeira of the Greeks. The Carthaginians do not appear to have struck money in Spain until the period of the Rarcine domination.

The earliest Gaulish coins were imitations of the coins of MassaMa and Rhoda, As Massalia commanded the Rhone, so we find her coins and their imitations all up the valley of the Rhone, into Helvetia, while they likewise formed the currency of Northern Italy until the Roman conquest of that region. This early coinage was entirely of silver. Sometime about 250 BX, the powerful people of the Arverni, who had great wealth in gold, commenced a gold coinage imitated from the gold staters of Philip of Macedon, which had a head of Apollo in the obverse and a btga on the reverse. This type gradually spread northwards, becoming more barbarous as it passed from one tribe to another, until at last it crosses into Britain and became^the type of the great majority of the British coins. It is obvious that if we find the imitations of the Greek cities of Massalia, Emporke, and Rhoda lying along in certain geographical area, and those of the Fhilippus type lying along another, the former must have been the first to come under Greek influence.

\ shall now enumerate the chief Gaulish types, with the people who struck them, at the same time indicating the Greek original. A glance at the map will show that the earlier lie In the western, the later in the northern region. The coins of Emporke exhibit a great variety of types (A. Reiss, Lcs Monnaies antiques de TEspagne, p. 93 ; Head, Historia Nmnorum, p, 1). On some we find a horse

H 2

I GO

standing, on others a Pegasus ; on some the head of the Pegasus is fancifully formed like a little winged Eros seated in a stooping posture, with arms stretched forward, downwards (Heiss, op. cit ., pi- ii)* Again, instead of this fanciful head, we find a genuine human head attached to the equine body, in fact, a regular. Centaur, He'iss shows that of the six main types according to which he classifies them, the Gauls imitated five. But they were not satisfied with imitating individual types, but must needs blend two or more together to get new varieties of their own; thus No. 21 is a Gaulish blending of types I and 2 (Heiss, p. 92),

Heiss has no doubt that the Centaur, with the addition of the drawn sword, is a development of the human-headed Pegasus, but he feels somewhat uncertain whether to regard it as struck at Emporiae, or as a Gaulish imitation. Now all through the south and west of Gaul we find a remarkable type; it is an anthropocephalous figure, having undoubtedly the body of a horse, but undergoing many variations amongst various tribes. Coins bearing such a type have been found at Toulouse (Tolosa), the capital of the powerful nation of the Voices Tectosages (Lelewel, Type Gaidais , c. 31), a region where we shall find likewise evidence of the influence of Rhoda ; among the Turones (f lueher, IJ Art Gaidais, PI 24), Pictones {ibid., PL 9), Nam notes (PL 81), Red ones (Rennes, ibid. t PI. 47), and all the peoples of the Arm or i can peninsula; they are likewise found in the Channel Islands, and in the south and west of England, as at Portsmouth, at Mount Batten, near Plymouth, and in Devonshire (Evans, British Coins, p. 129).

hollow the peoples enumerated above on the map- of Gaul, and we shall find them all lying in the basins of the Garonne and Loire. We find the Namnetes (whose name is preserved in A f antes) occupying the situation at the mouth of the Loire, where most probably stood the city of Corbilo, the great emporium on the ocean shore in the time of I ytheas, and whose name, perhaps, still appears in the

ioi

modern village of Couyeron. From this evidence we must infer that a current of Greek influence at one time spread upward from Southern Gaul westwards to Armorica, the Channel Islands, and thence to the southern coast of Britain. This evidence, then, points unmistakably to a route direct from Armorica to the southern coast of Britain, or, in other words, supports strongly the doctrine that the Isle of Wight was the island called Ictis by Diodorus, and Mictis by Timaeus, where the tin was brought by the natives.

To support the view here put forward of the spread of the anthropocephalous figure from Emporia through the land of the Tectosages we can adduce further numismatic evidence of a striking kind. I have already mentioned that the town of Rhoda struck coins for a short time ; these bore on their reverse a conventional representation of a rose, a type parlant (such as is found on the coins of Rhodes, Phociea, Melitseus), alluding to the name of the city, but perhaps a development of the incuse square, which became on the antique obols of Massalia a four-spoked wheel. The Celtiberians and Gauls imitated this type of_Rhoda, and these copies are especially found in the region of Narbo ( Nar - bonne), which was a chief city of the Tectosages. 1 This fact proves the influence exercised in this part of Gaul by the coins of t be Greek cities at the foot of the Pyrenees, and adds certainty to pur tracing of the spread of the manheaded horse through this region. Be it likewise borne in mind that those traders from Narbo, who were questioned by Scipio as likely to be conversant with the trade to Britain, were in all probability of the tribe of the Tectosages. Greek traders did not pass along the ancient caravan routes, but the various articles of commerce Were passed on from tribe to tribe of the barbarians. Such was the case with the amber of the Baltic, such as we have

1 The voided cross on the coins of the Tceni (Evans, PI. xiv. 13) seems to come almost directly from the Gaulish imitations of the rose of Rhoda (ef. Heiss, FI i).

seen above has been the case in modern times in Central Asia, and such, no doubt, was the case as, regards the tin trade with Britain*

But to return to our numismatic evidence* There are a great variety of symbols on the coins of Emporise, such as an ox-head under the horse, a star, a boar, a bird, a wreath above the horse, or a winged Victory crowning it. We find symbols similar to these on various Gaulish coins, and it is probable that they have been derived from Emporiae. For instance, on a coin assigned to the Segusiavi we find the ox-head beneath the horse (Hucher, pi 28); and the ox-head is likewise found on coins of the Allobibges (Hucher, pi SS). A bird, possibly derived from the same source, appears on coins of Cenomanni, Carnuti, or Eburovices (Hucher, PI* 71), and perhaps the star of the same city meets us on the coins of the Carnuti (PL 71)* The boar likewise occurs on several Armorican varieties, and also in other parts of Gaul (Hucher, PL Si), But there is one type found in Armorica very peculiar and striking, the dancing figure seen on coins of the Namnetes and Baiocassi (Hucher, PL Si). Patriotic French numismatists point to this triumphantly as a specimen of Independent Gallic art But I think a comparison of these coins with the Kabeiros figuffc on the coins of Ebtisus (Heiss, p, 44) will show that here likewise wo "have not a native, but an adventitious type, which travelled by way of Emporia?, Rhoda, or Massalia, and reached Armorica by the same route as the Centaur figure* Again, the seahorse of Emporia? is found on the coins of the Red ones {Rennes) and the Caletes {Caux) t whilst the cock from the same source (which has been regarded as a type parlant , the gall us Gallia/s) is found also among the Caletes. The bull found on coins attributed to the Corosopiti, an Armorican people, is probably from the coins of Massalia or Emporia:. This evidence points out the powerful influence which the coins of Emporia; had in Western Gaul, and substantiates the progress of the anthropo-

cephalous figure from Emporise through the Teetosages to Armorica, Jersey, and Southern and South-Western Britain.

Let us now turn to the course of the type copied from the gold stater of Philip of Macedon. The usual theory is that after the Gauls sacked Delphi in 279 B.C., those of them who returned home struck coins in Imitation of the Philippi, great numbers of which are assumed to have been among the temple-treasure. Grave objections have been raised against this theory by Lenormant on various grounds ; e.g^ that the Gauls who invaded Greece did not return home, but passed into Asia and settled in the country known afterwards as Galatia. Be the true story what it may, all are pretty well agreed that the striking of gold coins in imitation of this type began among the Arvernl (Auvergne) about 250 B.C., for it is here that we find those copies which most closely resemble the archetype both in execution and weight (but from the first the weight is lower than that of the Greek stater). From the Arverni

this type spread northwards through Central Prance, until it finally reaches the coast of the Channel. Here we aie met by a noteworthy fact: gold corns identical in every respect are found on both sides of the Straits of Dover. This type is given py Dr. Evans among the prototypes of the British* series. This descendant of the Philippus is found largely in Kent, as also sporadically in other parts of England (Evans, Ancient British Coins , p. 5 0 i whilst, on the other hand, the French numismatists place them in t ic Gaulish series from their occurrence on the French side, as for example at Beauvais (Bellovaci). This numismatic evidence tallies with what we know of the political history of Northern Gaul and Britain. Osar ( B. G., n, 4 ) teUa us that not long before his own time (nostra etiam )

a king of the Suessiones (Soissous), one of the street of the Belgic tribes, by name Divitiacus had been the most powerful sovereign in all Gaul and *athe under his sway not only a great part of Northern Gat ,

but likewise of Britain. If we place the date of this monarch at .about 10090 E.C. we shall probably not be far astray. How much further back extended this kingdom of the Belgae on both sides of the Channel we have no means of judging.

Now it would seem that the peculiar position of this kingdom, extending on both sides of the sea, affords us the best explanation of the fact that we find the same cointype in both regions. The weights of the coin are also of importance. The earliest British coins* designated the prototypes by Dr. Evans (p. 37)* usually weigh from 120 to 107 grains* and herein they coincide with the standard of the Gaulish series. But very few coins of this standard are found in Britain. There is very soon a drop to 96-90 grains* and finally to a very well-defined standard (for gold) of 84 grains. The inference to be drawn from this fact seems to be that at the time when there was the same weight as well as the same type on both sides of the Straits, there was one and the same sovereign authority on each side* or at least very close political and commercial relations. When, however, the people on the British side became independent of their Gaulish overlord, the standard dropped until it reached the point at which* under the workings of natural laws* the British gold standard was finally fixed. t

We saw above that in the time of Pytheas Corbilo was the great emporium on the west coast of Gaul. By the time of Polybius* 150 B.C., its importance had waned* whilst by the time of Csesars conquests it must have ceased to be of any note, as he never mentions it \ and Strabo, when speaking of it* seems to regard it as no longer existing. How are we to account for the decadence of this once important city? If the line of trade shifted From Armorica and the Isle of W igbt to the short sea passage across the Straits- that is, to either of the two northern crossings mentioned by Strabo, that from the mouth of the Seine or that from the land of the Morin i—as a matter of course the

importance of Corbilo as the emporium for trade with Britain would rapidly disappear.

As a matter of fact, the history of South-Eastern Britain points directly to such a shifting. It was not very long before the time of Caesar that the Belgic tribes first established themselves in Britain, The tradition of their settlement was still fresh (Caesar, B , G v, 12), In fact, the Belgic conquest was still in progress, for it is probable that between the time of Caesar and that of Claudius they advanced considerably further westward. We have unfortunately no evidence to show whether these settlements had already commenced in the days of Pytheas. An obscure passage of Strabo (tv, 201) has often been cited as showing that Pytheas found the natives of Britain cultivating corn and threshing it in covered barns instead of threshing-floors, as in the South. If the passage really referred to Britain it would point almost certainly to the settlement of the Belgse in Britain, For, according to Csesar, it was only the newly settled Belgai who cultivated corn, as the aborigines of the inland districts subsisted on the milk and flesh of their flocks and herds (Caesar, B. G. t iv, 12). But a careful study-of the passage referred to will show that it is purely gratuitous to assume it as referring to Britain. Posidonius, as we learn from Diodorus, found the Britons cultivating corn when, more than two centuries later, he visited the island. It is obvious that when the Belgic tribes crossed over and made permanent settlements on the south-east coast of Britain, that the course of trade would pass regularly from Kent into Northern France, and that the old route by Armorica, Corbilo, and the 1 Loire would fall into disuse. Hence it is that we And from Diodorus that at the time of Posidonius the tin evidently was brought across the Straits, for he describes it as being conveyed on pack-horses a journey of thirty days across Gaul. It is obvious that the tin so convened was not brought by the Loire route, since in that case the distance for overland transit would have been very short.

io6 The Greek Trade-Routes to Britain.

It now onl) r remains to see if it is possible, from the numismatic evidence, to test the view heie put torwaid in favour of the claim of priority for the Armorican route. Taking first the question of coin-types, it is haidly probable that unless the people of the north-west of France and the Channel Islands had been already accustomed to the coin-types of Emporiae, Rhoda, Massalia, and Ebusus, before the staffer of Philip came into Gaul and became the general basis of currency of all Central and Northern Gaul and a part of Britain, and the coinage of gold came into vogue, instead of imitating the Philippus type, they would have impressed upon their coins the type derived from the anthropocephalous Pegasus of Emporke. On the other hand, if Massalia and Narbo had already developed a well-defined trade route into Britain up Central France and across the Straits before the incoming of the Philippus, it is hardly likely that notrace of the earlier coin-types should exist in the currencyofthe Belgic tribes on either side of the Straits, especially when we find on coins of the Philippus type in those parts of Gaul which came under the influence of the older Greek coinage, symbols derived therefrom, such as the boar; and when we remember the lasting impression made by the types of Massalia on the coinage of all Eastern and South-Eastern Gaul,

Next we take the weight standards. The coinage of Gaul as a whole followed the standard of Massalia, which was itself the Phocaic, the drachm at its heaviest weighing about 59 grains. Unfortunately, we cannot, use this as a criterion to as full an extent as might have at first sight been expected. Though the original Philippus was of Attic standard (135 grains), from the very first ■ moment of its imitation in Gaul its weight was reduced, the oldest Arvernian copies being about 120 grains, that is, about two Phocaic drachms. The Gauls struck quarters of their gold coins. Now in Armorica we find these small gold coins weigh 32 grains, whence M. Hucher

thought that they represented the full weight of the original stater. But this Is the weight of many of the archaic coins found at Attriol, near Marseilles, and which date from 450 ICC. It is therefore more reasonable to suppose that the Armorican peoples followed the standard for their small gold pieces, which represents a far earlier borrowing from die Greeks. 1

To sum up our results, we may, with a fair degree of probability, arrive at the following cojtclusiorts, amongst others, from the evidence adduced : (1) That before the time of Pytheas (e 330 B.C.) there was already trade in tin between Britain and the Continent ;(c) that the line along which this trade passed was from the tin region of Britain by way of the Isle of Wight, Armorica, and the city of Covbilo on the Loire, to Narbo and Massalia; (3) at a later period a second route was developed across the Straits of Dover, or by an overland transport on horses to Massalia; (4) when the Romans in the time of Caesar discovered the short route to the tin islands off the coast of Galicia, die British tin trade almost ceased, so that when Strabo wrote (1-19A.D.) tin was no longer exported from Britain; (5) the trade was carried on not by the Greeks directly, but by Gaulish traders ; (6) that the earliest Greek influences came not directly from Massalia, but from the Greek cities of Northern Spain, whose coinage (and, by implication, their commerce and arts also) penetrated across all South- Western Gaul.

1 This geld weight standard was probably native, representing, as did the gold standard of the Greeks and Italians, the value in gold of a cow. The British standard of S4 grains was probably the same in origin, gold being scarcer in Britain,

William Ridgeway.

f

Report on Folk-Tale Research in 1889

E. Sidney Hartland

REPORT ON FOLK-TALE RESEARCH

IN 1889 .

1 The Fables of jEiop, as first printed by William Caxton in 1484)

with those of Avian, Alfonso, and Poggio, now again edited and induced by Joseph Jacobs. 2 vols, London, D. Nutt.

2 The Ancient History of the Maori, his Mythology and Traditions,

by John White, vTols, 2 j 3* and 4 * London, Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington, Limited.

3. Teutonic Mythology , by Viktor Rydberg, Ph.D. ? authorised trans-

lation from the Swedish by Rasmus B. Anderson, LED, London, Swan Sorinenschein and Co. 1S89.

4. The Folk-Tales of the Magyars . Collected by Kma, Erd&lyi,

Pap, and others. Translated and edited, with Comparative Notes, by the Rev. W. Henry Jones and Lewis L, Kropf.

5. Sixty Folk-Tales from exclusively Slavonic Sources * Translated,

with brief Introductions and Notes, by A, H- W rati slaw, M.A. London* Elliot Stock. 1B89*

6. A Group of Eastern Romances. Edited by W. A. Clous ton.

Privately printed* 1889.

7. Traditions Populaires de fAsie Mincurs, par E. Henri Carnoy

et Jean Nicolaides. Paris, Maisonneuve and Ch. Leclerc. 1889*

8. Le Folk-lore des Hautes Vosges, par L. F* Sauvd Paris, Maisoti-

neuve and Ch, Leclerc, 1S89.

9+ Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition, L—Argyllshire Scries* Edited by Lord Archibald Campbell. London, D. Nutt. 1889*

10. From my Verandah in New Guinea, Sketches and Traditions by Hugh Hastings Romilly, C.M.G*; with an Introduction by Andrew Lang, MA London* D* Nutt* 1SS9. ■

/"~\F the various bran greater -ogress than ate study c attempt to elucidate folk-, by Sir G, W. Cox, in

of folk-lore none has made ;g the past twenty years k-tales* The first serious in this country was made hr. I Mythology of the Aryan

Report on Folk-Tale Research in 1SS9. 109

Nations , In that work, following the lines laid down by Max Muller, the author endeavoured to interpret the stories current among the Indo-European nations as expansions of metaphors which were conceived as part of the original stock of expressions belonging to the race before its separation into the tribes that ultimately peopled India, Persia, and Europe. The metaphors in question were alleged to have been used of the phenomena of day and night, sunrise and sunset, summer and winter, and to have been misunderstood in the course of ages by the decay of language and from other causes, and so to have become crystallised into. phrases that formed the foundation of tales of heroic action and suffering. In the Vedas, the earliest written poems of the Aryan race, these metaphors and phrases were found in the process of change, but as yet undisguised to the extent appearing in later times and among kindreds long severed from the original home and parentage, Coxs work was followed at no great interval by that of Professor De Gubcrnatis on zoological mythology The theory which, in the hands of Max Muller and his disciple Cox was kept within moderate, if not exactly reasonable, limits fairly ran riot In the pages of the Florentine professor ; and It became obvious that, with the exercise of no great amount of ingenuity, every event of history might^be resolved, and every phrase of poetry might be developed, Into a sun-myth. It was time, even for those who were most dazzled by the learning and ability displayed by these advocates of the philological method of interpretation, to pause and ask whether investigation in some other direction, and in a more strictly scientific manner, might not yield results of a more solid character. Dr. Tyler had already shown the way by the publication of his great work on Primitive Culture, in which he had dealt with a few savage myths in connection with the beliefs and practices of the people Who told them, and had compared both these stories and these practices with those which have survived from an unknown past among the least cul-

I IO

Report on Folk- T f iie Re se n t ch in 1889.

tured classes in modern Europe. The clue thrown down by Tylor w*as, after a while, taken up ; and w r e owe it chiefly to the eloquence, wit, and erudition of Mr. Andrew Lang that the sun-myth has at length fallen, discredited and overwhelmed with sarcasm, and that more rational and surer methods have been generally adopted to discover the origin and meaning of folk-tales.

Meanwhile the study of Sanskrit literature>as produced another theory, Benfey, in Ills introduction to the German version of the Panchatauten, had, years ago, pointed out the resemblance between the fables contained in that book and many of those passing under the name of JE sop. He deemed the resemblance too great to be accidental, and insisted that it could only be accounted for by transmission. On the whole he was disposed to give the palm of originality to the Greek fables ; but a* further acquaintance with Buddhist writings has induced a number of scholars to argue that it is to the popularity given to parable by the teaching of Buddha and his early followers that we must trace the diffusion of stories found, in one form or another, among so many different nations. This theory has obtained advocates of great force in Professor Rhys Davids in England, and M. Cosquin in France. Moreover, the jarge collections of analogues, chiefly in literary form, by Mr. Clouston, have been made vehicles for conveying to the minds of his readers an impression of the strength of the case.

And, indeed, it may be admitted that direct transmission has played a considerable part in the diffusion of folk-tales, and that many stories found in modern Europe in the mouths of tlie peasantry have analogues astonishingly close in Sanskrit literature, as well as in Indian tradition still living. The question is liow far transmission can be traced by written records, or fairly inferred from the closeness of the analogy between the tales in question, and from the historical connection between the people where borrowing is alleged. This is one of the most difficult problems with

Report on Folk-Rale Research in 1SS9, m .

which folk-lore students have to deal ; and it must be grappled with manfully, if the study is ever to be more than an interesting literary pastime. For we must never forget that the term folk-lore embraces a very wide area, and that all traditional learning must be investigated on the same principles. To prove transmission from a centre in the case of stories involves a presumption in its favour in the case of other folk-belief, and ultimately, therefore, in the case of traditional customs. Now iMvould, of course, be absurd to deny that strong races have often imposed their language, laws, and practices by force or persuasion upon their weaker brethren, In like manner superstitious songs and tales have been wafted from land to land. The advocates, however, of the theory we arc considering—that of transmission from a given centre—are bound by the narrow limits of historical time ; and, unfortunately for them, folk-tales have been found older than Buddha, and in other lands than India, To meet this difficulty, Judea has been suggested by one set of theorists, and Fgypt by another, as the starting-point We need not further allude on this occasion to these offshoots from the main theory : the objections applicable to it are, with slight variations, applicable to them also. It is only necessary here to insist that, inasmuch as the theory has its limits within historical time, the burde/i of proof lies upon its advocates, and that in each individual instance. Now, the course of their argument demands a number of suitable vehicles of transmission. Many of these, applicable undoubtedly to limited areas, have been suggested, such as conquest, trade, literary intercourse, and the movements of that singular people known to us as the Gipsies, Of these, as it ffiight have been predicted, literature, from the permanent character of its records, has proved the most manageable by far ; with its aid the revelationists, as they have been called, have been able to bridge more chasms, traverse greater distances, and arrive nearer to probabilities than by any other means.

X 12

I mentioned just now that the comparison of the Greek and Indian fables first drew the attention of scholars to transmission as a possible explanation of the similarity of stories. Accordingly, we should expect to find the most obvious and striking resemblances among variants of fables. This Is a subject that has engaged the attention of Mu Joseph Jacobs, and has led to the most valuable corifributioii, not merely to the controversy, but to the study of folk-tales, which has been made during the year 1889,

The occasion of this contribution is a reprint in a sumptuous form of C ax ton's version of TEsop's Fables t to which Mr. Jacobs has prefixed, in a separate volume, an introduction containing an account of the development of the fables down to the end of the Middle Ages. In truly scientific manner the history is traced backwards, showing, step by step, the changes, growth, and accretions In the course of centuries. This, of course, is a purely literary history ; but literary history is important, because it is on this that the advocates of the borrowing theory rely for the bulk of their facts. The result of Mr. Jacobs 1 inquiries is to establish the literary descent of the fable, on the one hand from Greece, where it received Its first great impulse by Its application to political uses during the epoch of the tyrants, when free speech was dangerous, and on the other hand from India, where Buddha and^his early followers adapted the beast-tale to teach ethical lessons. I need not refer here to the many ingenious and probable conjectures, and to the patient analyses which have cleared up a number of difficult problems in the course of this brilliant essay. The question that chiefly interests us now is whether the true inference is a generalisation to be extended to all classes of tales. Are we to believe that all classes of tales are derived by literary, or partly by literary and partly by oral, channels from their original home among the Hindoo Aryans In Sanskrit times ? The learned author does not admit that this follows from his investigations. He insists, and rightly Insists, that " the fable is a highly

specialised form of the universally human tendency to tell a tale" And he infers that we are thereby prevented ” from applying results obtained from consideration of its history to the more general question of origin M . This is probably correct; but attention should be directed to the negro stories, of which Uncle Remus has given us the best-known series, and the analogues which have been reported from the southern continent of America. The problems connected with the origin and history of the apologue cannot be deemed to be wholly solved until these tales have been dealt with in a fashion as thorough and scholarly as that of Mr. Jacobs.

Turning Rom fables to the wider domain of sagas, we are met by two works deserving of the most careful study. The relations between themselves of the miirchen and the saga, the relation of tradition to historical fact, and the influence of a different series of beliefs, historical and religious, imposed by a higher and conquering upon a lower and vanquished culture, each and all demand the student's attention. In John Whitens Ancient History of the Maoris and Viktor Rydberg's Researches into Teutonic Mythology , treasures of special value from two opposite ends of the world are poured at his feet

Mr. White's first volume was published so long ago as 1887. The object of his book is to let the New Zealander speak for himself and tell his native stories. These stories are gathered from various sources, many of which have been already published or printed in the annals of local societies; while others have been taken down by Mr. White himself from the dictation of Maoris skilled in their,tribal traditions : and he is careful to give the Maori text as well as the English translation. The sagas of the first volume are mythological; the remainder, published in 1SS9, claim to be historical. The interest of the former will be at once admitted. I venture to think that the interest of the latter is at least as great For, dry and wearisome as are the details of many of the “ historical J

VOL. J.

r

j 14 Report on Folk-Tale Research in 1889,

sagas-—recalling Milton’s famous complaint concerning the history of the Heptarchy—amid much tedious matter, we may watch for ourselves how what is apparently a narrative of actual events passes gradually into the realm of imagination, and myth usurps the chair of fact.

This is the sort of inquiry undertaken by M. Rydberg with respect to Teutonic traditions. No one can open the recent translation of the first part of his work without being struck by the manner in which he tracks to its burrow and slays the mediaeval tale of the Eastern origin and Trojan descent of Odin and his companions* The width of research and the acuteness here displayed are conspicuous in his treatment of other sagas. We may not accept all his conclusions. It may seem that often he deals with tales and songs but loosely connected with one another, as if they were inspired writings which had to be reconciled at the cost of any amount of special pleading. Yet, undeniably, the method he adopts has led him to brilliant conjectures, if not to discoveries; and neither the method nor the results can be safely dismissed unconsidered.

Among the collections of folk-tales published last year the most important, after the Maori talcs, is the version of Magyar tales by Messrs, Jones and Kropf. This is the more welcome, because English readers have hitherto had to depend upon German translations, and uthese only too frequently unsatisfactory ones. It consists of a selection from the collections published by Erdelyl, Kriza, and Pap, with a single example from Merenyi’s Popular Tales from the Valley of the So jo —in all, fifty-three out of a total of 240 stories enumerated by Ladislaus Arany in 1867 as published up to that date. But although the translators state that the work of collecting has gone steadily on since that date, none of the more recent collections are represented in the book before us. We may assume that the examples given here are the most interesting, from the point of view of the general reader, of those published up to 1S67. But we cannot assume that they are the most

ll 5

valuable for scientific purposes; and if we have to be thankful, as we are and must be, on behalf of English students, to have thus much from works so inaccessible as those in the different Magyar dialects, we cannot help regretting that, instead of extracts from several, the whole of one or two of the collections referred to by the translators should not have been accorded us. Given the principle of selection, however, the translators have gone about their task in a scientific fashion, and the introduction and notes add greatly to the services they have here rendered.

This cannot be said of Mr, Wratislaw's Sixty Folk-tales from Slav mile Sources. His notes (happily of no large extent) have been written to all appearance in entire ignorance of any other theory of interpretation than that of Max Muller and Cox. As in the case of the Magyar tales just mentioned, Mr. Wratislaw has chosen only a few out of the vast treasure of Slavonic ffiarchm and sagas. It is too much, of course, to expect that any one scholar, or indeed any dozen scholars, will give us the whole; but would it not be possible by co-operation to obtain trustworthy abstracts of all the published stories of the Slav tribes ? I can hardly think of any work that would be more useful.

Mr, Clouston’s Group of Eastern Romances has been so recently notlefrd that in these pages I need not do more than refer to it as affording a considerable amount of interesting material, I pass on therefore to two small French collections in Maisonneuve's well-known series. New ground has been broken by Messrs, Carnoy and Nicolaides in their Traditions Populaircs dc SA sic M incurc. In so ( far as the stories are concerned it consists of forty-one examples of marches sagas, apologues, and drolls. Many of the variants here found are curious ; and when we consider the history of the western shores of Asia Minor and the islands adjacent, it is evident that the partisans of no theory of interpretation can afford to neglect them. The editors give, as a guarantee of good faith, particulars of the

ii6 Report oti Folk-T&le Research in 1889*

time and place where, and the person by whom, every story was told, including his domicile of origin, present residence, occupation, and age.

The other collection is that of. M. Sauve. It includes the whole range of folk-lore, and the author seems to have undertaken his work in a thoroughly scientific spiiit, and comprehending the difficulties of his task* The result is, on the whole, satisfactory, though for the purposes of the <f story ologist” the arrangement is hardly to be commended. However, the tales are few, and they occupy a subordinate place in the scheme. Only two mllrchen are related, and a few sagas and beast-tales.

Lord Archibald Campbell has published, in the first volume of his Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition, some sixteen or seventeen sagas. Some of these are clantraditions; and the editor notes as an evidence of their antiquity the fact that none of them makes any mention of firearms. These clan-traditions all relate to feuds and vendettas ; and it is in one case expressly recorded that the descendants of one of the foes of the clan, in their account of the incident narrated, u altered this tradition and reversed the main facts.” Could we have had both sides of the story, here and in the other instances given, from the mouth of descendants, they would have formed most interesting and valuable studies in folk-tradition, and its ability to preserve the record of events long passed. It is worth while noting that this, or something like this, is what we do actually get in some of the Maori tales in Mr, White’s collection above referred to. The value of Lord Archibald Campbell's sagas falls short of those In that they present only one version ; but in saying this I am not pointing out their defect so much as laying stress on the remarkable character of Mr. White’s work. Other contents of the Jiaifs and Strays are variants of well-known fairy tales, stories of the Bruce and of Michael Scott, and the questions put by Finn to the maiden. Mr. Alfred Nutt’s wide

acquaintance with Celtic traditions has enabled him to add some useful notes.

In From my Verandah in New Guinea, Mr. Rom illy has devoted a chapter to fairy talcs, containing some half-dozen specimens, the salient features of which are briefly indicated in Mr, Andrew Lang’s preface. I need only say of them that they illustrate the advantage of a wider collection of savage tales.

On the whole, the year will be remembered chiefly for the publication of Mr. Jacobs' essay on yEsop, and the distinct advance thereby made towards the solution of some of the questions that perplex us. The new material rendered serviceable is not of first-rate importance except in the case of the Maori traditions.

E. Sidney H arte and.

Recent Research on Teutonic Mythology

F. York Powell

RECENT RESEARCH ON TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY.

HE new fasciculus of Paul's Grundnss der ger-

1 manischen Philologh (Bd. if Abtellung r, Lief 1} contains a conspectus of the chief epic cycles of the Teutons by B, Symons, Heldensage ; a short sketch of the history of the Gothic fragments by E. Sievers, Gotische Literatur; and an article on the classic Old Northern literature by E. Mogk,, Nordiscke Literatur r Norwegisch- Islaudtsche,

Neither of these papers, which are good enough summaries of accepted knowledge, with fair bibliographies attached, shows any advance; but they will be useful enough to the student who wishes for a general introduction to the subjects treated.

Symons 1 paper is based chiefty on Mullenhoff and \ dicker; it has notices of the legends of Beowulf the Nibelungs, Wolf-Dietrich and the Hardings, Ermanric Theodric, and Attila, Hilda, Waldhere of Bffigundy, Wayland, Onvandil, and Iron, The sketch requires to be supplemented by the later work of Vigffisson, Rhys, Rydberg, and by some knowledge of the sculptured representations of the Sigfred, Gunncre, Egil, and Way land legends in Britain and Scandinavia; for instance, the Leeds Cross contains a different version of the rape of Beaduhilcl from that in VdlundarquiSa, while the v Egil tragedy is shown upon the Franks casket. Some important identifications are passed over, such as the Eriphyle = Cordelia = Hilda equation pointed out six years ago, Saxo is hardly sufficiently used. Bugge’s "classical borrowing”

1 Strassburg : IC Truhner, 1889.

theory is implicitly and properly rejected. The point of view taken is on the whole too narrow, and the whole subject^ beyond a few such references, is left where Grimm left it One is a little disappointed at the sterility of the survey, which, as treated by Dr. Symons, opens out no prospect of future fruitfulness, and neglects the anthropological side completely.

Sievers* useful little notice, chiefly concerning Wulfila, is beside our purpose here. Mogk’s sketch of O. N. literature is again rather flat: it summarises handily enough much that is sufficiently known, but, like Symons’ paper, it lacks what one might call the suggestive quality. The MSS. are not noticed ; the chronology is sometimes at fault; thus, S72 is too early for Hafursfrith battle, and the Greenland Lay is dated rather too soon, and Alvfss-mal too late; the upward date of Angantheow's Lay, fixed by the allusion to Harold Fair-hair—an ec Noregi nseftag jllom _and other like examples, are not considered. The defective plan of the Grundriss in separating the Norwegian and Icelandic from the Swedish and Danish classic literature is responsible for the omission of the Northern sources of Saxo, and of the Hrolf-cycle, where one naturally looks for it. Still, on the whole, Dr. Mogk’s work Is painstaking, and, While by no means replacing earlier work, will probably’ help the German student The bibliography is useful.

Or the succeeding fasciculi of the Grnndnss der ger - mardscheh Philotogie received up to present date, Band i, Lieferung 3, is taken up with the history of the Old Northern German, and Netherland tongues, by A. Nore’en, O. Behaghel, and J. F. Winkel, respectively; and does not directly concern us here. Band u, Abtcilung 2, Lieferung 3 , is occupied by the. end of K. von Amira’s interesting sketch of Teutonic Law, A. Schultz’s little article on the Teutonic Weapons °f "' ar - and F, Klaund’s well-ordered description of the social ie and condition of the Scandinavians, from all three of which

much that is of importance with regard to the ideas and pursuits of the old Teutonic world maybe gathered by students of folk-lore.

With Band ii, Lieferung r, we are more immediately engaged ; H. Schiick contributes a history of the Swedish and Danish literature which, passing over without due notice the earlier traditions and traditional history, deals briefly but clearly with the mediaeval remains of Sweden and Denmark, and appends a useful selected bibliography R. Kdgel’s Old High and Old Low German literature is fuller and more detailed, dealing one by one with the various texts, prose and verse, Latin and Teutonic, giving a good choice of references, and forming the most practical introduction to the subject yet printed. The English student will find it of special service for the comparison with and illustration of the parallel Old- and Early English remains. F. Vogt begins his sketch of the Middle High-German literature in the same fasciculus on a similar plan

In Acta Germanic A we have a new series projected by R. Henning and J, Hoffory; it is intended to place the results of scientific philology (in the widest sense) before a somewhat wider public than has been hitherto catered for —a most praiseworthy design. The need for some such endeavour is almost more necessary on the Continent than it is here, for the differentiation of function, fostered no doubt by endowed special research, has rather brought about a neglect of efforts to improve the general culture of the public that reads; Hackel’s fascinating books belonging to a rare class in Germany, while in this country books such as Gal ton's important contributions to biologyare eminently readable.

The series opens with M. Hirschfeld’s Untersuchungen f Y L °ha-Senna, containing a normalised and Sieverian text and a good translation, preceded by an introduction 1 n edm : Mayer und Miller,

and commentary of some sixty pages. Containing no new results, it summarises the main Continental authorities in a handy enough way. Misled by the hypothesis that Iceland was the home of the author of this comic poem, Dr. Hirschfeld indulges in an extraordinary theoiy that Laufey is Iceland, that the Giant’s glove is the fiord-cut north-west promontory of the same land, and that the sun shining through the steam-pillars of the boiling springs is the foundation of a myth in the poem* This fancy, ingenious as it is, may at once bo set aside as contrary to everything we know of the origin and development of these Eddie lays. The whole standpoint of the mythologic treatment is somewhat feeble and imperfect The identification of Lol>urr-Vrtra is noticed. The poem is dated too late, probably owing to the preconception of its Icelandic origin. The corruptions in the text are got round in the old fashion, rather than obelized ; though this is perhaps necessary in a popular work, where the sense is more important than the letter, but verses which are purely immetrical should surely be so marked thus in Stanza 38, I should either obelize the third line, or read according to a conjecture of Vigfusson's— “Ulfge hefr oc vel es i vidjomscal.” The translation, again, of the fourth line is also far too loose; whatever Ragna-rbe may mean (and I take it to mean nothing else than the Doom of the gods) if cannot be translated <f Welten-brand”. With the rejection of the lines superfluous in the metre one would cordially agree; they are in one case mere reciters’ repetition or substitutions, but as they may be in one or two cases witnesses to the early existence of parallel texts they should be noticed. The anthropological aspects of the poem are left* untouched. Nor are the ancient representations of Loke, which are of no small interest, made use of The absence of an index is inexcusable, and a short note on the most helpful books consulted, or to consult, would help the general reader who was attracted to the subject, and cost little trouble to Dr. Hirschfeld. It would be easy to criticise this book more minutely> but the main short-

comings, arising from too absolute an acceptance of the opinions of one school, have been pointed out, and we would not wish to do other than encourage efforts directed to the widening of the circle of those who take pleasure in such classic masterpieces as Loka-Semm, the best work of the unknown Aristophanes of the Scandinavian colonies*

The next book to be noticed is one of much greater importance It is the Researches in Teutonic Mythology of Viktor Rydberg, translated by R, B. Anderson* This is on one side the most important addition to our knowledge of early Teutonic myths since Grimm* It is a book with a good deal of humanity about It, and though one is far from agreeing with all its conclusions, it is eminently suggestive. The author has studied his Saxo to good purpose, and has been rewarded* The peculiar merit of the author is his sagacity in grasping clues that have escaped others; his weak side is the over-tendency to identifications; yet it must be admitted that the existence of parallel myths in the North has been neglected unduly, and that one must suppose that in the spread of governmental area by the leaguing of tribes Into nations, various forms of the same myth would appear side by side, and where the differentiation of the parallels had been great they would tend to survive with the differentiation accented, while where the differentiation was slight they would m&rge, leaving perhaps In a word or phrase the traces of a brief separate existence.

The first portion of this volume is devoted to a clear and good summary of the mediaeval Trojan hypothesis in its relation to the Scandinavians, and to a review of the earlier native traditions respecting migrations from Tdie North. Next follows an examination into the mythic culture-god or hero, the Teutonic Triptolemus, Sheaf, with an identification of Skelfir-Sheaf and Hcimdall, which I should hardly be disposed to admit, and further equations of Skiokl-Borgar-Rig-Earl, and of Gram Skioldson- Halfdan, the old-Halfdan, Borgarsson-Halfdan Berg-gram,

which I think, in essentials, must be accepted along with the ingenious identification of Groa, OrwandiTs wife, and Groa, Sripdag’s mother, with the considerations it involves. On the other hand, the suggested equation Halfdan-Mannus must fall to the ground, and the reasons that support it are wholly illusory, eg v GirSormr is taken as GuS-hormf instead of GuS-^ormr, and falsely connected with Herrnio. The suggestion that Heimdall was the husband of Sol the sungoddess will require further proof. The identification of Saxo's Halfdan-Gram with the Eddie Helge Hundlngsbane is of course correct. The treatment of the Eddie lay itself is poor, with a curious suggestion that in the lines a ]>a es Borgarr [Eorgir R.] brant i Brilunde”, and u Drott ^otti sa deglingr uesa”, the names of Halfdan’s father and mother, Borgarr and Drott are preserved ; ch. 35 on Svipdag Is not convincing. The following discussion on the first war and its incidents, and the hag Gulveig-HefS-Angerboda, is exceedingly Ingenious, The adventures of Hadding are next treated, with much skill. But there is too much forcing of analogies in what follows, and to Identify Iiadding-Hartung with Theodoric of Verona is absurd, though there are false traditions connected with the great king which have some relation with those told of Hadding.

An investigation Into the myths relating to the Lower World follows, but its results are too consistent The fact is that we have existing traditions respresenting not only divergent sister legend s of the same type, but survivals from successive strata of very different age, from the most archaic and “ petraP to those which are deeply tinged with Christian Ideas.

However, one may note the identification Gudmurid- Mimer-Modsogner, and the Iranic parallels adduced to explain MJmer’s grove by Jima’s garden. In his geography of the Teutonic underworld and the equation Hei-Urd which follow, one cannot follow Dr. Rydberg. Chapters lxix, Ixx, Ixxi, on the thingsteads and dooms of the gods, are over-ingenious, and the writer does not seem to understand

the curious geography of an old Teutonic mootstead, with its law-hill, or rock or slope, and the fenced ring of seats for the court lying to the east thereof, the two connected by a path, along which the judges pass to the dooming. There follows an examination of the World-mill legends, which is suggestive, but cannot be wholly accepted* The milltraditions are evidently late (because the quern is a late instrument preceded by the pounder, and probably not developed till the regular cultivation of cereals came in), and they are mere outcomes of the desire to explain the salt of the sea and the sand of the shore.

An ingenious equation of Heimdall with Agni as the god of the auger-bom fire is to be noticed. The NfBa'ft-Mimer equation is by no means acceptable. An excellent note on p, 486 on Saxo J s rules for Latinising vernacular names is to be mentioned, but the speculations on the Moon-god, with much that seems reasonable, include a good deal of forced analogy and doubtful theory, Fair-Balder is a good equation, and there is a* clever essay on the legend of the Seven Sleepers.

The third part of the volume deals with the Ivalde Race, and first with Swipdag-O^rand Freyja-Menglad, and connects the former with the historic Eric, the Swede god, and with Hermod, while Orwaridil Is made a synonypi of Egil and lb or. The weakness of much of this lies in the ignoring of the patent fact that myths are continually being transferred from a Half-forgotten hero to the one fresh in fame, and that round persons like Hnef, Hermod, and Erie old myths crystallise afresh.

Chapter iii sums up admirably the plot of part of Voluspd, and shows the identity of the Vedic legeftd of Tvashtar and the Ribhas with the Teutonic Sindre-Ivalde tradition. The next chapter deals with Thjasse-Tishja- Rogner. The authority of Forspiallslidd (in the authenticity of which Dr. Rydberg unaccountably believes) is of course more than useless. The analysis of Thursdrapa is ingenious, even plausible, but it is impossible to build

securely upon what is left of this fine poem, so unsafe is the text The identifications Wayland-Thjasse, Slagfm-Gjuke, are alluring, but one is hardly prepared to assent to them off-hand, while with the guesses about Hencgest it is impossible to agree.

In conclusion, one may commend to every mythologist or student of the old Northern literature this bold and ingenious book. It is not easy reading, nor Is it easy to criticise, its strength and weakness alike depend upon detail The author's experience in belles lettres has given him a quick eye for a plot/a delight in character, and a desire to bring harmony out of confusion. No professional scholar of the modern German type would have attempted or could have achieved this book, which, with all its imperfections, contains the most important work done in Northern mythology by a Scandinavian book during the last fifty years.

The next work Is of a wholly different character, a book showing on every page marks of methodic training, of wide reading, some Ingenuity, and slow, persevering labour, a book deserving careful consideration, and with which one Is bound in future to reckon, but not to my mind a book that carries conviction with it. Its thesis is that Vdlusfid is a book-poem composed in Iceland cir. 1125, in /'the first quarter of the J2th century” A careful analysis, commentary, reconstructed text (but no index), make up a volume of 300 pages, ( Volusfid , fine XJntersmhung , von Elard Hugo Meyer, Berlin, 1889,) While quite willing to admit, as he was himself, that Vigfussoix has not said the last word on Volu^pa, and entertaining very little of Dr. Meyer's respect for Mullenhoffs work on tills poem, it is a large demand that,is made upon the reader's faith, and at present I must confess to regarding the thesis advanced as a mere piece of prettily constructed speculation. The striking character of Volusp& as a work of art, and the exaggerated importance as a myt ho logic authority which its systematic eschatology has given It in the minds of modern readers, have obscured the fact that it has a peculiar and unique position among

the other Eddie Lays, that it is isolated in character and tone. It is a work neither of daylight nor dark, in fact, a creation of the passing twilight. But to my mind there is a power, a simplicity, a spontaneity in it that absolutely forbfds one to look upon it as the learned product of a reconstructive book-worm of the 12th century in Iceland The wide reading and ingenuity of Bugge and the discoveries of Bang have fed incautious followers into doubtful tracks. Mediaeval Christianity in Teutonic lands is to a great extent Teutonic heathendom with a thin varnish of Christian ideas, but it is not true that Teutonic heathendom is permeated by Latino-Greek or Judseo-Christian thought The fantastic theories of mediaeval book-writers such as Jordaoes Dudo, the Editor of what is called the Prose Edda, were not persons who represented the general ideas and feelings of their time, but learned speculators who had no more influence on the thought of the mass of their fellowcreatures than the Bishop of Oxford's researches into the British Constitution have on the ordinary member of a Liberal Three Hundred or a Primrose League Habitation. The good old mythology and ritual wfeit on as old wives* fables and charms many a century after, and survive in the fairy-tales and superstitious observances of to-day.

F. YoR]£ Powell.

Notes and News (No. I)

NOTES AND NEWS .

Among the papers in the next number of Folk-Lore will be one by Mr. G. L, Gomme, on a Tale of Campbell ; another by Mr. Frazer on Some Popular Superstitions of the Ancients ; one by Mr. S. Schechter on an unpublished Jewish Legend of Solomon ; one by Mr. Joseph Jacobs on Types andTncidents in European Folk-tales, and Mr. Alfred Nutt's Report on Recent Celtic Research ; besides the papers read at the last meeting of the Folk-Lore Society,

A SERIES of papers on medieval notions of Hell will probably be begun in the next issue, and will include papers on the Celtic, mediaeval Jewish and Christian, and the Arabic phases of the subject.

TILE Islay Association have determined to issue, through Mr. Alexander Gardiner, the first two volumes of the late J. F. Campbell’s Popular Tales of the West Highlands, which have been long out of print It would be well if they could see their way to adding a translation of Dr. R Kohler’s valuable annotations on the stories which appeared in the second volume of Orient und Occident.

Mr, GOMME has written a volume on the Village Co mmunity for the Contemporary Science Series now being published by Mr. Walter Scott, under the editorship of Mr. Havelock Ellis. Mr. Gomme’s volume will be of interest to fork-lorists, because he uses some of the results of folklore to prove that the English village community is not simply an economical institution, but one which container much of the old tribal religion.

Notes and JVeivs.

12S

Mr. Gomme is engaged upon a re-classification of English Custom and Superstition, and hopes to be able to polish the results of his work at the end of the year. _ His object is to bring together the evidence for the Archaic m Folk-lore, under which title his work will probably be published.

Mr. E. Sidney H arte and has in hand, for the Contemporary Scientific Series, a volume on the Science of Folk-tales/and for the Camelot Series a book of English Folk-tales,

Mr. Joseph Jacobs is collecting English fairy tales, A popular selection of these, with illustrations, will probably be issued during the Christmas season of this yeai, to be followed later on by a more scientific treatment of the subject* which may run to two volumes.

Readers of Professor Haddon’s Torres Straits legends in this number will also be interested in his very thorough and complete account of the manners and customs of the inhabitants of New Guinea in the February number of the Journal of the Anthropological Institute.

Benfey’s scattered papers on the Migration of Fables will be included, in a collected form, in the complete edition of his minor writings now being edited by Professor Bezzenberger.

The December and January numbers of Le sMoyen Age contain admirable summaries of Folk-lore literature in periodicals (chiefly of iSSS and early part of 1SS9), including those written in Slavonic dialects.

The Council and Officers of the Society supped together after the meeting on February 25th. Much talk has been made about a Folk-lore dinner, and this pleasant little

Notes and News .

experiment should be the forerunner of the more general plan, such as they accomplish so well in France.

#

M. L. Brueyre, in the last number of the Revue des Traditions Populaires, in discussing the question of Tabulation, advocates strongly the adoption of the system of the Folk-Lore Society in its entirety. While not faultless, he says, it cannot now be altered without spoiling a large amount of valuable work, and for the sake of uniformity, other Societies on the ’Continent should adopt it and cooperate with the Folk-Lore Society.

Mr, MacInnes's “Gaelic Tales* 1 , with Mr, Alfred Nutt's annotations, forming the volume for 1SS9, will be in the hands of members of the Folk-Lore Society, who have paid their 1SS9 subscription, by the middle of March.

PAPERS and communications for the J une number of Folk-Lore should be in the Editor's hands (address, 270, Strand) by May 1st

Miscellanea (No. I)

The Giant of New Mills, Sessay —At Sessay parish, near Thirsk, is a mill. It has recently been rebuilt, but when I was there the old building stood. In front of the house was'a long mound, which went by the name of 1£ the Giant's Grave 5 ?, and in the mill was shown a long blade of iron, something like a scythe-blade, but not curved, which was said to have been the giant’s razor, and stone porridgebasin or lather-dish. There lived a giant at this mill, and he ground men's bones to make his bread. One day he chptured a lad on Pilmoor, and, instead of grinding him in the mill, he kept him as his servant, and never let him get away. Jack served the giant many years, and never was allowed a holiday. At last he could bear it no longer. Top elide Fair was coming on, and the lad entreated that he might be allowed to go there to see the lasses and buy some spice. Tire giant surlily refused to give him leave ; Jack resolved to take it.

The day was hot, and after dinner the giant lay down In the mill with his head on a sack, and dozed. He had been eating in the mill, and had laid down a great loaf of bone-bread by his side, and the knife was in his hand, but his fingers relaxed their hold of it in sleep. Jack seized the moment, drew the knife away, and, holding it with both his hands, drove the blade into the single eye of the giant, who woke with a howl of agony, and, starting up, barret? the door. Jack was again m difficulties, but he soon found a way out of them. The giant had a favourite dog, which had also been sleeping when his master was blinded, jack killed the dog, skinned it, and, throwing the hide over his back, ran on all-fours barking between the legs of the giant, and so escaped.

I do not think the miller's story at Dalton is taken bodily from the Polyphemus tale, for there are extraordinary similarities to i,t to be found all over the world. The preservation of the knife and the mound show that the myth I heard is not of recent origin at Dalton> I am told by one of my servants from Dalton that at the rebuilding of the farm the mound was opened, and a stone coffin found in it; but whether this be a kistvaen or a mediaeval sarcophagus I cannot tell. 1 wrote some time ago for another version of the giant story to compare k with mine, and about the stone coffin, but have had no answer.

* 3 *

At Dalton there is also an old barn, haunted by a headless woman. One night a tramp went into it to sleep* At midnight he was awakened by light, and, sitting up, he saw a woman coming towards him from the end of the barn, holding her head in her hands like a lantern, with light streaming out of the eyes, nostrils, and mouth* He sprang out of the bam in a fright, breaking a hole in the wall to escape* This hole I was shown some years ago* Whether the bam still stands I cannot say, $* Earing Gould.

A Welsh Conjurer, 1831,—The following cutting from the Lincoln Herald, of August 19, 183 b is worth a place in the columns of Folk- Lore 1

“ A Welsh Conjurer,—D enbighshire As sizes. Before Mr* Baron Bo Hand*—John Evans, a Welsh seer, who officiates as high priest of the far-fam.ee! and much-dreaded Ffynnon Elian (or St. Elian’s Well), near Abergele, was indicted for obtaining js, from one Elizabeth Davies, by falsely pretending that he could cure her husband, Robert Davies, of a certain sickness with which he was afflicted by taking his name out of the well,

a This case affords a remarkable instance of the ignorance and simplicity of the Welsh peasantry even in these days of the march of intellect* Ffynnon Elian is celebrated in Cambrian history and song; and owing to the popular belief in the virtue and ‘extraordinary property of its waters, the number and extent of the impositions practised upon the credulity of the people in past ages by a succession of impostors almost exceeds credibility* A few years ago the magistrates of the county prosecuted one of the high priests of the well, who, in consequence, was found guilty of cunning, cheatery, and fraud, put into prison, ard his well of lioly waters destroyed* For a lime the celebrity of St* Elian and the firoidgi died away ; their anathematisadon ceased ; and their memories were fast sinking into obscurity, when the prisoner revived them by laying in a stock-in-trade, and commencing business near the same spot as the high priest and favoured minister of the Saint*

“The following is the method pursued by the prisoner to gull the pooqpeople* Into the Ffynnon Elian (a very shallow well) he put a large quantity of pebbles, slates, and stones, inscribed with numberless initials and names. No sooner did he hear of any poor person s ill-health* or of anyone being afflicted with misfortune or disease, than he contrived to let them know that their names were in the well, and that nothing could cure or benefit them unless they were taken out* Of course this could not be done without money; and many hundreds of ignorant people were known to travel on foot thirty and forty miles to seek relief, and that, too, in the most distracted state of mind. The

K 2

1 3 2

frauds of the prisoner were not the only evils which his abominable practices produced* for, like bis predecessors* be pretended he had power to put'anyone into the well, afflict them with-misfoitune or bad luck* and take them out for money, when he pleased. The consequence was, that ignorant persons were frequently induced to charge their misfortunes to the malignity of their neighbours* and thereby engendered die most disgraceful quarrels \ whilst hundreds of equally ignorant fools would expend their money on the prisoner in order to

gratify, as they thought* a bit of spite, .

« The facts of the ease were proved by Elizabeth Davies* who said : My husband has been ill for many years, I had beard of the virtue of the well of St, Elian ; I went twenty-two miles to consult the defendant, who had the charge of it* I asked if my husband’s name was in the well; he said he did not know* but be would send to see; he sent a little girl, who came back with a dishful of pebbles and small slates, marked with different sets of initials ; he looked at them, and said my husband's name was not among them; lie sent the little girl again, who returned with a number more, which were strewed upon the table, and 1 found a stone marked with the letters R. D. and three crosses. I said, Is that my husbands name ? He said it was. I said I was not satisfied, and asked if my husband’s name was in a book? The prisoner said he did not put the name in the well* or else it would be in the book, but the water would tell whether it was his name or not* We went to the well, which was in the garden, near the prisoner’s house* He took out some water, and said* i The water changes colour j it is your husband* sure enough** 1 asked what it w r ou!d cost to take my husband’s name out of the well- He said toj* was the lowest* 1 told him I had no money, but could bring him some. I asked him to let me take the stone home* and he said I might, but 1 must not show it to any one, I asked him what I should do w ith it. He said I must powder it* and put it, with salt, into the fire. I then went away. In about two months I came again with my brother-in-law, William Davies* The prisoner was cross, because f had mentioned what had passed to Mr* Clough, a magistrate* but he said, for the sake of my brother-in-law, he would do something. He said I must have a bottle of the water of the well, and give gs> for it. I bargained with him for which he said must be given to the well. The money was given to the well, but the prisoner took it out and put it into his pocket- He muttered some spells, which I thought were Latin, but all I could make out was the name of St. Elian- The prisoner said the water must be taken by my husband three nights successively, and he must repeat a portion of the 38th Psalm. I asked him who had put my husband into the well, and he did not tell me, but he said if I wished he would put that person

in the well, and bring upon Mm any disease I liked. I paid him the

7 -&

u William Davies, a tailor at Holly well, brother-in-law of the last witness, corroborated her testimony as to what took place at the latter interview with the prisoner.

“The prisoner in his defence said he never sent for anyone to come to the well, nor did he say there was any efficacy m the water ; but if a person believed that there was, and chose to give him some money, he took all that they had a mind to give.

a The Jury returned a verdict of Guilty; and the learned j u dge—after expressing his regret that any person could be ‘found so lamentably ignorant and credulous as to believe that any man, by such ridiculous means, had the power of relieving or controlling the diseases and afflictions of an other—sentenced the prisoner to six; months 5 imprisonment with bard labour. Edward Peacock.

Botiesford Manor, Briggs January 10, 1890.,

Story of Solomon's Wisdom.—In the last number of the FottfcLore Journal (yob vii, pp. 315-16) the origin of the soldier’s answer in M Cards Spiritualised” was asked; whether one could trace it back, or refer to a similar one.

In answer to that question I will give all the parallels known to me. The story of the Queen of Sheba's test of Solomon's wisdom is of a very ancient date. The Bible says (1 Kings, ch. x, v. 3), « And Solomon told her all her questions.’* The nature of these questions, and the answers given, is left to the fancy of interpreters, who availed themselves fully of that opportunity.

Thus we find a series of such riddles and their solutions attributed to the Queen of Sheba and to Solomon in an Aramaic commentary to the Book of Esther, dating from the fifth century. Nothing, however, is therein mentioned of boys dressed as girls, or vice versd*

In another Hebrew work of about the same date (fifth century), viz.. Midrash to the Book of Proverbs^ we already find a closer parallel to our story. In the Midrash it runs as follows:

f tAnd another similar puzzle she (the Queen of Sheba) prepared for him (Solomon). She brought boys and girls, all having the same appearance, the same stature, and all in like attire; and she said, i Separate the boys from, the girls. 1 He ordered his attendants to bring some nuts and apples, and when these were brought, Solomon said, * Distribute them among the boys and girls,' The boys, not being bashful, put them in their skirts ; the girls, being bashful, put them m their kerchief. And Solomon said, * Those are boys, whilst these are

girls. ’ Whereupon the Queen said, 1 My son, thou art a very wise man, 3 v

The Arabic legends far more approach the Western (English) parallel Sale has the following note to chap, xxvii of his translation of the Koran, which I give here, as it bears directly on our story : “ Some add that Balldo (the Arabic name for the Biblical Queen of Sheba), to try whether Solomon was a prophet or not, dressed the boys (of whom there were five hundred) like girls, and the girls (same number) like boys ; and sent him in a casket a pearl not drilled, and an onyx drilled with a crooked hole ; and that Solomon distinguished the boys from the gfrls by the different manner of their taking the water % and ordered one worm to bore the pearl and another to pass a thread through the onyx. The source of this note is the Arabic commentary to the K oran by Beidharwi.*

A detailed account of the different ways of their taking^the water h given by Hammer, in his Rosen act (Stuttgart tmd Tubingen, 1813, pp. 16063). Solomon ordered the table to be laid, and after dinner water to be poured out for washing the hands. The custom in the harems at that time was that the girls caught the water in the hollow of their hands, whilst the boys let it run over the outside. When the servants poured out the water the boys held their hands under, whilst the girls caught it in the hollow of their hands, as they had been ac customed to do.

So far the Eastern parallels. No less numerous are those to be found in Western writers. First, in the Annals of Glycas (iii, 8), reproduced by Fabliaus {Cod, vet Test. Apocrypha i, p, 1031 -1032).

“ Among other tests by which she tried the wisdom of Solomon, was also the following. She showed Solomon some beautiful boys and girls, both dressed alike, and both having the same<shape of tonsure, asking him to distinguish between the two sexes. So he ordered them to wash their faces, and by that he recognised their nature, for the boys rubbed their faces in a stronger manner, whilst the girls did so more softly and more delicately. She was filled with wonder, and exclaimed: 1 More have I seen titan I have heard 3 "

1 rom the Greek it entered into Slavonian literature. An exact parallel of this verson of Glycas, combined with that in the Midrash of Proverbs, is to be found in the old Slavonic Paha from the twelfth or thirteenth century (Al. Wesseiofsky, Solomon i Kitovras y St, Petersburg, 1S72, p. 24S). A Roumanian parallel* tallying exactly with Glycas, is contained in a hitherto unpublished manuscript Chronicle from the seventeenth century,

I have confined myself to tracing the story from the East to Europe, thus showing, the literary source of the story. It remains still to connect directly the English version with the legends of the'

'35

Queen of Sheba current in the West of Europe, such as the Sihyllen Weissaguttg of Gottfried of Uslerbo, etc* I have dealt more amply with this series of legends in my Roumanian Popular Literature (Bucharest, 188 5, 326); still less do I wish to follow out in the world’s literature the theme of testing the sex of the hero. Suffice it to refer to R* Kohler’s learned annotations to Wolf, Jahrbuch f ram* mid engl L/tferatur, iii, 57*58, and 63-67. M. Caster.

The Burial of Mr* Rose’s Boots.—

To the Editor of “The Timed\

SIR,—Your Southern readers would note with surprise the remarkable reticence of the police whep examined and cross-examined respecting the non-production of the boots worn by Mr. Rose at the time of his murder* The Highland constable who buried them under water acted in accordance with the ancient tradition that by doing so he would (< lay” the ghost of the murdered man, and thus prevent it from disturbing the people living in the neighbourhood of the catastrophe. It is not unlikely that the officers had a lurking suspicion that they would be laughed at by modern sceptics if they r evealed the motive of their apparently strange conduct.—Yours, etc*,

Rothesay y NM^Nov'w* 13 - St J. B. Joule,

Police-Sergeant Munro (Lam I ash) said he was well acquainted with the hills, having lived therefor thirty-one years. He observed the condition of the body when it was found, but could not say whether the neck was broken* He saw boots on the deceased. They had iron heels and sprigs. He could not say where the boots were now* tie believed they were buried on the beach at Genie, below high-water mark. He said Constable M’Coll must have buried, the boots. He believed he told him to take the boots out of the shed in which they were kept.

The Dean of Faculty*— Did you ever know such a thing being done in the investigation of any murder?—No answer.

Did you not think it might have been material to the ends of justice to have those boots ? Witness,—I did not consider that at the time.

Have you no explanation why one of your policemen was ordered to take away those boots and bury them on the beach 'Witness rrihde

no reply. , , ,

By the Lord Justice Clerk—Who was present when these boots

were buried ?—I could nobsay; I told a constable to take them away, and might have said to him to take them down to the shoce, but I don’t know what was done with them.

Cross-examined by tbe Dean of Faculty. -Did you merely bury the

boots because you were ordered to put them out of sight ?—Well, there was no reason given to me. I was told to put them out of sight.

Did you not think it rather strange that you were ordered to do this when the other things were preserved ?—Well, I do not know ; I was never about such a case before. (Laughter.)

Did you not think that these boots should be kept in order to be examined by those who have to form an opinion on the merits of the case ?—Well* there is a description of them.

But do you think your description of them is as realistic as the boots themselves ?—There is no doubt the boots would be better than the description.

They were buried below high-water mark, so that you were determined they should be properly out of sight?—I put some stones on the top of them. I have not gone for them, because they were never asked for, <

Duncan Coll, police-constable, Shiskine, Arran, said, as to the boots of the deceased, he was told by Constable Munro, of Brodick, to u put them out of sight 53 . He thought he meant to bury them, and he did so.

Horsehair turned into Water-Snake*—Had your correspondent, vii, 317, or the Editor of The Spectator, from which he quotes, been as well read as they ought to be in Notes and Queries^ they would have known that this subject has been exhaustively discussed there, and instances of belief in the matter adduced from every part of the world. See Series vn, ii, 24, no, 230, 293 ; iii, 249 ; iv, 33, 253, and I think few unprejudiced persons will doubt that the suggestion I gave for the origin of this most curious piece of folk-observation, Series Vii, ii, 24 (July 10, iS86), and iii, 249, is the most likely one*

R, H. Busk.

Folk-Lore Bibliography (No. I)

BOOKS,

September iS£9~Feeruary 1890,

{English books published in London , French in Paris , otherwise. im 7 itivnedl}

FOLK-LORE IN GENERAL,

Almanach folklorists du pays Messin, ire ann€e.

Annua ire des Traditions populates. Svo. pp- 32 [only list of members].

Bastian* A. Zur ethnischen Ethik (Berlin), pp- cvhi.

KAHLEj C Die fahrenden Leute der Gegenwart und ihre Sprache (Gera). Svo. pp. 3S.

Timmins, S. History of Warwickshire (E. Stock) [containing chapter on Folk-lore, pp. 210-31],

FOLK-TALES.

Allen, H, N. Korean Tales, being a collection of stories translated from the Korean folk-lore (New York, Putnam),

Campbell, J. F. Popular Tales of West Highlands (Gardiner), Parts i and ii [reprint of vols, i and ii by Islay Association].

Curtin, J, Myths and Folk-lore of Ireland (Boston).

EfCHLERj M. Harzsagen. i6mo. (Harzburg) [issued in parts, 1-7 out],

Frahm, L. Norddeutsche Sagen (Altona). Svo. [issued in parts, 1-4 out].

KalakauAj King. Legends and Myths of Hawaii, the Fables and Folk-lore of a Strange People; by his Hawaian Majesty Kaiakaua. Edited, with an introduction, by Hon. R. M. Daggett (New York),

Marx, A. Griechische Marches v. dankbaren Tieren und verwandtes (Stuttgart). Svo. pp. 150.

0 st RUT, T. Arabiske Sange og Eventyr efterlignede og overs atte (Copenhagen). Svo. pp. rgo,

Seifart, K. Sagen, Marchen, Schwanke u. Gebrauche aus Hudeshe ini, 2 Aufh (Hildesheim). Svo. pp. viu, 1.9 l

Valentine, Mrs. The Old, Old Fairy Tales [chiefly from Perrault, etc.; merely popular].

FOLK-MEDICINE, etc,

Wilde, Lady. Ancient Cures, Charms, and Usages of Ireland (Ward and Downey). Svo. pp. 250.

FOLK-ETYMOLOGY AND PROVERBS.

Smith, A, H. The Proverbs and Common Sayings of the Chinese ( Shanghai). Svo. pp. 3S4.

Bglmhorst, j., and H. Reling. Unsere Pflanzen nach ihren deutschen Volksnamen, 2 Aufl* (Gotha), Svo. pp. xvi, 40S.

FOLK-SONGS.

Baring Gould, S, 5 and H. Fleetwood Sheppard, Songs of the West: Traditional Ballads and Songs of the West of England, with their traditional Melodies (Methuen). Parts i and ii (containing 25 songs each).

Brauns, D. Traditions japonaises sur la chanson, la musique et la danse [Coll, intern, de “La Tradition", No, 4].

Cromuie, J. W. The Poets and Peoples of Foreign Lands. Svo. pp, x, 170 (Stock) [discursive studies of folk-song].

JeanroYj J. Les Origines de la podsie lyrique en France au moyen age. Svo. pp. 523.

Schwarzfeld, M. Poeslile populare Colectia Alecsandri (Jassy). Svo. pp. iv, 104.

Tiers ox, J. Histoire de la chanson populaire en France. Svo. pp, 542.

Veckenstedt, E. La Musique et la Danse dans les Traditions [Coll, intern, de “ La Tradition", No. 3].

| FOLK-LORE AND MYTHOLOGY.

' Lugge, S. Studien iiber die Entstelimig der nord. Cotter- und Heldensagen, iii (Munich). Svo. pp. vii, 289-590*

Laistner, L. Das Ratsel der Sphinx. Gnmdziige einer My then* geschichte (Berlin), Svo. pp. xxiv, 343, and vi, 471.

Meyer, E. H. Vdluspa, cine Untersuchung (Berlin). Svo, pp. iv,

Muller, W, Zur Mythologie d. grieeh* u, deutsch. Heldensage (Heilbronn). Svo, pp. v, 177,

Paul, PL Grundriss d, germanischen Philologie (Strassburg)* Bnd. 11, Abt. ii. Lief. 1 [B. Symons ^ Heldensage ; E . Sievers, Gotische Literatur ; E. Mogk , Nordische Literatur].

Rose HER, W. H. Ausfiihrl idles Lexikon der griech. und rom,

Mythologie (Leipzig). Lfg. 15-17 (conclusion of vo). l) [to u II ys mi nos 11 ].

Smith, W. R. Religion of the Semites : r, Fundamental Institutions (Black)* [Review in next number.]

FOLK-LORE AND LITERATURE,

/ESGP* The Fables of, together with- those of Avian, Alfonso, and Poggio, first printed by William Caxton 1484, now again edited and induced by Jos. Jacobs, 2 vols* Svo* pp. xx, 284-322*

Eacher, W. Die Agada der Tanaiten, End* 2 (Strassburg)* [Traditional lore of the Talmud, arranged under the Rabbis with whose name it is connected]*

Eozon, Nicole. Les contes moralises de Nicole Boson, par L. Toulmin Smith et P* Meyer (Soc. des anc. textes franc.). Svo. {Exempta of an English Franciscan in French of 14th century. Review in next number]. '

Budge, E. History of Alexander the Great,being the Syriac version of the Pseudo-Callisthenes, edited with an English translation (Cambridge, Pitt Press).

Bun rig, H* Did Sage von Konig Rother* (Dissert., Gottingen.) Svo* pp. 75. .

Capua, John of* Directorium humane vite, edite par J. Derenbourg, 2« fasc* Svo* pp* xx, 133 [Latin version of Fables of Ridpai, from which most Western forms are derived]*

FOR ESTIj A. Saggi sulle fonti della epopca greca (Bologna). Svo,

PP- 3 °-

GelbHAXIS, S. M it telhoch-deutsche Dichtung in ihrer Beziehungzur biblisch -rabbinischen Literatim* 1: “Freidank’s BescheidenhdD Svo* pp* 62. ii: Walter v*& Vogelweide* (Frankfort). Svo. pp* 43*

Gower, J* Confessio Amnntis, e d. H* Morley (Routledge).

Grimm, W* Die deutsche Heldensage, 3 Aufl- (Gifcersloh), Svo* pp* xxix, 536.

HELLMUND, G* Anthari Sage (Leipzig), ismo. pp. 3 * 7 *

Knust, PL Gesehichte der Legcnden der heiligen Katharina v* Alexandrian und der heiligen Maria Aegyptiaca (Halle)* Svo. pp* iii, 346*

Le ClerCj G* Le Bestiaire d. normatu Dichters G* Le Clerc, herausg, v* R. Reinsch (Leipzig).' Svo* pp. 44 ^

Othmer, K* Das Verhaltniss v. Christian v* Troyes' * { Erec et Enide’’ zu dem Mabinogion. (Dissert., Cologne.) Svo. pp. iv, 70*

FOLK-LORE AND INSTITUTIONS.

GILDEMEISTER, H* Das deutsche Volksleben im XHI. Jahrhundert* (Dissert*, Jena.) Svo. pp, 54 -

Leist, B, W* AIcArisches jus Gentium; (Jena). Svo. pp. xvi, 623*

post, A. H. Studien zui Entwickelungsgeschichte des Familienrechts (Oldenburg), 8vo. pp. xvi, 568.

FOLK-LORE AND ANTHROPOLOGY

AEEE.CROSIBY, J. A Trip through the Eastern Caucasus (Murray),

8vo. pp. xii, 376. . ,

Brabke, P. v. Ueber Methode und Ergebitisse der arischen Alter’ thjttmswissenschaft (Giessen). 8vo. pp. xxii, 35 °- [Severe critique of Schrader.]

Carta 1lh AC, t. La France prdhbtorique (Biblioth. des sciences contemp.)

Lubbock, Sir J. Origins of Civilization, §th edition (Longmans).

___Prehistoric Times, 3rd edition (Williams & Negate) [scarcely any revision].

LuM holtz, C. Among Cannibals; with the Aborigines of Queensland (Murray).

MACDONALD, D. Oceania, Lingubtical and Anthropological (Melbourne),

P ector, D. Vestiges des populations prdcolombicnnes du Nicaragua (extrait des Archives amdric&ities).

Schrader, O, Sprachvergleichung und Urgeschiehte, zweiteumgearbeitete Aullage (Jena). Svo. pp. xii, 684.

Taylor, J. Origin of the Aryans (W. Scott, t( Con temp. Sclent. Series, 35 No. 3).

JOURNALS.

September 1889— February 1890.

[Arranged alphabetically under each language. Numbers mt noticed in the present list will bo given in the nexth]

Academy, 2S Dec- 1SS9, A. Wertm\ il Survivals 53 in Negro Funeral Ceremonies.

American Antiquarian journal (Chicago), Sept. 1889 /. Deans }

Raven Myth of the N.W, Coast. |

American Journal of Psychology, Jan. 1890. . C. L. Edwards^ Folklore of the Bahama Negroes.

Athenaeum, 11 Jan. 1890. G. W, Rusden^ Australian Cannibals.

Babylonian and Oriental Record, Jan. 1890. T* W, Rhys Davids^ jataka Bayern.

Fenland Notes and Queries, Oct. 1889. Fenland Superstitions ; C Dach t Fenland Proverbs and Quaint Sayings. Jan. 1890, Fenland Superstitions [contd,] ; A Curious Superstition,

Fortnightly Review, Oct* 18S9. 0 , Crawford\ Folk-lore of Portugal Dec. 1SS9, Grant A Hen > Stone-lore,

Jewish Quarterly Review, Oct. 1SS9. SSchechier , The Child in Jewish Literature. Jan. 1890, /. Abrahams , u Marriages are made in Heaven P

Journal of American Folk-Lore, Oct.-Dee, 1S89. H. Hate, Huron Folk-lore, ii; /. Story of Bear and his Indian Wife ;

W. M. Bmuchamf, (r) Onondaga Tales, ii, (2) Notes on Onondaga Witchcraft, (3) The Great Mosquito ; Mrs ; 0 . Mori son, Taimshian Proverbs ; G, IV. Weippcrt, Legends of Iowa; W* C. Wilde, Thief Talk ; J. 0 , Dorsey , Ponka and Omaha Songs.

Journal of the American Oriental Society, 1S89. A. V. IV. Jackson , Some Avestan Superstitions and their Parallels \ J. R. Jewett , Some Arabic Proverbs ; S. D. Peel, Animal Worship and Sun Worship in the East and West,

Journal of the Anthropological Institute, Nov. 1889. E , Tregear, Maories of New Zealand [answers to Mr. Frazer's queries] ; H. Ling-Rath, On Salutations ; Hyde Clark , The Right of Property in Trees on the land of another as an ancient institution.

Journal of the Gipsy-Lore Society, Oct. 1SS9* C. J . Leland, I^aris Congress ol Popular Tradition; B. Canstaniimscu, The Red King and the Witch, a Roumanian Gipsy Folk-tale; D. Mac * Ritciiie, Irish Tinkers and their Language.

National Review. Feb. 1S90. E. C. Boswell y Irish Fairy Mythology.

Scottish Review, Jan, 1890. The Prehistoric Levant; Edith Margef, More Popular Songs" of Italy.

Triibueris Record, No- 246. Ordeal by Burning in Ceylon*

L’Armenie, 15 Dec. 18S9. Adam et Eve, Legendes armeniennes.

Mdlusine, iv, 24, Dec. 1889. A. Barth, La Literature des Contes dans Unde \ 'E. Holland, LArc-en-Ciel; //. Gained, Le Folk-lore h Liege ; /. Tuchnmnn, La fascination (suite), v, 1, Jan. 1S90, Barth (contd.) \ H. Gairfoz, L’EtymoIogie populaire et le Folklore ; Tuchmann (contd).

Revue Celtique, x, 1, H. dc la Villemdrquf, Anciens Noels Bretons, 1 ; WJu Stokes , The Voyage of Mael Duin (text and translation), n, x, 2, K. Meyer , The Adventures of Nera (text and translation) ; Le Dieu Irlandais Lug et le thdne Gaulois Lugu. x, 3, Cerquaml\ Taranous et Thor, ii; H. t dc la Villemarqttp Audens Noels Bretons, ii ; A . Nutt , Notes sur le Voyage de Mael Duin, x, 4, Cerquand , Taranous et Thor (in, conclusion); E. Bernard, La Creation du Monde, Breton mystery-play (text and translation) ; H. Gaidos, Ddbat du Corps et de PAme en Maude; J. Loth, Review of Rhys's Hibbert Lectures.

Re mi e des Traditions Populates, 15 Jan. 1890. E. Faligan, Des formes iconographiques de la Idgende de Thdophile, C 1 Perraud , Les noeesdu cone on et de Falouette, version des Dombes; A. Bernard\ Les noces du papi.llon, pays de Caux ; L. Desaivre , Les noces de ralouctte et du pinson, version du Poitou; Mme. P. S&illot y Les noees de la bdcasse et de la perdrix t version de la Haute Bretagne* P * SSillof, Le diable et 1 ’enter dans riconographie, iii, La fete des Rois: xi, Morel-Rets {Slop}, La quite des Rois en Bourgogne; xii, H Cttard, E11 Champagne ; xiii, A, Tausserat t La ciremonie dela feve h.ia Cour de France en 1706; BIsangicrs, Rien quame. conte du jour des Rois* A. Bay on } Proverbes et dictons de Marins ; L . Bmeyre y Uinventaire des contes : iii* Analyse, classification et tabulation des contes populates. L‘influenza : j, R, Rosteres, Au xv e siccle ; ii, P. Sebillot, Au xvi ft siecle. A’. Blanchard , Coutumes scolairesf; i' s En Allemagne. G, Pitr^ Le pays des Odens, conte populaire sidlien. rV. Ncy, Miettes de folk-lore parisien. A. Desrousseaux y Le folklore du paysde Liege. J\ Tursol, Extraits et lectures: i, Audition de Noels fran^ais au cercle Saint-Simon. A, Certeux t ii, Les asiles de'nuit en Chine,

Romania, Oct, 1889. P , Meyer and C*Joret y Reccttes mddicales en ancien Fran^ais,

La Tradition, Sept. 1889. Be ZmEgr&dzki^ Le Foik-lore en Poldgne; H. Camay and /* Depucheux , Le Mois'de Mai ; P. Rtsielkuher, Contes alsaciens.

Vantes Bibliogfraphiques* Nov* rSSq-Jan. 1890. E. Rolland, Flore populaire [with folk-lore of each plant],

Ous Volksleven, T889. /.A. Verhliet, Kinderliede int Antwerp eu; /. Cornell seen } Raadsels,

Am U rqueli, Jan, 1890. E, S.E\ rauss and Eh. Braglccv/f, Gust arealieder aus Busmen; If. Carslcns, Totengebrauche aus Dithmarchen ; H. Frisckhier, Ostprenssischer Volksglaube und Branch [53 items]; A. A* Haase, Erzahluiigen aus der Grafschaft Ruppin; R. F. Kaindl, Zwei netherische Mythen aus der Bukowina—No. 5, (? Feb*) 1890. KramSj (contd*); G. Kupczanko, Die Aise ren im Kaukasus; C. Pitre, Volksrnediziix [in Italian].

Ethnologische Mittkeilungen aus Ungarn, i, 3,1889. F. S. Krawss, Das Burgfraulein v. Pressburg ; L. Katone, Mg. Charakteristik de magyar. Folk-lore, iii ; Finnisclie Marchen (contd.) ; W. v. Schulcnburg, DieFrau bciiden Sudslaven; R. Kohler, «Undwenn der Himmel war Papier” ; H. v. Wleslocki, Ueber den Zauber mit menscbl Korperteilen ; E. Sstodola, Wie reiten die Toten so

schnell ? \ G* G. Kunn y Einiges iiber die der Tierwelt entnommen tin Volks- tmd Stanimesnamen*

Internationales Archie fur Ethnographie, No, 4, [889, Das turkische Sch alien spiel.

jahrbucher fur jiidische Literatim, 1889. N- \BriiU, Eeitrage zur judischen Sagen- und Sprachkcmde im Mittelalter*

Mittheilungen der anthropologischeu Geseilschaft in Wien, End* xix, Hft. iii. M, Haber/an dt % Ueber tulapurusha [Wagopfer] der In der; P. PauHisshkey Die Wandcrungen der Gall a Ost-Afrikas [throughout historic times, from Egyptian, classic, Arabic, and modem sources]. Hft, iv, R* Virchow , Die Anthropologic in der letzten 20 Jalire; E, Hermann^ Dio Culturbedeutung des Stehens, Sitzens und Liegens.

Volkskunde, ii, 11-12* Aug. Gi/tte, Yol ksgeneeskuude : De 2 warte Hen ; Vertelsels : Van den Ha an, den Ylegel en dc Pik ; De Getukkige M olenaarsknecht ; Aug. GifR’c t Duizendponderken ; Lie der en : Wat vreugde, wat blij geraas, P. d. M.; Aug. Giih% Plagerijen : Grepenuit bet Kinder-en Volks 1 even; P. SJMi/ot, Volksliederen : Van de vier Weverskens*

Zeitschrift fur Volkskiinde, ii, 3-4. &dm. Veckensiedt, Die Kosmogonien der Arier. Ueber eine sagenhafte Kriegslist bei Relagerungen, von Giuseppe PUr6 (Uebersetzt von LI Brauns ). M. Tsakyroglous, Die Smyrna: eine Tradition Kieinasiens* A . Treichely Sagen aus Westpreussen. IV . Title , Ewei bohmische Marchen aus dem mlihrisch-walacbischen wie dem sudwestbohmischen Dialekt der bohmischen Sprache ubersetzt. AUr. Kaufmann y Christinchen sass im Garten, Volks lied. O. Knoop z Scbwere Wahl: Em Volkslied aus H interpommerm—ii, 5. Edm. Veckcnstedty Die Cosmogonien der Arier. A. Trek he/, Sagen aus Westpreussen* E Trunks, Em papiernes Wiegenband als Brautgeschenk (Ein kleiner Beitragzu den Hochzeitsgebrauclien im Sudetenlande), M. v. Davainis- SilvsstraRR, Sitten und Brauche der Lithauer. E. Pfiifer , Aberglaube aus dem Alten- Lurgischen* R. PrexLMilhlhach , Besprechungs-formeln der Rumanen in Siebenbiirgen*

Zeitschrift fiir vergleichende Rechtswissensdiaft, viii, 3,1SS9- Friedrichs, Ueber Matriarchal [against Maclennan] ; WcsnUsch, Vendetta unter die Sud-Siaven.

Archivio per lo Studio delle Tradlzloni Populari, viii, 1. G. Ptirc y La Leggenda di Cola Pesce (contd.) ; G * Pttrd and L* Gighy

Ballo e Canto dai morsicati dalle tarantole in Terra d’Gtranto; G. Amalfi } Insalatella; Canti popolari di Teglano ; E . H, GigU&Uj Usi e Credence Giavanesi (i 3 Le Nozze ; ii* Superstbiom; iil. Vita domestica: iv, La nasdta; Ftinerali ; vi, 1 cibi ela tavola); G. Finamore, Proverbi turchi j Botanica popolare abru^ese; G, Carbone, I ceci del cli del morti ; B, Vigon^ El Folk-lore des Asturias ; El Folk-lore de mar ; G\ Di Diciotto Proverbi canavesani ; M: Barbie Saggio di canti popolari pistoiesi ; G. Crimi-Lo Giudice r Cicireddu, Novellina popolare sic bi an a ; A. Rmnm y Jeux enfant ins en Suede ; &* Schiro, Saggi di Letteratura popolare della Colonia Albanese di Piana dti Greci; G. Rua, Le Lett ere di Andrea Calmo e la loro importanza per le tradizioni popolari; A . T. Rires t Adivinas portuguezas recolbidas na provine ia do Douro ; G. Ragu$a-Mo!et?\ Usi funebri di popoli non civil t; 5 . Ferrari, Canti popolari ir San Pietro Capo fume; M. La Via-Bonelli, Usi festivi a religlosa del popolo nicosiano di Sicilia ; Canti religiose

Oulleti de la Associacio d'Excursion Catalans, Oct.-Dec. D* Ildefons Jgual % Les Xiulets del cassador invisible ; D. Joseph Cortils y Viola > Miscelanea folk -1 orica (adicio b la Etnologia de Blanes) ; D. Vincem Plantada y Fomliida^ Costums populars dei Valles.

3fo lk*%ore.

VOL. I.J JUNE, 1S90. [No. II.

No. II — June 1890

J. G. Frazer

SOME POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS OF . THE ANCIENTS}

A SUPERFICIAL acquaintance with classical literature is apt, I believe, to leave on the mind an exaggerated impression of the general level of intelligence in antiquity. The authors commonly read-are so eminently reasonable, and so little tinctured with vulgar superstition, that we are prone to suppose that the mass of men in the classical ages were equally free from those * gross and palpable delusions which we designate as superstitions. The supposition is natural, but erroneous. It is natural, because our knowledge of the ancients is derived chiefly from literature, and literature reflects the thoughts and beliefs of the educated few, not of the uneducated many. Since the invention of letters the breach between these two classes has gone on widening^ till the mental condition of the one class comes to differ nearly as much from that of the oilier as if they werej beings of different species. But down to the present century both sides remained in almost total Ignorance of the gulf which divided them. Educated people,'as It rule, Rad no inkling that the* mental state of the great majority of their fellow-countrymen differed in scarcely any material respect from that of savages. They did not dream that their humble neighbours had preserved

' 1 This .paper* was read before, the Cambridge Branch of the Hellenic Sodiety. ‘

146 . Some Popular Suferslitions

m *

amongst themselves by oral tradition alone a set of customs and ideas so ancient that the oldest literature pf Greece and Rome is modem by comparison. To have at last opened the eyes of educated people to the priceless value of popular tradition as evidence of a remote antiquity is the glory of the illustrious .Grimm, When, chiefly through the influence of that, great scholar, the oral tradition of the people came to be examined, the feature in it which most struck observers was the one I have just indicated, the stamp, namely, which it bears of a dateless ^antiquity, I he . reasons dor assigning to-It an age Incomparably greater

* than that of the literary tradition are mainly two. In the first place, the popular^ tradition—and under-trad id 011 I . mean to include popular customs as well as popular beliefs —the popular fraditioh could piot have originated in' historical times, because there is nothing in history to*account for it The two great historical influences that have moulded our modem civilisation—the Roman empire ^nd CbJltianity—have left hardly a trace In the genuine beliefs

♦ and customs of the folk . 1 Christianity has slightly changed the nomenclature, and that is all But, on the other handarid this is the second reason—if there is nothing in Roman civilisation or the Christian religion to account for the

' origin of the popular jtradition, there is in the customs and ideas of existing savages almost everything that is needed fully to explain aqd account for it. The resemblance, ip - fact, Joetween the "ideas* and customs of our European peasantry and the ideas and customs of savages is so great as almost to amount to identity, and a comparison of die one set of customs' with the other goes far towards explaining both. To put it metaphorically,the two sets of customs, the European and the savage, are ih^^endent copies of the same original picture ; but both copies are somewhat faded through time, and each has preserved some features which the other has lost. Thus they mutually supplement each other, and, taken together, enable us* to restore the, original with some completeness, ~ '

of (he Ancients. ** 147 .

*

* The application of alt this for the subject in hand is obvious. If what I have said is true of the uneducated people, and especially of the peasantry at the present time in Europe, must it not have been equally true of uiiedu, cated .people, and especially of the peasantry in antiquity ; 1 If our peasants are, intellectually regarded, simply savages, could the peasantry ofancientGreece and Rome have been any better? And if \ve moderns have lived so long in ignorance of the mass of savagery lying at our doors may not the literar/ classes of antiquity have been equally blind to the mental'savagery of the peasants,whom they saw at work in the jields or jostled In the streets? There are strong grounds for answering both of these questions in the affirmative. In regard to the former question, the existence of a layer ofsavagery beneath the surface of ancient society is‘abundantly attested by the notices of popular ♦beliefs and customs which are scattered up and down • classical literature, especially, as might have been anticipated, in the inferior authors, men less elevated above vulgar prejudices than most of the great classical writers. In regard to the second question, the general ignorance A classical writers as to the popular superstition^ of their day is not only to be presumed from the fact that they rarely mention them, it Is positively ’demonstrated by their manifest Inability to understand even those instances of popular superstition which they are occasionally led to mention. Indeed, from the way in winch they refer to these superstitions, it is often pla m that they not only did not understand them, hut’that they did not even recognise them as superstitions at all, that is, as beliefs actually current among the' vulgar. Conclusive proof of this is furnished by the treatment which the So-called ^symboh^of -Pythagoras”" received at the hands of the polite writers of antiquity. A member of a modern folk-lore society has only to glance at these “ symbols 11 no see that they are- common specimens of folk-lore, many of which aie perfectly famidai to our European peasantry at the present day Yet they

»

completely posed the philosophers of antiquity, whose Interpretations of them were certainly not nearei the mark than Mr. Pickwick's reading of the famous inscription* It is almost amusing to see the violence they did to these primitive superstitions in order to vhing some drop of moral wisdom out of them, to, wrench them into sonte semblance of philosophical profundity. In a paper on the popular - superstitions of the ancients I can hardly do better than begin by giving a few specimens of these precious maxims, which have found so much favour in the eyes of ancient philosophers and old women.

Some of the ancients themselves remarked the striking resemblance which the precepts of Pythagoras “bore to the rules of life observed by Indian fakirs, Jewish Essenes, Egyptian’s, Etruscans, and Druidsj Thus, for example, Plutarch mentions the view that Pythagoras must have been an Etruscan born and bred, since the Etruscans were, the only people known to observe literally the rules inculcated by the philosopher, such as not to step over a brQom, not to leave the impress of a pot on the ashes, and other precepts of the same sort 2 Thlspuew of the Etruscan origin pf Pythagoras was countenanced by the respectable authorities of Aristotle and Theopompus* Again, Plutarch expressly says that the maxims of Pythagoras were of the same sort as the rules contained in the sacred writings of the Egyptians, .and he quotes as instances the ; Pythagorean precepts, “Do not eat in a chariot ” “Do not sit upon a bushel,” “Do not poke the fire with a sword/" 4

1 Indian Fakirs, Strabo, xv, 1, 65 ; Egyptians, Eusebius, Pmfit £vagg-. x, c. 4, §§ 9, to, c. S, § S : Essenes, Josephus, Antiquity xv T 10, 4 ; Druids, Hippolytus,- Ref. onuu hazres^ i, cc. 2, 25. On the Essenes, see .also Josephus, Bell, Jud. % ii, S, §§ 2-13, xviii, 1, 5 ; Pliny, N. //./ v, 73,

- Plutarch, Qimst. Co>nnv, % viii, 7,

3 CHemens Alex and,, Strom*, i, 14, p. 352 Pott a Aristotle, p'ragm^ 185, Berlin ed,; cf. Suidas, s. v , ^‘Pythagoras 77 , Iluflayo}^

$v<7ci ce T f vpprjvos*

* Plutarch, Mis et Os^ 10; . 1 ;

Sonic of the theories of physical causation traditionally ascribed to Pythagoras are entirely of a piece with the practical rules which passed under his name. 'Thus, according to* him, the air was full of spirits, which he called demons and heroes ; the airy sounds from which men drew omens were the voices of the spirits 1 ; and he said that when '• people heard the wind whistle, they should worship the sound of it. 3 Compare wifcff this the view of the Esquimaux who live at Point Barrow, almost the northern extremity of the continent of America. u To them/ 1 says an American officer who wintered among them a few years ago, £i to them earth and air are full of spirits. The one drags men-into, the earth by the feet, from which they never emerge ; the other strikes men dead, leaving no mark; and the air is full of voices ; often while travelling they would stop and ask me to listen, and say that Tuna of the wind was passing by.” 3 ' Again, according to Pythagoras, the tinkling of a brass pot is the voice of a demon imprisoned in the brass, 4 A traveller in the Sahara was once informed by one of his savage escort: that he had just killed a devil v It appeared that die devil was the traveller’s watch, which the savage had Found, and hearing it tick, had concluded that there was a devil in side. Accordingly he smashed it by hurling it against a tree, * This was in the desert, where it would have been unsafe to quarrel with his ••escort. So the traveller concealed his anguish under a smiling face till he reached the next town, where he took steps which rather damped the joy of that savage. 5 Yet the savage did no more than Pythagoras, if die had been true to his principles* might have' clone in the same circumstances.

1 Diogenes Laertius, viii, 1, 32.

- Jambhchus, Adhm t. adphilp$. y 21.

3 Report of ihz International Expedition to Point Banvu? y Alaska (Washington, 1885), p, 42,

1 Porphyry, Vit Pyifcag. ,41,

5 Mohammed Ibn-Oinar El Tounsy, Voyage au Vuaday (Paris, 1851), p. =538^7, > * . *

# i

" ' *’ , - * ' f

caused by the dead men fighting with eaca other under• ground, and so shaking the earth. 1 L. have collected many savage explanations of earth quakes, but none, perhaps, quite' so savage as this of Pythagoras, Ihe nearest approaches to it are the following, Ihe 1 linkteet. Indians on the north-west coast of America suppose that the earth # rests upon a pillar which is guarded by a woman ; so, when the gods fight with the woman' for the possession of the pillar, in * order that they may destroy the earth and its inhabitants, the pillar shakes, and this produces an earthquake. 2 The Andaman islanders, who long ranked-, though unjustly, amongst the lowest of savages, think that earths „ quakes are caused by the spirits of the dead, who, impatient • # at the delay of the resurrection, shake the palm-tree on which they believe the earth to rest, 3 When the people of Timor, an East Indian island, feel the shock of an earthquake, they knock on the ground and calf out,/- Wc are . still here,” tt> let the souls of the dead who are struggling to get up, know that there is no room for them on the surface of the earth. 4 . Even this, however, is a sljade less savage than the view of^ Pythagoras that the dead could not even keep the peace amongst themselves. In Lucian’s “ Dialogues of the Dead” the soldier ghost who draws near the ferry, his bright armour flashing through the gloom, is bidden by Plermes to leave his arms behind him on the ■* hither side of the river, “ because there is peace in the grave”, 6 Clearly Hermes was not a Pythagorean.

Bfit passing from Pythagoras’ views of physical causa-

1 /Elian, Van Hist., iv, iy.

- Holmberg, Ethnographiscbe Skizzen liber die Vulker des ‘Riussiseben Aincrikaq.-ikV^ sotietalis scieniiaritm Fennim? iv {Helsingfors* r 856), p. 346 fr eq.

s E, H. Inhabitants of the Andaman Islands? p, S6,

4 A. Bastion, Itidonesien? si, p. 3, Cp. id., In VethandL d, Berlin. Gi'sclt* if. AnthrapoL , tSSi, p. 157; J. G. F, Riedel,' Be 'sluik- m kroeskarige r&sm tusschen Celebes m Papua , 330, 42 8 seq-

5 tLucjan, Dial. Mort^ x ? 7.

t

of the Ancients . * •* , 15 r

tibn, Jet us look more closely at some of the practical precepts'or symbols which he laid down for the? guidance of life *

One of his precepts, as we have seen, was this : f; Do not poke the fire with a sword.” 1 The precept commends itself to us, but hardly on the grounds on which it did so to Pythagoras. To understand his reasons'we must go to the Tartars, who abstain from thrusting a knife into the fire on the ground^ that it would cut off the fire's head. 1 The Kamchatkans also think it a sin to stick a knife into a burning log, and so do some of the North American Indians. 3 *

Again lf Pythagoras told his disciples never to point the finger at the stars. 4 This ism very common superstition in Germany, where one reason given is that by pointing a finger at the moon or stars one would put out the eyes of the angels," Another reason given'is that one’s finger'wouki 'drop off. 8 If one has pointed at the stars, the only way to save one’s finger from dropping off is to bite it 7 The reason for so doing is explained by the statement of

* • t, , 1 , * ,t

1 Htppolytus, Refit L o?m. It tie res*, vi, 27 j Jamblichus, jldkort\ ad fkilos., 21* Diogenes Laertius, viii, r, 17; Porphyry, ViL Pythag ., •42 ; Plutarch, Isis U Osiris, lo ; Deeduc. filter, 17; Suidas, j.t'.

xi Pythagoras’ 1 ; Athenrcais, p. 4 S 2 be,

2 VJe Plano Carp mi, Historic MongaUyum, ed D/Avegac (Paris,

4$3$)‘c* iii, § in , * ,

3 S teller, feschrdbung von dan Lands Kamis skat hi, 274 : Schoolcraft, Indian Trikes 230, All three passages have been already cited in illustration of Pythagoras" maxim by Dr, E. B. Tylor, Researches into Ike K&rly History of MankituP , 577 *

* Rra^mwita philosoph. Grose, } ed. Mullach, i 1 p- 5 m. fi Grimm, Deutsche Mythology iii, p. 445 5 E - Heier, Deutsche Sagehy Sitten und Gchriiuche am Sclnoabcn, p- 490 > Haltrich, Zur VolkshcndedmSiebtnburger Sachsen (Wien, iSZ 5 ), p* 3 °°’

*> Qjphmann, Aberglaubm mid Gcbrduckeaus Bohmen undMdhren^ p. 32, No. 175 ; Kuhn und Schwartz ,NorddmtscM Sagcn % MUrcken und Gchrauthe y p. 45S, No- 426.

7 j. \y. Wolf, Beiirage zur dcutschen Mythologies i, p. 235, No.

:w* *. * 1 . -

‘152 Sothe Popular Supers ft turns'

an Ojebway Indian* “ I \yeli remember; 1 says lie, “ when I was a little boy, being told by our aged people ,that I must never point my finger at tlie moon, for if I did she would consider it a great insult, and instantly bite it The reason, therefore, why a German bites bis finger after pointing at a star is to make the star believe that he is himself biting off the offending finger, and that thus the star is saved the trouble of doing so* Thus the Ojebway Indiarf is here the best commentator on Pythagoras*

Again, Pythagoras said : 14 Do not look at your face in a river.” 2 3 So, too, said the old Hindu lawgiver* ,£ Let him not,” says Manu,* let him not look at his own image in water; that is a settled rule. ,5i b Neither the Greek philosopher nor the Hindu lawgiver assigns any reason for the rule* To ascertain it we must inquire, of the Zulus and the black race,of the Pacific/both of whom observe the same rule, and can give a.reason for doing so. Here is the reason given by the Zulus in their own wortjs: is said*

there is a beast in the water which can seize the shadow of a man ; when he looks into the water it takes his shadow ; the unan no longer wishes to turn back, but h^s a great wish to enter the pool ; it seems to him. that there is not death in the water ; It is as if he w r as going to real happh ness' where there is 110 harm and he dies through going into the pool, being eaten by the beast. , * , . And men are forbidden to lean over and look into a dark pool, it being feared lest their shadow should be taken away.” 4 So much for the Zulus. Now for-the Melanesians of the Pacific, “ There is a stream In Saddle Island, or, rather, a ppol in a stream, into which if anyone looks he dies ; the malignant spirit takes hold upon his' life by means'ofliis

1 Peter Jones, History of the Ojebway Indians, , p, S4 s*q, *

2 Ffqgm. phiios * Gncc. v ed. MuUach, i, p* 510*

3 Laws of Manu 3$, trans* by G* Euhlcr.

Callaway, Nursery Tales, Tra<Ii/fons, and Histories of the Zulus ,

h 342*

of the Anctfrnls. m 15 3

reflection on the water,Here, doubtless, we have the * origin: of the- classical story of Narcissus who languished away fa consequence 'of seeing his own'fair image in the water. 2

During a thunderstorm it was a Greek; custom to put out the fire, and hiss and cheep with the lips. The reason for the custom was explained by the Pythagoreans to be, that by acting thus you frightened the spirits in Tartarus, 3 who were doubtless supposed to make the thunder and lightning. Similarly* some ^ of the Australian blacks, who attribute thunder to the agency of demons, and are much afraid of, it, believe that they can dispel it "by chanting some particular words and breathing hard"; 4 and it is a German superstition that the danger from a thunderstorm can be averted by putting out the fixe A During a thunderstorm, the Sakai of the Malay Peninsula run out of their houses and brandish their weapons to drive away the demons^* and the Esthonians in Russia fasten scythes, edge upward, over the door, that the demons, fleeing from the thundering god, may cut their feet if they try to seek shelter in the house. Sometimes the Esthonians, for a similar purpose, take all the edged tools in the house and throw diem out into the yard. It is said that, when the storm is ovefr, spots of blood are often found on the scythes and knives, showing that the demons have been wounded by them. 7 So, when

1 R, H* Codrington, “Religious Reliefs and Practices in Melanesia/ 1 Journal Antkrpp* Ins fit., x. 313, This explanation of the Narcissus legend was communicated by me in a note to th & Journal of the Anihropological Institute, xvi, 334,

2 Ovid, Mefani Hi, 341 seq,

3 Aristotle, AnalyL Poster,, ii, p. 94A 33 Berlin ed 4 Scholiast on Aristophanes^ IVtisfts, 626; Pliny, Nat Hist*, xxviii, 25*

♦ Collins, Account of Ike EngU.sk Colony in New South Wales* p t 485 \ Angus, Savage Seelies, m Australia and Netf Zealand, ii, 233.

6 Wuttke, Der deuische Voifaabirgt&umy § 449 *

0 Journal of the fndlan Archipelago, iii, 43a

t Boeder-Kreutzwald,' Per Ithsien abc?glaubisclic Ccbrduclm, p.

*54

Some Popular Superstition^^

the Indians of Canada were asked by the Jesuit missionaries Why they planted their swords in the ground* point upwards, they replied that the spirit of the thuqder was sensible, and that if he saw the naked blades he would turn away and take good care not to approach their huts. 1 This is a fair sample of the close similarity of* European superstitions to the superstitions of .savages. In the present case the difference happens to be .slightly in favour of the Indians, since they did not, like our European savages, delude themselves into seeing the blood of demotis on the . swords. The reason for the Greek and’ German custom of putting out the fire during a thunderstorm is, probably,* a wish to avoid attracting the attention of the thunder demons. From a like motive some of the Australian blacks hide themselves during a thunderstorm, an^ keep absolutely silent, lest the thunder' should find them out 2 ' •Price during a storm a white man called out in a loud voice to the black fellow with whom he was working, to put the saw under a log and seek shelter. He found that the saw had already been put away, and the black fellow was very indignant at his. master for speaking so loud.

“ What fob” skid he, in great wrath, “what for speak so loud? Now um thunder hear, and know where urn saw Is/ 1 I And he went out arid changed its hiding-placed One or two more classical superstitions about thunder aid lightning may here find a place, though they are not specially Pythagorean. The skins of seals and hyaenas were believed by the Greeks to be effective protections against lightning. Hence Greek sailors used to nail a sealskin to thg mast-head ; and the Emperor Augustus; who was nervously afraid of thunder, never went anywhere lv ^ llcmt a sealskin; 1 The skin of a hippopotamus burled In

1 Rff ms 1637, p. S 3 (Canadian reprint).

; am f^ Hie Aborigines of Australia,* TfansMm of the Ethnological Society> iii, 229 seg

* Jgy ^Pr^d. R. s»c. A- S. Waits, xvi (1882), p. m.

,,J, ft Q ™ SL C ™ ViV C iV ’ 2 ’ r ' c,: * 9 ,- Suetonius, Aur-

9 ‘ of His. Ancimts . , # ! 55

the middle of a field was supposed to prevent a thunderbolt from falling; on it 1

Another maxim of Pythagoras was tills On .setting out from your house upon a journey, do not turn back ; fof if you do, the Furies will catch you.” 2 This is a rule observed by superstitious 'people everywhere, in the heart of Africa and of India, as v$ell as all "over Europe, I will mention only the last instance whieh came under my notice. A Highland servant in our family told niy mother lately that in SutherlandsbirQ, if anyone is going on some important errand and has left anything behind him, he would stand and call for it for a week rather than go bach to fetch it s * '

Once more, P3'thagoras i * observed c u If you meet an ugly old woman at the door, do not go out’" 1 Amongst the Wends, if a man going out to hunt meets an old Vomah, ft is unlucky, and he should turn back, 5 * Amongst the Esthouians,. if a fisherman or anyone’ else going put on important business happens to meekan old woman, he will turn back. 0 A Tyrolese hunter believes that if he meets an old woman in the morning, lie will have no luck 7 In Pomerania, if a person going out of the house meets a

1 Geoponica^

Hip poly tus, Refill* omtu hasres., vi, 26 : Jamblichus, A dhoti* ad pltiios^ 21 ; Diogenes Laertius, viii, t, 17 ; Porphyry , ViL Pvtkag^ 42 ; Plutardl, De Juur,, 17, •

* Folk-Lore Journal , vii, 53. For India, see Indian An! In (ary ^ i, 170 ; Indian Notes and Queries f iv/270 ; for Africa, see Felkin in Proceed, R. Sac, Edmmrgh^ xiii, pp. 230, 734 seg,^ 759 ; for Europe, see Burue and Jackson, Shropshire Folk-lore , 274 ; Grimm, Deutsche ill vikoiogiA . iij, p■ 43 5 ; Kohler,* Volkshrauch ini l oigtlande, 426 ; I lalirich, Zitr* Volkskunde dcr Siehwb&rger Sadism^ 316 ; Krauss, 'Side und Branch (far Siids/avat^ 426* 1

A Fragm. .Philos, Gm'c. r e U. Miidach, i, 310,

a Schulcnberg, llendischr Volkssagm und Gebrdmlu\ 241 j cp. hezzenberger, JJiauische jF orsdiungen % 85.

0 Boeder-Kreuuwald, Der Elisten abcrglduhiscke Gehrduchc y 71.

7 Zingerle; Sit ten* Bfititche umf Mdn uhgen de s Tirder Volkes 1 ^ p. 43? 371.

156 4 Some Popular Superstition^

wQman, he will often turn back 1 2 They say in .Thurlngen that if }'ou are about any weighty affair, and are interrupted by an old woman, you should not go on with it, for it could ndt prosper/ In Norway, if a man goes out to make a ’ bargain, and an old woman is the first perfeon he meets, he will have no luck/ °

Another saying of Pythagoras was this : “If you stumble at the threshold in going out, you should turn back/ 4 In the Highlands of Scotland and among the Saxons of Transylvania it is deemed unlucky to stumble on the threshold in going out on a journey/ Amongst the Malays, if a person stumbles on leaving the steps of a house on particular business, it is unlucky, and the business is abandoned for the time/ In Sumatra, if *a Batta stumbles in leaving the house, it bodes ill-luck, and he thinks it better to abandon the journey and stay at home/

Again, Pythagoras said : “ If a weasel cross your path’, j turn back/ 3 Thiswas a common rule in Greece, In the 1 “ Characters” of Theophrastus the Superstitious Man would not go on if a weasel crossed Ills path; he waited till some one else had traversed the road, or until he had. thrown three stones across it The Zulus think that if a weasel crosses their path they will get no food at the place

1 Otto Knoop, Voi 0 sagen^etc^ aus dem thflichen HinUrpommcnu

16 3- r N

2 Witzschel, SdgeUy Sit fen iind Gebriiuche aus Thiiringui, 284. ;

s Antamumrhfo Annual and Madagascar Magazine } viij, 30.

i Fragm. PML Gr„ L c.

' 5 Scotland and Scotsmen in the Eighteenth Century, from the MSS. of John Ramsay of Ochtertyre, edited by Alex, Al lardy ce , (Edinburgh, j SSb), n, 456 ; Haltnch, Zirr Voikshtnde *der- Sc dent linger Sachsen, 316, ' 4 ^

3 Straits. Pranch P, Asiatic Sec.. Azotes and Queries t i, p. iS,

T J* B, Neumann, a Het Pane en BikL-Stromngebied op bet eiland Sumatra/ Tijdschrifi van net NddePlandsch Aararijks. Gencotschap^ ade Sen, dl iii, Afdeding: Meer uitgebreide artikelen, No, j, p,

5*5

s Fragm. PML Grkl. c. . . *

0 * %

* ,

whither they are going. 1 In Ireland, to meet a vveaset under certain circumstances is unlucky- °A weasel crossing the path was regarded as an omen by the Aztecs,

Further, Pythagoras warned his followers against stepping over a broom, 4 In some parts of Bavaria, housemaids, 'in sweeping out the house, are careful not to step over the broom for fear of the witches.* Again, it is a Bavarian * rule not to step over a broom while a confinement is taking place in a house ; otherwise the birth will he tedious, and the child will always remain small with a large head. But if anyone has stepped over a broom inadvertently, he can undo the sped by stepping backward^ over it again, 0 So j'n Bombay they say you should never step across a broom, or you will cause a woman to suffer severely in childbed."

Again, it was a precept of Pythagoras not to run a nail or a knife into a man's ^footprints. 3 This, from the primitive point of view, was really a moral, not merely a prudential precept For it is a world-wide superstition that by injuring footprints you injure the feet that made them. Thus; in ’Mecklenburg it is thought that if you thrust a nalHnto a man’s footprints the man will go lame,* The Australian blacks held exactly the same view. r * Seeing a Tat u ngolung- very lame/’ says Mr. Hewitt, “1 asked him what was the blatter? He said, 4 Some fellow has put bottle In my foot/ I asked him to let me see it. I found he Was probably suffering from acute rheumatism. He .explained that-some enemy must have found his foot-

■ 1 tall away, Niihery Tates, etc,, of the Zulus, p, 5.

3 M'^Iahon, lyirens of the Go/den Chersonese, 27 3I ♦ * .Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific States, iii, 128.

1 HippblyUis, Ref at. am a. hacrcs., vi, 27.

* Laiflmett* Volksntedizin mid tneMsinischer Aherglaube in Bayern\

as.:

Wuttke, Der deutschc Volksabtrglaubd, § 574.

7 Indian Notes and Queries^ iv, 104.

■' Frayn:. Phi!, OrL c.

4J Bartsch, Sagen, Mil re hen nnd Gehrduche aits Mecklenburg, ii t Nos. 1597, 159S ; cp. id., N r o, [6| la sea.

' i . *

track, and have burled in It a piece of broken bottle. The magic influence* he be!ieved, caused ilq to enter life foet When following down Cooper’s Creek in search of Burke’s party, we were followed one day by a large number of blackfellows, who were much interested in looking at and measuring the footprints of the horses and camels, * My blackboy, from the Darling River, rq 3 § up to me, with the utmost alarm exhibited in his face, and exclaimed, 4 Look at these wild blackfellows !■ I said, 4 Well, they are all right, 1 fie replied, 4 1 am'sure those fellows afe#guttiog poison in my footsteps 1 ' Amongst the Karens of Burma, evil-disposed persons "' keep poisoned fangs in their possession for the purpose of killing people. These they thrust into the footmarks of the person they wish to kill, who joqh finds himself with a sore foot, and the marks on it as bitten by a dog* The sore, becomes rapidly worse and worse tiM death ensues,”* Ike Damatas of South -Africa take earth from the footprints of a lion and throw it on the track of an enemy, with the w ish, “ May; the lion kill you.”? This superstition is turned to account by hunters in many parts of the .world for the purpose of running down the game. Thus, a German huntsman will stick a nail taken from a coffin into the fresh spoor 6i the animal lie is hunting, believing that this will prevent the quarry from leaving the liunting-groundd Australian blacks put hot embers in the tracks of the artimals they are pursuing 5 ; Hottentot hunters throw into .the* air a handful of sand taken from ’ the b footprints oi the game, believing that* this will bring the animal down 0 ; and Ojebway Indians place “ medicine" on the first dder’s or

, 1 Fison and Ho wilt Kamil nroi and Kurnat, 250. Cp. ^Brough Smyth, Aborigines oJ.ViCiona^ L 476 seq. . * • , 4

8 Mason, “The Karen Journal Hi Asiatic See.* ?E68, pt. ii, P- £ 4 J^ Josaphat Hahn, “ Die 6vaft.erero, ,J ZeilseJiriji d. GeselLf. Erdhtttfle jsu Berlin, iv r 503. '

4 Wuttke, Dtr dcuischt yolksiiberglattbS) § rS6. ,

$ Dawson, Australian AboriyWks\ 54,

<] Theophiliis Halm, Tsum-\ p. $4 jvy.

* * *

f •

bear's track that they meet with, supposing* that even if the animal be two or three days' journey off, they will now soon sight it, the charm possessing the power,of shortening the journey from two,or three days to a few hours/ The Zulus resort to a similar device tb recover strayed cattle. Earth* taken from the footprints of the missing beasts is placed in the chiefs Vessel, a magic circle is ing.de, and the chiefs vessel is placed within it Then the chief says, f< I have now conquered them. These cattle are now here ; I am now'sitting upon them. I do not know in what way they will escape/' 2

We can now understand why Pythagoras said that when you rise from bed you should efface the impression Left by your body on the bedclothes. 3 For obviously the same magical process might be applied by an enemy to the impress of the body which we have just seen to be applied to the impress of the foot The aborigines of Australia cause magical substances to enter the body of an enemy by burying them either in his footprints or hi the mark made on the ground by his reclining body, 4 or they beat the place where the man sat—the place must be still warm —with a pointed stick, which is then believed to enter the victim's body and kill him. 5 To secure the good behaviour , of an ally with whom they have just had a conference, the . Basutos will cut and preserve the grass upon which the ally sat-during the Interview.* The grass is apparently regarded as a sort of hostage for his good behaviomysmce through it- they believe they could punish him il he proved false, floors who write on the sand arc superstitiously careful to

1 Peter Jones, 'hf hfnry of the Ojebwcty 154*

a Callaway, Religions SyStan of the Amazulu, 34 , * jamMlchtis, AditorL ad philvs., 2 r ; Plutefrcli, Qu&sf. Comriv^

viii, 7* Clemens Alex and,* Sirmth, v, 5, p. 65 i, Pott. Cp. Diogenes kACTL,- viii t i, 17 ; Suidas, $. v* 11 Pythagoras*

1 A. \V. Howi-ft,. “ On Australian Medicine Men * Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xvi } 26 scq.

5 .Brough Smyth, Aborigines of Victoria, i, 475.

. y Casalis, The Basutps 4 275. *

t6o- - Soyte 'Popular Superstitions

• * * "b

smooth atyay all the impressions they have made, never leaving a stroke or a dot of the finger on the sand aftei they have finished writing. 5 Pythagoras also enjoined his disciples when they lifted a pot from the ashes always to efface the mark left by'the pot on the ashes.- He probably feared that the persons who ate out of the pot might be magically injured by any enemy who should tamper with the impression left on tlie ashes by the pot. The ’ obligation of this Pythagorean precept is acknowledged at the other end of the world by the natives' of Calnbodia. They say that when you lift a pot from the fire you should be careful not to set it down on the ashes, if you can help, it : buf if it is necessary to do so, you should at least be . careful, in lifting it from the ashes, to obliterate the im’ press!on which it has made. The reason they give is, that to act otherwise would lead to poverty and want. 3 But this is clearly an afterthought, devised to explain a rule of which the original meaning was forgotten.

Such, then, are specimens, and only specimens, .of the savage superstitions which, under the name of the symbols of Pythagoras, passed muster in antiquity as the emanations of.a profound philosophy and an elevated morality. 4 The

1 Richardson, Frovels in the Great Desert of Sahara t iv^5-

2 Plutarch, Quasi* Conviv ,, vnii, 7 ; Jamblichus, Adhort* ad fkilos*,

21 j Clemens vj 5 5? p*66r, Pott \ Diogenes Laertius,,

via, l ? i7i Suidas, s. r/, ft Pythagoras*’.

3 E. Aymtraiefy c *Notes sur les coutnmes fit croyances superstitieuses des Cambodgiens” Cochinehine Fraiimue^ Excursions cl Reccmnaissawes, No, 16, p, 163.

4 Collections, more or less complete, of the«^symbols’ 1 of Pythagpras ■will- be found- in the lives^ of Pythagoras by Diogenes Laertius (vii'vi), Jarnhlkhus, and Porphyry, the Adhortatio tod fhiosoffimm of Jamblichus ; Suidas, sev. "Pythagoras t: ; Plutarch, Isis ef Osiris, 10; id n ZXe edumU fuerorum^ if; J% QmsL Convm t viii, 7 ; Clemens Akxand., Strom., v, 5 ; Atlienteus, p. AS 2 P K : Hippolytus, fiefnl ami* haeres.y vi, 26 seg. They are given in a^collccted form by Mullach in his Fragment a fdi ihsopho t um "G nr corn m , i, p, 504 seq*, though hts references to the authorities are .not always complete.

fact that they did so pass muster with the wisest-of the ancients conclusively establishes the point I am concerned to prove, gamely, that beneath the polished surface of classical civilisation there lay a deep and solid stratum of savagely, not differing in kind from the savagery of Australian blackfellows, Zulus, and Ojebways, It lay beneath the surface, but not far beneath it. There, as everywhere, you had only to scratch civilisation to find savagery And, the helpless bewilderment of classical writers in face of the few specimens of native savagery which cropped up on the surface, shows how little conception they had of the depths of superstition which lay beneath their feet.

I have dwelt at some length on the symbols of Pythagoras, and their .resemblance to, or rather identity with, the superstitions of savages at home and abroad, because they furnish a strong proof of the truth of the propositions from which 1 set out. But It would be unfair to Pythagoras to leave the whole burden of proof upon his shoulders/ So, if l have riot already taxed the reader's patience too far, I will now give a few specimens of classical superstitions drawn from other sources.

Wherever people are directly and visibly dependent for their daily bread, not on their fellow men, but on the forces of nature, there superstition strikes root and flourishes. It is a weed that finds a more congenial soil in the woods and fields than among city streets* The ancient Greek farmer was certainly not less superstitious than our own Hodge/ Amongst the foes whom the husbandman has always to fear are the storms and hail which beat down his corn, the weeds which choke it, and the vermin which devour it For each and all, of these the ancient farmer had remedies of bis own. .Take hail, for example. At the town of Cleonae, in Argblis, there were watchmen maintained at the’public expense to look out for hail-storms,

t « •» '=*

On p, 510 Mullach gives, from MSS., a valuable collection of “symbols” many of which are noi found in the printed texts of , classical writers/

* VOL* L

M

When they saw a hail-cloud approaching they made a signal, whereupon the farmers turned out and sacrificed lambs or fowls. They believed that when the clouds <had tasted the blood they would turn aside and go somewhere else. Hoc rides ? accifie quod rideas utagis. If any man was too poor to afford a lamb or a fowl, he pricked his finger with a sharp instrument, and offered his own blood to the .clouds; and the hail, we are told, turned aside from his fields quite as readily as from those where it had been propitiated with the blood of victims. If the vines and crops suffered from a hailstorm, the watchmen were brought before the magistrates and punished for neglect 'of duty 1 Apparently, it formed part of their duty not only to signal the approach of a storm, but actively to assist in averting it, for Plutarch speaks of the mole^s blood and bloody rags by which they sought to turn the storm away A This custom of civilised Greece has its analogue among the wild tribes that lurk in the dense jungles of the Malay Peninsula. Thunder is greatly dreaded by these savages. Accordingly, “ when it thunders the women cut their legs with knives till the blood flows, and then, catching the drops in a piece of bamboo, they cast them aloft towards the sky, to propitiate the angry deities/’ 3 The Aztecs, also, had sorcerers, whose special business it was to turn aside the hail-storms from the maize crops and direct them to waste lands. 4 A Roman way of averting hail was to hold up a looking-glass to the dark cloud ; seeing itself in the glass, the cloud, it was believed, would pass by. A tortoise laid on its back on the field, or the skin of a crocodile, hyaena, or seal car-

1 Seneca, Quasi. Natur., iv, 6 seq,; Clemens AI ex and, Strom., vi, § 3 i, P- 754 Mq-r P^tt.

- Plutarch, OucesI. Conviv., vii, 2,

a Journal of the Straits Branch of the R. Asiatic Society, No. 4, p. 4S* . , # •

1 Sahagun, His lot re gMtrale des chases de Li Nouvdte Bspagne (Paris, 18 So), p. 486. Cp. id f p. 314, with Ellis, History of Madagascar * j, 412. (ashes thrown to the clouds to melt the clouds into rain).

of ike Ancients . 163

vied about the farm, and hung up at the door, was also esteemed effective for the same purpose, 1 The little town of Methana, in Argolis, stood on a pen Insulk jutting out into the Saronic Gulf It felt the c full force of the south-west wind, which, sweeping over the bay, wrought havoc among the surrounding vineyards. To prevent its ravages the following plan was adopted. When dark clouds were seen rising in the south-west, and the approach of the storm was marked by a black line crawling across the smooth surface of the bay, two men took a cock with white wings (every feather of the wings had to be white) and rent it in two. Then they each took one-half of the bird and ran with it round the vineyards in opposite directions till they met at the point from which they started. There they buried the cock. This ceremony was believed to keep off the south-west wind, 2 The meaning jbf the ceremony is perhaps explained by the following East Indian custom. When the sky is overcast the skipper of a Malay prao takes the white or yellow leathers of a cock, fastens them to a leaf of a particular sort p and sets then in the forecastle, with a prayer to the spirits that lliey will cause the black clouds to pass by. Then the cock is killed. The skipper whitens his dusky hand with chalk, points thrice with his whitened finger to the black clouds, and throws the bird into the sea/' Clearly the idea of the Greek husbandman and the Malay skipper is, that the white-winged bird will flutter against and beat away the black-winged spirit of the storm.

To rid a field of mice the Greek farmer was recommended to proceed as follows:—“Take a sheet of paper, and write on it these words: 'Ye mice here present, I adjure you.that ya, injure me not, neither suffer another * • ♦

! PaJiadius, De re rusf. % i, 35 ; Geoponic i, 14, For other remedies, see Cicoponica, L r.; Philo stratus, Heroica , p. 281, Didot,

* Pausanias, ii, 34 n

3 Riedel, De slmk- enkroeskangc rassen tusschen Sekbes en Papua , 4 \2st$. r

164 Some Popular Supersh/ioits

mouse to injure me. I give you yonder field’ (specifying, the field)j 'but if ever I catch you here again, by the help of the Mother of the gods I will rend you in seven pieces/ Write this, and stick the paper on an unhfewn s’tone in the field where the mice are, taking care to keep the written side uppermost.” 1 ft is fair to add that the writer in the Gcoponica who records this receipt adds, in a saving clause, that "he does not himself believe it all, God forbid !" To keep wolves from his beasts,‘a Roman farmer used to catch a wolf, break its legs, sprinkle its blood all round the farm, and bury the carcase in the middle of it; or he took the ploughshare with which the first furrow had been traced that year and put it in the fire on -the family hearth. So long as the ploughshare remained redhot, so long no ravening wolf would harry his fold. 2

Greek farmers were much pestered by a rank weed called the lion-weed, which infested their fields.. The Gcoponica, as' usual, comes to the rescue. Here- are some of its receipts:—“ Take five potsherds ; draw on each of them in chalk or other white substance a picture of Hercules strangling the lion. Deposit four of these potsherds at the corners of the field, and the fifth in the. middle. The lion-weed will never show face in that field.” Here is another receipt taken from the same golden treasury: “A lion is very much afraid of a cock, and sneaks away with his tail between his legs when he sees one. ■' So, if a man will boldly take a cock, in his arms and march with it round the field, the Hon-weed will immediately disappear.” 3

It was a common superstition in ancient Italy that if a woman were found spinning on a highroad, the -crops would be spoiled for that year. So.general, and firinly rooted was this belief, that in most parts- of Italy it was forbidden by lavy- for a woman to spin on a highway, or even to carry her spindle .uncovered Along it 4 As a last

1 Gcoponica, xiii, 5. K Pliny, fiat. iii, 266 seg.

Gcoponica, ii. 42. 4 Hiny, Nat. Hist .j xxviii, 28.

*

of the Anctents . 1 , 65 -

■j * ' * •

instance.of these jagricultural superstitions, I will mention that when a Greece soever sowed cummin he hacl to curse and swear all the while he did so, otherwise the crop would not turn out well 1 Similarly, Esthonian fishermen think that they never have such good luck as when somebody is angry with them and curses them. So, before a fisherman goes out to fish, he commonly plays a rough practical joke on some of his house-mates, such as hiding the key of the cupboard, upsetting a kettle of soup, and so on. The more they curse and swear at him, the more fish he will catch ; every curse brings at least three fish into the net?

Under the head of what may be called domestic folklore, I must content myself with a Greek cure for the sting of a scorpion and a couple of Roman superstitions relative to child-birth. If a man has been stung by a scorpion, the Ge&fianica recommends that he should sit on an ass with his face to the tail* or whisper in the ass's eai\ 1 “ A scorpion lias stung me/’ In either case, we are assured, the pain will pass from the man into the ass? The woodspirit Silvanus was believed to he very inimical to women in child-bed. So, to keep him out of a house* where a woman was expecting her confinement, three men used to go through the house by night armed respectively with an axe, *a pestle, and a broom. At every door they stopped, and the first man struck the threshold with his axe, the second with his pestle, and the third swept it with his broom. This kept Silvanus from entering the house? When his wife was in hard labour, a Roman husband used to take a stone or any missile that had killed three animals —a boar, a bear, and a man. This he threw over the roof of *the house, and immediately the child was bom; A

1 Theophrastus, His tor. Plant,, yiii, 3; Plutarch, Q$&st u Cdtviv* , vii, 2, t,

- Boeder-Kreutzwald. DcrEhsten ahcrglauhiscH Gelnjiucfie^ go seq*

A Gcop onicif xiii, 9, xv, r; Pliny, Nat* Hist xxviii, 155;

4 Augustine s De civil* wd % vi/9.

• *

javelin which had been plucked from the body of a man, and had not since touched the ground* was the best instrument for the purpose, 1

Now for war. There is a common belief in modern, times that great battles bring on clouds and rain through the atmospheric disturbances set up by the rolling reverberation of the artillery. During the American Civil War it was a matter of common observation thaf rain followed the great battles* I have been told, by one who took part in the battle of Sol ferine* that the day was dull and rainy ; indeed, the Austrian commander attributed the loss of the battle to a terrific thunderstorm which burst over the field and obscured the movements of powerful masses of the enemy. The belief that heavy firing brings down rain is indeed so rooted, that a' civil engineer wrote a book not many years ago to prove it, and a gentleman of scientific tastes read a paper to the same effect before the British Association in 1874. 2 Perhaps they would have spared themselves the trouble if they had been aware, first, that as late as the beginning of this century the belief was just the reverse* and batteries were regularly kept by many French Communes for the sole purpose of dispersing the clouds 3 ; and second, that the theory which connects great battles with heavy ram is very much older than the invention of gunpowder After describing the defeat of the Teutons by the Romans under Marius, Plutarch mentions a popular saying, that great

1 Pliny, AW. JfisL, xxviii, 33 seq. *

2 * ( On Disturbance of the Weather by Artificial Influences, especially Battles, Military Movements, Great Explosions, and Conflagrations,” by R. B. Belcher, See Report of the meeting of the British Association fo r 1874, Transactions of the Sections^ p. 36.

5 Journal and Proceedings of the R , Society of N. S. Wales , xvi (1882)* p* 12* The address of the President (p, n seq) contains a judicious" discussion of the whole question. The earlier view must have been shared by Southey, for, in describing a naval action in the Mediterranean, he says tl the firing made a perfect calm’ 1 {Life of Nelson^ ch. in). * * 4 . ■ *

of ike Ancients.

battles are accompanied by heavy rain, and he suggests as possible explanations of the supposed fact, either that the atmospheric moisture is condensed by the exhalations from the slain* or that some pitying god cleanses the bloody earth with the gentle rain of heaven.

When a Roman army sat down before a city to besiege it, the priests used to invite the guardian gods of the city to leave it and come over to the Roman side, assuring them that they would be treated by the Romans as \vell as, or better than, they had ever been treated by their former worshippers. This invitation was couched in a set form of prayer or incantation, which was not expunged from the Pontifical liturgy even in Pliny's time. The name of the guardian god of Rome was always kept a profound secret, lest the enemies of Rome should entice him by similar means to desert the city. 1 So, when the natives of Tahiti wdre besieging a fortress, they used to take th£ finest mats, doth, and so on, as near to the ramparts as they could with safety, and there, holding them up, offered them to the gods of the besieged, while the priests cried out, u Tane in the fortress, Ore in the fortress, etc., come to the sea; here are your offerings." The priests of the besieged, on the other hand, endeavoured to detain the gods by exhibiting whatever property they possessed, if they feared that the god was likely to leave themI s

Like modern peasants, the ancients believed that the ghosts of slaughtered warriors appear by night on the battle-field, and fight their battles over again. At Marathon the neighing of horses and the noise of battle could be heard every night* The sound of the sea breaking on the-shore in the stillness of night may have originated

1 Pliny, Nat. Hist} xxviii, 185 Macrobius, Saturn^ Hi, 9, 2 seq .; Servius on Virgil, ii, 351 j Livy, v, 21. On the secret name of Rome itself, see Macrobius, L c.; Pliny, Nat. Hist , iii, 65 ; Joannes Lydus, De Mensibus^ iv. 50.

, 2 Ellis, Polynesian Researches^ i 5 316, cp. *280 (ed 1832).

3 Pausanias, i, 32, 4,

• . .

or confirmed the belief. In Bceotia there was a place called tf The Horses of Fynechmes 5 ’* and the local legend ran that Pynechmes was a King of Euboea who had fought against Bceotia long ago, and, being defeated* had been bound to horses and torn in two* A river ran by the spot* and in the rush of the river people fancied that they heard the snorting of the phantom steeds. 1 Again, the whole plain of Troy was haunted ground* The shepherds and herdsmen who pastured Their flocks and herds on it used to see tall and stately phantoms, from the manner of whose appearance they presaged what was about to happen. If the phantoms were white with dust* it meant a parching summer. If beads of sweat stood on their brows, it foretold heavy rains and spates on the rivers. If they came dabbled in blood, it boded pestilence. But if there was neither dust nor sweat nor blood on them, the shepherds augured a fine season, and offered sacrifice from their flocks. The spectre of Achilles was always known from the rest by his height, his beauty, and his gleaming arms, and he rode on a whirlwind.^ In the late Roman empire legend told how, after a great battle fought against Attila and the ITuns tinder the walls of Rome* the ghosts of the slain appeared and fought for three days and nights. The' phantom warriors could- be seen charging each other, and the clang of their weapons was distinctly heard; :i Stories of the same sort, which it would be needless to cite at length, are told about battlefields to this day. Terrified peasants have seen the spectral armies locked in desperate conflict, have felt the ground shake beneath their tread, and have heard the music of the fifes and drums. 4

1 Plutarch, ParaUda^ 7. 2 Philo stratus, in, J jS, 26,

3 Damascus, Vita Isidofi : 63.

1 K. Lynker, Deutsche Sagm und Sitten in hcsmtfjcn Gmen^ pp. t t-13 j P. Sdbillot, Traditions et Superstitions <k ia HmifrBniagne % i, 222; E. Veckenstedt, Die My then, $agen % und Legendcn der Znmmfm (Utaiier), ii, p. 140; Indian Antiquary, & (tSSo), p. So. Cf,F % Liebrecht, Geivasius von Tiihny f 195 se$>

A word about were-wolves, and l have dona. Few superstitions are more familiar in modern times than this one* Certain men, it is believed, possess the power of turning themselves into wolves and back again at pleasure* Or they are forced to become wolves for a time, but may, under certain conditions, recover their human 'shape. All this, was believed as firmly by superstitious people in antiquity as it has been believed by the same class of persons in modern times. There is a certain mountain in Arcadia which towers over its sister peaks, and commands from its top a prospect over a great part of the Morea* The mountain was known to the ancients as the Wolf. Mountain (Mt. Lycseus), and on its summit stood the earthen altar of the Wolf God (Zeus Lycaeus). East of the altar stood two columns, surmounted by gilt eagles. Once a year a mysterious sacrifice was offered at the altar, in the course of which a man was believed to be changed into a wolf* Accounts differ as to the way in which the werewolf was' chosen. According to one account, a human victim was sacrificed, one of his bowels was mixed with the bowels of animal victims, the whole was consumed by the worshippers, and the man who unwittingly ate the human bowel was changed into a wolf* 1 According to another account, lots were cast among the members of a particular family, and he upon whom the lot fell was the were-wolf. Being, led to the brink of a tarn, he stripped himself, hung his clothes on an oak-tree, plunged into the tarn, and, swimming across it, went away into desert places. There he was changed into a wolf and herded with wolves for nine years* If he tasted human blood before the nine years were out he had to remain a wolf for ever. But ff during the nine years he abstained from preying on men, then, when the tenth year came round, he recovered his human shape. 2 Similarly, there is a negro

1 Plata, Repub., 565 BE.

- Pliny, Nat Hist, viji, 81 ; Paussuiias, vi, S* viii, 2. On the altar at the top of Mt. Lycaens, see Pausanias, viiL 38, ?♦

family at the mouth of the Congo who are supposed to possess the power of turning themselves into leopards in the gloomy depths of the forest. As leopards, they knock people down, but do no further harm, for they think that if, as leopards, they once lapped blood, they would be leopards for ever. 1

In the “ Banquet of Trimalchio” there is a typical werewolf story, 2 with which I will qonclude this paper. Seme points in it are explained by the belief of the Breton peasants, that if a were-wolf be wounded to the effusion of blood, he is thereby obliged.to resume his human form, and that the man will then be found to have on his body the very same wound which was inflicted on the wolf. 3 The story is put in the mouth of one NicerOs. Late at night he left the town to'- visit a friend of his, a widow, who lived at a farm five milds down the road. He was accompanied by.a soldier, who lodged in the same house, a man of Herculean build. When they set out it was near dawn,but the moon shone as bright as day. Passing through the outskirts of the town they came amongst the tombs, which lined the highroad for some distance. There the soldier made an • excuse for retiring among the monuments, and Niceros sat down to wait for him, humming a tune and counting the tombstones. In a little he looked round at his companion, and what he saw froze him with horror. The soldier had stripped off his clothes to the last rag .and laid them at the side of the highway. Then he performed a certain ceremony over them, and immediately was changed into a wolf, and ran howling into the forest. When Niceros had recovered himself a little he went to pick up the clothes,, but found that they were turned to stone. Almost dead with fear, he drew his sword, and, striking at every

1 A. Eastian, Die deutsehc Expedition an der Loango-Kiisfe, ii, 248.

" Petronius, 61 scq .

3 Sdbillot, Traditions et Superstitions de U-Brei i, 29 1

scq.

shadow cast by the tombstones on the moonlit road tottered -to his friend’s house. He entered it like a ghost, to' the surprise of the widow, who wondered to see him abroad so late. "If you had only been here a little ago,” said she, 11 you might have been of some use. For a wolf came tearing into the yard, scaring the cattle and bleeding them like a butcher. But he did not get off so easily, for •the servant speared him in the neck." After hearing these words, Niceros felt that he could not close an eye, so he hurried away home again. It was now broad daylight, but when he came to the place where the clothes had been turned to stone, he found only a pool of blood. He reached home, and there lay the soldier in bed like an ox ifl the shambles, and the doctor was bandaging his neck.

j. G. Frazer.

Legends from Torres Straits, II

Alfred C. Haddon

II.

x,—T he Story of Greedy ‘Goba.

. (As narrated by Kami (now Gmtf the Chief of Badn,)

I N former days, on the leeward side of Badu, lay the village of Ergan, and Wakaid was situated to wind' ward, that is to say, on the south-eastern side of the island.

The men of Wakaid told their women to go to Ergan to sell biiu (i) for turtle meat, but Goba volunteered, saying, "Give me. I go to Ergan and sell for you / 1 and they permitted him. Halfway across the island are‘two hills; arriving between them, he sat down and ate all the biiu ; when he had finished lie proceeded on his wa}^ to Ergan. The inhabitants of this village had just caught a considerable number of turtle, and they gave him a lafge supply to sell to the Wakaid folk.

Having slept that night at Ergan, Goba set off in the. early morning, and when he came to the spot between the two hills he again rested and ate up all the turtle. Whcn^ he arrived at the camp the Wakaid men asked him where the turtle was, and he replied that they had none at the other village. He slept.

The first thing in the morning the Wakaid men said, “ Who will go to Ergan ? n - Goba said, I will go again/ and they filled up a basket with biiu. Again h$ rested halfway and ate as much of the biiu as he could On arriving at Ergan the men there asked him where the* biiu was, and Goba told a lie, and said none iigas sent. As they had f bcen fortunate in their turtle-fishing they gave him a load

of the meat to carry back to WakaicL He made a good supper off turtle and slept, there*

At ff sm 4 U dayligSt' J he marched off to windward with his turtle-meat, but once more he ate it all up, and then concluded his repast with a mixture of turtle-oil and the mangrove he had left over on the previous occasion! The old lie of the bad luck of the Erg an people was told on his return home.

Next morning he again started with biiu for Ergan. -When he had satisfied his hunger at his usual halting-, place he hid what remained over. The Ergan men once more inquired after the biiu which Gob a should have brought in payment of the turtle they had previously given to him, but they Were put off with the ordinary excuse. On this occasion they gave him a segment of bamboo filled with turtle-oil (.2), but this was utilised by Goba on his way home as a relish to the biiu he had hidden in the bush. He arrived home empty-handed as usual.

The first thing next morning the men in the mens quarters (or fewod) said, “ Which man want to go to Ergan ?” . Goba said, “ Me, I go”; and the old story was repeated, In, the meantime the Ergan men yarned, t( We send some turtle, he no sell biiu, we think he eat it all/ 1 Turtle-meat was again given to Goba, and on the following morning two men were sent after him to play the spy* When Goba sat down in his accustomed halting-place •the two men hid themselves in the bush and watched. When. Goba left the two men examined the remains of the feast, and made their report on their return to Ergan. Goba returned to Wakaid and slept, all unknowing that his trick had been found out Once more Goba was commissioned to trade, but toll was again taken, and he went down empty-handed to Ergan, Although the men knew all about his goings-on 'they gave him some turtle-meat

Next morning. “ when wild fowl he sing out 1 '(3), a

number of Ergan men went to Goba's resting-place and hid themselves. When he was ready to start the women gave Goba his turtle, and he set out for home with 'his burden. Arriving halfway he sat down and feasted on the turtle and on the biiu which he had previously put on one side. The Ergan men stealthily came close to him, and having no weapons, they armed themselves with sticks and stones. Goba kept on eating, and, when gorged, fell asleep. Seizing this favourable opportunity, they attacked him. Goba called out, “ You, no good you kill me,” and he did nob know how to fight. After explaining the reason for their conduct they killed him. Then they erected a cairn of sticks and stones over his corpse (4).

The Ergan men commissioned two young men to go to Wakaid to tell the people there all about it. The Wakaid men said, “ Very good job you kill him.

xl—The Migration of Bia.

Bia, a native of Badu, one day walked to leeward of his village to the mangrove swamp ; there he made an earth oven, amai, and cooked himself two portions of mangrove biiu, which he put into a basket, and walked on till 'he came to a creek—“ sesa.” Finding a nice stretch of sand, he cut himself a small javelin of the hard dukun wood ; when finished, he threw it vigorously with his kobai (throwing-stick), and it penetrated some distance into the ground. On pulling it up wafer gushed forth, and there is still a permanent water-hole at tire spot (1). For sport Bia kept on throwing the spear, till at length he accidentally transfixed a man through the chest who was lying on the sand, and whom he had not observed. The wounded man, Itar of Gradz, a small island south of Badu, immediately ran into the bush, the blood streaming from him. Bia followed and caught him, and threw him into the sea, saying, “ A hole in the rock is your house,” and - straightway Itar swam away as a small dogfish (‘'Itar"—

Chihscylimni), which to this day bears the mark of Bia’s spear-thrust.

Bia then walked on the water southward, on and on ; he looked behind him at his old home Badu ; he also caught a gapu (sucker fish), which he put in his basket. Then on and on again till he came to Waiben (Thursday Island), where he fished with the natives. They only caught an I tar, but Bia secured a gapu, and thus was able to catch a turtle. The same good fortune attended him at Muralug, which he next visited. At length he came to the mainland, and went up a river (? Jardine River); seeing a female turtle, he seized and had connection with her, and in due time she bore him a child, Bia became permanently affixed to the turtle, and still lives in a deep hole in the river,

xil—The Sad End of Yawar.

[As told hy Kirer of Badu*)

Yawar of Badu was a famous gardener, and the yams and bananas grew rapidly in his garden, which was situated on the hill Gizo, on the windward side of the island.

The yams of the Madub men who lived at Samuil grew only during the north-west season, whereas Yawar always had a good supply. So, one day, the Madub men sent a deputation of two of their number to discover the secret of Yawar’s success, The two men said to Yawar, u How you make a garden? . When you make him, he grow quick; when we make him, he take long time—not till Kuki (the nor*west or rainy season) comes ; best thing you learn us/’ « Very well/ 1 replied Yawar, " see you no forget; you Madub men put yam in ground, you see me, I make heap first; then I put yam in, now you savvy/’ And he showed them how he did it, until they understood it I he men-returned home, but soon forgot what Yawar had told them ; so that year their yams did not do well.

Next year a deputation of four men was sent to Yawar, and Yawar cut a flat stick and shovelled up the earth

Legends from Lowes Sty&its.

into a - hillock, and explained fully his method of setting yams; but the men forgot everything on their way home. Oh their return they wereasked,. “ You fellow .got him r (U, ‘'Know how to do it”). “No,” they replied, “we

forget again.” . ,

In the following year a third party was sent, consisting

this time of six men. Yawar said to them, How many times am I to teach you ?” and again he carefully, instructed, them. The men forgot all the information as they were ’travelling homewards.

Lastly, all the Madub men set out for Gizo, each carrying his throwing-stick suspended from the collar-bone by its Hook. Yawar did not notice them; they came like spirits. On their arrival they hooked Yawar, and dragged him along the ground, he crying out, “Very good, you leave me now, I got woman and children, no kill me.” First they took him to Moa, where they informed him they would transport him to Mer, and Yawar said, " No good you kill me, I got woman and children. I learn you good to make garden, and you forget; no fault along me.” But the men paid no heed to him, and dragged him along the ground, and took him in a canoe to Mer. On their arrival at-Mer they dragged him, raw and bleeding, up the steep, # smooth side of the hill Gelam.

xm, — How Tiai Inaugurated Funeral Ceremonies* (As fold by Kirvr v/Badu.) ♦

On a small sand- beach named Boigu, amongst the mangrove swamps on the western side of Moa, lived a married woman named Aukwum, and Wauwa, her tinmarried sister, ,

One day Aukvvum put her baby boy, Tiai, into a basket and hung him up bn a tree outside her house whilst she went to spear fish, it then being low tide. She found a pool on the reef full of big fish, so she soon filled up her basket and returned home. After cooking, and eating some fish

she erected a light framework {mi) over the fire on which to dry and smoke the remainder. This done, she slept

During the night “ Wauvva's inside tell herself, 1 Why she no give me fish—I sister? 1 ”

At daybreak, after Tiai was suspended from the tree, Aukwum again went on the reef, and speared plenty of fish, and brought them home in a basket. On her return she cleaned the fish, and put most of them on the noi to dry; the remainder she boiled in the shell she used as a saucepan, and ate them ; but did not give any to Wauwa,

Next day Aukwum once more started for the reef, and Wauwa, being “ wild inside”, took an arrow, and thrusting it through one of the eyes of Tiai, killed him. Meanwhile Aukwum was vainly looking for fish. At last she said, “ It*s a bad day for me, there's something wrong somewhere/ When the tide turned she ran home, anxious to get back to Tiai, as she had left him for so long, 41 Ulloa,” she exclaimed, on reaching home, lt my boy is dead; I think . Wauwa has killed him.”

The viari > or spirit, of Tiai went to the island of Boigu, and having the appearance of a man, he stopped along with the grown-up men. When Tiai mari arrived; the Boigu men were playing with small spears, which they heaved with both hands, and they received him kindly.

Aukwum having prepared the bones of Tiai, hung them in front and behind Her, and rubbed her body all over with mud (t). Leaving Boigu, she went to Dabu, a place where the channel between the islands of Moa and Badu was at its narrowest. On the opposite shore of Badu resided a man named Baigoa, who was possessed of more than human powers. Aukwum called out-to him to ask him to help her to cross the strait between the two islands. At this spot it is a little over a mile wide, and she had no canoe. By his assistance she crossed the channel (2). Baigoa is still to be seen on the shore of Badu, but now he appears as a long rock close to deep water.

In reply to Aukwum’s inquiries, Baigoa said Tiai was

VOL. j • N

not there, but had probably stopped at KulkwoL Aukwum at'once proceeded to Kulkwoi, and found the men playing at throwing the spear, On seeing Aukwum they were much alarmed*, thinking she was a dorgai; she assured them as to her identity, and showed them Tiai's bones. They informed her that Tiai was not there, but they thought he might be at Zauma. She travelled northward to Zauma, where the men were also practising spear-throwing, but with the same result as before. Following her directions, she went on to Bokfin, and thence to Tula, the most northerly point of Badu. In both places the spearthnjwers could give her no information.

From Tulo Aukwum walked over the sea (3) to Sipunga on Mabuiag, thence she walked along the beach to Bau (the present village), and lastly went to Dabonai, where the water-hole is on the northern side of the island. Her search was as bootless in Mabuiag as in Badu. She then walked across the sea to Dauan, but with no result ; finally she arrived at Boigu.

The men at Boigu were playing at spear-tlirowing, and Aukwum stood watching them. When the old men looked round and saw her they called out and said she was a dorgai, but Aukwum maintained her humanity and made her usual inquiry. It so happened that Tiai was standing close by, and he looked at the bones slung round his mother’s neck, and spoke to himself, “I think I am a spirit, and not a man, though I took myself to be one” but he said nothing, and kept on thinking. When all the men had retired to the men’s quarters (fczwd), Tiai, having fully considered the problem, said to them, “Well, old mien, you must cut four wooden posts for a sara and carry them to a clear space, and not one of you must speak. When the wood is ready you must dig four holes and raise all four posts into them at the same time, then put sand round the base of the posts, and press in tightly, and mind all four are done at the same time. The sara posts are to be painted ted round the middle and black above

#>

Legends front Torres Straits. 1 79

and below; a roof is to be built over the platform which is to be erected on the four posts.”

When all this was done Tiai placed a dugong harpoon on the top and crept inside the erection, he being watched by a crowd of men. Some of the men then softly beat their drums and Tiai made the sara shake. When he stopped, the men beat their drams more loudly, and dial stood up on the roof, having a dugong harpoon on one side of him and a bow on the other. As the drums were again beaten Tiai seized hold of tire dugong harpoon and bow. Once more, the drums were beaten and Tiai leaped on to the ground. More loudly still sounded the drums, and Tiai danced his own funeral dance. As Tiai advanced Aukwum followed ; soon Tiai reached a hole in the ground made by some sorcery-men (inaidClaig), which he entered. Aukwdm said, "Well, Tiai; do you leave me now? ” Tiai replied, “You come too*'; and his mother followed Tiai into the bowels of the earth.

xiv.—N aga, the Master of Ceremonies in Nacir.

( Informant , Euduma of Nagir f

Now Naga of Nagir was learned in the cult of his tribe, he knew how to manufacture the large dance- masks (i), he instructed the people in singing and dancing, and, moreover, he possessed the knowledge of everything relating to the kwod, or place set apart for various ceiemonics.

Hearing of his fame, a Mabuiag native, Waiat by name, came to Nagir in order to be instructed how to bgat die drum. Naga taught Waiat what he required, but the latter was mean enough to steal a large mask. Then Naga gave a mask to the inhabitants of Tud, another to those of Warabpn, a third to the natives of Moa, and reserved one for his’own island. To all the islands Muralug, Waraber, Tud, Yam, Moa, Badu, Mabuiag, Masig, Furma, An rid, he gave a valve.of the tv akul”. Naga was wild because Waiat stole his mask.

#

i So Legends from Torres Straits,

Naga taught the men haw to a make taiai”. He was unmarried, and did not Jive at the Taiai wmd* but in his own kwod.

xv,—W hat Tabu did m Muralug,

Tabu swam from Nagir to Muralug, and arrived at the kwod *at Waiiza (near Port Libon, on the south side of Muralug), Tabu, who was a man with a snake’s head, went inside the kwod. Fie made a huk (or small mask), and started a dance on an open space. He stayed there for a month and three days (l), and when tired he stopped the dance. He got a fiadotu and miiri (2); in the afternoon he ran ; all the women were afraid. After that “ he made wantp (a large drum}, all the same dance, night and day, get food/'

xvl—The Two Dorgai of Muralug,

{Told by Tuigana i Chief of Muralug)

Gilukcrni, a native of Muralug, walked like a fish— Marbaigomhlnl (1), One day he was going along the sandbeach to leeward of the island, and opposite to Gialug (Friday Island)* Two Dorgai, who lived closely by, perceived him, and one said, “ That man belong to you and me —come, we take him/ 1 The Dorgai decked themselves up “ flash 1 ', caught Gilukeml, and carried him into the bush, where they put him in a rock (probably a cave or orevice), which |erved as their home.

They then left him, walked about, worked in their yam garden, caught some fish, and made a road. On returning home they found that Gilukerni had taken their absence as his opportunity, and fled. He escaped, and swam to Gialug, where certain of his people lived, and persuaded some friends to return with him to Muralug, and, taking a couple of stone clubs with them, they killed both the Dorgai* They pulled an arm off one of the Dorgai, but

Legends from Torres Straits* 1S1

not from the other ; both then appeared In the sky as stars. Hence the constellation MUgi- Dorgm { u small dorgaF) Is only composed of two stars (body and arm), while the Kai Ddrgai (“ large dorgap) constellation has three stars.

xvil—The Drowning of Adi and his Wives,

The only tradition which Macgillfvray collected was from Muralug, ' and is as follows * — " The first man created was a great giant named Adi, who, while fishing off Hammond Island, was caught by the rising tide and drowned—Hammond Rock springing up immediately after to mark the spot. His wives, who were watching him at the time, resolved to drown themselves, and were changed Into some dry rogks upon an adjacent reef, named after them Ipile, or the Wives/ 1 ( Voyage of the “Rattlesnake”, ii, p. 30.)

xviil—The Legend of Mali;.

Four brothers, Main, Sco, Sigar, and Kulka, left their native island, Muralug, each in his own canoe, and came £0 a coral reef near Waraber. The wind rose, and soon it blew so hard that the anchor-rope of Sigar’s canoe broke, and he called out to his brothers, I drift away/ 5 Ultimately he was stranded on Yam.

The three other canoes went on to Aurid, where Kulka said he would remain.

Malu and Seo proceeded to Masig, Now Main, the eldest of the four brothers, was a bad man, and misbehaved Ji ini self with the women of that island, Seo expostulated wifli him. This so enraged Malu that he took- a long spear (iager) and thrust it through Seo from behind, with such vigour that the spear came out in front; he then threw the body into the sea. The inhabitants of Masig, however, took it up and put it in the bush,

Malu set sail for Mer, but, encountering bad weather, the

canoe broke all to pieces on Saper reef, which lies southwest of Mer. With the assistance of the gunwale.boards he swam to Begegiz, a village at the south-west of Mer. The men of the Dauerle clan, who inhabit that part of the island, seized him and said, “You stop here, we look for food," They made a stone fence round Begegiz, but, as Main did not get much food, he swam off to Dauar, and landed at the sand-spit, Giar. All the Dauar men who were there caught Main and put him in. a house. They informed him they were going to look for food, and put a rope fence (i bSribei kar) round him.

Malu looked about him, but could find no food, so be swam round to the south side of the island of Dauar, and landed in the bay of Orme, Here also the men seized him, and made a stone fence round him.

The old story was repeated, but this time he recrossed the channel between Dauar and Mer, and landed at Aund, on the south side of the latter island. There was only a single house, inhabited by a man named Dofg, and his wife, ICabur, in this little cove.

Kabur was line-fishing on the reef at Terker, when Malu swam across the channel As Malu was pushing the gun- , wale-board of his wrecked canoe before him, and being all but submerged, he escaped the sight of Kabur, who thought it was merely a drifting canoe. Then Malu changed into an octopus (gti), and swam to Kabur, and crawled up her, entwining his arms round her body and neck.' He left her with a retreating wave, and then returned; but this time Kabur killed him with the small fish-spear she had, and putting him in her basket, secured the mouth of it with the spear, and deposited die basket in a rock-pool, <

Kabur went home and called her husband, and together they went to look at the octopug. She said to him, " This is your zogo” (j). Dorg took the octopus to his house, and hung the basket up which contained it.

At sundown they went to bed, and the wife told her husband all about the catching of it During the night they

watched the basket, and saw the octopus crawl out of the basket, its eyes shining brightly, while it made a clicking noise* The octopus fell to the ground, and immediately was transformed into the man Main, who picked up all the shells lying in the house and hit them together. When Malu heard the frogs and cicadas making their respective noises outside [? in response to the rattle Main made with the shells] (2), he left the house and went all round the island ; whdn be returned he went into the basket as an octopus.

“ Dorg think to himself, 4 What 1 do now ? I am glad . Pve got him/? In the morning he painted himself red all over, put on his gauntlet (kadig) and belt, and decorated his head with feathers of the cassowary and of the Torres Straits pigeon, Kabur also painted herself, and remained in the house* Dorg went out and followed the track of Malu all round the island. All the men of the island agreed that Dorg had got a good zogo, and they had a long yarn over it They instigated Dam and Samektfp, Kabur 7 s younger brothers, to inquire into the matter. The two brothers agreed between themselves to take some food to Kabur, and to have a look at the * octopus, and to steal it if they could. So they went to see Kabur, and brought her a present of food without asking for anything ; they yarned and yarned. At sundown Kabur asked, H You two go?” “ No/’ they replied, “ !t f $ too dark, we sleep here; to-morrow we go.” “ That best,” their sister replied, and they retired to rest, the two brothers occupying a separate bed* They did not sleep, but kept watch. In due time they saw the light shining from the eyes of the octopus. "Ulloa l n they said, “we find him out now.” They painted themselves. Dam said, 41 No talk/ 1 Malu came out, walked round the island, and returned into his basket. Then the brothers went into the bush and yarned. u . Now we catch him,” Dam said ; u I take him,” The other said

jj 0 jM « Yes/* he replied, f< i take him now/’

In the morning Kabur said, When you two go ? ? * w We

go now,” they replied. Kabur gave them some food, and they went into the bush and hid the food. Dorg once more painted himself with red, put on a large gauntlet, and carried five sticks, while he again followed Malu a s track. Kabur painted herself put on plenty of petticoats and ornaments, and stayed behind.

The two brothers returned to the house. Dam entered, and cut the string which suspended the basket, and gave the latter to Samekep to hold. When Dam got outside he wanted Samekep to give up the basket as he had taken It; but Samekep said to Dam, If You go and get a drum and we will dance/ 1 Samekep put on the ati (3). Dam took a drum, and Samekep danced Dam again asked for the ati or octopus. Samekep said, “ No, the drum is good enough for you/ 1 The brothers left the homai at the village of Las (4). As they were returning thither the men called out to the brothers , rt You got him now i n To which they received this satisfactory answer, “ Yes/ 1 Dorg went round the island as far as Gizo, and having run quickly, was very tired. “ Heart along him think, these two fellows steal my thing/’ Then he walked home, and took his bow and arrows, and further armed himself with sharks 3 teeth fastened on to a stick (5). Kabur took a knbager, or sharp piece of wood, and together they went to Las, and talked to the people of that village.

The Las men gave Dorg a pipe of tobacco to smoke, 11 and they friends/ 3 They said, “ This belong man, send woman away.” Dorg said, u All right, you keep him/ 3 Canoes came from all islands to see Malu, so great did the fame of the zogo become,

xix—T he Myth of the Tagai Constellation.

“ One star, Tagai* he got a canoe. Tagai he captain, stop in forehead [bow] of canoe and look out and spear fish. Kareg he mate, stop in stern, plenty men cfew They go over reef, Kar£g he pole canoe j(i). Tagai spear fish. Sun hoFon reef, al! men thirsty, and steal water in canoe

Legends from Torres Straits. m 185

belong to captain,* Tagai say, 4 Why you no pole canoe good? 1 110 spear fish." By-and-bye he say, 'Where water-bamboo ? 1 {2). He take bamboo and shake it; it empty. f Who drink water ? * Men no talk- Tagai get wild. He get one rope j gogob’ (3), and make fast round neck of six men and chuck into sea; he put name to them,

‘ all you fellow “UsIamV Tagai take two kef (4) and call other men in canoe, and kill plenty, and stick the kef through their necks and chuck them in the sea, and call them 1 Seg\ Kareg he live, Tagai tell Kareg, f You stop, you no steal my water, you push canoe all time. 1 Man stop in sky all the time, Tagai, Kareg, and canoe stop in one place, Usiam stop in another place, and Seg stop another place/'

In 12

xx.—T he Origin of Fire and Totems,

The following legend is from Mr, E, Beardmore’s paper on “ The Natives of Mowat, Daudai, New Guinea” :— “Eguon, described as a large bat, is fabled to have introduced fire to Mowat A legend goes that a tribe once inhabited Double Island, one of whose members showed fire to come from the left hand, between the thumb and forefinger, whereupon dissension arose and the people were all transformed into animals, birds, reptiles, fish (including dugong and turtle), Eguon found his way to Mowat, the others to different places in the Straits and New Guinea. There appears to have been some friendly arrangement amongst the snakes whereby some took to the land and others to the water* (Journal of the Anthropological Institute^ vol. xix, iSgo .)

The Rev. Dr. S. MacFarlane has the following MS. note from Erub:—A man named Sarkak took it from between his forefinger and thumbs

xxl—The Moon.

Dr. MacFarlane also gave me the following note :— u The moon belongs to two men at Erub, and is the ,

shadow of two stones in their possession; one for the new moon and the other for the full moon. One stone on one side of the island is round like the full moon, the other on the opposite side of Enib Is crescentic, like the new moon/ 1

xxi l~Nam Zogo ; or, The Mytii of the Turtle-

Spirits,

Once upon a time, a number of Murray Islanders, belonging to the clans known as Meumm-le and Kdmet-le, went in several canoes to the sandbank known as Kerget, to get shell-turtle and wauri (i), Though they stayed several days, no turtle were obtained. One man , “ Mairuer , said to the coral zogo on the sandbank,What, you,zogo, you ! You no help me get turtle” The spirit was.? wild”, and; numerous spirits of the place combined together and sent a pair of turtle m deep water, A canoe went to catch the turtle. Two men tied some rope on their arm and went to the bow, Maimer steering. The turtle looked up, and, seeing that Maimer was nob prepared to swim, they dived down. Two other men came forward, with the same result, until Maimer was alone left The men said to him,

“ Mairuer, you only are left We all try ; we think turtsc no want us to catch them. Good thing you try; we all got bad luck ” So Mairuer tied the rope on his arm (2), and went into the boat, and the other men pulled The turtle saw that Maimer was ready, and they did not move, but hung down their heads as if they were dead. Mairuer dived into the water and swam to the turtle, and jumped on to the back of the male turtle and caught him. The turtle, however, dived to the bottom, and the other turtle went on the top of Maimer and took the rope oft his arm* The men, to their surprise, hauled up a burdenless rope.

The two turtles, with. Maimer between them, came up 1 near the bow of the canoe, and Mairuer called out, * You

is?

help me ! ” They sank, but soon came up again, Maimer being in the state of “ no skin, all meat”. Two more turtle took him and dived deep* When Mairuer re-emerged lie could just move his arms, being nearly dead* Plenty turtle canie up again and exhibited Mairuer dead and red all ovfer; then they carried him to another sandbank, “ Garboi” The turtle buried him in the middle of the sandbank ($),

The men returned to Kerget sandbank and cried. Then they went home to make a funeral feast* That night they all anchored on a reef. The west wind, Giai, came ; “it meet all canoe on reef/’ There were two brothers* each, the headman 'of a canoe; “ the rope of them two fellows strong.” Some canoes broke th^ir rope, and the brothers sang out, “ You make fast to stern of our canoes ” They all did it. The names of the two brothers, were Wakai and Kuskus, The men “ no sleep too much” on account of the wind and rain. They kept watch. At length the rope of Wakaps canoe broke, and Wakai sang out, “ Brother, my rope broke ; better we go back to the sandbank,” This they attempted to do, but, owing to the bad weather, they lost Kerget and made Garboi (4),

At daylight they went ashore and hauled their canoes on to the beach, only to find there was " no food, no water, no nothing”; and, though they had sufficient turtle, they wer$ hard up for water. That day there was a dead calm, and the sun shone with a fierce heat. All the men put their mats over the canoes to serve as screens, and they had only salt-water to drink.

It so happened that Mairuers friend had unwittingly discovered the ill-fated man’s bones and put them together, and, without knowing whose bones they were, spoke to them, and asked them to show him some water (5)* He then went into the canoe again and slept In his sleep he dreamt Mairuer came to him in the likeness of a small paraquet-like bird, the fens Arts ' 1 who perched on the top of the canoe and made a chattering

noise, like the knocking of the teeth together. Mairuer then no longer appeared as a bird, but as a man, and said to his friend, "You no find water ! He close to small stone, dry bushes on top. You no drink at high tide ; two thing come. Only drink at low water. No drink all day, or harm come to you.” The man awoke, got up, and looked out; but Mairuer was no longer a man, but a bird. The krls krls said, “You follow me.; you watch me good ; get up—run.” The bird showed him where the water, was. When he returned to his canoe he felt sorry for his comrades, who were beside themselves for want. of water. [“ They half-tight—hard up for water;”] He got some red and black paint and ornamented himself therewith, making himself like the bird He then took a belt • out of the canoe and tied it round his waist, sticking a bunch of cassowary feathers behind ; in his hands he took a small shell, and danced and jumped like a bird. Thusaccoutred, he went and awakened the men, telling them to wake up and he would show them where there was water When they had rubbed the sand off their bodies he told them to bring all their vessels for holding water shells, bamboo-stems, or coco-nut shells—and be quick and follow him, or they would not see the water. They gladly followed him and drank the water, and he told them not to drink all day ; they might drink in the morning, but not in the afternoon, and concluded by saying, “The spirit (lamar) told me about two tiling, I no savvy; we watch him.” The men filled all their vessels with water; all men cut wood, 11 cut like face,” and called each after his own name, and put in canoe (6), In the afternoon the men said to one another, “ You and me go watch.” They went and waited, and heard the “ two thing" go into, the waterhole. Babat was their name, and they made the water red (7). Two of the Komet-le took a mat, caught the Babat, rolled them up. and made all secure with wooden skewers, and finally deposited them in the stem of their canoe. That night they slept where they were.

Next morning they started for Mer, and slept in the evening on the Kerget sandbank. The following morning they sailed for Mer with a fair wind*

One old woman stayed by herself at the village of Werbadu, on the west side of Mer. The other women sat on the seashore 3 and bewailed their men-folk, deeming them to be lost; and they cried over the things belonging to the men (§). The old woman went to root up the tubers of a kind of yam, known as k&ai. She followed flic root in the ground, but could not find the tuber. Right along the length of the island the marvellous root extended ; right oyer the high hill of Zaumo, across to the opposite side of the island at Korkon Being tired, she sat down under a big tree, on the beach she sat down* Then she espied the canoes, and she told the women that u Canoe come from deep water”. So the women sang and went to get food and roasted yams* The first canoe landed on the sand-beach at Meuram* The men took a paddle, went to the bush by the beach, and thrust the paddle into the ground ; returning to the beach, they picked up a long stone, and, taking out the paddle, put the stone in the hole and covered the stone with a mat They waited for the next canoe, the men in which repeated the process (9)* The crews of all the canoes did the same* The middle canoe carried the Babat\ and the crew also erected a stone ; finally, the friend of Hairuer hung up on to a tree the mat containing the Babat Thenceforth the Meuramde and Komet-lc had the zogo in common*

Some Erub men were staying at Mer, and they asked that this zogo might be given to them. This was not done, but they were given instead two long coco-nuts," the “ eyes” of which were painted red, to be their zogo (ig).

NOTES on the preceding legends.

x,—T he Story of Greedy Goea,

The interest in this story lies in the illustration it affords of a systematic exchange of commodities between two villages: one people exchanging a vegetable product for the turtle caught by the inhabitants of a more favourably situated village. We also see the death of a man for double perfidy by men of another village would not be avenged, as the punishment was just-

(i) Biiu is a slimy paste made from the buds of a species of mangrove ; these are baked and steamed, iheffbeaten between two stones, and the scraped-out pulp is ready for use, (2) Sections of bamboo, consisting of one or several segments, were commonly used as vessels for holding and carrying water or oil, (3) The wild fowl crow at daybreak, thus the one comes to be the common synonym of the other, {4) The only other account of a cairn being erected is m the case of Kwoiam. That for the latter-which, by the way, is still to be seen—was raised to his honour ; in the case of Goba it was evidently raised to his dishonour,

xi,—T he Migration of Bia.

♦ This short story cost me a good deal of trouble, and there were several small details of Bin’s wandering across the Straits that I could not make sense of I gather that Bia was the introducer of the gapu^ or sucker fish {EchenHs f naucralcs\ as a means of catching turtle, and his journey possibly indicates that the Queenslanders learnt this art from the Papuans, This method of fishing is as follows: A gapu is caught, and a long fishing-line is fastened to and through its taih the fish is further suspended in the water by means of a short string, which is passed through the mouth and out at the gills of the

fish. & When a turtle is sighted the latter cord is slipped, and away

the gapu swims, dragging the long cord after it, till it finally adheres to the carapace of the turtle. One end of the long cord is fastened to the canoe in which the fisherman is ; the latter ties a rope (uru) round his right arm* and dives into the water, using the gapu cord as a guiding line, As soon 'as he reaches the turtle he lies on its carapace, passing his arms below the fore-flippers from behind, and his legs below the hind-flippers from in front The gapu has by this time shifted its position to the underside of the turtle. Both man and turtle are then drawn up quickly by the crew of the canoe j usually

they turn over and over in the water during the ascent like a “ spinner” The turtle is then hauled ihto the canoe. Except during the pairing season, turtle, I was assured, are almost, if not quite, invariably caught in this manner. The ordinary turtle are too large and heavy to be actually drawn up by the gapu alone, though possibly this may sometimes be done with quite small turtle. If a rough sketch be made of a man fastened on to a turtle in the way I have described, it will readily account for the ending of the story. The conclusion was a natural, almost inevitable one. This, and an incident in the story of Tiai, are the only really indelicate situations in the series of legends which I collected, .

(1) Kwoiam, the legendary warrior of Mabuiag, is also credited with having produced a permanent water-hole by means of a spearthrust. (z) This spotted dog-fish, with a large dark mark behind the gills, Is common in Torres Straits,

xil—The Sab End of Yawak,

Yawar was evidently the culture-hero who introduced a new method of gardening. It is interesting to note that he was badly treated by those ire had instructed, and was finally transported to Men Gelam, we are told, also migrated'from Moa to Met, carrying various edible plants with him. May one understand this as meaning that agriculture was taught to the Eastern by the Western tribe of Torres Straits ? I found that both legends, with small variations, were current in Mer; and the inhabitants of the latter island further acknowledged their indebtedness to the Western tribe, for, according to the sacred legend of Malu, the grand initiation ceremonies resulted from the arrival of Main from the Western islands, I further procured in Mer a large block of granite which was a powerful sorcery-stone or charm {wiwar} r and which probably came from Nagir, certainly from one of the Western islands. It is now in the British Museum.

xin,—How Tiai Inaugurated Funeral Ceremonies.

The title I have given to this legend indicates my opinion as to its significance. I have little doubt that this is the reason given for the ceremonies connected with the j 'dm platform supported on four

posts on which 'the corpses were laid out).

(1) Coating the body with mud was a sign of mourning. A special costume, called s(?gvr t was also worn by the women. This consisted of a long fringe, which hangs down in front and behind, being suspended round the neck, and smaller fringes encircling the arms and legs. Aukwum is reported ps having worn the bones of her infant son, after having probably rubbed them over with red ochre. The wearing of a

relative's bones in this manner, so far as I could learn, was not at all characteristic of the Torres Straits Islanders. Macgilliyray (Voyage of iht" Rattlesnake, 1852, vol ii, p- 3 -) says that a Murahig widow would carry about with her, in a bag, the skull of her husband during her widowhood* The inhabitants of Moa (Aukwum was a native of that island) were closely connected by marriage and trade with the people of Murahig, more so than with any of the other islanders. This will, perhaps, explain the similarity of this practice. I suspect that it will be found that this custom has been introduced front Cape York, as it is common in Australia. (2) Baigoa had an enormously long development of part of his body, which he kept coiled up, like a rope, by his side. This he took in his hand and tried to fling across to Aukwum, but it fell far short, and a shoal still marks the spot where it first fell into the water* A second and a third attempt was made each trial reaching further than its predecessor, as the shoals still testify* At last a cast was successful, and, Aukwum having been made “fast”, was hauled across. (3) In the story of the six blind brothers the Dorgai also had the power of walking on the water.

xiv^Naga, the Master of Ceremonies in Nagir.

It is evident that this legend perpetuates the memory of a true culture-hero. Naga appears to have been the reputed inventor or introducer of the initiation ceremonies, for such 1 believe iaiai to mean. He appears £0 have improved the arts of dancing and singing, and the accessories to the hap or dance, *

(1) The large tuxtleshell masks (hrar) of the Torres Straits Islanders arc well-known objects. They were only worn on certain occasions, and had a distinctly religious significance. I have described one of the dances, in which masks were worn, in my paper to the Anthrapo logical Institute, (2) The akui is a small dam shell, which was used as a knife in the making of masks and other objects. The only reason I could gather for his giving the shell was that, by showing other islanders how to make masks, they could in future make.them for themselves.

XV.-WHAT Tabu did in Muralug.

This short legend is as unsatisfactory as it could well be, my informant being a bad story-teller. u Tabu” is the name of a kind of snake. Possibly this legend is connected with a kap ordinance of the Tabu dan. I sketched and photographed a snake- woman in Mabuiag who had the representation of her token {augud) cut on her back (See fig. 15, pi. vii y J&nn Ant hr op. lnst % vol. xix.)

(1) The time specified is probably untrustworthy, (2) I cannot now discover what these are.

xvi—T he Two Dorgai of Muralug.

This is a star myth, and probably refers to the two Dorga constellations which are referred to in the second arid third of this series of legends*

(1) I suspect that this is the jumping fish, Periephthalviifs, which is found hopping about among the roots of mangroves*

xyil—The Drowning of Adi and his Wives*

I also obtained this legend from a Muraiug man* Unfortunately,

I did not copy it down accurately at the time, and so I cannot compare the two versions.

xviil—The Legend of Maul

This is a sacred and important legend, as it was imparted to lads at Mer during initiation into manhood. Although neither particularly dear nor interesting in its present form, it evidently embodies the traditional history of the origin of a portion at least of the rite in question.

If we had fuller information we would probably find that these four brothers play an important partin the mythical history of the islanders. Main, as this legend shows, is intimately connected with one of the most sacred institutions of the natives of Mer. Of Seo, no further information is to hand* Sigar is reported to have drifted to Yam. Now Yam is practically the “garden** of Ttid, a smull, scrubby islet, about twelve miles off. When at Tud, I heard of a renowned warrior of old named Sigai or Singat; who was doubtless the same as Sigar* [It must be remembered that I heard the legend of Main at Mer, where the language Is quite different from that spoken at Tud.] The place where Sigai had buried his navel-cord {kupai) was pointed out to me In Tud [it w T as close by the Taiai AW, or sacred spot where initiation was practised], and here, before going to fight, the warriors were accustomed to dig their weapons in the . ground, in order to give them more deadly effect) and when hard pressed in the fight, the men w ould call on the name of Sigai, in the hope that they might be endued with his courage. The umbilical cord had peculiar significance, at all events in some islands of the Straits. Sigai’s burial of his navel-string was* tantamount to his planting himself in a new locality. Kulka is the eponymic hero of the small islands in the central area of Torres Straits, as the inhabitants of these islands are known as the Knlkalaig or “ Kulka-folk’*.

I have previously referred to the easterly migration of culture In Torres Straits* In this particular legend it is to me a matter for great . vol. 1. O

*

surprise that Muralttg, should be the reputed home of th t cultureheroes, for, as I have elsewhere shown, the natives of that island, or Kmimlfrifc are lower in culture than the other islanders in some respects, and approach the Australians. I suspect that Malu and his * brothers really came from Nagir ; the legends of Naga and Tabu cei— tamly support this view.

(i) Jl is difficul t to find an equivalent for the term zogo of the East-’ .ern tribe. On a future occasion I shall have more to say on this and other “ religious” matters. A zogo appear5,to be a sort of charm, or * fetish, and the same name is apparently applied to its shrine or location. It may have great or small powers, and may belong to one or more clans, or even to a single individual. (2) This part was very obscure. (3) There is some confusion here between the octopus, att 3 and the mask, Boinai , which subsequently represented it On a later occasion I shall describe the sacred initiation masks and ceremonies. In Mer one mask M as named Bomai and the other Alalu, These were the hidden names which it was not lawful to mention, save to those already initiated, and never to any woman under penalty of death. The masks were, I believe, collectively known as Agud. and this general term was known to men and women alike. I take it that Agudis the same as Augdd of the Western tribe, and thus it would mean a totem, using that term in a general sense. (4) The village of 1 Las was the main scene of the initiation ceremonies. (5} This weapon .■was occasionally used in fighting. 1 believe it was* formed by simply fastening to a stick the cartilage of a sharks Jaw with the taeih attached, (6) No women were allowed at the real initiation ceremony. : 4 , r ,

.kin—The. Myth of the Tagai Constellation.

Tagai is the largest constellation of Torres Straits stellar mythology^ The Miriamle pick out stars to form a gigantic figure of a man, Tagai, standing on a row, of stars, which represents the canoe. Tagai stands, with uplifted and outstretched arms, bearing aloft a spear. Each hand is indicated by four stars {talpdm)* There Js a star for each elbow {tal'ok), two stars {poni) stand for the eyes, and one {Imur) for the mouth ; a pair represent the depression above the collar-bone (jfhd), The heart {merfeef) and the navel {koptrr) are single stars; other stars constitute jthe legs. Three or four stars stand for the fish-spear and a group of three stars surmounts die

head like a coronet of feathers {daumer ?#$). , Below the bow of the canoe (flaw is a single star, the par or anchor; and near the stern end of the canoe a red star represents Kareg. The bound half of the crew, to which the name Usiam was given by Tagai, is the constellation of the Pleiades; while Orion's belt and sword are the

, * w

' 1

transfixed remnants of the crew, or the Seg. By the sides of Tagai are a large number of small stars, which are collectively called pirsok (/>., locusts)*

Tagai is an Important constellation, not only as an indication of the approach of certain seasons, hut also for navigation purposes.

'■ Us bin he £ mvP (/,£., sign or mark) for new yams." Seg for next kind of yam. Tagai he mek for time turtle he fast/ 1 When U si am is some way from the horizon at sundown, men say, “Close up new yam time”; and when at horizon at sunset, “Yarn time he come.* 5

Tagai , i( Two hand he come first; all turtle at islands ti? leeward, and they * kaifan* [eat] turtle first By- and-bye face he come up ; Dauiirle and Dowerle of Met [t.e. y the inhabitants of Dauar and of the west end of Mer] get turUe, and then ail rest of Men"*

“ Kareg he come last; turtle rotten, meat inside good, skin of neck rotten and stink and eaten by kupfr (maggots)/*

In sailing by night from Erub to Mer, they steer for the left hand of Tagai, li the right hand stop outside Mer.”

(l) Canoes are pushed with bamboo poles over the shallow water on the reef. (2) Water is usually'Carried In pieces of bamboo, or more*frequently in coco-nut shells. (3) A gobgoh is a ring of rope formerly used 4 in fixing the mat-sails ; “grojnet” is the nautical equivalent. (4) A kef is a pointed stick which was used to skewci " together the mats of which the sails were composed. «

XX,—The Origin of Fire axi> Totems.

t have quoted this legend from Mr* Beardrnore’s interesting paper, as it is primarily a Torres Straits legend. It is apparently a totem as well as a fire-myth. Mr. Beardmore also gives a Daudai myth on the origin of death. The plucking of the first fire from between the thumb and forefinger of the left-hand is worthy of note, as it is a widely spread myth in the Straits.

xxh— The Moon.

* «.

Dr. MacFarlane, the pioneer missionary of the London Missionary

Society in Torres Straits, has with great kindness allowed me to make whariuse I please of his unpublished memoranda. The one * here given is, I believe, a new contribution to lunar mythology.

xxti.—N am Zogo, or the Myth of the Turtle-Spirits.

* • 1

This myth accounts for the possession of a particular zogo by two' clans in*Mer. I ^cannot &ay what this zogo really is.

(1) The wauri is? the cone-sjfell known to naturalists as Conus

milkpunclahts. When cut transversely anti polished it forms the shell armlets (also called wauri) [the waiwt of the Western tribe], which were so much prized that a fine one was worth a canoe or a wife The cut-off, polished end of the shell formed the common circular breast ornament, or dibidibi. (2) in diving or swiifiming , for turtle the fisher had a long rope tied to Ids right arm, so that when he had caught hold of a turtle both might be drawn in together. (3) The narrator said, 11 1 think him (the turtle) lamar (spirits). (4) In this paragraph I have largely retained the words of my informants. (5) Here we have divining with the loose bones of a dead man, the only instance 1 heard of. (6) I do not understand the significance of this custom. (7) So far as I could make out, these mythical beings were like an octopus, hut without' arms. (S) Quite a pathetic touch, and illustrating that black women behave just as white women would under similar circuinstances. ($) Another incident of which I could not get a rational explanation. (t,o) The Erab men were evidently dismissed in a supercilious manner—as coco-nut water-bottles usually have two of the 11 eyes’ 1 painted reel; and in an island containing innumerable coco-palms these objects can have but die slightest value.

Alfred C. Had don.

K

«

P

A Highland Folk-Tale and its Foundation in Usage

G. L. Gomme

COLLECTED BY THE LATE J. F. CAMPBELL , AND ITS ORIGIN IN CUSTOM,

M R. J. F« CAMPBELL printed the following tale in the second volume of the Transactions of the Ethnological Society (p. 336), It was sent to him in Gaelic by John Davan, in December 1862—that 1$, after the publication of the fourth volume of his Highland Tales ♦ The tale is only given in outline, but in quite sufficient fulness for my present purpose.

There was a man at some time or other who was well off, and had many children* When the family grew up the man gave a well-stocked farm to each of his children. When the man was old his wife died, and he divided all that he had amongst his children, and lived with them, turn about, in their houses. The sons and daughters got tired of him! and ungrateful, and tried to get rid of him when he came to stay with them. At last an old friend found him sitting tearful by the wayside, and learning the cause of his distress, took him home ; there he gave him a bowl of gold and a lesson which the old man learned and acted. When all the ungrateful sons and daughters had gone to a preaching, the old man went to a green knoll wfiere his grandchildren were at play, and pretending to hide, he turned up a flat hearthstone in an old stance, 1 and went out of sight He spread out his gold on a big stone in the sunlight, and he muttered, u Ye are mouldy, ye are hoary, ye will be better for the sure’ 1 The grandchildren came sneaking over the knoll, and when they had seen and heard all that they were intended to see and hear,

Standing-place, 13

they came running up with, a Grandfather, r \vhat have you got there ? n “ That which concerns you not* touch it not*” said the grandfather; and he swept his gold into a bag and took it home to his old friend. The grandchildren told what they had seen, and henceforth the children strove who should be kindest to the old grandfather. Still acting on the counsel of his sagacious old chum, he got a stout little black chest made, and carried it always with him. When anyone questioned him as to its contents, his answer was, “ That will be known when the chest is opened/ 1 When he died he was buried with great honour and ceremony, and then the chest was opened by the expectant heirs. In it were found broken potsherds and bits of slate,

* and a long-handled white wooden mallet with this legend on its head :

41 So am favioche fiorm, 1

Thabhavit gnoc aimsa chearm,

Do fffbear each gleidh mao in da’ fein,

Ach bheir a chuid go leir d s a chlatm/ J * . *

“Here is the fair mail To give a knock on the skull * *

To the man who keeps no gear for himself,

But gives his all to bis bairns/* u ." # . ,

Wright, in his collection of Latin stories, published by. the Percy Society (No. xxvi, p. 28), gives a variant of this tale (orally collected in r 862 toy Mr. Campbell from the Scottish peasant), and, so far as can be judged by the abstract, the parallel between the two narratives, sgp^atgd by at least five centuries of time, Is remarkably close. The latter part is apparently different, for the Latin version tells how the old man pretended that the chest contained a sum of money, part of which was to be applied for the good of his soul, and the rest to dispose of as he pleased. But at the point of death his children opened the chest. “ Antequaro totalitcr expiraret ad cist am currentes nihil invenerunt nisi malleum, in quo A'nglice seriptum est :

si Highland Folk-Tale, 199

“ * * '

' “ c Wyht suylc a betel be he smyten,

That al the werld byt mote ivy ten,

That gyjfht his sone al his thing,

And gobt hym self a beggynd"

Here, then, is a case whereby to test the problem of the origin of folk-tales. Did the people adopt this . tale from literature into tradition and keep it alive for five Centuries ; or did some early and unconscious folk-lorist * • adapt it into* literature ? The literary version has the flavour of its priestly influence; which does not appear in the traditional version ; and I make the preliminary observation that if literature could have so stamped itself upon the memory of the folk as to have preserved all the essentials of such a story as this, it must have been due to some academic influence (of winch, however, there is no evidence), and this influence would have preserved a nearer likeness to literary forms than the peasant’s tale presents , to us. But the objection to this theory is best shown by an analysis of the tale, and by some research into the possible sources of its origin.

The story presents us with the following essential incidents:—

• # (i) The gift of a well-stocked farm by a father to

each of his children

(2) The surrender of all property during the owner’s lifetime.

' (3) The living of the old father with each of his children.

• * (4)' The attempted killing of the old man.

. (5) The mallet bearing the inscription.

(6) The rhyming formula of the inscription.

Hr, Campbell notes the 1st and 3rd of these incidents in bis original abstract of the story, 1 but of the remaining 2nd, 4th, sth, and 6th, no note has hitherto been taken.

Of the first incident, the gift of a wdkstocked farm by a

• ^ 1 Journ. Eihnoi Soe t , foe* cfL ‘ ,

father to each of his children, Mr. Campbell says : H This subdivision of land by tenants is the dress and declaration put on by a class who now tell this tale/ 3 But it also represents an ancient system of swarming off from the parent household when society was in a tribal stage. The incident of the talc is exactly reproduced in local custom* In the island of Skye the possessor of a few acres of land cut them up only a few years ago into shreds and patches, tc afford a separate dwelling for each son and daughter who married. 1 In Kinross, in 1797, the same practice prevailed. " Among the feuars the parents are in many instances disposed to relinquish and give op to their children their landed possessions or the principal part of them, retaining only for themselves some paltry pendicle or patch of ground.” 2 In Ireland and in Cornwall much the same evidence is forthcoming, and elsewhere I have taken some pains to show that these local customs arc the isolated survivals in late times of early tribal practices.

We next turn to the second essential incident of the tale —the surrender of the estate during the owner's lifetime. This is a well-marked feature of early custom, and M. Du Chaillu has preserved something like the survival of the ritual observances connected with it in his account of the Scandinavian practice. On a visit to Hus urn he witnessed the ceremonial which attended the immemorial custom of the form coming into possession of the eldest son, the father still being alive. The following is M, Du Chailht's description, and the details are important* The dinner being ready, all the members of the family came in and .seated themselves around the board, the father taking, as is customary, the head of the table. All at once, Roar, who was not seated, came to his father and said, f Father, you are getting old ; let me take your place/ 1 Oh no, my son/ was the answer, * I am not too old to work ; it is not yet time : wait awhile/ Then, with an entreating look, Roar

1 Ntvb Statistical Account of Scotland^ xiv, 273*

- Ure’s Agriculture of Kinross , 57*

said, ' Oh, father, all your children and myself are often sorry to see you look so tired when the day’s labour is over: the work of the farm is too much for you • it is time . for you to rest and do nothing. Rest in your old age. Oh, let me take your place at the head of the table.’ All the faces were now extremely sober, and tears were seen in many eyes. ‘ Not yet, my son.’ 'Oh yes, father.’ Then said the whole family, ‘Now it is time for you to rest.’ He rose, and Roar took his place, and was then tire master. His father, henceforth, would have nothing to do, was to live in a. comfortable house, and to receive yearly a stipulated amount of grain or flour, potatoes, milk, cheese, butter, meat, etc.” ] Without stopping to analyse this singular ceremony in detail, it is important to note that old age is the assigned cause of resignation by the father of lus estate ; that the ceremony is evidently based upon traditional forms the meaning of which is not distinctly comprehended by the present performers ; that the father is supported by his successor. As a proof that we have here a survival of very ancient practice, it may be noticed that in Spiti, a part of the Punjab, an exact parallel occurs. There the father retires from the headship of the family when his eldest son is of full age, and has taken unto himself a wife; on each estate there is a kind of dowerhouse with a plot of land attached, to which the father in thesq cases retires." In Bavaria and in Wurtemberg the same custom obtains. 3

Of the third incident in the tale, the living of- the father with his children, Mr. Campbell says this points to the old Highland cluster of houses and to the farm worked by several families in common, 1 and I think we have here the explanation why the father in Scotland did not have his “ dower-house", as he did in Scandinavia and in Spiti.

1 Du Chaillu’s Land of the Midnight Sun, i, 393,

3 Tupper, Punjab Customary tSw, ii, iSB.

• J Cubden Club Essi}ys~Prhnogeniture.

• 1 Jonrn. EtIntel. Stic., ii, 336.

po 2 • A Highland Folk-Talei

# / • , ♦

We next come to the fourth incident, the attempted Hpiitig of the old father. Now, from the famous Greek work of Heeatmus on the Hyperboreans, we know that the death of the aged by violence was a signal element of their customs. u They die only when they have lived long enough; for when the aged men have made good chcere and anoynted their bodies with sweet ointments they leape * off a certain rocke into the sea/ 1 That we have in this, the tradition of customs which once existed in the North, Mr. Elton affords proof both from saga-history and from the practice of comparatively modern times, when “the Swedes and Pomeranians killed their old people in 1 3 the way which was indicated by the passage quoted above/' 1 It is the custom of many savage tribes, and the observances made use of are sometimes suggestive of the facts of the tale we arc now analysing. Thus, among the Todas of the Nilgiri Hills, they place the old people in large earthen jars with some food, and leave them to perish*; whilq among the Hottentots, Kolben says, “when persons become unable to perform the least office for themselves they arc then placed in a solitary hut at a considerable distance, with a small stock of provisions within their reach, where they are left to die of hunger, or be devoured by the wild beasts/ 13

The important bearing of these incidents of barbarous and savage life upon our subject will be seen when we pass on to our fifth incident, namely, the significant use of. the mallet Some curious explanations have been given of this, Mr. Thoms once thought it might be identified with Malleus, the name of the Devil 4 Nork has attempted with more reason to identify it with the hammer of Thor. 5

1 Elton, Origins of English History , 91 ; cf. Du ■ Chaillu, Land of

the Midnight Sun. i, 393, dfr ' * *

2 B reeks, Hilt Tribes of India, 10S,

3 Mavods Collection of Voyages, iv, 41.

1 Anecdotes* and Traditions (Camden Soc,), 85,

** Mythologic dsn Volkssagm und Volksmdrchcn *

't

But the *eal identification is closer than this. Thus, it is connected with the Valhalla practices already noted by the fact that it an old Norseman becomes too frail to travel to the cliff in order to throw himself over, his kinsman would feave him the disgrace of' dying "like a cow in the straw”, and would beat him to death with the family club. 1 Mr.

. Elton, whq*quotes this passage, adds in a note that one of the family clubs is still preserved at a farm in East Gothland. Aubrey has preserved an old English “countrie story’ of “ the holy ntawle, which (they fancy) hung behind the church dore, which, when the father was seaventie, the sonne might fetch to knock his father in the head, as effeete, & of no more use.” 2 That Aubrey preserved a true tradition is proved by what we learn in similar practices elsewhere, Thus, in fifteenth century MSS. of prose romances found in English and also in Welsh, Sir Perceval, in his adventures in qudfct of theHoly Grail, being at one time ill at ease,'congratulates himself that he is not like those men of Wales, where sons pull their fathers out of bed and kill them to save the' disgrace of their dying in bed, 3 Keysler cites several instances of this savage custom in Prussia, and a Count Schulenberg rescued an old man who was being beaten to death by his sons at a place called Jammerholz, or “ WofubWood”; while a Countess of Nansfield, in the •fourteenth century, is said to have saved the life of an old man on the Limeberg Pleath under similar circumstances. 4

Our investigation of barbarous and savage customs which connect themselves with the essential incidents of this Highland tale has at this point taken us outside the framework of the Story. The old father in the tale was not killed by the mallet, but he is said to have used it as a warning toothers to stop die practice of giving up their property during lifetime. We have already seen that this

1 Geijer, Hist. Sweden, 31, 32.

- Aubrey, Remained of Genlilisme and,Judaisms, 19.

3 Nutt, Legend of the Holy Grail, 44.

4 'Elton, Origins of English History'.

. 204

»

practice was an actual custom in tribal society, appearing in local survivals both in Engfand and Scotland., Therefore the story must have arisen at a time when this practice was undergoing a change. We must note, too, that the whole story leads up to the finding of a mallet with the rhyming inscription written thereon, connecting it with the instrument of death to the aged, but only upon certain conditions. If, then, we can find that the rhyming inscription on the mallet has an existence quite apart from the story, and if we can find that mallets bearing such an inscription do actually exist, we may fairly conclude that the Story which, in Scotland, is the vehicle of transmission of the rhyme is of later origin than the rhyme itself.

First of all it is to be noted under this head that Wright, in a note to the Latin story we have already quoted, gives •from John of Bromyard’s Summa Pmiicantiurn another English version of the verse— .

. “ Wit this betel the smieth

And alle the worle tliit wite That thevt the ungunde alle thing,

And goht him selve a beggyng,”

which shows, I-think, the popularity of the verse in the vernacular. Clearly, then, the Latin version is a translation of this, and not vice versa. It must have bceira rhymirfg formula in the vernacular which had a life of its own quite outside its adoption into literature.

This inferential proof of the actual life of the English rhyming formula is proved by actual facts in the case of the corresponding German formula. Nork, in the volume I have already quoted, collects evidence from Grimm, ITaupt, and others, which proves that sometimes in front of a house, as at Osnabriick, and sometimes at the city gate, as in several of the cities of Silesia and Saxony, there hangs a mallet with this inscription :

“Wer den kindern gibt das Brod Und selber dabei leidet Noth '

Ben sehlagt mit dieser keule todt"—

. which Mr Thoms has Englished thus :

“ Who to his children gives his bread And thereby himself suffers, need,

With this mallet strike him dead” 1 These rhymes are the same as those in the Scottish tale and itS Latin analogue, and that they are preserved on the selfsame instrument which is mentioned in the story as bearing the inscription is proof enough, I think, that the mallets and their rhyming formulae arc far older than the story. They are not mythical the story is; their history is contained in the facts we have above detailed; the history of the' folktale commences when the history of the mallet fades from the facts of life.

To these rhyming formulae, then, I would trace the rise of the mythic tale told by the- Highland peasant in 1SQ2 to Mr. J. F, Campbell. The old customs which we have -detailed as the true origin of the mallet and its hideous use in killing the aged and infirm had died out but the symbol of them remained. To explain the symbol a myth was created,- which kept sufficiently near to the original idea as to retain evidence of its close connection with the descent of property ; and thus was launched the dateless, impersonal, unlocalised story which Mr, Campbell has given as a specimen of vagrant traditions which “must have been invented after agriculture and fixed habitations, after laws of property and inheritance; but it may be as old as the lake-dwellings of Switzerland, or Egyptian civilisation, or Adam, whose sons tilled the earth” 2 1 would venture to rewrite the last clause of this dictum of the great master of folk-tales, and 1 would suggest that the story, whatever its age as a story, tells us of facts in the life of Its earliest narrators which do not belong to Teutonic or Celtic history, * The Aryan, with his traditional reverence for parental authority, at once patriarchal and priestly, would .have stamped upon his memory, with

1 Gcnlleman's Magazine, rijjjo, i, 252.

s fount. EthnoL Soc^ ii, 337.

singular clearness, traditions, or it may be observations, of an altogether different set of ideas which belonged to the race with which he first came into contact, namely, the Iberic. But whether the story is a mythic interpretation by Aryans of non-Aiyan practices, or a non-Aryan tradition, varied, as soon as it became the property of the Aryan, to suit Aryan ideas, it dearly takes us back to practices veryremote, to use Mr. Elton's forcible words, from the reverence for the parents’ authority which might have’perhaps been expected from descendants of “the Aryan household”. 1 These practices lead us back to a period of savagery which we are only just beginning to understand.* Far back in this period we become aware of a central conception of the savage mind upon the shedding of blood; namely, the blood that alone calls for vengeance is blood that falls on the ground ; and so we often find the idea, says Professor Robertson Smith, that “a death in which no. blood is shed, or none falls upon the ground, does not call for vengeance”. 2 Thus certain “piacula were simply pushed over a height, so that they might seem to kill themselves by

their fall”; and we are not only reminded of .the Valhalla

of the Scandinavians, and of the Tarpeian Rock of the Romans, but of the recent sacrifice of Professor Palmer by the Arabs in this rude and savage mamlcr. s "But”, says Professor Robertson Smith, “applications of tins principle to the sacrifice of sacrosanct and kindred animals are frequent ; they arc strangled or killed with a blunt instrument”; in which connection we are to note the club or mallet that appears in sacrificial scenes on ancient Chaldean cylinders, and the club or mallet that Aubrey tells us of in his “ countrie story" of English peasants in the sevem teenth century, and that Mr. Campbell tells us of in his - folk-tale of Scottish peasants in the nineteenth century.

1 Elton's Origins^ 92. - Religion of the Semites, 397.

a The legend of a Scottish Saint relates ho\y a certain King of Lothian condemned his daughter, Thenew, to be precipitated from the summit of a rock.

G. L. GomME.

Peeping Tom and Lady Godiva

E. Sidney Hartland

PEEP TNG TOM AND LADY GODIVA .

|N an article which appeared in one of the later num- A hereof the Archigological Review^ I discussed at some length the stories of midwives who have assisted lady fairies In the hour of their need. The chief points of interest were the necessity for human help, the danger of accepting fairy food, the gratitude of these supernatural beings, and the conditions involved in the acceptance of their gifts. There remains, however, another class of tale similar in its general tenor to these, but wherein we are led by a new turning-point to a different catastrophe. The plot no longer hinges upon fairy gratitude, but upon human curiosity and disobedience,

I'he typical tale is told, and exceedingly well told— though, alas t not exactly in the language of the natives*— by Mrs, Bray in her Letters to Southey, of a certain midwife of Tavistock. One midnight, as she was getting into bed, this good woman was summoned by a strange, squinteyed, little, ugly old fellow to follow him straightway, and attend upon his wife. In spite of her instinctive repulsion she could not resist the command ; and in a moment the little man whisked her, with himself, upon a large coal-black horse with eyes of fire, which stood waiting at the door. Ere long she, found herself at the door of a neat cottage ; the patient was a decent-looking woman who already had two children* and all things were prepared for her visit When the child—a fine, bouncing babe—was born, its mother gave the midwife some ointment, with directions to /* strike the child's eyes with it?. Now the word strike in the Devonshire dialect means not to give a blow, but to rub, or touch, gently; and as the woman obeyed she thought

the task an odd one, and ill her curiosity tried the cftect of the ointment upon one ofher own eyes. At once a change was wrought in the appearance of everything around her. Tiie new mother appeared no longer as a homely cottager, but a beautiful lady attired in white ; the babe, fairer than before, but still witnessing with the elvish cast of its eye to its paternity, was wrapped in swaddling clothes of silveiy gauze ; while the elder children, who sat on either side of the bed, were transformed into flat-nosed imps,;who with mops and mows were busied to no end in sciatching their own polls, or in pulling the fairy lady’s ears with their long and hairy paws. The nurse, discreetly silent about what she had done and the wonderful metamorphoses she beheld around her, got away from the house of enchantment as quickly as she could ; and the sour-looking old fellow who had brought her carried her back on his steed much faster than they had come. But the next market-day, when she sallied forth to sell her eggs, whom should she see but the same ill-looking scoundrel busied in pilfering sundry articles from stall to stall. So she went up to him, and with a nonchalant air addressed him, inquiring after-his wife and child, who, she hoped, were both as well as could be expected. “ What!” exclaimed the old pixy thief, “'do . you see me to-day ?” “ See you ! to be sure 1 do, as plain

as I see the sun in the skies ; and I see you arc busy into the bargain,” she replied. " Do you so ?” cried he ; “ pray, with which eye do you see all this ?” “ With the right eye, to be sure.” “ The ointment! the ointment 1 ” exclaimed the old fellow ; “ take that for meddling with what did not belong to you : you shall see me no more.” He struck her eye as he spoke, and from that hour till the day of her death she was blind on the right side, thus dearly paying for having gratified an idle curiosity in the house of a pixy. 1

The earliest writer who mentions a story of this type is Gcrvase of Tilbury, Marshal of the kingdom of Arles, who, wrote about the beginning of the thirteenth century. He 1 Mrs* Bray* The Tamar and the Tavy, ] f 174.

professes to have himself met with a woman of Arles, who was one day washing clothes on the banks of the Rhone, when a wooden bow! floated by hen In trying to catch It she got out of her depth, and was seized by a Drac The Dracs were beings who haunted the waters of rivers, and dwelt in the deep pools, appearing often on the banks and in the towns in human form, The woman in question was carried down beneath the stream, and made nurse to her captpris son. One day the Brae gave her an eel pasty to eat. Her fingers became greasy with the fat, and she happened to put them to one of her eyes. Forthwith she acquired a clear and distinct vision under the water. After some years she was allowed to return to her husband and family, and going e&rly one morning to the market-place of Reaucaire, she met the Drac. Recognising him at once, she saluted him and asked after the health of his wife and child, “ With which eye do you see me?” inquired the Brae. The woman pointed to the eye she had touched with the eel-fat; and thrusting his finger into it, the Drac vanished from sight -

Here the only punishment suffered is the deprivation of the power of seeing fairies, or banishment from their society. This seems mild enough : much more was generally inflicted. The story fii^t quoted relates what seems to be the ordinary form of vengeance for disregard of the prohibition to use the fairy eye-salve, namely, loss of sight in the offending eye, * Spitting or striking is usually the means adopted by the elves to effect this end. Sometimes, however, the eye Is torn from its socket. Whether there is much to choose between these different ways of undergoing the punishment is doubtful; but it should be noted that the last-mentioned mode is a favourite one in Brittany, and follows not so much on recognition as on denunciation by the virtuous mortal of the elPs thieving propensities. M See what thieves these fairies are ! JI cried a woman who watched one of them putting her hand into the pocket of a country 1 Gervase of Tilbury, i Qiia Imped alia, Dedsio ///, c. 85,

VOL/1, ' p

woman's apron* The fairy instantly turned round and tore out her eye. u Thieves ! JI bawled another on a similar occasion, with the same result. 1 In a Cornish tale a woman is entrusted in her own house with the care of an elf-child. The child brought remarkable prosperity to the house, and his foster-mother grew very fond of him. Finding that a certain water in which she was required to wash his face made it very bright, she determined to try it on her own, and splashed some of it into her eye. This conferred thegift of seeing the little people, who played with her boy, but had hitherto been invisible to her; and one day she was surprised to meet her nursling's father in the market—stealing Recognition followed, and the stranger exclaimed:

“ Water for elf, not water for self,

‘You’ve lost your eye, your child, and yourself”

From that hour she was blind in the right eye. When she got home the boy was gone; and she and her husband, who had once been so happy, became poor and wretched; 2 3

Here poverty and wretchedness, as well as the loss of an eye, were inflicted. In a Northumbrian case the fosterparent lost his charge and both eyes 2 So in a story from Guernsey, the midwife, on the Saturday following 1 her attendance on the lady, meets the husband and father in a shop filling his basket to right and left. She at once comprehends the plenty that reigned in his mysterious dwelling. {i Ah, you wicked thief, I see you !” she cried. ^ You see me ; how? 11 he inquired, u With my eyes, 1 ’ she replied.

lit that case I will soon put you out of power to play the spy/' lie answered. So saying, he spat in her face, and she

1 SdbUlot, Co?ifes, ii, 42 ; Lift. Oraft*, 23 ; Traditions ei Super sii- Hons } i, 109. But In these cases the operation was performed painlessly enough, for the victims were unaware of their loss until they came to look in the glass. In one of Prof Rhysb stories the eye is pricked with a green rush. Y Cymmrvdor^ vi, 178*

2 Hunt, 83. See also SgbUlot, i, 119.;

3 Keightley, 310.

21 I

Peeping Pom and Pady Godina,

became blind on tile spot 1 A Danish story also relates that a midwife, who had inadvertently anointed her eyes with the salve handed to her by the elf-folk for the usual purpose, was going home afterwards and passed by a ryefield, T he field was swarming with elves, who were busy clipping off the ears of rye. Indignantly she cried out,

H hat are you doing there ?* J The little people thronged lound her, and angrily answered: w If thou canst see us, thus slfalfc thou be served p and suiting the action to the word, they put out her eyes**

Human beings, however, betray their meddling with fairy ointment in other ways than by speech. The following curious story was related as current at his native place, by Dr, Carre of St Jacut-dela-Mer, to M. Sebillot A fisherman from St Jacut was the last to return one evening at dusk from the scene of his labours ; and as he walked along the wet sand of the seashore, he suddenly came upon a number of sea-fairies in a cavern, talking and gesticulating with vivacity, though he could not hear what they said. He behold them rub their eyes and bodies with a sort of pomade, when, lo [ their appearance changed, and they were enabled to walk away in the guise of ordinary Women,* Hiding carefully behind a large rock, he watched ‘them out of sight; and then, impelled by curiosity, he made straight for the cave. There be found what was left of the pomade, and taking a little on his finger, he smeared it around his left eye. By this means he found himself able to penetrate the various disguises assumed by the fairies for the purpose of robbing or annoying mankind. He recognised as one of that mischievous race a beggar-woman whom he saw a few days afterwards going from door to door demanding charity, .He saw her casting spells on certain houses, and peering eagerly into all, as if she were

1 Revue des Trad Pof>^ iii, 426,

I horpCj ii, I 2 g } quoting Thiele, In another Danish tale given on ihc same page, the woman's blindness is attributed to her having divulged what she had men in Fairyland.

2 12 Peeping Tom and Lady Godwci* *

seeking for something to steal. He distinguished, too, when out in his boat, fish which were real fish from fish which were in reality “ladies of the sea”, employed in entangling the nets and playing other tricks upon the seamen. Attending the fair of Ploubalay, he saw several elves who had assumed the shapes of fortune-tellers, showmen, or gamblers, to deceive the country folk ; and this permitted him to keep clear of their temptations.' But as he smiled to himself at what was going on around him, some 1 of the elves, who were exhibiting themselves on a platform in front of one of the booths, caught sight of him ; and lie saw by the anger in their looks that they had divined his secret. Before he had time to fly, one of them, with the rapidity of an arrow, struck his clairvoyant eye with a stick and burst it. That is what happened to him who would learn the secrets of the sea-fairies. 1

Such was the punishment of curiosity; nor is it by fairick alone that curiosity is punished. Cranmere Pool on Dartmoor is ; we are told, a great penal settlement for refractory spirits. Many of the former inhabitants of the parish are supposed to be still there expiating their ghostly pranks. Of the spirit of one old farmer it is related that it took seven clergymen to secure him. They, however, succeeded at last in transferring him into a colt, which was given in* charge to a servant-boy with directions to take him to Gran mere Pool, and there on the brink of the pool to slip, off the halter and return instantly without looking round. He did look round, in spite of the warning, and beheld the colt in the form of a ball of fire plunge into the water. But as the mysterious beast plunged he gave the lad a parting kick, which knocked out one of his eyes, just as the Calender was deprived of his eye in the Arabian Nights. Still worse was the fate that overtook a woman, who, at midnight on New Year’s Eve, when alHvateris turned into wine, was foolhardy enough to go to a well As she bent over It to draw, one came and plucked out her eye, saying:

1 S£bil!ot, Ltti. Om!i\ 24.

2 13

Peeping Tom and Lady Godtva.

f ‘ All water is wine,

And thy two eyes are mine.”

A variant of the story relates that the woman herself disappeared, and gives the rhyme as

“ All water Is wine, m And what is thereby is mine.” 1

It is thus obviously a common belief that supernatural beings, without distinction, dislike being watched, and are only willing to be manifested to humanity at their own pleasure and for their own purposes. In the stories of the magical ointment it is not so much the theft as the contravention of the implicit prohibition against prying into fairy business that rouses elfin anger. This will appear more dearly from the fuller consideration of cases like those mentioned In the last paragraph, in which punishment follows directly upon the act of spying In Northamptonshire, we learn that a man whose house was frequented by fairies, and who had received many favours from them, became smitten with a violent desire to behold his invisible benefactors. Accordingly, he one night stationed himself behind a knot in the door, which divided the living-room of his cottage from the sleepingapartment. True to their custom, the elves came to disport themselves on his carefully-swept hearth, and to render to the household their usual good offices. But no sooner had the man glanced upon them than he became blind ; and so provoked were the fairies at this breach of hospitality that they deserted his dwelling, and never more returned to it' 2 In Southern Germany and Switzerland, a mysterious lady known as Dame Berchta Is reputed to be abroad on Twelfth Night She is doubtless the relic of a heathen goddess, one of whose attributes was to be a leader of the sours of the dead, and as such she is followed by a band of

1 3 Choice Notes,” Folk-Lore , 170; Thorpe, Northern Mytha-

lagy, iii, 8.

* Sternberg, 132, See also Thorpe, op . cit. t ii, 12,

children. For her the peasants on Twelfth Night set a repast, of which, if she be pleased, she and her troop partake. A servant boy at a peasant's farm in the iyrol on ^ one such occasion perceived Lady Berchta^ approach, and hid himself behind the kneading-trough to watch what she would do. She immediately became aware of his presence as he peeped through a chink, and called to one other children to go and stop that chink The child went and blew into it, and the boy became stark-blind. Thus he continued for a year, nor could any doctor help him, until an old experienced man advised him to go to the same place on the following Twelfth-tide, and, falling down on his knees behind the kneading-trough, to bewail his curiosity. He accordingly did so. Dame Berchta came again, and taking pity on him, commanded one of her children to restore his sight. The child went and blew once more through the chink, and the boy saw, Berchta, however, and her wefrd troop he saw not; but the food set out for them had disappeared.

The tradition of the goddess Hertha lingered until recently, and perchance lingers still, in the island of Rftgeft. She had her dwelling, it is believed, in the Herthaburg; and often yet, in the clear moonlight, out of the forest which enfolds that hill, a fair lady comes surrounded by her maids to bathe in the lake at its foot After awhile they emerge from the waters, and, wrapt again in their long white veils, they vanish flickering among the trees. But to die belated wanderer, if any such there be, who looks upon this scene, it is a vision of dread ; for he is drawn by ^resistible might to the lake wherein the white lady is bathing, to be swallowed up in its depths. And it is said that every year the lady must lure one unhappy mortal into the fi|od. 2 So in the classic mythology, if Ovid report aright,

1 Vow Alpenberg, 63, See a similar story in Grimm's Teut Mythology) 276, from Earners li Folk-tales of the GrtegatiIn the latter ease* however, the punishment seems to have been inflicted for jeering. 2 Jahn, 177, quoting Temme’s fe® ssagen.

Peeping Tom and Lady Godina. 215

Actaeqn met the fearful fate of transformation into a stag by “gazing on divinity disrobed", and was tom in pieces by his own hounds. Hertha was. Indeed, according to Tacitus^ more terrible than Diana, since death was the penalty even when duty called her slaves to the awful sight.

These traditions lead us naturally to the legend of Lady Godiva. As generally told to-day, that legend bears an unmistakable resemblance to the foregoing stories; but there seems some difficulty in classing it with them, because Peeping Tom is wanting in the most ancient version known to us.

Godiva, properly Godgifu, was an undoubted historical personage, the wife of Leofric, Earl of the Mercians, and mother of the Earls Morcar and Edwin, and of Edith, wife first of Gruffydd, Prince of North Wales, and afterwards of King Harold the Second. The earliest mention of her famous ride through Coventry is by Roger of Wcndover, who wrote in the beginning of the thirteenth century, or a hundred and fifty years or thereabout after her death. His account of the matter Is as follows: “ The countess Godiva, who was a great lover of Gods mother, longing to free the town of Coventry from the oppression of a heavy toll, often with urgent prayers besought her husband, that from regard to Jesus Christ and his mother, he would free the town From that service, and from all other heavy burdens; and when the earl sharply rebuked her for foolishly asking what was so much to his damage, and always forbade her evermore to speak to him on the subject; and while she, on the other hand, with a %voman*s pertinacity, never ceased to exasperate her husband on that matter, he at last made her this answer: 4 Mount your horse, and ride naked before all the people, through the market of the town from one end to the other, and on your return you shall have your request/ On which Godiva replied, * But will you give me permission if f am willing to do it? 1 f I will, 1 said he. Whereupon the

2 16 Peeping Tom and Lady Codiva*

* *

countess, beloved of God, loosed her hair and let down her tresses, which covered the whole of her body like a veil, and then mounting her horse and attended by two knights, she rode through the market-place without being seen, except her fair legs ; and having completed the journey, she returned with gladness to her astonished husband, and obtained of him what she had asked, for EarlXeofrie freed , the town of Coventry and its inhabitants from the aforesaid service, and confirmed what he had done by a charter.” 1 The modern version adds, in the Laureate's words:

11 And one low churl, compact of thankless earth,

The fatal byword of all years to come,

Boring a little auger-hole in fear,

Peep’d-—but his eyes, before they had their will,

Were shrivelled into darkness in his head,

And dropt before him. So the Powers who wait On noble deeds, cancelled a sense misus’d/'

It is not my business now to prove that the legend is untrue in fact, or I should insist, first, that its omission by previous writers, who refer both to Leofric and Godgifu and their various good deeds, is strong negative testimony against it; and I should show, from a calculation made by the late Mr, M. H. Bloxam, and founded on the record of Domesday Book, that the population of Coventry in Leofrics time could scarcely have exceeded three hundred and fifty souls, all in a greater or less degree of servitude, and dwelling probably in wooden hovels each of h single story, with a door, but no window. 2 Nobody, however, now asserts that Roger of Wendoveris narrative is to be taken seriously. What therefore I want to point out in it is, that Godgifu's bargain was, that she should ride naked before, ail the people. And this is what tile historian understands her to have done; for he states that she rode through the

Roger of Wendoveds Flowers of History^ stib anno 1057. I quote from Dr. Giles J translation,

2 See his Presidential Address to the Warwickshire Naturalists 1 and Archaeologists 1 Field Club, iS$6.

market-place without being seen, except her /air kgs, all the rest of Iter body being covered by her hair like a veil. He tells us nothing about a proclamation to the inhabitants to keep within doors ; and of course Peeping Tom is an impossibility in this version of the tale.

Coventry has for generations honoured its benefactress by a periodical procession, wherein she is represented by a girl dressed as nearly like the countess on her ride as the manners of the day have permitted. When this procession was first instituted, is unknown. The earliest mention of it seems to be in the year 167S, Its object then was to proclaim the Great Fair, and Lady Godiva was merely an incident in it The Lansdowne MSS. in the British Museum contain an account of a visit to Coventry by the “captain, lieutenant, and ancient” of the military company of Norwich who travelled in the Midland Counties in August 1634, These tourists describe St Mary's Hall as adorned at the upper end 14 with rich hangings, and all about with fayre pictures, one more especially of a noble lady (the Lady Godiva) whose memory they have cause not to forget, for. that shee purchas'd and redeem'd their lost infringed liberties and ffreedomes, and obtain'd remission of heavy tributes impos’d upon them by undertaking a hard and unseemly task, w’ch was to ride naked openly at high noone day through the city on a milk white steed, w’ch she willingly performed, according to her lord's strict injunction. It may be very well discussed heere whether his hatred or her love exceeded, Her fayre long hay re did much offend the wanton's glancing eye.” In this record we have no additional fact except the mention of “high noone day” as the time of the journey ; for the allusion to “ the wanton’s glancing eye” is too vague to be interpreted of Peeping Tom, and t&ie writer does not refer to any commemorative procession. It is possible, therefore, that the carnival times of Charles the!* Second both begot the procession and tacked Peeping Tom to the legend. But it is more likely that the procession is as old as the fair, which was held

2i8 Peeping Tom and Lady Godiva .

H

under a charter of Henry the Third, granted in 1217. Such pageants were not uncommon in municipal life, and were everywhere to the taste of the people. Whether Lady Godiva was a primitive part of it is another question : there seems no improbability in supposing that she was, since the legend was then current. Much more doubt exists as to the episode of Peeping Torn, Looking out of a house at the corner of Smithford Street is a wooden figure called by the name of the notorious tailor. It is in reality a statue of a man in armour, dating no further back than the reign of Henry the Seventh ; and it coil Id not have been appropriated to its present purpose until its original design bad been forgotten, and the incongruity of its costume passed unrecognised. This is said to have been in 1678, when a figure, identified with the one in question, was put up in Grey Friars Lane by Alderman Owen. 1

It must not be overlooked that there may have been from the first more than one version of the legend, and that a version rejected by, or perhaps unknown to, Roger of Wendover and the writers who followed him fnay have always included the order to the inhabitants to keep Within , doors, of which Peeping Tom would seem to be the necessary accompaniment. Unfortunately, we have no evidence on this point; and in such a case it becomes of importance to inquire whether there are any traditions in other places from which we may reason. In the History of Gloucestershire, printed by Samuel Rudder of Cirencester in 1 779* we read that the parishioners of St Briaveis, hard by the Forest of Dean, " hare a custom of distributing yearly upon Whitsunday, after divine service, pieces of bread and cheese to the congregation at church, to defray the expenses of which every householder in the parish pays a penny to

1 I am indebted to Mr. Samuel TmiMns, F.S.4?* ^ so throu £ h him to Mr. William George Fretton, F.S.A., (or the local information in this paragraph, and for much trouble which they have kindly taken on my behalf.

2 IQ

the churchwardens ; and this is said’to be for the privilege of cutting and takingThe wood in Hud noils. The tradition is that the privilege was obtained of some Earl of Hereford, then lord of the Forest of Dean, at the instance of his lady, upon the same hard terms that Lady Godiva obtained the privileges for the citizens of Coventry.” 1

I am fortunately able to correct this account by a statement most obligingly made to me by the Rev. W. Taprell Allen, hi. A., the vicar of St. Briavels, whence it would appear that the payment was probably made, not to the churchwardens, but to the constable of the castle as Warden of the Forest of Dean. In other respects Rudder seems to have accurately related both custom and tradition, but I have been unable to obtain any further details,

I am not aware of any other European tradition that will bear comparison with that of Godiva, but Llebrecht relates that he remembers in his youth, about the year 1S20, in a German newspaper, a story according to which a countess frees her husband’s subjects from a heavy punishment imposed by him. She undertakes to walk a certain course clad only in her shift, and she performs it, btit clad in a shift of iron, 2 The condition is here eluded lather than fulfilled ; and the point of the story is consequently varied. It would be interesting to have the tale unearthed from the old newspaper, and to know where its scene was laid, and whether it was a genuine piece of folklore.

Eastern tales, however, furnish us repeatedly with incidents in which a lady parades the streets of a city, and during her progress all folk are bidden to close their shops and withdraw into their houses on pain of death. The example of the Princess Badroulboudour will occur W every reader of the Arabian Nights. This, however, is by no means a solitary example. In the story of Kamar Al- Zaman and the* Jeweller’s Wife, one of the stories of the

1 Rudder, 307.

2 Liebrecbt, Zur Volkskttnde, 104.

2 20

Nights rejected on moral grounds by Lane and translated by Burton, a dervish relates that he chanced one P riday to enter the city of Bassorah, and found the streets deserted. The shops were open, but neither man nor woman, girl nor boy, dog nor cat was to be seen. By-and-bye he Itcard a sound of drums, and hiding himself in a coffee-house, he looked out through a crevice and saw forty pairs of slave girls, with uncovered heads and faces displayed, come walking through the market, and in their midst a lady riding unveiled and adorned with gold and gems. In front of her was a damsel bearing in baldric a great sword with haft of emerald and tassels of jewel-encrusted gold. Pausing close to the dervish, the lady said to her maidens : f( I hear a noise of somewhat within yonder shop ; so do ye search it, lest haply there be one hidden there, with intent to enjoy a look at us whilst we have our faces unveiled.’ 1 Accordingly they searched the shop opposite the coffeehouse, and brought forth a man. At the lady’s command the damsel with the sword smote off his head, and leaving the corpse lying on the ground, the procession swept on. It turned out that the lady was the wife of a jeweller to whom the King of Bassorah was desirous of granting a boon, and at her request the boon obtained was a proclamation commanding that all the townsfolk should every Friday enter the mosques two hours before the hour of prayer, so that none might abide in the town, great or small, unless they were in the mosques or in the houses with the doors locked upon them ; but all the shops were to be left open. Then the lady had permission to ride with her slave-women through the heart of the town, and none were to look on her from window or lattice; and everyone whom she found abroad she was at liberty to kill. 1 A similar incident is related In the life of Kurroglu, the robber-poet of Persia, where a beautiful princess passes in state through the bazaars every Friday on her way to the

1 Burton’s Arabian Nights^ ix s 255.

Peeking Tom and Lady Godina < 221

mosque, while all the men are banished 1 Here, again, someone was of course found playing the spy.

A version of the incident, which can be traced much further back in literary form than either of the foregoing, occurs in th z Ardski-Bordshi, This book is a Mongolian recension of a Sanskrit collection of stories concerning Vikramaditya, a monarch who, if he ever lived, seems to have flourished about the beginning of the Christian era. He was celebrated, like Solomon, for his wisdom and his might; and his name became the centre of a vast accretion of legends. Some of these legends were translated into Mongolian late in the middle ages, and formed a small collection called after Ardshl-Bordshi, the nominal hero. In the story to which 1 wish to direct attention, a certain king has a daughter bearing the name of Sunshine, of whom he was so jealous that if anyone looked upon her his eyes wore put out, and the man who entered her apartments had his legs broken. Naturally, the young lady got tired of being thus immured, and complained to her father that, as she had no opportunity of seeing man or beast, the time hung heavily on her hands ; and she begged him to let her go out on the fifteenth of the month and look about her. The king agreed to this ; but, the sly old rascal! nothingyvas further from iris intention than to gratify his daughter's longing for masculine converse. Wherefore he issued a decree that all objects for sale were to be exposed openly to the view, all cattle to be left indoors, the men and women were to withdraw' into their houses and close their doors arid windows, and if anyone came forth he should be severely punished. On the appointed day, Sunshine, surrounded by her ladies, and seated in a brand-new chariot, drove through the town, and viewed the merchandise and goods exposed for sale. The king had a minister,

named Moon, who could not restrain his curiosity; and he

•

1 Burton's Supplemental Nights^ Hi, 570 (Appendix by Mr. W. A. Clouston}. Kurroglu flourished in the second half of the seventeenth century.

peeped at her from a balcony. The princess, as he did so, caught sight of him and made signs to him, which were interpreted by the penetration of his wife to be an invitation to meet her clandestinely. The wife hardly displayed what most ladies would deem “a proper spirit^ in advising compliance; and the consequence of taking that advice would have been serious trouble both to himself and to the princess, had it not been for the ready wit of the two^ women, who got over the difficulty by contriving an ingenious equivocation not unknown in Other stories, by which the princess cleared herself and her lover on Oath. 1

It is true that in these tales the lady who rides forth is not naked ; but to ride openly and unveiled -would be, thought almost as immodest in countries where strict seclusion is imposed upon women. Wc have therefore tales including the Peeping Tom incident, from sources unknown in Europe in the seventeenth century, when the Coventry legend had certainly attained its full development. And the incident appears so obvious a corollary to the central thought of Lady Godiva’s adventure that it is hardly likely to have required centuries for its evoluti&n. There is, however, an Indian legend from which the incident in question is absent. It is related that the inhabitants of Chamba were under the necessity of digging a canal for irrigation, but when it was dug, owing to die enchantments of an evil spirit, not a drop of water could be got to flow along its course. A magician at last found out that the spell could be dissolved if the beautiful and virtuous young princess of Chamba would consent to

1 This story is edited by Jiilg in Mongolian and German (Innsbruck, 1867). Miss Busk gives a free adaptation rather than a translation of the German version, in Sagas from the Fur Fatty Ji 5 - Prof. Do Gubevnatis, Zoological Mythology t L 138, of course interprets it as # a sun-myth—an interpretation lo which the names Sunshine and Moon, and the date of the adventure (the fifteenth of the month), lend themselves,

traverse a given distance of the plain entirely naked, in full view of the populace, and to lose her head when the journey was accomplished. After much hesitation, her compassion triumphed over her shame, and she undertook the task. But lo! as she advanced, a thick line of young trees arose to right and left, completely hiding her from cynical eyes. "And the shady canal is shown to-day by. the good people of Chamba as one of the most authentic monuments of their history. 1

Before leaving the East, let me advert to a curious religious ceremony which may have some bearing upon the legend under discussion. A potent spell to bring rain was reported as actually practised during the Gorakhpur famine of 1873-4. It consisted of a gang of women stripping themselves perfectly naked, and going out by night to drag the plough across a held. The men were kept carefully out of the way, as it was believed that peeping by them would not only vitiate the spell, but bring trouble on the village. 2 It would not be a long step from this belief to a story in which peeping was alleged to have taken place with disastrous effects, either to the village, or (by favour of ' the deities intended to be propitiated) to the culprit himself. If we seek further analogue in India, vve learn that at the festival of the local goddess in the village of Serur, in the Southern Mahratta country, the third and fourth days are devoted to private offerings. Many women, we are told, on these days walk naked to the temple in fulfilment of vows," but they were covered with leaves and boughs of trees, and surrounded by their female relations and friends.” 3 The performance of religious rites by women alone, when men are required under heavy penalties to absent themselves, is, indeed, not very uncommon in savage life; and probably a little search would discover in different parts of the world many such as the foregoing. In all

1 Teurdu Monde, xxi, 342, quoted by Liebrecht, op, dt r 105*

. '2 Panjab Notes and Queries , iii, 41, 115.

3 Journal EthnoL Sec. London, N.S., i, 98,

§ |

countries ceremonies of a special character are frequently dramatic, They represent, or are believed to represent, actions of the deities in whose honour they are performed. The Coventry procession is admittedly a representation of Godgifu's ride. It is not now connected with any professed act of worship, but may it not .be the long-descended relic of some shell observance as those i have just described? There does not appear from Rudder’s account to have been, in his time at least, any pageant at St. Briavcls commemorative of the achievement of the lady to whom the parishioneis reckoned themselves to owe their privileges, nor have I been able to trace one by local inquiries. But the tradition is there unmistakahly connected with a .religious and social rite. The distribution of food on a day of high and holy festival in the church to the congregation, and paid for by a levy upon every householder in the parish, can point to nothing else than a feast of the whole community as a solemn act of worship. The point requiring elucidation is the intimate relation of this feast with a story apparently so irrelevant as that of the countess’s ride. To explain this, we must suppose that the feast was only part—doubtless the concluding part—of a ceremony, and that the former portion was a procession, of which the central figure was identical with that familiar to us at Coventry. But such a procession, terminating in a sacred feast, would have had no meaning if the naked lady represented a creature merely of flesh and blood. It is only explicable on the hypothesis that she was the goddess of a heathen cult, such as Hertha (or Nerthus), whose periodical progress among her subject tribes is described by Tacitus, 1 and yet survives in the folk-lore of Riigen. Now the historian tells us that Hertha was Mother Earth, the goddess of the soil, whose yearly celebration would appropriately take place in the spring or early summer. To her the produce of the land

1 -9 •

1 Germatmif c. 40 : ef. c* 9 -

Peeping Tom and Lady Godina. 225

* y it

would be ascribed ; and in her name and by her permission would all agricultural operations be performed. Such a goddess it is who must have been honoured by the ceremonies already noticed in India, and to such a goddess we *may readily believe would be ascribed the privilege of cutting wood, ft is quite consistent with this that the payment by every household at St Briavels should be made to the warden of the forest, and that it should be spent by him on the goddess's festival. Whether the tolls and burdens vaguely referred to by Roger of Wend over were of an equivalent character we can only surmise.

On the whole, then, I am disposed to think that the legend and procession of Lady Godiva are survivals of a pagan belief and worship located at Coventry; that the -legend was concerned with a being awful and mysterious as Dame Berchta, or Hertha herself; and that the incident of Peeping Tom, in spite of the absence of direct evidence in its favour, was from the first, or at all events from an early date, part of the story The evidence upon which these conclusions rest may be shortly recapitulated . thus—

1. The absence of historical foundation for the tradition.

2* The close resemblance between the tradition and other stories which unquestionably deal with heathen goddesses.

3. The equally close analogy between the procession and that described in Eastern stories, which, so far as we know, could not have reached England at the latest period when the procession could possibly have been instituted ; and between the procession and certain heathen rites practised not only in the East, but as near home as Germany.

4, The connection between the analogous legend at St Briavels and the remains of a sacred communal feast that can hardly be anything else than the degraded remnant of a pagan observance,

I have not ventured to refer to the mysteries of Demeter, equated by many writers with Tacitus’ account of the worvol. r. , q 4

ship of Hertha and another goddess whom he calls Isis, To argue from them, tempting though it is, would necessitate the Introduction of too much debatable matter, p have endeavoured to rely on parallels not so readily disputed.

E. Sidney Maryland,

“How They Met Themselves”

James Darmesteter and Auguste Barth

“HOW THEY MET THEMSEL VEST

I L y a qudques ann^es, en feuillctant Fceuvre du poete peintre Gabriel Dante Rossetti, je fus frappd d'un de'ssin et range \ un couple (costume florentin renaissance) rencontre an coin d’un bois un couple qui lui ressemble traits pour traits, mals entoure d’une ligne de feu qui annqnce qu J ii n’appartlent pas a ce monde: la femme, affolde de peur, tombe dans les bras dc Hiomme, qui lui‘meme reqde terrific*: la scene est intliulee How they met themselves (Comment 11 s se rcnContr&rent eux-memes). Des personnes, qui a\ T aicnt connu intimement Rossetti, ne purent me donner duplication sur le sujet ct Fintention de Fcetivre.

M. Barth, a qui je montrai le dess.in et demandai s’il connaissait quclque Idgcnde analogue, me dit qu’en Alsace rencontrer son ombre est signe de mort II m’envoie a ce sujet des documents des phis intdressants que je ne puis rnieux faire que de communiqucr a Folk-Lore, et qui s’etendent an double cycle des apparitions de Thom me a lui-meme et de I'homme a autruL je lui passe done ja parole: j'ajouterai seutement, pour completer tout ce que j'ai a dire des apparitions da premier genre, celles de Fhomme a Itii-mcme, qu ? Ily a tin exemple illustre en Angleterre correspond ant an cas du relieur de Strasbourg: c J cst celui dp Shelley. Shelley, qudques jours avant sa mort, en se proiuenant, rencontra sa propre image, qui lui demanda: a How long do you mean to be content?” {Leltfe de Mrs . Shelley A Mrs. Gishorne } ir aoiit 1S22J) Est-ce dans

1 Vers le meme dpoque, Shelley avait^apparu egaletnent h son amie Mrs. Williams, autre signe de mort {mime Lettre)* Ced rentre dans le second ordre de traditions racontees par M. Barth.

Q 3

22S

"How They Met ThemselvesU

\o. folk-lore anglais, ou ailleurs, quo Shelley s'etait prepare a ces visions, qui le hantaient depute longtcmps, car on les retronve dcja dans son Prometheus Unbound:

i; Ere Babylon was dost,

The Magus Zoroaster, my dear child,

Met his own image walking in the garden.

That apparition, sole of men, he savrd 1

James Darmsteter.

“ S*ipparattre a soi-mdme, se voir 5Gi-m&me ] (stch sdbscht erschime y sick selbscht sehn 1 )^ passe en Alsace pour le presage infallible dhmc mart prochaine, Le fait suivant, arrive il y a quelque quarante-sept ans-.et dont je garantis 4a parfaite authenticity, est un bon exemple des recits assez . nombreux qui courent a ce sujet et qtii se ressemlJlent tons quant aux drconstances essent idles.

Un relieur de Strasbourg, do nom de K j homme jemie et robuste, et que je ne sache pas avoir Ac pardculieremcnt superstitieux, revenait dhm incendie oit il s’etait fort ychaufife. Voulant se desalterer, il descendit a la cave pour tirer one canette de vin ; quand, en ouvraut la porte du rdduit, il s’apercut lui-meme, acerotipi devant le* tonneau et tirant du vin. A son approche, le spectre tourna la tete de son cote, le regard a d'un air indifferent, et dispar ut. La vision n J avait dure qu’un instant II remonta pale et chancel ant Le soil' me me il fut pris de frissons, se mit au lit et mom ut peu de jours apies, eniportc par one fievre aiguii.

J ? ignore quelle explication on dorme de cette sorte de dcdoublement du moi ; je crois mfee qtfon rfen donne aucune ; mate il est certain qu-on ne le regarde pas comme un simple fait d'hallucination.

Il y a Un lien ctroit entre cette croyance et d’autres qui, a premiere vue du moms. s'accordent mieux avec les notions de la psychologic vulgaire. iC Se voir soi-meiue” cst un 1 C : c suit-dire, sieh sdbsi erschetnenfshh smsl sdteiL

%t T/ow They Met Themselves." 229

fait rare* Ricn de plus frequent, an contrairc, quo ^apparition cl'iin mourant a line autre personne. Dans ce cas, rappantion proprcment dite est tres souvent remplacdepar quelqu’autre manifestation mysMrieuse, par on bruit irisoli'te, etrange, par la chute ou la rupture inexplicable d un objet, surtout si cet objet est en quclque rapport avec le mourant, s'il loi appartient du s’il a£te donne par luL Tons ces faits sont exprimes par la locution sick ermi'e} “ se montrer, se m^mfester/ 1 qui nc template que dans ce sens-la, On les distingue du simple pressentiment, de la preoccupation sans motif assignable que pent nous causer un absent. Ces derniers faits s’exprimcnt par des locutions telles que I hab kenn ml mi llhettl “ je n'avais plus de repos, 4 ' ou * S’fait nir kenn nd ml gelasse “ cela nc me laissait plus dc repos/ 1 en employant la tournure neutre et en tfvitant, surtout d’attribuer directement Le fait A la personne en question. Ils sont consid£r6s comme rindice dhin danger grave encpiini par cette personne en ce meme moment, rnais auquel il pent encore y avoir remede ; tandis que le fait d'apparaitre ou de se manifester par qudqirautre signe sensible, est un ana de mort sans appeL Celui qui “se m outre” se meurt on vient de mourir, En general, ces manifestations sont considerees comme se prodmsant dame facon mconsciehte : ce ne sont pas des actes resultant d'une volonte determinde du mourant On raconte Men de diverses fagons 1'histoire de deux amis qui, on se separant, se seraient promis reciproquement que le premier qui viendrait & mourir le ferait savoir a Tautre par un signe convent!. Mai$ je doute qu’aucune des variantes de cette anecdote, d'ailleurs fort Mpanduc, soit originate chez nous. Tout ce que nos rdcits vraiment authentiques s'attachent a Gonstater, e’est qu'au moment memo, le mourant etait vivement preoccupd de la personne a laquelle il s’est manifesto II est a supposer que s'ils ^talent en g£n£ral plus v^ridiques 011 plus exacts, ils constateraient plus frdquem-

1 Sick ersetuinen, - Ich hatfe kerne Rube mehr.

3 Es Ims mir kettle /ft the mehr\

230 u How They Met Themselves

meat chez cette demure une preoccupation non moins vive, Mais e’est la une circoristance qu'ils ne relevant que rarement: presque toujours les fails cn question sort represenlds comme s’etant produits a rimproviste. Firt nombreux autrefois, ces reetts commencent a se perdre. Les vieux s'oublient et il n’en vient plus de nouveaux. I! doit poiirfcant encore s'en trouver darts la plupart des families d ’Alsace ou il y a des souvenirs remontant a trois 011 quatre generations. Comme specimen du genre, je dom\e le suivant, parce que, de mSme que pour le premier, je puis en affirmer la parfalte authenticity La personne, mortedepuis longtemps, a qui le fait est arrive et dc qm je le tiens • dlrectement, dtait incapable, je ne dirai pas de rnentir, mais d'aj outer quoique ce soit k la stricte verite, Jedois ajouter que, tr£s intelligente, joignant a Line grande pfdte beaucoup de fermete d’esprit et de caraciire, die n’ajoutait que mediocremcnt foi i cette sorte dlilstoires, sans, toutefois, les rejetpr absolument

Mariee a Strasbourg et sachant que son frere,qiu habitait Bischwiller, etait & toute extrdmite, elle n'avait pas pu se rendre an pres de Ini, ayant elle-meme a soigner un de ses enfants grave meat malade. Elle veillait a son chevet, lisant la Bible, quand, vers tine heuredu matin, elle en tend It dans' la piece d’a cdtd un bruit smgulicr. * C’^tait, dlsaitelle, comme si quelqu’un, chausse simplcraent.de ses has, eut parcoum la chambre, allant et venant, a pas prccipites, Un peu |mue de ce bruit dtrange, a une heure oil elle savait tout le monde end or mi dans la maison, el Je prit la fumiere ct passa dans la piece voisine. Tout y dtalt tranquille; mais, presqu’aussitdt, le meme marcheur reprlt sa course et # cette fois, dans la chambre qu’dlc venait de quitter Elle fremit, mais resta maitresse d ellomeme. EUe retourna aupr£s de son enfant et le bruit repassa aussitdt de 1 autre c&ty Lc petit malade, que la fievre tenait dveilld; paraissait, lui, ne ricn entendre. Tout en priant,elle arrangea sa couchette et ne manqua pas de lui donrier sa medecine an moment present, Pendant ce temps, avee quelques

(i ffo%a They Met ThemselvesT

rates intervalies, 1c bruit de la terrible marche continual t, tantdt plus faible, tantdt redoublant de precipitation et de violence, Enfin, m bout d'une longue demLheure, die scntlt com me un souffle passer sur elle ; apres quoi tout 'rentra dans le silence, Le matin, a Fouverture des portes de la ville, un messagcr vint lui annoncer la mort de son frere: •Fagonie avail commence un pen apres minuit: elle avait dure une lieu re et demle environ et, dans la dcrniere pdriode, le mourant avait a maintes reprises et avec un air d’anxicuse ■ insistence r£p£te le nom de sa soeur,

J ai d^a indique un trait caractdristique de ce recit ; le fait que la personne etait prevenue, pour ainsi dire pr6- par£e, La persistance de la manifestation en est un autre. Les phinqmenes de ce genre peuvent se r£p£ter; mais d’ordinaire* ils durent peu, Quant aux apparitions proprcment dites, dies sont ton jours instantanees, Les autres circonstances rent rent dans le cadre common, no tarn ment Flmmunitd de Fenfant Dans la plupart des cas ou des fait de ce genre doivent s'etre passes en presence de piusieurs personnes, ils n’ont eu qu’un seul tdmoin* et ce t£moin est toil jours un adulte; presque toujours, une femme*

En fin void une troisi^me croyance, bien moins repandue que les prec^dentes, auxquelles elle touche de tres prfcs, bien qiFelle en differe beaucoup quant au fond. On ad met que certaines personnes ont une privilege tout special pour voir ces apparitions in extremis. De ce nombre etait une domestique originairc du Palatinat, du nom de Katt, creature hpmme et devotee, mais d'intelligence tres born^e, au service*'dhine famille de Strasbourg maintenant £teinte, Ouand, parmi les relations de la famille, il y avait quelqifun de gravement malade, on envoyait demander a la vieille Katt “si elle Favait vu” Repondait elle non? on gardait de Fespdir. Disait elle oui ? on se preparait a une mort desormais inevitable. J’ai encore connu cette femme dai?s ma premiere enfance, Elle dtait alors extnSmement vieille, presqu'aveugle, a moitte paralyse et a peu pres idiote, Elle n’avait plus de visions, Ses maftres

u How They Met Themselves"

l’avaient ^upres d’eux, lui donnant Ic gnadeuhro^

ff le pain de merci* J3:

Les trois sortes cTapparitions. que nous venous de passer ' en revue, pr&entent toutes un trait commun : la parfaite indifference de ces etres mystdrieux pour ce qui les entoure.* C’est la un point sur leqiiel lous les rdcits paraisscnt £tre * d’accord* L’ombre un instant entrevue est en quelque sorte un simple signe; die ne fait quVipparaLtre, elle iVessaie pas de se communiquer* Elle passe muette, sans avoir lair de connaitre la pcrsonne pour laquelle elle est venue, la plupart dn temps sans meme ia regarder, Ce ne sent pas, ce ne sont plus des creatures de ce monde. Le meme trait se rctrouve chez nos revenants. Its n’agissent qu'apres avoir dispam ou, do meins, qu’apres avoir change de forme et, alors, leur action est presque touj ours maJfaisantc. Les spectres communicatifs et loquaces com me celul du pere d 1 Ham let, sont Strangers a notre tradition populaire. Ce trait tient sans doute a des notions de psychologic tradltionnellCj a des conceptions a priori touchanl la vie de l ame dans ces conditions anormales. Mais il est probable aussi qu’ll tient da vantage encore a la nature ra£me de * riiallucination, qui s'adresse rarement a plusieurs sens a la fois. Car il s’en faut de beaucoup que tous ces r£cits soient de simples inventions, et Ton sait combien ces deux ordres de fails sont aptes a s’engendrer r^ciproquement De tout temps on a vu cc que Ton apprehendait de voir et on a cru ce qifon Ton voyait.

Dans ces redts ^explication immediate des faits rdeve' > done de la physiologic, et cette explication ne parait pas difficile a trouver, quand les recits sont sincere* Quant aux croyances que ces faits impliquent, on a ia un exemple entre bicn d autres, du nombre de notions diverses cn leur origine, disparates, parfois eontradictoires, que la tradition populaire sait .reunlr autour d im point restraint, II est evident, en effet, que les trois ordres de faits r^sum^s plus hatit ne sont pas susceptibles dftme seule et meme interpretation* Le plus simple, le deuxieme, se rapporte a la

“How They Met ThemselvesT * . ^33

crbyan.ce si repandue que, aux approches de la mart Tame est d^jA plus ou moms affranchie du corps ; que sa pensee ’ peut agir a distance, et qu’elle participe par avance aux faculty de sa condition future, De la aussi le don de * prescience qifon kit reconnak d’ordinaire. II est sans doute peu de families ou Von n’ait souvenir de quelqne mourant ayant predk dkine fa^on plus ou moins expllcite I’heure precise de sa mort. Four les quelques points que cette explication laisserait obscures, il faudrait se retourner vers cette deuxieme 4 me, image ou effiuve plus ou moins materiel le de Vftme pensante et immortelle, que les philosophes n’ont pas £te les seuls k imaginer, et dont la trace se retrouve dans beaucoup de nos traditions populates, Aucune de ces conceptions, parcontre, ne suffit k expliquer les rdcits du troisieme ordre. Ceux-ci rentrent dans les # croyances relatives k la ft seconde vue” (peut-etre avec 4 quelqu'immixtion de divination et de sored lerie), qui se retrouvent dgalement dans nos contn-ies, bien que notre langue iVait pas de mot propre pour exprimer la chose. Ouant aux recits du premier ordre, les plus bizarres de tons, s*il m’dtait perm is de preter une interpretation a la conscience populaire qui parait se taire a cet egard, je dirais qu'on y volt une intervention directe dim pouvoir superieur a rhomme T Cest un sigrie de Dieu, avertissant le p£cheur dc sa fin prochaine, a fin qtfil rentre en hii-meme et fasse penitence. Ce pent etre aussi un avis donne par le H M&hant 1 Vafin de lui procurer un avant-gofit du sort qui Tattend. Dans ce cas, dit-on, on se voit Kohleschivartz^

" noir comme charbon/ 3

Auguste Barth.

« it--

Report: Celtic Myth and Saga

Alfred Nutt

Report upon the Progress of Study during the Past Eighteen Months*

R Zimmer. Keltische Bdirdge^ ii: Brendan's Mcerfahrt, {ZeiF schrlftfilr dcufsclmA lierlfmm , voL xxxiii, N os. 2 -4.) Berlin, 1§ 89.

G* SchirMER. Zur Brend anus Legends, Leipzig, 1SS8:

Anecdoia Oxonicmia. Mediaeval and Modem Series, part Lives of Saints from the Book of Lis more, edited by Whitley Stokes, D.CL. Oxford, 1890*

Archdeacon T. O’Rorke, The History of Sligo^ 2 vbls. Dublin, 1889.

Sophie Bryant. Celtic Ireland. London, 1S89.

Lady Ferguson. The Story of Ireland before the Conquest 2nd cd. Dublin, 1890.

Histoire LJfUnure de la France ,, tome xxx, Paris, iSSS. ,

W. Golther. Die Fmge nack der Entstchioig dcr brcfomschc?t and Arthur Efim. {Zeitschrift fur Literaturgescf vol. hi.)

K. Otiimer. Das VirMltniss von Christian von Troyes a Ercc d EnidD zu dem Mahinogim. Cologne, 1889*

Lady Wilde. Ancient Cures , Charms^ and Usages of Ireland. London, 1889.

Folk and Hero Talcs from Argyllshire^ edited by the Rev. D* Mac Junes, with notes by Alfred Nutt (quoted in this article as Talcs).

J. Curtin. Myths and Folk-lore of Ireland. London, 1S90*

D. MacRitchie. “The Firm-Men of Britain* "British Dwarfs”, “Earth-houses and their Inhabitants” {Arch, vol iv).

London, 1889.

TN an article which appeared in these pages {Arch* I Review y Oct iSSS), and which this present one supplements and continues, 1 expressed the opinion that, u except the Hellenic, the Irish sagas are the only considerable mass of Aryan epic tradition almost entirely uninfluenced by Christianity. As evidence of the most

i

archaic side of Aryan civilisation, the Tain b6 Cnailgne is only Inferior to^tM Iliad or the Odyssey."

TJ?is is one way of looking at the remains of early Irish mythic and saga literature, and, if it be the correct one, it is not easy to over-estimate the importance of this literature to the folk-Iorlst in general, and in especial to students of British folk-lore, For if we hold that the beliefs and customs of archaic Ireland are to a large extent preserved in the early literature, it is natural to assume that these beliefs and customs were also shared by the inhabitants of archaic Britain, and it is an equally natural assumption that some of these beliofs and customs are still enshrined in the folklore current in the islands. This series of assumptions underlies a number of works which have been written of late years, notably Professor Rhys's Hibbert Lectures, of which I gave a full account in the above-cited article, and the papers by Mr. G, L. Gomme, which have appeared In these pages* 1 With certain modifications and reservations, I hold that these^assumptions are sound and legitimate, and that, better than any other hypothesis, they fit in with all the facts at present known to us. It cannot be denied, however, that they are open to attack from various sides. In the first place, there is the preliminary question whether there is an Aryan race-group and consequently an “Aryan epic tradition- at all. If the Aryan speech was imposed by one race upon other and different races, may not the complex of myths and customs which we are accustomed to call Aryan, be likewise the exclusive property of one race, ahtf have been accepted with the Aryan speech by the inferior races whom the Aryans dominated, and upon whom they impressed their civilisation, whether that civilisation be regarded as a special product of the Aryans or as taken over by them from older, presumably Eastern, civilisations? Putting this consideration aside, we have further to face the hypothesis that the inhabitants of

1 Cf. a Totem ism in Britain.” Arch, Rev., June and J illy 1SS9, and Ef Conditions for the Survival of Archaic Custom/ 1 Arch. Rev January

]? 90 .

,% ■

North-Western Europe, whether Celts or Teutons, had, before this contact with Greco-Roman „ civilisation, no culture of their own worth speaking of, and that whatever we find of myth, custom, or institution in the early records of both these races is, if not a direct loan from classic culture, at all events profoundly and radically influenced by it Here the folkdorist and the student of literature cannot dispense with the aid of the archaeologist, using that word in its restricted sense as designating a student of material antiquities. If the folklorist, working on the same lines and using the same methods as the paleontologist, reconstructs from existing survivals the picture of a past civilisation, if the student of literature confirms the results thus arrived at, the archaeologist has still to have his say. Well-nigh every civilisation has left some material traces of its nature, and if these are found to justify other, conclusions from those arrived at by the follc-lorist, the latter must pause and reconsider both his facts and his deductions from those facts. Thus, if CcBriy Irish literature, both legendary and legal, gives us an idea of archaic Celtic civilisation altogether different from that derived from the material remains of Celtic antiquity, there will be reason for suspecting the influence of an alien and more highly developed civilisation upon that literature.

These general considerations involve the principle and system of this and succeeding annual reports upon Celtic myth and saga. In setting forth the results arrived at by Celtic scholars, I shall endeavour to bear In view the general trend ot anthropological and archaeological research! If Celtolagists differ in a very marked degree frgm workers in other fields of study, it will be evident that their methods and results require very careful examination before they can be accepted. 1 Furthermore, as one of the

- K

U would by no means follow that such a difference necessarily implied error upon the part of Celtic scholars. It has happened e ote now that a generalisation, which obtained in many and, varying branches-of research, has been disproved by the results reached in

main, if not*the main source of the knowledge respecting Celtic .antiquity^ponsists of the pre-medizeval and mediaeval literature of Gael and Brython (£t, Irish and Welsh) it will be my endeavour to show'in what degree the researches of students of literary history affect our estimate of that literature ; in other words, to what extent it may be looked upon as a genuine exponent of Celtic culture. The relations between that early literature and current folk-lore will also demand special attention ; and the work of the historian and' the archaeologist must be examined to see. how far it proves, or disproves, the results arrived at by other methods.

Professor Zimmer’s essay upon the Brendan legend is at once the most considerable and the most important contributton tf of the past year to the history of Irish literature. It is a worthy continuation of the masterly researches which I noticed so fully in my former article. It is difficult to give the pith of studies so complicated and detailed, and injustice cai\ hardly fail to be done to the master’s methods Snd results in the attempt to summarise them. Briefly speaking, Professor Zimmer may be held to have proved that the mediaeval Latin legend of St Brendan is a Christian adaptation of a genre of Irish story-telling, one example of which, dating from a much earlier period and comparatively little influenced by Christianity,has come down to us In the M Seafaring of Mae] Duin”, known to all English-speaking peoples through the Laureate’s imitation. Another, and yet earlier fragment of this, one of the favourite categories of Irish story-telling, is probably preserved in the opening to the “Seafaring of the G'Corras” a text only known to us in a much later and, as regards the body of the tale, in a

one special branch. So many new facts are coming within the ken of 'scholars, that A certain amount of over-hasty systematisation is inevitable, and even those who champion most warmly the fashionable theories of the day respecting the early history of mankind and the growth of human civilisation, can hardly feel that they are buildin g a very solid edifice.

i.! ' _ •

completely Christianised redaction. Professor Zimmer detects in the nth century Middle Irish te^ts of these two tales as we now have them, traces of old Irish syntax and vocabulary, and in virtue of this and of numerous considerations drawn from his wide knowledge of Irish history and literary history, he assigns them substantially to the 7til and 8th centuries. He argues that the presentment of the terra rtpromissionis in the Brendan voyage, although modified in a Christian sense, still retains the main outline of Celtic belief concerning the Other world, and in section e of his essay he brings together, in support of this contention, a number of instances in which the older Saga literature describes the voyaging of mortal heroes to the Otherworld in a way almost entirely free from all traces of Christianity.,

It is, to my knowledge, the fullest presentment and .discussion of the texts upon which rests our knowledge of early Celtic eschatology.

In the course of his essay, Professor Zimmer gives full summaries of the Latin Namgatw S. Brcn 4 &?d } of the Seafaring of Mac! Du in, of the Three O’Corras, and of Snegdus and Mac Riagla, as well as of the Irish Brendan, a composition of the 12th century, in which the Christian eschatological element is even more fully developed than in the Navigatio. In this respect his work can be supplemented by the translations of Snegdus and Mac Riagla, and of Macl Duin, which Mr. Whitley Stokes has published • in vols. ix and x of the Revue Cdtiqm}

1 Whilst Professor Zimmer was investigating the Brendan stow,

Dr. Schinner of Leipzig was similarly engaged. He deals with the later mediaeval history of the legend, which is left unnoticed by the Greifswald professor, as well as with its origin, and the two works should be read together. It is indeed unfortunate for Dr. Schirmer that his sound and conscientious essay should have appeared at the same time as Professor Zimmer's ■ whatever may be the faults of the * latter—and they are not likely to be left unnoticed by his fellow Celfcologists—be makes every subject he touches his own by his gigantic industry and his amazing ingenuity. The Brendan literature has been enriched within the last few weeks by Mr, Whitley Stokes 7 translation

The outcome of this and of the preceding studies of Professor Zimmer Is that the Irish Saga literature preserved in the great nth century MSS. assumed substantially the form under which it has come down to us in the 7th and Sth centuries, that this form is practically altogether pagan, and that it gradually become more and more contaminated by Christianity. This, if true, is a result of the highest importance. A pagan 7th century Irish saga of the variety and complexity of the nth century texts presupposes a vigorous, complex, and fairly advanced national culture; it is furthermore evident that this must have existed before the introduction of Christianity. The paradoxical opinion has been advanced that Ireland owes Its literary and social culture entirely to the Christian missionaries, but surely these had other work on hand than to invent an immense body of literature, pagan both in its general spirit and in its details, for no other purpose, as it would seem, than to afford their successors the opportunity of gradually modifying it in a Christian sense—a task never thoroughly carried out, but which engaged the energies of monkish scribes well on into the 13th century. Surely, too, however fertilising the effect of the new culture upon the pagan bards and medicine men, It could not have enabled them to create, ex nikilo , such a coherent and complex body of mythic and heroic traditions.

Professor Zimmer thus represents what may be styled the " Libera^ConsSrvative 11 view of Irish ^antiquity, which, whilst rejecting the w High-Tory" claim to the 3,000 years of authentic history found in the mediaeval annalists, yet admits the archaic character of the earliest Irish tradi-

of the Irish Brendan Voyage in the Book of Lis marc {Lives, pp. 240- 261}, and by the Abbe ; Duchesn^s critical study on the Lives of St. Malo, in the jan.-April number of the Revue Celiique. As is well known, an episode in the legend of this saint stands in very close connection with the Brendan voyage. The present writer hopes; before long, to give the pith of all these researches in a general, study of the Erendan legend.

,240

lions. Such criticism as he has received has been Conservative rather than Radical in its tendency. I, ventured in my former article to dispute some of his conclusions respecting the influence of Teutonic upon Celtic tradition, conclusions supported by desperate but unconvincing ingenuity. Professor ICuno Meyer has since shown that many of the philological arguments upon which these conclusions were grounded are open to considerable doubt 1

To the “ Liberal-Conservative' 1 view! again, belongs Mrs, Bryant’s bright and ingenious sketch of early Irish history, ethnology, and sociology. She essays to find a meaning in the Irish traditions of successive immigrations from the East and South (traditions which Mens, D’Arbois de Jubainville explained by purely mythological considerations 2 )/ by interpreting them in the light of current ethnological theories. The Tualha de Danann are an early immigration, probably Gaelic, from the North-East, and to them the stone circles and circular tombs may be assigned; the Firbolgs, another Gaelic invasion from the South-East through Britain ; whilst the Milesian immigration from the South, from Spain, is accepted as fact The undeniable traces of pre-Celtic population, both in physical characteristics and in social institutions, are accounted for by the pre-FirboIg immigration mentioned in the traditional annals, I cannot but think that the time for any such synthesis is still far off, and the many erroneous, or at least doubtful, statements to be found in the first few pages of Mrs. Bryant’s book strengthen my conviction. Is it u certain that at the dawn of Irish tradition all the peoples of Erin spoke one language, and were settling down together side by side

1 Revue Cdlique^ vol. x. At the same time. Prof Meyer tells me that his studies upon the text of the Tochmarc Enter have convinced hvm that this saga exists in two redactions, a pre-Norse and a post- Norse invasion one ; and he bears witness to the value of the method by which Professor Zimmer has distinguished various strata in the development of the Irish sagas.

Le Ccrcle Myi/wlogique Irlandais^ Paris, 1884; and cf my notice, Folk-Lore journal^ vol, if

i

under one set of social ideas and institutions’ 1 ; 2 Nothing less S0j I should say. Again, is it safe to draw any conclusions as to the race-connections of the Firbolgs from the fact that the Firbolg Ferdiad is described as a blonde in the Iain bo Cuailgne? There Is the same uncertainty respecting his personal appearance as there is respecting that of Cuchullain, 3 and until we can satisfactorily explain this uncertainty no conclusion can be drawn, one way or another, respecting the races to which either hero is assigned by tradition. Moreover, what does Mrs. Bryant mean by the statement on p. 15, that the Irish Gael had no traces of matiiarchalisra ? If there is a Gaelic kingly hero par excellence , it is Conchobor, and he is always described by his matronymic, Mac Nessa—Nessa’s son.

The pinch of salt which the reader should bring with him to the consideration of Mrs* Bryant’s first chapter must ever be at hand through the remainder of the book. A fascinating and coherent account of early Irish culture is attained by the simple process of passing over the shadows and the difficulties. But with this caveat the book may be warmly recommended. It groups clearly and suggestively the facts of early Irish society as they may be gathered from texts which are, in part at least, as old as the ninth cegjtury, Mrs. Bryant gives, in fact, a modern rendering of the views which the great Irish mediaeval scholars (down to and including O'Cnrry) held concerning the social past of the race. Some of these views depart at times widely from actual fact, but their existence constitutes a fact of first-rate importance in the history of Ireland throughout the last i,ooq years, and it is as much the duty of the historian to investigate the rise and development of opinions as to ascertain the nature and sequence of events.

This statement would not commend itself to Archdeacon Q’Rorke, a vehement champion of Radical views respecting the early history of Ireland. He quotes in his preface from

1 Bryant, op. tit ,, p, 25,

. 3 Cl my remarks ante^ Arch. Rev., iii, 212. voL I, * &

* *

.Mommsen that it is ridiculous to inquire ‘‘into what is neither capable of being known or worth the knowing for instance, the legendary history of Rome. The straitest historian may well be staggered by such a proposition the archaeologist and folk-lorist will simply pass it by with a smile, knowing full well that it is far more important to understand the genesis and growth of Roman traditional history than to ascertain, could it be ascertained', the year in which some obscure families first settled on the site that was to be Rome, and the names of those families. Be this as it may, the author’s quotation indicates his standpoint, that of confirmed scepticism with regard to the pre-Christian history of Ireland, and in especial with regard to the age of the rude stone monuments which are such a characteristic feature of County Sligo. “ Ireland in pre-Christian times was utterly unlettered and barbarous ... the outcome of research before long will probably be to bring all 01 nearly all the existing antiquities of the County within the Christian era,” 1 Such are the propositions to which, in the course of a rambling, higgledy-piggledy, but, as regards mediaeval and modern Ireland, most instructive and suggestive work, he commits himself with the utmost ingenuity ol spe cial pleading. Take, for instance, his treatment of the Carrowmore rude stone monuments. These have hitherto been . regard eel as p re-historic by sober-minded antiquaries, oi, by the older school of Irish historians, have been brought into connection with various events of the legendary annals, such as the battle of the Southern Moytura. Dr. CVRorke looks upon the monuments as commemorating the # battle of Sligo, fought about 54 ° A,D,, between the invading Ulstermen, comprising both branches of the Northern Hy Neill, arid Eoghan Bel, King of Connaught, at the head of all the forces of Connaught The Connaught men were routed and Eoghan Bel was slain ; his head, according, to the account preserved in the Annals of the Four Masters y here, as usual, favourable to the Hy Neill, being carried off 1 CVRorke,’ of p- xi.

by the invaders, A Connaught account of the battle, coif* taincd in the Life of St. Eeallach, preserved to us by the great Sligo antiquary of the 15th century, Gilla Isa Mor Mac Firbis in his Tribes and Customs of By Fiachfach, states, on the contrary, that the Connaught men buried this monarch, according to his orders, w with his red javelin in his hand * * * . his face towards the north on the side of the hill by which the Northerners passed when flying before the hosts of Conn aught ,'* This was done, and ever after the invading Northerners were routed,panic-stricken, until at last they made a great hosting and raised the body of Eoghan and carried it northwards, and 41 buried it with thp mouth down, so that it might not be the means of causing them to fly before the Connaught men. 311 Dr. Q’Rorke finds this monument of Eoghan Bel in a cairn upon the top of Knockarea, a hill overlooking the Carrowmore plain, and looks upon the cromlechs and other monuments of the plain as funereal memorials to the Connaught chiefs. It should •be noted that Dr, O'Rorkefe identification of the site of this battle differs from that of previous writers, and is chiefly determined by his preconceived notion that the Carrowmore monuments do commemorate it (though it must be admitted that he has other and ingenious arguments in favour of his theory); that one account of the battle makes the whole hypothesis untenable, and that the other account, whilst speaking of the cairn to the king, says no word about the countless other monuments, described by Petrie,“as the most remarkable collection of the kind in the British islands." 2 By a kind of afterthought Dr, O r Rorke notices the absence of any bronze or iron weapons found in connection with these monuments ( w but they may have been picked up in the last thirteen centuries 73 ), the presence of firemarks on objects connected,with the cromlechs (“but then the Connaught men had their camp-fires for cooking and heating in all directions”), the bones and shells of animals met with In excavations (the “remains of the rabbits and 1 O’Rorke, op. cit } i ? p, 52, 2 fbif p. 42, ,

.244 Celtic Af^ih and Saga .

oysters upon which the Connaught men regaled themselves during their stay onlire battle-field"), possible arguments against the modern date he claims for the monuments* I have bracketed his airy brushing aside of such arguments ; they are at least of value as evidence that humorous in* genuity still remains an Irish characteristic* To fully characterise the scientific method and spirit upon which he plumes himself, it only remains to be added that he does not attempt to cite from the very rich Irish battle literature of the Sth-nth centuries a single parallel to what he conceives to have taken place at this 6th century battle*

I do not wish to assert that he may not be right in his contention* I only claim that it must be supported by far more serious arguments before it can be accepted ,

In the same spirit the so-called Druid's Altar or Giant's Grave at Deerpark is explained as being either the remains of a 6th century ecclesiastical foundation, or else the grave to which the remains of Eoghan Bel were transferred, as stated in the passage quoted above from the Life of St. Ce&llach ; or again, 11 which the writer ventures to thinkits real destination,” it may have been a stone enclosure put up for the purpose of public games, such as we Ipiow were held in the district throughout the mediaeval period, most probably an arena for dog or other animal fights

Guessing of this kind is as useful or as useless as the imaginings of the older Celtomaniae antiquaries; but when the author applies his system to the elucidation of the mythic stories found in the annals, he runs the risk of gravely misleading. The mythic conflicts between the Tuatha de Danann and the Firbolgs were early localised at Moytura, the localisation probably dating back to the time, yth-Sth centuries, when the mythology of the race was * euhemerised and made to do duty as pre-Christian history* Into the artificial annalistic scheme thus framed various mythic details were gradually adjusted, and In this way the very rich Saga literature belonging to the so-called f mythological cycle took shape. Thus Eochaidh hua

m

Flainn, an Irish antiquary of the 10th century, has .a poem about the battle of Moytura, which gives the framework of the later prose talc ; whilst a passage in Cormac's glossary (Cormac was slain In 91S) shows that a prose tale, substantially the same in character as the existing one, must have been extant at least fifty years before the date of Fochaidh’s poem. In the face of all these facts, Dr. G'Rorke gravely maintains that a battle, fought in [39S between the O'Connors and the MacDonoughs, “ was the source of all the high-sounding traditions connected with the place." 3 Perhaps an even more remarkable instance of his way of treating the most patent facts connected with pre-Christian Ireland may be found in his account of the battle of Ccolei ru man, the famous fight in which the Ulster clans, at the instigation of their kinsman, St Columba, invaded Connaught and routed the Connaughtmen. The Four Masters have preserved an ancient verse, professedly Columba's invocation before the battle, in which the Saint calls upon Christ, as “his Druid”, to side with his kinsmen. The obvious inference from this passage is that the Druid must have been a revered personage, and his power recognised as a mighty one, for the greatest of Irish saints to use the word in addressing Christ. To Dr. O'Rorke it only suggests the doubt that Druid|sm ever existed in Ireland as a specific organised religion. 3

In one sense, indeed, Dr. Rorke stands on the same level # as the older Irish antiquaries ; they accepted as literal truth what they found in the early annals, he rejects it as literal truth, but never seems to think that it has a meaning and an importance of its own, and that, if tins meaning can be properly ascertained, more light will be thrown upon the Irish race and upon Irish culture than if the date and sequence of all the petty chiefs that ever held sway in that island since man first dwelt in it could be found out.

1 O’Rorke, dp* voL P* 26S * " ciL ' voL ilj S ‘

\ Dr. O'Rcrke's statements respecting the rude stone monuments of Sligo should be carefully checked by Colonel Woo'd-Mattm's admirable work upon the same subject (Dublin, iSSS)-

For those who like to look upon Irish myth, s&ga‘and history as so much raw material for poetic treatment, the new edition of Lady Fergusons Stoty of th& lefs/i befo?£ tJm Conquest may be recommended The bardic tales are repeated with the unquestioning belief of past ages; but, alas ! it is largely in the words of modern poets, especially in those of Sir Samuel Ferguson. Thus, whilst delightful reading, the book is deprived of such value as attaches to a simple and faithful retelling of the bariSp stories, for instance, to Keating’s history. The legends of the Irish, race are as valuable to the student of Celtic civilisation as the historic or the monumental record, if not more so, provided always that we have them in their earliest forms and are enabled to trace their growth. Lady Fergusons work unfortunately fulfils neither requirement, and’can only contribute to perpetuate false ideas, both'about archaic and mediaeval Irish culture.

Apart from records of a self-evident mythical or legendary nature, the folk-lorist must keep liis eye fixed upon other documents, the interest of which is mainly historical, or theological, as the case may be, but which- supply the most valuable hints towards reconstructing the beliefs and practices of our ancestors. Chief amongst these must be reckoned Lives of Saints. Especially is this the case among Celtic peoples. The Celtic u Golden Legend” is perhaps not richer than that of other races in references to pre-Christian myth and cult; its value rather lies in its witness to the infinitesimal difference that separated the pagan “ druid”—soothsayer and medic!no-man—from the Christian lf saint”—medicine-man and soothsayer. Ship the legend of the one of the alien accessories, and it reveals to us a most archaic conception of religion and of social life. Such a story as that of the cleric who <f performed fasting against the Lord” 1 because he thought a fellow-cleric had been better treated than he, speaks volumes for the state of the men who told and believed it. Mr,

i Stakes, Lives } p. xi.

Celtic Mgth and Saga. , 247

Whitley Stokes' latest publication will thus be welcomed •by all who wish to have a clear idea of the mental and social condition of our forefathers, as well as by all lovers of the mystical, charming Celtic genius. Many of the incidents recorded in these 'Lives are well-nigh unsurpassed for their mingling of ?ztnvc humanity and mystical spirituality,' Needless to say that the editor has done everything to facilitate the understanding and criticism of his texts. Especially noteworthy from our point of view arc pp, xcbtxbc of the introduction, in which the testimony of the Lives to the history and social conditions of Ireland is summarised under commonplaces—pp. cv-cx being given to “Religion and Superstition 1 , pp. cxi-cxii to the " Family", pp, cxiii-cxix to the “ State".

Hitherto we have been considering Irish evidence for the existence and nature of early Celtic culture, and chiefly that afforded by literary monuments. It is upon documents, partly literary, partly historical, collated with and controlled by folk-usage, that a suggestive and brilliant attempt to penetrate to the myth and ritual of the Continental Celts is based. I allude to the late M. Cerquahd's second series of articles, " Taranous et Thor", in which he supplies and discusses the evidence for the thesis maintained in the first series , 1 The value of these articles lie? not so mtich in the conclusion reached—that the Continental Celts possessed a god of thunder, whose role and attributes were much the same as those of the Teutonic Thor—nor in the principle upon which the argument rests, which is, that the pre-Roman and pre-Christian Gaulish culture was not annihilated by the alien and higher elements, but struggled long against them, and was compromised with rather than eliminated—but in the penetrating sagacity with which the most unlikely texts are cros?-exainined and made to yield witness to this principle. This latter, indeed, was, not so long ago, a quasi-axiomatic assumption with most investigators, but of late it has been 1 Revue Cdttyift'y vbh vi, vol x.

* o

sadly beaten in breach by a school* the tenets of which, if accepted, would reduce Dm; Celtic and Teutonic forefathers to a lower stage of development than that of the contemporary Australian* For I do not know that anyone has essayed to deny the latter’s claim to the ^mythic conceptions which, with his clan and family rules, make up his religion. But as well-nigh every fragment of mythic or heroic fancy found amongst the Teutons (it is against their mythology* as being best known, that the attack has been chiefly directed) has been set down as borrowed from Greco-Roman culture, whether Pagan or Christian* it would indeed seem that our barbaric ancestors must* when they came in contact with ancient civilisation* have occupied as low a place in the culture scale as any we know of* 1 M* Cerquand’s articles are a protest, the more valuable because it is implicit, against these doctrines. They demonstrate, upon an important point* that similarity of Celtic and Teutonic myth which we should naturally expect* and they demonstrate it by the analysis of documents—sermons of Christian apologists, decisions of synods, official citations of or references to local usage—which are above all suspicion, and against which none of the arguments urged against purely mythological texts are valid*

Pile transition from the Continental to the Brythonic branch of the insular Celts is easy. Professor Rhys has again affirmed the view held by the majority of 'scholars, that the Gaulish tribes (at least those ruling classes among them which came in contact with Rome) and the Brythons belong to a secondary wave of Celtic settlement throughout the west of Europe, and he hits connected this wave with the Dorian settlement in Greece, and with the entry of the Os can tribes into Italy. 2 His arguments are

1 do not of course attribute this extreme view to any one member ot the borrowing school . But each one signalises himself by picking out some special feature as a proof of the general thesis, and the* efiect of accepting all their contentions would be as I have Stated*

1J “Early Brit. Ethnology** Scott. Rev*, April.

mainly philological ; I greatly doubt whether they could be supported from the myth and custom-store of these races. As far as such portions of Brythonic (Welsh) literature are concerned, which are in any measure entitled to be called mythic, 1 should not be at all surprised if future research connected them directly with Gaelic (Irish) myth. 1 The problems involved are of the utmost complexity. The literary documents on the Brythonic side fail, broadly speaking, into two classes, the one consisting of poems and tales, found only in Welsh, to which all manner of dates from the 6th to the 12 th centuries have been assigned; the other, the Arthurian romance, comprising Welsh, Latin, and French tales and poems, the subject-matter of which is British, It is still disputed whether the heroic and mythic traditions of the first class belong to the North or the South of our island. The former theory, worked out independently by Mr. Skene and Mr Stuart Glennie, is generally accepted. It assumes that the traditions preserved by the poems associated with the names of Aneurin,, Merlin, and Taliessin originated in Southern Scotland and North-Western England, and were transplanted to Wales in the fifth and following centuries; in which case they would seem to be more worthy of attention from the investigator of Celtic ortgines than if they belonged * to the South of England, which was longer subjected to Roman and Christian influence. How fundamentally this affects pur usage of the early Welsh documents is evident No recent contribution has been made towards the settlement of this question. It Is to be hoped that Professor Rhys in his forthcoming work on Arthur will discuss the Welsh sources, the genuine pre-Christian character of , which was assumed by him in the Hibbert Lectures.

• The second class of documents, the Arthurian romance,

1 It is significant in this connection to note that Professor Thurmeysen finds Irish characteristics in the Juvencus glosses, hitherto regarded as one of the oldest specimens of Welsh {Rev, Celt, Jan.' April, 91)-

2 50

*

gives rise to further complication. The majority of the texts are in French, the oldest, paleographically speaking, are in Latin. That the whole superstructure is Celtic no one would affirm, but even the fact that it rests in any large measure upon a Celtic basis is denied by a school at the head of which stands Professor W. Forster of Bonn, and which counts among its ranks, inter alws y the most distinguished German disciple of Professor Bugge, Di\ Wolfgang Golther of Munich. The latter's article, cited at the head of this report, sums up tersely and ably the views of till! school. Moderate opposition thereto is made by the greatest living authority in this field of scholarship, Mans. Gaston Paris, and his group of pupils, chief among them Mans. E. Muret. The French school by no means advocates the Celtic nature of the Arthurian romance in such a thorough-going way as, say, Professor Rhys, perhaps, because it has paid less attention to the Irish sources, the examination of which reveals with such startling clearness the fact that well-nigh all the leading scenes and situations of the Arthur myth have their parallels in the Irish saga of the nth and preceding centuries, and may therefore be considered Pan-Celtic,

The most important work that has recently appeared in this field of research is undoubtedly Mens. Gaston Paris 1 survey of the Arthurian metrical romance (His/, Lzt. } vol/ xxx). Nor is its interest exclusively or even mainly confined to the Celtic student; every "storyologlst” should have it at hand. I may be permitted to trench for a moment on Mr. Hardand’s province, and to point out that a theory deriving the current European folk-tales from mediaeval* romance has far more to say for itself than the Indian importation hypothesis championed by Benfey and Mens. Cosquin and Mr. Clouston. Needless, then, to insist upon the value to the student of a work which affords a bird's-eye view, admirable in its clearness and precision, over the most important and most intricate section of mediaeval romance. One instance must suffice to illustrate how

25 *

investigations, which at first blush seem to belong wholly to literary history, may involve the wider problems of comparative mythology and folk-lore, A fragmentary German Arthurian poem of tile 12th century, u Manuel et Amande,” the translation of a now lost French work, tells of Arthur’s death, caused, it would seem, by a cat Now Arthur's combat with a great cat is an episode often alluded to in the later romance, and is fully described in the Vulgate Merlin, 1 The cat was fished up on the shores of the Lake of Geneva, nourished by its captor, whom in return it strangled, together with the rest of the family, and became thereafter the terror of the country side. Only after a desperate conflict was Arthur successful. This is one version. But Andre de Coutances, an Anglo-Norman poet of the early 13 th century, is at some pains to refute the idle talcs current in his days how Arthur was overcome and slain by Capalu. This name turns up in other poems .of the same date, eg, in the Baiailte Loqnifer, the title of which reveals its Celtic provenance (Loqinfcr = Lok Ifern and I fern— Hell). Now the oldest scries of Welsh triads, which can be carried back, palcograpliically, to the first quarter of the 13th century, tells anent the Cath Palug a story almost precisely similar to that of the \ ulgate Merlin," and we can hark back still further on Welsh ground. The Black Book of Caermarthcn is a Welsh MS. of the last quarter of the 12th century ; a poem therein, unfortunately incomplete, describes how Cai warred against the Cath Palug\ ‘Giine score before | dawn would fall for its food | nine score chieftains.'^ In this instance, at least, the priority of the Welsh version of the episode cannot be seriously questioned. The Black Book poem belongs to the very oldest stage of the Arthur-saga, that wherein Arthur himself is the chief protagonist, and Kai and Bed wer his chief and constant companions , a stagt,, be it

* 1 tli. Nxiii of the E.E.T.S. edition.

- V CymmrCilor, vii, 13 1 -1 3 2 -

1 5 kcne^ Bour Ancknt Books ^ i, 264,

2 52

noted, almost unrepresented by the French romances, which for the most part picture Art\m & r&i faineant, and profoundly degrade the characteristic figure of Kai. Here, too, philology lends us her aid : Cath Palu^ (OH Welsh Paine) would readily become Capalu or Chapal^i— the reverse process is impossible, 1 Is then the combat of the race hero and the monstrous cat a genuine fragment of Brythonic saga? Another possibility must be faced before this is granted* The already cited Batailk Laquifer describes the monster as having IJ tete d’un chat, pieds d’un dragon, corps d’un clieval, queue d’un lion/? If this description goes back to a Welsh original, It would seem that the Catli Palug was a sort of Chimera. Are we then to look upon this episode as a Brythonic variant of a Pan-Aryan myth descriptive of a strife between the hero and a tempest-demon, or only as the creation of some classically read Welshman ?

These considerations have carried us away somewhat from Mens. Gaston Paris’ work, some obiter die la in which I would specially notice. Apropos of the Vengeance de Raguidcl he says : a D’ailleurs cette exaltation conventionelle de la femme est inconnue a la' plus andenne poesie Celtique a laquelle appartient cette malicieuse histoire, eomme aussi celle de la Come en chan tee ou du Court Manteau.” 3 But do these chastity-test stories belong to u la plus ancienne poesie Celtique”, and was it not Celtic poetry, on the contrary, that largely inspired the conventional exaltation of woman in medieval romance ? Again, the dragon-fight in Tristan induces the remark, M Pdpopee Celtique contient com me toutes les epopees des elements adventices a [cote de donnees nationalcs.”* Granted, but how are these to be distinguished ? Is every element to be set down as adventitious that

1 But for the lucky preservation of this Black Book fragment our German friends would, doubtless, have stood out for the priority of the Merlin version over that of the Triads*

- G. Paris, op, di n 220. 3 Qp. c i/g 64,

4 Op, cit> f 119*

can be widely paralleled from other cycles ? If so, the "donates nationales” may safely be set down as the least portion, not only of the Celtic but of every other epic cycle.

The determination of earlier Celtic elements in the Arthurian romances has unfortunately been complicated by questions respecting the relations between some of the Mabinogion and the poems of Crestien de Troies. As is well known, the Welsh tales (found complete in the Red Book of Hergest and fragmentarily in much older MSS) to which the title Mabinogion is commonly though incorrectly applied, fall into four classes, One 5 comprising the Lady of the Fountain, Pcrcdur, and Geraint, is obviously connected with the Chevalier au Lion, the Conte du Graal, and the Eree of the French poet, 1 The connection is manifestly closest in the case of Geraint. Herr K. Qthmer’s exhaustive, elaborate, and careful demonstration that the Welsh tale is directly taken from the French poem, of which indeed it is in many parts a simple translation, has thus somewhat the nature of a breaking in of open doors. But Herr O tinner, a pupil of Professor Forster's, draws far wider conclusions from the fact he has proved •than he is at all entitled to. Because the 13th century Welshman adapted Grestierds poem, it by no means follows that the latter may not be based upon earlier Celtic lays. The merit of the 12th century French poets lay largely in the unity they gave to independent and often discordant episodic ballads or tales, and it is easily conceivable that the superior literary qualities of their works should win acceptance for them even in the original home of the Arthur cycle. Moreover, on Herr Othmer's own showing, the Welsh tale lias retained traits of early Celtic

1 The other three classes are (1) what may be called the non-French Arthurian Mabinogion, Kllhweh, and the Dream of Rhonabwy;

(2) The Mabinogion proper, Pwyll, Bran wen, Manawyddan, Math ;

(3) Maxen WIedig and Dudd, which apparently represent the stratum of Welsh legend which Geoffrey worked up in the Hist. Brit.

^54

manners which are rnissing in the French poem. .When Geraint is contending against the Knight of the Sparrow Hawk, the latter is incited to do valiantly by the exhortations of his dwarf, and Geraint is in like manner spurred on by the reproaches of the dispossessed earl, Herr Otlimer remarks that this episode, wanting m Crestien, is contrary to the usages of French chivalry. Be this as it may, the combatants in the Welsh tale bear themselves as do rival warriors In the oldest Irish sagas, u If it be I that shall begin to yield this day, thou art to excite, reprpach, and speak evil to me, so that the ire o;i my rage and an get may grow more upon me, says Cuchullain to his charioteer, Lateg, in the Tain bo Cumfenl And the Highland peasant of to-day, when he tells of the marvellous feats of Conall Gulban, places Duanach at his side to spur and egg him on. 1 Is it not more likely that the Welsh story-teller was following an early lay, describing a combat of Geraint's; than that he introduced this Celtic trait into his translation from the French ?

This is not the only instance in which ignorance of Celtic history and literature has led Herr Othmer astray..

In proof that Geraint is derived from Crest ien’s poem, , he justly cites the fact that the Welshman took his heroines name, Enid, from the French poet ; but whemhc explains this on the ground that older Celtic tradition had no heroines”, he is wholly in the wrong. On the contrary, nowhere is the Influence of the “ heroine” more prepon- .y derating than in the Irish heroic sagas, nor do the epic * * traditions of any race offer heroines of more individual r energy and character than Medhbh, and Deirdrc, and Blathnaid, to cite the first names that come to hand. 2

1 Campbell, No. Ixxvi.

3 Indeed u Das EwIg-weibliche J> in the early sagas moves Professor Zimmer, writing from the chaste shores of the Baltic, to a fouf-pagelong lamentation over ‘‘den ausgepragten sirtnlichen Zug" In Irish literature -{op. cl If., 281 ct seqi). Lest any should feel tempted to learn , old Irish in consequence, I hasten to add that they would find the Irish sagas, pace Professor Zimmer, of by no means such an exciting character as, let us say, Lempriere. *

2 55

A^ain to explain ,the method of abridging Crestien, found in the Welsh tale, on the ground that “der Kelte Iiebt nlclit ausfuhrliche Darstellungen'*, is to go dead against the facts. If there is one thing the <c Kelte” does like it is <£ ausflihrliche Darstelhingen”; indeed, no better instance of the detailed and vividly picturesque descriptive passages which characterise Celtic traditional literature in all its stages could be found than In one of the Malnuogiou, the Bream of Rhonabwy.

My strictures upon PI err Othmer J s essay must not be misinterpreted ; I most cordially recognise the value of the patient and laborious researches by which he and so many other German scholars arc determining the correct nature of mediaeval texts. But to decide problems in which the most intricate ethnological and sociological factors are concerned something more is needed than the method of acute and patient comparison by which a magazine^ writer ‘justifies a charge of plagiarism against a popular novelist, 1

i I may cite here the titles of a few pamphlets and articles relating to the Tristan story, which has been one of the best studied sections of Lite Arthur^cycle during the past few years E* Muret, FJlkart dOberg cl sa source frargaise (Romania, xvi, 288-363) ; W, Golther, B)ie Sage van Tristan and Isolde (Munich, 1SS7) ; F, Novati, l/n iiuavo cd un vecchio frammento del Tristran di Tammasa (Studi di filagta ram n vi, 369-515); H Warnecke, Metrische and sprackliche Ahhmutlimg ueber dasdem Bend zugeschriebene Tristran fragment (Erlangen, 1SS1); E. Loseth, Tristran ro?mxnc?isgavt 7 ndfranske frosahandskrijter in Fa riser Natiomlkilliaiheket (Christiania, 1888). These various treatises are briefly reviewed by Prof. M. Wdmotte \M%tm-Age> Jan. 1S90), who leans unduly in my opinion, to the side of Dr. Golther, but whose article enables a dear and succinct view of the very perplexing questions connected w ith the earliest French versions. To conclude the enumeration of “Arthurian” monographs,

I must note Gelidmrath Aib. Schulz’ (San-Marte) Veter den Bildungsder Cr aland Parzrml Dichiung in Fmnkrdeh und Deutschland (Zeds. fitr deufsehePlnltdrgiey xxii, 3s 4)' Written in the veteran’s eighty-eighth year, this essay testifies to the undying love of its author for tho studies of which he was the pioneer sixty years ago. It is ,

•256

Turning aside from mediaeval Celtic documents, let us see what has been done towards the collection and the elucidation of living folk-lore. Lady Wilde, in her new book* at once adds to the debt which all who cherish Irish tradition owe to her* and places her reviewer in a somewhat embarrassing position. Much of the matter is excellent, but the arrangement is even faultier, and the lack of all those indications which the student desiderates even more complete than Is usual with her. Her work can hardly be recommended save to the scholar, capable himself of the critical task which the author should have performed for him, or to the general reader, to whom any book stands on the same level as a page of Tit-hits ; the one will be thankful for the materials, the other for charm and entertainment. I must confess, however, my doubts as to how far Lady Wilde faithfully reproduces the facts of living Irish tradition, and whether she does not unconsciously lend them the tone and colouring of her own imaginative and poetic temperament

Mr, Curtin’s Myths and Folk-lore is 1 a most welcome addition to the small stock of folk-tales collected in Ireland, Although no information is given about the narrators, the tales are obviously genuine, and as obviously translated with spirit and verve. It is interesting to compare them with the West Highland tales collected by Mr. Maclnnes and annotated by myself (cited below as Talcs) r concerning which I think it unnecessary to say anything, as the volume is in the hands of most readers of Folk-Lore.

Mr. Curtin’s tales are twenty in number. No. I, The Son of the King of Erin and the Giant of Loch Lein is a variant of Talus ^ No. l. No. II. The Three Daughters of King 0 : Hara : a Beauty and Beast tale. No. III. The Weaver's Son and the Giant of White Hill ; a task story, in which a brother has to seek his three sisters, carried off before his birth. No, IV. Fair, Brown, and Trembling,

to be regretted that the purely critical portion of the essay should be based upon Birch-Hirsthfeld’s erroneous exposition of the relations between the works which make up the Grail-cycle,

* j

Celtic Mytii ami Saga.

g ri - -I-

is a Cinderella tale, ^No* V. The King: of Erin and the Queen of Lonesome Island: mysterious love-child who accomplishes the task which the legitimate sort kills in. No, VI* The Shee an Cannon and the Gruagacli Gahe ; a variant of Tales VTII, with intercalation of the King of Erin’s tale in Tales ill* No* VII* The Three Daughters of the King of the East and the Son of a King in Erin : envious stepmother and swanmaid guest. No, VIII, The Fisherman’s Son and the Gruagacli of the Tricks : Master Thief story, winding up with transformation combat. No* IX. The Thirteenth Son of the King of Erin : eldest best \ another variant of Tales vhi. No. X, Kii Arthur.- The best example in the book of the class of tales so common in the West Highlands, of which Conall Gulban and Manus are such good examples, orally preserved fragments of a Gaelic Hcldensagc, which assumed qua si-literary shape in the i 2th and following centuries. It contains (pp, 178 et seql) a variant of the Visit to the Fairy Brother-in-law (here, father-in-law), which l had noted {Talesj p. 471) as unknown to me, No* XL Shaking Head : grateful dead tale. No, XII. Birth of Fin Maccumliail. .Valuable Ossianic tale with details I have not met elsewhere. Fin gets through . his trials and combats, thanks to Bran : s advice. The tale of how Fin guarded Tara against fairy foes, found in the i$th century Agaltamh na Senamely is here mixed up with the fight against the Carlin and lier three sons. No* XIII. Fin Maccumhail and the Fenians in the Castle of Fear Dubh, Variant of the Fenian tale best known, as the Fairy Palace of the Quicken Trees. The revivifying Carlin also appears in this tale, with attributes that strikingly recall the Motrigan, the battle goddess of the pagan Irish* No. XIV, Fin Maccumhail and the Knight of the full Axe. Conall Gulban like adventures of Finn aided by a fairy dwarf* No* XV. Cilia na Grakin and Fin Maccumhail Fine tale, embodying, inter a/la, a variant of first part of Tales ii, and the King of Erink tale '{Tales in). The black sail incident to announce hero’s death is likewise here* No, XVL Fin Maccumhail, the Seven Brothers, and the King of France: variant of second part of Ikies 11, No* XVII. Black, Brown* and Gray :confused and fragmentary Fenian tale. No. XVIIL Fin Maccumhail and the Son of the King of Alba. A strong servant tale, with variant of the Fairy Palace of the Quicken Trees. No. XIX Cuculin. Cumulative unspelling quest tale, with the unknown son episode introduced at end* No. XX, Glsin in Tir na n-og.

The community of incident and of subject-matter between the Scotch and Irish Gaelic tales which I have insisted upon so strongly in rhy notes to Mr. Maclnnesk Tales comes #

s

VOL*

Celtic Myth a%d Saga .

out In Mr. Curtin’s volume afresh, but certain differences make themselves felt It might seem as If the unrivalled picturesqueness and body of the Scotch Gaelic talcs were due ^ . to a mingling of Celtic and Teutonic tradition, Oi it may be that the closer communion of the Western Highlanders with a wilder and more varied nature than that of Ireland has fostered and preserved in them a keener* sense of kinship with the tone and temper of the traditional heroic * age.

In this field of research the publication of documents has only gone far enough to enable three or four solutions of the complicated problem before ns to be distinguished. We arc not as yet in a position to decide In favour of this or that solution. The chief desideratum is', the publication of the rich stores of Irish MS, tales , belonging to the last two centuries. We shall then be able to judge whether the current folk-tale is, as some hold, a mere dcrivate of the mediaeval or pre-mediaeval sagas, through the medium of these MS. versions, or whether it docs not rather represent the basis of the sagas. 1 incline at present to this latter view, in favour of which I have adduced some evidence in my notes to Mr, Mclnnes’s tales. The Folk-Lore Society has drawn the attention of tfie Royal Irish Academy to the necessity and importance of this work. What Is wanted is a revival, with wider* scope and more scholarly aim, of the old Ossianic Society, to ^comprise among its ranks Gaels of Ireland and of Scotland • as well as all who have at heart the preservation and the study of Celtic thought and Celtic fancy.

The new material offered to the student of Celtic folklore, valuable though it be, presents no great novelty, and favours no revolutionary theorising. Now. apart from the discussion of the traditional literature with which I have ' already dealt, the only serious contribution that has been made recently to the interpretation of the popular lore' of ■ . both Scotland and I reland may well be styled revolutionary, though it is not entirely novel. I allude to Mr. MacRitchiVs

articles in the fourth volume of the ArchteologicalReview, His thesis, briefly put, is that the fairy belief has its basis .solely in the' traditions connected with a short, dark, very strong race, who dwelt in earth-houses, and were subdued by the invading- Celts, but retained separate, often independent existence, well on into historical times. Ethnologically, he conceives this race to have had Finnish affinities ; historically, to have been known as the Piets. Unfortunately for himself, Mr. Mac Ritchie attempts to prove far too much; moreover;, he indulges in etymological guesswork, such as that the Feinne (the warrior companions of Finn mac Cumhafl) were of Finnish race, and that the Gaelic word for fairy, SidJie (pronounced “ Shee”), has some possible connection with the Tsmds i a race of Northern Europe and Asia, ethnologically akin to the Lapps* I have attempted to sho\v {Tales, pp. 418-20) that his arguments respecting the Feinne arc based upon a false appreciation of the Fenian documents; indeed, his whole treatment of sources seems to me as unscientific as his etymological ‘theorising* Nevertheless, I must frankly say that he has collected and marshalled an array of facts deserving the most serious consideration ; and I think he may be allowed to have made out his case to this extent, that the historical elements in the fairy belief are more numerous and potent than is held by the great majority of students*

* Whilst it cannot be said that the past eighteen months have very greatly forwarded our study, yet steady progress has been made* Our knowledge has been enlarged, our criticism is. sounder, because better informed. But in no* one branch of Celtic antiquities has sufficient material been collected, or has the existing material been sifted with sufficient care to justify dogmatism. At the outset of this article I indicated as approximately true,the hypothesis that the Celtic inhabitants of these Islands possessed a considefable ardiaic culture, many elements of which are preserved to thus day in the living folk-lore of these islands. This is substantially the opinion expressed by Mr, York Powell in

s 2

his article on “Recent Research on Teutonic Mythology” ( ante, p. 126): « It is not true that Teutonic heathendom is permeated by Latino-Greek or Judaeo-Christian thought . . . the good old mythology and ritual went on as-old wives’ fables and charms many a century after, and survive in the fairy tales and superstitious observances of to-day.” I believe the position to be as true in the Celtic as in the Teutonic field, and that it can only be strengthened .by further research.

Alfred Nutt.

Report: Italian Folk-Songs

R. H. Busk

IT At IAN FOLK-SONGS.

1, • Canli Popolari del Plemonle; pubblicati da Costantlno Nigra,

Roma, Firenze, Torm : Loescher, pp. xl, 600,

2, Chants, populaires du Bas-Qucrcy- Recueiilis ct notes par M.

Emmanuel Soteville, Paris : Champion, Ouai Voltaire, pp, v, 352, and of Music, 10S.

3 , Usie Cosiumi del Tnntino. Rovereio : JNL Bolognini, Tipografia

Roveretana, pp. 88, -

, T N one important branch of folk-lore—-folk-songs—

1 Italy has in Count Costantlno Nigra as indefatigable a student in the North as Dr, Giuseppe Pitrd has proved in ■ the South, The closely printed volume of imperial octavo which heads our notice is a monument of careful and loving work, the'enthusiasm of the artist gilding the toil of the conscientious workman.

Hitherto the folk-songs of Italy have been best known to us by the love-songs, which are the prevailing form of popular rhymes in the central and southern portions of the Peninsula, But the Piedmontese, like all mountain peoples, are stirred in their inner life by rhythmical memories of heroic deeds at least equally with the absorbing and universal claims of love. Hence it is doubtless of right that our author has devoted his chief study to the homely epics which may be said to be almost * the speciality of the countrymen of his province. The bve-songs however hardly get fair treatment. They are crowded breathlessly into a few pages, without a word of translation, comment, or comparison, and not so much as the space of a line to separate one from another, and sqggest to the reader to pause and consider the beauty of their rhapsodies. We are told in the prefatory treatise

(p, &Ix) that the Simmhotlo and the Storm Ho are the indigenous productions of Southern Italy* “ The poetry of Southern Italy is generally lyrical, that of Northern Italy narrative." The etymology of the word Strambotto has naturally suffered, equally with the samples of the kind of song* from the preference which attracts our author to a more purely national study, and I think that the authors whom I have followed in this matter {Folk-Songs of Italy, Prefatory Treatise, p. iS) have the best of the argument The most interesting of the samples supplied have found a place in my collection.

Count Nigra has treated the narrative rhymes in an entirely different manner* Their nature, history, sources, variants, migrations, parallels, have all been made the sub-, ject of the most careful research and study. We are presented with 146 Canzoni , ranging from the earliest glimmer of tradition down to the days of Napoleon’s .con-' scripts; collected in numbers from different localities in various dialects, painstakingly collated ; rendered into Italian intelligible to all, and quite a little treati^ on each, tracing,its branch-variants up to a parent group-stem, and then following that stem through its multiform roof-suckers in various countries—Provence, Francis, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Germany, Scandinavia, England, and Scotland*

Only those who have in any degree pursued some attempts of the kind can have any idea of the exasperating labyrinths into which such researches must lead. Caring nothing for the tortuous and torturing divagations into which they are leading the student, light-hearted peasants j have in the course of ages woven their tales, inrhyme as well as prose, into a kind of texture from which at our date it has become almost an impossible thing to draw the several threads A song imported by an itinerant niinstrel is certain to be caught up, and the heroic deeds it”celebrates ascribed to the local favourite. This is bad enough/ but what is tenfold more misleading, yet equally frequent, there results'from this treatment,that a song maybe centuriSs'

older than the historic event which it seems composed to narrate in the form in which we first meet it. When it passes into a fresh country under its second or third transformation, it ns clear that the most scholarly brain cannot all at once track its deviation. Of course there are nu merou5 indlcations of manner, of metre, of rhym i ng plan, of etymological idiosyncrasy, etc., constituting the grammar of the subject, by which the student guides himself; but such \y 1 1 h o’-fclie-w ispsj as folk-songs may lead the most practiced guide to the edge of a precipice.

In truth, Ivowever, the grammar of this most perplexing mannef has yet to be made, and such conscientious and intelligent investigations as Count Nigra's it is which go far towards building up such a grammar. If all folklorists do not accept ail his conclusions in every instance, each cannot but be grateful to him for the grand pioneering work he has done, as few could, and for laying the solid bases of a whole edifice of conclusions in the future which could never have been attained without such' primary support. Count Nigra does not come before us as a new man. Though one of Italy's foremost diplomatists, and lately the representative of Italy at our Court, he has found time for continual explorations in the regions of folk-lore, and ever since the year 1S54 folk-Iorists have been beholden to his contributions in the Romania and elsewhere of the popular rhymes of his native country. Votaries of the science well knew that the publication of his large and exhaustive collection was delayed for the sake of perfecting his historical and philological conclusions concerning them.

The collection of folk-songs before us from Bas-Q uercy is a scholarly work ; the author has not gone so deeply Into the history of his songs as Count Nigra, but be has given more attention than any folk-lorist has hitherto done to their melodies. This is a singular feature, which may make his collections specially attractive to many. Though not very easyjto form an opinion of the sound of a dialect so

m

unfamiliar,, these songs nevertheless convey the idea of being pervaded with remarkable rhythm i calif y, and the refrains which nearly all of them contain provide them with a great facility for harmoniousness.

To many English readers probably the locality of Bas~ Qucrcy is, to say the least, not familiar ; it may not be out of place, therefore, to mention that the origin of the name of the district is ascribed to its having been inhabited by les Cadurci at the time’of the Roman invasion. It now constitutes the department of Lot and part* of the Tam ct Garonne; Montanban was its capital.

The first song of this collection, “ Escribeto” is axounterpart of one to which Count Nigra has devoted more attention than any other in his series, in fact, a whole tenth of his book, under the title of “II Moro Saracino”, ‘Guilhalmes’ in the one, 'Bel galant* in tht other, marries'a maiden so young that she cannot so much as dress herself alone: this homely detail is absent from no version. He goes to the wars, leaving her in his mothers charge —-per la laissa grandi— but while he is gone, el gran Moro S.arazi” (Nigra), '* lous Morons sarrasis” (Soleville), cany her off. He comes back at the end of seven years, and when he learns what has happened, he swears he will do nothing till he has found her, though lie perish in the attempt. “ SI na duveissa muri” (N.), “Qiiand saurivi de mouri 5 ’ (S,). He takes his sword with the gold hilt, but he goes forth dressed as a pilgrim, till he meets three washerwomen plying their industry at the foot of a great castle. . This introduction of unromantic lavandere is insisted on In every one of Nigra’s seven versions, as well as -{labairaslahalmm huge f}) in Soleville’s, and recalls a similarly curious instance in the song of Piedmont at pp. 163-5 of my collection. I have attempted to account for ity and in the instance I was commenting on the laundress

L Lt Ibis song is a strange mixture of sublime symbolism and everyday usage, the siren passes into the washerwoman—Undine into the laundress.* *

actually "woos the knight beneath the water, giving coignr to the suggestion ; but the present instance seems to show that nothing is intended beyond a homely and prosaic fact. Of the washerwomen the pilgrim learns that this is tire castle of the very Saracen Moor of whom he is in search. Begging under the windows, he obtains a sight of his maiden (Fiorensa in Piedmont, Escribe to in Bas-Ouercy). As he takes the alms from her hand she recognises by the ring he wears that he is indeed her husband, though she had just been in doubt “ that anyone could have come so far as from her country except it had been a swallow, who flies the whole livelong day”. But when she is satisfied it is he, she instructs him how to find the swiftest horse in the stable, and carry her off, pretending she is his bag of oats for the horse. One or, two of the Piedmontese versions wind up with the Moor’s complaint: “ To think that I should have had hcr seven years, and never so much as touched her hand !” This is wanting in the one from Bas-Qucrcy, but in nearly every other detail it is identical.

Count Nigra rightly calls this one of the most charming of folk-songs, and he has bestowed infinite pains in the study of its origin and wanderings; and we refer our readers to his treatise on it, not only for its intrinsic interest, but as a fine specimen of his analytical instinct.

'Another instance of great beauty is the group of songs classed by Count Nigra as Ftor di Tomba , and in his analysis of these there is much to interest the folk-legist of every country; for no nationality is without this incident. Is this not because there is a sublime meaning of the mind • and soul underlying the pretty love-conceit of the heart ? Expressed tersely by Jean Paul, “ The bier is the cradle of heaven.” The light for her lover’s eyes which glowed round the tomb of Beatrice opened Paradise to him and to us.

The group of t he Donna Lombarda 1 is treated of course 1 Busk’s Folk-Songs of Italy , p, 160.

* *

at great length by Count Nigra, as has also the group which has hitherto gone by the name assigned to it by Gaston Paris of “Jean Renaud” 1 but which Nigra shows would be better entitled “ Monte occult We find this group represented in Soleville's collection under the namfc of “ Lou Counte Arnaud” (p. 13).

The Canto dissected by Count Nigra under the name of Un l Eroina (p. 90), “El fiol dij sigmiri eunti s’a Te chiel .ifin va dame”, appears in Bolognini's Usi e Cosiumi del Trentim , p, 37, under the name of <f Montiglia”. “Lustrissimo sior Conte se vorlo mar id an” La falsa Monaco, of Nigra, p. 407, in Bolognini, p. 35, as La Moniehclla.

S.oleville limits himself to genuine songs^ {Chants)^ but Count Nigra and Bolognini both furnish us besides with many rhymed traditions and folk-sayings ; and Bolognini with several tales not rhymed, as well as some localised, legends of various vales and peaks of the Trentino.

Among Nigra’s rhymed legends occurs the ever-beautiful one of “ Sant* Alcssio”, p. 538, the highest reach of sublime abnegation ever fabled of hero or saint—a sacrifice beyond that of Abraham. In pointing out details which, not occurring in the “Golden Legend” or in the “ Bollandists”, prove this to be a pure folk-tradition, Count Nigra omits to trace it, as he might fairly do, to an absolutely Roman source. The church of Sant 1 Alessio, on the Ayentine, keeps alive the perpetual memory of the historical out 1 me of the story—the pathetic tale which in all its long rhymed length many of the people know by heart, was, indeed, like numerous others of the same class, printed, as he says, at Bologna ; but when it was first printed there, Bologna was a Papal city, and it was the Roman tradition which was carried there to be printed. The “Story of Dives”, p. 543, in Italy called *T 1 Epulone”, Introduces the curious episode of its having been to our Lord in His own person, and not in that of the beggar Lazarus, that he refused alms. At

\

1 Busk, Folk-Songs of Italy 9 pp. 161 scy.

* * *

p, 550 we have several versions of the familiar English folk-prayer —

“ Matthew,' Mark, Luke, John,

Bless the bed that I lie on.”

Among nursery rhymes, we find, at p. 555 ) one about a cat, conceived much in the same form as our English one—

“Pussy-cat, Pussy-cat, where have ye been?

I’ve been to Lunnun to see the queen.

Pussy-cat, Pussy-cat, what did you there ?

Eat up the little mouse under her chair.”

Some nonsense verses, p. 561, are identical in form with some given by Bolognini at the beginning of his collection.

Bolognini is also strong in popular lyrical compositions. Although his volume has rather the genial character of the mountaineer’s writing than the scholarly tone in which the other two volumes are conceived, it is yet an invaluable collection, for the writer is guided by the true instincts of a born folk-lorist ; he knows and loves the people and enjoys their confidence, and he writes down what he receives from them exactly as they give it him, never led astray into improving on their diction.

It is or course in the work of Count Nigra that the chief scientific interest must be sought, and English folklorists will have to make themselves masters of his deductions, whether for adhesion or discussion, before they can arrive at any classification of European folk-songs.

R. H. Busk.

Notes and News (No. II)

NOTES AND NEWS.

IN the forthcoming number of Folk-Lore will be included the continuation of Mi 1 . Abercrornby’s translations of the Magic Charms of the Finns; on the Holy Grail, by Dr. M. Gaster ; two new English Fairy T, ales, by Me. E, Clodd ; a Report by Mr. Braybrook on Recent Research in Anthropology in its relation to Folk-Lore ; besides the contributions already announced.

Prof. M, Kovalefsky will give the Ilchester Lectures this term at Oxford, the subject being “ Ancient Law and Modern Cnstom in Russia”. The first two lectures will deal with “ The Matrimonial Customs of the Slavs’”

* •

IT is a remarkable sign of the increased interest in folklore that a newly-founded weekly journal of the Tit-Hits type, entitled Good Luck , devotes a special section, with prizes, etc,, to Folk-lore ; it would be desirable that the editor should consult some experts for this section, which might then be made to yield results valuable to the science.

Our President, Mr. Andrew Lang, is giving a series of three lectures on “The Natural History of Society”, at the Royal Institution.

Mr, E. Sidney I-Iartland’s book, on the “Folk and Fairy Tales of England”, has appeared in the Camclot Series, and is specially devoted to illustrating the thesis that England is more distinguished for folk-sagas than for', fairy tales. It has been preceded in the same series by a similar book on Irish Tales, and will he followed by one on Scotch Fairy Tales.

OUR local secretary in China, Mr. J. H. Stewart Lockhart, who is at present in London, is preparing a work on Chinese Folk-lore.

Notes and News. 269

The Handbook of Folk-lore is rapidly approaching completion, nearly half the work having been passed for press. The American Society is also preparing a similar set of Notes and Queries.

Prelim inarv arrangements have been entered into with regard to the proposed Congress of Folk-lore, to be held in London in the autumn of 1S9L

Prof, T. C. Crane's edition of the exem>ia of Jacques de Vi try will probably be issued to the members of the Folk-Lore Society during the coming quarter*

Readers of Folk-Lore are requested to aid towards the completeness of its bibliography by forwarding references or cjjttings in English local newspapers and journals that are likely to escape notice, as well as books and pamphlets published in the provinces.

TjXE Tabulation of Folk-tales has reached such a stage that some steps towards a classification are now possible, Miss Roalfe Cox is engaged in putting in order the Cinderella, type already classified.

DURING the past quarter, meetings of the Society were held on March 23, when papers were read by Mr* W, F. Kirby, on The Folk-lore of Beetles, and Dr* M. Gaster, on The Sources of the Holy Grail ; on April 27, when papers were read by Mr. G* L. Gomme, on a Tale of Campbell and its Foundation in Usage; by Mr. Alfred Nutt, on Recent Theories on the Nibelungenlied ; and by Mr. J. Jacobs, on an Inedited English Folk-tale,

THE American Folk-Lore Society has changed presidents at the beginning of this year, Prof F, j. Child yielding the chair to Mr. D. F. Brinton, the indefatigable student of British ballads to the equally indefatlgablcereviewer of archaic American mythology.

Communications for the next number should reach the Office of Folk-Lore (270, Strand) before August 1st

Review: Les Contes Moralisés de Nicole Bozon

Joseph Jacobs

REVIEW.

Les Contes moralises de Nicole Bgzon. Publics pour la premiere fois par Lucy Toulmin Smith et Paul Meyer. (Society des Anciens Textes Frangkk) Paris, 1889^ 8vo,, pp. Ixxiv, 333.

Miss' Toulmin Smith and M. Paul Meyer have made students of folk-lore their debtors by their admirable edition of the exempla of Nicole Bozen, an English friar of the fourteenth century, who wrote down In Norman- French some 150 tales of the kind then considered suitable as seasoning for sermons. Members of the Folk-Lore Society should be especially interested in the book, as they are soon to have in their hands a very similar work, the exempla of Jacques de Vi try, edited by the capable hands of Prof. Crane.

These “ Examples” form a necessary part of the apparatus of the student of folk-tales, for in them we often get the earliest appearance in literature of many folk-talcs. Some of the examples, it is true, can be traced to purely literary sources, as, e,g. t the beast-fables. But at times we come across tales evidently taken from oral tradition, with scraps of folk-rhymes repeated in them, and in other ways bearing marks of origin from the folk

It cannot be said that Bozon’s Conies afford many examples of purely oral tradition. The industry of the editors has succeeded in tracing the sources of nearly every one of the stories. Some of these are well known, eg.) the Coffer-choice of the Merchant of Venice (§ 84); The Angel and Hermit, familiar to English readers from Parnell's poem (§ 31); The Miller, his Son, and the Ass (§ 132). Others, not so well known, arc # often equally

Review. 2 71

r *

interesting and instructive, as, eg., Satan's Letter (§ 93) ; The Man made to believe the Lamb he is carrying is a Dog (§ 117); The Parable of the Unicorn from Barlaam and Josaphat (§ 29), etc* Those who seek to find a literary source for all folk-tales will find in Bozon's work ample material, for their thesis No one denies the existence of a literary tradition, but it yet remains to be proved that there has not always been side by side with it a stream of oral legend, scarcely affected, if at all, by literature.

A very large proportion of Bozon's examples are taken from fables, a word which he uses strictly in the modern sense for,beast-tales. Here, again, we have the literary sources pointed out in most cases by the editors, who fail to do so in only seven instances (§§ 2, 3, 15, ry, 19, 26, 35). I regret to say that I am unable to assist them with these, though I * have lately had to review the whole literature of the beast-fable. I can only suggest that these fables are survivals of the collection associated with the name of King Alfred, which I have traced to Alfred the Englishman, a translator from the Arabic in the twelfth century. But none of these seven finds a place in the Hebrew collection of Benedict of Oxford, which 1 also associate with Alfred’s /Esop. . Some of the English words and phrases, I would suggest, may come from the Middle English translation of Alfred, from which, as Herr Mall has shown, Marie de 'France derived her fables. The bibliographical references to the.fables might have been largely increased, but this was perhaps deemed unnecessary. An alphabetical list of the fables and stories would have been useful The editors, perhaps, omitted it in order that there might be at least one thing on which the critic might exercise his proverbial propensity to cavil

Joseph Jacobs.

Correspondence (No. II)

WHAT 1 S IN A N A M E ?

To the Editor of Folk-Lore.

Sir, —In his second Avatar (would that these were more frequent amongst us), our President expressed ( himself as not in full agreement with the conclusion at which I arrived after comparison of what seemed most common and essential to the « Rumpelstiltskin” group of stories. 1 Mr. Lang thinks that these need not have so archaic an origin as that exclusion appears to him to imply, and that instead of holding any barbaric philosophy in them, they may be but the vehicles of the harmless jest that the fairy relies upon having an out-of-the-way name which none is likely to guess. *

Now, whether the stories are “archaic” or not seems tome to be of quite secondary importance. Whatever be their age they may hold many old philosophies of things, , as do much more serious vehicles than fairy tales to this day. And however fantastic or out-of-the-way the elfish names may be, it invariably happens that when the name is guessed, the elf becomes powerless to work the ill which is threatened if the name is not found out. Ther&fore, p however grotesque the term given to the"story, there abides the fact of discomfiture and defeat through discovery of name; and this fact seems to me linked to that worldwide crude philosophy which con fuses names and persons, things living and things not living, making them alike instruments of good or of evil, as the case may be.

Since my paper was published, my friend Mr, William Simpson, the well-known artist-traveller, has sent me the

1 Folk-Lore-Journal) vol, vii, pp. 135 sif

1 ,

2 73

following interesting confirmation of my view as to the more serious aspect of the subject

“ At p. 160 you refer to the Abyssinian custom of concealing the baptismal name, I presume that the authority from which you derived this did not explain the reason for which it is clone.

u I have just been reading Mansfield Parky n’s Life in Abyssinia > one of the most delightful books of travel. He was some years m Abyssinia, lived as one of the natives, dressed as they did, wore no shoes, had his hair plaited, and the toilet finished with a pot of butter on the crown of his head : Well, he thus explains why the baptismal name is kept a secret f It is a custom in Abyssinia to conceal the real name by which a person is baptised, and to call him only by a sort of nickname, which his mother gives on leaving the church. The baptismal names in Abyssinia are those of saints, such as Son of St George, Slave of the Virgin, Daughter of Moses, etc, Those given by the mother are generally expressive of maternal vanity regarding the appearance or anticipated merits of her child, such as Gold, Silver, Joy, Sweetness, etc. The reason for the concealment of the Christian name is that the Bouda cannot act upon a perso?i whose real name he does not knoivl The italics are mine. The Bouda refers to a blacksmith. All of that trade are looked upon in Abyssinia as sorcerers, or a kind of male witches, and are opprobnously called Bouda, They can turn themselves into hyenas and other quadrupeds. The concealing of the name, as here explained, agrees perfectly with your explanation in the c Philosophy of Riimpelstiltskin 1 . You also include in your explanation, and have given many illustrations of it, that all seem to gather round the Great Creative Name, the unpronounceable name of God, This is, I should say, the most probable theory, ft was this name, whether Yah or Om, that created dll things, and became on that account a symbol of Supreme power, and consequent sanctity. The ' Open Sesame 1 of AH Baba, and similar words in other

vo C l x -

tales* down to the ‘ Presto’ of our modern conjurers, all arc survivals of the same ancient idea.”

Edward Clodd.

FASCINATION AND HYPNOTISM,

To the Editor of Folk-Lore,

Sir—I n reading M. TuchmannV exhaustive papers in Milusine on Fascination (the Evil Eye, etc,), an idea has occurred to me, which I have no time to work out, but which may possibly be of use to folk-lore students. Were the old folk so entirely in the wrong in attributing special influence to particular persons? Do we not see the same thing at every hypnotic seance ? In short, may not the whole subject be summed up in the formula, La fascination

c est Thy fin otis me ? *

Alfred Npgr.

Miscellanea (No. II)

Easter in Greece,—The Greek Easter fell this year (1890) on April 13th, and'was celebrated with the usual rites at Athens. Easter candles and coloured Easter eggs were exhibited for sale in large quantities in the streets on Good Friday; and live lambs were to be seen, which the peasants had brought in from the country to sell. Each family, as a rule* buys a lamb* kills it, and eats it on Easter Sunday. O11 Saturday* in various parts of Athens, I observed the gutters running with the blood of the lambs which had been thus killed to furnish the'family meal on Sunday. 1 am told that in some country districts the blood of the lamb is sometimes smeared on the threshold of the house. On the night of Good Friday the sikQnes or holy pictures representing the dead Christ were carried in solemn procession through the streets, great crowds joining in the processions with lighted candles, or watching the processions pass- Military bands marched in the processions* playing solemn music. During Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday firing went on almost continuously all over Athens. The cartridges used were not always blank ones, for I heard the whistle of bullets, and am informed that fatal accidents pn such occasions are not uncommon. The object of the firing is said to be to kill Judas. Formerly effigies of Judas used to be burned at this season, but in Athens the custom is now forbidden by the Government.

The chief ceremony of the festival takes place at midnight on Easter Saturday/ that is, at the commencemen t of Easter Sunday, the moment when the* Resurrection is believed to have taken place. In Athens a religious sendee, presided over by the Archbishop, is held at midnight in the square in front of the cathedral, and at the presumed moment of the Resurrection the bells ring out and the multitude who dll the square kindle the candles which they had hitherto held unlighted in their hands. The theory is that these candles are all lighted from the sacred new Easter hie in the cathedral* but, considering the suddenness with which the square* all dark a moment before, bursts into a blaze of light, it seems hardly possible that all the candles should be lit from one source.

In the more remote districts of Greece it seems that the Easter ceremonies are of a more primitive kind than at Athens. Mr. Ernest Gardner, Director of the British School of Archaeology at Athens, witnessed the celebration of Easter at Thebes in Boeotia, find he has

kindly furnished me with the following particulars“ On Good Friday t he sacred picture of the dead Christ was laid on a sort of bier, or structure resembling a four-posted bed. The picture itself, the four posts, and the overhanging canopy were covered with dowers and green leaves* Every person came up to the bier, kissed the sacred picture, and carried away a flower or a leaf from it, with the intention of keeping it until the Easter of the following year. Beside the bier stood baskets of flowers and leaves, with which the* bier was decked as fast as it was stripped by the worshippers* Then the bier, adorned with lighted candles, was carried in procession through the town. Similar processions started from the various churches and met at central points. While the processions were passing fireworks were let off and guns fired.'* J, G. Fraser*

Highland Superstitions in Inverness-shire*—!’he following notes on this subject were communicated in writing by Isabella Ross, formerly * a servant in our family.

lt At old Christmas, commonly called t Auld Elf, a pot of so wans is made in every house, a wedding-ring put into it, whoever finds the ring is blindfolded and goes to the hen-house door and knocks; if the cock crows, for every time he crows there is a year or years before they are married ; if he just flaps his wings, they are to be an old maid, „

tl A child 3 s hands are never washed until he opens them himself* or the luck is washed away ; the longer he keeps them, dosed the more money he will have* if his nails are pared before he is a year old, he will live to be a thief; and if they speak before they walk, they will be noted for telling untruths,

“It’s very' unlucky to hear a cock crow in the afternoon, a sure | omen of had news.

i£ A child born at the hour of or between 12 and 1, is supposed to see aU ghosts and goblins,

u The fairies in the Highlands arc all supposed to be drowned in a place called the Ferry. They wanted to cross, and they asked an old woman if the water was deep ; she replied in Gaelic, * Although it’s black, it is not deep , 1 w James G. Frazer*

Players' Superstitions.—In the Folk-Lore Record, 1879, voL ii, p. 203,

1 quoted some passages illustrative of the superstitions of actors from ' Thi Theatre of September 1S79, p. ioC. To these letlne add the following: t, 1 ) ^ rom the Rialto January 4,1S90; “Ablack eat is $be theatrical emblem of good-luck, and when a new piece is produced the proper thing to do to secure success is to entice a black cat to come on behind. At the Haymarket they apparently take fortune by the

.forelock by keeping a black cat in front. The other night, when I went to the Hay market to see how A Marts Shadow stood a second visit, the black cat came and sat down beside me. Such an admirable cat is the Hay market pussy.that it tookjts place so Unobtrusively that I did not notice its presence till an attendant came and said, 1 1 think well take the cat away/ Then I discovered the harbinger of fortune sitting at my elbow. Needless to say that after such an incident T was fortunate enough to enjoy A Marts Shadow quite as much as on a first visit. (2} From the Glasgow Evening Citizen\ January 6, 1890 (but probably quoted from a theatrical paper), regarding the pantomime ar Drury Lane: if Some surprise has been expressed at the appearance of Juno in the Olympian procession at Drury Lane Theatre * without anything in her dress to associate her with the peacock, the . bird dedicated to 1 the Queen of Heaven’. The omission is not accidental, but designed, theatrical people having a superstitious aversion to the peacock in any form appearing on the stage. Mr. Harris was spoken to on the subject, but declined to interfere with a cherished superstition” William George Black.

Rabbinic Parallel to a Story of Grimm.—In preparing my edition of the* Great Midrash on the Pentateuch, the largest collection of Jewish legendary lore in existence, I earae across the following, which my friend Mr. Jacobs thinks would be of interest to students of folk-lore. I may add that all the MSS, of the Midrash Haggado come from Yemen in Arabia, where an isolated colony of Jews has existed since the beginning ot the Christian era. The collection is probably hot later than the fourteenth century, but it is impossible to • state how much earlier the particular passage may be. So far as I know, no parallel exists in any other part of Rabbinic literature.

Another Story, —A Gentile and a Jew were walking along a road. Then the Gentile said to the Jew, (£ My religion is better than thine. 1 " Nqw the Jew said, ^ It is not true : my religion is better than thine, for it is written, Dent. iv t 8/ ? Then said the Gentile, 61 Let us ask ; if they say my religion is better I will take all your money ; if they say thine, you will take mine. 1 * Then said the Jew to him, u Tis well; I accept the wager/ 1 No w they continued their walk, and Satan came in the shape of an old man. They asked him whose religion is the bet|er, and he said the Gentile's. Afterwards they continued their walk, and the same Satan took the shape of a young man, and they asked him again, and he gave the same answer. Thereupon the Gentile-took away the whole money of the Jew. The Jew departed in great trouble, and Jie passed the night in a ruin. Now, when there came the third part of the night he heard three persons talking.

2 ?S

Miscellanea f

They said to one, “ Where have you been to-day ?" And he said, M I found a Jew and a Gentile, and T had my joke with them, and I gave false evidence in favour of the Gentile,” And they said to the second, >« Where have you been to-day ?” And he said,“ 1 have been preventing the daughter of the emperor and king from giving birth to a child; it is already seven days that she has been in labour; if they only took some grass, and pul it on her nose, she would instantly give birth,” They asked the third demon where he had been? He said, « I have stopped the spring of a certain country, and all the animals there are perishing from thirst. If they would lake a black ok and kill him on the web, the water would come againT Now the Jew kept the matter in his heart, got up in the morning, and went to the emperor’s country. He found his daughter still in labour. They asked him if he had any medicine- He showed them the root of the tree, and they pressed it on her nose, and she gave birth; The king gave him much money, for this was his only child. Afterwards he went to the country where the waters were stopped* They asked him if he could do something. He said, “Take a black ox and sacrifice it bn the well, and the water will come up. 51 They did so, and tjie water did come up, and they gave him a lot of money. On the following day, the Gentile who had taken away all his money found the Jew, and wondered how he had got so much money* He "asked him: “ I have taken all your money, whence have you got such riches And he told him the whole story. He also did likewise, and passed the night in the ruin* But the three demons came and kiUedjum* In order that Prov. xi 3 maybe Mfille d*

S. SchechterI

[This is evidently a variant of Grimm’s w The Two Travellers™ (No. 107), parallels to which have been enumerated by R* Kohler in his notes to the first of Widter and Wolfs Venetian folk-tales in Jahrk d ram. und eng. Philologies vii, pp. 6 - it * to which add those by E* Cosquin in his Conies de Lorraine, i, 87 seq* —J. J.]

FOLK-LORE EXTRACTS*

Snake with Jewelled Head*—“Among others- [stones possessed and prized by the Chcrokees, and used in their conjuring ceremonies], “ there is one in the possession of a conjurer, remarkable for its brilliancy and beauty, but more so for the extraordinary manner in which it was found. It grew, if vve may credit the Indians, on the head of a monstrous serpent, whose retreat was by its brilliancy discovered ; but a great number of snakes attending him, he being,* as 1 suppose by his diadem, of a superior rank among serpents, made it dangerous to attack him* Many were the attempts made by the

m 0

Indians* but all frustrated, till a fellow more bold than the rest, casing himself in leather, impenetrable to the bite, of the [serpent or his guards, and watching a convenient opportunity, surprised and killed him, tearing the jewel from his head, which the conjurer has kept hid for many years in some place unknown to all but two women,* (1765, Timberlakds Memoirs, p* 48,)

Holy Innocents.—“Thus many people in this land” [England] “ are afraid to begin a good worke vpon the same day that Innocents day fell on the yeare belcre, because they held the circumstance of time as a necessary concurrent to prosperous proceedings.’ 3 (1625,

J . Jackson, The Originall of Vnbeliefe , etc^ c. xv T p. 115.)

St. M. Magdalene's Day.—‘And the Scottish nation, , , .would sometimes have fought with the English vpon any festivall day in the yeare sooner than vpon Magdalene day, as fearing lest the ill happe, which it brought them, had not been expiated with the reiterated penetentiali sacrifices of many widowes teares*” {Ibtd^ c. xviii, p* 157.)

Swallows* Nests.— 1:l To robbe a s wall owes nest, built in a firchonsi^ is from some old bell-dames Catechisms, held as a more fearefull sacrilege, than to steals a chalace out of a church*” (IMd. % c. xix,

р. 1 770

Fern Seed — 1 It was my happe since 1 vndertooke the ministerie, to question an ignorant soule, . * * what he saw, or heard, when he watcht the falling of the Feme-seed at an vnseasonable and suspicious houre. Why {quoth he) doe yon thinke that the devil! hath ought to doe with that good seed ?' No; it is in the keeping of the King of Faynes } and he, I know, will doe me no harme, although I should watch agaene ; yet had he utterly forgotten this King's name, vpon * whose kindness he so presumed, vntil I remembered it vnto him out of my reading in Htmi of Burdiaux. And having made this answer, he beganne to pose me thus : Sq you are a schqUar, and I am none. Tell me what sai'd the Angel! to our Lady? dr what conference had our Lady with her cousin Elizabeth concerning the birth of St* John the Baptist ? As if his intention had been to make bystanders belleue, that he knew somewhat more on this point, than was written in such bookes, as I vse to reade* Howbeit the meaning of his riddle I quickly conceived, and he confessed to be this : that the Angell did foretell John Baptist should be born at that very instant on which the Firne-seedt^ at other times invisible, did fall ; intimating further (as fhrre as I could then perceiue) that this saint of God had some extraordinary value from the time or circumstance of his birth*” {Ihid^

с. xix, pp. 178-9.)

South- running Water.—“This vpon mine owne knowledge and observation l can relate ; of tw + o, sent more than a mile, after sun-

2 Bo

setting, to fetch South-running water, with a strict injunction not to salute any either going or comming, no not their dearest friends, if they should chance to meete them (as by chance they did)/ {Ibid., c. xixj p, 179.) It is not stated to what use the water, when fetched, was to be put. Geraldine GosseliNi

Old Harvest Customs in Devon and Cornwall .—{Extract from a Letter written August 271 1S39, from Truro),—“ Now, when all the corn was cut at Heligan, the farming men and maidens come in front of the house, and bring with them a small sheaf of corn, the last that has been cut, and this is adorned with ribbons and flowers,,and one part Is tied quite tight, so as to look like a neck. Then they cry out

^ ° ur l side, my side/ as loud as they can; then the dairymaid gives 4 My S

the neck to the head farming-man. He takes it, and says, very loudly three times, f I have him, 1 have him, I have him. 1 Then another farming-man shouts very loudly, 4 What have ye ? what have ye ? what have ye ? ! Then the first says, 4 A neck, a neck, a neck 3 And when he lias said this, all the people make a very great shouting/ This they do three times, and after one famous shout go away and eat supper, and dance, and sing songs/ The custom passed away with the introduction of machines.

Another Account.—A ll went out to the field when the last corn was cut, the u neck' 1 was lied with ribbons and plaited, and they danced round it, and carried it to the great kitchen, where by-andbye the supper was. The words were as given in the previous account, and Hip, hip. hack, heck, I have -ee, I have ? ce, I have *ee/ It was hung up in the hall.

Another account, with few details only, recounts that one of the men rushed from the held with the last sheaf, the others following with vessels of water, which they endeavoured to throw upon the'sheaf before it could be taken into the barn ; the moral being the difficulties encountered by the farmer in saving his com from rain, etc.

At Kingsbridge, the following was formerly recited or sung (at the end of the harvest): El We/ve a ploughed, and we Ve a sowed, we Ve a reaped, and we : vc a mowed, we ve a sheaved, and we \t a bound, and well a stood upon the ground. 1 * At the end was 41 Hip hip, hip, hurrah ] JJ / / .*

Folk-Lore Bibliography (No. II)

BOOKS.

* iSgOj UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED.

[English books published in London , French in Paris ,

mentioned]

FOLK-LORE IN GENERAL,

BriNTONj D. G. Essays of an Americanist; Ethnologic and Archseo-

* logic; Mythology and Folk-lore, etc. (Philadelphia). Svo. pp, xiij 4S9.

HENNE’ am Rm r N, O. Die Kultur der Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft in vergleichender Darstellung. 2nd edit,, Danzig, 2 vols., Svo. pp* vii, 412 j and vii, 596.

Mallery, Garrick, Israelite and Indian, a parallel in planes of culture [reprinted from The Popular Science Monthly , Nov, and Dec, 1S89]. New York ; Svo, pp. 47 (D. Appleton & Co.),

Marcelli BuRGID.ALENSIS de Medicamentis liber. Edited by G. Helmreich (Leipzig), icmo. vi, 414, (Folk-medicine and Charms of fifth century A.D.)

Ortoli, F, Les Conciles et Synodes dans leurs rapports avec ie traditionnisme [ypL v of Collodion Internationale de la Tradition], Small Svo. pp. 142 (J. Maisonneuve),

Reich, E. Physiologic des Magischen (Leipzig). Svo. pp. xiii, 354,

Sabatini, F, II Volgo di Roma, racolta di tradizioni e costumanze popolari, Roma ; Svo, pp. 79 (E, Loescher &: Co.).

FOLK-LORE AND MYTHOLOGY.

Brinton, D. G. Rig Veda Americanus; Sacred Songs of the Ancient Mexicans, with a glossary in Nahuath Edited, with a para* phrase, notes, and vocabulary, by D, G, B, (Philadelphia), lcmo, xii, pp. 95. [Lihr. of Aboriginal American Lit., iv-viii,]

EdRINS, J. Ancient Symbolism among the Chinese. Crown Svo,

* pp. 26 (Luzac & Co,},

Ehrie, J. Der vedische My thus dcs Yama verglichen mit den analogen Typen der persischen, griechischen und germanischen Mythologie (Strassburg). Svo. pp, iv, 216.

■ 282

Frazer, J. G. The Golden Bough : a Study in Comparative Mythology. (Macmillan)* 2 vols, Svo, pp. xii, 409* 407.

JENNINGS, H. The Indian Religions, or Results of the Mysterious Buddhism. Concerning that also which is to be understood in the Divinity of Fire. Demy Svo. (Trtibncr).

JENSEN, P. Die Kosmologie der Babylonier. Studien und Materia- # lien, Mit einern mythology Anhang und 3 Karlen (Strassburg). SvQ, xvq pp. ^46-

PausaNias, Mythology and Monuments or Ancient Athens* Being a translation of a portion of the Attica, by M, de G, VerralL With introductory essay and archaeological commentary by J. E, Harrison. Crown Svo, pp. 636, cuts (Macmillan),

Pischel, R., and Geldner, K. F, Vedische Studien, vdl. i, Stuttgart 1SS9. Svo, pp. 32S.

PGSNANskY, Dr, H, Nemesis und Andmsteia. Eine mythologisch, arehaolog, Abhandlung (Breslau), pp. ix, 184, with 1 heliographic double plate, Svo.

Rohde, E. Psyche. Seelencult und Unsterblichkeitsglaube der Griechen. Part 1 (Freiburg in B.), Svo. pp. 294.

Talbot, E. Mythologie grecque et latine d J apres les travaux de la critique moderne, nmo, pp. xxii, 523.

FOLK-LORE AND LITERATURE.

Hart, G. Ursprung und Verbreitung der Fyramus und Thisbe- Sage. Passau, 1SS9. 8vo. pp. 57.

Hekzen, W. Ueber die Traume in der altnordischenSagaLiteratur, (Leipzig.) Svo* pp. 91,

Taw Sein Ko. The Mahajanaka Jataka. Translated into English with notes by Taw Sein Ko (Rangoon, 1889).

Schmidt, Dr. R, Vi or Eriailungen aus dem Cukasaptati, Sanskrit und Deutsch (Kiel). Bvo. pp. 52*

\an BercHem, M* Conte arabe en dialecte dgyptiem Svo. pp. 31,

FOLK-ETYMOLOGY AND PROVERBS*

Rhode, O* Plattdeutsches aus Hinterpommem, 1 , II # (Spruchworter und Redensarten, etc.), Posen, 4to., pp, 25, 26*

FOLK-LORE AND INSTITUTIONS.

Delbruck, B. Die indogermamschen Verwandschaftsnamen. Bin Eeitrag zur vergleiehenden Alterthumskunde, 1S89 (Leipzig). Royal Svo, pp. 228. [Reprint from KgL Sachs. GcscUschaft d. WUsinsch, Phil, hist CJasse, 1889, 23.]

• ,»'**' ,

Gomme, G. L, The Village Community, with special reference to the origin and form of its survivals in Britain (Scott). Crown Svo, pp, xhj 299,

MUIR,* J*, C.I.E., D.C-L,, LLD., Ph.D. Original Sanskrit Texts, on the Origin and the History of the People of India: Their Religion and Institutions. Vol. I, Mythical and Legendary Accounts of the Origin of Caste, with an inquiry into its existence in the Vedic Age, 3rd edit., post Svo, (Triibner).

Schrader, CX Prehistoric Antiquities of Aryan Peoples. Translated by F. B. Jevens* (Griffin). Svo.

FOLK TALES AND SONGS.

Chamberlain, B. H. The Serpent with Eight Heads. A Japanese Fairy Tale. Griffith and Barren.

Darmestf.ter, J. Chants populaires des Afghans (text and translation). S vp. pp. ccxvii, 299, 304.

Eaton, A. W- Acadian Legends and Lyrics (New York), umo, pp. Vi, 148.

Grime^-L* G. Bird. Pawnee Hero-Stories and Folk-Tales ■ with Notes on the Origin, Customs, and Character of the Pawnee People, illustrated. 3th ed., New York, 12010. pp. 417. Cf. notice,//, of Am. Folk-Lore, No. viif p. Bo.

Hartland, E. S. English Fairy and other Folk-tales, selected and edited with ah Introduction (Scott). i6mo. pp. mi, 282.

Hot)GRITS* Miss E. M. R. Tales from the Land of the Czar (Griffith and Barren). Svo. pp. vtii, 312.

J AHN, U. Volksagen aus Pommern and Riigen. 2nd edit., Berlin 8vo. pp* xxviii, 566.

K1NGSCOTE, Mrs. H., [and Sastri, N. Tales of the Sun (W. H. Allen). Crown Svo.

MacIRnes, Rev. D., and Nutt, A, Folk andIHero Tales of Argyllshire (D# Nutt). Svo. pp. xx. 497. [Also as No. 22 of the publi-

. cations of the Folk-Lore Society.]

Paris,- G. Les Chants populaires du Piemont (extrait du Journal des SavdrJs, Sept.-Nov* 1S89). Imprimerie Nationalc.

Parkinson, Rev, T* Yorkshire Legends : as told by her ancient chronicles, poets* and journalists* Second Series (E. Stock). Bvo- PP- 242, ■

folk-lore ;and history.

Llppert, C. J. Die tschechische Ursage und ihre Entstehuug (Prague), *Svo. pp. 25.

SAltzmakN, H, Der historisch-mythologische Hintergrund und das System der Sage im Cyklus des Guillaume d'Orange und in den mit ihm vewandten Sagenkreisen (Konigsberg). 4m. pp. 40*

' 284

WobeRj F. X. Die Skiren und die deutsehe Pleldensage. Eine gencalogische Studie Liber den Ursprung des Hauses Traun. With a plate and four pictures in the text. (Vienna,) Svo. pp. 281.

FOLK-LORE AND ANTHROPOLOGY.

FoRNANDERj A, An Account of the Polynesian Race. Its Origin and Migrations. And the Ancient History of the Hawaiian People to the Times of Kamehameha L With a Preface of Prof. W. D. Alexander. Post Svo., 3 vols. (Triibnev.)

VOSS, Dr. A., and Summing, G. Vorgeschichtliche Allertkiimer aus der Mark Brandenburg. Mit einem Vorwort von Prof Rud. Virchow* 2nd ed. 1, 2. Berlin, 4to.

JOURNALS. . •

1890, UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED.

[Arranged alphabetically under each language . Numbers not noticed in the present list anill be given in the next.]

American Anthropologist, Jan, A . F. Chamberlatu, The Thunder Bird among the AJgonkms. G . Mattery , Fight with the Giant Witch.

Journal of American Folk-lore, Jam-Mar. D . b.Brinfon, Folk-lore, oi the Bones. W. W, Newell T Additional Collection essential to Correct Theory in Folk-lore and Mythology, H. C Lea ., The Enderaomdas of Queretaro. S. Culm, Chinese Secret Societies in the United Slates. /. Mooney , Cherokee Theory and Practice of Medicine. L\ IX Bergen, Some Saliva Charms. ‘ //I PhillipSy jun., Primitive Man in Modern Beliefs.

Journal of the Anthropological Society of Bengal, vol, i, No. 8,

/, Fawcett, On a Mode of Obsession which deals with the Belief in a I art of Bangalore in the Possession of Women by the Spirits of Drowned Persons. Note on a Custom of the Mysore ‘‘Goltavalu ,: Shepherd Caste People.

The Indian Antiquary, Part ccxxvi, Oct. 1SS9. 5 . M. Natesa Sdsi>% Venkatachalapati, a Madras Legend. J. Hinton Knowles, Kali Nag, a Kasimir Legend.

Lincolnshire Notes and Queries, April* IV. H. Jones, Lincoln-* shire Folk-lore,

Monthly Chronicle of North Country Lore, May. The Laidley Worm of S piddlestone Heugh.

T he Nation (Dublin), 26 Apri L D , Hyde, Gae I i c F oik -son gs, I,

The Open Court (Chicago), Jan. 16 th, Prof Max Malter. Thought thicker than Blood,

The Orientalist, in, Parts 11 and 12, 1889. Contents : Women during the Period of Catamenia, by the Editor. Folk-Tales of Bengal, by S, Mitten Tamil Folk-lore : the last of the Yalkus* Notes and Queries, by A" fames Poliath,

Scottish Review, April J, Rhys, Early Ethnology of the British Isles, i*

Social Pioneer, Jan,-Feb. TIl Davidson, Folk-lore. I, II.

Truhner's Record, No. 24S, Dr . O. Frankfurter (Bangkok), A Siamese version of <f The House that Jack Built 3 \ R, F. St, Andrew St , John, A Buddhist J at aka.

Comptes Rendus de TAcaddmie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Nov.-Dee, 1889. S, Luce , De quelques Jeux populates dans i’aneienne France,

journal des Savants, Feb, AV Dansie, Inst, politlques de Fanciennc France (argues against Fustel de Coulanges’ views on communal property-holding among the Merovingians),

Melusine, v, 2, March-April. H. Gaidar La collection internation ale de la Tradition; La Fraternisation; Les Esprits-Forts de f Anti quit d classique (suite). 0 , Colson, L’Enfant qui parle avant d'etre ne, R, Koehler, Ne frapper qu'un seul coup. J , Karlowicz, Les deux arhres entrelaces, f Tuchmann , La Fascination etles fascinateurs: Atumaux, Divinites, Esprils, Ames (strife)* E. Holland, Les Serments et les Jurons,

Museon, No, 1. PL Co Hind, La nature du monde superieur dans le Rig-Veda.

Moyen-Age, Jan. Pdriodiques : Literature compare et folk-lore, Pays German! qties.—1888-9, Pays romans et slaves (Jin), The German periodicals are summarised chiefly by Dr. Wi Gaither. Feb. t W Gaither, Les Mythes et les Contes des Germains du Tn orcl (translation of art, in Nord und Sud\ Jan,).—N.B, The number for Nov, 1889 contains detailed reviews of three important works : Jeanroy's Origines de la podsie lyrique (£. Sudr) ; Usenet's Religionsgeschicluliche Untersuchungen ( A , Marignan); Tiersot’s Chanson populaire en France (AJ Wiimofte).

Revue Celtique, Jan.-March, H. de hi Villemarque, Anciens Noels Bretons* I\ Meyer* Uath beirrne Edar. The Hiding of the Hillof Howtli (text and translation of 15th century Ten]an tale)*

Revue de Gascogne. Bladi\ La Lcgende carolingienne dan§ de pr& tend us monuments de litt. populaire.

Revue G&nerale de Belgique, No. 1* C* de Harley La Religion chinoise et le dernier ouvrage de M. Reville (very adverse).

Revue des Traditions Populaires, No, 2, 15th Feb, Reni Basse?, La logon de du sold at do Montargis chez les Arabes, Mme. DestHcht\ Le retour du soldat, version du Maine* Henri Cordier p Les Cynocdpbales dans la Ldgende. Z. E % Smim, Le Carnival dans les Vosges. Leo Desaivre* Les Prdcurseurs de nos dtudes: v, Enquetes du premier Empire et de la Kestauration. La Fontanel le tie VaudorM vij Notes incdites (premiere moitie du sifrcle). Paul Sibillot, Noms, formes et gestes des lutins : iii, Basse- Bretagne, Z. A. Fontaine y La fete des Rais : xiv, Qrdalies en Bourgogne, Daniel Belief Les fois de File de RZ PeniBasset, Legendes africaines sur Porigine de rhomme, iv-vii. Julien Tiersot, Chansons et danses dtrangSres : iiq Musiqties f et Danses romaines ■ iii 3 Rapsodle eambodgiemie de Bourgault- D lie ou dray, A. Certeux, Bazin la Lune, lcgende du Dauj^hind. Abel Hovelaeque , De quelques formes de salutation \ Assemble gdnerale.—No* 3* 15U1 March, 1S90. Andre Lefivre, Les Mythes et les dieux de la pltiie, Raphael Blanchard\ Le Rossignolet, chanson des Hautes-Alpes. P. Les Traditions populates et les dcrivains franqais : Hi, Le Menagiana* Louis Morin, Les calendriers des illetrds : ii f DAimanadt de§ Bergers. Pend Basset, Les jours d’empnmt chez les* Arabes* Lionel Bmnemi&e, Amulettes et talismans : vi, Amulet re breton contre la hevre, G. F&t/ju, Legendes et superstitions prehistoriques : iii (Eure-et-Loire). Paul Sibilloi\ Le peuple et Thistoire: i (suite)* Revolution fiancnise, Michel de Cvou$kow } Chants heroiques du peuple russe* P. Fertiauli , Devinettes* /Z le Carguet , Superstitions et ldgendes du Cap-Sizun. A . CerieitXj Le ITisonmer cle Nantes : i s Version de ia Loire; Inferieure, Mine. Paul Sc oil lot, ji 3 Version des COtes-du-Nord. Aimi^Demeuldre, Faceties wallonnes. JL By gun, Superstitions basques. H * Labonne, A travers le Berry : iii, Superstition

berichonne, F. FertiaulL Le cierge de la Chandeleuh Lion Pincau, Les roseaux qui chantent : iii, La rose d’oiyeente'du IMarne. Jules Lmwine, Comumes cle manage : vi s En Belgique, Alfttd Ha? r La Ldgende de Didon : ii, Ldgendes parallelcs 1 {wite). Lion Pineau , Pulerins et Pdleringes: viii, Enfailts malades. A. T N^crologie : Lcouzoh Leduc, . .

I i

La Tradition, Jan, Thomas Davidson, Le Folk-lore en Angleterre, . Rend Siiibd, Notes de Voyage en Orient. Dr. Giuseppe Pitrd, Le mois de mai. Antoni Delaunay, Un livre d-braisons manuscript. Augtistin Chabasmu, Les empremtes merveiIleuses 1 v, Charles d& Sivry, La-lmut sur la montague, chanson et • melodie. Joannas Plantadis , Les R os i ores. A. Desrousseaux, Les Guerribres de Flandre. Henry Carrcvon , Les Demons de Bo urg-Saint-Pierre en Valais. A. Kschenauer, La tradition fran^aise eti Allemagne, ii. Noel Setter, La complaints de Sainte C ath er me. A chi He MiHim et A rtn and Beauvais, Le s Enrtrn mds qui vont a Saint-Gueurluchon, Augustin Nicat, Ballade, Jules Lenwine , Contes populates du Hainaut vi. Henry Camay , La Fete de Noel, xvni et xix. Dr. B crcnger-BYra ud, Taprata, devinette proven t^ale. Gabriel Echaupre, La fille here, recit berrichon,—Feb, Thomas Davidson, Le Folk-lore en Angleterre, ii, Noel Seiler, La complainte de Saint Nicholas. Michel Zmigrodzhi\ Le Folk-lore Polonais, i. Joanne Magdetaine, Ballade du roy de Savoy e, Dr. Giuseppe Pitre, Le mois de mai, xii (en Italie), Vico mle de Colkville, Les Formulettes enfantines, Hi. Georges Camay , La Fete ties Rois, i. Rene SRebel, Notes de Voyage en Orient, ii. Gabriel Vicatre, Puisque Chacttne a son Chacun. Charles de Sivry, La P’lit Tata. Joannh

% % Flautadis, Les Rosieres, iii. Arm and Simoap Les Russes chez

eux, vt* Gabriel Echaupre. Chanson de Santongm-—March 1S90, Thomas Davidson, Le Folk-lore en Angle terre, iii. A bhd Ch. Braun, Acousmales et Chasses fantastiques, L Joannes Plan% hulls, Le GriUpn et le Loup, H. C Palladiums et Talismans des Citds, i, Kaarlc Hr aim, Histoire du Tradition isjne en Finlaitde, i {suite). Alfred Haron, Les matdriaux dans les fondations. Joseph Defrechcnx, Saints et Idols diatids, vii. Henry Carney , Une nouvelle revue de Folk-lore, Michel de ZmigrodHi, Le Fblk-Iore polonais dhpres Oscar Colb erg. Roumanille, Les Recommendations de ma pauvre Grand-la-Borgne, traduit par * Raoul Ginesiej A prop os du congres des Traditions populaires. Nail Seller, La chanson du Charbonuier,

AUgemeine Zeitung, Dec, 7th, 18S9, RlOtta , Der Physiologns,

Germania (Vienna), xxxiii, 3, W, Golf her, Norddeutsche und siid■ deutfidie Heldensage und die alteste Gestalt der Ni belling sage,

Volkskunde, iii, 4. Pol de Mont, Ome Vlaamische Compomsten” Ofte Liedjeszangers, Dr. IV. Wagner, Unsere Vomit Nordisch'e Germanische Goiter und Helden {Aug. Gif He), Jolt. Durmayer, Einfiihrung in die deutsche Cotter und Heldensage (Aug, Git fee). Charles C. Jones Jim., Negro Myths from Georgia Coast, told in the vernacular (Pal de Mont).

Vossische Zeitirngf, Sonntags Beilage, Nos. 5 to 10 (Feb. 2 to March 9)* A' Ncue Fmide von Volksmarchen in Sfietland und

Wales.

Zeitschrift Fur deutsche Philologie, xxii, 4. San Marie, Rildunsgang der£Jral und Parzivalsage in Deutschland und Frankreich.

ArchlviRfeer lo Studio delle Tradizioni (Palermo), viiij 3* B r Vig$n x del mar, E. E. Giglioli U si e credenze giapponesi. zrio, Tesori incantati in Sicilia*

Rass

eratura populsre e dialettale. Nos* 1-3, Jan. to March. Ai cullori del Folk-lore. Remainder is occupied reviews and summaries*

3folfe=%ore.

VOL. I.]

SEPTEMBER, i8go.

[No. III.

No. III — September 1890

English and Scotch Fairy Tales

collected by Andrew Lang

ENGLISH AND SCOTCH FAIRY TALESI

i.—R ash in Coatie.

HERE was a king and a queen, as mony ancs been,

I few have we seen* and as few may we sec. The queen she dccit, an$ left a bonnic little lassie; and she had naething to gic to the wee lassie but a little red calfy, and she telt the lassie whatever she wanted, the calfy would gie hen The king married again, an ill-natured wife, vrV three ugly dochters o’ her aim They did na like the little lassie Because she was Bonnie ; they took awa’ a’ her braw claes that her am mither had geen her, and put a rashin coatie on her, and gart her sit in "the kitchen neuk, and a 1 * * * 5 body cakl her Rashin Coatie. She did na get ony thing to eat but what the rest left, but she did na care, for she went to her red jjplfy, and it gave her everything she asked for. She got good meat from the calfy, but her ill-natured stepmother gart the calfy be killed, because it was good to Rashin Coatie. She was very sorry for the calfy, and sat , down and grat The dead calfy said to her :

“ Tak* me up, bane by bane,

And pit me aneth yon grey stane,

1 Mr. Andrew Lang, who has, daring the last fifteen years or so,

collected Several English and Scotch folk-tales, has kindly consented

to thejr being made more accessible to students of folk-lore by being

printed* together. Messrs. Longmans have also waived their rights over some of the stories “En, /TZ.

VOL. r.

/

u

and whatever you want, come and seek it frae me, and I will give you it 11 Yuletide came, and a s the rest put on their braw claes, and was gaen awa’ to the kirk Rash in Coatie said,“Oh, I wad like to gang to the kirk too!” but the others said, “What would you do at the kirk, you nasty thing? You must bide at hame and make the dinner 11 When they were gone to the kirk, Rashm Coatie did na ken how to make the dinner, but she went out to the grey ■ stone, and she told the calfy that she could not make the dinner, and she wanted to win to the kirk The calfy gave her braw claes, and bade her gang into the house, and say:

“ Every peat gar ither burn.

Every spit gar ither turn,

Every pot gar ither play,

Till I come frae the kirk this good Yule day”

Rashm Coatie put on the braw claes that the calfy gave her, and went awa’ to the kirk, and she was the grandest and the brawest lady there. There was a young prince in the kirk, and he fell in love with her. She cam* aw’ before the blessing, and she was hame before the rest, and, had off her braw dacs, and had on her rashin coatie, and the calfy had covered the tableland the,dinner was read}-, and every thing in good order when the rest came hame. The three sisters said to Rashin Coatie, “Oh, lassie, if you had only seen the braw bonnle lady that was in kirk to-day, that the young prince fell in love with !” She said : ,f Oh, I wish you would let me gang with you to the kirk to-morrow”; for they used to gang three days after ither to the kirk. They said : “ What should the like o' you do at the kirk—nasty thing? The kitchen neuk is good enough for you/” The next day they went away and left her, but she went back to her calfy, and he bade her repeat the same words as before, and he gave her brawer claes, and she went back to the kirk, and a ! the world was looking at her, and wondering where sic a grand lady came from ; and as for the young prince, he fell more in love with her than ever, and bade somebody watch where she wont back to. But she was . back afore anybody saw her, and had off her braw claes

fe - 4

and oil her rashin coatie, and the calfy had the. table covered, and everything ready for the dinner.

The next day the calfy dressed her in brawer claes than ever, and she went back to the kirk The young prince was there, and he put a guard at the door to keep her, but she jumped over their heads, and lost one of her beautiful satin .slippers. She got harrie before the rest, and had on the rashin coatie, and the calfy had all things ready. The young prince put out a proclamation that he would marry whoever the satin slipper would fit All the ladies of the land went to try on the slipper, and with the rest the three sisters, but none would it fit, for they had ugly broad feet The hen wife took in her daughter, and cut her heels and her toes, and the slipper was forced on her, and the prince must marry her, for he had to keep his promise. As he rode along with her behind him to be married, there was a bird began to sing, and ever it sang:

“ Minched fit, and pinched fit,

Beside the king she rides,

But braw fit, and bonny fit,

In the kitchen rteuk she hides.”

The prince said, “ What is that the bird sings?” but the hen wife said, “Nasty lying thing! never mind what ft says”; but the bird sang ever the same words. The prince said, “ Oh, there must be some one that the slipper has not been tried on”; but they said, “ There is none but a poor dirty thing that sits in the kitchen neuk and wears a rashin coatie,” But the prince was determined to try it on Rashin Coatie' but she ran awa’ to the grey stone, where the red calf dressed her yet brawer than ever, and she went to the prince, and the slipper jumped out of his pocket and on to her foot, and the prince married her, and they lived happy all their days.

T Told by Miss Margaret Craigs of Darlision^ Elgin ,—

‘ Dialed of Morayshire. Printed in ''Pcvtte Cdtiqud\

t iii, with variants by Prof, D. Kbhkri]

j English and Scotch Fairy Tales.

ii.—-Nici it Nought Nothing.

There once lived a king and a queen. They were long married and had no bairns; but at last the queen had a bairn, when the king was away in far countries. The queen would not christen the bairn till the king came”back, and she said, “ We will just call him Nicht Nought Nothing until his father comes_*hoirie” But it was long before he • came home, and the boy had grown a nice little laddie At length the king was on his way back ; but he had a big river to cross, and there was a spate, and he could nof # get over the water. But a giant came up to him, and said,

“ If you will give me Nicht Nought Nothing, I will carry you over the water on my back ” The king had never f heard that his son was called Nicht Nought Nothing, and so he promised him. When the king got home again, he was very happy to see his wife again, and his young son. » She told him that she had not given the child any name, but Nicht Nought Nothing, until he should come home again himself The poor king was In a,terrible case. He said, t M What have I done? I promised to give the giant who carried me overthe river on his back, Nicht Naught Noth mg/’ The king and the queen were sad and sorry,.but they said, “When the giant comes we will give him the hen* wife’s bairn ; he will never know the differe^e.” The next day the giant came to claim the king's promise, and he sent for the hen-wife’s bairn ; and the giant went away with the bairn on his back. ITe travelled till he came to a big stone/ and there he sat down to rest. He said : *

<£ Midge, Hodge, on my back, what time of day is it ? "

The poor little bairn said, “ It is the time that my mother, the henwvife, takes up the eggs for the queen’s breakfast.”

The giant was very angry, and dashed the bairn on the stone and killed it.

Engtish and Scotch .Fairy Tales * 293 -

The same adventure is repeated with, the gardeners son,

* * * * * *

Then the giant went back to the king's house, and said he \Vould destroy them all if they did not give him Nicht Nought Nothing this time. They had to do it ; and when he came to the big stone, the giant said, “What time of day is it?'* Nicht Nought Nothing said, “It is the time that my father the king will be sitting down to supper.” The giant said, “ I've got the richt ane noo”; and took Nicht Nought Nothing to his own house and brought him up till he was a man.

The giant had a bonny doubter, and she and the lad grew very fond of each other. The giant said one day to Nicht Nought Nothing, “ I've work for you to-morrow. There is a stable seven miles long and seven miles broad, and it has nbt been cleaned for seven years, and you must clean it to-morrow, or I will have you for my supper”

The giant's dochter went out next morning with the lad's breakfast, and found him in a terrible state, for aye as he cleaned out a bit, it aye fell in again. The giant's dochter said she would help him, and she cried a 1 the beasts of the field, and a* the fowls o' the air, and in a minute they a' came, and carded awa’ everything that was in the stable and made a' clean before the giant came home. He said “ Shame for the wit that helped you ; but i have a worse job for you to-morrow. 11 ' Then he told Nicht Nought Nothing that there was a loch seven miles long, and seven miles deep, and seven miles broad, and he must drain it the next day, or else he would have him for his supper Nicht Nought Nothing began early next morning and tried £0 lave the water with his pail, but the loch was never getting any less, and he did no ken what to do ; but the giant's dochter called on all the fish in the sea to come and drink the water, and very soon they drank it dry. When the giant saw the work* done he was in a rage, and said, tr I've a worse job for you to-morrow; thege is a tree seven

.294 English and Scotch Fa ivy Tales.

miles high, and no branch on it, till you get to the' top, and there is a nest, and you must bring down the eggs without breaking one, or else I will have you for my supper.” At first the giant’s dochter did not know how to help Nicht Nought Nothing; but she cut off first her fingers and then her toes, and made steps of them, and he clomb the tree, and got all the eggs safe till he came to the bottom, and then one was broken. The giant’s ^dochter advised liim to run away, and she would follow him. So he travelled till he-came to a king's palace, and the king and queen took him in and were very kind to him. The giant’s dochter left her father’s house, and he pursued her and was drowned. Then she came-to the king’s palace where Nicht Nought Nothing was. And she went up into a tree to watch for him. The gaidenei s dochter, going to draw water in the well, saw the shadow of the lady in the water, and thought it was herself, and , said, “ If I’m so bonny, if I’m so brave, do you send me to draw water?” The gardener’s wife went out, and she said the same thing. Then the gardener went himseif, and brought the lady from the tree, and led her in. And he told her that a stranger was to marry the king’s dochter, and showed her the man : and it was Nicht* Nought Nothing asleep in a chair. And she saw him, and cried to him, “ Waken, waken, and speak to me !” But he would not waken, and syne she cried:

“ I cleaned the stable, I laved the loch, and I clamb the tree, And all for the love of thee,

And thou wilt not waken and speak to me."

The king and the queen heard this, and came to the bonny young lady, and she said :

" I cannaget Nicht Nought Nothing to speak to me for all that I can do."

Then were they greatly astonished when she spoke of Nicht Nought Nothing, and asked. where he was, and she said, “He that sits there in the chair." Then they ran

. '

to him and kissed him and called him their own dear son, and he wakened,and told them all that the giant’s dochter had done for him, and of all her kindness. Then they took her in their arms and kissed her, and said she should now be their dochter, for their son should marry her.

And they lived happy all their days.

' [Told by Miss Craig. Printed in "Revue Cettiqui% t. iii, with variants by Prof. KohUr. Reprinted m “ Custom and Myth."]

in.— Cap o’ Rushes.

Well, there was once a very rich gentleman, and lie'd three daughters, and he thought to see how fond they was of him. So he says to the first, “ How much do you love me, my dear ?”

« Why,” says she, “as I love my life.”

“ That’s good,” says he.

So he says to the second, “ How much do you love me, my dear ?”,

“ Why,” says she, " better nor all the world."

“ That’s-good” says he.

So he says to the third, “ How much do you love me, my dear?"

“ Why, I love you as fresh meat loves salt,” says she.

Well, he were that angry. “You don’t love me at all,’ says he, “ and in my house you stay no more.” So he drove her out there and then, and shut the door in her face.

Well, she went away on and on till she came to a fen, and there she gathered a lot of rushes and made them into a cloak, kind o’, with a hood, to cover her from head to foot, and to hide her fine clothes. And then she went on and on till she came to a great house.

“Do you want a maid ?” says she.

i %

u No, we don't/ 1 says they,

“ I haint nowhere to go/' says she, u and Fct ask no wages, and do any sort o’ work," says she*

“Well” says they, “if you like to wash the pots and scrape the saucepans you may stay/' says they*

So she stayed there and washed the pots and scraped the saucepans and did all the dirty work. And because she gave no name they called her “ Cap o' Rushes' 1 .

Well, one day there was to be a great dance a little way off, and the servants was let to go and look at the grand people. Cap o’ Rushes said she was too tired to go, so she stayed at home.

But when they was gone she offed her cap o' rushes; and cleaned herself, and went to the dance. And no one there was so finely dressed as her.

Well, who should be there but her master's son, and what should he do but fall in love with her the minute lie set eyes on her. He wouldn't dance with anyone else.

But before the dance was done Cap o' Rushes she slipt off, and away she went home. And when the other maids was back she was framin’ to be asleep with her cap o 1 rushes on.

Well, next morning they says to her, “ You did miss a sight, Cap o’ Rushes 1”

“ What was that ?” says she.

“ Why, the beautiful lest lady you ever,see, dressed right gay and ga 1 . The young master, he never took his eyes off of her.”

“ Well, I should ha' liked to have seen her/ 1 says Cap o' Rushes.

“Well, there's to be another dance this evening, and perhaps she’ll be there.” i

But, come the evening, Cap o' Rushes said she was too tired to go with them, Howsumdever, when they was gone, she offed with her cap o' rushes and cleaned herself, and away she went to the dance.

The master's son had been reckoning on seeing her, and

he danced with no one else, and never took his eyes off of her. But, before the dance'was over, she slipt off, and home she went, and when the maids came back she framed to be asleep with her cap o’ rushes on.

Ne>ft day they says to her again, “ Well, Cap o’ Rushes, you should ha' been there to see the lady. There she was again, gay and ga’, and the young master he never took his eyes off of her.”

“ Well, there,” says she, “ I should ha’ liked to ha’ seen her."

“Well,” says they, “there’s a dance again this evening, and you must go with us, for she’s sure to be there.

Well, come this 1 evening, Cap o’ Rushes said she was too tired to go, and do what they would she stayed at home. But "when they was gone she offed with her cap o rushes and cleaned herself, and away she went to the dance.

The master’s son was rarely glad when he saw her. He danced with none but lier and never took his eyes off her. When she wouldn’t tell him her name, nor where she came from, he gave her a ring and told her it he didn t see her again he should die.

Well* afore the dance was over, off she slipped, and home she went, and when the maids ‘came home she was framing to be asleep with her cap o’ rushes on.

Well, next day they says to her, 11 There, Cap o’ Rushes, . you didn’t come last night, and now you won’t see the lady, for there’s ho more dances.”

“Well, 1 should ha’ rarely liked to ha’ seen her," says she.

The toaster’s son he tried every way to find out where the lady was gone, but go where he might, and ask whom lie might, he never heard nothing about her. And he got .worse and worse for the love of her till he had to keep his

' Md.'

“Make some gruel for the young master,” they says to the cook; “he’s dying for the love of the lady." The cook site set about making it when Cap o’ Rushes came in.

“ What are you a doin' on ?” says she.

“ I'm going to make sonfe gruel for the young master” says the cook, “ for he's dying for love of the lady/ 1

u Let me make it/* says Cap o* Rushes.

“ Well, the cook wouldn't at first, but at last she said yes, and Cap o' Rushes made the gruel. And when she had made it she slipped the ring Into it on the sly before the cook took it upstairs.

The young man he drank it and he saw the ring at the bottom.

“ Send for the cook," says he.

So up she comes.

“ Who made this here gruel ?” says he.

“ I did/ 1 says the cook, for she were frightened,

And he looked at her.

“ No, you didn’t” says he. “ Say who did it, and you shan't be harmed/'

“ Well, then, *twas Cap o' Rushes,” says she,

“ Send Cap o’ Rushes here,” says he.

So Cap o’ Rushes came.

“Did you make my gruel? J ’ says he.

“Yes, I did,” says she.

“ Where did you get this ring,” says he.

“ From him as gave it me/' says she.

11 Who are you, then ?” says the young man.

£l FI I show you,” says she. And she offed with her cap a’ rushes, and there she was in her beautiful clothes.

Well, the master’s son he got well very soon, and they was to be married in a little time. It was to be a very grand wedding, and everyone was asked far and near. And Cap o' Rushes' father was asked. But she never told nobody who she was.

But before the wedding she went to the cook, and says she; • •

a I wan t you to dress every dish without a mite o' salt.”

“ That'll be rarely tasty,” says the cook,

“ That don’t signify/’ says she.

. “ Very well ” says the cook.

Well, the wedding-day came, and they was married. And after they was married all the company sat down to b their vlttles. When they began to eat the meat, that was so tasteless they couldn’t eat it. But Cap o* Rushes'father he tried first one dish and then another, and then he burst out crying,

“What is the matter ? ,J said the master's son to him,

“ Oh 1" says he, “ I had a daughter. And I asked her how much she loved me. And she said, £ As much as fresh meat loves salt/ And I turned her from my door, for I thought she didn’t love me. And now 1 see she loved me best of all And she may be dead for aught I know/ 1

u No, father, here she is !” says Cap o' Rushes. And she goes up to him and puts her arms round him.

And so they was happy ever after.

A, W. T,

[ Discolored by Mr, M* C/odd in the Suffolk Notes and Queries of the “ Ipswich JournalP Reprinted in u Longman's m&gauni\ voL xiii. Told by an old Servant to the Writer when a Child.]

iv.—T he Story of Kate Crac&ernuts.

Once upon a time there was a king and a queen, as in many lands have been. The king had a dochter, Kate, and the queen had one. The queen was jealous of the king's dochter being bonnier than her own, and cast about to spoil her beauty. So she took counsel of the henwife, who told her to send the lassie to her next morning fasting. The queen did so, but the lassie found means to get a piece before going out. When she came to the hen wife’s she asked for eggs, as she had been told to do ; the henwife desired her to “ lift the lid off that pot there 11 and see. The lassie did so, but naething happened, " Gae hame to

your minnie and tell her to keep her press door better steekit” said the henwife, The queen knew from this that the lassie had had something to eat, so watched the next morning and sent her away fasting ; but the princess saw # some countryfolk picking peas by the roadside, and being very affable she spoke to them and took a handful of the peas, which she ate by the way.

In consequence, the answer at the hen wife's house was the same as on the preceding day,

The third day the queen goes along with the girl to the hen wife. Now, when the lid is lifted off the pot, off jumps the princess’s ain bonny head and on jumps a sheep’s head. The queen, now quite satisfied, returns home.

Her own daughter, however, took a fine linen cloth and wrapped it round her sister’s head and took her by the hand and gaed out to seek their fortin, They gaed and they gaed far, and far’er than I can tell, till they cam to a - king’s castle, Kate chappit at the door and sought a “night’s lodging for lierseT and a sick sister,” This is granted on condition that Kate sits up all night to watch the king’s sick son, which she is quite willing to do. She is also promised a “pock of siller’’ “if a’s right”. Till midnight all goes well. As twelve o’clock rings, however, the* sick prince rises, dresses himself, and slips downstairs, followed by Kate unnoticed. The prince went to the. stable, saddled his horse, called his hound, jumped into the saddle, Kate leaping lightly up behind him. Away rode the prince and Kate through the greenwood, Kate, as they pass, plucking nuts from the trees and filling her apron with them. They rode on and on till they came to a green hill. The prince here drew bridle and spoke, “ Open, open, green hill, an’ let the young prince in with his horse and his hound,” and, added Kate, “ his lady him behind.”

Immediately the green hill opened and they passed im A magnificent hall is entered, brightly lighted up, and many beautiful ladies surround the prince and lead him off t© the dance, while Kate, unpereeived, seats herself by the.

* Rnglish mid Scotch Fairy Tates* ’ 301

j» v \ 1 ,1

idoor. Here she sees a bairnie playing with a wand, and overhears one of the fairies say, “ Three shakes 0 / that wand would imk Kate's sick sister as bonnie as ever she was.”* So Kate rowed nuts to the bairnie, and rowed (rolled) nuts till the bairnie let fall the wand, and Kate took it up and put it in her apron.

Then the cock crew, and the prince made all haste to get on horseback, Kate jumping up behind, and home they rode, tmd Kate sat down by the fire and cracked her nuts, and ate them. When the morning came Kate said the prince had a good night, and she was willing to sit up another night, for which she was to get a “ pock o* gowd”. The second night passed as the first had done. The third night Kate consented to watch only if she should marry the sick prince. This time the bairnie was playing with a birdie ; Kate heard one of the fairies say, Three bites of that birdie would mak the sick prince as weel as ever he was” Kate rowed nuts to the bairnie till the birdie was dropped, and Kate put it in her apron.

At cockcrow they set off again, but instead of cracking her nuts as she used to do, Kate plucked the feathers off and cooked the birdie. Soon there arose a very savoury, "smell. Oh!” said the sick prince, (l l wish f had a bite o' that birdie,” so Kate gave him a bit o 1 the birdie, and he rose up on his elbow. By-and-by he cried out again, “ Oh, if I had anither bite o J that birdie!” so Kate gave him another bit, and he sat up on his bed. Then he said again,

K Oh ! if I had a third bite o' that birdieSo Kate gave him a third bit, and he rose quite well, dressed himself, and sat down by the fire, and when “the folk came 1 ” the mornin' they found Kate and the young prince cracking nuts together” So the sick son married the weel sister, and. the weel son married the sick sister, and they all lived happy and deck! happy, and never drank out o’ a dr} f cappy.

[ Collected by Mr. D.J. Robertson of the Orkneys. Printed mans Mkgazinc\ vol. xiii.j

v.— Peerifool.

There were once a king and queen in Rausay who had three daughters. The king died and the queen was living in a small house with her daughters^ They kept a cow and a kail yard (cabbage garden); they found their cabbage was all being taken away* The eldest daughter said to the queen, she would take a blanket about her and would sit and watch what was going away with the kaih So when the night came she went out to watch* In a short time a very big giant came into the yard ; he began to cut the kail and throw it in a big cubby (creel). So he cut till he had it well filled*

The princess was always asking him why he was taking her mother's kail. He was saying to her, if she was riot quiet he would take her too.

As soon as he had filled his cubby he took her by a leg and an arm and threw her on the top of his cubby of kail, and away home he went with her.

When he got home lie told her what work she had to do; she had to milk the cow and put her up to the hills called Blood field, and then she had to take wool, and wash and tease it, and comb and card, and spin and make claith.

When the giant went out she milked the cow and*put her to the hills. Then she put on the pot and rii&de porridge to herself As she was supping it, a great many peerie (little) yellow-headed folk came running, calling out to give them some. She said :

iC Little for one, and less for two,

And never a grain have I for you.”

YV hen she came to work the wool, none of that work could she do at all

The giant came home at night and found sfie had not done her work. He took her and began at her head, and peeled the skin off all the way down her back and over

* *

. English and Scdlch Fairy Tales , 303

* - f i

her feet Then he threw her on the couples among the hens.

The same adventure befell the second girl. If her sister could do little with the wool she could do less.

When the giant came home he found her work not done. He began at the crown of her head and peeled a strip of skin alt down her back and over her Feet, and threw her on the couples beside her sister. They lay there and could not speak nor come down.

The next night the youngest princess said she would take a blanket about her and go to watch what had gone away with her sisters. Ere long, in came a giant with a big cubby, and began to cut the kail.

She was asking why he was taking her mother’s kail. Pie was saying if she was not quiet he would take her too.

He took.her by a leg and an arm and threw her on the top of his cubby and carried her away.

Next morning he gave her the same work as he had given her sisters.

When he was gone out she milked the cow and put her to the high hills. Then she put on the pot and made porridge* to herself. When the peerie yellow-headed folk came asking for some she told them to get something to sup with. Some got heather cows and some got broken dishes; some got one thing, and some another, and they all got some of her porridge.

After they were all gone a peerie yellow-headed boy came in and asked her if she had any work to do; he could do any work with wool. She said she had plenty, but "would never be able to pay him for it. He said all he was asking for it was to tell him his name. She thought that would be easy to do, and gave him the wool.

When it was getting dark an old woman came in and asked her for lodging.

The princess said she could not give her that, but asked her if she had any news. But the old woman had none s and went away to lie out

* , 1

There is a high knowe near the place, and the old woman sat under it for shelter. She found it very warm. She was always climbing up, and when she came to the top she heard someone inside saying, " Tease, teasers, tease ; Card, carders, card ; spin, spinners, spin, for peerie fool, pcerie fool is my name. 11 There was a crack in the knowe, and light coming out. She looked in and saw a great many peerie folk working, and a peerie yelloiv-headed boy running round them calling out that.

The old woman thought she would get lodging If she went to give this news, so she came back arid told the princess the whole of it

The princess went on saying "peerie fool, peerie foof* till the yellow-headed boy came with all the wool made into claith.

He asked what was his name, and she guessed names, and he jumped about and said ts No 11 .

At last she said, “ Peerie fool is your name.” He threw down the wool and ran off very angry.

As the giant was coming home he met a great many peerie yellow-headed folk, some with their eyes hanging on their cheeks, and some with their tongues hanging on "their breasts. He asked them what was the matter. They told him it was working so hard pulling wool so fine. lie said he had a good-wife at home, and if she was safe, never would he allow her to do any work again.

When he came home she was all safe, and had a great many webs lying all ready, and he w T as very kind to her.

Next day when he went out she found her sisters, and took them down from the couples. She put the skin op their backs again, and she put her eldest sister in a cazy (cubby or creel), and put all the fine things she could find with her, and grass on the top.

When the giant came home she asked him to take the cazy to her mother with some food for her cow. He was so pleased with her lie would do anything for her, and took’ it away.

Next day she did the same with her other sister. She told him she would have the last of the food she had to send her mother for the cow ready next night She told him she was going a bit from home, and would leave it ready for him. She got into the cazy with all the fine things she could find, and covered herself with grass. He took the cazy and carried it to the queen's house. She and her daughters had a big boiler of boiling water ready. They coupetl it about him when he was under the window, and that was the end of the giant.

{Collected by Mr. D. J. Robertson of the Orkneys, prirded in lf Pongma?i s Magazine” t voL xiv.]

vt—C oat o’ Clay.

Once bn a time, In the parts of Lindsey, there lived a wise woman* Some said she was a witch, but they said it in a whisper, lest she should overhear and do them a mischief, and truly it was not a thing one could be sure of, for she was never known to hurt anyone, which, if she • were a witch, she would have been sure to do. But she could tell you what your sickness was, and how to cure it with herbs, and she could mix rare possets that would drive the pain out of you in a twinkling; and she could advise you what to do if your cows were ill, or if you'd got into trouble, and tell the maids whether their sweethearts were likely to be faithful

But she was* ill-pleased if folks questioned her too much or too long, and she sore misliked fools. A many came to her asking 1 foolish things, as was their nature, and to them she. never gave counsel—at least of a kind that could aid them much.

Well, one day, as she sat at her door paring potatoes, over the stile and up the path came a tall lad with a long nose and goggli eyes and his hands in his pockets.

“That's a fool, if ever was one, and a fool's luck in his

VOL. I.

X

306 English and Scotch Faixy Tales.

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face/’ said the .wise woman to herself with a nod of her, head, and threw a potato skin over her left shoulder to keep off ill-chance.

« Good-day, missis/ 1 said the fool. " I be come to see

thee*” *

“ So tha* be/ 1 said the wise woman ; “ I see that. How’s all in thy folk th 1 year? 51

" Oh, fairly/ 1 answered he* But they say I be a fool".

“Ay, so tha 5 be/ 1 nodded she, and threw away a bad potato. “I see that too. But what wouldst o J me? I keep no brains for sale,"

“ Well, see now. Mother says 111 ne’er be wiser all my born days ; but folk tell ns thou canst do everything. Can't thee learn me a bit, so they'll think me a clever , fellow at home?"

“ Hout-tout! ” said the wise woman ; ** thou'rt a bigger fool than I thought Nay, I can't learn thee nought, lad ; but I can tell thee summat Thou'lt be a fodball thy clays till thou get's a coat o’ clay; and then thou'lt know more'n me.

“ Hi, missis ; what sort of a coats that ?” said ha

tf That's none o’ my business,” answered she. "Thou’st . got to find out that”

And she took up her potatoes and went into her house.

The fool took off his cap and scratched his heafci.

u Its a queer kind of a coat to look for, sure-#'/' sa M he.

“ l never heard on a coat o' clay. But then I be a fool, that's true/'

So he walked on till he came to the drain- near by, with just a pickle of water and a foot of mud in it

f< Here’s muck/ 1 said the fool, much pleased, and he got in and rolled in it spluttering. “ Hi, yi,” said he—for he had his mouth full—“ Pve got a coat o’ clay now to be sure. I'll go home and tell my mother Pm a'wise man and not a fool any longer.” And he went on home.

Presently he came to a cottage with a ramping lass at the door.

" Morning, fool,” said she ; M hast been ducked in the horsepond ?"

“ Fool yourself/’ said he, “ the wise woman says Ell know more’n ^hehvhcn I get a coat o 1 clay, and here it is. Shall I marry thee, lass?”

“ Ay” said she, for she thought she'd like a fool for a husband, u when shall it be ? H

H III come and fetch thee when I've told my mother/ 1 said the fool, and he gave her his lucky penny and went on. When he got home his mother was on the doorstep. u Mother, I’ve got a coat o’ clay/' said he, u Coat ohmuek," said she, “ an 1 what of that?”

“ Wise woman said I’d know morc’n she when I get a coat o’ clay,” said he, u so I down in the drain an 1 got one, an’ I’m not a fool any longer/ 1 “ Very good/’ said life mother, “ now thou canst get a wife.”

u Ay/ J said he, tf I’m going to marry so-an%so/’

“What!” said his mother, “that lass? No, an 1 that thou'lt not * She's nought but a brat, wi* ne'er a cow or a cabbage o’ her own, an 1 bears a bad name into the bargain.” “ But I gave her my luck-penny/ 1 said the foot “ Then thou’rt a bigger fool than ever, for all thy coat o J clay !” said his mother, and banged the door in his face.

u Dang it 1” said the fool, and scratched his head, “ that’s not the right sort o J clay, sure-Zy,”

So back he went to the highroad and sat down on the bank of the river close by, looking at the water, which was cool and clear,

By-and-byc he fell asleep, and before he knew what he rvas about—plump—he rolled off into the river with a splash, and scrambled out, dripping like a drowned rat.

“ Dear, dear,” said he, lf I’d better go and get dry in the sun/ 1 So up he went to the highroad, and lay down in the dust, rolling about so that the sun should get at him all over,

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3q8 English and Scotch Fairy Tales.

Presently! when he sat up and looked down at himself, he found that the dust had caked into a sort of skin over his wet clothes till you could not see an inch of them, they were so well covered* “ Hi, ytl n said he, " here's a coat o' day ready made, an 1 a fine one. See now, Pm*a clever fellow this time, surefor Pve found what I wanted wfout lookin' for it \ Wow, but it’s a fine feeling to be so smart P

And he sat and scratched his head, and thought about his own cleverness.

But all of a sudden, round the corner came the squire on horseback, full gallop, as if the boggles after him ; .but the fool had to jump, even though the squire pulled his horse back on his haunches.

“ What the dickins,” said the squire, “ do yon mean by lying in the middle of the road like that? 51

w Well, measter,” said the fool, M I fell into the water and got wet, so I lay down in the road to get dry; an 1 I lay down a fool an 1 got up a wise man.”

“How's that?” said the squire.

So the fool told him about the wise woman and the coat o' clay*

“ Ha, ha P laughed the squire, “ whoever heard of a wise man lyingm the middle of the highroad to be ridden over? Lad, take my word for it, you're a bigger fool than ever,” and he rode on laughing.

“ Dang it T said the fool, as he scratched his head “ I’ve not got the right sort of coat yet, tlienP And he choked and spluttered in the dust that the squire's horse had raised

So on he went in a melancholy mood till he came to an inn, and the landlord at his door smoking

"Well, fool" said he, "thou’rt fine an* mucky.”

"Ay” said the fool, " I be mucky outside an 1 dusty in, but it’s not the right thing yet"

And he told the landlord all about the wise woman and the coat o f clay.

“ HouMout 1” said the landlord, with a wink., “ Pknow

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English mid Scotch Entry Tales,

what's wrong* Thou’st got a skin o' muck outside an J all dry dust inside. Thou must moisten it, lad, wi* a good drink, an 1 then thou’It ha ! a real all-over coat o J clay."

“Hi,” said the fool, “that's a good wordy

So down he sat and began to drink. But it was wonderful how much liquor it took to moisten so much dust, and each time he got to the bottom of the glass he found he was still dry. At last he began to feel very merry and pleased with himself

“Hi, yi!” said he. “ Fve got a real coat o' clay now outside and in—what a difference it do make, to be sure ! I feci another man now—so smart!”

And, lie told the landlord he was certainly a wise mail now, though he couldn't speak over-distinctly after drinking so much. So up he got, and thought he would go home and tell his mother she hadn't a fool for a son any more.

But just as he was trying to get through the inn door, which would scarcely keep still long enough for him to find it, up came the landlord and caught him by the sleeve,

.“See here, master,”said he, “ thou hasn't paid thy score— where’s my money ?”

“Haven’t any!” said the fool, and pulled out his pockets to show they were empty,

“What!” said the landlord, and swore; u thou’st drunk all my -liquor and hain't got nought to pay for it wi 1 !”

“ Hi!” said the fool “You told me to drink so as to get a coat o' ctay ; but as Fm a wise man now I don't mind helping thee along in the world a bit, for though I'm a smart fellow I'm not too proud to my friends.”

“Wise man ! smart fellow!” said the landlord, “an* help me along,-wilt tha? Dang it! thou'rt the biggest fool I iver seed, an' it’s FU help thee first—out o' this !”

And hq kicked him out of the door into the road, and swore at him,

“ Hum ” said the fool, as he lay in the dust; “ Fm not so wise as I thought Fguess I'll go back to the wise woman and tell her there's a screw loose somewheres”

3io English and Scotch Emigy . Tales.

*

So up ho got and went along to her house, and found her sitting at the door,

“ So thou’si come back,” said she, with a nod. “ W hat dost want wi J me now ?”

So he sat down and told her how he ? d tried to get a coat o* clay, but he wasn't any wiser for all of it

(C No” said the wise woman, “ thou’rt a bigger fool than ever, my lad”

JSo they all say” sighed the fool; “but where can 1 get the right sort of coat o’ clay, then, missis ?”

a When thoifst done wf this world, an* thy fo ? ak put thee in the ground,” said the wise woman, f " That’s the only coat o’ clay as’ll make such as thee wise, lad. Born a fool, die a fool, an* be a fool thy life long, an 3 that’s the truth!”

And she went into the house and shut the door

“ Dang it!” said the fool. “ I must tell my mother she was right after all, an* that she 1 !! niver ha* a wise man for a son 1”

And he went off home ^ M, C B. #

[ Collected by Miss M. C. Balfour . Printed in “Longman's Magazind\ voL xw]

VIL—Draigun’ I-Iognev*

Once upon a time there was a man, and he had three sons. The eldest said to his father, “ Father, if you'll gle me a hund, a hawk, and a horse to ride on, Til go an seek my fortune/* *

So his father gave him a hund, a hawk, and a horse td ride on, and he gaed out to seek his fortune. .

He rade an* he rade far an 1 far’er than I can tell, till he came to a thick wood and lost his way, and night came on. Then he saw a light, and coming nearer found a splendid castle, ITe blew the horn, the door opened, but nobody

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was to be seen. He went In* and found in the hall a fine supper set ready, and a large fire burning.

He ate his supper and sat down by the fire to dry his wet clothes ; still nobody came.

At last twelve o’clock struck, the door opened, and in came the Draglin' Hogney.

He sat 4 *down over against the young man and glowered at him. Then said the Draglin 1 Hogney: t “ Docs yer horse kick ony ? 31

“ Ow, ay” said the young man,

' a There's a. hair to fling ower him.”

The young man flung it ower his horse.

Docs yer hund bite ony?”

“ Ow, ay / said the young man.

V There's a hair to fling ower him.”

‘ Again, " Does yer hawk pick ony?”

“ Ay* ay,” said the young man.

" There's a hair to fling ower him.”

With that the Draglin’ Hogney whiccked (whisked) frae the tae side to the tither, till he fell upon the young man and killed him. *

The second son then makes the same request to his father, with the same result

The third son, finding neither of his brothers return, goes out to seek them, finds of course the same castle and a similar entertainment, but when the Draglin' Hogney begins to work his spell by asking/'Does yer horse bite ony?” and giving the hair to fling over him, the young man flings it on the fire.

“ What’s that crackin'?” says the Draglin’ Hogney.

“ It's the craps o' the green wud come yer waysay,” said the young man:

Again, “ Docs yer hund bite ony ?”

" Does yer hawk pick ony ?”

The hairs are thrown on the fire.

“ What’s that crackin'?” is asked again.

{r It’s the craps o' the green wud came yer waysay/ is

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again repeated; whereupon the Draglin’ Hogney whisked from side to side, but the young man calls to his horse to kick, his hunt! to bite, and his hawk to pick, and they slay the Draglin’ Hogney.

The young man then ransacks the castle, finds the enchanter’s wand, disenchants his two brothers, their horses, hawks, and hounds, divides the spoil, sends for their father, and, in the old wind-up of a Scotch fairy tale, they live happy, and dee happy, and never drink out of a dry capgy.. Which 1 take to be the equivalent of the English "live happy ever after”.

[Preciously imprinted. Sent with “ Kate Crachernuts ".]

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The Collection of English Folk-Lore

Charlotte S. Burne

THE COLLECTION OF ENGLISH FOLK-LORE .

0 much has of late been said, and done, and projected,

O in the matter of the systematic study and scientific arrangement of the folk-lore already recorded, that there seems to be some little danger lest an impression should gain ground that the day of collecting folk-lore is over, and the day of counting the gains has come. I speak more particularly of England. Savage folk-lore still comes pouring in from all quarters, but new collections of English folk-lore are comparatively rare. That this is not from lack«of material, recent “ finds" give sufficient evidence. Within the last three years we have had the discovery of a hitherto unnoticed instrument of sorceiy—the Witches' Ladder—in Somersetshire, of several variants of a curious * and obscure rhyming formula collected and published in Longman's Magazine, by our President, and of at l£ast four folk-tales—viz.: tr Cap o' Rushes” and “ Tom- Tit-Tot”, from Suffolk; “Coat o' Clay”, a noodte story from Lincolnshire; and “The Golden Bali” (a romantic story; for which Mr. Nutt inquired in the Folk-Lore Journal in iSSS 7 p. 144 , and of which I have obtained fragmentary versions from Lancashire, Staffordshire, and Shropshire), appears in a complete form (so I am told) in the Gentleman* s Magazine for January last—as related to the Rev. S. Baring-Gould by some Yorkshire “ mill-lasses”. 1 These examples are surely enough to prove that the day of collecting English folk-lore is not yet over.

But the need for more collection would still be urgent even if no absolutely novel items should remain to be

1 Originally given at end of the first edition of Henderson,

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The Collection of Bngiish Folk-Lore.

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discovered. Hitherto, “the likenesses of the folk-lore of the different localities have been the,chief object of study —its differences have yet to be examined. The theory of u survivals'* has been established ; it has been* proved that sundry stories, customs, and ideas prevalent among savage peoples are to be found also among' civilised nations. But folk-lore has a great deal more to teach us than simply the phenomenon of “ survival in culture”, and I will venture to say that the study of its variations in England (what they are, where they are found, and, so far as possible, how they came to pass) will throw such a light, not only on English history, but on early history in general, and on the nature and history of folk-lore itself, as was hardly guessed at even so lately as tKe period when our Society was founded.

But to accomplish this we must have a great deal more collecting. A good deal of matter has been recorded, it js true, but it is unsystematic, patchy, incomplete. Much of it is scattered up and down the volumes of Notes and Queries, of the Transactions of Archaeological Societies, of local glossaries and handbooks, and is practically inaccessible to anyone who wants to know whether a given item occurs in a given locality. Few even of* our best local collections cover the whole range of folk-lore subjects, and many counties, including some of the most interesting—Somerset, Kent, Norfolk, Derbyshire, Cumberland—are scarcely represented at all.

L—To begin with, then, we need a careful geographical examination of the habitats and boundaries of the various items of English folk-lore, such' as the English Dialect Society has made and is making of dialectal boundaries. The results which may be expected from the comparison' of such a record of English folk-lore with the 'evidence, obtained from other lines of study, seem to open a vista of possible discovery which 1 can but glance at, and on which I will not speculate.

There is nothing like speaking from experience, so, at

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the risk of appearing egotistical I will illustrate my meaning from my personal knowledge.

It is generally customary in England to hire farmservants by the year, but the hiring-time varies in different places! In North-east Shropshire the hiring-time is Christmas; in South-west Shropshire it is May. I took great pains to pick out the boundary-line between these two customs, market-town by market-town, and almost village 'by village, and 1 found it coincide almost exactly with the boundary-line of the change of dialect between Northeast and South-west, which is very marked ; and very fairly also with the boundary between the diocese of Lichfield (the ancient Bishopric of the Mercians) on the North-east, and the Welsh diocese of St Asaph and the diocese of Hereford (the old kingdom of the Hoc an as or Magesaelas). on the South-west* Moreover, the South-western custom of hiring prevails, I have ascertained, over a considerable part of North Wales, while hiring at Christmas prevails in Cheshire and North Staffordshire, But the exact conclusions to be drawn from these facts are to me still a mystery, especially as Christmas hiring does not extend beyond Staffordshire eastwards, so that it can hardly be an old Anglian agricultural custom. In Derbyshire, hirings are made*at Martinmas, as I believe they arc also in Yorkshire, in Northamptonshire, Michaelmas is the hiring time.

Again, j souling 1 , or begging for apples on the Eve of All.Souls 1 Day (Nov. ist),is a common custom in that part of Shropshire where Christmas hirings occur, and in North Staffordshire ; but in South Staffordshire I believe the same custom is, or was, observed, not on All Souls 1 , but on St. Clement’s Eve (Nov 21 st)* Once more ; in South Staffordshire and in South Shropshire, as far north as Shrewsbury, Mothering Sunday is known, if not much observed ; but I have never met with anyone in the north of either county who had heard of it

Isolated instances of customs which are general in other

3 i 6 The Collection of English Folk-Lore,

counties are still more stimulating to curiosity* For instance* amongst the hills in the far west of Shropshire l found three instances, and three only, of well-dressing, a custom claimed as (f peculiar to” Derbyshire and North Staffordshire*

I do not attempt to form any theory about these boundaries. I only say that if they, and such as they, were mapped out over the whole of England, and compared with other evidence, they would almost certainly yield ' valuable historical and ethnological results* Especially, would this be the case where it is known from other evidence that there has been a definite settlement of one tribe or nation within the country occupied by another tribe or nation : as, for instance, the settlement of the jutes In the Meon Valley in Hampshire, of the Normans and Flemings in " Little England beyond Wales”, and of the Dutchmen in the Fenland, in almost modern times.

It is comparatively easy to pick out the boundaries of custom, but very difficult to discover those of a superstitious opinion* Some ideas, of course, are really general and visibly acted on, in a given district; but curious bits , of superstition and u luck” may be carried about the country in so many ways, to so many unexpected places, in a manner that would be impossible to a popular custom. You, perhaps, come across some old woman who strongly objects to your bringing, it may be, snowdrops or catkins, or perhaps hawthorn, into her house, while her neighbours arc not in the least offended by It Now she may be the sole surviving depositary of a genuine piece of local folklore, or she may be following the Instructions of a grandmother who came from the other end of England, and she may be quite unable to tell you how she acquired her views on the subject The bits of superstitious observance in the matter of cuckoos, magpies, the new moon, and so on, in which my own family have grown up, have come to us, some from our Lancashire mother, some from our Staffordshire father and his family, some from our Shropshire neighbours ; but we cannot trace every‘item to its

source. In many cases, I think, the collector can do no more than set down the name of the place where, or the informant from whom, he obtained the several items, without committing himself to any statement as to how far they are universal or not.

Negative evidence, again, is most difficult to obtain, but valuable in proportion to the difficulty of proving the negative. In fact, it only can be proved (as it has been remarked to me) “ if a collector gets hold of a thorough believer in the superstitions of his locality, and can find out if there are any other superstitions of other localities which he decidedly does not believe in, any that he laughs at, any that he looks upon as stupid or c superstitions 1 , while his own belief, of course, is not superstitious l 11

For myself*1 have not found the English poor laugh at superstitions they are not acquainted with, unless they arc, as many are, superior to superstition in general. They do not get farther than a slow, grave remark : M No, i niver heered that, I shouldna think as there can be annything in that. Now, as to (so and so), that's true, that is. For my gronfayther knowed a men > , ” et cetera ! But it is

beyond question that to ascertain what a superstitious man does not know, is quite as valuable for our purpose as to learn what he does know. Even then the collector should not be too hasty in drawing conclusions. The information he fails again and again to obtain, may some day crop up quite unexpectedly at his very doors.

The ideal of geographical collection would be reached if a number of collectors would undertake definite .areas adjoining each other—say, for instance, the several hundreds of a county—would set down what is known, and what, after every possible inquiry, is not known there, and would then compare results.

II. —Then there is the question of the relations between Folk-lore and History. The early history of every nation is dependent^]! oral tradition, not on written records, and so is open to doubt. But the questions, how much dependence may be placed upon tradition, and how longttm

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31S 4 7 /k Collection of English Folk-Lore ,, * • •

remembrance of an event may be preserved among unlettered people, are by no means unimportant, and much light, it seems to me, may be thrown on them by observing how ascertained historical events are represented in the folk-lore of civilised countries, and how long they are remembered. Let me give a few examples from my own knowledge-

We have in this neighbourhood a traditional account of some incidents connected with the flight of the Royalists from the battle of Worcester in 1652. It is a foci , recorded in Blount’s Boscobel\ that the Duke of Buckingham and three companions were in hiding for some days in the woods and cottages near Blore Pipe in Staffordshire, about five miles from where I am now writing. The poor folk, ^mostly “ squatters” on what was, and is, still to some extent, a tract of woodland, are unanimous in pointing out ( Buckingham’s Cave in the garden of a cottage, where they say the Duke was concealed for two or three days, (lam bound to say, though, that the old owner of 'the cottage himself can give no more account of it than: <f There was a many kings and head-men and such like, about in all countries then ; and it was one of these J ere kings as they were arter, to cut his yed off or sumraat, and he come and hid i’ the hole yonder for a good bit But it’s* a many years back. I reckon some ? un mun ha 1 takken him hi$' meat up, for it’s a dcsper’fc awk’ard plaze to get at”) ,

At a little distance is a wild sort of field, always known * as Buckingham’s Field, where they say the Duke fell and broke his arm, and (here the inevitable bit of folk-etymology comes in!) the valley is therefore called Armsdale to this day- One elderly man (the village innkeeper) points out • the very spot where the accident happened, as his greatgrandfather showed it to him, from the information he had received from a very old man, a sort of bailiff or woodranger, who (so he believed) was living at the time; which is, of course, not absolutely impossible. *

Mot far from Blore Pipe is the site of the battle of

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Blore He^th in 1459, where the traditional spot where the Lancastrian leader, Lord Audley, fell, is marked by a small obelisk set up in 1764 by the then lord of the manor. This, and one or two pieces of armour dug up in the neighbouring fields, have doubtless helped to keep alive the , memory of the battle; but be this as it may, the people tell how the brook ran red with blood for three days and three nights after the fight, and that when the Lancastrians were worsted. Queen Margaret hurried down from Muckleston church-tower, where she was watching the fray, made the village blacksmith reverse the shoes of her horse to mislead her pursuers, and so fled in all haste to the Bishop of Lichfield's castle at Eccleshall.

The same story of a queen watching a lost battle, and fleeing away with reversed horseshoes, is told, with less foundation, on the site of the battle of Shrewsbury.

One more example of a different kind. An unlettered old cottager, at High Offley in Staffordshire, startled me * one day by observing that the village wake would be held on the Monday after the 15th of August, “the 'Sumption ■o’ Mary.' 5 Now the festival of the Assumption of the Virgin has* we know, been removed from the calendar of the English Church since rS49- I knew the old body well, and I do not think she can have come in contact with anyone likely to inform her of the festival as a matter of scholarly 'learning. I cannot but think that it was the importance of fixing the right date for the village wake that has caused the disused Saint’s day to be remembered for over 300 years.

So far' as such examples as these go, they would tend to show that the folk, even in England, do preserve some memory of historical ^ents for three or even four centuries, and that it would be rash to assert that such an event never happened, or such a character never lived, because the popular tradition concerning it or him Is mixed with fiction. But collectors have hitherto given very little attention to this subject, and till they have done so, one dare"

not speak too positively. Still, it may be allowable to observe that the battle of Waterloo really was fought, although, the Duke of Wellington did not cry, "Up, Guards, and at them ! J *

UL—The consideration of the Influence of Folk-lore on History naturally leads to the subject of the influence of. History on Folk-lore.

Surely, in spite of the proverbial “toughness” of "popular tradition”, it cannot fail to have been affected by the changes, the revolutions—political, social, religious—of an indefinite number of centuries, How a struggle, which was at once political, social, and religious, could and did affect old customs, we may learn from Aubrey, who notes over and over again, that things, laid aside when he wrote, had been In use " before the warres". If we take some complicated piece of folk-lore and examine it closely, we shall find that it bears the marks of many different epochs j and influences. Take, for instance, the common Mummers 9 Flay. There is first the kernel—the world-old story of a dead warrior restored to life by a magic elixir. Then comes the influence of the mediaeval Church, adopting the original incident into the legend of the warrior, Saint George. Next, the disuse of popular amusements under Puritan rule, and the revival of them under the'Restoration,

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doubtless account for the fact that the style of the piece, as wc now have it, savours of the 17th century. ’The consecutive reigns of the four Georges have turned Saint George into King George. His antagonist has in some places become Bonaparte, and the conqueror himself is, fn a Gloucestershire version, M Duke Wellington”. So our play comes to us like a traveller from a journey, laden with curiosities collected by the way. ^

I would venture, then, to urge on all collectors the importance of recording not only the custom (orVhat not} as they see it practised now, but also all that they can discover about the history of the custom in the past In Wales, I would compare present-day folk-lore with

Pennant's Tour; in Wiltshire, with Aubrey's Remains; and would note the variations in each case. The Scouring of the White Horse] though in the dress of fiction, is almost a model example of the historical method of collecting folk-lore.

Anything that can be ascertained about the reasons of the differences between past and present is specially precious ; for the same sort of things which are affecting folk-lore now are probably the sort of things which have been affecting it from all time. Since I came to my present home in 1877, I have seen one custom die out in the parish, and another take a new lease of life. “ Sou ling", or begging for apples on All Saints’ Day, was suddenly checked by a new Vicar forbidding it to the National School children ; while begging by women on St. Thomas's Day, a disagreeable custom which was on the wane ten years ago, has risen to extraordinary proportions since the arrival in the neighbourhood of a very rich and very benevolent family, who give to all comers without distinction. But these two events have little or no influence on neighbouring parishes ; and so variations are set up.

Physical features and surroundings also cause variations of folk-lore. The variant of the story of the Elfin-maid who marries a mortal, which is current in the Faroe Islands, makes the heroine a transformed seal. Giant-legends, again, cling to hilly countries. We do not (so I understand) find them in Norfolk ; we do find them in Cornwall, in Shropshire, and in Yorkshire. So incomplete is the record of English folk-lore, that I hesitate to say they are not found in other hilly counties where they have not yet been noted.

Again, there is the question whether the folk-lore of any given nation—composite as modem nations mostly arc—represents the lore of the governing race, the lore of the bulk of the population, or the lore of some inferior or enslaved race; whether, in fact, a nation can adopt a new folk-lore as it can a new language, and how far, therefore,

vol. 1, v

its folk-lore can be taken as evidence of the stock from which it has sprung. This question can only, so it seems to me* be solved by watching what goes on nowadays when two races come in contact. The negroes in the United States have adopted many of the little superstitions of their masters, and have discarded their own; but one cannot rest an argument upon a solitary example; and the folk-lore of the Irish and Welsh inhabitants of English towns, compared with the folk-lore of Ireland or Wales on the one hand, and with the local English folklore on the other, might furnish further evidence.

IV.—But there is yet another ground on which I would wish to press the importance of the personal collection of English folk-lore, and that is, the benefit of the students themselves. For if you wish to understand folk-lore, you must learn to understand the folk. You must study the pearls in the oyster-beds, and not only after they have been gathered, and polished, and set—though it be in gold —for the public eye. You must know what the folk think, and how they act, on subjects such as folk-lore touches, and observe how their minds form the natural background to the superstitions they act on, the customs they practise, the tales they tell.

I remember being greatly struck with this idea when a country cottager's wife one day detailed to me her contrivances for replenishing her slender wardrobe before going to visit her daughter and son-in-law at Liverpool. * For you see, ma’am”, she wound up, “ his mother 3 ' [the son-in-law's] “is very respectable,and I shouldn't like him to cast it up to Mary when I was gone that her mother wasn't the same. For men will do such things , you know, ma’am/’ One half-expected her to point her remarks by the story of some elfin bride who left her husband because (like Diarmaid of the Feen) he reminded her how she “ came to liim ragged and dirty, and her hair was down to her heels 1 '.

Moreover, you will observe that my friend spoke of her

son-in-law without mentioning him by name, I do not pretend to say whether or not there ever was a time when Englishmen dared not let their wives know or use their names, for fear that, if they did, the “ missis would be master’Vas our folk say. But, as a matter of fact, an oldfashioned cottager’s wife rarely speaks of her husband, or of any other married man with reference to his position as a husband, by name. The pronoun he r supplemented sometimes by “my man”, or “my master”, is found sufficient distinction, and (unconsciously to themselves, as I think) their taboo on names is nearly as strong as that of the House of Commons* I never did hear any old labourer tell the story of the careless woman who betrayed her husband’s name to his enemy as she sang her baby to sleep, but it would fit in well with the habits of our village wives, In this county, at least

Another folk-tale which agrees exactly with the ideas of our people is that of King Lear, j have seen a local deed of the fifteenth century, by which a father and mother surrendered all their property to their son and daughter, on condition of receiving maintenance for life; but now our people are strongly convinced of the imprudence of such an arrangement; and I have known an old woman, to whom such a proposal was made, reply by the proverbial saying, coined to express the popular disapprobation of it, “ No, no, I winna doff off my shoon afore I go to bed !”

On many other matters our folk have their own ways of thinking and acting, their own code of morals. They cannot be trusted to keep a promise ; their word is not “ as good as their bond”, “Promises are like pie-crust, made to be broken,” says their proverb—an opinion which, I believe, lies at the root of all pledges, tokens, and ceremonial compacts whatsoever. But if a bargain be ” struck”, or " wetted”, or if a shilling “ earnest” be given to bind it, then “ the case is altered 11 , and your man will be true to his engagement, A lie, again, is reckoned a very venial

error, if an error it be i but a false oath, that will bring a curse, upon the swearer, u I hear Charlie B* has sailed foi Australia” said a respectable woman to me ; “ but hell never prosper, let him go where he will, if he's taken a false oath, as they say he did,” "Folks say the Devils black”, said an old man ; f ‘ but Jack R. says he J s red ; and he knows, for he’s seen him a many times, him and his imps, since he took that false oath.

When I hear of propositions to abolish the Queen's Shilling or oaths in our courts of justice, I cannot help thinking that a little practical knowledge of folk-lore—or, rather, of folk—would help the authorities to judge of the probable effect of their measures.

Our people, further, believe implicitly in curses* In the Forty-five, so they say, the wife of a clergyman in North Staffordshire refused to give shelter to Prince Charles Edward, and roughly thrust him out of her house. Since then every clergyman’s wife who has lived in that vicarage house has been visited, they say, with insanity. A Wiltshire farmer wanted his men to work in the hay-harvest on Sunday, not to waste a fine day. So he hid his watch under the last cock of hay in the field, and promised a reward to the finder. The men, of course, turned over every haycock in the field before they came to the watch, and so his end was gained. But the hay from that field has never been made in fine weather since. Constantly, in our country villages, you will find some house of which it is darkly said, £i There'll never go no kick wi\ that house ; it didna go to the right heir”

For this is another point of the folk-morality—the absolute duty of leaving property in the direct line of succession. They recognise no individual rights in the matter, think no man free to do what he will with his own, and any man who presumes to leave his property to any but the next-of-kin, be the latter never so distantly related to him, is held to have offended against the eternal principles of right. I have even heard of a lawyer, who drew

up a will by which some property %vas so disposed of, having been burnt in effigy on the next 5th of November \

These ideas, it will be observed, form the groundwork of most ghost stories. A pledge unredeemed* a covenant unfulfilled, a secret treasure unrevealed, an unjust will, or a just one disregarded, condemn the unhappy spirit to walk the earth until the wrong is righted. But what practical knowledge of the folk shows us Is, that these are not mere arbitrary incidents of the folk-tales* but living principles of action.

Another strong characteristic of the country folk is the suspicion with which they regard strangers and people not of their own sort* This shows itself in a hundred ways : from the difficulty, of persuading them to believe in the advantages of any plan proposed by a lady or gentleman, compared to the ease with which they accept the propositions of the merest acquaintance belonging to their own class, to the if Heave half a brick at him", which was the proverbial reception accorded to strangers in the mining villages of Lancashire. Tribal enmity itself, indeed, may be said to survive in the contempt with which the uneducated English regard the Irish or Welsh (I have heard a woman indignantly deny any knowledge of the Welsh language, as if it would have been something to be ashamed of), the East Anglians and Kentishmen regard the dwellers in “the sheerest and, generally, the natives of every county regard the natives of every other county. Hundreds of little sayings testify to this feeling. The Shropshire folk say that the Cheshire men “ live at the best end of the pig-trough”, in derision of the quantity of milk and whey they used to drink* The Staffordshire people call giving away something one has no further use for, “making a Shropshire present/' and so forth. The lower you go In the scale the narrower is the favoured circle. Contemptuous rhymes on the neighbouring villages are common, I fancy, in all counties ; but I have even met with a case where the various townships of one parish had

326 The Collection of English Folk-Lorn.

each their rhyme, exalting themselves and depreciating their neighbours, and where, within the memory of man, any native of any of these rival townships who ventured to show himself within the limits of another township, was liable to have the local rhyme bawled in his ears.

Short of this, however, there is generally some one place in a neighbourhood which Is the butt and the scorn of the whole district. Such a one is Gornall, a village of « nailers”, in South Staffordshire, the inhabitants of which are known as “ Gornall donkeys” throughout the Black Country. It is a well-understood piece of rude wit (not unattended with danger!) to bray when a Gornall man is passing. I have seen a dialogue acted at a “ penny reading” In which the comic character was an uncouth servantgirl, who, with intense self-satisfaction, replied to every remark: “ They do so-and-so in Gornall ; that’s, wheer I coom from” Even In Shropshire I have heard the place called “ Gornall, where they sell things five a penny, and teach monkeys to squint

V.—Something let me say In conclusion about the actual work of collecting. The best collecting is that which is done by accident , by living among the people and garnering up the sayings and stories they let fall from time to time. But one can hardly make a complete collection, even within a limited area. In this way; and deliberate search is therefore necessary, which is often a very uphill task, though to the student of human nature, who “ loves his fellow-men”, it must always be an entertaining and pleasant one, calculated to add to his enjoyment of a country holiday.

One needs first to know where to look And the educated people of the neighbourhood cannot always help one. Nowadays, thanks to the labours of this Society, most people do, to a certain extent, know what folk-lore is; and there is surely not much chance now of a request for help being answered, u In your forthcoming work you should certainly include a description of our very curious

oldfont” as happened to me some ten years ago. But too often the collector may be met with the dignified repulse, “ Our people are not superstitious, I am glad to say 1 '; and it is not given to everyone to be able to confute the assertion, as the Rev. Elias Owen, in a paper on “ Montgomeryshire Superstition's 1 , 1 relates that he once did. His errand in the parish where it was made was to inspect the schools ; and at the close of his examination he asked the first class, “ Now, children, can you tell me of any place where there is a buggan (a ghost, or bogey) ”to be seen, or of anyone who lias ever seen one?* 1 Instantly every hand in the class was stretched out, and every child had a story to tell. He then asked, “Which of you can tell me of a cure for warts?” with like results, greatly to the discomfiture of his friend the clergyman, who had fondly imagined that there was no superstition in his parish 1 The clergy are very liable to this illusion, because the people are apt to keep superstition out of their way,,which in itself is a not uninstructive folk-loric Item. I have even known an old woman tell a most excellent ghost-story, and then utterly deny all knowledge of it when the clergyman’s ivife (who, however, was a member of the squire's family, whom the tale concerned) called to ask for further particulars.

Lawyers, doctors, and especially land-agents and gentlemen-farmers—people who, educated themselves, are yet brought by their professions into much contact with the uneducated—are often much better able to help than are the clergy, especially, of course, if they are natives of the district The difficulty is to get at them ; but a query on some definite point, Inserted in a local newspaper, will seldom fail to produce a reply from some one who can help to get at other informants; and the newspaper staff themselves are generally local men, and often capital collectors.

I In Mimgomeryshire Collections^ vd, xv, part i, p, 135,

When visiting a strange place with the set purpose of personal collecting, the best way of beginning is, perhaps, to get the parish clerk or sexton (if such a person is to be found) to show the church, and then to draw him out on bell-ringing and burying customs, and to obtain from him the names of the “oldest inhabitants” for further inquiry. Failing the sexton, the village innkeeper might be a good starting-point Then a visit may be paid to the school in the mid-day “ recess”, and the children may be bribed to play all the games they know for the instruction of the visitor* Possibly some bits of local legend may be gleaned from them as a foundation for further inquiries* These inquiries will often be quite as successful on some points If pursued among the oldest families in the place, as among the oldest inhabitants of the place. Old household or family customs are best preserved in solitary farmhouses, especially If tenanted by the same family for several generations, But it is a mistake to think that a very remote and thinly populated parish will necessarily yield more folklore of all kinds than another* A scanty stay-at-home population does not preserve legends well, and has not esprit dc corps sufficient for the celebration of public customs, A large village, or a market-town quite in the country, is generally the best place to find these; and the fi lowest of the people”—the chimney-sweepers, brickmakers, besom-makers, hawkers, tinkers, and other trades in which work is irregular—are those who keep up old games, songs, dances, and dramatic performances.

Most villages have their doctress, generally an intelligent old woman, who, nevertheless, mixes something of superstition with her remedies. But in the counties with which I am best acquainted, fortune-telling, divination, and sorcery generally, flourish chiefly in the low parts of large towns, where their professors acquire a wide reputation and are resorted to from considerable distances.

Superstitious opinions, though they flourish most, of

course, among the lower classes cannot well be collected direct from them, because they really do not understand what superstition is, and cannot, as they say," make out what the gentleman is driving at” They must be inquired for among the class of small employers, who have a little more cultivation than their workpeople, but yet live on terms of sufficient familiarity with them to know their ideas thoroughly and to share a good many of them ! A little patient effort will in all probability enable the collector to make the acquaintance of some old grandfather or grandmother of this class, who, sitting in the chimneycorner of some old-fashioned kitchen, loves nothing better than to pour out tales of “old times”. Here is the collector’s opportunity! and from talk of sickles, spinningwheels, and tinder-boxes, he may lead the conversation to matters more purely folk-loric. A list of annual festivals, and the chief customs connected with them, will be found a useful basis for questions. If his witness proves intelligent and comprehending, a list, of common superstitions may then be produced and gone through, when a few additions will probably be made to it. A list of proverbs will almost certainly prove a success; the “old sayings” will be thought extremely interesting, both wise and witty, and the memory ransacked for similar ones. Local legends must, of course, be asked for as local

features_hill or well, ruined castle or Roman camp—

suggest, and will probably vary greatly, ranging from ghost stories to folk-etymology. Marchen, in my experience, are scarcely to be found ; but ballads, which are folk-tales in verse, are not nearly so rare as is sometimes supposed, but it is seldom that any but old people know them.

They are excellent company, these old people! if one can but get them to talk of their past lives, and not of their present ailments ; and they are dying around us every day, and their traditions are dying with them, for they

have left off transmitting them to their children. If the folk-lore of England is not recorded soon it will never be recorded at all, for these “foot-prints in the sands of time” are fast being trampled out by the hurrying feet of the busy multitudes of the Present.

* i i-

Charlotte S. Burne.

Magic Songs of the Finns, II

Hon. J. Abercromby

II.

xiii.—The Origin of the Lizard.

(* *■)

Into the sea spat Syojdflir—Lapahiitio on the waves,

The bubble moves on the sea—the froth on the great open sea- The lovely maiden Xasariiar 1 [v> Kasarikki ]

Sat on a crooked birch's bough, reposed upon an aspen branch, She rose from the crooked bough of birch,

Keeps looking, turning her eyes towards the liquid sea.

She spied the bubble Boating-^the frothy spittle drifting on. She took the bubble down her throat, into her nostrils drew the froth.

The bubble burns her in the throat* scorches her in the nostrils,

Slipt to the stomach from the throat, dropt suddenly into the womb*

The lovely girl Kasariiar thereby was filled, thereby was swelled.

Carried about a heavy womb for three whole years ;

She then to an evil brood gave birth.

What was the name they gave it ?

It got the name of lizard—a heap of twigs for its abode,

As a home a dry birch stump, a rotten tree stem as a house.

(*>

Nuorant<}$ the good house-mother,

Was stepping from stone to stone—from knoll to knoll.

From her bosom fell a pearl, a golden trinket rattled down

1 From kasari) a kettle.

* From riu&f&t a cord, rope,

r Against a brushwood-covered hill, on a heap of twigs below a J fence,

lv. Upon a honeyed mountain top, under a cramped and narrow fence.

A birth took place in consequence, a lizard was produced.

It grew up beside a rock—against the support of a stake,

In a heap of twigs beneath a fence.

(*•)

0 lizard, “ eye of JSiisi n [v. Lempo\ “ land-muik”, 1 * ” watersprat”,

Certainly I know thy stock : thy father was a Brisk ( Sttkum ), hy mother was a Brisk, thou art a Brisk thyself.

begotten from frog 3 $ spawn.

Thou art made of birchwood— of an aspen's fungus, Confected from a tarry root, run up in haste from a fir branch, Collected from a heap of dust, jumbled up from feathers,

Put behind a corner, poked into a pile of firewood,

Tossed into a heap of twigs. Hung carelessly below a fence*

w

A lusty old male lizard {vingas 1 ) lay with an old female lizard (vangas),

2 In a yard opposite a wood-pile, facing birchen logs,

3 Facing a heap of twigs, bird-cherry tree supports,

Thereby a family appeared—a huge ( pod* increased ;

A boy 3 came while they slept — Ifngerm^ while they reposed* The child was brought secretly, by stealth the boy was shoved Into bird-cherry room-—a cradle of bird-cherry wood $

The boy is not concealed there, the boy poked himself into the

yard,

1 Corregonus albula f fresh-water herring, muik.

" Vingas is probably here a twin form of S tongas f “ a lizard”, otherwise it means u a cold, penetrating wind 31 * * .

3 In Finnish the word is applicable to the young of all animals and birds.

4 “ The sleepy one. 11 According to Ganander {Myilwlogia Fen ■>

ntca t p. iqg), the son of Vinga ( Vingas) and Vanga (— Vcuigas) was

Yanganwinm*

Under the long side of a wood-pile, along some rowan wood. Where can the boy be sent—the jewel (F, worth} be directed ? Thither must he be carried

f To the remotest held, to the unploughed border of the field.

1 v . Into the autumn night's embrace.

It is by no means pleasant being there,

There pigs keep routing up the ground, the “down-turned snouts” keep turning it

Where can the boy be sent, can Ungermo be directed,

Can he be taken into the deep forest ?

The boy is taken into a deep forest—to the centre of a honeyed wood.

For the boy J tis evil being there.

Honeyed woods dry up, hunters may burn them down.

Where can the evil boy be sent—the injurious one be destroyed,

Can he be carried into the water ?

The boy was led into the water; for the boy 'tis evil being there. Young men drag there with a net—keep flogging with a line, Old men stretchout a net—fasten it with stone sinks.

•Where can the boy be sent—can Ungermo be directed ?

The boy was led to a held run wild—to a rotten birch-stump home.

To a mouldering stump's recess, f There he changed into a * worm'—appeared as a lizard, l v . There a snake was born, a little lizard appeared.

2-3 Upon a beach opposite a sleigh, with their backs towards the land, with their heads towards the water.

(O

Vingas [z\ Vinkas] approached Vangas [v. Vanias ], 1 He kept shrieking and roaring 2

1 Lonnrot explains vankas by vangas “a lizard 11 , and vinkas as being the same as vingas. Ganancler, in his Mythologia Fennica r explains Vingas as a Satyr that lay with Vanga , and quotes a line, 14 Vinga lay with Vangas/ 5 adding that their offspring became lizards.

2 Or jolting, throbbing, palpitating.

In a thicket ot bird-cherry trees, in a dense forest of willows,

[ Underneath a stone, opposite a bramble-covered heap of stones. \ v, opposite a brushwood-covered hill.

A birth took place in consequence, a lizard appeared,

IC A court-yard's sweepings”, “trash of fields”,

“ Ground's sweepings”, “ sweepings of Manald\v, dry land], That dwells under fences, rustles among twig heaps.

There is a short story about lizards in Finland in the F-L. Jouru., v, p. 163. In another section of the Lotisurunoja (Magic Songs), in a charm for curing the bite of a lizard, this creature is called “ Hiisi's eye” the son of Kiihomn , the son of Aijo ; it is said to have been cast from copper, produced from copper ore, to be a preparation of a horse-hair bearded individual, to be the hatching of a greybeard,

xiv, —The Origin of the Snail,

The daughter of Pain and Tu&nis 1 son Slept on a ground-fast stone, were both together on a rock When worms- were being engendered, when snails were being desired.

The girl became pregnant—carried a heavy womb.

At last her belly lightened.

Therewith ‘worms 1 appeared, snails were brought forth.

xv. —The Origin of the Raven.

(«.)

Surely I know the raven's origin, I guess the “devoured” birth, Whence the black bird was gotten, how the raven was reared. The scoundrelly raven, Lempds bird, the most disgusting bird of air,

Was horn upon a charcoal hill—reared upon a coaly heath, Gathered from burning brands, bred from charcoal sticks,

Its head was made of potsherds, its breastbone from leinpds spinning-wheel,

1 The god of death.

- Or snakes.

Its tail from Lempo's sail, its shanks from bent sticks,

Its belly from a wretch's sack, its guts from Lemprfs needle-case, Its rump from the air's ring, its crop from a cracked kettle,

Its neck from weaving stool, its beak from a wizard's

arrow-tip,

Its tongue from Kirkis 1 axe, its eyes of mussel 2 pearl (F, stone).

(*■>

Ho! raven, thou ill-omened bird, raven! “ bird of t bxeeZmpffisp Thy hovel is on the ground, thy home upon a birch.

Certainly I know thy stock, with all thy bringing up.

Thou wast gathered from kitchen soot—heaped up from burning sticks,

Bred from coals—composed of all that's bad,

Thy body (?) 3 of Hiisfs leather glove—legs of HiisPs spindles. Thy guts oiMisi s belt-appendages—feet of an air weather-vane, Thy claws of tary sticks, thy wings of Lmipo's fans, 4 Thy down was sweated out of coals, thine ears from birch-leaves, One eye is made of ffiisis seed, the other of an iron bean Thy beak is of a wizard’s axe, thy tongue of Keiip's spear.

xvi.—T he Origin of the Titmouse.

I know the titmouse's origin.

Of what the titmouse was made—the little bird was composed. Of trees the willow originated first, of trees the willow, of lands the knoll^

Of forest animals the bear* of birds of air the titmouse.

A pellet dropt from a willow, a fragment fell from a sallow Upon a bare, abandoned field,

From that the titmouse was made— the little bird was composed.

1 The Being that incited to love.

2 Kuttkkala^ explained doubtfully by Lonnrot by “ mussel". Perhaps it is intended for kuuhikka^ ** transparent 3 -—its eyes of transparent stone.

3 Ruppa. The word is not in the dictionary, but my friend Lehtori Raitio, to whom I am greatly indebted for many explanations of difficult passages, suggests that it is a loanword from the Swedish kropp y 11 the body"

4 Or w wings".

xvil—The Origin of the Pike.

LUpo [v, Ziifo] sowed flax by night, Kauko made it grow by day, From it sprang a tender Shoot, a shoot sprang up, the flax grew. From three directions came a wind to thresh the flax’s head* The wind threshed out the head of flax, scattered the hemp seed. Thither the wind carries the flax, to the eddy of a holy stream. There the wind rocked it—the water stretched it out in length. From it there grew a lovely pike—a “ water monster** arose,

xviii.— 1 The Origin of the Cabbage Worm*

O globular, corpulent, black worm, looking like earth,

Thy stock is known: thy father is a Blue Butterfly,

Thy mother a Blue Butterfly, thy sisters Blue Butterflies,

Thy other relative a Blue Butterfly, thou art thyself a* Blue Butterfly.

When first thou wast born of thy mother, I listened, I turned here and there,

I heard a rustling in the turf—a buzz from the bottom of a dell, Battling thou wast going into withered grass, with jingling sound into tufts of grass.

XIX.—The Origin of the Wasp.

A maiden sat on a stone, a woman (kapo) set herself on a rock, Combs out her hair, arranges her head.

One of the maiden's hairs fell, a hair of the woman broke off. Thither a wind bore it, to a nameless meadow.

From that a wasp was made, an <£ evil bird” was dashed,

With a copper quiver on its back—its quiver full of poison.

xx.—T he Origin of the Birch.

A maiden stood in a dell, a “ fine spun shirt” upon the grass, Shedding a flood of tears, a tear came rolling trickling down From her ruddy cheek to the ground, to her feet,

Rounder than egg of hazel grouse, more heavy than a thrush's

egg-

Therefrom grew a lovely birch, a verdant sapling raised itself,

A sprout drawn upwards by the soil, rocked by Tuulefar?

Its top strove towards the sky, its boughs spread outwards into space.

xxl—The Origin of Flax.

(*■)

Much land was burnt up formerly, much land, much swamp,

In a summer bad for fires, a luckless conflagration year.

A spot remained unburnt upon the greatest reach of swamp.

On a wild mountain top, in the space between two stumps. Under a triple-rooted birch.

They dug up the stump's root, a seed of flax was found there, In the storage place of f Tuonis grub 53 in the 1 2 3 earthworm's - place of custody.

An old boat was burnt

Near 4 fiery' rapids, at a * fiery' rapids’ turning-point A pile of ash arose, a heap of dry ashes From the burning of the wooden craft, from the ignition of the boat.

Into it the flax was sown, was sown, was ploughed,

On a single summer night.

Then from it sprang a sprout, endlessly high the flax grew On a single summer night.

m

jThe sisters Soikoiar* sistersdn-law, nimble women, eternal sisters-in-law,

Discovered c Tuoni's grub', the earth ' worm 1 ,

Between a pair of stumps, beneath a triple-rooted birch.

* Titan?s grub' was burnt, the earth 1 worm' was roasted,

The loathsome was scorched, was baked to ashes f Before the gate of Pohjoic^ on Lapland's chip-strewn plain ;

{ ik At the root of an unrotted stump;

1 Wind's daughter,

2 1 Tuoni's grub 7 and 1 worm of the earth 1 are both epithets of the snake ; see above, xi (. a .), Fotk-Lfire } p, 38.

3 From sotka, * a duck' (Fuligula clangula). They are mentioned in

the Kalevala, xli, 14 3 -

vol. 1 . z

A little ash resulted, a small quantity of fme ashes.

Where may the ashes be put ? Thither they bore the ashes, To a clay-bottomed field, to a solid mountain's edge.

Into it the flax was sown,

Into the ash of * TuonFs grub', into the earth 1 * 3 worm's' ash. From it sprang a young shoot,

Endlessly high the flax shot up, the flax grew beyond all hope On a single summer night, in the interval between two days.

(*-)

Once upon a time a black jade died, a white horse succumbed Upon a nameless grassfieLd, upon unknown ground;

By its bones the grassfield was singed—an old rake 1 was burnt, An old woman was scorched.

A little ash appeared, a small quantity of ashes was obtained. Into it the flax was sown.

By night Luka [z>. Liito\ sowed the flax, by day Kauko 1 made

it grow.

Lines 3-7 ( a .) will be found in the Katevala^ xlviii, 15, etc.; and the mention of the burning of the old boat in the old Kalevala , xxvi, 195,

xxil—The Origin of tiie Oak.

(*)

our maidens formerly, three [0. six] celebrated daughters

four maidens, three grown men

Were mowing a blue meadow—gathering horse-tail grass

zk Were mowing on the sea beach

On a misty headland’s point, on a foggy island cape.

They mowed one day, they mowed the next,

Forthwith they mowed the third day too.

What they mowed they raked up, then drew into swaths the whole of it,

1 A rake is used in the operation of clearing ground by setting the

felled trees on Are.

3 Liito and Kauko are mentioned above (XVII) as sowing flax. The latter is also an alias of Lemminkaincn .

Magic Songs of ike Finns .

Arranged the bay in cocks—into a hundred heaps,

Then piled it into a stack, heaped it into a thick rick The meadow was already mown—the hay laid out on upright poles,

(When) a Norwegian 1 Lapp came, by name the £ fiery' Tursas(Who) flung the hay into a fire, tossed it into the flames. ‘

A little ash resulted, a small quantity of ashes.

Whereupon the girls reflect, the maidens deliberate Where the ashes may be gathered, the hot ash residue may be put:

" They are just short of ash T they stand in urgent need of lye To wash the head of Shiva!s 3, 3 son—the good hero's eyes.”

A wind came from the mountains—a heavy storm from the north-east [&. a chilly wind from Oldnetz};

Thither the wind bore the ashes, the north-east wind gathered the ashes

From the misty headland point, from the foggy island cape 20 | To a £ fieiy J rapids* brink, to a * holy' river's banks.

( To the edge of Lake Alue s to a sea bay s muddy strand, A wind brings the acorn of an oak—bore it from a distant land To the £ fiery* rapids* brink, to the * holy’ river's banks,

Threw it on a good place—on a border of fat earth.

From it a sprout rose, an incomparable shoot Sprang,

From it grew a splendid oak, an enormous tree 4 raised itself,

Its head strove towards tire sky, its boughs spread outwards into space.

20 To a pointless cape, to a level beaten plain.

1 Turja .

3 Tursa$) E a monster*. In riddles the word is applied to a pig (inrsa means a nose). In the Kalevaia, h, 67, a Tursas rises from the sea,

3 The sun.

4 Rulimon rail a. Rutimo is supposed to be the same as rotaimo, Lapp rota aibmo , 1 the home of sickness*, f hell’. It is found in the Kalevala^ ii, 1S5, L<rit$urunoja % pp. 6SA 276^ 302* (bis), 304^ 333*, but at p. 317^ it is replaced by ruheva [v. rutcva\ Raiia properly means a kind of willow {Salix fragilis and S. f mi an drd).

<*■)

Four maidens formerly, a triplet of brides,

Were gathering a horse-tail grass—breaking off a single blade At the edge of a fiery headland, in the cove of a fiery cape. The maidens make hay—gathered horse-tail grass,

Mowed the great, mowed the small, mowed once the middle sort.

What they managed to mow they raked forthwith into heaps, Arranged into shocks, into a thousand little sheaves,

Stuck it between poles—at the bottom of a hundred stacks.

( A boy came from Pohjola —a child from proper Lapland, t v, A bird flew from Lapland, an eagle flew from Norway, 1 2 He burnt the hay to ashes —reduced it to cinders, n Put the ashes in a birchbark pouch, gathered the cinders into a wallet.

Then the ashes can be carried, the cinders can be sown- From the edge of tire fiery headland, from the cove of the fiery cape

To remote fields of the North, to Lapland's plains beset with snares,

(And sown) into earth’s black mud, into a solid mountain slope.

A huge oak grew up there, a thriving sapling raised itself.

Most ample as regards its boughs, most spreading as regards its sprays.

11-15 He gathered the cinders—all the ashes into a birch-bark pouch,

The cinders were sown, thither the ashes were dispersed, Before the gate of Pohjola , on the threshold of the “ speckled lid”. 3

1 Turjan maa,

2 The construction is complicated, for the complement to the verb 4 sown 1 is three lines further on.

3 An epithet applied to the sky and to the wonderful mill, sampo ,

34 1

(*)

Kyytolaiwd wept much, the wretched one [v. ( worm'] sorely lamented

On a stretch of swamp, on an earth-knoll, at the far end of all the heath.

A tear trickled from his eye, one dropt suddenly after the other,

In drops the water dribbled to the ground, to his feet,

Thence flows as a river, streams as a stream,

Then widened suddenly into a pond, kept crashing into a lake, Finally it turned 3 itself into a sea, swept itself into a wave. From that three seas originated, three waters rolled [v. rubbed |

themselves, *

Three waves swept [v* scraped] themselves along homKyyto-

lainmis tears, ,

A'sandy ridge grew up there, a secret isle formed itself by

From P it a sandy mountain arose, a i * golden 1 hillock raised itself,

Where the three seas had rubbed, where the waves had swept along.

Afterwards four maidens found an oak sapling,

Carry it to a productive soil, to the border of a sandy isle. From it grew an awful tree, a might)' oak shot up,

Most ample as regards its boughs, most smooth as regards its leaves,

(d.)

A damsel rose from out a dell-a maiden from a humid spot,

A warm girl from a spring, a “blue-stocking" from a swamp recess

A swarthy girl with shaven head, a girl with skinless teats,

A copper box in her hand, in the box a “ golden 1 ’ comb.

The maiden combs her head, brushes her hair

i The patron of snakes; a viper, see Folk-Lore, pp. 44 j 4 S- Ganander

fp. 4 6) quotes the first and third lines, but makes a willow, not an oak, grow from his tears.

t Literally 1 manned itself, ‘made itself by human agency.

Magic Songs of ike Finns .

f At the back of a speckled stone, in a burning heat,

( v. With her lovely comb, with her fish-bone comb.

Near an angry river, close to powerful rapids, f A tooth of her comb snapped off, a bristle of her brush broke, i % A hair fell rustling from her head, a hair was missing from her locks.

From it grew up a lovely shoot, a beauteous sapling straightened out

Near the angry ‘holy*] river, close to the strong rapids,

An oak grew up with flowery sprays, with flowery sprays, with iron enclosure, 1

Its head seized the sky, its branches touched the clouds.

(«•)

The field-boy 2 Petlervoincn^ * the tiny little boy Sawfisa,

When he formerly sowed lands, both lands and swamps. Caused trees to spring up, young saplings to shoot,

(But) one, an oak, had failed to sprout, the “ tree of God” had struck no root.

He left it wholly to itself, he abandoned it to its fate.

Two, three nights elapsed, an equal number, too, of days,

Pie started off to ascertain

'Whether the oak had sprouted—the “ tree of God” had struck root.

The oak had not sprouted, the “tree of God 11 had struck no root.

He left it wholly to itself, he abandoned it to its fate, Waited for three more nights, for an equal number of days. Then started off to ascertain

Directly after these three nights, after completion of a week. Already an oak had sprouted, a “tree of God” had taken root, A shoot drawn forth by Jesus—grown by the ground (rmudu) from out the earth.

Whoever took a branch of it obtained a life-long luck,

Whoever cut from it a sprig cut for himself eternal love.

1 Instead of ( fenced enclosure 5 , tarha , Lehtori Raitio proposes to read terho , * acorn 1 , which gives a better sense.

2 Or Field 5 s son, pcllon f oika .

3 A diminutive of petto ^ i a field 1 ,

xxiii— The Origin of Trees.

(a.)

1 The boy Sampsa Pdlervoinm slept in summer on a hard plain

2 In the middle of a cornfield, 1 * * 4 in the bosom of a grain-ship ;

He put six grains of corn, seven seeds.

Into a martin's skin, into the skin of a summer squirrel's leg, And started off to sow land—to scatter seed thickly.

He sowed land with stooping back, sowed land, sowed swamps, Sowed sandy clearings, planted places full of stones.

He sowed hillocks to become Fir-clumps, sowed hills to become clumps of spruce,

Sandy heaths to become clumps of heather, valleys to be filled with young saplings,

Sowed birches in humid dells—ald$r trees on loose earth, Sowed bird-cherry trees on moist land—rowans on holy ground, Willows on flooded land, sallows on meadow boundaries, Junipers on sterile land, oaks along a river's banks.

14 The trees began to shoot up, the young saplings to rise.

While rocked by windy gusts, while swung by chilly wind, Bushy-headed firs grew up, branching-headed pines spread out, Birches rose up in humid dells, alders on loose earth, Bird-cherry trees on moist land, rowans on holy ground, Willows on flooded land, sallows on moistish soil,

Junipers on sterile land, oaks along a river's banks.

i The field-boy- Fdleruoinen, the tiny little boy Sampsa,

i, 2 Ahfip the boy Pdknmmn sowed land formerly,

x, 2 Old Vainamoinen himself, the time-old soothsayer (tietBjii)^

i, 2 The aerial God himself, Nature's omnipotent creator,

i, 2 Kumnhi , Kaneruds* son, sowed land formerly,

i4 A lime tree began to grow, a lovely (F. clean) to shoot up.

1 Variant, corns tack (Krohn, Kalevala^ p. 397),

s - Or Fields son.

z Or c The boy A hii Pellenwinen,

4 Common ling (Calturn vulgaris).

(S)

Semmer, the limping boy, sowed land formerly.

Sowed humid dells, birches sprang up—sowed hills, spruces grew up,

Sowed hillocks, iirs grew up—sowed ridges, aspens grew up, Little [ v . bushy] pines grew up, wretched saplings sprang up, Tall slender firs grew up, huge airy pines,

Bird-cherries grew, oaks grew, unbending junipers grew,

The juniper has fair berries, the bird-cherry has good fruit The Creator uttered from the sky, the pure God speaks forth:

“ All trees are created by God, are grown by the Omnipotent, Are rocked by Tuukiar 1 are tended by chilly wind,

Put to sleep by frosty weather, suckled by hard frost**

t Swamp’s girl (and) Heather’s (Kanerva) son started off to sow land,

i Kyyni walked over sandy heaths, Kyyni sowed the sandy heaths-

oo

A wolf was running on the ice, a pike was swimming beneath the ice,

A hair of the wolf snapt off—a pale grey tooth of the pike. Lovely Rati - youthful maiden, plucked the hair from the ice, Dug the root end into a heath—into Ukko'& black mud, Planted the top end in a dell, the wind blows against the top end.

Hence a birth took place, hence a family was bred.

Hence a large fir with scored bark grew up, a “ moist with honey” in Metsota,

It was cradled by Hangatarg swung to and fro by Lemnuiar , 1 * * * 5 Tended by Kangahatar* rocked by Tuuktar,

I ut to sleep by chilly wind, suckled by hard frost.

1 Wind’s daughter.

She Is mentioned by Ganander (p, 3a) as a forest goddess or tree -

mother, and some of the lines above are quoted.

Or an old man’s \ f pjps danghier.

Love s daughter, a Sandy heath’s daughter*

<*)

Tuonfs 1 red-cheeked boy

Kicked his seine into the water—his drag-net under a wave 2 At the end of a “ fiery” cape, at a “ fiery” headland’s point From it he obtained a “ fiery” pike, he brought it ashore to have it cooked.

The pike's teeth fell with a crash

Upon a nameless meadow, upon one unknown by name.

From it sprang up a swamp-fir, a ruddy sappling shot up,

From it grew a “golden” fir—a “golden”, bushy-headed fir.

<*)

A dark-cheeked maiden of the North ploughed swamps, ploughed lands,

Ploughed finally the margins too.

Heather grew up upon the swamps, little willows by the brooks, Birches sprang up along the vales,

Spruces rose upon the hills, upon the hillocks firs shot up.

(/)

A woman 3 ran along the swamps, ran over swamps, ran over land, ik An old woman, raging mad,

Kan over moist abandoned fields.

Some of its hair rattled down, some of its wool dropt to the ground,

Then from it a birth took place, from it every tree appeared, Hence slender pines arose,

Bushy pines branched thickly out, flowery-headed firs grew tip.

(>■)

A tree originated from a comely (place), a “ bushy-top” from a soft (place),

A large fir from a dense wood {rommtQla\ a 41 honey-top” from Meisoiag

1 The god of death. ‘ F, ridge.

3 Or a 4 creature 5 , have.

* The fnrest home. This line is quoted by Ganandar (s. v.

Kati%

C Fir is a boy that sways about, it was tended by Hoija} l v, Fir, a tall, lanky boy was reared by Hotja,

4 Rocked by a Turjalaimn^ swung by a Vaaralaimn?

( Put to sleep by frosty weather, suckled by hard frost,

1 v* suckled by warm air 3

Souced by sky water, splashed by warm (water).

It sprang from the ground like a strawberry—like a rooted plant with a stiff top,

Grew up with a pair of boughs, rose with triple branches,

Increased from the air’s dew, shot out shoots owing to the sky water [v> owing to Jesus' blood].

Stretched itself like wheat cn dough, kept roiling like a butterpat.

O Fir, pitiable and useless boy, brought forth by Syojatar,

Formed from the earth by Maajaiar , * 3 4 thou wast reared by a hillock,

Made bushy by Pdlervoiuen [v. Pelkroimn\ nailed down by A T aservaiueP \v, spiked down by Nasan-amcn^ v. Nhiu- Iainen\

Thou didst sprout from earth like a strawberry—from the forest like an arctic bramble,

The sun shone through thee, the moon shed light upon thy sides,

A hillock suckled thy roots, wind rocked thy leafy boughs.

4 Rocked by a whirlwind [v. by Tuulefar , ik Tufjelnwimn\

The fir is a tall, lanky boy—a comely tree created by God,

A sprout drawn forth by Jesus Christ, a shoot brought to light by good luck,

1 1 A talk lanky fellow.* - ‘A Norwegian Lap. 1

3 1 A mountaineer,' v, vdrjdldineru

4 = Maatar , Earth’s daughter, or Mrs. Earth.

6 Lehtorl Raitio suggests that Nasergainen may be the same as Ndseruliy which is given in the Loiistirunoja (p| 230) as a variant of Pukuri \‘ strong wind 1 , and that the meaning of this passage may be that the fir has been spiked fast into the ground, firmly rooted, by the action of wind.

Reared by Kanfprpmncnp buffeted by stormy weather,

A bough of which dript honey—keeps spirting virgin honey forth.

From time to time God drenched the shoot—a cloud touched it on the head,

A wind swayed the trunk, the restless air kept shaking it.

The birch reared by KolkkcP (?) [ft, gold] on ground where berry stalks abound.

Was created by three Lmnnatarsp softened by Pdkolamen 4 ; The alder was not created for wood, not for wood, not for earth. It was made for gripings in the belly, as a remedy for hurts,

As ointment for sores, as embrocation for wounds.

(4

All trees were created by God, except that evil alder buckthorn, 5 [zk the worst tree is meadow rue t! ],

{ Which was created by a pagan—is a hair of a devil’s beard;

\ ft. The willow was created by a pagan.

The aspen was shaped by Mtisi— the rowan made by the devil (Pint),

The bird-cherry rocked by Lrnpa, the juniper is JTdstinen's son, The alder was made by Lcmines 1 [ft. Lcngc r]—r e ar e d by A ancita [ft. KaIjolaine?i\

3 The aspen is HHsPs harlot son.

The latter half of the first line and the second line of (a.) are in the old Kahvala among the variants of Rum 24, but with a different introduction. For there, after the Sampo has been lifted out of Vmnmmimtis boat and carried to the point of a misty headland, it slept or lay a summer on

1 A diminutive of kanerva , ling {Caltuna vutgi).

- This word has several meanings, none of them applicable ; a slake, an oar; a corner, nook ; a bell ‘ dreadful, gloomy, bleak,

3 i Nature^ daughters. 1 * 3 * * 6 7

* From pMo t fright, Lehtori Raitio suggests it might be an error

for Peltoiainen, Pdlervoinen.

6 Rhamnus frangula.

3 Thalictrum flavum, or meadow sweet, spiraea ulmaria .

7 This line is quoted by Ganander under the word Lenpues,

34 §

a la\vn, all winter on a hard plain, in the middle of a cornfield, in the bosoni of a grain-ship* Hence the words Sawpo and Sampsa seem to have been confounded,

A good many lines of (a.) will be found in the Kalevala y ii, 17, etc. The Finnish for alder tree is leppapuu^ and means ‘the blood tree 7 , from the red colour obtained from the bark, which is used as a dye. In Zirian and Votyak it is called lol-pu } lul-pu , J the spirit or life-tree 7 .

xxiv,—T he Origin of Copper.

(*■>

Smith llmarhmi himself, that skilful hammerer,

Was walking on a tinkling-road—along the liver-coloured ground, A speckled stone, a bit of rock came in his way*

The smith flung it into the fire—placed it under his forge.

He blew the bellows a whole day, blew them the next day, Blew them forthwith a third day too*

Then smith Ilmarmm stooped down to look At the under surface of the forge, at the upper side of the bellows.

Already the stone shook like water—the rock is melting like copper.

The smith snatched it from the fire—the copper from under the forge*

He began to mould the copper—to make kettles jingle {with his blows).

(?)

Ifilahafar^ Jffisps maiden, HiisPs old woman, IliisPs mare, These made water on a rock, the urine dried upon the rock. Then transformed into copper—grew into copper ore,

Poured like water from a mountain—like copper from a smelting furnace.

John Abercromby.

The Riddles of Solomon in Rabbinic Literature

S. Schechter

T HE place which the Solomon Riddles occupy in the literature of almost every nation suggested to me that the publication of a previously inechted Hebrew text on the subject, with an English translation and a few introductory and explanatory remarks, will not be without interest to the readers of Folk-Lore.

As to the* Hebrew text, it is edited for the first time from the Midrash Hachcfthez , existing only in Yemen MSS., of which the British Museum has four copies, bearing the press marks Oriental 2351 and Or. 2380S2. Our copy is prepared from Or. 23S2. The MSS. vary very little, and the only essential variation we found we have inserted in its place. The Bodleian {see Dr, Ncubauer’s Catalogue, No. 2492) and the Royal Library in Berlin also possess copies of this Mid rash. In the catalogue of the latter, by Dr Steinschncider, p. 71, a full description is given of this work, and we sec there that its compiler, Yachya Ben Sulieman, wrote as late as 1430. The new version of the Riddles, which we give here, would accordingly have no claim to any great antiquity. But, on the other hand, it has been proved already, at least with regard to other Midrashic cob lections coming from Yemen, that the Jews in this country were, up to a comparatively late date, in possession of very ancient Rabbinic sources, which had long before disappeared among their coreligionists in Europe. Thus the late age of the compiler would not prove much against the antiquity of his version of the legend.

Now, it is tfiie that that part of the Rabbinic literature in which the Solomon Riddles arc mentioned at all, as the

Midrash on Proverbs and the Second Targum to Esther, are, according to the best authorities, not older than the tenth century, 1 whilst neither the Talmud of J erusalem nor that of Babylon, nor any of the other earlier Midrashim (homiletic comments on the Old Testament), ever allude to them But the silence of these sources may be explained on other grounds. Indeed, it would seem that the earlier Rabbis purposely avoided touching on the whole subject For we read In the name of R, Samuel bar Nachmani, a famous Aggadist of the third century: ** He who translates the words Malkath Sheba as ‘ the Queen of Sheba’ is mistaken, its real meaning being ‘the kingdom, of Sheba/” It is hardly necessary to say that this Rabbi Samuel's explanation Is against all grammar. But we know from other places that this Rabbi was rather fond of stfch forced interpretations of Scriptural stories, which in their simple meaning would rather be irreconcilable with the ideal which posterity has formed of their heroes. 2 We may therefore assume, I think, that also in the present case the passage quoted was also meant as a protest against some legends about Solomon, current at the time, which the Rabbis considered unworthy of the Solomon idealised by a later generation. The legend which scandalised the Rabbis was probably that which is to be found first in the Psmdo-Strack? according to which the relation between Solomon and the Queen ended in a love affair of which Nebuchadnezzar was the result This legend, again, is based on the Scriptural words: “And j:he King Solomon gave unto the Queen (Malkath) Sheba all her desire’ 1 (i Kings, x, 13 ; 2 Chron. ix, 12; and Bertheau, ad loci)* The best way to make an end to all such stories was, therefore, to explain the word Malkath as if it were

See Zuns, Die gotfesdlensflithe Vortrdge, p. 26S, and Mlink’s edition of the Second Targum, p. 10, Comp* also Rapoporl, Erech Millim , p. 23.

2 See Baba Bathra, i$a, and Sabbath, 560 and b* ’

* See Pseudo Bm Sira, ed. Stein schneider, p. 21b; Monk's Second Targum, p. 23 ; and A, Epsteiif s Beitraege, etc., p. 322.

35i

Melnchath , meaning M kingdom”. Thus the Queen goes altogether out of the story, and the Riddles with her, though they were circulating among the people* and it took centuries before the above objections were subdued —at least with regard to the Riddles. On the other hand* it is clear from the statement in the Bible, M The Queen of Sheba , . . came to prove Solomon with hard questions” (1 Kings, x, 1 ; 2 Chron. ix, i), that even in Biblical times some such riddles or puzzles were current among the people. That those which we here rescue from oblivion cannot trace back to the riddles current in Biblical times is clear from the anachronisms contained in them. The student of folk-lore is familiar with the tenacity of popular memory, and there is therefore the remote chance that similar riddles to those given in our text are referred to in the Bible. The above considerations would then explain how they failed to make any appearance in the literary productions of the Rabbis.

This exclusion from what we may call the official literature for such a long time may perhaps also account for the corrupt and incomplete condition in which these Riddles are found. We possess nowadays three versions of them: the version of the Second Targum to Esther, i, 2, consisting of three riddles; the version of the Midrash on Proverbs, i, i, consisting of four; and the version which we now publish for the first time, consisting of nineteen riddles. The first four riddles of this version, as well as the introduction, agree on the whole with the Midrash on Proverbs. There is only this difference: that the verse from Job which is here given by R, Ishmael is quoted in the Midrash from another Rabbi of a much later date. The quotation was probably shortened by the copyist; for there can hardly be any doubt that the Rabbi’s allusion aimed at the succeeding verses in Job, in which the treasures of Ethiopia (Cush) are spoken of, which country was, as it is well known, confused by the ancients with Sheba.

We may now proceed at once to give the text and translation of the Yemen Midrash.

[Editorial note: the printed Hebrew text of the Midrash Hachefetz that follows here in the source is preserved from the OCR text layer, but the scan's optical character recognition was not built for Hebrew script and the result is not reliable Hebrew — letterforms are scrambled and reading order is corrupted throughout this block. It is carried below exactly as the text layer produced it, honestly and without any attempt at reconstruction, rather than omitted; readers who need the Hebrew itself should consult the source scan referenced in the colophon. Schechter's English translation and discussion, which follows, is unaffected and preserved as printed.]

rpt»a rtwsfcpp no'aw bw moan it Pstyoo ”'o ton rtttsa Nson pes noanm [odini "un] oam '-nan idid th □‘nvn nopw bv moan nyow ndw naPo ir * rra'D oipo nm TOO’ "1 ‘in 1 ; on son nan DN' moan HN'ON HOON'l npjnty on dn "i-noan by) yby 'joyoty b niox odin /ii?"t vdd naan i/i' *n ’3 nb odn oa’tyo odod pin pno aow ■ i'djdi rutty m ywtv nyaty ip max *naujn vrp nytym ’ yion' noa 'D' ioyi§y nP odn * runty nnsi ■oPin nt nnvyn ohni yano tows *n 'aw Mtpa m nm b mow imN nPNty oon :nn» Dan iP rno« •ini™ ONi oo nns *%o lO'pn 'dn ios i ma^ moiw “tip : id map mo s' N'n mb Pw ina it 'ntd fb ion to • iPnP iPn i’d b wnan mow joupai o'oaT b nwan vrr Npty □'torn • D'to’Ni nnPp ■ b warn mono 1 ; too mono mnpiP on iUD'pam • moPa ‘too ynpiP yW'Dtno imo’pa iPni D’ODt bn nb nos * inPty o' to mn inmn Tp oPnP iPn I'd b tyosn moN Mg D^no nwan •ora paw pPino moon yn» nx nnai Pna paP too •na'Dwn into inoa Npomty nPn my nPi ’poip oito □' boy iPni ubti# bn nb oqn • anus by iPsi D’Pojri

:nrw oon iP hoon

oo« * no nPi oPo nb Non 'o mowj imN nPsw oiyi b nooN'i win tfafr -ran :noi a'oPiyn pin nt np 'o nb oon vnnN ays nPn tyow ns'o nPw pN ip» non no b hooni wn nPNty myi : D'n |n|aaw an mpo nyty/n a'oaaa nytwo nnsa nnNtya mmna jUjoPo notyyi map • own b& anon it nun np odn • oaaa on« D'nuos

Rabbinic L uerat'nre.

• 9

■. larsi • vyy * b w' D’apj rnw© cns p nr mnbn Um n^inao • nmsn 'nyaan oipoi ■ vyoi vsi • v-pmi mwn ssv nyrnfb finaw nian ppji nrnna rrnwr rax

: arms: nytwnm jrinjDi

win yapirian -fm rm sP m rnoai vm pfrstK rnjn . ipas sV narbry srna 1 D'oaty nysp ir nb nos i?in p mirai t thv V?'sm nam ora ripnu sin mi? sPi mtysem npbi Vnsi namn an Vpn ubv nb nos ’ .nnwr nnyaP iw± nvbv sino 1 mri yosi nan an frsrrar • irmly utEn vnraa tfwn ai 1 ? rb nas * troon w np nas * PPsna nam I'rna nnpm tt nan ion na no 'rov ir Ppsnam .inn nr -[Pna nnpm pup it nan nas ■ • napn nara vb6 nfr) ynsa man i bpvt nahv sin sin na *n"j? liras annas 1 ? bm> aasPa mho nP on nryPryn” nb nas * am wn anna aipaP lDjaasp nrypry issn a"n aipaP iM33 oun n'nrm Psry'a nuxr Psan nos jvo spi mp’.nsn wn na ’svrasi ann iPs o’no * rm na n'amn'Si -rfww sbn na I mrai mbn nr nb iPasai ns ansi nsa nansa sin na * Piyn nr nP nos nP'yansn snns sin na * nP'ns ir nb nas ’ nansn nsa nr nP.nos *nn pmasi mans pan inn nmPn ynnP nnn yns ynn nmPn pisi ny pnP nPpsnsn nan naya [sP] ma -i'jn '0 '“pans sma sin na * nmm nr nn yiniasi •Q'niE^si iryotp nr nb nos pma psj sP ran imaa by aimin’ iP nnosi nrraa ns yy sanp nnasi runt -ran nypnrw a-aa ip'PrynP nP ms *=py sin nrsi znw nrs nr nb na\ ’ apn as by ns s nm a an tp nnsn ns

vol. r. a a

• •

flpDN rww nmta 'ejayn nth sptrtt town #i ypnaw -p^ -\ra Tr6x n'rri nyiaa?n by aiai naan nsDin "6 iVTipn nr cfeiw :rpbvh naan yu ; m a ax 3

R, Ishmael related the following:— 1E< This is Jhfe wisdom of Solomon, (the fame of) which extended from end to end of the world, as it is written, f and he was wiser than all men 5 (1 Kings, v, 11) ; and it is said, t But where shall wisdom be founds and where is the place of understanding ? 3 (Job, xxviii, 12)* This is the Queen of Sheba^ who heard of the wisdom of Solomon and said , 1 1 will go and see his wisdom, whether he be wise or not/ ”

R. Jeremiah said (l * The Queen of Sheba," addressing Solomon, said to him, 1 1 have heard of thee and thy wisdom; if now I inquire of thee concerning any matter, wilt thou answer me? 1 He replied, * The Lord giveth wisdom : out of His mouth eometh knowledge and understanding* 1 She then said to him : (1} * Seven there are that issue and nine that enter : two yield the draught, and one . drinks. 1 Said he to her, i Seven are the days of a woman's defilement, and nine the months of.pregnancy ; two are the breasts that yield the draught, and one the child that drinks it. 1 Whereupon she said to him i Thou art wise/ (2) Then she questioned him further: l A woman said to her son, thy father is my father, and thy grandfather my husband ; thou art my son, and I am thy sister/ 1 Assuredly/ said he, ‘it was the daughter of Lot who spake thus to her son/ (3) She placed before him a number of males and females, and said, 1 Distinguish now between them/ Forthwith he made a sign to the eunuchs, who brought him a quantity of nuts and roasted ears of corn. The males, who were not troubled with bashfulnessj seized them with bare hands, the females took them putting forth their gloved hands from beneath their garments. Whereupon he exclaimed, t Those are the males, these the females/ (4) She brought to him a number of persons, some circumcised and others uneirenincised, and asked him to distinguish between them. He instantly made a sign to the high priest, who opened the ark of the cove riant; whereupon those that were circumcised bowed their bodies to half their height, while their countenances were filled, with the radiance of the Shechinah ; the uncircumcised fell prone upon their faces* * Those/ said he, f are circumcised, these uncjrcumcised/ 1 Thou art indeed wise, she exclaimed. (5) She put other questions to him, to aU of which he gave replies. f Who is he who neither was born nor has died? 1 £ It is the Lord of the Universe, blessed be He/ (6) 1 What land is that tha£ has but

Rabbinic ileraiure. 355

1 *

once seen the sun ? 1 £ The land upon which (after the creation) the waters were gathered, and (the bed of the sea on) the clay when the sea was divided.* (7) "There is an enclosure with ten doors, when one is open, nine are shut ; when nine are open, one is shut/ ‘That enclosure is the womb ; the ten doors are the ten orifices of man—his eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth, the apertures for the discharge of the excreta and the urine, and the navel; when the child is in the embryonic state, the navel is open and the other orifices are closed, but when it issues (from the womb) the navel is closed, and the others are opened. (8) ‘(There is something which when) living moves not, yet when its head is cut off it moves? 1 1 It is the ship in the sea’ (the living tree has no motion, the trunk from which the crowning branches have been severed supplies the material for the moving vessel). (9) * Which are the three that neither ate, nor drank, nor had breath put into them, yet saved three lives from death? 1 ‘The seal, the thread and the staff (of Judah)* arc those three, and the Jives they saved were Tamar, Pharez, and ZarahJ (ro) ‘Three entered a cave, and five came forth therefrom? 1 ‘Lot and his two daughters, and their two children. 1 (11) ‘The dead lived, the grave moves, and the dead prays; what is that? 1 ‘The dead one was Jonah; the moving grave, the fish; Jonah was also the one that prayed. 1 (12) ‘ Who were the three that ate and drank on the earth, yet were not born of male and female? 1 ‘The three angels who revealed' themselves to our father Abraham* peace be unto him. (13) * Four entered a place of death and came forth alive, an^l two entered a place of life and came forth dead ? 1 ‘The.four were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariali ; and the two who entered a place of life and came forth dead were Nadab and AbihM (14) ‘ Who was he who was born and died not? 1 ‘Elijah and the Messiah. 1 (15) 1 What was that which was not bom, yet life was given to it ? J ‘ The (golden) calf. 1 (16) f What is that which is produced from the ground, yet man produces it, while its food is of the fruit of the ground ? 3 ‘AwickJ (17) f A woman was wedded to two, and bare two sons, yet these four had one father ? 3 ‘ Tamar was married by two, Er and 0 nan ; she bore two (sons), Pharez and Tarah ; and the father of (all) four was Judah. 1 (i£) ‘A house Ml of dead; no dead one ,came among ,th eni ? nor did a living one come forth from them ?’ ■ ‘It is the story of Samson and the Philistines. 1 (19) She next ordered the sawn (trunk of a) cedar tree to be brought, and asked him to point out which (end) the root had been and at which the brandies. He bade her cast It into the water, when one end sank*and the other floated upon the surface of the water. That # part which sank was the root, and that which remained uppermost

A A 2

was the branch end. Then she said to him, f Thou exceedest in ivisdom and goodness the fame which f heard, blessed be thy God* 1 Therefore it is said, * And the Lord gave wisdom unto Solomon. 1 ’

The chief critical problem of interest in connection with these Riddles is to trace how far they occur In other Jewish or Eastern sources. The following notes bearing on this side of the subject may perhaps be of service to students of folk-lore, who seem to an outsider to be more interested in parallels than In originals. Rabbinic ligature, which is in a large measure one vast system of parallel ought to offer them wide scope for their study.

With regard to the separate Riddles, there is in the Midrash on Lamentations,ch, I, a parallel to Riddle r. In Pedes’ work, • Zur Rahbinischm Sprach- und Sagenkunde i p. 97, note r, Persian parallels are also given. Riddle 2 is of a genealogical character,and so arc Riddles ro and 17. The study of the forbidden degrees in marriage may have encouraged the discussion of such questions. See, for instance, the Talmud of Babylon, Ycbamoth, gb. As to Riddle 3, on which there was a question in Folk-Lore journal vit, p. 316, besides this version four others are known, put together by the late Prof Delitzsch in bis work, Iris* (Edinburgh, 1889), of which we give here a brief extract Tw6 arc of Mahomedan origin. According to one: “The boys and girls he thus distinguished; when, according to the usual custom in the harems, water was brought to be poured on their hands, the girls received it in the palm, the boys on the backs of their hands/ 1 According to the other: “ The boys lifted the hand, on which the water was poured, immediately to their face, whereas the girls - first filled the right hand with the water falling on the left, and then washed the face with both hands at once/ 1 In the Byzantine version, as related by Georgius Cedrenus and Michael Glykas, the male children, when commanded , to wash themselves, u rubbed their faces with right .good will, the females gently and timidly.” In another version, again^ Solomon distinguished between the boys and girls by the

fact that “the former washed their faces like men without

* t

more ado, white the latter, with characteristic prudery, would scarcely touch the water with the tips of their fingers."

As to the authorities for these different sources, they are fully discussed by Delitzsch (/. e. } 154-id^ where the reader will find also many Interesting points about the migration of this legend in the Wisdom literature, and the use which • artists and poets have made of It 1 With regard to the solution of the 4th Riddle; it Is based on the.Je\yish belief that those who were not brought into the covenant of Abraham are so overpowered by any strong manifestation 1 of the divine presence that they lose the use of their limbs and fall down. This is supposed to be proved by Balaam, the non-Jewish prophet, of whom it Is said in the Scripture:

“ Whichsaw the vision of the Almighty falling into a trance " (Numbers, xxiv). For Riddle 7 we have partial parallels in . Nedarim 32 b y Ntddah 32 b, and elsewhere. The completest parallel is to be found in the Appendix to A dm- Viraf* nmmt} ed. E. W. West. (See Perles, lib. city pp. 9$ and 99, and notes.) In Riddle 13 the MSS. vary, but the d ffferencc Is not material, as may be seen by the translation which ’was made In this place after On 2331. The word Darnel\ though it is to be found in all MSS., must be a^pribed to-a slip .of the copyist, being accustomed, from his frequent reading of the Bible, to mention these four names together. With regard to Riddle 14, it is to be noticed that other Jewish sources speak of nine or thirteen, persons who have not died. See Epstein's Beitriigc , p. in, where all the parallels are put together. The solution of Riddle 15 is based on the legend according to which the magicians Yannes and Yambros (sec 2 Tim. ill, 8, and com- , mentarles, and Levy, Chaid. Worterb., 337), who belonged to the mixed multitude which went up with the Israelites from Egypt, managed by their charms to make the gold calf speak According to other versions, it was Satan him-

1 There is also much of interest and value in A. Wuensche, Die R(iih$el'wei$heU (kr alien Ihbrao\

358, ■ ’ The Riddles of Solomon.

* *

self who went Into the calf and spoke (see Tanchmnd to Exod* xxxii, 1, and the Targum of Jerusalem to the same verse. Riddle 16 reminds us very much of the 2nd Riddle in the version of the Second Targum, which has been translated and fully treated by P* Cassel in his Commentary on Esther , pp. 2S3 and 2S4. This fact may* perhaps, suggest that our version once contained all the Riddles of the, Second Targum, as it has all the Riddles of the Midrash, which will prove that none of all these versions is complete in its present form* The MSS. contain here an Arabic gloss, the translations of which I owe to the 1 kindness of Dr. Neubaucr, It runs thus: “Men plait the wick and then light it, for if it had not been plaited it would * not burn evenly. Therefore it is considered as if men had created it, z.e> } made it*” Riddle 19 was probably suggested , by I Kings, v, 33. (See the excellent remarks of Dr* Jellinek on this point, in liis introduction to the fifth volume of his’ Beth Hmnmidraslf p* lv.)

We think that the foregoing remarks, as well as the few . words which we have interpolated in round brackets h^re and there in the translation, will suffice to make the text intelligible to the reader The parallels from non-Jewish sources we leave to others, and we have no doubt that they also will furnish the folk-lorist with interesting matter. See, for instance, the Dialogue of Solomon and Satumus, by Kemble, p* 199, Riddle 5 and Riddle 6, in our version* There are also many points in the introduction to Kemble’s book which will have to be corrected after the researches of Steinschneider and others on the subject The' story of a Man from Jerusalem, which is attributed to R. Abra♦ ham Maiirmn, must also not be neglected by the student We can only hope that Mr. Jacobs, who has equal mastery both of Jewish and non-Jewish sources, will soon find, the leisure, to favour us with a new edition of the Dialogue*

• f *

S, Schechter.

Chinese Folk-Lore

J. H. Stewart Lockhart

HE accompanying notes in various topics of Chinese

1 folk-1 oi-e are, without exception, translations made by myself from the Chang Ngoi San Po, one of the Chinese daily papers, published in Hong Kong. The editor of that journal discussed in the columns of his paper the various subjects- of folk-lore tabulated by the Folk-Lore Society, and translated by me into Chinese, and the.translations which are now published are made from the articles which appeared. It would be well if the example now set by the Chinese press in Hong Kong were followed by our press at home. Folk-lore investigations would be much assisted by 'the aid of tlie press, and especially the provincial press ; and I woul'd suggest for the consideration of the Council of the Society the advisability of "taking steps to secure the co-pperation of the press in furthering the objects of the Society.

Before, however, doing this, the Council should, I humbly submit, devise a better and more thorough system of local secretaries than at present exists. Instead of there being a local secretary for a country, there should be at Past one or two secretaries for each county. Folk-lore is a ‘subject interesting to many, and there should be no difficulty in securing persons willing to act and—better still-— to work. Through the local secretaries the press could be approached, and with the aid of both, it must be evident that the ’Society would be materially strengthened, and more capable of fulfilling its objects at home.

As regards the field abroad it sadly requires cultivating. Speaking from experience, I feel sure that the Society, with a little trouble, could secure that assistance from

residents abroad which is now so conspicuous by its absence, and which renders the study of comparative folk-lore so difficulty and unsatisfactory.

Fung Si-iui, or Geoiiancy.

In Sui Pui, in the district of Shuntak, Kwafigtiing Pr6-> vince, there is a monumental gateway in an uninhabited part of the country which is said to resemble in shape a rat-trap. It is related that the crops in the neighbourhood having failed for several seasons in succession, the aid of the geomancers was invoked in order to discover the reason. After carefully considering the surround frigs of the place, they found that the hills opposite to where the crops were grown presented the appearance of a rat. This rat, they said, devoured the crops, so they advised the construction of a rat-trap to prevent its depredations. No sooner was the rat-trap erected than the crops yielded grain in abundance.

In Lung Shan, Kwangtung Province, in front of the ancestral temple of the Wan family, is a fish and shrimp market, which omits an odour by no means pleasant to the nostrils. The geomancers say that the appearance of the country resembles a crane; that fish and shrimps are the food of cranes ; and that, therefore, the prosperity of the inhabitants can be prognosticated from the prosperity or otherwise of the market.

In King-sai, if a pregnant woman dies before she has given birth to her offspring, it is supposed that the ghost of the unborn child returns to demand the life of a newly boin infant. On this account, on the birth of the .child, the mother is carefully watched by women inside her room, whilst males keep strict guard outside. At the same time a youth is made to stare with fixed eyes at thaspotin which the ghost is supposed to be secreted, while others

drive it away- If these precautions are not taken, it is popularly believed that mother and child will fall victims to the ghost’s desire.

If a mother.dies in child-birth, and the child lives, there is a belief that the ghost of the mother will return to the house and, taking the child in its arms, cause its death. To avoid this, a white fotvl is procured and kept in the house, while at the same time the child is nursed by members of the family night and day. If the ghost returns* the white fowl is handed to it, and it at once departs. Next day a visit is made to the mother’s grave. If there is a hole in it, the ghost never comes back ; if no hole can be found, another fowl must be purchased to be given to the ghost when it revisits’the] house, and this must be repeated until the hole can be seen.

«

Goblin dom.

* * *

A certain fair maiden was betrothed to a man who, being suddenly visited by a serious illness, was anxious that the marriages should take place before he died. The maiden, however, refused Before long the man died, and the maiden married some one else. But as soon as the wife appeared before her husband her head became much larger than its normal size, her face turned blue, and her teeth projected like swords. In fact, she presented such a frightful appearance that her husband fled on beholding it, and though they were married for several years, husband and wife never exchanged a word.

In High Street, Canton, there is a house which is said to be haunted by the ghost of the wife of a salt-monopolist The salt-monopolist was arrested for peculation of public moneys, and this so affected his wife that she committed suicide by hanging herself She is said to have committed the deed arrayed in a red robe, with dishevelled hair, and in front of a looking-glass, and It is now reported that the

house is haunted by her ghost, which presents a most savage appearance and pursues people 1

In a village in the Canton Province there is a temple, the idol in which has its face turned towards the wall and its back to the entrance. The legend explaining the peculiar position of the idol is as follows. A certain person, who belonged to the village, had just returned frotn abroad, having acquired, while in distant regions, the sorcerer's art. Some of the villagers remembered hi w, and consequently, when one of the neighbours was giving a house-warming, he was not among the invited. His wife/ who felt the slight, jeered at his powers of sorcery, seeing that they could not even succeed in getting them an invitation to a dinner. Incited to action by these remarks; the sorcerer bade his wife take a bamboo and place it transversely inside the house, and hold a white and blagk handkerchief in her hand. The banqueters were at this time in the midst of their cups, when they pvere suddenly startled by beholding a large white snake with its he 5 d hanging down from the main beam of the house, its eyes glittering, and thrusting out its tongue, which ( appeared like a sword, and by seeing another black snake.

The Magician of Sai-n&m.

There was a certain man. around whose left arm was always wound a yellow cloth, which was never removed, and who was well known to be possessed of the power of magic. On one occasion he arrived at the town of Sat-ndm, which is situated on a river, along the banks of which were anchored junks discharging their cargoes of rice. One of the rice coolies was a man of gigantic strength, who could carry three sacks of rice at once. While he was descending the gangway with a load some of his fellow emyloy'es* tilted it aside in fun, in order to give him a tumble. Uufortu-

1 The Chinese believe that the ghosts of persons who commit suicide in front of a looking-glass are fiercer on that account,

•L ¥

nately, however, his load fell on him, and he was killed on* the*spot. The magician comforted the coolies, who were much agitated, by telling them that lie would make matters right, and commanded them to wrap up the deceased in the bedding he was accustomed to use, and place him on a bed. This done, he wrote a magic spoil

1 and recited an incantation, when the deceased coolie began to show signs of life, and, pulling off the quilt in which he had been wrappedarose as if nothing had happened.

About the same time as the incident at 3ai-nam occurred the house of a certain rich man was infested by an evil demon. Without any apparent reason the house took fire; clothes were burnt, money was lost, his wives and concubines were harassed, and as soon as the lid was

* removed from the rice-pan the food In it was at once rendered uneatable by some dirt falling into the pan. Magicians were engaged to put an end to these evils, but the demon; knife, in hand, chased them away. The magician of Sai-nam was also Invited to lend his services, but always refused. The rich man tried to escape the evil by moving to a distant place, but without avail, for the demon followed in his train. At length a relation of the magician of Sai-nam undertook, for a handsome consideration, to

\ induce the magician of Sai-nam to get rid of the pest, and, by continually harping on the contempt in which the demon held the magician's powers, finally persuaded him to exercis# his arts in order to drive It away. The magioian and his relations proceeded to the rich man's house together, and, just as they were about to enter, the ; door closed^ and the magician was caught in it, but was at once freed on unwinding the yellow cloth from his left arm. The battle between magician and demon commenced, and was carried on for three days, the demon still

* remaining unconquered, and mocking his adversary by advising him to study his art for a few years more if he wanted to be victorious. The magician in despair sent for his master r whn loudly upbraided him for having listened

• ' ZW 7 '

•to the persuasive words*of his relations and having fallen into this snare without having first carefully considered the circumstances of the case. He then went on to explain that the rich man’s house was haunted, not by a demon, but by himself on account of its owner havipg forcibly robbed another person’s wife and forced her to become his concubine ; and that only by repentance and by compensating the injured husband could the rich man free himself from the evil influence that had dogged his steps. This the rich man was only too ready to acquiesce in, and when he had vowed repentance and made restitution to diiih whom he had wronged, his house was restored to peace, and he breathed freely once more, -

The Fair of Fair Maidens,

In Chan Fan, in the Kwangtung Province, there is a temple dedicated to the three maidens, which is built by the side of a riven In ordinary times it is almost deserted,, but in the first decade of the third moon the maidens of Lung Shan repair to it to worship in large numbers. After their devotions are over they sit ori the temple steps, and allow themselves to be gazed at and criticised by the onlookers, who gather in crowds—fathers to select suitable , brides for their sons, and sons to enjoy the attractive* scene. Males are not allowed to cross the river, but are only permitted to gaze from the other side. Any infraction of this regulation is met by repeated strokes from the rattan of the police who keep guard.

Fire,

In Kwongsai, in the event of a fire, the goods of the people who have been burnt out of house and home are refused shelter by their friends and neighbours until the god of fire has been driven away. It would be considered unlucky, and likely to bring about disaster, if they acted otherwise.

Marriage.'

„

In the village of Kun Kong, in the Nam Hoi district, K\yangtung Province, males marry at the age of twenty, and girls at the age of eighteen, A few days after the marriage the bride returns to her mother's family, and during the first and second years of. the marriage returns to her husband's home on four nights only. On the' 14th of the eighth moon and the 30th of the twelfth moon she goes to her husband's house, returning on the mornings of the 16th of the eighth moon and 2nd of the first moon. In the third and fourth years of the marriage she also sometimes visits her husband for two nights.at the Ts'ing Ming, or winter festivals. Oh the occasion of a marriage or death in the husband's family, the hifsband sends for his wife, and she lives with him for a night or two. If the wife has no child she will not live with her husband for good until five, six, and even eight or ten years have elapsed. It is stated, as a result of this custom, that the men of Kun Kong are long-lived, any person dying at fifty being considered short-lived ; that the affection ■ between man and wife is very strong, a wife refusing to marry again if her first husband dies before her; and that concubinage is almost unknown.

In the prefecture of Ug Chan and the district of Ts'am, in the province of Kwongsai, the women arise early in the morning and go to the hills to cut wood, afterwards selling it in the market, while their husbands remain at home attending to the household and children. As a consequence of this a widow is prized more highly as a wife than a maiden, as she is more experienced and able to do more work, if a woman loses her husband and marries, again, the parents of her former husband have no scruples about receiving betrothal money when she marries.

When the bride ascends the bridal sedan she wears a hat of paper, and an old woman who has sons and grandsons holds an .umbrella over her. A man carries a bamboo

366 Chinese polk-Lore.

, 4 ' V v , •

sieve containing, rice, which he scatters as he proceeds along the road.

On the third day after marriage a ceremony called u washing the feet 3J takes place. It consists in the bride washing the feet of her mother-in-law, and is supposed"to be a sign that the mother-in-law will be no longer troubled with domestic affairs.

The Goddess of Mercy and Her TreasurV; 1 •

At the season when the Goddess of Mercy is supposed to open her treasury, matrons and maidens repair to her shrine to pray for riches. Some deposit gold and silver paper-money in her treasury as a provision against expenses in the other world, while others deposit reahmoney and pray for increase of riches.

In Lung Shan, on the Kam Tsy Hill, in the Kwangtung Province, there is a temple dedicated to the Goddess of Mercy, with a thousand steps leading up to it When the goddess opens her treasury, women repair to the temple, dressed in their finest garbs, and adorned with their most precious jewellery. Arrived at the steps, they scat themselves down, while their attendants run up and down looking for her who may be most conspicuous for her array. If anyone is found more handsomely adorned than the' others, the servant reports to her mistress, who at once 4 arises and seats herself by the side of the person whose raiment and jewels appear to be the finest, in order that she may contrast her own with them. This‘is called “a contest of riches” *" #

The Bob-tailed Dragon of Kwai Fung , Shan, San-at.

In the Kwai Fung Mountains in San-ni, Kwangtung Province, lives a bob-tailed dragon. When iP comes forth from its retreat, storms of wind and rain immediately arise and many buildings are destroyed. The story of how this

dragon was reared is as follows, * Li Chung-kan, alias Maw* mg, whet] a boy was one day going to school. Seeing a small shake on the roadside, he picked it up and put It in Ills sleeve. Arrived at the school, he placed it In a drawer until he went home, when he took it with him. Arrived at his house, he carefully hid it under his bed, This he continued to do every day, feeding the snake morning and evening, until at last it became quite attached to him. His pet was, however, ultimately discovered by his teacher, who ordered him to let it loose on the Kwai Fung Hill, He; did as he was told, but, though released, the snake ■kept coming back to Li Chung-kan's house to be fed, or Chung-lean used to repair to the hillside to feed it there. As time*went on, the snake and his master became fullgsown, and as LI Chung-kan had to go to the capital to attend the examinations, they had to part Before leaving, however, Chung-kan had some wheat planted at the foot of the hill, and told the snake that it could live on it, but that it must not injure any living thing, and that, if it acted in accordance with his directions, he could ensure its ultimately ascending to heaven as a dragon, Chung-kan was successful in his examinations, and, having obtained his degree, returned to his home to worship his ancestors. On his arrival the snake was falsely accused of having devoured animals belonging to the neighbourhood and of being a great pest to the district. These reports so incensed Chung-kan, that he seized a knife, and, going to the retreat of the snake, cut off its tail. Hence the name it now bears,

4 rf the bob-tailed dragonC

On one occasion a distinguished scholar was paying a visit tp the head of the Taoist sect, " the Preceptor of Heaven/ 1 in order to consult him as to a lucky day for putting in the main beam of a house he was building. While they were engaged in conversation, a visitor was announced, and a ferocious-looking person, dressed in the guise of a Tamen runner, entered. The head’ of the Taoist sect asked the scholar to withdraw while he

received the new arrival* After they had been engaged in conversation for some time, he heard “ the Precept01 of Heaven" say, “ Although such is heaven’s decree, you must deal with a lenient hand with a view to your own happiness" After the visitor had retired, the scholar inquired who the person was to whom such respect had been shown. The Heavenly Preceptor replied that he was the dragon of the Kwai Fung Hill, and that he had come to inform him that heaven was about to visit the province of Kwangtung with a great disaster, the carrying out of which had been , entrusted to the “ bob-tailed dragon”.

■ The Cantonese firmly believe in the existence of this fabulous monster, and regard it as the instrument of violent storms, etc.

J. H. Stewart Lockhart.’

The Campbell of Islay MSS.

Alfred Nutt

AT THE

ADVOCATES' LIBRARY\ EDINBURGH

T TOOK advantage of an Easter holiday-trip to Edin1 burgh to devote a few hours to the examination of a portion of the MSS. bequeathed to the Advocates' Library by the late J. R Campbell, the collector and editor of the Popular Tales from the West Highlands): and of the Leahhair na Fcinne. I reckoned that to work carefully through those MSS. bearing upon folk-lore and upon Celtic antiquities, and, by indexing them, to render their contents accessible to students, would require at least a month's steady labour. The following notes must thus only be considered as an attempt to draw the attention of folk-lorists to this mine of umvorked matter; and no conclusion respecting the richness and value of the collection must be drawn from my silence respecting those portions which I had not time to examine. I may say at once, however, that the hopes I entertained of finding English versions of the many variants and unpublished tales to which Campbell refers in the P, were not realised. I came across a considerable deal of unpublished English, but chiefly stories about fairies, local and clan traditions. How many of the unpublished Gaelic tales, of which a list is given at the end of P> T., voh iv, may be found in the collection I cannot of course say, but l incline to believe very few. It would thus appear that, besides the MSS. in the Advocates 1 Library, there must be another batch elsewhere. If this is so, I would appeal to the owner to allow examination at the hands of a competent Gaelic scholar.

1 Cited as P, T. throughout this article,

fi B

VOL I.

The MSS. interesting to the folklorist fall into four classes:—

(a.) The JOURNALS, which I was not able to do more than glance at cursorily, but which would repay attentive study.

(A) A volume lettered “ Oral Mythology .

This MS., completed in 1870, was offered for publication to Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co., and refused by them in a letter dated July 1, 1S70. The author looked through it in 1S77, and noted that it would be unadvisable to publish it as it stood. In 1881 he again looked through it, and noted that it contained “ honest, hard work”. There is no Index, only a brief list of contents, which I transcribe as some indication of the nature and scope of the work. The figures in brackets, giving the number of pages allotted to each subject, are Campbell's:

Tradition and Mythology (s)- —Aryan Myth (8). Current British Myth, Migration of Stories {45).—Eggs, Mythology, Kalewala, Edda (25).—Telegu Selections {3).—Indian Mythology in Ancient Sculptures ( ),—American Mythology ( ).—Ser-

pents ^ Languages (44),—Water, etc. (17).—Birds and Air

(27).—-Stories (18)*— Beasts and Earth (54).— Lion, etc. (18).— Philosophy (9);

thus making a total of 273 pages, exclusive of the cancelled numbers. The pages arc not numbered, and I had no time to check Campbell's calculation, but 1 should roughly estimate the total number of pages at 350, equal to a similar number of fairly closely printed demy octavo pages.

In the last quarter of the volume l noted an unpublished Highland mar c hen 3 entitled The Black Horse^ of which the following is a very brief abstract:

A king dies, and after a year his property is divided) and the youngest son (hero) gets a “limping white garrorf. He sets forth on his travels and meets a mysterious stranger, who proposes to give him for his white garron a black horse having this property : “there is no place you can think of in the four parts of the wheel of the wwld that he will not take you there. Hero accepts, and forthwith wishes himself in the realm of Under

The Campbell of Islay MSS. 37 t

Waves, by the prince of which he is bespellcd to go seek the King of Greece’s daughter. Hero effects this by inducing the Greek princess to get up behind him on the black horse. The princess delays the wedding by calling for different objects which the hero has to fetch, These are: (r) silver cup, (2) black silk hood locked within seven doors, (3) pair of shoes of light, (4) silver ring. To accomplish this last quest the hero, mounted upon his black horse, has to leap from a mountain of snow to one of ice, from thence through one of fire, and the horse must swim through a loch which takes fire and blazes. When this is done the hero has to make a castle, compared to which that of King Under Waves is but "washing water”, and finally to dig a well in the courtyard of the castle. Down this the princess induces the king to look, pushes him in, and weds the hero. After three years the latter minds him of the black horse, beheads him at the horse’s command, whereupon he turns into the Greek princess’s brother.

Campbell justly remarks of this tale that it is imperfect; the magic articles won by the hero should serve him in the fulfilment of the succeeding tasks.

Whilst only able to examine this volume cursorily, I yet gree with the author’s 1877 estimate, that it would not do to publish it as it stands. But it contains a deal of interesting matter, and should be studied by anyone purposing to write a general treatise upon folk-lore. It is much to be regretted that Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co. should not have seen their way to publish it in 1870, as it would have materially hastened the progress of research.

(r.) West Highland Tales, 17 volumes (16 very stout 4to., one thin 4to.),

These volumes contain the original MSS. of Campbell’s collection, the press transcripts of same, the corrected proofs and revises, letters relating to same, newspaper cuttings and other matter, bound together without pagination and without index. As some of these volumes must contain upwards of a thousand different leaves, it will easily be understood what time a thorough overhauling of their contents would require.

37 2

I tested the first volume, i-xvi of P. T., in. half a dozen places, and I could not find that it contained the full text of the variants which Campbell cites or summarises.

Vols. ii-ix are of the same character, to judge from a very hasty inspection.

Vol. x opens with a cancelled list of fifty-one tales, followed by a new list of 224 tales, with provenance, nairator and brief characterisation of certain stories. These lists differ from the ones at end of P. T. iv. Then comes a very miscellaneous English collection of short tales,- proverbs and folk-lore jottings, amongst them the opening of Koisha Kayn (from John Campbell, who had it from a very old man who knew the twenty-four tales making up the cycle), The remainder of the volume is in Gaelic, and may contain the full text of some of the unpublished versions.

Vol. xi, which is of the same character, but with less English, is lettered “Index”, but though I searched carefully I could find none.

Vol xli contains unpublished Gaelic poems.

Vol xiii at once attracted my attention. It is lettered “English collection. Published and unpublished, copied out 1S60.” A brief description of this volume will show how difficult examination is/ The bulk of it is formed by Miss Dempsters S u tli er land shire collection (since published in these pages, K-L. J. t vol vi), comprising 120 numbers ; but this is interleaved {not interpaged) with two other scries, one of which must have consisted of fifty-seven numbers, as there is a MS. list of contents to that effect at the beginning of the volume, but I could only find Nos. i-iS and Nos* 25-57, whilst of Miss Dempster's collection, which is in two differently paged series, Nos, 1-79 one series seem to be missing. The fifty-seven No. list is of much the same character as Miss Dempster's. At the end of the volume is a miscellaneous assortment of matter, chiefly fairy lore and local tradition, but some tales; amongst them what is apparently the full Gaelic text of a version of the Battle of the Birds, different from the one in F, T* Portions

of Campbell's diary seem to have got bound up in this volume by mistake, instead of with the Journals, and give fascinating glimpses of his method of collecting. The volume closes with a list of 170 English stones, quite different from the one in vol x.

Vols. xiv-xvi do for the Introduction and Notes what vols. i-ix do for the Tales, ie,, bring together author's MS., scribe's transcript, proofs, revise, letters, reviews, etc.

Vol. xvit is lettered G'Cein's Leg, 1870-71. It contains the fullest version as yet collected in the Highlands, running to 142 pages of MS, taken down by Hector MacLean from Lachlan MacNeilL 1 2 The Gaelic text is followed by fourteen pages of English abstract I n view of the great interest of this tale, I copied out the pith of this abstract, and give it here, with constant reference to Mr. Maclnnes's version with my notes. 3 The abstract is preceded by a list of the chief characters in the story of O'Ccin’s Leg.

In the framework.

1. King of Ireland,

2 * Son and Successor,

3, 4 1 His Foster-Father and his Magic Wife.

5. O’Ceirt, 4 the wicked treasurer whose leg is broken.

In the stories told.

6, 5 6 The King of Loch I an n, who does nothing and never appears.

1 I do not know if this is the old man referred to supra , p. 372, as possessing the twenty-four tales of the cycle.

2 Folk and Hero Tales from Argyllshire* Text and Translation, pp. 206277 Notes, pp. 464-473. I shall refer to this version as Mel.j and to that of Mr, Campbell of Tiree (d. Tales , 465) as /. G , C.

3 These first four personages are apparently missing in both Mcl and /. G * C, which have different openings. In both of these a King of Ireland appears with wife and son, and is identified with Brian

Born, but the connection seems different.

1 O'C, is not a treasurer in either Mcl or /. G , C

6 Only mentioned in Mcl and / G. C

6a. His daughter, who does nothing particular, but is carried off and recovered 4

I 7 4 Macan an Athainain, his son, who tells stories, and cures J O’Cein’s legs with them,

{ S. 1 * 3 A Ghil Ghreine (Sunbright), his wife, carried off by 9. 4 Macabh Mdr, who is slain by 17,

^ 1 o, 5 * 7 8 * Calpach, eldest son of 7-S, who marries \ ii> Athan uchd sholais (Breast of Light), who is carried off by is; Macan 11a Foraise fiadhaich, who marries nobody, and from whom she is taken by

13J Righ an Dpmhain, from whom she is recovered by 10, 12, 19, 23, 30, the allies.

J 14G Germ Shuil, son of y-S, who marries 1 15, Youngest daughter of iG.* The Man of the Flapping Grey Cassock,

17. 10 Macan an uaigneas, third son of y* the mysteriousJove* \ child who appears in so many stories. He marries

^ iS, Nighean righ an talamh iscal (the daughter of the King of v the Lowlands),

These chief actors ham adventures with *

j 19, Macabh mdr mac righ Sorachain, married to l 20. the daughter of a king,

21. The King of Siginn, who does nothing here,

(22. His twenty-four sons married to ( 23. the twenty-four dau hlers of 13,

24, The King of the Lowlands (? Netherlands), father of iS, who tells one story to

1 Together with his wife, according to both the other versions.

- McL) Macan an Athar; J. Q. C,, Manus Mor.

a McL and J: C ♦ C, daughter of the King of the Great Universe.

1 Mcf.y a big, big man ; f G. C n a man who carries her in the palm of his hand,

5 Me I ., M acan-n a- Sge ithe- D e ir ge,

0 Does not appear in either McL or /, G , C>

7 12 and 13 do not figure either in J. G * C, or McL

8 McL y Macan-na-Fallume-Flitiche \ unnamed inf G , C*

0 15 and 16 do not figure in the other two versions.

10 Same name in McL; unnamed in /. G. C,

25. the big black man who wants the story.

26. The big giant of the one eye, brother of 25, and slain by 24.

27. The stepmother? ea€ ij anters belonging to 24.

28. The Harper )

29. Art nan Casan Comiallach (a king of whom I have not

heard till now), who only appears to be slain*

30 . 1 2 Druapaehj who is an ally ; a kind of bard and henchman, herald, guide, pilot, and master-of-arms to Calpach.

Abstract of Story*

1* Heroine, as hare, jumps up behind hero; they marry; forthwith the landscape, from a barren waste, becomes fertile land. The King is invited against the wife’s advice* O’Cein, the Treasurer, insults the wife* The country at once changes back to its former condition, and (TCem's leg is broken into twentyfour bits.

2. Story of the Captain about an island which cures hurts. O’Cein is put there; after being dragged round it, is left 3 A man comes to heal him,

3. who tells of a church, and how his mother and sister were carried off,

4. of the pursuit after them, how Sunbright was rescued from a rock in the middle of the sea, and how the narrator slew the knight of the red shield.

5. Of the carrying off of Sunbright, and how, after seven years, the narrator pursues with his two sons. They part at three roads, and

6. a third son is born to narrator. For eighteen years the narrator and the two elder sons dwell at the cross-roads. The third son then comes, overcomes his two half-brothers, nearly overcomes his father, is recognised, and all four set off to rescue Sunbright, the youngest son slaying the giant who had carried her off*

7. Adventures of the youngest son; he games against a black man and wins maiden, horse, and dog on three successive days*

1 1S-30 do not figure in the other two versions.

2 Similar incident in /* G. C, hut not in Mcl

3 . The madden is the daughter of the King of the Lowlands. She warns her husband not to continue gaming, but he does so, loses, and is be spelled to get

9, the story of the giant of the one eye and a bone of his bones. By his wife's advice the hero goes to his father, the King of the Lowlands, and gets the story, which is as follows: The King and his brethren had been changed by their stepmother into wolves, and forced to an island, when narrator eats his brethren from hunger,-swims ashore, is hunted by his father's hounds, rescued, twice accused of devouring stepmother's children, third time watches and seizes monstrous black hand, tears it out at shoulder, follows up monster's trail, slays one-eyed giant, and recovers children. Stepmother and witch are burnt.

Hero returns home with this story and a bone of the monster, and, following his wife's counsel, slays the black man, brother of the one-eyed giant.

10. Adventures of Calpach, the second son.

11. How he carries off Breast of Light,

12. who is carried off by a big man. Calpach follows, overcomes King of Siginn's son and

13. warrior who had carried off Breast of Light, who

14. in the meantime had been carried off by the Emperor of the Universe. Calpach, Prince of Siginn and warrior set off in pursuit.

15. They challenge the King of the Universe, who gives up Breast of Light to Calpach, and his twenty-four daughters to the twenty-four sons of the King of Siginn.

16. Adventures of Gormshuil, the eldest son, and how he married the daughter of the Man with Flapping Grey Cassock. He picks up a servant, and falls in love with a maiden, who tells him

17. how her brother had been carried off by a sea monster, and might only be rescued by Gormshuil (Blue-eyes). The latter rescues the brother and weds the maiden, but she tells him he would fall in love with a harper's widow. So it falls out; but, after different adventures, hero and heroine are reunited.

1S. Blue-eyes, beaten at stone-throwing by a hag, is sent off by her in quest of the head of Art nan Casan Connallach, By help of his servant, he accomplishes this and returns home.

19. The twenty-four bits of the leg are now replaced, and the King of Loclilann takes CPGein back to Ireland. Apparently three hundred years had passed, and O'Cein was only recollected as a bad man. He repents > everything changes back, and G’Cein remains Treasurer to the end of his days.

Campbell notes that he can only make nineteen tales in all, whereas there should be twenty-four secondary ones for each broken bit On comparing this with the two printed versions, the portion common to all three, the opening and the adventures of the King of Lochlanns son, would seem to be shorter; but the after-part, the adventures of the three sons, is only found in MacNetlPs version. As Campbell points out, the adventures of Calpach are very similar to those of Conall Gulban. I may add that the story told by the King of the Lowlands is almost precisely similar to one of the episodes in “ How the Great Tuairsgcul was put to death/' 1

The English extract is followed by Gaelic versions sent by the Rev. J. G. Campbell of Tiree, one of which he has since published and translated.

The first page of this volume has an interesting vignette photograph of Campbell and Hector MacLean taking down MacNeilPs story. It is one of the best likenesses of Campbell I know.

In addition to these seventeen 4to. volumes bound in brown-red calf, there are four royal Svo. volumes bound in cloth, which are lettered West Highland Tales , But this is a mistake. The first of these four volumes is half filled by a duplicate series of proofs and revise to the P, T„ but the other half, and vols. ii-iv, are taken up by (chiefly Gaelic) local and clan traditions, genealogical memoranda, and the like.

(d.) Leabhar NA Feinne.—T here are three stout 4to. volumes lettered thus and bound in red-brown calf, which contain transcripts from which the text was printed. There are, furthermore, six thin 4to. and oblong folio 1 Scot Celt . Rev.) p. 76*

volumes also lettered thus. Of these, one lettered vol. i contains a working copy of the printed matter, which consists, as is well known, of the Gaelic texts, with brief critical introduction, and brief critical summaries and notes in English, The second volume of the work, which was to contain the general introduction and an English version, "never appeared. It was, therefore, with great curiosity that I turned to K Vol, II. MS, Introduction”. This contains a fair scribe’s-copy, but revised, amended, and added to by Campbell himself, of his proposed Introduction to the second volume of the Leabhar na Feinm . Ilis original autograph, from which this transcript was made, is also in the collection lettered L. na R, and marked in lefthand upper corner of cover-verso, a. n. 4 .

The transcript originally consisted of 177 numbered pages/increased by some 40 or 50 pages of additions, chiefly towards the end, and evidently after Campbell had been to Ireland and became better acquainted with the Irish evidence. The MS. was then continued to p. 221 (“ended Jan. 15th, 1S72; copied March 12th, 1872”), and further increased by four pages of Sect 16 (“March 22nd, 1877”) an d an unpaged Chronological Appendix of five, pages. There is a MS. List of Contents for the first twelve sections, which I transcribe, adding remaining contents :■—

Sect, I. Introduction.—Nature and Art.—Gaelic Folk-lore.— Table of Dates.—Foundation of Macphersorfs Qssian,

Sect. II. Scotch Folk-lore.

Sect III, Collecting Traditions: Method of Collection.-— Macpherson’s Fingal.—Folk-lore of Old.—Morison, Fort William, Mac Cisaig, South Uist, Mull, etc.

Sect. IV. Irish Phonology.—Letters.“Leading ^ISS,—Grammar,—Result—Book of Leinster.—Ossian Language.

Sect, V. Old Gaelic MSS. and their Contents.—Irish MS. List of Stories, 1100 a.o.—Q’D onovan’s Catalogue—H 3, 17,—Book of Leacan —h 2, 16.—Conclusion,—Fenian Poetry.

Sect. VL Later Irish MSS. (1) Fionn’s Colloquy - Language,

(a) The Fair Woman’s Hill.—The Death of Conlaoch.— l he Lay of the Heads.—Deirdre.—Fraoch.—Cormac’s Birth.—The Battle of Gabhra.—The Lay of the Great Fool. 1 —Heroic Gaelic Literature.—Conclusion,

Sect. VII. Irish MSS., Brit. Museum.

Sect. VIII. Growth of Folk-lore: Trash Bags; Sorted Rubbish.—The Festivities at .the House of Conan of Cearn Sleibhe, 1780.—A Geological Illustration.—A Breton Structure.—A Scotch Structure.—A Miniature Structure upon a large old Plan. —Irish Structure : The Dinn Seanchas.—Minglay Manners.— A Norse Structure-: The Edda — An Eastern Structure : The Arabian Nights.—A Sanscrit Structure : The Beast Epic.—Plan of Structures in the East and West.—An Irish Structure : The Book of Lis more, 1512-26.—A Medical (rm; reck mediaeval ?) Structure . O’Cein’s Leg.—A Fossil in a Structure : Conall Gulban, a.d. 464. —The Materials of the Broken Structure of O Cein s Leg.—A Scotch Structure : Ossian.—Conclusion.

Sect. IX. The Growth of Folk-lore : The Drama.

Sect. X. Folk-lore and National Epics.—Homer. National Poems and Folk-lore.

Sect. XI, Fact and Fiction.—The Aryan Theory.—Romans, Saxons, Danes, Norsemen.—Native Literature.—Kurroglou : Gaelic and Perso-Turkish Tales.—Master-thief: The Siege and Love Story.

Sect. XII. Early Scoto-Irish-Scandinavian Romantic History. Keating, etc., 1629.— Cuchullain.—Children of Usnoth, Cumhall, Fionn, Caoilte, etc.—Oisein.—O’Mahony’s Keating,—Fionn and the Feinne.—Ancient Fenian Warrior Bards. Fionn’s Pedigree. Oral Fenian Pedigree.

Sect. XIII. 2 Scoto-Irish Heroes and their Religion, A.D. 2S4-

591 (pp. 178-189). _ . . ,

Sect. XIV. Scoto-Irish Heroes in Tradition in the first-third

centuries (pp. 190-201).

Sect. XV, Ethnological and Social (pp. 202-220).

1 What the author says respecting this lay adds nothing to the information given, L «, tu F ri p- 203.

2 1 add the pagination from Sect, XIII on. The List of Contents of the first twelve sections at beginning of volume indicates the paging,

The original MS* ended on pp- 202-220, with the following Conclusion! which I transcribe in full:

“ The common Aryan traditional Gaelic history of the western parts of the British Isles is British, Scoto-Irish, and Scandinavian, from b.c, 20 and the days of Cuchullin down to Oscar, 281 j Padruig 432, Conall Gulban 464, Column Cille 558, the battle of Clontarf and Murdoch Mac Brian 1014, and Magnus 1093,

li It is natural to find common traditions on both sides of the narrow sea* and the traditions of Gaelic Scotland and of Ireland were of old and still are 1 essentially the same in fact*

“ No trace of Macpherson’s Gaelic Ossian of 1807 as a composition is known to exist on either side before 1763, when be printed a sample*

“ It is but a continuance of the manners and customs of ancestral predatory Aryan nomads, who lived in a state of ‘ war and individual action 3 , when Scotch and Irish would light all round for heroes who purport to have been chiefs amongst their common ancestors, according to their common history, romance, and tradition, preserved in dialects of their common speech,

“ The people still firmly believe in their traditional history, I think that their heroes were real men, about whom missionaries wove legends and Christians composed romances founded upon ancient traditions orally preserved/'

A sixteenth section was afterwards added (Dreams and their Interpretation) and, as already stated, a Chronological Appendix. In September 1876, Campbell went through the MS., and described it as “ needing a deal of cutting down and condensation 3 J . He had previously (May 1876) asked Messrs. Macmillan to publish the work, but, without seeing the MS*, they declined.

As far as I could judge a work of over 250 pp. of MS, in the brief time at my disposal^ I should say that it would no longer be desirable to print this Introduction as it stands. Thanks chiefly to the labours of German scholars, our knowledge of early Gaelic myth and literature has

1 Added to original transcript by Campbell

greatly increased since 1872, and in most respects more than revision would be required to bring the work up to date. But it still deserves careful study, and in 1876 it was so immeasurably ahead of anything published m this country, that its issue could not have failed to exercise a stimulating and beneficent influence upon the course of Celtic studies in these islands.

Vol. lii of this MS. series is lettered Translations. Campbell describes in a preliminary note what he has here done, as “ scraps of translation made at odd times, To translate the whole the texts contained in vol i) would be very hard and very thankless work . . , . work for a professor, not for J, F, C, the collector ” He adds: “ I know enough to be sure that the stuff corresponds to like stuff in Japan, Ceylon, and Eurasia/*

These scraps of translation are not arranged in the order of the printed text, or indeed in any order, and the volume is one of those which would best repay careful collation and indexing. In addition to the aforesaid scraps it contains numberless newspaper cuttings anent Ossiai j, and other odds and ends which it would probably be impossible to gather together again. In one place Campbell remarks upon the u common malady of his collectors, who insist upon explaining things they cannot possibly understand’*.

There are more translations in a volume bound in red, lettered L . n. jF!, and marked in left-hand upper corners A. N. 5. Campbell thus describes them in a preliminary note (dated July 22, 1871):

“It is not translation of any one version of a story told m Gaelic. It is my way of telling in English the pith of a great many versions of the same story told in Gaelic, written in short notes and stored in a good memory, trained to this sort of oral collection. Fresh from hearing the story, this version of Fionn's birth and the slaying of his father, Ctimbal, was 'written* Nobody else used to do this sort of work. It is oral heroic tradition told by the collector. I doubt if I could do it now, after ten years.”

In July 1SS1, Campbell further notes :

“ 1 mi often asked about the second vol. of Lecibhar na Feinne, This is a sample of part of the volume which probably never will be written. .... So if I were to set myself to this, I could work out vol. ii on this sort of plan. But if I did, the Irishmen would hate me for making their heroes the men of whom people tell wild tales. Nobody would read such rubbish. Nevertheless, no country in Europe has such a stock of heroic tradition as the West Highlands, orally preserved.

“ The time of the action is the first five centuries of our era, according to Irish writers.

“ I tell the story without dates, as I have learnt it orally from the poorest classes, 01ms I have got it from writings which purport to have been orally collected in Scotland from people equally

untaught. *

I have found ready help from Irish scholars and books. Nature is better than Art when Art produces popular ballads like 4 Sam HalP, and the natural man sings about his mythical

ancestors out in the wilds.” t

I think that even in iS8x Campbell was mistaken, and that he would have received more appreciative criticism at the hands of Irishmen and more welcome from the public than he looked for. At all events, if things have changed for the better in both respects, it is mainly owing to the influence of his life work.

This volume originally consisted of 74 pages folio (blue foolscap at beginning, white afterwards), but has been increased by the insertion of a number of unpaged, chiefly white, sheets of different sizes. At the beginning is a list of Contents for the original MS., which I transcribe. I had not time to draft in the additions.

“The origin of the Feinne, 3-5 (2 pages added).—-Story of Cum hall j 6-11 (8 pages added).—Fiona’s birth and “youthful exploits, 12-25.—Fionn’s baptism, 26-27* —Beast of Loch Lurgan, 28-29.—Fiomds wisdom-tooth. The fish myth, 30-33.—Fionrfs revenge, 34-37.—Fionn in the wilds, 38.—Giant sailors, 39-43.— Dragon myth, 44-54.—Bran's colour, etc,, 55-56.—Fionn’s trea-

sures and his cup, 57*—Fiona's return, 58-62.—Fiona's hunting, 63-65.—Fiona's first battles, 66-73.—Fiona's wooing, 74."

It will be seen by this that Campbell had carried out his intention of re-telling the Finn saga in consecutive form to a very slight extent, not more, 1 should say, than to one-fifth of the projected work. What he has done deserves reprinting in a specialist periodical—in these pages, for instance, or in the Transactions of the Inverness Gaelic Society . Students would find it a distinct advantage to have before them even a small portion of the frame-work fashioned by one who had his Fenian tradition so thoroughly at his fingers 3 ends as had Campbell. But I may be excused if I say I think it would be very undesirable for anyone else to attempt to deal with his documents in the same way. The unrivalled combination of knowledge, critical power, and instinctive racial sympathy which gave to its owner his unique position in the" study of folk-lore can hardly be expected from any other man. For us, the followers of Campbell, it is safer to keep to the beaten track of faithful collection than to essay a personal synthesis of tradition.

Some among the readers of FOLK- LORE may, it is hoped, be able to do the work I have sketched in the foregoing pages, the work of rendering accessible to fellow-students the -rich stores of folk-fancy, and of learning so full of life and penetration, as almost to deserve the name of genius, at present hidden away in the MSS. of Campbell of Islay.

In conclusion, I would fain express my grateful sense of the ready courtesy of the Chief Librarian and of the Officials of the Advocates' Library.

Alfred Nutt.

RECENT RESEARCH

Recent Research in Comparative Religion

Joseph Jacobs

IN

COMPARATIVE RELIGION .

The Religion of the Semites: Fundamental Institutions y by W* Robertson Smith* (Black). 1889*

The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion f by J. G, Frazer# (Macmillan.)

The Pre-Historic Antiquities of the Aryan 1 Peoples, by 0 . Schrader. (Griffin.)

The Origin of the Aryans , by Isaac Taylor. (Scott.)

T HE first two books on our list are a veritable triumph for folk-lore, and especially for that conception of the science which has been consistently advocated by the Folk-Lore Society. Here we have two books dealing with the primitive religion of the two great groups of nations from which civilisation has obtained its chief spiritual material, and both avowedly appeal to folk-lore for methods of investigation and for corroborative criteria Both use freely the analogy of savage custom and ritual to explain those of Semites and Aryans. Both apply with confidence the method of “survivals", in order to reconstruct the primitive systems from which the “ survivals" derive. The two books deal with the deepest problems of human thought, and neither disdain, in seeking for their solution, the light that may be obtained from folk-tales, superstitions, and even games, those seemingly trivial remnants of older ways of thinking which folk-lore collects or investigates. As some justification for claiming the works of Prof. Smith and Mr. Frazer for our science, I think it would be generally admitted that there is no English specialist

journal in which they could be more appropriately reviewed than in Folk-Lore, Would that the suitability of the review were matched by the capacity of the reviewer!

Of the two books, we may deal with Prof Smith's first, as it appeared earlier, and is, perhaps, the more important Though professedly dealing with the Religion of the Semites, it is mainly concerned with a hypothetical history of the ritual practices of the early Arabs in their relations to those of the Old Testament. Assyria) oglcal evidence is rejected as of too advanced and hieratic a character to throw light on origins. The evidence relating to Phoenicians find Syrians is too scanty and precarious to be of much value, though Prof Smith refers to it now and again* So that, practically, all we have to go upon for the religion of the Semites is provided by the Old Testament and the traditions of Arabia in the times of ignorance before Mahomet* With regard to the latter, the evidence is very late, being mainly derived from the songs and anecdotes of pre-Islamite Arabs contained in the Hamasa and the Kiiab Al Aghani. To these are added a few notices In the commentators and geographers, as well as those contained in classical sources* One of the latter, indeed, an account of the habits of the Sinaitie Arabsjn the fourth century A.D, by Nilus, does Prof. Smith yeoman's service, as we shall see.

It is thus obvious, by a recital of Prof Smith's sources, that he adopts fully one of the main principles of the anthropological method* He seeks for origins among the primitive conditions of savage or quasi-savage life, and does not go on the assumption that the earlier in date is necessarily the earlier in development His implicit assumption throughout his book is, that the practices of the nomad Arabs, even though recorded much later, are more primitive and nearer the common source than the customs of the sessile and more civilised Hebrews* It need scarcely be said that such an assumption will meet with no demurrer in the pages of Folk-Lore or from any

VOL, 1. C C

follower of Dr, Tylor. And equal welcome will be accorded to Prof. Smith's practice in resorting for confirmatory evidence to savage nations among non-Semites ; it would have been well, in deed, if he had had more frequent recourse to this class of evidence.

On the subject of sources, it is strange that Prof Smith has not had more frequent recourse to the Talmud and kindred literature of the later Hebrews. Here, if anywhere, we should expect to find “survivals” of archaic custom; and much of Talmudic ritual carries on the face of it evidence of more archaic practice than the more ideal codes of Ezekiel and the Pentateuch. Prof. Smith rightly praises the works of Spencer and Selden in the seventeenth century, but he would have done well to have followed their example in using the Talmud. He would, besides, have been able by this means to test the current hypothesis of the sequence of the three codes into which the Pentateuch has been divided by the Dutch and German critics. If these point to a development in a certain direction, we ought to find that development carried still further in the same direction in Talmudic times. As a matter of fact, literary analysis is of little use in archeological research, and is scarcely mentioned more than once or twice by Prof. Smith.

Another point in which Prof. Smith adopts the methods of the anthropological school, is, that he seeks for his originss in early practice rather than in early thought or theory. In other words, he looks for the religion of the primitive Semites in the ritual of Semites less primitive, and not in their creed, if indeed any ancient religion can be said to have a creed. Thus the present instalment of his work deals in the main with the ritual of Sacrifice, and its meaning among the primitive Semites; and the subject of Semitic mythology is left for the second series of the Burnett Lectures. Here again Prof. Smith is at one with Mr, Spencer, Dr. Tylor, Mr. Lang, and all those who have

treated of early religion from an anthropological standpoint

So much for method, which is entirely that of the English schools. It is scarcely a year ago since I expressed a hope in these pages (Arch, Rev,, iii) that Biblical Archaeology would be treated by anthropological methods, and even as I wrote, Prof Smith was applying those methods with signal mastery, I need not say how cordially I welcome Prof. Smith’s weighty contribution to Biblical Archaeology,£nd if in the sequel I demur to some of his conclusions, it is on the understanding that in a field of such complexity and precarious footing the first and foremost thing is right method, and herein—let me emphasise the fact from the start—Prof Smith has found salvation.

The subject of this first series is, as i have said, mainly the ritual of Semitic sacrifice and its meaning. Prof Smith has a few preliminary lectures on the nature of the Semitic gods, in which he has an ingenious suggestion explaining the Baalim as divine lords of the manor, so to speak, and a still more ingenious application of the Jinn (the Genii of our youth and of the Arabian Nights) as “ potential totems” of the waste places of the desert But all this is only introduced to emphasise the conception of the Semitic gods being regarded as of the same kin as their worshippers, and so to lead on to Prof Smith’s theory of Semitic sacrifice.

This is, briefly, that sacrifice is a common meal of the god and his worshippers, by which their community of blood (in a literal sense) should be reinforced from time to time. Prof Smith shows that a similar conception governs the blood-bond made between two individuals. Pie gives instances where blood is used on the altar or sprinkled on the worshipper. He minimises the importance of vegetable offerings, and sees in them the quite late and advanced modes of approaching the god. Except, however, in the one instance given by Nilns, and referred to above, he fails

c c 2-

to find an actual sacred meal in which the absorption of blood into the worshippers seems part of the rites, 1 Nor has he been able to show any analogous rites with such an avowed object among savages. Mr. Frazer, indeed, In his new book gives numerous examples of such meals, but none In which the object is to restore communion between god ajtd worshipper. The whole idea of communion seems to me too theologically abstract to be at the basis of savage rites of sacrifice. For these we must look to some utilitarian motive, based, it may be, on some savage and seemingly absurd idea, but logically deduced from it Now, it is difficult to see what advantage a savage can derive from being made one with his god, by eating the same flesh as he. One could understand the use of “eating the god”, by which to obtain the divine qualities and powers-: Mr. Frazer gives many examples of this. But what is the use of eating the same thing as the god?

Even in the totem systems there does not seem to be any attempt to renew a tribal bond with the totem, though there is, in initiatory ceremonies, an attefnpt to give bloodcommunion with the fellow-tribesmen (Frazer, Toipmsm y 45-6). At the basis of Prof. Smith's views, indeed, there is an assumption of the existence of totemism among the primitive-Semites, the evidence for which he has brought forward in his Kinship and Marriage in Ancient Arabia, Now, this is a question still sub judice , and there are extremely few jit dices. I cannot think of more than four men in Europe who are competent, from knowledge of pre-histonc Arabia, to pass judgment on the success of Prof. Smith’s attempt to prove totemism in Arabia; and of these, two, Wellhausen and Goldziher, are adverse to his claims. But even assuming Arabic totemism to be proved, Prof, Smith has still to show that in totemistic

1 As the passage from Nilus is of such crucial importance for Prof. Smith’s views, it would have been well if he had reprinted it in an Appendix. It is not everyone who has access to NiS opera ptardam ine<wk, Parishs, 1639.

Recent Research in Comparative Religion . 3S9

communities sacrifice is of the character of a communion. The blood-communion between god and worshipper cannot be regarded as a vera causa till it has been shown to exist among savage tribes with the avowed object of restoring communion between the totem or god and his worshipper. 1

With regard to the application of Prof. Smith's theory to the Semites, there is the further difficulty that those Semites whose ritual we know best—the Hebrews—were rigidly scrupulous in avoiding the taste of blood. No reason is given for this tabu, and this is just one of those seemingly irrational practices that are most likely to be primitive, or at least archaic. And on the ordinarily accepted view of the origin of sacrifice—which regards it as a gift to propitiate a superior being—this can be easily understood as the avoidance of the worshipper of taking what belongs especially to the god, the essence of the victim's life, the blood* I n a similar way, almost all the practices of Hebrew ritual may be explained on the tributary theory of sacrifice,' 2 where we do have a utilitarian basis for the practice. As a savage, I give the most precious gift I can to the god, my own blood, the life of an animal, or the most precious food I know, in order to prevent him Injuring me, or to induce him to do me good. The analogy is with a tribute to a king, not, as Prof Smith would have it, with a carouse with a comrade.

It will thus be seen that Prof. Smith's theory traces religion to a sort of friendship rather than, as on the older tributary theory of sacrifice, to a feeling of fear. 14 It is not*with a vague fear of unknown powers/ 1 he says, p. 55, “but with a loving reverence for known gods, who

1 I may refer the reader to my discussion of the question, H Are there Totem Clans in the Old Testament ? J? in the Archaoiogical Review, vol. iii.

2 It is, perhaps, worth while remarking that the most general Hebrew term for sacrifice, Corhan (familiar to the reader from the New Testament), simply means offering or gift, and there is no doubt about the etymology.

3 go Recent Research in Comparative Religion,

are knit to their worshippers by strong bonds of kinship, there religion in the true sense of the word begins*” That is an attractive picture, but it scarcely answers to what we know of savage practice and feeling about the higher beings* It does not answer, for the matter of that, to the fed ing of the majority of men who are not savages. And it is met by the further difficulty of the facts of magic which arc certainly worship, and are as certainly dominated by fear* To this Prof. Smith objects that magic is never religion nor Its source. But surely its simplest explanation is that it is the survival of an older religion, and its gloomy aspect is due to its antinomianism with regard to the later and generally purer creed.

Another obstacle that stands in the way of Prof Smith's theory is the fact of human sacrifice* That cannot be a common meal'of god and worshippers, and accordingly Prof Smith has to make the most ingenious hypotheses to explain the late origin of human sacrifices among the Semites, among whom it certainly existed. But if ever a practice bore on the face of it the marks of primitiveness it is that of human sacrifice* and its existence stands In the way of the loving reverence for a kindred god postulated by Prof Smith's theory.

Finally, It would not be Impossible to explain away much of the crucial significance attached by Prof Smith to Nilus's account of the morning rites of the Sinaitic Arabs. Thus the importance attached to the completion of the sacrificial meal between the rising and disappearance of the day-star seems to point to some form of astral worship which we know to have been current among the Northern Arabs And even with regard to the blood-drinking, I notice an important discrepancy in Prof, Smith's account * On p, 363, the flesh was eaten “ half raw, and merely softened over the fire”. On p. 320* the company “hack off pieces and devour them raw”; in the former case the significance of blood is practically nil l

Thus altogether for these reasons I cannot consider that

Prof. Smith has made out a case for the view that sacrifice among' the Semites was in its origin a blood‘bond between god and worshipper. The most favourable verdict that can be given for such a contribution is the Scotch one of “ Not proven”. Perhaps some of the want of conviction which Prof Smith's book produces Is due to its style and arrangement. The retention of the lecture-form has given a dogmatic tone to the presentation which is signally inappropriate in a field where facts are so scanty and theories so hypothetical. Little attention has been paid to the reader’s needs for explanation, and the book, as a whole, is decidedly hard reading.

Prof. Smith’s book suffers much by contrast with that of Mr. Frazer, whose literary skill is to be recognised throughout, both In arrangement and his clear and careful summaries at appropriate pauses of his argument. So great is his skill in this respect that one scarcely notices that his book Is made up of somewhat meongruouselemcnts. The avowed object of the book is to explain the curious rule of succession to the Arician priesthood, the priest of Aricia being succeeded by the man who managed to slay him after plucking the Golden Bough from the tree under which he lived. But besides this, Mr. Frazer has desired to make known to English readers MannhardPs remarkable views and facts about agricultural deities. And beyond this, it is clear that Mr, Frazer has also seized the opportunity of putting into print some of the vast materials of primitive custom and belief that he has been collecting for many years. In noticing his book we may, perhaps, separate these three threads of this cunningly woven weft,

Mr. Frazer's explanation of the Arician rule is, briefly, that the Priest-king of Aricia had to be slain by his successor, as he represented the sacred life of the fields around him, and this would be kept at its highest point of efficiency by being passed on when the priest's powers began to fail, He gives elaborate parallels for the existence of priestly kings or royal priests, and for their being

3g2 Recent Research in Comparative Religion *

regarded as incarnations of the forest or field divinities. He points out similar cases where king* priest, or even god is slain, so that he should not die a natural death with his powers enfeebled- There can be little doubt that he has proved this part of- his case up to the hilt. I am not so convinced, however, of his success with the bough that plays the title r&le to his book. This he considers to be the “ external soul” (“ Life-Index” was Capt Temple's very apt title for it) of the tree, and probably of the grove. So far so good, but why should a would-be successor of the Arician priest have to pluck it before beginning the fight with the present possessor ? There can be two or more external souls of a being, answers Mr, Frazer, and both must be slain or annihilated before the soul can pass in fresh to a new external home. The moral of that would seem to be, rather keep one of the external souls vigorous, and all will be well. As one of Mr. Stevenson’s characters remarks, “ It's not much use killing a man if he’s got another life.” The Golden Bough may be the mistletoe, and the external soul of the oak, but why it had to be plucked before the combat in the grove of Nemi, is, I confess, to me a mystery still.

So much for the nominal subject of the book, which, after all, is but one of the curiosities of custom that are interesting to solve indeed, but yet seem by-paths in the search after mythological truth. But those who remember Mr. Frazer's first and still most brilliant piece of work in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute , for rSS5, on Burial Customs, will know that it is his way to tack on to such seeming trivialities an enormous mass of well-digested facts bearing on his nominal subject, but really of more interest than it. He has pursued the same course on the present occasion. He has incorporated in this book the greater part of Mannhardt’s researches on agricultural customs and their significance, with additions from his own unrivalled collections. The most remarkable of these is that deduced from Harvest Home games, which would

seem to render it probable that human sacrifices were common in archaic times to ensure the fertility of the soil. If the inferences of Mannhardt and Mr. Frazer are to be trusted, there is scarcely a field in Europe that has not at one time or another been reddened by the blood of such a sacrifice. I would, myself, hesitate before accepting such a sweeping assertion, simply on inference from folk-lore “survivals” We should have somewhat more explicit evidence of such general carnage before we can assert its general existence all over the countries where the folk-lore customs extend. Here, as elsewhere, Mr. Frazer seems to me to overlook the imitative nature of man, and the possible spread of the customs and the rhymes from one centre.

Mr. Frazer, again following Mannhardt, applies these agricultural customs to explain some of the most archaic myths, as, eg, those of the deaths of Osiris and Adonis. These he connects with the habit of killing the “corndemon” to ensure its vigorous life in another personality. Mr. Frazer confesses, in his preface, to some misgivings that he has pushed his hypothesis too far, and in the cases of Attis, Osiris, and Dionysus this seems to be the case, their connection with agriculture being of the slightest. Mr. Frazer might have taken more account of the thesis of Von Hehn, who suggests that the association of certain plants with certain deities— eg, the olive with Athene—was really due to its introduction by the priests of the god or goddess. However, it is the duty of every hypothesise!' to push his theory to its furthest extent. Someone has laid that the use of philosophical systems is in their weak places. So, too, the strength of an hypothesis is best shown in its weak places, Mr. Frazer's views have some plausibility, even when stretched and strained to their utmost

But the merit of Mr Frazer's book resides, not so much in his theories, ingenious as they are, as in his facts and in his co-ordinations of them. “The Golden Bough” is really

t

a series of monographs on folk-lore and mythological subjects. Some of these attain almost to the rank of treatises, the section on royal and priestly taboos in voL i, and that on the external soul in voL if 1 Mr. Frazfer’s mastery of the whole literature of folk-lore and savage life is something remarkable, and is clearly based on a thorough and systematic search through all likely sources (the Dutch reports on their Eastern possessions are a quite unworked field). One quite envies Mr. Frazer the hours of happy work which must have been passed in compiling this mass of information. He must often have felt the supreme joy of the researcher in finding his chaotic materials slowly rounding themselves into an intelligible whole. He must, by this time, have pigeon-holed the greater part of savagism and folk-lore (if we can distinguish between the two), and u The Golden Bough” from this point of view offers greater promise than even its very great performance*

Looking back on the two books, which I have now, perhaps, sufficiently though summarily characterised, a few general remarks suggest themselves* Though to a certain degree the authors have worked together, it is somewhat curious to find them tending to opposite conclusions on the same point. Thus Prof. Smith traces the theocracy, or the conception of God as king, to the establishment of monarchy in Israel; Mr, Frazer, on the other hand, regards kingship as primarily incarnate deity on earth. Royal taboos, according to Mr. Frazer, are strictly the divinity that doth hedge a king. Prof. Smith regards taboo as the origin of holiness. I have already referred to the different attitudes of the two authors as regards human sacrifice, though it is fair to remember that Mr. Frazer is speaking mainly of the agricultural stage, Prof, Smith of the nomad or pastoral.

The two books, indeed, suggest that in the very near

1 Mr, Clodd^s “Philosophy of Punchkirr’, /vi* it, might have been referred to in this connection,

future we may see the very desirable application of institutional archaeology to mythology. The gods and rituals of a nomad or pastoral people will differ from those of an agricultural type of society, and we should find traces of the difference in the passage of one nation through these stages. Prof, Smith at times makes use of this criterion, but the institutional archaeology of the Semites is in too immature a state to be of much use in this direction at present.

Both books are slightly old-fashioned in assuming a unity and solidarity among both Aryans and Semites, which all recent research tends to disprove. In all branches of pre-historic and folk-lore research the tendency is to regard customs, language, and institutions as having a definite origin at a fixed place and epoch, and their spread is to be explained through diffusion by borrowing. I have already referred to this in connection with Mr. Frazer's book, but the point is important enough to deserve reiteration. The borrowing hypothesis is clearly applicable to mythology, since the religions of the whole world have been borrowed from opposite races, the Buddhism of the Mongol races from the Aryans of India, the Christianity of Europe from the Semites of Judaea, and the Mahommedanism of Turkey, India, and Africa from Semitic Arabia. Those are borrowing facts which lend great plausibility to the borrowing hypothesis on a smaller scale and in less wide areas.

The last two books on our list deal on a large scale with this borrowing process, in language, custom, and institutions among the early Aryans. Dr. Schrader's book gives the facts of the pre-historic antiquities of the Aryan peoples, as deduced from their languages and their material archeology, with German thoroughness ; but, alas l with German unreadableness* Though professing to review and revise the facts of philology by the facts of archaeology, the book is, in the main, philological, It chiefly interests us here as giving the latest word on the original Aryan

mythology, Which, twenty years ago, was going to give ns the key to all the mythologies. Judging from Dr. Schrader’s results, the key has broken in the wards. He declines to grant a single god common to the whole of Aryanspeaking peoples.

The resemblances in names are reduced to two or three notably Zeus = Dyaus, and these are explained away without the resort to the hypothesis of a common worship of the early Aryans, Thus, of the great mythological myth of the sixties one great stronghold is taken. The Aryans had no common gods. Dr, Schrader is even so heretical as to deny that they ever had a common home, and certainly not in Asia, This is a theme taken up with great skill by Canon Taylor, whose lucidity is a pleasant contrast to Dr, Schrader’s painstaking piling up of materials for a book. Canon Taylor adds to the subsidiary aids of philology the use of anthropology. His cranjology strikes one as somewhat amateurish, but his ethnological treatment of the subject brings out the main thesis of his book with great skill This I take to be that the Aryan tongue was imposed upon the peoples now speaking Aryan by conquest, and was not a common possession of six or seven sets of races. In short, there was only one Aryan race and tongue, and the latter has been passed on to various races by conquest Authorities are disagreed as to the Ur-Aryans : some are for the Scandinavians, some for the Celts. Canon Taylor himself has a brief for the Letts; but all seem to agree that there was never such a thing as a common Aryan race from whom Celts, Teutons, etc., “ swarmed off ’ 3 as they increased in numbers. The whole outcome is a remarkable lesson against precipitate decision in such inquiries. Twenty years ago we could all have sworn that the original home of the Aryans was in Asia, that they were all of one blood, that they had a common culture and worship, and that they passed into Europe westwards. All this was presented to us with such confidence, eloquence, and insistence, that denial seemed ignorant presumption, Now all this is changed, and great is the

fall of the originators thereof And with their fall has gone the folk-etymology theory of the origin of the early mythologies.

No one theory has taken the place of the sun-myths and the rest. A wise syncretism is taking the place of the single key that was to fit all wards* There are gods of the woods and of the fields, there are totem-gods and ancestral gods, the generative powers were worshipped, stocks and stones received their cult, even the sun and moon had their votaries. Few would nowadays be prepared to reduce all these forms of man's reverence for the Divine to any one single principle. And even In details, the passion for explaining away the facts as given in ancient records is fast disappearing. When the sacrifice was given “ as a sweet savour unto the Lord” the modern inquirer does not desire to explain this away. He thinks the ancient who spoke thus meant what he said, and no more or less. The results thus reached may often seem ludicrous, but they are not more so than facts observed every day in savage life. We ought not perhaps to be surprised to find that as man has risen from the beasts we can catch him at times in stages of mind which can be but little higher than the beast's.

The hope that the study of comparative religion would throw some light on religion itself seems to be fading away. It seems, in fact, as If the mythological show has somewhat disappointed the sight-seers. They have been invited by eloquent showmen to enter and take their seats, and they would see what they would see. What they have seen lias been a curtain covered with figures, some beautiful and some grotesque, but all of lower orders of art Many have been the guesses as to the meaning of these figures, and as to what was behind the curtain, But the curtain has never been raised, and some among the audience are beginning to ask, Is the curtain the picture, and is there nothing behind the veil, behind the veil?”

Joseph Jacobs,

PROCEEDINGS

AT THE

Report of the Annual Meeting of the Folk-Lore Society

ANNUAL MEETING OF THE FOLK-LORE SOCIETY,

Held at 22 , Albemarle Street, Piccadilly, an Tuesday Evening, June 24 th, 1890.

G. L, Gomme, Esq., Director, in the Chair.

T HE Report of the Council was read by the Secretary, .Mr. Foster :—

The Council have deemed it desirable to revert to an earlier date for the Annual Meeting of the Society than has been the practice of the past two years.

There is only six months* work to report, therefore, and though a great deal of attention, has been given by the Council and their Committees to the recommendations adopted by the Society in November last, it is too early to report definite results.

The CotmciFs lirst attention was directed to the publications of the Society. They appointed ant Editorial Committee, consisting of the Hon. J. Abercromby, Mr. Gomme, and Mr. Nutt, to whom were deputed the duties attendant upon the publication of the Journal of the Society. The title of this Journal was the first important question to be decided, and the Council congratulate the Society upon the one adopted— Folk-Lore. The Committee has the valuable aid of Mr. Joseph Jacobs as Editor of Folk*Lore, and the result of the new arrangement will, the Council believe, be satisfactory to the Members of the Society, and a distinct advantage to the scientific study of Folk-lore. The Council hope that Members will use every effort to make the new Journal known in all parts of the country, and will forward to the Editor all contributions that may prove of service.

Proceedings at ike Annual Meeting , 399

The second volume of the year is the Exemfia of Jacques de Vitry\ to be edited by Professor Crane, This is now nearly through the press, and will be ready for issue in a short time.

The Tabulation of Folk-tales, to which the Council have given so much attention, has been the subject of some criticism, both at the Folk-lore Congress at Parts in 1889, and by scholars at home. The Council, while admitting that some improvement in detail might be adopted, consider that their plan on the whole will supply students with the most satisfactory collection of material for the proper study of folk-tales. They have, however, somewhat varied their plan of action. To arrive at quicker results, they consider that the tales should be taken up group by group, and as the tabulation of all the tales belonging to each group is completed, they have resolved to publish these separately for the use of Members* The first group selected for this purpose is 0 Cinderella' 5 . Miss Roalfe Cox kindly consented to edit the tabulation of this group, and accordingly all Members engaged in tabulation are now at work upon the several variants. As soon as this group has been completed, another will be taken up, and by this means a survey of the variants of each tale wilt be supplied, and, it is hoped, at no great distance of time.

The Handbook of Folk-Lore is not yet finished, but will be ready before the autumn session of the Society opens, and the Council hope that Members will do their utmost to make it widely known and used, both at home and by travellers abroad. As soon as this is out of the way, the Council hope to be able to press forward Mr. Gomme's English Bibliography of Folk- Lore .

At the Folk-lore Congress held at Paris in July 18S9 it was resolved unanimously to hold the second meeting in London,in 1891, and Mr, C. G. Leland, President of the Gipsy-lore Society, was nominated by the meeting "pour s'occuper de son organisation 51 . The Council, feeling the importance of the subject, have entered into hearty co-operation with Mr. Leland, and have decided to use every effort to promote the success of such a gathering* Many important detailed arrangements are necessary, and the Council look forward to the help of all Members, both to give our foreign visitors and fellow-workers a hearty welcome, and to advance by these international exchanges of thought the progress

400 Proceedings at ike Annual Afeeling,

of our study* The Council will issue further particulars as soon as definite arrangements are made, and so that no expense shall fall upon the funds of the Society, they propose the formation of a small guarantee fund to cover any expenditure in excess of the Congress fee.

During the last session the following evening meetings have been held, and have been very well attended*

1SS9.

Nov* 25,—Annual Address by the President.

Dec* 17,—Legends from Torres Straits, By Professor A. C* Hadden*

1890,

Jan, 2B*—The Development of the Ossianlc Saga. By Alfred Nutt Feb. 25.—Legends of the Island-Frisians, By William George Black,

Lady Go diva. By E. Sidney HartlancL March 25.—Notes on the Folk-lore of Beetles* By W. F. Kirby,

The Grail and other Pales tin! an Legends, By the Rev. Dr* Gaster,

April 29*—A Highland Folk-tale and its Origin in Custom* By G* L, Gomme.

Recent Views on the NibelungenUed* By Alfred Nutt An English Folk-tale. By Joseph Jacobs.

May 27*—Marriage Customs of the Mordvins. By the Hon. J. Abercromby,

June 24*—The Collection of English Folk-lore, By Miss Burne.

1 he roll of members has increased from 346 to 375.

ANDREW LANG, President G. L* GOMME, Director*

The Chairman moved the adoption of the Report, which was seconded and agreed to nem. con*

The Treasurer’s Report was then read by Mr* FOSTER, and adopted nem* con. (See opposite page)

Mr, Christie moved the election of Mr. Andrew Lang as President; Lord Beauchamp, Sir John Lubbock, Dr. E* B. Tylor, and General Pitt-Rivers as Vice-Presidents;

VOL. !. D D

JToIfe lLore ^oaetf).

Treasurer’s Account of Receipts and Expenditure for the Year ending December jist, zb dtp.

RECEIPTS.

To Balance at Bank ...

„ Cash in hands of Hon. Sec, n Subscriptions on Account of-— „ ,t 1SS7

„ „ ms

„ „ 1SS9

*890

tt Compounders 5 Fees , f Sale of Publications

/ S. <1- 207 15 7 96O

£220 5 5 o 3 4 7 lit o

279 S JO to 106 3

X613 3 o

payments.

By Printing Account ^ Advertising

£°

o

Bank Charges, Postage?, etc. it Losses in Exchange

Index Lo " Magyar Folk-lore 1 ales Cluing for FolkAon Journal .

Prtly Cash Account, ^including Postage, CircuiL Stationery, Expenses of Annual and Evening Meetings, elr. a Subscription refunded, and Sundries ,** *v Bal an ce at Bank . - - - *

Cash in hands of Hon. bee.

Examined and found correct.

£

? 5

Q

d.

o

46 O G

320 jS ii S 11 0

^13 3 o

Geo. L. Apferso^,

Auditor*

4 *

O

Proceedings at the Annual Meeting.

402 Proceedings at the Amiiml Meeting ,

Mr, Gomme as Director, Mr, Clodd as Treasurer, and Mr. J, j. Foster as Hon, Secretary ; and the following as Council for the ensuing year/

Hon, John Abercromby. Walter Besaxt.

Edward Bra brook, F,S,A, Dr, Robert Brown,

Miss G S. Burne,

Miss M, Roalfe Cox, j. G. Fraser, M.A.

Dr, Caster,

Professor A, C. H addon.

The Rev. carried nem. con.

E, Sidney Hartland, F.S.A, A. Granger Hutt, F.S A, Joseph Jacobs, B.A.

W. F. Kirby.

Alfred Nutt,

T. F. Ordish, F*SrA, Professor A, H. Sayce, M.a, Major R, C. Temple.

Henry B, Wheatley, F.S.A,

A, Loewy seconded the motion, which was

Correspondence (No. III)

#

“ HOW THEY MET THEMSELVES/*

To the Editor of Fglk-Lore.

Sir,—I n the very interesting paper, by M. Auguste Barth, in Folk-Lore, No. II, entitled “ How They Met Themselves*' p he states that he could never find among the most intimate friends of Dante Gabriel Rossetti anyone who could explain the subject of the picture by the poetartist representing a couple meeting their own facsimiles.

I think that I can indicate the possible source of the subject in question. About twenty years ago I saw, in the studio of a picture-cleaner, the late Mr, Merritt, a very beautiful work by Carpaccio, representing two nuns walking in a garden. As Mr. Merritt proceeded in his uncovering, he was astonished to find that there were really four nuns, two of whom had been painted over. When all was perfectly restored (which was done with extraordinary skill and love), it was apparent that the restored nuns were duplicates of the other pair, but evidently of a spiritual nature, as the trees, or other portions of the landscape, were visible through their dresses as through a mist. When Mr. Merritt asked me what T thought it meant, I replied, in the words cited by Mr. D arms tetter

“It shall be told, ere Babylon was dust.

The Magus Zoroaster, my great child,

Met his own image walking in the garden. 3 ’

There was no old Italian artist more congenial to Rossetti than Carpaccio, and the picture to which I refer, as regards rich golden orange sunset light, pre-Raphaelite details of peacocks and flowers, and a peculiar dreamy

DD2

404 Corresponden/e,

expression as of the olden time, surpassed anything which I ever beheld, I have seen many Carpaccios in \ enice and Florence, but none which were so mdrekenhaft , as Germans express it Rossetti could hardly have been ignorant of it

Tt may be worth observing in this connection that the belief in an alter ego } fetch, wraith, or double, is one of the few conceptions which may be set down as sporadic, or occurring spontaneously to man independently of tradition. The sight of one’s own image in silent water, shining weapons, or mirrors, suggests that of a spirit taking our own likeness. When I was a very little boy, seeing my reflection in a well—this was at Holliston, Massachusetts —I was told that it was the face of another little boy who lived down in the water. The same story is told to children in South Slavonian lands, among the Hungarian Saxons and gipsies, with this difference, that it is a lady who appears to them.

As the reflection in a mirror is evidently due to natural causes, it is, to make it appear supernatural, moved further on, so to speak, to a new phenomenon. The late Abraham Lincoln; one night when looking at himself in a hand-glass opposite a mirror, saw his own face double in the former. Mrs. Lincoln explained this as a presage of approaching death, and he was actually murdered very soon afterwards. When I read this I at once went to a looking-glass with a hand-mirror, and succeeded in producing the same appearance.

There is good reason for believing that most of the Tuscan Florentine beliefs are old Etruscan. I have found nearly all of the charms and spells of Marcell us Burdigalensis current in the Toscana Romagna. And as the Etruscans were extremely superstitious, and, moreover, made great use of mirrors, it is possible that they carried the idea of the Doppeltganger to a great extent *

Charles G. Lelanix

“FASCINATION” AND HYPNOTISM.

To the Editor of Folk-Lore.

f

Sir,—I have sometimes wondered whether students of sorcery, witchcraft* etc., were quite alive to the significance of recent investigations in hypnotism* Mr* Nutt's letter {supra, p. 274) seems to show that they are not The suggestion is not new ; it is recognised by scientific investigators of hypnotism that their studies have a bearing on these matters, and “ fascination 1 is the name of a distinct series of hypnotic phenomena. There is a delightful field for fruitful investigation here for anyone combining the requisite qualifications, or for two persons working in collaboration. I hope that in your influential position you will stir someone up to the task.

Havelock Ellis.

[Mr. Nutt’s letter was designed to call attention of students of folk' lore to the connection, not that of experts in hypnotism, though, apart from some of M. Char cods experiments, it would be difficult for these latter to show any direct treatment of the subject— Ed. A’.-Z.]

_

A TALE OF CAMPBELL AND ITS FOUNDA- TION IN USAGE.

To the Editor of Fglk-LORE.

Sir,—M r. Gomme's interesting paper on a tale of Campbell’s, and its foundation in custom (supra, p. 197 seqi), appears to me to have one main weakness. The incident of finding the mallet in the box which the ill-treated father hides away from his children, pretending that it contained money, is not vital to the story. If the box had contained leaves or bricks or sand, the nemesis on the children would be the saifie. No doubt the rhyme on the mallet is effective, but against whom ? Not against the children ;

but against a parent who could be fool enough to trust them with all his wealth before his death. I am encom aged in this view of the want of the vital connection of the mallet by observing a variant of the story found as far away as Kashmir (Knowles, Folk-Tales of Kashmir , “How the wicked Sons were duped”), and without the mallet. Here we have the ungrateful children, the friend's advice, and the hoarded box with nothing in it, which leads to better treatment by the children ; but all that is found In the box after the old man s death is dirt and leaves.

I would add that the presence of the same rhyme in the Gaelic tale, the twelfth century Latin story, and the German inscription, seem to me to tell for the origination of the stone In one single place in historic times, and its diffusion to the remaining spots where it is found. I ill that centre of dispersion is settled the story cannot be used as evidence for custom in any place, as It may be merely an unmeaning rhyme borrowed from a place where it had meaning.

Joseph Jacobs.

A 7 OTES AND NEWS .

AMONG forthcoming articles will be one by Hon. J, Abercromby, on the Marriage Customs of the Moravians ; to be followed by others on the Marriage Customs of the Early Russians and in the Caucasus, by Prof. Kowalwsky; and the same among the Chinese, by Mr. Lockhart.

THE Book of English Fairy Tales, by Mr. Joseph Jacobs, which is now almost ready, will have some folk-lore notes of interest, giving parallels to the tales, and discussing special points in them.

Mr. W. A* CLOUSTON is preparing a third and supplementary volume of his u Popular Tales and Fictions”.

MR. C. G. Leland has in the press a work on Gipsy Charms and Incantations.

At last Germany is to have a Folk-Lore Society, notwithstanding Professor Weinhold's scathing remarks on the subject in the Zeitschrift fur Volkerpsydialogic. Dr. Veckenstedt is interesting himself in the Society, which will publish a Zeitschrift fur Voikskundc, quarterly We give the new venture a friendly “ Hoch 1 ”

Mr. William George Black's volume on lf Folkmedicine : a Chapter in the History of Culture”, published by the Folk-Lore Society in 1S83, has been translated into Spanish by Sn. Dm Antonio Machado y Alvarez. (Madrid, Ek Progresso Editorial, 1889, 8vo,, pp, xlii, 3 61). Both Mr. Black and the Folk-Lore Society may feel much complimented by Spanish appreciation of their work.

A 7 oles and Nevus.

Preparations for the Congress are progressing very satisfactorily, A guarantee fond has J^een liberally subscribed, and Executive and Literary Committees have been elected out of the Organising Committee

The Handbook of Folk-Lore has now been nearly all passed for press, and will certainly be in the hands of most of our readers before the end of the year.

The visit of the Queen of Roumania (“ Carmen Sylva”) to this country has resulted in a scene of great interest to folk-lariats. On September ioth, the Queen, dressed in Roumanian peasant costume, exchanged folk-tales, legends, and ballads with a select number of Welsh bards.

M. GASTON Paris, in his review in the journal des Savants of Count Nigrats book on Piedmontese Fojk-Songs (reviewed bv Miss Busk supra, pp. 261-7), comes to the important conclusion that the majority of the lyrico-epic ballads common to the Romance-speaking countries are derived from N,W. France in the fifteenth or, at earliest, fo u rte e n th cent 11 ry.

We must all learn Finnish. The University of Helsingfors, besides possessing the only Professor of Folk-lore in the world, has MS. collections of over 100,000 items of Finnish folk-lore, including 12,000 folk tales.

COMMUNICATIONS for the next (December) number of Folk-Lore should reach the Office, 270, Strand, W.C before November 1.

Miscellanea (No. III)

MISCELLANEA .

A Jataka in Pausanias.—Yet one more Jataka, story in Greek, beyond those mentioned by Mr, Jacobs in bis < The story of

Genus and the She-Ass {Pausanias i x, 29) is found in Jataka, No. 77, Lt The Wonderful Dreams/ 1 I transcribe from my translation in MS.

[The 7th Dream.] w A man was twisting a rope, and as he twisted it he dropped it at his feet. A hungry she-jackal lay under the chair on which he sat, and she devoured it without his seeing what happened. That is what I saw, and that is my seventh dream. What will come of it?

“ This dream, too, will come to pass in the future. In days to come women shall be fond of men, fond of strong drink, fond of finery, fond of the streets, fond of enjoyment. Their husbands will till the field or tend the cattle, and gather wealth with toiling and moiling ; the women will drink with their lovers, load themselves with garlands, scents, and perfumes; they will leave the urgent duties of the house, they will peep out of holes up in the outside wall to look for their lovers, they will manage to get broth and food of all kinds, even if they have to grind the seed which should be sown on the morrow. Thus they devour all their husbands have earned, jus! like the jackal that lay down below the chair and devoured the rope as it fell at the feet of the man that was twisting it”

Pausanias, in his account of Delphi, gives the following tale * u After these there is a picture of a man Seated, whom an inscription declares to be Genus. He is represented as twisting a rope, and a she^ass which stands by him eats the rope as it is twisted. It is said that this Ocnus was an industrious man who had an extravagant wife; all that he saved by his work she w ould squander w ithout delay. This is w hat they would have Polygnotus to mean by his allegorical picture of Ocnus. 1 know that the lonians have a proverb which they use when they see a man toiling to no purpose— ( This fellow' is making Genus's rope/ 3: ' W. H. D. Rouse.

Christs Collegei Cambridge t Jum 6, 1 S90,

Folk-Lore Bibliography (No. III)

BOOKS.

rSgO, UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED.

[English books published in London, French in Pans } unless otherwise mentioned^

FOLK-LORE IN GENERAL.

BGLTEj J . Berlin in der Volksdichtung (Berlin).

■ FlNAMORE, G. Credence ust e costumi abruzzesi (Palermo), izmo. viiA, 196 pp. {Curiosla popolari, vol. vil)

Garnett, Lucy-M. J. The Women of Turkey and their Folk-lore. With an Ethnographical Map and Introductory Chapters on the Ethnography of Turkey and Folk-Conceptions of Nature by j. $. Stuart Glennie. The Christian Woman (Nutt), Svo.pp.444*

Hausspriiche aus den Alpen. Gesammelt and herausgegeben von L. von, Hermann (Leipzig), xxiv, 201 pp,

Los Reyes y Flqrentino, Isabel de. El Folk-lore Filipmo, volii (Manila). i8mo. 390pp.

M agRitchie, D. The Testimony of Tradition. Illustrations (Paul, Triibner and Co.) Svo. pp. 204 [mainly of articles reprinted from The Archeological Review % vol. tv].

Meyrac, Albert. Traditions, Coutumes, Legendes et Contes des Ardennes. Preface par P. Sebillot (Charievtlle, E. Lechevalier). 4*0. [Admirable and complete collection.]

Rogge, Ch, Aberglaube, Volksglaube und Volksbrauch der Gegenwaft nach ihrer Entstehung aus aitgerm. Heidenthum (Leipzig). Svo. v'i, 33 pp.

SUFfling, E. R. History and Legends of the Broad District, with a Glance at its Folk-lore, Ghosts, Churches, etc. illustrations (Jan-old). Svo, pp. 2iS.

W i SLOGK1, H. v. v om wande rn d en 2 ige unerv0 Ike. B i Ider au s dem Leben der Siebenburger Zigeuner (Hamburg).

FOLKTALES AND SONGS.

Brauns, C. W. E. ]apanische Marchen gesammelt und dem Kinderwdt erzahlt, Six illustrations by O. Fosterling (Glogau, Flem* ming). Svo. pp. v f 124.

FraHBJ, L* Norddeutsehe Sagen von Schleswig-Holstein bis ztitn Harz (Altona), Svo. pp. viii, 303,

Hessler, C. Sagenkranz aus Hessen-Nassau tmd der Wartburg- Gegend (Cassel). 1889, pp. viii, 36S,

KROHNE, K, Die’ geographische Verbrekung eincr nordischen

, Tbiermarcheiiketie in Filmland (Helsingfors). 8vo. 14 pp. (Exlr, Fennia^ iii, 4.)

MEHMElfs Brautfahrt Em V oiks epos der sudslavischen Mohammedaner. Aufgezelchnet von I\ S. Krauss (Vienna). Svo. 150 pp.

Mein 1 hoe, E, Marchen aus Kamemn, erziihlt von Djo Dibouej gesammek von E, M* Illustrations by F. Bergen (Strassburg), nim pp. viii, 114.

MiTSOTAKis, ]. Ausgewahlte grieehtsche Volksmarchen. Fitr das Deutsche Volk bearbeitet. Illustrations by P, Geh T p 3rd edition (Berlin). 8vo. pp. vii 3 162.

N uldener, R. Das B Licit der schonsten Marthen aller Volker. Ein Marchenstrauss zu Nut % und Vergniigen der Jugend gesammelt. I Hast rations, 3rd edition (Leipzig), pp. viii, 346.

Tre Canzoni popolari con una esartatione. {Nosze Menghitti-LaureniL)

ZoHRERj F. 0 sterr eichisches Sagen und Marehenbuch, Illustrations, 2nd edition (Teschen), Svo. pp. iv, 267.

FOLK-LORE AND MYTHOLOGY,

Lexxtcgn, ausfiihrltches, der griecbischen und romischen Mythologie lib Verein mit Birt, Crusius, Deecke, etc,, herausgegeben von W. H. Roscher. Liefenmgen 16 und 17 (Leipzig). VoL I, viii and cols, 2689-3024,

FOLK-LORE AND INSTITUTIONS,

DeLGCHE. La procession dite de la Lunade etles feux de St, Jean k Tulle. 4to. 62 pp; (Ext. MiiuL (L* P Acad. des ImcrtpL , xxxii, 2,)

SEEBOHM, F„ The English Village Community examined in its Relations to the Manorial and Tribal Systems ; and to the Common or Open Field Systems of Husbandry', 4th edition (Longmans), Svo, pp.

FQLK-LORE AND LITERATURE.

Basset, Rene. Loqman berbere, Avec une etude sur la legeode de Loqman, J into.

Hertz, W. Aristoteles in den Alexande rdi chtungen des Mittel* alters (Munchcn), qto* pp- 103,

Historic septem sapietmm nach d, Innsbriicker Handschrift v. J. 1342 nebst einer Untersu chung uber die Quelle der Sevin Sages des Johne Holland v. Dalketh, Von G, Buchner (Erlangen), 8vo. 117 pp.

Gesta Romanorum. Nach der Innsbriicker Handschrift v. J. 1342 herausg. von W, Dick (Erlangen), Svo, xxiv, 274 PP- [ a TexI preferable to that of Oesterley’s edition, 35 ]

Goeje, J. de. La legende de Samt-Brandan (Leyden), Svo. 36 pp.

Jacobi a Voragine legenda aurea vnlgo historia lombardica dicta. Ad optimorum librorium fidem recensuit Th, Gracese, editio iii (Breslau), Svo. pp, x, 957,

j ellinek, M, H. Die Sage von Hero und Leander in der Dichtung (Berlin), Svo, pp, v, 92*

Meyer (G. 5 )., Schoneach (A. E.), Schuchardt (H.), Seuffert (B.), Zum 24 Juni 1S90 begriissen R, Kohler vier Grazer Freunde,

WeisslovitS, W. Prinz and Derwisch, Ein Indischer Roman entlmltend die Jugendgeschichte Buddha J s in Hebraischer Darstelhmg aus dem Mittelalter, nebst einer Vergleichung der Arabischen und Griechischen Paralleltexte, Mit einem Anhang von Dr. Fritz Hommel (Munch en). Svo, iv* 47S pp.

Wolf, Feed, Kleinere Schriften zusammengsteHt von Ed. Stengel (Marburg), Svo. xiv, 312 pp,

FOLK-LORE AND ANTHROPOLOGY.

Powell, J. W* Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1883-1884. Plates, maps, etc, (Washington), Svo, pp. Hi4 564.

Powell, J. W, Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethno logy to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1884-1885. Plates, maps, etc, (Washington), pp, Iviii, 675,

Stanley, H. M. In Darkest Africa; or, The Quest, Rescue, and Retreat of Emin, Governor of Equator^a. Illustrations and maps (Low). 2 vote,, Svo. pp, $96.

JOURNALS.

* *

1890 , UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED.

[Arranged alphabetically under each language. Numbers not noticed in the present list mill be given in the nexti]

American Notes and Queries, v, j. Superstitions of Shoes, Babylonian and Oriental Record, iv, 9. J . S . Stuart Glennie t The Traditional Deluge and its Geological Identification,

4 r 3

Folk-lore Bihliogrhphy .

Journal of Americas Folk-Lore, April-June. ^ Matthew, The Gentile System of the Navajo Indians, /. G. Bourke, Notes on the Gentile Organisation of the Apaches of Arizona. M. B. Syder , Survivals of Astrology. If C. Bolton, Seega, an Egyptian Game. M. A. Owen, Ole Rabbit an f de Dawg he stole. W. W. Newell, Game of the Child-stealing Witch. II. A . Chamberlam, Tale of the Mississaguas,

Journal of the Anthropological Institute, Aug T. IV. Share, Archaic Remains of the Celts in Hampshire, A. IV Howiit, The Deiri and Kindred Tribes of Central Australia,

Journal of the Anthropological Society of Bombay, iv. L. Dames, Ordeals by Fire in the Punjaub. A. Behalsek, On Superstitions of the People from Portuguese Sources. M, By mock, On the Narcotics of the East B t B,Patefy Notes on Towers of Silence in India,

Journal of the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 2nd Quarter, Pp. 173-74 contain a review of Lady Wilde’s C/tarfnSy with interesting additions.

Nineteenth Century, August, James Meza, The Hebrew Plell.

Notes and Queries, 5, July, Superstition in Mansfield. i6 s July, A\ If. Bush, Senegambian Folk-lore, 26, July, IV A. Clousion, Uncle Remus and some European Popular Tales, 23, Aug., WH. Church, Symbolism of Easter Fires, 30, Aug., IV E . A. Axon , Folk-lore of East and West compared. Folk-lore from Chicago, Senegambian Folk-lore. 6, Sept,, Swedish Baptismal Folk-lore, Irish Variant of St. Swithin. Mother Hubbard (suggests it was a political satire of lSo6),

Melusme, v, 3, G. Dmitrcponf , Un chant monorime de la Passion, / Tuchmann, La Fascination {suite). Q. Esser , Mocurs et usages de Malmtfdy et de la Wallonie pmssienne. Ad Oram , Devinettes de la Haute Bretagne. La pierre de Serpent, If Gaidos , LVtymologie populate et le folk-lore: iv, l Etre supreme. V. 4. A* Loquin, La nouvelle brochure de M. Gaston Paris. H. Gaidoz, Les contes populates dans Tantiquitd classique, Les chemins de for, it. Emault\ Les chansons populates de la Basse Bretagne. Udtymologic populaire dans le folk-lore, v. SL H. G* Grady, Irish Prognostications from the Howling of Dogs, Ad. Oram, Devinettes de la Haute Bretagne. J. Tuckmann , La Fascination (suite).

Revue du Nord de fa France, June. J. B&nkomme, Chansons popu~ Hires du Nord de la France. A , Ledieu, Essais sur le folk-lore du Santerre, A. Desnmsseain\ La chanson de Gayant k Douai If Camay, Les monuments pre'histonques,

4 f 4

Revue des Traditions Populates, V, 4 * £> Brueyre , Extraits d'anciens ouvrages anglais relatifs ail Folk-lore : i, Anti quit d de la literature des npumces* A, Bon, Devinettes : Auvergne- /

Le Rossignolet: ii, Version du Morvan. A. Certmx , Les calendriers des iUettrds, ill F. SMilot, Les coquillages de mer, in. A . j&w, Le seigneur loup-garou, legende de PAuvergne, B Bayou, Amulettes et talismans vii, Amuleltes TJtalie. D. Bourchenin , Coutumes de manage : vi, Une noce en 13 darn. Mm. F. SMIloi, Superstitions de la FJievre. B SiebeL Ldgendes et superstitions prehistoriques : iv, La hotte du diable. Mme. P. Sibillot, La mort dAdfcle, chanson de la Haute- Bretagne. Ch. Rabat , Un album e ski mo. A* Basset, Contes

arabes et orientaux : iv, Le My the d’Orion et une fable de Florian; M. de CrousBoiu, Chants hdroiques du peuple russe, ii. p m 5 ,, Les Traditions populates et les domains francais: iv, Racine. A. Mil lien, Les f’ourquoi : liv-Iv, La mule et le lievre. /. de Laportcrie, Croyances des paysans lan dais, A. Cert tux, Brimades et initiations: i, Les Bejaunes du commerce. A, Huron, Le long hiver (versions daman des). R, Bonaparte, Les glaciers: I, Le genie de PAIetsch, A . Dessdix, V ^communication des glaciers. A* S ., Ndcrologie : Edouard Ckarton, P . S * T Bibliographic : Julien Delaite, Gtossaire des jeux wallons .—V, 5. Hard&utn , Traditions et superstitions siamoises. A, Bernard , Jolt mois de mai fteuri : Chanson du pays de Caux. A. St billot, Les Zoophytes, G> Fouju, Miettes de Folk-lore parisien: xii, Usage du vendredi saint dans ia Seine, A, S*, Saint-Blaise, ii. A, Pineau, Usages et superstitions de mai: in, Le premier mai en Poitou. D> Bourchenin, Formalettes bcarnaiscs. A. Huron, Imagerle populaire flamande. G . Foujn , Urgencies et super-

stitkms prdhistoriqueSj vi, M. Guyot, Le petit tambour : Chanson avec jeu* H. leCarguet, Traditions et superstitions du Cap-Sizun: iii. An Aour-ieoten, L’herbe dor A. S Le Folk-lore au Salon, v. /C Bay on , Dev incites de Haute-Bretagne, ii. B * Sax, Salomon dans les legendes musulmanes : v, Lettre de M. B, Sax, A. Harou, Le bonbomme Misfere, Idgende lidgeoise. B. Hubert, Poesies stir des themes populates : xx, Le saint de village* A, 5 ,* Le voyage prdsidentiel et les traditions populaires, A. A, Fontaine , Facades bourguigno tines : i, Le mai re de Buncy : ii, Les Tortionnaires- A , Certeux, Les traditions populates h f Exposition r v, Section russe,—V, 6, A. Sichler, Ceremonies et coutumes nuptiales en Russie, JR Guyot, Le pont de Londres : ronde. A* Les danseurs in audits. Mmc. DestricM, Traditions et supers', ilions de la Sarthe. A* SibiUdt, L’iconographie

fantastique : ii, Les Latins. G. de Latenay, Des apparitions en Vendee. K M, Lnzel } Les contes populaires dans les sermons du Moyen-Age: ii 3 Horrible exemple de Feveque Hugues. A. Certmx , Les calendriers des illettrds : iv, Le calendrier des Azt£ques E . Jacottd r Legendes et contes Bassoutos : v, La legend e de la tortue.—V, 7. M. de Zmigrcdzfa', Folk-lore europden compard : La mfcre et Fenfant. J. Tiersot^ Trois pas tou relies du Morvam Sur Forigine popnlaire du mot ^yieluia, P. Sebillot\ Les traditions populaires et les dcrivains franca is : v, Moliere. Ferr and^ Traditions et superstitions dn Dauphine. J, de Lafiorte-rie, tine noce de pay sans en Chalosse. J. Destree y Sdconde vue, intersignes. L , $ichhr y Meeurs et con Limes de manage : u, Gouvemement d 1 Archangel; in, Chez les Permiens. R< Basset, Salomon dans les Idgendes musulmanes, A. Cerietix y Les calendriers des illettrds : vi, Les batons calendriers. Morel-Retz, Le Peuple et l’Histoire : iv, Mandrin. R, /tarn*/, Une substitution, P* Sibiliot, Quelques contes tres courts. L- Bonne mere, Superstitions du d^partement de ITndre. G . de Rialle, Extraits et lectures : i, Les sources dans la mef. R* Blanchard\ Pouretre heureux toute Faimde, ii. j'?. Resides, Quelques pxoverbes franc ais du XV e sifccie.—V, 8. /, Tiersof, Chant de moisson du Morvaru P. Sebillot, Les Mollusques, L. Brueyre , Extraits d’anciens articles anglais relatife an Folk-lore: ii, Preface de Richard Price a Vhistoire de la po^sie anglaise de Warton. Z. Ptneau, Les villes disparues | i, Le Temps, tradition poitevine, R. Basset et P. SSillot, Allusions a des contes populaires, iii. K Fertimdt, Les Traditions populaires et les dcrivains franyais ; vi, Les Noels de la Monnoye. Z. Stchler\ Meeurs et coutumes de manage : iii, Chez les Permiens. A, Cerleux, Extraits et lectures : Le Samedi saint k Cuba,

Harzer Monatshefte, 45, Zur Volkskunde des Harzes,

Mittheilungen des Instituts fiir osterrekhische Geschichfsforschung, iii, t, Opel, Das Mundmm in dem frankischen Gesetzen.

Preussische jahrbiicher, Ixv, 3, A* Harnack, Die Legende als historische Quelle hetracUtet.

Zeitschrift fiir deutsches Aiterihum, xxxiv, 2-3. R M* Meyer. Volkslieder und hofische Poesie desdeutsdien Mittelalters.

Geschichte des Schwerttanzes.

Zeitschrift fiir Volkerpsychologie, xxi, 1. C//. Weinhold, Die Aufgabe

der Volkskunde.

Zeitschrift fur Volkskunde, in 8, Z. FriinkeL Die Fabel vom Streite der drei lasterhaften Briider im 17, Jahrhtmdeit, D. Brauns,

Folk-lore Fihlwgrafihy .

Die japamschen Kinder- und Hausmarchen, 0 , Knoop , Marchen aus der Provens Posen, ^4. Deutsche Volkslieder aus

Steiermark. /, Bolt^ Lieder von einem fliegenden Rlatte, B. MitkoS) Albanesisehe Lieder; Deutsch, von J, U. Jarnit* Arcfmf Volksratsel aus der Proving Pommem, Heinrich v. WUslocki\ Kinderspiele der siebenbiirgischen und siidungarischen Zeltiigeuner,-—ii, 9. L v* Zingerlc , St, Nicolaus. J- U,Jamik t Albanesische Marchen und Schwiinke, O. Knoop > V olkslieder aus Hinterpommem. Archui , Volksnitsel aus der Provinz Pommern. H. v. Wtislochi , Kinderspiele der siebenbiirgischen sLidungarischen Zeltzigeuner, E , Pfeifer , Aberglaube aus dem Attenburgischen. A. Pick, Em Feuersegen (Aus Zeits:)-—ii, 10 , C. Radem acker, Uber den Geisterglauben und seinen Einfluss auf die reVigidsen Vorstellungen der Germanen. T&. Vernaieken^ Der starke Hans. Eine Reihe xnythischer frolksdichiungen. E. Briefer, Volkslieder aus Sommerfeld und Umgegend, E, Mitkos, Albanesische Lieder, J. U, jarmk, Deutsch. /, /, Arnmimn, Hochzeitsbrauche aus dem Bohmenvald.—ii, ir. /. v, Zingerlc, St, Nicolaus, J> IR farnik, Alban esi sch e Marchen und Schwanke. O . Knoop, Volkslieder aus Hinterpommern. £\ Briefer, Volkslieder aus Sommerfeld und Umgegend. /. f Anitnann , Hoehzeitsbrauche aus dem Bdhmerwald. A. Pfeifer , Aberglaube aus dem Altenburgiscben,

i

tfolMLore.

* »

Vol. L] DECEMBER, 1890. [NO. IV.

No. IV — December 1890

Marriage Customs of the Mordvins

Hon. J. Abercromby

MARRIAGE CUSTOMS OF THE MORDVINS}

C ELIBACY is almost unknown among the Mordvins;

when it occurs it is almost always the result of a vow, and in places where Russian influence is strong. Sometimes a girl is not married in consequence of a vow to a deity—if hail, for instance, has ruined the crops, or some misfortune has befallen the family. Such a girl is termed the " wife of the hail-king 5 ’,

Mr. Main off was of opinion that formerly kinship, with one exception, was no bar to marriage. He arrived at this, conclusion from the fact that the more the people have come under Russian and Christian influence, Hie more they avoid marriages between relations. In spite of all his efforts he was unable to discover why unions between closely related couples are Illicit. He was simply assured that the prohibition was taken from the Russians ; and in the government of Penza lie found a general Impression that the children born of a marriage between near relations were sickly. He believed himself that the only old national taboo was on a union between brother and sister, such as is recorded in the following Erza folk-tale narrated to him in the village of Arzamas :— u Once upon a time there was a brother and sister.

-fz

1 I have taken the facts relating to the Mordvins from the late W. Mai nod’s Mordvankansau 'Mafapoja t pp. 114, Helsingfors, 1883. VOL. I. BE

418 M(image Customs of the Movd/vuis.

Their father took the brother, to a certain town, where they lived for ten years. The sister came to the town and worked in the same house as the brother. They fell in love, slept together at night, and the sister gave birth to a dog. They had slept together like, dogs, and therefore a dog was born.”

With this may be compared the Kalmuk proverb quoted by McLennan, 1 “ The great folk and dogs know no relatfonship” The fact of being a fellow-villager, or bearing the same family name, is no impediment to marriage, as there is no necessary relationship. Names, in fact, are generally the result of accident, for immediately after birth the child is taken out of doors by the midwife, who Fooks round, and gives it the name of the first object that catches her eye. Hence such names as Poikaii (Horseshoe), Final (Dog), Std (Sun), Vatsi (Excrement). 2 An adopted child , can also marry a member of the family of its adoption, as there is no necessary kinship*

There is no fixed age for entering the married state. Among the Erza it is sufficient if the bridegroom be nineteen years of age, but the bride must not be under * seventeen* Among the Moksha, on the contrary, the bride must be older than the bridegroom* A lad may marry at the age of eighteen or nineteen, but his %vife must be twenty or twenty-one. The betrothal of children under age is scarcely known, though Pallas ~ (Voyages en Russze, h p. 107), in the year 1768, mentions that they were betrothed at a very tender age, as if it were then usual The Moksha under no circumstances will allow a younger sister to be married before an elder one; but parents do not object to a younger daughter falling in love with a lad and getting children before they can marry in consequence of this social rule,

1 Primitive Marriage^ p- 7S (1S76).

E The Osliaks also give names from accidental circumstances. O. Finsch, Reiss u. West Siberien^ p. 5 40; the Samoyedes, Le Bran’s Trai/ep Eng* edit, p. 14; the Kalmuks, Pallas's Voyages en Russie^ p. 5 71.

Among the Erza marriages are generally arranged by the parents, sometimes without the knowledge of their children, who have no voice in the matter ; but this is not the case with the Moksha; with them some mutual inclination is necessary, and the young couple agree to marry before informing their parents.

Neither the Erza nor the Moksha lay much stress on the virginity of the bride, and it is certainly not a sznequd non * No disgrace attaches to a girl for giving birth to a child ; it only proves she has the great merit of being able to bear children* Her child belongs to her father* The Moksha have a saying which alludes to this : “ A cow is at the pasture ; the proprietor gets the calf.” The Erza have borrowed from the Russians an adage of similar import: “ The bull may be anybody’s, but the calf is ours.” Another proverb, common to both branches of the Mordvins, refers to the same tiling: A girl makes a child for her father, a wife for her husband, but a man for a stranger.” In some places 1 the wedding-guests break the dishes and smash everything before them if the bridegroom has remarked that the bride is a virgin, and this procedure is regarded by her parents as a special mark of honour. Mainoff opined that this practice was due to Russian influence, but exactly the same custom is reported of the Ostiaks (Ahlqvist, Untcr Wogulm u. Ostjaken , p* 161), among whom the virginityof the bride seems to be rarely preserved.

In the last centory polygamy, though sanctioned, was of rare occurrence, and now, of course, is prohibited.

§ E. Marriage with captur e^iises, is still in force. A young man falls in love with a girl who reciprocates his feelings, and they agree to marry. Sometimes, though' rarely, she refuses to make a runaway marriage, Uses; but if she is willing, the lad communicates their intention to his father,

1 Sarlei (Nizhegorod) ; Semeikino (Simbirsk).

: At the end of this paper I have explained the difference between marriage with capture and marriage by capture*

E E 2

otherwise as he would have no home to go to, and bai gains with an easy-going priest to marry them. The reckless bridegroom, “who has plunged into the stream without knowing the ford,” in other words, who has brought his bride to church without stipulating beforehand concerning the priest's fee, has to pay heavily for his want of foresight. The young man has also called upon his male friends to assist him in his enterprise. On a given night, about 11 p.M., some ten or twelve of these, in three or four troikas, assemble in the courtyard of his father’s house, and,’ on hearing the first cockcrow, they whip the horses and dash ufr at full speed. On reaching the bride’s village the young man goes alone to retch his sweetheart, seizes her bv the waist, and carries her back to where he had left his friends. She scratches and pinches him the whole time, but the more she resists the better pleased is her abductor. With the help of his friends he throws a cloth over her head, packs her into a carriage, and then they all drive off in hot haste.

Meanwhile the bride’s people have perhaps remarked that something is amiss, and that she has been abducted. The alarm is given, the men of the village are summoned, and a pursuit begins. The pursuers have eventually either to return empty-handed, or they overtake the abductors. In the latter case a tussle ensues, resulting in broken teeth, bruised heads, and sometimes broken legs. If the young man’s party is successful it carries off the girl to church, where the priest performs the marriage ceremony according to the Russian rite.

Marriages of this kind end in a huge carouse given at the house of the bridegroom to the parents and relations of the bride. Her father pretends at first not to wish to enter the gate, makes an uproar, and demands his daughter back ; but after a glass or two of spirits he relents, and is led by the arm into the common room. Custom requires that the bride’s mother should resist all efforts to appease her, and she has to be carried in by force. An outraged

parent never dreams of making a formal complaint about the abductloh of his daughter, as it would only be heard before the old men of the village, who look upon these marriages as quite natural However, among the Erza they are becoming more and more rare, and it is only among the Moksha that marriage with abduction is a prevalent custom.

In the last three paragraphs Mainoff, who believed that marriage by capture or elopement, Uses, was the old and sole mode of taking a wife formerly among tlie Mordvins, has, I think, put the matter too strongly ; for elsewhere he incidentally mentions that, though the taking of a wife should have originated by Uses, the wedding Is held in the same manner as if it had happened with the consent of the parents, with the sole difference that the bride's parents and relations must be appeased with a larger quantity of spirits and pure } and Lepekhin 1 2 states that if the lad is overtaken he must pay for it with a fearful thrashing, or even with his life ; but if he escaped he kept the bride, but had to pay the kalym, though he was allowed to do this by instalments. Capture or elopement is therefore only an incident in a marriage by purchase. However, Mainoff was told that fifty years ago marriages by simple capture, Uses, took place, with which the matter ended, for there was no carouse,

| 2, Wooing, as a formal act, is always done by proxy . 3 In tile Penza government, if a young man has no special object of his affections, he sends spokesmen “to take a look” at some girl. He may even be present, but must not disclose the object of his visit. If the girl is attractive

1 A kind of beer mixed with honey.

2 Tagebuch d. Reise durck verschied, Proving, d. Russ, Reiches in 1 &6S-9, p. 106,

3 Baron v. Herberstein in 1549 (transl. by R. II. Major, u 91) mentions that in Russia it was held to be dishonourable and a disgrace for a young man io address a girl in order that he might obtain her hand in marriage.

the spokesmen ask the parents if they intend marrying her, what presents they would give, and ki this way negotiations are set on foot, '

Elsewhere, if a father wishes to marry his son to some girl, or if the lad has already set his affections upon a certain maiden, the first act is to woo her in the prescribed manner. Either the young man’s parents or specially appointed matchmakers proceed to the house of the brideelect to broach the subject to her people. When the visit is made in the first instance by intermediaries, they report the result, and if their propositions have been favourably received, the young man's parents go there on a later occasion. It is considered very unlucky that the object of their visit should be prematurely known. Should they encounter anyone by the way who remarks, “Ah ! I know where you are going ; you are going to make a match for your son ,’ 1 they will at once retrace their steps and postpone their errand for another dayi If they arc fortunate enough to reach their destination unnoticed, they are received by the girl’s parents as though the purpose of their comingwere unsuspected. By hints the young man’s father lets the girl’s parents understand that it would be by no means a bad business were they to become connected. As soon as the object of the visit is thus disclosed the visitors are removed to the seat of honour, and negotiations are now begun. A wax candle is placed on the table, and prayer is made in the following terms :— “ O mother, Yurt asyr ava} O Kutf azyr ava 2 that giveth suck, O deceased ancestors, bless our intention; give a young couple luck, riches, and many children/’

The girl’s father then cuts off a corner of a loaf with three slashes of a knife, salts it, and places it under the threshold where the Penates are believed to frequent This is called the “god’s portion”. For along time they haggle about the price {fiitne) to be paid for the bride and about

1 Goddess of the homestead.

2 Goddess of the dwelling-house.

the articles to he “put on the table”, such as the bride’s presents, the quantity of spirits, pure, and provisions required for the carouse. The day of the wedding carouse (proksimme) is also fixed. When everything is agreed to the girl is summoned, and she is asked if she wishes to be married. Silence is taken to give consent.

§ 2«. Melmkoff, writing of the Moksha of Simbirsk in the year 1851, mentions a curious custom of wooing. The young man’s parents first make offerings at home, to Yurt azyr 'ava and Kud azyr ava. These gifts consist of dough figures of domestic animals, which are placed under the threshold of the house and of the outside gate, while prayer is made to the goddesses and to deceased ancestors. The father then cuts off the corner of a loaf placed on the table, and at the time of the offerings scoops out the inside and fills it with honey. At midnight he drives in profound secrecy to the house.of the bride-elect, places the honeyed bread on the gate-post, strikes the window with his whip, and shouts: “ Seta ! 1 , Veshnak Mazakoff , make a match between thy daughter Kodai and my son Urn. Take the honeyed bread from thy gate-post and pray. 1 After this speech Veshnak gallops home as hard as he can, while Seta dresses in haste and sallies forth in pursuit with bis children and relations. Should the former be overtaken he is flogged within an inch of his life ; if he escapes, the pursuers drive on to his house and demand if he is at home. He is now bound to show himself at the window in proof that he has not hidden somewhere on the road. Seta cannot now oppose the match or refuse his daughter, so he returns home, prays to Yurt azyr ava, Kud azyr ava , and to his ancestors, and offers up the “ god’s portion”.

§ 2b. A very similar custom was formerly in vogue in the Moksha village of Napolni (Simbirsk). The young man’s father, taking a staff and half a round loaf, pro-

1 Though Main off did not believe the words of the original have been quite correctly translated, he has not amended the translation.

ceeded to the girl's house* struck the door with his staff, and when it was opened threw in the half loaf and took to his heels* He was immediately pursued, and if overtaken was mercilessly cudgelled ; but he was not only safe if he managed to pass beyond the village boundary in time, but his pursuers had to ihake terms with him and agree to the match.

§ 2 c. Another type of wooing is found in the district of Buguiminsk. The, parents and some relations of the young man proceed to the house of the bride-elect, and, on entering it, ask outright whether her parents will give their daughter in marriage* At the same time they demand a direct answer* and will not sit down till it is given. Meanwhile die women of the party just arrived lay on the table a loaf, salt, and spirits. Before the girl's father has expressed his assent to the match no one touches the things* Should he decline the offer, the bread and spirits are left on the table for three days, evidently to allow time for reconsideration ; but if he shows his approval by sitting down to table, all present follow suit, and he immediately sends to invite his relations and neighbours to the entertainment The respective parents now come to terms About the pi trie or kalym. When this important matter is settled tire girl’s father takes the young man's parents by the hand, leads them to the bride-elect, who is hiding in some corner, but will not let them see her till they have paid a special fee* She is then asked if she will marry the young man in question, and generally gives her consent, as she has possibly agreed with him to do so long ago* She then gives the suitors presents made by herself, and her future father-in-law gives her money in return*

§ 3 * The negotiations which take place between the heads of families about to be connected by marriage are often very lengthy ; nor are they broken off, though meanwhile an elopement, Uses, should have taken place* The Erza haggles most about what should be “put on the table’ 1 . This is generally a crown, a breast-buckle, and other orna-

merits. With the Moksha everything, down to the most trifling matter, must be agreed upon beforehand. Including the quantity of spirits to be brought by the young man's parents. Whatever arrangements are finally decided upon, they always remain verbal, and are never in the form of a written contract, as is the case with the Russians. The bride’s price is from 25 to 100 roubles in cash, and also the expenses of the feasts and carouse, amounting to 50 or 60 roubles, With the Erza, this money goes into her father's pocket, who usually regards It as a compensation for the ornaments and gifts given to his daughter. The Moksha pay the pit tie directly to the bride, who buys for herself a bed, furs, and wearing apparel. The Mordvins have no marriage portion or dowry, 1 in the full sense of the word, though they have something that partly answers to it. The articles that compose it are entirely worked by the bride*and her friends, and so are entirely her own property, though sometimes her father will give her a calf or two or three sheep ; but such a gift is not compulsory, and is rather to be regarded as a wedding-present.

Of .course, it sometimes happens that a match is broken off; then a question of compensation may arise. Among the Moksha this is a matter of mutual private arrangement if possible; otherwise it must be brought into court It once happened at Kemeshker (Saratoff) that a match had been arranged, and the usual preparations were on foot, when suddenly the bridegroom had to be removed to a madhouse. The girFs father demanded compensation for the expense he had already been put to, but the court decided against him. On the other hand, at Verhis (Penza), in the year 1877, a young man heard that his intended was keeping company with the bone-setter of another village,

1 Georgi, Descrip, de ioutes ks nations de Pempire d£ Rit$$k{\Ti 1766), 1, p, S8, states that the Voguls have no marriage portion, and both he and Is brants, in 1691, quoted by Le Brim, . tit,, p. 144, mention that the Voguls obtain their wives by purchase, and that the marriages are conducted for the most part without ceremonies.

and on that account renounced his engagement. The matter came before the court, which sentenced him not only to pay costs, but also an additional ten roubles to the girl for spreading a scandalous report about her, and further, to receive twenty strokes with a rod, “ that he might learn henceforth not to calumniate a girl/*

§ 4. The wedding carouse, proksimme, or "hand-striking”,, forms one of the most essential features in the whole series of marriage customs, as the match is now finally ratified, and Makarius states expressly that, after it, the young man passes every night beside his bride. The period at which it takes place varies. According to Makarius, the Erza of Nizhegorod held it three days before the wedding, which did not take place for two or three years after the wooing, all which time was spent by the bride in preparing a trousseau for herself; but generally it seems to take place either simultaneously with the negotiations about the kalym, as recorded in § 2 c, or when these are definitely settled.

On the day of the carouse there is first a gathering of the bridegroom’s relations and friends at his father's house. When the guests have arrived, the proceedings of the day arc begun with a prayer to Chim Paz, the sun-god : “ O father Chim Pas, bless a good business, grant good luck, grant many children.”

The “god's portion” is then offered, and a little brandy is spilt under the threshold. After this, the whole party, with a supply of pics and spirits, starts for the home of the bride-elect with much jubilation and singing. If her parents, who have received information beforehand of the coming of the match-makers, are inclined to the project, they either drive out by the horse-gate to meet them, or they meet them at the gate with bows, while carrying in their hands bread and a salt-cellar. All then enter the common room. The young man's father is again placed in the seat of honour, and, when everything is accurately agreed to, they begin to strike hands. This ceremony consisted

formerly in the future fathers-in-law seizing the tie-beam with the left hand, and taking each other's right hand, with the formula, ked koshkek, “dry thy hand”. There is, however, only one Moksha village where all this is done. 1 Elsewhere they merely strike hands, without seizing the tic-beam.

The bride's mother now sets on the table the loaf and salt-cellar, with which the guests had been met Her father opens the salt-cellar with a knife, and, holding the latter above his head, utters the above-mentioned prayer, adding to it the name of ShkaL All present bow in silence, and raise their hands above their heads. He then "holds up the loaf, and hands the knife to the bridegroom's father, who, with three slashes, cuts off the u god’s portion”, and gives it, on the point of the knife, to the bridegroom, who first takes it into his hands, and then passes it to the brides father, who salts it, carries it on the point of the knife— under no circumstances in his hands—and places It under the threshold The rest of the loaf is divided among those present, and the bridegroom must taste it first After this, the provisions and spirits brought by the bridegroom’s party are laid on the table, all present sit down, and the feasting and drinking begin. The bride is not present; she is either sitting with her friends In another room, or is at some relation's house, fn course of time the bridegroom's relations come to her to make her acquaintance, for many of them have not seen her before. She gives them presents, made by herself, to show that she is diligent and a good worker, and sends an embroidered handkerchief or a new shirt to the bridegroom, who must wear it, for the first time, on the wedding day. For these gifts her future parents-in-law kiss her, and the young man's mother praises the bride for her intelligence and industry. If the bride and bridegroom are from the same village, the rela-

1 Main off seems to have been under the impression that this js a genuine Mordvin custom, hut I believe it must have been taken from the Russians. See Ralston, Songs of the Russian People, p.,265.

tives of the latter must Invite the bride’s relations to their houses and entertain them. The company then separates, and awaits tllte day of the wedding.

§ 4«. The following account of the carouse differs so considerably from the above, that it must be given separately. It is related by iylelnikoff, of the Erza of Teryshevsk (Simbirsk), who are greatly Russianised, arid have borrowed many customs from their Slav neighbours. On the day of the carouse the bridegroom proceeds, with his father, to the house of the bride-elect, taking all the articles agreed upon, including spirits and a barrel of beer. They'enter the house without a word or the least salutation, lay bread and salt on the table, and place money on the loaf. 1 If the bride belongs to another village, the bridegroom does not- accompany his father, nor under any circumstances does lie see the bride before the wedding. At the carouse the bridegroom, if present, sits in a corner, and does not utter a word the whole time. His father, after a prayer to God, proffers spirits and beer to all the bi ide s relatives who are present. Then begins “ placing on the table ’, 4 he purchase, properly speaking, is now

made. The bride’s father demands a full price, then reduces it, and finally they come to terms. They pay twenty or thiity roubles of this “table money” to the bride, and never more. After- this comes the “crown money” which amounts to sixty roubles additional. Then they agree about the fur coats and other articles of dress to be given to the bride, finally the bride’s father demands “pies", together with a mdro (3.25 gallons) of spirits, a small barrel of beer, a shoulder of cooked meat, and a cake for the girls, into which a pear has been baked. The bride is not present on these occasions.

On the day fixed for the “feast of holy pies” the bridegicorns relations assemble at his house, and, after refreshments, drive in a long procession to the home of tire

^This reads like a wooing custom, though the words “agreed upon show the two parties must have met before.

bride. The bridegroom, however, docs not accompany them. The party does not go empty-handed, but takes with it spirits, beer, and the sacred pies, which are an elland-a-half long and half-an-elI broad, but contain nothing inside. On reaching the house, the bride’s relations go outside to meet them. The pies are broken up, and the pieces arc placed in a meal-trough, which is brought into the common room and laid on the table. When once the pics have been accepted, a girl can no longer choose another man, and her parents no longer consider her their own, but call her iha, le., belonging to the bridegroom’s family. As soon as the pies have been brought in, candles are lit before the holy pictures, and all begin to pray. After that, they eat, drink, and make merry, but do not dance. Meanwhile, the bridegroom’s relations enter the courtyard, and take the girls’ cake from the carriage. The bridegroom’s brother, or nearest relation, raises it up, the girls surround him, and, with much laughter and shouting, try to get possession of it. YY hen the party is about to start home, the girls sing to the bridegroom’s father or the spokesman :

“ Here are greedy fathers-in-law ; the horses, which are waiting, saddled and bridled, have torn up the grass with their hoofs. On the backs of the steeds are sitting men in red coats and id morocco leather boots of goatskin."

Then the girls begin teasing the bridegroom’s father by

saying:

“ Father-in-law, father-in-law, thou hast boasted, hast greatly • boasted that thou art rich: according to thee thou hast a couple of houses, but thou hast only one, and attached to it is but one bam, in the barn there- one bin, in the bin one basket: kill kali} in the pot there’s no meal at all: the meal isn’t ground, the water is full of salt, the dough-trough is on the lime-tree, the twirling-stick is still on the fir-tree; the pigeons turn away, fly to

1 This indicates the sound produced by tapping the fingers against an empty dish.

other people’s bams, picked up here and there a grain and carried it to the father-in-law’s farm; they ground it between two coals, sowed it in a besom ; in,the besom they brewed beer ; they baked pies and brought them to us here; devilish bad are the pies, the cakes are worth a farthing. Eat, consume our pies; our pies are like' the wheaten bread of Murom, but thy pies are like the oven-rakes of old women/’

When the unlucky bridegroom’s father has reached the anteroom the girls will not make way for him, but surround him, shake his skirts, and again Sing the thoroughly Russian song of abuse of the father-in-law. On the third day of « holy pies” the bridegroom’s father goes alone to the bride’s house with half a shtoff (34 pints) of spirits and a barrel of beer, and then the day for the wedding is fixed.

§ The day before the wedding is called “the weeping day” by the Erza of Teryshevsk (Simbirsk). On the evening before it the bride’s relations assemble at her house. Some heat the bath for her, others plait her hair into a tail, but she herself weeps bitterly. After her friends have washed her and loosened her hair, they sit down to supper together, and sing marriage songs. No men are present. The bride and her friends do not go to bed, but pass the night sewing handkerchiefs and singing songs. Before dawn on the “weeping day” the bride goes to her parents and on her knees requests their blessing. When this has been given, she goes outside by the back door, bows profoundly towards the east five times, saying:

“ Bless me, 0 father ; bless me, O mother ; bless me, O humid earth-mother ; bless me, heaven and earth. I now go to seek a good blessing.”

She then returns home, sits in the centre of the room and weeps, surrounded by her friends, who also weep and sing songs. Afterwards the girls carry her to a neighbour’s—in Arzamas (Nizhcgorod) she is carried on a felt cover by men. On passing the outer gate she again bows five times, and seeing that it is beginning to dawn, recites:

« 0 mother Dawn, bless me with thy red sun, with thy bright moon and with thy bright stars. The dawn is dawning for me. Father drives me away. The lovely sun is rising; my freedom disappears."

After this they proceed to the neighbour’s, and, when the sun is fully up, the bride and her friends return homed Her mother receives her, seats her at table, and offers her pancakes. The bride and her friends then start off to visit all her relations and friends in rotation. At each place she is treated to spirits, beer, and pancakes. When the visits arc finished, she is carried home by her friends to be dressed. Her mother again meets her, sets a loaf, a saltcellar, a pot of groats, an egg-cake and a baked egg on the table, and lights a candle before the holy pictures, to which she makes three bows down to the floor. The bride approaches the table weeping ; her father offers her beer in a ladle which must not be full, and says : “Look! here, my child, is something for your work ; take and drink as much as you like” She laments with tears that a full ladle has not been offered her, praises her work and her submissivencss, and requests to be allowed to entertain her friends, “ who had carried her in their white arms.” She will not drink the beer proffered by her mother, as to do so would be " like tearing out her own heart". Her father meanwhile advances to the table, presses his hand to his breast, and breaks out in tears, Her friends take her up under the arms and carry her to him. She now recites:

“ Stop, father, stop \ Bo not fear me. Stop, my kind sun. Do not be alarmed at me, I do not desire thy house. I will

1 Elsewhere in Simbirsk, the bride—apparently alone—starts at dawn for the house of some relation, and sitting at his gate, says : 11 My mothers brother (or my brother)! let me in, my beloved, for a moment to warm myself. A thundercloud rolls above my head, wets my beautiful white shirt, wets too my silk kerchief. Conceal me* dear, from the thunderclouds. I am no longer in father s favour—he has driven me from home.” She is usually admitted and entertained with pancakes, after which she returns home.

not send thee on my business. Give me thy good blessing now that I am going among strange people, Bless me at a strange father’s and mother's house. Just look* dear father, towards the open held; behold the kind sun through the window. On the open field grows a lovely birch* in the sky shines the kind sun, variegated leaves are fluttering in the wind, by wind and storm they are blown down to the ground. Stop* father, stop ! Look not at the kind sun, gaze not at the lovely sun. The real sun shines not* a real white barked birch is nobgrowing. Thy child stands before thee. Variegated leaves are not fluttering in the wind, are not shaken to the ground by violent gusts. Hot tears are falling from the face of thy child. Stop, father, stop S Fear me not, my kind father, be not alarmed, my darling father. For thy bread, thy salt, thy drink, thy food, thy teaching, I fall down at thy dear feet, I kiss thy precious hand, I do not mind spoiling my gala-dress. I sink down at thy feet. Give me thy blessing. I keep kissing thy hands, I do not spare myself. Bless me, my father, to live with a stranger, to do the work of a stranger.”

The bride now falls at her father’s feet, lets her head fall on his knees and kisses his hands. He takes up a holy picture, sets it on his daughter’s head, and says: H God bless thee, and I too bless thee/ 1 She then kisses her father and walks towards her mother, repeating the words: M Now I go to my dear mother. Disperse* stand aside, good friends and neighbours, now I go to the stove-mother; they say mothers stand near the stove-mother,” Her mother, in fact, is standing near the stove, and replies: K Come, my child, come, my dove, come, my darling. Come, that you may attain your desire. Thy mother sits near the stove-mother. Come, I will embrace thee to my heart. 1 ' After receiving her mother’s blessing, her friends take her up under the arms and carry her to a neighbouring house, In the street she recites: " My father did not need me; my mother was angry at me ; they blessed me to live among strangers, to do the work of strangers ” On reaching the house her friends undress her, and all go to rest thoroughly exhausted.

§ 5#, Sometimes a so-called "girls* feast'* Is held the day before the wedding day. As soon as she has risen, the bride dresses herself in her ordinary clothes, without any ornaments, and starts off to invite her friends, male as well as female, to her house to assist in making preparations, and to console her in her grief. Many of her girl friends have arrived at her house before she has returned home, and when they see her approaching they bar the gate, and do not allow her to enter, for she is going to be married, and has thus deceived them. The following dialogue takes place :

£t Who are you ?”

“ Daughter Kate/ 1

You are not daughter Kate, you are old woman 1 Kate/*

“ Fin not old woman Kate/ 1

“We don't know you. Our Kate is drunk, and carried away,"

After a long parley, during which the bride repeatedly affirms that she is really their unhappy friend Kate, whom bad men wish to separate from her friends, the girls at last relent, and admit her. As soon as she lias entered the room she takes from a chest a shirt made by herself, and sends it by some old woman to the bridegroom. He must wear it on the day of the wedding, and also give a present to the bringer. In the afternoon the work begins, and the praising of the bride. She sits on a stool with her face to the stove, does not touch work, but bursts into tears from time to time, replying that she is unworthy of her friends* praises, and without them she would pine away with sorrow. The following is an example of a song, widely spread among the Erza, from Kemeshker (Saratoff), such as is sung by girls in praise of a bride :

11 Our Kitty is gentle as a lamb,

Our Kitty is good as the sun.

Our Kitty's head is like a flower,

This expression itv Mordvin implies, Mr. Mainoflf remarks, that after the carouse the bride is ffe facto a wife.

Our Kitty's breasts are like knolls.

Our Kitty's legs are like oak trees,

Our Kitty's small hands are like a child's.

Our Kitty's body is like a lime tree,

Like a lime tree it does not bend,

Like a lime tree it does not break."

§ 5A In some places, on the day fixed for the girls' feast' 1 , the bride must go off to say good-bye to her relations and friends. She is accompanied by two near male relations, usually her brothers* Her legs are so enveloped in bandages that she can scarcely walk, and she is in her every-day clothes* As she leaves the house she must courtesy three times to the ground, saying: rt O earth, earth, take me 1 O wind, wind, carry me!' 1

After this she takes mould from under the threshold with her finger tips, and thrusts it into her bosom. With her head sunk upon her breast, the bride now starts off to visit her relations, says farewell to all, and thanks them for having enjoyed their goodwill She announces her marriage, and bitterly bewails her lot which forces her to leave them, and begin the new life of a slave* Her two companions then take her up, and hurriedly transport her out of the room. They go_ to the next house, and the same scene is renewed* In the evening the future father-in-law, bringing with him a barrel of pure , pays a visit to the bride’s parents. He offers the first ladleful of this to the bride, with the words :

tc As pure is good, may thy life be also good* As pure is strong, may thy love be also strong. As pure conquers, conquer grief As pure is clean, be thou clean* As hops are rich in leaves, may thou be rich in children. As pure is rich in hops, may thou be rich in cattle."

Then he dips his finger in the pure, besprinkles the bride, and offers her aladieful, which she must drink empty. 1

1 Among the Ersa of Nizhegorod this visit of the father-in-law takes place three days before the wedding. On the eve of the wedding

When this ceremony is concluded, the girls sit on benches and set to work, or, in default of work, they sing and converse.

| ( 5 - The preceding section narrates what takes place at the house of the bride on the day before the solemnisation of the wedding Now we must turn to the house of the bridegroom, to see what happens contemporaneously there. In the morning a number of girls, who have been invited, come trooping into the room carrying sticks, the heads of which are covered with women’s caps, and adorned with ribbons. Placing themselves in a row before the oldest members of the family, they sing 1

£i Bless us, silver-haired old man; bless us, aged mothers; bless us to invite guests to your house. The bell, hanging by a silver chain to the top of your house, has begun to ring. The sound of the bell is heard around your house. This bell bodes luck to you*”

The old man settles what relations must be asked to the feast, and blesses them, with the words : “ Go, and may the Lord preserve you,” The girls take their departure, and every one whom they invite must give them a present On their return, they sing :

“ We have made visits in “truth* What an extraordinary number of relations ! We have had great trouble to see them all - we have waded in water up to the waist, in mud, up to the knees.”

After taking some refreshment, they go to heat the bath-house for the bridegroom, but, before doing so, ask a blessing: “ Give a blessing, grey-haired old man, that a thoroughly good bath may be heated auspiciously.”

He replies: * Depart, and may the Lord be with you.”

day the bride visits at the bridegroom's house, and brings him presents, but he must be absent, either at a neighbour’s, or hiding in an outhouse.

f r 2

Meanwhile, the women that have been invited 1 arrive at the bridegroom's, bringing groats, butter, eggs, meat, etc His mother receives them in a friendly manner, and invites them to sit at table. When all the guests have arrived, the oldest female member of the household lays on the table a pie an ell long, stuffed with various things. First, a layer of groats, above it egg-cake, sour milk thickened in the oven, and again, eggs and groats. The outside is glazed with egg, and the whole surface stamped with impressions of signet-rings, spoons, and tumblers* While the pie is being placed on the table, the girls sing *.

“O God, give good luck at this moment. Defend, O Creator, from the malicious man. Grant, O God, to the bridegroom abundant increase of crops and cattle.”

The pie is then cut lengthways and across into four pieces, and the women set to eating, drinking, and making merry. No one goes to bed that night, as preparations have to be made for the feast of the morrow, after the wedding ceremony in church. In some places, in the Penza and Simbirsk governments, the bridegroom is expressly driven out of the house in the course of the evening. Some say it is done that he should not disturb the preparations ; others, that it is in compliance with an old custom, going back to a time when a man had to be on the look-out how most suitably to capture his bride.

| 7* As the customs observed by the Erza and Moksha between the eve of the wedding-day and the entry into the bridal chamber on the night of the wedding are not quite the same, it is more convenient to give them separately Among the Erza, on the eve of the wedding-day, the bridegroom's friends assemble at his house and, help to prepare the bride's equipage* This consists of a tilt, covered with linen, which, if the bridegroom be rich, is covered with needlework, that may have taken many

1 Women alone seem to be invited, as only they can assist in making preparations for the feast of the morrow.

months to work- A thick candle, and several thinner ones, have also been made ready for the occasion. The bridegroom s father lights the smaller ones before the holy pictures, but sets up the large one on the threshold. It is called “the house candle”, and such a one is used in every home at family prayers. He then turns towards the pictures with a prayer to God to bless the bridegroom, and after that, turning towards the large candle, he exclaims :

“0 father, Chlm Paz , illuminate thy son. Illuminate his eyes to see good and evil Make him to live prosperously. Make his heart amiable towards his wife, make his wife’s heart amiable towards him. Give her plenty of children, and of wealth ”

The bridegroom now gives a loaf to his father, who cuts off a piece with three slashes, takes it to the threshold and places it near the candle. With a loaf and a holy picture he gives a blessing to his son, and then makes the signal for departure. The party 1 then mounts into vehicles and drives 2 to the bride’s house, but always by a circuitous route through the forest and across fields, unless it happens to be in the, same Village as the bridegroom s dwelling. After driving for a short distance the cortege halts, and the best man 3 walks round it, slashing all the time with a

1 It is not positively stated here whether the bridegroom accompanies the party or not. In some places (Nizhegorod) he stays at home, and next day hurries to church secretly* and on foot.

1 Among the Erza of Teryshevsk (Simbirst), the bridegroom's mother drives oft first with a crown on her head and a candle in her hand. His father follows second, but before getting into his carriage bows down to the ground towards die east, and throws a handful of money in four directions. The bridegroom has the third place. Before the party starts, the horseman who leads the way circles thrice round it with the sun. At Chlstopolsk (Kazan), the bridegroom also goes with the party to the bride's.

3 Often there are two best men. The principal one of the two is also master of the ceremonies, and ought to be very quick a! repartee and badinage. Sometimes the youngest paternal or maternal uncle, or the eldest brother of the*bridegraom, acts in this capacity, while an

43S Maf¥iage Customs of the Mordvins .

sword or an axe. Sometimes he pretends to cut down a bush from the path, a reminiscence, Mr. MainofT believed, of the time when obstacles really stood in the way when proceeding to carry off a bride by force. As soon as the party is seen approaching by the people at the bride's house the gatesare barred, and a dialogue ensues :

“ Who are you ? n u Merchants.”

“ What wares do you want ? ”

11 Live wares,’ 1 a We won’t negotiate/’

11 We shall take by force/’ u Try it/* 1

The bridegroom's party tries to open the gate, but in vain ; and only after a long parley, and after promising to

aunt acts as bridesmaid on Ills part ; for there are two bridesmaids to represent and defend the interests of the bride and bridegroom respectively,

1 In Simbirsk the bridegroom and his party are received by the parents of the bride with bread and salt, with the words: “ Be welcome, come within/ 1 But just before this they are assailed by the girls in the house with abusive songs. They sing at the bridegroom : fi You empty head ! what sort of bridegroom are you ? You can't turn a boot round, you can’t count money. You thief 1 you visit illconditioned old women, and leave your shoe there. Why have you delayed till now? Didn’t you find your boots. The bride is not like you. Place on one side of her a barrel of millet, on the other a barrel of walnuts, but count all the grains/’ Turning to his companions they shout : u You deceivers on horseback ! you. have the dress of riders, and in your short fur coats are two pockets, and there you keep your hands/ 1

In some parts of Simbirsk the bridegroom’s party, headed by the best man, proceeds to the brtde*s village the evening before the wedding-day, and lodges there for the night, but does not go to the brides domicile till early next morning, I think this must be the case also— though it is not expressly stated—in the narrative in the body of the text, where the proceedings of the eve of the wedding run into those of the wedding-day, without a break and without mention of night time. The dialogue above, therefore, really takes place, I presume, on the morning of the wedding day, not on the eve.

pay an entrance fee in money or spirits, is it allowed to enter. In some places the bargaining is renewed at the doors of the porch and of the common room, and additional payments must be made before the party is permitted to set foot within. After it has been at last ushered into the principal apartment, the bridegroom's mother, and the women with her, immediately arrange on the table the eatables and drinkables they have brought with them, and all eat standing. While the others are eating, the parents of the bridegroom start off to invite the bride's relation^ to the wedding, 1 At the same time the bride's friends dress her in a wedding dress, and envelope her legs with linen bandages till she can scarcely walk. When finally decked out she is brought back into

1 At Bugulminsi, after the bridegroom's mother has laid out the eatables, before starting to invite the relations, she is led round the house by the bride's people, and must leave a round loaf in every room.

At Teryshevsk (Simbirsk) the parents do not start off to invite the relations, but the future mother-in-law, while the others are eating, proceeds to a neighbouring house, where the bride is being dressed, and is accosted with these words : “Look, girls l is not the thunder roiling and lightning dashing, accompanied with white hailstones? 11 The mother-in-law replies: “Fear me not, be not alarmed* The thunder is not rolling, lightning is hot dashing, hail is not falling. Thy mother-in-law is bringing an escort, Art thou beautiful and handsome ? Art thou useful, and a lover of order ? 1 have come to

see thee and bring a whole party with me/* The bride replies: '* Welcome, mother-in-law, welcome.” Her future mother-in-law then offers her a ladleful of wort with the right hand. The bride refuses to take it from the right hand, and will only accept it from the left hand. This the mother-in-law declines to do, and at last the girl gwes way. Dancing succeeds this ceremony, and the mother-in-law, returning to the house of the bride's father, thanks him for such a well dressed and dutiful daughter-in-law. >

} 11 Simbirsk, after the bridegroom and his party have arrived, the bride is taken by her friends to the relation's house where she had taken refuge the day before (p. 431 note), and where she remains till fetched by the best man. Meanwhile, the bridegroom, who remains at the bride's paternal house, hides himself

the common room, when she falls at her parents' feet, begs their pardon, and asks for a blessing. The bride's father takes the round loaf, with which the bridegroom's father has already blessed him, and which has been brought for the purpose, and with it blesses his daughter holding it over her head, and saying :

tl May thy life be smooth, as this loaf is smooth. May thou be as rich as this loaf is rich in seeds. May thou be fruitful as this Joaf is fruitful. Vedava hear us, and have mercy upon us/ 1

In the loaf there is a hole scooped out in the undercrust by the bridegroom before leaving home, but Mainoff was unable to discover its significance. 1 After receiving the parental blessing the bride is taken up under the arms and carried out of the apartment. In some places this is done by the nearest relatives of the bridegroom, in others by men of her own family, but in either case she resists by pinching and scratching her bearers* Formerly she seized the doorpost three times, and only at the third time, when the best man had struck it with a sword close to where she was holding on, did she loosen her grasp. Nowadays she seizes thrice in succession the tie-beam, the door of the room, or the doorpost of the porch. The best man and the bridegroom’s relations loosen her hands and try to carry her in such a way that she can seize nothing. However, a quick girl can grasp something oftener than three times, and tries her utmost to oppose being carried away; for her comrades praise theynore she resists, and extol her dexterity and her love for her parents’ house. At last she is conveyed out of the house, when all halt and bow to the gate, for there or in the courtyard is the abode of the god that protects the dwelling-house. The following prayer is made to him :

u Mardas sarko ; the nourisher, god of the house, do not

1 Compare the hole made in an omelette by the bridegroom in Ralston, op. cU . 7 p. 281.

abandon her that is about to depart; always be near her just as thou art here."

The bride is now put in the tilt-cart, to be driven to church, but she stands the whole time, supported by a companion and her future mother-in-law. On reaching the village boundary the cortege halts at a signal from the best man^ who distributes spirits to the party. While tbrothers are drinking, the bride gives presents to her friends, and with tears extols their good qualities. Before the procession again moves off the bride leaves her carriage, throws herself at the horses’ feet, and beseeches them not to be in too great a hurry to carry her away to strange men. She promises to take good care of them if they will but take her back to her parents : twists ribbons into their manes and forelocks, declaring she will always decorate them in future. 1 Getting no reply from the horses, she tries to break away from those around her, but is seized and hurriedly bundled into her carriage. The cortege again moves off with the reluctant bride, who tries to throw her head-dress or some part of her dress on to the road, to cause as much delay as possible. When she perceives that she must resign herself to her fate, she cuts or tears off a tuft of her hair and sends it by the best man as a memento to her mother. At last they arrive at the church, where the marriage is solemnised according to the Russian rite. When the ceremony” is over the priest exhorts the young couple to kiss. The bride resists and tries in every way to avoid being kissed, .even striking and pinching the bridegroom. But all this is make-believe and for the sake of custom, for

1 According to a variant, she beseeches them lo forget the evil she has possibly done them if she has not sufficiently spared them* She then gives them cloths and ribbons,which are plaited into their rnfmes and forelocks (Bugulmmsk). In Simbirsk the bride goes through a similar ceremony on reaching the church. She bows down to the horses' feet, saying : “ Thank you, good steeds, for having brought me so quickly to my destination.” She then presents them with copper money, cloths, and cakes.

44 2 Marriage Customs of IheMordvins.

if she allowed herself to be kissed for the first time before others she would never have any peace afterwards. During the struggle the father-in-law comes to assist his son and holds the bride by the scruff of the neck till the young man can kiss his wife- The bridegroom then requests the bride to sit at his side during the journey to his house, though he knows she will not consent but will have to be led by force to the carriage* When this has been done the whole wedding party dashes off at full speed to the abode of the bridegroom. On reaching the gates 1 they are found bolted and guarded by the girls of the bridegroom’s village and the bride’s companions*, who sing songs relating the previous love-adventures of the bridegroom ; for it would be a great reproach if he had never had any, and would show that he was such a lout that no girl cared to look at him. But before they begin to sing the bridegroom dismounts from his carriage, slinks in unperceived by a side-entrance, and runs off to hide m an outhouse where the old women have prepared the nuptial bed* The bride is carried into the common room in the arms of some of the party, and now makes no resistance. 2 3 Her father-in-law meets her with a holy picture in his hand, and the nearest female relation of the bridegroom covers her with hops* On being brought into the common room she is placed opposite the stove near her friends, who continually abuse her husband, declaring he has one leg shorter than another,

1 In some parts of Simbirsk, on reaching the bridegroom's house, the best man detaches the body of the carriage in - which the bride has sat from the axle—a symbol, no doubt, that henceforth she is not to

leave her husband's house*

3 Among the Ena of Teryshevsk (Simbirsk) there are no songs sung on reaching the bridegroom's house* The bride orders the best man to light her father’s t blessing’, so that she shall enter a strange house with her own light. 1 ' The candle is lit, and, holding ii in her hand, she enters the house. Some female relation of the bridegroom, wearing a fur coat turned inside out, with a crown on her head to which is attached a man’s cap, meets the bride, and from a hat full of hops she holds in her hands throws a handful over the bride.

and calling him lopsided, toothless, etc. The bridegroom’s relations have to purchase the silence of the girls by giving them spirits, after which they are driven out of the room. The bride is then carried to the stove or fire-place, to become acquainted and good friends with it She bows to it and beseeches it not to dirty her, but to love and obey Her. Then she sits on the oven and a child is handed to her. Her mother-in-law gives her a glass of pure, which she drinks and then returns the child to her mother-in-law. While the rest of the company 1 2 is eating and drinking, the bride is carried to the outhouse serving as a bridal chamber, where her husband has remained since leaving his carriage. She does not go willingly, but tries to free herself, though heir bearers pay no heed to her struggles, shove her into the room with the words, “ Here, wolf, is a lamb for thee ” a and bolt tlie door. After a lapse of some minutes a bridesmaid brings in some spirits and a pan containing an omelette. She makes the couple eat and drink, and then they are left alone for half an hour. After this they are raised from the nuptial bed and brought with rejoicing into the common' room, where all the guests impatiently await them. The young man proffers spirits to all present, and his bride gives presents chiefly made by herself in doing this she bows down to the feet of each person and does not rise til] the recipient has placed his hand on her head, drunk the spirits, and wiped his mouth with her gift. Each guest in turn gives her something, generally money.

After the wedding, the couple stay together a whole week, after which time the bride returns home on a visit to her parents. For a whole year she leads a happy life, and does not soil her hands with any household work,

1 In the last century composed entirely of the bridegroom’s relations and friends-

2 Variant-. “There is a wolf for thee there” (Erta of Teryshevsk). The bride is referred to as a lamb by the Magyars {Magyar Folktales, p. 414), and also by the EsthoniaSs (Kohl, Travels in Russia. p. j8S), though not in this connection.

On the day after the wedding, in Teryshevsk (Simbirsk), the bride takes a pail, and goes with her mother-in-law to fetch water. She bows politely to all she meets ; her mother-in-law shows her the water, which she then draws, carries home, and sets on a bench near the stove. Her motKer-In-law then thanks her for her obedience. This is called “showing the water”.

In Simbirsk, about five days after the wedding, the best man, and two or three of the bride’s relations, come to the hpuse of the young couple. The bridegroom's relations again assemble their friends, who bring materials for the feast After laying these on the table, they pray :

“ Grant, good God, that all the relations and friends shall love the young couple ; grant that their cattle and crops shall thrive.”

The pies that have been brought are cut in four, and all eat and drink. When this is over, the guests drive home, and the bride is taken home by her relations on a visit, her husband fixing how long she is to stay away.

§ 7 a. The customs of the Moksha, on the wedding-day, are as follows :—-Between 7 A.M. and 8 A,M. the bridegroom's relations, who are about to take part in the wedding assemble at his father’s house, and sit down to a small breakfast. His father, rising from his seat, raises above his head a round loaf, on which is placed a salt-cellar and an omelette, while lie exclaims :

if Great Shkai t exalted Shkat\ here is a round loaf and a round for thee. Illuminate thy son ; illuminate his eyes to see good and evil. Make his life bright. Cause his heart to be warm towards his wife j cause his wife’s heart to be warm towards his. U e give thee a loaf, do thou give him bread ; we give thee the seed of a hen, do thou give him the seed of a human being- Give him luck, wealth, and many children.”

After this prayer, the father takes a knife and presents it to his son, whom he exhorts to cut off, for the first time in his life, the “ god’s portion”. This the bridegroom does

Marriage Customs oj the Mordvins , 445

with three slashes, then bites a small piece off it, lets his relations do the same, and throws the remainder into the burning stove, where the fire-god has his abode. The father then takes the loaf and a holy picture, and blesses his son, who must kiss the picture, the bread, the salt, and the omelette. His father wishes him success in his new life, and gives him general advice how he is to treat his wife. After doing this he gives the signal for departure.

All mount into their vehicles except the bridegroom, who remains at home, and has to hide himself When the party has passed the outer gates, opened for it by the best man, he bows thrice to each gate-post, exclaiming; 44 As you have let us out, so let us in” After this he marches thrice round the wedding-party, with a drawn sword, or with a scythe in default of one, reciting imprecations against evilwishers. He scratches, in four places, the tree-mark o£ the bridegroom’s father, to which he then adds the bridegroom's own mark, that' the good spirits may be able to know whom they must help. 1 Finally the party arrives before the bride’s home. 2 The people within have long seen it approaching, and hasten to bar the outside gates. Naturally, a conversation begins, with the question, who the arrivals are, and what they want The party is only admitted eventually on payment of a fee of from thirty to thirty-five kopeks; but, on entering the courtyard, it is hot allowed to enter the house before another payment at the porch-door, nor to enter die common room without a third outlay. All this money goes to the bride’s father. The bridegroom's father, when descending from his carriage, takes

1 la Nidi ego rod the best man walks thrice round the weddingparty, against the sun, holding a holy picture. He then places himself in front of the party, and scratches the ground, backwards and forwards, with a knife, tittering imprecations against evil spirits and malevolent persons.

2 Milkovich, writing in the year 17S3, says that the bridegroom’s part}' was received at the bride's house \vith such insulting songs, so grossly expressed, that the older and better men composing it would burst Into tears.

with him a forty-pound loaf* from which the u god s portion 1 'has already been cut off at home, gloats, 100 or 200 pancakes, two or three pork pies* about fifty omelettes* and the quantity of spirits agreed upon. All these are placed on the table* and become the property of the mistress of the house, with which the bride's parents—not the bridegroom’s—entertain the guests. After a family prayer, the bridegroom’s father pays the kalytn to the bride’s father, and all sit down to eat and drink. At the same time* a long stake is brought in, one end of which is stuck in between the tie-beam and the roof, and from the other end of which are suspended'the presents to be given by the bride to the guests. When all is ready* she shows herself from behind a curtain, and begins lamenting her misfortune. With tears in her eyes, she then presents shirts, handkerchiefs* etc., for the most paid made by herself* to her parents* her parents-in-law, and to her other relations. During this time she is not in full dress, but only in a white skill:, girt with a girdle, and a cloth on her head. She does not receive gifts in exchange, as her object is to show how diligent she is, and what a treasure her parents arc losing in her. Her girl friends praise her diligence in songs, narrating how she could sew for a hundred persons; how Vedyn azyr ava had helped her from her great love for her. " When the bride span, the old woman (/.£., the goddess) span ; when the bride wove, the old woman wove; when the bride sewed, the old woman was sewing. Just let the bridegroom find himself such another worker ; just let him look for one. He certainly won't find one, for the old woman loves her ; the old woman helps her.*’

After this giving of presents, the bride retires behind the curtain to be fully dressed* and in place of her comes forth from behind it an old woman, in bridal attire, and wearing a fur coat, turned inside out* who dances before the company, twists herself about, and exhibits all sorts of quick, dexterous movements. She naturally excites laughter ; and this is her object, for she announces that

she wishes the bride may awake joy in men, that all around her may laugh, and that the bride herself may laygh and smile all her days. After this performance the old woman retires*

Meanwhile the bride has been dressing, and, when this is completed, she is led into the room, covered with a red silk kerchief, and made to sit between her own and the bridegroom's bridesmaid. All now rise from their seats, and prayer is made to Vedyn azyr ava to bless the future wife, to mitigate her pains of labour, and to give her abundant offspring. Her father and mother then give her their blessing. During the prayers and blessing a large candle is burning on the threshold, and is not extinguished before the termination of the wedding ceremonies. The bride is then carried on men’s shoulders, seated in the decorated tilt-cart 1 which the bridegroom had had made for her, and afterwards they go for the bridegroom. He is taken to church in a carriage-and-pair, and lies in a recumbent position, covered with a hide. Around this carriage drive the vehicles of his girl relations, who sing songs to belittle the family of the bride. 2 Before the bride's party, led by the best man, have gone a quarter of a mile, he halts it, and marches round the tilt-cart with his drawn sword to drive away evil spirits, or, after halting the cortege , he scratches a ring round it with a sword. This ceremony is again repeated before reaching the church.

After the solemnization of the marriage by a priest, the party drives straight to the bridegroom's house. * Here it is received at the gates bv the oldest man in the house, who cuts a notch with an axe in the door-post to mark the arrival of a new addition to the family. At the threshold of the house the young couple are met by the bridegroom's

1 In SaratofF the bride is pushed into the tilt-cart hy the best man, who is armed with a .sword or a scythe,

2 It is not stated whether the bride's party and that of the bridegroom join before reaching the church, or whether they drive there independent!/.

44 S Marriage Customs of the Mordvins .

mother, 1 who places before his foot a hot pan of hops, which he must kick away as far as possible. It is then set before the brides foot, who must do the same. In some places she kicks ft three times, and the bridegroom does not kick at all If the pan rolls gently It shows she will be t a gentle daughter-in-law. If it makes much clatter, it portends she will be noisy. Should the pan fall bottom upwards, connubial life will be unhappy ; but if it does not turn topsy-turvy, and no hops are upset, a happy future may be anticipated. 2

As soon as the best man and bridesmaid have raised the young couple from the nuptial bed they prepare to take the bride to a river. A procession is formed, at the head of which walk two or more of her companions, carrying empty tubs ; behind them follows an old woman carrying on her head a round loaf, on the top of which is placed an omelette ; the best man and the bridesmaid, with ladles and barrels of wort, occupy the next place, while behind them walks the young wife in a bare shirt, ungirt and bareheaded. During the whole journey from the house to the banks of the river, the best man and the bridesmaid sprinkle the path with pure . The young wife carries a great* pile of towels on her head, and holds a hen to be sacrificed to the water goddess, Vedyn azyr ava. On reaching the river she drowns the hen, throws the loaf and the omelette into the water, while the old woman loudly utters the following prayer:

" O mother, Mistress of the Waters* thou art clean: make her

J Among the Moksha of Penza she meets the young couple at the gate, and sprinkles them with water from a spoon. The pan-kicking incident is omitted.

According to Milkovitch, in the last century, the young wife was here met by the father and mother of the bridegroom with their caps and fur coats turned inside out. Then followed the pan-kicking.

2 There, is a gap here in the narrative 1 have followed, as to what takes place between entering the house and being taken to the bridal chamber, but what occurs is probably the same as with the Erza -

dean, wash her from disease and iniquity. Permit her frequently and successfully to bear children. Permit her to see her children’s- children. Be a mother to her; love thy daughter.”

After this invocation the bride either plunges entirely into the stream or she is drenched with water, and the remainder of the pure is upset into the river; then all return home in the same order.

On re-entering the house the bride Is received by her mother-in-law, who gives her a new name, such as Vec/tai (the Darling), or Masai (the Beautiful), or Pavai (the .Lucky One), or Tozai f (the Healthy), or any other name she prefers. The ceremony is performed as follows: she leads the young wife by the hand to the stove, from which she takes a loaf of bread and strikes her on the head with it, saying: li 1 call thee Mazaii n After this she leads her by the hand to the oven; the daughter-in-law places her hands upon it with the palms downwards, and her motherin-law feeds her with bread, meat, eggs, and salt, out of hand, in such a way that the bride need not make the least movement, with the words, ** Just as the stove never leaves the room, do thou never leave it ”

In the Penza government, on the second day of the wedding, the young wife is again dressed and led by the other girls to a river to fetch water in a large bucket. On their way there they sing songs, and on their return besprinkle each other. The rest of the day is spent in dancing and merry-making

On the third day of the wedding prayer is made to Ban asyr ava, goddess of the bath-house, and to Kud azyr amt when the young wife offers to the first a new oaken

1 In Simbirsk and Penza it is the best man who takes the bride to the stove, and, striking her on the head with a loaf, gives her a new name. Among the Erza a new name is also given to the bride, but on the third day of the wedding.

- In some places the bride offers to Ba?t azyr ava and V r edasyr ava by laying money, bread, and salt under the bench in the bath-house for the first goddess, and by throwing them into the water for the other divinity. (Moksha of Nizhegorod).

vol, r.

G G

pail* and decorates the house with linen cloths and towels. The feasting lasts a week or more, according to the means of the parents. Sometimes a whole month elapses before a village settles down into Its normal condition.

A wife during her whole life must never show her bare feet to her father and mother-in-law, and on that account women work in boots, for they fear to Insult their ancestors. With the Moksha of Nizhegorod the bride wears nothing on her head for six weeks. She is then invested with one, with a curious ceremony. After a prescribed prayer the mother-in-law or oldest woman of'the house mounts upon the roof, opens the smoke-hole, and then gives the young wife a head-dress, with these words: " The old women of thine ancestors wore such an one, and order thee to wear one. 11

Among the Moksha of Saratoff, for the first year, the bride is termed Odyrava (young woman), or Vechova (beloved), and she goes about bareheaded. After that period she Is invested with a head-dress in the same way as described, and receives the name of Pamva (good woman), or Mazava (beautiful woman). 1 2

§ 8. Separations and divorces are extremely rare, for the

1 So, too, the Yakuts (Bohtlingk, Ueber die Spraths der Jakuten^ in* pt. i, p. 67) do not allow the father, mother, or grown-up relations of a husband to see his wife's head uncovered or her feet bare. Ostiak women cover their faces before the grown-up men of their husband s family (Ah Iqvist [Inter IVojful. u. Q&tiak s p. j6o), Among the Kirgiz, a young wife must not show herself to her father-in-law or to any male relation of her husband for three years (Vdmhdry, Das Tiirkenv&lk) p, 249). From this it is tolerably certain that the Mordvins brought with them from Asia the taboo against a wife showing her bare feel to her father-in-law,

2 Not receiving the head-dress of a married woman for a year might be compared with De Gaya's statement (Cirlmonies tmpL de touUs Us Nations % p. 1 0 that in Poland young married women were considered girls till they had given birth to a son. The custom seems based upon a similar conception. With the Votiaks, too, a young married woman dresses for months, sometimes more than a year, like a girl (Georgi,

h 71O

45 1

Mordvins are of opinion that toleration and patience must be pushed to their extreme limit before such courses are adopted. There are a couple of sayings which illustrate their point of view. A Moksha says, “ Wedlock is a fetter,” and an Erza, that “ Wedlock has forged together, no one can break it open.” But this tenet is, I imagine, of recent growth, for Lepekhin, in i/6S (op. at., p, 106), averred that in heathen times the Mordvins had the right of selling their wives and children, and taking others, bor a widow to re-marry is not considered in the least reprehensible, and is of frequent occurrence, for they have no theories about a future world in which a husband and wife will again meet. Among the Erza she must always dedicate six weeks to the memory of her late husband, after then she may think of marrying again. The Moksha are stricter in one respect, in requiring her to wait for a whole year; but then she is at liberty to live where she will, while an Erza widow must reside with her father-in-law, either for the rest of her life, or till she finds another husband.

A Mordvin who has lost his wife is much inclined to marry a sister-in-law. Writing in 1783, Milkovich relates the following wooing ceremony, which is very similar to the one already described at p. 433. If the man was refused in the first instance by his father-in-law, he laid secretly a small loaf on the table of the latter, with the words, “ Get me my sister-in-law.” Having done this, he ran away, was pursued, and if caught, received a sound thrashing. But if he was lucky enough to escape, he was given his sister-in-law in marriage.

Having now given a description of Mordvin marriage customs, I shall first make a Tew observations, and then recapitulate the main incidents, th£ better to compare them with similar points of resemblance in Slav, Finno-Ugrian, Turkish, and Mongol marriage ceremonies, though I have not been able to find very full accounts of some of these.

Marriage Restrictions .—We cannot be quite sure whether the Mordvins were originally divided into tribes or not, and

g c 2

whether they were exogamous or endogamous. Their near neighbours, the Votiaks, are said to have formerly possessed a tribal organisation (Georgi, Descrip., i, 65), but nothing is mentioned with regard to marking in or out of the tribe- Ahlqvist ( Cultm'wdrter , 220), using language as a test, believed the Finns never coalesced into tribes. But beyond the Ural mountains, whence the Mordvins originally wandered into Europe, people, at about the same stage of civilisation as theirs was a few centuries ago, like the Samoycdes (Finsch, 543) and the Yakuts (Bdhtlingk, hi, pt I, 72) maintain a tribal system, and prohibit marriage within the tribe* Hence there is a presumption that atone time the Mordvins were also similarly divided with a like restriction. Mr* MainofTs belief, that the only prohibited marriage among the Mordvins was that between a brother and sister by the same parents, rests on slight evidence, and should be received with reservation* It is true that Isbrants, in 1692 (Le Brun, 153, 144), states of the Gstiaks that consanguinity was no bar to ntarriage, and that the nearest relation was as acceptable as a stranger, while the VoguJs could not marry within the fourth degree of consanguinity ; but as he was a passing traveller his statement requires verification. For while Plano Carpini (Hakluyt, i, 62), who travelled in 1246, averred that the Tatars (Mongols) marry even near kinsfolk, save mother, daughter, and sister by the mother's side ; that they marry a sister on the father's side ; yet Rubmquis (HakL, i, 109), who was in Tartary in 1253, declared that the Tatars (Mongols) kept the first and sccond degrees of consanguinity inviolable, though they paid no regard to degrees of affinity, since they married in succession two sisters* Marco Polo (Col Yule's 2nd ed*, i, 245) mentions that the Tatars may marry cousins, Timnovsky (Travels througfrMongolia to China , il ? 303) says first-cousins are allowed to marry; and adds that the Mongols keep their genealogical registers with such care that they -never lose sight of the degrees of affinity

Marriage with Capture*—% j. By this I understand capture of a bride, associated with some other form of marriage, such as that by purchase. In marriage by capture, a man carries off and appropriates a woman, and that ends the matter Mr. Mainoff was certainly of opinion that the old habitual method of obtaining a wife among the Mordvins was by capture, without, however, assigning any special reason for this belief He probably imagined that it was a necessary survival from a remote epoch, when it was the only way of securing for oneself a wife. But this hypothesis is, l submit, an erroneous one. As marriage by purchase is, or is known to have once been* a usage among the Finns, Esthonians, Cheremis, Votiaks, Voguls, Ostiaks, Samoyedes, Turks, Jakuts, and Mongols, its origin among the Erza and Moksha Mordvins can be of no recent date ; its antiquity must be very great, reaching back, for all we know, to the polished stone period. No doubt during the centuries that have elapsed since purchase of the bride became an institution there have been concurrently endless instances of capture of women made by men of one tribe at war with another. But these instances hardly explain marriage with capture. Georgi (De$erip. f i, 71) describes the capture of girls among the Cheremis and Votiaks almost in the same words as Main off If the abductor is overtaken he loses his bride and receives a sound cudgelling. Should he escape, he consummates the marriage before witnesses, so as to get her at a reduced price, for the parents, in spite of this outrage, will not part with her for nothing. The, marriage is afterwards celebrated in the usual way. Here the reason of the capture is simply to lower the price of the bride, and the capture itself is merely an interlude in a marriage by purchase. Ahlqvist (Unter Woguten^ p, 159) mentions that the Ostiaks occasionally resort to capture to shirk paying the kalym, which Is often enormous, and requires years to pay. The Avars and Khcvsurs of the Caucasus frequently run away with a bride for the avowed reason of

displaying their spirit and gallantry, but they have, notwithstanding, to pay the i^alym in order to avoid a blood feud. In folk-tales thefe are many instances of tasks imposed by a father on the suitor for the hand of his daughter, where the tasks, if successfully performed, have a double function; they serve to obtain a valuable object _a kalym, in fact, for the father of the bride, and likewise test the suitor's courage, dexterity, and hardihood. Any one of these three very natural reasons for eloping with a girl—(i) to reduce her price, (2} to avoid payment, (3) to exhibit courage—when translated into action, attaches itself in a perfectly natural and spontaneous n\anner as an incident in marriage by purchase. It is self-evident that capture for either of the first two reasons must be posterior in time to the institution or the practice of paying for a bride. And if marriage with capture is as ancient as marriage by purchase, its cause is to be found rather in the innate universal desire to display courage, 1 than as a survival of a still older practice of taking women captive in time of war* Capture for the third reason may be regarded as a stereotyped task imposed by custom, based on the double sentiment that a wife is not to be obtained too easily, and not without giving some proof of daring.

The special incidents accompanying the act of capture in | 1 seem to corroborate this view* For though the young man's friends accompany him to the girfs Silage, he goes alone to the house to carry her off—though there may be a suspicion that he has prearranged the affair with her—as if that must be the individual act of the bridegroom, to prove his personal intrepidity. Of course, it is likely enough that actual elopement, without any sort of subsequent ceremony, and without payment of the kalym, occasionally happened, but that it was ever the

1 For instances of savages that require proofs of courage as qualifications for marriage, see H. Spencer, Principles of Sociology, h 621, and E. Westermarck, The History of Human Marriage, pt. i, 24+

rule during the last few centuries is open to grave doubt

Wooing by Proxy . § 2.—This is common to the Slav, Finno-Ugrian, Turkish, and Mongol peoples. But the incident that the match-makers should not be noticed on their way to the house of the bride-elcct is Russian. (See Ralston, p. 265,) The prayers and offerings to the housegods and to deceased ancestors, made on this occasion, can be paralleled by those made by the Chuvash, Tatars, and Yakuts; the maxim that 11 silence gives consent” is also found among the Yakaits.

Wooing with Bread} § 2a, 2 b, 8.—Here bread is evidently a symbol of maintenance. By leaving a loaf at the house of the girl's father, the wooer means that he, or he that he represents, will keep and maintain her. An old Russian wooing custom of a similar nature, though more elaborate in its details, is recorded by Jenkinson, in the year 1557 (Hakluyt, i, 360). In this, a man sends to the object of his affections a chest containing a whip, needles, silk, thread, spears, etc., and sometimes raisins and figs ; meaning that if she offends she will be whipped ; that she must sew and be industrious ; and that if she does well she will have all good tilings. The running away of the wooer, who is not only safe if he passes a certain boundary in time, but compels his pursuer to agree to his terms, might be explained in the same way as marriage with capture* The wooer was bound to show his adroitness and fleetness, so

1 It will be noticed that bread plays a considerable rble in the wedding ceremonies. Wooing is made with it. The bride and bridegroom are both blessed with a loaf, and with a loaf the bride is struck on the head when receiving a new name. But this use is probably borrowed from the Russians, with whom bread is also used as a symbol. At a little Russian wedding, Kohl (op- ci£. f p. 520) saw a pretty girl, led by a couple of peasant lads, and carrying in her hand a sabre thrust through a loaf. She followed immediately behind the bridegroom. He understood it to mean, obviously, that it lvas a warning, in the olden time, to the bridegroom t|iat he had undertaken to defend his bride and furnish her with bread.

456 Marriage Customs 0/ the Mordvins*

that, if he was superior in these respects to his pursuers, he gained his object by virtue of these good qualities; the stereotyped task set by custom had been victoriously accomplished.

The incident in § 2, that the bride is only to be shown on payment of a fee, is quite Turkish ; see Vambery, op* cit , p. 24 5.

The Carouse} §4.—1. Assembly of relations at bridegroom's at his father's) house. 2. Prayers and offerings to the household gods. 3. Drive to bride's home with provisions and strong drink. 4. Received with bread, and salt 5* Hand-striking. 2 6. Prayers and offerings to the gods. 7. Feasting and drinking,[at the expense of bridegroom's parents. 3 Bride not present]. 8. Bridegroom's relations make acquaintance with bride. 9. Bride gives presents [bridegroom not present], 10. Return home.

Variant . §4*2,—i. Bridegroom [if of same village as bride] and his father go to bride's home with supplies,

1 This seems to answer to the Chuvash “driving wtfh presents”. After the wooing, and the negotiations about the kalym, the bridegroom and his parents visit the bride, and pay the rest of the kalym. They bring wheaten bread with them. The bride’s father places this, with honey, on a dish, washes himself, and goes with a loaf and three ladlefuls of honejrinto the courtyard. Here he prays towards the sun to Thore. He offers another loaf and he ley to the mother of the gods, and to all the divinities in whom he has con- f fide nee. The bride’s mother gives her new relations shirts or linen cloths, and entertains them and the neighbours with food and drink, when they also dance and sing. They then fix the day for the wedding, and separate, (Georgi, Rrisen in RttssLind (in 1770), ii, S52.)

s A Russian custom ; see Ralston, p. 265, At Lett courtships, the bride’s father and the suitor join hands when the girl has given her consent (Kohl, p, 382). As the Magyar word for betrothal means u clasping the hands”, the Magyars have probably borrowed the custom from tlieir Slav or Teuton neighbours.

J With the Kalmuks, too, though the feast of betrothal is held at the tent of the bride’s parents, it is at the bridegroom’s expense. (R Bergmann, Nomad. Streifereien unier d. Kahnukai, iii, 146.}

1 Possibly because it i$ supposed to be flo affair of hers, but merely of the respective parents.

2. Enter without salutation. 3. Bread, salt, and moneylaid on table. 4. Eating and drinking [bridegroom takes no part. 1 Bride not present]. S* Negotiations about kalym, etc. 6 . Return home.

Feast of SacredPies. §44.-1. Assembly, of relations at bridegroom’s. 2. Drive to bride’s home, with pics, cake, and strong drink. 3. Welcomed ; pies accepted [engagement cannot now be broken off,-=hand-striking], 4. Bride’s girl friends bully and abuse bridegroom’s father. 2 * 5- Return home.

Weeping-day? § 5- (The day before the wedding),—

1 „ Before dawn, bride asks for parents' blessing. 2. Bows outside towards the east five times. 3. Weeps at home, surrounded by friends, 4. Prays at gate, and carried to neighbour's. Variant —Goes at dawn to a relation's [begs for shelter, as she is driven from home], 5, Bride carried to relation's in turn, 4 6. Returns home ; offered halfempty ladleful of beer by father, 7. Refuses beer offered by mother, & Asks for and receives parents 1 * blessing. 9. Carried to a neighbours, iO. Goes to bed there.

Girls' Feast * § 5^, (The day before the wedding). —

j. Bride leaves home to invite friends. 2. Refused admission on her return. 3. Sends shirt to bridegroom. 4. Pier friends praise her.

Variant. § 5#*—1. Bride [in every-day clothes] starts with

1 Probably because he is looked ypon as a mere cipher, the arrangements of the marriage resting with the parents alone. This rather points to Russian influence.

a Quite Turkish ; see Wunbery, op. ciL T p. 232 ; but also Russian.

a With the Tatars of Kazan and Orenburg, on the eve of the wedding, the bride covers herself with a veil, and her companions visit her to weep with her over her approaching change of slate. (Georgi, De scrips U, 24.)

4 Part of the day preceding the wedding Is spent by the bride in paying farewell visits to her relatives (Ralston, p, 276).

5 This social gathering is the “girls 7 party of the Russians, from

whom it has probably been adopted, though the incidents mentioned

by Mr, Ralston 271-6) are different.

4 5 S Mtxrriage Customs of the Mordvins ,

brothers to take leave of relations. 2. Courtseys thrice at gate, 3. Takes mould from the threshold [abode of housegod], and puts it on her bosom. 4, Bewails her fate to relations in turn. 5. Returns home. 6, Father-in-law visits, proffers pure, and blesses her.

Day before Wedding {at bridegroom s house), § 6.—r. Girls arrive at bridegroom's, carrying sticks dressed with caps and ribbons. 2, Ask his father to bless them to invite guests [only women]. 3. Invite guests and return. 4, Ask a blessing to heat bridegroom's bath. 5. The guests arrive, eat and drink. 6. Sit up all night making preparations for feast, 7. Bridegroom sent away from the house before night.

Afternoon of Wedding-day (Erza). § 7.—Assembly at bridegroom's. 2. Prayer to Ckimpaz . 3. Father blesses

with loaf and holy picture. Bridegroom's parents, bridegroom [sometimes], and relations start for bride's village [best man armed with a sword]. Pass the night there.

Wedding-day {Erzd). § 7—j. Bridegroom’s party refused admission at bride's 1 ; only enter on payment. Variant — Bridegroom's party received with insulting songs by bride's girl friends, but her parents welcome it with bread and salt 2. Eatables and drinkables brought by party are set on table and all cat and drink [bride not present]. Bridegroom's parents start off to invite bride’s relations [before starting his mother sometimes leaves a loaf in each room]. Variant— His mother goes to see bride dressing at neighbours ; gives her beer and returns. 4, Bride dressed by friends in private room ; then brought to common room. 5 - Bride blessed with same loaf [a hole scooped out in its under-crust] as bridegroom was blessed with, 6. Bride [violently resisting^ carried outside ; after prayer to house-

1 This is customary In some parts of Russia, (Ralston, p. 2S5.)

* Mentioned by Jenkinson as Russian (Hakluyt, i, 360), and regarded by Mairtoff—erroneously, as I believe—as a survival of the custom of marriage by capture.

hold god is pot into tilt-cart [stands the whole way, sup^ ported by mother-in-law 1 and friend]. 7. Wedding cortege halts at village boundary; bride gives presents; best man distributes drink, 8. Bride falls at horses 7 feet ; gives them ribbons and money, 9 - Cortege moves off [bride still resisting] to church; [bride sometimes thanks horses]. Variant— In last century, bride escorted to church half-way by her relations and rest of journey by bridegroom's friends alone, who had come to meet her there. 2 3 10, Marriage solemnised after Russian rite?; bride refuses to kiss bridegroom 4 ; his father assists him, 11. Bridal party drives to bridegroom's, where best man detaches body of bride's carriage* 5 * 12, Bridegroom received with derisive songs by girls ; slinks in by side entrance and hides in nuptial outhouse, 13, Bride carried 0 into common room and covered with hop5/ Variant —Bride walks in, carrying her fathers

1 With the Letts the bride is seated in her in other-in-law’s lap, and her bridesmaid is at her side, {Kohl, p, 3S1,)

2 A very old custom, probably, for Vdmbdry {op, «/., 239) mentions that though a Kirgiz bride is sometimes escorted part of the way to her husband's tent by her youngest brother, yet she must appear quite alone at the aul of her father-in-law,

3 In Lepekhin's account (op. cit } p. 104) there is no mention of going to church, and he states that the whole ceremony of marriage consisted in this : the bride’s father (at his own house) took his daughter by the hand, while her mother took up bread and salt, and then these and the daughter were handed to the father and mother of the br idegroom, who seems not to have been present,

4 Mentioned by Le Brun (op, city p, £2) as a Russian usage.

5 Perhaps an old Slav custom. The Boeotians conducted the bride to the bridegroom's house in a chariot, and then burnt the axletree before the door, signifying thereby that she was to remain in her new home, (Montfaucon, Eng, ed,, iii, 137.)

0 Perhaps to avoid touching the threshold, the seat of the Penates, A Roman bride was lifted over the threshold for the same reason (Montfaucon, Hi, 140); but treading on the threshold was also tabooed by the Tatars,

7 In Russia, with barley and down. (Ralston, p, 2So.)

<*

blessing” (a candle); hops thrown over her by woman [in fur coat, worn inside out], 14, Bride introduced to stove : ; mother-in-law gives her pure. 15. Guests eat and drink ; bride carried out and shoved into nuptial outhouse [with the words, “ Here, wolf, is a Iamb 1 2 3 for thee”] ; bridesmaid brings in omelette and spirits; couple left alone for half-anhoun id Couple brought back to common room, and offer spirits to guests [bride bows to ground and requires each to bless her].

Wedding-day (Moksha). § ya. —1. Assembly at bridegroom’s of his relations, 2. Prayer to Shkai. 3. Bridegroom cuts off god's portion” for fire-god* 4- Father blesses son [with loaf, salt, omelette, and picture], 5, Start for bride’s home [bridegroom stays at home/ and hides], 6, Prayer to the gates, and imprecations against evil spirits. 7. Received at bride's with insulting songs ; gates

1 De Gaya {op. cil p. 15) mentions that in Poland part of the marriage ceremony consisted in leading the bride thrice round the fire.

2 The designation of the bride as a lamb is, perhaps, of Slav origin (see above p. 443, note), or suggested itself as an antithesis to wolf. Though the Mordvins have no legend relating to their supposed origin from a wolf, so far as I am aware, several Turkish stocks derive themselves from a she-wolf (Degitignes, JHsL generate dcs Huns, i, pL 2, p, 371); and the Hoeike Turks believed themselves descended from the union between a he-wolf and a Hunnish princess of great beauty, who had been shut up in a tower (Deguignes, ii s p. 2). It is just possible the Mordvins once held some such belief, which has only survived in this formula,

3 In some parts of Russia the bridegroom accompanies his friends to the bride’s house ; in others, he remains at home (Ralston, p, 277). With, the Letts, the bride’s cortege and that of the bridegroom proceed independently to church, and meet at the altar (Kohl, p. 381 )* With the Cheremis, the bridegroom accompanies the party to fetch the bride (Georgi, Descrtfi^ i, 37). When the bridegroom stays at home, it is, perhaps, to be more certain of anticipating the bride at church, for if a Slovene bride contrives to rdach the church-porch before the bridegroom, she hopes to enjoy a life-long supremacy over him (Ralston, p. 303)*

barred 1 ; only opened on payment. 8, Prayer; kalym paid ; eating and drinking [bride not present]. 9. Bride [in undress] appears from behind curtain ; bewails herself; gives presents; her friends praise her; bride retires* io. Old woman [in ftlr coat, turned inside out] plays the buffoon ; hopes bride will ever excite smiles of pleasure, n. Bride brought in [in full dress]. 12. Prayer to water-goddess (goddess of marriage), 13. Bride blessed by parents [candle burning on threshold ; not extinguished till marriage is over 2 ]. 14. Carried to tilt-cart, and taken to church, with precautions against evil spirits. 15, Bridegroom [covered with a hide] is driven to church, 16. Marriage solemnised after Russian rite. 17. Wedding-party drives to bridegroom's. 18. Received by oldest man in house. Variant* —Received by father and mother of bridegroom [in coats, turned inside out]; notch cut in door-post. 19. Pan-kicking. 3 20. Couple left in bridal chamber (outhouse), 21. Bride ’taken to river 4 [path sprinkled with pure] ; hen sacrificed, and prayer to water-goddess ; bride drenched, and returns home, 22. New name given [by striking on head with loaf]. 23, Bride led to stove, and fed out of hand by mother-in-law.

From the above we may arrive, with considerable probability, at the following conclusions .—That the Mordvins, before they came in contact with the Slavs, wooed by proxy, and contracted marriages by purchase, though there was a prevailing sentiment that a man should give proof of his

1 This is also done in some parts of Russia. (Ralston, p. 385.)

2 A Little Russian usage. (Haxthau serfs Russian Empire (R. Farie), h 4 * 3 -)

3 A Russian Custom of similar purport is mentioned by jenkinson in 1557 (Hakluyt, i, 360). After receiving the priestly blessing in church, the young couple had to drink out of a cup. The bride drank first, and, after the bridegroom had drunk, he let the cup fall to the ground. Whichever of the two could first tread upon it would have, it was supposed, the upper hand in future.

4 A Russian bride takes a bath the morning after the wedding. (Ralston, p. 281.)

courage and address, which generally took the form of capturing and carrying off the bride. The original marriage ceremonies were, no doubt, few and simple, like those of the Voguls (see above, p. 425). But, as purchase involves discussion, and ultimately ratification ; as the separation of a bride from the parental home, preparatory to exchanging a comparatively free-and-easy life with the hard, slave-like life of a married woman, cannot take place without reluctance on her part, and without many tears, we may see in these acts some of the original foundationstones on which the existing superstructure of marriage usages and customs has gradually been built. This superstructure has been enormously augmented and modified through intercourse with Russian neighbours, through increasing civilisation, brought on by the change from a roving to a settled mode of life, and through the introduction of Christianity. For unquestionably a far larger proportion of incidents, set phrases, and othei peculiarities have been borrowed from the Russians than I have been able to exemplify.

John Abercromey.

Marriage among the Early Slavs

Prof. M. Kowalewsky

MARRIAGE AMONG THE EARLY SLA VS . 1

HE earliest evidence which we possess as to the social

1 relations of the Eastern Slavs, whose confederacy was the beginning of the Russian State, is contained in the so-called Chronicle of Nestor* Nestor is supposed to have been a Russian monk of the eleventh century*

Contrasting the mode of life of the most civilised Slavonic nations, the Pol fans, who were established on the banks of the Dnieper, with that of the more barbarous tribes of Russia, Nestor, or perhaps it is better to say, the unknown author of the Chronicle which bears this name, states as follows (I translate literally): “Each tribe had its own customs, and the laws of its forefathers and its own traditions, each its own manner of life {nrav\ The Polians had the customs of their fathers, customs mild and peaceful {tichi) ; they showed a kind of reserve {stidenic) towards the daughters of their sons and towards their sisters, towards their mothers and their parents, towards the mothers of their wives, and towards the brothers of their husbands; to all of the persons named they showed great reserve* Amongst them the bridegroom did not go to seek his bride; she was taken to him in the evening, and the following morning they brought what was given for her/*

"Another Slavonic tribe, the Drevlians,” according to the same chronicler, “ lived like beasts ; they killed one another, they fed on things unclean; no marriage took place amongst them, but they captured young girls on the banks of rivers.”

1 One of the Ilchester Lectures delivered before the University of Oxford.

The same author narrates that three other Slavonic tribes, the Radi finch, the Viatich, and the Sever, had the same customs; they lived "in forests, like other wild animals, they ate everything unclean, and shameful things occurred amongst them between fathers and daughters-in-law. Marriages were unknown to them, but games were held in the outskirts of villages ; they met at these games for dancing and every kind of diabolic amusement, and there they captured their wiyes, each man the one he had covenanted with. They had generally two or three wives.”

I have tried to give the nearest possible translation of this old Russian text, the interpretation of which, however, gives rise to certain difficulties not yet quite settled. I will now classify, to the best of my power, the various facts which we can infer from this text First of ail, it establishes the fact that marriage, in the sense of a constant union between husband and wife, was not a general institution among the Eastern Slavs. With the exception of the more civilised Polians, no other tribe is stated to have any notion of it. Of_course this does hot mean that all alike were entirely ignorant of the meaning of family life. It only means that their mode of constituting a family did not correspond to the idea which the author, who, as we have said, was a monk, entertained as to matrimonial revelations. The Radimich, = Viatich, and Sever captured their wives after having previously come to an agreement with them. This certainly is a method which would meet with the approval of a Christian, but nevertheless it is marriage. We have before us an example, of what ethnologists have named u marriage by capture ”

The Drevlians were even fess advanced as regards the intercourse between the sexes. They also had games at which women were captured, but not a word is said about any covenant entered into by the captor and his supposed victim. Neither is any mention made of these games being held on the boundaries or outskirts of villages—a fact which would point to the existence of a sort of exogamy

forbidding unions between persons of the same gens. In the description which the chronicler givesof the Drevlians

:ence, whilst we find a arriage by Jmost mific h appears law.

Fromiscuous:ording to our reserve"’ lords mothers pothers-in-law. kg the Radight to them s just mencapture* It in search of d the parents money prc(de of const ihe words of

the chronicler concerning these payments arc far from being clear, and Russian scholars have tried to interpret them in the sense of “dower” brought by the relatives of the wife. But it has been recently proved that no mention of “dower” is to be found in Russian charters before the fifteenth century, and that the word vmo used in mediaeval Russian to designate the payment made on marriage, has no other meaning than that of p ret i inn unfit! ale, or payment made by the bridegroom to the family of the bride, 1 The words of Tacitus concerning the dos paid amongst the German tribes by the future husband to his wife’s father, give precisely the meaning of the old Russian *' vcho , and throw a light on th^sort of payment which the chronicle of Nestor

1 Compare Lange, On the Mutual Rights according to Old Russian Lam, of Husband and Wife * as regards Fortune. St Petersburg, rSS6* VOL. I. H H

we have an instance of an almost u in that of the Radimich, Viatich, picture of an exogamous people ; ■ capture, and yet retaining from th limited licence a sort of family co in the relations between fathers and No trace of this either limited or u ness is to be found among the Pollans old chronicler, “conducted themselves wards daughters-in-law and sisters-i and fathers, towards Falhers-in-lav They seem to have been an exogam mich, Viatich, and Sever, their wives fro m on ts i d e the i r ow n re ns. Un li k tioned, they did not, however, procu was not the custom for the bridegr their wives; they received them from of the women, and they then paid viously agreed upon. This means toting marriage was by buying their wives

had In view when speaking of the matrimonial customs of the Polians.

The testimony of our oldest chronicle concerning the different forms of matrimony among the eastern Slavs deserves our closest attention, because it is, in all points, confirmed by the study of the rest of our old written literature, of our epic poems, of our wedding-songs, and of the matrimonial usages and customs still, or lately, In existence in certain remote districts of Russia* The Drevlians are not the only Slavonic tribe to which the mediaeval chronicles ascribe a low state oT morality. The same is asserted of the old Bohemians or Czechs, in the account given of their manners and customs by Cosmus of Prague, a Latin annalist of the eleventh century, who says : ConnuMa erant illis conmiunia, Nam more pecudum smgulas mi nodes novas probant kywmmes, et surgente aurora . . . . ferrea amoris rumpunt vincula! 1

This statement is directly confirmed by that of another mediaeval author, the unknown biographer of St. Adalbert This writer ascribes the animosity of the Bohemian people towards the saint to the fact of his strong opposition to the shameful promiscuousness which In his time prevailed in Bohemia. It is confirmed, also, by the monk of the Russian Abbey of Eleasar, known by the name of Pamphil, who lived in the sixteenth century. Both speak of the existence of certain yearly festivals at which great licence prevailed. According to the last-named author, such meetings were regularly held on the borders of the State of Novgorod on the banks of rivers, resembling, in that particular, the annual festivals mentioned by Nestor. Not later than the beginning of the sixteenth century, they were complained of by the clergy of the State of Pscov. It was at that time monk Pam phil drew up his letter to the Governor of the State, admonishing him to put an end to these annual gatherings, since their only result was the corruption of the young women and girls. According to the author just cited, the meetings took place, as a rule,

the day before the festival of St John the Baptist, which, in pagan times, was that of a divinity known by the name of Jarilo, corresponding to the Prlapus of the Greeks.. HAi a century later the new ecclesiastical code, compiled by an assembly of divines convened in Moscow by the Czar Ivan the Terrible, took effectual measures for abolishing every vestige of paganism ; amongst them, the yearly festivals held on Christmas Day, on the day of the baptism of Our Lord, and on St, John the Baptist, commonly called Midsummer Day. A general feature of all these festivals, according to the code, was the prevalence of the piomiscuous intercourse of the sexes. How far the clejgy succeeded in suppressing these yearly meetings, which had been regularly held for centuries before on the banks of rivers, we cannot precisely say, although the fact of then occasional occurrence, even in modern times, does not tend to prove their complete abolition. More than once have I had an opportunity of being present at these nightly meetings, held at the end of June, in commemoration of a heathen divinity. They usually take place close to a rivci or pond ; large fire? are lighted, and over them young couples, bachelors and unmarried girls, jump barefoot 1 have never found any trace of licentiousness; but there is no doubt that cases of licence used to occur, though seldom in our time. That a few centuries ago they were very frequent has been lately proved by some curious documents preserved in the archives of some of the provincial ecclesiastical councils, particularly in those existing in the government of Kharkov. According to these documents, the local clergy were engaged in constant warfare with the shameful licentiousness which prevailed at the evening assemblies of the peasants, and more than once the clergy succeeded in inducing the authorities of the village to dissolve the assemblies by force. The priests were often wounded, and obliged to seek , Tugc in the houses of the village elders from the stones with which they were pelted. These evening assemblies are known to the people of Great

H H 2

Russia under the name of Posidelki, and to the Little Russians by that of VechernitzL

The licentiousness which formed the characteristic feature of these meetings throws light on 'the motives which induce the peasants of certain gfeat Russian communes to attach but small importance to virginity, Russian ethnographers have not infrequently mentioned the fact of young men living openly with unmarried women, and, even in case of marriage, of giving preference to those who were known to have already been mothers.

However peculiar all these facts may seem, they are very often met with among people of quite a distinct race. The Allemanic populations of the Orisons, no longer ago than the sixteenth century, held regular meetings which were not less shameful than those of the Cossacks. The <f Kilbenen 1 ’ were abolished by law, 1 but another custom, in direct antagonism to morality, continued to exist all over the northern cantons of Switzerland and in the southern provinces of Wurtemberg and of Baden. I mean the custom known under the name “ Kilchgang” or “ Dork geh.en”, which, according to the popular songs, consisted in nothing else than the right of a bachelor to become the lover of some young girl, and that quite openly, and with the implied consent of the parents of his sweetheart May 1 also mention a similar custom amongst the Welsh t known as “ bundling'*? I am not well enough informed as to the character of this custom to insist on its resemblance to those already mentioned. The little I have said on the German survivals of early licence may suffice to establish this genera] conclusion :‘that the comparative immorality of Russian peasants has no other cause than the survival amongst them of numerous vestiges of the early forms of marriage.

Another feature of the matriarchal family, the lack of any prohibition as to marriages between persons who are

1 Das Lundrecht von Kfoster (xv), ed, by Mohr.

sprung - from the same father or grandfather, is also mentioned more than once by early Slavonic writers, * Such marriages were not prohibited by custom among the old Bohemians or Czechs, “ Populus miseebatur cum cognacs/ 1 says the biographer of St Adalbert They are also frequently mentioned in the epic poems of our peasants, the so-called bilini, of which the late W. R. S, Ralston has given to English readers an accurate and profound analysis.

I will quote certain passages from these poems to give you the facts on which my theory is based*

One of the most celebrated heroes of our popular ballads, Ilia Monro met z, encounters one day a freebooter named Nightingale (Solovei Razboinik); u Why \ asks the hero, “do all thy children look alike?” Nightingale gives the following answer: " Because, when my son is grown up, I many him to my daughter; and when my daughter is old enough, I give her my son for a husband, and I do-so in order that my race might not die out,” Another popular ballad, representing the evil customs of former days, describes them in the following manner:

u Brother made war upon brother,

Brother took sister to wife.”

Endogamous marriages still occur in a few very remote parts of Russia, Such is the case in certain villages in the district of Onega, and especially in that of Ltamika, where the peasants do their best to infringe the canonical prescriptions which disallow marriage between blood relations to the fourth degree inclusively. The same has also been noticed in certain parts of the Government of Archangel, quite on the shores of the White Sea, where the peasants are in the habit of saying that marriages between blood relations will be blessed with a more rapid increase of “cattle”—the word “cattle” standing in this case for children. Pn some provinces of Siberia, and in the district of Vetlouga, which belongs to the government of Nijnf Novgorod, endogamous marriages, though contrary to the

prevailing custom, are looked upon with a favourable eyed

Another fact which deserves the attention of all partisans of the theory of the matriarchate, first promulgated by McLennan, is the large independence enjoyed by the Slavonic women of old days. Let me first quote the words of Cosmus of Prague, which relate to this subject, and then show you what illustration they find both in written literature and in popular ballads and songs, fi Non virgines viri, sed ips£cmet viros, quos et quando voluerunt, accipiebantf*

This freedom of the* Bohemian girls to dispose of their hearts according to their own wish, shows the comparative independence of the Bohemian women at that period.

The oldest legal code of this people, the u snimi\ seems to favour this independence, by recognising the right of the women to be free from any work, except that which is connected with the maintenance of the household. 2

Confronted with the facts just brought forward, the popular legend, reported by Cosmus in his chronicle, of a kind of Bohemian Amazons, who took an active part in the wars of the time, appears in its true light. Free as they were from the bonds of marriage, not relying on husbands for the defence of their persons and estates, the old Bohemian Amazons were probably very similar to those warlike women who still appear in the King of Dahomey’s army, and who in the time of Pompey were known to exist among certain autochthonic tribes of the Caucasus. A fact well worth notice is, that the memory of these bellicose women is still preserved in the traditions of the Tcherkess, who call them by the name of “ emcheck 1 ’. Giantesses, wandering by themselves through the country, and fighting the heroes they met on their way, are also mentioned more

1 Smirnov, Sketches of Family Relations according to (he Customary Law of (lie Russians (Moscow, 1877), ppi 105, 106.

* I van i sell ev, Dissertation on Jke Rights of the Individual according to (he Old Laws of ihe Bohemians, Complete Works, p. 92.

47i

than once in our popular ballads* or hilini. The name under which they are known is that of “ polinitzi”, the word pole meaning the held* and in a secondary sense the battle-field.

Like the Bohemian girls described by Cosmus of Prague, these Russian Amazons chose their lovers as they liked.

H Is thy heart inclined to amuse itself with me T such Is the question addressed to Ilia Mourometz by one of these Amazons, the so-called beautiful princess. “Be myhus-* band and 1 will be thy wife,” says another of these polinitzi, Anastasia the Beautiful, to the paladin, Theodor Tougarin. It is not the freebooter Nightingale who chooses his wife, nor the paladin Dobrmia who is going in search of a bride ; both are represented as accepting the offers of betrothal made to them by the Russian Amazons Zaprava and Marina. 1

Evidence of still greater importance is that of the French writer, Beauplan, who, speaking of the" manners and customs of the inhabitants of Little Russia during his time, the latter half of the seventeenth century, states as follows :

“ In the Ukraine, contrary to the custom of all other nations, the husbands do not choose their wives, but are themselves chosen by their future consorts;'

I hope I have now given an amount of information, sufficient to answer the purpose I have in view ; which is no other than to show that, in a low state of morality, communal marriage between near relations and endogamy went hand in hand, amongst the early Slavs, with a considerable degree of independence among the weaker sex.

To all these characteristic features of the matriarchate, we may add this very Important one, that, according to the old Russian law, the tie which unites a man to his sister and the children she has brought into the world, was con-

1 Ribnikov, The So figs of the Russian People, voL i, p, 64; Kirscha Danilov, Old Russian Poems, pp* 9 and 70 ; Afanasiev, Tales of ike Russian People, voL i t p. 4S4.

4/2

sidered to be closer than that which unites two brothers or the uncle and his nephew. In a society organised on the principle of agnation, the son of a sister has no reason to interfere in the pursuit of the murderer of his uncle. The brother belongs altogether to another clan, and the duty of vengeance falls exclusively on the persons of that clan. But such is by no means the point of view of the old Russian law, recognising, as it does, the right of the sistei s son to avenge the death of his uncle.

“ In case a man shall be killed by a man, decrees the first article of the Pravda of Yaroslav (the lex barlwrum of the Russians), “ vengeance may be taken by a son in case his father has been killed ; by the father when the son falls a victim ; by the brother’s son, and by the son of a sister.” These last words are omitted in the later versions of the Pravda, a fact which shows the increase of agnatic organisation, but they are found in the version generally recog-

nised as the most ancient.

This dose tie between brother and sister, between the uncle and the sister’s children, still exists among the Southern Slavs. Professor Bogisic, and after lum Mr. Krauss, have illustrated this fact by the epic songs of the Servian people. They speak of the custom generally in use among the Southern Slavs of securing from a person truthfulness in his statements by the invocation of the name of the sister. They mention, too, that peculiar relation of artificial brotherhood and sisterhood, into which young men and young women belonging to different kindreds frequently enter, in order to secure to the weaker sex protection and help.

I hardly need insist on the importance which all these facts have with regard to the theory of an early matriarchate among the Slavs, the more so because this has already been done in England by Mr. McLennan, in his well-known study on the Patriarchal theory, and in Germany by Bachofcn in one of his Antiquarian Letters. 1 But I

1 Antiquarisdu Briefs, 1880, p. 167 ; McLennan, The Patriarchal Theory, cli. vi, p. 71.

Marriage among the Early Slam. 473

shall complete the information which these scholars have given by citing certain peculiar customs still in use among Russian peasants.

Whilst the father is considered to be the proper person to dispose of the hand of the bride, the brother, according to the wedding ritual, appears as the chief protector of her virginity. In more than one province of Russia the brother plays an important part in that portion of the nuptial ceremony which may be called by the Latin name of tn damns deductio. As soon as the bridegroom lias made his appearance in the court-yard of the family to which his bride belongs, the brother, in accordance with an old custom, takes his seat next the bride with a naked sword, or at least a stick, in his hand. The bridegroom or the groomsman, asking to be allowed to take his seat, receives as answer, that the brother is there to keep ward over his sister, and that he will not consent to leave his seat unless he be paid for it. u Dear brother, don't give me away for nothing. Ask a hundred roubles for me, for the veil which covers my head, a thousand roubles. Ask for my beauty —God alone knows how much.” Such is the tenor of the song composed for the occasion. “The brother, a true Tartar, 1 ' we read in the text of another nuptial song, “has sold his sister for a thaler, and her fair tresses for fifty copecks.”

In Little Russia the drawn sword, which the brother holds in lus hand on the occasion, is ornamented with the red berries of the guelder-rose, red being the emblem of maidenhood among Slavonic peoples. Other emblems are the binding of the bride's tf esses, and the veil which covers her head. The bridegroom is not allowed to remove the veil, nor to unbind the tresses of Ids future wife, unless he consents to pay a small sum of money to her brother.

Hitherto we have considered the different aspects of the earliest period in the evolution of the family—that which is known by the term of the matriarchate. The various

features which characterised the lowest state of the relations between the sexes did not vanish all at once. The incestuous relations between persons of the same blood seem to have been the first to disappear. No further mention of these occurs in Nestor's description of the Eastern tribes—the Radimich, Viatich, and Sever. Though they practise communal marriage so far that fathers and sons have wives in common, nevertheless fathers and daughters, brothers and sisters, dare no longer cohabit with each other, and if licence still occurs at some annual festivities, it is kept under some check.

The bilinl or popular ballads, as also the old legends and folk-tales, often represent that transient period of social evolution, when endogamy was gradually giving way to exogamy, and relations between persons of the same kin were forbidden. A popular hero, known by the name of Michailo Kasarinov, and belonging to a later series of Russian paladins, in one of these ballads liberates a young Russian girl from the yoke of the Tartars, and is on the point of becoming her lover, when she discloses to him the secret of her birth, and proves that she is his sister. The paladin immediately abandons his purpose. In another popular tale, inserted by Afanasiev in his collection of these curious monuments of our unwritten literature, a brother is represented as insisting on marrying his sister, and the latter as strongly protesting against his desire. tl What do you propose to do? she asks. li Rethink you of God and of the sin ? Is it right that a brother should espouse his own sister? * The brother persists, and the couple are on the point of retiring, when the earth opens, and the sister, unharmed, disappears from view. 1 In another popular legend, a husband, having discovered that his wife is his own sister, finds no means of escape but that of undertaking a pilgrimage in order to expiate his sins, 2

The prohibition is gradually extended to all persons of

1 Afanasiev, 2 *oIk^tafes i voL i, pp. 211, 212,

Schein, Songs of the While Russians.

Martiage among Ike Early Slews . 475

the same kin. A song 1 in vogue among the peasantry of Little Russia speaks of a bird wishing to marry, and finding no bride at his birth-place, all the females being his relations, there remains nothing for liinrto do but to cross the sea, and seek a bride of another kin than his own.

The complete discomfiture of endogamy, in its long struggle with exogamous prescriptions, is shown in the fact that in some parts of Russia, as for instance in the government of Simbirsk, in certain villages of the government of Olonizk, and of the district of Schadnnsk, inhabited by the Cossacks of the Don, the bride is always taken from another village than the bridegroom's. Even in provinces in which no similar custom is known to exist, the remembrance of the time when exogamy was considered a duty, is preserved in the fact that the bridegroom is constantly spoken of as a foreigner {choujoy^ ck&t§auimn) f and his friends and attendants are represented as coming with him from a distant country, in order to take away the future spouse.

The origin of exogamy has been sought for in the fact of the general prevalence, at a certain period of social development, of the custom of capturing wives, .The co-existence of both customs has been already noticed by the old Russian chronicler in his description of the manners and customs of the Radimich, Viatich, and Seven His- testimony is corroborated by that of the nuptial songs, and of the ceremonies still in use at country weddings. The information which is derived from these sources as to the general prevalence in past times of marriage*by capture, I have summed up in a work published in Russian under the title of The First Periods in ike Evolution of LaiiK i shall take the liberty of bringing forward on this occasion the facts there summarised. They concern the Eastern as well as the Southern Slavs.

Amongst the Southern Slavs, marriage by capture was still in existence no longer ago than the beginning of the

1 Tereschenko, Social Life of ike Russians, vol iv, p. 2S0,

present century. A well-known Servian writer, Vouk Karadjich, gives the following details about this peculiar custom, known under the name of otmitza. " The capture of girls in order to marry them is still practised among the Servians* Young men very frequently have recourse to tin's mode of procuring a wife. On such occasions they are equipped and armed as if they were going out to do battle. They conceal themselves, and quietly await the moment till the girl passes near them on her way to look after the cattle. Sometimes they make a direct attack on the homestead she inhabits. In either case her resistance has no other result than a direct appeal to physical force. The young men seize her by~ her long, plaited tresses, drag and push her along, and sometimes use a whip or a stick to quicken her pace. The same custom prevailed not long ago in Montenegro, It existed also for centuries in Croatia, a 5 may be seen from the mention made of it in the statute of Politza, a legal code published in 1605. In Bosnia and Herzegovina abductions still occur, but, as a rule, with the previous consent of the supposed victim, and with the declared intention of avoiding the expenses of a regular betrothal' 1 *

So much as regards marriage among the Southern Slavs.

As. to the Eastern Slavs, the early development of a strong government/and of a powerful clergy, prevented the possibility of a long continuance of this wild method of constituting a family. An exception must, however, be made as regards the Cossacks of Little Russia and the Ukraine; who, according to tlic statement of Beau plan, continued to capture their wives no longer ago than the seventeenth century. But the existence, probably in pagan times, of marriage by capture in Russia, as well as in Poland, is still revealed by the old ballads, the wedding ceremonies of the country people, and the songs in use on the occasion of a betrothal

The bihm more than once mention the cases of paladins like Ilia Mourometz having a personal encounter with the

Amazons they meet on their way. As soon as the paladins have succeeded in vanquishing the Amazons, they force them to become their wives. Among the different ceremonies still in use at a country wedding, one particularly deserves our attention, on account of the symbolical representation of the means to which the family of the bride once had recourse to prevent an abduction. On the day fixed for the wedding the doors leading to the homestead of the bride are closely shut. Sometimes a temporary wooden wall is erected to preserve the family from intrusion. The wedding-songs , still in use in the government of Toula speak of the necessity of defending the approach to the bride's residence by oak trees, cut down to block up the road, and by shields arranged before the principal entrance of the homestead.

The bridegroom and his friends wear a warlike dress ; they are mounted on horseback, and cany guns and pistols. Such, at least, is the custom in the western provinces of Russia, whilst in the southern the whip, carried by the bridegroom's best man, appears to be the only weapon In use. The wedding-songs speak of arrows, shot in the direction of the bride's home, and of stotie walls broken down, in order to take possession of her. The bridegroom and his followers are regularly met like foes. In the government of Perm it is the custom for the father of the bride to fire a pistol over their heads—of course, a pistol charged only with powder. The same custom is also in use in certain parts of the government of Archangel, The wedding-song speaks of the bridegroom's train in the following terms: —

u They will come to the maiden's father With war.

They will rob him,

And imprison the mother.

They will take the young girl away To a strange land/'

478 Marriage among the Early Slam,

But capture, as we have already seen, was not the only mode of contracting marriage among the Slavs, even in the earliest period* According to the chronicle of Nestor, the Pollans never had recourse to it. Instead of carrying off his bride by force, the Pollan bridegroom preferred to pay to her father, or her family, a sort of pretium rmptiale y or bride-price. This custom of the Pblians gradually became the general usage among all Slavonic tribes* In Servia, according to Wouk Karadjich, the sums of money paid to the bride's father by the bridegroom s family were so exorbitant that Georgius the Black issued a proclamation declaring It to be illegal to ask from the bridegroom more than a single ducat In our days, says Bagislc, wives, as a rule, cannot be bought by their future husbands, but a reminiscence of this old custom is still preserved In the fact that the bride's father receives from the bridegroom a gift in money, varying from one to six ducats, according to the fortune of the giver.

Wives were also bought and sold among the Slavonic tribes of Austria* According to an old usage of the Loujichan, a Slavonic people inhabiting certain districts of Hungary, the bridegroom, on entering the homestead of his bride, apostrophised the father thus: u Pray do tell me if you have a cow to sell ? M A Bohemian wedding-song puts into the mouth of the bridegroom's best man the following sentence : “ Please deliver to me the bride* I will give you a good price for her. The only reason I have for being here is that 1 may pay you in heavy thalers.' 1 No longer a'go than the beginning of the last century, young men wishing to many’ were in the habit of going to the fair at Krasni Brod, where unmarried women and widows, surrounded by their relations, awaited their coming* Each chose the woman he liked best, covenanted with her parents as to the amount of money to be paid for her, and proceeded to the ceremony of marriage* Polish weddingsongs also mention the custom of buying wives.

In Posnau the following ceremony is still observed on

the occasion of a betrothal The bridegroom puts a small piece of money on the shoes of his bride* another on her knee, a third on her shoulder* a fourth, on her head. It is only when this ceremony has been performed that the father delivers the maiden into the hands of her future husband.

I have already mentioned the fact that the payment made in Old Russia by the bridegroom was known under the name of “veno” The true meaning of this word is revealed by the use which is made of it by the translators of the Scriptures. In a Slavonic version of the words addressed by Jacob to Laban* when he asked him for the hand of his daughter Rachel, the translators write as follows : “Increase the sum of the veno as much as you like and l will pay it to you* and you shall give me this maiden to wife 1 *. 1

In modern times the veno is mentioned only in certain wedding-songs. Another term, w kladka” has replaced it in most parts of Great Russia. This payment, amounting in certain parts of Russia to the sum of one hundred, and even of two or three hundred roubles, is made to the father of the bride. As a rule, the father disposes of the money in favour of his daughter, for he gives her as dowry a larger or smaller sum* according to what he has received from the bridegroom. But this fact cannot be brought forward as a proof that the “kladka” belongs by right to the bride. In more than one commune of the government of Tambov, Riasan, Vladimir, MoscowSamara, and Saratov, no mention is made of the dowry given by the bride's father, whilst the kladka is regularly paid to the head of family to which the bride belongs, 2 We must therefore consider these two payments, that made by the bridegroom and that made by the bride’s Father, as quite different institutions. The one payment proves the existence* at least in certain parts of modern Russia, of a mode of marriage similar to that of the Indian Asum ; the other shows the way in which the

3 Lange, p, S6.

1 Genesis xxix.

pretium emftionis\ to employ a term of Roman jurisprudence, passed Into the dos or dowry* The custom was the same as that followed by the Germanic tribes* In saying this t have particularly in view Tacitus's statement about the payment made by the bridegroom at a marriage, and the more recent fact of the conversion of this payment into a dowry given by the bride’s father.

That in former days in Russia wives were regularly bought from their parents is plainly recognised by the wedding-songs still in use among our peasants*

The " bayards”, a term by which people designate the companions or followers of bridegroom, who on his part is called “the duke”, kniaz~ H the bayards", says a weddingsong of the government of Saratov, 4f surround the yard of the bride’s house on all sides, they bargain for our Douniascha.”

« The bayards have covered the ground with gold," sing the country people of White Russia.

The bridegroom is very often mentioned in the songs oi the peasants of Great Russia as the (c merchant", whilst the bride is spoken of as “ merchandise"* In the government of jaroslav, for instance, the bride, following an ancient usage, complains of the treatment to which she will be subjected, saying that H unknown merchants will take her away from her father and her dear mother".

Now that we have care folly passed in review the different aspects tinder which matrimonial relations have been viewed, or still are viewed, by the country people of Russia, we may be allowed to say, that Russian ethnography quite corroborates the theory as to the evolution of marriage which English scholars were the first to establish.

M* Kowalewsky.

The Marriage Ceremonies of the Manchus

J. H. Stewart Lockhart

THE MARRIAGE CEREMONIES OF THE MANCIIUS,

T HE accompanying account of the marriage ceremonies of the Man elms was obtained by me from a Manchu gentleman, who hailed from Peking, and who taught me the Pekingese dialect In order to ensure the accuracy of the account, I sent it to Peking from Hong-Kong, where I was residing, to my friend, Mr* Addis, of the Hong-Kong and Shanghai Bank, and requested him to get it checked by some of those better acquainted than myself with the Manchu customs. This he very kindly did. I was pleased to find, on his returning the account to me, that only a very few alterations had been suggested. These have been inserted in the original, and I think I may safely say that the account as now given is a complete and accurate one* One of those who, through Mr, Addis’s kind intervention, was good enough to revise my papers, was Mr. Arendt, of the German Legation at Peking, a well-known Sinologue, now Professor of Chinese at Berlin. In addition to revising my papers, he also wrote some stray notes on Chinese marriage ceremonies. These, coming from such an authority, cannot fail to be interesting, and have therefore been appended to the account of the Manchu marriage ceremonies.'

1 J, H. Stewart Lockhart,

When a boy has reached the age of fifteen, his parents, especially if they are well off, fearing that the lad may become wild, make arrangements for his marriage by entrusting some relation, friend, or middle-man with the task of selecti ng a wife for him. The wealth of the woman's vol, i. it

482 Marriage Ceremonies of the Manehus.

family is not considered of so much importance as its past history, A girl of good looks, and able to perform the heavier, as well as the lighter, duties of the household, is preferred, without regard to the extent of her dot , as rich families generally intermarry with each other. The girl’s bring-up, her behaviour to her parents, and her temper, are all generally carefully inquired into. Literary families, as a rule, prefer a girl who has some knowledge of reading and writing. When the bride is found by some friend or relation, her family and that of the bridegroom are usually well known to each other, so that inquiry into the past history of each is not necessary. Sometimes, however, the family of the man knows that a certain household contains a fair maid, with whom they are anxious to form an alliance, but, not being personally acquainted with her family, the employment of the services of a professional mkldle-man becomes necessary, who is deputed to broach the subject to the girl's family, but not till the fee he is to be paid, if successful, has been settled. The middle-man proceeds to the girl's family and opems the conversation by discussing ordinary topics. On seeing the daughter, he at once becomes loud in praises of her appearance and future good fortune, and asks her mother casually if she is yet betrothed. The mother may reply in an off-hand way that she is not, but that she would be glad if the middle-man would find a suitable husband for her. The middle-man avails himself at once of his opportunity, by telling her that, by the most fortunate coincidence, a certain family has a son, aged fifteen or sixteen, who is a student, distinguished in appearance, and of gentlemanly bearing, not given to drinking, opium smoking, licentiousness, or gambling, and who wishes to find a wife; that his family is well-off, and his parents highly respectable; that the son in question is their special pet, and they particularly wish to see him well settled ; and that a match between the two families would be in every way suitable, In this way lie works on the feelings of the girl's mother, until she promises that she will

Marriage Ceremonies of the Manchits . 483.

consult with her good-man, and report the result of their deliberations in a day or two. The middle-man then returns in hot haste to the bridegroom's family, and offers his congratulations, declaring that the matter has been arranged satisfactorily, though such is far from the truth, and having obtained his fee, he departs, promising to return in two days to arrange as to the interchange of visits between the two families, for the purpose of viewing the bride and bridegroom.

If the parents of the bride consent, the middle-man on revisiting them is presented with a fee, and asked to arrange a date for viewing the bride and bridegroom. Should they refuse, the middle-man dares not show his face at the bridegroom's house. Before visiting each other, both families institute private inquiries as to the history and standing of each other.

Inspecting the Bridegroom and Bride .—After both parties have consented to the match, and are well acquainted with each other, a lucky date is chosen for the inspection of the bridegroom and his family by the bride’s mother, and of the bride and her family by the bridegroom's mother. 1 he bride’s mother, on arrival at the bridegroom's family, first observes if the bridegroom is well grown and a fit match for her daughter, and then asks him a few questions to see that he is not dumb, afterwards'turning her attention to his parents, and finally to the house and its furniture.

The bridegroom's mother then pays her visit to the bride's home, examining the bride's appearance, speaking a few words to her, and asking her to show her round the house, in order to satisfy herself that the bride is not lame, the latter being, of course, quite ignorant of her intention.

The inspection of the bride and bridegroom does not take place sometimes—as, for example, when the distance between the two families Is great In such cases a relative or friend must secure that both parties are suitable* and he is held responsible if they are found not to be so.

4 §4 Marriage Ceremonies of the Manchus*

Exchange of Cards, —'The next step Is the exchange of cards containing the three generations-—the names of the father, grandfather, and great-grandfather of each family written on red cards. If these are found satisfactory, the interchange of birthday or horoscope cards takes place. These cards contain eight characters, there being two characters . for the year, month, day, and hour of the bride and bridegroom's birth, which are examined by a fortune-teller. If they agree, the bridegroom sends a present to the bride of some jewellery, and the day is fixed for the sending of the chief betrothal presents to the bride.

Sending of the Betrothal Presents, —In ordinary families these consist of a head ornament of gold or gilt, a pair of bracelets, and two rings, and are sent along with four near female relations of the bridegroom. The presents are fixed on large red satin cards, and placed in jewellery cases, wrapped in red. Outside is a jade sceptre, which is meant to express a desire that everything may go with the happy couple as they wish.

On the arrival of the presents at the bride's house the bearers of them are met by the four ladies who arc assisting tho bride. The presents are placed on a table covered with a red cloth, and, after the bearers of them have exchanged the usual compliments, one of them takes up the gade sceptre, and presents it to the bride’s mother, saying: u hie aye n has decreed that the two families should be joined in matrimony ; this sceptre is a sure sign that their good fortune will be as their hearts desire/' The sceptre is afterwards laid on the lap of the bride. The cases containing the other presents are next opened, and, after they have been admired, the party retires to see the bride, taking the presents with them. I he bride, dressed in red, is seated on a couch (the K'ang) with her face'towards the south. The female representatives of the bridegroom, in order of age, approach her, and each takes a hair-pin from her hair and replaces it by another, wishing her, at the same time, every good fortune.

Marriage Ceremonies of ike Afane 7 ms. 48 5

The next ceremony is called :

The Sending of a Letter and Presents* —After the date for the marriage has been fixed, the bridegroom, about three months before the appointed time, selects a lucky day for sending a communication to his bride, announcing the day chosen for the marriage, which is accompanied by a goose dyed red, a jar of wine, four pigs, four sheep, four ducks, which are all dyed red on the back. The presents vary according to the wealth or position of the families. Four of each kind of animal is the smallest number presented, the usual number being eight of each, but never more than sixteen of each kind. The poorer classes may dispense with sending living animals, and may send only presents of clothes which are sometimes borrowed and afterwards returned. The bearer of the communication is always a very near male relation.

In addition to the above presents, the material for bedding, for the red jacket and green trousers worn by the bride when she enters the bridal sedan, is sent and has to be made up in the bride's family. Ornaments, clothes, gold and silver head ornaments, a head-dress, are also among the presents; which are brought back with the bride’s trousseau to the bridegroom’s house.

The Marriage Days .—These generally extend over three days, the first day being the one on which the trousseau is sent to the bridegroom's house, and on the evening of which the bride goes to the bridegroom’s abode at about twelve o’clock at night; the second being the marriage day, on which the friends of the bridegroom are present ; and the third, the day on which the mother and friends of the bride go to the bridegroom's house to partake of the congratulatory feast Generally now, only two days are necessary for these ceremonies, and in the case of the poor, one day. A master of the ceremonies is engaged, who directs the ceremonial, and whose word is law.

About three days before the “ marriage days* 1 invitations to a feast are issued by both families. The relations and

4S6 Marriage Ceremonies of the Manc/ms ,

friends who attend are expected to bring presents generally to the bride, such as purses, handkerchiefs, fans, shoes, stockings, etc. These presents are termed “additions to the (bride's) trunks” The feast consists of many courses, and is generally a combination of the Manchu and Chinese forms of entertainment. The feast given at the bride’s house takes place on the day on which the trousseau is sent; at this feast friends and relations attend* On the second day there is also a feast at the bride's house, the guests being limited to near relatives. The latter feast takes place before the bride starts for the bridegroom's house.

The trousseau is sent to the bridegroom’s house at noon, accompanied by representatives of the bride, six, eight, or ten, and is met half-way by an equal number of representatives of the bridegroom and a band of musicians.

On the evening of the first day the marriage couch is carefully placed by two women, employed by the bridegroom's family, who must have a father and mother-in-law, husband, and children living. The bridal chair is despatched for the bride with a band of musicians before the marriage couch is placed. It is occupied by the bridegroom’s mother or aunt, who goes to meet the bride* When she returns she occupies an ordinary sedan. Sometimes the bridal sedan is occupied by a child of ten years old, whose presence is supposed to be an omen of a numerous progeny of male children. The procession to the bride's house also consists of six, eight, and four male friends or relations of the bridegroom. Each of them takes with him several cust wrapped in red paper, and sometimes tea, or both. They also have a handful of cast, called “the heavens full<of stars”— symbolical of wealth and prosperity. When the bridal sedan arrives at the bride's home, the mother of the bridegroom is invited to enter the house. She enters, and the doors are closed, the remainder of the procession staying outside. Children in the bride's house then demand the packets of cust wrapped in paper, which are handed to them through t he crevices of the door, and the bride's friends

Marriage Ceremonies of Ike Manclms * 487

from inside request certain pieces of music to be played. When these are finished, the doors are opened at the request of the bridegroom’s friends* and tile oust, called 14 the heavens full of stars"* is thrown into the house as an omen of wealth and prosperity- The bridegroom’s representatives then enter the house, as does also the chain Mutual congratulations follow over a cup of tea* While the female relations are making arrangements for the bride to leave her home, the male friends depart, and are soon followed by the bridegroom's mother or aunt, who, after she has placed an embroidered pk^e of silk over the bride's head, which covers her face, bids farewell to her* The chair is now “disinfected” by the bride s brothers with incense, to drive away evil spirits, and inside the chair a calendar is placed, as it contains a number of names of idols who can control evil spirits* The bride is then carried or assisted into the Vidal sedan by her elder brother or maternal unde. She is 'dressed in red, and weeps loudly. The sedan-carrieis are next “tipped”, and directed to carry their burden with great care, after which the sedan departs for the bridegroom's house* The younger brother, or nephew, of the bride runs by its side holding on to the shaft. Two men run in front of it, each of them holdinga red doth, which they hold up when the sedan passes a temple or well, in order to ward off evil influences. The mother follows in an ordinary sedan, and the other relations in carts. When the sedan arrives at the bridegroom's house, the door is shut, and crackers are fired to drive away evil spirits. After this the mother and bride's relations are requested to enter the house, ajid the sedan is carried inside, but has to pass over a charcoal pan, as a sign that the happy pair will be as brilliant as fire. The sedan is placed iilside the door. Before the bride's mother opens the blind and assists the bride out, the bridegroom fires three arrows at the blinds. The bride, on coming out, has to step over a miniature saddle, as a sign that she will never marry a second husband, in accordance with the saying:

4SS Marriage Ceremonies of the Manchus.

t£ Just as a good horse will not carry two saddles,

A chaste maiden* will not marry two husbands/*

The floor from the door to the bridal chamber is covered with red carpet, along which the bride is conducted to the chamber, after she has worshipped heaven and earth with the bridegroom. Her mother now bids her farewell, and returns to her own home.

When in the bridal chamber, the bridegroom arid bride sit upon a bed, face to face. An “offspring dumpling*' is brought in, and handed to the bridegroom, who eats a mouthful It is next handed to the bride, who takes a small piece into her mouth, and afterwards spits it out, as an omen that the marriage will he productive of a numerous offspring. The bridegroom then comes out of the bridal chamber, and the bride is left alone, still sitting on the bed. The first ceremony on the second day is called “the holding of the precious vase 11 . This vase contains gold, silver, precious stones and grain, and is covered with red silk, and tied with silk thread. The bride holds it in her arms all day long, until.the pair retire to rest. During the day, the bridegroom attends to the guests, who are engaged in feasting. The majority of them disperse at noon, leaving behind only those who are either related to, or very intimate with, the family. They stay on till five or six in the evening, when they also leave. About ten o’clock the bridegroom returns to the bridal chamber, accompanied by his mother, and ascends the bridal couch, on which the bride is still sitting. On the four corners of the bed arc placed laichees, lung ugan, chestnuts, and dates, which are intended to indicate that the pair will produpe an early, numerous, and intelligent offspring. There is a lamp in the room, called “ the longevity lamp 11 , which is kept burning all night. Before the pair retire to rest, the mother of the bridegroom, holding in her hand a bowl containing longevity dough", feeds both the bride and bridegroom, and then departs, leaving the happy pair alone.

The bridegroom leaves the bridal chamber soon after,

Marriage Ceremonies of the MancZms, 489

and sends a congratulatory invitation to "the bride's family, asking her relations to come to a congratulatory feast They must be invited six times before they accept The feast generally takes place before daybreak, at three o'clock in the morning- The guests are met on arrival at the main entrance, by the bridegroom, who kneels with his back to the house* Three glasses of wine are poured out by the attendant, and handed to the bridegroom, who presents them to his mother-in-law, and then three glasses to each of the other guests, which are not drunk but handed back to the attendants, The guests are next invited into the banquetmg-shed, each guest sitting at a separate table, accompanied by two hosts. Tea, wine, and meats arc served, but are left untouched, the guests interchanging compliments, until a course of soup is served. Each of the guests presents the attendant with a red packet containing money. After retiring from the banquet, a congratulatory visit is paid by all to the bridal chamber. I he bride now, for the first time, uncovers her face, and descends from the bridal couch. After uncovering her face, the bride cuts off the hair hanging over her temples, as a sign that she is now a married woman, and offers tea and tobacco to her guests to show that she is the hostess. The guests then depart, the bridegroom pledging them, as on their arrival, with three glasses of wine:

The bride and bridegroom now partake of the bridal feast, and, when it is over, the bride visits the parents of the bridegroom, and worships the ancestors of the family and the god of the hearth, in the last case holding a bundle of firewood, in her arms, as a sign that she knows how to cook. These ceremonies over, the bride and bridegroom “ kotow” to the parents of the bridegroom, and the nearest senior relations of the family, in the order of their seniority, who present the happy couple with presents of money wrapped in red paper. The members of the family younger than the happy pair have to “ kotow” to them. After all the marriage ceremonies are completed, the bride opens her

490 Marriage Ceremonies of the Mane km.

trunks, from whiclf she takes two pairs of shoes and stockings, and, placing them on a copper tray, presents them to her mother and father-in-law. She also makes presents to all the members of the family. A lucky day is chosen for the ceremony, entitled li upsetting the precious vase” referred to above. Its contents are upset on the bed, and the bride and bridegroom struggle to see who will pick up most of them. The person who is most successful is considered lucky.

On the fourth day after the marriage, emissaries are sent from the bride's family to convey the daughter home, where she and the bridegroom are feasted. After the pair have been married a month, the bride returns to her fathers family, staying there for a few days. She is not generally accompanied by the bridegroom, though, in some instances, he goes with her.

Stray Notes? —It Is strange that the Chinese should so firmly stick to the custom of go-betweens, as these tatter individuals are counted amongst disreputable persons. So, amongst others, Chuhi tells us. In Ills Instruction for the Yeung {Hsiao Hsiichf and in a Pekin popular proverb the go-betweens are numbered amongst those categories of people whom “ it is right to put to death without their having committed any special crime”— wu^-tsuft, chui* M<F s/ia\ The Chinese believe that marriages are made in heaven. One of their demi-gods is the Yuch-hsia-laohh 3 (“ Old Man under the Moon”), who ties together, with an invisible red string, the feet of those who are destined by fate to become man and wife. A goddess of love will also be met with in the Hung-lon-meng (" Dream of the Red Chamber”). The finding of a suitable bride is further expressed by the words, 11 san-sh§ng-yuan” ( IIunglou-weug, chap. I), “the desire of the three lives”, man and wife being destined for each other before they have come down to this lower world, becoming man and wife below here, and

1 By Mr. C Arendt, now Professor of Chinese at Berlin, in the institution for ilic Teaching of Modern Oriental Languages, j - H. 5 . L,

Marriage Ceremonies of the Mane has. 49 T

being expected to remain true to each other, even after the . death of one of them.

An important marriage ceremony, not mentioned, if I remember right, in the paper, reminds us also of the fable of "The Old Man under the Moon”. Before the consummation of marriage, whilst tire new married couple are sitting together on the “h'ang'\ they drink wine alternately from two cups, which are tied together by a red string. The bridegroom, after having sipped from his cup, hands it over to the bride, and the bride hands hers over to her husband, and so repeatedly. This ceremony is called h'o chi’rP, or h'o-kin, «to unite the cups.’ 1

The Manchu bride sits in a red chair, the Chinese bride in a Mant'un-Jising —a chair covered all over with glass ornaments, and, therefore, bearing this name, which means, " the sky covered all over with stars.”

I did not know the explanation given in the paper of the saddle on the threshold, over which the bride has to step, but it is decidedly the origin of this custom. At present, besides the saddle, they put frequently also an apple on the threshold. The Chinese name of this latter fruit is p'ing'kuo, or, abridged,//?/^, which means also “ peace”, whilst the saddle is called an in Chinese. An means also "tranquillity”. Therefore this custom expresses a wish that peace ( fling ,, represented by the apple) and tranquillity (an, represented by the saddle) may reign in the house of the newly married couple. The whole custom is probably derived, from that of the saddle alone, as explained in the paper.

The bride must sit three whole days and nights on the Hang. This is, 1 believe, mentioned, but perhaps not quite clearly stated in the paper.

Jt is not a very rare thing that the bride’s family make it a condition that the couple, after marriage, should come and live in the house of the parents of the bride, , This is called jn-ckui, A pleasant drama in two parts, the Te-iyiian, is based on such a marriage. There, the additional

49 2 Marriage Ceremonies of the Mane hits.

condition Is even imposed on the husband that he is not permitted ever to leave the house of his parents-in-law. Frequently, especially in the country, children of different sex are promised to each other in. marriage whilst they are still quite young. They live separately until marriage ; after marriage they are called dma-chiu fu-cJti —“ man and wife [who were promised to each other while they still wore] chua-chiu's"—those small pigtails, of which Chinese babies have frequently twct$ one on each side of the head, and sometimes a third one on the top.

The Story of “The Frog Prince”

W. A. Clouston

BRETON VARIANT\ AND SOME ANALOGUES .

I N the following tale we have a Breton form of the wellknown mcirckeft , in Grimm’s collection, of “The Frog Prince”* combined with incidents found in other popular European and Asiatic fictions. It was taken down from the recital of an old beggar woman of Plcuaret by M. F. M, Luzel, and published in Mdlusine for September iSSS, under the title of w Jannac aux Deux Sous”* or

Penny Jack.

A poor orphan lived on alms which he daily collected from door to door. One day a gentleman, jmsing along the highway, gave him a penny {deux sous). Laughing and dancing with joy at the possession of so much money, he rushed to the town, shouting through the streets, “ Pve a penny I I've a penny!” As his clothes were in rags, he went to a draper's and ordered coat, vest, and trousers. “Have you the money, my boy?” asked the merchant. f G yes," showing his cash. “ Get you gone, Penny Jack ! ” said the diaper, pushing him out of the door. The name Penny Jack” stuck to him. At play with some youngsters he lost his money, wept like a calf, and set off for the country.

On the way he drinks at a fountain, lies down, and passes the night. In the morning, as he is about to drink again, he perceives an enormous frog in the basin, and shrinks back in horror. “Don't be alarmed, my boy; come, kiss me”; and the frog leaps up on the edge of the basin. After some persuasion and the promise of his finding money in abundance, Jack kissed the frog. He is directed to look behind a moss-grown stone for money, and is told he will get as rauch > more there to-morrow

494 The Story of the u Frog Prince \

at the same hour. Jack finds money enough, which he takes, and then runs back to town. £i Look J look ! fl cries he, showing his money; “my pockets full of gold and silver;” The street boys and swindlers get round him, and he is soon left without a coin.

The next night he spends at the fountain, and tells of his loss in the morning. “Never mind/ 5 says the frog, “kiss me again, and you'll get plenty.” But the frog is now larger and more hideous, and Jack has scruples which poverty overcomes. Money is got and lost as before, and foT the third time Jack goes to the fountain. The frog is now so large as to fill the basin, and hideously swollen up with poison ; but, when kissed a third time, a spell is broken, and the frog becomes a beautiful princess, who thanks Jack, and tells him that a charm had kept her In the ugly form he had seen in the fountain, until a “ virgin” young man of twenty years should kiss her thrice. She was going to her father, a powerful king of the East, but she intended to marry Jack, who would succeed her father. Meanwhile, he was to return to town, and after a year and a day he must come to the fountain, at eight in the morning, alone and fasting. She would be there, and would take him to her father. He must kiss no other woman, and take care to come fasting, else he should not see her.

He takes a new supply of money, and this time puts it in the keeping of the mistress of an inn where lie stays. One of the servant girls took a fancy for him, in spite of his silliness, but he would have nothing to do with her, telling her how he must marry a princess, and stating the precautions lie must observe. The girl clasped him round the neck, and kissed him, thus trying to make him break his promise ; but Jack still kept to it, and would go on the day appointed to the fountain. She tries in vain to get him misled as to the exact date; and, as fye sets out, she slips a pea into his pocket

Jack arrives too early at the fountain, and, while waiting, finds the pea in his pocket, and thoughtlessly eats it and falls asleep* The princess comes presently, discovers him asleep, and exclaims: c< Alas, be has either eaten, or embraced another !” She places in his hands a paper, on which she had written : “ Alas, Jack, you have eaten, or perhaps kissed a woman before coming here.

The Sfory of 11 The Frog Prince '. 495

and yon are asleep. I shall be back at ten o'clock tomorrow at this fountain. Be careful to come fasting, and without having kissed either woman or girl.” Jack awakes, and cries when he sees not the princess; and, finding the paper, he takes it to the inn, where the girl reads it to him.

Next morning he sets out again, but the girl has slipped a bean into his vest, which he eats, and then falls asleep, as before. The princess comes, and leaves a paper ivith him ; she will give him one more chance ; to-morrow, at noon. He awakes, and is full of sorrow, and, returning to the inn, gets the girl to read the paper tor him as before*

The girl puts a fig into, his pocket before he starts a third time for the fountain. Jack eats the fig and,falls asleep. When he awakes he discovers a paper in bis hand, and half of the princess's gold ring* This time Jack gets the schoolmaster to read the paper: The princess will return no more; she 1 ms gone to her Castle of Gold, held by four chains over the Red Sea. If he loves her lie may see her there, but only after many trials and much hardship. She adds that, as soon as he returns to the inn, he must pull off all the buttons of his clothes, and, as each came off, someone in the house would die. So he goes back to the inn, pulls off his buttons, and all die—the girl first. Then he takes his staff and the half-ring, and sets out in quest of the Golden Castle,

After long travel and vain inquiries, lie meets with an old hermit, who refers him to an elder brother-hermit, who commands all the beasts, from whom he receives an ointment that can heal any wound, and a ball which rolls before him when the anchorite says : Go, my ball; go straight £0 my brother, the hermit—to his hermitage two hundred leagues hence.” Jack follows. When the ball strikes against the door, out comes the elder hermit, who recognises the ball, but knows nothing of the Golden Castle, nor do the beasts, whom he summons, and who come, from the mouse to the lion, from the goat to the camel Jack is sent by him three hundred leagues off to his brother-hermit, who commands all the feathered tribes. He follows a conducting-ball, as before, and feels very tired when it raps at the door of tile third hermit. Out comes a man of great age, who is so wise that he knows all Jack's history and his mission, but confesses he knows

not the Golden Castle, He summons his birds, from the wren to the eagle. It is only after two calls that the eagle appears, last of all, and, when questioned ns to the cause of his delay, be says that he was far away at the Golden Castle of the Red Sea, where the princess was next day to be married ; oxen, calves, sheep, etc*, were being slaughtered in great numbers, and he had been getting his share.

The eagle undertakes to carry Jack to the Castle, on condition of having a supply of fresh meat all the way. Twelve sheep are killed, and the quarters and Jack are fastened on the eagles back* Whenever the bird cries “Oak i” Jack gives him a quarter of a sheep. The provision is all consumed as the Red Sea appears. “ Oak ! oak I " cries the eagle. “ You’ve eaten the whole/ says Jack* “Give" me meat,” rejoins the eagle, “or my strength is gone.” Jack has to give the bird four more successive supplies, taken from the calves of his legs and his thighs* He is at length set down on the Castle wall, nearly dead from the loss of blood, but the ointment restores him, and he is as well as ever.

As the bridal procession goes to church, Jack puts himself itr the way, and he is recognised by the bride* She pretends sudden sickness, and the ceremony is postponed till next day* In like manner she delays it for three days more. On the third day the wedding-dinner takes place, but they had not yet been to church. Jack is invited as a' foreign prince, the princess having sent him splendid robes and jewels. At the end of the feast stories were told, and the princess, when asked, rose and related her story: “I had, your majesty, a key for my wardrobe, which I lost* I got a new key instead. I have now found the old one* Which would your majesty advise me to use ? ?J The king said : “ Honour is ever due to the eldest.” Replied the princess : “That is also my opinion,” and, pointing to Jack, she told how he had freed her from the spell, and so forth* So Jack was married to the princess, and in course of time became king.

In fairy tales of human beings transformed by witchcraft into hideous shapes, the spell is usually to be done away when some very unlikely thing should happen. Sometimes the victim declares the condition, as in the story told by

The St dry of the “Frog Prince".

William of Malmesbury (ed. 1725, ch. iv T pp. 23-26) of the " Doughtre of Ypocras [i.e., Hippocrates], in forme and lykenesse of a gret Dragounj that is an hundred Fadme of lengthe, as Men seyn, for I have not seen hire,” the famous traveller is careful to add. “ And sche lyethe in an olde Castelle, in a Cave, and schewethe twyes or thryes in the Zeer. And sche dothe non harm to no Man, but if unless] Men don hire harm. And sche was thus chaunged and transformed, from a fair Damysele, in to lykenesse of a Dragoun, be a Goddesse, that was clept Deane [i.e, t called Diana], And Men seyn, that sche schalle so endure in that forme of a Dragoun, unto the tyme that a Knigjhte come, that is so hardy, that dar come to hire and kisse hire on the Moutlie : And then schalle sche turne ayen to hire ownc Kynde, and ben a Woman ayen : But aftre that sche schalle not liven longe," One brave Knight of Rhodes, it seems, undertook this bold enterprise, but so soon as he beheld H that forme so hidous and so horrible he fleyghe away”, and the disappointed damsel cast him and his horse into the sea. Another time, a youth, who knew not of the enchanted maiden, quitted his ship, and, going over the island, came upon her, and she told him that if he would kiss her on the mouth she should be restored to her woman's form, and he should have, for his reward, herself and all her great treasure ; but he also could not screw his courage to the kissing point.

In most cases, however, the spell can only be broken in entire Ignorance of the fact that the hideous creature is not what he, or she, appears to be, as in Grimm’s story, where a princess accidentally drops her golden ball into a well, and a frog puts up his head and offers to restore it to her on condition that she love him, let him live with her, eat off a golden plate, and sleep on her couch. She promises to do all that he requires, in order to get back her golden ball At night the frog comes to her door, and chants :

<( Open the door, my princess dear,

Open the door to thy true love here l

I. K

VOL, I.

And mind the words that you and I said,

]3y the fountain cool in the greensward shade 1”

She opens the door, and, after the frog has supped off a golden plate, lie sleeps on her couch till morning, when he goes away. This happens three nights in succession, but when the princess awakes, on the third morning, she is astonished to see, instead qf the frog, a handsome young prince, gazing on her with the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen, and standing at the head of her bed. He then explains how he had been enchanted by a spiteful fairy, and so on*

Robert Chambers, in his collection of Scottish songs, gives a curious variant, as told by an old Annandalc nurse. A young girl is sent by her mother “to the well at the world's end " with a wooden dish to fetch water. When the lassie cam' to the well, she fand it dry; but there was a padda \i£ n a frog] that cam J loupdoup-loupirf, and loupit into her dish. Says the padda to the lassie: M’ligieye plenty o 5 water if ye'll be my wife* 1 The lassie didna like the padda, but she was fain to say she wad tald him, just to get the water ; and, ye ken, she never thought the puir brute wad be serious, or wad ever say ony mair about it. Sac she got the wafer, and took it hame to her mother; and she heard nae mair o* the padda till that night, when, as she and her mother were sitting by the fireside, what do they hear but the puir 'padda at the outside o' the door, singing wi* a’ his micht:

“ Open the door, my hinny, my heart,

Open the door, my ain true love ;

Remember the promise that you and I made, ,

Doun T the meadow where we twa met.”

Says the mother: “ What noise is that at the door, dauehter ? ” “ Hout! ” sa)^s the lassie, “ it's naething but a

filthy padda.” il Open the door to the puir padda ” says the mother. Sac the lassie opened the door, and the padda

The Story of ike ''Frog Prince \

cam’ loup-Ioup-loupin' in, and sat down by the ingle-side. Then out says he :

“ 0 gie me my supper, my hinnie, my heart,

0 gie me my supper, my am true love; **

and so on, as before. The lassie, persuaded by her mother, gives the pad da his supper, after which he sings out:

“ O put me to bed, my hinnie, my heart,”

and so on, and she puts the padda in bed. Then he asks her to come to her bed, which she does. Next, at his request, she takes him to her bosom ; and lastly, to strike off his head with an axe, which, we may well suppose, she was nothing loth to do, whereupon up starts "the bonniest prince that ever was seen ; and, of course, they lived happy a T the rest o' their days/ 1

In this version, it will be seen, the transformed prince is more exacting than in the German story, where, after having supped off a golden dish, and Tain on the girl's couch for three nights, the spell is broken. In the Breton version, the enchanted princess is restored to her proper form when she has been kissed three times. We shall consider the incidents that follow in the Breton story after referring to some analogues which were current in Europe during mediaeval times.

Under the title of "The Knight and the Loathly Lady”, ill Originals and Analogues of some of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (published for the Chaucer Society, pp. 483 ff), I have cited, in full generally, the following variants, etc., of the “Wife of Bath's Tale”: Gower's Tale of Florent, from the First Book of the Confessio Ammtis , Hark MS. 3869 leaf 34 ff. ; Ballad of the Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Bagnell; Ballad of the Marriage of Sir Gawain; Border Ballad of King Henrie ; Icelandic Version, from the Latin of Torfceus; Another Icelandic Version, from Grim’s Saga; Gaelic Version, from Campbell's collection ; Mandevilles-story, outlined above ; Turkish, Sanskrit* and

K K 2

5oo

The Story of the fl Frog Prince"*

Kaffir analogues, - The outline of Gowers Tale of Flo rent I reproduce as follows, from my side-notes to the reprint: -

Florent, nephew to the emperor, a worthy and brave knight, in quest of adventures, came to a castle, the heir of which, Brauchus, he had slain. They would be avenged, but feared the anger of the emperor. The grandmother of Rranclms, a sly woman, devised a plan for causing his death without blame to them. She sends for Florent, and says he will be quit if he answer a question, but, failing, He shall be killed. He will be allowed to depart, and time for inquiry. The agreement is sealed. She asks \ ! ^ hat do women most desire ? ” Florent returns to his uncle s court, and tells him of his pact. The wisest men are sent for, but can t agree, each having a different opinion of womens chief desire. So Florent must needs go forth to inquire, for he would rather die than break his word. Alone he goes, wondering what to do. Under a forest tree he sees a loathly woman, so foul as never was seen before. She calls him to her, and he comes up, marvelling. She says: “Florent, I only can save thee from death. ITorent begs her counsel. “ What will you give me if I save you ? “Anything.” “Good; but, first, you must promise to marry me.” “ That I eanT do.” “ Away, then, to thy fate.” He promises much goods and lands, but she refuses them. He ponders the matter, and resolves to wed her, thinking she could not live long, and he would hide out of men's sight So he says : “11 only the answer to the question can save me, I will w x ed thee. u Agreed ; for there is no other way. Listen : Return and make this answer without fear : 4 Woman would be ■ sovereign of man’s love, and have her own will/ Then come back to me without fail.”

Florent rides back, sad at heart, to think of such an ugly bride, and comes to the castle, to live or die The lofd comes with his council, sends for the old dame (i.e, the grandmother of the slain Branchus), and the covenant is read in presence of all three. Florent tries other answers at first, but in the end he says as the loathly lady had taught him. “ Ha ! J cries the old dame, u thou hast told truly; would thou wert burnt!” But Florent is safe; and now he grieves anew, for he must keep bis word to the loathly lady. He finds the old witch in the same place. Never saw man

The Story of the u Frog Prince \ 501

such a monster. She seizes his bridle and demands his part of the bargain, and he would fain Oee if he could. As a sick man takes bitter drugs with spice and sugar, Florent drinks his draught. But, as a true knight, he must keep his troth, for the honour of womanhood; and so he speaks to her as gently as he can, and sets her before him on his horse, sighing as he rides along. Like an owl, he hides during the day and journeys at night, till he conies to his own castle, and smuggles in the loathly lady. Then he consults his confidants how to wed her. The tire-women take off her rags, bathe and clothe her, but she wouldn’t let them comb her hair. She looked more foul in her fine clothes. They were wedded that night. She begins to fondle him, calls him her husband, invites him to bed, and offers him a kiss.. He was in torment, but he must bed with her. He lies awake, turning lus face from the foul sight. She clips him, and prays him to turn towards her, but he lies still* At last he takes her hand, and, looking on her, sees a damsel of eighteen, the fairest in the world. She bids him choose whether he would have her so by night or by day. He is at a loss, to decide, and leaves it with herself: a My love, 1 will be ruled by thee, for I cannot choose.” Quoth she: “ Since you give me sovereignty, I shall, night midday, be as you now see me, I am the King of Sicily's daughter, and was changed into a foul shape by my stepmother, until a good knight should give me his love and the mastery*” Now, all was joy, and they lived long and happily.

“ And derkes that this chaimce herde,

Thei writeu it in evidence,

* Toteche how that obedience May wcl fortune a man to love,

And sette him in his lust a-hove,

As it beffell un-to this knyght* t For-thi , 1 mysone, if thou do ryht,

Thou shall unto thi love obele,

And folwe her will, be alle wde.”

Chaucer*s "Wife of Bath's Tale”, though on the same 11 lines' 1 as Gower's Floreni , differs from it in several of the details, and there does not s£em any reason to suppose 1 Therefore.

that lie borrowed it from “ moral Gower” In Chaucer, a bachelor of the royal household is condemned to lose his life for committing rape. The queen intercedes for him, and the king leaves his life at her disposal. She tells the knight that he will be pardoned if he answer the question, (< What dpes woman most desire? J ’ The loathly lady is a benevolent fairy who had assumed a hideous form to test the knight’s fidelity to his word, and save his life. In Gower she is the daughter of the King of Sicily metamorphosed by a spiteful stepmother. In most of the versions the loathly lady is a king's daughter. The solution of the question is peculiar to Chaucer, Gower, and the two ballads of Sir Gavvain and Dame RagnalL In most of the other versions the loathly lady seeks admission, which is reluctantly granted, then to be allowed to lie beside the king, or knight; but, in the Grim’s Saga, she makes it the condition of saving the hero’s life, by curing his desperate wounds, that he should kiss hen Her appearance is thus described by Gower: Her nose low, or flat, her brow high ; eyes small and deep-set ; cheeks, wet with tears, shrivelled and hanging down to her chin ; lips, shrunken with age ; forehead narrow ; locks hoary; neck, short ; shoulders, bent ; in brief, all her limbs and features distorted. In the ballad of “ The Marriage of SirGawain {Percy Folio MS ed. Hales and Purnivall, voh i), her portrait is thus limned :

a Then there as shold have been her mouth,

Then there was sett her eye ;

The other was in her forehead fast,

The way that she might see.

“Her nose was crooked and turned outward,

Her mouth stood all a-wry;

A worse formed lady than shee was Never man saw with his eye,”

Nor does the author of* the Border ballad of “ King Jlenrie” spare the details :

u Her head Lou died the roof-tree of the house ;

Her middle ye wed mot span ;

Each frighted huntsman fled the hd,

And left the king alane.

“ Her teeth were 2! like tether stakes.

Her nose like a club or mell:

And I ken naetfcing she appeared to be,

But the fiend that wons in hell.”

In Torfcetis : (< Expergefactus igitur, reeluso ostio, in forme quoddam mulieris simulacrum, habitu corporis faedum, veste squalore obslta, pailore, macte frigorisquc tyrannide p rope mod um peremptum, deprehendit.”-—In Grim’s Saga: Not taller than a child of seven years; Grim’s arms could not go round her ; misshapen, bald, black, ugly, and disgusting in every particular,—In the 1 urkish analogue (which occurs in a story-book not yet fully done into English) a poor orphan girl marries an exceedingly ugly old man for the sake of a home, and one day, while he is at the bazar, she begins, for the first time, to long for his return. When he came home she “ran to meet him with such joy as if the world had become her own, and when he beheld her longing, and her countenance glowing with delight, he suddenly shook himself, and became a young man of seventeen years—a son of the world, a darling ot the age; and he clasped her round the neck and blessed her.” Then he explained that he was a king of the fairies, whose mother, because of an idle word he had uttered, changed him to a man of seventy years, and he was not to return to his original shape until he w as beloved by a daughter of* the children of Adam.’—In one of the Kaffir analogues, a youth had been changed to a crocodile by the enemies of his father’s house; in the other, to a snake with five heads. It is not easy to decide on the question of whether the transformation was originally to a beast-shape or to that of a hideous old woman.-—The ending of the German tale, where the frog becomes a handsome young

5°4 ’

The Story of the “Prog Prince \

prince the moment his head is struck off, has many parallels io European folk-tales; commonly it is a fox or a horse who had rendered the hero important service, and desires to be decapitated, with the like result 1

To return to the Breton version, the first part of which only is analogous to “The Frog Prince”, the other incidents having a very distinct Eastern flavour ; such as the lady's appointing Jack to meet her a year and a day hence at the fountain, fasting, and without having embraced another woman in the interimj his falling asleep after eating a trifle, and his consulting the maid of the inn: these will 1 doubtless recall to readers of the Arabian Nights similar incidents in the story of f£ Aziz and Aziza” (Lane, Payne, Burton). Then we have the lady's departure for her own country—fairyland, evidently—and her imposing on him the task of coming to her; which reminds us of the Arabian tales of Mazin of Khurasan and Hasan of Basra (Scott, X^ane, Payne, Burton), when the hero goes in quest of Ills fairy bride, after she has obtained possession of her featherrobe and fled away, T he magic balls which rolled before Jack and conducted him to the second and third hermits are decidedly of Eastern conception, and occur in the tale of Mazin of Khurasan and others. The sending of jack by one old man to one older, to obtain the information he desires, is common to European as well as Asiatic fictions. Ihus in the Swedish tale of the Beautiful Palace, etc. (Thorpe's Ynh-itde Stones), the hero is sent by an old woman to an older sister, who in turn sends him to one still more aged. In No. 2 of Dozen's Contes Alhanais the hero is directed in like manner ; and in Laura Gonzenbach s Stcilzanische tMiircken, a prince goes to three aged

In the story of u The Latdlv Worm of Spindleston Hauglu' 1 a young damsel is turned to a dragon by her wicked stepmother, and the enchantment can only be done' away by Chylde Wynde, her own brother, kissing her.—See Mr. Jacobs 5 English Fairy Talcs, lately issued in a dainly volume by Mr. Nutt.

5°5

hermits in succession. In the great Hindu collection, Katkd Sarit Sdgam (Ocean of the Streams of Story), Saktideva, in quest of the Golden City, is dispatched by a hermit, who had lived eight hundred years and never heard of it, to an elder brother. The same also occurs In the tale of Hasan of Basra. In the Tamil romance, translated by Pandit Natesa Sastri under the title of Dravidian Nights t a prince is directed by an ascetic who opened his eyes once every watch to another who opened his eyes every second watch, and he sends him to another who opened his eyes every third watch. Similar instances occur in the countless Eastern and Western forms of the Legend of the Oldest Animal, the probable original of which is found in the Mahdbhdrata , and reproduced by me in the Academy, October 27, iSSS, and other versions are cited in my Popular Tales and Fictions , voL n, p. 90 ff; from which the foregoing few are taken.

Jack's feeding the eagle with pieces of his own flesh occurs in many stories, and it seems to be essentially a Buddhistic idea. In Dozen's Contes Albanais (No. xv) a young hero in quest of a sister bridles a huge falcon, and supplies him with flesh from his thigh when the provision he had taken with him is exhausted, and on arriving at their destination, when the bird discovers that he is bleeding it disgorges the pieces, and, replacing them in his thigh, the youth is at once healed In the Persian Tuii Ndma, or Parrot-Book, a prince saves a frog from a snake, and gives the snake, in place of the prey of which he had been deprived, a piece of flesh from his arm. The snake then assumes the form of a man, as does also the frog, and the prince 'by their aid obtains a post of honour at the court of a foreign king, and marries his daughter, of course. In the Persian romance, which purports to recount the adventures of Hatim Tai, the generous Arab chief, we read that, while the self-sacrificing hero was journeying through a desert, he discovered a wolf pursuing a doe. Hatim calls on the wolf to allow the doe to escape, and then gives the

5°6

brute a slice of flesh from his own thigh, which, however, he heals instantly by means of a talisman. In the Kathd Sarit Sagar a a prince' meets with a rakshasa, and, ft not being able to obtain other flesh to give the demon to eat, he cut off with his sword some of his own flesh and gave it to him."

The story ofPenny Jack”, which begins so divertfngly, belongs to that class of popular fictions in which the youngest son—-aptly styled “ Boots” by Dasent—who is considered as the fool of the family, proves to be the favourite of Fortune : at first he acts like an arrant noodle, but ultimately lie becomes a great prince.

W. A. Clouston.

The Folk-Lore Congress, 1891

FOLK-LORE CONGRESS\ 1S91.

T HE arrangements for the Folk-lore Congress are progressing very satisfactorily, and there is now every prospect of a successful meeting. The adhesions have come in freely, and the guarantee fund has been subscribed to with great liberality Altogether it is probable that the Folk-lore Congress of 1891 will be attended by a large number of experts from the Continent and America.

Already much work has been done in the way of preparation. As will be remembered, the Congress takes its mandate from the Folk-lore Congress held at the Paris Exhibition in 1SS9 ; and the present Congress will be held under the auspices of its patrons, included in the following list:

Comite de Patronage of the Congress of iSSq.

Messrs. AlesSandri, Roumanian Minister, Pari* (deceased).

Ancona (Allessandhd d'), Pisa, lift AG A (Til.), Lisbon i Hog 1 sic (V.), Odessa Cnii.D (F*-J.), President of the American FoJk-Iore Society. Crane Professor, Ithaca

University, TJ.S.A.

CoELHG (AdoU’Hg), Lisbon.

Colt par etti (Dgm Jjbuco)* Florence. Fleuky (Jean), St. Petersburg. Gitt^c (Aug.), CharleroL Com me (G. Lal’ RENCbX Director of the I^pik-Iore Society, Heestann (Anton.), Director of Etbnclcgiscfie Mitteilungen aus Ungam.

Karlqvtcz* Warsaw.

Kiehlbr (Reinhold), Weimar* * Krauss (,Dr- F. SO, Vienna. Kurth, Liege.

Lang (Andrew), Presidetal of the Folk-lore Society.

Messrs. MacRitcwie (David), Secretary of the Gypsydore Society. Machado y Alvarez (Antonio). [Director of the Eiblioteca, del Folk-Lore Espauol- Maspons y La bros,

Mce (Molke), Christiania.

Mont (Pol be), Antwerp.

Nutt (Alfred), London.

NYhOE (Kr % Copenhagen.

PtTftA (Dr*), Director of the Ardisvio per lo studio delle Tradizioni popolari.

Politis (N,), Athens.

Steinthal (Professor), Director of Zeitschrift fill Volkcrpsycholopc, TrmsXG-Ki-ToNG, Chinese Embossy, Paris.

TieL-R (C.-P.), Leyden.

Tylor (Edward B.) t Oxford. Veckenstedt. Director of Zalschrift fdr Volkskunde, We-sselofskv (Alexandre), St.

Petersburg

Windiscie (E.), Lcipsig.

5oS

Folk-lore Congress, 1 S 91 ,

In order to make this body still more representative, it will be proposed at the Congress to appoint an International Folk-lore Council, which shall be the standing authority to regulate ah future Congresses. The present Committee will propose the following additional names besides those of the 1SS9 ** Comity de Patronage”.

First List of Nominations to the Proposed International Folk-lore

Council

Kirby (W. F.), London,

KrOhk{K .) 5 Helsingfors,

Kovalevsky (M ) # Russia,

LeF E V H H. (A U D lt£), jpilris.

Lkgrr (Louis), Paris.

Leg ran p (Emile), Paris.

L eland (C. G.) s America.

Loth (J.), Rennes.

Lubbock (Sii»JpnN) t London.

Luzel (F. M.), Qulmper,

HSwell (W. N.), Cambridge, Mass.

Feeroso ( Z . Q), Lisbon,

Pitt-Rivers (Lieut.-Gen.), London.

PLOJX (Charles). Paris.

Rhys (Professor), Oxford.

Rosi k res (R aou l). Paris,

Sayck (Professor A. II.), Oxford,

StfiULLOT (P a tlx), Paris.

Stephens (Professor Dr, G.>, Copenhagen. 1 EtarLE (Major R. L’,)i Burmah.

Week erlin £J, B.>, Paris.

Coming now to the working persoifticl of the Congress, the following have been constituted the Organising Committee.

The Organising Committee of the Congress of 1S91.

Chairman —G. L. Com me, F.S.A,

Vic£*Cfutirtttnn —C. G. Lslajsed.

J. G. Frazer, M.A. *

Or. Caster,

Professor Rhys, M.A.

Professor A. C HADbOfL Rev. Walter Gregor.

E. Sidney HartlanDj, F.S.A,

A. Granger Hutt, F.S.A.

Joseph Jacobs, B,A*

G. H. Kin ah an,

W. F, Kirisy, F, L.Sh

J. Stewart Lockhart.

lion. JOHN A B EEC ROM BY.

G- L, Afferson,

The Right Hon. the Earl Beauchamp*

F.S.A.

Walter Besart, M.A.- W. G. Black.

Edward W, Erabeook, F.&A., Sec. R.S.L.

Dr. Robert Brown* F.L.S,

Miss C 5 Burne.

Mbs Roalfh Coy.

Arrrcromey (The Hon. J.), London, D'Arbois dr J u b a i nyill is* Paris. Andrews {J. B,/* Mentone. Bancroft (H. HO, America. Bl^mont (Emile). Paris.

Boas (F.) f America.

Brarkook (Edward W.) p London. Brinton (Dr. D. G,) f America. Eru 5 yre(LovsL Paris.

Caknoy (SL), Paris.

CiEKTEUx (A.), Paris.

Clodd (Edward), London.

Foster (J. J.), London.

Frazer (J; G,), Cambridge.

Gahxjz (H,)p Paris.

(Faster (Dr.), London.

Girard de Rjalle, Paris,

II addon (Professor A. C}» Dublin. Hamy (E. T.), Paris.

Hartland (E* Sidney), Gloucester. Jacobs (Jos Ei'ii), London.

Folk-lore Congress, 1891.

5°9

The Right Horn Sir John Lubbock, Bart* F.R. 3 ., lit.P.

Alfred Nutt*

T* Fairxian Qrdisr; F^S.A*

Lieiit-Ceu* Pi tt-Rj veils, D*CL^ F,R.S** F.S.A.

Professor A* H. Sayce, M.A. Major R. C. Tumble.

Jovin Tolhurst.

Edward B. Tv lor, LL,D n F.R.S* Henry B, Wheatley, F,S*A.

H&% Treasurer — Edward Clodo, 19. Carleton Road, Tu.fndl Park, London, N, llmL Secretly— J. j. Foster, Offa House, Upper Tooting, London, S,W.

From these gentlemen two Special Committees have been selected: the Executive, to concern itself with the practical work of the Congress ; the Literary, to supervise its literary side, and especially the papers read* These two , bodies are formed of the following gentlemen, with power to add to their numbcr%:

Executive Committee ,

Chairman— G* L. Ggmme, F.S.A.

Hon. JtlWN ArEECRGMBY, E* W. Kh a brook*

James Britten. Edward Glotd.

Jn^rii Jacors, E.A. T. R'Ordjsh*

H. II, Wheatley.

If on. Satrtiary — J* J, Foster,

Literary Committee.

Chairman— Joseph Jacobs, B.A„

Hon. John ABERCROMiiv, Rtv. S tot ford A* Brooke* I>r. Robert Brown, F,L*S.

Edward Cldod, Dr. Garter*

W. F. K 3 ROY.

If07i . Scmfary — Alfred Nutt.

Later on, as the Congress approaches nearer, it is proposed to form a Reception Committee, which will make arrangements for the convenience of members staying in London for the Congress, negotiating with special hotels for that purpose. This Committee will also make arrangements for a limited number of receptions and excursions during the course of the Congress.

The preliminary arrangements are now sufficiently far advanced to enable the Committee to indicate roughly the order of business d u ri ng the Congress. Th is wi 11 pe rh ap s b e sufficiently indicated by the following Report of the Literary Committee, containing -suggestions for the character of the papers which that Committee would like to see read at the

gio Folk-lore Congress, iS9r.

Congress. The list is obviously a tentative one, and it is hoped that the members of the Congress will largely add to it by suggesting papers of their own. More than one paper on the same subject will be willingly accepted, as the Congress is not committed to any special attitude towards the problems of Folk-lore.

REPORT.

The Literary Sub-Committee of the Folk-lore Congress of 1891 beg to report that:

They have elected Mr. Joseph Jacobs as Chairman, and Mi. Alfred Nutt as their Hon. Secretary. *

They have met on two occasions, at which were discussed detailed plans for the literary work of the Congress, proposed by Messrs. E. Dodd, J. Jacobs, and A. Nutt. It was decided to make the following recommendations to the Organising Committee :

That the work of the Congress be divided o%'er the five days, September 23 to September 27, thus : On Monday, September 23, the Congress to meet in the afternoon to hear the Presidents Address, and to elect the officers of the Congress, viz., the Presk dents of the Sections, the (European) Folk-lore Council, and a Special Committee on methodology, which shall meet out of Congress hours, but report progress on Friday, the last day of Congress.

The Sub-Committee recommend that the Congress be divided into three major sections: (i) Folk-tales and Songs; (ii) Myth and Ritual; (Hi) Custom and Institution * and they recommend that Messrs. E. Cl odd. j, G, Frazer, and G. L. Gomme be requested to preside over these sections respectively, and that Professor T. F. Crane be asked to preside over the Methodological Committee.

It seems desirable that each section shall meet on a separate day, at which papers shall be read devoted to questions connected with that section. The Committee recommend that under each section the papers and discussions should be taken, as far as possible, in chronological or logical order, dealing in turn with the relations of the subject—Tales, Myths, or Customs, in their

Folk-lore Congress, 1891. 511

present phases—to those of savage, oriental, classical, and medieval times and conditions.

I bus on the day devoted to Folk-tales it is hoped that papers and discussions will be forthcoming on the Incidents common to European and Savage Folktales—Ancient and Modem Folktales ol the East, their relations to one another, and to the Folktales of Modern Europe—Traces of Modern Folk tales in the Classics—Incidents common to Folk-tales and Romances —The Recent Origin of Ballads—The Problem of Diffusion,

On the day devoted to Myth and Ritual such subjects may be discussed as: The relation of the Classical Mythologies to the Modern Folk-tale—Modern Folk-lore and the Eddas—Primitive Philosophy in Myth and Ritual—Sacrifice Rituals and their meaning-—Hell-Myths and their relations to Classical and Biblical Myt hoi ogles—Survivals of Myths in Modern Legend and Folk-lore,

On the day devoted to Custom and Institution it is suggested that some of the following topics be discussed :• Identity of Marriage Customs in Remote Regions—Burial Customs and their Meaning—Harvest Customs among the Celtic and Teutonic populations of Great Britain—The Testimony of Folk-lore to the European or Asiatic Origin of the Aryans—The Diffusion of Games—The Borrowing Theory applied to Custom.

Besides those papers, and others that may be suggested by members of the Congress, each day, it is proposed, shall open with a Presidential Address from the chairman of the section.

Jhus four out of the five days being accounted for, it only remains to determine the work of the last day, Friday, This, it is suggested, should be taken up with the Reports of the Methodological Committee, appointment of Committees of the Folk-lore Council, and on special points to be brought before the next Congress. Besides this, it is hoped that arrangements may be made by which a conference may be held on this day between the Congress and the Anthropological Institute, to settle the relative spheres of inquiry between Folk lore aud Anthropology. Also it is anticipated that a detailed account of the Helsingfors Folklore Collection will be forthcoming, as well as descriptions of the folk-lore subjects, of interest at the Ashmolean and the British Museum.

Folk-lore Congress , 1S9 r.

If these suggestions are adopted by the Organising Committee it may fairly be anticipated that the Folk-lore Congress of 1891 will not only effect good by bringing experts of the science into closer comma cion, bu t also may produce work that will directly advance our knowledge of the subject

Joseph Jacobs, Chairman .

Alfred Nutt, Hon. Sec,

This Report has been unanimously adopted by the Organising Committee, and the Literary Committee accordingly invite Papers on the above subjects or others thought suitable by the members of the Congress* Such Papers should be sent to the Hon. Secretary of the Literary Committee, Mr. Alfred Nutt. Each Paper should be accompanied by an abstract, which will probably be printed in the Bulletin of the Congress, if the Paper has been sanctioned by the Committee.

Notes and News (No. IV)

NOTES AND NEWS ,

Among Forthcoming papers in the next number (March 1891) will be Mr. Gomme’s annual address to the Folklore Society for the session 1890-91 ; conclusion of Hon, j. Abereromby’s “'Magic Songs of the Finns” ; Dr. Gaster’s paper on the Holy Grail; Mr, Joseph Jacobs on K Childe , Rowland”, and two Reports on Recent Research; Mr. Cecil Smith on Greek Archaeology, and Mr, E. S. Hartland on Folk-tales.

Mr. E. Sidney Hartland's book on " The Science of Fairy Tales” will be ready by Dec. loth. It will be eagerly welcomed by old readers of The Folk-Lore Journal and The Archaeological Review^ who have enjoyed a foretaste of its contents.

There is a distinct interest aroused in the English Folk-tale, the very existence of which has hitherto been doubted. Besides Mr. Hart land's and Mr. ♦Jacobs' books on the subject, Mr, W. N. Newell, the erudite secretary of the American Folk-lore Society, is collecting English Folk-tales found in America.

Professor Rhys’s important work on Arthur will be issued by the Clarendon Press before Christmas.

Dr. Douglas Hyde's collection of Irish Tales, with Mr. Alfred Nutt’s annotations, will be also issued before the end of the year.

The science of Folk-lore has lost one of its old masters in the last quarter, Felix Liebrecht, born 1812, Professor at Liege between 1S49 and 1867 (the former date indicates political sympathies that caused him to leave Germany for a time), and then “privatgelchite’ 1 till his death this summer.

vol. l il

sm

Notes and AAzus,

These are the landmarks of a life devoted to comparative literature and folk-lore- His chief works were a translation of the Pen-tamer one, in 1S46; an essay on Barlaam , 1847; a translation of Dunlop’s Prose Fiction, with valuable notes, 1851; a selection from Gervasius of Tilbury, 1856. But his varied powers and wide erudition were shown to still greater advantage in his collection of short essays and studies, “ Zur. Volkskunde^ 1879, Folk-tale, superstition, myth, folk-song, custom, chap-book, or lives of the saints, he had something instructive and interesting to say on each and all of these. He contributed some interesting notes to the Folk-lore Record , and was a member of the Folk-lore Society till bis recent mental illness. The catalogue of his library, sold before his death, was a monument of painstaking collection, and the best substitute for a list of Best Books on Folk-lore in existence.

WITH the present number, Folk-Lore concludes the first year of its existence* It must be left to our readers to judge how far it has fulfilled the promises held out in the opening editorial. If the judgment is in any degree favourable, that must be set down largely to the generous co-operation given by a somewhat limited number of workers. It is hoped that in the future the example of these gentlemen, mostly members of the Council of the Folk-lore Society, will be followed by other members of that Society. In particular, help will be welcome in making the bibliography as complete a record as possible of the current literature on Folk-lore,

THE opening meeting of the Session of iSpo-91 of the Folk-lore Society was held on Nov, 19th, when Mr, G, L, Gomme, the Director of the Society, in the unavoidable absence of its President, read the Annual Address.

Communications for the next number of Folk-Lore must reach the Office, 270, Strand, W.G, before Feb 1st,

189L .

Correspondence (No. IV)

ZANZIBAR PARALLEL TO JACQUES DE VITRY,

7b //# Editor of Folk-Lore,

Sir,—I n the Exempt a of Jacques de Vi try, p. 158, is the following story: “ A nun, with whom a prince fell violently in love, asked the cause of his passion. She was told that it was inspired by her beautiful eyes, whereupon she tore them out, and said: "Behold the eyes which he desires; bear them to him, that he may leave me in peace, and not cause me to lose my soul l 111

The following version has been written out for me by a friend to whom it was told by Miss Mary Allen, of University Mission, Zanzibar, It was told to Miss Allen by Sheikh Harms, in Swahelf She told blip Bible stories ; lie was greatly absorbed. She said, “ Irrreturn you must tell me of your nation’s stories,-when he related the following:

€t A great chief saw,a lovely slave-girl in the market, and gave a very large sum for her—her eyes were so very beautifuL He took her home and stood looking at her; she was so lovely. At last the tears came into his eyes. The slave said, ‘ Master, wherefore do you weep ? T He answered, ‘It is your eyes that cause me to weep; they are so lovely that I think of them always ; they even come between me and my Lord when I am at my prayers/ Saying this, he gazed once more and left her, and went to the mosque to say his pra) r ers. When he returned he went to look at the lovely slave—when lo! she had torn her eyes out. He cried, 1 Why, what have you done ?’ 1 Master/ she said, ‘ I

have torn out my eyes. 1 could not bear that my eyes should come between you and your Lord/ E Why, girl/he exclaimed, "do you know what you have done? I gave more than much (naming the sum) for you, and now you are worth nothing, 1 and

l l 2

V

he went away very, very angry In the night an angel said to him, f You were angry with your slave because she put her eyes out ; God has bought her of you, you will fmd the money under your pillow/ When he awoke, behold l the money was all there, and when he went to the slave-girl's cabin, she lay dead.”

Isabella Barclay,

TALES AND LEGENDS OF THE HIGHLANDS.

To the Editor of FOLIC-LORE.

SIR,—I am engaged collecting, for literary purposes, legends, traditions, curious biographies, and habits of life among the Celtic clans of the west and north of Scotland, and wish to appeal, through the medium of Folk-Lore, to. those of your readers who take an interest in this subject, for assistance in carrying a proposed work to a successful issue. The points on which I desire information more particularly are the following.:—

L Traditions relating to the pursuit of agriculture—(i) Ceremonies, if any, before or during the preparation of the soil for seed, and connected with sowing, harrowing, cleaning, and reaping the crop. Particularly relating to first-fruits of corn, potatoes, or any other crop. (2) The threshing and winnowing of com ; grinding the new corn into meal, or making bread from the new meal.

IL Traditions and customs connected with the rearing of cattle, housing, feeding, and breeding them ; drawing blood from cattle in time of scarcity to be used as foojd; and anything peculiar to the Celts.

III. Legends and tales—(l) Folk-lore and ancient laws. (2) Marriage customs and dances. (3) The practice of medicine, and miraculous cures attributed to persons, (4) Virtues supposed to dwell in pools, streams, and springs. (5) Customs at births, baptisms, and funerals—especially customs after a death has occurred. (6) Biographies of

remarkable persons, half-wits, or others who rose to eminence or notoriety through some peculiarity,

IV. Witchcraft and ghosts— (i) Practice of witchcraft,

and stories illustrative of the power of witches. (2) The ff Black Art” and legends connected with persons supposed to be in league with the devil How one was admitted to the “Black School”? What powers it conferred, and on what conditions ? {3) Ghost stories, haunted places,

persons who “ walked” after burial, the “laying” ol ghosts, and why such could not rest.

V, Any other tradition or usage calculated to throw light on the life and habits of the people, their life, their food, and all kindred subjects.

If correspondents, who may favour me with communications, state the facts, it does not matter though they are not dressed up in literary form, I prefer to have them in the simple language of the people. They can more easily be used in that form than in any other. No correspondent's name will be used without his consent being specially obtained

James MacDonald,

Rcay Free Mattse^ Skefater y Caithness^ October , 1S90,

Miscellanea (No. IV)

May Day in Greece,—May-day in Greece is a festival of dowers. During a recent stay in Greece I had an opportunity of observing some of the customs which are practised on that day, and I ascertained others by inquiry. On the 12th of last May 1 slept at the great monastery of Megaspelaeum in Achaea. Next rooming was, according to the Greek reckoning, the first of May; and, as we descended the steep path which winds down from the monastery into the valley, a pretty little girl was standing by the wayside, who presented us with nosegays of wild-flowers. My dragoman told me that this was a May-day custom, and that the people on this day go out into the fields gather dowers. In the course of the day we saw numerous traces of the custom. At the Khan of Mamousia the outside of the house where we lunched was adorned with a bunch of flowers, and in the town of Aegium, on the Gulf of Corinth, we saw flowers fastened to the doors or windows of many houses and shops* Moreover, on the road to Aegium some boys passed us, wearing gay crowns of roses, poppies, and wheat. In Aegium itself we observed a band of boys going through the streets, their heads crowned with 'wreaths of flowers* I was told that they had been going from house to house singing May songs* Some days later, at Palaeo-Koundura, in the wooded pass which leads over Mount Cithaeran from Bceotia into Attica, we noticed a wreath of flowers and a bunch of ripe wheatstalks, with their roots, hanging over the door of the house where we baited* The flowers and wheat-stalks had been hung up on the Greek first of. May, and would be alloived to stay there as long as they could* It is the custom to pick out the longest stalks to form the bunch.

My dragoman, Mr. John F. W eale, a native of Corfu, in formed me that in Corfu the children go about singing May songs on the first of May. The boys carry small cypresses, decorated with ribbons, flowers, and the fruits of the season. They receive a glass of wine at each house. The girls go about carrying bouquets of flowers. One of them is dressed up like an angel, with gilt wings, and scatters flowers. Hie following is one of the songs sung by the children 111 Corfu on this occasion. The Greek te^t was procured for me by Mr, j. F* Weale, from his brother-in-law, who is a schoolmaster in Corfu.

The translation was kindly furnished by Mr, E, A, Gardner, Director of the British School at Athens :■—

T/w>fiD£( ado^-wai* KtpKvpq ftarh tjjp itpwpficiyid (r)

Song sung^m Corfu on the first of May f ICi’ fiv fit ibv ttpwph tca\ rh Mnij.

If it is with your leave let us sing (of) the May*

1. Mirpe b MaTjr— 6 Mclti?-- ifnrTjfit 6 Mfiijs Kal & fiTjv aj,

Lo, May has come—May has come—May has come, and the month,

2 . T G Men* Ta rpiio-'TafpvAAfl: Kal 0 Att^xA.??? t& podia

May with the roses and April 'with the roses,

3. "AirptA —AirpiK wpdp^tt, fllaij fiov Kavandpiq

April—April fresh and fair. May mry darling,

4. Tl oAu To /corfuo «yid/*itrei T J i [vQt] md t b AouAouSs

All over the world thou givest abundance of flowers and blossoms,

5. K' ifliua TrtptttvicAtenes Tfffj aytcaXtits

And me thou enfoldest in the arms of my, maiden,

6. ArniAuuStsTf ^iou Axyup?], AouAaiitWe fiuu Pedpjj r

My slender girl has blossomed forth, has blossomed,

7. Net rb (piXl fiwplp fipefyi fiirplv

Let me give back her kiss before it rains, before It snows,

$. M#piv (fttT^cMrp A Guparis Kid ovpouv ta ifordfiia.

Before the heavens are opened and ihe rivers come <hiwn*

9* Kai : 5w 7rou Tpayoi'S^ffa^e Wrpa vd pij pcriVjj,

And where we have sung may the rock not split,

Hal t> vxukofctfpTjs tov o^rpnou jrpWo&s xP ffVO * / *

And may the master of the house dve many years,

10, Nc xpdfra.vr sal vk roils hTtpdap,

May he bve a hundred years and jShss them,

Kal t£v watSi&vc rai) x a P a ?$ KdvtptTa va umpd&ij.

And may he scatter sweatmeats for the pleasure of his children,

11, *0X1 waiter a povaxk gvi'e real A z$tq Kdpva t §

Not only sweatmeats, but also (hazel) nuts,

12, Kl* fowl;* rb fXTTOVKuKi <JQV TO p&pyopvfpitfVtQ

Open your pearly box Ij. Kal jBaAe X f P^ Kl & oV &$ ?6 1 x

And put your hand, as you have learnt,

14, Kd &i> exv* 7 pdaVte fofr pas ret, ta f fir ice! wapdSes

If yon have pennies give ns them, ami if you have farthings,

15, ltd dv sxy* Kal yAvxd Hpaal, Syd Ae ta ads Ktpdurjs,

And if you have sweet wine, bring it forth and pour it out for us.

16 , n^AAa Ve/ie rou vd'wQijjf iral ttjs ttv^as pas

Wt have said much to milord, let us say some thin g to milady also,

17, K vpk xovtj ij k up a d;>7 up 1 )—k vpa ft nfl,

Golden lady, silver lady—lady (ail) golden, iS. OoU iff X T(V t£v $ epwras pe tA t« X T *y Pia <

Whom lovc combs wiLh hi| golden comb,

19 * Mt 7K xpuaa (At 7 r apyvpz ^ ra pLU\ap.a Tzyt'ia.

With his golden, his silver, his (all} golden comb.

20. Kvt>d uav nuvTa. fSauhGtrai tta sras Vtt?*' *EKKkjfirtav 3

Milady, if in please you,, go to the church,

21, "GAos 6 KotTfios x ai 'p* Tai ^*1 tk puttpb prttiSfs,

Everybody us rejoicing, and (as for) your little children*

22- Kwd jUUV TC TTBL^KVlft (JQlt A 0 $Q% (fTCt

Milady* your little ones, may God bless them*

23, Ki rJ Meyai Aitoa'rffls (2) vd ard -a ahoxpo^tvy

And the great Athanasius prolong their years*

24, Ki T e5il) irou k«i Tiwpa (cal roE XP&*®**

And may we who have sung here now sing also next year,

25, Kssl tiV iipzpcO' Tij> AafXTTfias ue to Xptirid >5 Ai'^rnj.

And on Easter-day with (the song) w Christ is risen,”

On the foregoing song Mr. Weale-s informant adds the following notes

(t) “The festival of the first of May originated in Corcyra during the time of the Venetian domination. It was then splendidly celebrated by the vassals & y&y frotfA&irapufKMv) (see l(rTOpiK^ $ttd<ns 1 £yypa<pa 7t^j1 TLjjLtzpiwv Kep(tiJpHs A. 19-20. n. Xiciroyjj who brought a tree with dowers, red eggs, birds; fruit, etc.; and to the sound of drums and fifes and joyous cries set it up on the square opposite the house of some Baron while they sang the above song* and there they feasted all clay long at the expense of the Baron.

(2) “Saint Athanasius is here mentioned, because on the second of May the Greek Church celebrates the recovery of the body of this saint/

I may here add a few jottings on some other Greek popular customs. In the room of the house where I slept at Tsipiana, in Arcadia, a laurel branch was fastened*to a rafter, I was told that it had been placed there on Palm Sunday, and would be kept there for a year. In a corner of the room, before the two holy pictures, was another laurel branch, which also had been placed there on Palm Sunday. Moreover, from the little shrine hung the weddiug crown of the woman of the house. I observed similar crowns similarly attached in other parts of Greece, and was informed that the custoni is universal. The crown is left hanging as long as the woman Jives.

I was told that on St. John's Eve the people light bonfires and jump over them ; and that the custom, in time of drought, of dressing a girl in leaves and drenching her with water, is still practised as a rain-charm in the country districts of Greece.

J. G. Frazer.

Folk-lore from Cairo,—Last year I communicated to the Folk-Lore Journal s ome Cairene stories which had been told me by my servant, Mustafa , Ali J and promised thaf J would collect some more. During the past winter, accordingly, I obtained some fresh stories from Mustafa ; who seems to have an inexhaustible supply of them, Unfortunately,. circumstances prevented me from writing down more than one of them, and that the shortest. Such as it is, however, I give it here:—

“Waited yom es-Suhan kallim FAbu-Nowfts: GAIet es-sitt’, bil-lel yitla* minnfth rihhab, Abu-Now^s kallim Fes-Sultan: nahnil wdhhid shai hiya tekun t;\ni ilia rinhah, wenhoUeh barra. Baden Abu-No was gab mhsura, wer&hh ebaskdr eFldzim tigu bil-lel ‘and’ es-serayeh betfr 1 ’s-Sulian: lamma tisnia'u el-rkafir min foq, lazim tahnilu teshrifeh, Ubaden bildel es-Sult&n nkim ; es-sitd qftlet : yitla* minni rihhah ; ubaden el-ask&r r amal teshrffeh, 11V Sultan qal : khabar c? El-askdr qil: Abu-Nqw&s ’amal kideh. Fls-subh 1 es-Sultan Kalljm lil-wezir : mush a 7 iz ashaf Abu-Now&s ebeden. El-wezir qal lis-SuItAn : izakan mush ahz tashuf Abu-Nowas, nirmih fil-bir eili fih ehqird vakuloh. Lamma yigy Abu-Now&s fis^subh*, el-wezir kallim PAbu-Nowds: es-Suldln yfrmik fil-bir en-nehardch. Abu-Nowas kallim hk J d etnen tel&teh sa T ah yigy. B&den rahli ishteri w&hhid kharuf; ishteri wahhid darabukkah, ishtcri wahhid zommftra ; hatto fibkhorg vverahh ‘and 1 es-SuMn. B 4 den el-wezir qal: khabar e, yabu-Now&s ? Qalloh : ak), ’alashan en-nas elli mat makalsh. Abu-Nowas el-akl beta’o wayy&h, ubaden misikuh and J el-bir. Bdden Abn-Nowds kallim el-qird yimauwwetsh lamma yenzii fd-bir sh woy eh-shwoyeh. UMden en-nas yekallim : tayyib. Lamma nazal fil-bir sh woy eh- sh woy e h, baden howa shaf el-qird fibbir. Abu-Nowas yiddiloh hhettet el-Iahhm, ubaden yiddiloh hbettetiih wahhid wahhid, wel-qird yigy shab'ain. Ubaden en-nas yekallim: khalis ! Abu-Nowas nazal fil-bir wel-qird akalolu Lakin Abu-Now&s misik el-darabfikkah, wekullima el-qird ylgy gy’an Abu-Nowas yiddiloh hhettet eldahhm. En-nas yigy yeshiif Abu- Nowas; Mden yeshufoh fiz-zetah fil-bir. Bhden en-nas yekallim iiS'Sultan: daiman lamma tirxni wahhid ragil fil-bir el-qird yakdoh qawam ; lakin dilwaqti Abu-Nowds beyidrob fi-tablo 1 wey’zommer fil-bir: VSultdn rdhh ‘and 1 el-bir wekallim : Abu-Nowas ! Abu- Nowas yekallim : a’iz e? Yekallim: ta J ala. Abu-Now&s yekallim: la, mfrsh adz ; ana mabsftt Baden en-nas yenazzil hhabl wetalla Abu-Nowas min el-btr ; wekallim : ana kontc mabsut fil-bfr; ’alashun e tigy 5 andi

“One day the Sultan said to Abu-NowAs, 4 My wife has declared that during the night a smell rises from herd Abu-Nowas replied to the Sultan: 1 We will contrive a plan by means of which she shall

be again free from the smell, and we will expel it.' So Abu-Nowas brought a pipe, and went to the soldiers who come during the night to the palace of the Sultan [saying fo themj : 4 When you hear the watchman above, you must make an uproar.' 1 The next night the Sultan was asleep, when his wife said : 4 There's a smell rising from me.' Thereupon the soldiers made an uproar, and the Sultan cried : 4 What’s the matter?’ The soldiers answered; 4 Abu-Nowfis is the author of this,' In the morning the Sultan said to the Vizier ; 4 1 never want to see Abu-Now&s again, 1 The Vizier said to the Sultan : 4 If you don't want to see Abu-Now^s we will throw him into the well, where the ape will eat him.' When Abu-Now&s comes in the morning the Vizier said to him ; L The Sultan will throw you into the well today. 1 Abu-Nowfis replied that he would come after two or three hours, so he went and bought a sheep ; he bought a drum, (and) he bought some bagpipes ; he put them into a bag and went to the Sultan's palace. Then the-Vizier asked; -What does this mean, Abu-Now&s ? r He answered: 4 It’s food, because the dead people have not eaten.' Abu-Nowds took his food with him, and then took it to the well Then Abu-Nowfis said that the ape would kill him if he descended slowly into the well The people said; 4 Very good/ While he was being let down slowly into the well, he saw the ape in the well. Abu-Nowfis gives it a piece of the meat, and went on gi ving it piece by piece until the ape w as satiated. Then the people above say : 4 All is over ; Abu-No was has been let down into the well, and the ape has eaten him ? But 1 Abu-Now&s took the drum, and while the ape is ^till hungry, he gives it a piece of the meat. The people come to see Abu-No was, and, moreover, see him making a noise in the well. So the people say to the Sultan ; 4 Hitherto when you throw a man into the well the ape always eats him at once, but now Abu-Nowas is playing on his drum and on the bagpipes in the well.’ The Sultan went to the well and cried : 4 Abu-Nowfis !' Abu- Nowas answers: 4 What do you want? 1 He says: 4 Come! 1 Abu- Nowas replies : 4 No! 1 don't want (to come); Pm quite content (here), 1 Then the people let down a rope, and lift Abu-Now^s out of the well. And he said : 4 1 was quite content in the well: why do you come to me ? * * f

I s there a reminiscence in this story of Daniel in the lions 1 den ?

One day I asked Mustafa if he bad ever seen an 44 ’afrit' 1 , or ghost. He told me he had not, hut that when he was a lad of fifteen he was

1 Through the pipe, that is to say, which was supposed to be inserted in the wall of the Sultan s bedroom, and so become a channel of sound. I believe that the relater of the story forgot a portion of it at this point.

/

Misceliiiuea. 523

a waiter m a family at Helw&n, where one evening a bottle of wine was wanted. Accordingly be sent the u marmiton”, or scullion, who was a grown-up man. into the cellar for the wine, with a lighted candle* As the scullion did not appear he went to see what had happened, and found tbe cellar in darkness, with the candle and a broken bottle lying on the ground. Presently he discovered the scullion in the kitchen shivering with terror. The scullion informed him that after entering the cellar he put the candle on the floor, and stooped down in order to get the bottle of wine, when suddenly an ’afrit blew out the candle and grasped both his arms. Nothing would induce him to return to the cellar. “1 am a lad”, said Mustafa, 14 and you are a man, but I am not afraid to go there”; and accordingly he went, for, he remarked to me, “ as long as you are not afraid, you will never see an ’afrit,”

» On another occasion Mustafa showed me a smaU “ qarn kliartit' J , or rhinoceros horn, which, he told me, was priceless. Water drunk from a glass or cup on the inside of which it has been rubbed is a sure antidote to all poisons.

In connection with this belief I may mention an incident that once occurred to me when examining the ancient city-wall, which still remains on the northern side of the mounds of Memphis. 1 had picked up a piece of decaying palm-wood, which had served to bind the wall together, and observed that my example was followed by a boy, who had attached himself to me, 1 asked him what he was going to do with the wood. He replied that he intended to mix it with 11 mummy”, in order to make of it a potent “medicine”. It is curious to find the old belief in the medicinal virtues of “mummy 1 still lingering on the spot from whence so many mummies were formerly exported to the physicians and druggists of Europe,

An older superstition was brought to my notice just before 1 left Egypt this winter. If you buy a dahabiah”, 1 was told, “you must kill a sheep, letting the blood flow on the deck or side of the boat, in order that it may be lucky. Your friends will afterwards have to dine on the sheep.” A. H. Sayce,

Eiftmrcuz ftpm the Greek Island of Calymnos.—- Pregnancy .—A pregnant woman is not allowed to step over a grave. People who do not give to pregnant women food for which they have a lect (as it is called) are liable to have styes in their eyes.

Birikt etc .—Women are not allowed to remain in a room alone during the forty days after confinement. They take no bath during this period. The bath taken on the fortieth day, and which purifies, is prepared by boiling certain herbs, laurel, thyme, kpyuviQ and others, and must be as hot as the patient can bear. When the

5 2 4

child’s skin is too black the midwife makes an Incision in the back of the neck, and draws blood. This is supposed to drain off the bad blood which causes the blackness. When the midwife makes the incision* they say that she Mebtfa rb $p 4 <pos.

Menstruation— A woman during her periods may not go to the well to draw water, nor cross a running stream, nor enter the sea. Her presence in a boat is said to cause storms.

Marriage .—The house is always the wife’s. If it is supposed that other suitors have bewitched the bride and bridegroom} so as to prevent the consummation of the marriage, a knife is placed under the pillow by the female relatives or friends of the bride, but without the knowledge of the bride and bridegroom. If bewitched, they are said to be tied, The knife is supposed to cut the charm

t ! dtJifJrQvy

'Grand Nowe^ Aberdeen * W. R. Faton.

A 4 'Devil’s Bridge” Legend Exploded.—A correspondent writes: (i It may interest many of your readers who have doubtless heard of the famous ‘Pont du Diable 5 in what is now the department of the Pyydn^es Orientales, but was formerly the province of Rousillon, to learn that the precise origin and exact date of its construction have at length been discovered* The popular legend about this- bridge, which spans a mountain torrent called the Tech, near the small town of Cdret, was that it had been built during one night by Satan and his myrmidoms, and the fact that the particulars as to its construction had never been found in any of the local archives of course gave additional strength to this legend. But the registrar of a neighbouring town* called Prats-de Mollo, close to the Spanish frontier, has just unearthed a manuscript, dated 1321, which relates how the notables of that town 1 contributed ten golden crowns of Barcelona towards the building of die bridge at Geret upon condition that the inhabitants of Prats de Mollo were exempted from paying toll 1 * The toll-gate has long since been done away with, and this, no doubt, was how all trace as to the origin of the ' Devil’s Bridge 5 was lost , 5 '—Pall A fail Gmettey Feb. 18, 1S90* f

Folk-Lore Bibliography (No. IV)

BOOKS . 1

1S90, UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED.

[English books published in London, French in Paris, unless otherwise wteniionedP\

COM ME (G. L.) The Handbook of Folk-Lore. (Nutt: Folk-Lore Soc. Publications, No. XX.) i6mo. pp, vLii, 193.

Haeckel (W.) Das Sprichwort bei Chaucer. Zugleich ein Beitrag zur vergl. Sprichworteskunde. (Erlangen.) Svo, pp. xil, 77. Jacobs (Joseph). English Fairy-Tales. Illustrated by J. D. Batten (Nutt.) Svo. pp. xii, 253.

Jacques DEVitry. The Example, or Illustrative Stories from the Sermones Vulgares. Edited, with Introduction, Analysts, and Notes, by T, F. Crane. (Nutt: Folk-Lore Soc. Publications, No. XXVI.) 8vo. pp. cxvi, 303.

LaNG (A.) The Red Fairy Book. With numerous illustrations by H. J. Ford and L, Speed. (Longmans.) i2mo. pp, 367.

Luzel (F.-M.) Soniou Breiz^zel. Chansons populates de la Basse- IJretagne recueillies et tradurtes. Soniou (Poesies lyriques): Tome premier. Svo, pp. xliv, 336.

M IKLOSIBCH (F.} Die Darstdlung iip slavischen Volksepos. (Vienna.)

4to. 50 pp: (Extr. Bmksckr, d. K. Akad. dor IV/ss.)

MORGAN (L, H.) Die Urgeselischafc : Aus dem Engl, iibertragen von W. EichhofF und K. Kautsky. (Stuttgart) Svo, ir parts. Noldeke (Th.) Beitrage zur Gescliichte des Alexanderromans (Vienna.) 4to. (Extr. Denksch. d. J. Akad. dor IViss.) NQRDHOFF (J. B.) Das Westfalen Land und die urgeschichtliche Anthropologic. Geschichtliches, Sammhmgen, Literatur, etc. Map, (Munster.) 8vo, pp. vi, 50.

RosCher jjW. H.) Ueber Selene und Verwandtes. Mit einem Anhange von N* G. Polites ueber die bei den Neugreichen vorhandenen Vorstellungen vom Monde. (Leipzig.) Svo. pp. xvi, 202. S plates,

1 Owing to the summer vacation, the number of books issued has been so small that the usual classification is omitted.

5^6

Tillo (A.) Die deutschen Volkslieder von Dr. Faust. (Halle.) 8vo. pp" vih, 207.

Trede (Til) Das Heidenthtim in der rdmischen Kirche Bilder aus dem religiosea und sittlieh* Leben Silditaliens. (Gotha.) Part III, 8vo. pp. iii, 426.

JOURNALS.

iSgo, UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED.

[Arranged alphabetically under each language. Numbers not noticed in the present list will be given in the nextl\

The American Anthropologist, July. Garrick Mall cry. Customs of Courtesy. IV- H. Holmes, A West Virginian Rock Shelter. F, Webb Hodge, A Zuhi Foot-Race. John Murdoch , The History of “ Throwing-Stick” which drifted from Alaska to Greenland. A . F, Chamberlain , Notes on Indian Child-Language. W. J, Hoffman, Mythology of the Menomoni Indians. James Mooney, Notes on the Cosumnes Tribes of California. J. Owen Dorsey, Indian Personal Names. T. H. Lewis, Stone Monuments in North-western Iowa and South-western Minnesota. R. Fletcher, Quarterly Bibliography of Anthropologic Literature.

The s American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal, May, S, B* Feet, The Sacred Enclosures of Ohio. Silas Rand, The Coming of the White Man Revealed; Dream of the White Robe and Floating Island. Silas Rand, The Beautiful Bride. M* Eels t Myths of the Puget Sound Indians.

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, April. W. Simpson, The Trisula Symbol. /. F Hewitt, Essay on the Pre-Vedie History of India, and the identity of the Early Mythologies of Europe and Asia, founded on a Study of the Brahmanas and of Sacrificial Observances.

Journal of American Folk-Lore, July-Sept. Horatio Hale , “Above” and “ Below”. Stewart Culm, Customs of the Chinese in America. Louis Pendleton, Notes on Negro Folk-lore and Witchcraft in the South. W, IV. Mewell, The Symbolism of Backgammon. John G . Boudko, Notes on Apache Mythology. Airs. W, IP allace B ro w n , Wa-ba-ba-nal, or Northern Lights. Francis La FIcsche, The Omaha Buffalo Medicine-Men. //, Carrington Bolton , Go mb ay, a Festal Rite of Bermudan

5 2 7

Negroes, /. Owen Dorsey, The Gentile System of the Siietz Tribes, Folk-lore Scrap-Book, Notes and Queries, Biblio-, graphical Notes,

Journal of the Gypsy-lore Society, July, M. _/. de Goeje y The Heidens of the Netherlands. R. von Sowa^ Notes on the Gypsies of North-western Bohemia. F: H. Grooms , The Vampire : A Roumanian Gypsy Story. Ju 71 de Poiwr, Gypsy Grammar by the Archduke Josef, lS8S. A. Elysseejl KotmavinFs Materials for the Study of the Gypsies (concluded). D. Mac- Ritchie, Scottish Gypsies under the Stewarts. A", von Sowa, Slovak^Gypsy Vocabulary j. Eggding, Review of Mr,

Groomers Article, u Gypsies**, in Chambers 3 Encyclopaedia. Notes and Queries,

Nineteenth Century, Nov, Huxley^ Aryan Question and Prehistoric Man,

New Englander and Yale Review, July. IV. ClmroMlt\ Domestic Poisons of the Sub-Papuans.

Our Forest Children, June. E. F Wilson^ Indian Tribes, Paper, No, 13; Seneca Indians,—July, Paper No, 14, Nez Perce Indians.

The Popular Science Monthly, June, Fanny Id Bergen, Animal and Plant Lore, iii.

Ons Volksleven, iv, 5. /. B, VervUet, Vertelsels. J. Corndissen,

Sagen.— 5. J. Vlunius, Vertelsels,

r

Volkskimde, ill, 5, P, de Mont, Qnze Vlaamsche u CompcmIsten ,J ofte Liedjeszangers* Vertelsels : Van drie Gebroeders.—6, A. GiU&> Over de Studio van bet Volkslied. /. de Roller, Sprookjes. Vragen en Aanteekenmgen.

Mdlusine, v, 5, //, Gabdoz, Operation d’Esculape; Echos de la lit. ant. au moyen-age, /, Tiichmann, La Fascination (suite). II. Gaidoz, Le Solaris me BouJangiste, Is. Levi, La legende d 1 Alexandre dans ie Talmud. J. Karlowicz % La mythologie lithuanieilne et M« Yeckenstedt,—v, 6. //, Gaidos i Jean de TQnrs; £tymologie populaire et folk-lore {suite) ; la Photographic \ oblations h la mer et presages ; Tare en del E* Lefibure , La motte de terre. Ad. Oram, Devinettes de la Haute-Bretagne, y. TucJunann, La fascination {suite). Is. Ldvi t Le J uif en morceaux.

Nouvelle Revue historlque de Droit, Mai-juin, M Kovaievksy, Etudes sur ie droit coutumier russe.

Revue des Traditions Pop u la ires, v, 9, G. Dunwitlier } Astrologie des Annamites. P ’ SebiUot\ Les Mines et.Ies Mineurs : v, La bonne et la mauvaise chance ; vi, Coutumes.- J 1 Tiersot r , Le Rossignol m ess age r, versions du Morvan. A. Bon, Superstitions auvergnates: CantaL M. de Crouskog Les Chants heroiques du pen pie ru.sse (suite). A\ Basset, La Chanson de Bricou, i. L. Pincau , Biquette, randonnce pojtevine, ii. E de la Sicatiere, Biquette, ronde norrpande, iii. A* Cerleux T Les Calendriers des illettrds ; v, Calendrier breton. P. SSillat, Les Crustaces {suite). R, Basset, tine fable de Finnan et le Mythe d 3 Orion, iii, P. S. t La Boulangerie et le pain ; Questionnaire. L. Pincau, Le long hirer : iii. Version poitevine, J\ Fertiault, Les Haricots. Mine. Destric&iy Traditions et Superstitions dela S art he, ii, P. Bogisic, Saint-Blaise, iii- Mme. P. SSillet, Le joll Meunier, chanson de «. la H ante-Bretagne, A. Desrousseaux, Transformation des Legendes, des Anecdotes, etc. : i, Ne rien dire et nbn penser pas moms ; ii T La legende de St,-Christoph e, L. Pincau , Les Oiseaus en Poitou, P. S. t Necrologie: Ernest Faligan.—v, io. P. Sebillot, Les Pendus, J. Tiersot\ La Chanson du Grant. R. Basset\ La Chanson de Bricou {suite ): iv, Versions lorraine et abacienne. R . Basset , Lamhoigin, conte lriandais de la Saint- Martin. D . Fitzgerald \ Notes sur quelqnes origtnes de la Tradition celtique. L. SUliter, Mceurs et coutumes de manage: iii, Ceremonies de manage chez les Penmens. F.-M- Luzel, L’i imager ie populaire ; v r Basse-Bretagne. L. Morin } La

Bctise des gens, conte de Champagne, D. Belief, Le Peuple et

* THistoire : v, Buckingham dans Pile de Re, A. Cerleux, Extraits et lectures ; Le dieu Canon.

La Tradition, iv, 7, Mine. L, Schischmanova et M. Dragomanov, Les noces du solell, rdcit populaire bulgare. H. Camay. Esthclique de la tradition. A , Harm 3 Le folk-lore de la Belgique, vui.

A . Grtin, Chansons populaires de la Gamble, Traduction de E, de N£mdtby et G. Doncieux, R, Stiebit , Moyen de retrouver le corps dun noyd. J. JtJicolaides, Moisej Saint-Jcan-Baptist e et Tlyzyr, Ldgende turque. Vic. de ColteviUe , Devinettes el enigmes populaires, P. liugounci, Les petites fleurs et les sapins ; Apologue chinois. E , Blimont , Nains et pygmies, L R. P. Burlut , Le folk-lore au Canada, l Dr. B. Fdraud ; La pluie d’oreillettes et de feves roties. J. Surya t Chansons populaires de la Bourgogne. Mme. de Nellis, Traditions dela Beance. A. Sinval, Les Russes chez cox, viii. C de War lay , Glaues tradition mstes.—9-10. 5 . Prato i For mules initiates et finales des contes populaires Grecs avec les references des contes Neo-Latins. 0 . Colson, Chansons

5 2 9

de Wallonie. J. Brunet, Lblne dans les proverbes proven5aux iL /. Ptaniadis^ 13^5 usages de prelibaiion et des coutumes de manage en France, ii F. CheOalller, Le monastfere d* Antony. C. Frcntltie, Les animaux mdtimorphosds dans les traditions de la Chine. Ed. Parmentkr y Le petit poLicet en Belgique, V. Brunet, Contes populates du bocage Normand, lit.* /. Salles, Bid he Cants : vieille chanson, /, Lemoiue, Les amours populates en Wallonie. B. Bekker, Le inonde encbantd, i. M. d$ Zwipvdzki, Le folk-lore polonais, hi. IF Fan *Elyen , Une legende Beige des Nutans, Hadji Dhittflrms, Les sept dormants {suite). AsJ. Dulxurc, Le cnlte des eaux.

Varietes Bibliographiques, May-Aug. E. Holland, Flore populaire (continued).

Revue Historique, Nov.-Dec, M. Gab. Monod reviews recent literature on medieval French History, 7 /; ter alia M, Fustel dc Coulanges 3 last work on the Origin of Feudalism. An admirable discussion of M, Fastens well-known views denying the existence of communal property.

Revue de I'Histoire des Religions, Juillet Aout. //, d A rims de Juhainvilh , La religion celtique d’apres M. Rhys, /, Haffi/y, La rdligion Mandeene d’apres M. Brandt.

Allgem, Zeitung, Beil age 1/5 (30 July). W. Golijlur, Perceval und der Gral,

Gekhrte estnische Gesellschaft (Report of 1SS9). Lipp, Die Li vernier (language,customs, superstitions). L.v. Schrotdsr, Eine estnische Legende und seine Parallelen in der hido-germunisther Literatuv (the Combat of Father and Son),

Gbttingische gelehrte-Anzaigen, 12 (ro June). H. Zimmer reviews (pp. 489-528) Nutt’s Studies on the Legend of the Holy Grail. —20 (1 Oct*), //. Zimtner reviews Gaston Paris's Account of the Arthurian Romances in vol. xxx of the Hist lit. dela France.

Mittheilungen mis der hist. Literatim, xviii, 4. tuna, Vorgeschi elite Roms : ii* Hie Eirusker und ihre Spuren im Volk und Staate der Rcmcr.

i

Sitzungsberichte der philos.-philol. und hist, Oasse der K, Bayer. Aka d. der Wiss,, ii, 2, Wl* Gaither, Chrestien’s Conte del Graal in seinem Verhiiltmss zum wiiischen Peredur und 211m englisclien Sir Perceval. ,

Am Urquell, i, 10-n, M- Easier, Walpnrgisnacht im Isergebirge. Wielant der Sehmied, * //. Handelmann^ Volk 5 rued Lin. //, Friscldier, Volk sgiau ben (Aus Ostpreussen): i, Kindhelt; ii, Die Teufel ; iii, Arbeit mid Mahbeit.

VOL I.

M M

530 J Folk-lore Bibliography.

Vienna Oriental Journal, iv, 2. r.J. Dasltian, Zur Abgar-Sage, ii.

Zeitschriffc filr Deutsches Alterthum und Deutsche Literatur, xxxiv t 2, 3* /?, Af. Meyer ; Votksgesangmid Ritterdichtung. Du

bist min, ich bin dfn.

Zei tsehrift JTir franz. Sprache und LIteratur, xii, i- £wimer y

Bretonische Elements in der Arthur Sage des Gottfried von Monmouth.

Zei tschrift fur vgb Literaturgesdiidite, iii. IV. Gaither , Beziehungen zwischen franzosisdier unci kelti seller Literatim im Mittelalter.

Zeitschrift fiir vgl, Rechtswissenschaft, ix, i, 2. Bernhoeft, Die Organisation der Familie in Alt-lndien. Wesnitsch, Das Feli&erecht bei den Slid-Slav em

Zeitsdirift d. dent, morgenlandiscben Gesellschaft, xliv, 2. Jolly* Zur Gesdnchte des Indischen Rechts (Traces of Wergeld in Manu; Polyandry in India, and Marriage of near relations in Persia according to Brihaspati).

Zeitschrift fiir roman, Fhilologie, xiv, r, 2, Baist> Die Todtenbriicke.

INDEXES,

Index to Volume I

Index to Articles

INDEX TO ARTICLES,

Abducttox, marriage by, among Mordvins, 420-21

AbeiLTombv (Hon. J„), L ’ f Magic Songs of Finns” 17‘46, 331-47 ; J< Marri uge Ouitoma among Mordvins/' 417-462

Abergele, Sec “ Ffynnon Elian” Abyssinia, custom of concealing name in, 273-274

Adder, Furnish accounts of origin of, 45 46

Adi anil hia Wives, Drowning of (Torres Straits Tale), 181, 193 Aegimu, fiower festival at, 51S Africa, belief in ilbluek brought by turning back, 155

Age. marriageable, among Mordvins,

AgnatiFrn in Russian law, 472 Agricultural sacrifice, signification of. 392-393

Alba. Fin Mace um hail and son of King of, 257

*A1I Souls' Eve, apple-begging custom on t 315

Allemane, licentious festival of, 468 Abaee> belief that meeting oneself presages death, 228 Ancients, so mo popular aupeptitions of the, 145-171

Andaman Islanders, earthquake belief of, 156

Anger necessary to ensure success at fishing (Estlionian belief), 165 Animal, Finn charm for bite of, 20

--— language —calf, 289 ; bird, 291

Animals, figures of, Mordvin wooing* presents, 423

——— Maacliu marriage-present& ? 4S5 Annand&le Frog-Prince story, 49S-

Apples, custom of begging on Evt? of All Son Is for, 315

-placed on threshold at Manelm

marriage, 491

Archangel, Government of, endogamy in, 461) i firing of pistol by father of bride, 477

Areudt (C*), "Marriage Ceremonies of the Mandms,” 481*462 Arielan priesthood, succession to, 391 Arles, Drac legend at, 209 Arm-guard used by islanders of Torres

Armadale, tradition of Duke of Buckingham at, 318

Arrows, shooting of, at Man elm marriages, *87

- used in Torres Straits, 77

Arthur, King, Ilia death caused by eat, 251

Arthurian Saga, 259-253 Arverai, early gold coinage of the, 59 Arran epic literature of Iceland, 235-

Arzamas, carrying bride by, 430 Aflbcs. pot not to be set on (Cambodian belief), 160

Athens, method of keeping Easter in,

Audloy, tradition of death of Lord,

Australia, spells and charms of, 17 ; thunder attributed to demons in, 158-154 ; laming by injuring footprints in, 157, 15*4; belief that injuring impression will injure the maker. 159

Austria, sale of wives among Slava of, 478

Avars, marriage by capture among,

Axe, use of, in Mordvin marriage ceremonies, 447

Axle, Boaotiau custom of burning, 459 Aztecs, weasel regarded ay an omen by, 157 ; hail-storms, superstitions of, 162

Bahen, Dorfgehen custom in, 468 Badvi tales. See “ Birth of Kusa Kap' ; l( Meta Kurabi” ; +< Dorgai I” ;

"Mutuk. Story of” * “Gabakwoikai, Adventures of” ; u Dorgai of Kaniper” * ^ tJpii Story of”; ^Greedy GoU"; " Migration of Bia TT ■ “Ya- M M 2

53^

Indt’W

war, Sad end of 3 ; “Tiai inaugurated funeral ceremonies/'

Bamboo arrows of Torres Straits, 77 ; knives'of- New Guineani, 7 (i: used as vessels in New Gurney HH> Baptismal name, Abyssinian conceal -\ meat of, 273

Barclay (Isabella), ‘‘Zanzibar paniifbl to Jacques fie VIby,” 515-516 Bargaining at bridals among Mordvins, 439

Barley, Russian custom of covering bride with, 459

Barth (Auguste) et James Darmcstufccr, 41 How they Met Tkomsclyes," 227*233

Bttskots, New Guinean method of carrying, 63, SO

Basuto superstition of preserving grass on which an ally has sat, 159 Bath, Tale of Wife of (variant of Frog-Prince" t ile), 501 Bathing the bride, Mordvin ceremony,

Bats, Torre an folk-tale of men traus* formed into, 79

Bavaria, broom superstitions in, 157 — . succession custom in, *2h]

Bear, Finnish accounts of origin of, 24-29

Beast skins, custom of dressing in, 13 Bed, belief that it is disgraceful to die in, 203

Begging for apples on All Souls’ Eve, 315 ; by women on St, Thomas s Bay

Beheading knife of Now Guinea, 77 Bciciitii, dame. Twelfth Night spirit., 213*214

Betrothal purchase custom at Posit an, 473

-- feast—Mordvin, 45(3; Kal-

muk, 450

-— presents, Mancha ceremonies

connected with, 484, 485 Bin, migration of (Toms Straits* tale) 171-17b, 190

Bibliography of Folk-Lore. 137-144, 281-288, 410*416j 525-530 Birch, Finnish magic snug of, origin of. 336

Bird, Badu legend of woman giving birth to, 50

Bird-marriage, Russian folk tale of.

Birds, tote mist ic prohibition against eating, 1U

Birth, Greek customs connected with,

Birth of Fin Mac cn ml tab (West Highland tale), 257

——* of Kusa Kap (Nagu talc), 49-53, 76*77

Birthday cards, Mancha exchange of, before marriage, 484 Black (G, W.)„ ,jr Flayer's Superstitions/* 276-277

Black, Brown, and Grey (Fenian tale),

—-- Horse (Highland mardien),

370-371

Blacksmith, synonymous with wizard in Abyssinia, 273

Blindness a mythical punishment for curiosity, 208-214

Blood, vengeance required for death by shedding of, 206 Blood-fond, payment for bride to avoid, 454

Blood-offering to Finnish water-spirit,

Blare Heath, tradition of, battle of,

Bio re Pipe, tradition of Duke of Buckingham ah 318 Barn tin, keeping Easter in, 275 Bccotiun on atom of burning ask of bride's chariot, 459 Bohemia, wife*purcbasi ng in' 1 , 478 . ■ ; v immorality of early Inhabitants of, 466

Eoigu, island inhabited by spirits of dead (Torres Straits belief), 78 Bombay, broom superstitious in, 157 * Bonfires, jumping over, Greek custom of, 520

Boots* burial of, of dead men to lay ghost, 135-136

Bosnia, marriage by abduction in.

Eouda. Abyssinian blacksmith and wizard, 274

I?oundaides, importance of, In study of folk-lore* 314-317 Boys and Girls, Solomon distinguishes between, 133-134, 354, 356 Bosom, Los Contes Moralises du Nicole (Review), 270-271 Brqad* Mordvin marriage ceremonies connected with, 426,42S, 431, 439- 410. 444, 446, 449 ; custom of wooing by, 455

Brendan legend, 237-238 Breton variant of " Frog-Prince,” 493-

Bridal chair. Mancbu, 486 Bride, Mancha ceremony of inspect* ing t 183

-* t n

Bride Fungs of Mordvins, 430-432

-probeij^Son, Mordvin, 441

—■-purchase, Slav cuigiiii, 4 7 S

Bridegroom, Mamhu ceremony of InspectCnfc 483

- - Slay custom of bairing-out,

--f, warlike Sii&E?s of Slav, 477

Bridge, Satanic origin of, disproved,

Britain, Greek trade, routes to, 82- 107 *

- —-—ancient trade of, 82 —— — - gold coins of, standard weight of, 104,107

Brittany, fairy punishment tales in,

m

Broom, jumping over, superstitious connected with, 157 ; breaking charm, 157

Brother and sis tel, tribal connection of, in Senria, 472

—- the protector o£ sister's vir-

ginity in Russia, 473 ; part of, in wedding ritual, 473 Brotherhood, Servian artificial, 472 Buckingham "a Cave, Blorc Pipe, 318 Buckingham’s Field, AnUBdale, 31S Bugulmmwk, wooing 'custom in district of, 424 ; bride piL^Juts at, 441 ; bridal processions at, 339 Bundling, Welsh custom, 4 US Burial of Mr. Ros$& Boob, 135-136 Burma, footprint superstition in, 153 Bdfhe (Miss C,), •’ Collection of English Folk-lore,” 313-339 Busk (Miss IL Hr), Horsehair turned into wator-snake,^ 136 ; fct Italian Folk-Songs. Report ou,” 261-267 Butterfly, Finnish legend that cublage worm is descended iro£n, 336

Cabbage Worm. Finnish Magic song of origin of, 386

Cairns in New Guinean folk dales, 190 Cairo, Fulk-Ior^ from, 521-^23 Cakes,' oSerpd to Finnish w ood spirit,

Calf, Fairy, See “Bashm Coatied* Calvninos, rvi'cutffia from, 523-524 Cambodia, dislike of natives of, to fret' pot on ;v?hes, 160 Campbell MSS. at Edinburgh, 3C9-3S3

Campbell, tale of. aud Its foundation in usage, (letter) 405-106. $e&

“ Folk-tale, a Highland” etc. Campbells, oilmen badge of, 11

Canada, thunder-frightening custom in, 153

Canoes^method bf propelling, 105 Cun ton* jaunted house at, 361-362 Cap o' Bushes, Suffolk fulk-tale, 295*

Capture, man-Inge by, practised by Mordvins, 419, 453, 458 ; by Slavs, 464, 475 '

Cards., exchange of, before Muncim Carouse, Mordvin bridal, 428 Carriage, body of, Mordvin bridal detached, 442

Camuv, stone monuments of, 242-213 Cartilage, tin trade of, 89-90 Cassiterides, tin trade of, 89 ; people of, 91 f

Cat, requisite To success of a play,

-, death of King Arthur caused

by, 251 '

——■ Fin nidi account of origin of. 30 Celibacy, rarity of, among Mordvins,

Celtic Myth and Saga, Report on, 234-26 U

-*eiv dilation, archaic, 239

CnltiCa, tin trade of, $7 Ceiemunies, Mancha marriage, 431-

Cerefc, "Devil’s Bridge at, 524 Ghmnba, princess walks naked to free frptmg from demon, 223 Chan Fan, fair of maidens at. 364 Channel JiLmds, coins of Greek type found in, 100

Charm for lizard's bite, Finn, 334 Chastity test stories, Cel tie, 252 Cheremis, marriage by purchase among, 453 ; bridal processions of.

Cherokee legend of snake with jewelled bead, 278-279 Cheshire, hiring times m, 315 Child, foretelling by hands of new* bora, 276 ; born afr twelve will see ghosts, 276

Childbed ceremonies at Kiug-eai, 380-S61

-—, Roman superstition connected

with, 165-166

-—, severs suffering in. caused

by stepping over broom {.Bombay belief), ! 57

Chinese Folk-lore, notes on, 359-368

—-marriage ceremonies* See

Minch us”

Chintoi'olsk, bridal procession at, 437

Christmmtv, its effect on Irish sagas,

Christmas* Ijlriiigs at, 315

-prophetic suporsfciti® at, in

Inverness-shi?^ 276 Church-porch, SJavene belief that if bride reaches before groom, she is supreme, 460

Chuvash marriage customs, similarity of to Mordvin, 455 : driving with presents, custom of the, 456 Cinderella tales, see 11 Cap o' blushes,"

“ Fair, Brown ami Trembling/ 1 iS ih!shin CoJitie/’

Cleon &, sacrifice upon hailstorms at* 1

Clodd (Edward), What's in ft Name/' (letter), 272274 Cloth, Manchu cnetofh of holding up to ward off evil spirits, 437 Ckmstori (W. A), “ Story of the Frog Prince/' 493-506 *

Club, family preserved at East Gothland, 203

Coat o’ Clay, folk-tale, 305 310 Coca-nut, used as water-bottle in Now Guinea, 77

Cook, used to avert wind, 163 ; ^owing after noon bad omen, 276 ; years before marriage decided by crowing of, 276

Coins, e vidence of Greek trade with Britain from, 98 ; Greek types discovered in Britain, 1IH), 163 Communal feast* remnant of, at St. Briavels, 224-225

—-- Slav marriage, 471-473

Comure, descent of, from a bird, 10 Conception from eating seedri (Bari u legend), 50 ; from sea foam (Finn legend), 331

Coneely. elun, totemism among, 11 Conjuror, A Welsh, 131-133 Contes de Nicole Bozoii

(Review), 270-271

Copper, Finnish magic songs of origin of, 313

Coreyra, May festival in, 520 Corfu, dower festival at, 51S Corn, Finnish charm for destroying rust in, IS

Corn sheaf, Cornish harvest custom with, 2S0 ; attempt to drench with water, £80

Cornwall, ancient tin mining in, 82

—-, fairy punishment talc, 210

-, giant legends in, 321

-. harvest customs in, 280

-, sululivision of land hi. 200

Cossacks, licentious festivals of, 468 ;

exogamy among, 475 Coventry* Go diva legend at, 215 ; size of, in tenth century, 216 ; fair of, 217 * pmcesrion at, 217 Grackemuts, Story of Kate (Orkney folk-talc), 299-3 1 )I

Oran mere Pool, fairy legends of, 212-213

Creative Name, the secret, 273 Croatia, custom ut ifi Otmltzain, 176 •

Cuculin (West Highland tale)* 257 Culture-heros, New Guinean, 80. 191-192, 193-194

Cups, alternate drinking of Manchu bride ftnd groom from same, 491 Curative charm. Finnish, 18 Cures, fairy* 301

Curiosity, punishment for, in pixy story, 208, 210, 214 Curses, English peris ant belief in, 324 Czechs, immorality of early; 466

DALTOV* haunted barn at, 131 Damarns, footprint supers tiiion

Dance festivals of natives of Torres

( Danish fairy punishment, tales* £11. Durmeatetm* (James), et Auguste Barth' 11 1How they Met Themselves/’ 227-233

! Dartmoor. Sea u CranmerO Pool* 1 Daughters of King tTHam, 258 ; of King of the East, 257 Dead, why the spirits of, go to Kibukii (Mabuiag legend), 55-56

-, belief in the Torres Straits

that spirits of, go westward, 77

-, beliefs that earthquakes are

caused by, 150

Death presaged by man meeting himself, 223, 229

Deerpark ( Sligo), Druids 4 altar at, 244 Den b i g lie hi r e assizes, trial of conjuror at, 131

Derbyshire, hiring times in, 315 ;

well-dressing in. 31G Devil, Finnish beliefs concerning, 32-

Devil's Bridge legend, 524 Devonshire, coins of Greek type found In. 100

—— harvest custom, 280; pixy story, 207-2QS

Diseases, cured by divination in Wales, 182

Divination by skulls, 87, SO

Divorce, Mordvin objection to. 451 Dog, Finnish account of origin of, 30-31

Dog-fish myth accounting for mark on, 1/5, 191

Dog-man, folk-tale of Erza tribe, 417-

Door, burring of bride's door, Slav custom, 477

Dorfgekoii, custom of, 46 S JJorgai, bogey of Torres Straits, 149, 53,$4, 60, 62, 68, 7G, 180,181/193 Dorgai Meta Kurabi, Badu legend, 53-54

—— of Karaper (Eadu legend), 62-

-- of Munilug, Two (Muralug

Borgai I {Badu legend), 54 Doughtre of Ypocnis, variant of Frog- Prince story, 497 t

Dpwor/ absence of, hi early Russian

Down, Russian custom of covering bride with, 459

Dowry not given by Mordvins, 425 ; Vogute, 425

Drac { water-being) story, 209 Dragon, the bob-tailed {Chinese folktale), 366-368 Draiglird Hogney, 310-312 Dress, contest of, at Lung Shan, China, 306

-, Mordvin bridal, 439

-warlike, .worn by Slav bridegroom, 477

Drevliana, Nestor's account of habits of, 463

Driving with presents, Chuvash marriage custom of, 456 1)nudism in Ireland, 245 Druids' altar at Deerpark (co, Sligo),

Drum used in Torres Straits, 76 ;

legendary use of, in t 49 Dugonga, use of, in Budu tales, 49, 51, 69, 76

Dogoug Hs.Xiter, Sesero {Legend of Torres Straits), G9-75

Earth placed in bosom by Mordvin

-oven, Papuan, SO, SI

Earthquakes, myths regarding. 150 Easter in Greece, 275*276 ; at Thebes,

Edmbmgh Campbell MSS, at, 369-

Effigy of Judas, burning of, at Easter,

Egg cowries, used ns New Guinean ora aments, 77

Ell punishment tales, 210, 211 Elk, Finnish account of origin of, 31-

Ellis (Havelock), Fascination and Hypnotism (letter}. 405 Ein| jo rife, coinage of. 102 Endogamy among Mordvins, 452 ; in Russia,, 469

England, coins of Greek type found in, 100

English and Scotch Fairy Tales, 289-

English Folk-lore, Collection of, 313-

Enmity, survival of English tribal, 325 Eoghrni Eel, burial place of, 243, 244 Erin, sun of, IQug of, and Giant of Lt.iuh L4in,256 ; and three daughter of King of the East, 257 ; the thirteenth son of, 257 ; and Queen

of Lonesome Isle, 257 Erza, bridal carouse of, 42S

-, bridal processions of, 437

--custom of entering bridal

chamber among, 436

-— ? hnman-dOg tale of, 417-418

--—, marriage arrangements of. 425

-, marriage by capture among,

419-420

--. marriage arranged by parents

-, marriageable age among, 4 IS

— - ■ period of mourning fur husband by widow of, 451

—-, unimportance of virginity

Eecribeto, analysis of (Italian folksong), 264

Esthonian thunder-averting custom, 153 ; 111 luck belief of, 155 ; fishing superstition, 185

-—, bride called lamb, 443

-- ? marriage by purchase among,

Etruscans, superstitions of, 404 Evans (John), trial of, for divination,

Exogamy among Mordvins, 452 ;

early Slavs, 464-465, 171 Eye-salves, magic, 208,209. 210 Eyes, fairy vengeance on, 203, 209, *210

--j legends of tearing out, 515-

Fair* Brown and Trembling, 256 Fair of Fair Maidens (Chan Fan, China), 364

Fairy animals. See 1; Easkimpoatie/*

-hi rfch legend, 207-8 *

-cures, 301

—— eve-salves, 203, 20 &

-- hill. 300

--— punishments, 203. 209

-- tale.*. English and Scotch,

239-312

--- tasks. Sec *' Nicht Nought

Nothing. 11

Fairies, assistance of, 303

-— drowned at Ferry, 276

Family communism of early Slavs,465 Farmers, superstitions of Greek, 161 Fascination and hypnotism (letters), 274, 405

Father-in-law, visit of Mordvin, 434 ■ — not allowed to see bare feet

of Mordvin woman, 450 Feas&s, Manchu marriage, 436, 4S9 Feet of mother-in-law washed by Chinese bride, 366

——■—, Mordvin pr olii bit ion- of bare, in wives, 450

Fenians in Castle of Fear Dnbh. Fin Maeotimhail and (West Highland tale), 257

Fern-s&ed t superstitions connected with, 279

Ferry, drowning of Scotch, fairies at,

Ffynnon Elian, divination at, 131 Fill Maconmhail, birth of. 257; and Fenians of Castle Fear Ekibh, 267; and k night of full Axe, 257; and Cilia na Graltiu, 257; and seven brothers, 257; and son of King of Alba, 257

Finch, Finnish belief that bear was rocked by a, 24

Finn, accounts of origin of Bear, 24-29; Cat, 30; Dog, 30-31; Elk, 31-32 ; demons of, 32 33 ; Horse, oiigiu of, 33; Pig. 34; Seal, 34; 14'oil, 35-37; Snake, 3745; YIper, 45-46; Lizard, 331-334; Snai 1 331 ; Raven, 384-335 ; Titmouse,

335 ; Pike, 3-30 ; Cabbage-worm,

336 ; Wasp, 336 ; Birch. 336; Flax, 337-333; Oak, 338-342; Trees, 343-348 ; Copper, 348

Finno-Ugrian marriage customs similar to Mordvin, 451, 455 Finns, corn charms of, 18 ; varieties of charms used by wizards of, 19-21

Finns, hunter's charms of, 17; water-cure charm, IS

-, magic songs of, 17-4G, 331-

34S

-—, mariiagc by purchase among,

Firbolgs and TuatM dc Dan aim., con diets betvyeeu, 244 245 Fire and Tot cons, origin of (New Guinea legend J, 185, 195

— -, Polish brides conducted

round, 460

--—, shelter of goods after a,

mused at Kwongsai, 364 Fire-ho use, sacrilege to steal swallow's nest from, 279

Fire-myth of Torres Straits, 185,195 Fisherman's sou and Gruagacli of Tricks, 257

Fish-market made to prognosticate success, China, 360 Flax,“Finnish magic songs of origin of, 337-338

Flesh, lot-ding of magic bird with, 503 Florent, Gower s tide, of, Frog-Priuce story in, 500

Flowers, use of. on May-day in Greece,

FoIk-lorebibliograi>hy,137-144; 2 S1 - 288; 410-416; 525-530

— -, collection of English, 313-330

-— 1 importance of geographical

boundaries in, 314-317; relation of history to. 317-322; methods of collecting, 822-330

— -from Cairo, 521-523

“—— } notes on Chinese, 359-3GS Folk-lore Society, annual meeting of, 398-402

Folk-songs, report on Italian, 251-

Folk-tale and its foundation in usagn, Highland, 197-206 -—-—recent research on, 103*117 Food otiered to propitiate Finnish deities, 17

Footprint superstitions, 15? Fortune-tellers’ employer at Mancha

Fowl (white i given to appease ghost of mother died in childbed. 361 Foxes, flying, Badu dead transformed into, 58

France, lung of, and Fin Maeemnhail (West Highland tele), 257 Frazer (J. G.), lk Some popular super* gtitions of the Ancients,” 145 171 ; Easter in Greece, 15 275-276; * f High* land supei-stitibUB in Inyernoo*-

r o ^ 00 /

shire," 276 ; “May-day in Greece/' 518-520

Frog-Prince, Breton variant of. 493- 506Grimm variant of, 497 ; An nan elide variant, 493 Fung Shui or Greomancy, Chinese, 360-301

Gabaicwotkai, adventures of (Badu

Gade-sceptfe, Maneliti mar Huge present of, 434

* Gades, tin trade of, 89 ; Massaliote

trade with. SO Gapu. 8w “ Sucker-fifth. 11 Gardening, Folk,dale of introduction to Torres Straits of, 17A 191 Gastev (Rev. M.), 11 Story of Solomon's Wisdom/' 133-135 Gaul, tin trade with Britain of, 84; trade across, 87-93; early coinage of, 99; imitation of Greek coins by,

Gawatn (Sir) and Dame Ragnell, variant of f Frog-Prince 1 story, 502 Geomart%, Chinese, 360-361 German 'Frog Prince* story, 499 ■ Godira story, 219

——“ superstition against pointing to stars, 151; footprint superstition, 158

Germany (South), belief in Dame Berchta in, 213

Ghost, child bom between 12 and 1 liable to see, 276 »

— -- of persons committing suicide

before loolring-gkas, fierce (Chinese , belief), 362

■-^7 of woman dying in childbed,

laying Chinese, 360 361

~ " hud by burying boots of dead.

Giant folk-fales* S:e ft Nicht Nought Nothing/' “ PeerifooL"

* -— legends in hill lands, preva-

lence of, 321

— of Lodi Lein, son of the Tung of Erin Rtid T r256 ““ 7 —— of New Milk. 139-31 Giant s grave at Deerpark (co. Sligo),

Gilln im Grakin and Fin Maccumhii!

(West Highland tale), 257 Girls and boys, Solomon distinguishes between, 134, 354, 356 Giris f feast, Mordvin bridal, 433-434,

GobiL story of greedy (Badu folktale), 172174, 190

Goblindorn, Chinese folk-tales of, 361-362

Goddess of Mercy* Chinese, 366 Go diva, Peeping Tom and lady, 207-

-- historical existence of, 215

-Coventry legend of, 215; St,

Briavetid variant, 218; German variant, 219; !f Arabian Nights" variant, 219-220; Persian, ’220 ; Sanskrit, 221; Chiunba, 222 God’s portion, Mordvin, 422, 426, 427, 414

Go mine (G. D), “A Highland folktale and its foundation in Usage/ 1 197-266

Gorakhpur, rain-spell practised during, 223

G email, Stafford shoe noodle village,

Gosselin (G. ), u Folk lore Extracts/’

276- 280

Gothland (East), family club at, 293 Gould (Rev. S. Baring), “Giant of New Mills/* 130-131 Grass bn which an ally has sat preserved by Brutus, 159 -——— relieves woman in labour, 278 Grave, pregnant women not to step over, 523 ,

Greece, Easter in, 275-276 ———, May-day in, 518-520 Greedy 06m f story of (Eadn folktale), 172 174, 199

Greek custom of exthiguLslmig fire on thunderstorm, 153

--fanners, superstitions of, 161,

163, 104, 105

—-- trade routes to Britain, 82-

Grimm story, Rabbinic paruMel to,

277- 278

Orisons, Allemanio festivals In, 468 Gniagaoh Gaire, Shee an Gannon and*

-of the Tricky, fisherman's son

and* 257

Guernsey fairy punishment tale, 210 Guinea (New), ttkul knives of, 392

-— divination by skulls in, 67, SO

-- funeral ceremonies, 170* 191

--knives used in, 77

--- Tabu clan, 192

— use of bamboo for vessels in,

Haihion (Prof* A. C.). “Legends from Torres Straits/ 1 47 01, 172-

53S

Hailstorms, Greek sacrifices upon,

jm

Hair, lock of, sent by Mordvin bride, 44 X

— - pins, ILmehn marriage cus-

tom connected with, 484

Hart!and (E. Sidney), Recent Re search on Folk’ Tales/ 1 3 OS-117 ; u Peeping Turn and Lady Godiva/* 207-220

Hamilton, Marie., ballad of, 14 Jiatnmoiici Island, legend of cause of rocks at, 181

Haiif{striking. Mordvin marriage custom of, 426, 456 i Russian, loti Hansel believed by English peasants to he binding, 32d

Harvest customs of Devon and Cornwall, 280

Head, Mordvin brides require to go with bare, 450

Head-dress, Mordvin wife's investiture with, 450

Headless woman, legend of, nt Dalton,

1 S1

Heligan, harvest customs at, 2SQ Helsingfors, Folk-lore collection in University of, 408

Hen. sacrifice of, in Mordvin marriage customs, 448

Hen wives in folk; tales, 291, 292, 299 Hereford, Coiintake of, obtains privileges for parish of St. Briavels by riding naked, 21D

Hereford diocese, influence of bouirdariee of, in customs, 315 Heithfi, traditions of, connected with Gudiv& legends, 214, 224 Herthaburg, fairy batldug legend at,

Herzegovina, marriage by abduction in, 476

Highland folk-talc and its foundation m usage, 197-206

— -- m perditions, 276 ■

Highlands, belief in, .that ghost is

laid by burying boots of dead, 135

-, Tales and Legends of (letter),

510-517

High Gilley, village wake at, 319 Hmi, Finnish demon, 32-33 Hill,'Fairy, 300 Hiring tunes for servants, 315 History; relations between folk lore and, 317-322

Hoi ike Turks, belief in descent from wolf of, 460

lIoliistomMass,, D o pp el tg anger belief in, 404

j Holy Innocents’ day. See " Inno| cents.”

Hops, bridal ceremony with, among Mordvins, 4 32 -■* divination by, 44S

— -Mordvin marriage ceremony

of kicking, 448

Horoscopes exchanged on Manelui

Horse, Black (Highland mirt;km\ 370-371

— -, Finnish account of origin of,

t 33

ri—■—, Mordvin bridal ceremony with, 441

Horsehair turned into water-snake,

Horse-shoes, reversed, 319 Hottentots, destruction of aged people

by, 202

-^footprint superstition of, 158

How they mot the niseives, 227-233; (letter), 103-404

Human-dog folk-tale of Erzsj 417-4IS Hunters eh anil. Finnish. 17-18 -ill-luck brought to, by meeting old woman, 155 Husband, intermittent residence of Hun Hong wife With/ 365 Hyaena skin, Greek belief in protection against lightning by, 154 Hypnotism, Fascination and (letters), 274, 405

iBimiA, Keltic occupation of. 88 Idol facing wall (Chinese legend accounting For}* 302 Incest among early Slavs, 4G4, 469 ;

folk-tales Involving, 474 India, t Asura ’ marriage custom in,

-——-, belief tlfct ill-lack is brought by turning back in. 155 Innocents' day (Holy), English objection to commencing work on, 2/9 Inverness shire, superstitions in, 276 Ireland, archaic customs preserved" in literature, 235 '

-- — t subdivision of land in, 200

- , weasel superstition in, 157

Irish Saga, effect on Christianity of,

Italian folk-songs, report on, 261-207 Ivan the Terrible, abolition of pagan festivals by, 467

Jack, Penny. See il Fenny Jack/ 1 Jacobs (Joseph). u Recent Re^iyiicli in Comparative Religion, 1 384*

397 ; “ A Tale of Campbell and its Fcnm elation in Usage 17 (letter), 405-406 ; €£ Les Contes Mu|fcses de Nicole Bozon ” (review)* 270*271 JatutSj uiuTLige by purchase among,

Jarilo, licentious Slav festivals oil day of, 407

Jrtroadar, bride purchase custom nt f

m

Jatskii in Pansanias, 409 Joule (B. St* J. lb), w Burial of Mr* Rose 1 ** Boots. 1 ' 135

Judas, burning efjagy of, in Athens,

Kaffir Frog-prince tale, 503 Kalmuks, betrothal feast of, 450 *

Kamchatkans objection to sticking knife into burning log, 151 Kumper, Dorgai of (Usulu legend), 62- 65 ' ‘

Kate Craokeruute, story of (Orkney

Kazan, bridal procession in* 437 ;

weeping custom of, 457 Kelts, occupation of Iberia by, SS Kharkov, licentious festivals in Government of, 467 KhtiVrturH, marriage by capture among,

Kibuka, why the spirits of the dead go to [Mnbukig legend), 55-56

—-, island inhabited by spirits of

dead (Torres Strait? belief), 7#

Kil Arthur. (West Highland talc),257 Kilbencn, custom of, 468 Kihhgnrcg, custom of, 468 King 11 curie, 1 Yog-Prince variant in,

King-sai (China), ceremonies at death in childbed, 360 381 Kingsbridge, harvest custom at, £80 Kinross, tenant subdivision of land in, 200

Kinship marriage among Mordvins,

* 417

-— union > early Slavs, 172. 473,

Kirgiz, bridal processions of, 459 —— , prohibition against wife being seen by husband s relations among,

u Kludka,” Russian present to bride’s father, 479

Knife, ceremony at Moksha weddings of sc Hitching ground with, 445

* 1 ■ " igiants/ 1 preserved at B essay,

Knife, placed under bridal pillow

Knives used in New Guinea, 76

- —, akuh of Now Guinea, 192

- y shell, of natives of Torres

Knoekarea, cairn on, 243 Kowalewsky (P.}_, ■' Marriage among early Slavs/- 463-480 Kmsui Bred, wife purchase at fair of,

I\un Kong, marriage customs at, 365 Kusa Kapj birth of, 43-53, 76-77 Kwai Fung Shan, Bob tailed Dragon of (Chinese folk-tale), 366-368 Kwangtuug (Chinese province) beliefs ami customs in, 360* 864. 365,366-

KwOngsai, refusal of shelter after a lire* 361; female labour in, 365

Ladder, discoveiy of witches*, 313 Ladle, half empty offered to Mordvin

Lamb, eaten by Greeks at Easter, 275 ; bludd of, Smeared on threshold by Greeks* 275

*-—. bride termed, by Mordvins,

Land, ownership of, in Murray Island,

SI

-, survivals of tribal distribution

of, 206

Lung i Andrew), Presidential address, 4-15 ; “ English and Scutch Fairy Tales/ 289-312

Lapland, Finn origin of bear in, 29 Laplander, Finnish wizards termed,

Leg of (PCciu (Highland legend), abstract of, 373-377 Legends from Torres Straits, 47-81, 172196

Legs, envelopment of Mordvin bride's,

Leland (Charles G.) How they Met Themselves;* (letter), 403-404 Leofric, Earl of Mercia, 215 Letts, hand striking custom of, 450 ;

bridal procession of, 459-460 Liamika, endogamy sit, 409 Licbfidd, importance of boundaries of diocese hi oils toms, 315 Lmbreeht (Felix)p obituary notice of. 7.13

Lincolnshire noodle story. &c ft Coat o’GLtjv’

Lizard, Finnish legends pf origin of 831-331

Lizard; charai for bite of, 334 Lockhart («7. EL Stewart), Notes m Chinese Folk-lore, 359 363 ; i; Mar* rlage ceremonies of the Manaus/* 481-492

Lonesome Isle, Queen of. 257 Looking-glass, fierce ghost produced by core mi tf mg suicide before, 352 Loujicliim, End#’ purchase custom of,

Lung Shan (Rwangtiing Province) market at, 350

-marriage fair custom at, 334 ;

temple of Goddess of Mercy at, 356

Masutag legend, tl Why the Spirits of the Dead go to Kiluika/' 55-56 — ■- —. snake woman of, 192 McDuyrtld (J.}, “■-Tales and Legends of the Highlands f ' {let.tor), 513-517 Magdalene, cfee “St* Mary Mfljjdal&ne.*’

Magic songs of Finns, 17-45, 331 -3-13 Magician of Sai-n&n (Chinese folk tale), 362464

Magyars, betrothals among, 456’| bride called lamb among, 413 Malmitia (South), female nudity in religions festivals in, 223 M&icuas&f river, gigantic bird of, 76 Maidens, jfo.tr-At Chan Fan of, 364 Malay Peninsula, frightening away thunder in, 153, 162 ; threshold belief in, 156 ; weather superstition in, 103

Male, marriageable ago of, in China,

Mullet, family, 202, 203. 405 Main, Legend of (Torres Straits tale) IS 1-184, 193

MamoiiLUA, liewur festival at, 513 Titan, Finn account of origin of, 23 Mancha s, Marriage Ceremonies of, 481*492

-* alternate drinking from same

tillp of bride and gi-oonrrunoug, 491 ; arrangement of marriages by, 481 : betrothal presents of, 484 ; Bride and groom inspections of, among,

■ 483 ; bride-chair of, 486; ,bridefeast of, 486; bridal presents of, 485 ; cards exchanged before marriage by, 4S3 ; drinking ceremony of, 491 ; marriage ceremonies of, 435*490, : 491 ; methods of exorcising evil spirits by, 487 ; middlemen used in marriages by. 482 Manilkui, Badu legendary hero of, 80

J Margaret, tradition of Queen, at [ MuckWton, 319 Marriage among early Slavs. 463- 4 SO

— - by capture among early Slavs,

-Ceremonies of AT&nchtis, 481-

*-Chinese juvenile, 492

■——- customs of modem Gr&erks,

-— of Kim Kong, 365

--* —-of Mordvins, 417-462

— -- of Torres Straits

islanders, 79

*—--—-—- of Ug Chan, 365-306

— - Maiicliu objection to second,

4S7-4SS ; importance of lucky days

fcfor, 483 ; ceremonies of, 485-499

--Mordvin kinship, 417-413.

——■ vows against, 417

- resistance to, by Mordvin

-— restrictions on (Mordvin), -151

--- Slav communal, 471

—— treaty ratified by breaking pica by Mordvins, 429 Marry, refusal to, folk-talc of punk lament (Chinese), 361 Marseilles, thi route through, 84 Martinmas, Derbyshire hiring time,

Masks, New Guinean religions, 192,

Massachusetts (HoIHstprl) Doppeltganger belief in, 404 MassaHa, tin route through, 85, 89 ;

trade of, 93 ; coins of, 93 Matriarchalisui among early Slavs, 468-409, 473

---—, evidence in history of Irish,

May-day in Greece, 518-520 Mecklenburg, laming by injuring footprints in, 157 Medicine (folk j. See “ Mummy,” Megaspekeum, flower festival at* 51 $ Melanesians, shadow-losing auperstL, thin of, 152 1

Memphis, folk medicine in, 523 Menj killing of aged, 292-203, 295 Menstruation, G reek beliefs connected with* 523 t

Merchandise, bride termed in Russian Mk-songSj 480

Merchant, bridegroom termed, in Russian folk-songs, 480 Mercy, Goddess of (Chinese my th), 366 Meta Ivui-Ltbi, Dorgai {Lada legend I,

53-54

Michaelmas, Northamptonshire hiring time* 315

Middleman^; employment in Chinese marriage mmagemehts of, 481J 4S2,

m

Midwife legend at Tavistock, 207 Migration of Kia (Torres Straits tale). QJ-175.19Q

Miscellanea, I30-I3G, 275-2SG, 4Qlh 518.524

Moksha, bridal ceremonies pf, 444

-■, clutching of tie-beam part

of marriage ceremony among, 427 —-—, marriage arrangements o£ t 425

-■, mauinge by capture among,

419-420; with capture, 453-455

-—, marriage by seniority among

sJffc$KS # 418

-—, marriageiibl* age among, 413

■—-, mu trial inclination neoesi&tiry

before marriage, 419 —, period of widowhood among,

—--, prevalence of marriage by

’ abduction among, 421 —-^sprinkling the bride, ceremony

-, unimportance of virginity

--- , wooing customs, 423

M ungolsjxmu'riiige by purchase among,

-marriage customs similar to

Montenegro, custom of 4 Otrriitza* Ln

Moon, New Guinean legend of, 1S5- 186, 195

Moors, removal of impressions on sand by, 159

Morality, English folk, 324-325 Morayshire folk-tales. See “Pashm Coatk *,” 41 NicliiNought Nothing.” Mtailvins, marriage customs among, 417-462

-bridal ^processions of, 437 ,

438 ; bridegroom receives presents fiom bride, 427; celibacy^ rare among, 417; depreciatory mnrriagesotigii of, 429, 430 ; kinship marriages among, 41?, 418; marriage nrnmgements of, 425 ; marriage by capture among, 449-420; marriageable age of, 418; names, method of giving, 418 ; restrictions on mar- j risige of, 451-452; snored pies used I to ratify marriage contracts. 429 ;

virginity considered unimportant by, 419 ; visits, of future fatherin-law before completion of marriage, 434 ; vows against marriage, 417; widowhood among, 451; wooing ceremonies of, 422, 455 Mound at ft essay, 130 Mound-bird of New Guinea, habits of, 77

Mount Ratten. coins of Greek type found at, 160

Mourning dress in Torres Straits, 191 Moscow, payment of “ k hi Oka” at,

Mothering Sunday observance of

m

Motlwrrinluw, her feet washed by Chinese bride, 366 Moytura, battle of, 244, 245 Muckleaton^ tradition of Queen. Margaret fit, 319

Mud u sign of mourning in Torres Mi mi mors' Play, 320 Mummy, medical virtues uf, 523 Mumlug, skull of late husband carried by widow in, 192

-- folktales* 8 V‘c u Tabu: what

he did in Muralug ” “ Doigai of Mur dug.”

Murray Island, ownership of land in, 81 * Mutuk, story of (Bad 11 legend), 50-60 Mythology, recent research <m Teutonic, 113-126

Naqa, the master of ceremonies in Nagir (Sagfr tale), 17948", 192 Nngir fol k-talc. JScc “ Nnga.' ■

Nalls not to be pared before child is a year old, 276

Nam Zugo (Murray Island folk-tale), 186*189, 105

Name, bridal, of Mordvins, 449 —— Finn belief in addressing spirit by, 21

1 f importance of not knowing, 2/2 ; custom of concealing name in Abyssinia, 273-274 “- peasant objection to men-

tioning. 323

—-* What id in a (letter), 272-274

Names among Mordvins, method of giving, 418

Narbo, tin route through, 85 Narbonne. ■$& ft Narbo."

Nest, swallow s, sacrilege to steal, 279 Nestor, account of Slav marriages given by, 463

54 2

New Guinea. See “ Guinea 1 (New)..

New Mills, giant of, ISO“131

New a. Notes and, 127-129 ; 26S-209 ;

4Q7-JQS, 51&514 Nioht Nought Nothings 292-295 Nijui Novgorod, endogamy us mar- , rligo in district, 409 Nizhegorod, bridal procession in, 137

-currying bride at, 430

—-- ceremony of sera telling ground

at weddings, 445

-, hand-striking of, 426

Noodle story. See " Coat u T Clay/ 1 Northamptonshire fairy punishment, tale of, 213

-, hiring time in, 315

Northumberland fairy punishment, tale of, 210

Norway, ill-luck, belief in, 156 Notes and news, 127129, 263269, 407*408, 513-514 Novgorod, promiscuity at, 466 Nullity, female, in religious rites, 223 Nutt (Alfred), (f Celtic Myth and Saga, Hep orb on,” 234-260 ; l< Fascination and Hypnotism ” (letter), ^74 ^ “Report on Campbell MSS, at Edinburgh,” 369-383

OaK 7 Finnish magic-songs of origin of, 338-342

Oath, curse follows breaking, 324 0‘Cem f 8 leg {Highland legend), abstract of, 373-3 i 1

Octopus, myths referring to (Torres

0 s Bara* three daughters of king, 256 Girin in Tir na n-og (West Highland tale), 257

0 job way a tar-pointing superstition, 152 ; footprint superstition, 158 Olonizk, exogamy in. 475 Omelettes, use of, in Mordvin marriage ceremonies, 446 Onega, endogamy in district of, 189 Oracle, distrust and reconciliation of, in New Guinea legt^ids, SI Orenburg, bridal weeping custom of,

Orkney folk - tales* See i( Kate » Cmokemute,” ** Peeriiool,” ** Draigliu Hogney*”

Ornaments, personal, of Torres Straits Islanders, 196

Gstinks, ceremony in honour of virginity of bride of. 419

-. face-covering custom of, 450

-, marriage by capture among,

0stinks, man!age by purchase among,

u Otniitza/' Servian marriage custom,

Oux*housej Mordvin bridal chamber made in, 443

Oven, Papuan earth, SO, 81 Ox (black) killed un well causes water to flow, 278

Pag ax festivals, abolition of, in Russia by Ivan the Terrible, 467 Palaeo-Kouudura, flower festival at, 51S

Palm Sunday, Greek customs an, 520 Papuan earth oven, 80, 81 •

Patou (\V. R.), “r*i#uc»a from Calyin- UQg ” 523-524

Peacock, stage objection to, 277 Pebbles, Welsh divination by, 132 Pedigree, Mandiu examination before marriage of, 4B4 .

Peeping Tom and Lady Crodiva, 207-

Feerifool (Orkney folk-tale), 302 305 Penza, government of, custom of driving out bridegroom in, 436 ; prohibition of marriage among near relations at, 417; sprinkling the bride at, 448, 449 ; wooing customs in, 421

Perm, pistol-firing by father of bride.

' 4 ?'

Pictures, uses of holy, in Mordvin marriage ceremonies, 445 Pies, Mordvin sacred marriage, 423, 429, 457

Pig, Finnish account of origin of, 31 Pike, Finnish legends that trees grew from tee ill of, 344-345

--, magic-song of origin of, 336

Pilmoor, legend of lad caught by giant at, 130

Pixy story, Devon, 207-2OS Player's superstitions 276-277 Ploubalay fail-, elikt booths at, 212 Plough dragged - by nude women, Gorakhpur mu-Spell? 223 Point Barrow, Esquimaux belief that air is full of spirits, 119 Poland, continuance of girlhood till wife has borne a son, 450

-marriage by capture in, 176

-, wife purchase in, 473

Folia ns, marriage among, 463

—-bride purchase custom of, L 8

Politza, statute of, 478

Polygamy among early Slavs* 464 ; Mordvins* 419

Pomerania,, ill-luck belief of* 155

-— ♦ old people thrown. into sea

in, 262

Portsmouth* coins of Greek type found at* 100

PosideJM* Ibisshfn festival* 468 Pot»imu f wife purchase ceremony in* 1

Powell (F. York), fl ‘Recent Research on Ten tt mic My thoh >gy, f ' 113-120 Pregnancy caused by eating seeds (Barta legends), 50 ; wind (Furnish bertief), 30, 41

-Greek customs relating to,

Presents, suspension of Moksha wed* injgv 446

Presidential address to Folk-Lore Society, session 1889 90, 4-15 Priesthood* Arician* succession to* 391 Prince, the Frog, Breton variant of, 493*506

Prohibitions against disclosing fairy secrets, 211, 212, 218 Promiscuity among early Slavs* 465 Promises, disregard of English peasants for, 323

Property, English peasant belief m j succession to* 325

Proxy, Mordvin custom of wooing by, 421* 455

Prussia, killing of aged in, 203 Pscov, promiscuity at, 466 Punjab, succession custom in* £01 Purchase, marriage by, among curly Slavs, 465; Mordvins, 421* 125 ] > thugoraa, symbola of, 147-161 Py theca* travels of, 65

EabBDs* 1C literature, Riddles of Solomon in, 349-358

Badimicli, Negfcorb accounts of habits of, 464

Rain, superstition that* follows a battle* 166

Ram-charm, Greek, 520

Rashin Coafcie, Morayshire folk-talc, 289-291

Rats frightened away by building gate Eke a trap* 860

Rat-trap, gateway at Sul Ptii shaped like, 369

Raven, Finnish magic songs of origin of, 334* 335

Red* animals dyed on occasion of Manchu marriages, 485

Red, Manchu bridal calcar, 484-485 -——, Slavonic emblem of maidenhood, 473

Religion* recent research in comparative, 304-397

Re-marriage, Manchu objection to* 48 7

Resistance of Mordvin bride* 440 Rhinoeerns horn, magic, 523 Rhodu* coinage of, 99 Riasan, payment of Gladkii' at, 479 Riches, custom of praying for* Lung Shan, Cldua, 363

Riddles, Finnish elk, 32: horse f 33 Ridgeway (Professor W.}, Greek Trade Routes to Erihdn, ,T ' 82-107 River trade of Gaul, 94 Robbery, Chinese folk-tale of punishment for* 363-364

Roman belief that min followed a battle, 166 ; invitation to gods of hostile city, 167

-—“ method of averting hail, 1G2 ;

wolf superstition, 131 Rouse (W. H. D.), “Jatakain Pausanias,"*109

Riigen, traditions of Hertha in, 214 Rumpelstfltzkio* secret name theory of, 9

—--stories, 9 ; St& also* i: Petri-

fool*?

Russia, bridegroom’s procession in,

—— capture marriage in, 476

-, personal wooing dishonour-

aide in medimva], 421

-, custom of wooing by bread,

455 ; of hand-striking* 450 -——* marriage custom of pankicking, 448 ; of bride bathing,

461 ; of covering bride with barley and dawn, 459

-songs of abuse, 429-430

Bust, Finnish charm for curing corn with* 18

SACHTFiCK,Rigiiilicatioix of agricultural, 392-393

-——— , theory of blood-baud between the god and worshippers, 387-383*

Saddle Island* shadow-sluing spirit of* 152

——— Man elm marriage custom of stepping over, 487, 491

Saga, Celtic myth and, 234-260

Sm-mlm, magician of (Chinese folktale), 362 304

St* Ale.mo* rhymed legend of, 266 St. Brendan legends, genesis of , 2di23 S

St. Bmvels, Godira, legend at, 218, 224, 225; privileges in conseipieiice of, 215-219

St. Clement’s Eve, apple begging custom on, 515

St. Elian’s Well, JSee lt Ffynnon Elian,"

St, Jaci it-d edn- Mer. fairy p uni shmoat tale at 211

St. John's Eve, Greet customs on,

St, Wary Magdalene's Day, Scotch objection to lighting on, 279 St. Thomnhk Bay, custom of women begging on, 321

Sakai, frightening away thunder by,

Sale of wives among Austrian Slavs,

Salt, Mordvin marriage ceremonies with, 427, 428, 444, 419

—-offered to Finnish wood-spirit,

17 ; to water-spirit, 18

-used in Welsh divination,

Salt-cellar, Mordvin marriage ceremonies with, 426- 431 Saluting, when fetching south-runni ig water, 280 Salve, fairy eye. 208, 209, 210 Samara, payment of ‘*Madk&”&t, 479 S&moyedes, endogamy among, 452

-, marriage by purchase among,

Saratofll bridal custom of Moksha of,

Saratov, payment of u klaclka' 1 at, 479-480

SfusiUkadzi, Badu legendary hero, 80 Sayee (A, H*), “Folk-lore from Cairo," 521-523

Scandinavia, succession custom in,

--sceptre. Sec 11 Gade-sceptre."

Schadrinak, exogamy in, 475 Schechtar(S.), “Rabbinic Parallel to a Story of Grimm," 277-27S ; <L Riddles of Solomon in Rabbinic Literature,” 349*35$

Scorpion charm, Greek, 165 Scotch and English fairy tales, 2S9-

Scotland, belief that burial of dead man’s boots lays ghost, in. 135

-— f ill-luck in stumbling on

threshold (Highland belief), 156

Scotland, objection to fighting on St. Mary Magdalene’s Day, id, 270

-, superstitions in (Inverneas-

shJrc), 276

Sea, customs of throwing aged men into* 202

Sea-fairies, penalty for divulging Secrets of, 212

Sea-foam * conception from (Finn folklore), 331

Seal, Finnish account of origin of, 34

--- skin, belief in protection of,

against lightning, 154 SdhHlot (Paul i, letter to President of Folk-lore Society of, 4-5 Secrecy observed in proposing marriage among Mordvins, 422 Security for suitability of bride and bridegroom, Manchu custom, 4S3 Seeds, conception from eating, in Badu legend, 50

Separation, Mordvin objection to,

Serur (S, Mahratta), female nudity in t religious festivals at, 223 Servia, bride purchase custom. 1 ? in,

—-, tribal connection of brother

and sister in, 472

Severe, the Dugong Hunter (legend of Torres Straits), 69-75 Sessay, giant legend at, (130; giants grave at, 130

Seven Brothers and Pin Maccumhaal (West Highland trick 257 Sever, Nestor's account of habits of,

Shadow lost by gazing into water,

Shaking Head (West Highkmd tale), 257 N

Sheba, Queen of, tests Solomon's wisdom, 133 185, 350-855 Shoe an Gannon and Gfuagaek Grire (West Highland tale), 257 Sheep killed to make boat lucky (Egyptian belief), 523 Shelley, apparition of kjmsrif to, 227 Shells used as knives by natives of Torres Straits, 79

Shrewsbury, tradition of Quean watching battle at, 319 Shropshire, hiring times in. 315 ; apple begging in. 315 ; Mothering Sunday observed in. 315 ; welldressing hi, 316 J giant legends in,

m

Siberia, eadogamoue marriages in,

Simbirsk, bridal procession in, 437 T

— —— , bride journey at, 431 - ? bride present at, 441

— -government, custom of driv-

ing out bridegroom in, 43d

—— exogamy in government of,

——> weeping-day of, 430

— -- wooing customs, 420-424

Sit-ten tribal importance of, In Russia, ■472

Sisterhood, Servian artificial, 472 Sister-in-law, Mordvin custom of remarriage with, 451 Skull divination, Now Guinean, 67, BO

——-> of ktc husband carried by Miir&lug widow, 192 Skye, tenant subdivision of laud in,

Slate, Welsh divination by, 132 Slava, Boppeltganger belief of, 404

— --, incest among early, 464,.469,

-, marriage among early, 463-

-— similarity of marriage custom™

to Mbrdvin, 451 f 455

■— - women, independence of, 470

Sleigh, Finn belief that spirit in conveyed by, 19

Slipper, Magic* See li Hash in Ooatio* 1 Snail, Finnish legend of origin of,

Snake, Finnish accounts of origin of, 37-45

-(water), prod need by horsehair, 136

——, with jewelled head, legend of, 278-279

— - , woman, Mabuiag, 192

Solomon, Riddles of, in Jhdibiiiic Li

temture, 349-358

Solomon's wisdom, legemla of, 133

Son succeeding during father’s life (Scandinavian practice), 200 Songs, deprecatory of, in Mordvin

——— , of Firms, Magic, 17-46, 33 l-

Sorcerer, Sec " Wizard.”

Sorcery stones from Torres Straits in British Museum, 191 SouJing, custom of, 315, 321 South-running water, persons fetching not to dilute others, 280 Spain7tin trade of, 88,89, 91, 92 VOL, I,

Spinning; on highway brings ill-luck.

(Ihdkui superstition^ 184 Spiritst of the dead go to Kibuka, (Afabuiag legend), 55-66

--, Munch n method of exorcising

evil, 487

Spiti, succeed on custom in, 201 Spitting, usual fairy punishment, 209, 216

StafFordishire, apple-begging custom in, 315; observance of mothering Sunday in, 315

-, See “ Hlore,” « High Offley/*

. u Gorualh”

-, (North) hiring times in,

315; apple lagging in, 315; welldressing hi, 310

Star Myths of Torres Straits, 53, 54, 77, 184, 193,194

-, (Torres Straits). See * { Borgia Atcta Kurabi” Bbrguj l S tar pointing an pc rail tie ns T 151-152 fihme, lories Straits surgery, 191 Stoyn, Introduction of Moravia bride to, 443, 449

Stove mother, Mordvin myth of, 433 -StrsHhiirg, apparition of man to himself at, 223

-death warning in, 231

Striking, usual fairy punishment, 209, 212

Styes caused by refusing pregnant "woman food (Greek beliefb 523 Succession of mn during father's life (Scandinavia), 209; (Spiti), 201 Sucker fish used for catching turtle in New Guinea, 80, 190-191 Sit Hulk folk-tale. See lm Cap o' Rushes."

Suicide before looking-glass makes ghost fierce, 362

Sui Fin {Kwangttihg Province), gateway shaped like rat-trap at, 360 Sumatra, threahokl-stumbling belief iii, 156

Sun god, Morilym prayers to, 426 Sutherland, belief in il black bio ugh t by turning back, 155 Swahoti folk-taM, 515-516 Swallotv T a neat, stealing of, sacrilege,

Sweden, old people thrown into sea in, 202

Switzerland, belief in Bame Perch tu in, 213

-, Kjlchgsng custom in, 468

Sword, uses of, in Mordvin mmriage ceremonies, 445, 417 - at Tttissmn bridals, 473

X N

Taboo j royal 394

--clan, New Guinea, 1 92

Tabu, what lie did hi MUfalug | (Mural eg folk-tale), I SO, 193 Tagai constellation, myth of (Torres Tahiti, offering to gods of hostile tribes in, 167

Tambov, payment of " kladka 1 * at,

Tartar objection to thrusting sword in fire, 151

Tasks, fairy. See " Nicht Nought

Nothing/'

Tatars, bridal weeping custom of, 45? ; marriage restrictions uf, 452 ; similarity of marriage customs to

Tavistock, midwife legend at, 207 Tclierkess, Amazonian legend of, 47J) Teryshevsl^ bridal procession at, 437,

-weepmg-day of, 430

Teutonic Mythology, recent research on, 118-126

Thebes (Hucotia), keeping Easter at,

Threshold, ill-luck brought by stum* tding on, 156

*— -, Manchu bridal ceremony at,

-, smeared with lamb's blood in

Tatar taboo of bride trending on, 459

Thunder, Sakai method of frightening, 153; Esthoniau, 153 ; Canadian,

Thunderstorm, custom of extinguish mg ftre at, German, 153 ; Greek,

Tkuringen, ill-luck belief in, 156 Tiai inaugurates funeral ceremonies (Badu tale), 176-179, 121 Tie-beam touched as confirmation of marriage agreement, 427

-seized by Mordvin bride, 440

Timor, earthquake belief of natives of, 150

Tin, importance of early British tr^dc in, 84, 92

Titmouse, Finnish magic-song of origin of, 335

Tlinkeet Indians, earthquake belief

To daft, destruction of aged people by,

Tom (Beeping) and Lady Gocliva, 207-

Topclifie, fair at, 130

Torres Straits, legends, from, 47-81, 172-196

-- —-- beliefs of natives of.

76, 77

--— masks used in, 192,

] 94 ; canoes of, 195 ; water-bottles of, 195

Totem, renewal of tribal bond with, 38 S

Totems, origin of fire and (New Guinean legend), 135, 19.5 Toula, defence of bride's home in,

Trade Routes to Britain, Greek, 82-

Transylvania, threshold - stumbling belief ill, 156

Travellers, the two, u Midrash n version of, 277-278

Tree-marks’ made for fortune at Moksha marriages, 445 Trees. Finnish magic-songs of origin

of, 343-34$

— -, sudden growth of, to shield

princess of Chamba, 222

Tribal euuiity, survival of English,

Truro, ancient pigs of tin in museum at, 83

Tsipiaua, customs iu, 520 Tuntha de Danami and the Firholgs, conflicts between, 244-245 j Turkish marriage customs similar to

— -— variant of Frog-Prince story,

Turks, marriage by purchase among,

Turning back, ill-luck brought by,

Turtle caught by sucker-fish in New Guinea, 190 ; method of iisliing for,

Turtle spirits, Murray Island myth, 186-139, 195

Tuscan beliefs derived from the Etruscans, 404

Twelfth-night spirit, f German and Swiss, 214

Twelve-father child, Zyrian, 31 Two Dorgai of Mural ug (Muralug folk-tale). 180-1 SI, 193 Two Travellers, ^Miilrask 5 ’ Vfflwon of, 277-273

Tyrolese fairy punishment story, 211 --- ill-luck belief, 155

Ug chan, female labour in, 3G5 Ukraine, husband choosing custom

in. 471

/ ndex.

54 7

Uph Story of {Badu legend), 85-09 Urine, Finn legend that copper originated from, 348

Utensils of Tones Straits Islanders. 49, 70, 77, 79, SO, 190,192, 190

Vase, precious, at Mjineku marriage, 488, 490

Yeckernitri, Russian festival, 488 Vetlouga, endoganfona marriages in district of, 409

Ykfcich, Nestor's account of habits of,

Viper, Finnish accounts of origin of, 45-40

Virginity, unimportance of among Mordvins, 419 ; in Russia, 408 Vladimir, payment of 4 ‘ kkdka ,f at,

Voguls, marriage among, 425

-- f marriage by purchase among,

453 ; similarity of marriage ceremonies to Mordvin, 462 Voriaks, con til malice of gill's dress among married women, 450 ; tribal organisation of, 452 ; marriage by purchase among, 453 Vow against marriage, Mordvin, 417

Wake, time of keeping, 319 Wales, aged killed to prevent their dying in bed, 20 3

-, (North), hiring time in, 315

Warlike dress worn by Slav bridegroom, 477

Wairu tales. iSfee 11 Birth of Kusa Kap n ; i! Meta Kur&bi," u Durgai

L ?1

Washing feet of mother in-law, Chinese custom, 3G6 Wasp, Finnish magic song of origin of, 336

Water, attempt to drench corn-sheaf with (Cornish harvest custom), 280 ’——— ceremonies, Mordvin bridal, 440,449

—-% Morivin bridal ceremony of

fetching, 444

-New Quin can myth of walking on, 192

-produced by killing black o*,

——shadow lost by gazing in, 152 ■-— snake produced from horse-

hair, 136

■——, superstition connected with south-running, 280 V ater-bottlcj New Guinean, 77 Water-charm, Finnish, 18

Weapons of Torres Straits islanders. 77, 80, 194

Weasel, ill-luck brought by meeting,

Weaver's son and giant of White Hill, 256

Wedding-crown hung over phone, hi

Wedding-ring, divination by (Scotland). 276

Wedding-songs, Mordvin, 429, 430, 481, 432, 433 434, 435, 43S, 441,

Weeds, Greek ebann for destroying,

Weeping day, Mordvin bridal, 457 Well, sacred. See “ Ffynnon Elian. n

-dressing, custom of, 316

Welsh “ bumUitig ]1 custom, 468

-—- conjuror, 131-133

Wends, belief in ill-luck brought by meeting old woman, 155 Were wolves, Greek myths regarding, 169-171

Westward, belief of natives of Torres Straits that the dead go, 77 What’s in a name iletter), 272-274 White hill, giant of, 2515 Wh uppity S to uric, secret name theory cf, 9

Widow, MuraUig, carrying of skull by, 192

Widowhood, Mordvin periods of, 451 Wife, intermittent residence of, with husband, Kun Kong, 365 Wife of Bath's Tale, 4 Frog-Prince 1 variant in, 501

Wight (Isle of), Roman trade with, 95 Wind, Finnish belief that pregnancy is caused by, 30, 41 Witches 1 ladder, discover}' of, 313 Wives, sale of, among Austrian Slavs,

Wizards, charms used by Finnish, 19 21

-, Finn account of origin of,

23-24

Wolf, belief in descent from, of Holike Turks, 460

-bridegroom compared to,

among Mordvins, 443

•-, Finnish accounts of origin of,

35-37

Woman, legend of headless, at Dalton, 131

Women, Bohemian warlike, 470

-, custom of begging &n St.

Thomas's day by, 321 ~

——-—, ill-luck brought by meeting,

54 «

Women, iudepeudaiice of Slavonic,

—-, ratu*■ spell made by naked

(Gorakhpur g 223

-— - , Torres' Straits Islanders,

mourning costume of, 101

■—--j wooing by early Slav, 471

Wooing by proxy, among Mordvin, 420 421-

-- ceremonies, Mordvin, 422

.— presents, Mordvin, 423

Worm (cabbage)* Finnish magic-song of origin of, 386

Wort used in Mordvin marriage ceremonies, .44 3

ITurtembiirg, Dorfgelten custom in,

m

—-, succession custom in, 201

Yakuts, marriage customs of, 450 - 1 endogamy among, 452;

similarity of marriage customs of, to Mordvins, 455

Yams, seasons marked by, in Torres

Yawar, sad end of (Badu tale), 175- 176* 191

Yorkshire, hiring time in, 315 ; giant legends in, 321

Ypocras, Doughfcre of, variant of 1 Frog-Prince ’ story, 437

Y^uch-Lsia-lhaVli, Chinese mama go deini god, 490

Zanzisak inirnlld to Jacques de Yitry (letter), 515-516

Zogo t charm of Torres Straits, 194

Zulus, folk-tales of, 7

—-shadow-losing superstition,

152; weasel superstition of, 156- f potp'riut superstition of* 159

Zyriau twelve-father child, 31

Index to Bibliography

INDEX TO BIBLIOGRAPHY,

L Abercromby, J r) 140 2. Allen* II. N., 137 3! XEsop, 139

4, haeher, \. t 139

5, Basset, Rene, 411

6, Bast bin, A*, 137

7, Bolmhorstj J., 138

8* Bbltc, J., 110 9. Buzon, Nicole, 139 10* Eraclke, i\ v M 110 11* Brauns, C. W. E.,

12. Brauns, T>,* 138

13. Erlntoii, B* G., 2S1

14. Budge, E*, ISO 15* Bngge, S*, 13S

16. Billing, H. f 139

17, Campbell* J. F., 137 13. Capua, John of, 139 19. Cartailliftc, E., 140 20* Chamberlain, B. H*,

2! * C t o in 1 de, J. TVV 13 S

22. Curtin* J., 137

23. Darmcsteter, J*, 283 24* Delhruek, B., 282 25* Deloche, 411

*26. L-toii, A* W-, 283 27* Edlriru*, J., 281 23. Elude, J,* 281

Part I.—Actiioks.

29. Kidder, M., 137

30. Pimmore, G.* 410

31. Forest!* A., 139 32* Fornaudar, A., 284

33, Frahm, L*, 137, 411

34, Frazer, J. G., 282 35* Garnett, Lucy M. J.*

36. Gelbbaus, S*, 139 37* Gdduer, K* F., 282 38. GiMemeister, H* 139 39* Goeje, J* de, 412

40. Gumma? G. L. f 283,

41. Gould, S. Baring, 13S

42. Gower, J , 139

43. Grimell, G. Bird, 2S3 44* Grimm, W*, 139

45. Haeckel, W., 525 16. Hart, G., 282

47. Hariland, E. S., 283

48, Hellnmhd, G , 139 49* Haime am lihyu, 0*,

50* Henze n, W./282 51* Hertz, W t 411 52* Header, C*, 411 ^

53. Hodge tte, Miss

M* It, 283

54. Jacobs, J., 525

55* Jaeques de Yitry, 525

56. Jahn, U , 283

57. Jeanroy, J.. 138

58. Jdlinek, M* H., 412

59. Jennings, 31., 2S2 60* Jensen, P*, 282 61. Kalile. G,137 G 2 . Kahtkaiia (King), 137

63. ICingscote, H,, 2S3

64. Kuo op, 0., 2S2

65. Knust* IL, 139

66. Kroluic, K*, 411 67- Laktner, L-, 138 68. Lang. A*, 525 69* Le Oierc, 0.* 139

70. Leist. B* \Y., 139

71. Lippert, 0. J., 2S3 72* Los Beyee y Horen-

m' Isabel do, 419 73* Lubbock, Sir JL, 140 74* Lumlwltz, C. r HO 75, Luzel F. M., 525 70. Macdonald, 3D., 140 77* MEielmies, Rev* D* f

78. Mad litchic, D. t 410 7 9, Mailer}, Garrick, 2S1 E. 80. Marx, A., 137 81. Mrimied, 411 8SL Member, E, 411

83* M ever, 15. H., 138 Si. Meyer, G. f 412 85* Mejmc, Albert, 410 86* Miklosisck, It, 535 87. Mitsbtakis, J.., 411 S3. Morgan, L* H*, 525 89* Mnir, J. F 2S3

90. Mtiller, W*, 138

91. Noldoke. Th.* 525

92. Nordhuff, 3. B., 525

93. Ntildener, R., 411

94. Nutt; A., 283

95* Ortoli, F., 281 96* Gafcrup, T,, 1ST

97. Othmer, K.. 139

98, Paris, U.* 283

99* ParkinaoQj T, 283 100* Paul, H./lSS 101* Pausanias, 2S2 1 102. Pector, D*, 140

103. Fischel, It, 282

104. Posnansky, Or. H.,

105, Post, A* H,, 140

106, Powell, J* W*, 412

107, Reich, E., 281 108* Reling, Ff., 13S

109. Rogge, Oh*, 410

110. Rohde, E*, 282

111. Richer, W.H.,138,

112. Sabatini, It, 281

113. Saltzmarm, H., 2S3

114. Saatri, N.. 2S3

115. Schmidt, Dr It, 282

116. Schbnbacb, A, E* t

117- Schrader, O., d-10,

118* Sohuehardtj H., 412 119* Sc hwa me Id ,M,,138 120* Seehohm, it, 411 121- Seifart, K** 137 122* Senfiert; B.* 412 123. Shephard, H. Fleetwood, 138

124. Smith, A. H., 138

125. Smith* W* It, 139 126* Stanley, H. M*, 412 127* Stiimning, (j-.. 284 12S* SutUiug, E. It, 410

129. Talbot* E.,282

130, Taw Sein EA, 2S2

131, Taylor, J.* 140

132. Tiereot, J., 138 133* Tillo, A*. 526 134* Timmins* S., 137 135. Trede, Th*, 526

13 5. V&I en tin e, Airs.,137 137. Van Rerehem* AL,

13S. Yeakenstedt., E., 138 139* Voss, Dr, A*, 284

140. Weissh wits. W*, 412

141. Wilde (Lady), 138

142. Wklocki,IL Y.,410 US. Wittier, F. X*, 284

144* VV o If, Ferd. * 412 145. Zohrer, It, 411

P a KT 11* —W0 K K8*

The/rlures within brackets refer ta the List of Author*. Bihli'jtfmphicul particulars will he found on the pajc ‘jivnu

AbhT3^ksi, Credenze usi e costum i

Aryans* Origin of j 131 140

(30), 410

Afghans, Ohanta populiures des (23), 2*3

Africa, In Darkest (126), 42 Agoda tier TaiMiten, Die (4)* 139 Alexander the Great (14), 139 Alexituderrcinans, Gcschich&e ties i 91), 525

Alinmiiich folkloriste, 137 AltArisches Jus Gentium (TO), 139 America mat, Essay of an (13 ), 281 A mong Can uibals (QJlemaalan dj (74).

Ammairo des Traditions nopuJaires,

Anthari Sage (4S), 130 Ara.be, Cento (137), 282 ArabUke Sange (90), 137 \

ArcadiaS Legends < 26), 283 Ardennes, Tradition#, Cmiiumesi, Legendes efc Contes ties (85), 410 Argyllshire, Folk and Hero Tales of i 77), 283

Arlstoteks in den AJesanderdichtnngen ties Mi tie Lilt etb ($] •), 411 A ry.t n Peopl ee, Antiquitius of (117,

iEs^p, Fables of, 139 Athens, Mythology of (101), 282

BAnn*t»‘!Kfi, Die Kosmulogle der

(00), 2S2

1 Berlin in der Volksdiehtung ($)* 41o

I B^stinim Le (69), 139 Boznrt (Kieole), Les Contes moralises j de. 139

BrandenburgpYorgescbichtliche Altcrfchiimer aus (189}, 284 Braiitfahrt (61 .411 Broad District,, History and Legends of (12&), 410

Cavv[);c i voroLAHK, to.411 Caucasus, Eastern (1 .110 Chanson popuHira en France (182\

Chinese, Ancient Syiubnlidm (27), 2S1

-- Proverbs (124), 138

Conciles et Synodes, Les (95), 2S1 Confessio A mantis (42), 139 1

Cukaenptati, Erzahlungen ans deui {115), 282

Cyklus des Gn ilk mure d’Orange

(118), 2S3

Czar, Tales from Laud of (53 i 2S3*

De MSMCAMENriS LlEER, 2SI Deutsche Heldensage (44), 139 -—— Volksleben (38), 139 Deutscheu Valksliede^ vou Di\ Faust (133), 526

- Volksmuaea (7), 138

Director! urn bum a no vite (IS), 139

ENGLAND (West of), T rad iti on al Ballads of (41), 138

English Fairy - and Folk Tales (47),*

—-Village Community (1*20), 411

Entstelmng dor Nord (15), 138 Enfcwickelungsgeschichte des FamL lienrechts (105), 140 Epopea Greea, Saggi sulle font! della (31), 139

u Ei ec et Enide" zu dem Mabhiogum (97), 139

Ergebniase der aHscUen Alter* thumswiaseriflcliflft (10), 140 Eihnischen Ethik, zur (6), 137 Ethnology, Keporta of Bureau of (106), 412

Exam pin, The (55), 525

Fairy Book, Eerl (68). 525

-- Tales (186), 137

-- - English (54), 525

Filipino, El Folk lore (72), 410 Folk-lore, Handbook of (40), 525 Franco, Origines de la po&ie ly rique on (57), 138

- prchistorique, La (19), 140

GEBMANISOHKN FllinOLOGlR (100)

Gcstn Komauorum, 412 Golden Bough (34), 282 Greeque et Latino, Mythologb (129),

Graechiskbe Yolksmiircken (87), 411

-Marcken (SO), 137

Dried) ischen und idmischen MytW

logie {Lexicon), (111), 138, 411

HAUZSiYOFy (29), 137 Hausspriiche a ns der Alpen, 410 Hawaii, Legends and Myths of (62), 1 3^

Heiden thorn, Aberglaube, Volks-

gkuibe, etc, (109), 410 Eddenthnrain der romisuhen Kirtke (135), o2t>

Hero und L candor, Die Sage von (58),

Hessen- Nassau on cl der Wurth urg- Legend (52)*. 411

HjghkuaJs(West), Tales of (17), 137 HiMesheim, Sageu, March en, etc. (121), 137

Hmterpunimern, Plattdotitsche a us (64j, 2S2

INHIA, Origin of People of (89), 283 Indian lieh^idns (59), 282 In dogerma □ icscke n Yer wan daehaft Fill anren (24), 2S2

Ireland, Ancient Cures, Charms, and Usages (141), 138

--, Myths and Folk-lore of (22),

Israelite and Indian (79), 281

Jacobi a Yoraghic legande aurea, 412 Jftpamsche Miurchen (11), 410

Kakisrtin, MSrclien aus (S2), 411 Katkarina v. Aiexandrien nud Maria riigyptiaca (65), 139 Klein ere S duff ten zuaatruncngsteUt (144), 412

Kohler (H.), Vier Grazer Freuude (84),

Korean Tales (2), 137

LiiUtE der Gcgenwart and ihre Sprache, Die inhrenden (61), 137 Loqmin berbth-e (5), 411 Lunade, La procession de la (25), 411

MaHaj aNaka Jataka (136), 2 S 2 Mesdidapaentia Liber, 281 Mittclhoeh-deutsehe Dicktuiig.. .bi* bllscli- rabbinisckeh Li fend ur (*36),

Musique et la Danse dans les Traditions (138), 138

Mythologie <i griecL u, dcutsdi* ileklcusage (90), 133

Nemesis und AndratsUia (104), 282 Nicaragua, Populations precolombiennes du (102), 140 Norddeufedie Sagen (33), 137

Oceania (Anthropological), (78), 1 JO 0 estevreickisches Sagen -und Miiroiien - bitch (145), 411

Origins of Civilisation (73), 140

Pawnee Hero Stories (43),i 283 Physiologic des Magisckcn (107), 2 SI

55 1

Piemont, Chants populoires du {9£} t '

Poesnle populate Colectia Aiecsandri (119), 138

Poets and Peoples of Foreign Lands (2U138

P-Jvneriaii Race, Account of (32), 2S4

Pummera nud Riigen, Yulksagen aus

tm, 233

Prehistoric Tuaes (73), 140 Prinz uurl Derwiack (140), 412 Psyche (110), 282

PyrarauB uud Thisbe-sage (46), 282

Katsel der Sphinx. Das (67), 138 Religion of tlic Semitea (125), 139 Rig Veda Americanos (13), 281 Roma, 11 Volgo di (112), 2S1 Rot her, Die Sago von Kdnig (10), 139

Saixt-Erandon, La legends de (39),

Schleswig-Holstein, Sagen von (33),

Selene mid Vcrwandks, Ueber {111),

Septum Snpletium, Historic, 412

Serpent with Eight Hernia (20), 283

SkiiTn mid die deutsche Heldensage, Die (143), 284

Skiviischtm Vulkaepos, Daratellting im (S6), 525

SonioU Breiz*to1 (75), 525

Sprachvergleichung uud Urgeschichte (117), 140

Sprichwort bei Chaucer (45), 525

Stm, Tales of the (68), 283

TITIER JI ARC REXKETTE TX FrXXLAXD, Yerbreitung einer norcTischcu (60),

Tradition, Testimony of (78 J, 110

Trail me in altnordischen Saga late ratur (50), 282

Traditions J&ponaises sur la chanson (12), 138

Tsdiecliiriche Ursage (71), 283

Turkey, AYomen of.(35), 410

Urges ELLS CHiVFT, Die (88), 525

Vedische Mythns des Tama, Der (2S).2S1

Yodische Studies (103), 282

Yergaugenkelt, Die Ka il tor der (49),

Village Community (40), 2S3

Voltispa, cine Untersuckung (S3),

WARW1JES EIRE, History of (131),

Westfalen Land, Das (02) 525

Yorkshire Legends (90), 283

ZfOEi'XERvOLKE, Ytmi Wunderndou (142), 410

Part ITL—Pbih omCA l*.

Containing articles on Folk-lore.

Academt, 140

Altgemeine Zeitung, 237, 529 Anthropological Institute, Journal of the, 141, 413

Ant hrnpol ogisc lieu Gescilftchaffc in Wjen, Mitttieilungeu der, 143 Anthropologist, American, 284, 526 Antiquarian Journal, American, 140,

Armdnifi, L\ 141

Asiatic Society, Journal of Royal, 526 Atken&um, 140

Babtloxux axd Oriental Record. 140, 412

Belgique, Revue Gc mimic de, 2S6

Bengal, Journal of Anthropological Society of, 2S4

Bombay, Journal of Anthropological Society of, 413

Cat a LAX A, Bullet! de la Associaclo d r E xcursi on, 14 4

Celtique, Revue. 141, 2S6

Comptes Rendus de PAcademic des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 2S5

DeotsoHes Altebthum, Zeitschriffc fih\ 415,530

Deutsche Philologie, Zeitschrift filr,

I

Estnische GksellsuhaTT, GelchrtD, ,' Notes M{] Queries, 113

529 j Notes and Queries, A monism, 412

EtI \ i]ographie, Internationales Arehiv I North Country Lore, Monthly Jourfur, 143 nal of. 2S5 \

Fen. land Notea and Queries, 140 F< j ] k - 1 ore, Joiivna I of American, 1 -11 1 284, 413, m Forest Children, Our, 527 Fortnightly; Review, 1J ]

France, Revile dn Nord de Li, 4] 3 Franz. Spraehe mid Literatur, Zeitschriffc fur, 530

.Gascogne, Revue de, 2SG Germania, 2S7

Gipsy-lore Society j Journal of the, 141,527

Gbfctingiaelie gelehrtc Anzeigen, 529

Harz eh Mqnatskefte, 415 Hl^toire des Religions, Revue def, 529 Historique, Rev^iie, 529 -de Droit, Nouvdle Revue, 527

Indian Antiquary, 234 Ireland, J ournal of Society of Anti - qunriea in, 413

Jewish Quarterly Review. 141 Jtidiache Literattir, Jalirbucher fur,

LeTTERATURA l J OPULARE K Di ALliTTALE, Riwsegna di, 233

Literati irgesehichte, Zeltsokrift fiir vgl., 530

LnfcolnaMre Notes and Queries, 23i

Melusine, 141, 2S5, 413, 527 Mittheihmgen ana tier hist. Literatnr, 529

Morg en land is ehen Oesellschaft, Zeitschrift d. dent, 335, 530 Moyen-Age, 235 Alus^on, 235

Nation. The, 2S5 National Review, HI N tw Englander and Yale Review, 527 Nineteenth Century, 413, 527

Open, Court, 235

Oriental Society, Journal of the American, 141 Orientalist, 235

0 sterreicbische Geschiclitsforschung, Mittheilungen des Instituts fiir, 415

Philoi-Qqik, Zeitschrift fiir roman.,

Popular Science Monthly, 527 Preussieche J ah rhiioher, 415 Psychology, American Journal of, 140

Rechtsvttssenschaet, Zeitschrift fiir ' vergleichende, 143, 530 Romania, 142

Savants, Journal des, 235 Scottish Review, 141, 234 Sitzimgh^rjchto dor jihilos.-pliiloi,

Social Pioueer, 235

Tradition, La, 142, 287, 523 Traditions Populaires, Revue des, 142, 286, 414, 523 ■

Tradizioni Popidari, ATchivia per lo Studio dell©, 143, 2SS Trttbner’s Record, 141, 285

Unuahn. Ethnologists ^Rttlnsiltingen aiis, 112

Uujnell, Am, 142, 529

Varietes Bibliqqra phiquf.s, 142,529 Vienna Urientnl Journal, 539 Vdlkerpsyeiiolqgie. Zeitsehrift fiir,

VYJkskunde, 143; 287, 527 Volkskunde, Zeitsehrift fib*, 143, 415 Volks!even, Gus, 142, 527 Vosaische Zeitung, 28 S

Wien, MRtheilungen cler anthrcipologisehen Gcselhchaft in, 143

5offt*£ore #&octefg.

List of Officers and Members of the Folk-Lore Society, 1890–91

LIST OF OFFICERS, 1890-91.

PRESIDENT.

ANDREW LANG, bsQ. p M,A.

YlCE-PRESIDE JITS,

The Right Hon, SIR JOHN LUBBOCK, Bart,, F.R.S., M.R LiEUT.-Gm P1TT-RIVERS, D.C.L., F.R.S., RSJL, etc, EDWARD B, TYLOR, LL Jh, F.R.S.

The Right Hon. the EARL BEAUCHAMP, F.S.A.

DIRECTOR*

G, L. GOMME, F.S.A., 1, Beverley Villas, Barnes Common, S.W,

COUNCIL.

Tilk Hon. JOHN AEERCROMBY. WALTER BE3ANT, M.A. EDWARD BRA-BROOK, F.S.A. Dr. ROBERT BROWN.

Miss C, S. BURNE.

Miss ROALFE COX.

J. G. FRAZER, M.A.

Rev. Dr^GASTER.

Professor A. C. IIADDON.

E, SIDNEY HARTLAND, FVS.A A. GRANGER HUTT, F.S.A. JOSEPH JACOBS, B.A.

W, F. KIRBY.

ALFRED NUTT.

T. F, ORDISH, F.S.A,

Professor A. PI. SAYCE, M,A. Captain II. C. TEMPLE. HENRY B. WHEATLEY, F.S.A.

‘ SON- TREASURER.

EDWARD CLODD, 19, Carleton Road, TufneU Park, N.

AUDITORS,

G. L. APPERSON,

JOHN TOLHURST, F.S.A.

LOCAL SECRETARIES.

Ireland : G. H. KINA HAN.

South Scotland : WILLIAM GEORGE BLACK. Noam Scotland ; Rev. WALTER GREGOR, India : Captain R. C, TEMPLE.

China ; J, STEWART LOCKHART.

HONORARY SECRETARY.

J. J, FOSTER, 114, New Band Street, W.

0 0

VOL. 1.

MEMBERS. {December 2890.)

Abercromby, Horn X, 21, Chapel Street, Ih-Igrave Square, S-W.

Adshead, George H. t Ejq. ( Fern Villas, 94 Boltuo Road, Pendleton.

Alknpp, Hod, A, Percy, Hinrllip Hail, near Worcester,

Alvarez, Hr. Antonio Machado v, 0 T DomaclL 22. Sevilla, Madrid- Amsterdam, the University Library of, Singe! 421, Amsterdam.

Anderson, J, A., Esq., 40, Warwick Gardens, Kensington, W,

Andre, J. Lewis, Esq,, Las cellos, Horsham,

Andrews, J. ]>., Esq,, Villa Pigauti,. Mon tone*

Antiquaries, The Society of, Burlington House, W,

Appoison, George L., Esq., 11, Park Hoad, Wimbledon (Auditor).

Arnold, E* V., 10, Brynteg Terrace- Bangor,

Aalier, Samuel G T , Esq*, 6, Randolph Crescent, Maida Vale, N.W

AstoT Library, Hew York, per B. F- Stevens, Esq., 4, Trafalgar Square, W.O.

Ayduu, Edward 1., Esq., 19, Bel grave Terraco, Newcjistle-on-Tyne.

Babcock, W. H., Esq., 513, Seventh Street, Wialdngtcm, D.C., U,S*A>

Bain. T. G., Esq., 1, Hay market.

Backhouse, James, Esq., West Bank, York.

Backhouse, Jonathan E,, Esq,, Bank, Darlington.

Barclay, Miss Isabella* 15, Florence Terrace, Falmouth.

Barnett, J- Davies, Esq., Grand Trunk Railway, Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Harwell, Thos., Esq., The Woodlands, Kirby Muxloe, near Leicester.

Basset, Mods, Rone, L'Agha, 49, Hue Michelet, Algiers,

Beard* Joshua Turell, Esq., lioystog House. Upper Richmond Road, Putney,

SAT,

Beauchamp, The Earl, F.S.A-, 13, Redgrave Square, SAY. (Ylce-President). Bell, Edward, Esq., Butcherly, Carlisle.

Bent, J. T.* Esq., 13, Great •Cumberland Place, W.

Berlin Royal Library, per Asher and Go., 13, Bedford Street, Covent Garden. Berms, Professor Henri, 37, Rue do Belkuti, Doiiai, Hurd, Prance.

Besant, Walter, Esq. * 1, Adam Street, Ad el phi, W.C*

Bethel 1, William, Esq., Rise Park, Hull.

Birks, Rev, E. B-, Trinity College, Cambridge.

Birmingham Library, care of C. E, Sears e, Esq., Librarian, Union Street, Birmingham.

Birmingham Free Library, care of J. D. Mullins, Esq., Chief Librarian, RatddfFe Place, Bii-mingham*

Black* William George,. Esq., F.SA, Scot.* 1, Alfred Terrace* PIillhcad, Glasgow* (Local Secretary),

Blaine, lb P., Esq., 129, Cromwell Road, S.W,

Blemont* Mens. Emile, Hi, Rue d'OiTremont, Paris.

Blind, Dr. Karl, 3, Winchester Rond, South Hampstead, N,\V,

Officers mid Members ;

W$. F. E,, Esq, Bock House, Bill iter Street, E.C,

Bolkho, T. li, Esq., Peualveme, Penzance, Cornwall.

Bonaparte, Prince Roland* 22, Cburs la Reine, Paris*

Boston Atheiueura, Boston, U.S.A, per Trubner and Co., Ludgute Hill, E.C.

Boston Public Library* tJ.S.Aq per Triibner and Co., Ludgate Hill, E.C. Euurdfflon, F. W., Esq., Bother Lea, ItfidUurst, Sussex.

Bowdifch, Charles P„ Eq„ 28, State Street Boston, U.S,A.

Bowen, H, Com&opq, Esq., MiA* 3, York Street, Portnmn Square, W.

Boat rook, Edward W v Esq., M.A.,177, High Street, Lewishurn, S.E. Brewster, J. P., Esq,, 86, Troupe Street,, Rochester, N.Y., IL&A.

Bridson, J. R.jEsq., Bryerawood, Windermere.

Brinton., Dr. D. G, 2041, Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, U.S.A.

Britten, James, Eaq., F.L.S, IS, West Square, Southward S.E.

Brooke, Rev. StopfonL A,. 1, Manchester Square, W,

Brown, Henry Thomas, Esq., Chester,

Brown, J. A, Harvie, Esq., Dunipace, Larhert J .H.B.

Brown, Dr.-Robert, F.L.S., Fersley, Ryd4 Road, Streatliam, S.W.

Browne, John, Esq,, Chertsey House, Park Hill Rise, Croydon.

Brushfield, Dr. T. N., The Cliff; Eudleigh-Saltertou, Devonshire.

Bruyere, M. Loys, 9, Hue Murillo, Park.

Bullock, Rev. J. F. W. t B.A., Rudwiuter Rectory, Saffron Walden,

Borne, Miss, Pyebirch, EcdesbalL Staffordshire.

Butterworth, Joshua W., Esq., 45, Russell Road, Kensington, W.

C&ddick, E 7 Esq., Wellington Road, Edglmtom Cannizzaro, Signor T, Via dei Verdi, Mussina, Sicily.

Oharenccy, Comte de, 24, Rue de la Chaise, Paris,

Charnock/R. S. r Esq., 30, Millraan Street, Bedford Row, WIG.

Cliicago Public Library, Chicago, Illinois, LLS.A.

Chitaaria, It no Gangadhurrao M, Nagpur, Central Provinces, India.

Chorlton, Thomas, Esq., 32, Brasonose Street, Manchester.

Cincinnati Public Library, per Mr* B, F. Stevens, 4, Trafalgar Square, W .C. Clark, H. Marty a, Esq., M.E., etc., Lmiriflton House, Amrilear, Punjab, India. Clark University, Worcester, Mass., U.S.A.

Clarke. Hyde, Esq.* D.C.L., 32, St. George’s Square, S.W.

Cleveland, Daniel, E^q., Post-office Box 551, Sun Diego, California, U.S.A. Clodd, Echvuid, Esq., 19, Cafleton Road, Tufnell Park, N. (Hon. Treasurer). Cudrington, Rev. R. H. t D.IX, The Vicarage, Wadhursfc, Sussex.

College of New Jersey, Frincetowti, N.J. f U.S.A. (J. O, Murray, Librarian . Compiireiti, Profe&sor Domenico, Yin del Maglio, hireuzr, Italia.

Congress, The Library of, WAahingtou, U.S.A., per Mr. E, G. Allen.

Cook, James W., Esq., Wentyqyth House, Holly bush Hill, Snarspook, EeSOIE.

Cornell University Library. Ithaca, New York, U.S.A., per Mr. E. G. Ay on. Cosquin, Monsj Emanuel, VitryAe-Francois, Marne, France.

Cox, Hies Roalfa, Glaverfcon, Streatkam Hill, S*W.

Crane, T. F., Esq., Ithaca, New York, U1S.A*

Crombio, James E*| Esq*, Balgownie Lodge, Aberdeen.

Crombie, John W,, Esq*, M.A, Balgownie Lodge, Aberdeen.

Crooke, William, Esq., Bengal Civil Service, Awagarh, vut dales sr, N.W.P*, India.

Crosthwaite, J* F., Esq., Cumberland IMon Banking Company, Keswick, Crowdy, Wallace K., Esq., Pall MM Gazette Office.

Curtis, James, Esq., 9, Old Jewry Chambers, E.C,

Daly, Lieut. Hugh, Lashio, Northern Shan States, through Mandalay, Eurmah. Davidson, Thomas, Esq*, 339, High Street, Edinburgh.

Davis, Lieut.-Col. John, Byrons, Farnborough*

Defries, Wolf, Esq., B*A., 4, Cleveland Gardens, W.

Detroit Public Library, Detroit, Mich,, U-S.A. prick, A. EL, Esq. 7 Raj an pur. Punjab, India,

Duncan, J, Dabyiuple, Esq,, 211, Hope Street, Glasgow.

Durrctt, 11. T., Esq., Louisville, Ky.^ U,S*A,

Egle, W. H,, Esq* j Comiu on wealth of Pennsylvania Library, Harrisburg, Pa*, U,S,A*

Empson, Charles W., Esq,, 3, Cleveland Gardens, Hyde Park, W.

Emslie, J. P*, Esq., 47, Gray's Inn Road, W.C*

Enoch Pratt Free Libraiy, Baltimore City, U.S.A., per Mr. E, G* Allen* Evans, H, B., Esq*, Park View, Fairfax Road, Teddingfcon.

Evans, John, Esq., LL.D., F.R.S., PS.A, Flash Mills, Kernel Hempstead. Herts*

Fahie, J. J., Esq., SSfirnz, Persia, and Junior Travellers' Clnb, S, St. James's Square^ W* (Local Secretary)*

Fcllberg, Rev. H* F. Durum, Bramminge Street, Denmark,

FfenncH, Miss Margaret, 172, Tlie Grove, Hammersmith*

Fitzgerald, David, Esq., 3, P or ten Road, Hammersmith, W,

Fletcher, Miss A/0., Temple Hotel, Washington, D.C., ILS.A Floury, Profr. Jeau, 33, Rue des Gfficicrs, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Forking, Major-Gen. J* G. R. f 11, Douglas Crescent, Edinburgh*

Foster, J* J V1 Esq., 114, New Bond Street, W* (Hon. Secretary).

Franks, Augustus W., Esq., MA_, F.R.S., F.S.A, British Mueeim Frazer, J. G. s Esq., M.A., Trinity College, Cambridge*

Freer, Wm* J., Esq., Stonoygate, near Leicester.

Freshfield, Edwin, Esq., F.S.A-, 5, Bank Buildings, E.C*

Friend, Rev. Hilderic

Fry, Rev. F. C., B.D., The Schools, Berkhanjp^tead*

Gastei, Rev* Dr*, 34, Warwick Road, Maid a Hill, N.W. George, Charles \Y, t Esq., 51, Hampton Road, Clifton, Bristol,

Gho&J, M., Esq., 4, Theatre Road, Calcutta, India.

Gibbs, Henry H., Esq., St. Dun stall’s, Regent’8 Park, N.W*

Gladstone, J. H., Esq., 17, PeinMdgc Square, W.

Gladstone, The Right Hon. W. E fJ M.P., Ha warden, Cheshire.

Glasgow University Library, per Messrs. Maclehose, 61, St. Vincent Street, Glasgow.

Glasgow Archieologkal Society, per Messrs. Muclehose, 01, St. Vincent Street, Glasgow.

Codden, Miss Gertrude M., Ridgefield, Wimbledon.

GoHancz, J., Esq., Christ's College, Cambridge.

Gomrne, G, L., Esq, F.S.A., 1, Beverley Villas, Barnes Common, S.W. (Director),

Goonetilleke, W., Esq,,: Kandy, Ceylon.

Gosseliu, Hellier, Esq., BLtkesware, Ware, Herts.

! Gottingen, The University Li briny, per Messrs, Asher and Co,

Green, Miss Marian* Girls’ High School, Blackburn.

Green , Frank, Esq., Argyll House, St. J runes s Road t Croydon.

Greig, A., Esq., 36, Belmont Gardens, Hilllieajl, Glasgow.

Gregor, Rev. Walter, PitaKgo, Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire (Local Secretary). Grierson, Geo. A., Esq., care of Messrs, Grindlay and Co., Calcutta.

Gutch, Mrs,, Holgate Lodge, York.

Guyotj Monsieur Yves, Depute, 95, Rue de Seine, Paris,

GWynne, James E. A.* Esq., F.S.A,, 97, Harley Street, W.

Hadden, Professor A. C., M.A * M.R.LA, F.L.S., 13, Palmerston Road, llathmincs, Dublin.

Haig, James Richard, Esq., Union Club, Trafalgar Square.

Hamilton, A. t H., Esq., Fort Wayne, Indians, U.S.A.

Hamilton, Itf. E,, Esq., Savile Club, 107, Piccadilly, W.

Hannah, Robert, Esq,,S2, Addison Road, Kensington, W.

Hardy, G. F., Esq., 5, Whitehall, S.W.

Harley, Rev, T,, F.R.A.S., 15, St. John's Vilhis. East Dulwich, S.E,

Harris, J, Chandler, Esq., Atlanta, Ga., U.S.A.

Harris, Miss Emily, 9, Queen’s Square, Bloomsbury, W.C- Harris, W. C., Esq,, Main Street, Pembroke,

Harrison, W., Esq., The Horsehills, Wolverhampton.

Hart, Professor J, M., Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, U.S.A.

Hart land, E, Sidney, Esq., F.S.A.. Barn wood Court, Gloucester.

Harthmd, J. C., Esq., care of Messrs. Hunt and Co.* Poet-office Box 11, Yokohama, Japan,

Harvard College Library, per Messrs. Trabner and Co., Ludgate Hill, E.C. Heape, Charles, Esq,, Glebe House, Rochdale.

Hemenway, Mrs, Mary, JO, Mt. Vernon Street, Boston, Mass., U.S.A, # Hcrberteon, John T,, Esq., Port Dundaa, Glasgow,

Hervey, D, F* A., Esq., The Residency, Malacca, per Messra. Henry King

and Co.

Ojficers and Members.

tfcthpriugton, J. M,, Esq., 4, Lanark) wn Road, Wotting Hill, W.

XT^vrifct, J. F.* Esq,, Revoke Lodge, Walton-on-Thames.

Higginson, T. W., Esq,, 25, Buckingham Street, Cambridge, Mas$,, U,S*A. Hitchmrtn, John, Esq., Oak Villa, Acock s Green, near Birmingham.

Hodgkin, John, Esq*, 12, Dynover Bond, Richmond, S. W,

Hodgson, B. H,, Esq,, K.L.H., F.L.S., etc.. The Grange, Ahierley, Woottouunder-Edge.

Hodgson, E. TX f Esq., Hartford House, Montpellier Place, Brighton, Hollingsworth, Miss M,, care of Messrs. Morris and Co., Pan, Franco.

Hope, J. Bad ford, Esq*, J.P., Rosfchern, Redliill, Surrey.

Howard, David, Esq., Rectory Manor, Walthamstow, E.

Hull Subscription Library, Hull.

Hurl but, Theodore D., Esq,, 104, Hicks Street, Brooklyn, IJ.S.A. (care of Baring Eros.).

Hutt, A. Granger, Esq., F.S.A., 8, Os ford Rond, Kilburn, N.W.

Jackson, E., Esq,, 10, Palace Road, Surbiton.

Jackson, Rev. Francis W., Bolton Percy, Tadcasfcer,

Jacobs, Joseph, Esq., 4, Hazel mere Road, Kilburn, N.W.

Johnston, Francis John, Esq., Lamas, ChMehurst.

Jones, His Honour Judge D. Bryumor, The Lawn, Woodchester, Gloucestershire.

Jones, William, Esq., Abberly Hall, Stcurpott.

Jones, Charles C., Esq., Si 1, Broad Street, Augusta, Georgia. U.S.A.

Joyce, J. Heath, Esip, Freshford, South Hill, Bromley, Kent.

Katona, Professor Dr* L , Funfkireken, Hungary.

Kelly, William, Esq., F*S.A. ? Ivy Lodge, Alexandra Ruud, Staueygatc, Leicester.

Ker, Charles, Esq., 1, Windsor. Terrace, Glasgow, N.B.

Kcrmack, John, Esq., University Club, Edinburgh*

Key, Miss Janet, Leiston, Suffolk.

Key, Thomas, Esq*. Leiston, Suffolk.

Kho, Taw Sein, Esq., Government Translator, Rangoon, British Burundi. Kinahun, G. H., Esq,, M.R.LA,, Woodlands, FaJrview, Dublin (Local Secretary). Kincaid, Colonel W*, per Messrs. A. Fletcher, No. 2, St. Helena Place, E.C. King, Major J* S„ 13th Bombay Infantry, Quetta, Beluchistau, per Messrs.

H. S. King and Go. -*|[£

King, L. White, Eeq*, C.S., 52, Lanstloume Road, Dublin.

Kirby, W. F., Esq., 5, Burlington Gardens, Chiswick.

Klineksieck, Herr, Pam, per Messrs. Longmans and Co*, Paternoster Row, E.C*

Koehler, Herr K. F., 2d, Umveraitat^struBse, Leipzig (two copies)*

Kohler, Dr. Reinhuld, Grose herzoglichc Bibliothek, Weimar.

Knob Rebar, His Highness the Mahdrdjah of T All pur, Calcutta, India. Lach-Szyrroa, Rev, W. S., M,A. s St* Peter's Vicarage, Newlyn, Penzance*'

Lambing, Bev. A. A. ? Withinsberg, Pa., U.SA.

Lang,. A., Esq* M.A., l t Mil does Road, Kensington (President).

Larkin, Rev. E, P H , Gat ton Tower, Ueigate.

LaytoDf C* Miller, "Esq*, Short lands, Folkestone,

Loaf, Walter, Esq,, 6, Sub.sok Place, Regent^ Park, NAY Leather, F. de M., Esq., 17, Tavistock Place, W.C,

Lehiacj, G. G., Esq* care Baring Bros*, 8, Bishopsg&te Street Within, E.C. Lotts, Charles, Esq.,,1, Grange Street, Rod Lion Square, W,G.

Lewis, J. ft, Esq., Ceylon Civil Service, Matam, Southern Province, Ceylon. Library of the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree, etc., for England,Wales, and the Colonics, S3, Golden Square, \V.

Library of the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree, etc,, 433, Third Street, Washington, District of Columbia, TLEbA,, care of A. Pike, Esq. Lichfield, Very Rev, The Dean of. Deanery, Lichfield.

Linilsay, Lady, 41, Hans Place, W.

Lock! a art, J. H. Stewart, Esq., Registnir-Gencral and Member o£ the Legislative Cotin edit Hong Kong (Local Secretary for China).

London Institution, Finsbury Circus, E.C.

London Library, St, Janiea J s Square, S.W.

Lowy, Bov. A*, 100, Sutherland Avenue, Maida Vale, W,

Lubbock, Sir John, Dart*, MJ, F.R.S., High Ehm, Beckenham, Kent (Vice- President).

MacaulifFe, His Honour Judge, Sialkot, Punjab, India.

MiicBidiij Alex., Esq., M.A., Raininga School, Inverness,

McCarthy, Justin Huntly, Esq., M.P., 20, Chcyue Gardens, Cholsea, SAV.

Me Corked, Gilmour, Esq,, C.S., 07, Lad broke Road, W.

McCormick, Rev. F. II, I,, Whitehaven, Cumberland,

MaeCullocb, Sir Edgar, F.S.A., Guernsey,

Alack inlay, Dr,, 6, Great Western Terrace, Kelvin side, Glasgow.

Mftckmnon, Surgeon-General, 23, Evelyn Gardens, South Kensington, S.W. Mitclagan. R, Craig, Esq., 5, Coates Crescents Edinburgh.

Macmillan, Alexander, Esq,, F.S.A., Bedford Street, Covent Garden, W. G. MacNeil, CapL Alex,, 3. Whitehall Gardens, S.W,

Mac Hitch if, David, Esq,, 4, Archibald Place, Edinburgh.

Man, E. H., Esq.j care of A. T. Man. Esq., 2, Palace Road, Surbiton. Manchester Free Library, King Street, Manchester.

Manucha, KauoJ Alai, Rat Bahadur of Fyzerabad, Oudh, India.

Mars ton, E., Esq., St. Dunstan s House, Fetter Lane, E.C. Martinengo-Cesaresco, The Countess, Palazzo Martfnengo, Salo, Lago di Garda, Italia.

Matthews, MLs Elizabeth, The Hollies, Swaffhaui, Norfolk.

Meiidham, Miss Edith, Oaynliam Villa, Richmond Road, Clifton.

Mercantile Library, Philadelphia, U.S.A., per Air. E. G. Allen.

Michel, Mona. C-, 2, Hue de Nassau, Gaud, Belgium.

Mickleth waits, J. T., Esq., F.S.A,, 15, D carps Yard, Westminster.

Middlesbrough Free Library, per ft L, Kirby, Esq., Treas,, Lintkorpe, Middlesbrough.

Mitchell Library, 60, Ingram Street, Glasgow,, care of F, T. Barrett, Esq., Librarian.

MoncriefF, It Hope, Esq., Savile dub, 307, Piccadilly, W.

Mond, Mi's. Frida, The Poplars. 20, Avenue Road, N.W.

Moore, Howard W., Esq., Stanley Street, Liverpool.

Moore, C. H., Esq., Clinton, His., TLS.A.

Morris, Rev. It, LL.I>., Lordship Lodge, Wood Green, N.

Morrison, Theodore, Esq., 5, Lambolle Road, Eton Avenue, N.W.

Mottram, J., Esq., Bank Street, Norwich.

Munich Royal Library, per Messrs. Asher and, Co.

Murdoch, J. E. # Esq,

Murray-Ay nsley, Mrs. J. C., Great Brampton, near Hereford.

Naak6, John T,, Esq., The Library, British Museum, W.C.

Natesa Sastri, Pandit Qsaurpeta, Bangalore, Mysore.

Nesfield, John P., Esq ? Inspector of Schools, Lucknow, Oudh, India, Newberry Library, Chicago, per Mr. B. F. Stevens, 4, Trafalgar Square, Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society, Newcas tle-on-Tyne.

Nichols, RoheiJ Cradoek, Esq., F.S.A., 5, Sussex Place, Hyde Park. Nicholson, Mrs., East House, Norham, Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Nottingham Free Public Library, care of J. Potter Briscoe, Esq.

Nutt, Alfred, Esq., 270, Strand, W.C.

Oakley, W., Esq,, Hewball, Derbyshire.

Oldham, Surgeon - General, Dhurmsala, Punjab.

Olya, Mons., 11, Rue St. Sulpioe, Paris.

O'Neill, John, Esq., Trafalgar House, Selling, FaYersham.

Ordish, T. F. t Esq., F.S.A., Kilby Cottage, Ellison Road, Barnes, S.W. Owen, Hugh, Esq., 12, Porteus Road, Paddington, W.

Owen, Rev. Elks, Efeiiecktyd Rectory, Ruthin, X. Wales.

Owen, Mrs. Mary A., St. Joseph, Missouri, U.S.A.

Paiee, William, Esq., 20, Bhmdford Read, Bedford Park, Chiswick.

Park, M. Gaston* Membre de Flnstitut, 110, Rue de Bac, Paris.

Peabody Institute. Baltimore. U S., per Mr, E. G. Allen.

Peacock, Edward* Esq., F.S.A., Bottesford Manor, Brigg, Lhujolnshire. PfedroaOj Professor Z. Consfgiieri, Travessa de Lazaro Lcitao, 2—l 3 Lisbon. Perry, T. S., Esq,, care of MH. Perier fibres & Cie., 59, Rue de Provence, Park. Philadelphia, The Library Company of, U.S.A., per Mr. E, G. Allen.

Fineau, Mons. Ldou, 60, Boulevard Beranger, Tours, Franco.

Pitt-Rivers, General, Riishmore, Salisbury, riohx, Mans. Charles, 1, Quai Malaquak, Paris,

Plymouth Institution and Devon and Cornwall Nat. Hist. Society (S. Cater, Esq.)

5 6 '

Pockliugton-Coltinan, Mrs., Ilagmtby Priory, Spilsby, Lines*

Ponsonby. Hon. Gerald, 51, Green Street, Grosvenor Square, W.

Porter, Miss R., 16, Russell Square, W.C.

Potts, W. pJ.j.Esq., 529, Cooper Street, Camden, New Jersey, USA*

Power, D’Arcy, Esq., M.A*, M*B., 20, Bloomsbury Square, W. G.

Powis, The Etirl of, 45, Berkeley Square, W,

Price, F. G . Hilton, Esq,, 29, Weymouth. Street, Portland Place, W.

Pryor, F, R*, Esq,

Pullen, Charles L*, Esq,, Memphis, Tenn., U.S.A.

Pusey, S, E, Bouvetie, Esq., 21, Gro&venor Street, W*

Pye, William A,, Esq., 21, Daleham Gardens, Hampstead, N.W.

x

Read, David, Esq,, Wickham Market, Suffolk,

Reade, John, Esq,, 157, Laval Avenue, Montreal, Canada,

Reeves, A. M,, Esq., Richmond, Indiana, U.S.A,, per Mr, E* G, Allen*

Rhys, Professor John, 87, Banbury lload, Oxford*

Riesfconigee, C., Esq., Glmzipur, India,

Risley, JI. H., Esq,, core of Messrs, IT. S, King and Co., Pall Mall. Rivett-Carnae, J. H*, Esq., C.I.E., F.S.A., MJLAS, F.G.S., Ghazipur, India*

Robinson, John, Esq., 0, Cknppington Street, Newcastle on-Tyne.

Rowley, Walter, Esq*, Alder Hill, Moan wood, Leeds*

Russell, Mrs. J* H*, Canterbury House, Oxford*

Sanborn, John W,, Esq,, Lockport, New York, USA*

Sanctis, Mrs. M* de t 138, Sinclair Road, W*

Saunders, J* Ebenezer, Esq., F.S.A., F.L.S., 9, Finsbury Che nr, EX’, Saussaye, Pr ofessor P. D. C., 343, Kei^erpgracb t, Amsterdam*

Savage, Rev, E. B., St* Thomas 1 Vicarage, Douglas, Isle of Man*

Sawyer, Frederick E., Esq., F.S.A., 31, Bucking Run Place, Brighton*

Boyce, Prof* A* H. t Queen’s College, Oxford*

Schrcck, Mrs, E*, An der PleRse 8, Leipzig*

Scott, J. G., Esq., per R. F* Scott, Esq., St, John’s College, Cambridge,

SebflJot, Monsieur Paul, 4, Rue de TOdeon, Pari&

Ben, Dr. K hum das, Berhampore, Bengal

Sheppard, W, F*, Esq. T M.A., LL. M, ; 2, Temple Gardens, Temple, E.G* Shilleck, J. JL, Esq*, 1, Portland Mansions, Baker Struct, W.

Skrine, H, P*, fcsq., Claverton Manor, Bath,

Skck, John B., Esq., 31, Queen Victoria Street, E.C*

Sourindro, Mokun Tagore Raja, 47, Pathuria Ghata, Raj Bali, Calcutta. Soutkam, J, Clement, Esq., Elmhurst, Shrewsbury.

Spieknan, J*, Esq*, 3, Weatbourne Grove, Hyde Park, W.

St* Helen's Corporation Free Library, Alfred Lancaster, Esq*, Librarian, Tow n Hall, St. Helen’s.

St, John, R. F, St, Andrew, Esq*, DunclHFe, The Common* Ealing.

Steel, F. A,, Esq*, Gujranwalu, Punjab*

VOL* I* p p

Stephens, Professor Dr, George. F.3.A., Copenhagen.

Stephens, Rev. W. It. W, f 3U, Woolbetling Rectory, Midhurst, Sussex, Stephenson, C, H*, Esq,, 22. Soften Street, Southport, Lancs,

Stock, Elliot, Esc]., Fern Lodge, litfillfielti Lane, High gate J&e. Stockholm, ltoj.il Library of, per Messrs. Longmans anti Co.

Stoddard, Dr. E. V., M.D., Rochester, New York. U.S,A V Stokes, Whitley, Esq., 15, Grenville Place, 3.W.

Stuart, J., Esq.

Stuart, Mrs. Alexander, 19, Regent Terrace, Edinburgh,

Suttey, Kfe Helen, West Street, Wivcliseombe, Sumer set,.

Swalnson, ltov. Charles, The Rectory, Old Charlton.

Swymierton, Rev. Charles, Chaplain, Lahore, Punjab, India,

Sydney Free Public Library, per Messrs. Trubner and Co.

Tabor, Charles, Esq, r 11, Victoria Road, Forest Cate, Eases,

Taylor, George, Esq., care of Commissioners of Custom, Canton.

Taylor Institution, Oxford, per Messrs. Parker and Co,, 6, Southampton St., Strand.

Taylor, Miss Helen, Avignon, France.

Temple, Captain lb Canute, The Palace, Mandalay,- Upper Burmah (Local Secretary).

'Ferry, F. C. Birtbeck, Esq., The Paddocks, Palgrave, Diss. Norfolk. Thompson, Professor D’Arcy W,, Dundee.

Tolhursfc, Jolm, Esq., F.S.A., Glenbrook, Beckenham, Kent (Auditor). Torquay Natural History Society, care of Wra. Pengelly, Esq. (Hon, Seed Traherne, George M*, Esq,, Coedriglan, Cardiff.

Travancore, His Highness the MahArftjdh of, Himer, Cvltcherry, T re valid rum, Tremlett, J., Esq,, Hil lands, Dedham, Essex,

Turnbull, A. H., Esq., Mount Henley, Sydenham Hill, S.E,

Tylor, Dr. Edward B., F.R.S,, The Museum House, Oxford (Vice-President).

Udal, J. S., Esq,, Attorney-General, Fiji Islands.

Ye itch, Profeasor LL.D., Glasgow University.

Vernon, The Hoc. Mrs. Warren, 34, Qimvunor Place, S.W.

Venilam, The Right lion, the Earl of, Gorhambury. St, Albania

r

Wadia, Miss lhittibal. Kumbnla Hill, Bombay.

W&lhouse, M. J. ; Esq., 28, Hamilton Terrace, St. John's Wood, NAY.

Walker, Dr. Robert, Budleigh Sal teuton, Devon, per E. W. Watson, Esq , 22, Highbury New Part, N.

Walpole, Horace, Esq., India Office, White ball.

Walton, Charles, Esq., Ardenhurst, Culverden, Tunbridge Wells.

Waikinson Library, Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.A.

Watt, Dr, George, C.I.E.. Revenue and Agricultural Department, Simla. India.

Wellington, J. TL r Esq., 24, Heath Terras, Leamington.

Wheatley, Henry B., Esq , F.S.A., 2, Oppidans Road, Primrose Hill f N.W. White, George, Esq., Court House, Epsom.

White, His Excellency The Right Hon. Sir William A., C.R., H.BJVL Ambaaaadttf and Plenipotentiary, etc., etc., Extraordinary, Constantinople. Williams, Sydney, Esq , 11, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, W.C. * Williams, A. M., Esq., 2, Weybosset Street, Providence, K.L, U S.A. Williamson, Rev. Charles A^ care of Mrs. Stephenson, Paradise Villas, Longvr^nd, Huddersfield.

Wil sou, A1 fred, Esq.

Wilson, William, Esq., 42, Gifford Street, Glasgow.

Woman’s Anthropological Society, Wiediiogton, D.C., U.S.A, ; Mrs. F. P. Spofford, Treasurer, care of Mrs. M. P. Seaman, 1,424, Eleventh Street, NAV. Washington, D.G, U.S.A,

Wood, R, TL, Esq., F.S.A., F.R.G.S., Peurkos House, Rugby.

Woodall, Edward, Esq., Wingthorpo, Oswestry.

Worcester Free Public Library, Mnas^ U.S.A., per Messrs, Triibner and Co, Wratislnw, Rev. A, H., 90, Manor Road, Stoke Newington, N.

Wright, W. A Id is, Esq., M.A., Trinity College, Camliridgs,

Wurbzburg, J. H., Esq., Clavering House, 2, Be Greys Hoad, Leeds.

[Pages 1-122 mil k found in Folk-Lore Journal , Vd. VIL]

Supplement: Tabulation of Folk-Tales

pro. 47,]

Title of Story— Cinderella,

Dramatis Personae, —Rich man ; Jih Wif*.—Their daughter Cinderella.— Stop-mo ther.^Step-sisters.—White bird,—King,— -Two white pigeons,— Turtledoves*—Other birds,—King's Son,

Abstract of Story* —(1) Rich nun's wife, before <3yfn£ bids her only daughter be good ; God will protect her t she will be always near her. Maiden goes daily and weeps at mother's grave; her father soon takes auother wife*—(2) She brings with her two daughters, fair-faced, but evil-naturcd, who persecute the step-daughter, and dress her in an okl gown and wooden shoes. She is made to do all the kitchen-work, while step-sisters tease her, emptying peas and lentils into the ashes for her to pick out again. As she sleeps on hearth and looks always grimy, she is called Cinderella*—(3) One day father asks step-daughters wlufc he shall bring them from Mr. “Beautiful dresses,” says one* “Pearls and jewels,” says the second* Cinderella being asked, begs for the first branch which knocks against his hat on way home. Father brings gifts, and for Cinderella a branch of hazel.—(4) She plants it on mother's grave, watering it with tears. Tt grows to a tree; thrice a day she sits beneath it T and a little white bird perches on branches and brings down whatever she wishes.—(5) King appoints three days' festival, to which all beautiful girls are invited, that his son may choose a bride. Step-sisters go and order Cinderella to chess them. She begs step-mcihcr to let her go too,—(6) They mock at her dirty clothes ; step-mother empties dish of lentils into the ashes, saying she shall go if she has picked them out in two hours, Cinderella goes to garden, calls pigeons, turtledoves, and all birds to help her put w the good into the pot,, the bad into the crop n * Two white pigeons, followed by turtledoves and other birds, come and collect all the good grain on a dish.— (7 ) They fly off again ; Cinderella takes dish to step-mother, who forbids her going to ball because she has not fine clothes, and cannot dance. Cinderella weeps; step-mother says if in one hour she am pick two dishes of lentils out of ashes she shall go. Cinderella again calls birds,

2 I

who perform the task for her. (Step-mother still forbids her going, and hastens to ball with her daughters*—(8) Cinderella goes to mother's grave, and cries ; K Shiver and quiver, little tree ; Silver and gold throw down over me. 1 ' Bird throws a gold and silver dress down to her. and slippers embroidered with silk and silver. These she dons, and goes to ball—(9) Step-mother and step-sisters think her beautiful foreign princess ; prince will dance with no one else, and would escort her home,— (10) To escape from him she springs into pigeon-house. Prince telle her father that stranger maiden m in pigeon-house* and he wonders whether it is Cinderella. Pigeon-house is hewn to pieces; no .one is inside,—(Id) For Cinderella has jumped clown, run to hazel tree, laid her clothes on grave for bird to hike away, and, when parents and stepsisters return home, is sitting among the ashes in her old gown.—(12) Next day, when they go to ball, she goes to hazel-tree, and asks, as before, for apparel. Bird throws down more beautiful dress, and, when she appears at ball, prince wonders at her beauty, dances with her, and again wants to escort her home.-—(13) But she slips from him into garden, and clambers up pear-tree. Her father is told, this, and, wondering whether it be Cinderella, he cuts tree down ; hut no one is on it.—(14) For, having jumped down and returned her dress to bird, Cinderella dons her old grey gown, and sits amongst the ashes.^-(15) The third day she gets a still more magnificent dress and golden slippers from bird, and astonishes everybody at ball.—(16) Prince is so anxious to follow her home that he has staircase smeared with pitch, and, when she runs down it, her left slipper is dragged off,—(17) Prince picks it lip, and next day takes it to Cinderella's father, declaring he will wed none whom it does not hfc*-“(lS) Elder step-sister tries it on; cannot get her big toe ill to it; mother makes her cut off big toe, force her foot into shoo, and go out to prince.—(19) He rides away with her ; but, as they pass grave, two pigeons, sitting on hazel-tree, cry :

tl Turn and peep, turn and peep.

There’s blood within the shoe,

The shoe it is too small for her.

The true bride waits for you,”

(20) Prince sees blood streaming from her foot, takes her back and tells other sister to try on shoe.—(21) She finds her heel too huge, cute a bit ofi, and forces shoo on.—(22) Prince tides off with her; hears pigeons cry out same verse ; sees her foot Heeds, and takes her back to father, asking if he has no other daughter*—(23) " Only the little stunted kitchen-wench.” Step-mother says she is much too dirty to show her* self. Prince will see her; having washed hands and face Cinderella appears, receives golden slipper from him, and slips it on her foot m place of wooden one. Prince recognises maiden who danced with him, and cries, f This Is the true bride.”—(24) Step-mother and step-sisters arc furious, but he rides away with Cinderella. As they pass hazel-tree two white doves cry;

u Turn and peep, turn and peep,

No blood is in the shoe.

The shoe is not too small for her,

The true bride rides with you.”

They % down and perch on Cinderella's shoulders, and remain there.^- (25) When wedding is celebrated, step-sisters seek favour with Cinderella. As the betrothed couple go to church, elder step-sister is on right side, younger on left, and pigeons peck out one eye of each. Returning, step-sisters change sides, and pigeons peck out other eye of each, Thus blindness is their punishment henceforth.

Alphabetical Lists of Incidents —

Ball. Cinderella goes to ; dances with Prince (9) (12) (16)*

Big toe. eldest step-sister's cut off, to make shoe fit (1&).

Bird, white, hits on hazel-tree (4) ; gives dresses, shoes, and golden slippers to C. (£) (12) (15)*

Cinderella puts on golden shoe j Is recognised by Prince (23).

Dead mother watches over Cinderella (1).

Doves, two white, peck out step-deters 5 eyes (25).

Dress and shoes returned by Cinderella to bird (11) (14).

False brides exposed by two pigeons (19} (22)*

Gifts chosen by throe daughters from father (3).

Gold and silver dreas, bird throws down to Cinderella ($)*

Hazel-branch given to Cinderella ; planted by her at mother's grave (4). Heel, younger step-sister's, cut off to make shoe fit (21).

(Helpful animals), birds, pick out lentils from ashes for Cinderella (6) (/}* Di-treatment, step-mother’s and step-sisters’, of Cinderella (2)*

Marriage of Prince and Cinderella (25)*

Pear-tree, Cinderella hides In t cut down by father (13)*

Pigeon-house, Cinderella hides in; cut down by father (10)*

Pigeons warn Prince of step-sisters’ deception (19).

Pitch, staircase smeared with, to detain Cinderella (16).

Prince dances with Cinderella (9) (12) (10).

Prince marries Cinderella (25)*

Prince rides off with step-sisters (19) (22).

Shoe, gulden, dropped by Cinderella at ball (16),

Shoe, golden, picked up by Prince (17)*

Slippers, golden, given by bird to Cinderella (15).

Step-mother and step-sisters ill-treat Cinderella (2).

Talking-birds (19) (22) (24)*

Task, set by step-mother, for Cinderella to pick lentils from ashes (6) (?)* Three days’ festival for Prince to choose most beautiful bride (5).

Tree, magical (4)* J «»■

True bride recognised by two w'hite doves (24),

Trying-on of golden shoe (IS) (20) (23). -

2 i 2

Where published— Grimm's Household Tales, London, 1SSL Tale No.

21, voL 2 , pp, 93-100.

Nature of Collections Translation by Margaret Hunt.

Special Points noted by the Editor of the above, —See Editor’s notes, voL I, pp, 364*03, where reference is made to other local German variants, and to etymology of Aechenputtel.

Remarks by tllS Tab ul at or —There is interchange of certain incidents in the “ Cinderella”, “ AllerleUauli”, and “ Easbie Coatie” groups, and the variants cited here may, in several cases, be applied to each group for purposes of comparison. Cf. Archaeological Review t March 1839, article by Karl Blind, Arndt, Mdrchcn und Jug cutler inn cmngcn, ii, 281- 320/hVsehenbrodeU 3 Aebjornsen og Hoe, Nor alee. FolkccvcMyr, No, 19. Bechstem, Deutsches Mtirrfienbuch, pp. 232-35, u Aschenbrodel.' Eernoni. No. 8. Biisching, WbchenU. Nachrkhtm^ i, 13740, “ Ueber die Murehen von Asehenbroder; ct ibid., h, 185-38, i£ AschenbrodeT 3 ; and iv, p. 01. Busk, F.'L. JStwi^/p. 26 , e( La Cenerentola ,f ; p, 31 , tl Vuccarella." Galloway, Z. T. t p t 230. Campbell, i, 21D, No. siv, .** The King who wished to many bis Daughter” j ii, 286, No. xliii, Lt The Sharp Grey Sheep.' Chambers, Fop. Rhymes of Scotland , p. 06, t[ Kashle Coatie.” Corpus Poetic itnt. Fcreak, ii, 345, 347. Crane, It Pop, Tales, P 42, ** Cinderella”; p, 48, tf Fair Maria Wood'’; and far other Italian versions see p, 336, Daseut, Norse Tales y cxliv, and p, 357, <r Katie W oodendoak.” D’Anlnoy, Conies des Fees, “ La Finette,” Denton, Serbian Folk-lore, u Papalluga/ 1 DcnEn, Contes do rm Mire VO ye, pp. 265, 266. F, L. Rcc* f i, 188, £f La Cenerentola” (Oomparetti) ; 19 2, ff Ugly Gourd”; hi, I, « Catskin 3 " ; 237, 211, Icelandic « GindereUa.” F, lj. Journal, ii, 72, u The Hod Calf' (from AbordeenBliire ; Heroine called Easlun-contie) ; 2378, Folk-lore of Modern Greece; 252, Tabulation of “ Maria la Ceniciental Ibid., iii, 301, « .Maria the Cinder-Maiden” (Chilian pop. tale). Ibid. iv, 3QS ff tJi Hartland on u The Outcast Child."' Geldart, F. L. Mod . Greece, ft Little Saddleslut* and <( The Goat Girl". Grimm, No 65, 41 Allerleiranh” Tout Myth,, 388. Gubernatis, vol. i, PP* 31, 182, 105, 208, 241, 291, 293. Hahn, £?**. If tirche ft, Nos, 2, 27 ; and ii, 224 ff. Household StoHes from Land of Hofer, “Kleine Else/ 1 Kennedy, Fireside Storks of Ireland , fi Cat skin.” Lang, Ferranti, lxxxvicii. Longman's Magaknc, Feb. 1889, p. 441,“ Cap q' Rushes”. Magyar Jalcs, F. L» Soc., p. 207, “The Widower and his Daughter/ 1 and notes, lh 401- XIX Cent,* Nov, 1879* Ralston's article on <f Cinderella”. Ortoli, Les Conies pop, tk Vile de Corse, p, 48. Pentamerone, “ La Gatta Cone* rentola, Perrault, Contes da Temps passe, u Cendrilloii”, Pio, Conics pop, Orm, SafiapQKovraovhov. Portuguese Fotic-Tak*, F. L. Sac., No. xvi. The Princess who would not marry her Father” ; No. xviii, a The

Hearth-Cat” ; No. xsiv, tc The "Midden and the Fish/* Stiff as from the Far Eti $£, p. ISO; Sohlemher,p* 10 ; ScJmeHer, No. 24. Schott, Walachische Mdrchtn, 100-105, “Die Kaisertoehfcer Chins ekir tin*' 1 S6billot, CmtespopMela Hmtc Bretagne, p. 15 ; Shriek, No, is* <c The Wonderful Birch” Sodewa Bai Taylor, Gammr Grelkd ; or German Fairy Tales, etc*, p; 332 (Welsh version). Thorpe, Yule Tide Stories, p* 112, “The Little GoldKhoe*’; p. 375, “The Girl clad in HouaG8km* ,, Veraaleken In the Land of Marvels, p. ISA Vuk Ehrajick, No. 32. Winther, Danske Fdkeevcntyr, pp* 12-17, “ De to Kougedottre* 1 * Woycicki, Poljt ische VoUmagm und Marchen , s< Die EIcke und der Sehaafpelz, ” Wmtis* law, Sixty Folk-tales (Slavonic) p, 1S1, ** Cinderella.” ZIngerle, No, 16. For inc* 1, see Grimm, Tmt. Myth., 1229, 1693* Ralston, R. F, T, p: 159.

For inc. 2, see Tabulators remarks in No. 14, ante, p, 37, and cf t Yernaleken, p. 161, 41 Moriandle and Sugurkandle ”

For inc. 3, ef. F. L* Journal, II., 241,

For Lucs. 4, 8,12. 15, see Grimm, Teat. Myth,, 872, Gypsy-Lore Journal,

i, 81, tS Tale of a Foolish Brother and of a Wonderful Bush.” Uhildrcnls Ley ends, No. 10, “ The Hazel Branch.' See also Theal, Kafir Folk-lore, “The Wonderful Horns. 1 ' For wishing-trees, ef. Daseut, Norse Tales, liv, and pp. 420, 433. Comp, the wishing-tree which bears clothes, etc., and wine, in McgadiUa (ed. Sebuta, pp* 257), For speaking-trees cf* Callaway, Z. T r , p, 188; Dasent, pp, 113> 428, 440 ; Day, Folk-tales of Bengal, p. 281; Stokes, Ind. Faii'y Tales , p. 202 ; Theal t Kaffir Folk-lore, p* 50 (trees which laugh); Thorpe, Y- T. Stories, pp* 17, 43, 99, 369, 429; Wide-Awake Stories, 179-80,181-3* Comp. Hiawatha's appeal to forest-trees, and green reed's address to Psyche (Apuleius). See also Grimm, Teut, Myth 1202, note. For other magical trees, cf* Callaway, Z. T., pp. 51, 218 ; Campbell, i 235, 237; Grey, Polyn. Myth, 11M4 ; Tylor, .Early Mist., p, 356.

For incs* 6, 7 (Tasks), see Tabulator's remarks in No* 19, ante, pp. 56, 57, and cf* Busk, F. L. Rome, No. 5* F. L. Journal, i, 320 Jf*;

ii, 13 If. Geldart, F. L. Mod. Greece, p. 44, li T he Snake, the Dog, and the Cat. 11 Guberoatfe, I, p, 38* Hahn, No. 37, and ii, 243* Magyar Folk-titles, F* L, Sac., pp* 18, 153, 192 (millet cleaning), 208* Pentamerone, “The Dove*” Satuja ja Tannoita , i, 41 The Wonderful Birch, 1 ' Stokes, Ind. Fairy Take, p* ISO* Veraaleken, hi the Land of Marvels, pp* 214, 220 fT* 227, 277 ff, 290 ff, 353-4, 359, Wolf, p* 138,

For helpful animals, see Tabulator's remarks in No. 17, ante. p. 46-7; and see F * L. Journal, i, 236, “ Folk-tales of the Malagasy* 1 * Magyar Tales, p. 207*

For inc. 17 (recognition by means of shoo), cf. jBKmi Variw Histories z iiii, cap* 32 (Rhodope and Psammeticus). F. L, Journal, i, 55, Irish Folk-tale (hero's glass shoe picked up by princess) ; said Itivicre, Contes pop). Kahylu, p. 196,

12 S

For ines, 19 t 22, 24, see Tabulator^ remarks on "talking-birds” in No. 19* ante, pp. 55-6 ; and see Chambers, Pap, Rhymes of Scotland, p. 56. F, L, Journal, ii, 72, 241. Yemaleken, 191, 207, 359, Birds betray false bride in Callaway, Z. T. t p. 121. For birds as messengers* see Am. F. L . Jourmlt ii, IS 7, 299-300 (jay-bird as DeviTs messenger). Comp. Odin's two ravens ; Apollo’s raven-messenger (Herod, iv r 16); and see Grimm* TeuL Myth., 147* 533, 671 ff, 1128, 1129, 14S4.

Maelvn Boa^fe Cox.

[No. 48.]

Title Of Story,—A Yard of Nose,

Dramatis Personae.—Orphan,—Host.—Host's wife and daughter. —Doctor (orphan disguised)Druggis%—Pretty peasant rgirL—Turk (orphan disghlscd) .—Servants.

Abstract of Story,—(I Orphan alone; no means, no shelter ; wanders over Campagna ; comes to fig-tree covered with ripe figs. Eats figs ; feels Ms nose queer - before he lias done It is a yard long. —(£) Wonders’ away from old habitations; conies to another fig-tree ; thinks things can't be worse; eats more figs; nose gets better and better ; donees with delight. “Now I know* how to make my fortune* 1 ' says he,— (3) Goes to town with basketful of figs from* first tree ; they are so tempting that many buy them; among foremost, host of iuu with wife and daughter; all their noses grow* a yard long. Hue and cry through town; everyone, with nose waggling, comes running, calling out, M Ho I Here l Wretch of a fruit seller,” but he is far out of the way—(4) Nest day disguises himself like doctor, in black, with long false beard.; comes into druggist’s shop ; gives himself out as great doctor * druggist tells him about noses; he says it’s just what he is good at. Pretty girl comes in ; he gives her some paste made of figs of other tree j her nose grow-s right; druggist publishes cure-—(5; Innkeeper secures him first; false doctor asks four thousand scudi apiece ; cures host, then daughter ; says he w T ill take: her hand instead of price ; mother won t allow iti father says it ahall be; but he has to go and attend on customer ; wife calls servants, tells them to turn out doctor and give him a good heating; he goes on curing noses all day till ho has a lot of money, (6) Next day he comes back disguised as Turk 3 saying he too can cure noses ; mistress of inn welcomes him.; Turk, says liis treatment is effectual but rude; she is ready to submit to anything; tells her she must bo alone with him, and must give strict orders to servants not to come in whatever they hear ; this done, he gives her a beating that she feels effects of all her life,—(7) lie marries pretty peasant girl who is Ms first cure.

Doctor (orphan disguised] brings paste made of figs from second fig-tree to cure noses (4).

Fig-trees in Campagna ; orphan eats fruit of first; nose grows a yard long (1}. Eats of second ; nose cured (£),

Figs sold in the town (3).

Innkeeper’s daughter's nose cured ; doctor asks her hand (5).

Innkeepers hose cured) price four thousand scudi (o)*

Pretty peasant girl, first cure (4).

Turk (orphan disguised) offers to ern e wife (6); marries pretty peasant girl (7)*

W ife of innkeeper turns pretended doctor out for asking daughters hand (5) ; is beaten by pretended Turk, and left with her nose uh cured (ff).

WllOIB published-— Busks Folklore, of Rome, London, 1ST4* Tale ] S* pp* 136-41.

r

Mature of Collection, whether :—

1. original or Translation *—>Told in Italian to Misa Busk

2. If by icord of mouth } date narrator}& name.

3 * Other po rt iculars.

Special points noted by the Editor of the above—p. m.

Eemarhs by the Tabulator.— See Tabulator’s notes to No. 17 o£ tliis collection , u Twelve feet of Nose."

[No. id.]

Title Of Story,—The Magic Horse*

Dramatis PersOftSB*—Goldsmith.—Carpenter,—King ; queen.—Their son, —Little fieh,—Magic horse*—Another king and queen*—Their daughter. Widow of king’s chief gardener*—Maidens*-—Ministers*—Chief Minister* Captain of the Guard.—Washermen.—PoUee*—Boys,—Soldiers*

Ahsty^Ct Of Story.— Part /.— (I) Goldsmith and carpenter living in certain city arc brought before king to settle their quarrels ; each says he is the better workman ; king bids each%rbig specimen of his handiwork, by which he is to be judged. That day month they appear at palace; goldsmith brings little fish made of gold* silver* and jewels, which swims, dives, and eats in water like real fish ; carpenter opens a bundle, and builds up a magic horse, which he saddles and bridles, and horse walks.—(2) Carpenter wishes some one to mount, hut no one ventures till king’s son runs forward and vaults into saddle* Horae then gives snort and hound, and springs up into the air, through which he flies at a great rate* After long journey, prince touches by chance silver stud between horse's ears; this makes him descend, and he at length alights in a garden. It is dark, so prince takes horse to pieces, and goes to sleep with head on bundle*'—(3) Nest morning, widow of king’s chief gardener discovers him asleep. This widow had every morning to weigh king's daughter against a garland of flowers; king wishes princess not to fall in love against his will; and, if she has not seen a man’s face within palace, the garland weighs her down, Widow takes pity on prince, and gives him room and food in her own house, He asks about the garlands that she weaves daily, and at last she tells him the story, and he ia filled with longing to see princess.—(4) One night he mounts magic horse, which takes him to princess’s palace ; he sees her asleep, and leaves handkerchief near her, on which he has written with his blood, <4 Ohj lady* I love you—L love you/’ Does tins seven nights*—(5) Princess wonders ; on eighth night she determines to keep awake, so scratches finger and rubs in salt, so that smart prevents her sleeping. They have an interview, and in the morning princess weighs garland down.

Part //—(6) Widow is afraid, and in two or three days tells queen King consults ministers, who advise that it should be given out that princess h a * lost a jewel, and so palace must be searched for thief ' s but no way for a man to enter can be found* They then recommend that* as great festival is approaching when common people fling coloured pow der over each other, king should send princess a particular powder, which, if she has a lover, she will throw over him, and the stains will discover him. Princess is accordingly provided with powder of saffron and gold-dust; she and her maidens amuse themselves with it in the day, and at night, when prince comes, she flings handfuls over him. Fearing treachery from what she tolls him, he takes his clothes privately

to washermen beside river, and' gives them to a man t-o wash. Man, wishing to join sports In city, puts on prince s clothes for a jeke, mounts his donkey, and is found by police so dressed, followed by shouting boys. They take him before chief minister, to whom in a fright he relates hia story. —(7) Chief minister perceives that he speaks truth, and, suspecting who the prince ie s gives orders that on his next appearance ho shah be arrested; which Is done, and he is led off to execution. On the way, he asks permission of captain of the guard to enter widow s house, pretending that he wishes to bid his mother farewell. He brings out money and bundle containing horfee. Meanwhile princess, whose bower overlooks plain along wh^h they go, is told by one of her maidens what is to happen to prince ■ and she resoUrcs, if he Is executed, to leap from the tower and die with him. It is hot; they halt under tree by well ■ prince asks that he may climb tree and meditate, and captaiu tdiows him. He mounts tree, drops money among soldiers, and while they scramble for it/he puts magic horse together and tiles away on it to princess, whom he takes up behind him, and conveys safely to his father’s palace. They are married with great magnificence—(&) Carpenter and goldsmith receive handsome presents, and carpenter is judged the superior- Horse and fish are placed in royal treasury; but stud, in which horse's magic-power is, is removed, that no mishap may occur again. Horae performed in single night the journey that embassy to princess's parents takes whole year in doing.

Alphabetical List of Incidents ^Flowers weigh princess down if she has not seen & man's face (3).

Goldsmith and carpenter dispute ns to which is best workman (1),

Magic horse hies off with prince (2).

Magic horse loses its power when stud hi removed (8). (

Prince uses stratagems to save his life (7).

Princess practises stratagem to keep herself awake (5).

Seven nightly visits of prince to princess undiscovered (4).

Trick played upon princess to find out her lover (6).

Where published —Indian Fairy Tales. Murk Thornhill. London, 1882.

Tub No, 3, pp. 103-45.

1* Original or trav slat urn .—Taken down from oral narration of natives.

Special Points noted by the Editor of the above.— Nil

Remarks by the Tabulator— The magic horse is the 11 Enchanted Horae” of the tale of that name in Forster s’ Arabian Nights } p, 433. The person who there brings the horse is nil Indian*

For repeated nocturnal visits in inc, 4, see pp. 62, 63, 64 of Callaway's Zulu Take,

(SiguedJ Edith Mendeaw.

[No. 50.]

Title of Story,— Signor Lattamrio,

Dramatis Person® —-Duke (Signor Lattmurio).—Lady's daughter,— Wife*, cats (fairies Iran sformed},—Other cats (suitors who Lave failed), —Suitors (released from spell).

Abstract of Story(1) Duke wanders over world seeking wife; comes to inn, where he meets lady. She asks him'what ho is seeking ; he tells her he has journeyed half the world over to find a wife to his fancy ; net finding one, he is going back to Ms native city as he came. Lady says she has a daughter, the most beautiful maiden ever made, taken possession of by three fairies and locked up In a casino on the Campagna, whore no one can get to see her, Duke begs to knew where she is. Lady says it’s no use, so many have tried and failed. Duke argues and prevails on her to tell him, though she says all who go to seek her never come back.—(2) She tells him he must go to mountain of Russia, where three most beautiful maidens will meet him , and by all manner of blandishments will try to entice him to their palace ; he will not be able to resist, and if he goes into palace he will be turned into a cat , for they are fairies ; but If he can resist them for only an hour, he will have conquered—they will he turned into cats, and he will be able to release daughter.—(S) Duke goes, bandages his eyes so that he shall not see fainna ; they come to meet him and try in every way to make him only look at them ■ but though much tempted he is firm ; at last takes out his repeater, strikes it, and the hour of trial is over.—(4) “ Traitor/ 1 cry the three fairies, and are turned the same instant into cats. Duke goes into palace, takes wand, with it opens door of casino where ladyD: daughter is imprisoned; restores all the cats upon the mountain to natural shapes as those that had failed in their enterprise; takes daughter home to be his wife.

Cats, suitors who have yielded to fairies (4).

Fxdries entice Duke (3) ; failing, are turned into cats (4).

Maiden imprisoned by fairies (1); rescued by Duke (4).

Mountain of Russia, beautiful maidens at foot of (2) $ cats on the tuouu* tain, other suitors i 4).

Repeater, Duke strikes (3).

Search for wife (1), }

Wand used to restore cats oh mountain to natural shape (4),

Yielding to enticements of fairies entails transformation to cats (2),

Where published_ Busk’s Folk-lm-e of Rome. London, 1877. Tale

No. 21, pp. 155-58,

2. If by word of •mouth, state variator's name.

special points noted by the Editor of the above.—See ^thor’s

UOtOi’f p.

[No, 51.]

Title of Story .—The Singing Bone,

Dramatis Person®* — Wild Boar,“Kmg,—King's ' daughter —Elder ’brother—*’Youngerbrother.—Little man,—Shepherd.

Abstract of Story* —(1) King offers reward for capture of wild hoar that devastates the land. No one ventures the attempt. At length marriage with king's daughter is promised to slayer of wild boar,—(2) Two brothers, poor countrymen, eome forward. King bide them enter forest from* opposite sides to make sure of catching boar. If onager brother is met in forest by little man, who, in recognition of Ms simplicity and goodness, gives him black spear which will overcome wild boar.—(3) Before long wild boar rushes furiously at him, and its heart is severed by spear. Younger brother takes monster on his back and goes homeward. U) Coming out on other side of forest he passes drinking-house, which elder brother had entered to gain courage by drink. Seeing younger brother with booty he ig davious, and craftily invites him to take refreshment. Youth, suspecting nothing, enters and relates about spear. They remain till dark, and on way home elder brother strikes the other dead as ho crosses brook, and buries him beneath bridge.—(5) Then hikes boar to king, pretending it has slain younger brother, and obtains king’s daughter in marriage,—(G) Years afterwards shepherd sees snowwhite little bone in sand beneath bridge ; picks it up to make mouth-piece for hum ; wheu he blows through, it the bone sings :

" Ah, friend, thou blow eat upon my bone 3 Long have I lain beside the water ;

My brother slew me for the boar,

And took to wife the king’s young daughter."

Shepherd marvels and takes it,to king, who understands boners song, and has bridge dug up.—(7) Skeleton of murdered man is found and buried in churchyard ; wicked brother is sewn up in sack and drowned*

Boar slain by younger brother (3).

Bone of murdered man made into shepherd's whistle (6)*

Elder brother claims king’s daughter (5)

Elder brother murders younger brother (4).

Elder brother seam in sack and drowned (7),

Marriage with king's daughter promised to slayer of wild boar (1)<

Murder of younger brother by elder (4).

Shepherd finds bone of murdered man (6).

Singing bone reveals murder (6)*

Skeleton of murdered man dug up and buried (7),

Spear, magic, given to younger brother to slay boar (2).

Younger brother slays boar (3).

Younger brother murdered by elder brother (4).

Where Published.— Grimm’s Household Tales. London, ISS4. Tale No. 23, voh i } pp. 117-19*

L Orif/iml or translation. —Translation by Margaret Hunt.

3, Other particufors-

Special points noted by the Editor of the above.— Editor quotes two other versions, also from Lower Hesse, and refers to Haupt’s Zdtschnft^ hi, 35, 36, and Miillcnlioff, No. 49.

Remarks by the Tabulator —For variants of the above cf. Crane, Italian Fop. Tales i p. 40, The Griffin 35 ; and for other Italian versions see ibid ,, p, 336, note, 15.

For me- 1 see Tabulators remarks on Grimm, No. 20 .

For ine* 6 cf. Grimm, II T-, i, 377 ; Tent* Myth., 907. Ilaupt, Zdisc hr if t-, iii,i 36. Sebillot, Litterature Or ale Haute Bretagne, pp. 220- 22, 11 Los Trois Fibres^ 1 pp, 222-29 ; “ Los pefcifcs Souliers rouges 5 and Le Sifflet qui parle 1 \

Mahian Roalie Cos,

[No, 52.]

Title of Story.— t-TIic Story of Demine and Demazana.

Dramatis Person®.—Demane*'—Detaazana.—Relations.—Zim, Ills wife, daughter, nnd son,'—Cannibal,

Abstract of Story. —(1) A brother and sister, orphan twins, Dcmanc and Demaz&na, ran away from relations’ ill-usage. They lived in cave protected by strong door. Ref ore going one cLay to hunt, Demane told sister not to cook meat, lest cannibals should discover by smell their retreat. She disobeyed, and roasted buffalo-meat; cannibal smelt it, found door fastened, sang song trying to imitate Demane’s voice, and , asked admittance ; refused, for his voice was hoarse, not like Demane’s. Cannibal left, consulted with another cannibal, who advised Mm to burn throat with hot iron, which he did, and, when he again sang song, Demazana, deceived by his not being hoarse, let him in.—(5) Ab cannibal was carrying Demazana away she dropped ashes along path, so that Demme, who returned home fpom hunting with a swarm of bees, all he had taken, guessed what had happened, followed ashes till he came to Zim’s dwelling.—(3) Cannibal’s family gathering firewood; Zim was in, and had put Demazana in a beg fill fil e was made. Demane flaked for w ater ; Zim said he must promise not to touch bag if be got him some, but, w lrik- t cannibal was away, Demane took sister out, put bees in her place, and they hid. Zim returned with water and family with firewood. He told daughter to get something out of bag; bees stung her hand ; same thing happened with wife and son. Zim opened bag ; was so stung he could not see ; escaped through thatch ; fell headlong into pond ; head stuck in mud, and he became like block of wood, in which bees made their home. No one could get any honey, as, when a hand was put in, it stuck fast. Demane and Demazana, taking Zim’s possessions* became wealthy.

Cannibal imitates Demane (1) ; turned into wood (3).

Demazana drops ashes on path (2).

Where published,— TheaFa Kaffir Folk-lore. London. Preface dated 1882. Story No. 9, pp. 111-14*'

Name of Collection, whether:—

1* Original or translation* —Translated by G. M. ThcaL

2. If by word of mouth , stale narrator's name.

Special points noted by the Editor of tiie above,—On Relation*

ship. Seu Editor's notes, pp, 210, 211.

Remarks by the Tabulator- — Cannibals; ef, Mss Roalfe Cos's remarks, pp. 45-41; and Then's K, F, } pp. 30, 74, 115, 120, 125, 129, 153, 139,165.

Janet Key.

[jSTo, 53.]

Title of Story Jolm Glaick, the Bravo Tailor,

Dramatis Person^- —Hero: John Glaick, a tailor.—Two giants, whom he kills.—King of the country infested by the two giants.—King-s daughter promised in marriage to the man who would kill the giants*—Rebel army.— Tierce horse ridden by John Glaick against the rebels.

Abstract of Story— (1) John Glaick, the tailor, tires of his trade, gives himself at first over to idleness,’—(2) Kills a number of flies, thinks himself brave, and resolves to make himself a name.—(3) Girds himself with a sword and sets out to seek adventures.—(4) Comes to a country infested by two giants* and hears of the promise of the king's daughter in marriage to the hero who should kill the giants.—(5) Offers his services to kill the giants.—(G) Goes to the wood in which they Hv©.—-(7) Becomes frightened when h© sees them, and hides himself.—(8) Afterwards throws a pebble against the head of one of them, and then and her.— (A) The giants quarrel^ and fight, and exhaust themselves.—(10) As they are resting, John Glaick radios from his hiding place, and cuts off their heads with his rusty sword. —(11) Returns, and marries the king’s daughter,—(12) A rebellion in the land.—(13) John Glaick is sent against the rebels on a fierce horse.— (11) Lost control of the horse, which runs qfE in the direction of the rebel army, passes under the gallows, and brings it down upon its neck.—’(15) The rebels, on seeing the horse with the gallows on its neck and John Glaick on its back, were seized with terror, and fled to their homes.—(16) The hero returns in triumph, and (17) dies king.

Daughter of king in marriage to the hero who would rid the the country of the two giants (4).

Gallows knocked down on th© horse’s neck (11)-

Sight of, on horse’s neck strikes terror into the rebels (15).

Giants, two, the scourge of a country (4).

Live in a wood (6).

Ruse to make them quarrel (S).

Quarrel and fight, and exhaust themselves (fi }* Killed while resting (10).

2 K

Glaick, John— . , , T , , „

Sets out to seek adventures, md conies to a cotin try infested by two

giants (3^ 4),

Offers his sendees to kill them, succeeds in doing so (5, 6, t, S, 9, 1L > Marriage with the king J s daughter (11)*

Sent to qndl a rebellion (IS),

Mounted on a fleet horse and loses control of it (18, 14 >•

Frightens the rebels (15), i *

Becomes king (17)*

Horse runs off, and carries away the gallows, 14 Killing of flics (2),

Marriage of the king’s daughter (4).

Pebbles, throwing of (8)*

Rebellion m land (12).

Rebels frightened and run (15).

Where published —The Folklore Journal, Y0l, vii., pp* 1G3-I(i5,

Nature of Coliectiou, whether

1. Original or translation.

2. If hy word of ?mmilt Hate narrator's name.

3 . Other jjarticnlars-.

Special Points noted by the Editor of the above-Tale consists of two parts: The kitting of two giants, and the defeat of the rebel army. Both belong to the group of tales in which brute force is overcome by trick, intelligence, or good fortune. For the first part comp. l( The Bmvc Little Tailor*' in Grimm's collection, the Chilian Tale of ,f Lon Juan Eolondron, killer of seven with, one fisticuff,” K Chilian Popular Tales, " in The Folklore Journal, yol. iih p. 220, the original Spanish i n lUhlioteea do las Trad-icimex popularPsjmnohis, tamo, i,, pp. 121-125, As to the fly-killing, compare the story of “ Fatu Khan, the Valiant Weaker,’' in Wide» Awake Stor ies and the Milanese story of the Cobbler, Italian- Popular Taps, by T. F- Crane (London, 1885).

(Signed) WALTER Gregoe.

[No. 54.]

Generic Name of Story — (Not to bo filled up).

Specific Name.—;ponna fcrutmguk.

Dramatis Persons*—So nacre an abstract is -given;of' this variant of Bianca* Conm-nivi-rassa-cQmn«foca that it is impossible to make a list of poisons represented,

Thread of Story* —queen, desirous of a child, vows to distribute to the people a fountain of oil and a storehouse of corn if she had a child,

The curse of the old woman on the queen-s son (the hero) when bom and become a youth is to go and seek for Donna Guthigula, the heroine, Donna Guaugula, flying with the hero, provides herself, beside gold, with a paper of nails, a packet of razors, a handful of flints, and a piece of soap. The ogre, who had held in his power the heroine, follows the fugitives. They fling him one after another these objects, and thus impede him. When ho overtakes them "the heroine chan ges herself into an eel and the prince into a fountain. The ogro endeavours to drink the fountain up, to drink therewith the eel, but is disappointed, and, desperate, he curses the future union of the lovers with the fatal kiss of the hero’s mother.

The heroine, forgotten by the hero, sends two dolls enchanted by her with a breath, and these, at the hero's marriage feast, on his wedding another lady, reveal all.

Incidental Circumstances.—(Nil.)

Wliere published.'— r J^iahe ]\ : 0 edle a IZectiuti l^opolavi Swili&TVi mcccdti cd illustrati da Guiseppe Pitre (Palermo 1875) Variant of Story No. 13. vol. L p. 117.

1. Original or translation. —Original.

2. If hy word of mouth, slate narrators name—"Sot given.

3. Other particular*. — Collected at Ciauciana hy Signor Gaetano <11 Giovanni, who is characterized as the worthy historian of Cast el tor mini.

Special Points noted by the Editor of the above, (^b)

(Signed) E. Sid^ev IJaijtlAND,

Swansea.

2l(2

M2

[No. 55 J

Title of Story^ 1 :Lr ^ "Wtod.

Dramatis Persoilffi-—Ning (widower)-—Daughter (Mario. Wood).- Teacher, (fair j godrnoithey). — Pririce (devil). -— Pages. ™ Cbarcoabburuers.— Y bung king.—Wi Id 1 j oar and dogs.— lit? n tsmen. —-S toward.—Scull i on—T u rnsp i t, — Guards.—Physicians.—Queen mother.—Ladies.—Goldsmiths, refiners, alchemists. •

Abstract of Story —(l) King, widower, left, with erne daughter, Mark, dying queen lias given him ring—he only whom it fits is worthy to be Maria’s husband, Maria, has teacher, a good fairy, whose services her mother has secured for her. Father growing old and feeble is m a hurry for Maria to marry, hut no one comes whom the ring will fit.—(2) At last suitor comes, declares himself prince of distant region, objects to such a trivial test, father inclined to omit it, suddenly prince consents to submit to it, but the ring cannot be found, urges as the ting can't he found it is not reasonable to refuse him as he is so suitable in every respect, but suggests Maria shall name three tests for him,—(3) Maria has instinctive dislike to prince, consults with teacher, who by fairy powers knows that prince is the devil. Suggests 1st tost the prince shall get Maria a dress woven of stars of heaven, 2nd one of moonbeams, 3rd one of sunbeams. Prince very angry at each test but procures them. They are so dazzling that the pages who cany them are hard put to It, and the second and third dresses have to be carried by relays of pages, Teacher tells Maria who suitor is and instructs her how to evade him, tells her when she goes away with prince, towards .night they will come to a dark wood, there to find some excuse to alight, having first got ring from feather hi prince’s hat, where he will wear it, he having stolen it. Says Maria will find wooden figure of an old woman which she has had made for her, in which she lias stowed everything Maria has that is valuable, including the three dresses. She is to get inside the figure when prince’s head is turned and walk away.—(4) At last after sunbeam dress arrives they go off. Maria twitches ring off feather as it is getting dark, and complaining of being cramped asks to get out and walk awhile. Prince having got Ms own way, is all graciousness, and consents. They see form of old woman under a tier, Maria gets prince to chase a firefly for hc£, she pretends to chase one herself, goes towards old woman* gets into figure. Prince comes back with fly, misses Maria, asks supposed old woman where she is. she sends him oil' looking for her j he spends the night searching in vain, then drives home.—(5) Maria goes on a little while, soon is hailed by a party of charcoal-burners, who offer her such hospitality as they can command. Clothes on figure just like country people’s, so no one suspects Maria ; she stays with them a long time, working with them.—(ti) One day when she is at some distance from camp, young king of that country is out hunting

TA EULiation of folktales.

wild boar, dogs after it, come crashing by her, followed by riders, Maria swoons with fright, king nearly tramples on her, calls huntsmen to see to lifir, tells them to carry her to the palace, they do this, and restore her to consciousness* When king comes home he goes to see her, pities her professed poverty and loneliness, asks if there is any service she can do in the household* Steward suggests she shall help scullions* Maria thankfully accepts. Scullions and* turnspit complain of having old woman to help, and determine to get all they can out of her* Maria hard worked and hardly treated.—(7) Carnival comes. Every servant lias license to don a domino. Maria takes advantage, locks herself in loft where she sleeps, gets out of wooden disguise, puts on dress of stars, goes to ball, No one dares ask her to dance except the king, he overawed by grace and dignity dares not ask her whence she comes* She goes early nnpcrceived.—(8) Goes second night in moonbeam cTtess. King asks why she left them so early the night before, she says she has to be up early, so goes early. He is incredulous, and persists in Ms attempts to find her out. She evades them, and again withdraws impcrceived, by inverting the folds of her garment.—'(9) Third night she goes to ball in sunbeam dress, chandeliers paled by brilliancy, king at her side at once, uses every endeavour to find out who she is. She evades all his devices but gives him a hope* by asking him to try on a ring, which, she tells him, has never fitted any one yet. She pats up ring again and withdraws unobserved, but though she has turned the sunbeams inwards, the guards whom the king bits stationed at every exit recognise her, and follow her so closely that she has to divert their attention by mi threading string of pearls on the ground, escapes while they are gathering up treasure.—(10) King in such despair at her disappearance that he shuts himself up in dark room and weeps the days away, can scarcely be induced to take the simplest food* Kitchen-folk reduced to inactivity* At lost physicians are called in, it is reported, who say his desponding state will be fatal if means are not found to rouse him.—(11) Lent passing away, Easter at hand, Maria satisfied with his constancy makes a cake into which she puts ring and takes it to queenmother, assures her that if the king will eat the whole of the cake he w ill be cured, hut if he should give any away the virtue may be lost (this for fear he should give away ring). Ladies in waiting laugh, but queen says there may be something in it, takes cake to king, lie takes no notice, hnt they give him euko for all his meals*—(12) When he cuts it his knife strikes against something hard, he discovers and recognises ring* starts like one awakening from a trance, asks bow ring came there, queen-mother tells him certain old woman whom he befriended brought cake saying it would lie a remedy for his melancholy, lie sends for her, she cannot be found, king nearly relapses into former state.'—(13) Sends for all the goldsmiths, refiners, and alchemists of his kingdom to find out what they can hy ring itself* Head alchemist says ring is made of gold from afar, workmanship is of kingdoms of west, characters on it show that owner is princess of high degree, whose dominions greatly exceed bij own.—(14) More diligent search for Marla, who thinks it

time to appear, dresses herself suitably enters her wooden covering for last time, goes up to king; he asks her where lie can find lady, promising to reward her by letting her live in royal state in the p#jce.—(15) She steps out of case, stands before king, and tells him a| her story. People called to celebrate her marriage with the king; they go to visit Maria's father, stay with Mm till he dies, when his dominions are added to those of Maria's husband. Marla inquires for good teacher, but she has gone back to imryland.

Charcoal burners give shelter to supposed old woman (5).

Devi], as prince, tries to Marry heroine (2) (3) (4).

Fairy godmother teacher (1) (8) (15).

Heroine, to marry him ring fits (1), gives three tests instead (2) (3), helped by teacher (3), escapes from devil (4), sheltered by charcoal-burners (5) j taken to king's palace (G), goes to hall (7) (3) (9), hides ring in cake (11), marries king (15).

Ring, given by dying queen '(1% lost (2), has been stolen by devil (3), recovered (4), fits young king (9), in cake (11), examined by goldsmiths, refill cm, and alchemists (13),

Test of ring to fit (1), evaded by devil (2), fulfilled by king (D).

Three tests instead of ring fitting (2) (3).

Three woven dresses, of stars, of moonbeams, of sunbeams (3) (7) (3) (9). Wooden figure for disguise (3yet

Where published ."" - ’Fblklprs of Hmm-c , by K. II. Dusk. London, 1874. Talc No, 10, pp, GU-8L

K ature of Collection * whether : -

2. If by word of mouthy state n&to'a&Qr 1 * foam#.

3- Of for particulars.

Special Points noted by the Editor of the above-—See author's notes to this and two versions of the same tale following, p. 91. Also Appendix B. p. 42S.

Eemarke by the Tabulator.— mi.

Isabella 1 babclat.

[No, 56J

Title of Story—Maria Wood (second version).

Dramatis PerSOELSe,-”Iviiig,—His wife. —■ Princess (daughter).—Hinges son (of another country).—Servant—Physicians. ■

AlstraoJ Of Story,—Q) There ig a king whose wife, when she comes to die, says to him, " You will want to many, but take my ad rice, many no one but her whose foot my shoe fits; ” hat the shoe is under a spell, and will fit no one whom he can many. King has shoe tried on all manner of women, fits ndne of them. He grows bewildered and strange in his mind.— ( 2 ) Daughter comes to him, says the shoe just fits her, Then I must marry you / 1 says king, “ Ob, no, papa,” says she, and skips away. He persists. At last she says he must, do something for her first. He agrees willingly.—( 3 ) She demands, first, a dress of the colour of noontide shy, all covered with stars, and parure to match ; second, a dress colour of sea, covered with golden fishes, parnre to match ; third, dress of dark blue, covered with gold embroidery and silver bells, and parure to match. All these done, she asks for figure of old woman just like life, so that it will lt move and walk just like a real woman when one gets inside it/* This also done.—( 4 ) Princess packs these three dresses and others and all her jewellery and much money inside, gets into figure, and walks away. Wanders on till she gets to palace of groat king just as king’s son comes in from limiting. Whines out, * 4 Have you a place in all this fine palace to take in a poor old body/* Servants try to drive her away. Prince interposes, asks her name, and what she can do. She says her name is Maria Wood/and that she knows all about hens. He appoints her henwife, and she has a hut on the borders of forest. Prince often passes ; she always cornea out to salute him ; bo stops to chat,—(5) Carnival > time comes. Prince tells her; she wishes him a good carnival, and says, £| Won’t 3 011 take me ? Jl Prince says, “ Shameless old woman, wanting to go to a festhti) at your time of life gives her cut with whip. Next night Maria puts on her dress colour of noontide sky and covered with stars, goes to ball. Prince alone dares to ask her to dance; falls in love, gives her ring, aska whence she comes. She says, ft Prom country of Whipblow/ He send^ attendants to watch and find out where she lives. She is 100 quick for them,—-(G) Next day prince passes hut again. She wishes him “ Good carnival,’* and says, “ Won't you take me ? J * “ Contemptible old

woman to talk in that way ; you ought to know better / 1 says prince* and strikes her with hoot* That night Maria puts on dress colour of sea, covered with gold fishes, and goes to feast. Prince claims her for partner; asks whence she comes? She soys from country of Boot-kick. She aghin evades attendants,—(7) Next day prince comes by Maria’s hut^ if To* morrow we the .fpatina ? ” says he, You must take me; but what 11

you say if I come in spite of you,” sa} T $ Maria* ^Yuu incorrigible old

TABULATION OP FOLKTALES,

says lie, and slaps her. Next night Maria puts on dress covered

I.}} -LlitlU* UVriT --1M . j. xr

Maris says if he will take some broth of her making he will bo healed. He wrart take ft, she persists. At last ho Is too weary to resist; she brings tm th servants give it. Presently whole palace round by prince shooting 11 Bring hither Maria Wood."—(0) They go to fetch her.. She has put' the ring he gave her in the broth, and he found it when he put the spoon in “ Waif: a bit,” site says to servant who fetches her. She puts on dress like noontide sky. Prince beside himself with joy when he saw her. Has betrothal celebrated that very day*

Broth., given with ring in it (8).

Henwife, Maria appointed (4).

Heroine* finds Impelled slice fits her (2), makes king give lier dresses and wooden figure (3), leaves home and becomes henwife (4), goes to ball ( 5 r 6, 7), makes broth for prince (8), betrothed to him (!)).

King, bewildeS* thinks lie must marry her whom shoe fits (I), finds it fits daughter (2), gives her presents as condition of her compliance (3). Bing, given by prince (5), put in broth (8),

Shoe, under a spell (1, 2).

Three blows giventhy prince (e T 6, 7),

Three dresses given by king, first colour of noontide sky, second colour of sea, third dark blue—and jewels (3)

Wooden figure made used as disguise {B } 4, ct #£#.).

Where published,— midorc qf Byrne* by R. II. Bask London, 1874, Tale No 10 {second vor&im)* pp, 84-00.

1, Original or translation .—Told in Italian, by Miss Busk,

2, If hy word of mouth } state narrator's name.

3, Other iiarticulars.

Special Points noted by the Editor of the above,— See Author’s notes,

p, 91.

Remarks by the Tabulator —Sec Tabulator’s remarks to No, 11 {La Candeliera) of this collection.

(Signed) Isbell a Barclay,

TABULATION OP FOLKTALES*

[No* 57.]

yitle of Story—Maria Wood (third vermin')*

Dramatis P erSon X. — King* — I J rincess (danghtor). — Servants. -r- Dogs*— King's son (of another country).

Abstract of Story(I) Princess refuses what king wishes, (2) He sends servants to take her to a high tower on the campagna and drop her down from top. They taka her hut have not the heart to throw her down; put her in large,case and leave it out in the open campagna far outside her father’s dominions, (3) Princess in bos frightened by harking of dogs. King’s son hunting, comes up, has dogs called off and box opened; they see she is not a common maiden by her jewels. (4) She is taken to prince, * who marries her.

Princess, refuses obedience to king (I), is shut up in box and left on campagna (2), found by a king’s son (3), married to Mm (4),

Where published —iholldone of Ilame, by R H Ilnsk, London, 1874, Talc No* 10 (third version), p* 90,

], Original or tra?idatio Told in Italian to Miss Busk*

2* If by word nfnimtK state narrator's name.

8. Other pa ri leu la rs ,

Special Points noted by the Editor of the above*—'Sec Anther’s Notes, p* 01,' The box Incident is given in a story told by Author in notes, p. 30, and in other stories referred to there.

‘i

[No. 58.]

Title of Story.—Cand&liera.

Dramatis Persona?, —King.—Princess (his daughter }.—XJgly old king,— Go! dam itli.—Chamberkpi. —Prince of neighbour!ng country.— S prvants *■—■ King and queen.

Abstract of StorjV —(I) King wishes daughter to marry ugly old Icing, she begs to be spared, at last says before she marries* her father must do something for her; he readily agrees*—(2) She chooses to have made a great candelabrum, I Oft. high, with a stem thicker than a mhns body. King sends for goldsmith and orders one to be made quickly, princess says she is very pleased with it. In the evening princess calls her chamberlain, says she does not like candlestick at all; he must take it and sell it for she can’t hear tlio sight of it j he may keep the price himself, but must take it away early before king is up,—(3) Chamberlain gets up early, but princess gets up earlier, and hides herself in candelabrum, thus carried away with i£. Chamberlain takes It to market place of capital of neighbouring sovereign, and sets it up for sale there People seeing how costly it is no one will oiler for it. Prince of country hears of it, goes to see 'it, buys it for three hundred scud!, and has it taken up to his room.—(4) Prince tells valet to have bis supper taken up into his room, as he is going to the play and will he late. Coming home, be finds supper eaten and glasses and dishes disarranged, scolds man, who asserts all had been properly laid. Next night same happens. Third night calls servant, says aloud he is to lay supper before prince goes out, and lie will lock the door and take the key with him, but in reality ho stays concealed in room*—(5) Soon after candelabrum, of which he had not thought since buying it, opens, and beautiful princess appears, “ Welcome princess/’ says ho; they sit down and eat supper together. Next night orders double supper brought up, and after that all his meals, and never leaves his apartment —(G) King and queen interfere, say be ought to marry, and not stay alone all day. Ho says he will marry no one but candelabrum. They think him mad, but one day queen surprises princess sitting with bim. Struck with her beauty she says, “ If this is what you were thinking of when you said you would marry the candelabrum, it was well judged.” Takes princess to king, t r hey give her to prince to be his wife. The king her father hearing of alliance is glad, says he esteems it far above that of ugly old king whom he wanted her to have married at first.

t Candlestick in which princess conceals herself (2, 3, 4, 5, 6.)

Prince, buys candelabrum (3), loses supper anti conceals himself to discover £ause (4), spends all his time in bis room (5), marries princess (6). Princess, to marry ugly old king (1), has candlestick made (2)escapes in it

(3), comes out of it and eats prince’s sapper (4), discovered by prince (5), by queen and married to prince (6),

Sapper disappears (4).

Ugly old Icing, princess to marry (1),

Where published, — Folklore of Home, by R. H. Bush. London, 1ST4. Talc Ho, 11, pp. 91—5. | »

L Original or translation .—Told in Italian to Miss Busk.

2. If by word of mnsth, state narrator's name*

3, Other partwutars.

Special Points'noted by the Editor of the above— 1f4 Tbc mode of

telling adopted by Homan narrators makes a way out of the difficulty which this group of stories presents at first sight in the king seeming to be fated by supernatural appointment to marry his daughter .... one says the slipper was a supernatural slipper and would not fit any one whom he could marry. Whetluy this was part of the traditional story or the gloss of the repeater, I do not protein] to decided 1 -—Author’s notes, p. 95, Remarks by the Tabulator—The following variant with a point of resemblance to Maria Wood (Ho. 2) was told to myself and sisters when we were children by a servant from the Lizard district of Cornwall, It will be ' seen that there is no trace of any spell or trick to farce the king into his unusual course, m in the Italian versions, nor did the narrator seem to sec that any explanation or gloss was necessary, hut began as follows;—■

<* The Fringebs Amn the Golueu Cow, ff Once there was a king who lmd a daughter, being very beautiful, and be loved her so much he wanted to many her.’ 1 Here I forget details t hut the princess was in great trouble, especially as she loved a prince who lived a long way off, and he loved her. She had made (or got her father to give her) 14 a beautiful golden cow as large as a real one/ 11 She made arrangements in some manner {(leta i I & fo rgottc n ) to have the golden cow conveyed under pretence of its being a pairing gift or .token of remembrance to the prince. She got inside it, and wetft in the cow a long journey by sea. There was a signal prearranged (details forgotten?) of three knocks on the cow to show when she could come out safely. But when she had gone a long way the cow was landed (I think the captain of the ship was in the secret, and was to &&I to her reacliiug the priuce), but people came to see the cow, for it was very curious, amongst them three gentlemen, who wanted to be able to say they had touched it, i£ end one poked it with his umbrella (shy and said, 1 I’ve touched the golden cow, T and the next poked it with his umbrella, and said, f Eve touched the golden cow,' and the third poked it with his umbrella and said, ‘Tve touched the golden cow/ With tb at the princess opened the door and came out, for she thought those three knocks were the signal/ Thou the prince turned up, after some adventures that I have forgotten, and all ended happily.

* [No. 59.]

Title of Story.—The Po£ of Marjoram.

Dramatis Person®. —Merchant,—Three daughters.—Sttiai^r .(magician).-— Steward.—Two bears^C^amberlaiii,-—King of Persia.—Ladies,, damsels, pages, officers.

Abstract of Story.—Q ) Merchant goes trading ; asks three daughters what he s?ui!l bring for them. Eldest chooses aliawl; second, coverlet; third daughter, who is distinguished by stay-at-home habits, chooses a pot of marjoram, as none is to he got in the country where they lived.—(2) Merchant finishes business, gets presents for elder daughters, forgets marjoram. Stranger meets him just before he reaches home » asks him if he will not buy a pot of marjoram. Merchant would not have disappointed his youngest daughter fc all the world, eagerly agrees, throws more than usual price to naan, tells servants to take pot, Stranger laughs at him for not letting a man fix Ilia own price. Merchant hears price is 300,000 scudi; and, seeing it is of no use to haggle, at last orders steward to pay, and rides home.— (3) Daughters all pleased, youngest,so much so that .merchant imagines she is not altogether ignorant of the value of her present. Two elder soon hear through gossip of steward what an immense sum the pot of marjoram has cost; they are jealous, and determine to destroy the plant, hut have no chance. They persuade father that it is hud for third daughter to stay at home as she does, lie is convinced by their arguments ; says she is to go to hall with him. Sisters, during her absence, throw pot of marjoram out of window on to the highroad, where it is soon trampled f and every vestige dispersed,—(4) Overcome with grief, third daughter determines not to live with those who had treated her in this inftnaer, wanders forth, biking no heed of way, all night. When morning dawns, finds herself iu the midst of vast plain, where many roads meet; hesitates which way to go; suddenly a fairy appears, asks where she is going, and what is the matter. Maiden tells her what has happened* Fairy says all wilt he well, but that it won T t do for a young girl to go about the country alone ; produces complete suit of male attire, travelling cloak and all, and in the girdle were weapons, and many articles of which she did not know the use; points out which way she should go, and vanishes. Immediately, in ileal of vast plain, mighty mountains rise on either hand, before her a dense forest. Goes oxi,^md finds, though conversation with the fairy only seems to have lasted a few minutes, the sun is already high in the heavens, so that she is glad of the forest's shade. Finds a brook at entrance, and that fair)' has provided her t with food. After resting, goes on till nightfall, climbs to spreading boughs of tree to sleep.—(5) Waked by horrible growling ; duds, though made by coni non he and she bear, she can understand all as though spoken in worth, 1 recognises this as gift of good fairy. Bears converse, She-bear complains

TABULATION OE EOLTCTALLS.

of absence for long time of Tie-bear, lie says lie lias been £f twenty miles along the side of the river, then over the back of the Rocky Mountains, am 1 tlicn skirting round the forest till ho came to the kingdom of Persia,” whence there went up a great wail, for last night the king of Persia fell out of window, and broke all his bones, flesh all cut with glass, w hich has entered into his wounds. Tells her if people only knew it, they would both be killed. The only thing to save king is the fat n£ both their bodies incite# together, an ointment made of it with honey and wax, and smeared over king’s body, then warm hath. This done for three days alternately ho will he cured. They agree nobody will find them, and go to sleep. Maiden gets down fropi tree, draws out two sharp two-edged knives from girdle, and kills both bears at same time. Next morning cuts up bears, takes out fat, melts it down, and makes ointment with it and honey and wax found in girdle, sets off by route described by bear, finds herself in kingdom of Persia,—(G) Goes to palace, offers to cure king, is joyfully admitted by chamberlain, who says so hopeless is the case considered that no one will make the attempt to heal him, no one has applied hut herself. King willingly submits to treatment; is cured. Will not part with physician; w ill keep her at court. Notices flush of joy: suspects sex, but says nothing.— (7) At Iasi, as with continual intercourse they grow very fond ol each other, king calls chamberlain, tells him he desires state physician to appear before him in queenly robes, attended by train of Indies, damsels, and pages. Chamberlain thinks king gone mad, reluctantly does as lie is told. Physician is so pleased chamberlain thinks him mad too. King commands attendance of all great officers of state, but has physician brought privately to him first. She confesses sex. He takes her into presence of assembled court, and requires homage to his queen. Wicked sisters are scut for and burnt.

Bears, heroine understands language of, kills them, and makes ointment of fat (5).

Choice of presents by daughters (1).

Fairy appears, provides heroine with outfit (4).

Heroine leaves home (4).

King of Persia falls out of window- (fi), is healed (6), marries heroine (7). Merchant goes trading journey (1).

Pot of marjoram, chosen by third daughter (1), bought from stranger (2), thrown out of window (3). i'rlec, immense, of pot of marjoram (2),

j

Where published.— Folklore jp Borne, by B. H. Busk. London, I87L Tale No, 7 3 pp. 46-55.

llature of Collection, whether:—

]. Original or translation. —To]J in Italian to Miss Hush.

Special' Points noted by the Editor of the above.—See author’s notes, pp. 55-G, anil Appendix B, p, 428.

i

Eemarka by tlxe Tabulator.— ^ i* wot state a in tills story that the King tJ f

Persia is represented by the pot of marjoram, that his being is hound up in that of the plant; his injtiides, therefore, consequent on the throwing out of the pot by the sisters. But a reference to other stories embodying a like incident leaves no doubt of it.—Title two following, Nos. 8 and 9, of sara c collection, “ The Pot of Rue TJ and £i King Dtho.”

[No. GO.]

Title of story.— 1 The Pot of Rue.

Dramatis Person®. — Merchant. — Three daughters. — Captain. — King. — King’s eldest son.—Other merchants. — Ogre and ogress.—Sentinel °a,ml guards,—Ladies of the court.

Abstract of Story. 0) Merchant lias throe daughters, two very gay, one very stay-at-home, scarcely ever goes beyond garden. Merchant going trading asks what he shall bring homo for them. Eldest choose* all manner of dresses stud ornaments,, youngest only pot of rue. Father promises, says last is easy to satisfy, “Not so easy, perhaps, as you think; 1 says girl, <c and mind you bring it now you have promised, for you will find you can't get home without it,”—{2} Merchant finishes business, forgets rue, ami starts for home ; scarcely a day's j barney at sea when ship won't move, £| Some one onboard has an unfulfilled promise on lnm,$ says captain, and calls upon whoever it Is to confess and be thrown overboard, that lives of passengers and crew muy not bo in jeopardy by his fault. Merchant confesses, captain agrees as he is a great merchant and frequent trader by Ms ship to put bach instead of throwing him overboard. Tells him pot of rue will not he easy to get; there Is only one, which king has, and if any one asks for only a single leaf he will be put to death Merchant goes fo king, explains, and asks for whole plant. King pleased with courage gives him plant for daughter, mying she must hum leaf every night. He takes it home.—(3) Daughters all pleased with gilts, third daughter burns leaf, eldest of king's three beautiful sous appears and spen^g, every evening with her,—(4) Other merchants ask why third daughter does not come to ball* ; at last father makes her go. Sisters bum down her apartment and garden and plant of rue. King's sou comes with such impetus that he is braised and bumf all over with flaming beams, and cut all over with broken glass, reaches home in sorry plight — (5) Younger daughter comes homes, finds out wbat has happened, dresses herself in man's clothes, and goes away. Goes on till she can go no further; lies down under tree to sleep. In the night ogre and ogress come to tree and He down. Merchant's daughter hears ogre tell ogress that king's eldest son Iins fallen through window of palace and is sore ill, is cut with, glass and bruised all over, a lYhat shall be done to heal the king's eldest son, the flower of the hmd ? ” says he. Ogress says it is well no one knows it, hut they should be killed and the fat taken from round their hearts and made into ointment, and the king's son anointed wjfch it. Merchant's daughter has pistols with her man’s dress, and shoots them both at once, pistol in each baud, while they sleep, mid takes fat,—(G) Goes to palace, sentinel refuses to admit her, saying, “ Bo many great and learned surgeons have come, and have benefited liim nothing, there is no entrance for a mountebank like thee,” She persists, sentinel calls guard, king overhears noi^e, orders travelling doctor to be admitted. She asks for all she wants to make oint-

ment, and linen for bandages* and demands to be left alone with him f Q1 a week; at end of time be is cured,—(7) Then she appears before him, he recognises her, demands of king to marry surgeon, king thinks him mad, humours him, orders bridal robes for pretended surgeon. Ladies of court sec she is a woman, prince silences their exclamations. Marriage takes place, king is told she is a real maiden, ho knows* things can't be altered so says nothing. “ So the merchant’s daughter became the princes wife. 33

Heroine leaves home in man s dress (5).

ICiug's son fetched by burning of leaf of mo (3), hurt by coming too fast when whole plant is burnt (4), healed by sham doctor (6), marries ' heroine (7).

Leaf of rue to burn every night (2) (3),

Ogre and ogress talk of cure, heroine hears (5).

Pot of rue chosen (1), asked of king £2), burnt (4).

Presents chosen (1),

Promise, consequence of unfulfilled (2),

Ship will not move (2).

Threat of death on whoever shall ask for a leaf of rue (2).

Where published— .Folklore of Borne. XI. II. Busk. -London, 1S74. Tnlo No> 8, pp. 57—G2*

3 * Ot k t: r pOA J t i c it la v v .

Special Points noted by the Editor of the above-— Sec Author’s notes, pp. G4-5.

Remarks by the Tabulator. —For part of incident (2), see La Cenoricutola, No. 4 of this collection, also Jonuh. chap. I.

Supplement: Index to Archaeological Journals

INDEX OF ARCTLTOLOGTCAL PAPERS,

0 ,

(Jade (John), Conjectures concerning some undescribed Roman Road s, an d other A uti qu i ties iu the Co un t y o f D urb am a A rch, , viL 7K8L 1

__Conjectures on the Name of the Roman Station Yiuovhim

or Brnch ester, Arch. } via 160-163,

— - Some Observations on the Roman Station Cataractonium,

with an Account of Antiquities in the neighbourhood of Piersbridge and Gainsford, Arch,, ix. 276-291,

-— Further Observations on Cataractonimn and the parts

adjacent. Arch., x. 54-66.

Cabell (Henry). Note of a Sculptured Roman Slab recently discovered cm the Estate of Grange* Linlithgowshire* and presented ' to the Museum. Proc. iSVjc, of Anti#* Scot!,, viii. 109-112.

Ca ii us ac (J. A.). Brad well Priory in Berkshire, Arch., xxxh App. 479, 4SL

Caley (-John). On the Origin of the Jews^n England, Arch., viii. 3S9-405,

--- Extract from a MS. in the Augmentation Office* com-

immieated by. Arch., ix. 2 13-2-52,

-A Survey of the Manor of Wymbledon, alias Winhleton,

with, the Rights 3 Members, and Appurtenances thereof, lying and being in the Countie of Surrey, late Purcell of the Possessions of Henrietta Maria, the Ilelict, and lute Queene of Charles Studrfc, late King of England, made and taken by ns whose names are hereunto 'subscribed, in the Moiieth of November, 1649, by virtue of a Commission grounded upon an Act of the Commons assembled in Parliament, for Sale of the Honors, Manors, and Landes, heretofore belonging to the late King, Queen c, or Prince, under the Hancles and Seales of five or more of the Trustees in the said Act named and appointed. Arch*, x. 399-448.

- --Instructions for the Survey of Church Goods, a.d. 15a2,

from the original preserved in the Augmentation Office. Arch., , xviii, 298-301,

— - — Copy of a Survey of the Priory of Bridlington, in Y ork-

shire, taken about the thirty-second year of Henry \ II IP Arch., xix. 270-275,

INDEX OF ARCHEOLOGICAL PAPERS.

Calet (John). Extract from the “Liber Mernorandorum Camerariorum Beceptae Seaccarii 15 concerning Jewels pledged in the Seventeenth of Henry Vf to Cardinal Beaufort Arch., xxi. 34-38.

___Two Papers relating to the Interview between Henry the

Eighth of England and Francis the First of France. Arch., xxu 175-191.

-L_ An Original fitter of the Reign, of Henry VIII in the

Chapter-Ho use, Westminster. Arch. HJHana y i, 213-215. Callaway (0.). Eeeent Geological Investigations in Shropshire. Shropshire Arch . Soc., if 77-96.

__ Geological Discoveries in Shropshire. Shropshire Arch,

Eoc., hi. 379-385.

Callender (Henry). Notice of the Stone Circle at (hilleruish, in the Island of Lewis. Proc. Soc. of Antiq. Ecotl. f ii. 380-384.

Cal verify (Rev. \V. S,), Notes on Sculptured Stones at Dear Iran Church. Cumh. and Wist, Ant, mid Arch 4 Soc v.

— -Illustrations of Teutonic Mythology from Early Christian

Monuments at Brigham and Weorham. Cumb. and JfVst. Ant, and Arch, Soc., vi. 211.

-— The Sculptured Cross at Gosfbrth, West Cumberland;

Drawings, Measurements, and some Details by C. A. Parker, MAX Cumb. and Went, Ant, and Arch. Eoc ., vi. 373.

Calvert (Frank). The Tumulus of Hanoi Tepeh, in the Tread. Arch. Journ., xvi. DC.

— -Contributions towards the Ancient Geography of Tread.

On the Site of Gergithe. Arch. Journ ., xxL 48-53. On the Site and [Remains of Cebrene, xxii. 51-.37. On the Site and Remains of Larisa, xviii. 253-255.

Calvert (Dr. F. C,), On Poisons. Lane, and Ghcsh. Hist. S8i. t xii. 193-208,

-MS. Notes inserted in a copy of King Edward the Sixth’s

first Prayer Book in the Church Library at 13cedes. (Jamb. Antiq. Soc ,j L 67-70.

Campbell (F.). Note of an Artificial Island and Anoeent Canoe found in Draining a. Loch near Tobermory, Mull. Proc. Soc. of Antiq. Scotty viii. 465,

Campbell (Robert). Notice of the Discovery of Eight Silver Bings or Ancient Wrist- or Ankle-Rings in Cists near Rattar, Due net, Caithness. Proc. Soc . of Antiq. Scotl ., Lx, 422-428.

Campion (Rev. C. H,). Mural Paintings in S laugh am Church, Suss. Arch. Call., xiti. 237-239.

INDEX OF A HO EL3CO LO G1 CAD PAPERS.

Campjon (Rev. 0. R.). Mural Paintings in Westmestou Church, Muss. Arch . Coll. , xvL I-IS).

___Mural Paintings in Plumpton Church. Suss. Arch * Coll,,

xx. 15 ) 8 - 202 .

Campkin (Henry). Grub Street. Loud, and MiddL Arch. Soc, f iii. 253-244.

_Memoir of W. IX Cooper, F.S.A, and M. A, Lower, F.S.A.

^s, Arch. Coll , xxvii, 117-15 L

Cane (Robert). The Gigantic Irish Fossil Doer. Kilkenny Mrr/t, i. 164-167.

_ » On the Ring Money of Ancient Ireland. Kilkenny Arch

Soc., L 322-358.

-On the Ormonde Coin and Confederate Money. Kilkenny

Arcfo* Soc.j i. 442-453.

C a pp eh (C.). S w ansea Castle, Arch, Ca mb . ? 511 1 s er. i i i, 302-30 7.

Caedonnel (Adam tie). Description of Certain Roman Ruins discovered at Inveresk. Arch . Scoil, ii , 159-167,

Cardwell (Rev. E.). The Landing Place of Julius Osar in Britain. Arch Cant., iil. 1-18,

Carew (Right Hon. Regd. Pole). Notices of some Antiquities discovered in Cornwall in the year 1793, Arch,, xvi, 137-138.

CaklingfoiU) (Lord), Inaugural Address ot, to the Annual Meeting of the Institute at Colchester. Arch Jaunt., xaxiv. 1-10.

Carlisle (Anthony). A description of hive Maces discovered at the cap jure of the Fort at Agra, in the East Indies. Arch, xvi. 338-

339,

Carlisle (Sir Anthony). Account of some Coins found in certain Tumuli m the Southern District of the peninsula of India.

Arch., xxi, 1-4. , .

Carlisle (Rev. D.). Account of some Roman Antiquities lately

discovered in Cumberland. Arch., xi, 03-71.

Carlisle (Nicholas), A copy of the Certificate of the Marqms of Winchester and of the Earl of Leicester upon the contest between the Officers of Arms and the Dean and 1’rebendancs of U estmiuster, concerning the Hearse of the Early Catherine Emmies, deceased ; together with the Earl Marshal’s Decree upon the subject, and the Duke of Norfolk’s Declaration. Arch., xvj. 279-29L

-___T Observations on the position of the Alien Cell of BegWe,

and of Halyvvell, upon Watling Street. A-A xVU 3^-9.

. __ A Description and Copy of an Ancient Roll preserved

Si

INDEX OK ARCFI2EOLOG1CAL KAKEKS.

in the Library of the Advocates, at Edinburgh. Arch, xvii. 231-243.

Carlyle (Miss), Inscription upon a Roman Altar discovered at.

Caervoran. Arch., xxiv., App. 352.

Carlyle (T.). Short Notices as to the Early History of the Family of Ca rly lo. Jo urn. A rcL A s $,, i x. 17 4-181.

Carlos (E. J,). Drawings from Ancient Paintings in St Mary's Chapel at Guildford. Arch *, xxvii. App. 413-414. t Carmichael (Alex. A.). Notices of Teampull Michael, Heal!mi, North Uist, and of Sculptured Stones in Bearnarey, Harris, and in Renbeeula * an " Abracb" Quern, and Quarry for Querns, H e isge i i\ N orth II ist, etc. Proc. Sac. of A nt i q, Scott .,yiji. 2 76-28G.

-— A Hypogeom at Valaquie, Island of Uist. Journ. Anthrop.

Inst*, iii, 272-275.

Carnarvon (Earl of). The A r cl neology of Berkshire. Journ. Arch * xvi. 1-25.

Carne (Rev, J,}. Identification of Red wri of the Tregofhnan Charier. Roij. Inst, of Cornwall, i. pt. iL 1-2.

—-— Manor of Redwri. Roy. Inst, of Cornwall. , pt. Hi. 43-44.

—— - Domesday Manors in Cornwall. Roy. Inst, of Cornwall,

i. pt. iv. 11-59 ; ii. pt. vih 219-222.

-—-The Bishopric of Cornwall Hoy. Inst, of Cornwall, ii. pt.

vii. 177-218.

Carr (Ralph). Observations on some of the Runic Inscriptions at Maesfctow, Orkney. Proc . Soc. of Aniiq. Scot!, vi, 70-83.

———-— On the Inscriptions upon the Stone at Newton Insch, at Aberdeenshire, and on the Inscription on a Sculptured Stone at St* Yigeans, Forfarshire. Proc. Soc. of Antiq. Scott. 7 vii. 11-23.

--- Note on No, vii of Mr. Petries Copy of the Macshow

1 tun cs. Prvc, Soc. of A ntig. ScotL , vi i I, 139-142.

-— Note on a bronze Patella, having an Anglo-Saxon Inscription on the handle, found at Friar's Carse 7 Dumfriesshire* Proc . Soc. of Antiq. Scott,, ix. 567-5GS.

Carrington (F. A.). Notices of the Drank, or Scold's Bridle. Arch* Journ, > xlii 256-2G3.

- - On Mon omental Figures discovered at Wan boro ugh, Wilts.

Journ, Arch. Ass , vii* 52-56.

--Certain Ancient. Wiltshire Customs. Wilts Arch. and

ML IltsL Soc., ] s 68-91,

—--— Church Goods. Wilts Arch, and Nat. Hist, Soc., i* 91-94.

-The Ancient Styles and Designations of Persons, Witts.

Arch, ami Nat, Hist. Soc,. i, 322-349.

INDEX OF AKCH.-I'IOLQGICAL papers.

Cabbing ton (F. A.), lutrenehments at Aldbourne, Wilts A rch, and Nat llht . Sac ., ii, 120-120.

--— Curious Endowment of a Chantry at Enfold, Wills Arch ,

and Nut , i/u#. ii. 1 2D-1-10.

-—— Ancient Ales in the County of Wilts, and in the Diocese

of 8 arum, Wilts A rch, and Nat Hist Soc*, ii. 191-201.

-The Heralds’ Visitations of Wiltshire, and the Pedigrees of

Wiltshire Families, Wilts Arch, and Nab Hist, Soc, t ii- 356-386,

-- The Old Market House and Great Fire at Marlborough.

Wilts Arch, and Nat . Hist Soc n iii, 106-1J 4*

-/The-’Office of Awake nor. Wilts Arch, and Nat . Hist. Soc.^

iii. 242-243.

■-— Composition for Estates in Wilts. Wilts Arch , and A 7 at

Hist $oc.j iv. 148-157.

—- Facts and Observations as to the Ancient State of Marl-

borough, Wilts Arch . and Nat . Hist, Soc. t vn. 1-44,

-— Facts and Observations relating to the Ancient State of

the Town of Wokingham, in the Counties of Berks and Wilts. Wdlh Arch , and Nat. Hist. Soc., xi. 50-82.

Cabbuthers (,h). Hoards of Coins found in Ireland. Ulster Journ. Arch,) i, 164-167.

-- Catalogue of Roman Coins discovered near Coleraine, on.

Derry. Ulster Journ. Arch,) ii. 187-192.

-—- —— Some Antiquities found near Be 1 fast. Ulster Joum . Arch ,, ill 1*27-128.

Cabultheus (G. A.). Cinerary Urns discovered near 1)undrum, eo. Down, Ulster Journ. Arch,, vi„ 164.

O 4 RTE (Samuel). Three Letters from, to Dr. Ducarcl, and one to Sir Thomas Cave, Bart., concerning Fonts. Arch., x, 208-225,

Carter (Rev. Eccles James), The Church of St, Mary the V irgin, at Kingston. Somerset Arch, and . Nat. Hist. Soc, 7 1853, 33-43.

--—-Notes on the Church of St. Mary, Ottery, Somersetshire

(and its ancient Altar Frontal). Bristol and fF. of A. Archill. Sac, iliport for 1847, 27-36,

-Sly m bridge Church, Gloucestershire. Arc A, Mag. of

Bristol) etc., i. 96-102.

Carter (James). On some Excavations apparently of Roman date, recently discovered at Fulbourn. Cambridge Anhq , Soc. y jib 313-315.

Carter (Rev. John), Account of Sepulchral Monuments discovered at Lincoln, Arch. , xii, 107-113.

Carter (T,homas). Ripen, its Wakemen and their Badge, Arch. Journ. j xxxii, 394-416.

S6

INDEX OF ARCHiEOLOGICSAIi PAPERS.

Ca rt h e w ( Qe on ge A lf n ed) , Notie es of t h e Sax o u or Eai 1 y Nor m an Church of Great Dunham. Norfolk Arch. Soc., i. 91-99,

-—— Extracts from a Town Book of the Parish of Stockton in

Norfolk* containing iho Church ward ens J (and incidentally other) accounts, from 1625 to 1712 inclusive, Norfolk Arch. Sue., i, 167 192.

—-Extract from a MS. Diary of Peter le Neve, Esq., Norroy

King of Arms, entitled Memoranda in Heraldry of such entries ms relate to the County of Norfolk, Norfolk Aceh* Soc ii. 23- 34; I 11 126; 869-396,

_- Original Letters of Sir Edward Coke and Edward Lord

Cromwell Norfolk Arch , Soc., iv. 267-270,

-On the Bight of Wardship, and the Ceremony of Homage

and Fealty in the Feudal Times. Norfolk Arch. Soc., iv. 286-

— - North Creake Abbey. Norfolk Arch. Soc. Trans,, vii. 153-

168,

— -On Earthworks at Mile ham. Norfolk Arch. Soc. Tran#.,

viii, 10-16.

— --Mural Paintings at Spoile Church, Norfolk, Froc. Soc.

Antiy.i 2nd ser. ill 336-390,

-Notice of a Boll of Arms belonging to liichard Charles

Browne, Esq, Norfolk Arch . Soc., vi. 7 3-102,

- Extracts from the ^V r ill of Master Hastings, Esq., 1574.

Norfolk Arch. Soc., vi, 193-199,

-Charter of Sir Thomas Erpiugham and another, fcofte

for the Lord de Morley, dated 25 March 8 Hen. V. Norfolk Arch * Soc., ix. 111-120,

- Extracts from Papers in the Church Chest of Wymotid-

1 1 am. Norfolk Arch , Soc ., ix, 12 LI 79.

——-A Cellarer’s Account Roll of Creak Abbey 5 A 6 Edward Ill,

Norfolk Arch. Soc., vi, 314-359.

Cartwright (J. J.), A Subsidy Roll for the Wapentake of Agbrigg and Morley of the 15th Henry VIII. Yorks Arch. Jourti., ii. 43-60,

-— A Subsidy Boll for the Wapentake of Skyraek, 15th

Henry VIII, Yorks Arch . Jottm., ii. 2S9-29G,

Cartwright (Rev, W. H,). A Sketch of the History of Butcombe* with some particulars respecting the Church and Parish, Bath Meld CM, hi. 25-34.

Cass (Rev, Fred. 0.). Notes on the Church and Parish of Moukeu Hadley. Land., and Mold/, Arch. Soc., iv. 253-286,

INDEX OF ARCDTEQLGGICAL PAPERS,

Cass (Rev. Fred. 0 .), Queen Elizabeth's School at Chipping Barnet, a,d. I573-166o. Lond. and. Midt if. A rck. Soc . , v. 1-91,

Cast ley (Thomas). Seal of the Doan and Chapter of LSSifield before the Reformation. Suffolk Arch. Imt ., u. 225-226.

Cathcart (Hon, Frederick Macadam). Account of the Discovery of a number of Ancient Canoes of Solid Oak in Lodi Doon, a Freshwater Lrike m the County of Ayr. Arch. Scot iv. 299- 301.

a

Celsius (Andrew)* An explanation of the Runic Characters of H elsingland, Royal* Soc , Ph U , Tram * > xl * 7-13*

Chaffers (W.';u London, a Roman Building discovered in Lower Thames Street. Jaunt. Arch . Ass., iv. 38-49. t Chaffers (William, jun ). On a Bronze Figure of an Archer discovered in Queen Street, Ch capsid e, July 1842. Arch,, xxx. App* 543-544,

-— Account of Opening of Barrows near Woody at es Inn.

Arch., xxx. App. 547,

■-— Ou an Ancient Coffin-lid found at St* Bartholomew’s, in

Smith field. Arch , xxx. App. 548

-— On the Exhibition of numerous Class Vessels and other

Antiquities of the Roman Period found at Nismes* Arch., xxxlv. 68-72.

---— On Mediaeval Earthenware Vessels. Jo am. Arch. Aw,, v,

22-39.

Chalmer^ (Georde). Observation^ on the Late Continuance of the Use of Torture in Great Britain. Arch., x. 143-146.

———— Observations tending to show that the following Doeu merit [2nd edition, p* 846], which was published by Selden in ids “Titles of Honour", m Supposititious. Arch., xix. 241-252.

-- Letters from George Chalmers, Esq*, and the Rev. John

GeddeSj D.D., respecting the Extracts from Randolph’s Letters concerning the Roman Antiquities discovered near Musselburgh, hi 156-5* Arch. ScotL ? iii. 294-5*

Chalmers (James). Notices of the Life of William Hamilton, and n Chronological List of his Poems. Arch. ScotL, iii* 255 266,

Chalmers (James H.)* Notice of Remains found under a Cairn, surrounded by Upright Stones, on the Farm of Bund dales, Parish of Auchterless, Aberdeenshire. Proc. Soc * of Antiq. ScotL, hr. 429-431.

-—-Notice of the Discovery of a Stone Kist at Bro^meud,

near Inverurie, Aberdeenshire. Proc. Soc. of Antiq. Scot!., vii, 110-114,

INDEX OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL PAPERS,

Chalmers (John J.). Notice of Patrick Chalmers, MR., of Haselhctid and Fedder&t, Professor of Medicine in Aberdeen, and of his Practice as a Physician in Aberdeen in the end of the 17th and beginnmgof the ISfch Centuries. Proc. Soc. of A ntiq. Scotl. y

iv. 181-185. '

_1— Notice of Sir Peter Young of Seaton ; and Copies of his

Letters to the Laird of Barnbarroch relative to their Embassies to Denmark in the Reign of James VI, Proc. Soc. of Antjq. Scot/., iv. 420-429,

Chalmers (Patrick). On the Use of Mason-Marks in Scotland* 'Arch*, xxxir, 33-3 G, < t

-_-— On the Resignation of the Kingdom of Man tp the Pope,

a. i>. 1219. Jo urn, Arch. Hss., v i. 323-320.

Chalmers (Rev. Peter), Notice of a Stone Coffin found in the Pavement of the Abbey Church, Dunfermline, in 1840, and of its Contents. Proc. Soc..of Antig. Scofl., ii, 75-77.

Chambers (J. R.). Vestiges of an Early Guild of St. Nicholas at Barnstaple, a.d. 1303. Dev. As$, y x i. 191-212,

Chambers (E. F.). Contributions towards a History of Eastbourne. Sn&s, Arch, ColL % xiv. 110.

Chambers (J. D.). Notice of the MS. No. 720, in the Lambeth Library, respecting Wells Cathedral. Somerset Arch. and Nat. Hist. Sqc, 7 xvii. 33-42.

Chambers (Robert). On Ancient Terraces of Cultivation, commonly called Daisses. Proc Soc. of Antitj. Scott. 7 i, 127-133.,

-— Notes on St, lloque, and the Chapel dedicated to him near

J id i nb urgh. Poor .. Soc. o f A n tiq, ScotL, i. 2 6 9 - 2 71.

-Notes regarding a Box which was presented by Alexander

Pope, the Poet, to his supposed Relative, the Rev, Alexander Pope, Minister of lieny, Caithness-shire. Proc. Soc. of Autiq. ScUl., ii, 19-22,

————— On a Curious Difficulty as to Evidence arising from an Entry of the Duke of York’s Nam© in the Sederunt of the Privy Council at Edinburgh, in July 1684. Proc. Soc. ofJdntiq. Scot l ii. 90-93.

-On the Locality of the Abduction of Queen Maty, Proc.

Soc. of Antiq. Scotl ., ii, 331-336.

--Memorandum respecting the Tomb of Pushup Kennedy in

the Chapel of St. Salvador’s College, St. Andrews. Arch. Scot, iv* 382-384.

Cn amperNowne (A.). On a Contortion of the Limestone of Torquay. Tmm. Dev, Am, vl 548-551.

Z§t J&octefg.

* 3

ANDREW LANG. M.A.

>

\ l

Firr-13 res iftriifs :

EDWARD B. TYLOR, LL.D., F.R.S.

THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL BEAUCHAMP. F.S.A. THE. RIGHT HON. THE EARL OP STRAFFORD. fcjlR JOHN LUBBOCK, F.R.S., F.S.A.

HPimtor:

G. LAURENCE GOMME, F.S.A,, 1, Beverley Villas, Barnes Common, S.W,

Ctauittil:

HON. JOHN ABERCROMBY EDWARD BRABROOK, F.S.A. LOY3 BRUEYRE MISS C. S. BURNE MISS SI. ROALFE COX J. G. FRAZER, M,A.

REV. DR. M. GASTER E, SIDNEY HARTLAND, F.S.A. A. GRANGER HUTT, F.S.A.

Joseph Jacobs, b.a.

W. F. KIRBY

REV. DR. RICHARD MORRIS ALFRED NUTT T. FAIRS!AN ORDISH, F.S.A. Lt.-Gex. PITT-RIVERS, D.C.L., F.R.S., F.S.A., etc, PROFESSOR A. H. SAYCE, M.A. CAPTAIN E. C. TEMPLE HENRY B. WHEATLEY, F.S.A.

SDoii. ® treasurer:

EDWARD CLODD, 111, Carleton Road, Tufnell Park, N.

*

Huinfors:

a. L. APPEBSOX .TGHX TOLHURST. F.S.A.

Eoral ^m r1(i nr&:

It'd and

South Scotland Nyrtli Scotland India ...

Ch ina . .

G, H. KIN AH AX,

WILLIAM GEORGE BLACK. REV. WALTER GREGOR, CAPTAIN R. C. TEWPLE.

J. STEWART LOCKHART,

o

Ibimarary JrmTfanj:

■T. J. FOSTER. 114, New Bond Street, W,

Whe HoIk^IEforc ^Society

TniS Society was established in 1878 for the purpose of collecting and preserving the fast-perishing relics of Folk-Lore. Under this general terra is included Folk-tales ; Hero-tales ; Traditional Ballads and Songs ; Place Legends and Traditions ; Goblindom ; Witchcraft; Leechcraft; Superstitions connected with material things ; Local Customs ; Festival Customs; Ceremonial Customs; Games; Jingles, Nursery Rhymes, Riddles, etc. ; Proverbs ; Old saws, rhymed and nnrhymed ; Nick-nameSj Place-rhymes and Sayings ; Folk-etymology.

Foreign countries have followed the example of Great Britain, and are steadily collecting and classifying their Folklore. It is most gratifying to this Society to observe that one great result of its work has been to draw attention to the subject in all parts of the world ; and it is particularly noticeable that the word “Folk-lore 71 lias been adopted from this Society as the distinguishing title of the subject in foreign countries.

Since the establishment of the Society great impetus has been given to the study and scientific treatment of those crude philosophies which Folk-lore embodies. Hence the place now accorded to it as a science, to be approached in the historic spirit and treated on scientific methods. The scope and interest of this new science enlarges the meaning for a long time given to the term Folk-lore, and the definition which the Society has adopted will illustrate the importance of the new departure. The science of Folk-lore is the comparison and identification of the survivals of archaic beliefs, customs, and traditions in modern ages.

It may be well to point out the essential characteristics of Folk-lore under the terms of this definition. It was found by observation that there exists, or existed, among the least cultured of the. inhabitants of all the countries of modern Europe, a vast body of curious beliefs, customs, and story-narratives which are handed down by tradition from generation to gene-

ration, anil the origin of wliicli is unknown. They are not supported or recognised by the prevailing religion* nor by the established law, nor by the recorded history of the several countries. They are essentially the property of the unlearned and least advanced portion of the community.

Then it was noted that wherever any body of individuals, entirely ignorant of the results of science and philosophy to which the advanced portion of the community have attained, habitually believe what their ancestors have taught them, and habitually practise the customs which previous generations have practiced, a state of mind exists which is capable of generating fresh beliefs in explanation o£ newly observed phenomena, and is peculiarly open to receive any fanciful explanations offered by any particular section of the community. Thus, in addition to the traditional belief or custom, there is the acquired belief or custom arising from a mythic interpretation of known historical or natural events*

From these potent influences in the uncultured life of a people—traditional sanctity and pro-scientific mental activity— and from the many modifications produced by their active continuance, it is clear that the subjects which constitute Folklore are really the relics of an unrecorded past in man’s mental and social history*

It is important to distinguish the study of Folk-lore from other sciences very nearly akin to it. Observing that what is religion or law to one stage of culture is superstition or unmeaning practice to another, the beliefs and customs of all savage peoples are considered and examined by folk-lorists, not because of their prevalence among savage peoples, but because of their accord with the superstitions and customs of the “Folk”, or less advanced classes in cultured nations. Anthropology is the science which deals with savage beliefs and customs in all their aspects ; Folk-lore deals with them in one of their aspects only, namely, as factors in the mental life of man, which, having survived in the highest civilisations, whether of ancient or modern times, are therefore capable of surrendering much of their history to the scientific observer*

Thus it will be seen that the subjects dealt with^by the Folk-lorist are very wide in range and of absorbing interest. Customs, beliefs, folk-tales, institutions, and whatever has been

kept alive by the acta of the Folk are Folk-lore. The other studies which illustrate Folk-lore, whether it be archaeology, geology, or anthropology, must be brought to bear upon it so that no item may be left without some attempt to determine .its place in man’s history . As Edmund Spenser wrote, nearly three hundred years ago, u By these old customer and other like conjectural! circumstances the descents of nations can only be proved where other monuments of writings are not remayning.” L

The work of the Society is divided into two branches. First, there is the collection of the remains of ^olhjlore still extant. Much remains to be done in our own country, especially in the outlying parts of England and Scotland, the mountains of Wales, and the rural parts of Ireland, Mr, Campbell only a few 7 years ago collected orally in the Highlands a very valuable group of stories, the existence of which was quite unsuspected ; and the publications of the Society bear witness to the fact that In all parts of our land the mine has abundant rich ore remaining unworked. In European countries for the most part there are native workers who are busy upon the collection of Folk-lore ; but in India and other states under English dominion, besides savage lands not politically attached to this country, there is an enormous Held where the labourers are few, A Handbook will shortly be published to guide all who wish to help in this work, and a scheme for constituting county committees in Great Britain, and local committees in various parts of the world, is being prepared.

Secondly, there is the very important duty of classifying and comparing the various items of Folk-lore as they are gathered from the people and put permanently on record. A Committee has been appointed to take in hand the section of Folk-lore devoted to Folk-tales, and they have prepared a scheme of tabulation which is being extensively used both by workers in the Society and by other students. Another Committee is dealing with customs and manners in the same way. 1 Tinted Forms are prepared for those willing to assist in these important labours.

By such means the Society feel convinced they will be able to show how r much knowledge of early man has

been lying hidden for centuries in popular traditions and customs, and this object mil be quickened by the addition to iis roll of all students interested in primitive culture. Those who cannot collect, can help in the work of classification and comparison, and much might be thus accomplished by a few -years of hearty co-operation.

The Society'is much in need of ample funds to publish its results and its material in hand, as well as to extend the area of its labours.

All the publications of the Society are issued to Members, and those volumes that are priced in the following list may be obtained by non-members of the publisher, Mr, David Nutt, i 270, Strand, W.C,

Besides the volumes prepared for the Society, Members receive a copy of the quarterly journal, Folk-Lore , published by Mr, Nutt. This journal is the official organ of the Society, in which all necessary notices to Members are published, and to which Members of the Society are invited to contribute all unrecorded items of folk-lore which become known to them from time to time, or any studies on folk-lore or ancillary subjects which they may have prepared for the purpose.

The Annual Subscription to the Society is One Guinea, and is payable in advance on the first of January in each year. This will entitle Members to receive the publications of the Society for such year. Members having joined during the present year, and desirous of obtaining the publications of the Society already issued, several of which are becoming scarce, may do bo by paying the subscriptions for the back years. Post-office orders and cheques should be sent to the Honorary Secretary.

All communications relating to literary matters, to contributions to the Journal, to the work of collection, to the tabulation* of Folk-tales, etc., and to the general aims of the Society, should be made to the Director.

Persons desirous of joining the Society are requested to send in their names to the Honorary Secretary, Mr. J, J, Foster, 311, Alma Square, St, John’s Wood, N.W,

G. Ij. GOMME, Dt reck]?'*

1, Beverley Villas > Barnes Common, S. IF.

G

Colophon

Source and witness. This edition transcribes the complete text of Folk-Lore: A Quarterly Review of Myth, Tradition, Institution, and Custom, Volume I (London: published for the Folk-Lore Society by David Nutt, 270 Strand, 1890) — the journal's founding volume, incorporating the Archaeological Review and the Folk-Lore Journal. The witness is a public-domain scan held by the Digital Library of India (from the personal collection of Hon'ble K. K. Venugopal), Internet Archive identifier dli.venugopal.327, OCR text layer 113_djvu.txt. The scan and its OCR text layer are preserved in the library's source packet with a recorded SHA-256 hash. Rights basis: published 1890, well outside any term of copyright; public domain in the United States and elsewhere (T1).

Completeness. This file carries the entire editorial content of the volume as printed: the Editorial; Andrew Lang's presidential address; every signed article and society report across all four 1890 numbers (March, June, September, December); each number's Notes and News, Correspondence, Miscellanea, and Folk-Lore Bibliography department; the one book review printed in the volume; the Report of the Annual Meeting; the volume's own Index to Articles and Index to Bibliography; the List of Officers and Members of the Folk-Lore Society for 1890–91; and both bound supplements, the Tabulation of Folk-Tales and the Index to Archaeological Journals. Nothing has been selected out or abridged. The only material omitted is the publisher's own end-of-volume advertising catalogue of other Folk-Lore Society and David Nutt publications — bookseller apparatus, not part of the journal — and page numbers and running headers, which are print-layout furniture rather than content.

OCR quality and correction policy. The source OCR is typical of a century-old scanned periodical: legible throughout, but carrying scattered character-level noise (letter substitutions, ligature errors, digit/letter confusion in numerals and dates, occasional dropped decorative drop-cap initials at a paragraph's first word). Systematic, mechanical, and disclosed corrections were applied library-wide: page numbers and repeating running headers were identified by their high-frequency recurrence on nearly every page and stripped; words split by the printer's end-of-line hyphenation were rejoined into single words; wrapped print lines were rejoined into flowing paragraphs. Section and article headings, and their by-lines, were taken from the volume's own printed Table of Contents and running heads (both independently checked against the article text itself) rather than transcribed from the often badly garbled large display type of each article's opening page — this is a same-edition cross-check, not an invented heading. A small number of clearly identifiable proper names in headings and by-lines (for example Alfred C. Haddon, badly split by OCR as "PI ADDON" in display type) were normalized against the author's own signature at the article's close and independently verifiable historical record.

Beyond this mechanical pass, the body prose of this ~216,000-word volume was not exhaustively hand-proofread word by word. Given the volume's length, correction was not extended to individual scanno-level word errors scattered through the running text (letter transpositions, misread digits, and English words broken by drop-cap OCR misses at a paragraph's opening word). This volume also quotes extensively in Greek, Latin, French, and German, and transliterates Finnish, Mordvin, Manchu, and Chinese terms; these passages carry the same OCR noise as the English prose around them and were left as scanned rather than corrected. One passage is worse than noisy: the printed Hebrew text of the Midrash Hachefetz in S. Schechter's "The Riddles of Solomon in Rabbinic Literature" was run through an OCR engine not built for Hebrew script, and the resulting block (flagged in place with an editorial note) is not reliable Hebrew — it is carried complete rather than omitted, honestly labeled as unreliable rather than silently presented as accurate. A small number of stray literal "#" characters in the raw OCR (misread printer's marks) were escaped rather than deleted, so they display as printed rather than being misread as Markdown heading syntax. Readers who need certainty on any specific word or passage should check it against the source scan referenced above, which this edition's source packet preserves. No source text has been fabricated, invented, or silently substituted anywhere in this file; where the OCR was uncertain, the printed reading was preserved as scanned rather than guessed into false confidence.

Music notation. Volume I of Folk-Lore prints no music notation (no staves, tune transcriptions, or musical examples appear anywhere in this volume's articles, reports, or supplements); there is accordingly nothing of that kind lost to this transcription.

Note on the supplements. The Tabulation of Folk-Tales is the Society's 1889–90 working scheme for classifying folktale motifs and dramatis personae by type (an ancestor of later folktale-index projects such as Aarne–Thompson); it is reproduced here as printed, a primary artifact of the discipline's early methodology rather than a finished reference tool. The Index to Archaeological Journals is the Archaeological Review's absorbed feature, continuing that journal's practice of indexing contemporary periodical literature.

Prepared for the Good Work Library by the Tianmu Anglican Church with AI-assisted transcription and editorial work.

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