This is a digital copy of a book lhal w;ls preserved for general ions on library shelves before il was carefully scanned by Google as pari of a project
to make the world's books discoverable online.
Il has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one thai was never subject
to copy right or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books
are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often dillicull lo discover.
Marks, notations and other marginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the
publisher lo a library and linally lo you.
Usage guidelines
Google is proud lo partner with libraries lo digili/e public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order lo keep providing this resource, we have taken steps to prevent abuse by commercial panics, including placing Icchnical restrictions on automated querying. We also ask that you:
+ Make n on -commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request thai you use these files for personal, non -commercial purposes.
+ Refrain from automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort lo Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help.
+ Maintain attribution The Google "watermark" you see on each lile is essential for informing people about this project and helping them find additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it.
+ Keep it legal Whatever your use. remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other
countries. Whether a book is slill in copyright varies from country lo country, and we can'l offer guidance on whether any specific use of any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liability can be quite severe.
About Google Book Search
Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through I lie lull lexl of 1 1 us book on I lie web al|_-.:. :.-.-:: / / books . qooqle . com/|
FOLK-LORE
A QUARTERLY REVIEW MYTH, TRADITION, INSTITUTION, &■ CUSTOM
BEINC
The Transactions 07 the Folk-Lore Society
And incorporating The ArcH£0LOC1CAL Review and The Folk-Lore Journal
VOL. X.— 1899.
LONDON :
DAVID NUTT, 270, STRAND 1899.
[XLIV.]
PRINTED BT J. B. NICHOLS AND SONS
PARLIAMENT MANSIONS,
ORCHARD ST., YIOTOR1A ST., 8.W.
• »
• •
• • •
• •
• •
151931
CONTENTS.
J. — (March 1899.)
Australian Gods : a Reply. Andrew Lang, If JL Australian Gods : Rejoinder. E. Sidney Hartland Proceedings at Meeting of Tuesday, November 15 th, 1898 Proceedings at Meeting of Tuesday, December aoth, 1898 Proceedings at Meeting of Wednesday, January 18 th, 1899 Annual Report of die Council Presidential Address : Britain and Folklore. Alfred Nutt
1 46
58
59 60
«3 7i
It— (JVNR 1899,)
Ethnological Data in Folklore: a Criticism. G. L. Gomme, F.S. A 199
Ethnological Data in Folklore : a Reply. Alfred Nutt . 143
Folklore from the Southern Sporades. W. H. D. Rouse, M.A- . 150
Christmas Mummers at Rugby. W. H. D. Rouse, M.A. . 186
Sqaktktquaclt, or the Benign-Faced, the Oannes of the Ntlaka-
pamuq. C. Hill-Tout . . . . . 195
III. — (September 1899.)
Proceedings at Meeting of Wednesday, February 15th, 1899 . 257 The Powers of Evil in the Outer Hebrides. Miss A. Goodrich-
Freer . . . . . . . 259
The Tar-Baby Story. Miss A. Werner . . . 282
Proceedings at Meeting of Wednesday, March 15th, 1899 . 294
Japanese Myth. W. G. Aston, C.M.G. . 294
Proceedings at Meeting of Wednesday, April 19th, 1899 . . 324
IV. — (December. 1899.)
The Place of Totemism in the Evolution of Religion. F. B.
Jevons, M.A., Litt. D. 369
Proceedings at Meeting of Wednesday, May 17th, 1899 • . 383
The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjab. Lieut-Col. R. C.
Temple, CLE. ...... 384
iv Contents.
PAGE
Proceedings at Meeting of Wednesday, June 21st, 1899 . . 443
Proceedings at Meeting of Tuesday, June 27th, 1899 . . 444
Complimentary Dinner to Prof. Starr, Monday, June 26th, 1899 . 445
Reviews : —
Lieutenant-General Pitt Rivers' Excavations in Cranborne
Chase. E. Sidney Hartland L£on Pineau's Les Vieux Chants Populaires Scandinaves. I.
Les Chants de Magie. Alfred Nutt Fletcher Moss' Folklore: Old Customs and Tales of my
Neighbours . • .
Giuseppe Rua's Tra Antiche Fiabe e Novelle. I. Le "Piacevoli
Notti " di Straparola. E. Sidney Hartland
E. J. Davis' Osmanli Proverbs and Quaint Sayings
D. Comparetti's The Traditional Poetry of the Finns, translated by Isabella M. Anderton. Hon. J. Abercromby .
George St Clair's Creation Records discovered in Egypt Eleanor Hull's The Cuchullin Saga in Irish Literature
Prof. F. York Powell ....
Henri A. Junod's Les Chants et les Contes des Baronga. Miss
A. Werner ......
Henri A. Junod's Les Ba-ronga. Etude Ethnographique
E. Sidney Hartland ....
Baron Carra de Vaux's EAbrkgh des Merveilles traduitde FArabe
J. Bruyn Andrews ..... Mrs. K. Langloh Parker's More Australian Legendary Tales
E. Sidney Hartland ....
B. Spencer and F. J. Gillen's The Native Tribes of Central
Australia. E. Sidney Hartland .
F. Hindes Groome's Gypsy Folk-tales. Alfred Nutt A. M. Alcover's Aplech de Rondayes Mallorquines. E
Sidney Hartland .....
E. C. Ellice's Place-names in Glengarry and Glenquoich and their Origin. W. A. Craigie . . . .
F. Ethel Hynam's The Secrets of the Night and other Esthonian Tales. W. F. Kirby ....
Hon. J. Abercromby's The Pre- and Proto- Historic Finns
Charles J. Billson ....
P. S^billot's Littkrature Orale de FAuvergne. Miss Mabel
Peacock ....... 333
E. Clodd's Tom Tit Tot : An Essay on Savage Philosophy in
Folktale. E. Sidney Hartland .... 334 Mrs. Gomme's The Traditional Games of England, Scotland,
and Irclarid. E. Sidney Hartland . . 336
87
95 100
102 103
104 109
217
221
225
229
23x
233 239
243 244
245 325
Contents.
PAGE
R. Brown's Semitic Influences in Hellenic Mythology and Re- searches into the Origin of the Primitive Constellations of the Greeks, Phoenicians, and Babylonians. W. Crookk . 339
J. Curtin's Creation Myths of Primitive America. Alfred Nutt ....... 341
Andrew Lang's Myth, Ritual, and Religion. E. Sidney Hartland ....... 346
R. Blair eborough's Wit, Character, Folklore, and Customs of the North Riding of Yorkshire. Miss Florence Peacock . 349
Bye-gones relating to Wales and the Border Counties. Vol. V.
E. Sidney Hartland ..... 350 Miss M. H. Kingsley's West African Studies. E. Sidney
Hartland ....... 447
S. Bugge's The Home of the Eddie Poems. Prof. F. York
Powell ....... 450
R. M. Lawrence's The Magic of the Horseshoe. Miss Florence
Peacock ....... 456
P. Se*billot's LSgendes Locales de la Haute Bretagne. I. Le Monde
Physique, and Le Veillhe de Noel. E. Sidney Hartland . 458 W. A. Craigie's Scandinavian Folk-lore. Prof. F. York
Powell .....'. 459 J. Thorkelsson's fibdsogur og Munnm&li Nytt Safn. I. Prof.
F. York Powell . . . . . .461
N. Mar^s The Fables of Wardan. F. C. Conybeare . .462
T. F. Thiselton Dyer's Old English Social Life as told by the
Parish Registers. E. Sidney Hartland . . • 475
M. Hofler's Deutsches Krankheitsnamen-Buch. E. Sidney Hartland ..... . 476
Correspondence : —
Holy Week Observance in the Abruzzi. Grant Allen
The Game of Green Gravel. Alfred R. Page
Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort. R. E. Dennett .
Kitty-Witches. Dr. W. Zuidema
Mr. St. Clair's Creation Records. Geo. St. Clair
Death-Warnings. Mabel Peacock .
Wind- and Weather-Holes. Mabel Peacock
Christmas Mummers. Florence Grove
White Cattle in British Folktales and Customs. R. Hedger
Wallace ......
Lincoln Minster, Lincoln College, Oxford, and the Devil
Grey Hubert Skipwith .... Wall-Burial. Dr. W. Zuidema and M. P. The Little Red Hen. Mabel Peacock
hi 112
113 246
246
248
249
35i 352
357 360
361
vi Contents.
PAGE
Days of the Week . f . . .361
The Nibelung Treasure in English. Lewis F. Mott and
W. P. Ker , 477
Burial Customs. J. P. Emsue . . . • 477
Miscellanea : —
To discover- a Drowned Body . . . .114
Midnight Children. Florence Peacock . . . 115
Auguries . . . . . . . 115
Irish Folklore. The Little Red Hen. Philip Redmond 116
Method of starting a New House in the Olden
Times. The Couvade ? Leland L. Duncan 118 Traditions and Superstitions collected at Kilcurry, County Louth
Ireland. Bryan J. Jones, W. B. Yeats . . .119
Superstitions relating to the Newt. Edward Peacock, F.S.A. 251
A Sicilian Festival. H. Wildon Carr . . . 252
Burial Customs. G. J. Watts, R. M. Nason, Mrs. J. Hooper 253
Some Wexford Folklore. Philip Redmond . . . 362
More Notes from Cyprus. F. O. Harvey . . . 365
Cure for Ague. M. H. James . ... . 365 Superstition regarding Women. P. H. Emerson, and.
E S. H. ....... 365
Exposition Universelle (Paris) de 1900 . . . 366
Dorset Folklore collected in 1897. H. Colley March . 478
A Crown of Thorns. M. Peacock .... 489
Australian Religion. A Lang .... 489
Folktales from the Greek Islands. W. R. Paton . . 495
Bibliography . . . . .124, 255, 367, 503
SOS
Index ........
LIST OF MEMBERS
List of Plates : —
I. Sketch Map of Kilcurry and Neighbour- hood. ..... To face page 119
II. Christmas Mummers, Newbold. The
Fight . . . . . „ 188
III. Christmas Mummers. Slaying of the
Turkish Knight . . . „ ^o
Contents. vii
IV. Christmas Mummers. Moll Finney, Dr.
Brown, Big Head and little Wits . To face page 191
V. Christmas Mummers. Humpty Jack . „ 192 VI. Christmas Mummers. Beelzebub and
Father Christmas ... „ 193 VIL Oxen Ploughing on the Cotswolds:
Elkstone, 1897 . . . Frontispiece
VIII. May Ladies, King's Lynn, 1894 . • To face page 443
ERRATA.
Page 61, line 25, insert Mr. W. H. D. Rouse.
Page 95, line 31, for Leon read Lhn.
Page 123, note 2, line 4, for Ireland read Iceland.
Page 174, lines 25, 26, for Immaculate Conception read An- nunciation.
Page 186, note, line 1, for F. L.J. vol. //., //. 88-89 read F.L. Record, vol. Hi., part /., pp. 87-90.
folk*%ovc.
TRANSACTIONS OF THE FOLK-LORE SOCIETY.
# m
Vol. X.] MARCH, 1899. [No- l-
AUSTRALIAN GODS. A Reply.
BY ANDREW LANG, M.A.
WHEN I first glanced at Mr. Hartland's trenchant critique of my Australian Gods (Folk-Lore, December, 1898), I " bounded on my chair," as the French say. " Can I be this guilty creature ? " I asked myself, and a trusty friend in the anthropological line hastened to assure me that I was. I had deserted the camp, he said ; I had taken service under the colours of Mr. Max Muller; and Mr. Hartland, reluctantly but firmly, had hewed me to pieces before the Totem in Gilgal, or at all events had " cut me up."
However, my nerves recovered their tone. I sat down to read Mr. Hartland carefully and to verify his references (as far as I could get the authorities). Then my strength, or at all events my confidence, returned unto me. If I wished to be " trenchant " (which I do not) I could urge: (1) That Mr. Hartland's argument is of the nature of an ignoratio elenchu This means that Mr. Hartland, with infantry, cavalry, artillery, volunteers, and mounted police, storms what he takes to be my position, and captures it without a scratch, though with great expenditure of powder and shot. But the position was unheld and undefended ; the fortified crest of my Australian Olympus is in quite a different vol. x. B
v..
!••
•V
Australian Gods.
• • .
direction. Mr. Hartland's onset is magnificent, mat's, pZtpleu, ce n'est pas la guerre. (2) Having occupied a •' 'strategic point which nobody defended, Mr. Hartland set to work to fortify his own camp. Among his materials he > employed two contradictories, which, I need hardly say, cannot logically be conceived as simultaneously true by the mere unaided un-Hegelian human intellect Nor, in fact, did Mr. Hartland achieve this miracle ; he " escaped his own notice " (as the Greek idiom runs) in first holding one of the contradictories and then deserting it, and to some extent holding its opposite. Either might be a trenchant reply to me, but I am not to be asked to face both con- tradictories at once, nor even " one down and the other come on." If all this be true, as I believe, Mr Hartland has not done me very much harm. On the other hand, he has incidentally done me much good, and I shall hasten to make such corrections and modifications of my work as seem necessary or desirable after a study of his censures.
Now we may come to business.
The general drift of my theory is that, obscured and even contradicted by many myths, religious ideas of a relatively high order exist among low savages such as these most archaic peoples,1 the Australian tribes, and are not to be explained as the result of a long process of evolution which began in the propitiation of ghosts of the dead. There must be some other explanation of the rise of these ideas, and as to the nature of that explanation I repeatedly decline to theorise. Mr. Hartland " agrees with Mr. Lang that the evidence will not warrant such a conclusion V as that " the idea of God has arisen from that of a ghost or disembodied spirit " 2 (Fo/i-Lore, p. 292). To make that point, on which Mr. Hartland and I are happily agreed, was one of
1 See preface to Myth, Ritual, and Religion, and vol. i., ch. xl (1887).
* " Many anthropologists," says Mr. Hartland, " are of this opinion." I have not the advantage of knowing their works, unless they be those of M. Reville and his allies.
Australian Gods. 3
my chief objects. The hypothesis which we both discard has, however, become almost a commonplace of anthro- pological science. I am especially anxious to prove that we have not yet the materials for a scientific theory of the evolution of religion. As Mr. Hartland says, I distrust my own theory, or rather my own surmise, which by the way I have never yet fully stated. I suspect all theories which deal with man's psychology and reasoning powers when he was in a condition more primitive than any of which we have historical knowledge. Thus, as Mr. Hartland says, before man evolved the notion of " a disembodied spirit," he may, as " conscious himself of will, sensation, and reason, have endowed everything round him with these qualities." He may have done so ; in myth he certainly does so ; how far playfully, or imaginatively, is a moot point. Again, whether man really did so before he had an idea of a disembodied spirit we certainly cannot, historically, know ; and Mr. Herbert Spencer opposes this theory, not without success. I therefore prefer to take up man as historically known to us. I, at least, have only guesses, not, like Mr. Hartland, " glimpses," at man " when he had not attained to the conception of a disembodied spirit." As historically known to us, man, I think, has the germ of the conception of " a moral, relatively Supreme Being, a Creator," even while man is " in very rudimentary social conditions " (Mr. Hartland, Folk-Lore, p. 292).
It is here that Mr. Hartland differs from me. Now I would beg Mr. Hartland to observe that, while I think early man has this lofty conception, I have never denied, I think, that of the same " moral, relatively Supreme Being, a Creator," man has also simultaneously quite contradictory conceptions. This is constantly dwelt on in my Myth, Ritual, and Reli- gion. The contradictions are of the very essence of mytho- logy, and occur in every ancient religion which includes a belief in gods. As an American critic, Professor Starr, states my case : " That primitive creature (man) may early
b 2
Australian Gods.
have had a variety of notions in his mind, but among his earliest original conceptions is the idea of a kind, creative. Supreme Being, whom men may worship." ' 1 have referred to possible totemism, teraphim-worship, tree-worship, and stone-worship, even in early Israel. I never dreamed of denying to the Australians similar departures from the belief in "a kind, creative, Supreme Being" (not that 1 know them to worship stones and trees), or any quantity of myths in which their Supreme Beings appear in every conceivable undignified figure and action. Consequently, none of Mr. Hartland's extracts from the chronique scandaleuse of Bunjil or Baiame disproves my contention that the notion of " a kind, creative Supreme Being " is among the ideas of the Austra- lians. " The mythology of the god is a kind of joke with no sacredness about it," I said. " No doubt this is a very con- venient way of treating awkward statements," says Mr. Hartland. But what is all the puaaling part of mythology but "a kind of joke," a series of irreverences towards the central religious conception at its best? And what is the puzzle of mythology but this " silly, senseless, and savage element," as Mr. Max Miiller says, puzzling just because so closely associated with the belief in beings who, at lowest, are dreaded and powerful ?
Our own sacred writings include the idea of a kind, creative Supreme Being ; but surely it is needless to point out that, as in Australia, contradictory statements also occur, both as to the moral and creative aspects. (Genesis, t. 27, ii. 7, 21; Luke iii. 38 (this text, of course, is not meant literally); James i. 13; 1 Kings xxii. 20-23.) Mr. Hartland says " the sublime conception of the creative fiat as set forth in the book of Genesis, and interpreted by Christian dogma, is the product of ages of civilisation." Yet, despite these ages of civilisation, our sacred books contain contradictions of the idea of sheer
1 Tht DiaJ, Decern !wi i, :8oS. This crilic, I presume, is ihe donor of a collection of Mexican folklore objects to the Society.
Australian Gods. 5
creation, and contradictions of our later morality, in the Creator. Israel, none the less, certainly believed in a moral Creator.1 Why, then, if similar contradictions occur in the beliefs of " men in a rudimentary social condition," should these contradictions militate against my assertion that these men also possess the notion of " a moral, relatively Supreme Being, a Creator " ? If the Australians have no such idea because they have myths which contradict it, then Israel, by parity of reasoning, had no such idea. Yet (without dis- cussing the validity of the belief in question) Mr. Hartland will not deny that Israel did possess that belief. How then can he deny that some Australians possess it ? That denial he may establish otherwise, but he cannot establish it by adducing any number of contradictory Australian myths. To adduce these, however, is a great part of his criticism of myself. With these contradictory myths I shall deal later. Mr. Hartland states my thesis thus : " He holds that ' all the most backward races historically known to us ' had by reasoning arrived at the belief in a moral, eternal, omni- scient Creator and Judge " {Folk-Lore, p. 293). I am very much obliged to Mr. Hartland for not saying (like most of my critics) that I attribute the belief to Revelation ! In fact I repeatedly declined to give any theory of how the belief arose. I recommend " scientific nescience" (p. 315). The rise of the belief is "a point on which we possess no positive evidence " (p. 293). Mr. Hartland says that I adopt the theory of " reasoning " as the source of the belief, because I say that St. Paul's hypothesis of its rise from the " Argu- ment from Design" "is not the most unsatisfactory." That patronising remark of mine is hardly the statement of a theory. I have stated none ; I have declined to state any ; but now I will venture on a surmise. The point is really of
1 At how early a date is too wide a question for discussion here. Nor do I ask whether the writer in Genesis consciously put to himself metaphysical questions about matter. Perhaps matter is still non-existent I
6 Australian Gods.
great psychological interest, quite apart from our main dis- cussion.
Mr. Hartland writes : " On the antecedent improbability that naked savages, without any organised system of govern- ment, and incapable of counting up to seven, could have attained a philosophical conception so lofty, there is no need to argue.' ' * Now here a good deal turns on words. Mr. Hartland accuses me of " many expressions rhetorically used anent the gods of the lower races," and to my rhetoric, perhaps, is due the appearance of " a lofty philosophical conception" (Folk-Lore, p. 312). There is a great deal of force in his censure, and I shall here try to strip off the rhetoric, about which, however, I have more to say later. It would have been wise in me to explain my meaning with less of rhetorical effusiveness, for a meaning I have, thus : " Moral " — I mean that certain of these beings are moral — relatively to the morality of their tribes. Mr. Howitt dis- tinctly asserts this. The tribes (or some tribes) have " beliefs which govern tribal and individual morality under a supernatural sanction " (Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol. xiii., p. 59). To what extent the morality goes we shall later consider. " Eternal" — that the Being of the belief was "from all eternity" I cannot demonstrate; he was "in the beginning," which Mr. Hartland may construe as he pleases, and (in some statements) he " made everything " (Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol. xxiv., p. 101). Here blackfellows alone are excepted, they were made by a demiurge. I don't know if Heaven was the Maker's original home ; it could hardly have been earth " before it was made." " Omniscient " — " He can see you, and all you do down here," as a black was told in early youth, " before the white men came to Melbourne " (Mr. Hart- land, Folk-Lore, p. 307). "Tharamulun himself watched
1 Mr. Hartland smiles at " unconscious English Deists in paint and scars and feathers." The position of the Dinkas, according to Russegger, is also that "of Deists."
Australian Gods. 7
the youth from the sky, prompt to punish," and so on (Howitt, Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol. xiii., p. 192). "I could not do that, He would be very angry" (same place). "The All-seeing Spirit saw," and so on (Mrs. Langloh Parker, More Legendary Tales, p. 84). In this case, it is Baiame's messenger who is all- seeing, and tells all to him, who, therefore, knows all. That the Beings observe human conduct, Mr. Hartland, perhaps, will admit, whether Pundjel does so from a stellar observatory or not. " Creator " — of that point I give evi- dence in a future page. "Judge " — as to that, Mr. Howitt's evidence seems sufficient; more will be offered as we advance. Thus, of my rhetoric, " eternal " is overstrained. When, in my rhetorical mood, I used the term "Omniscient," I did not mean that Baiame, for instance, was supposed to know the inner verity about the Rontgen rays, or even to know the future. I was thinking of him, or Daramulun, in relation to his knowledge of human conduct : in fact, as Mr. Hartland says, I was " rhetorical." Of the other ideas, I may say that the attributes of the Beings, as given by me, seem precisely such as we, when children, could entertain as a result of Christian teaching. Mr. Tylor, we shall see, is so much impressed by all this, that he regards Christian teaching as their source, a question to which I shall return. Meanwhile, if Mr. Tylor (who is not on my side here) regards these beliefs as of Christian origin, I may surely state them in the Christian terms which I " rhetori- cally " use, after offering that explanation of my rhetoric which I ought to have given before.
Well, even on my present statement, perhaps Mr. Hart- land will think that the belief (as qualified above) in " a moral, eternal, omniscient Creator and Judge" is "antece- dently improbable." The tribes cannot count up to seven ; how then could they evolve such ideas ? This raises that interesting and important question, Of what are " the high mental faculties of early man " (as Mr. Darwin says)
8 Australian Gods.
capable? In the instance of the Australians, in practical matters they "show conspicuous ability ;" there are other directions in which they are as conspicuously deficient. "This is, perhaps, shown most clearly in the matter of counting," seldom going beyond four.1 "Their mental powers are simply developed along the lines which are of service to them in their daily life." Now we think arithmetic of indis- pensable service in daily life ; religion by no means so. In practical life, however, the religious conceptions of the Aus- tralians are indispensable to the structure of their society. Daramulun and Co. (" under many names one form," as Mr. Howitt shows) keep the women and the young people in order, and the secrets of their mysteries are guarded by capital punishment. Tribal society notoriously falls to pieces without the beliefs which I have stated. Now their " mental powers, developed along the lines which are of service to them in daily life," we are told are " of con- spicuous ability." Our Voltairean predecessors would, there- fore, have argued that native " powers of conspicuous ability" had here taken the serviceable shape of informal priestcraft, and had evolved religious ideas for political purposes, as Maitland of Lethington was accused of calling the existence of a deity " a bogle of the nursery." Thus the old men would develop the idea of a bogle, who " can see all you do," can punish you now or after death, or both, who is, in fact, so far moral and knowing and potent. Perhaps Mr. Hart- land will admit that " reasoning " might go to this extent, even if the savages (whose marriage laws, by the way, "might puzzle a mathematician") cannot count up to seven ? I do not know if high mental powers were needed to frame these marriage laws, but to understand them demands powers unspeakably higher than mine. Once more, the Arunta can hardly count up to five, but they have a conception of beings whose name means "Out of Nothing," or "Self-existing"
1 Spencer and Gillen, Natives of Central Australia, p. 25.
Australian Gods. 9
(Ungambikula)} Such beings might verge on the "eter- nal/' but they tailed off, and vanished into animal myth. Mr. Hartland, I daresay, will not contradict my evidence for the " self-existing " beings " out of nothing/' for it is not given by a missionary. Here then the Arunta have " a philosophical conception " which is a little surprising ; though they spoil it, still they have it. " Antecedently improbable " it may be, but there it is !
Now, as to the antecedent improbability of savages who cannot count up to seven possessing the beliefs which I attribute to them, is that improbability so great ? I dislike offering a theory about what occurred in "the Dream Time" (Alcheringa) behind our historical knowledge of mankind. But I will venture on a surmise, on the lines of St. Paul
(Romans i. 19). It is a guess, not a " glimpfee." As soon as man could make anything, he had, undeniably, the idea of " making." But he was surrounded by things which he certainly had not made, yet which were adapted to his use. It is conceivable that, possessing the idea of making, he guessed that these things were " made." To take examples of savage speculation, from regions far apart, an Eskimo said : " Certainly there must be some Being who made all these things. He must be very good too" (Cranz, i., 199). A Kaffir said to M. Arbrousset : " Twelve years ago I went to feed my flocks. I sat down upon a rock and asked myself sorrowful questions, yes, sorrowful because I was unable to
answer them Who can have given to the earth the
wisdom and power to produce ? " (Casalis, The Bassutos, p. 239.) These are missionary reports, but I cannot always dismiss a statement because a missionary is the reporter, nor is missionary evidence scouted by my adversaries when it seems to tell on the other side. Of course an Eskimo, much more a Kaffir, is far from the beginnings of the race. But I surmise that " the high faculties of early
1 Ibid., p. 388.
io Australian Gods.
man " might lead him from the idea of making to that of a maker. Once conceived of, the idea of his goodness is not remote, for the things made are " good," or so the savage thinks. The idea of power is implicit in that of making " such a number of things," and power may take the shape of All-seeing, while that conception is caught at, and the All-seeing One sanctions tribal morality : or, if Mr. Hartland insists on it, sanctions the interests of the old men.
I will take a step further. The natural character of many savages (however it was evolved) is generous and kindly, even to aliens, even to white men. Children are remarkably well treated. (See Mr. Man on the Andamanese, Spencer and Gillen on Central Australia, Mr. Wallace on the Malay Archipelago, Le Jeune on the Hurons, &c.) Therefore the filial sentiment may accrue to the conception of the maker (Mungan-ngaur, Our Father; Papang, Father). Now, is this process of " reasoning " beyond " high mental powers," beyond "conspicuous ability," such as the blacks are allowed to possess ? Is it not a great deal easier and simpler than the intricate speculations by which Mr. Tylor makes early man evolve the idea of a disembodied spirit ? Is the con- ception more subtly metaphysical than that of " self-existing beings," " beings out of nothing," which the Arunta possess ? Yet the conception of a primal good maker, guardian of morality, all-seeing, is capable of being stated, in my rhetorical terms, as that of " a moral, eternal, omniscient Creator and Judge." It is partly a matter of capital letters and Latinised words. If the idea of man's surviving soul arose subsequent to that of the maker (about which I profess no opinion), then the maker would look after the souls as he does, in a future life. All this, if true, is unaffected by myths which represent the maker as a one-legged, poly- gamous, anthropomorphic, deceitful being who dies (like Zeus in Crete), or is "destroyed" like Daramulun, by the fiat of a superior being. To the death and destruction of Daramulun I return later. Meanwhile, in my opinion, early
Australian Gods. n
man (and very late man too) may have a great idea, or the germ of a great idea, but may be constitutionally incapable of regarding it fixedly, of living on its level, of refraining from sportive fancy in its regard, enjtn, from adding " myth " to " religion."
My position may be illustrated by a passage in Mr. Darwin's Descent of Man. Mr. Darwin held that by aid of his " high mehtal faculties " (and very high they needed to be) " man was first led to believe in unseen spiritual agencies, then in fetishism " (an unseen spiritual agency in a stick, stone, feather, or what not), " polytheism, and ulti- mately in monotheism.'1 1 The Australian belief is not, of course, doctrinal monotheism, but it does not seem to me to have been reached by way either of spiritualism, fetishism, or polytheism, of which there are only faint traces. Now, Mr. Darwin had already said "the feeling of religious devotion is a highly complex one, consisting of love, com- plete submission to an exalted and mysterious superior, a strong sense of dependence, fear, reverence, gratitude, hope for the future, and perhaps other elements. No being could experience so complex an emotion until advanced in his intellectual and moral faculties to at least a moderately high level," but a dog can "make some distant approach to this state of mind." An Australian savage makes a nearer approach. " Love " is implied in the term " Our Father,'' which, as Mr. Howitt satisfied himself (I think), is not of Christian origin (Journal of the Anthropological Insti- tute, vol. xiii., p. 192). "Submission" is expected of the initiated, and illustrated by Mr. Howitt's old man who would not eat emu eggs : " He might see me, and be very angry." A strong sense of dependence must be felt on the Being whose " voice brings the rain " and makes life possible. " Fear and reverence " are sometimes indicated by the not taking of this Being's name in vain, not men-
1 Darwin, Descent of Man, p. 68, 1871.
Australian Gods.
tioning it outside of the mysteries. 0
trace, and perhaps the natives, absorb not hope. Here, at all events, are the which implies, as Mr. Darwin writes, " faculties on at least a moderately higl
: gratitude I see little id in the present, do ilements of a religion ntellectual and moral level." How high?
Mr. Darwin writes : " The Fuegians rank among the lowest barbarians ; but I was continually struck with surprise how closely {sic) the three natives on board H.M.S. 'Beagle,1 who had lived some years in England and could talk a little English, resembled us in disposition and in most of our mental faculties." They could talk a little English (mani- festly York could do so on board ship), but could Mr. Darwin talk a little Fuegian? Probably not, as he was wholly unable to learn German. The mental faculties of Billy Button and York could give those of Mr. Darwin "a stroke a hole " in language. German was hard to read for him, just as the Australians cannot count up to seven. The question is, then, whether "antecedent improbability" makes it unlikely that men of such high faculties, men who have confessedly been equal to the abstract speculation required before a ghost can be conceived of, are unequal to the ideas which I assign to them. I see no improbability in the matter. So much for the "antecedent improbability" of Mr. Hartland.
But, I have observed, early man may be incapable of regarding these ideas fixedly, of living on their level, and of refraining from sportive fancy in their regard. Early man's incapacity in these respects produced his humorous, obscene, and trivial myths, contradictory of his religious conceptions. As Mr. Darwin remarks, "The same high mental faculties which first led man to believe .... would infallibly lead him, as long as his reasoning powers remained poorly developed, to various strange superstitions and cus- tODU>" This degeneration from the higher level, Mr. Darwin compares to the occasional mistakes "in the instincts of the lower animals" {op. cit., p. 69). The good element seems
. Australian Gods. 13
to be primal, in Mr. Darwin's view, and normal; the bad or, as I say, the mythical element is secondary and aberrant (Darwin, Descent of Ma*, vol. i., pp. 68, 69. 1871). That is precisely my belief. Among the superstitions are the myths contradictory of religion. Among the customs are the cruel rites of Central Australia and Central N. W. Queensland. Myth results from man's want of power, or of desire, to keep on the level of his higher religious ideas. We see this in the Mirchen and mummeries of popular mediaeval Christianity, and in mediaeval tales about God which cannot have been adopted from a prior paganism. We have already glanced at the contradictory stories which remain in Holy Writ. The idea of the immortality of Zeus is familiar to Homer, but the grave of Zeus was shown in Crete. Manifestly people like the Australian tribes are sure to be even less apt than Hebrews, Greeks, or peasant Christians to remain on the level of their highest conceptions. They will anthropomorphise, reduce Baiame to a Wirreenun (in a tale " told to piccanninies " ), will let their fancies play freely around him. But they have among these lower fancies the loftier ideas, and these were abso- lutely denied to them. (As by Mr. Huxley and Sir John Lubbock.)
I can here adopt the statement of Mr. Tylor with the change of a single word. " High above the doctrine of souls, of divine manes, of local nature gods, of the great gods of class and element, there are to be discerned in barbaric theology, shadowings, quaint or majestic, of the conception of a Supreme Deity, henceforward to be traced onward, in expanding power and brightening glory along the history of religion." l Put "savage" for " barbaric," and I have no alteration to make. In the "majestic" we have " religion; " in the "quaint" we have "myth."
This brings us to an important general point : how, in
1 Primitive Culture vol. ii., pp, 332, 333.
14 Australian Gods.
this discussion, do I define a myth? Mr. Hartland asks, " What is the distinction between religious belief and myth ? Where does the one begin and the other end ? " (Folk-Lore, p. 296.) I may refer Mr. Hartland for an answer to what he might have consulted, namely, what I wrote twelve years ago in Myth, Ritual, and Religion ; for here at least I have not altered my ideas since writing that book (vol. i., ch. xi.). But Mr. Hartland might think that I had changed my mind. " Since the actual truth cannot be determined by observation and experiment, the question as to the first germs of the divine conception must here be left unanswered. But it is possible to disengage and examine apart the two chief elements in the earliest as in the latest ideas of Godhead. Among the lowest and most backward, as amongst the most advanced races, there co- exist the mythical and the religious elements in belief. The rational factor (or what approves itself to us as the rational factor) is visible in religion ; the irrational is prominent in myth. The Australian, the Bushman, the Solomon Islander, in hours of danger and necessity 'yearns after the gods/ and has present in his heart the idea of a father and friend. This is the religious element. The same man, when he comes to indulge his fancy for fiction, will degrade this spiritual friend and father to the level of the beasts, and will make him the hero of comic or repulsive adventures. This is the mythical or irrational element. Religion in its moral aspect always traces back to the belief in a power that is benign and works for righteous- ness. Myth, even in Homer or the Rig- Veda, perpetually falls back on the old stock of absurd and immoral divine adventures."
This line is drawn repeatedly in Myth, Ritual, and Religion (1887). I admit that "the belief in a Creator, it may be argued, is itself — a myth." Now, without discussing that argument, I would be understood thus: The lowest savages, I think (contrary to a generally held opinion), have
Australian Gods. 15
elements of what we moderns, whether believers or unbe- lievers, recognise as " religion." They have the conception of a Being, prior to death, often of unknown origin, not (in certain cases) subject to mortality, existing in, or above, the sky, who punishes breaches of his laws, in certain cases moral laws (or if you prefer it, laws of morality in the making or becoming), who, in certain instances, rewards or punishes men after death ; who is often hailed as " Father ; " who, like Mr. Howitt's Daramulun, " can go anywhere and do anything."
This belief I choose to call " religious," because it con- forms in its rude way to and is the germ of what we com- monly style " religion." On the other hand, a multitude of obscene or humorous tales are apt to be told of this being, which correspond to passages in the documents of nearly all religions, and to the Marchen about the sacred person- ages of the Christian religion. These tales I call " myths." The essential problem of mythology has ever been " Why do peoples, ancient and modern, tell these anecdotes about Beings of whom they give, at other times, or at the same time, such a contradictory account ? " I would answer that what I call the religion represents one human mood, while the myth represents another, both moods dating from savagery. "They stand- as near each other, and as far apart, as lust and love." This is where I draw the line. Religious ideas are such as, with refinements, survive in what I mean by religion, mythical ideas are such as don't, or should not.
Here, I presume, Mr. Hartland and I cannot be recon- ciled. He says : " If the mythology of the god be ' a kind of joke with no sacredness about it ' " (my phrase) " then the myth of making or creating has no sacredness about it " [Folk-Lore, p. 296). Mr. Hartland, reasoning thus, pro- duces a collection of myths about Australian gods, as if they were fatal to my argument. Some of them (as I shall explain) were unknown to me, but my argument, as 1 myself
1 6 Australian Gods.
understand it, remains unaffected. For to what does my argument tend? Merely to prove the existence, among low savage notions, of the ideas which I call " religious/' such as the idea of a maker, a superhuman father, a judge, and so forth. The existence of these notions among low savages has constantly been denied. I demonstrate the fact that these notions do exist. That contradictory notions co-exist with them, that Daramulun is said to mean " lame leg," that he is said to " die," that he has wives, and so on, makes no kind of difference to me.
Mr. Hartland says: "Daramulun .... died; this eternal Creator with a game leg died, and his spirit (Bulabong) went up to the sky, where he has since lived with the ghosts." Now it is plain that an advanced thinker of the popular atheistic sort might state in a similar form of raillery the
central idea of Christianity Perhaps, therefore, the
Australians borrowed this doctrine — except the " game leg " — from missionaries.
I turn from Mr. Hartland's statement of Australian belief to that of Mr. Howitt, who is our chief source of knowledge. Mr. Howitt (before he was initiated) wrote: "Tharamulun, after teaching his people the art which they knew [know ?], and establishing their social ordinances, died, and his spirit {Bulabong) went up to the sky, where he has since lived with the ghosts" {Journal of the Anthropological Insti- tute, vol. xiii., p. 194).
This passage I inadvertently overlooked. If this be the general belief, namely that Daramulun died, whereas Bunjil and Baiame were only translated, I shall look on Daramu- lun as a " ghost-god," and as a triumph for Mr. Herbert Spencer and Mr. Grant Allen. But (after he was initiated) Mr. Howitt wrote : " There is clearly a belief in a Great Spirit, or rather an anthropomorphic Supernatural Being, the * Master' of all," and so forth {Journal of the Anthro- pological Institute, vol. xiii., p. 458). I scarcely think that " an anthropomorphic Supernatural Being," as such
Australian Gods. 17
distinguished by Mr. Howitt from a " Great Spirit," is the same thing as the bulabong of a dead man. But, in Mr. Howitt's earlier statement, Daramulun is only the bulabong of a dead man. Which version am I to accept ? Surely we cannot injure the cause of science by waiting till Mr. Howitt can oblige us with his mature opinion. We need not refine as to the shades of sense of the word " spirit." A savage can distinguish between the surviving bulabong of a dead man, and the existence (up to date) of a primal being who was before death, and (up to date) is not dead. Bunjil is of the latter class, and so is Baiame. I wish to be more positively informed as to which class Daramulun belongs to, in Mr. Howitt's present opinion.
As to the Wiraijuri myth according to which Daramulun does not exist at all, having been " destroyed " by Baiame, it has nothing to do with the creed of which Mr. Howitt has given us an account. The Wiraijuri live far remote from the Coast Murring, who, so far as appears, know nothing about Baiame at all. It seems that I erroneously grouped the Wiraijuri among nations who regard Daramulun as supreme. They do not, and their beliefs appear to be the result of syncretism, unless we suppose that, where Daramulun is supreme, his worshippers have suppressed Baiame.
I must admit that I have no explicit proof that Daramulun is regarded as a Creator. He is only the " Great Master " {Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol xiii., p. 442), the Father (xiii., 443), the sky-dweller (xiii., 192), the insti- tutor of society (xiii., 459), the power whose voice " calls to the rain to fall and make the grass green " (xiii., 446), the being for whom "the boys are made so that Daramulun likes them," a process involving repeated cries of nga = " good " (xiii., 451), the person who lends a " supernatural sanction" to "beliefs which govern tribal and individual morality" (xiii., 459). Daramulun's attributes and powers are "precisely those of Baiame" (xiv., 321), who is spoken of as a Creator accord- ing to Mr. Ridley and others, though this does not involve vol. x. c
1 8 Australian Gods.
Mr. Howitt. Mr. Tylor remarks : " Howitt finds them [cer- tain other Australian deities] treated as corresponding or equivalent to Baiame, the Creator . . . . " (Tylor, Journal of the Anthropological Institute^ 1891, p. 295). All these attributes suffice, in my view, to furnish a deity far more respectable than the Australians are usually credited with ; a being much on the level of the Wintu Olelbis, described in Mr. Curtin's recent book on American Creation Myths. The existence of degrading myths about the same being does not, to my mind, annihilate the fact that the higher beliefs are also part of primitive theology.
" Where is the distinction between religious belief and myth ? " Mr. Hartland asks. Why, in my sense, just there. The immortal Zeus who punishes wrong is religious, as is the Daramulun who punishes wrong, " looking down from the sky." The dead Daramulun, the dead Zeus, are mythical. From the moral and religious aspect springs all religion, even if the religious and moral aspect be but another myth. From the dead Zeus, the destroyed Dara- mulun, springs nothing of human importance, whereas religion — a myth or not a myth — is undeniably of human importance.
Having done his best to demolish the character of Dara- mulun, Mr. Hartland now falls upon that of Baiame (Folk- Lore} pp. 300-305). He derives his evidence from Mr. Matthews, or, in part, from Mr. Crawley, the officer of police, who is so far from being a linguist that he says: " Many of the blacks who attended this Bora (1894 ?) could speak fairly good English, and were able to under- stand the purport of questions and give suitable replies." This Bora was under English patronage, or charity, and the old and the children were fed on European supplies. At these late rites of 1894, Baiame has a wife, sons on her begotten, and so on. Very well, I have evidence fifty years earlier that Baiame was reckoned celibate and had an unbegotten, practically omniscient son. He
Australian Gods. 19
cannot well go on " begetting boys " where he is rooted to a crystal rock, and excludes women like aTrappist monastery. The earlier recorded belief does not cease to be a fact in evidence because a contradictory belief is produced from an extremely Europeanised set of natives, not, of course, that they adopted these ideas from Europeans. Again, at this charitably supported recent Bora there was a kangaroo dance, as all kinds of animal dances occur, whether in a totemistic connection or as " medicine-dances " to secure success in hunting.1 A myth is told of the institution of this dance by Baiame, " this Creator skulks in a tree " (like Zeus in the oak),2 and his effigy shows him sprawling in a futile effort to catch an emu. I venture to suggest that the dance being practised, an aetiological myth of the usual kind was told to explain the origin of the dance and adventure. " Baiame first danced the dance, and had the tumble." Ritual is the parent of myth, as Mr. Frazer says. In just the same way the rite with an oak-tree bride in Greece was explained by an aetiological myth about Zeus, the tree, and Hera. This did not detract from the honour of Zeus, and I ask no more licence for Australian than for Greek ritual. Both rituals contain humorous or even disgraceful incidents ; both are connected with high Gods. The Eleusinia consoled and fortified Pindar and Sophocles, despite the pigs, the buffooneries, the obscenities of Baubo, and perhaps the licentious orgies, which, Mr. Matthews was told, occur in one night in the Wiradthuri rites. I don't want to " shirk " any such details, Greek or Australian, they in no way impede my argument.3
1 Collins, 1798, records this dance, or one similar.
2 For Zeus and the Oak see The Golden Bough, vol ii., p. 369, note 2, but I cannot here agree with Mr. Frazer.
8 The bullock represented in the Bora of 1894 may promote success in cattle- stealing, for aught I know ; of course it could not occur before we brought in bullocks. It can hardly be a totem !
C 2
20 Australian Gods.
Next Baiame is attacked in his character as the Creator. Here we must get rid of the Rev. Mr. Ridley's evidence, which is quoted from Mr. Brough Smyth (vol. ii., p. 285). Mr. Ridley, I admit, is a missionary ! His blacks " are acquainted with English, and have therefore presumably come into contact with English ideas " {Folk-Lore, p.301), which they are notoriously eager to adopt in religion. Very good, but it was in 1854 that Mr. Ridley, who had learned Kamilaroi, and who lived with the blacks for two or three years, put the question " Do you know Baiame ? " The answer was (not in English), "Kamil Zaia Zutntni Baiame, Zaia Winuz- gulda " (" I have not seen Baiame, I have heard, or per- ceived, him"). The same answer was given by a black eighteen years later (1872), to whom Mr. Ridley "had never spoken before. " " If asked who made the sky, the earth, the animals, they always answer ' Baiame ' " (Jour- nal of the Anthropological Institute, 1872, pp. 268, 269). Impressed by these replies, Mr. Ridley, in 1856, introduced Baiame as equivalent to our God, or Creator, into certain primers for missionaries [Gur re Kamilaroi, Ridley, Sydney, 1856). Jehovaka and Eloi, attempted about 1830-40 by Mr. Threlkeld, did not take with the natives, nor did Immanueli, which Mr. Ridley endeavoured to introduce himself.1 Mr. Ridley, in 1855, found that the blacks on the Barwan and Namoi " say there is one Being who made all things, whom they never saw, though they hear his voice in the thunder. They speak of him by the name ' Baiame, ' and those who have learned that ' God ' is the name by which we speak of the Creator, say that ' Baiame is God.' " But, at this date, Mr. Ridley " never heard them speak of Baiame as a ruler, nor ascribe wisdom and goodness to him." They knew Daramulun as " author of disease and medical
1 Lang's Queensland, 186 1, p. 435. See also Mr. Threlkeld, An Australian Language. This is of 1892, but contains reprints of Mr. Threlkeld's works of 1831-1857.
Australian Gods. 21
skill, of mischief and wisdom also ; he appears in the form of a serpent at their assemblies," like Asclepius.1 Mr. Ridley, of course, was uninitiated.
Now, if Mr. Ridley's negative evidence, which is early (tour of 1855), is accepted, if we are quite ready to believe that he never heard of Baiame as ruler at that date, why are we to reject his affirmative evidence of the same date about Baiame as a Maker or Creator? He knewthe language, he could write Kamilaroi prose, and, if his missionary bias led him to find, or feign, a Creator, why did it not lead him to find, or feign, a moral Ruler ? One fancy or fiction was as easy, to a missionary, as the other.
We now arrive at a point in Mr. Hartland' s argument which my mind broods fondly over ; it is so rich in possi- bilities. Looked at in one way, Mr. Hartland might seem to be in a dilemma. Looked at in another, he might appear to have a choice between two theories, each of them seduc- tive, " were t'other dear charmer away." The dilemma is this : Mr. Hartland accuses me of using expressions against which we must be on our guard, such as " Father in Heaven," " and many other expressions rhetorically used by Mr. Lang anent gods of the lower races. They convey to our minds reminiscences of Christian teaching of which the savage mind is guiltless" (p. 312). The savage mind is guiltless of Christian teaching, tout va bien ! To be sure the savage mind has (like Christians) the conception of a Father, and that Father is in the Heaven, in the literal sense of the word. Mungan-ngaur = " Our Father ; " his home in various versions is in, or above, the heavens. But the savage's mind is " guiltless of Christian teaching." So Mr. Hartland writes on page 312, while on page 302 he
1 Lang's Queenslatidy pp. 444, 445. Compare the singular parallel in Massachusetts, where (1622) Kichtan answers to Baiame : Hobamock (appear- ing as a snake and the friend of sorcerers) to Daramulun. Winslow, in Arber's Captain Smith, p. 768.
22 Australian Gods.
cites, cautiously indeed, my friend Mr. Tyler's argument in favour of the derivation of the higher Australian beliefs from — Christian teaching! "It seems reasonable on the whole to infer that, whatever may be the origin of Baiame's name and his earlier position in native thought, the points of his story most resembling the Christian conception of Creator have been unconsciously evolved, first by white explorers, then by missionaries, and lastly by the natives themselves under European influence" (Folk-Lore, pp. 302, 303). Yet the natives are guiltless of Christian teaching ! // faut qu'une porte soit ouverte ou fermie. Again, how a "white explorer" in 1845 could "uncon- sciously evolve " a native theology which staggered his credulity, yet was confirmed, " in dern secrecy," by many black witnesses, one of whom he expressly charged with trying to palm off Christian ideas on him, I do not know. Great is the Unconscious Self ! In this case it " uncon- sciously evolved " exactly the ideas which its proprietor did not expect, could not accept, and argued against, till cor- roboration brought conviction. This " unconscious evolu- tion " is a modish phrase, but will not here hold water. And Mr. Hartland leaves the blacks to modify their theology under " European influences," while they are " guiltless of Christian teaching." Mr. Tylor's theory of wholesale borrowing from missionaries " probably is not altogether beyond dispute." But it must be stark nonsense if the savages are " guiltless of Christian teaching," as they are, teste Mr. Hartland.
I knew not Mr. Tylor's theory when I wrote my book. That is precisely why I did not " mention it." But Mr. Hartland must make up his mind : he must choose. Either the savages are " guiltless of Christian teaching," or they are guilty. Mr. Tylor argued in favour of " Our Father " being a result of Christian teaching. He was so struck by the Christian analogies that he could only explain them by
Australian Gods. 23
borrowing from missionaries.1 What strikes Mr. Tylor, who is not on my side, may surely be allowed to strike me. There is, in fact, a strong resemblance between these Christian ideas and Australian ideas. Mr. Howitt was inclined to suspect Christian influence, but his inquiries did not confirm his suspicion (Howitt, Journal of the Anthro- pological Institute., vol. xiii., p. 192). Mr. Tylor does decide in favour of missionary influence. But Mr. Hartland cuts himself off from this resource. The savages are " guilt- less of Christian teaching" (p. 312). But the opinion that- they are not " guiltless " " probably^ is not altogether beyond dispute" (p. 302). Will Mr. Hartland make up his mind ? Meanwhile Mr. Tylor and I, otherwise opposed here, are agreed in our opinion that the savage and Christian analogies are remarkable. We may both be wrong where we agree, though one of us is not unlikely to be right where we differ, as we do about the cause of the similarities. Here, however, Mr. Hartland has a choice of alternative theories almost equally seductive. If he agrees with Mr. Tylor he can say : " The savages borrowed from Christians." If he agrees with me that they did not borrow he can say : " Christianity retains or revives savage beliefs," as is said, or hinted, in certain other cases. Or Mr. Hartland may differ both from Mr. Tylor and me, and say that there is no analogy or resemblance whatever between the Christian " Our Father in Heaven," and the savage " Our Father in, or above, the Heavens." Yet here I doubt that his case would not be commonly accepted; it certainly does not seem to be accepted by Mr. Tylor or by Mr. Howitt, who at once looked about, for the cause of this "Our Father," to Christian influences among the Kurnai.
Of course, in detail, our conception of divine Fatherhood
1 Tylor, Journal of the Anthropological Institute^ 1S92, p. 295. iC There are reasons to show that they only attained this divine eminence under Christian missionary influence."
24 Australian Gods.
is not that of Kamilaroi or Kurnai. We do not, when we say " Our Father/' think of an old man with a beard, like Baiame, encrusted in a throne of crystal. We have another notion of omniscience than that of a god informed by his messenger, or angel, " the All-seeing Spirit," though an all- seeing spirit is just the same as an omniscient one (Mrs. Langloh Parker, More Legendary Tales, p. 84). Yet the analogies are astonishing, and, if Mungan-ngaur be the father of Tundun, who is the father of the Kurnai, Adam is our common father, and I refer Mr. Hartland to Luke iii. 38.
I do not despair of seeing Mr. Hartland, who now com- plains of my rhetorical insistence on these analogies, turning round and accounting for Christianity as a refined survival of Kurnai and similar beliefs. We shall then have Mr. Tylor regarding Baiamism as a savage perversion of Chris- tianity, and Mr. Hartland regarding Christianity as a Graeco- Hebraic revival of Baiamism.
As to this question of borrowing (which, if conceded, is not useful to Mr. Hartland' s case against me), I must quote my critic textually. After citing Mr. Ridley's account of Baiame as Creator, as the Being who welcomes the souls of dead blacks into Paradise, and destroys the bad, Mr. Hart- land goes on {Folk-Lore, p. 302) : " And his name is said to be derived from data, to make, cut out, or build.1 But this account must surely be received with very great cau- tion.2 There is evidence — negative evidence, it is true, but of persons in a position to be well informed — that Baiame, if known at all by that name, was not so prominent a figure in the beliefs of the natives until about sixty years ago, and that, at all events, what Dr. Tylor justly calls the ' markedly
1 Brough Smyth, vol. ii., p. 285. Mrs. Langloh Parker gives Byamee= " Big Man."
J^2 "This account," right or wrong, is from the very same linguist who renders Daramulun by " game-leg, " namely, Mr. Greenway.
Australian Gods. 25
biblical characteristics ' observable in Mr. Ridley's report have appeared only since the advent of the missionaries and the extended converse of the aborigines with white settlers. Dr. Tylor, whose discussion of the question Mr. Lang does not mention, sums it up in these words : ' The evidence points rather, in my opinion, to Baiame being the missionary translation of the word Creator, used in Scripture lesson- books for God.' l Mr. Lang may challenge this opinion as that of an anthropologist, however distinguished, whose theories a large part of his book is occupied with contro- verting. And probably it is not altogether beyond dispute. The facts, however, remain that the earliest [known] men- tion of Baiame is in the year 1840, that he is then said to be living on an island in the sea and to feed on fish, that while some natives considered him ' Creator/ others were said to attribute that office to his son Burambin, that his biblical characteristics, as reported by missionaries, con- stantly expanded down to the publication of Mr. Brough Smyth's work in 1878, and that in the most recent ac- counts— those of Mr. Matthews [Mr. Crawley], who is not a missionary — they have so far disappeared that he is now only said to have created the tribesmen themselves. It seems reasonable on the whole to infer that whatever may be the origin of his name and his earlier position in native thought, the points of his story most resembling the Christian conception of Creator have been unconsciously evolved, first by white explorers, then by missionaries, and lastly by the natives themselves under European influence."
And this though the natives are " guiltless of Christian teaching " ! How can the simultaneous assertion of contra- dictories be " reasonable " ?
That European influence exists in the mysteries Mr. Hartland infers from the presence of a bullock in the
1 Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol xxi., p. 294.
26 Australian Gods.
artistic representations of the Kamilaroi.1 Also, I may add, of an old sportsman driving in a dog-cart, who, however, is purely decorative.
Now, as to Dr. Tylor's theory of the name, Baiame, as a " missionary translation of the word Creator, used in Scripture lesson-books for God," the name (which occurs in 1840) was first so used by Mr. Ridley, in Gurre Kamilaroi, which is of 1856. I ask for an earlier example. Previously Mr. Threlkeld had tried (and failed) with Eloi and Jehova-ka- birufi, while Mr. Ridley had tried (and failed) with Im- manueli. Now Baiame is first mentioned (as far as Mr. Tylor knows) by Mr. Horace Hale, speaking of about 1840. So Baiame, in 1840, did not come out of a " Scripture lesson-book" of 1856. That theory will not hold water. Moreover, our evidence for Baiame, in 1840, is also our evidence that Baiame was worshipped at Wellington with songs, when the missionaries first came there? Mr. Hale's evidence for this is that of Mr. Threlkeld, who had been at missionary work there since 1828.8 Perhaps Mr. Hartland will now admit that the missionaries did not introduce Baiame at Wellington and district, where they found him already extant.
However, if it be granted that the missionaries did not bring in Baiame, it may be fairly argued that Christian ideas crystallised later round a native conception of a powerful Being. Thus the creative work of Burambin, son of Baiame, may, by my opponents, be credited to a missionary sermon on a text of St. John which need not be cited. Mr. Hart- land remarks that Baiame's " biblical characteristics," as reported by missionaries, " constantly expanded " down to
1 Ibid., vol. xxiv., p. 416.
2 See Mr. Hale in United States Exploring Expedition, Ethnography and Philology, p. 110. Also my article, " Are Savage Gods borrowed from Mis- sionaries ? " in Nineteenth Century, January, 1899.
3 Wellington was founded, or at least the district was named Wellington, before the town was founded, in 1816.
Australian (rods. if
the publication of Mr. Brough Smyth's work in 1878, and in the most recent accounts, those of Mr. Matthews, who " is not a missionary, they have so far disappeared that he is only said to have created the tribesmen themselves." " They say/' writes Mr. Matthews, or Mr. Crawley, " that Baiame created them and gave them the country." It does not follow that they don't say he created the country. Moreover, Mrs. Langloh Parker is later, and more expansive than Mr. Matthews.
Those poor missionaries ! If they say that their savages are ancestor-worshippers, or have only a vague dread of ghosts, that is all very capital ; if they credit their savages with higher beliefs, why, they are, I think, not so warmly welcomed. I myself prefer the evidence of philologists, Messrs. Greenway and Ridley, to the obiter dictum of a police officer, who does not say that Baiame did not create " the country/' but that preference may be due to my deplorable bias, a thing not known among my opponents. Mr. Hartland, however, is incorrect in his facts, even if we are to prefer as evidence a police officer who does not know the native language, to missionaries — who do. In- finitely the most " biblical characteristics " of Baiame known to me are contained in notes taken in 1845 by Mr. Manning. This gentleman was encouraged by Goethe, then (circ. 1832) aged eighty-five, to examine Australian beliefs. Mr. Manning read his old notes of 1845-48 to the Royal Society of Victoria in 1882. My anthropological friend regards Mr. Manning's account as " quite worthless." I don't, because so many parts of it are corroborated. But even if it be " quite worthless/' it disproves Mr. Hartland's contention that Baiame's " biblical characteristics/' as reported by missionaries, constantly expanded down to the publication of Mr. Brough Smyth's book in 1878. For Mr. Manning's notes of 1845 are by far the most "expansive," nor did Mr. Ridley and others borrow from them, for they were lost, though finally recovered. In 1840- 1848, Mr.
28 Australian Gods.
Manning lived on the northern boundaries of the Southern Settlement, where, he says, no missionaries had ever been. His chief informant was an English-speaking black, Black Andy, corroborated by several others ; and by Dean Cowper and Archdeacon Giinther (mere missionaries). The Archdeacon got his information " from some of the oldest blacks, who, he was satisfied, could not have derived their ideas from white men, as they then had not had inter- course with them." Mr. Manning's accounts include Baiame rooted to his crystal rock, as in Mrs. Langloh Parker's version.1 Baiame has a son equally " omniscient " with him- self, named Grogoragally, elsewhere Boymagela — Mrs. Langloh Parker's All-seeing Spirit, I presume, but I will consult her on the point. For Mrs. Langloh Parker's Paradise, Bullimah, Mr. Manning has Ballima, with Oo- rooma as the place of fire (Gumby). The son of Baiame watches over conduct, and Baiame acts on his reports. Mr. Manning calls the son a " mediator ; " if we say " go- between," rhetorical colouring will vanish. Indeed this kind of "colouring" chiefly consists in using words derived from the Latin. There is also the First Man (Moodgeegally ), a Culture Hero. The only prayers are prayers for the souls of the dead, of which a corroborative example is given by Mrs. Langloh Parker, in "The Legend of Eerin" {More Legendary Tales > p. 96). These prayers were not borrowed from Protestant missionaries ! 2 The doctrines were im- parted in the mysteries. Mr. Hartland will admit that missionaries have not "constantly expanded" down to 1878 the " biblical " features of this version of 1845-48. Though much corroborated by Mrs. Langloh Parker in 1898, Mr.
1 More Legendary Tales, p. 90. Mr. Ridley has cited corroboration from a wandering convict. The witness's character was bad, but the point is not one which he was likely t invent. Journal of the Anthropological Institute, 1872, p. 282. The north- west coast was the district. The dying man was asked to convey messages to the god.
Australian Gods. 29
Manning's version of 1845 *s ^ar *e most "expanded" that I know. And, like Mr. Matthews, Mr. Manning was not a missionary.1
Here, then, in 1845, we have a Baiame legend not expanded by missionaries between 1845- 1878. I mav observe that Mr. Howitt in 1885 greatly "expanded" his previous account of Kurnai religion given in 1881. Mr. Howitt had not become a missionary in the interval ; he had only acquired more information by being initiated. Know- ledge does expand occasionally, apart from missionary fancy. Mr. Hartland then conceives it to be reasonable to infer that Europeans and natives under European influence have " unconsciously evolved " the points in Baiame's story most resembling the Christian conception of the Creator. Yet these natives " are guiltless of Christian teaching." This, we saw, is less than logical. Moreover, they had " evolved " all this as a matter of secret knowledge con- fined to the initiated, as early as 1845, *n fiye years from the first known mention of Baiame. Is that very easy to believe? Then, apparently, they ///devolved the belief down to the point at which it reaches Mr. Crawley and Mr. Matthews (who is not a missionary), and who does not say that Baiame did not make " the country." But they kept the form of 1845 f°r Mrs- Langloh Parker, who is not a missionary either. She began her studies as a disciple of Mr. Herbert Spencer. Her savage friends converted her from that position, as she is kind enough to inform me. I therefore do not see why we should reduce the Baiame legend to the form reported by Mr Crawley to Mr. Matthews, though he is not a missionary. Nor, of course, do I admit that missionaries have " expanded" the legend since 1845, because the version of 1845 *s more " expanded" than any
1 I owe Mr. Manning's article to the kindness of Mrs. Langloh Parker. Were this Psychical Research, the lady would be gracefully accused of modelling her report on Mr. Manning's. In Anthropology we are less suspicious.
30 Australian Gods.
missionary version which has reached me. For example, it goes far beyond the account received by Mr. Ridley (who is a missionary) about 1854- 1858, and published by him in Lang's Queensland (1861). If this missionary did any- thing, he did not expand, but greatly reduced the " biblical characteristics" of Mr. Manning's account. No doubt he neither reduced nor expanded, but repeated what the natives had told him about Baiame as a Creator.
All this is conclusive against Mr. Hartland's theory of missionary expansions between 1840 and 1878, but it is not conclusive against early borrowing. Here I am anxious to allow the utmost " law " to the borrowing theory. If this belief were a popular tale, a Mdrchen like Cinderella^ told by children or old native women, but despised by the men (as such tales, amies fabulas, often are among savages and peasants), I would at once come into the borrowing theory as far as the most probable. A single escaped convict might infect the whole Australian continent with Cinderella or Puss in Boots, though oddly enough real analogues of our Mdrchen do not seem to be found among the natives. Now, when Mr. Manning read his notes of 1845 to the Royal Society of New South Wales in 1882, he appealed to a friend, Mr. John Mann, for corroboration. He did not get it. Mr. Mann said that " he had never met one aborigine who had any true belief in a Supreme Being," Baiame was not up to Mr. Mann's standard. On the other hand, " when cross-examined," the blacks always admitted that they had got their knowledge from Europeans. When cross-examined they never contradict their interrogator's ideas.1 Mr. Mann's ideas were obviously negative. Mr. Palmer, however, corroborated Mr. Manning. Mr. Mann's view was that the curiosity of the blacks urged them to
1 Lubbock, Origin of Civilisation, p. 4. " Black Andy " was an exception. He contradicted Mr. Manning's theory of borrowing.
Australian Gods. 31
inform themselves about the religion of the whites, and that perversions of Christian doctrine were passed about across the continent as songs and dances are transmitted. This theory I would accept at once if we were dealing with Mdrchetty aniles fabulae, despised by the men and to be picked up from the old women. But, notoriously, the inner religious beliefs are concealed from the women under pain of death. Mr. Manning's informants dared only to half- whisper their lore in secret places. One of them, after repeatedly examining doors and windows, slunk " into a wooden fire-place," and murmured his gospel. The reason always given was, that if a man's wife came to know these things, he would be obliged to kill her, lest the news should spread among the women. This " quite worthless " evi- dence of Mr. Manning's is corroborated by Mr. Howitt, to whom a man said: "If a woman were to hear these things, or hear what we tell the boys, I would kill her " {Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol. xiv., p. 310). Knowledge on the part of the women would mean cataclysm, universal madness, universal massacre. Now, if the advocates of the borrowing theory had looked at the subject all round, they must have observed that missionaries do not usually neglect to teach women. If then the " biblical characteristics " were borrowed from missionaries, the women would know them already. But they don't.1 Again, why should blacks hide from whites just the very things which whites have taught them ? Once more, Mr. Hale (1840) remarked on the extreme aversion of the blacks to borrow any idea from Europeans. Now, of all things, the mysteries are, or then were, the most unalterable, and, of all men, the sages who direct the mysteries are the most conservative. Messrs. Spencer and Gillen have a
1 It may be replied, the women do know the "biblical characteristics" of Mungan-ngaur, but not as attributes of that being. My opponents arc welcome to this answer.
32 Australian Gods.
long and judicious passage on the question, " Can changes be introduced into the rites ? " and though they think the thing may, and, " in the dark backward and abysm of time," probably must, have been managed, it was confessedly very difficult. But from that possibility to the sudden accept- ance from missionaries and insertion in the secret archaic rites of all the " biblical characteristics " we discuss is a very long step. These glaringly obvious difficulties do not seem to have been noticed at all by the friends of the theory of borrowing.1 So much for Mr. Tylor's contention that biblical analogies (which I presume I also may now regard as biblical in character) are of European origin.
Next, as to Creation, attributed to Baiame among others. " To use the word creation is to import into the deeds of an imaginary being, who is presented, if not as a ' deified blackfellow/ at least as hardly more than a very exalted savage wizard, ideas which do not belong to them [to those deeds], and therefore are utterly misleading to the reader," says Mr. Hartland. Now, in plenty of contradictory myths, Baiame is a rather low type of wizard; but, when my authorities tell me of " creation " by him, or by another being, what other word am / to use ? If Baiame " made earth and water, sky, animals, and men," what die} he do but " create " ? 8 I am not reduced to mere missionary evidence. In 1845 Mr. Eyre (not a missionary) described " the origin of creation " as narrated to him by blacks of the Murring. Noorele, with three unbegotten sons, lives up among the clouds. (Noorele, like Elohim, may, it seems, be plural.) He is " all-powerful " (not omnipotent, which is rhetorical, only " all-powerful) " " and of benevolent character. He made the earth, trees, waters, &c." " He receives the souls (ladko = umbrae) of the natives, who
1 I have never seen Mr. Cunr's book, but Mr. Max MUller cites him as saying that the pre-missionary blacks " had no knowledge of God," or of reward and punishment beyond the gnive {Anthropological Religion, p. 423).
" Ridley, " He made all things," 1861.
Australian Gods. 33
join him in the skies, and will never die again." What am I to call the deed of the all-powerful Noorele, if I do not call it, as Mr. Eyre does, " creation " ? I am not " importing ideas which do not belong to them," unless Mr. Eyre fables. Nor am I citing a witness prejudiced in favour of my notions. " A Deity or Great First Cause can hardly be said to be acknowledged," says Mr. Eyre, just before saying that He is acknowledged.1
Yet Mr. Hartland writes: "We know that the idea of creation, as we use it, is completely foreign to savage ideas." I don't know how Mr. Hartland uses it; I use it to mean the making of all things. The Zufiis say that Ahonawilona " thought himself out into space." Perhaps it happened in that way. The details of making all things are obscure. There are scores of savage contradictory myths on the subject, but these do not invalidate the creative idea, unless the making of Adam out of dust, and of Eve out of Adam's rib, invalidates what Mr. Hartland justly calls " the sublime conception of the creative fiat as set forth in the book of Genesis." The very latest diaskeuasts or editors of Genesis did not keep it up to the level of the first part of the first chapter, and it would be absurd to ask naked savages to be more constant than they to a great idea. Contrary to Mr. Crawley's and Mr. Matthews1 s Baiame, who only made blackfellows (if that is what Mr. Matthews or Mr. Crawley means), is Mangarrah of the Larrakeah, who made everything except black- fellows. Dawed, a subordinate, appears to have made them ; Mangarrah " made everything .... He never dies, and likes all blackfellows." 2
In North-West-Central Queensland we find Mul-ka-ri " a benevolent, omnipresent, supernatural being ; anything
1 Eyre, vol. ii., pp. 355-357-
* Journal of the Anthropological Institute, November, 1894, p. 191. Here the myth of a " Book " is, of course, European in origin. VOL. X. D
34 Australian Gods.
incomprehensible." " Mulkari tikkara ena = Lord who dwellest in the skies." " Mulkari is the supernatural power who makes everything which the blacks cannot otherwise account for; he is a good beneficent person, and never kills anyone." His home is in the skies. He was also a medicine-man, has the usual low myths about him, and invented magic. So writes Dr. Roth, who knows the local Pitta Pitta language — and is not a missionary.1
The blacks may have no right to the higher ideas, but — there they are, and not borrowed, Waitz thinks, from Europeans. Here Mr. Hartland introduces the fact that the Noongahburrahs regard Baiame, or Byamee, as only a great medicine-man, with wives, and so forth (Folk-Lore, p- 303* n°te 1). "No doubt this is 'folklore/ and not part and parcel of the mysteries. Perhaps, therefore, Mr. Lang will seek to put it out of court as a ' a kind of joke, with no sacredness about it.' " Mr. Lang will let it be as Mr. Hartland pleases, but the Noongahburrah happen to put it out of court as " a kind of joke, with no sacredness about it." The low myths occur in the first series of Mrs. Langloh Parker's Legendary Tales. About these she says : " They were all such legends as are told to the black piccaninnies ; among the present (tales) are some they would not be allowed to hear, touching as they do on sacred subjects, taboo to the young " {More Legendary Tales, p. xv.). The "sacred" tales are, I sup- pose, the beautiful " Legend of Eerin," and " Legend of the Flowers," with the touching prayer for the soul of Eerin, and the account of the All-seeing Spirit. Thus Mr. Hart- land may note the trend of Noongahburrah opinion : they draw a line between sacred and profane.
As to Bunjil or Pundjel, which seems equivalent to Baal,
1 Roth, North-West Central Queensland Aborigines > pp. 14, 36, 116, 153, 158, 165.
Australian Gods. 35
or Biamban, " Master," " Lord," " Sir " ; any distinguished person may be called Bunjil.1 Yes, and any ass may be called "Lord" Tomnoddy. Bunjil may have as many wives as Zeus, and be as much mixed up with animals as Zeus, and may be now a star, for all that I care. He is something else too, though Mr. Hartland "judiciously omits " the circumstance. A Woiworung bard of old made a song which moved an aged singer to tears by "the melancholy which the words conveyed to him." It was an "inspired" song, for the natives, like ourselves, would think Tennyson inspired, and Tupper not so. Usually " the spirits " inspire singers ; this song was inspired by Bunjil himself, who " ' rushes down ' into the heart of the singer," just as Apollo did of old. It is a dirge of the native race.
We go all! The bones of all Are shining while. % In this Dulur land! The rushing noise Of Bunjil, Our Father, Sings in my breast. This breast of mine ! *
Mr. Hartland writes: "1 do not find that Bunjil is regarded as judge, though no doubt his position as a star gives him facilities of observation, and the vague threat ' he can see you and all you do down here ' implies a fear of vengeance in case of offending him .... Of his precepts, referred to by Mr. Lang, I know nothing." 8
Though Mr. Hartland knows nothing (not by his own fault), it does not follow that there is nothing to know of
1 In one glossary Bunjil = Man.
* Done out of the literal version with the native words (Howitt). Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol. xvi., pp. 330-331.
1 Nor do I know anything of such " precepts " in the mysteries, which seem to be obsolete in Bunjilist tribes. I only knew that Bunjil watchei behaviour.
D 2
36 Australian Gods.
Bunjil in a moral aspect. As I write this, I learn from my anthropological friend already referred to as a sympathetic partizan of Mr. Hartland's, that a large body of valuable testimonials to Bunjil has just arrived, in MS., into his hands. The testimonials, he says, " may be relied on as accurate ; " and, knowing the source, which he mentions, I think the accuracy will be undisputed. The " originality " — that is the unborrowed character — of Bunjil is here upheld, which will not surprise Mr. Hartland, for he knows that the savage mind " is guiltless of Christian teaching." " Bunjil appears again and again in the tales as maintaining the moral law and punishing the wicked." (January 8, 1899.) There are " undesigned coincidences " with my view of Bunjil, and the collector of the evidence is unknown to me personally or by letter. Of course Mr. Hartland could not be aware of this testimony ; but it clears Bunjil of the charge of being only an adulterous shape-shifting wirreenun, his aspect in the myth cited by Mr. Hartland, and in Myth, Ritual, and Religion by myself. Nor is he merely a star called Fomalhaut. I cannot say whether or not Bunjil presides over tribal mysteries. Mr. Howitt's opinion is, " after considering all the evidence now before me, that the tribes in Victoria had in a great measure lost the initiation ceremonies," perhaps in the advance from female kin to agnation {Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol. xiv., p. 325). This is an interesting question. Such rites are in great vigour in Central Australia, where a man may marry a woman of his own totem, and children need not be of the totem of father or mother (Spencer and Gillen). Indeed, Mr. Howitt says that agnatic Queensland tribes have the rite in full vigour, which deprives his sugges- tion, as he remarks, of its strength. I trust, in any case that the moral character of Bunjil is now rehabilitated by evidence which, I hope, will soon be published.
The best of all evidence is that of old savage songs or hymns ; here it witnesses, in the poem already cited, to
Australian Gods. 37
" Father Ours." The Being, Our Father, who inspires such songs is not a mere polygamous medicine-man or merely a star known as Fomalhaut. He is also religiously, and I think very touchingly, envisaged. He lives, and in- spires the sad last singers of a fading people. But the mis- sionaries put down these songs and sentiments ; this is an old song by one of a family of hereditary bards. "The white man knows little or nothing of the blackfellows' songs." Mr. Manning's informant was angry when asked for the Baiame song. He said that Mr. Manning knew too much already. And we discuss the natives' religion, we white fellows, in ignorance of their hymns ! They cannot count up to seven, so they have no right to be poets.
Coming to the Kurnai Mungan-ngaur, Our Father, he was, says Mr. Hartland, " sufficiently carnal to have a son."1 There is nothing especially " carnal " in having a son not born of female kind, and, as Mr. Hartland remarks, " Mr. Howitt tells us nothing of Mungan-ngaur's wife." Perhaps, like Noorele (Eyre, 1845) and Baiame (Manning, 1845), Mungan-ngaur was celibate, and his sons were sEons, as in Gnostic doctrine. That " no myth of creation " is told about Mungan by Mr. Howitt I had expressly stated.2 But, if Mungan's " attributes are precisely those of Baiame," as Mr. Hartland cites Mr. Howitt, then a suspicion of being creative attaches to Mungan, even if it is not explicitly recorded.
Mr. Hartland appears to have been unsuccessful in his search for scandals about Our Father in Kurnai. As he says, very nasty things may turn up. I shall be surprised if they do not. Threats of "awful disclosures" in the future about Mungan-ngaur are held over me in terrorem (Folk-Lore, p. 310). But it is in vain that any man black- mails Mungan-ngaur. Here is the old ignoratio elencki !
1 Ibid., vol. xiv., p. 313. Waking of Religion, p. 196.
1
38 Australian Gods.
Mungan may, Mr. Hartland hopes he will, be found out. " It is all one to Hippoclides. " I do not, I never did, maintain that the Kurnai have pure ideas, and none but pure ideas, of "Our Father." That never was my con- tention. I said that savages had these ideas, overrun by mythical parasitic plants. Mr. Hartland does, however, see a chance of debasing Our Father. "The Kurnai have another Supreme Being — if indeed he be not the same — who is called Brewin. " Two Supreme Beings ? " There was no restriction against the women's knowing about him. " They do not know Mungan-ngaur. So it looks as if Brewin were identical with Mungan-ngaur. " No women would ever call Brewin ' Father/ for he is looked on as very malignant, " whereas Mungan-ngaur is benevolent, and Brewin, Mr. Hartland thinks, is only the bad aspect of Mungan-ngaur. Now, no women call Mungan-ngaur any- thing at all. It is the Coast Murring women who call Daramulun " Papang " or " Father. " The fact is that, till initiated, Mr. Howitt knew nothing of Our Father in Kurnai. He only knew the fiend Brewin, as the women do. One might as well argue that the Deity = Satan, or that Kiehtun = Hobamock, as that Mungan-ngaur = Brewin, though Brewin does live in the sky, has a wife, sends disease, and gives magical power. There are four or five cases of the bad, as opposed to the good, Being in Australia ; any one who pleases may attribute the belief to missionary influence. Before Mr. Howitt was initiated and knew Mungan-ngaur, he seems to have regarded Brewin as the Supreme Being of the Kurnai. Here I followed him in Myth, Ritual, and Religion, 1887. Now he knows better — and so do we. It was enough to blacken Daramulun by attributes assigned to him in a Baiame country; we cannot have poor Mungan-ngaur mixed up with Brewin as " that untradesmanlike falsehood, * the same concern.' " Let Mr. Hartland have patience
Australian Gods. 39
Ugly stories of Mungan-ngaur will be found, unless he is very unlike any Deity whom I ever met in mythology. But good accounts of Bunjil have also arrived in the nick of time.
Thus far of these beings individually. If it will please opponents I shall call them " makers11 (relying on evidence) not " Creators " (though my authorities use the word), and " undying up to date " not " immortal.1' That Baiame, or Noorele, only "fashions pre-existing material/1 as Mr. Hart- land says (p. 314), I have no evidence, Mangarrah " made everything "—except blacks. That many other such beings are said to use up existing material I admit, or rather I have asserted. All views are taken by savages, including that of evolution, which perhaps was "borrowed from Europeans"? The Digger Indians admit Evolution but deny the Immortality of the Soul. Have they had mis* sionaries from Mr. Bradlaugh's flock? The divine supremacy does extend "beyond the government of the tribe.11 It includes for each being many tribes, while beyond their range it is still the "Father" who governs. Sir. A. B. Ellis (who is not at all of my way of thinking) talks of a change in West Africa, when " the gods instead of being regarded as being interested in the whole of mankind, would eventually come to be regarded as interested in separate tribes or nations alone."
Mr. Hartland writes: " The sacredness of the god's name is merely the fear of summoning him on an inappropriate occasion." Perhaps ; in any case his name is not to be "taken in vain." The motive is fear, which produces reverence, a great step in religious history, from which civilisation is retrograde. Missionaries dare not talk to savages of "God," a term only known to savages as associated with " damn." Degenerate civilisation ! There are no idols because, says Mr. Hartland, art is not sufficiently developed But art was sufficiently developed in Strachey's
40 Australian Gods.
Virginians (161 1). Okeus, the deputy of Ahone, had idols ; Ahone had none.1 As a rule, the otiose supreme being of more advanced races has none. He comes from an age before idols. Of omnipotence and omniscience I have already said what I have to say.
As to moral qualities : the Being has no sacrifices! be- cause he " has not the chance." But this is continued from old times, as a rule, where he has the chance, as I show in many cases of higher peoples who do sacrifice to their minor deities, but not to the chief of them. Does the Australian God " set the example of sinning " ? Has he the vices of Zeus? One myth to that effect is cited, in the case of Bunjil. It is an aetiological myth of the origin of the pecularities of certain birds ; such myths are " told to the picaninnies," among the Kurnai. But, if a thousand such tales are told, Zeus protects Homeric morality, despite his own mythology, and I speak of what I call the " religious " aspect. Where Daramulun devours boys, we are not en- gaged with Daramulun as the supreme being, as I have remarked a dozen times, and Zeus had cannibal sacrifices after the Christian era {Myth, Ritual and Religion, i. ch. ix. Many examples.) Mr. Hartland can scarcely be ignorant of these Greek human sacrifices, which, on the strength of the myth of Tantalus, he courteously credits Zeus with " repudiating." Concerning the Australian Being's sanction of morality, so often denied by eminent men of science, I prove my point.
As to the origin of morality, I have no space for an essay. My introduction of the Decalogue was meant merely to show the analogies between rudimentary and accomplished ethics. The old men, in Australia, are group- fathers (if we speak of the Fifth Commandment), but I do not insist on this. To say " obey them " is equivalent to
1 I understand that objections are taken to Strachey's evidence. I have considered all such objections as I can discover in the preface to a new edition of Myth, Ritual, and Religion,
Australian Gods. 41
"honour the king," if not to "the First Commandment with promise." It includes the germinal form of both injunc- tions, relatively to the social condition of the race. As to unselfishness, the Kurnai first rite was an innovation, because the boys had now become "selfish," says Mr Howitt, from associating with white fellows ( Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol. xiv., p. 310). If only " tribal regulations as to the distribution of food " are meant here, as Mr. Hartland thinks, Mr. Howitt does not say so. Food- taboos on the initiate (as at the Eleusinia) he mentions later. He says that " the boys are no longer inclined to share that which they had made by their own exertions, or had given them, with their friends." That seems to include money earned by black boys ; that cannot possibly refer to native food, we don't give a black boy witchetty grubs. Mr. Hartland wishes to make Mr. Howitt's words mean " all the food they made by their own exertions, or had given them" [Folk-Lore, p. 321). Mr. Howitt does not say this, and how could rules about native food apply to tinned lobsters or a round of beef ? If a black has no property except food, what he has he gives ; no man can do more; few do as much in Christian lands. I refer Mr. Hartland to what Dampier says : " Be it little or be it much they get, everyone has his part, as well the young and tender as the old and feeble, who are not able to go abroad." Compare Mr. Man on another very low race, the Andamanese : " Every care and consideration are paid by all classes to the very young, the weak, the aged, and the helpless ; and these being made special objects of care and attention, invariably fare better in regard to the comforts and necessaries of daily life than any of the otherwise more fortunate members of the community " (Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol. xii., p. 93). Mr. Hartland may, for Australia, also consult Spencer and Gillen. Curious and touching examples of unselfish generosity, extended to three wandering white men, occur
4 2 Australian Gods.
in their narratives, ap. Barron Field, New South Wales ^1825). No tribal limitation here !
The difference between me and Mr. Hartland is that where he only sees in savage morals what Thrasymachus (in the Gorgias) calls " the interest of the strongest," I see also the Aristotelian <f>i\ia, love. Perhaps " this is assumed in an airy way." I give my evidence. The affection breaks down, in cases, old men are put to death (Dawson), babies are destroyed. But the affection is there for all that. Of this I give a curious case from Brough Smyth. A native had stolen the sugar of a tribesman. Tribal law gave him the right to a smack at the thief's head with a waddy. He administered the blows, burst into tears, kissed the thief, and repeatedly drove the point of the waddy into his own head. Here is <\>Ckia, and it is not absent from tribal morals. It is among " the good old ancestral virtues," as Mr. Howitt says of the savages {Journal of the Anthro- pological Institute^ vol. xiv., p. 310) now vitiated by "the white man's influence." To what purpose reply that the blacks wage war and punish witchcraft ? " It is lawful for a Christian man to bear arms," and, as to witchcraft, see Sir Matthew Hale. Concerning women, incest is immoral everywhere. It is only a question of what is regarded as incest. The savage rules are the germ of our own. " Not to interfere with an unprotected girl," a rule of the tribes, is a good rule anywhere. A judge on circuit lately, in Northern England, had to deplore the breaches of the rule. This rule does not merely " increase the authority of the elders." The pantomime dances of an obscene kind answer to the " Yah " ceremony, where the boys are taught " straightforward truth," by the converse example of humorous lying {Journal of the Anthropological Institute^ vol. xiii., p. 444). To "tell the straightforward truth" may be inculcated merely in the interest of the strong- est. Mr. Hartland may say so (he does not allude to it), but it is good ethics. The mode of instruction is odd
Australian Gods. 43
but the purpose is excellent.1 I am not arguing that the Kurnai, for instance, are crowned with the white flower of a blameless life. I am arguing that they have the elements of consideration for unprotected women, and of regard for marriage. The Seventh Commandment is in the interests of husbands and of social peace, but it is not such a bad part of ethics as Mr. Grant Allen appears to believe. The Kurnai obey it about as much as the ancient Romans. That there are scores of taboos, who denies ? who denies that they are under the sanction of the Being ? As I said, similar taboos occur in Leviticus. I doubt if we have a single ethical or religious idea which the lowest savages do not possess among their ideas ; civilisation has, of course, discarded many ideas which the blacks do possess, many practices, right as the social ethics of the Andamanese, wrong as the hideous rites of the Arunta. Among their ideas, the savages have the elements of a very good work- ing religion. Among our practices are many (as Mr. Manning's black informant said when he was taken to church) wholly inconsistent with our professed creed. Any black satirist who came to England, like Voltaire's Huron, could easily make as good a case out of our con- tradictor}' religious beliefs, and contradictory practices, as the case which Mr. Hartland makes against the Australians. We are all both Jekyl and Hyde. The Australians were said to have no Jekyl. I think that I have proved them not to be all unmitigated Hyde. One Hyde-like point Mr. Hartland seems to me to exaggerate. The mysteries are " celebrated with horrible cruelty and worse than beastly filthiness " (p. 294). Where? Among the tribes which practise " the terrible rite," I grant the cruelty ; but, where merely two front teeth are extracted (while the victim is patted on the back to encourage him), I doubt the
1 As to elopements, and furious wrath and punishment, see Howitt, Journal of the Anthropological Imlitute, vol. xvi., pp. 36-38. The whole affair seems to me poetic and chivalrous.
44 Australian Gods.
cruelty. Of filthiness (except in dances to deter from vice) I know no proof, even among the Arunta, at these cere- monies.1 For promiscuity like what the fathers attribute to Greek mysteries, and heathen apologists to the Christians, the Fijians were available cases (or some of them), and their rites were given, not to Tui Laga, but to ancestral spirits, who, in my theory, succeed and supersede such beings as Mungan-ngaur.2 That such iniquities occur in Australia I do not dispute, but do they often occur at the Bora? I may incidentally remark that the retreat to the hills of each Dorian youth with an older companion seems to me analo- gous to the retreat of the Australian boy with his Kabo, or mystagogue. But the Greeks put an interpretation on it suited to their morals, though reprehended in those of Australia {Journal of the Anthropological Institute } vol. xiii., p. 450).
I have ever maintained that whether ghosts preceded such beings as Mungan-ngaur in evolution, whether low myth pre- ceded high belief, or vice versa, we cannot historically know. But I have as good a right to a guess as my opponents have to a prehistoric " glimpse." They can have their prehistoric " glimpses/' I have my conjecture. To me the mental faculties required for the conception of Mungan-ngaur do not seem loftier than those demanded for the very abstract speculations which lead up to the conception of a common ghost — unless actual ghosts were often seen, which might account for a belief in them. But this is Psychical Research. Again, as to myth, is it more likely that men first conceived of a low, polygamous, immoral medicine-man, and later, said that he, of all people, was guardian of conduct and maker of things, the enemy of the vices he practised ; or is it more likely that, having conceived of a good, kind Maker, men proved unable to live up to the idea, and degraded it by humorous fancy? That man can do so is proved by the
1 I fancy that the Wiradthuri are again the culprits. ¥wm, Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol. xiv., pp. 14-31.
Australian Gods. 45
conception of God, in Christianity given pure, and then degraded in Marchen.1 Is there any proof of the opposite process ? I ask for a case in which we know that a dirty old medicine-man was elevated into a kind supreme being, guardian of tribal morality. I know no such case. But we are familar with a case in which the " Father " of our creed has been made the topic of popular humorous fancy. Thus I seem to have a right to my surmise that gods came before ghosts ; high beliefs (mythical, if you will) before low myths.
One last remark on the earlier part of my book. The alleged psychical experiences of humanity, or many of them, " cannot," I say, " at present be made to fit into any purely materialistic conception of the universe." They cannot, " at present ;" I agree with Mr. A. J. Balfour. But Mr. Hartland says, " meaning, I presume, that the savage theory of the soul is, substantially and in its main outlines, a correct interpretation of facts." Why should he presume this ? This is the theory of the spiritualists. Rightly or wrongly, I emphasise my dissent from it. Says Mr. Huxley : " There lies within man a fund of energy, operating intelli- gently and so far akin to that which pervades the universe, that it is competent to influence and modify the cosmic process." 2 What I mean (as far as I have any kind of hypothesis) is that the fund of energy in man has other things akin to my conception (I don't say to Mr. Huxley's conception) of " that which pervades the universe," than are allowed for in any purely materialistic system of philosophy.
So I conclude. What Mr. Hartland and I both want is more facts, and more careful criticism. Among these facts a tribal map is of the first necessity, though we do possess
1 God, in Dunbar's poem, laughed till his heart was sore, when he saw the soul of a drunken woman slip into heaven. That some Marchen were carried on from Paganism is probable, or certain ; but the whole subject invites research.
2 Huxley. Evolution of Ethics , pp. 83, 84.
46 Australian Gods: Rejoinder
at least a sketch of that kind in Mr. Brough Smyth's Abort* gines of Victoria.
Rejoinder.
BYE.S. HARTLAND.
The demolition of my criticisms has " taken such a deal of doing," that my rejoinder must, from considerations of space, be brief. Leaving minor issues, and avoiding as far as possible mere verbal discussions, therefore, I shall only touch on the principal points.
I note that Mr. Lang now adopts Professor Starr's state- ment of his case that "among" man's "earliest original conceptions is the idea of a kind, creative Supreme Being whom men may worship." This is a material variation from the hypothesis stated on p. 331 of The Making of Religion^ and quoted by me {Folklore, vol. ix., p. 293), that " there are two chief sources of religion: (1) the belief ... in a powerful, moral, eternal, omniscient Father and Judge of men ; (2) the belief ... in somewhat of man which may survive the grave," with the latter of which I was not dealing. The present statement is not only less definite, but it does not exclude other and contemporaneous religious beliefs. I cannot here examine the general question as to man's "earliest original conceptions " of deity, which is outside the issue I was debating, namely, the accuracy of Mr. Lang's presentation of the " High Gods " of the Australians. It is the less necessary to do so, because Mr. Lang himself adopts the same phraseology with regard to the present Australians, contending " that the notion of a kind, creative Supreme Being is among the ideas of the Australians."
Mr. Lang admits that his use of rhetorical expressions was unwise, excusing himself, however, by saying that it was "partly a matter of capital letters and Latinised words." True, but by no means the whole truth. What is apt to mis- lead in The Making of Religion (all the latter half of it) is the choice of words associated with the theological concep-
Australian Gods: Rejoinder. 47
tions embodied in Christianity — nay, often the very words of the Bible — to express ideas far less definite, far more rudimentary, and not to be properly understood save in connection with the rest of the tribal and racial culture. When, for instance, we read of " Our Father " or the "Father in Heaven," we do not think of a one-legged being, or of a star, or of a giant sitting on an earthly mountain, rooted to the rock. When we are referred to " Leviticus, passim" in connection with a requirement to obey the food restrictions, we are apt to imagine that these restrictions have to do with chewing the cud, and parting the hoof, with the permanent distinction between clean and unclean animals, whereas they are merely tem- porary taboos for ritual reasons peculiar to the myths and ceremonies of the Australian natives, and having little or no analogy to the Hebrew prohibitions. If we want really to understand the religious ideas of savages, we ought to be specially careful to translate them into words uncoloured by our own theological connotations. When we have once got a clear conception of the savage's ideas (not an easy thing to do), we can then fairly estimate their analogies with and differences from our own. But it darkens knowledge to begin by using words which mean one thing to us and another thing to the savage, even if he attach any definite meaning to them at all.
This brings me to another source of misconception — the use of definite words for indefinite ideas. I need not labour the point as against Mr. Lang, since he admits its justice and amends his verbiage. But the expressions of his authorities continue to perplex him. Accordingly, I want to suggest to him that it is always wise to discount exact statements, by travellers and other observers, of ideas only vaguely apprehended by the savage mind. These exact statements arise partly from carelessness or misunder- standing, but partly also from the infirmities of language, partly too from the difficulty experienced by the civilised
48 Australian Gods: Rejoinder.
inquirer, be he traveller or missionary or whatever he may, in placing himself at the precise point of view of the lower culture. Mr. Lang sees it himself where the word spirit is concerned. Why does he not apply it to Creator and Creation, to Supreme Being, to immortal, and a score of other expressions used of savage religion at sundry times and by divers persons ? Some of these expressions as used by himself he has admitted to be " rhetorical " or " overstrained." But the fact is that nothing is easier than to lay upon them a stress they will not bear, and to interpret them in a way that would indeed " astonish the natives." There are, I am persuaded, few students of savage life and religion who will not subscribe to the opinion that, from the time of Herodotus downwards, exag- gerations and misstatements of this kind, unintentional and probably unavoidable, have been the source of innumerable baseless theories ; they have dug more pitfalls in the path of scientific research than any other class of causes.
Vagueness is one characteristic of the savage ; inconsis- tency is another. Truly and wittily Mr. Frazer somewhere says : " Consistency is as little characteristic of savage as of civilised man. " The savage, at all events, not only fails to define his ideas, even when they are more or less definite, he entertains others equally definite but contradictory, and he is at no pains to reconcile them one with another. Per- haps he is unconscious of the contradiction. Mr. Lang inter- prets the contradiction as the product of two human moods ; and he calls one set of ideas religion and the other myths. This is of course a mere question of words. " This belief, " he says, " I choose to call ' religious ' because it conforms in its rude way to and is the germ of what we commonly style ' religion. ' " Very well ; only let it be understood it is simply Mr. Lang's choice. Where both sets of ideas are equally and inextricably interwoven in the fabric of one and the same sequence of ceremonies, and those ceremonies are the most sacred rites of the tribe, it is hard to say that
Australian Gods: Rejoinder. 49
one set is religious and the other not. It is hard to say, tooi that one was afore or after other. In the evolution of the mysteries, what Mr. Lang calls the myths may, for aught we know, have long preceded the appearance of what he calls religion. I do not say that they did, I simply put the possibility. But if they did, what becomes of Mr. Lang's hypothesis, even as revised by Professor Starr, that " among man's earliest conceptions" is the set of ideas qualified by Mr. Lang as " religious. " It is no part of my argument to deny that man had upreaching desires, and longings which expressed themselves more or less definitely (but rather less than more) in what Mr. Lang calls " religious beliefs. " What 1 deny is that they were more truly beliefs, or more reli- gious, than what Mr. Lang calls myths. In his use of the word myths he illustrates the inconsistency of civilised man. Replying to me, he appears, in one place at least (see p. 15), to confine the meaning of the word to " obscene or humorous tales." Even then, I doubt whether myths are the result of " indulging" man's "fancy for fiction" — tales told consciously for amusement without any hold on serious belief. Some of them, perhaps, are ; many of them certainly are not. In the passage he quotes just before from Myth, Ritual, and Religion, however, he seems to include other elements, notably " the irrational, " which is not necessarily either ob- scene or humorous. And in The Making of Religion he speaks of the story about Mungan-ngaur's relation to the Kurnai as a myth — at least by implication, for he refers to " the opposite myth, of making or creating. " Now Mungan-ngaur's relation to the Kurnai is precisely what Mr. Lang designates religion. Well may I ask : Where is the distinction ?
Recognising, then, the co-existence of inconsistent beliefs, I find no difficulty in accepting both myths of Daramulun : that he died, and that he is " an anthropomorphic supernatural being," as part of the beliefs of the same tribes. I need hardly say that I never meant to suggest that Daramulun was literally the ghost of a man, but only that on the principle
vol. x. E
50 Australian Gods : Rejoinder.
laid down by Mr. Lang he was " a confessed ghost-god." And I see no reason why the same tribes should not hold at the same time that he was on earth and died, and that he is living an anthropomorphic being in the sky. Similar beliefs coexisting about Zeus do not disturb Mr. Lang ; nor need these. And perhaps they are reconcilable after all. l
Moreover, beliefs, though inconsistent in our judgment, are equally to be taken into consideration in estimating the con- ception formed by the savage of his god. One of my com- plaints of Mr. Lang's method is, that he has fixed his eyes too exclusively on one set of beliefs, turning away from the other as mere myths. Scientific investigation of the position of savage belief in the history of religion must take into account all the factors, giving due weight to them all. To assume that " the mythical element is secondary or aberrant, " whether Darwin's view or not, is to assume the very question at issue. It is notoriously easy to prove anything by such a method. Mr. Lang is far too " sportsmanlike " (to adopt his phrase) for such a process, when it is once pointed out to him. And indeed the admissions that what he calls " the religion represents one human mood, while the myth repre- sents another, both moods dating from savagery >" and that " of the same 'moral, relatively Supreme Being, or Creator,1 man has simultaneously quite contradictory conceptions/1 involve a recognition of the justice of the criticism.2
1 In the passage on Daramulun (supra, p. 16) Mr. Lang speaks of Bunjil and Baiame as " translated." " Translated " is a large word to apply to Baiame. As applied to Bunjil, who was blown off the earth by an infuriated jay, it recalls the translation of Bottom.
* Mr. Lang alleges that we have historical proof of the possibility of degrada- tion in the case of " the conception of God, in Christianity given pure, and then degraded in Marchen" (p. 45). Anything like a discussion of this subject would occupy much space, and would hardly be suitable for these pages. I think, however, I am relieved from it by the fact that between him and myself there is no dispute as to the priorities of ghost-worship and god-worship, properly so called, to which he applies it. But I may say that as at present advised, I cannot admit that the peasant populations of modern Europe,
Australian Gods : Rejoinder.
Mr. Lang's mind "broods fondly over" my remark that
many expressions rhetorically used by him "convey to our minds reminiscences of Christian teaching of which tin' savage mind is guiltless." He interprets it as an assertion that, though under European influences, the Australian blackfellows are guiltless of Christian teaching, particu- larly with regard to Baiame. But it will be observed that the remark was a general protest against Mr. Lang's method of argument, and contained no affirmation respecting anv specific race or belief. Hence, he cannot fasten upon me the charge of inconsistency in the mode of dealing with Baiame. My theory about Baiame is one that Mr. Lang quotes again and again, namely, that "the points of his story most resembling the Christian conception of Creator have been unconsciously evolved, first by white explorers, then by missionaries, and lastly by the natives themselves under European influence." Let me give an example of what ! mean by the unconscious evolution by white explorers. I will take Mr. Manning's account, which I have had the opportunity of reading since my criticism was written. He was not, perhaps, literally an explorer, but an early settler. I have not space for the whole account, interesting and inportant though it be. Extracts will, however, show how Mr. Manning treated Baiame, or Boyma, as he writes the name. After describing him as " seated on a throne of
among whom the Ardrtktn arose, ever had Hie lofty conception of ihe deity riehl by St. Paul or St. John, or conscqiurnlly ever degraded it. They were on a different plane of civilisation and of thought from the writers of the New Testament, and I know of no evidence that they hn<l ever been on (he same plane. This is not at all a parallel case with that of the Australian savages, about whom we are arguing. Bang all in a low singe of savagery, (hey hold •' simultaneously quite contradictory conceptions," both sets of beliefe, the *' religious " and the " mythical," as Mr. Lang chooses to call them. Which came first, he concedes, is merely " surmise," for it cannot be historically proved, lie thinks ihe "religious," nr higher, set came first. Thai i* his surmise — nothing more r and 1 venture to think the European Mutrktn yield it no countenance.
52 Australian Gods : Rejoinder.
transparent crystal of vast magnitude " with " a great many beautiful pillars of crystal, handsomely carved, and emitting prismatic colours," he says : " This description of the Godhead bears a striking resemblance to the description in the 3rd verse of the 4th chapter of Revela- tions (sic). They believe in the existence of a Son of God, equal with him in omniscience, and but slightly inferior to his Father in any attribute. Him they call 1 Grogoragally.1 His divine office is to watch over the actions of mankind, and to bring to life the dead to appear before the judgment-seat of his Father, who alone pro- nounces the awful judgment of eternal happiness in heaven ('Ballima,) or eternal misery in ' Oorooma1 (hell), which is a place of everlasting fire (gumby). . . . The Son watches the actions of men, and quickens the dead immediately upon their earthly interment. He acts as mediator for their souls to the great God, to whom the good and bad actions of all are known. . . . He does not seem in their belief to be co- equal with his Father; ... his office seems chiefly to be to bring at the close of every day the spirits of the dead from all parts of the world to the judgment-seat of his Father, where alone there is eternal day. There he acts as inter- cessor for those who have only spent some portion of their lives in wickedness. Boyma, listening to the mediation of his Son, allows Grogorogally to admit some such into Bal- lima." l These extracts, given verbatim et literatim, dis- close the attitude of Mr. Manning's mind. His phraseology, and even his capital letters, are chosen for the purpose of conveying to the reader's mind the elements of Christian theology, he thinks he has discovered in the beliefs of " the aborigines of New Holland." His mind was so imbued with Christian conceptions that probably he could not do otherwise. Anyhow, * is obvious that there is a great deal
1 Journal of the Royal Society of New South Wales % vol. xvi., p. 159. Sydney, Thomas Richards, 1883.
Australian Gods: Rejoinder. 53
here to be discounted. Unless we discount liberally, the account is, in the language of Mr. Lang's friend, "quite worthless." It is not an accurate scientific account. It is beyond doubt coloured and distorted. Mr. Manning has "unconsciously evolved,, what he wormed out of his savage informant into a pale copy — caricature, if you please — of Christian ideas. He has presented us not with savage ideas, but with what he thinks they would be if expressed in the pompous and technical terms of Christian theolo- gians. When he descends to particulars, he becomes more valuable. "Their belief in God's creation of His own Son was explained to me thus by the intelligent native from whom I derived my chief information. ' Boy- ma/ on his own creation, feeling lonesome, wished for a son after his own likeness.,, (Note here the capitals, the use of " God " for Boyma, the phrase " on his own creation," suggestive of a mild Arianism, and the phrase "after his own likeness.") "He observed in the firmament a liquid, resembling blood, which, reaching with his hand, he placed in a crystal oven, and in a short time the Son of God was born, a being resembling God and Man." Here, in spite of similar phraseology, we discover a myth familiar to Zulus and North American Indians, of which I have given examples elsewhere.1 If we had it entire, and in a form more like that in which it was really told, its true character would be still more apparent. I call it at all events a myth, and a very savage one. Mr. Lang does not quote it. I regret this, because it appears to be part of the sacred belief of the tribe referred to by Mr. Manning, and it would be interesting to know whether Mr. Lang designates it as " myth " or " religion." If I had had Mr. Manning's Paper before me, I should not have said that Baiame's "biblical characteristics constantly expanded down to " 1878. But that error does not affect the main question ; and Mr.
' Legend of P<r sens % vol. i., The Supernatural Hitih% p 97.
54 Australian Cods: Rejoindct*
Manning's version is an excellent example of the un- conscious evolution by white men of native ideas in a Christian direction, with which I have so sorely vexed the soul of Mr. Lang. Mr. Manning was not a missionary; but if he could not help colouring and distorting in a Christian direction, it is extremely likely that missionaries, whose minds were full of theological ideas and expressions, when they stumbled upon something in savage belief which bore a resemblance to these ideas (though a resemblance, it may be, superficial, or occasionally based on misunderstand- ing) would in expressing the story or belief in their own words unconsciously develop the resemblance they saw or fancied. But whether resemblances to Christian dogma be reported of savage belief by missionaries or other Europeans, I for one hesitate to admit them, until I have satisfied myself, not merely of the honesty (of that we need not ordinarily doubt) but of the competency of the witness — a competency not always to be measured simply by the length of time he has been in contact with the savage.
Oh ! but, says Mr. Lang, " Mr. Manning's version of 1845 " ls "much corroborated by Mrs. Langloh Parker in 1898." Well, I have not space to examine Mrs. Langloh Parker's version of the myth in detail : I must content my- self with mentioning a few of the differences I find in it. For her, Byamee is not " the God-head," but a man, " the mighty Wirreenun" (wizard or doctor), who has had a career on earth with other men, who has wives, one of whom shares his seat and has a will and powers of her own. In her account, " the Son of God " is not to be found, un- less, as Mr. Lang suggests, in the solitary mysterious reference to " the All-seeing Spirit " who has nothing in her story to do with the judgement of the dead. According to her, Byamee has had two sons, but what has become of them does not appear ; Bullimah, where he seems now to be, is beyond the top of a mountain called Oobi Oobi, per- haps " one of the Noondoo ridges " (which I take to be an
Australian Gods: Rejoinder. 55
existing mountain-range known to the tribe), " where he still lives." " The crystal rock " of Mrs. Parker, and the two quartz crystals mentioned to Mr. Howitt by a Wirajuri wizard, are no doubt derived from the quartz crystals of the wizards, whereby they are supposed to receive and hold their powers. Baiame, having still mightier powers, and being the source of theirs, is naturally credited with a larger quantity of the marvellous stone, glorified by Mr. Manning into a similitude with the throne of the apoca- lyptic version. It will be admitted that these are consider- able divergences from Mr. Manning's account, and that they lead to the suspicion that he did not fully understand the meaning of what he had heard. Concerning Bullimah and the " abode of the wicked " we require further informa- tion. In one of her stories Mrs. Langloh Parker narrates very interesting funeral rites and prayers for the dead. We want to be assured whether these are usual, by means of an accurate description of the customary ceremonies ; and that she does not give us. In the case referred to, Byamee is implored to " let in the spirit of Eerin to Bulli- mah. Save him, we ask thee, from Eleanbah wundah, abode of the wicked." But Eerin was changed into a small grey owl, to keep watch over his people and warn them of danger. On the whole, Mrs. Parker sufficiently corroborates Mr. Manning to make a case for further inquiry, and that is all. It is by no means clear that they are both writing of the same tribe. I think, however, it will be conceded that the variations amply support my criticisms on Mr. Manning.
I cannot pursue Mr. Lang's remarks on Baiame or the other divinities any further. A few words must be devoted to the questions of morality. Mr. Lang is wise not to insist on his parallel of the first of the Kurnai precepts and " the First Commandment with promise." As to the second pre- cept, "To share everything they have with their friends," he contests my interpretation that it refers merely to tribal
56 Australian Gods : Rejoinder.
regulations concerning the distribution of food. He says : " Mr. Howitt does not say so." Mr. Lang has overlooked the passage; for Mr. Howitt does in effect say it. In the very paper which gives an account of Mungan-ngaur he tells us: "The Jeraeil [the mysteries of the Kurnai] and the Kuringal [those of the Murring] resemble each other in being intended to impress upon the youths a sense of re- sponsibility as men, to implant in them by means of impres- sive ceremonies the feeling of obedience to the old men, and to the tribal moral code of which they are the deposi- tories, and to ensure that, before the youth is permitted to take his place in the community, join in the councils, and marry, he shall be possessed of those qualifications which will enable him to act for the common welfare, and not only to support himself and a wife and family, but also to con- tribute a fair share to the general stock of food, to which his relatives are entitled in common with himself? fl If the mysteries are, as doubtless they are, traditional from a period long before money and tinned lobsters were known to the blackfellow, it is obvious that the precept must refer to the tribal regulations as to food. And, happily for Mr. Lang's satisfaction, Mr. Howitt is here explicit upon the point. Nor is he explicit only upon this point. He includes a general account of the common purpose of the mysteries both of the Kurnai and the Murring tribes which vindicates my criticism of them. I do not deny the existence of <f>i\ta in Australian morals. What society could hold together without it? But the main purpose of the mysteries is different. It is discipline, the preservation of the social organisation ; and that organisation is a savage one. If Mr. Lang merely meant that the blackfellows had " the elements of consideration for unprotected women, and of
1 Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol. xiv., p. 32a I had omitted to note the reference to this passage, and somehow could not put my finger on it in writing my criticism, though I searched several times, for the purpose of quoting it.
• 1
Australian Gods : Rejoinder. 57
regard for marriage," and that the resemblance of the food- restrictions and so forth to Leviticus was that there were taboos in both, I can only say that the resemblance is hardly greater than that between Macedon and Monmouth, and that he expressed himself unfortunately by his paren- thetical quotations, and his allegation that " much of the Decalogue and a large element of Christian ethics are divinely sanctioned in savage religion."
There are many more points in Mr. Lang's Reply to which I should like to refer. I must content myself, however, with inviting a careful comparison, by readers who are interested in the subject, of that reply with the chapters in The Making of Religion and my criticisms thereon. Such readers will not assume that contentions I have passed over in silence are not amenable to an effective rejoinder. I have been compelled to frame my observations for the most part in general terms ; but I think they will apply to all the more important details discussed by Mr. Lang. We always read with pleasure and instruction what he writes. It would be impertinent in me to offer words of praise to a master of literary exposition and controversy, to whom the science of anthropology owes so much. His foregoing Reply, whether sufficient or (as I venture to think) not, displays all his entertaining skill and geniality. After all, I do not desire, and I am sure he does not desire, victory, but truth. " More facts and more careful criticism " are, as he says, what we want. In scientific inquiry a dialectic triumph may be a disaster.
58 Minutes of Meeting.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15th, 1898. The President (Mr. Alfred Nutt) in the Chair.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed.
The election of the Sheffield Public Library, the Chelsea Public Library, the Carnegie Library, Mr. J. Strong, Mr. W. Scott Elliot, junior, the Wisconsin State Historical Society, Mr. P. F. S. Amery, Dr. H. Colley March, Mr. W. Colfox, Mrs. Kate Lee, Captain W. D. Campbell, the Rev. A. W. Dawes, and Mr. Geo. Simmons as members of the Society, and the withdrawal of Mr. G. W. Speth's resignation were announced. The deaths of Mrs. Murray Aynsley and Mr. Geo. White, and the resignations of Mr. H. T. Jacob, Mrs. A. Stuart, Mr. J. T. Beard, Mr. H. S. Charrington, Miss Edmonds, Dr. Gow, Miss Grimsey, Miss C. I. Morison, Mr. Rayner Storr, and Mr. W. G. Waters were also announced.
The following books which had been presented to the Society since the last meeting were laid upon the table, viz. :
Bulletin^ vol. ii., No. 2, Madras Government Museum ; Anthropology, by E. Thurston, presented by the Madras Government ; Transactions and Proceedings of the Japan Society p, vol. iv.,part 2, presented by the Society; Lud (organ Towarzystwa Ludoznawczego we Lwowie) ,vol. iv.,part 3 pre- sented by the Society; FolkLore Umbro^nA Amuleti Italiani Contemporaneiy both by Giuseppe Bellucci, presented by the Author ; A Grammar and Dictionary of the Lushai Language, by J. Herbert Lorraine and Fred. W. Savidge, presented by the Assam Government ; Notes on the Cos- mogony and History of the Squamish Indians of British Columbia" by Professor C. Hill-Tout, presented by the Author ; and Vatnsddla Saga, by Dr. Heinrich von Lenk, Das Rolandslied des Pfajfen Conrad \ by Richard E.
Minutes of Meeting. $$
Ottmann, and Gudrun) by H. A. Junghans, all presented by Mr. W. F. Kirby.
The Secretary exhibited a charm of unknown provenance used to hang round the neck of a horse to keep off the Evil Eye, sent by Mr. C. E. Levy, and presented by him to the Society.
Mr. Crooke read a short paper by Miss G. M. Godden entitled " Ropes of Sand/1 upon which Dr. Gaster and Mr. Kirby and the reader of the paper offered some observations.
The Secretary then read a paper entitled " Myths and Customs of the Musquakie Indians," by Miss M. A. Owen.
Mr. Hartland, in the temporary absence of the author, read a paper by Mr. Gomme entitled " Ethnological Data in Folklore. A Criticism on the President's Address of 1898," to which Mr. Nutt read a reply.
Mr. Gomme having offered some observations in rejoinder, the meeting concluded.
Votes of thanks were passed to the writers of the papers, and to Mr. Levy for the charm presented by him to the Society.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20th, 1898. The PRESIDENT (Mr. Alfred Nutt) in the Chair.
The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed.
The election of Mr. E. K. Chambers. Mr. M. N. Venkct- swami, Miss M. E. Marriage, Miss A. Taylor, the Toronto Public Library, the Vassar Library, and the Grand Ducal Library, Weimar, as Members of the Society, was announced.
The death of Mr. F. M. de Leathes, and the resignations of Mrs. Sinkinson, Mrs. George Payne, Miss E. M. Evans, and Mr. J. D. Barnett, were also announced.
60 Minutes of Meeting.
The following books, presented to the Society since the last Meeting, were laid on the table, viz : —
The Way the World went then, by Miss Isabella Barclay, presented by Miss Helen Blackburn ; A Dictionary of British Folk-Lore, part i., Traditional Games, vol ii., by Mrs. Gomme, presented by the Publisher ; Transactions of the Shropshire A rch&ological and Natural History Society, 2nd series, vol x., parts 2, 3, and 4, presented by the Society ; and L'lle de Siphnos, a pamphlet, by H. Hautte- cceur, presented by the Author.
Mr. Rouse read a paper entitled " Folklore from the Southern Sporades." Mr. Crooke, Mr. Bouverie Pusey, Miss Lucy Broadwood, and the President took part in the discussion which followed.
Mr. Rouse also read a paper entitled "Christmas Mummers at Rugby, " and in the discussion which followed Miss Burne, Mr. Ordish, Mr. Bouverie Pusey, Mr. Lowerison, Mr. Gomme, Mr. E. K. Chambers, and the President took part.
The Meeting concluded with a vote of thanks to Mr. Rouse for his two papers.1
Thanks were also returned for the gifts of books.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18th, 1899.
THE 2 1ST ANNUAL MEETING.
The President (Mr. Alfred Nutt) in the Chair.
The minutes of the last Annual Meeting were read and confirmed.
1 The papers read at the November and December meetings are postponed for want of space.
Minutes of Meeting. 6 1
The Annual Report, Statement of Accounts, and Balance Sheet for the year 1898 were presented; and upon the motion of Mr. Crooke, seconded by Mr. Emslie, it was resolved that the same should be received and adopted.
Balloting papers for the election of President, Vice-Presi- dents, Council, and Officers for the year 1899 having been distributed, Mr. Kirby and the Secretary were appointed scrutineers for the ballot.
The retiring President delivered his Presidential Address, his subject being " Britain and Folklore."
The result of the ballot was then announced, and the following ladies and gentlemen were declared to have been duly elected, viz. : —
As President : Mr. E. S. Hartland.
As Vice-Presidents : The Hon. John Abercromby, Miss C. S. Burne, Mr. Edward Clodd, Mr. G. Laurence Gomme, the Rt. Hon. Sir J. Lubbock, Mr. A. Nutt, Lieut-Gen. Pitt- Rivers, Professor F. York Powell, Professor J. Rhys, the Rev. Professor A. H. Sayce, and Dr. E. B. Tylor.
As Members of Council : Mr. C. J. Billson, Dr. Karl Blind, Mr. H. Courthope Bowen, Mr. F. C. Conybeare, Mr. James E. Crombie, Mr. W. Crooke, Mr. Leland L. Duncan, Mr. J. P. Emslie, Mr. T. Gowland, Miss Florence Grove, Professor A. C. Haddon, Mr. T. W. E. Higgens, Mr. Joseph Jacobs, Dr. F. B. Jevons, Professor W. P. Ker, Mr. H. B. Wheatley, and Mr. A. R. Wright.
As Hon, Treasurer : Mr. E. W. Brabrook.
As Hon. Auditor : Mr. F. G. Green.
As Secretary : Mr. F. A. Milne.
Upon the declaration of the result of the ballot, Mr. Nutt, having congratulated Mr. Hartland upon his election as President of the Society, vacated the chair. Mr. Hartland thereupon took the chair and returned thanks for his election.
Professor York Powell proposed a vote of thanks to the outgoing President for his address, which was seconded by
62 Minutes of Meeting.
Dr. Gaster, and carried with acclamation. Mr. Nutt having returned thanks, Mr. Jacobs moved a vote of thanks to the retiring Members of Council, viz. Miss Roalfe Cox, Dr. Gaster, Mr. W. F. Kirby, Mr. J. T. Naak6, and Mr. M. J. Walhouse, which was seconded by Miss Florence Grove, and carried unanimously.
Dr. Gaster moved, and Mr. Albany F. Major seconded : That Rule VI. of the Rules of the Society be altered so as to provide (a) that one-fourth of the Members of the Coun- cil retire each year automatically ; (b) that retiring Mem- bers shall not be eligible for re-election during the year in which they retire ; and (c) that the Members to retire each year be determined by seniority of election.
After some discussion, in which Mr. Crooke and Mr. Gomme took part, Mr. Gomme moved, Mr. Jacobs seconded, and it was resolved by eight votes to three, that the further consideration of the question should stand adjourned sine die.
TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
COUNCIL.
1 8th January, 1899.
The Council have to report a year of quiet but steady progress. The numbers of Members on the Society's roll is now 389, as against 377 in the year previous, show- ing a net increase of twelve in spite of many severe losses sustained during the year. Chief among these is one which is shared in common by the country at large in the person of the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone. The Society has also lost in the Earl of Strafford a former President, whose administrative ability and courtesy are gratefully remem- bered by all who served with him on the Council ; and in Mrs. Murray Aynsley an indefatigable traveller and valued contributor to the Society's Transactions.
A gratifying feature of the increase of membership is the fact that it is largely due to the accession of public libraries and other institutions, both English and foreign. Special efforts in this direction, due to the initiative of Mr. Hartland, were made in the spring, and met with a fair measure of success. The actual number of libraries and institutions on the Society's roll increased from 64 in 1897 *° 75 during the last year.
The financial position of the Society has been materially improved. The balance sheet accompanying this Report will show that, after making due provision for the extra
64 Annual Report of the Council.
volume of 1898 (an illustrated catalogue of the Starr Col- lection of Mexican Antiquities referred to below), there remains a surplus of receipts over expenditure.
The average attendance at the evening meetings has been very satisfactory, and the discussions following the papers have been of an animated and useful character, deserving in many cases of permanent record in the Transactions, as is the practice in other societies. Members have availed them- selves more frequently of their privilege of bringing friends, whom the Council are always glad to welcome. The follow- ing papers were read in the course of 1898 : —
Jan. 18. President's Address. The Discrimination of Racial Elements in
British Folklore. Feb. 15. "The Spectral Rider and Hounds at Randworth, Norfolk.**
By W. B. Gerish. " Notes from Cyprus." By F. O. Harvey. " On Original Work in Folklore." By H. Raynbird, Junior. " Customs and Ceremonies at a Mohammedan Betrothal and
Wedding." By Major McNair and T. L. Barlow. " On a Rain Ceremony from the District of Morshidabad, Bengal." By Sarat Chandra Mitra. March 15. " The Anthropological Value of Children's Games." By Mrs.
Gomme. April 19. " Evald Tang Kristensen, a Danish Folklorist." By W. A.
Craigie. May 17. " Witchcraft in Ancient India." By Professor Winternitz. " Tobit and Jack the Giant Killer." By F. H. Groome. "A further instalment of Folklore from the Hebrides." By
M. McPhail. " Giants in Pageants." By Mrs. Murray Aynsley. " Kitty Witches." By W. B. Gerish. " Christ's Half-Dole." By W. B. Gerish. June 21. " Theories of the Origin of Religion." By Andrew Lang.
" The Star- Lore of the Micmacs of Nova Scotia." By S. Hagar. " Sqaktktquaclt or the Benign-faced, the Oannes of the Ntlakapa- muq, British Columbia." By Professor C. Hill-Tout. Nov. 15. " Ropes of Sand." By Miss Godden.
" Myths and Customs of the Musquakie Indians." By Miss M. A.
Owen. " Ethnological Data in Folklore." A Criticism on the Presi- dent's Address of 1898. By G. L. Gomme. Dec. 20. " Folklore from the Southern Sporades." By W H. D. Rouse. " Christmas Mummers at Rugby." By W. H. D. Rouse.
/
Annual Report of the Council. 65
The following objects have also been exhibited at the evening meetings :
(1) A headdress worn by persons inviting guests to a marriage in German Silesia. By Dr. Gaster. (2) A bone forming part of the back of a rabbit, and known locally in Lincolnshire as " The Fox's Face." By Miss M. Peacock. (3) A photograph of a piece of wood used in Caithness in 18 10 for making sacred fire. By Dr. Maclagan. (4) Three miniature vases (supposed to be votive) from Lake Chapala in Mexico. By Professor Starr. (5) A Burmese horoscope and some Burmese charms. By Mr. J. B. Andrews. And (6) A charm used to hang round the neck of a horse to keep off the Evil Eye. By Mr. C. E. Levy.
Many of the objects have been presented to the Society by the exhibitors. The Council desire to tender their sincere thanks for their exhibitions and presentations, and to impress upon Members the desirability of exhibiting such folklore objects as they may possess or can borrow for the purpose.
The Society has issued during the year the ninth volume of the new series of its Transactions, Fo/k-Lore, which comprises, in addition to the more important papers read at the evening meetings, many smaller contributions, cor- respondence, reviews of folklore literature, both English and foreign, lists of new books, &c. It has also issued Mr. R. E. Dennett's Folk-Lore of the Fjort (French Congo), with introduction by Miss Mary Kingsley, as the extra volume for 1897. The Council are much indebted to Mr. Dennett for having placed in their hands the materials accumulated during his residence of a quarter of a century in French Congo, and to Miss Kingsley, without whose assistance it would have been difficult, in the absence of the author, to pass the work through the press, and who has ■'' enriched the volume with an interesting essay upon West African history and theology.
The Council have again to place upon record their deep sense of the obligation under which the Society lies to
vol. x. f
66 Annual Report of the Council.
Mr. Hartland, Chairman of the Publications Committee, for the skill and devotion he has bestowed upon all the publications of the Society during his year of office.
The collection of Mexican antiquities which Professor Frederick Starr has so generously presented to the Society has reached England. Allusion was made in the last Report to this valuable collection, and arrangements are being made for its exhibition during 1899. The MS. of an illustrated catalogue of the collection, drawn up by Professor Starr himself, will shortly be in the hands of the printer, and will be issued to the Members as one of the publica- tions for the year 1898.
Among the extra publications for 1899 will, it is hoped, be a further instalment of County Folklore. Mr. G. F. Black's collection of printed extracts of Orkney and Shetland Folklore has now reached the hands of the Council, and will be printed as soon as possible. Mrs. Balfour's collection of Northumbrian Folklore will also be included in the volume. In connection with this matter the Council desire to appeal again for the co-operation of country Members. The publications in which much of the material lies buried are accessible for the most part only to residents within the county, consisting as they do of county histories, transactions of local societies, news- papers, and pamphlets. Many of the rites and superstitions recorded in such publications are now obsolete, or exist only in degraded forms ; and it is important for the study of European, and especially of British, folklore, that the collection of these records of the past should be undertaken wherever it may be practicable.
The Council desire to call attention to the value of Folk- Lore (the Transactions of the Society) as a means of inter- communication among Members at a distance from London for the discussion of scientific problems, and for the record of many items often of unsuspected interest. It is pro- posed during the present year to enlarge it, and to add
Annual Report of the Council. 67
to the number of its illustrations. The Council believe that in this way both its interest and usefulness will be in- creased.
The Council have observed with satisfaction that many Members of the Society have participated in the proceed- ings of the Anthropological section of the British Associa- tion.
During the past year a Folk-Song Society, having for its object the collection, preservation, and illustration of British popular music and poetry, has been founded, and the Council tender to the new Society the expression of their sincere goodwill.
The Council take this opportunity of calling attention to the fact that volume i. of the English Dialect Dictionary has lately been completed under the able editorship of Professor J. Wright, and that negotiations are pending for a list of the articles dealing with matters of interest to folk- lorists being printed and circulated among Members of the Society.
In the latter part of the year a movement, the initiation of which was due to Miss Grove, a Member of the Society, was set on foot for the purpose of making the Society and its work better known in London. Miss Grove is acting as hon. secretary of the sub-committee to promote meetings of a popular character and open to the general public at suitable centres. The first of these meetings was held in November at Whitelands Training College, Chelsea, by the courtesy of the authorities, when Mrs. Gomme gave a lecture on the significance and value of Children's Games to a large and appreciative audience of pupils and local residents. The Council heartily commend this move- ment to their successors and to the Society generally.
The Council during the year unanimously elected Mrs. Gomme as the first Honorary Member of the Folk-Lore Society, in recognition of her long, arduous, and invaluable services to the Society and to folklore generally.
f 2
68 Annual Retort of the Council.
In accordance with a standing resolution of the Council, Mr. Alfred Nutt retires from the Presidential Chair and has accepted nomination as Vice-President. The Council desire to take this opportunity of placing on record their high appreciation of his services, and to express a hope that they may for many years to come have the benefit of his experience and advice in carrying on the work of the Society.
It will be remembered that at the last Annual Meeting a motion was made that Members of the Council should retire in rotation. The motion was withdrawn on the understanding that the Council would take some action ir that direction. While no binding rule has been adopted, the following Members, viz. Miss M. R. Cox, Dr. Gaster, Mr. W. F. Kirby, Mr. J. T. Naak6, and Mr. M. J. Wal- house, have resigned their seats upon the Council.
The year which has just closed is the twenty-first of the Society's existence. While they can look back upon a year of much useful work, the Council are fully conscious that a vast deal remains to be done in the way of systematising the materials which have been already col- lected. Among the projects which it is desired to cany through may be mentioned :
(A) The Bibliography of British Folklore.
(b) A general index to the Society's Transactions.
(c) The classification and analysis of British popular customs.
(d) The completion of the series of County Folklore.
(e) A catalogue raisonn£ of folklore objects preserved in the Museums of the United Kingdom.
The Council submit herewith the annual accounts of the Society duly audited, and the balloting list for the Council and Officers for the ensuing year.
Annual Report of the Council.
69
■*•
00
00
H ua
*•*
CO
w o w
o
Q W
<
w
E H
O
O U
u
< (J
<
Cvei mmo O O ■■« «/> 00 tooo ^fo
O g~
o
NO
O •'VO
00 On
1 :i «8
: o o
o w
l row
|
*t*r% |
i/> |
|
|
M |
c |
|
|
m on |
S M |
1 1 |
C"S
s 2 •s 8
Cm
3
■5 R
•^ CO .2'* X-S «
SWcu «EW<c/5
O-O
• M.I •
• w» * «J •
• - • •mm «
* -2 St «»2 o
W -ri
*-* . "O
uj . *• *2
cw 8^2
3s
^3
w fe
4>
C ci
-a
VO
00 fO
~ o
dO O
0\0
OOOO
NO ©»t
M vo
trt
00
H 00
&4 •-•
s
T3
: S2 ^^ g
^ ro Oj ^*
0*00 fSi"^
On 0» ON"S
00 00 00 cj
r-i »i 1-4 4^
•^ (A
c o
(A
lx
(A C
o
l/>
c
00
s »
ttCfl o •
•00 w iJoo «
w O Cm
c o
U
£ 3
o H
Annual Report of the Council.
in ^ » .2 - < St : jj :
i.' 5a 3SS
*s
a«
lit
BRITAIN AND FOLKLORE.
EN on former occasions I had the honour of addressing
, my thoughts turned to what has always for me formed
chief interest of the study of folklore, the investigation
-he problems which it presents, and of the lines of inquiry
ich it opens up, in so far as they concern the mass of
ditional fancy and custom preserved by the inhabitants
these islands.1 The folkiorist truly deserving the name
not confine himself exclusively to a limited section of
study; he must bring with him principles based upon
'd-wide inquiries ; he must ever be prepared to test the
ence yielded, say by Berkshire or Devon, in the light of
rial gathered it may be in Greenland or Polynesia,
>ed for by the oldest known records of humanity, or by
itest Antipodean newspaper. But without a guiding
nr study may too easily become a mere bazaar instead
orderly and well-arranged museum exhibiting the true
tion of phenomena. Such a clue I have essayed to
the relation of Britain to folklore, whether it be the
that folklore bears to the evolution of our race and
ire, or the consideration of the many still doubtful
s of folklore in the light of specific British evidence.
i appropriate that in my last Presidential Address
iglish Folk-Lore Society I should essay to indicate
he considerations which have determined my own
^search, and which in my opinion constitute the
ury Mythology of English Literature : its Origin and Nature." \ddress, 1897. (Folk-Lore, vol. viii., pp. 30-53.) "The Dis- Racial Elements in the Folklore of the British Isles." 1' residential (Felk-Lore, vol. ix., pp. 30-51.)
7 2 Presidential A ddress.
special import of Britain for our studies. Whilst I cannot hope to offer you any novel or definite conclusions, I may be able to suggest fresh possibilities of research, and to urge fresh reasons why we as Englishmen, as Britons, should cherish and foster our study.
My first address endeavoured to set forth the unique im- portance of modern English literature for mankind, due to its being the inheritor of archaic traditions and conventions (whose disappearance would have meant the irreparable impoverishment of the sources of artistic fancy), and the medium through which so much of this archaic material, otherwise doomed to decay, has to be preserved for and interpreted to the world at large.
In tracing back the fairy realm which Shakespeare's genius has made an integral portion of literature to its source in the earliest known visions and speculations of dwellers in these islands, I confined myself to Britain.1 But the rdle there claimed for English letters as guardian, transmitter, and interpreter of Celtic fancy has wider impli- cations, at which I should like to glance for one moment. We island-dwellers have brought under our sway many lands, many peoples ; we claim, whether rightly or wrongly need not here be inquired, that we have given them peace and prosperity, that we are enabling the races we have sub- dued to enter in upon the heritage of the highest civilisation. This is much, but it is not enough. Every race, no matter how backward, has a special cry — a special vision of its own. Upon us, upon our oversea kindred, rests the responsibility that these shall not be lost, but shall contribute their note, howsoever feeble it be, to the great concert of humanity. It is the privilege of English literature to enshrine utterances of countless races of men which otherwise must wholly perish, to make them part of the world's thought and fancy.
1 The argument I advanced was in brief that which I elaborated fully, and in reliance upon the most archaic Irish evidence, in my Voyage of Bran. Two vols. 1895-97.
Britain and Folklore. 73
This privilege is, I think, most likely to be realised by the folklorist, who, if he have really penetrated to the inmost sanctum of our study, will have learned to grasp the mani- fold links that bind us to the remotest past, to sympathise with the rudest and most infantile manifestations of human energy, and to recognise in the formless germ the source of what may be mightiest and most beautiful in human effort. He will also have learned to observe with rigid fidelity, to preserve everything, faulty and trivial though much may be, to sympathise with everything, though much may offend or startle our present conventions. It is part of his task to hold up to English literature the duty of incorporating the souls of vanishing peoples, the privilege of transmitting them to future ages. Surveying as I did the past of our literature, and noting by what happy combination of circumstances it has been enabled to preserve so much beauty, imperishable now, otherwise lost, I am filled with confidence for the future. If we know the importance of our aim, if we but will to act upon our knowledge, surely we can accomplish what chance apparently enabled our forefathers to accomplish. Imperial England of the sixteenth century preserved for later ages shapes and visions that greet us from out the oldest won- der-world of Celts and Teutons ; may not imperial Britain of our days seek from the lips of passing races, before they have wholly passed away, sustenance and embodiment for the creation of new types of significance and beauty? If such is a possible outcome of the folklorist's labours, directed though these may primarily be to other objects, may he not feel that he is working for mankind at large and for all time?
In dwelling as I did upon the import of folklore for English literature in the past, in dwelling as I have just done upon its possible import for British literature in the future, 1 have no wish to unduly magnify the literary aspect of our studies as against others. 1 merely talk of that which, I confess, interests me most in folklore, that at least
74 Presidential A ddresS.
upon which alone I possess any claim to be listened to by you. But what I sought to exhibit, the archaic warp and woof persisting in the fabric of our national literature, could be, if I mistake not, as readily exemplified in the domain of institutions. Here, too, we might dwell upon the charac- teristic function of the English race in retaining, modifying, transmitting to the modern world, with the necessary en- largement of scope and significance, so much of the most ancient customary wisdom of the Teutonic-speaking peoples.
Whilst other European nations have mostly discarded all that clashed with the magnificent system of law edified by imperial Rome, England, preserving, elaborating the native customs of one of the component elements of our mixed race, has reared a structure of institutions not unworthy to be set by the side of the Roman, and destined to control the fortunes of even wider realms and more numerous populations. May it be suggested that, just as the Celtic element of our race has supplied so much of value towards the enrichment of our literature, even so Celtic institutions, hitherto of small account as compared with those derived from our Teutonic forefathers, may contribute somewhat towards the completed fabric of our law ?
Nor does the parallel stop here. The English student of folk-institutions has, without travelling outside the limits of the empire, as wide and varied a field of inquiry as the student of folk-fancy ; it is his to see that the customs in ' which so many different races have expressed their social ideal are made available for utilisation in modern life as well as for purely scientific inquiry. If it be urged that the rites and practices of barbaric or semi-civilised people cannot, as can their myths and legends, be welded and fused into our higher conception of social life, I would answer that the loftiest civilisation may often learn with advantage from the rudest strivings of mankind after social order and justice, and I would cite the example of the great
Britain and Folklore. 75
governing and law-giving community of antiquity to which it is our proudest boast to compare ourselves.1 Rome did not impose her own customs upon the stranger within her gates ; she established a special tribunal before which he might plead according to his own usage, and which meted him out justice according to his own principles. Thus grew up a great body of law, different in origin, in principle, in scope from the native law of Rome. In their development the two systems influenced each other profoundly, and in the ultimate codification of Roman law the edicta of the Praetor Peregrinus, the head of the foreign tribunal, play a part second only to the native statutory and casuistic legis- lation. When the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council sits to hear appeals from Malabar or Benares, from Borneo or Bombay, from French Canada or Hongkong, appeals in which the strangest and most archaic systems of legislation may be involved, we have the nearest modern analogue to the jurisdiction of the Praetor Peregrinus. And as the law- giving genius of Rome incorporated and harmonised the customaiy wisdom of the then known world, so when the system of our law is completed, side by side with the Teutonic groundwork, with the Roman additions, may be found elements derived from races world-divided in their range and their social conceptions.
I have, it may be, suffered myself to pursue too long a train of thought suggested by the addresses I have pre- viously delivered. I may seem to have forgotten that ours is an historical science, and that its aim is to make intelli- gible the origin and growth of past phenomena. It may be an error, but I cannot hold that it derogates from the scholarly nature of our study to note that it has implica-
1 I am glad to find myself in undesigned accord with our present President. My friend Mr. Hartland, in an address delivered two years ago !>efore the Gloucester Philosophical Society, and which he only recently sent me, speak- ing of the practical value of Folklore, insists likewise upon the positive ad- vantage which the legislator may derive from knowledge of archaic institutions.
76 Presidential A ddress.
tions which concern the present, ay, and the future as well as the past; that it involves other than purely scientific motives and aims, and that it may contribute something towards the practical and moral, as well as towards the intellectual, ideals of our life. It was said not long ago that at present we were all Socialists ; it may be said with greater truth that we are all Imperialists. Now in the true ideal of imperialism, the only one which the scholar and the honest man would care to strive for, there are elements which can be apprehended rightly and vindicated by the folklorist alone. We claim already for our study that it enables us to reconstitute the early babblings of humanity ; is it belittling it to point out that by its aid we may dis- cern the true and permanent value of phases of thought, fancy, and character which are essential to the full develop- ment of humanity, but to which the study of civilised man alone may render us blind or indifferent ?
Be this as it may, you may feel that I am on surer ground in addressing myself to the consideration of the past than when I indulge in speculation as to the future. Viewing folklore solely from the standpoint of the British folklorist, I would emphasise the special advantages conferred upon him by our insular position and our resulting history. The facts of folklore are more clearly isolated, discriminated more precisely as to date, origin, topographical or racial circumstance in our case than in that of most other European countries, where the mixture of races has been at once more intense and more obscure in its processes, the variations in culture less sharply defined, and where often the very mass and complexity of phenomena make it difficult, if not impossible, to exhibit their sequence and correlation. The comparative ease with which many English customs can be investigated, the apparent cer- tainty with which we can discern their origin and trace their growth, often blinds us to their scientific interest as touchstones by which we may test the credibility of our
Britain and Folklore. 77
hypotheses in regions where we lack the aid of historical record. Folklore we define, in this connection at least, as the persistence of elements of a lower, or at all events of an outworn, stage of culture in the midst of a higher and more living one. But as to the mode and nature of their persistence hardly two investigators are agreed. Some would treat the lore of the folk as simply the weakened and distorted echo of what once engaged the thought or charmed the fancy of the higher minds of the race; others would regard it as the permanent substratum of all systems, social, religious, artistic, by which man has sought to regulate his life. In deciding between these opposing views, or between any modifications of them, our usual difficulty is that we lack precise knowledge concerning the history of most items of folklore. In many, perhaps in most, cases the loss is irreparable ; we cannot really know, we can only surmise, why a particular rite is practised, in what way a particular belief has obtained credence or a particular legend currency. But in England certain customs may be traced from their inception to the present day, and the results to be derived in such cases from a truly methodi- cal and scientific investigation should prove of the utmost value where the custom alone survives and its history has to be reconstructed.
The usages connected with Guy Fawkes* Day may be instanced : their origin is known ; the documentary records concerning them are full and precisely dated. It should be possible to give such an account of the spread, variation, and decay of this custom as would shed most welcome light upon the folk-psychology underlying similar celebra- tions, the history of which is unknown. In particular, this one case should enable us to answer with some confidence the question whether practices of these kinds are, as Mrs. Gomme has urged in the case of Children's Games, purely imitative, or whether they do not frequently embody elements infinitelv older than the ostensible events to
7 8 Preside n tial A ddress.
which they owe their origin, and to which they have been adapted rather than from which they really spring.1
The value from this point of view of British folklore as a museum, in which, thanks to historical circumstances, the specimens are labelled, ticketed, and set forth for greater convenience of the student than elsewhere, has not, as I said, been properly recognised. For one thing, we nearly all (I plead guilty myself in the fullest measure) are subject to the fascination of the unknown and obscure. We would rather be explorers than surveyors ; it is more amusing to fill up big blanks upon the map, though our details rest largely upon hearsay aud doubtful evidence, than to trudge over familiar ground carrying with one measuring chain and plotting board. But the ordnance map and not the rough sketch should be our ideal, an ideal achievable, always provided we are willing to expend the necessary labour.
Chief among the circumstances which make our folklore particularly susceptible of fruitful investigation is one upon which I dwelt in my second address, the definiteness with which we can locate chronologically and topographically many of the racial elements which make up our British people. Somewhat to my surprise I was held to have unduly minimised the importance of the racial factor in the folklore problem. Elsewhere I have essayed to remove a misapprehension due doubtless to imperfections in my method of exposition ; here I would but repeat that I
1 English folklore was surveyed and treated of in a fairly comprehensive fashion at an earlier date than that of France, Germany, or Italy. The con- sequence is that our standard collections and handbooks go back to the pre- critical period. The national taste for unrelated and unsynthetised facts has likewise made itself felt in our studies, which by some have been pursued and by many regarded as if they were a species of Tit-Bits. Thus certain work of classification, due to the older antiquary-folklorist, requires doing over again. Practically the first attempt at a systematic and critical survey is that due to Mr. and Mrs. Com me in their projected Dictionary of British Folklore.
Britain and Folklore. 79
recognise the full importance of the factor, and that I am anxious for the correct solution of the problem which may, I believe, be essayed with better chances of success in our own than in other lands. Even here, how insufficient are the data, how obscure and complicated the whole subject. Yet compare the British Isles and their four historically known groups of population, two belonging to the Celtic races, Gaels and Brythons, two to the Teutonic, Low-Germans and Scandinavians, with any other European land present- ing a similar mixture of blood, speech, and culture, and note how infinitely more favourable are the conditions for the student desirous of verifying the hypothesis of Celtic or Teutonic influence on folklore. In Germany, for instance, whilst the medium in which the folklore is preserved is almost wholly Teutonic, large portions of present Germany are known to have been occupied within historic time by Celtic or Slavonic populations, and the influence which may thus have been exercised upon the present stock of inhabitants and their traditions has formed the subject of much inquiry. For the most part this has not pro- gressed beyond the stage of more or less plausible hypo- thesis, because the definite historical records, the literary and linguistic documents present in England, are lacking in Germany. In France again, history tells us of a powerful Celtic state, but its culture melted away when it came into contact with that of Rome, and has almost wholly dis- appeared ; history tells us also of Germanic and later Scandinavian invasions contemporaneous with those of these islands, and possibly not greatly inferior in extent and duration, but practically the historic record alone remains, the speech, the customary wisdom, the treasure of myth and legend have disappeared and left scarce a visible trace upon French culture. To surmise in how far French folklore may have been affected is, it will be con- ceded, a matter of extreme delicacy.
If British folklore thus compares favourably with that
80 Presidential A ddress.
of France or Germany as regards its greater ease of inter- pretation due to the historical conditions which have deter- mined its present form, an equally favourable comparison may be made in the case of lands like Scandinavia and Russia, the folklore of which in other respects is richer than our own.1 For they lack that mixture of races, and to a far greater extent than we, that conflict and super-imposi- tion of cultures, which afford such admirable opportunities for the isolation of folklore facts and the discrimination of their true character. If it be of moment to trace the influence of race upon folklore, we must obviously begin our investigation where diverse races have been in contact and conflict, and where we can study the result upon the still existing population.
The considerations I have enumerated concern the methodological side of our study, and may be said to amount to no more than this : if an inhabitant of Saturn visited this earth and became smitten with noble enthusiasm for the problems of folklore, he would find it profitable to start his investigations in Britain. But the geography and history of our islands have had other and more important effects than the relative facility yielded to the • folklorist and the greater chance of solving the problems which fascinate him. If we regard European folklore as a whole we can discern with certainty four great influences, that of Greco-Latin classic antiquity, and those of the Celtic-, the Germanic-, the Slavonic-speaking peoples respectively. The last (the Slavonic influence) may be left out of ac- count, as it entered too late into the general current of European culture to modify the other elements I have named. As regards the first, Britain is, of course, far inferior to the Mediterranean peninsulas, or even to South- ern Gaul, in the extent and variety of the material it has
• To prevent misapprehension, I wish to emphasise that I recognise the superior richness of Scandinavian and Slavonic folklore over that of the English- speaking portions of our isles.
Britain and Folklore. 8 1
retained from classic antiquity. But this very poverty is in itself an advantage. The lore of our folk has behind it no such long ages of civilisation to crush or modify it as has that of Greece or Italy. It is, however, to the two great barbaric stocks, the Celts and the Teutons, that we owe the preservation at least (I will not raise controversy by saying the origin) of the folklore of North-western Europe, and in the light which its study can throw back upon our barbaric forefathers consists much of its interest. We must conceive of Celts and Teutons as originally occupying Central Europe, and radiating thence, the Celts first, in all directions save apparently to the due north, the Teutons secondly, first to the north and then later in all directions. In their southern and south-eastern advance the Celts met with mightier powers, more highly organised civilisations, into which they and their culture melted and were lost. In the north-west alone, in these islands that is, were they able to maintain and develop their institutions, their speech, and their literature, free, or almost free, from the all-domi- nating influence of Rome.
The very fact that they could advance no further, that before them lay the boundless, trackless sea, that they were compelled to halt, and, as it were, to stereotype their cul- ture, whatever lowering influence it may be held to have had upon the vital energy of the race, had at least this advantage, to preserve for us stages of custom and fancy which otherwise would have passed away. To a far less extent this was also the case with the Teutons who invaded Britain ; they did not, as did their Goth and Vandal and Frank cousins, come into contact with Rome herself, Rome weakened, attenuated to a shadow, yet powerful enough to subjugate her overthrowers, to largely impose upon them her own civilisation. Our Low German forefathers were at liberty to develop their own institutions, to exhibit a type of commonwealth more truly German than that of the kins- men who remained on the Continent to build up half
vol. x. G
German, half Roman States. And, as I have already in- sisted, what was vital in Teutonic institutions has been preserved for the modern world by England, by the island colony, not by the mainland home of the Germans. In one thing our Saxon ancestors seem at first blush sadly deficient from the folklorist's point of view: the rich store of myth and romance preserved alike by the Continental and the Scandinavian Germans would seem to have dwindled away in their hands, influencing but slightly our later literature or our mass of popular fancy. But we must not forget that the most archaic German hero-legend of any length, Beowulf, was composed in these islands, nor that, if Continental German literature had had its development violently arrested in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, as was the case with our Anglo-Saxon literature, Germany would have bad nought to tell us of Siegfried or Dietrich, of the wooing of Brunhild or the vengeance of Kriemhild. If, however, this plea be admitted in striking the balance between the claims of Low and High Germany to the preservation of the racial sagas, it cannot, will it be said, be urged against the far superior claims of Scandinavia. Anglo-Saxondom must yield to Norway and Denmark the honour of preserving the crown of Teutonic myth and romance. Anglo-Saxondom, Yes! but Britain ? This query is allowable in view of the large share which has been claimed of late for men of these islands in the elaboration of that great fabric of myth ico- heroic saga which we owe to Iceland, Norway, and Denmark. In the North and North-west the Teutons found their limit as had the Celts in the West, but after ages of comparative quies- cence they broke forth, hurling themselves upon communities partly subjected to the double influence of Christian and Roman civilisation. In the stress of conflict with the alien ideals they encountered, they expressed and magnified and developed their own ; but to do this they had to come in contact with men who still sympathised with the pre- Christian conception of life, and still retained much of the pre-
Britain and Folklore. 83
classic store of myth and legend, men, not wholly Romanised, who could interpret to them in words which they could understand the new culture which they otherwise would simply have ignored. It was contact with the Christian classic world, but contact through the comparatively friendly medium of Anglo-Saxons and Celts, that was the determin- ing impulse to the supreme expression by men of Teutonic races of their heathen beliefs and fancies, and it was in these islands that this contact took place, and that much of the resulting literature assumed form.
Such is the theory, the details of which have been pushed to such extravagant lengths as would reduce the magnificent poetry of the Scandinavians to a mere cento of misunder- stood borrowings from Englishmen and Irishmen.1 Dis- carding as we must arbitrary and uncritical methods which would deprive sthe Eddas of all value as exponents of archaic belief and fancy, we may yet recognise that it was Britain which supplied the historical and social conditions, thanks to which Teutonic heathendom was able to realise and manifest itself in its grandest and most characteristic aspect. The Viking shock upon the Empires of the West and the East resulted in political changes the effects of which have lasted until to-day, but otherwise influenced but little the culture of the south and south-west of Europe. The Viking shock upon England and Ireland, less momentous in its political consequences, had for an outcome that superb body of mythical and heroic sagas which preserve not alone the formal legends and traditions of our forefathers, but a conception, a vision of life, alien to the Christian, alien to the latter classic ideals, whose loss would have left mankind infinitely weaker and poorer.
Thus when the older barbarism manifests itself for the first time in its awful strength and beauty our land and our
1 E.g. by Professor Sophus Bugge, whose methods and results will shortly be accessible to the English reader in vol. xi. of the Grimm Library ( The Home of the Eddie Poems, with special reference to the Hclgi lays).
G 2
84 Presidential Address.
people play no mean part in the drama. The results were not, it is true, immediately apparent. The Viking ideal, as embodied at least in his literature, exercised no influence upon the general trend of European culture. It was other- wise with the next great movement in which Britain also plays a capital part. In the twelfth century, thanks, and thanks alone, to the political and social movements of which Britain was the centre, Celtic fancy, Celtic romance, penetrated to every district of Western Christendom and victoriously in- fluenced the social and moral ideals of the time. It was true they had to wear a foreign dress, to accept a large admix- ture of Christian and classic elements, but nevertheless, alike by the actual subject-matter which it presents and by its animating spirit, the Arthurian romance belongs to those older worlds of belief and fancy which it is our task to in- vestigate.
This older world, as I contended two years ago,1 came again to the front when, at the breaking up of mediaeval civilisation, the order under which we are still living may be said to have begun. I need not urge afresh the claim I made on behalf of England, that here alone the thoughts and fancies of that older world were given a worthy form, and were enabled to become an imperishable portion of mankind's inheritance of beauty and wisdom. Nor need I emphasise the part played alike by the Teutonic and the Celtic elements of our race in the great romantic revival, which, starting a century and a half ago, was to result in the momentous changes, literary, intellectual, social, and political, which have profoundly affected the century draw- ing to a close, and the force of which is not yet spent. Viewing that revival in its widest and most general aspect, it must be regarded as a return to earlier sources of inspira- tion whether for the artist or the thinker, as the sympa- thetic reconstruction and vindication of much that humanity
1 Cf. Folk-Lore^ vol. viii., p. 51.
,]
Britain and Folklore. 85
had tossed aside as infantile and outworn. Among its minor results was the organisation of our branch of study, and we cannot regard as entirely alien to our inquiries any manifestation of the spirit which gave us birth.
One of the chief outcomes of the romantic revival, perhaps the chief one from our point of view, has been the critical resuscitation and analysis of the mythic and heroic sagas, as well as of the customary wisdom of the Teutonic-speaking peoples.1 A beginning has been made in the .accomplishment of a like task for the Celtic-speaking peoples, but very much yet remains to be done.2 We should not forget that we, as Britons, are the preservers of this great and fascinating body of archaic tradition, that its survival is due to the accidents of our geographical position and of our historical circumstances, that it is our duty as well as our right and our privilege to recover, before it is too late, what is yet remaining, and to place it beyond possi- bility of loss in a form rigidly faithful, and illustrated by the highest and most sympathetic learning we can command. That duty, as I hold, belongs in the first place to the governing and academic bodies of the United Kingdom ; it is one which they have largely neglected in the past, it is one which I see little sign of their performing in the future.3 It is all the more incumbent upon societies such as ours, that we should clearly realise our duty in this
1 This work has been accomplished almost exclusively by Germans and Scandinavians. England, the home of the earliest recorded Teutonic litera- ture, has done very little original work towards its elucidation.
1 Here again Britain is very largely indebted to foreign, especially to German, scholarship. But it must be noted to the credit of Ireland that she has shown herself far more mindful of her ancient national literature, and far more capable of the necessary scientific work for its interpretation, than the English-speaking portion of Britain has of hers. England has no Teutonic philologist of equal eminence with O'Donovan, O'Curry, or Whitley Stokes as Celtic scholars.
• It is noteworthy that the recent attempt to withdraw the meagre, grudging support which Government does afford to the study of Irish, was fostered and backed by representatives of the highest academic teaching in Ireland.
86 Presidential Address.
respect, and that we should aid the accomplishment of the task I have indicated by all means in our power. Let us recollect that whilst, as Britons, we have no right to allow the beliefs and fancies of the Celtic half of our race to die away to the irreparable injury of science and of after-genera- tions, they yield us as folklorists perhaps the most fruitful field still open to the student of archaic Europe.1
If it be true that, by their position, their history, their mixture of blood and speech, their social and economic conditions now and in the past, their possession of the archaic literature in which are preserved the beliefs, legends, and practices of one of the constituent elements of modern Europe and its culture, the British Isles have a special import for all the inquiries grouped together as the study of folklore — that our land has taken a preponderant part in the formation and discrimination of folklore material which has influenced the whole trend of European culture — if it be also true that the results of our study may and should influence, and influence for the good, our attitude towards imperial and world-wide problems, we are, I think, entitled to claim that our Society has a work and prerogatives of ts own, prerogatives which are honourable and legitimate, work which it alone and no other body can perform.
Alfred Nutt.
1 I again emphasise the fact that I do not make this statement on behalf of Celtic folklore, because it actually is richer and more varied than those of other European peoples, but because it is recorded earlier and under conditions that vouch for its archaic character.
REVIEWS.
Excavations in Cranborjne Chase, near Rushmore, on the borders of Dorset and Wilts, 1893-1896. By Lieutenant- General Pitt-Rivers, D.C.L., F.R.S., F.S.A. Vol. iv. Printed privately. 1898.
The previous volumes of General Pitt-Rivers' record of his exca- vations on and in the neighbourhood of his property at Rushmore have been descrihed and reviewed in The Archaological Review^ vol. ii., p. 377, and in Folk-Lorey vol. iv., p. 239. Readers of those reviews and of the volumes themselves know and (the latter especially) appreciate the extreme, if not unparalleled, and ex- haustive care with which the excavations were conducted, the magnificence with which they have been recorded, and the learning and skill with which the results were discussed. All these qualities, it is needless to say, are abundantly illustrated in the new volume before us.
It opens with an address delivered at Dorchester in August, 1897, to the Archaeological Institute, containing a summary account of the explorations and a consideration of some of the chief problems involved in the discoveries. These are preceded by a reply to strictures by the late Sir J. W. Dawson on some flints of palaeolithic type obtained by General Pitt-Rivers in the stratified gravel of Gebel Assart, near Thebes, in Egypt, and on his report of them contained in the eleventh volume of the Journal of the Anthropological Institute. The motive of these strictures was the supposed necessity to uphold what General Pitt-Rivers refers to as " the so-called chronology of the Bible." Although they had been made so far back as 1884 at the Victoria Institute, they had never been communicated to the finder of the flints, who was left in ignorance of them, and consequently of the opportunity of replying to them, for a dozen years. The reply,
88 Reviews.
of course, was victorious. The occasion was happily chosen ; for an address to the Archaeological Institute was certain of attention at all events by a large part of the scientific world.
The keynote, not merely of the address, but of all the explorer's work, is to be found on the very first page, where he says : " I am fully sensible that the value of such investigations depends mainly, if not entirely, on the precision with which the evidence is recorded." Proofs of the truth of this are to be found on every page of the record ; and well does General Pitt-Rivers remark : "So far from barrow-digging and camp-excavation having been worked out, as I understand some persons have asserted, it has hardly yet commenced upon a thorough system. But when we consider the rapidity with which ancient earthworks are being destroyed, the utmost care is necessary, not only in preserving but in examining them. If I were asked to give a title to this paper it would be ( A plea .for greater precision and detail in excavations.' " And again : " Sir Richard Hoare, who excavated such a number of tumuli in this district, unfortunately took no notice of human skeletons, by which omission not only was the important evidence of race afforded by them lost, but it was destroyed for ever. This shows how careful we should be to record everything. I have twice been offered by neighbours permission to dig upon their property, on condition that I would not disturb the human bones or rebury them immediately. Of course I refused to avail myself of permission so hampered with unscientific conditions. This excessive reverence for bones of hoary and unknown antiquity is a great hindrance to anthropo- logical science. The interesting questions of race can only be studied by careful measurements of the bones and skulls, and the preservation of them, if possible, in museums for future reference."
The excavations conducted in this spirit have been remarkably successful in contributing to the solution of old problems, and — what is equally important — to the raising of new ones. So far as recorded in the present volume they have been occupied with three camps or rectangular entrenchments of the Bronze Age and a ditch of the same, and with a neolithic barrow and a number of tumuli and other graves of the Bronze Age.
The first camp or entrenchment, called by the explorer South Lodge Camp, is in Rushmore Park. It covers three-quarters of
Reviews. 89
an acre. Near it are five barrows of the Bronze Age, previously opened. The rampart and the entire surface of the camp, and its immediate surroundings, save a small part where the roots of growing trees interfered, were carefully removed, and the ditch excavated down to the undisturbed chalk. Preliminary sections resulted in the discovery of practically nothing but part of a single urn-^an argument for thorough excavation, or none at all. In the more extensive labours which followed, abundant remains were found to date the entrenchment as one of the Bronze Age. In the upper silting of the ditch and the interior there came to light sufficient Roman and Romano-British relics to show that it was in use (visited, if not actually occupied) during Roman times, though perhaps not by the Romans themselves. The animal remains were those of the ox, deer, and sheep. The ox and sheep were both small animals, the former about the size of a Kerry cow and the latter like the St. Kilda sheep. Some bones of a small kind of dog were found, pointing to the probability that the occupiers were hunters. No human bones were dis- covered.
The next excavations described were on Handley Hill and Handley Down, about four miles from the South Lodge entrench- ment The same plan of thorough excavation was adopted. Another entrenchment, one of a large number scattered over the Wiltshire and Dorsetshire downs, was explored, Like the South Lodge Camp it was square, or rather lozenge-shaped. The rampart was low, being only 06 foot above the old surface-line at the crest, and the ditch proportionately shallow. It was found to be of the Bronze or Roman Age, the doubt being caused by the discovery of a silver denarius of Trajan on the old surface-line beneath the rampart This would have been conclusive if the rampart had been higher. It may have been that the spot was occupied, but not entrenched, before the Roman conquest. A large ditch of the Bronze Age, called by General Pitt-Rivers the Angle Ditch, from its shape, and a drain, probably older, which crosses it, were also uncovered, together with some considerable areas adjoining. The discoveries here, especially of pottery and flints, disclosed traces of occupation during the Bronze Age and Roman times. And, speaking generally, it is clear that a con- siderable population was settled at those periods all over this part of the country.
Of this population the most interesting relics are perhaps to found in their graves. A large number of burials both cremation and inhumation are here described. I have no space to deal with them in detail ; but some of their peculiarities, as well as those of some neolithic interments, must be mentioned as being of importance to students of folklore.
A neolithic tumulus, called Wor Barrow, on Handley Down, was excavated and found to contain six skeletons of primary interments, all buried together on the old surface-line. Three of them were in the usual crouching position ; but the other three were evidently not buried as corpses, but " put in as bones and not in sequence." How is this to be interpreted? The only other case of bones which may be of neolithic man thus buried occurs in the silting of the Angle Ditch. Seeing, however, that the Angle Ditch is of the Bronze Age, if these relics, which BK very imperfect, are neolithic, they must have been found and reburied, or more likely flung into the ditch. Two interments apparently of the Bronze Age are of similar character. They both occur in excavations in the chalk, which General Pitt-Siren conjectures to have been pit-dwellings. One of these, near South Lodge Camp, consists merely of fragments of two femora and pelvis. The other, a few feet north-west of the Handley H: entrenchment, referred to above, consisted of a large number bones, including the skull, in such a position as showed that th< must have been put in as bones, or at least that the body must have been cut up before burial. In the Litter case, the bones were not on the floor of any part of the pit, but must have been put in after it was, partially at all events, silted up. Cannibalism is suggested as a possible explanation ; but. as the author remarks, " the evidence of it is insufficient." And it can hardly explain two secondary interments of the same character in the ditch of Wor Barrow, if the excavator be right in assigning them to the Roman era. It is well, however, to bear in mind the that both neolithic and Bronze Age peoples may have ally been cannibals, and to look for evidence in opening othi graves. This can only be obtained by noting the position accessories of the skeletons with exhaustive care, such as Gem Pitt-Rivers adopts. A large proportion of Bronze Age intermeni are by incineration ; and it may well have been dial the were first eaten and the bones then burnt. This would not
its
hi.
3
ost
Reviews. 9 *
inconsistent with what we know of savage customs. But were the Bronze Age people precisely savages ?
Some of the secondary interments in Wor Barrow offered another problem. Two skeletons were buried side by side in the ditch, about 16 inches below the surface, without heads, and one of them without feet. On the top of the barrow, three skeletons were found buried close together, two of them 1*2 foot beneath the surface, and the third 6 inches lower. The skulls of the last and one of the others were found as if they had been buried touching the fingers of the left hand. The remaining skull was in its right place; and this body was in a contracted, half- crouching position. All four of the others referred to were buried extended. Nothing was found with any of the skeletons, except, in the ditch, a flint scraper, and, about 6 inches above the lowest of the three bodies on the top of the barrow, a frag- ment of Red Samian pottery. The presence of both these was probably accidental. The skeletons themselves cannot, from their proximity to the surface, be older than Roman times. General Pitt-Rivers conjectures that the barrow, which must have been a prominent object in the landscape, was, at that period, used as a place of execution. Some countenance is lent to this conjecture by another skeleton, buried extended some 3 feet down in the ditch, the head of which was turned down on the side, as if the neck had been stretched by hanging.
Among the problems relating to interments of the Bronze Age in Britain is the question whether the urns containing the ashes of cremated burials were in common use, or specially made for the purpose. The excavations detailed in the present volume throw little light on this ; but such as they do throw is favourable to the former supposition. At the bottom of the ditch of South Lodge Camp, unconnected with any interment, was found a large urn of coarse pottery with grains of coarse flint or quartz in its composition ; and a smaller one of the same quality was found at the bottom of the Angle Ditch. Both were of the kind used for cremated ashes. General Pitt-Rivers remarks upon them : " It is more probable that the urn would be found in the ditch thrown away as refuse, if it was in ordinary use, than if it were only fabricated for ceremonial purposes." Many cremated burials of this age are found associated not with entire urns but simply with fragments. This would seem a debased form of burial
92 Reviews.
arising from poverty or carelessness. And I may be allowed to suggest that the degradation of the rite would be facilitated if pottery in ordinary use were adopted for burial purposes, and to this extent the practice of burying fragments may perhaps be held to strengthen the probability that the urns were not made specially for burials.
I have only space to refer to one other problem connected with the barrows. In the chalk floor of barrow No. 24 " were found three cavities, of which two appeared by their size to be graves for inhumation interments. No bones were found in them, but the digit of a small ox, well preserved, at the bottom, and one small fragment of No. 1 quality of British pottery. The graves were 3 *8 feet and 4 feet deep respectively. They were filled with chalk rubble at the bottom and mould at the top. These graves may have been opened, but no trace of such opening could be seen in the superficial mould or turf. The other cavity was near the causeway [across the surrounding ditch], about 6 feet long and 3 feet wide, of irregular depth, and its intention could not be clearly ascertained. Nothing was found in it" (p. 147). Just above one of the first two cavities eight fragments of British pottery were found, and elsewhere within the mound another of the same quality and a flint scraper. Around the barrow, chiefly on the western side, in holes in the chalk, were found fifty-two cremated interments, and to the north an empty oblong grave, as if intended for inhumation.
Now these cremated interments look as though they were secondary, the remains of persons buried near, but not in the barrow, perhaps relatives or dependants of the person or persons for whom the barrow was designed. But if so, why are there no human remains within the barrow itself? A small mound like a barrow, near Handley Hill cross-roads, also contained no human bones, but a number of fragments of pottery, chiefly Romano- British, some flint-flakes, fragments of sandstone (a not infrequent find in a barrow), and seashore or tertiary pebbles, besides some fragments of iron pyrites, and other objects of modern date or apparently accidental.
Some ten or twelve years earlier General Pitt-Rivers had exca- vated in Scrubitty Copse, Handley, three barrows of the Bronze Age, destitute of human bones. One of them contained an urn inverted over nothing. Another covered a deposit of charcoal,
Reviews. 93
testifying to some burning on the site. The third had a cavity in the floor, but only black mould within it1
What may be described as empty barrows are not unknown in other parts of the kingdom and on the continent of Europe. Several have been opened by the Rev. Canon Greenwell, who long resisted the evidence that no body or bones had been interred in them. He considered, however unlikely it might seem that these relics had disappeared, either by lapse of years or by pre- vious rifling, that hypothesis was to be preferred to the hypothesis of a cenotaph. He was at last convinced by excavating the famous Willy Howe, where neither Lord Londesborough (who opened it in 1857) nor himself could find any human remains. " As four pieces of broken animal bone were met with among the filling-in at different places, in a perfectly sound condition, it is quite impossible," he told the Society of Antiquaries, " that the bones of a human body could have gone totally to decay. As burnt bones never appear to undergo any change, there could never have been a cremated body buried in it." *
The existence of prehistoric cenotaphs having been established, their real import was obscure until the question was discussed, before the Royal Irish Academy, in an able and ingenious paper by Mr. George Coffey, now the keeper of the Museum at Dublin. This paper, which was published in the Proceedings of the Academy for 1896, establishes, by the aid of anthropological evidence, that such barrows are not merely memorials, but " in primitive logic, true tombs," erected for persons who had died at a distance, and whose bodies had not been recovered. Mr. Coffey has in fact applied to " empty " prehistoric tumuli the examples and reasoning of Mr. Frazer in his paper on "Certain Burial Customs as illustrative of the Primitive Theory of the Soul," read to the Anthropological Institute and published in the fifteenth volume of its Journal. And he may be considered to have estab- lished the existence in the Bronze Age of a practice familiar to-day in the savage lands of both hemispheres, and of which traces are found in various parts of modern Europe, from the Balkan penin- sula to the remote Irish islands of Aran and Innisboffin. Is it too much to hope that the labours of anthropologists may yet
1 Excavations in Cranborne Chase, vol. ii., pp. 33, 36. * Archacofogia, vol. lii., p. 23.
94
Reviews.
throw light upon other prehistoric practices, such as the excava- tion of grave-pits, like those referred to above (p. ga), beneath a barrow, the position of cinerary urns (whether upright Of in the direction of inhumated bodies, of causeways across ditches surrounding barrows, and of entrances to chambered barrows, and the deposition of fragments of sandstone in the graves, as recorded in the volume before us ? It is to them we must look, when the facts have been accurately recorded, to interpret these and many other customs.
I must pass over much of interest in this fascinating volume. But I cannot close a notice inadequate in every sense without referring to the entrenchment on Martin Down, excavated in 1895-96. It is quadrangular, enclosing about two acres, of the Bronze Age, and, like Winkelbury Camp described in vol. ii., has very wide entrances, that on the south-east side being 22-5 feet wide and that on the north-east being 1 7 feet wide. Such large entrances would be a serious weakness in a defensive work. General Pitt-Rivers therefore suggests that they were for the in- gress and egress of cattle, or as he said about Winkelbury, " this points obviously to a necessity which must have existed I openings for the ingTess or em [?] of a considerable body of men or animals in a short time under pressure from without," the theory in that case being that the animals were kept at pasture on the down outside and driven quickly in on the occasion of any hostile attack.
So far, therefore, there is nothing which cannot be accounted for in the entrenchment on Martin Down. What is puzzling is that on the higher or north-western side for nearly half its length no trace remains either of ditch or rampart. In fact, for a dis- tance of upwards of 170 feet neither ditch nor rampart ever existed. That it is not simply an unfinished and abandoned camp is deal from the fact that remains indicating residence and use— flint and other stone implements, pottery, flint-flakes, and especially a very large number of burnt flints (doubtless used for boiling purposes) — were found both in the ditch and inside the camp, as well as bronze implements and a quantity of animal bones in the ditch. Little doubt can indeed remain that it was used, down to and in Roman limes ; for various iron objects, and even Roman coins were also among the relics recovered. In these circumstances what is the meaning of the large gap ? The only suggestion made in the
Reviews. 95
volume recording the explorations is that it " may probably have been also for the passage of cattle." But what kind of cattle would a passage 170 feet wide have been wanted for? We may perhaps fall back on the conjecture that General Pitt-Rivers him- self made in the preceding volume concerning gaps in Bokerly Dyke and Wansdyke, that they were filled by abattis of felled trees. Even then we are equally puzzled to know why an abattis should have been adopted to complete the enclosure.
The volume concludes with an account of the excavation of a Romano-British trench of irregular shape and unknown use at Rushmore, and an elaborate discussion of the distribution of Chevron patterns on pottery, comprising bibliographical refer- ences to the records of other finds in this country and abroad of similar patterns, which will be of much service to archaeologists.
General Pitt-Rivers must be once more heartily congratulated on the results of his labours and his munificence. No service equal to his explorations, and the four volumes in which they are recorded, has been rendered to archaeology in the British Isles. The students whom he has laid under so great a debt will ardently unite in the hope that his health and strength may long be pre- served to continue the work. It is no exaggeration to say that the precision of his methods and the exhaustive minuteness of his researches will be a standard and a model for all future explorers. They have already added enormously to our knowledge of the lives of our predecessors ; and it is only from diggings carried on in the same spirit that we can expect to recover the earlier history and the pre-history of the country.
E. Sidney Hartland.
Les vieux Chants populaires scandinaves. Etudes de Litt£rature compar£e. I. Les Chants de Magie. Par LfeoN Pineau. Paris : E. Bouillon.
Review of preceding work by M. Gaston Paris, Journal des Savants, July, 1898.
France has of late produced a number of excellent monographs on romantic and popular literature, monographs in which the national gifts of lucid and orderly exposition are conspicuous.
96 Reviews.
I need only mention M. Lichtenberger's work on the Nibelung cycle, M. Bddier's Fabliaux, M. Sudre's Raman de Renart. We turn to M. Pineau's work expecting to find equal fullness of detail and accuracy of method applied to what is, perhaps, the most fascinating section of folk-literature, the ballad. In some respects we are not disappointed. M. Pineau's work is full of interest to all lovers of all popular romance; his genuine enthusiasm and his fine literary gifts enable him to present the Northern ballad literature in a most attractive form ; his translations, whilst re- markably close, retain the archaic, barbaric flavour of their originals with admirable skill. He has, moreover, endeavoured to state and solve the problems connected with the origin and spread of the ballad in Northern and Western Europe. This aspect of his work it is with which M. Gaston Paris's notice is chiefly concerned, and to which I propose to confine myself.
Briefly stated, his method is as follows. Selecting. a number of incidents which bear upon them the stamp of an archaic or savage stage of culture, he interprets them in the light of a theory of evolution derived, essentially, from Herbert Spencer, with modi- fications due to the teaching of Professor Tylor and the English anthropological school, and deduces therefrom the prehistoric nature of ballad literature generally. He is inclined to trace the specific Northern ballads back to a period when Celtic-speaking peoples occupied the present Germanic area (Scandinavian as well as Continental), and to regard the ballad, essentially, as a product of Celtic imagination. The reasons assigned are inconsistencies between certain ballad traits and the recorded history of the Germanic races.
M. Pineau's method is in some respects akin to that followed by Mr. Hartland in his Legend of Perseus. The correlation and parallelism of custom and literary incident serve to establish the archaic character of the latter, whether in folk-tale or folk-song. But this method to be successful requires far more critical dis- crimination in the use of illustrative material than is displayed by M. Pineau ; he quotes largely at second hand and often leaves the most essential feature of his scheme unbuttressed by supporting facts. The real objection, however, to his method lies deeper. The folk-tale is fluid and adaptable— to show that it is a kaleido- scope of incidents the nature and form of which are explained by their reference to parallel traits in custom is more than legitimate, it
Reviews. 97
is illuminating. To track the individual tale is for the most part to embark upon a hopeless quest; to determine and exemplify the conditions which facilitated its origin and promoted its spread is a far more fruitful task. In the ballad, on the other hand, precision of form is an essential characteristic, and comparison becomes not only possible but fruitful. M. Pineau has clearly perceived this in some instances; his comparisons between definite Scandinavian and French ballads are marked by critical insight. But taking his work as a whole he has in my opinion begun at the wrong end. He should first have clearly surveyed the entire field of Northern ballad literature, instead of dealing with it in sections ; he should have analysed it formally and have correlated it, where possible, with the recorded historical conditions through which the Scandi- navian peoples have passed ; then he should have compared it with the great kindred ballad literatures, those, of Continental Germany, of Germanic-speaking Britain, of France and France's Romance-speaking dependents, of Northern Slavdom. Until this preliminary task of historico-literary analysis and comparison has been achieved it will be unsafe to theorise concerning the origin and nature of European ballad literature. And even then such theories must be tested in accordance with general laws of psychological and literary development, for the formulation of which it is necessary to examine the great ballad literatures un- connected, historically, with that of Northern and Western Europe.
Whilst I cannot think that M. Pineau has made a noteworthy contribution to the solution of the ballad problem, I am in general agreement with his view of ballad literature as a whole. It im- presses me as a genuine product of popular imagination in an early and archaic stage of culture,1 surviving to the present day because the folk has progressed little beyond that stage, and revived within the last century and a half because conscious, deliberately artistic, literature was compelled to turn afresh for inspiration and nutriment to the imaginings of the race in its youth.
On the other hand, many recorded ballads have certainly as- sumed a new and more definite shape within the last four cen-
1 By popular imagination I understand that which rests upon, has its roots in, and appeals to, a mass of conceptions and sentiments common to the majority of the people.
VOL. X. H
98
Reviews.
tunes ; also within that period there has been an interchange of
specific ballad forms between Romance- and Germanic-speaking peoples. As regards the first point, advocates of the comparatively modern origin of ballads lay stress upon what may be called their mediasval setting. On closer inspection it proves, if I mistake not, to be a setting only, and the fact itself is easily explained. In the Middle Ages there still existed a popular poetry, drawing theme and inspiration from traditional sources, appealing to and comprehensible by almost all classes ; its professors, handling as they did far older themes, inevitably vested them in the costume of their day. Where social conditions have remained compara- tively unchanged, where a school of folk-poetry has retained its vitality, the specific mediaeval setting will be found, I think, to have yielded to a more modern one. But where those conditions have altered, where the lettered, cultured classes are divorced from the folk, and the folk -conceptions of nature and society have suffered atrophy, have become mere survivals, then the medieval setting is retained as more consonant to the spirit of the decaying literature. The mediaeval baron is closer to the man of the "folk," than is the gentleman in a frock coat.
There is nothing to wonder at if the ballads contain traits upon which the critic can lay his finger and say "this cannot be older than 1 450, that belongs to the early seventeenth century." All that is proved thereby is the existence of foik-poets in full touch alike with tradition and with the average social environment of the time. What should surprise is the persistent continuance, in full plastic energy, of conceptions alike of nature, society, and liiLrary form which even in the Middle Ages were becoming alien to the highest culture, and which must have been incomprehensible repugnant to certain classes of society at the very period when many of the ballads assumed, substantially, their present shape.
The interchange of ballads in comparatively recent tin between Romance- and Germanic-speaking peoples opens up more complicated and difficult questions. When the fact see proved, M. Pineau would look upon Scandinavia as the lender. M. Gaston Paris, on the other hand, after examining the five examples especially insisted upon by M. Pineau, thinks it more likely the ballads common to Scandinavia and the rest of North- western Europe have been imported into Scandinavia. I do not think the question can be settled by the simple comparison of
O.J
the or
£
in-. ....
Reviews. 99
French and Scandinavian ballads ; all the variants, and especially those of the British Isles, must be examined in this connection. I may note that in two of the five cases M. Gaston Paris holds Celtic Brittany to be the original home of the ballad, whence it spread, independently, to France and Scandinavia.
Even if M. Gaston Paris is right in his specific contention of exportation from France in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and, sporadically, at an earlier date of ballad themes, I would still urge that it has not the importance he assigns to it. There have been two other romantic export periods in French history. In the twelfth century France exported the heroic and romantic cycles of Charlemagne and Arthur ; in Germany, Italy, Spain, and to a less extent in England and the Scandinavian North, new and vigorous literary movements were originated. At the end of the seventeenth century Perrault and his imitators exported folk-tale themes. These sometimes ousted, sometimes modified older forms native to the countries into which they penetrated; they did not, because they could not, originate a novel or a flourishing literary genre. I would urge that French mediaeval and post- mediaeval ballad exportation, such as it was, was akin to the second rather than to the first of these movements. It may have slightly modified, slightly increased an existing ballad stock ; could it have originated one ? The very period of ballad expan- sion according to this hypothesis was one of religious, social, and literary changes which affected both the higher and lower classes of the borrowing countries, and which were essentially hostile to the spirit and to the form of the ballad. Was Germanic-speaking Europe of 1450 — 1550 a fruitful soil in which the magnificently fantastic, savagely archaic ballad literature of Britain and the North could be developed from French seeds ?
M. Pineau's reference of the Scandinavian ballad to a pre- Germanic, Celtic population seems to me unnecessary and con- trary to such evidence as we have. The archaic conceptions of life and society in which the ballads have their root and from which they draw their nutriment was, I hold, common to both Celts and Germans when we first meet them in history, whilst as regards their specific literary embodiment, the ballad, so far from being a characteristic product of Celtic-speaking peoples through- out historic times, is conspicuous by its absence from all Celtic
literatures save that of Brittany. Very early Germanic poetry
h 2
ioo Reviews.
offers much that is akin in spirit and in mode of expression (not in form) to the ballad; very early Celtic poetry can show nothing of the kind. The mythi co-heroic Irish sagas, those earliest known products of Celtic imagination, are frequently interlarded with verse ; the earliest examples of Welsh heroic saga are in verse. In both cases the poetry differs from the ballads ; it is epical, lyrical, or elegiac, but it never, or hardly ever, presents that combination of narrative and drama which is the distinguishing mark of ihe ballad. Celtic myth and history, whether Gaelic or Cymric, offered abundant material for the creation of a ballad literature, had the genius of the race been favourable. It was not, why we are unable to say. It is true that the absence of the ballad form in historic Celtic literature is no proof of its non-existence among the Celts in prehistoric times, but it does justify our claiming that an hypothesis such as that of M. Pineau should be supported by overwhelming evidence.
The speculative portion of M. Pineau's work to which I have practically restricted my notice is open to discussion. His pre- sentment of a fascinating and magnificent literature is worthy of ail praise, and will retain its value even if his hypotheses should fail to win acceptance.
Alfred Ndtt.
Folklore : Old Customs and Tales of my Neighbours. By Fletcher Moss, of The Old Parsonage, Didsbury. Published by the Author, 1898.
If Mr. Moss's friends admire the jaunty and over-familiar style ii which it is his lot to write, they must be as easily entertained a were Mr. Peter Magnus's acquaintances when he signed his hastily-scribbled notes "Afternoon." The subjects with which he deals are worthy of a more serious treatment than Mr. Muss seems able to bestow on them. His manner of expressing himself is often strikingly infelicitous, and his hook has the added defec of being far too discursive. It must be said, how ■ among the mass of generally-known folklore and miscellaneous information filling out its pages, there is to be found a good dea of curious and original matter. For instance, when dwelling a
Reviews. '.101
the popular opinion that any one born with a caul ought to jb<6. fortunate, Mr. Moss can tell his readers that Sir John Offley, one - of the ancestors of the Lords Crewe, left the caul in which he * was born to his heirs male, strictly enjoining that it should never be concealed. " ' Item, I will and devise one Jewell done all in Gold and Enamelled wherein there is a Caul that covered my face and shoulders when I first came into the world . . . • . to my own right Heirs Males for ever, and so from Heir to Heir so long as it shall please God in goodness to continue any Heir male of my name, to be never concealed or sold by any of them.' The heirs male have failed, but the line exists in the Earl of Crewe, and so long as that jewelled caul is cherished as a precious heirloom the luck shall never leave the Crewes."
On page 6 is given a fresh instance of the belief that a man's health may be gravely affected because his wife is expecting a child. And in the chapter on burials are some valuable additions to the folklore connected with the idea that the luck departs from certain houses when the skulls which have been preserved in them from generation to generation are removed. " There is at Wardley Hall, near Manchester, a skull which raises storms if it be removed from its time-honoured niche in the house, and this can be testified to any time by several business-men of my acquaintance who have tested the matter. This skull is of Father Ambrose, O.S.B., a Romish priest who suffered martyrdom. . . . He was one of the Barlows of Barlow Hall. . . . He was bap- tised at Didsbury Church, November 30, 1585."
Mr. Moss also mentions two instances of burying horses with their owners ; and when writing of family legends he describes the ancient custom of " blazing " the wheat on " blaze night," that is on January the 6th, Old Christmas Day. The object with which men and lads ran all over the wheat with lighted torches of straw, was to scare witches and other harmful things from the young corn and to ensure good crops for the coming harvest. This practice was observed at Standon Hall not long since, as was the habit of hanging a " picked " calf in chains, " that the cows might look on it and the plague might be stayed, so that the cows should not prematurely cast their calves," another picked calf being buried at the threshold of the shippon for the cows to walk over.
It is an error to imagine, as Mr. Moss seems to do, that there
••••..
• »
tqV/ Reviews .
> •
:b* historical absurdity in wearing oak-leaves on the 29th of May.
.'..Was it not on this day, which was also his birthday, that
" 'Charles II. made his entry into London on his return from exile?
.. The custom of using oak-leaves as decorations at May festivals is
•' probably of very great antiquity ; but since the Restoration it has
naturally been connected in a special manner with the picturesque,
if perfidious, Stuart, who was once constrained to find shelter
from his enemies in the Boscobel oak.
Mr. Moss might consult the works of our philological authori- ties with advantage when the derivation of words is in question. To speak of one instance only : had he referred to the New English Dictionary before writing "the word burial is derived from bury-ale, the ale or feast that was given to the kindred and neighbours who were bidden to the burying of any one," he would have found that the opinion of the most skilful philologers is against this assertion.
Tra Antiche Fiabe e Novelle. I. Le " Piacevoli Notti " di Messer Gian Francesco Straparola. Ricerche di Giuseppe Rua. Roma, Ermanno Loescher e Co., 1898.
Signor Rua has begun the publication of a series of detailed studies upon the sources and transformations of the Novelle of Italian literature. If we may judge by the work before us, the series is likely to prove not merely valuable but indispensable for students of the migration of tales. Straparola's famous collection was first published in 1550-3. It was several times reprinted during the following sixty years. After a period of depreciation and neglect, lasting for two centuries, Dunlop first perceived its importance for literary history ; and from the time he drew atten- tion to it in his History of Fiction, published in 18 14, it has been the subject of constant interest to students of literature and of folklore. Owing to the freedom of its contents from the trammels of conventionality, and indeed of decency, it has never been trans- lated as a whole into English. In spite of this grave defect, com- mon to most of the Italian collections, among which it is by no means the coarsest, it is not without beauty, and for us it has the supreme merit that it draws its inspiration chiefly from the stories and beliefs of the " folk."
Reviews. 103
Signor Rua, without contesting the general position that the stories, or many of them, originated in the East and travelled to Europe, examines the various literary forms they have assumed. Taking those which approximate most nearly to novelk of Strapa- rola, and have been claimed as his direct sources, he submits their pretensions to a searching analysis, and in every case decides in favour of the defendant. His chief reliance is of course on in- ternal evidence ; but here and there he is able by comparison of dates of publication to show that borrowing by Straparola was im- possible. The Fanchatantra, with its numerous western evolu- tions, the Fabliaux, the Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles, the Disciplines Clericalis are among the alleged sources discussed ; nor is Italian literature overlooked, including of course the Decameron and similar collections. His conclusion is that the true source is to be sought for in oral tradition ; and this he supports by numerous references and arguments. The student will recognise the im- portance of such a conclusion arrived at by a scholar so learned and accurate as Signor Rua.
From the sources he passes to the imitators of the Piacevoli Notti. Here English readers will be interested in the discussion of the alleged indebtedness of Shakspeare in The Taming of the Shrew and The Merry Wives of Windsor, and of Moltere in L'Jtcole des Maris and VAcole des Femmes. Of these the case of The Merry Wives is the strongest. There the debt is rendered possible by the fact that one of Straparola's tales (iv. 4) was among those translated into English before the play was written ; but in any case it hardly extends to more than hints.
E. Sidney Hartland.
Osmanli Proverbs and Quaint Sayings. By the Rev. E. J. Davis. London : Sampson Low, Marston & Co. n. d.
Mr. Davis's volume is formed of the store of Turkish proverbs which were gathered together by Ahmed Midhat some twenty years since, accompanied by a translation into English. Accord- ing to the preface, the original work "appears to contain an almost exhaustive collection of the aphorisms and quaint sayings current among the Osmanli people." Whether this assertion can
104
Reviews.
be taken as absolutely correct or not, it must be allowed that a goodly crop of eastern wisdom is harvested in its pages, and that the sayings which it contains are quite as much lo the point as their western analogues.
A fair number of the proverbs are, as was to be expected, almost identical with traditional phrases of our own, and many others are worthy of becoming current among us. " A diamond, though men throw it in the mud, is still a diamond," "Justice is the half of religion," "Mercy is religion," and "A thousand regrets do not pay one debt," are all maxims worth remembrance. The proverbs connected with notions of deity are also expressive. " God makes a delay, but no neglect," " When once Allah hath given he saith not ' Whose son. ? ' " appeal alike to Christian and Moslem. "The camel's kick is soft, but it takes away life," has a meaning not unlike our " A hand of stee! in a velvet glove," and refers to the natural pads, or cushions, with which the animal's feet are provided to maintain a firm hold on shifting sand. " A chimney takes fires from the inside," an adage alluding to the treachery of one's own partisans, must be of frequent application in the land where it was coined. The proverbs relating to love refer to extra-matrimonial passion rather than to such affection as developes between two persons bound together by the ancient mariage de convtnance, which, though beginning to decay in occidental Europe, yet holds its own among the adherents of Islamism. "Love and a king accept no partnership," "Pas- sionate love is a command, (and) the heart is emperor," scarcely sound oriental according to western ideas of the polygamous east; but every collection of dictons shows how closely the thoughts of men resemble each other in all parts of the world, notwithstanding apparent diversities, The Chinese "If you kill a pig kill it thoroughly," addresses itself to the common sense of humanity at large, as do hundreds of other aphorisms reaching us from the most distant nations of the earth.
The Traditional Poetry of the Finns. By Domenico Comparetti, &c, translated by Isabella M. Anderton, with Introduction by Andrew Lang. Longmans, Green, ft Co., London, 1898.
The original work of which this is a translation appeared no less than seven years ago. From its importance and from the nmnbt
Reviews. 105
of new ideas it contains, the translation might advantageously have appeared at an earlier date; but in this country in such matters we move but slowly. Though the volume touches on many folklore topics, its primary object is a literary one. It aims at annihilating the theories of all those learned but misguided men who maintain that the works of Homer are mere patchwork, and not the result of a single creative brain. And in fact it seems effectually to have torpedoed the enemies, arguments. To execute his task thoroughly, Professor Comparetti has exhaus- tively analysed the form and contents of the Kalevala, has shown how the poem arose, the number of pieces of which it was com- posed, and how Lonnrot managed to unite them together in a way that gave the similitude of a national epic, but without reach- ing the goal. All this is very well and carefully done, but as it is not folklore we may pass on to those parts of the volume which deal more nearly with that subject.
Comparetti was the first to point out that the epic and narrative poetry of the Finns is the direct issue of their magic songs. These, when narrative, easily become epic, and are so unstable in their form that they readily lend themselves to a process of remoulding and incorporation with others of more or less similar character. This being so, he everywhere finds traces of the modes of thought proper to a wizard or shaman in the narrative portions of the Kalevala. The singer was so steeped in shamanistic ideas that he could not conceive a hero in any other form than as an ideal thaumaturge who works almost entirely by magic, and whose heroism is never shown on the field of battle. His range of view was so contracted and he was so insensible to external influences that his mind was never affected by any historical sentiment. Consequently, the narrative poetry of the Finns contains no kernel of history, no reminiscences of historical facts in the past, and the heroes it portrays, being the result of pure imagination and per- sonification, are not to be explained by any euhemeristic process. To seek for any profound symbolism or allegory in the Kalevala, as some have done, is equally futile, for such ideas could never enter the head of a simple-minded Finnish singer.
Starting from such premises, which on the whole seem to be well founded, Comparetti argues that the heroes Vainamoinen and Ilmarinen were originally ideal and anonymous wizards, con- ceived from two points of view, to whom names were subsequently
io6
Reviews.
attached. Vainamoinen embodies the shamanic idea poetically treated, the potent traditional wisdom or the wise man, and is always old. His complement is the wizard smith that forges the arrows, darts, knives, and blades which a wizard employed in exercise of his vocation. Some objection, however, may be taken to this view. Two of the main functions of a wizard were to heal the sick and to divine the future. Now if Vainiimoinen's person- ality had been founded on the ordinary notion of a wizard, how does it happen that in the narrative poems he is never summoned or invited to exercise either of these important offices? When he cuts his knee severely, he forgets some of the words of the magic song for staunching blood in a way hardly compatible with the idea that he is the most powerful of his class. He drifts helplessly about on the sea for years, apparently quite unable to extricate himself by magic means. When asked to make a sampo, he has to decline the task as beyond his power. Mere wizards, too, whatever their power, never figure as creators of the earth and of the trees upon it, though this creative act is constantly attributed to Vainamoinen. He was a personification no doubt, but hardly, we think, of an ideal shaman. Doubtless it often happened that a Finn about to proceed on a journey had recourse to a wizard to provide him with knots full of suitable winds or means for escaping the dangers of a land journey. But if instead of that he sought the help of Ilmarinen, who is stated by Agricola to have been a god that ruled over weather, he evidently drew a distinction between a wizard, real or ideal, and a god.
About the sampo myth, the exact meaning of which has puzzled all commentators, our author has something to say. In his opinion the sampo is nothing real ; it is an ideal of prosperity longed for, but nothing more. In fact, the word is derived from a Swedish sam/>u, " living together," and represents ideally the clubbed resources of a household or family. Facts, however, can hardly be said to support this new theory. The songs in which the sampo is mentioned are sung when seed is sown in spring and autumn. Where the sampo is found, " there you find ploughing and sowing and every kind of vegetation." And in one song Sampo and Pellervo are found in parallel lines, showing the two ideas had much in common, if not identical. Comparetti very rightly regards the latter as a personification of the germinating force of the earth. Dr. J. Krohn believed the word sampo,
Reviews. 107
sammas, was connected with Sampsa Pellervoinen, and cites a passage in which Ahti is said to have brought Sampsa from a treeless island. And in another passage in which Sampsa Pellervoinen is mentioned as sleeping in the middle of a corn- stack or a grain-ship, the same is said, in a variant, of sampo. If, then, sampsa, sammas, sampo are all corruptions of a single common form, the latter was originally a spirit of vegetation that brought good luck to agriculturists. But, as a luck-bringer can be conceived in various ways, such as a wonderful mill which grinds out all sorts of wealth, or as a chest, a store-house, or ship, containing treasures of all sorts, the possession of which recep- tacles brings luck to the possessor, the word could be explained by singers in the above-mentioned ways. Curiously enough in the oldest version the sammas seems to be a bird — Krohn tried to explain this away — an interesting particular, for many European instances of a corn-spirit in the shape of a cock are adduced by Frazer (Golden Bough, ii., 7-10). How the sampo came into possession of the mistress of Pohjola is never stated in the songs. That she stole it, just as she is said to have stolen the sun and locked it up, may be an original feature, or the myth of the stolen sun may have infected that of the sampo. But even on the latter supposition, this transfer would not have happened unless the change had been congruous with the general idea embodied in the sampo myth when it was better understood.
Professor Comparetti is very fertile in conjectures, and quixoti- cally tilts at all the most difficult proper names in Finnish mythology, though we cannot but believe with small success. Nevertheless, while discoursing on the personages in Finnish myth, he often hits the right nail on the head. For instance, Kaleva is a giant of immense strength, with an origin not unlike that of mountain giants in Teutonic mythology. That he was intimately connected with rocks is shown by the belief that the erratic granite boulders that strew the surface of Esthonia were thrown there by a Kalevipoeg. The difference of conception concerning Kaleva and his sons, as held in Esthonia and Finland, is carefully pointed out, with the conclusion that Vainamdinen and Ilmarinen are not, properly speaking, sons of Kaleva at all. The only person in the Kalevala to whom this title is applicable is Kullervo.
To a volume of such varied contents it is impossible to do
io8
Reviews.
justice in a limited space. To anyone interested in Finnish poetry it is invaluable, and on that account we may point out a few slips for the benefit of its readers. At p. 86, 1. 8 from the bottom— aprflpo s of Lemminkatnen's mother searching for his body in a river — for " raft " read " rake ; " and two lines below, for " she launched her raft on the river " read " she raked through the river with her rake." At p. 87, last line, and p. 88, 1. 6, for " raft " read " boat." At p. 88, for " like an alga " read " like an otter." At p. 1 59, 1. 1 7, for " oak " read " elk " ; here the Italian printer has evidently read elee instead of alee.
This volume is certainly not an easy one to translate, especially those portions that are themselves from a Finnish original. Here the translator sometimes translates into English mechani- cally, without reference to the context, and occasionally, indeed, is scarcely intelligible. Speaking of Vainatnoinen, as he floated on the sea, we read, p. 160, 1. 79-82, "there six years went he wandering, for eight years was he harried, like a sprig of fir went wandering, like the top of a pine trunk wandered," instead of " there for six years he drifted about, floundered for eight years, drifting about like (i.e. as helplessly as) a sprig of fir, or like the end of a trunk of pine." At p. 161, 1. 108, for "but his chin did not hang down " read " but his chin did not move to and fro," i.e. he was silent. At p. 166, I. 355, for " hopes the devil to hear his cow " read " the devil imagines that it is his cow." At p. 224, n. 3, "from the hair of the work of Kapo, from the body of the offspring of the mother " means " from the body-hair of a [man] made by a Kapo, from the body of a [man] born of a mother." At p. 250, " the pride of the heroic character outraged in the possession of the woman " means rather " the fierceness (Jieresza) of a hero whose rights to the sole enjoyment of his mistress have been outraged." At p. 263, "the shamanic idea informs (read "gives shape to") the myth .... of this people." P. z88, "the informing spirit of the Finnic myth" means "the motives (It ragioni) of Finnish myth." An index to a volume of this sort is almost indispensable, but there is none to the original, and the translator has not thought it worth while to make one for her translation.
John Abekcromby.
Reviews. 109
Creation Records discovered in Egypt. By George St.
Clair. London : David Nutt, 1898.
Mr. St. Clair's book is brimful of learning. But the author has obtained his facts at second or third hand No critical judgment has been shown in the selection of his authorities; good, bad} and indifferent are quoted side by side as of equal weight Gerald Massey and O'Neill are placed on the same footing as Maspero and Wiedemann; indeed Mr. St Clair seems to have a preference for writers whose knowledge of Egyptology is at least equivocal. His own acquaintance with Egypt appears to be but slight; we twice meet with the statement that " nearly all the obelisks " were on the east bank of the Nile ! Abydos is confounded with Thinis or This, and the tomb at Hft, in which Sir G. Wilkinson copied a picture of the phoenix or dennu, is not only spoken of as if it were still in existence but is further described as " the tomb of Hou."
All this makes' us distrust Mr. St Clair's claim to be the dis- coverer of a key to the interpretation of ancient Egyptian mythology which the acutest students of the monuments have hitherto failed to find The key is neither more nor less than the regulation of the Calendar. The gods and the stories told about them oye their origin to the successive attempts made to determine the length of the year and its component parts and to the astro-reli- gious system which such attempts presuppose. Egyptian myths are thus for the most part symbolic veils under which the " true story of astronomical progress, calendar correction, and theological changes " was hidden away by the priests and scribes.
We may concede at once that there is no country in the world where the regulation of the calendar was of more importance than in ancient Egypt. Not only the prosperity but the very exist- ence of the people depended on the annual overflow of the Nile and the engineering and agricultural works undertaken to meet it. The coincidence of the overflow with the heliacal rising of Sirius must have been observed at a very early date, and served as a fixed point for the agricultural calendar. Then again the neces- sity of knowing when the festivals of the chief gods took place compelled, as in other countries, a revision of the calendar from time to time. Moreover, it may be allowed that some of the Egyptian myths were confessedly of an astronomical or calen- drical nature ; and the famous treatise of Plutarch on Isis and
no Reviews.
Osiris shows that in the Roman age, when the origin and signi- fication of the old mythology had been forgotten, some portions at least of it were supposed to be connected with an endeavour to determine the length of the year. But with all these allowances it is a far cry to Mr. St Clair's conclusion that the gods and goddesses of Egyptian religion are nothing more than disguised astronomical or calendrical symbols, of which he has had the good fortune to become the interpreter. No detail of a myth is too trivial or too apocryphal to escape his notice, and be explained in accordance with his theory. The very completeness of his expla- nations raises our suspicions, especially when we remember how questionable some of the authorities are on whom he relies for his facts.
There is one reason, however, which will prevent Egyptologists from believing that he has really discovered a key that will undo every lock in the religion and mythology of the monuments. If there is anything in ancient Egyptian religion which is now certain, it is that it is a very ill-assorted amalgam of inconsistent elements derived from different local centres, and probably also from different races. . Of this Mr. St. Clair's theory not only takes no account, but the fact and the theory are difficult to reconcile. The theory assumes that Egyptian mythology, as it has come down to us, or as it is supposed to have come to us, is a har- monious whole, resting upon the same "astro-religious" basis, and embodying a continuous tradition and historical development. Ra, Osiris, and Amon are all merely phases in the evolution of a calendar.
There are a few misprints in the book, like "redunt" for " redeunt " (p. 40). And why are the accents so hopelessly wrong in the few Greek words that are printed? Maspero's "Khnumu" has been so frequently turned into the senseless " Khnumn " — not to speak of the Index — as to be hardly attributable to over- sight, and the eight-rayed star does not denote the Assyrian god Asshur (p. 81). The real shape of the "tongue" of gold men- tioned in Joshua vii. 21, will be seen from the illustrations in Schliemann's f/ios, p. 470.
CORRESPONDENCE.
Holy Week Observance in the Abruzzl
(VoL vi., p. 57 ; vol. viii., p. 354 ; vol. ix., p. 362.)
Mr. Clodd has kindly forwarded for publication the following letter from Mr. Grant Allen :
The Croft, Hind Head, Haslemere, December 2, 1898. Mv dear Clodd,
I do not quite know why / should have ever been dragged at all into this controversy. Canon Pullen told me a certain fact, or alleged fact ; it was a fact bearing upon studies which interest both of us, and I told it to you. There my part in the matter ended. I cannot imagine why it should be considered quite right of the Canon (because he is a canon, perhaps) to tell me the story, and quite wrong of me to repeat it to you.
More than that. The real burden of having told the alleged fact rests with Canon Pullen, and not with either of us. I was told it by him as fact. I repeated it as fact. It is now said that the Canon told the story "after dinner." That is quite true; but I am not myself in the habit of making my statements less trust- worthy after dinner than before it. The supposed fact was related to me, not as an anecdote, but as a piece of evidence bearing on a subject under serious discussion in the drawing-room of Madame Brufani's hotel at Perugia. We had been talking for some time, in a group of three or four persons, about Frazer's Golden Bough, and other kindred topics. The Canon then brought up this illus- trative case, which he mentioned with some reserve, because (he said) of its " blasphemous " character. He mentioned it very seriously, as a serious contribution to a serious discussion, and one wrung out of him, as it were, with some reluctance, because of its strange mixture of heathenism and Christianity. I should never have said myself that it was "an after-dinner conversation;"
U2 Correspondence.
I should have thought that to say so was to cast upon the Canon's after-dinner conversations a most undeserved aspersion.
At the same time I wish to point out that / did not publish the fact ; I merely mentioned it, as the Canon mentioned it, in a con- versation with you, which may or may not have been after dinner. I cannot see, therefore, why Mr. Britten attacks me and lets the Canon go scot free. Is it because the Canon is a Christian cleric ?
The whole point narrows itself down to this. You mentioned a case reported to you as a fact, and gave your authority. I gave my authority. The Canon declines to give his authority. If there is an error (and I do not even now say there is, for a fact cannot be denied by those who can merely declare they have never heard of it), that error was given us by Canon Pullen. It is he who put this story abroad ; and I thought I was at least justified in saying to you that I had been informed of it by a responsible and serious antiquarian, an English clergyman, and the editor of Murray's Italian Guides. Until Canon Pullen gives his informant's name, and enables us to examine that informant, I shall continue to believe that the story may have some foundation of truth, because it is hardly likely that anyone could invent a tale so wholly in accord with the rest of our knowledge unless he were a skilled student of customs.
Yours very sincerely,
Grant Allen.
The Game of Green Gravel.
In reading Professor Haddon's account of funeral games in his Study of Man, I was reminded of a couplet he has omitted from the " Green Gravel" song (p. 423), as sung by the village children of Cambridgeshire. In my time — but a few years ago — imme- diately following the turning of the child mentioned, we sang — whirling round at a trip— these additional lines :
" Roses in, and roses out, and roses in the garden, I would not part with my sweetheart for twopence-halfpenny farthing."
After this the whole verse was repeated as usual.
Alfred R. Oragb. 133, Spencer Place, Leeds.
Correspondence. 113
"Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort."
I wish first of all to express my gratitude to Miss M. H. Kingsley and Mr. E. Sidney Hartlancfcfor their great and dis- interested kindness in putting my manuscript into a state for publication. I alone, I think, know how truly arduous that task
must have been. Please also convey my thanks to Mr. W. H. D. Rouse.
The frontispiece, "Fjort mother and child," is from one of Miss M. H. Kingsley's plates. " A Bakutu who came to Loango to see Nzambi " was taken from a photograph taken by Monsieur J. Audema, of Paris. The other three plates are from photographs taken by Father Marschelle and the Fathers of the Roman Catholic Mission in Loango. I am sorry, that owing to my not having seen the proofs of the plates, their names were not men- tioned in Notes on the Folk-lore of the Fjort as the authors of the same. I trust, however, that they will accept this my tardy thanks for their valuable aid, which has added so greatly to the
interest of the work.
Errata.
Introduction, page xxxii, " Ncanlam " should be " Neanlau." Pages 8 and 137. In Kakongo the four days of the week are Tono, Silu, Nkandu, Nsona ; in Loango, Tono, Silu, Nduka, Nsona. Nduka. and Nka/a/w are therefore the same day; the negative ka preceding ndu in Kakongo, instead of following it, as in Loango.
Page 148, read "The Fjort cannot roll his r, so puts / in its place." That is to say, that Fjort cannot say "gira," bat says " gila " instead, hence the word Chegila or Kegila. Line 4, read " is (s.) xina (plural) Bina."
Page 149, for " Ampakala," read "mpakaga"; "Bakutu," read " Bikulu " ; " Fahi," read " Futu."
Page 158, for " Auj&," read " Anj& " ; " rata," read " vata." Page 162, line 8. Nzala is the same word as yalla, and both mean hunger ; for " through " therefore read " hunger."
R. E. Dennett.
vol. x,
MISCELLANEA.
To discover a Drowned Body.
At an inquest held on the 22nd November last, at Everdon. near Daventry, on a young lady who had drowned herself, it appeared that it was generally thought by the country people that the deceased had drowned herself in Sir Charles Knightley's great fish-pond, in Fawsley Grounds.
Edwin Bird, a farm labourer, employed by the deceased's father, told the Coroner that his master ordered him to take a loaf and some quicksilver down to the pond to find the body.
The Coroner. — How were you to do that?
Witness. — My master was told that if he got a penny loaf and put some quicksilver in it, it would show where the woman was drowned.
The Coroner. — What did you do ?
Witness. — I made a hole in the loaf and put the quicksilver in, stopped the hole up, and then threw it into the pond. Master was told that when the loaf floated over the body it would jump about.
The Coroner. — How absurd !
Witness added that the loaf floated about the pond, but it gave no indication that the body was there. Ultimately the body of the deceased was found in a brook, some distance away, in about four feet six inches of water.
The jury returned a verdict of suicide whilst temporarily insane.
Standard, Nov. 23, 1898.
On the 26th November, the Standard published a letter from a correspondent containing the following extract from the Gentle- man's Magazine for 1767 (i. 189) :
Miscellanea. 115
" A child near two years old fell into the River Kennet and was drowned. After diligent search had been made in the river, but to no purpose, a twopenny loaf, with a quantity of quicksilver put into it, was set floating from the place where the child had fallen in, which steered its course down the river upwards of half a mile, before a great number of spectators, when the body Hap- pening to lay on the contrary side of the river, and gradually sunk near the child, when both the child and loaf were immediately brought up, with grabbers ready for that purpose."
We cannot find this passage in the volumes hitherto published of the Gentleman's Magazine Library. The superstition is well known, but it is interesting to record so modern a case as that at Everdon.
Midnight Children.
A few days ago my sister was told by a Lincolnshire peasant woman that "a midnight child" has peculiar gifts: "it can see everything "—that is spirits and other supernatural beings. My sister has also lately been told that the old nurse of a young man who is a clever amateur actor attributes his powers to the fact that he was born at midnight.
It is .a common belief that people born on the midnight which links together Christmas Eve and Christmas Day have wonderful gifts; but it is new to us that all midnight children are endowed beyond others.
Florence Peacock.
Auguries.
In the Mayer Collection at Liverpool is a Latin Psalter of the latter part of the thirteenth century, the front and back fly-leaves of which are formed of portions of a manuscript of the Parcifal by Wolfram von Eschenbach. This manuscript of the Parcifal must have been cut up and destroyed by the monks in order to
1 2
1 1 6 Miscellanea.
bind the Psalter. On the last page of the Psalter itself there is some German writing, in a hand of the fourteenth century and in the Swabian dialect, which has been translated by Dr. Priebsch Lecturer on the English Language in University College, Liver- pool. The first seven lines run as follow : "He who is born on a Sunday will become strong and beautiful ; he who is born on a Monday will become strong ; he who is bom on a Tuesday will become strong and eager for combat \ he who is born on a Wednesday will become judge of the empire ; he who is bom on a Thursday will become an honest man ; he who is born on a Friday will have a long life ; he who is born on a Saturday will not live long." Then follow a number of auguries from dreams, concerning which Dr. Priebsch makes the suggestion that they are extracted from soms old book of dreams. Most of them are identical with superstitions on the subject still current. Such an augury as "To dream of having long hair betokens strength" may perhaps be derived from the Biblical story of Samson. Another, ' " Prosperity will come to him who dreams of talking with the dead," seems to be derived from some sort of ghost-worship. The last one is " Great joy and a great name are signified by dreaming that one picks up a cabbage." May we all pick up cabbages in dreams ! Dr. Priebsch has published facsimiles of the fragments of the Parcifal with some introductory remarks, including a trans- cription and translation of all these auguries, in the Bulletin of the Liverpool Museums > vol. i., Nos. 3 and 4.
Irish Folklore.
The Little Red Hen : A Nursery Tale.
I have often heard the following story in Ireland, when a child, from my nurses and others. I have heard it since, and set it down exactly as it was told. This is the only version I know of.
Once upon a time, and a very good time it was, a cat, a rat, and a little red hen lived together in a little house. The cat had a nice warm well-lined basket, the rat a nice snug hole, and the little red hen a comfortable perch.
Miscellanea. 117
One fine morning the little red hen said : "Who'll get up and light the fire?"
" I won't," said the cat
u And I won't," said the rat
" 111 do it myself," said the little red hen. So she got up and lit the fire. Then she said : "Who'll get up and sweep out the room?"
"I won't," &c
Then she said ; " Who'll get up and get the breakfast ? "
11 1 won't," &c. Then she said 2 " Wholl get up and eat the breakfast?"
"I will!" said the cat
"And I will!" said the rat
" No, 111 do it myself," said the little red hen. But she let them have their breakfast Then she said : "Wholl clear away the things?"
" I won't," &c.
But while she was clearing away the things, whom should she see coming up the street but the fox. And the cat ran into its basket, and the rat into its hole, and the little red hen flew up on her perch.
In came the fox. " Good day to you, little red hen," said he. " Come down and scratch my back." So she flew down on his back and began to scratch it. And when she came near his head, he put up his paw, and brushed her off and caught her ; and he put her in his bag, and away with him.
Now it was a hot day, and he soon got tired ; so he lay down under the shadow of a church, and went to sleep. And the little red hen took a scissors and a needle and thread out from under her wing, and cut a hole in the bag. And out she got, and put a big stone into the bag, and sewed up the hole ; and away with her home to the cat and the rat.
After a bit the fox woke up and put his bag on his back, and started off home again. " Much good that rest's done me ! " said he. " Why, she feels heavier now than when I lay down ! " How- ever, he got home at last, and bade his old mother make ready the family glass pot, because he had the little red hen in his bag.
So she got out the family glass pot and filled it and put it on the fire ; and it was so big that it filled up the opening of the
n8 Miscellanea.
hearth, and the fox had to go out and climb up on the roof, and drop the contents of his bag down the chimney. And so he did ; and the big stone fell down and knocked the family glass pot into bits. And when the mother saw this, she was so angry that she took off her wooden shoe, and ran out of the house, and knocked him off the roof with it.1
Philip Redmond. Hampden Club,
Phoenix Street, N.W.
Method of Starting a New House in the Olden Times.
Perhaps the following, told -me by a man at Kiltubbrid, co. Leitrim, may interest the society :
The ground for the house having been measured out, a sod would be turned at the four corners. The four sods would be left for two or three nights, to see if the proposed house were on a fairy " walk," in which case they would surely be found replaced, and another site would have to be found. If nothing occurred, a hen or some such small animal would be killed, and the blood allowed to drip in the four holes, after which the house might be proceeded with.2
A new house is such a rarity in the neighbourhood now that I can get no testimony as to recent procedure.
1 This story evidently consists of two distinct stories imperfectly welded together. An amusing version of the former of the two is given by M. Rene* Basset from Ech Cherichi, Commentaire des Maqdmdt de Hariri^ Boulaq, 1300 A.H. (1882-3 A.D.). A parasite accompanied a traveller. When they arrived at a place where they were to stop, the traveller said to the parasite : " Take a dirhem, and go and buy us some meat." " Go yourself," said the parasite ; "lam weary." The man accordingly went himself and bought the food. Then he said to his companion : " Get up and cook this." The para- site refused ; and so on for the successive requests to break the bread and draw the water. When the traveller at length had made all ready, he said to the parasite : " Get up now, and eat." " Yes," said the other ; " why should I contradict you any longer ? By Allah ! I am ashamed of having contradicted you so often." And he arose and sat down to eat. Rev. des Trad. Pop., vol. xiiL, p. 225. — Ed. 1 Cf. the customs in the Faroe Islands and Sweden cited by Mr. Feilberg Zeitschrift dcr Vereins fur VolMskunde, vol. viii. p. 273.— Ed.
fr&cA of Dead Coacft Fairy fort O
Fa/rypass —— .
Ghost t Nsv>^\\*
KiiaxnyOtaptZ *^^a
CHogow/s Cross
ftmghort
Tobcronorv Bridge/
Sketch Mop of/Cticurry and njeegMour/urod/
Tofhc&pa&e tt&.
Miscellanea. 119
Tht Couvadet
Another little saying has been reported to me, viz. : When a man's wife is about to give birth to a child, folk will chaff him and say : " You'll soon have to go to bed with the old woman and be nursed like they did years ago." Can this possibly be a faint reminiscence of the Couvade ?
Lelamd L. Duncan.
Traditions and Superstitions collected at Kilcurry,
County Louth, Ireland.
{Authorities.
Thomas Curtis, a farm labourer, about fifty years of age ; he is well educated, and has lived in England
Harry Mclntee, a small farmer, age about forty.
Margaret Collins, age about forty-five, a native of Co. Cavan, now living on the Forkill Road, just outside Dundalk. She lives principally on charity.]
1. Whenever anyone in the parish is about to die, the Dead Coach is to be seen on the road shown in the sketch-map. It goes southwards from Faughart Church, past the turn to Toberonan Bridge, across the Forkill Road, by Mount Bailey, to O'Hagan's cross-roads, and thence by Kilcurry back to the church again. The coach is black, drawn by four headless horses, and driven by a headless driver ; it is perfectly noiseless, " like a bicycle." See- ing it does not appear to bring any ill-luck to the beholder; H. Mclntee has seen the coach on the road near his own house. — [H. Mclntee, T. Curtis, and others.]
2. Faughart Church, now disused, was built about the beginning of this century. It stands upon an ancient fort, and the following story concerning its building is current in the neighbourhood :
When Mr. Linley, the rector, was looking for a site for his church, he wished to buy Rice's Fort for the purpose, but the owner refused to sell it, so the present site was purchased instead The church was begun, and the work proceeded favourably. One evening, when the building was almost completed, the contractor
1 20 Miscellanea .
was returning homewards to Dundalk with his men ; on Toberonan Bridge he turned to look back at his work, and saw to his horror that it was wrapped in flames. In despair he wished to return, but was dissuaded by his workmen, who argued that by the time he arrived on the scene it would be too late to effect anything. In the morning the contractor returned and found the church unharmed; the fairies had not been able to do more than manifest their displeasure. The church has been called " Belchinny," or the " Church of Fire," ever since. — [T. Curtis and others.]
3. There was an old man named Johnny McKeown, who lived in a little house by the roadside close to Rice's Fort. He used to say that one night he was sitting by the fire and he heard a noise on the road, so he went and opened the door and looked out. It was a bright moonlight night, and he saw a regiment of soldiers coming down the road towards him. They were very tired-looking and foot-sore, and " drabbed," and they came right into his yard, marching two and two, several hundreds of them. They went into the field behind, and on into Rice's Fort. Of course it was the " gentry " coming back from some fight between themselves. — [T. Curtis.]
Note. — Rice's Fort is said to contain a cave, or subterranean chamber, with a passage ending in the little marsh between it and Fort Hill. There is said to be a similar passage from the fort at Fort Hill to the marsh. The two forts are connected by a " fairy pass;" and one night, when Curtis and another man were standing beside this path, they heard a sound like many horses galloping past quite close to them.
4. Johnny McKeown's yard was haunted at night by a big black dog, whose arrival always set his own dog howling. He took it to be the ghost of a man who used to work for him.
5. The ghost of a former occupant of Mount Bailey is said to walk on the road near the house. My informant could not give any reason for this, as the gentleman in question — a bank manager in Dundalk — had been a good neighbour and an " unmeddling man."— [T. Curtis.]
6. " There was a man I knew, a working man up at Lurgan Green, and one night he got up, I suppose it was towards day- breaking, and opened the door. And I don't know what the divil took him, but he went and stood out on the road, and him in his nightdress. He had hardly been there a minute before he was
Miscellanea. 121
lifted up, and he didn't know where he was going till he was on the top of Faughart Hill. And in the morning when the half- past five horn blew he was lifted up and dropped twenty perches from his own door. And one of the other workmen says to him, 1 Where were ye the morning, Jemmy?' And he says, .'I was on the top of Faughart Hill with the gentry'"— [H. Mclntee.]
Note. — This anecdote, which I took down immediately after- wards, as far as possible in his exact words, was related by Mclntee in the course of a conversation I had with him some years ago. He stoutly maintained the existence of the fairies, while denying that of ghosts. Faughart Hill lies about two miles to the east- ward of Kilcurry ; on it are a holy well and ruined church dedicated to Saint Brigid, as well as a fort marking the site of her nunnery.
7. Beside the road from Dundalk to Kilcurry stands a farm- house, called from the surrounding townland Sportsman's Hall/ It is a modern two-story brick house, built on to a much older cottage which is unoccupied, the doors and windows being nailed up. The people around say that the cottage contains the ghost of the farmer's father, which they say haunted the family so con- stantly after the old man's decease that they were obliged to have it shut up there. Prayers were said to prevent the ghost from escaping from its prison. — [T. Curtis.]
8. A woman, now dead, but whose daughter still lives in Kilcurry, was once carried off by the fairies. She was walking one night beside a stream, when she saw what appeared to be a woman sitting on the opposite bank, wailing and "batting the water with its hands." On crossing to the other side, the woman was seized and carried off to a fairy fort, where she remained several days, but she would neither eat nor drink, and prayed so hard to be sent back to her children that in the end they had to let her go.— [T. Curtis.]
9. Directly a man's spirit leaves his body it has to travel over all the ground he travelled over while alive, and during this time it is visible.— [T. Curtis.]
All the souls in suffering are released for forty-eight hours yearly, commencing on Holy Eve (October 31) and including All Saints' and All Souls' Days.— [T. Curtis.]
10. " If the first lamb you see in the season be white it is lucky, but if it be black you will die within the year." — [Margaret Collins.]
122
Miscellanea.
i r. When the mother of a man named McKeown, living neat
Kilcurry, was dying, a pigeon flew into the house and out again, while at the same time there was a tap on the window. This was a death warning.— [T. Curtis.)
Brvan J. Jones.
Mr. Clodd having shown the above notes to Mr. W. B. Yeats, the latter gentleman kindly forwarded the following memoranda Upon them : —
I have stories about most of the things in the slip of folklore you send. I will be dealing with a good many of the subjects in a month or two.
(i.) The coach is very common ; Mr. Jones is perhaps wrong in calling it "the Dead Coach." The people of co. Oalway usually call it "the Deaf Coach," because it makes a "deaf" sound. They describe "deaf" as muffled or rumbling. I never heard before of its being soundless. Has he mistaken "deaf" for "dead"?1
(2.) I am always hearing of forts and of certain rooms in houses being seen as if on fire. It is the commonest phenomenon in connection with forts, in all parts of Ireland I know.
(3.) I am collecting material about fairy battles, and am trying to find out when they coincide with May Day, or November Day, or thereabouts, or else with a death.
(4.) A Newfoundland dog, according to my uncle's old servant, is " a very quiet form to do your penance in," She is a Mayo woman and very much of a saint. -
(6.) It is always dangerous to go out late at night. I have a number of Galway and Sligo stories of people being carried to a distance, including one in which I myself am supposed to have been carried four miles in County Sligo. Compare the spiritualistic medium, Mrs. Guppy, being carried across London with a sauce- pan in one hand and an egg in the other. She weighed about nineteen stone. I have met about four peasants who believe in
' Both " Dead" and " Deaf" are perhaps corruptions of "Death." Mr. Jones, however, has kindly promised to make further inquiries about the word Listd by the Louth people ; but lo the best of his belief they always speak of " the drad coach." — Ed.
* Mr. Jones writes that he has lieen lold that this form is the one usually assumed by evil spirits. — Ed.
fairies but not in ghosts. I have never met the converse, though I have met a man in Co. Roscommon who denied both, but believed in water- horses.
(7.) A ghost has to go anywhere it is sent ; but if you send it to an unpleasant place, you have to do your own penance there when you die. My uncle's old servant again.
(8.) Am greatly interested in the fairy "batting the water with her hands." A man at Ballesodare, Paddy Flynn, used the same phrase about the Banshee.1
(9.) I never heard this about the soul travelling where it had gone in life. It is very interesting.*
(10.) I have heard of the fairies putting a black lamb into a flock as a warning to a Sligo relation of my own who had cut a fairy bush. In a couple of days the Iamb vanished. I suppose therefore that black lambs are uncanny.
(11.) I have a friend whose family (an old Kerry family, I think) has this death-warning.
W. B. Yeats.
' Mr. Jones writes : "As for as I can remember, Curl is thought the figure •itting by the water was the Baoihee." — Eo.
* Mr. Jones writes that he has never heard of the belief elsewhere in Ireland, but refers to a note in Morris' Saga Library, vol. ii. , The Saga ef tkt Ert- DwelUrs, p. 282, where the translator says: " To this day the belief exists in Ireland that the spirit of the dead visits all localities on earth where the person has been, before it passes to its final destination. This journey is supposed to take a miraculously short time." — Ed.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
1898, UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED.
BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.
All English books are published in London, all French books in
Paris, unless otherwise stated.
Abercromby (Hon. J.). The Pre- and Proto-historic Finns, both Eastern and Western, with the Magic Songs of the West Finns. 2 vols. D. Nutt. f8vo. xxiv., 363 ; xiii., 400 pp.
Blau (L.). Das altjudische Zauberwesen. Strassburg : Triibner. 1899. 8vo. viii., 167 pp.
Brown (R., Jun.). Researches into the Origin of the Primitive Constellations of the Greeks, Phoenicians, and Babylonians. Vol. i. Williams & Norgate. 1899. 8vo. xvi., 361 pp.
Comparetti (D.). The Traditional Poetry of the Finns. Trans- lated by Isabella M. Anderton, with Introduction by Andrew Lang. Longmans, Green, & Co. 8vo. xxvii.,
359 PP-
Conybeare (F. C), Harris (J. R.), and Lewis (A. S.). The Story of Ahikar, from the Syriac and other versions. Camb. Univ. Press. 8vo.
Curtin (J.). Creation Myths of Primitive America in relation to the Religious History and Mental Development of Man- kind. Williams & Norgate. 1899. 8vo. xxxix., 532 pp.
D'Arbois de Jubainville (H.). La Civilisation des Celtes et celle de PEpop^e Hom£rique (Cours de Literature Celtique. Tome vi.) Fontemoing, 1899. 8vo. xvi., 418 pp.
Davies (T. W.). Magic Divination and Demonology among the Hebrews and their Neighbours. James Clarke & Co. f8vo. xvi., 130 pp.
Bibliography. 125
Deans (J.)- Tales from the Totems of the Hidery. (Archives of the International Folk-Lore Association, voL iL). Chicago: 1899. 8vo. 96 pp.
Fison (L. A.) and Thomas (Mrs. W.). Merry Suffolk, Master Archie, and other Tales. Jarrold & Sons. 1899. Cr. 8vo.
79PP- Frobenius (L.). Die Weltanschauung der Naturvolker. Weimar: £. Felber. 8vo. xv., 427 pp.
Der Ursprung der Kultur. Vol. i., Der Ursprung der
afrikanischen Kulturen. Berlin : Bomtrager. 1899. 8vo. xxxi., 368 pp.
Gomme (A. B.). The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Vol. ii., Oats and Beans — Would you know ; with a Memoir on the study of Children's Games. D. Nutt, Roy. 8vo. xv., 531 pp.
Hynam (F. £.). The Secrets of the Night and other Esthonian Tales, translated by. Elliot Stock. Cr.8vo. in pp.
Hull (E.). The Cuchullin Saga in Irish Literature : being a Collection of Stories relating to the Hero Cuchullin. Trans- lated from the Irish by various scholars. D. Nutt fBvo. lxxix., 316 pp.
Jurkschat (C.). Litauische Marchen und Erzahlungen. Part i., im Galbraster Dialekt. Heidelberg : C. Winter. 1899. 8vo. 144 pp.
Kingsley (M. H.). West African Studies. Macmillan & Co., 1899. 8vo. xxiv., 639 pp.
Kohler (R.). Kleinere Schriften. Vol. i., Zur Marchenforsch- ung. Herausgegeben von Johannes Bolte. Weimar : Felber. 8vo. xii., 608 pp.
Lawrence (R. M.). The Magic of the Horse-Shoe, with other
Folklore Notes. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. 8vo. 344 pp. Sebillot (P.). La Veiltee de Noel, piece en un Acte. J.
Maisonneuve. P. V. Stock. 1899. Cr. 8vo. 30 pp. L^gendes Locales de la Haute-Bretagne. in Partie. Le
Monde Physique. Nantes : Soc. des Bibliophiles Bretons,
1899. Cr. 8vo. xi., 186 pp. Seidel (A.). Anthologie aus der asiatischen Volkslitteratur.
Weimar : E. Felber. 8vo. 396 pp.
1 2 6 Bibliography.
Spencer (B.) and Gillen (F. J.). The Native Tribes of Central Australia. Macmillan & Co. 1899. 8vo. xx., 671 pp.
Velten (G). Marchen und Erzahlungen der Suaheli. Berlin : Spemann. 8vo. xi., 264 pp.
PERIODICALS.
The Contents of Periodicals exclusively devoted to Folklore
are not noted.
Archsoologia Cambrensis, October. /. Rogers Rees, The Norse Element in Celtic Myth.
Blackwood's Magazine, December. A. Lang, A Creelful of Celtic Stories.
Contemporary Review, March, 1899. A. Lang, Cup and Ring.
Journal of the Anthropological Institute, N.S. i, 1, 2. Rev. A. E. Hunt, Ethnographical Notes on the Murray Islands, Torres Straits. W. Dunlop, Australian Folklore Stories. Capt G. Burrows, On the Natives of the Upper Welle District of the Belgian Congo. R. K. Granville and F. N. Roth, Notes on the Jekris, Sobos, and Ijos of the Warri District of the Niger Coast Protectorate. E. B. Tylor, On the Totem-post from the Haida Village of Masset, Queen Charlotte Islands, now at Fox Warren, near Weybridge ; Two British Columbian House-posts with Totemic Carvings in the Pitt-Rivers Museum ; Remarks on Totemism, with especial Reference to some Modern Theories respecting it. R. B. Holt, Marriage Laws and Customs of the Cymri. [The new and enlarged series of the Journal is worthy of the Institute, and of the increasingly important place which the science of anthropology is taking in the estimation of the scientific world. The traditions and customs of savage and barbarous races, apart from which those of the European races cannot be understood, very properly receive a large share of attention. The Journal has long been of great value to all serious students of folklore, and in its new form bids fair frill greater use.]
Bibliography. 127
nineteenth Century, January, 1899. A. Lang, Ait Savage Gods borrowed from Missionaries?
Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 8rd Ber. v. 1. C. R. Browne, The Ethnography of Clare Islands and Inishturk, Co. Mayo. [Another of Dr. Browne's admirable reports on the people of the extreme west of Ireland. The earlier ones have been noticed in Folk-Lore as they came out The present one is in no way inferior to its predecessors in scientific interest. It is illustrated by two small but clear photographs of groups of typical natives.]
Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archeology, xxi. 1. A. Boissier, Deux Fables Assyriennes.
Transactions of the Devonshire Association. Fifteenth Report of the Committee on Devonshire Folklore. Ed. by P. F. S. Amery. [Deals with holy wells, local stories, and miscel- laneous superstitions. Devonshire sets an excellent example to other counties in preserving these fragments.]
Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, xv. H. Co/ley March, De® Matres. [A short monograph on the worship of nymphs and mother-goddesses, with special reference to the cult in this country.]
Report of the U. S. National Museum for 1896. T. Wilson, Prehistoric Art ; or the Origin of Art as manifested in the works of Prehistoric Man. S. Culin, Chess and Playing- cards. [A catalogue of games and implements for divination exhibited by the Museum at the Cotton States Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia, 1895.] C. Adler and J. M. Casanowicz, Biblical Antiquities. [A description of the exhibit at the same Exposition.]
Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, 2nd Ser. iii. Prof. C. Hill-Tout, Notes on the Cosmogony and History of the Squamish Indians of British Columbia. [A Creation and Deluge Myth and a Vocabulary.]
Revue de l'Histoire dee Religions, xxxviii, 2. Z. Ltger. Etudes de mythologie slave. G. Dottin, La religion des Gaulois. Z. Couve, Bulletin arche'ologique de la religion grecque (1896-7). A. Leclire, Une version cambodgienne
1 2 8 Bibliography .
du Jugement de Salomon. 3. G. Raynaud, Le dieu aztec de la guerre, i. N. W. Thomas, La survivance du culte totemique des animaux et les rites agraires dans le Pays de Galles. [Well worth the consideration of students.]
Archiv fur ReligionswisBenBchaft, i, 4. G. Polivka, Nachtrage zur Polyphemsage. ii. 1, 2. A. C. Winter, Die Birke im Volksliede der Letten; Birkenverehrung bei den Jakuten. O. Waser, Danaos und die Danaiden. Z. Frobenius, Ideen liber die Entwicklung der primitiven Weltanschauung. M. Hqfler, Krankheits- Damon en. H. Zimmern, Lebensbrot und Lebenswasser im Babylonischen und in der Bibel. E. Hardy, Glaube und Brauch oder Brauch und Glaube ? [The interest of this new publication will be seen from the contents of the last two numbers bearing on the study of folklore, as given above. The subscription is 14 marks per annum, and the name of the editor, Dr. T. Achelis, is a guarantee for the scientific character of the articles.]
Internationales Archiv for Ethnographic, ii, 5. 6. R. Parkinson, Nachtrage zur Ethnographie der Ongtong-Java- Inseln. If. Zing Roth, Notes on Benin Customs.
folk*%ove.
TRANSACTIONS OF THE FOLK-LORE SOCIETY.
Vol. X.] JUNE, 1899. [No. II.
ETHNOLOGICAL DATA IN FOLKLORE: A Criticism of the President's Address in January^ 1898.
BY G. LAURENCE GOMME, F.S.A.
{Read at Meeting of 15th November, iSpS.)
The President in his annual address claims to have stated " the principles which should govern the inquiry [into 'racial elements in the folklore of the British Isles'], the lines along which it should move " (Folk-Lore, vol. ix.,
P- 52).
I venture to make the observation that the address, able and valuable as it is, does not accomplish, or nearly accomplish, its object. In the first place, I cannot ascertain, possibly through faults of my own, what principle governed Mr. Nutt's inquiry. He appears to have first stated the historical evidence as to different races occupying these islands (p. 34) ; and because there is no historical evidence for any race prior to the Celts, he uses language which implies that, in his opinion at all events, there was no such race. And upon this statement of the racial elements he founds conclusions as to the impossibility of using folklore for the discrimination of race-elements.
I wish in the first place to protest against this method. Folklore should not be used to confirm already known facts derived from history. It is an independent science with
vol. x. K
130 Ethnological Data in Folklore.
its subject matter — the customs, beliefs, and traditions of the people. The question is : Does an examination of the subject matter of folklore reveal racial distinctions; and, if so, to what races can these distinctions be referred? If no other science, save that of folklore, had discovered racial distinctions in the people of Britain, it would behove ethnologists to examine the subject. Such is the position I would claim for folklore in opposition to the dependent position advocated by the President in his address.
Now the element of folklore used by the President for his purpose is that of "traditional literature." I do not agree that the traditional literature element of folklore is the best element upon which to found the principles of investigation into ethnological data. All that can be done by taking into consideration the traditional literature of the his- torical races is to show that these literatures are too much alike, being all products of one language — that of the Aryan-speaking people — for there to be any prospect of discovering race-distinctions. I agree that this is so. But the reason is an obvious one, and Mr. Nutt himself tells us this reason. It is because of the "artistry" (to use a very happy word of Mr. Nutt's own creation, I think) of this traditional literature. We know it because of its artistry. It has spread because of its artistry. It appeals to all races alike because of its artistry. It is adopted by all races alike, and therefore ceases to be of racial significance. I agree with all this, but I cannot conclude therefrom that therefore folklore contains no race-elements that can be discriminated, and I altogether demur to the proposition that folk-literature is the best element of folklore whereby to test the evidence of race.
I am not concerned in this paper with matters of detail, but I must draw attention to one statement of Mr. Nutt's which seems to me little short of amazing. " Man," he says, "in the folklore stage philosophises with a view to action; it is in the last degree essential that this philosophy
Ethnological Data in Folklore. 131
should be sound, as it is to result in action the effects of which involve life or death, dearth or plenty, weal or woe for him. Philosophical speculation in the air, without any definite relation to or bearing upon the practical conduct of life, is one of those benefits of progress which man in the folklore stage not only contrives to do without, but the excellence of which he fails to grasp."
I have called this passage amazing. I cannot agree that primitive philosophies were propounded for the pur- pose of founding social or political action upon their for- mularies. I see little evidence of this, though I do see that primitive philosophies very often resulted in action being taken upon their findings, and that with disastrous results. To give only an instance from Mr. Hartland's Legend of Perseus, perhaps the most widespread and certainly the most remarkable of all the unsound conclusions arrived at by primitive philosophy, was one that imperfectly recognised the great natural fact of fatherhood and taught in its place that paternity was possible by other than natural causes — indeed, we may say by all other than natural causes. In this case, at all events, man's intellect played him false through probably long ages of life, and there is no evidence that I can discover which shows that it was formulated for the practical conduct of life. Because action and conduct have resulted from the findings of primitive philosophies, I do not understand that this was the intention and cause of the philosophical speculations of early man.
But even more amazing is the statement that " philo- sophical speculation in the air, without any definite relation to or bearing upon the practical conduct of life," is not a part of primitive life. Does Mr. Nutt know the first chapter of Genesis, or, better still, the Maori story of the Children of Heaven and Earth, and will he not agree that this and most, if not all, of the primitive conceptions of the world's beginnings and man's origin (and there are many) are not philosophical speculations in the air of the most unpractical
k 2
132 Ethnological Data in Folklore.
kind? To me at least they are full of pathos, full of wonder, for they show that men situated as early people were situated can stand aside from the practical part of life and ask questions of the infinite. Each of these primitive cosmo- gonies is a pausing place in the history of human thought ; each indicates an immensity of progress not to be measured, I fear, by modern minds, or at all events not until psychology shall have become a more exact science than it is at present; each has been arrived at by we know not what tremendous effort on the part of those who, amidst the dangers and stress of the primitive life-struggle, yet stood aside to philosophise as to whence man came, to ask the same ques- tion which Darwin asked and answered for us.
Let me pass from criticism of Mr. Nutt's expressions to criticism of his results. In 1892 I ventured to publish a little work entitled Ethnology in Folklore. Ethnology is out of fashion ; so my book was received with only moderate acceptance by my folklore colleagues ; but I am glad to place on record that at least one of the most distinguished members of our Society, Dr. Haddon, has recently done me the honour of accepting my main con- clusions. In 1896, at the British Association, I read a memoir on the method of determining the value of folklore as ethnological data — a memoir which was received at the Association with approval as a scientific basis for treating this aspect of folklore. These studies are based, not upon the element of traditional literature in folklore, but upon the elements of custom, ritual, and belief ; and my views, drawn from these elements of folklore, stand in direct antagonism to those of the President. I attempted to work out a principle of research and analysis, and to apply it to the problem of racial elements in folklore. I stated that principle in unmistakably plain language ; and as my methods have not been brought directly before the Society, I will venture to restate them on the present occasion.
The comparative method of inquiry has been used in
Ethnological Data in Folklore. 133
folklore research without proper safeguards. The un- meaning custom or belief of the peasantry of the western world of civilisation has been taken into the domains of savagery or barbarism for an explanation, without any thought as to what this action really signifies to the history of the custom or belief in question. No doubt the explanation thus afforded is correct in most cases ; but I question whether such an explanation will be admitted as an important element in the history of European peoples, until it has been proved to be scientifically justified. For it must be obvious that the effective comparison of a tradi- tional peasant custom or belief with a savage custom or belief is only a very short cut indeed to the true process that has been accomplished. This process includes the comparison of an isolated custom or belief, belonging, perhaps secretly, to a particular place, a particular class of persons, or perhaps a particular family or person, with a custom or belief which is part of a whole system belonging to a savage race or tribe; of a custom or belief whose only sanction is tradition, the conservative instinct to do what has been done by one's ancestors, with a custom or belief whose sanction is the professed and established polity or religion of a people ; of a custom or belief which is embedded in a civilisation of which it is not a part and to which it is antagonistic, with a custom or belief which helps to make up the civilisation of which it is part. In carrying out such a comparison, therefore, a very long journey back into the past of the civilised race has been performed. For unless it be admitted that civilised people consciously borrow from savages and barbaric peoples, or constantly revert to a savage original type of mental and social condition, the effect of such a comparison as we have taken for an example is to take back the custom or belief of the modern peasant to a date when a people of savage or bar- baric culture occupied the country now occupied by their descendants, the peasants in question, and to compare
134 Ethnological Data in Folklore.
the custom or belief of this ancient savage or barbaric culture with the custom or belief of modern savage or barbaric culture. The line of comparison is not therefore simply drawn level from civilisation to savagery ; but it consists, first, of two vertical lines from civilisation and savagery respectively, drawn to a height scaled to represent the antiquity of savage culture in modern Europe, and then the level horizontal line drawn to join the two vertical lines. Thus the line of comparison is :
ancient savagery ancient savagery
savagery civilisation
Now if the several items of custom and belief preserved by tradition are really ancient in their origin, they must be floating fragments, as it were, of an ancient system of custom and belief — the cultus of the people among whom they originated. This cultus has been destroyed. It has either struggled unsuccessfully against foreign and more vigorous systems of religion and society, or it has slowly developed from one stage to another. In the western world, at all events, we know that the former has been the process at work, and that it is matter of definite historical record that all non-Christian culture has had to succumb to Christianity. To be of service to the historian of our country and people, therefore, each floating fragment of ancient custom and belief must not only be labelled " ancient," but it must be placed back in the system from which it has been torn away. To do this is to a great extent to restore the ancient system ; and to restore an ancient system of culture, even if the restoration be only a mosaic and a shattered mosaic, is to bring into evidence the pre- historic race of people to which it belongs.
This hypothesis of traditional custom and belief being
relics of an ancient cultus helps to form the method and
Ethnological Data in Folklore. 135
principles of inquiry. It would be impossible to suppose that all these relics have been preserved equally well, all at the same stage of arrested development, all equally un- touched by later influences. Their existence has been attacked in different places, at different times, by different influences ; and therefore the actual form of their survival must vary almost as frequently as an example occurs. The modern connection of a custom or belief is no sure guide, and is very often a misleading guide, to its ancient connection. It is only by correct analysis and classification, therefore, that the various examples can be put into a condition for examination and identification.
We have for our purpose nothing more than a series of notes of customs and beliefs obtaining among the lower and lowest classes of the people, and not being the direct teaching of any religious or academic body. These notes are very unequal in value owing to the manner in which they have been made. They are often accidental, they are seldom if ever the result of trained observation, and they are often mixed up with theories as to their origin and relationship to modern society and modern religious beliefs.
The method of using these notes for scientific purposes is therefore a very important matter. It is essential that each single item should be treated definitely and separately
from all other items, and, further, that the exact wording of the original note upon each separate item should be kept intact. The original account of every custom and belief is an organism, not to be tampered with except for the purpose of scientific analysis ; and then, after that purpose has been effected, all the parts must be put together again, and the original organism restored to its form.
The handling of each custom or belief, and of its separate parts, in this way enables us, in the first place, to disentangle it from the particular personal or social stratum in which it happens to have been preserved, and, secondly, to prepare it for the place to which it may ultimately be found to belong. The first step in this preparation is to get together
136 Ethnological Data in Folklore.
all the examples which have been preserved, and to com- pare these examples with each other, first as to common features of likeness, secondly as to features of unlike- ness. By this process we are able to restore whatever may be really deficient from insufficiency of any particular record — and such a restoration is above all thing essential — and to present for examination not an isolated specimen but a series of specimens, each of which helps to bring back to observation some portion of the original.
The first important characteristic which distinguishes a custom or belief in survival from a custom or belief belong- ing to an established system is that not only do different examples present points of common likeness, but also points of unlikeness. The points of likeness are used to determine and classify all the examples of one custom or belief, the points of unlikeness to trace out the line of decay inherent in survivals.
This partial equation and partial divergence between different examples of the same custom or belief allows a very important point to be made in the study of survivals. We can estimate the value of the elements which equate in any number of examples, and the value of the elements which diverge ; and by noting how these values differ in the various examples we may discover an overlapping of example with example which is of the utmost importance. A certain custom consists, say, of six elements, ay b, c} d, e, f. Another example of the same custom has four of these elements, a, b, c, d, and two divergent elements, g, h. A third example has elements a, b, and divergences g, A, 1, k. A further example has none of the elements, but only divergences g, A, i, /, tn. Then the statement of the case is reduced to the following : —
1=0, b,Cj d, etf,
2=0, b, c, d +gf A.
3=*, b +g} A, i, k.
4= +g, A, 1, /, m.
Ethnological Data in Folklore. 137
The conclusions to be drawn from this are, first, that the overlapping of the several examples (No. 1 overlapping No. 2 at a, bt c, d} No. 2 overlapping No. 3 at a , 6, g, kt No. 3 overlapping No, 4 at g, A, 1 ) is the essential factor in the comparison; secondly, that example No. 4, though possessing none of the elements of example No. I, is the same custom as example No. 1.
These conclusions are not affected by the order in which the examples are arranged ; whether we begin with No. 4 or with No. 1, the relationship of each example to the others,
thus proved to be in intimate association, is the same.
But the distinction of the elements into two classes, which may be called radicals and divergences respectively, is of course an important point. As a rule, it will be found that the radical elements are the most constant parts of the whole group of examples, appearing more frequently, possessing greater adherence to a common form, changing ( when they do change ) with slighter variations ; while the divergent elements, on the other hand, assume many different varieties of form, are by no means of constant occurrence, and do not, even amongst themselves, tend to a common form. To these considerations, derived entirely from a study of the analysis, is to be added the fact that the radical elements are alone capable of being equated with customs or beliefs obtaining among savage or barbaric peoples. This enables us to take a very import- ant step, namely, to suggest that the divergences {g to m) mark the line of decay which the particular custom has un- dergone since it ceased to belong to the dominant culture of the people, and dropped back into the position of a survival from a former culture preserved only by a fragment of the
people.
When any given custom or belief, having undergone this double process of analysis of component elements and classification of the individual examples, reveals a distinct parallel between its radical elements and the elements of a
1 38 Ethnological Data in Folklore.
custom or belief occupying a place in the cultus of a barbaric or savage people, we may then, and only then, discuss its right to a genealogy which can be traced back to a pre- historic cultus of the same stage of development as that of modern barbarism or savagery. This right will depend upon several important conditions. The custom in question must in the first place be not a single isolated example of such a possible genealogy, but must be found associated with several other customs, each of which, being treated in exactly the same manner, has been found to exhibit exactly the same relationship to the same barbaric or savage cultus or religion. In this way, classification and analysis go hand in hand as the necessary methods of studying sur- vivals. Without analysis we cannot properly arrive at a classification of examples; without classification we can- not work out the genealogy of survivals. The argument for detecting in modern survivals the last fragments of a once prevailing system based upon this extensive ground- work is of itself a very strong one, and can only be upset by one counter-argument. This is nothing less than proof that no such system ever existed, or could have possibly existed, in the country or among the people, where and among which the survivals have been discovered. Clearly the burden of such a proof could hardly be supported ; for the very fact of the existence of such survivals becomes in itself one of the strongest arguments for the existence of the original system from which they descended, and of the race or people among whom such original system obtained For the British Association meeting I then surveyed by this process of analysis and classification, the fire customs surviving in Britain, and I carefully kept clear of any ter- minology which was not actually justified by the circum- stances of each individual example or group of examples. But it was undoubted that the facts as quoted all tended in one direction, namely to the connection of the fire customs with the family, and through the family to some unit
Ethnological Data in Folklore. 139
larger than the family, represented by the modern village in a geographical sense and by a group of common de- scendants in a personal sense.
But as soon as we are justified in using such significant terminology as this, we have already made the first step to- wards the identification of these survivals as the remnants of a system of fire-worship belonging to a people whose social organisation was that of the tribe ; for the connection between the modern village-fire and the house-fire is of exactly the same character as the ancient connection be- tween the tribal fire and the family or clan fire. When, therefore, in addition to this essential feature of the con- nection between the village-fire and the house-fire, an examination of the details of both village-fire customs and house-fire customs has revealed certain significant indi- cations of the once sacred character of these fires, of cere- monies which recall almost the formula of a lost religious rite, and of usages which go back to prehistoric civilisation for their only possible explanation — when it has been found that these conceptions, clustering round the burning embers of the modern fire belong to the ancient tribal fire cult, a very important stage is reached in the identification of these fire-customs with a definite race of people.
Nearly every writer on this subject has, it seems to me, begun at the wrong end. He has commenced with the few references to the god Bel, and has built up a theory of sacrifice and worship which has little or no evidence in its favour in the examples which have been examined in the previous pages. And in thus accentuating the religious element of these rites he has left wholly un- touched the one clue to their origin, namely, the social organisation of the people who performed them. It is always useless to discuss early religions without taking count of the social organism of which the religion is only a portion. Early peoples did not differentiate, as modern peoples do, between the various elements of their culture ;
140
Ethnological Data in Folklore.
all the parts were closely interwoven and cannot be divorced from each other even for the purpose of a separate analysis. To have established that these fire customs are intimately connected with a tribal unit is to connect them with a tribal religion, and to limit their interpretation and meaning by what is conveyed by the term tribal.
They reveal the solemn rekindling of the tribal fire at least once a year, and the carrying of the sacred flame therefrom to the fire of the household, as the two essential details of the cult ; and the several very significant rites which accompany these details are all illustrative of the tribal conditions to which the whole ceremonial belongs.
Thus the scattered remnants of fire-customs which appear in our folklore can be restored by this method as a part of the early tribal system of organisation — a system be it re- membered which governed every detail of early life, political, religious, and social, and which has left its marks on the map of Britain and on the early constitutional history of our people. The importance of this conclusion is that it enables us to proceed from the identification of tribal custom and belief to the identification of tribes : from the identifica- tion of tribes to the identification of races.
Here I suggest is scientific evidence of ethnological elements in folklore. We have arrived at the tribe as a social and political organisation, and this tribe can be identified in a way that individual custom or belief cannot. As a matter of fact, the tribe as made known to us through the fire-customs of modern Britain is identical with the tribe as made known to us by ancient records and by modern examples. It is an Aryan tribe, belonging to all branches of the Aryan-speaking people, and 1 conclude therefore that this group of fire-customs is Aryan. Here at all events is ethnological value.
But we can proceed further. There are a few scattered fire-customs distinctly opposed to the customs which are capable of being pieced together into tribal customs. What
Ethnological Data in Folklore. 141
are these then ? They are opposite in principle, opposite in conception, opposite in practice, and find no place within the tribal group. Are these Aryan fire-customs then ? They cannot be. And it is a scientific conclusion when we place them on one side as the relics of a pre-Aryan people.
But there is something further still. After the work of classification and comparison is completed for any one cus- tom, there are further conditions before the first results of comparison can be properly and finally accepted. One of these conditions imposes the necessity for proving that the one custom which has by the application of the comparative method been identified with the customs of any given race of people shall, upon examination, be found to be asso- ciated with other customs which, upon classification and comparison, can be identified with the same race. This work is, of course, a matter of time and further research ; and I prepared a diagram to show how this part of the investigation may be most readily proved. I first of all mark on a map of Britain the places where the given cus- tom obtains. I then join these places together by a straight line, and, withdrawing from this result all reference to the map which formed the basis of it, a figure of a certain shape in outline and a certain shape in internal detail is obtained. This figure is of great importance. It represents of course the geographical distribution of the custom which it describes. We may call it, for prac- tical use, "the geographical test-figure. " Upon working out other groups of customs the process would be to see how far the same figure is reproduced, and how far one figure of a series differs from other figures, whether in simply being incomplete or whether in radical form. I have not been able in the time at my disposal to bring forward another cus- tom of Aryan origin to equate with the fire-custom, but from some provisional studies I am satisfied that the test-figure produced by the fire-customs will be produced by other customs similarly dealt with. In the meantime there is the
142 Ethnological Data in Folklore.
important question to ask : Are there customs which will not produce the test-figure? For the purpose of answering this I have compared roughly the important group of cus- toms relating to water-worship.
Now I have stated in my Ethnology in Folklore rea- sons for considering water-worship customs to be non- Aryan in origin, to belong therefore to the pre-Celtic people of these islands; and it is remarkable that the "geographical test-figure " produced from the water-cus- toms differs radically from that produced by the fire-cus- toms. I suggest therefore that in this interesting fact we have provisionally a proof of the value of this method of studying the ethnological basis of folklore.
But there is another great peculiarity which distinguishes the group of water superstitions from fire superstitions. Water superstitions never lead up to a tribal organisation, nay, they oppose tribal organisation. They correlate a set of ideas inconsistent with tribal organisation. The conclusion therefore is irresistible that water superstitions do not belong to the Aryan Celtic people, who were tribal, or the Aryan Teutonic people, who were tribal; from which it follows that they must belong to a pre-Celtic non-Aryan people.
I attribute very great importance to the interposition of the tribe at some point in the history of a given item of folklore. It is vital ; not accidental. Let me for one moment turn to marriage customs in British folklore. I have studied these for some years, and hope to be able to lay before the Society a few results at no distant day. They divide sharply off into two distinct groups. One group leads us to the tribal organisation ; can be explained only by the tribal organisation of Celts and Teutons. The other group leads us to a social organisation, which is I would almost say anti-tribal. Of course, it may be argued that this second group consists of the worst worn fragments of the former group. But against this theory is the fact that they are of themselves a determinative group, and not
Ethnological Data in Folklore. 143
a mass of fragments pitched on one side from a previous sorting, and further that this determinative group exactly meets the pre-tribal organisation which is made known to us from comparative evidence. But beyond this is the geo- graphical distribution of these two groups. The tribal mar- riage-group follows the line of the tribal fire-group; the anti-tribal marriage-group follows the line of the anti-tribal water-group. I argue therefore that what is pre-tribal in marriage-customs is also pre-Celtic and pre-Teutonic, and I claim that this argument must be met before the ethnological basis of folklore can be discounted.
Now I think it will be clear that both my methods and my material are quite different from those adopted by the President. From my methods and materials I conclude that ethnological data in folklore can be determined ; from the President's methods and materials he comes to the opposite conclusion. I place the two studies in this con- trast with the hope that out of it we may arrive at a common understanding upon so important a subject.
ETHNOLOGICAL DATA IN FOLKLORE:
A Reply to the foregoing Criticism.
BY ALFRED NUTT.
{Read at Meeting of i$th November ', 1898.)
Mr. Gomme's criticisms show that we are at issue upon two points : the relative importance of what may be styled the imaginative and practical sides of folklore in enabling the discrimination of racial elements, and the best way to prosecute the search for those elements.
144
Ethnological Data in Folklore.
Before joining issue with ray critic, I wish to express regret at my apparent failure to make it clear that the scope of my address only allowed the broadest statement of the problem (with what seemed to me the best means of ensuring its solution) and forbade aught but the briefest reference to other views. Adequate discussion of Mr. Gomme's work in this field would have exhausted the time at my disposal. But had I anticipated an interpretation of the silence, necessarily imposed upon me, as disregard of work which I value highly, I should certainly have added a few words of explanation.
In the address to which exception is taken 1 divided the elements of folklore into two main classes, philosophical and artistic, or, if the terms be preferred, practical and imaginative. 1 urged that the second, the imaginative, artistic element is more likely to yield clues for race dis- crimination. I did not, as Mr. Gomme imagines, identify traditional literature with folklore, I merely emphasised its importance for the special object I had in view. Mr. Gomme's criticisms bear chiefly upon a side issue which I must clear away before saying a few words in defence of my position.
My statement "that man in the folklore stage philoso- phies with a view to action, and that it is essential that his philosophy should be sound, as it is to result in action " is objected to on the ground that the philosophies of primi- tive mau are notoriously unsound. From our point of view, that of civilised men, yes; but I was reasoning from the standpoint of the folklore philosopher, the man whose knowledge is at once " empirical and traditional," not of his civilised critic. The word "empirical" as used in medical science will illustrate my point. Empiricism, for the modern practitioner, is unsoundness itself; his whole training is directed to obliterate empirical and substitute scientific reasoning. But for the folk empiricism is the only conceivably sound doctrine. The stress of my argument
Ethnological Data in Folklore. 145
clearly fell upon the proposition that primitive philosophy necessarily resulted in action ; the test of its apparent soundness is therefore a simple one — was it embodied in rite and practice? So judged, the belief signalled out by Mr. Gomme as typically unsound (artificial is the word he uses) makes against him. The speculation that paternity was possible by other than natural means, did, as readers of Mr. Hartland's Perseus are aware, result in a number of definite rites and practices.
My critic is even more unfortunate in his next instance. In answer to my statement that, in the folklore stage, man does not indulge in " speculation in the air without relation to or bearing upon the practical conduct of life " he cites the first chapter of Genesis. I might fairly contend that this document belongs to a far more advanced stage of thought than that I have in view. But as a matter of fact it possesses the very characteristics which I attribute to primitive speculation. It is intensely practical, forming as it does the groundwork of a conception of man's place in and relation to nature which governed the lives and actions of the race which elaborated it, which still governs the lives and actions of countless myriads of men.
I claim that the distinction between the practical-philo- sophical and the imaginative-artistic elements in folklore is sound, and I would venture to somewhat enlarge the scope of my generalisation. Man in the folklore stage philo- sophises solely with a view to action in relation to fellow- man or to nature, animate or inanimate ; man in the civilised stage further philosophises with a view to establishing the true character of his relation to man and to nature. Man in the folklore stage imagines solely with a view to the edification or amusement of his fellows ; man in the civilised stage further imagines with a view to the more vivid realisa- tion of his own personality and its relation to the outside world.
In determining the relative importance of either element
vol. x. l
146 Ethnological Data in Folklore.
*
for racial discrimination in folklore, I was guided by observa- tion of man in the civilised stage. We belong to this stage, and we can check our surmises concerning it by the study of facts which are still living, whereas we can only recover the dead or decaying psychology which animates folklore by the free exercise of hypotheses which are necessarily highly speculative. It seems to me more scientific to reason from that we know, and can observe, to that which we can only surmise than to adopt the opposite method. I turn to the English race as we know it, a race which has assumed its characteristic features, its distinctive indi- viduality, since man passed out of the folklore and entered into the civilised stage. Our race has elaborated neither a philosophy nor an artistic presentment of life ; it has elaborated a strongly defined system of institutions, rooted doubtless in Teutonic custom of immemorial age, but developed as by no other Teutonic people ; it has likewise brought forth a great poetic interpretation of life and nature, rooted, it may be, in the archaic fancy of Celts and Teutons, influenced, undoubtedly, by Classic, Oriental, and neo-Latin art, yet in its outcome neither Celtic nor Teutonic, neither Hellenic nor Hebrew, neither French nor Italian, but specifically and distinctively English. And if we would seek the quintessential idiosyncrasy of the Englishman, that which constitutes him a type of mankind apart and distinct, it is, so I hold, to his poesy and not to his institutions that we must turn.
The Greek of 1000 B.C. shared, practically, with many other groups of men speaking kindred Aryan tongues, a body of civil and religious institutions. He likewise pos- sessed in the Homeric poems an imaginative rendering of the life led by the race, of its animating ideals and concep- tions. In the course of ages his civil institutions changed ; his mythology became unintelligible or absurd to him ; his attitude towards the practical and speculative aspects of life varied to the utmost possibility of variation. But the
Ethnological Data in Folklore. 147
Homeric poems remained the mirror in which he recognised the most intimate, the most deeply bitten lineaments of his individuality, that which set him apart from other men, that which made him a Greek, not a barbarian. It has been said of the stocks of men swarming forth from these islands to people lands innumerable that all are subjects of King Shake- speare. The Greeks were subjects of King Hom6r, for in Homer their inmost soul, their very self, was expressed.
I would then again urge, and urge with possible emphasis, that folk-literature is that element of folklore whereby we can best test the hypothesis of racial diversity.
Mr. Gomme's further remarks are mainly directed to vindicating the method of inquiry he has himself employed and the results to which it has led him. I may point out that I have said nothing in depreciation of either, or to dissuade disciples, possessing the necessary foundation of knowledge and training, from following in his footsteps. For beginners in our study I still venture to recommend as the more excellent way that which I pointed out — namely to verify our hypotheses by the aid of historic record, so long as the latter is available, to work back from the known to the unknown, before pushing into the dim past where the light of history is denied us. To proceed thus is not to relegate our study to the position of a subordinate and inferior branch of historic science, except in so far as it partakes of that character in common with all studies that essay to reconstitute the evolution of humanity. In so far as dependence is implied I welcome it as part of the whole- some discipline to which the true student willingly subjects himself. But the folklorist who follows to the letter the advice I ventured to give need by no means deny himself the further privilege of using the methods which Mr. Gomme has so ingeniously elaborated ; and if the disciple emulate the acuteness and ardour of the master no one will be better pleased than I.
In spite, however, of my keen appreciation of the value
L 2
148 Ethnological Data in Folklore.
and interest of Mr. Gomme's work in this field, it were uncandid to conceal my doubts as to the validity of some of his assumptions, and as to the security of certain results which he claims to have reached. An ingenious combi- nation of classification and analysis enables him to posit the individual item of folklore in its original culture-stage, and to exhibit it as part of a coherent and orderly whole. There emerges in the case of fire-worship items the picture of a community organised upon definite tribal lines. A valuable and interesting result. The community thus postulated is asserted to be Aryan — an assertion with which I have no quarrel, as the historic record is clear enough to show its soundness. But the course of investi- gation reveals other items which fall into their place as part of a cultus alleged to be different from — nay, antago- nistic to— -that of the fire-worshipping tribal Aryans, and the inference is drawn that it must belong to a non-tribal, a pre-Aryan race. It is this inference to which I demur. I pass by the question whether the two sets of customs are really incompatible, whether, to use Mr. Gomme's own words, "water-superstitions correlate a set of ideas incon- sistent with tribal organisation." Granted for the sake of argument that it is so, does it necessarily follow that the alleged inconsistency is due to different racial origin? May it not be accounted for in other ways?
Does not Mr. Gomme overlook the possibility that a homogeneous race, inhabiting a comparatively limited area, may yet develop marked contemporaneous sectional and local differences of custom, and the still greater possibility that a race, untouched by alien influences, may in the course of ages and under the operation of changing social and economic conditions develop varied and apparently contradictory customs ? In the history of classic, mediaeval, and modern Europe I note instances of the most extra- ordinary variation in the form and spirit of institutions, instances that cannot be laid to the account of any mixture
Ethnological Data in Folklore. 149
or conflict of races. There has been no new racial infusion in the England of the last five centuries, yet within that period our institutions, alike civil and ecclesiastical, have suffered vital changes, changes the survivals of which jostle each other surlily in our laws and our ritual.
Again, I repeat, I do not deny that Mr. Gomme's con- clusions may be correct ; I merely urge that, failing historic record, the evidence upon which he relies is insufficient to demonstrate their correctness.
I have my doubts, too, concerning the validity of another method of proof employed by Mr. Gomme in his ethno- logical test-map. Noting the habitat of this or that group of customs he constructs a figure corresponding, in his esti- mation, to an original racial area. Should it not be our first step, as I suggested in my address, to verify these hypo- thetical areas by the historic record concerning racial dis- tribution within the period which it covers ? If we find custom test-maps corresponding to the known facts of the Scandinavian settlements in England or the Gaelic settle- ments in Scotland we may be emboldened to push further. Until thus verified, can the result yielded by Mr. Gomme's method, however useful as a hypothetical starting point, be regarded as in any sense a certain one ? I should, for my part, regard with suspicion any results obtained by this method applied to a single country. Application to another or to several other countries might conceivably show results and methods alike to be quite illusory.
One fact, and one of no small interest, concerning English racial psychology is, I think, yielded by this discus- sion. Differ as we may, and I have in nowise attempted to minimise the importance or the extent of our difference, Mr. Gomme and I can continue to work harmoniously in the same society. We feel no impulse to start rival bodies or to excommunicate each other, and are content to leave it to time and the progress of research to decide which, if either, of us be in the right.
FOLKLORE FROM THE SOUTHERN SPORADES.1
By W. H. D. Rouse, M.A.
{Read at Meeting of 20th December > 1898.)
In a previous paper3 I set before the Folk-Lore Society some notes of the manners and customs of the people of Lesbos. I have now another small budget of notes, chiefly from the island of Cos. The group of islands between Cos and Patmos is almost untouched ground. There exists no book about Cos, so far as I have been able to discover. Patmos is described in a Russian work which I have tried in vain to procure. Small pamphlets have appeared on one or two other of the islands thereabouts, but I am convinced that the harvest is still to be reaped. Patmos and Calymnos I must leave for another occasion, and I have plenty of material from the former at least to fill a paper.
I have not tried to complete the record by use of printed books, although I shall refer to one or two by the way.8 This would have increased my paper to a great bulk ; and besides, the books are not inaccessible. It seemed to me that it would be more useful to give what I had got at first hand ; and even if some of these things are already printed, a new and independent record has its value. However, very few of them are printed : such will be noted in their place. Most of the notes on Cos I owe to the kindness of
1 I have to thank Mr. W. R. Paton and "Argyris Eftaliotis" for kindly looking through the proofs of this paper. They have enabled me to clear up many obscure points. ^> * Vol. vii. p. 142.
* E.g. Schmidt, Leben der Neugriechen : Thumb, Der Klidonas, Die Schick- salsgbttinen (Ztsch. des Vereins f. Volkskunde, 1892, p. 392, 123); Kanellakis, yj.a.Ka (Athens, 1890) ; Dpoypa/x/xa tov kv Aiyivy f EXX. S^oX. 1887-8 and 1889-90.
Folklore from the Southern Sporades. 151
Mr. Jacobus Zarraftes, who knows the dialects, poems, stories, and customs of the island as probably no other man does.
In addition to this, I have made use of four manuscripts which lately came into my possession in the same neigh- bourhood. Three of them are bodies of ecclesiastical canon law.1 The fourth it a very curious manuscript of charms and incantations, piety and astrology, compiled just a hundred years since by a certain Georgios, who was the great-grandfather of Mr. Zarraftes, whom I have already mentioned.
I shall first give the extracts from these MSS., which touch upon our subject. Next will come a chapter on hobgoblins, with a batch of notes on times and seasons and other small matters; arid finally a poem which embodies the legend of human sacrifice.
/. — Magic and Divination.
As the Fathers of the Church, and the holy synods, for- tunately for us, denounced the works of the devil in some detail, they have preserved a good deal of information for our benefit. I hope some day to be able to go though the whole of the No/io/cai/01/e? ; for the present I shall confine myself to my own three MSS. In one of them2 those persons are accused who believe in such things as a witch, or a More, or a Gylou, and love them. The Gyloudes are ] explained to be "women who suck the blood of babes and kill them." The name and the belief go back as far at
1 (i.) One appears to be in a fifteenth-century hand ; (ii.) another is dated, from internal evidence, 1560; (iii.) the third is probably a little later.
2 NofioKCLvuv No. III. fol. 85 b.: eiirep elerlv Xiyovres 8n trrpiyicXtet [sic for trrpiyXai] eltrlv ij fiopij kclI yeXovbes, kcu arepyovrai avra. Ibid. : yvvdiKes Xeyo/xeve yvXovbes, jccu ayapa^waai to alfia rCtv
flpe<pwv Kal OavaTOvaiv avra. In quoting from these MSS. I keep the spelling, but write the accents and aspirates according to rule.
152 Folklore from the Southern Sporades.
least as Zenobius, who collected proverbs in the second century, A.D.1 ; and, if he is to be believed, even to Sappho. Hesychius, a lexicographer of Constantinople, also mentions Gell6. The following passages contain a small corpus of black and white magic. Penance is imposed on the " wizard or soothsayer, and the wax-melter, and the lead-melter, or whoso bespells the beasts, or ' binds ' the wolf from eating them, or binds a married couple from having children, or
who works charms against sickness Now wizards
are those who draw the demons to them by enchantment, binding them according to their own will, and who bind creeping things that they hurt not the beasts if they happen to be abroad." *
Astrologers 8 are also mentioned, and Egyptian women,4 or Gypsies, as working spells and divining of the future. " Those who practise divination by barley/' we read,6 " or by beans, and all such as wear amulets made of plants or any such thing, and put colours upon their children or beasts against the Evil Eye. ... He that calls in magicians
1 Zenob. Cent iii. 3 (Paroem. Gr. I. p. 58) : TcXA^ yap tis r)v xap- Oivoin Kal eireibij awpws ercXevriyffe, 0a<riv 01 Aitrfiiot ahrrjs to <f>avTaofia ewufroirav exi ra xat&/a, Kal rovs rwv a&putv davarovs airy avartOiavt. fiifivrfrai ravrij* 2ax0w. See Suidas, s. v. TeX- \u>s xcu&o^tXwrlpa, doubtless Sappho's words. See also Schmidt, Das Volkslcben der Neugriechen, p. 139.
% No. III. fol. 23 : 6 y6r\% r)yovv 6 fidvrijs Kal 6 Kvpo\VTr)s Kal 6 poXvPhoxvrris, rj airobevwv £wa, rj va /xj) ra fayy 6 \vkos, rj avbpo- yvva els to va fxrjbev ovfifilyovvrat, rj yijrcvo^rai eis (d\as . . • . yorfres eltrl ol bia fiavreias rovs bat floras efeKrifievot eis ra eavrCbv de\t)fiara Karabevfiovvres^ Kal epwera wpos ro firj \vfit)vaadai to kttjvos eav rvxitv ££u> xov pelvi). fol. 24 : Ss re va rovs \vvri Kvpl 6 fiavns rj fio\uflr). Ibid* : Kal eKpaXovv tovs payia eav tv^ji elvai dffdevrjs rj aWo re.
8 rj aorpovofiovvrai, fol. 24.
* Ibid. ; offoi fiavrevovrai els Tas alyvimvas,
6 Ibid. : 01 bia xpidwv t) kovkImv pavTev6pevoi • . oaoi fia<rra£ovfft fvXaKra oiTro fiorava 9 &XXo n rutv toiovtw, rj fiafipara toIs waialv
Folklore from the Southern Sporades. 153
to do magic for the hurt of others. . . . They who carry about bears or other beasts as playmates for the hurt of simpler folk, or who drive away (?) the clouds, or who pro- vide amulets, or believe in Luck and Fate and horoscopes, that it is good to be born on one day and bad on another, or omens of chance words, or who put on colours, that is to
fj rois £wois avTwv itrtdirovtrt bid. /Zatricafiov . ... 6 be irpoffKaXe- trafievos fiayovs ?va iroiiiotaaiv pay ia els flXdjjrjy ireputy dvdpvicu)v . , . [fol. 25] 01 ras apKovbas rj dXXa drjpia rcpos iralyviov els fi\afii)v rStv drrXovvrepaty crvpofir.voi, rj ra vtyrt bidKwvras [jfV], r) rois icapt- yovtri <j>v\aKTfipia,fJTois tv\i}v rj pi£iKoy teal yeveOXiaXoyiav iriorev- ovtriv, ort to fiey els r) [it pas [sic] dyaOr'iy, ro bk els Kaxrjy yevvriOrjvat' rj ptKTo\6yta, r) jjafifiara rovritrriy Kavovpais rj fterd^ia els rat eavrwy K€<paXas rj rpayriXovs emderovtriy &s vdaovs dvobtwKeiv Kat flcLGKavias Xr)poxttriyy rj 6<f>ty Trepitptpovaiy eyKoXfriovs rj errt rovs 6(f>da\fiovs ?} tov oTopiaros ahrwy emervpovtrty ra tovtwv bepfiara, dts rayitrra Xafieiy vyiav ropiZovaiy. rj (TKoXapiKia rfj fieydXrj e rwy iavrQy riicywy TcoiovtrC rj xpaXfiovs bid bafJirtxovs Kal oyofiara fxapTvputy fj.€fdvrin€voi errl rov TpayfiXov Kpefiovtriy, rj \dpTr\y TcepU- ypvatv ev\r)y pevpaTiKov, rj yirpevriav irpotTKaXovyrai els K€<f>aXyiay r) (nrXfjyas rj dvdeveiav koi wovovs dirobepara xpofievoi, Kal voiovai (T\olyia €7riKaXovfi€VOi rovs ayaOoiroiovs baipovas els floi/deiay Kal avapwaiv avrwv rj Kal drjplwy Kal dvbpoyvywy awobejiara orepyovaiv rj ras iryevjia iruduvos eypvoay [sic] rovreori ras &aXi<apiav icio- revovras [sic] koI irpoXiyoyras to. ptXXoyra, rj KovKta iriaTevovres [sic], rj dXXrjy pLayriav Karaprjyveiy ra diroXXojieya, rj Toy Xeyo- fievoy KXrjboya pLayrevoyres rov fidioy pifjya rj rfjs avaXi'ixlews, rj yrjreias bi1 aXXrjy riva aoQeveiav [fol. 26 J V ^dXrjy yrirevoyres r) rt
rCjy roiovrwy wapayopnuy TrpoaTpiy^ovTes KaOfiprjvrat be TroXAa-
kis Kat lepels enl ovvobov dprov rfjs fieyaXrjs e eiribunravTes Toltri <paye~iy c0* & ra avXrjdeyra evpedrjvai ck tov ptrj cvkoXws €K rovroy KaTaiuelv tiiXXos be tis lepevs /xera tov evayyeXiov £vXoy avvbe- be/itvoy Ka\ kvkXikws irepiorpeQopicyov wepi Tivwy virodtcreuv btu y^aXpLiljy bafiiTiKwv evdeuts tKadrjpidrj. dXXa koi ras dyias el<6yas irpooebpevovoai yvyalKes Kal ck Tovruty la\vpo^6pevai [sic] irpoXe'- yeiy ra ^itXXoi^ra, Kara ras 7raXXcu iryevpia nvBuvos eyovaats toIs avTols e-mTretrovvTat tiriTtfiiois. Kavovpa is probably \dyrpa9 a bead. It is thus accented in the MS.
154 Folklore from the Southern Sporades.
say, beads or silk upon their heads or necks to keep off diseases, and talk folly about the Evil Eye, or who carry about a snake in their bosom, or pass the skins of snakes over their eyes or mouth, which they think will bring health quickly ; or who make earrings for their children on Holy Thursday, or con the Psalms of David or names of the Martyrs, and hang them about their necks; or fasten on them a paper with a prayer against rheumatism, or call in a wise woman to prevent head-ache, or spleen, or illness and pains, using ' binding '-spells ; or who plait cords, calling upon the good demons for help and healing; or who love spells that ' bind ' beasts and married folk, or women that have the spirit of Pylho, that is to say, those who believe in second sight (?) and foretell the future, or who believe in beans or anything else to discover that which is lost, or who divine by what is called the Voice (Kledonas) in the month of May, or at the Ascension, or use charms for any other illness, or bespell sickness, or run after any such unlawful thing. . . . Many times priests have been degraded in a synod after giving the Holy Bread on Holy Thursday to persons to eat, for the purpose of finding out things stolen, because (the thieves) could not easily swallow this down ; another priest, again, was degraded for causing a bundle of sticks to be carried round in a circle while the gospel was being read, for certain reasons, to the sound of David's psalms ; and even the holy icons are beset by women, who say that from these icons they can foretell the future."
Most of these allusions explain themselves; we have heard before of amulets, soothsaying, the food-ordeal, snake-charms, and gospel charms. The " divination by barley " may be a food-ordeal, or a counting formula like the well-known " Loves me, loves me not." The virtue of "colours" is still believed in; and blue beads are hung about a child's neck, or worked into the trappings of a mule. The name " Pytho " is a curious survival, which we find even
Folklore from the Southern Sporades. 155
in the west ; Reginald Scot has a chapter x " How the lewd practise of the Pythonist of Westwell came to light, and by whome she was examined/1 and many other allusions to these wise women. Bears are still regarded in the east as possessed of magical properties.9 When they are brought round to an Indian village, sick children are made to ride on them for a cure; and magical potions and drugs are made with their claws or hair.* Mr. Paton in 1894 found ' bears' hairs and claws held potent against the Evil Eye and fevers in Lesbos.4 The sticks were probably wrapped in paper, with texts from the Psalms written on them, in order to find out something.
The Fate (/!>i&/c6) and Voice (x\i]Bova<:) need a more detailed examination., fn£uc6 appears to be the Italian risico, rischio, "risk," " chance;'1 and it is used in Greek for " fate, lot." icXqSovas is the old Greek Kkqbbv, " a voice/9 hence "an omen.11 The custom for ;Egina has been carefully described by Epirotis in the Tlp6ypapna cited above ; and it has also been noted in Thessaly and Cyprus, to which I now add Cos. It is a mode of divination for the married and the unmarried alike. In iEgina the custom is as follows: On the eve of St. John's Day, a girl collects from all those who wish to take part some token, a ring or what not, and puts them in a jar never used before. This is then filled with water (pify/covepo), which must be drawn without speaking (afiCkrjro vepo). The jar is covered with a red cloth and adorned with myrtle and laurel, at which certain verses are spoken. The jar is left out all night, and brought in at sunrise. Then a boy, with a red cloth over his head, uncovers the jar, while one of the girls
1 Discovery of Witchcraft p. 130, ed. 1584.
2 My authority is Mr. W. Crooke.
* North Indian Notes and Queries^ vol iv. § 465.
4 See a note by him in Folk-Lore^ vol. vi. p. 90, and also vol. v. p. 275. The MSS. referred to in the last note are those I now have, Nos. I. — III. See also Grimm, Afyth., p. 743 ; Weistumer, vol i. p. 533.
156 Folklore from the Southern Sporades.
repeats another couplet. Then a girl repeats one of the couplets traditional for this occasion, and the boy takes out one of the tokens, to whose owner it is supposed to apply. The married women make preparations in like manner, but with them it is but a jest. The verses repeated for them are such as this : " Get on a pig and ride about/' or " Take bread and biscuit and keep an eye on the ass.,,
But there is another kind of charm which is very common in Greece, the so-called Sejia (airohe^a) or " binding-spell." Married couples are especially afraid of being thus be- witched during the wedding ceremony, and commonly some counter-charm is done by way of protection. Something was said of this in my paper on Lesbos, but this time I have found quite a treasure in my fourth MS. This curious document was written (or finished) in 1799 by one Georgios, of Calymnos, the " servant of God," as he delights to call himself. The MS. has been in perils by fire and perils by water ; it has lost its beginning and its ending ; the spelling is atrocious ; it is execrably written by several hands or in several kinds of handwriting, and apparently at different dates, as the servant of God collected his material. In it there are love-charms, medical charms, and astrological notes, and there are several which undo the " binding- spells " we are now speaking of. The following are the chief of them.1
The first charm in the book begins in the middle, a leaf or leaves having been lost. After many prayers, which have small interest, for deliverance from " every binding, counter-binding, all magic and mischief," intermingled with cabalistic signs, such as two triangles interlocked
*£
1 In quoting the Greek I have modernised the spelling, otherwise the extracts would hardly be intelligible to the classical student. A few certain restorations of the ends of words have been made.
Folklore from the Southern Sporades. 157
or rows of meaningless letters, the following directions are given (fol. 1) :l
(1) " For loosing of a married couple; to be done when you will, that you may loose them. A spiritual person or priest, on a large white platter* — write first thus8
IS xs
1 — — I
NI KA
Then write the 35th Psalm,4 which says, ' The unrighteous
1 els Xvaiy avbpoyvvov va ff£/i0f ©Wo* OiXys va rbv Xvays. Ifoi wvevfi&Tiicos 1j k air as els k*va trivl fAeyaXo Aarwpo' Kal yp&fe Tp&roy oforws (as first above) * hcetra ypa^e to rpiavra we're \l/a\fi6' Qtiarlv* 6 irapavofios rov itpapravfl {sic) kv e'avroV hretra yp6.\fe rd Xvei ra beapb Kal bpoet(ei rifv Q\6ya' (hretra yp&\pe rjs aravpovs oirvs (as second above) Kal afov yp&\fos 8Xa ahra icdfive Kal Kpvfif Xeirpovyiav, Kal /3a ve r6 Ztjtovvi arojcarw rov aylov a . . . 01701;, ovres Tapwv, Kal to avbp6yvyo . • . ariKoyras els r^y \xk<n\v rov vaov &p(i6(ovras vxo twv \eipGtv kvlB&s els rd <rre<f>a>>vpa. Kal 8vra$ lepevs elirjj rw icavrw fip&v, irepyov awo n) pttrrjy avr&v Xiyoyras pvoTtKa ahrQv, vvv awoXveis tovs bovXovs <rov, heffv6ra' &retTa xuXi app.6- %6yras to avbp6yvyo9 Kal oyras OiXet va eiirjj 6 lepevs , irpoaayiitfiey^ €\€ eva icaibio o{w Kal a.<pov elvrj irpotTo^wfiev, Xiyei icaXi 6 lepevs y Toios ebetre tois bovXovs rov Oeov 'Iwavvrj ko.1 Maplav ; elra Xiyet to watbioy, tIs blyerat ya ttjs Xvtrrj ; Xtyei iraXi 6 lepevs to. &yia ris ayiois' els be to riXos ttjs Xeirpovylas Kafivei 6 lepevs piaa eh
to KravaKti fiTjK vu) Kal vfivyei' ra y[pa</>e ?] oXa' eweira
blbets rby \1106vi Kal wiyet 6 &ybpasm Kal to &XXo fiurdv fy yvva"iKay Kal krfa Oeov 0eX6vros Xtret Ttjy paylay. " Let us attend" and " Holy things to the holy " are cues in the Greek Liturgy. See J. N. W. B. Robert- son's Liturgies, Nutt, p. 392. The word a tfov has ff clearly written
but it may be a mistake for hyiavfiov.
* The meaning is not that the priest is on the platter, but the construction breaks off. It should continue " let him write." Much of the language is very obscure.
• i.et 'Iiycovs Xpitrros viic^f, " Jesus Christ conquers." Comjare above, vol. vii. p. 149, The same symbol is on the wooden stamps used for stamping Church Bread. A specimen is sent for the Society's Museum.
4 This is misquoted from the 36th Psalm according to our Bible.
158 Folklore from the Southern Sporades.
hath an oracle of sin within him.' Then write : ' Looseth the bonds and quencheth the flame.' ] Then write the crosses after this fashion — 2
or
IS
xs
0
0
or
0
NI
KA
0
0
4\
and after you have written all this, secretly perform the service and place the sacred [elements ?] beneath the priest's coat,3 the married pair being also present; standing in the midst of the church, joining them under his hands as at the crowning (i.e. wedding) ; and when the priest says the words ' Of us all/ pass between the pair, saying secretly, ' Now, O Lord, thou dost set free thy servants.' Then again joining the pair; and when the priest will say ' Let us attend/ have a child ready outside ; and after the priest has said ' Let us attend/ the priest says again : 'Who has bound the servants of God, Joannes and Maria?' Then the boy says : ' Who can set them free ? ' Again the priest says : ' Holy things to the holy/ and at the end of the service, the priest does the service within the cupboard4 and quenches the [illegible'}.
" Write (?) all this ; then you give the half, and the man I drinks it, and the woman the other half, and God willing this looses the spell."
The state of the MS. is so damaged that much is left doubtful, yet there is enough to show that the charm was worked during the marriage service, or in a repetition of it ;
1 Part of a hymn sung on Ascension Day.
2 <rr(avpos) ic(vplov)9 or(avpds^ O(eov), the rest as above.
3 (rjirovvi is the priest's coat ; the worji is struck out in the MS., and a later hand writes (rtvi, "platter."
4 In the te/ooV, where the sacred elements are kept.
Folklore from the Southern Sporades. 159
there is a child, who perhaps is necessary on the principle of sympathetic magic ; and some drink is shared between man and wife.1 The passing of some person between the pair is perhaps meant to break the invisible binding spell. Reginald Scot says : " It is thought verie ill lucke of some, that a child, or any other living creature, should passe betweene two friends as they walk togither ; for they say it portendeth a division of friendship."9
(2) The second charm8 runs: "To set free a married pair in another fashion, easily and without trouble. Find three wild olive trees, which have been grafted several days, when their grafting has not taken, let them be all three on a row. Take their bindings and the earth of them, without speaking, on Saturday in the evening. Take them and put them in a boiler, and put water in it ; boil them to- gether, and let the man and wife wash together with that water, without speaking, and let them come together without speaking ; and let that water also be brought from the spring without speaking." Here the sympathetic magic is clearer still.
(3) " At midnight let a man who is not ' bound ' come together with his wife, without speaking ; then wearing the same garments he had on, let him arise and go to the house of him who is ' bound.1 Let him knock without speaking.
1 Probably holy water washed over the charm. See below, p. 171.
9 Discovery •, p. 204.
8 bta (?) Xvgiv avbpoyvvov kclt' &XXo rp6woyy cvkoXo Kal hlyws k6tto. va e/JjJ* [ = €V5f] rP^a &&v&Pa ^Xaies ay pies, ovov va rys fyovv <pv\\ia(TfjL€y€S bta fipepes ko\ va firjy elve Triacrfieprj ^ 0v\- \iaai tovs' va elve Vnfrv apaba Kal jj rpeis' Kal vu iraprjs tu bi/iara tovs Kal to \Qfia tovs, ya ra irapys a/i/Xijra, to (rafiftaro (3pabv ' ya to. <p^prjs ya tcl fiaXrjs a e*va Kat£avi9 fiiva ya fiaXrjs vepov ' va to. Ppaoys /xafl Kal va Xovorrj 6 avrjp Kal % yvvi) patf. per' eKeivo to vepbv a/x/Xijra- Kal va (JpeOovve fiatf. a/ilXriTa' Kal va elvc Kal to vepov Sttov Oe va (pepovv inro r^ fipvvi ap(XrjTO' Kal Seov OiXovros , **>£ Xvet % fJLayia [FoL 2.] ^
160 Folklore from the Southern Sporades.
Let him who is bound arise without speaking (neither he nor his wife), to open the door. Let the man who has been with his wife take off his clothes, and taking them all off, let them put on each the clothes of the other; let the bespelled man put on the other man's clothes inside out, and without shutting the door let him go to his wife, not speaking ; and without the wife of the first man speaking, the man who would come to knock at the other man's door; and let him go and knock at the door, and without looking behind him : when the bespelled man has put on the other man's clothes, and when he has been with his wife, let him say, ' Now set free, O Lord, thy servants Eustathios and Maria.' " l
(4) " To loose a married pair easily : Find in the month of May two snakes which are casting skins. Kill them and take their heads, and let the man have them on him when he goes to his wife. The spell will be loosed, even if it have been shot out of a gun or cast into the sea."2 Curses
1 ra petravvKra va fipcOjj $va$ AvOptaicos Sirov va fifty elvc bepivos pk rftv yvvalKa tov bl\ws va ptXi](Trj * Kal pi ra "ibia pov\a Sicov <pope~i va <TT)Kb)Qrj va irayy 'orb <nctri tov bepevov, va Krvwriarj bl^ws va piXi/vy ' *ai 6 bepivos bl\t*n va /"X^cny prjbe ^ [yvvcu]*a pqbk 6 &vbpa$ va efiKtoOrj va r avoiliy 6 ftvbpas exeivos tiirov tfipedrj pe rftv yvvalKa tov va fiyaXrj [to] pov\a tov ' Kal Pydtfivrds ra 6\a va fiaXrj 6 eyas tov $vov$ Kal 6 &XXos tov dXXovov' va ra fiaXrj a£ava- OTf>e0a 6 bepivos tov aXXovov Kal bi\(as vd KXeitrrj vd fipeOrj pe rftv yvvalKa tov bl^tos va piXfiar)' Kal bl\ut$ va piXiior) Kal // yvvalKa tov wpwTOv icov Oe va tyrrj va KTwifOTj tov dXXovov TTfV Tcopra Kal bl\ws va orpafrj bia va tiby irlata tov, va [Trurj^va tov KTviriiarj rft Tcdpra* Kal va Xtyy Kal 6 bepivos, oav (iaXy tov aXXovov ra pov\a Kal trav va fipedjj pi rrjv yvvalKa tov, Nvv v airoXvgs tovs bovXovs gov befficdra EvaraQiov Kal Maplav. [Fol. 2, 3.]
2 bta va Xvays avbp6yvvo ev evKoXia va ebpjjs to pd'iov prjva bvo <f>lb 1a oirov v aXXafavrai Kal va to. aKOTWtrys. va Trapps ra K€<pdXta tovs Kal &s ra fiavTq. airavw tov va *ay-Q pe rqv yvvalKa tov Kal Bk Xvrrrj rj pay la, av elve Kal eltre rovfiKi rj 'orq OaXaaaa pippivo. [FoL 21.]
Folklore from the Southern Sporades. 161
were cast into the sea in ancient times; but I do not recollect hearing before of this other mode of making the spell effective by shooting it from a gun.
(5) "Qui morbo eo laborat, advehat ad genitalia sua vulvam ursae, coeatque cum uxore. . . . Idem facit et lupae vulvaj qua idem fac." 1
The Binding of Beasts is another kind of charm men- tioned in the extracts from the canons given above. This was of two kinds : wild beasts might have a spell cast over them to prevent mischief, and tame beasts might be injured and made barren or useless. Of the first sort I have no specimen whatever in my MS., but there died lately in Cos an old man of the village of Aspendiou who knew such charms. On one occasion he bound the vultures (J3iT<re\tak) after this fashion : A girl had to be found who must be sixteen years of age. Found, the old man gave her some silk, which she twisted into a thread exactly as long as she was tall. This she gave to the man, who secretly rose up before day (rrjv avyrjv)) allowing no man to see him, and went to a wild olive tree, which must be invisible from the sea ; upon this he tied the thread in three knots, reciting a charm. His fee was five pounds, a large sum for a poor famine-stricken hamlet.
In my magical MS., however, there are many prayers for a blessing upon the sheep and cattle, interspersed with mystic signs, crosses, and letters. There are allusions to those who " bind " the clouds that they rain not, and the trees and vines that they bear no fruit, the flocks and herds that they breed no young and give no milk, prayers against the machinations of demons and evil men, of Assyrians, Chaldaeans, Persians, Arabs, Saracens, Egyptians, Libyans,
1 [*i'Xr]pov els Xvtriv avhpoyvvov. Ttjs apKovbas to fiovvi pa to irepatrQ Vr^ Qtttri tov 6 warxpvras, ical as fipedrj jik rfjv yvvaltca rov Ka\ Bk Xvcrrj rj fiayia. to i&io tcai rov Xvkov to fiovvi, Kal aiiTo icdfie to. [Fol. a 1.]
VOL. X. M
1 62 Folklore from the Southern Sporades.
Samaritans, Phoenicians, Pisidians, Paphlagonians, Galatae, Phrygians, Bulgarians, Dardanians, Germans, Spaniards, Romans, Gauls, Turks, Tartars, Unicorns, Cynoscephalians, women with one breast, Allemanni, Wallachians, and many more whose names I never heard of. The great spirits Serachia, Eligdeos, Adonai, Sabaoth, and all those whom King Solomon bound by oath, are invoked. A demon, interviewed by the Archangel Michael, gives at command a list of his names ; these are, arpiy\ay yi\ov, {iop<f>ov, fiapiyov, avafiaphov, /3p€<f)OTrv7)/CTOv, 7rapa<f>ov9 tyevhopewq, fiavrarapiva, fAafiXicTov.
There are still current many of these beast-binding charms. From Lesbos I got one or two which have been already given to this Society,1 and I now add another from an old dame at Cos, aged ninety or more. Sometimes a mother Wants to go out to work, leaving her children at home ; then she repeats the following lines : —
" Holy Phoucas Loucas, Five-prong iron fingers, Do thou bind and bridle Scorpion and viper, And all great creeping things : Do thou bind and bridle Him, the man of evil, Wandering at night-time, Till the hour of sunrise. Then five pastry-rollers, Reed-sticks nine are wanted, So to give my bags a shaking, And to waken up my children, And to go about my business." 8
1 Vol. vii. p. 143.
2 "Ayie QovKa Aovica, (TihepOTreyTohayrvKt^ hkcre kcl\ \a\lrunre
Sirov (TKopyrios teal o\evrpa [ = e\ihya\ /cat oZ\ia rapireTa piydXa.
Folklore from the Southern Sporades. 16
Another charm guards you against ants.1 With a blacl handled knife make the sign of the cross thrice, singir each time. The first three lines contain a nonsensic jingle on the word ant, thus : —
" Here's an ant, I have him fast,
Tis an ant, the first of ants,
And they are first to ant him.
Come and gather up your swarm,
And then away to pasture.
Find a tree that bears no fruit,
Take that fruit and eat it ;
Lest I should go and find the black boar's fleece, . And then cut through your gullet." 2
Another kind of charm is the " binding of the tongue (yXoKTo-oSe/ia), which protects you against evil spirits, find in my MS. a charm against the witch called Gelou, ai against all supernatural things, called a " tongue-binding It begins with an invocation of the Trinity, and proceed;
hioe kcli xaXlvuftre
TOV KCLKOV TOV &V&pU)TCOV
tov wxroyvpioTi'iy Scrov v fifty y 6 ijXios, ir lyre irrjTTapolivXa K€vy£a KaXafioKavvia, va Tiya£tM> tcl oaKKta jiov, va ivwvJioii) to. iratbjpi pov, Kai va 7rdu) otj) bovXej^d fiov.
1 Compare vol. vii. p. 144.
2 KparCb kva fivpfxrjyKa. fivpfirjyKa irpwTOfivpfxriyica Kai wputroi to fxvpfiiyicovy. fia£oE,€ rdtTKipt trov
Kai % ott\ ftoaKi\v dvaifta9
y&ftprjs b&vbpov (xKapiro
va <pdyrjs tov Kapir6v tov,
fiff wdu Kai fiput tov fxavpov \o ipo, air pov to /iaWt,
Kai Koyf/u tov Xaipov crov.
M 2
164 Folklore from the Southern Sporades.
" As thou didst free the prophet Daniel when he was cast like a sheep to the lions, and didst break his three chains in Babylon, so save me also, the servant of God, N or M. .... In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. As thou didst banish the devils from paradise, so keep my enemies far from me, and bind their tongues and their reason, and let them not be able to speak or to eat, or see with their eyes : . . . . Franks, Armenians, Turks, and every evil and passionate man or woman, young and old, believers or hereticks, who hate the holy baptism and the Christians, poisoners and stranglers." In this passage are several old words, such as 6<f>0a\/j,6<;.
The Evil Eye has already been alluded to ; and it is one of the commonest means by which these malign influences are supposed to work. I am happy to be able to present the Folk-Lore Society with another charm potent against it, from the same source as the last. You must put water in a dish, and oil in a cup. Then take a drop of the oil on your finger and let it fall into the water thrice, each time repeating this charm :
" Two eyes have cast a spell on thee And three again have raised thee, Christ and the Holy Trinity."1
With the water and oil then besprinkle the person betwitched forty-one times. In my MS. fiaatcapta, or bewitching by the Evil Eye, is often mentioned, and one charm is given to counteract it. This consists of the usual cross and letters, with prayers such as, " Let Christ arise/' and allusions to King Solomon. Here the crosses are longer than usual, and more in number, in consequence of the subtle nature of the affliction.
1 bvo-fifidna trk <pdapfii<rav€ [ = o00a\/i/ aave] Ka\ Tpia tre %v€ari\ crave, [ = aviorjiaav] 6 XpiffTos *cai_Ai TptciSa.
Folklore from the Southern Sporades. 165
For all common diseases and afflictions the wise woman has her charm, or her prescription, generally both. In Cos many of these folk-medicines are left out all night when there is a full moon and the stars are visible ; the charm is recited over them ; next day the concoction is taken, and the patient is cured (tyrdrfeLvo?) . The latter part of my magical MS. is full of charms for childbirth and the like, but unluckily the pages are all torn in half so that little can be made of them. One or two others, however, are com- plete. Here is one for the ague:1 "To cure the daily ague read this three times, and fasten upon the left hand a thread of cotton in three knots, and write it upon a little white root (?) ; wash it off with water, and make them drink it : Stand the sun in the east, and stand he away from the moon, and stand the ague afar from the servant of God, N. or A!., AmenP This is followed by the same cross sign as given above (p. 157), and by a number of meaningless letters. Other charms for the ague follow. The tertian ague is cured by writing crosses and signs on the patient's cheek, together with those blessed words Phison, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates, or that passage which begins : " In the beginning was the Word," with an invocation of St. John the Forerunner; "Christ is born — flee away ague from the servant of God ; Christ was crucified — flee away ague from the servant of God; Christ is risen — flee away ague from the servant of God, N. or M., Amen," 2 St. John is supposed to be especially potent against ague, because his
1 piyos KadrjjjLepivos. va to biafiatys Tpels (j>opes /cat va bivrjs trro X*PL T01S H*a /3a/i7ra*:ep?/ KXwaTri Tpels kojittovs, kcli va to ypa\j/rjs ical a evav &enrpo [written &cnro] pi£avdici. va to Avuhttjs pk vepo va to7s to iroTiarjs. trrriTto 6 ijXios Ttjs avaToXijs, (TTt)rw ical Ttjs aeXr'ivrjSj crrt/TOj «cai to piyos hiro tov bovXov tov Qeov 6 belva afifjv. Crosses and letters. [Fol. 3.I
Reginald Scot has many charms against ague, consisting of scriptural words and crosses diversely used. Discovery, p. 270 foil. His charms specify all parts of the body in detail, as do those of my MS., see pp. 248, 263.
1 66 Folklore from the Southern Sporades.
head shook so when Herod cut it off ; 1 and he is invoked again in the following charm against sunstroke, which comes from Cos : 2
" Christ our Master made his call, And he called all the Apostles. One and all they ate, they drank, Not forgetting God to thank ; But St. John the Forerunner Eateth not and drinketh not, And for God no thanks has got. Christ our Master spoke and said : c St. John, St. John, what ails thee ? Thou eatest not and drinkest not, And for God no thanks hast got ! ' * On the road by which we came
See vol. vii. p. 147. atfkivTrjs 6 XpitTTOS KaXevfia e*:a/ie, Kal cicuXeae tovs dirocrroXovs ovXovs, teal ovXoi rpwyav koX ovXoi irivav, teal ovXoi tov Oeov bo£d£av' kcll At Tidvvrjs irpobpopos fxrjbk rpvyei firfbk wivei fATjbk tov Oeov eholaoe. Kal htyivTtis 6 Xpiaros eipwvafc, rfyeis, At Tidvvri ; fATjbk rpuyeiSy fATjbk iriveis, fxrjbk tov Oeov bo£d£eis ; Vi, els Ttj arpdra irovpyape [=ttoD IjXOafievl tov tjXiov eirdvTila, tci KOKKaXd fxov T^aKiae TOfi-fivaX6 fxov Tapate, ifiboftijvTa bvo (pXtfies rfjs K€<paXfjs pov, res e aw dp ale. bev et^e irovTWTi fiairTifffievo fivputfie'vo teal Vo rdyia 7T€pacrfi£vov. Xp. vd k6\^ti$ Tpla icXu>vj,a (3a<riXac6y
yd Vjjs, araXdre opt) oraXa're (iovvd,
vii fcpilwBij va <pvyrj
dvo tov bovXov tov Oeov (tov belva)
Folklore from the Southern Sporades. 167
.Beat upon me the sun's flame !
Bruised my bones, and shook my brains.
Tore me two and seventy veins
In my head : no antidote,
Nought incensed or dipt in holy water,
Nor overstept with holy things.'1
' Cut three basil twigs, and say —
To the rocks and hills away !
That it may uprooted be,
And from N. or M. God's servant it may flee.'1'
The last four lines are to be thrice repeated. The charm is worked thus : Water is placed in a bottle, with three sprigs of basil atop, and is then held upside down over the patient, being moved through the air in the form of the cross over his forehead and the two ears. As the water flows, say the charm thrice. A plate * is held to catch the water, and the sick man drinks thrice of it ; the residue is thrown in some place where no one goes, for it is holy.
In my MS. I find the following charm against erysipelas.* " Write the same characters as were written for the tertian
1 This is done when the priest bears the holy elements through the church, and sick folk and children are laid down for him to walk over.
* A plate with an Arabic charm written upon it is preserved in the Pitt- Rivers Museum at Oxford.
3 yrjr€~ia bia to ayefiOTcvpwfia Kal va ypd\prjs Kal tjjs \apaKrfjpei oirov etve ypapfiiyes orb rpiTaioplyos, vii rijs ypau/ps orb fidyovXa y ir ape (ttovttju Kal /xaXX/r£i Kal dvetcdruKri ra Kal icdfie ra kvvea ffopovbta Kal tcaxpe ra rpupopks, Kal /3aXe kokklvt) ^dya d7r0Ka.ru)' Kal bidfiafc Kal fik to fiavpOfxdviKOv fiaycupt crravputye Kal Xiye' /3aXe, Xpitrrk <5 Beds, to &\payrd gov \ipi Kal l/3yaXe to, on xaxov Kal ay etve* fiyie iravrkXei^xoya, Kal dyioi dvdpyvpoi dp\uarpol rov k6<f~ fiov, Siw£ere to ore KaKov Kal ay elve* av elye dyefAOirvputfia ij av elve KiTpivoirvpwfAa ij Kafipoirupttifia ij dvepoirvpwfAa ij drefioaruxpov fj dj3Xaff<j>t]fiia, ij dxb yvyij ij uirb Ipirerb ij dno wrrjvb ij dbUov ij uirb icr)yi)v 7} irebi[a]ba rj avXr) rj b&fiaros ij fcpas rj it . . • as fj *vXov ij fia\a~ipos ij Kovrapiov ij fivXov ydyraKos rj opveoaKoicieiav KavryeXiarx • pos [wV] if eyas if irpofiarov 11 Xifivrjs 1/ yvKTip[iyby^ V kavepivbv ij vvktoXoXov 7} KopoKobo [sic] » . 1/ fiearjfifipivov
168 Folklore from the Southern Sporades.
ague ; write them, I say, on the cheek. Or take some tow and wool, and mix them together, and make nine lumps of it, and singe it thrice and place a red cloth underneath. Then repeat the charm, and with a black-handled knife make the sign of the cross, and sing : O Christ our God, with thy undefiled hand cast forth the mischief whatsoever it be ; O Saint Allpitiful,1 O ye saints Cosmas and Damian, first physicians of the world, chase away the mischief, what- soever it be: be it erysipelas, or the jaundice, or [some complaints which I do not understand] , whether it come from woman, or creeping thing, or bird, or unrighteous thing, or fount, or plain, or yard, or roof, or water, or dry land, or .... or wood, or knife, or bludgeon, or mill-race (?), or bird-scarei^s tower, or Kali-Kazaros (?), or goat, or sheep, or marsh, or a thing of the night or the evening, or night-talker, .... or at mid-day, seen or unseen, deaf, dumb, or speaking ; as flow the founts, or rivers, or springs, so may this mischief flow and flee, whatso- ever it be." Then follows a list of diseases, and the writer adds, " or be it supernatural from the Nereids, as
[written fiaiffifirfvtjv^ y fiXeicTov rj dftXcwTov ij ko[v<j>ov~\ ij &\a\ov jj XaXijroV ws rptyovve ij irliyes ?} iroTapol fj ftpvcres to. pifiara, ovrtos va rpdxV Ka^ va (t>€^7Vs °Tl KaK°y Ka^ &v elve* av elve dvefio- TTvputfia ij av elve KOKKivoirvpaffia ij av elve KafiXoirvpwfAa ij av elve Kovtyoirvptafia ij Ktrpivoirvptofia ij airoforiKov airo avepdbes, tos aicop- irdei 6 ijXios els ra oprf ovrias va aKopirivri ical va <j>vyri on kclkov ko.1 av elve. "Ayie fieyaXopdpTv HreQavk ical fiyte ficyaXopdprv Teutpyie wputTOfidpTvpes tov KotTfiov9 ws <j>evyei 6 ijXios Kal f/ (jeXrjvTf vu rpexys *a* *a ^V7V air°* [sic] tov bovXov tov Oeov (6 beTva)' vii (TKopirlffrj Kal va Qevyri airo to. fidria tov, v&fiyjj airo to crrdfia tov, v&flyrj avro rrj plva tov, airo ravr^d tov, airo ra fidyovXd tov, airo rjjs KXelbuxrts tov9 airo Ttjs apdfiuxrts tov, airo tj)f fXefies tov9 euro it 6b as airo X*Pia air° T"v M^os L-^*^ diravfiaiXos] va (TKopiriarj Kal va Qvyy ws aKopirdei 6 ijXios els ra fiovyd ovtws vd aKopirdji Kal yd 0vy# on KaKov Ka\ av elve. [Fol. 4» 5 ]
1 This is the name of a Greek saint
Folklore from the Southern Sporades. 169
the sunlight scatters upon the hills, so may the bane scatter away and flee, whatsoever it be.1' Next comes an appeal to St. Stephen and St. George, with this : " as the sun and the moon depart, so may this depart from the servant of God, N. or M., let it scatter and flee away from his eyes, may it go forth from his mouth, may it go forth from his nose, from his ears, from his cheeks, from his joints, from his knuckles, his veins, feet and hands, from every part of him may it scatter and go, as the sunlight scatters upon the hills." l
No vade mecum of folk medicine would be complete without its love-philtres ; and mine has two or three. These have been much used ; the pages are turned down and well worn with ancient thumbs. For example:3 if you would win the love of a girl or woman, take a red apple on the Sabbath Day (Saturday), and write upon it a number of mysterious signs with blood from your left thumb ; then give it her to eat, and she will love you. May we not believe that the ancients, when they threw an apple in their lady's lap, had worked some such charm over it first ? Or you must get an egg 8 laid on a Thursday by a black fowl ; write upon it certain cabalistic words and signs; recite them and say : " As this egg is burnt and boiled, so may her heart be burned, and her entrails (giving the lady's name),
1 See above, p. 165, note.
3 bid va <t 6,ya7rtj<rp xoviWa 1/ Kal yvvalxa. \afie e*va fiijXo kokkivo hjiipa <ra/3/3aro, Kal ypaypov tt)s KaTtaOe \apaKTijpes fik rod baKrvXov aov tov (epfiov to al/ia, Kal b6s to va to <payy' ical &6\ei ffk AyaTrncij- [Fol. 15* ]
3 eirapov avy6 oirov va to lxci 4 opvi&a yevvjifiivo fjfitpa wevrij ( = Trc/iTrr//)* va elve fiavprj if opvlda* Kal ypa\pov els ahro rj}j tcarvde XapaKTfjpes vrifieiufiiva ypapfiaTa* Kal 2ca/3afe Kal \£ye, d>s KaOws icaicrai Kal /3pa£ei erovro, to avy69 irai va Kalrjrai Kal ^ Kapbja rjj* Kal to. <j>i\oKapbta Tys Kal tcl autdtKci ttjs (6 belva) bia tu fiiva va /tij) iropij va 0ay?y ovre va v'ty ovre va Kapri ovre va Koiprjdjj ovre opetiv va i\ri va thy tov Kdcrfiov* 6 vovs Tfjs Kal 6 Aoyia/xos rrfs vu elve bia tcl fieva. [MS. biarepaiva.] [F°l» IS»]
I jo Folklore from the Southern Sporades.
for my sake ; may she have nothing to eat, or to drink, may she be able to do nothing, nor to sleep, may she have no desire to see company, may her mind and her reason be mine." If this seem rather too drastic, you may take ver- milion and musk,1 yolk of egg, rosewater, and burn a little of your own hair ; mix them all together, burn them to ashes. Make ink out of these, and write on your left palm "this ornament " with a crow's feather. The " ornament " is two rude concentric circles, and meaningless words within them. In Cos, a less innocent charm is used by old hags who bear a grudge against some girl. Certain black ants with a big head are called " riding-ants/' /cafiaXopvp/jLiyfca. The witches cut off these heads and soak them in wine, which they leave out all night. They then put a drop of this con- coction into wine, and give the wine to the girl's lover to drink. It is believed that he will at once attempt her honour. There remain a few miscellaneous charms which it may be interesting to mention. When you are in chains and in prison, for example, all you have to do is to read the first Psalm * a hundred and one times, and " you will be surprised to find yourself free." When you want your enemy to flee from the place in which you are, read the thirtieth Psalm when there is no moon, on three successive days, morning, noon, and nighr, taking the paper "left-wise" (avaTroSa). But one there is which will prove a godsend to the harassed parent or schoolmaster : s " How a child may
1 ypd\f/e fitaa els r^ iraXafxrj gov t^v apiGrepd' pk Kivvdfiapt Kal uogkov Kal Kpoxov ravyov Kal poboGrafioy, kal Kavcrov Kal oXiya fiaXXj^d airb ra fiaXXja gov Ka\ iroirjcrov gtoktyj' Kal fiaXe Kal aveKa- tu>g6 ra /i£ ra &vwde tiirov gov <j>ayeputvei9 Kal Kape jieXavi, Kal ypaypov Vrr) ira\a/i# gov tj) ?ep/3f) to irXovplv abrb pe kovtvXi
KopaKOv, [Fol. 1 6.]
2 In our version this is the second.
8 bia va /ia0fl to iratbio ypappara fj Kal wavna T€*xyrl \upls roXv kottov' ypa\\>e els biGKOv ovtus. "Appa XptGre eXevOqpia, Xpiare Kal IXeiipvv, to rvevpa to aytov, -Kvevpa Gotpias, irveupa
Folklore from the Southern Sporades. 171
learn his letters or any art without much trouble. Write this on a plate : Christ, freedom, Christ is pitiful ; the Holy Spirit, Spirit of Wisdom, Spirit of Rhetoric and Reading, Spirit of Jesus Christ the Son of God. Grant the enlighten- ment of the servant of God, N. or M., holy things for the holy, the holy Spirit, and may the power of the Highest overshadow him : Amen. When you have writ all this, let divine service be performed over the plate for seven days. Then wash the plate1 with holy water of the Epiphany, and make the boy drink of it for three days. You will be astonished to see how he will learn his letters."
Here is a charm for rendering oneself invisible.9 " On May 1, kill a snake, take his head and plant it in a certain place, and put in his mouth one bean. Plant it, and when the beans grow, gather them all, don't lose a single bean. Take a mirror to behold your countenance in, and put the beans in your mouth one by one. As soon as you find a bean, which being in your mouth you cannot behold your countenance, take good care of that bean ; and when you wish that no man may see you, put it into your mouth." The man who wrote that had a sort of humour in him.
There is in the MS. one curious monster spoken of, the "half-head." "Beyond Jordan," we are told,6 "stands a
fjrjropiKTJs kcli avayvu* trews, nvevfia 'lrjirov Xpitrrov tov viov tov deov, Tjjs blvere ^writrat tov bovXov rov deov (6 belva) ra Hyia rots aylots irvevfia aytov eirtaictaay kcu ^ bvvafits ixf/iarov ew' avrvvy apijv. atyov bk ypa\prjs iravr avrct &vu>&€9 fiaXe rov bltricov va to Xeirpov- ytfTai fifi&pes ktyrcC etra rrXvve rov biaKov pk top aytaapov tQv Oeotpaviwv, cal bd>a> ahrb rov waibiov va to wig fjfiipes rpeis, Kat OeXcis dafifiaaris va pady to watbl ypa/i/xara. [Fol. 13.]
1 See above, p. 159, note.
2 Fol. 21 wpwTOfJLatov va aKorvarjs k*va Qibi, va wapys to K€<pdXt
rov va to </>vTe\prjs els k*va pipos, Kat va fidXrjs erro crr6fia tov eva kovkL va to <pvT£\prjst Kat utaav yivovtrt ra kovkjci, va to. fia(6^s oXa, va fit) xa-OQ* Kaveva kovkI, Kat fiaXe iva Kadpevrrj va tfvrrofys to Trp6<Tu>TO aov Kat |3a£e orb ardfia <rov evav eva. Kat 6 rota kovki
172 Folklore from the Southern Sporades.
youth, the hateful Half-head ; and cries with a loud voice that he wants man's flesh to eat. Then came a voice from
heaven, which said1 " something or other in reference
to King Pharaoh and the kiss of Judas, our Lord, the Virgin Mary, and Aaron, adding: " Depart and flee from the servant of God, N. or M." Another charm2 is given to get rid of this creature, to be repeated three times. " In the beginning was the word/' is the first sentence; St. John and the Virgin are invoked, but there is nothing of interest to us in it. The " half-head " is probably the monster, familiar in the east, who is merely a shell ; complete before, but hollow behind.8
bky dvpeis to xporrioro aov ovra to e^eis trro ord/ia aov, ttce'ivo 0v\a£e* jcac ovras OeXeis va pi) <rk fSXkirri tirOpwiros, /3aXe to oto ard/ia oov.
1 nkpa tov 'lopbavov woTapov articei evas yjps, tov fii(jr)TOv fffiiKpavov, zeal /cpafei fxeyaXrj rjj <pu>vrjy <j>ayeiv OeXei xpeas avdptl>~ ttov i) fieyaXrjs fiiarjTov icpaviov* ffXde <pu>vr) iic tov ovpavov teal elirey, WTofiOrjri irrorfdrfrov to tov Qapabv to Xa6vy /cat tov 'lovba tov atnratr/io)', bi6n 6 Xpiaros ak biuncetr kcu rj irepayia \jic, for vwepa- y/a] &€ot6kos kclI 6 daw/iaros *Apoy Kpavlrrjs l^eXOk teal avayutpiaov airb tov bovXovt etc. — Signs and letters (fol. u). This has apparently been copied from an older document, or written down from memory, and much blundered.
2 ettre pt<roK€(paXo tyvXaKTO va to biaftdarjs rpels tyoph teal va to
flaXys oro KeQaXi tov, *Ev df>X# %v ° ^yos> etC. [Fol. io.]
* Mr. Crooke has kindly sent me this note :
In the " Story of Janshah." (Burton, Arabian Nights. Library Edition, vol. iv. p. 279.)
" Presently they came upon a spring of running water in the midst of the island, and saw from afar a man sitting hard by it. So they went up to him and saluted him, and he returned their salam, speaking in a voice like the whistle of birds. While Janshah stood marvelling at the man's speech, he looked right and left and suddenly split himself in twain, and each half went a different way."
Burton notes that the Badawi hold whistling to be the speech of devils [cf. miners' objection to whistling underground]. Burckhardt got a bad name by he ugly habit.
" The Arabs call Shikk (split man) and the Persians Nimchahrah (half-face)
Folklore from the Southern Sporades. 173
II. — Vroukdlakas and Kalik&zari.
The Vroukolakas, or Vampire, is familiar to all students of modern Greek life. Persons guilty of abominable crimes, those who die under a parent's curse, or who die excommu- nicate, all children conceived on one of the great festivals of the Church (when abstinence is ordained) become Vam- pires. They arise from the tomb any night except Saturday, and live by sucking the blood of living men, especially of their own nearest and dearest. You may know the Vampire if when his grave is opened — which should be done of course on the Saturday night only, as the creature then cannot get out — the body is found whole and undecayed, the hair and nails perfect. To lay the Vampire requires different methods according to the cause of his being such.1
a kind of demon like a man divided longitudinally : this gruesome creature runs with amazing speed and is very cruel and dangerous."
The same account of the Shikk is given by Hughes, " Dictionary of Islam," 1 37. The Nasnas is a similar beast, the offspring of a Shikk and a human being.
The Hadal, a Bombay demon, is plump in front, a skeleton behind. So the Ellekone of Denmark is captivating to look at in front, hollow behind like a kneading trough. (Grimm, Teut. Myth., vol. ii. p. 449.)
The Daitya of North India is beautiful in front, behind only a mere husk without a backbone. (Crooke, Popular Rel., vol. ii. p. 255.)
1 The following passages describe the common practice. MS. III. of the Canons (1560), fol. 59 : —
yivwcTKerai irepi tovtov oti ij pev evpedfj atopa aKaipeov [a«:e- paiov\ kv tu> ra<poj Kai Tpi\as TeXias va ^irjbkv €\rj, elvai &fi<pifio\ia els tovto ?i a<popifffxevoy elvai ij ov\iif ofitos Kafivrj yjpeia va evyaXovv to Xeiipavov eKelvov eE,u) curb tov Ta</>ov ottov evpiaKcrai, va to /3ciX- Xovv els aXXov Ta.(pov irapOivov Kai orav irepcKT-q Kaipos iKav6s, el fie v evpedfj to aKepaiov eKelvo <ra)/ia XeXvpevov, ijbrf KaXov, el be Kai evpedfj aXvrov yiviotTKerai oti elvai cKpiopifffiivov Kai bterai (TvyyjU' pi'jcretos, Iva XvOrj tov atputpitrfiov.
Same, fol. 254. Some foolish men say irCbs fAepiKrj &vdputiroi orav aireOevovv, e£ avTutv rives (rvKOvovrai Kai yivovrai KaTa\66vtoi, roi/s oiroiovs Xeyovv fiovXKoXctKOvs, Kai avTOi Xiyovv BavaTutvovv tovs
favTavovs ape eKelvoi oirov nXavunvTai Ka\ Kalovv tovs abeX-
(povs tovs KaKov to eiradav. The name here, it will be noticed, is given as Voulkolakos.
174 Folklore from the Southern Sporades.
If he were excommunicate, a service of pardon revoking the sentence of excommunication sets him free. If not, he must be moved to another " virgin " tomb, or even burnt to ashes. Old travellers were sometimes witnesses of this horrid ceremony ; but although the belief is still strong, the burning is probably no longer practised.
As it is not my plan to collect the evidence already to hand, I say no more of the Vampires, but beg leave to refer students to Bernhard Schmidt's account of them in his Volksleben der Neugriechen, pp. 157-171. Schmidt has also a chapter on the Kalikazari, and some of the verses I have collected occur there.1
These curious monsters are believed in all over the Greek world, and they go by a variety of different names : /ca\i/cd£apott tcaXitcdvr&poL, XvicdvBpcairoi, \v/co/ed£apoi, \vKOKpiv%apoiy KaXoTtfiSes, /eap/eavr£6\oi, <rtcidv£apoi. They are described as ao-x^/Lto/uov/uSe?, " ugly-faced/ ' aSvvaroc, " impotent/' /caTci/coTroSes, " goat-footed," ovotei- (pakoi, " ass-headed." Besides these associations with animals such as wolf, ass, and goat, they are connected in different places with other animals as to head, hands, or feet, and are believed to be fond of dance and of women. There is clearly an accretion here of werewolf legends, with perhaps a reminiscence of the satyrs. A l
Children conceived on the day of the Immaculate Con- ception (March 25), and so born on Christmas Day, are supposed to be accursed because they impiously mimic the beginnings of our Lord's life on earth, and when born they become Kalikazari. They are not born as infants, but by the power of Beelzebub they become full-grown men and women, or take upon them some other shape. They remain on earth for twelve days, until the Epiphany ; for on that day, by the baptism, the whole earth was made holy, and all demons are forced to depart from it. The Kalikazari flee away, crying out —
1 Pages 142-152. — My authority is Mr. Zarraites.
Folklore from the Southern Sporades. 175
" Flee away, that we may flee : Priest with pot-belly, here is he, With his holy water brush, With the sprinkler too for us ; He will sprinkle us about, And defile us without doubt." l
Until these twelve days are past, the monsters leave in their cradles the semblance of babes, and assuming the form of Kalikazari, wander about, living in deserts and dark caves, feeding on snakes and lizards. Sometimes, it is said, they eat women, whom they love very much. By the light of the moon they dance at night, in company with any handsome women they can get hold of, or any inquisitive person. Women that lose their way, if not pretty enough to dance with, serve them for supper. They dance till the black cock crows, and then they must stop. Some enter the houses by the chimney, and there sit at table and eat and make merry, especially in the kitchen ; and they take delight to insult 3 the sleepers of the house. When they hear a black cock crow, they evanish like smoke through the keyhole. To prevent their mischief, these keyholes or boltholes 3 are stopped up with a skein of flax. Before the exit is free the Kalikazari have to count all the threads in the skein ; and as they always take care to look at the
1 <f>evya.T€ va <pevyafi€y
yjarl eity-atr 6 rpo v\o7ra7ras (°) fie ti)v ay laarovpa tov, Kal fit 77} v /3p€\rovpa rov, Kai 0a fids eppavricrri Kat da fids fiayapifrrj. The holy water would be thought defiling by these monsters.
2 ovpovcriy, tningunt.
3 fiirapoTpvira, KkeiboTpvira.
(») Schmidt, who gives a variant of these lines (p. 1 51), explains this word as a gibe, " pot-belly priest." My informant took it as referring to the priest's tall hat (rovpXa or rpovXXa " dome, apex ").
176 Folklore from the Southern Sporades.
keyhole the first thing on entering, to see that their retreat is open, they spend all the time till cock-crow in counting, and can do no harm. They appear suddenly to millers, and make fun of them ; and if a woman comes to the mill to grind, they do the grinding for her, and can hardly be prevented from making a meal of herself. While the miller sleeps, they take some flour and work it into honey-combs,1 which they eat ; then they defile the rest of the flour, the other food, and the ashes.2 The Kalikazari flee away when you see them, and call out, %v\a /covraovpa 8av\ta /cafi/jueva — " Wood, logs, brands all burnt."
The people believe that the Jews worship some creature with the head of an ass,8 and accordingly speak of them as ovoXarpai, "ass-olaters." They suppose the Jews to wander about from Christmas to Epiphany, looking for Moses, whom they desire to throttle, it is hard to see why, and thus the Jews are confused with Kalikazari. For this cause they call the Kalikazari a-affffariavol, " Sabbatarians."
When at the Epiphany these monsters depart, they go under the earth, and there remain for the rest of the year, sawing at the trunk of a gigantic tree which upholds the earth. Their aim is to destroy the whole world ; but they never quite get the job done. Christmas comes round once more, and away they fly ; and during the twelve days that follow, the tree grows whole again.
In Cyprus, the Kalikazari are very fond of cakes called XovKovfiaSes. The people leave them honey to eat in order to make them kind ; they also leave a plate full of these cakes by the hearth. The Kalikazari entering, cry out :
fiafia, rtriT<riy XovKayitco.
" Bread, cheese, sausage ! "
1 ficXoirrjrrais.
% They also ovpovaiv els to (rrofia t&v iraibiwv when they sleep with mouth open : mingunt in ora puerorum.
9 The reader will remember the famous graffito of the Domus Geloniana at Rome.
Folklore from the Southern Sporades. 177
But the time is a fast, and nothing of the kind is to be had ; so the man who waits answers :
lia\alptv fiavpofiaytKO.
" Black-handled knife ! "
This charm startles the monsters, who thus say hurriedly, as though ready to be content with anything :
KOfifiariv ieporS\avov va <pd<t> Kai va <pvw.
" A bit of dry cake, that I may eat and go."
He eats then what is provided and departs.
I have now a number of notes on various customs and superstitions, and I will begin with customs observed on some special day.
///. — Cos : Times and Seasons.
On New Year's Eve the brute beasts are supposed to be endowed with reason and speech, to bear witness for good or evil according to the condition they may be in. Hence, on the day preceding the last night of the year, they are specially well fed and taken care of.
On January 6 takes place the ceremony of Diving for the Cross, which is described in a pretty little sketch by a Greek writer, Argyris Eftaliotis.1 By the Scala, or quay, of the town of Cos, the cross is thrown into the sea, and it is a point of honour with all the young pallikars to fetch it up. A collection is made in the villages of the island for the successful diver. There is some danger for him if the sea be rough or the weather cold. The First of April is called tA yfrefifiara, or the Feast of Fibs, and all sorts of pranks and jests are made. On the vigil of the 'Aj/ao-Tao-ts, Easter Day,
1 Translated in Tales from the Isles of Greece \ being sketches of Modern Greek Peasant Life, by Argyris Eftaliotis. Dent, 1897.
VOL. X. N
\
I
178 Folklore from the Southern Sporadcs.
a lamb or a kid is killed, put in a dish, and roasted in the o> and afterwards eaten. A cross is then made over the door of the house. On Easter Day, a straw image is made of Judas which is hung up, shot at with guns, and finally burnt.' On the First of May, as elsewhere in Greek lands and here, garlands are hung over the doors, made of flowers, with aKQpha (heads of garlic) in them. These are left hanging till they drop, as a protection against the Evil Eye. A curious custom is usual on June 24, the Birth of John the Baptist (o 7rpdSpo/*o5( "the Forerunner"). John is here called AXTiavvys 6 *XjjSoytK.a The title is derived from kXtiBiov, a "call," or "voice of omen." 1 have no particulars from Cos of the divination described in the authorities quoted above, though 1 have reason to know it is practised. But in Cos there is an addition to the ordinary custom. Villagers flock into the capital for this day, and some representative of each village bears a ring or some recognisable token. These arc dropped into a cup of water, which is left out in the open air all night. Then in the morning all gather together; a woman is chosen who knows many songs, and she repeats a nice and a nasty song (a^t|/io) alternately.
1 The same custom is observed elsewhere. A pholograph of Judas from Thebes is shown herewith. Mr. M. E. Marriage writes : "Perhaps a per- onification of winter now to be killed. In Heidelberg, winter as a straw man,
still driven out of the town on Laetaie Sunday, three weeks before Easter. Sec Crimm, Myth. (Golt, 1854) p. 7^4 ff. ; Uhland, AbhrniJlunst; iiber ,/as Volkslied, chap. i. In all or nearly all the sham fights l>etween Summer and Winter so widespread in Germany, Summer wears ivy and winter slraw."
5 My informant derived this word from k\vcu>v (quasi »Xt><W(is), because "storms recur at that season." This, however, is a mistake. Sec A. Thumb, Zur Ntugritchischtn Vottstyndt, Dcr h'liiionas (Zeilschr. der Vereinsf. Volks- kunde, 1892, pp. 391 ffl. The custom is common. ForChios, see KaKeXXdrrji, Xmi-a 'Ai'dXeiTct (Athens, 1 890) , p. 31 1 ; for Crete, Jeannaraltis, CretasVolks- icder (Leipz., 1876)^.3401 both these on the Feast of Si. John. In Cyprus we find it on May I or 3 ; S'urXXcrptos, KuTrpitu'o, voL i. p, 709. The&saly, May I ; 'Eirrin (1S90) vol, i. p. 161. In Aegina, the Feast of John the Ripiisi and Ascension Day ; npuypa/i/(a rou Ir Aiyi'i-rj'EXX. s^oAe/i Athens, 1S90, p. I. Compare Passow, Ctrmiiin Pop. Gr., p. 6:4, and see above, page 155.
Folklore from the Southern Sporades. 179
After each song, a boy draws out one of the tokens at random ; and the song is taken to apply to the village that owns it. This, as may be imagined, is the cause of much fun and jollity, On the vigil {^rapap.ovq) of St. John's Day, bonfires (<\>avoi) are lighted, and the lads and lasses dance around them. The lads bind a black stone on their heads, signifying that they wish to become as strong as the stone ; they make the sign of the cross over feet and legs, and jump over the fire. As to these bonfires, an old woman of Cos suggested the following explanation, which is a good example of myth-making to explain ritual. " Doubtless/' said she, " Elizabeth had arranged with her friends to announce in this way the birth of her expected son ; and the custom was kept up to commemorate it." The first three days of August are called the Spifiai?. On these days women do no work (for it would not prosper), and wash no clothes (for they would soon wear out). The eleven days following are supposed to foreshadow the weather of the succeeding months : as the fourth is, so will September be, the fifth shows October, and so on. The fifteenth is the feast of the Assumption, closing a fortnight's strict fast. On Septem- ber 1, a kind of tithe-offering is hung up in the houses, consisting of a bunch of red grapes, a pomegranate, a quince, and a bit of cotton.
At the ®eo<f>aveia, or Feast of the Epiphany, twigs of olive are dipped in holy water and hung up by the icons against the Evil Eye (to fiari).
One quaint custom remains to be mentioned. In the centre of the island, at Antimachia, Kartarmita, and thereabout, come the month of March every one picks a switch and flicks the cattle with it, crying : TAdprrj^ teal iravco vcopd ! " 'Tis March, and up with your tail ! " The cattle, if well and strong, at once flourish their tails and gallop away. The ceremony is supposed to be actually healthy for them, and to bring good luck. It is never done at other times, only in March. So far it is nothing out of the way, though one is reminded of
N 2
180 Folklore from the Southern Sporades.
the beating of animals to secure fertility,1 or of women at the Lupercalia at Rome ; but the odd part is to come. On the eve of March i, a girl sends to her lover,2 or the lad to the girl, three strands of thread in three different colours twisted together, and hidden in a basket of fruit or sweets or what not. This is bound about the right wrist, little finger, and big toe. Next morning, the lover who has received this seeks the lady and tries to get speech of her apart; if he succeeds, he flicks or pulls the skirt of her jacket, crying, iravco veopd ! " Tails up ! " as a wish for health and strength. The threads are thus worn till Easter Day, when they are cast into the fire and burnt, as some- thing holy. It would be unlucky for any one else to get hold of them.
Calymnos. From this island I have only a few notes. Five times a year — at Christmas, Easter, the Holy Apostles (June 29), on September 1, and St. Andrew's Day (late in November) — the people make cakes, sweetmeats, &c, and
1 Mr. M. E. Marriage kindly sends me the following note :
"Elard Hugo Meyer {Deutsche Volkskundcy Strassburg, 1898, p. 138 ff) in speaking of cleansing customs which still obtain among herdsman at the firs/ driving out of the cattle to pasture (p. 141) tells how in the Ciresenthal Baden the beasts are beaten crosswise on the back with palm. In Westphalia on the first of May young cows that have not yet calved are switched thrice on back, flank, and udder, while a rhyme is said over them to bring milk. So also by the lower Rhine and in Mecklenburg. Mountain ash and hazel switches cut under special conditions are used. Meyer mentions several other cases, among them an ancient Indian custom.
Connected with the beating of the animals would seem to be (p. 142) the cracking of whips over them to drive away the witches (Hexen auspatscheh) at Whitsuntide.
Truly none of these customs take place in March, but that might perhaps be accounted for by the difference in climate.
The Pelzenichel customs in Heidelberg (if indeed they have any connection with these, as for instance, by way of beating out the evil spirit of sickness) hold on two successive days, Klein-und Gross-Pelzenichel, about a week before Christmas — I forget the date. Children disguised and in sackcloth run about the street switching passers-by. "
* The lovers are called &pfio<rrd$ and Ap/ioar?/, which in ancient Greek meant " united." Pollux vouches for bpfioarris in the sense of betrothed husband in his day (2nd century A.D.). The threads are called 6 Mdprrjs "March."
Folklore from the Southern Sporades. 181
lay them upon the tombs of their dead. Children, beggars or strangers may eat them. The feast at the tomb was a regular institution amongst the ancients, and this is no doubt a survival of it. On May 21, in February before the Carnival, and at one other time, they make dishes of macaroni and cheese, or boil corn, and the dishes are taken from one house to the next. The same quantity is brought in as was taken out.
Miscellaneous Superstitions and Omens. The Evil Eye (to pariy fHaaicavia), which has already been mentioned, is feared in these islands, as everywhere. Skulls are set up in the vineyards on stakes, to ward it off, in Rhodes, Cos, and Samos. On the lintel of a new house a piece of wild onion (aypLoKpofi/jivSa or aa/ceXapovSa) is hung to keep off the Evil Eye. There is a Sacred Tree in Cos, near the village of Aspendiou, beside a little chapel. Opposite the tree there is a small window in the chapel. A sick child is brought in by the door and passed out through the window, if not too big, three times ; then some prayer is said, and a rag of the child's clothes is hung on the tree. Large trees are for the most part haunted (<TTo^aaTa),and if you sleep under one of them the spirit strikes you {$Twira£i)} Rivers and springs are haunted likewise; the spirits usually appear as beautiful women, but sometimes they take the shape of foam. Spirits of the springs throttle men. You must never sweep after sunset, for this is a sin. A sneeze means that some one is speaking of you ; a loud sneeze that he is speaking ill of you. People on hearing a sneeze utter some prayer or ejaculation, in which the title of 7r€pi8po/i,o$ (" run-about ") is given to the Deity. A noise in the ear betokens some evil which is to befall you. If a hen makes a noise like crowing, it is a bad omen.2 When a woman
1 Cos, Samos.
2 Mr. Marriage sends me the couplet :
A whistling maid and a crowing hen Are hateful alike to God and men. Compare also Terence, Phormio, iv. 4, 27, gallina cecinit> a portent.
1 82 Folklore from the Southern Sporades.
hears it, she generally throws the hen down the chimney upon the hearth; if she be a virtuous woman, the hen is killed. The following plan tells the sex of a child which is to be born. A bone taken from the head of the fish called scar (ovca/oos, scarus creticus) is placed on the mother without her knowing: the child will be of the same sex as the next person she calls. One of these divining bones is here exhibited.1 Treasure trove will turn into charcoal (avOpaicesi) unless you kill a cock ; or, if no cock is at hand, you may cut your little finger and drop the blood on the treasure. An old woman once showed my informant a piece of charcoal which had been part of a treasure thus transformed. The legend of Fairy Gold is attested for ancient Greece by the proverb av0pa/c€<i 6 Orjaavpos yuov (see Folk-Lore, vol. viii, p. 379). A quaint legend is told of the Lizard. The Holy Virgin, it is said, sighed so bitterly at the death of her son that her burning sighs set her robe afire. No one was at hand to quench it, but the Lizard poured water upon it from his mouth and saved the Virgin. Hence the Lizard is holy, and must not be killed.
It may be interesting to add, that a large kind of hawk is called in Cos a^eXou/o^a?, or the Tortoise-eater, because it catches a tortoise, carries it to a height, then drops it upon a rock and splits it, after which it eats the tortoise. It will be remembered that iEschylus is supposed to have been killed in Sicily by such a bird, which mistook his bald pate for a stone.
If one is cutting a fruit, or grinding coffee, or anything that smells, he who smells it must taste. Otherwise a man loses his sight, a woman with child miscarries. If you enter a room where this is going on, the cutter or grinder will always offer you a bit.
IV. — The Bridge of Antimachia. Antimachia was one of the cities of ancient Cos, and it still bears its old name, through the present site is not
» Presented by Mrs. Paton to the Society's Museum.
Folklore from the Southern Sporades. 1 83
exactly that of the old city. Not far from the place is an ancient bridge, known locally as 1} Kapdpa; atnd of this bridge the following poem tells. :
The Lay of the Kamara of Antimachia.
Deep down within the river-bed they founded the Kamara : Each morning they built up the stones, each evening they were
fallen. Then they cast lots, and lo the lot falls to the Master-workman.
(Quoth the Master :) " If I should lay my father there, I get no second father; If I should lay my brother there, I get no second brother ; If I should lay my mother there, where shall I find another ? If I should lay my sister there, I find no other sister ; If I should sacrifice my wife, a wife again 111 find me." Then by the nightingale he sends a message to the lady. " Go thou and tell my lady fair :
Let her not comb on Saturday, nor Sunday change her raiment, To the Kamara let her come on Monday in the morning." Away he flew, the thrice accurst, that thrice accursed creature, He flew and told his message :
" Comb not thyself on Saturday, nor Sunday change thy raiment, To the Kamara see thou come on Monday, in the morning." She combs her hair on Saturday, on Sunday changes raiment, On Monday, early in the morn, she comes to the Kamara : The Master-workman she beholds, and he was full of sorrow. " What ails thee, Master-workman, say, that thou art full of
sorrow ? " " My seal is fallen and is lost deep down in the Kamara." " O, Master-workman, have no fear, for I will go and find it." " Come, let her down, the lady fair, deep into the Kamara." She dug and still she deeper dug ; a human hand she findeth. " O Master-workman, take me up; a human hand I've found me." " Bring rubble-stones and mortar bring, to cover up the lady." " O Master-workman, haul me up, for I have loaves a-baking ! " " 'Tis thou hast leaven&d the loaves, another hand shall bake them : Bring rubble-stones and mortar bring, to cover up the lady." " O Master-workman, haul me up, for I must rear my children I " " 'Tis thou hast brought them to the birth, another wife shall
rear them.
184 Folklore from the Southern Sporades.
Bring rubble-stones and mortar bring, to cover up the lady." " O Master-workman, stay awhile, a dirge that I may sing me. We were three sisters, and all three a cruel doom awaited. One at the founding of the bath, one at the bridge was buried, And I the last, unhappy I, beneath the deep Kamara." " Bring rubble-stones and mortar bring, to cover up the lady." " As I now tremble every limb, so may the whole world tremble : As now the hairs upon my head, so tremble the Kamara : And as my tears are falling fast, so may the stone -work tumble." l
1 2*ri\OTr\€K^a rfjs Kapdpas rfjs 9Avnpa\las.
Kara peafjs rov irorapov kyrifav rrjv Kapapav*
Ka&e rayy* e^r/faffi, Kade fipabv c^aXa.
Kal pi\vovtri rov /jnrovXcrfj^ Kal irifret rov paoropov- (Maor.) va (idXut raQevraKt* pov *</>£vrri bkv Kapvw &XXo,
vd fiaXu) rdbeptyaKi pov, *bep$dxi weia bkv Kapvta.
va (idXta rrjv pavvovXa pov, pdvva bkv Kapvta &XXij*
va fiaXto rrj 'bep<povXa pov, 'beptyrj bkv Kapvui &XXtj.
va fidXta rr) yvvalKa pov, yvvalta KapvQ iraXi.
iridvei privy, rfjs Xvyepfjs 'wo ro irovXt raqbdvC
&pe va 'wjjs rfjs Xvyepfjs'
ro trafifiaro pr) yreviaryy rrjv Kvptaicrj pr) 'XXaiij,
Kal rr) bevripa ro ra^y arijv Kapapr) va ^rafi;,
Keivo ro rpioKardparo, ro rpiaKarapapivo,
eirfjye ical rfjs elirc'
ro adfifiaro va xT€ViaTV* T*lv Kvp«**d ^a 'XXafiy,
Kal rrjv bevripa ro ra\v errrjv k a papa vo tyral%.
ro aafifiaro Krevi^erai, rt)v Kvptatcrjv aXXdaaei,
Ka\ rrjv bevripa ro rayy ottjv Kapapdve Qrdvei.
PXiiret rov irpuiropdirroprf, Kelrov 'iroofioXw pivot* " ri &x.eis, irpiaropdarope [sic] Kelaai 'noafioXwpkvos ; " ro (iovXwrfipi pov viae (Tra fivdri rfjs Kapdpas, " evvo&a (rov, irpwropdarope, rat eyw va aov ro widaw. " tcidve, Kpipa rr) Xvyepr) era fivdrj rfjs Kapapas"
iaKaXi(ev effJCaXife, (iplaKei avdpwirov \ipt» " wdpe pe frputropdarope, icr)f3pa rdvOp&wov x*Pu " Qtpre x«M**a *a* ir*1^ov rt) Xvyepfj va x^'ow.
• Morning. exri(aat has the present ending, by analogy, for exrlfav. t Lq^ xjnjQov. € Father. d Xvwrjpivos.
Folklore from the Southern Sporades. 185
Such is the song which I heard a few months ago in a little coffee-house of Antimachia. There are several Greek poems which embody a similar tradition, the best-known being the Bridge of Arta (Passow, No. 511, 512) ; but none is so fine as this.1 Although in translation much of the dignity of the original has vanished along with its graceful rhythm, I think it is sufficiently clear that the piece has lost little by centuries of transmission from mouth to mouth. There is a strong dramatic force in it, and a severe self- restraint, which mark the composer as a true artist. In a few words the poet has shown us the struggle between affection and faith, for we must suppose that the master- workman regarded the sacrifice as a religious duty, as well as a thing due to his employers. Not less remarkable is the Master's interruption of his wife's lament; he seems, as it were, driven to drown her bitter words and get his duty done, or else he must yield. As a character-study it may be compared with the story of Iphigeneia.
" ovpe /ie, irpuro/iaoropij [sic], ki i\w J'**/***** Oetrfieva. " etrv 'oai ttov ra {vfiuxrcs, fiaWrj a (*) ra tpovpvitrr]"
Qepre \aXtKta Kal irrjXov rff Xvyeprj va \rlaut. " avpe /ie, irputro/iaaTopa [sic], ** *XW waitlu(h) ya OpiyptMf. " etrv Vai irov ra yevvrjtres, fiaXXrj a ra 'vadpd\let*9
tyepre \aXtKia Kal irrjXo rfj Xvyepij va \ritru}. " a, trrdtrov irputrofiatTTOprj, va Vw Va (c) fioipioXoyt"
rpels dbcpQabes eifiaado [sic], Kal rpels KaKOfiOipdbei.
TJ flVJfl. €\Tiadri tTTO XoVTpO, K Yf &XXrf OTO y€</>Vpi,
k£ eyut f) fiapvopt£iKrj trra j3vdrj rijs Kafidpas.
il (pepre xaXUia Kal ttiXo r^j Xvyepfj va \ritrtit.
" dfs rpefiet to KopfiaKi fiov va Tpk.fi 6 Koafioi oXos'n ws rpefiovv to. fiaXXaKia fiov va rpifirj ^ Kafiapa' its TT€<provfTi ra bcucpva fiov va irityrovv ra \aXlKia
1 Other parallels, kindly sent me by various correspondents, are : Gerard, The Land beyond the Forest (Transylvania), vol. i. p. 278 ; and as a Gypsy tale, hopelessly corrupt and nonsensical, F. H. Groome, Gypsy Folk Tales, 1899.
(*) 0a. (b) iratbia. (c)
€va»
CHRISTMAS MUMMERS AT RUGBY.
BY W. H. D. ROUSE, M.A.
[Read at Meeting of 20th December, 1898.)
It is well known that in many parts of England Mumming Plays are still exhibited at various seasons, particularly at Christmas. Besides the dances, such as the Hobby Horse at Salisbury, the Hobby Horse or Horn Dance in Stafford- shire (F, L., vii., 382, with plate), there are other observ- ances accompanied by dialogue.
The Christmas Play, of which an account follows below, seems to have been general in England at one time. It still lingers in several parts of the country, and more than one version has been printed. The fullest known to me is that given in the Folk-Lore Journal (vol. iii., pp. 87 ff.) from Dorsetshire. Another has been reprinted by Chambers in his Book of Days, vol. ii., pp. 740-1 (with woodcut), from Tales and Traditions of Tenby , and The Peace Egg, There are further the Sussex Tipteerers Play (F. L. J.t vol. ii., pp. 1 ff), and in F. L. J.> vol. iv., pp. 98 ff, we find another version taken from an old MS, which the players used. The place of the last is not stated.1 It is still acted each year at Rugby and in the country round.
I do not propose to write further on the genesis and history of these plays, as I have not access to all the books referred to. However, I would suggest that it would be
1 The following references, partly taken from F. L. J., vol. ii., pp. 88-89, may be useful: — Whitehaven: Hone's Every Day Book, p. 823 (ed. 1866). Worcestershire: Notes and Queries, 2 ser., vol. xi.f p. 271. Yorkshire • printed by J. Johnson, Rotation Office Yard, Kirkgate, Leeds (later by Wm. Walker, London and Otley), and worked up into a children's play by J. H. Ewing, The Peace Egg. See also Old English Customs, by J. H. Ditchfield. North Ireland: Notes and Queries, 4 ser., vol. x., p. 487. See also N and Q., 5 ser., vol. iv., p. 511 (Leeds and Sheffield), HalliwelPs fihymes and Tales, pp. 306-310, N. and Q., 5 ser., vol. x., p. 489 (Hastings), Readers are referred to this paper for much interesting information. It is to be hoped that the Dumbleton version mentioned (p. 113) will be made public.
Christmas Mummers at Rugby. 1 87
very interesting if the Society would see its way to publish- ing a collected edition of all the texts hitherto printed, to- gether with any more versions which this paper may recall to the minds of our members. Then we may be in a position to tackle, perhaps to solve, questions connected with origins. There is a great family likeness between the versions which suggests a common origin. It is possible that the plays may owe their origin to some one strolling company ; for we know that the glee-singers of the west country were taught in this way by choirs which lost their employment in town and had to tramp for a living. It is strange, but true, that the famous Coventry miracles have had no influence on the Rugby versions, for Beelzebub appears elsewhere. The allusion to Jamaica is an indication of date, though it is probably an interpolation ; for in the seventeenth century criminals were sometimes transported thither to work on the plantations. The rack is also perhaps alluded to.
The version I give comes from Newbold, a village which lies a couple of miles from Rugby. The town version is not half so long, and besides, St. George has turned into King George, while the unsophisticated villagers have retained the old title of Saint. The version from New- bold will be printed in the text, the town variants as foot- notes.
The methods of acting are the same in either. The actors huddle together in a group, and as the turn comes for each he steps forward and so " enters." The Newbold troupe showed some dramatic ability, both in expression and gesture. The postures and grouping were natural and untaught ; see the scene where the Turkish knight falls. Their costumes were simple, and evidently made by them- selves.
Characters.
Rugby. (1) Father Christmas. (2) King George.
(3) Turkish Knight. (4) Doctor.
(5) Chimney Sweep.
1 88 Christmas Mummers at Rugby.
Newbold. Father Christmas . . . John How. St. George .... J. Walton. Turkish Knight . . . Henry Clarke.
Doctor Brown T. Pacey. Moll Finney (Mother of the
Turkish Knight) . . Edward Forster.
Humpty Jack .... J. Harris.
Beelzebub ... C. Allis.
Big Head and Little Wits . G. Haywood.
Costumes (Newbold).
Father Christmas : Cap, long white beard, staff, the clothes deckt out with a variety of ribbons and snippets.
St. George : As becomes a British hero, he wears a military cap (of the Rugby Boy's Brigade), with stripes of tape sewn on breast and arm ; on the upper arm a kind of cross or star. He bears a sword. Corked moustache.
Turkish Knight : Stripes of tape on breast, and (of all things in the world) a cross on his arm; a kind of beehive hat, quite oriental- looking, and very likely traditional. Sword, corked moustache.
Doctor Brown: Very professional tall hat, with a spray of leaves and feathers in the brim. Corked moustache.
Moll Finney : Girl's hat and skirt.
Humpty Jack : Rags and snippets all over his coat, and on his back a number of rag dolls.
Beelzebub: Face blackened, long coat turned inside out, a kind of turban on his head, and a huge club of the shape of a pestle He does nothing but " enter " and say a line or two ; did he originally carry off the Turkish Knight, or is he the repre- sentative of the dragon ? The Warwickshire mummers never heard of a dragon.
Big Head and Little Wits: Coat turned inside out, head padded to appear big. His object is merely to sing a song.
[The players grouped together in the background. Father
Christmas steps forward.] Enter Father Christmas.
Father C I open the door, I enter in,
|
I'LATE II. |
|||
|
BBiiili |
|||
|
CHRISTMAS MUMMERS, NEWBOLD. THE FIGHT. [7o fit* fiag* l8S- |
Christmas Mummers at Rugby. 189
I see bold face before I win, Whether I sit, stand, or fall, I'll do my duty to please you all
In comes I, old Father Christmas, Christmas, Christmas or not,
I hope old Father Christmas Will never be forgot A room, a room, a gallant room,
A room to let us in ! We are not of the ragged sort
But of the royal King. Old activity, new activity,
That never has been known, The dreadfullest battle on earth was seen
In this room shall be shown. If you don't believe these words I say, Step in, Saint George,1 and clear the way.
Enter St. George, flourishing his Sword.
St. G. 9 In comes I, St. George, St George,
The boy of courage bold, With my broad sword and spear
I won ten pound of gold. I slew the fiery dragon,
I drove him to the slaughter, And by these means I won, The King of Egypt's daughter. 8 And if any man dare step within this room I'll hack him up as small as dust,
And send him to Jamaica To be made into mincepie crust.
1 Or King George.
* In comes I, King George, King George is my name ;
With my sword and pistol by my side. I'm bound to win the game.
• Go on, Sir !
It's not within your power,
I'll chop you up to mincemeat
In less than half an hour.
1 90 Christmas Mummers at Rugby.
Enter Turkish Knight, confronting St. George.
T K. In comes I, a Turkish Knight,
In Turkey land I learnt to fight ! I'll battle with thee, St. George ; And if thy blood is hot, I'll quickly set it cold again. St. G. Tut tut, thou little fellow !
Thy talk is very bold, Just like these little Turks,
As I've been told. If thou be a Turkish Knight, Pull out thy sword, and fight ! Or pull out thy purse, and pay : I'll have satisfaction,
Before I go away. T. K. There's no satisfaction about it.
My head is made of iron,
My body's lined with steel, Therefore I'll battle with thee, St. George, To see which on the grave shall fall. St. G. Draw out thy sword, and fight.
They fight : Turkish Knight falls. Father Christmas approaches,
draws out a bottle, and says,
Father C. Fear not, I have a little bottle by my side, In it hocum slocum aliquid spam, I touch the root of this man's tongue And the crown of his head, Will drive the heat through his body, And he will rise again.
Turkish Knight kneels before St. George and says,
T K. St. George, St. George, pardon me, pardon me,
For I'll ever be thy slave. St. G. What, pardon a Turkish Knight !
Never ! arise once more and try thy might.
They fight \ Turkish Knight falls, supported by Father Christmas.
CHRISTMAS MUMMERS, NEWBOLD SLAYING OF THE TURKISH KNIGHT
\Te fatt pagt 190.
Christmas Mummers at Rugby. 191
Enter Moll Finney,
Moll. St. George, St. George, what hast thou done !
Thou hast surely ruined thyself By killing my only son ! 1 Is there a doctor to be found, To cure this man lies bleeding on the ground ?
Kneels, and hides her head in her hand.
Enter Doctor.
D. In comes I, the Doctor Brown,
Cleverest doctor in the town.
O yes, there is a doctor to be found
To cure this man lying on the ground. Moll. What's your fee ?
D. Ten guineas is my fee,
But five I will take of thee. Moll. Thank'ye, doctor : what can you cure ?
D. Hipsey, pipsey, palsy, gout,
Pains within and pains without.
Bring me an old man that has been
In his grave threescore years and ten,
1 Five pounds for a doctor !
No doctor to be found. Ten pounds for a doctor !
No doctor to be found. Twenty pounds for a doctor !
No doctor to be found.
Enter Doctor.
D. Oh yes, Oh yes, there is
A noble doctor to be found, To cure this man
Lying on the ground. What's your price ?
Seven pound. What can you cure ? Hipsy, pipsy, palsy, gout, If the devil's in I'll quickly fetch him out. Here Jack, take a bit of my nif-nack up your sniff-snack. Rise and fight again.
192 Christmas Mummers at Rugby.
With a broken tooth, 111 pull it out And put it in again. Moll. If that's true, thou art a clever doctor.
D. Clever ! D'ye think I'm like these quack doctors,
Go walking up and down the streets ? They tell more lies in five minutes
Than I do in seven years. I have a little bottle by my side,
In it galvanic drops. I twist the root of this man's tongue
And the crown of his head, I'll drive the heat through his body
And he will arise again St. G. Arise, arise, thou curly Turkish Knight,
Go back to thine own land, and tell
What old England has done for thee. Tell 'em we will fight
Forty thousand men like thee.
Enter Humptyjack.
H. J. In comes I, old Humpty Jack, Wife and family on my back, Some at the workhouse, some at the rack, I'll bring the rest when I come back.1 Roast beef, plum pudding,
Old ale and mince pie, Who likes it better
Than old Father Christmas and I ? Father C. A ha ha !
A mug of your Christmas Ale, sir,
Will make us merry and sing, But money in our pockets
Is much a better thing.
1 Rugby version inserts :
Times hard, money small, Every copper will help us all.
CHRISTMAS MUMMERS, NEWBOLD. HUMPTY JACK,
|
I'l ME VI 1m H 111 CHRISTMAS MUMMERS. NEWBOLD. [Tofattfagt 193. |
Christmas Mummers at Rugby. 1 93
Now ladies and gentlemen
Give us at your ease, Give Christmas pies
Or what you please.
Enter Beelzebub. l
B. Here comes I, Beelzebub,
On my shoulder I carry my club,
In my hand a dripping pan,
Please to give us all you can. [Collects money.
Enter Big Head.
B. H. In comes I, Big Head and Little Wits,
My head's so big, and my wits so small, I'll sing a song to please you alL
Sings.
There was an old man came over the sea,
A ha, but I won't have him ! Came over the sea to marry me ;
And his old gray noddle, his old gray noddle, His old gray noddle kept shaking.
My mother she told me to open the door,
A ha, but I won't have him ! I opened the door, and he fell on the floor ;
And his old gray noddle, his old gray noddle, His old gray noddle kept shaking.
My mother she told me to get him a chair,
A ha, but I won't have him ! I got him a chair, and he sat like a bear,
And his old gray noddle, his old gray noddle, His old gray noddle kept shaking.
My mother she told me to make him some toast,
1 Rugby version has this instead of Beelzebub
Enter Sweep.
In comes I, little Johnny Sweep, All the money I earn I mean to keep. Money I'll have, if you don't give Any money, I'll sweep you all out. VOL. X. O
194 Christmas Mummers at Rugby.
A ha, but I won't have him ! I made him some toast, and he ate like a ghost, And his old gray noddle, his old gray noddle His old gray noddle kept shaking.
My mother she told me to make him some cake,
A ha, but I won't have him ! I made him some cake, and it made his tooth ache,
And his old gray noddle, his old gray noddle, His old gray noddle kept shaking. My mother she told me to take him to church,
A ha, but I won't have him. I took him to church, and he fell off his perch,
And his old gray noddle, his old gray noddle, His old gray noddle kept shaking.
My mother she told me to take him to bed,
A ha, but I won't have him. I took him to bed, next mom he was dead,
And his old gray noddle, his old gray noddle, His old gray noddle stopt shaking.1
In the performance, each of the players had one or more songs ; but most of them were music-hall ditties or the like. The above is clearly an old folk-song, and a good one too ; so I give it along with its air.
Quick.
1 Miss Agnes Taylor has been kind enough to send me two verses of a Scotch version of this song, to the tune of Norah Creena, which I hold over, in she may be able to recover the whole song.
" SQAKTKTQUACLT," » OR THE BENIGN - FACED, THE OANNES OF THE NTLAKAPAMUQ, BRITISH COLUMBIA.
(Read at Meeting of 2ist/une, 1898.)
The following story is one of several which the writer recently obtained from Chief Mischelle of Lytton. It is not complete as the old Indians used to relate it; he had forgotten the latter portions of it It was originally so long that those listening to it invariably went to sleep before it was concluded. Few Indians, I was informed, know so much of it as Mischelle. It is important, therefore, to place on record what I was able to gather from him. To those familiar with Dr. G. M. Dawson's Notes on the Shuswap People of British Columbia* it will be seen at once that Sqaktkt- quaclt of the Ntlakapamuq and Skiiap of the Shuswaps are one and the same person, only in the case of the former we have an abundance of detail which is wanting in Dr. Dawson's account of the latter. Mischelle was a good raconteur, and took the liveliest pleasure in relating to me his store of lore. My method of re- cording was as follows : I made copious notes at the time, and expanded them immediately after. When written out, I read them to him and corrected them where necessary according to his instructions. They are, therefore, in their present form sub- stantially as he gave them.
In the remote past the red-headed woodpecker was a very handsome man who had two wives, a black bear and a grizzly bear. They were not animals 8 then, but women in bear-form. When the woodpecker was a youth he bad gone away by himself into a solitary spot, as was the custom of young men, and fasted and practised himself in athletic exercises, asking each morning before sunrise that Kokpg (the chief) would bless him. Kokpg
1 In the spelling of the native words I have followed the phonetics of Dr. Boas as used in his Reports on the N. W. Tribes of Canada,
s Trans. Roy. Soc. Canada, 1891, Section ii.
* In the mythological stories all animals were originally human. Their present bestial natures were imposed upon them by some hero or other of the old time, for some misdeed or by the enchantment of some wizard. Do we not see in this belief the explanation of their totemic systems and crests ?
O 2
196 " Sqaktktquaclt" or the Benign-Faced.
heard his prayer, and as a sign of his favour gave him the beauti- ful red cap which now distinguishes his avial descendants to this day. When he had thus secured the favour and blessing of Kokp£, he returned from the mountain and married his two wives. He became a great hunter. Six sons were born to him by his wives — three by each. After the children were born, he lost his love for the grizzly and showed a marked preference for the black bear. This made the grizzly bear very angry and jealous ; but she hid her feelings and determined upon a revenge which in- cluded not only her co-wife and three sons, but also her husband himself. So one day, when the woodpecker was away hunting, she called her eldest son to her and gave him the following in- structions : " The black bear and I are going out root-digging to-day. When we have gone, I want you to make some berry- soup. You must make it very thin and poor. The black bear's boy will also make some. He will make his very thick and rich. When you have made yours, give it to the black bear's boy, and he will give you his in exchange. Your soup will make their stomachs ache. When you have eaten your soup, ask your half- brothers to go and bathe with you in the river. When you are in the water together, seek an opportunity to drown your half- brothers, the black bear's children, and roast the youngest for me, that I may eat him for my supper when I return to-night" The son promised to do as his mother had bidden him. The black bear in some way got to know what the grizzly had in- structed her eldest son to do, and warned her first-born to be on his guard against his half-brother. She further told him to make some soup also, and give it to the grizzlies in return for theirs, but to make his soup rich and thick and tempting, and then they would eat heartily of it and become very full and heavy, so that when they went into the water they would be unable to swim. After each of the mothers had thus instructed her first-born, they set out together to dig roots. The root-ground was some distance from their home, and on reaching it they sat down side by side to rest before beginning the work. Sitting thus, the grizzly bear presently began to admire the black bear's hair. " What lovely hair you have, dear sister ! " said she, stroking it as she spoke. " But I see some lice in it ; lay your head in my lap, and I will take them out for you." The black bear did as the other sug- gested, and the grizzly made pretence to crush the lice between
" Sqaktktquaclt" or the Benign-Faced. 197
her nails. She continued this for a little while, and then com- plaining that her fingers were sore with killing the vermin, sug- gested that she should be allowed to kill them with her teeth. The black bear, suspecting nothing, assented to this also, merely admonishing her to be very careful not to bite her. The grizzly promised to use care, but, getting her rivaFs head in a favourable position, presently caught the black bear by the base of the skull with her sharp and powerful teeth, which, penetrating into the brain, killed her instantly. Leaving the body where it lay, she hastened back towards home again. On coming near home, she stopped at a cross trail to await the woodpecker, who always returned by that trail from his hunting. She presently saw him approaching; and as he drew near, assuming her most pleasing manner, she cried out to him thus : " O dear husband, I am so glad you have come ! I was on my way home from the root- digging, and knowing that you always came by this road, I sat down to wait for you. You look very tired ; come and rest with me awhile, and we will go home together. You must be weary after your long hunt ; rest your head in my lap, and tell me what game you have brought home." The woodpecker, who was really tired from his hunt, and inclined to rest, did as his grizzly wife suggested, and laid his head on her lap. Presently she asked : " May I smooth your beautiful red cap ? You have ruffled it in the forest." The request being granted, after she had smoothed the ruffled cap she began to stroke his hair gently and caress- ingly. A few moments later she cried out : " O dear husband, you have lice in your hair; let me take the nasty creatures out for you ! " The woodpecker, who was a very clean person, was greatly distressed to learn that there were lice in his head, and readily consented to have them taken out, straightway laying his head face downwards in her lap for the purpose. With- out loss of a moment the revengeful, jealous wife seized the favourable opportunity and caught her husband by the back of his head with her sharp teeth and made them meet in his skull, killing him instantly. Flinging his body into the bush, she hastened home, anxious to taste the supper she had bidden her son prepare for her. In the meantime events at home had not turned out as she had desired. After the mothers had gone to the root-ground, the two eldest boys made their soup as they had been instructed, and when it was cooked each exchanged soup with the
198 " Sqaktktquaclt" or the Benign- Faced.
other. When the black-bear-boy shared the soup he had received from the grizzly boy with his own brothers, he bade them eat sparingly of it. When the little grizzly boys tasted the soup they had received, they found it so nice that they ate it all up at once ; but the little black-bear-boys complained of theirs, and eat but little, declaring that it had no more flavour than water. When the meal was done, the eldest of the black-bear-boys suggested that they should all go down to the river and bathe, and play in the water. As this suited the plans of the other, it was agreed to, and to the river they went. On reaching the bank, the black bear's eldest son said : " Let our two youngest brothers have a swim together, and see who will beat. The two little ones jumped forthwith into the river, but not being able to swim were both drowned. They were pulled out by the others and laid on the bank. The two middle boys now made an attempt, and were drowned in like manner. " Now let us try," said the grizzly boy to the other, intending to drown him when he got him into the water. The other agreed. They both jumped into the river; but as the grizzly boy had eaten so much soup, he was is no con- dition for swimming, and in the struggle which followed was himself drowned. The black-bear-boy now returned to shore, pulling his half-brothers after him. When he was out of the water he took his own two brothers and held them head downwards, so that all the water ran out of their lungs, and they presently began to breathe once more, and in a little time were all right and well again. He then built a big fire, and taking the youngest of the grizzly boys he spitted him with a big stick and set him to roast before the fire. The other two he threw into the fire, which soon reduced them to ashes, so that no sign of them remained. When the little grizzly boy was sufficiently roasted he stood him up on his legs by the fire to keep warm for the old grizzly mother's supper. When this was done, he called his two brothers to him, and told them that they would now have to leave their home and run away by themselves. So the second brother, whose name was Clatkeq^ which means in English " Funny-man," took his little brother on his shoulders, and they all three thus set off together as fast as they could, and when the grizzly mother got home they were well on their way. The first sight that met her eyes as she entered the
1 Mischelle had never heard of a name for the eldest boy.
11 Sqaktktquaclt" or the Benign-Faced. 199
house was the roast body of her youngest son, the hot steam from which made her mouth water. " Ah ! " said she, " my son is a good boy ; he has done what I told him, I see ; and now I shall have the pleasure of eating the body of my rival's child. But I wonder where my own children are," she went on, as she looked round the house in search of her sons. " Ah ! there they are in bed, I see ; they are doubtless tired from their exertion in the water and have fallen asleep. I won't disturb them till I have eaten my supper." And without approaching the bed, whereon lay three small logs, placed there by the eldest of the black-bear-boys for the purpose of misleading her, she fell to, all unconscious of what she was eating, and devoured the carcase of her own child* Now it had happened that her last child was born just about the same time as the black-bear-mother gave birth to her third son, and in order to distinguish hers from the black bear's she had made three incisions on the claws of her son's fore-paws.1 She had nearly eaten the whole body when the little talker-bird [not identified] alighted on the roof of the house and began to whistle and talk. Said he : " Oh, you shocking, unnatural mother ! why are you eating the body of your own child ? How can you be so wicked ? " " Be off with your babble ! " answered the bear, with her mouth full of meat " What do you know about the matter? You talk too much." But the bird whistled and chattered on, and continued to upbraid her for eating her own child. " It is not my child," said the grizzly. " There are my three children in bed yonder." " Are you sure ? " replied the bird ; " look at the claws in your hand." The grizzly did so, and perceived in a moment the three familiar marks which she had made on her youngest son's nails. Springing up, she rushed to the bed, and, snatching off the blanket, discovered that what she had taken for the forms of her children were only three rotten logs. Raging with fury, she rushed about in search of the other children, realising that she had been outwitted by the son of the murdered black bear. Presently discovering their trail, she hastened after them, vowing vengeance as she went.
In the meantime, the three boys had been making the best of
1 It is difficult to gather whether the children of the woodpecker by his bear-wives had human or animal forms at this time. Sometimes the recital seems to imply the former, at another time the latter, as here. After the flight there is no doubt that the black bear's sons had human forms.
' Sqaktktquactt" or the Benign- Faced.
their way through the forest. Presently the youngest1 said to his brothers : " The old grizzly wil] be after us, and must soon over- take us. Now, if you will do as I tell you, all will iJe m II. I want you to be quick and find me some wasps, some rats, and some dry wood-dust." His brothers did as he requested, and had barely accomplished their task when the old grizzly was seen rush- ing after them. They both became much alarmed, and thought their last hour was come ; but their little brother told them they must al! climb a tree, and take the wasps and ihe ants and the wood-dust with them. . This they quickly did, managing to get among the branches just as their enemy reached the fool of the Iree. Being unable to climb, she had resort to cunning Dis- sembling, she began to mildly scold them, telling them their father had sent her after them to bring them home; that they were naughty boys, and that if they didn't come back with her their father would beat her with a big stick and be very angry. The little one whispered to his eldest brother, bidding him tell her to open her eyes and her mouth and her ears as wide as she could, and look upwards. Thinking it best to humour them, she cc plied. "Now sit down and open your arms wide, and I will drop my brothers down to you," said the eldest again at his little brother's suggestion. Again the grizzly complied ; and as she sat thus, with her breast and face all exposed, expecting to receive the brothers as they fell, she received the wasps and ants and dust instead; and what with the stinging of the wasps, and the biting of the ants, and the dust in her eyes and ears and mouth, she was fain to leave the boys and attend to herself. While she was rolling and scratching and tearing herself, in her agony and pain, the boys slipped down from the tree and made off as quickly as they could. It was a long time before the wretched grizzly was able to see again, for, in addition to the dust which had filled her eyes, the wasps had stung her so badly about the face that her swollen cheeks and eyelids quite obstructed her sight. But soon as she was able to see her way again, she started in pursuit once more, vowing a terrible revenge when she should catch them. As the boys were hurrying along, they came to the dwelling of an old man who went by the name of "Ground-Bog." He was sitting
1 From this time onwards Ihe youngest, who seems to have been suddenly endowed with supernormal " power," occupies the foremost place iolhe reel the elder brother becoming a very iul-niiiuiir iJL.-riun.i-t-.
11 Sqaktktquaclt" or the Benign-Faced. 201
in his doorway as they passed, and having knowledge of their dis- tress he accosted them kindly. "Hullo, children !" said he, "keep your spirits up, I'll help you, and hinder the old grizzly when she comes by. You run on to the river, and my brother the ferryman there will put you over the river before the grizzly can overtake you. I have sent word to him by the talking bird that you are coming, and will want to cross in a hurry." The boys thanked the old man and ran on towards the river. By this time, however, the angry grizzly was after them again, and they had not gone far beyond Ground-hog's when she arrived at his house. As she was dashing past, the little old man popped his head out of his door, which was fashioned by two large stones, after the manner of a spring trap, which he could open and shut from within, and called out to the grizzly to stop a moment She made to rush past him ; but he laughed so exasperatingly at her woeful plight, and mocked and abused her so roundly, that he at length pro- voked her to turn aside for the purpose of punishing him. The little man waited till she was quite close, scoffing at her the while ; and when she sought to seize him he suddenly popped down his hole, pulling his door close after him with a sudden click that nearly took the old grizzly's nose off. Seeing that he was safe from her reach, she started off again after the boys, but had not gone a dozen yards when Ground-hog opened his door and popped his head out again, and jeered and taunted and mocked her worse than before. Though loth to delay, so biting and exasperating were the words he flung at her, that she half- turned to make for him once more. " Come on, come on, you old cannibal, you murderess and child-eater, come on ! I'm not afraid of you, and I'll tell you what I think of you ! " There was no enduring such language as this from a ground-hog; so she turned aside again and rushed at the little old fellow, who waited till she was nearly upon him, and then, with a scoffing laugh, scuttled down his hole, closing his door as before. This delay, which good-natured Ground-hog had caused the grizzly, enabled the boys to get to the river, jump into the waiting boat, and be ferried over before their enemy got to the bank. As the boys jumped out of the boat, the ferryman, who was known by the same name as his brother, told them not to trouble themselves about the grizzly any more, she would never trouble them again ; that he was going to punish and make an end of her for her great wickedness. The
202 " Sqaktktquaclt," or the Benign-Faced.
three boys went on their way much relieved, wondering how the little ferryman was going to outwit and punish the great grizzly- woman. Earlier in the day, before the boys arrived, on learning from the talking-bird what a wicked woman the grizzly was, and that she was pursuing the boys and would desire to cross the river in his boat, he went to his food-cellar, and taking all his store of food, he carried it to the river's bank. Calling all the fish in the river to him, he threw them the food, promising to give then a daily supply ever after, if they would help him that day. They consented to do so, and asked what he wished them to do. He told them that later in the day he would have to ferry the grizzly- woman across, and that he would make her sit in a hole, which he would make for the purpose in the bottom of his canoe, and that as she sat there they were to all come and bite a piece out of her, the little trout first, and then the bigger ones, and then the salmon trout, and then the salmon themselves, and last of all the big sturgeon. They readily promised to do as he wished, the more so as the grizzly's carcase was to be theirs afterwards. The boys had barely landed when the grizzly appeared on the opposite bank, and shouted for the ferryman to come and put her over. He was busily engaged in making the hole in his boat's bottom, and cried out that he could not come over for a little while as he had to mend a hole in his boat that one of the boys he had just landed had made as he was jumping out of it. " Oh ! never mind the hole," shouted the impatient grizzly ; " 1 am in a great hurry to cross, I cannot wait." " But I could never bring you over with my boat in this condition," answered Ground-hog, as he knocked the last piece out of the hole ; " I must really mend it first," " I cannot be delayed in this manner," called out the grizzly ; " my business will not admit of delay. Come across at once ; I will risk the passage." The Ground-hog, having made the hole, no longer had any reason for delay ; so after making the grizzly promise to do exactly what he told her, he sat in the far end of his canoe so that the fore part which had the hole in it rose completely out of the water, and enabled him to cross without letting the water in. When he reached the other side he pointed out the big hole in the bottom to the grizzly, telling her that it was very risky to attempt the passage with the boat such a condition, and that the only possible way to cross would be for her to sit down in the hole, and thus prevent the mn
" Sqaktktquaclt" or the Benign- Faced. 203
from entering. This the grizzly consented to do, and straight- way sat herself down on the hole, telling Ground-hog to hurry " Now, don't move on any account, " said he, as he pushed off, " or we shall both be drowned." The boat had not gone far when the little trout began snapping at that portion of the grizzly's body which protruded through the hole. At the first snap the grizzly gave a start, and half rose from her place, so that the water rushed in. " Sit down, and don't move again, I beseech you," cried Ground-hog, "you'll drown us both if you are not more careful. Is a flea-bite enough to make you risk our lives ? " The grizzly had scarcely settled herself in the hole a second time, when the bigger trout made a dash at her, biting big pieces out of her. She cried out and moved again ; but seeing the water rush in, and urged by the remonstrance of the ferryman, who pretended to be greatly alarmed for their safety, she was fain to stop the hole with her body once more. The salmon-trout now attacked her, and again the pain made her rise from the hole, only to drop back into it a moment later ; for the boat was now more than half full of water, and she believed that they would surely go down, as the gound-hog vehemently pointed out, if she suffered any more water to enter the boat. And thus the wretched grizzly was torn and bitten first by one fish and then by another, rising out of the hole after each bite, and declaring she could stand it no longer, only to drop back again a moment later, as the rising water urged her to stop the leak for her own safety's sake, until the great sturgeon rushing at her tore her entrails out and she dropped dead in the boat. Thus did she miserably perish and suffer for her misdeeds. The boys had waited in hiding on their side of the river ; and when they saw the grizzly's end, they thanked Ground-hog for his help and continued their journey with easy minds. When they had gone on their way some little distance further, they began to feel very hungry, having eaten nothing since they left home. Moreover, it was camping time; so a halt was proposed, and while the two elder brothers sat wondering how they should procure food for themselves, the younger one strolled off by himself. He had not gone far when he observed a large elk before him. Straight- way transforming himself into a little humming-bird, he flew at the elk, and entering it by the fundament passed clean through and came out of its mouth, thus causing it to fall dead where it stood. Having done this, he assumed his boy's form again and sat
204 " Sqaktktquaclt" or the Benign- Faced.
on the antlers of the elk to await his brothers, who, having missed him, now came to look for him, and were greatly surprised to find him sitting on the antlers of a recently killed elk. When ques- tioned, he pretended ignorance of its presence there; but the second brother suspected that he knew more than he would tell, and was in no way surprised at events which befel later. Next day as they went on their way, they came to a large beaver pond. Said the eldest brother, as he saw the beavers : " How I would like some beaver-tail for supper to-night; there is nothing so delicious as beaver-tail." The little one said nothing ; but pre- sently, when the camp-ground had been chosen for the night, he strolled off by himself along the edge of the lake, and stooping down drank of the water till the lake was quite dry. He then took a stick and killed all the beavers one after another as they ran out of their holes, and piling them one on the top of the other sat down upon the topmost and awaited his brothers' pre- sence. Seeing him seated on what appeared to them a tree stump they called to him to come to camp ; but as he took no notice of them, they came to fetch him, and great indeed was their astonish- ment to see that what they had taken for a tree stump was a pile of freshly-killed beavers. " Now, brother," said he to the eldest, " you will be able to have beaver-tail for supper." The second one was now quite sure in his mind that his little brother possessed great "medicine," or power, and recalled to the elder one's memory the mysterious way their supper of the night before had been pro- vided for them, as he endeavoured to persuade him of the same. But the elder brother laughed at the idea, and would not believe in this suddenly-acquired power of his little brother. The little one himself had offered no explanation of the beavers' presence, only requesting that his brothers should take out all the beavers' eyes for him and thread them on a cord. This they did, and he bound the string of eyes round his head and lay down to sleep. On the following morning the eldest brother arose early and waked the other two, but the little fellow declared that he was not ready to start yet. At this the eldest brother threatened to go on and leave him behind. "All right," replied the little one, "go on if you want to ; I shall not come yet." The eldest brother did so, taking with him the second brother, who was very reluctant to leave his little brother, whom he had hitherto carried all the way on his shoulders, thus behind. He tried to persuade the other
11 Sqaktktquaclt" or the Benign-Faced. 205
to wait, but he would not hear of it After they had started, the second brother kept looking back as they proceeded, hoping to see his little brother coming after them ; but he still slept by the fire and made no effort to follow them. And now suddenly there arose a great flood, and the waters spread rapidly over the land. The two brothers made for some rising ground close by, the second one looking anxiously back from time to time in the direction of their late camp. " Our brother will surely be drowned. Let us hasten back and wake him," said he ; but as he spoke they both saw from the higher ground that the waters were raging and roar- ing along the path by which they had just come, and that a return to the camp was now impossible. As they stood watching the rising waters, they were surprised to see the smoke still ascending from the camp fire and the outlines of their brother's form lying peacefully by its side. Wondering how this could be, as the camp lay in the valley by the side of the lake, they perceived that a strange and wonderful thing had happened. They saw that the water, instead of burying the fire and their brother several feet beneath it, surrounded the spot like a circular wall standing straight up over their brother's sleeping form and the fire, and wetting neither. As they watched the strange sight, they saw the waters subside as suddenly as they arose and retire to the lake again. Immediately following this, the little brother awoke, and seeing his brother's trail took it and soon caught them up. From that time onward, the "medicine" of the youngest brother was acknowledged and reverenced by the other two, who ever afterwards did what he bade them and regarded him as their leader.
From this place they travelled on, till they came to a small village, where there lived only one man and his wife. As they neared the place, they observed the man sitting on the roof of his keekwilee house,1 crying and lamenting as he sharpened a knife which he held in his hand. " Why do you cry so bitterly, old man, and why are you sharpening that knife?" asked the youngest The man made no reply, only wept and sobbed the more. The boy repeated his question, and then the old man answered : " I
1 " Keekwilee " is the Jargon term for the native winter, semi-subterranean dwellings of the interior tribes, full descriptions of which will be found in the 6th Report of Dr. Boas on the North-western Tribes of Canada ( Trans. British Association, 1890), or in Notes on the Shu swap People of British Columbia, by Ur. G. M. Dawson, referred to above (p. 195).
206 " Sqaktktquaclt" or the Benign- Faced.
am crying because I am so miserable and wretched. Once again a child is about to be born to me at the cost of its mother's life. When my first wife — for I have had many — was about to be delivered, she was unable to bring the child to the birth; and I was forced to deliver her at the cost of her life with this knife I am sharpening. The child was a girl whom, when she had grown to womanhood, I took to wife ; and when she bore her first child I had to do the same for her as I had done for her mother. And thus it has been ever since with all my wives ; for as soon as my daughters were old enough they became my wives, and thus it is at this present time with my present wife, and I was just preparing myself to do for her as I have had to do for all the others; and my heart aches, and I am sorrowful at the thought of the task before me." "Your case is indeed a sad one," observed the lad; "and I am sorry for you. But don't grieve any more, I will help you, and your wife shall not die this time. Tell me, have you any strong cherry-bark-string in the house ? " The old man replied that he had, and gave the lad a piece. The boy immediately entered the house and found the woman in the throes of child-birth. Taking the cherry-bark-string, he threw one end of it between the woman's legs. The string became attached to the child, and he pulled upon the other end. It held for a moment, then broke in his hand before the babe was born. This failure seemed to distress him ; and the old man, who had followed him into the house, seeing his ill-success, burst out crying again. "Don't cry, old man," said the lad, "all will be well; only get me a stronger cord. Give me some neck-sinew, if you can find any." The old man brought the lad what he asked for ; and he spent a little time in first moistening and stretching and working it, till he got it into the condition he wanted. When it was ready for use, he did with it as he had done with the cherry-bark-string, only this time it bore the strain and did not break ; and by its help a moment later the child was born. This time it was a male child. The lad then told the old man that his wife would bear him many more children, and that never again would he need to use his knife. Leaving the old man and his wife rejoicing, the lads went on their way, and after travelling a long way came at length to a house where lived a man called Cayote,1 who said he was a great medicine-man and could do great things. " What can you do ? " 1 Name of a wild half-doglike, half-foxlike animal of North America,
" Sqaktktquaclt" or the Benign-Faced. 207
said the youngest lad, who knew him to be an idle boaster. " Oh, I am a very great man,1' said Cayote ; " and I eat nothing but the bodies of men. I have just finished eating a man.1' " If that is so," answered the lad, "you can easily prove it by disgorging your dinner." "Oh! that is quite easy," said Cayote. "Shut your eyes, and I will vomit you up a piece of a man." " But if I shut my eyes, I cannot see you do it," said the boy. " If you are such a great man, surely it will make no difference whether I shut my eyes or not." " Oh, well ! I must shut mine if you don't; now, look, I am going to show you," and with that he began to work his stomach violently up and down in his efforts. After a great deal of exertion and fuss, he brought up a little saliva. " Where is your man's flesh?" scornfully asked the boy, as he pointed to the saliva on the ground. Cayote having opened his eyes, was a little abashed at the results of his efforts, but still keeping up the character of a man-eater, replied that he could do nothing because the other kept his eyes open. "Very well,9 said the boy, "I will shut my eyes now, and you try again." Cayote consented, and tried once more. Thinking he wanted to trick him, the boy kept the corner of his eye open as the man tried again to produce his dinner of man-flesh. After many violent efforts and contortions, all he was able to disgorge was a little frothy swamp-grass. At the sight of this, the boy called to him to desist from his efforts, saying that he knew him to be only an empty boaster. He then transformed him into the animal which now bears his name, taking his human nature from him as a punishment for his deception and boasting.
Passing on from there, they at length came to the Thompson River, where two old witch-women were spearing salmon. They had made a strong wicker dam across the stream, which, being too high for the salmon to leap, prevented the fish from ascend- ing the river ; the consequence of which was that all who lived above got no salmon. The boys stopped awhile to watch the women at work, and after observing their tactics, the youngest, who by this time was known by his name of Sqaktktquaclt or Benign-face, asked the women why they kept all the salmon from going up the river beyond them. " We do not care about the people up the river, we want, the salmon for ourselves," said they. " We have ' medicine ' here which enables us to keep off all who would interfere with us." " What sort of ' medicine ' have
2o8 " Sqaktktquaclt," or the Benign-Faced.
you ? " asked the second lad. " This," replied the woman, point- ing to five boxes which they had with them. " These contain great 1 medicine.' In these are wasps and flies and mosquitos, and wind and smoke. We have only to open these boxes to drive off anybody," and as they spoke one of the two opened the wasp box a little, into which Clatkeq, or Funny-boy, the second youth, was peering, and a wasp came out and stung him on the face. "You will let us have a salmon for supper, won't you?" now asked Benign-face. But the witches answered him angrily, and bade them be off. Benign-face took no notice of this, but told his elder hrother to take a spear and catch a salmon below the weir or dam, While the brother was doing this, Benign-face took a piece of wood and made a dish from it for the salmon, which they placed upon it when cooked. They ate every morsel of the fish. Then Benign-face took the dish and, transferring some of his own mystic power into it, threw it into the middle of the stream above the barrier which the witches had erected. Imme- diately the waters began to boil and rage, and the dish was carried down against the barrier, which it struck with such force that it broke a large hole in the middle of it, and the salmon at once began to pass through. The witches now tried to mend the gap and keep the salmon back ; but while they were thus employed Funny-boy opened the boxes and let out all their contents. Seeing this, the two women left the dam and tried to imprison their " medicine " again. But it was too late ; for the smoke and the wind and the wasps and the flies and the mosquitos were scat- tered all over the country, and the escaped wind had agitated the river so much that it swept away the remainder of the witches' barrier, and thus they lost both "medicine " and dam. But before they had time to do more than realise that they had been out- witted, Benign-face transformed them into two rocks. The scene of these events was at a spot a few miles above Spence's Bridge ; but the two rocks have since been so badly cut away by the action of the water that little if any of them is now to be seen there.
Going on from here, they came some time after to a solitary keek- wilee-house, and finding no one to ask them in, they entered and made themselves at home. The remains of a small lire burned in the fire-hole, round which, as the weather was cold, they sat and tried to warm themselves. " I wish there were some wood in the place," said Funny-boy presently, as he looked round for men
iBM
11 Sqaktktquaclt" or the Benign- Faced. 209
and found none. " I wonder who lives here and where they are. That's a fine blanket,1' he added, as his eye fell upon the bed ; " 1 should like a blanket like that" And he moved over to admire it. As he held the blanket up a piece of wood fell from it It was just an ordinary piece of wood with a hole in it "I wonder what this is doing in the bed?19 he said, as he picked it up. " It can't be of any great value, 111 throw it on the fire ; it will keep us warm for a little while." And as he spoke, he threw the piece of wood on the fire. His brother Benign-face chid him for so doing, saying it might have been valued by the people of the house for some reason or other. The wood, being dry, soon burnt itself out, leaving an outline of its original form in the embers. The sound of a man's voice was now heard at the smoke-hole. He seemed to be talking to some one within. " Take care, little wife," he said. "Get back from below there, I am going to throw the fire-wood down ;" and a moment later down clattered a pile of fire-wood, which he immediately followed. The boys hid themselves when they saw the man descending. When he got down he called out : " Little wife, where are you hiding? Ah, you want to have a game with me." He threw himself, as he spoke, upon the bed, and began feeling for something under the blanket. Not finding what he sought, he went on : " Oh, you are funny to-day ! Now where can you be hiding ? " and he felt all over and under the blanket. " I wonder where she is," said he, as he shook the blanket out and found nothing in it. " She must be hiding from me somewhere, and I shall find her presently." And with that he went to put some wood on the fire. As he did so his eye fell upon the charred outlines of the piece of wood which Funny-boy had thrown on to the fire, and whose familiar form in the ashes he recognised at a glance. He no sooner saw it than he cried out in great distress, and seemed overcome with grief. "O dear wife, you are burned to ashes! How could you have fallen into the fire ? Oh I what shall I do for a wife now ? " And he sobbed aloud in his grief. The boys at once perceived that the piece of wood that they had burned was the man's wife. " Didn't I tell you," whispered Benign-face to his brother, " not to burn that piece of wood ? Now see what distress you have caused this poor man. I must go and comfort him." With that he came out from his hiding place and addressed the man. Said he : " Was that block of wood really your wife ? vol. x. p
210 " Sqaktktquaclt" or the Benign-Faced.
You must not cry any more over such a wife as that You can get a better wife than a block of wood surely. Why don't you take a woman for your wife ? " The man stared in amazement at him for a moment, then replied that he knew of no women, had indeed never seen any people in that part of the country. The block of wood was all the wife he had ever had, and now she was burned, and he was all alone ; and he began to cry again. " Stop crying," said the boy, " and I will find a wife for you. Have you a stone chisel in the house ? " " Yes," replied the man. " Give it to me," said the boy. " Now stay here with my brothers till I return, and I will bring you a better wife than your block of wood." Saying which he climbed the notched pole and passed out through the smoke-hole. When he got outside, he went to the forest and cut down a cotton-wood tree. From this he cut and peeled a log about six feet long, and stepping over it three times said aloud : " One, two, three. Log, get up and be a woman ! " And the piece of cotton-wood stood upright and became a beautiful white woman with white hair and face and body, white as the wood of the cotton-wood tree. Then he cut down an alder-wood tree and did the same as before, and the log of alder-wood became a beautiful red woman with red hair and face and body, red as the wood of the alder-tree when the bark has been stripped from it a little while. Taking these two women with him he returned to the keekwilee- house, and bidding them wait outside till they were called, he climbed down through the smoke-hole again. Returning the man's chisel, he said : " Now I have brought you two proper wives. It is wrong for a man to make a wife of a piece of wood ; you must not do so any more." With that he called out to the two women to descend. When they were come down, he took the white woman's hand and put it in the hand of the man and said to the one: "This is your husband," and to the other: "This is your wife." He then did the same with the red woman ; and with a parting admonition to the man, he and his brothers climbed through the smoke-hole and left him and his newly-acquired wives to themselves.
Some time after this, as he travelled through the country with his brothers, Benign-face heard of a very powerful one-legged wizard who speared men's shadows as they passed, thus killing and afterwards eating them. "Come brothers," said Benign-face, " I will try my powers against this wicked cannibal. I think I can
" Sqaktktquaclt" or the Benign-Faced. 211
outwit him, and put an end to his evil practices." After they had travelled some days they came to the place where the cannibal waylaid and pierced the shadows of his victims. It was his custom to stand in the river at a certain place where the road ran close to the water, with a little magic copper-headed spear in his hand, as if he were spearing fish; and when the shadow of the passer-by fell on the water, he would thrust his spear through it, and the person above would immediately fall down dead. He would then take the body home to his wife, who would skin* and cook it, and they would afterwards feast together upon it. Thus had they been living for many years, when Benign-face heard of them, and determined to put a stop to their wickedness. Bidding his brothers stay on the top of the hill overlooking the river and await his return, he took a knife and made his way down to the river, a little above where the cannibal-wizard waited for his victims to pass. When he reached the river, he changed himself into a beautifully-marked little trout, and, carrying the knife in his mouth, swam down the stream to where the wizard stood on his one leg in the water. When he came opposite him, he began jumping and frisking about in the water just under his nose. He soon caught the wizard's attention, and induced him, by his beautiful colours and by his movements, to take an interest in him, and presently to spear him. This was the last thing the wizard should have done, for he might not use his magic spear for aught but piercing men's shadows if he would preserve its " medicine " intact. As soon as the spear struck Benign-face he quickly cut the cord that held the spear-head to the shaft, which latter the wizard still retained in his hand by a thong. When the wizard perceived that the magic point was gone, he was greatly agitated, and sought for stones and sticks with which to kill the fish and get back his precious spear-point again. But the more violent his exertions, the muddier the water got, and the less his chance of striking Benign-face, who, taking advantage of the muddy state of the water, hastened back up-stream again to his starting- place. Benign-face now resumed his own form, and, plucking the magic spear-point from his body, threw it far out into the river, so that it might never be found and put to evil purposes again. He then rejoined his brothers and told them what he had done, and that they must now go and visit the wizard's house and com- plete the punishment he had in store for him. When they came
p 2
212 " Sqaktktquaclt" or the Benign-Faced.
to the bank above the spot where the wizard had lost and was still hunting for his spear-point, Benign-face put his foot on the edge of the bank and sent a mass of gravel and mud down into the river, to force the wizard to give over his search and go home. The latter just leapt up on the opposite bank on his one leg, and pre- sently returned to his search again. Benign-face then caused another large portion of the bank to slide down into the river. This so frightened the wizard this time that he gave over the search and ran home as fast as he could.1 The boys presently came to the cannibal's keekwilee-house, and, seeing the smoke ascending from the smoke-hole, judged that he was at home, and descended. They found the wizard's wife at work upon a human skin ; but the wizard himself was lying on his bed with his blanket drawn over his face, which he did not remove as the boys entered. They sat down round the fire; and presently, as had been agreed upon beforehand, Funny-boy began to talk about the good dinner they had had off a trout they had found in the river that morning. The wizard still kept his head under the blanket, taking no notice of anybody or anything ; but when the other brother chimed in and said : " Yes, it was a beautiful fish to look at, but still more beautiful to taste ; and the man that speared it and lost that fine copper spear-head must have been very vexed at his ill luck, I should think." The wizard threw the blanket off his head, and said : "What is that I heard you remark about a fish with a copper spear-head in it ? " Benign-face now joined in the conversation, and told the wizard that they had found a fine trout that morning floating down the river with a copper spear-head in it. " That was my fish and my spear-head," said the wizard ; " I was out spearing this morning and lost it. I set great value on that spear- head, and want it back again." " But," replied Benign-face, " how could this spear belong to you ? You do not spear fish, I think. These are not fish bones or fish heads I see around your house ; nor is that a fish skin your wife is now at work upon. Tell us now truly, what do you use your copper spear for?" The old wizard, thinking he would get the spear-point back the sooner, told them the true use he put it to, which no sooner had Benign- face heard than he answered : " I knew it all before, and it was I
1 There is a mud-slide on the river, about five or six miles below Spence's Bridge, which the old Indians point out as that caused by Sqaktktquaclt on this occasion.
11 Sqaktktquaclt" or the Benign-Faced. 213
who carried off your spear-point this morning. I was the fish that enticed you to spear it ; but now that you have convicted yourself, I will see that you spear and devour no more people." And speaking thus, he took the wizard by the hair on the top of his head and shook him, transforming him at the same time into a blue jay. And because he held the wizard by the hair on the top of his head as he shook him, all blue jays have now in conse- quence a top-knot or bunch of feathers standing out from their heads. The cannibal's wife he changed into a mountain-grouse, and thus were both punished for their evil deeds.
From this place the brothers went to the Nicola valley, where they heard there dwelt a quarrelsome tribe of people, who were always at war with their neighbours and never gave them any peace. As Benign-face drew near the valley, the people heard of his approach, and fearing that he would work them harm, they one and all left their homes and fled up the mountain side. But they could not escape their punishment thus. When Benign-face saw them running up the mountain side, he straightway turned them all into little rocks, which may be seen from the waggon-road as one passes to-day. Leaving the Nicola, they travelled back towards the Thompson again, and on their way they came to the land of a very strong and powerful people. This tribe was very rich and possessed the best of everything ; but they were fierce and cruel, and made slaves of all the people round. When they neared the outskirts of the village, Benign-face bade his brothers cut a bundle of osiers and make a large basket and put him into it, finishing the mouth of it about him in such a way that he could not fall out. While they were doing this, he made some white and red paint, and when he was presently placed in the basket he took some of each kind in either hand. He now told Funny-boy to put the basket on his shoulders and carry him towards the village. As they thus proceeded a large eagle swooped down and caught the basket containing Benign-face In his talons. He had expected this, and told his brother to let go and allow the eagle to carry him off. This eagle was not a mere bird. It possessed the power of foreknowledge to some extent It knew that Benign-face was coming to punish the people of the village, to whom it was in some way related. Benign-face knew also that this eagle was aware of his purpose and would attempt to thwart him ; hence his instructions to his brothers and his
214 " Sqaktktquaclt" or the Benign-Faced.
preparation of the paint, by the aid of which he hoped to outwit the eagle. When Funny-boy felt the strain on the basket he let go, as his brother desired, and the eagle bore Benign-face off in it. When it had ascended a little way, it let the basket drop. It repeated this manoeuvre several times, intending thereby to kill Benign-face. The latter, when the eagle had dropped him a time or two, put the red paint in one side of his mouth and the white in the other, and the saliva, mixing with and liquifying it, the paint began to flow from the corners of his mouth. The eagle, perceiving this, thought it to be his blood and brains oozing from his mouth, and thinking that he was killed, straightway carried him off to its nest on the mountain to its two young ones. Leaving him thus in the nest, it flew away again. As soon as it was out of sight, Benign-face cut two holes in the basket for his arms, and putting his hands through, he seized an eaglet by the legs in each, and forced them to fly off with him to where his two brothers were awaiting him. Still holding the birds by their legs, he bade his brothers cut the basket from him ; and when he was free, he shook the two eaglets so hard that all their bones fell out, leaving the empty skins in his hands. These he made his brothers put on, telling them they would be quite safe in them. He himself then assumed the form of a dog, only where the tail should have been, he stuck a long and sharp double-bladed jade knife ; and in the place of the ears he stuck two similar but smaller knives ; and where the dog's fore-claws would be, he stuck other still smaller ones. Being thus prepared for the encounters he knew awaited him, he boldly entered the village. Now the animals of this country were different from those elsewhere ; they all partook of the nature of dogs, and were employed as such by the people. There were bear-dogs, grizzly-dogs, wolf-dogs, rattlesnake-dogs, and all other kinds of dogs. As soon as Benign-face in his dog form was perceived, some one cried out : " Here's a strange dog, let us have a dog-fight." One of the smaller dogs was turned loose and set on to worry the stranger. But Benign-face ran at it, and ripped it up with his sharp stone ears in a trice. Then another, and another, sprang at him ; but he served them all in the same way, and presently there was only the rattlesnake-dog left. This he had to fight in a different manner. Instead of rushing at it, as he had at all the others, he began dancing round it and pawing the ground, as if in play. These antics put the rattle-
11 Sqaktktquaclt" or the Benign-Faced. 215
snake-dog off his guard ; and he did not attempt to strike the intruder at the first approach, but waited for him to come nearer. This was what Benign-face wanted, and, stretching out his fore- paws as if in play, he seized his opportunity, and cut the rattle- snake in pieces with his stone claws. When the people saw that the intruder had killed all their dogs, they hastened to fetch their weapons to kill him. But Benign-face rushed at them, and slashed and cut them with his sharp two-bladed tail so swiftly that in a short time not a man, woman, or child of them remained alive. He now resumed his own form, and restored all the animals to life again, but took from them their dog-nature, giving them the natures proper to their kind, and bade them go live in the woods. He next restored the people to life, but, after he had reproached them for their wickedness, transformed them all into ants. The two brothers now joined him, having thrown aside their eaglet-skins; and from this place they travelled down to Harrison Lake. Here they heard of a man who caused wind- storms to arise at his wish, so that those who were on the lake were never sure of getting back safe again. He did this to upset their boats, in order that his cannibal brother, Seal-man, might have their bodies for his dinner. Seeking this man out, Benign- face said to him : " I am told you are a very great man, and have ' medicine ' to make the wind rise when you wish to. Is the report true?" The shaman, not knowing who his questioner was, and proud of his powers, declared it was quite true. When asked what use he put his powers to, he boldly confessed that he used them to upset and drown people on the lake, that his brother might have their bodies. This made Benign-face very angry, and, calling Seal-man to him, he deprived him of his arms and legs, giving him flippers in their stead, and commanded him to eat no more human flesh, but to feed thereafter on fish. Thus it is that the seal has flippers, and feeds on fish. But the shaman he punished by transforming him into a smooth-faced rock, whereon men might paint \ which rock may be seen on the shore of the lake, according to Mischelle, with its painted figures upon it, to this day.
Ascending the Fraser once more, they came to the region of the Lillooet. On Bridge River Benign-face found the people very poor and miserable. They did not know how to catch the salmon which passed up the river. So Benign-face stretched his leg
216 " Sqaktktquaclt" or the Benign-Faced.
across the river here, and the rocks rose up and became a fall, at the foot of which the salmon now congregated in great numbers. He then taught the people to make and use three different types of salmon spear, which they use to this day in that region. The name of this fall in the native tongue is NeqoVstem.
At this point in the recital Mischelle's memory gave out. He could only remember beyond this that the hero and his brothers parted later, and that Benign-face travelled all over the world, and that in one place, which the Indians now think must have been the white man's country, he taught the people how to make and use the plough and the waggon. He transformed himself into these two latter objects, that they might have a pattern to work by. For the waggon he made wheels by turning his arms and legs into circles, with his body between them, thus assuming the form of a waggon. He also taught them to make and use gunpowder; only this powder made no noise nor any smoke in going off. The gun was formed out of the stalk of the sugar-corn. It was not aimed at the object, as we aim the gun, but thrust out towards it, though it never left the hand.
This story is the longest in my collection. I have not attempted to curtail it, but have given it in all its detail as Mischelle gave it to me.1 Others will be found in the Report of the Committee for the Ethnological Survey of Canada, together with other data appertaining to the work of that Committee (Trans. British Association, 1898).
Chas. Hill-Tout. Buck/and College, Vancouver, B.C.
1 A variant version, much less full but useful for comparison, has been given by Dr. Boas in his Indianischt Sagcn von der Nord-Pacifischen Kiiste AmcrikaSi p. 16. — Ed.
REVIEWS.
The Cuchulun Saga in Irish Literature, being a Collec- tion of Stories relating to the Hero Cuchulun. Translated from the Irish by various Scholars. Compiled and Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by Eleanor Hull. 8vo. London : D. Nutt 1899. (Grimm Library.)
Miss Hull has been well advised in giving the reading public a collection of the chief stories about the greatest of the Red Branch heroes, together with an analysis of the Tdin bo* Cuailgne. Many scholars have lent her their aid. Dr. Stokes has contributed the Death of the Sons of Usnach, the Siege of Ifowth, the Death of Cuchullin ; Mr. S. H. O'Grady, the Epitome of the Tdin and the Defeat of the Plain of Muirthemne ; Dr. Windisch, Cuchullin and the Morrigu and the Debility of the Men of Ulster ; Dr. K. Meyer has helped with the Birth of Conachar, the Wooing of Emer, and the Training of Cuchullin by Scat hack; from Eugene O'Curry come the Death of Conachar% the Institution of a Prince^ How Conachar became King, O'Beirne Crowe's version of the Phantom Car of Cuchullin is the last piece in the book, and M. Louis Duvau's French version of the Beginnings of Cuchullin among the first. There are some good and useful tables in the appendix (which represent a great deal of work, and will be, no doubt, found useful both to students and general readers), besides an index, a map of early Ireland, and an introduction.
It is a handy book of reference for the important mass of legend that has crystallized about Cuchullin's name ; and one would now hope that Miss Hull may see her way to co-operate with some Irish scholar and bring out the English of the whole of the Tdin. Surely it is not creditable that there should be English ver- sions of Kalevala, of the Ramayana, and the Mahabharata, of the Epic of Pentaur the Egyptian, and the legends of Ishtar's Wanderings by some nameless Assyrian composer, but no com- plete version in English of the great prose epic of Ireland. A brief note on the Welsh mentions of Cuchullin and a translation
2 1 8 Reviews.
of the poem of The Heads and of other parts of the Vengeance for Cuchullin merit inclusion in such a book. But these are counsels of perfection in view of a second edition. In the meantime one is glad to have so much about Cuchullin in so comely and cheap a form.
Miss Hull touches on the interpretation of the legend in her introduction, and she leans frankly to the " solar theory." For her Cuchullin is the sun fighting mists and darkness, suffering eclipse ; the Bulls are compared to the dawn-cows and storm-cows of Indian fancy ; Meave's army stands for the " forces of darkness and destruction " coming from the West, the land of Death during the winter ; the debility of the Ulstermen is the " decay and sleep of nature during the winter season," &c. ; the Hound of Ulster fighting the "three gloomy, black, and ever-grumbling crazy things " is a description of " the sun's efforts to dispel a heavy vapour," and Bdowulf fighting the " dragon of the Marsh-lands " is its Anglo-Saxon parallel. This does not appear conclusive. For instance, Bdowulf does not fight the dragon of the marsh- lands, but a dragon of a hot spring on a high cliff by the sea ; there are sea-meres, demons, fires, walruses, and the like in the Lay of Bdowulf, but no marshes. There may have gathered about Cuchullin some of the poetry that may once have been the rightful appanage of a sun-god, but it does not seem safe to suggest more. To me Queen Mab certainly looks like a real person looming gigantic through the mist of tradition, an " Irish Boadicea," and here Miss Hull would be inclined to agree, though she would not allow Conchobar to be as real as Agamemnon, or Cuchullin as Roland.
Wholly incredible to me is such a statement as that on p. i. " Cuchullin and Emer, like Sigurd and Brynhild, are the offspring of poetic imagination." The discrepancies of the annals and their chronologic difficulties, and the variations of genealogies, are not enough reason to discredit the existence of Ailell or Fergus Mac Roich or even Cairpre niafer. The notable peculiarities of the Red Branch cycle, the rule of and descent from women, the chariot- fighting, the pagan customs, the whole epic colour, are not due to imagination, but to memory and observations, and witness to the early state of society and culture in which those traditions that circle round Conchobar and Mab and the Hound of Culann and the Dun Bull of Cuailgne first took shape. That a cattle-raid
Reviews. 219
into Ulster should assume such heroic aspects in the telling is no more remarkable than that a rear-guard attack on an army on a high pass in the Pyrenees should come to represent the very tragedy of the Crusading spirit — a phase in the eternal conflict between good and evil.
But while it is difficult to concur with Miss Hull's " solarity," it is easier to sympathise with her indignation at the attacks upon Old Irish Literature in Dr. Atkinson's preface to the Yellow Book of Lecan. She is successful in her contention that what is left of the old tales is probably but a small proportion of what originally existed. And incontestably there is deep beauty, high dignity, and pure pathos to be discovered in the tales of the Red Branch and the poems of the Fenian cycle. But her idea that the old Irish tales are particularly free from grossness, the natural grossness that occurs in all folk-tales faithfully reported, is merely a mistake derived from the fact that editors have carefully expunged- and translators glided over passages that were to their minds coarse or incompatible with "nice " modern ideas. The value of the older Irish tales is that they are faithfully recorded, and therefore they are full of natural barbarities and exaggerations and extravagancies of all kinds. There is often an unpruned exuberance about them that reminds one rather of the Hindoo epics than of the Ice- landic Sagas, which is a reason why the term Saga is to my mind incorrectly applied to Irish tales of the old type. It is useless to compare or contrast the ethical standpoint of the Cuchullin stories with the "poems of the Troubadours," which belong to a wholly different stage of civilisation, and are not particularly " licentious " if it comes to that, though there are certain gross and satirical pieces among them. Both are on a higher ethical level than much Latin and Greek literature, according to the usual standards.
There is no good gained by praising these Irish tales for quali- ties they do not possess ; they have many beauties of their own ; they have also their own patent defects, formlessness, lack of restraint, monstrous exaggeration, &c, but they not only always vividly express the true spirit of their time, they stir the very soul with pity and sympathy and pride, as they stirred the emotions of their first hearers. The absurdities of the Xanthos episode vanish as we read of Akhilleus* vengeful grief, and when Odusseus springs on the threshold with his mighty bow and from his full quiver
220 Reviews.
pours the shafts out before his feet, and takes up and nocks the deadly arrow, we forget all about the petty romance of Phaiakia. So the last scene of Cuchullin's life, the tragedy of Deifdre in our cycle, the death of Oscar, the betrayal of Diarmaid in the Fenian lays, and many more, utterly rebut the reproach of lack of beauty and loftiness levelled against the old Irish literature.
Miss Hull's Chart of the Conachar-Cuchullin Cycle is very help- ful, as is also her table illustrating the Gathering of the Men of Ulster, These old catalogues of warrior contingents, such as the famous Ship Catalogue of the Iliad, the mustering of the Scandi- navian heroes that fought at Bravalla, the list of the guards of King David and Olaf Tryggwason, the description of the chiefs in Laxdaela (which are supposed to be based on a Celtic model), are not only excellent examples of true epic style, but also wonderful epitomes of history and geography, and their preservation (owing to the technical skill with which they were put together) is always a thing to be grateful for.
It may be worth while to notice a few easily corrected misprints : p. lxiii. 26, for " Lugh " read " Laegh " ; p. lxxi. 8, for " thunder " read "lightning," and 10, for "thunder" read "thunderbolt;" p. liv. 12, for "Spenser's Faerie Queene" read " Shakespere's Midsummer Night's Dream." It would be better to print the poem on p. 123 line for line in the verses according to metre. It would be well, even at the cost of leaving out much else, to have literal translations, however tentative, of all the poems in the Tdin b6 Cuailgne.
Noteworthy are the triads that occur in the Tdin, and com- parable to those which, perhaps on Irish models, occur in early Icelandic works. The Instruction of Cuchullin to his royal pupil is not unlike the Counsels in the Eastern tale of the Tomb of Nushirwan, but Counsels to Kings were a favourite form of ethical exercise among Aryans, Semites, and Turanians also, and it is but natural to find a specimen in Old Irish Literature. Note- worthy also the omens, the saws, the proverbs, the gessas, the dreams, the reasons given for the interpretation of certain place- names, the late poem in the Phantom Car of Cuchullin that gives the popular list of his feats, including great prowess in swimming far beyond even Beowulf's boasts. It is of course quite a mistake to suppose that " Kennings " (a bad name for the Irish figurative terms) were introduced from Scandinavia. It is far more likely
Reviews. 22 1
that their existence in Irish forwarded their increased employment in the Icelandic Court poetry, though it is obvious that in poetry like Old English and Icelandic, depending on alliteration, the need for many synonyms will be felt, and therefore the employ- ment of " Kennings " must be looked for. For the authorities on the Couvade, the New English Dictionary should be consulted, sub voce.
F. Y. P.
I*Es Chants et les Contes des Baronga de la Baie de Delagoa. Recueillis et transcrits par Henri A. Junod. Lausanne : Georges Bridel et Cie. 1897.
This is is a most attractive little book, and will go far to dispel a prejudice current among many worthy people, and perhaps (who knows ?) dating back to Mrs. Jellyby, that Africa is, if not a beast, a bore. The very spirited and life-like design, on the cover, of a Delagoa Bay kehla playing on his timbila is about as far removed as can be from ordinary conceptions of the African, while the contents will serve fairly well to refute a strange assertion of Mr. Bryce's that the " Kafirs " (he is speaking of South African natives in general) have not even an elementary idea of poetry.
The Baronga are one of the tribes of theThonga (or Amatonga) nation, whose territory extends from St. Lucia Bay on the south to the Sabi River on the north. Their neighbours on the south are the Zulus, on the west the Swazis, the Bapedi (a Basuto tribe in the Transvaal), and Babvecha, and on the north the Banjao, who live between the Sabi and Zambesi. Their language and customs show the Thonga tribes to be not very closely allied to the Zulus, who (under the chiefs of Gungunyane's house) made themselves overlords of a great part of their country. Their relationship with the Zambezi tribes — the Nyai, Njao, and Mang'anja — is more obvious.
The first part of M. Junod's book, though the shorter, is not the least interesting. It deals with the songs of the Baronga, and contains numerous valuable observations on native music and musical instruments, as well as a great number of melodies tran- scribed in staff notation. The words of these melodies are as
222 Reviews.
often as not improvised, though some are traditional ; there is no metre in our sense of the word, though there is a certain rhythm imposed by the music. M. Junod shows the common notion that all native African music is in the minor key to be erroneous ; but he points out that the plaintive effect which has given rise to this impression is produced by the way in which the tunes almost invariably begin on a high note and descend. Of course it would be vain to look for what we understand by poetry in these rudi- mentary chants, but that they contain its elements will be evident on a cursory inspection. See especially the hunting-song on p. 55, the Sabela war-song on p. 62, and the lament for Nwamantibyane on p. 65. There is usually not much coherence in the words of these ditties — perhaps as much as in some of the favourite " chanties " of our sailors — and of some, probably because they have become archaic, it is exceedingly difficult to make sense at all. But we must pass from this part of the subject to the stories which take up the greater part of the book.
The author divides them into " Animal Stories," stories illus- trative of what he calls " La Sagesse des Petits," what we may call stories of the Cinderella type, ogre stories, moral tales, and foreign or imported stories. Of these last, some are clearly of Arab or Indian origin.
In the animal stories, as might be expected, it is the hare (here : mpfundla) who plays the chief part. M. Junod has been fortunate in obtaining two fairly connected cycles of his adven- tures, which he has entitled " Le Roman du Lievre." This story contains the famous Tar-Baby episode, almost exactly as related by Uncle Remus. Another prominent figure in the stories is the little toad known to science as Brevieeps mosambicensis^ to the Baronga as chinana, and to the Yaos as kaswenene. This crea- ture (which is about three-quarters of an inch long, but possesses the faculty of inflating itself till it is somewhat larger and almost spherical in shape) has a whole epopee to itself, and in another tale even gets the better of Brer Rabbit.
The story of the " Hare and the Swallow " is not in itself a very remarkable one, but worth noting in connection with the diffusion of folk- tales. Camilla Chigwiyane, of Lourenso Mar- ques, who dictated this story to M. Junod, told him that it was a " Kua " tale — i.e. that it came from Mozambique, further north. But it was also obtained by M. Jacottet (see Revue des Traditions
Reviews. 223
Populaires, July, 1895) from one Daniel Magudu, at Antioka, in the Koseni country, in which the bat figures in place of the swallow. The present reviewer, in 1894, obtained two versions of the same story in Mang'anja — one from a boy whose home was near the foot of the Murchison Cataracts, the other from two children at a place about forty miles west of the Shire. Both these versions are imperfect, especially the latter, and, in fact, they only became intelligible on comparison with M. Junod's fuller one. It may not be without interest to give here the first of these, which keeps the Swallow but substitutes the Cock (tarn- da/a) for the Hare. (In the second both actors are different.)
" The cock and the swallow made friendship with one another, and the swallow said, * Come to my house.' And the cock went, and found the swallow sitting on the nsanja (the stage erected above the fireplace in native huts, where meat, &c, is hung to dry in the smoke). And the swallow's wife took the pot of pumpkins off the fire, and the swallow flew up on high ; and he took pumpkins and gave them to the cock, and the cock said, 1 You must come to my house.' "
Though related, so far, without apparent break, the story appears somewhat mysterious. A reference to M. Junod will help us out. The swallow who, had, on visiting the cock (or, as it is here, the hare), been regaled with gourds (or pumpkins), seasoned with almonds, inquires as to the cooking of the viand, and, on being told that it is boiled in water, replies that " Chez moi, on ne cuit pas ce legume avec de l'eau ; on le cuit avec ma propre sueur," and goes on to say that he gets into the pot and is cooked with the gourds, assuring the hare that the process does him no sort of harm. The hare declines to believe, and is invited to come and try. Then the story goes on as above. When we are told that the cock " found " the swallow sitting on the nsanja, we are probably to understand that he did not see him, as, under the circumstances, it is exceedingly improbable that he would. The swallow then, when the pumpkins were being poured out of the pot, "flew up on high," and reappeared through the cloud of steam to assure his credulous friend that he had been cooked and was none the worse. They then ate, and he returned the swallow's invitation.
"And the cock went home and said to his wife, 'You must put me into the pot with the mponda (gourds),' and she (did so
224 Reviews.
and) cooked him over the fire. And the swallow came, and the cock was in the pot ; and the swallow said, * Take the gourds off the fire ; I want to go home ' (/.*., do not let us wait any longer for the cock). And the cock's wife emptied the pot, and she found the cock ; he was dead. And the swallow returned home without eating any tnponda."
In the other version, the ntengu (a small bird) serves the cat in the same way.
Among the Cinderella-stories is a charming one, " Le Petit D^testeY* which introduces the hippopotamus in a novel character — we may say as a species of Dr. Barnardo. He keeps a nursery for deserted children at the bottom of the river. This incident seems to be peculiar to the Ronga tale, though in a story given by Jacottet, a mother entrusts her child to an old woman who lives under water.1
Space will not allow us to do more than call attention to the
ogre stories^ with the interesting remarks prefixed to them (we
have come across the beings with one ear, one eye, one arm, one
leg, &c. — see p. 197 — in Mang'anja and Yao folklore), to the tale
entitled " La Route du Ciel " (p. 237), which has a well-known
analogue in Grimm, and to " Les Trois Vaisseaux " (in Contes
JEtrangers, p. 304), which probably comes ultimately from the
Arabian Nights. A Swahili analogue is given in C. Velten,
" Marchen u. Erzahlungen der Suaheli," under the title " M-
chumba wa ndugu watatu " (" The Bride of the Three Brothers ").
That it is also known to the Yaos is proved by a variant written
out by one of the scholars of Domasi Mission, and by him entitled
"The Story of the Chief." (See Life and Work in British
Central Africa — the Blantyre monthly paper — for November,
1898.)
A. Werner.
1 Contes Populaires des Bassoutos, p. 196. [In a variant, however, the old woman is replaced by a crocodile. And in another story of the same volume, when a mother has killed her child and beaten the body to dust which she flings into the river, a crocodile kneads the dust and fashions it anew until the dead child lives again. She remains under the care of the crocodile, but is ultimately restored to her parents, the crocodile promising a home and protection in case of any further ill-treament. Ibid. p. 233. — Ed. J
Reviews. 225
Lks Ba-ronga. £tude Ethnographique sur les Indigenes de la Baie de Delagoa. Mceurs, Droit Coutumier, Vie Nationale, Industrie, Traditions, Superstitions, et Religion. Par Henri A. Junod. Neuchatel: Paul Attinger. 1808.
M. Junod, a Swiss Protestant missionary, who has resided for many years among the Ba-ronga in Delagoa Bay, describes in this work the people and their civilisation. In two previous books he has given a grammar of their languages, with a vocabulary and a conversation-manual, and an excellent collection of their songs and tales. He now proceeds to give us an account of their lives, their beliefs, and their religious and superstitious practices. The work is divided into six sections, dealing respectively with the life of the individual, the man and the woman, through all its stages from birth to death, burial, mourning, and division of the property of the deceased, the life of the family and the village in their various social relations, the national life, government and warfare, the agricultural and industrial life, the unwritten literature and medical art, and lastly the religious life, that is to say, the ancestor- worship, the notion of Heaven, sorcery and possession, divination, omens, amulets, and various superstitions. Every part of a book, the materials for which have been collected with such care and judgement as are here inscribed on every page, must be of value. And this is a book which it is difficult to praise too highly.
The grade of civilisation on which the Ba-ronga stand is by no means the lowest Thus, they have passed out of the stage of mother-right into father-right. Polygamy of course is practised. Since wives are bought, or, to speak more accurately, are obtained by handing over a dower-price to the bride's father, the number of wives is a question of wealth and consideration. But an examination of the terms of relationship discloses relics of a prior organisation by group-marriage. A man regards not merely his own mother as mamana (mother), but also his father's other wives and the sisters of his mother and her fellow-wives ; and they regard him as nouana (son). It is not stated whether the wife of his paternal uncle is also regarded as mamana ; but probably she is. At all events, his paternal uncle, according to our reckoning, is reckoned by him as his father (fa tana) ; and so are the husbands
vol. x. Q
226 Reviews.
of his maternal aunts (as we reckon) and all their brothers. More- over, the son of his father's sister (his cousin, as we should say) is also called tat ana. M. Junod is of opinion that the reason for these strange conceptions of relationship, and others into which I cannot go for want of space, is, in the last resort, polygamy, that is to say, polygyny. This will not do. It might account for a man calling his mother's sister mother, if that stood alone, because the husband of one sister has a prior right to the others. It does not account for his calling his father's brother and his father's sister's son father. M. Junod here explains that these persons have a right to the widows of a deceased man ; hence they may become what we should call a man's step-fathers. But a man has also, during the husband's lifetime, certain marital privileges over his mother's brother's wives, which are not accounted for by this explanation. Nothing short of the growth of the present social organisation out of group-marriage based on female kinship will explain the facts.
On every page of the book there are subjects on which I might pause to call attention to considerations of importance for students of the evolution of culture. It is packed full of interest. Choice, however, must be made ; and I turn for a few words on the religion of the Ba-ronga. Naturally, as a missionary, M. Junod has not been initiated into any secret society, if such exist. Science knows little of the secret societies of Africa, because they are so often exploited by traders for purposes of business, and however much a trader knows he will not tell, since that would be to spoil the prospects of trade. What little we do know points to the belief that, whatever the value of the secret societies for tribal organisation and methods of administration, they do not afford the insight into religion given by the mysteries of the Australians and the North American aborigines.
The effective gods are beyond doubt, says M. Junod, the spirits of ancestors. The great gods, the gods of the country, are the ancestors of the reigning chief. The gods of the family are the ancestors of the family. They are manes, familiar spirits recalling the lares and penates of the Romans. Besides these, there are gods of the bush, spirits of persons buried away from the villages, probably strangers who have met with death by accident, and whose embittered ghosts attack and torment wayfarers. Above the gods known and named by people in general exists a power,
Reviews. 227
ill-defined and impersonal, called Heaven, or Sky, the name given to the azure expanse. One of the most intelligent women of M. Junod's congregation said to him : " Before you came to teach us that there was a Good Being, a Father in Heaven, we already knew that Heaven [or the Sky] existed, but we knew not that there was anyone in Heaven [or the Sky]." Another man said : " Our fathers all believed that life exists in the Sky." The Ba-ronga regard it as a place. Stories of reaching it by a rope are told ; and this idea is expressed in a very old song, here quoted. When reached, it is found to be the counterpart of the earth, much as it appears in European tales. More than that, however, they some- times called it " host, un seigneur." It was a power which acted and manifested itself in various ways. But it was a power " en- visaged for the most part as essentially impersonal." To it are attributed strange diseases, storms, death by lightning. " Heaven loved him " is said of one who has escaped a deadly danger, or who has prospered in a remarkable manner ; " Heaven hated him" is said of one who has fallen into misfortune or died. Twins are taboo. Their mother is called Tilo, Sky, Heaven; and they themselves are children of Tilo. Mother and babes are subjected to special rites of purification ; a variety of observances sets them apart from others ; and if any other child be specially perverse, he is told : " You are wicked, you are like a twin." Among the rain-making ceremonies is that of showering with water the mother of twins, and of pouring water over the graves of twins. In a ceremony directed against one of the scourges of the country, a small beetle, a number of these insects are caught and thrown by a twin-girl into a pool without looking behind. The lightning is also called Tilo ; or rather, says M. Junod, the Ba-ronga believe it is produced by an imaginary bird, which flies very rapidly and is itself called Tilo. It is said to be found in the earth when a thunderbolt has fallen. A wizard employed to discover thefts makes use of powder, which he asserts to be made from the body of this bird, and invokes " Heaven that hast eyes which see by night as by day," to come and discover the thieves, that they may be consumed. A storm, it is believed, will thereupon burst forth, and the lightning will strike the thief and bring to light the objects he has stolen. In great rains, Lilliputian beings are believed to fall from the sky. They are called not merely little men, dwarfs, but also baloungwana, little Whites.
Q 2
228 Reviews.
Now this term is a plural diminutive of moloungo, which is used for God in many Bantu languages, and is applied by the Zulus and the Thonga (including the Ronga) to white men of all shades, Asiatics as well as Europeans.
In these rites and in this conception of Tilo, which I have abstracted very shortly, I think we have not a god retired from business, but god-stuff, a god or gods in the making. M. Junod, who would naturally be inclined to see in it the disfigured remains of a monotheistic conception, and indeed suggests a reason for so doing, wisely declines to commit himself to such a conclusion, preferring to wait the result of further investigations among other Bantu peoples. In any case, his painstaking investigations will serve to throw light upon the question lately raised by Mr. Andrew Lang touching the " High Gods " of savages ; and so great is the interest of that question that I make no apology for selecting M. Junod's exposition of the Ronga Tilo for presentation, however roughly and imperfectly, to the reader.
I should be glad to have space to say something of the deeply interesting chapter on sorcery and possession, and of that on divina- tion, with its sample diagrams of the way in which the lots fall, with their meaning. But I must content myself with referring students to the full discussions which M. Junod devotes to these subjects. His account is so detailed of everything else that I regret the more the imperfect statement he gives of the taboo, ox yila as it is called by the Ba-ronga. He is himself quite aware of the inadequate treatment of it, and recognising that in taboo is contained the beginnings of a real system of morality, he closes by expressing the hope of considering it more adequately on a future occasion : a hope which we may very heartily echo.
The book contains a small but clear map, and a number of plates and figures in the text which are serviceable in explaining it, though some of them would be better on a larger scale. M. Junod has been good enough to place a few copies of this book and of his Chants et Conies des Ba-ronga in the hands of Mr. Milne for disposal to the members of the Society at a reduced price (Les Ba-ronga, 6s., and Les Chants et les Contes, 3*.). Members who avail themselves of the opportunity will, I am sure, not be disappointed.
E. Sidney Hartland.
Reviews. 229
L'Abr£g£ des Merveilles traduit de l'Arabe d'apres les manuscrits de la blbliothfequb nationals de paris. Par le Baron Carra de Vaux. (Actes de la Societe Philo- logique. Tome xxvi.) Paris: Klincksieck. 1898.
This book was apparently written about the tenth century in Egypt by a Mohammedan. Notwithstanding the title and some vague reservations in the text, the unknown writer seems to have really intended to give a true account of the world since the Creation, followed by a history of Egypt down to the Israeli tish Exodus. As a matter of fact, continual prodigies turn even the historical part into a fairy tale, the result being a work interesting especially to folklorists. The disorder, repetitions, and contra- dictions are such as to arouse doubts whether the work was meant for publication in its present shape. There is an index to the Baron Carra de Vaux's translation, but as it does not comprise beliefs and usages, the following references may be of use. They belong to Egypt, unless stated otherwise. The numbers are those of the pages in the volume.
Spittle for infant lustration was used by Moses ; he placed it in his son's mouth, 391. A marriage ceremony in Zanzibar (Zendj) consisted in blackening the man's face and seating him on a mound with the woman seated before him ; the assistants then covered them with a dome of reeds and remained feasting before them for three days, 102. Widows and other members of the dead chiefs family were sacrificed to his spirit in Egypt, 183, 317; among the Bordjan, conjectured by the translator to be Bul- garians of the Volga, 124. An Egyptian queen drank the blood of a chief she had slain, " because the blood of kings gives health," 338. Head hunters are described, 70, perhaps the Dyaks of Borneo. Females were preferred to males for inheritance among the Chinese, 119, among the Bordjan (see above), 124. The droit du seigneur is mentioned as existing in Arabia, 154, in Egypt, 219. The castes of Egypt as described have a likeness to those of India, 194, 270.
Alexander the Great is conspicuous among wandering heroes, as is usual in Mohammedan legend. The account of his visit to the island of the Cynocephals, near to another island where Bran- mans lived, 46, refers doubtless to some part of the Indian seas,
2 30 Reviews.
rather than to the Atlantic Ocean, as might be imagined from the confused text. However, these two bodies of water joined, ac- cording to the writer's geography. The Christians in Socotra, 64, are noteworthy. Moses is represented as a giant, a mighty leaper; his staff was ten cubits long, 143. The Frankish inroad, 298, may be a dim tradition of the ^Egean invasions, certainly not of the Crusades, as the translator needlessly warns the reader, for they took place later than the date of the book. Malik, King of Egypt, 305, bears some likeness to Melkarth, the Tyrian Her- cules ; both conquered Spain and set up pillars by the Atlantic Ocean, 306. Roderick of Spain is made contemporaneous with the Pharaoh of Joseph. Carthagena% 363, is a mistake for Carthage, The Lombards appear to be ruling in Italy at the date of the book, 120.
The source of the Nile is placed in Paradise, 349. The old man of the sea, 53, recalls, among others, the mysterious Pesee- Nicolo famous in Neapolitan legend. There are stories somewhat of the Melusine type, 20, 27, 332. Satan is confused with Dedd- jal (Antichrist), 31, 57, 150; his punishment recalls that of Pro- metheus. Tree-worship is attributed to the people of Zanzibar, 102.
Some talismans had to be used with certain formulas of incan- tation, 243. There were also such formulas acting alone, 206. Other talismans grew weak with age, 180 ; some depended on time or place, 257; some might be counteracted by others, 222. There were potent magical names, 140, 142. -Rain was made in Zanzibar by burning a heap of bones as a sacrifice, while incanta- tions were being recited, 102. Hidden treasures were obtained by propitiating the supernatural guardians with burnt offerings, the hair of the victim being used as incense, 355 ; or the feathers, as of a white cock, 249. The pyramids were searched for trea- sures, 210 ; they had been built to guard them, 208; and also served as means of escape from the deluge, 173, 203, 231. Won- derful, but not stated to be supernatural, was the distillation of water in Egypt, 246 ; the church under the sea near old Constan- tinople, 40; and the walking forest in Arabia, 154. Among magical objects were coins growing heavier when used as weights, 283, or returning when spent to their former owner, 284; vases weighing the same empty or full, 215, 284, or converting water into wine, 284 ; divining mirrors, 234, 288, 293 ; speaking, moving,
Reviews. 23 1
and healing images, 201-2, 252, 265, 272, 293; vanishing countries, cities, and people, 67, 294, 306.
There is little medical information. Snake-skins were used in Zanzibar to cure consumption, 36. The aloe of Socotra is pro- bably the drug Alexander was advised by Aristotle to look for in that island as the " grand remedy which alone could complete the medicine called tepa" 65. A search for healing waters to cure their chief is said to have been the original motive for the invasion of Egypt by the Shepherds, 331. Numerous mythical beings are described, they form a special and lengthy subject
The dates and places are mostly quite unreliable, depending on tradition which readily transfers what belongs to one age or country to another, or on travellers' tales. The statements are valuable at all events as secondary evidence, or as showing that such usages or beliefs probably existed.
The translator points out the writer's dependence on the Bible, the Koran, and on Indian, Persian, Rabbinic, and Coptic legends, with the consequent absence of real historic knowledge. There is far less learning than is shown by other writers of the same or earlier date, inaccurate and credulous as they themselves were. Little more is told of the ancient Egyptian religion than that it was a worship of the heavenly bodies, especially of the sun. The great personal gods are not named, unless Kronos-Saturn be the equivalent of Sibou. The monotheism of certain kings is described approvingly, for instance Malik, who concealed his creed, and not only refrained from interfering with the popular religion, but out- wardly conformed to it. However this may be as history, it is fair to infer from the general tone of the book that the king's liberal views were also those of the intellectual leaders of Egypt in the writer's time. A habit of tolerant religious speculation would be consistent in the country where neoplatonism arose.
J. B. Andrews.
More Australian Legendary Tales collected from various Tribes. By Mrs. K. Langloh Parker, with Intro- duction by Andrew Lang, M.A. London : D. Nutt. 1898.
This second collection of tales of the Australian aborigines is of he same character as the former by Mrs. Parker, reviewed in these pages two years ago (vol. viii. p. 56). But in the present volume
232 Reviews.
the stories have not all been taken down from the same tribe. Various other tribes have been laid under contribution, though Mrs. Parker has confined herself " as far as possible to the Noon- gahburrah names, thinking," she says, " it would create confusion if I used those of each dialect — several different names, for example, for one bird or beast." This and the omission, depen- dent upon the same reasoning, to indicate from which particular tribe each legend comes, detract much from the scientific value of the collection, which cannot, therefore, be used with the same confidence as the former. Mrs. Parker has been drawn two ways : she has not been able to make up her mind whether her book is to be for the amusement of children or for the instruction of students of savage psychology.
This is unfortunate, because the stories in themselves are of high value as manifestations of the mental characteristics of the aborigines. Many of them, most of them, are aetiological myths, the offspring of savage speculation. It is especially important to know accurately the sources of such tales. A tale of another kind is " Wurrunnah's Trip to the Sea." This may record a real event. It seems to be a Noongahburrah tale. The name of the tribe should be explicitly recorded, for one of the most interesting and complex questions in folklore is : Under what conditions and to what extent can the recollection of facts be preserved without the aid of writing? The story also puts us on inquiry about many things incidentally mentioned, such as the law of Byamee against leaving one's own hunting-ground. Mrs. Parker has re- corded in her preface various fragments of aboriginal folklore. They were all well worth preserving ; and we hope she may give us more of them. While she is gathering these, the laws of Byamee would form an item that students would appreciate. But the greatest care would have to be taken to sift these laws, to winnow away all Christian teaching which may have become mingled with them, and to let us know exactly what the different tribes hold in respect to them. However, Mrs. Parker under- stands the business of collection. All we need do, therefore, is to urge that in future volumes the exact source (tribe and clan, if possible, and even individual) of every item be given, and that the names be not translated into those of one idiom, at any rate without mention of the equivalent words and phrases actually used by the narrator.
Reviews. 233
I have thought it right to make these observations, not by way of depreciating this new collection, but to point out what I consider from the student's point of view somewhat grave qualifi- cations of the value of a work it were superfluous to praise in general terms.
As on the former occasion, Mr. Lang contributes an introduc- tion. The opportunity is taken to add a buttress or two to his new fabric of savage religion. He is always interesting. But after repudiating folklore as an interpreter of savage belief, what is the good of turning round and calling it in evidence now ? Either it is of value, or it is not. Mr. Lang should take his choice. But he is not free from human weakness : to him folk- lore is a good witness when on his side, but quite untrustworthy when it is against him.
E. Sidney Hartland.
The Native Tribes of Central Australia. By Baldwin Spencer, M.A., and F. J. Gillen. London : Macmillan & Co., Limited. 1899.
This admirable work recalls, by the care and minuteness with which the material has been collected and recorded, the mono- graphs published from time to time by the Bureau of Ethnology at Washington. It is an account of certain of the tribes in the territory of South Australia, inhabiting the Macdonnell Ranges and the country both north and south of those mountains. The mountains themselves are situate about half-way as the crow flies between the Great Australian Bight and the Gulf of Carpentaria. The tribes inhabiting this district, itself hardly suitable for the occupation of civilised man, have been more or less isolated for many ages from their nearest neighbours by a vast tract of what is practically desert country. Thus, within the already isolated continent of Australia they present the spectacle of still greater isolation, a small number of tribes of common origin with the rest, cut off from their congeners and left to stagnate, or to develop their common institutions and material civilisation in- dependently. The interest of the book lies in the startling differ- ences disclosed between the beliefs and customs of the peoples
234 Reviews.
here describee} and those of, so far as is known, the other black populations of Australia.
The tribe chiefly dealt with, and taken as typical of the rest, is that of the Arunta, divergences by other tribes of the group from the practice and beliefs of the Arunta being noted. The nearest neighbours to the south are the Urabunna, a tribe whose dwelling- place is on the western and northern shores of Lake Eyre. Their social organisation and marriage customs are first described, and serve to compare with those of the tribes which are the more immediate subject of the book. The result of the investigation, alike of the Urabunna and of the Arunta and allied tribes, is to establish the general accuracy of the theory of group-marriage as a mode of social organisation among the Australians, formulated by Messrs. Fison and Howitt and Mr. Morgan, and strongly, even bitterly, opposed by McLennan. It is indeed nothing less than astonishing that Mr. McLennan, who saw so clearly, and ex- pounded so well, the real meaning that underlay various legal and ceremonial fictions, should have been content with the ex- planation that the terms of relationship employed by the Kurnai and others were merely modes of salutation. The present authors have taken great pains with the table of relationships and genea- logical trees, as well as with the sexual customs of the tribes; and the case is abundantly proven. I note, however, a few de- fects in the tables. In that of the Arunta tribe, the term Unawa (man speaking) should be explicitly stated to include actual wife's sisters, and conversely the same term (woman speaking) should be stated to include actual husband's brothers,, blood and tribal in both cases. In that of the Luritcha tribe, the term Sthoarinna is defined to include husband's sisters, blood and tribal, and brother's wife, blood and tribal, according to our mode of com- puting relationships. It would appear that this is a case of a woman speaking only. To a man his brother's wife would be included under the term Kurt (wife), and should be so stated. In the same table Kapirli is said to include grandmother on the mother's side and grandmother's sisters on the father's side. " Father's " is here a mistake for " mother's," the grandmother's sisters on the father's side being stated just above as included in the term Kammi^ which seems correct. In the table of the Kaitish tribe there are some omissions. We may perhaps guess where to locate what in our reckoning are Younger Sister, Wife's
Reviews. 235
Sister, and (both man and woman speaking) Brother's Wife ; but for the sake of certainty they should not have been forgotten. Luia (man speaking) has also dropped out of the table of the Warramunga tribe. In the table of descent of the Arunta tribe No. 26 should be marked m.y not /, and in the explanation on p. 81, the numbers 32 and 33 have been misplaced ; the former should be opposite Umbirna and the latter opposite Unawa.
It is in the totemic arrangements, the ceremonies and the traditions of the Alcheringa, that the Arunta and allied tribes differ so remarkably from the rest of Australia, so far as is known. " Every Arunta native thinks that his ancestor in the Alcheringa [the far distant past with which the earliest traditions of the tribe deal] was the descendant of the animal or plant, or at least was immediately associated with the object the name of which he bears as his totem." But he bears this totem-name not because his mother or his father belonged to the totem, but because he is a new-birth of somebody in the Alcheringa who bore the totem- name.
Descent among the Arunta is said to be in the male line. This needs some elucidation. It is not counted for jthe purpose of reckoning the totem. Nor is it counted exclusively in one line for the purposes of marriage, since marriage is arranged according to the group- or class-system. "A Bukhara man marries a Kumara woman, and their children are Panunga ; a Purula man marries a Panunga woman, and their children are Kumara ; a Panunga man marries a Purula woman, and their children are Bukhara; a Kumara man marries a Bukhara woman, and their children are Purula.'' These rules know no exception, and the class or group to which any individual belongs is thus determined by the classes of both his father and mother. Among the Pittapitta, of whom Mr. Roth has written, descent, as the authors of this book note, is reckoned through the mother, for certain purposes at all events, as in the sub-class Ootaroo or Pakoota, to which everybody belongs by virtue of his mother belonging to it, in the right to dispose in marriage of his sister by the same mother, and presumably (though this is not quite clear) in the prohibition (over and above all other prohibitions) of marriage between blood-relations. Among the Arunta, the first and third of these purposes do not appear to be reported. With re- gard to the second the rule is quite different. A father of a boy will arrange with the father of a girl that the latter shall become
236 Reviews.
Tualcha-mura, that is, actual or prospective mother-in-law, to the boy, who will have a right to wed her daughter when she has one old enough. The rule as thus stated, however, recognises descent through the mother as well as through the father. Besides all this, we are given to understand (see pp. 265, 337) that paternity is not understood It is distinctly held not to be the direct result of conjugal relations, but, if I rightly apprehend the author's mean- ing, because some spirit from the Alcheringa seizes an opportunity of reincarnation, or is induced by magical practices to seek such an opportunity. The only occasion, so far as I can discover from the book, when descent is reckoned exclusively from the father is when a man or woman dies leaving Churinga (sacred objects, such as bull-roarers). In the former case they descend to a son if there be one, or if not to a younger brother ; and similarly a woman's Churinga descend not to her son, but to her younger brother.1
Going back to the totem, as descent reckoned according to European ideas does not regulate the totem, so neither does the totem regulate marriage. This is regulated, as explained above, by the class- or group-system. If we may trust the traditions of the elders, it did once regulate marriage, but in a way contrary to what we should expect from the analogy of other peoples. Our authors are of opinion " that the evidence seems to point back to a time when a man always married a woman of his own totem." How far these traditions may be trusted is a question on which I must reserve judgement. Does the totem regulate the food ? To a slight extent. Save in the case of one totem, a man may eat of it, though he must eat sparingly. At the Intichiuma ceremonies (magical rites performed from time to time for obtaining a food- supply), however, he must eat a little of it, if an edible creature, otherwise the supply would fail. The one totem excepted is that of the Achilpa, or wild cat (Dasyurus geoffroyi). Of the wild cat, no man who has ever killed another may eat at any time. More- over, the totems are largely local in their distribution. No member of the Achilpa totem and no member of the tribe (qy. the tribe dwelling at the local centre of the Achilpa totem ?) is allowed to eat of the Achilpa until he is well stricken in years, and then only
1 I am not sure, however, whether this arrangement has not rather for its object the preservation of the Churinga for some unknown reason within a certain class or group of classes within the tribe (see p. 154).
Reviews. 237
a very little of it. It is supposed that any one else eating of it would be afflicted with Erkincha% a disease to which young persons are specially liable. Beyond this, totemic food-restrictions do not appear to go.
We have still to inquire what is the relation of the individual to his totem, and what is the relation of the members of the totem-clan to one another. When we are told that " every Arunta native thinks that his ancestor in the Alcheringa was the descend- ant of the animal or plant, or at least was immediately associated with the object the name of which he bears as his totemic name," it is not clear what is meant by the expressions " ancestor " and " descendant." The word " descendant," as repeatedly used in the book in speaking of the Arunta traditions, appears to mean the same individual in a subsequent existence. It can hardly mean anything else among a people having on the one hand no true notion of fatherhood, nor so far as I can gather any genealogies, and having on the other hand the fixed belief that every one is a reincarnation of somebody who lived in the Alche- ringa. If we may assume that it is here used in that sense, and that the word "ancestor " has the correlative meaning of the same individual in a previous existence, then the Arunta native would seem to believe that he himself was in a previous existence the totem animal or plant. As to one man, indeed, of the kangaroo totem, we are expressly told that " he is the reincarnation of a celebrated kangaroo of the Alcheringa." Light is further thrown upon the subject by the account of the Ungambikula, two beings who came down from the western sky when there were no men and women, but only rudimentary creatures in the course of trans- formation from various plants and animals into human beings. These creatures it was their business to operate upon, so as to complete the process of transformation. The tradition relates that they operated upon a number of local groups of individuals belonging to certain totems ; but it does not extend to all the totems. The process, however, was continued by individuals of the Ullakupera, or little hawk totem, but how these individuals came into existence is another question. I think at any rate we are warranted in concluding that the native holds that he himself was once, in many cases at least, an animal or plant of the species to which his totem belongs. No doubt this entails a certain belief in the brotherhood of the members of the totem-clan. Yet so
238 Reviews.
weak, it should be noted, is the belief, that "the question of totem has nothing whatever to do " with the blood-feud, or the duty of standing by a man in his quarrels. This is regulated by the marriage-class or group ; his brothers and " the sons of his mother and father's brothers, blood and tribal, will stand by him to see that, at least, he gets fair play." " It is only indeed during the performance of certain ceremonies that the existence of a mutual relationship, consequent upon the possession of a common totemic name, stands out at all prominently."
For other details reference must be made to this extraordinary book. There seems no doubt that the authors are right in calling this strange institution totemism. But it is totemism of a kind that turns our previous ideas on the subject topsy-turvy ; and we shall have enough ado to reconstruct the theory so as to make it fit the newly discovered facts. The authors warn us in their pre- face of the " very considerable diversity " that overlies the uni- formity, such as it is, in the totemic customs of Australia. We must perhaps wait for information as to tribes hitherto undescribed in the central and western parts of the continent before the theory can find a new and secure foundation.
Totemism has been so much the subject of discussion of late that I make no apology for referring to it at such length. Other subjects treated of are, however, not less interesting. The sacred cere- monies are described fully. The account includes nothing fairly to be labelled worship, even of the embryonic sort with which we have been, by a recent discussion, familiarised among the tribes of Victoria and New South Wales. Is it possible these Central Tribes have no rudimentary notions of higher beings more or less superintending the affairs of men, or even retired from that arduous business? The Ungambikula are a kind of deus ex machine for the sole purpose, not of creation, but of completing the conversion of lower organisms into human beings ; and they afterwards became lizards. There must also be stories not recorded here, though they need not be religious or quasi-religious in character. It would be interesting, too, to have sqme account of the languages, including the outline of a grammar and a vocabulary. The tables, maps, and plates, and a number of the figures in the text are excellent Many of the figures, however, are inferior to those in the Report of the Horn Expedition, which gave us our first glimpse of these curious peoples, and do not enable
Reviews. 239
us to dispense with the latter. I have no space to adduce the careful and elaborate discussions by the authors of various points in connection with the rites and traditions they record. It must suffice to say that their conclusions are always cautious, and while they may not in every detail be finally accepted by students, they are at all events to be regarded with the deference due to in- vestigators who speak with an adequate sense of responsibility, and after the most painstaking inquiries ; nor are they conclusions to be lightly set aside. I heartily join with reviewers elsewhere in expressing the gratitude of anthropologists for a work which must for a long while rank among those of the first importance for the study of savage races.
£. Sidney Hartland.
Gypsy Folk-Tales. By Francis Hindes Groome. Demy 8vo.
London : Hurst and Blackett. 1899.
A volume which contains seventy-six tales for the most part translated out of tongues not commonly understood by English- men, comprising, moreover, twenty-five collected within the British Isles, several of which appear in print for the first time, cannot but be welcome to folklorists. And although Mr. Groome dis- claims being a folklorist, the notes he has added to the tales show a command of mdrchen literature which could not easily be surpassed. The chief interest of his book lies, however, in the introduction, which is not only a storehouse of recondite facts and ingenious surmises, but a remarkable piece of literature in- vested with the indefinable charm which pertains to all his writing, a charm akin to that which surrounds the strange race which he knows better than any living man. In it he propounds afresh the theory of Gypsy origin and dissemination of European folk-tales, and recapitulates it thus : " The Gypsies quitted India at an unknown date, probably taking with them some scores of Indian folk-tales, as they certainly took with them many hundreds of Indian words. By way of Persia and Armenia, they arrived in the Greek-speaking Balkan peninsula, and tarried there for several centuries, probably disseminating their Indian folk-tales, and themselves picking up Greek folk-tales, as they certainly gave
240 Reviews.
Greek the R6mani word bakht, fortune, and borrowed from it paramisi, story, and about a hundred more terms. From the Balkan peninsula they have spread since 141 7, or possibly earlier, to Silesia, Norway, Scotland, Wales, Spain, Brazil, and the countries between, everywhere probably disseminating the folk-tales they started with and those they picked up by the way, and everywhere probably adding to their store." With this theory d priori I have no quarrel. I have always regarded the marchen as the product of a stage of culture rather than of a particular race, and my chief objection to the "Indian" theory is its assumption, lacking all apparent justification, that a particular people have a monopoly of the tale-inventing faculty. At all events, as I have repeatedly urged, if such a monopoly is to be assumed, give it to those peoples which have carried the art of story-telling to its highest perfection, and not to the people of India, who have in the main shown a grotesque incapacity for the art of narrative. Is it not suggestive in this connection that the Gypsies starting from India with a hypothetical store of tales, yet, when they reach Greek-speaking lands, borrow the Greek word paramisi (wapafjivdia), story?
The Gypsies have lived and still, for the most part, live in that stage of culture favourable to the production and reception of marchen ; they chiefly come in contact with such classes of the various European communities among which they have sojourned as are likewise, more or less, in what may be styled the folk-store stage. I should quite expect them to be tellers of and listeners to marchen. I have thus no prejudice against Mr. Groome's theory ; and within limits, which I shall indicate, I believe it to be valid, and that he is right in assigning much of the give-and-take of the European folk-tale market to the Gypsy broker. Where, I fancy, I should differ from him is in regarding European folk-tale community as something very old, in fact pre-historic (to employ that much abused word in its proper sense), and, in essentials, independent of the Gypsies or of any other of the historic modes of dissemination which have been put forward. In especial, Mr. Groome's facts leave upon my mind the impression that the Gypsy has been more potent as a disseminator than as an originator, and that so far as these islands are concerned he has picked up more than he brought. I shall confine myself to this aspect of his case.
Reviews. 24 1
In Britain at all events, whatever may be the case in other parts of Europe, the facts are plain. The Gypsies came here in the latter part of the fifteenth century, settling first in Scotland. Any British tales assigned to Gypsy origin must therefore belong to the last four centuries. But where did the Gypsies come from ? It has been often asserted that their arrival in Europe from India was comparatively recent, as late indeed as the fourteenth century, but Mr. Groome, repeating the arguments of earlier writers and adding much to them, shows conclusively that they were well known in Central Europe as far back as the thirteenth century, and contends, with great plausibility, for their existence in South Eastern Europe as far back as the sixth century a.d. He even puts forward, very tentatively it is true, the possibility of their having entered Greece as early as the sixth century b.c. He also cites the interesting fact that Romani, an undoubted Neo-Indian dialect, is, in a few of its forms, more primitive than even Pali or the Prakrit. If the migration of the Gypsies from East to West has to be carried back a couple of thousand years they have ob- viously had time to forget much of what they may have brought with them, and to pick up an immense amount of new material. In any case, it does not lie with those who impugn the capacity of European peasants for the oral preservation of legends and tales to claim it in a very high degree for the Gypsies. Thus, if the advocates of early Gypsy immigration to Europe are correct, it is Continental European rather than Indian folk-tales they would have brought with them.
Turn we now to Mr. Groome's twenty-five British-Gypsy folk- tales. Four of these, Nos. 73-76, are Gaelic tales, for which a Gypsy origin is claimed because there is some evidence to show that their teller, John Macdonald the tinker, was a Gypsy. Now three of his tales begin thus : " There was once a king in Erin," i.e., they retain the traditional locale which the Gaelic story-tellers brought with them from Ireland to Scotland over three centuries ago at least. In all other respects they approve themselves genuinely Gaelic alike in subject-matter and in form of narrative, exhibiting characteristics which can be traced back in Irish romantic litera- ture to the early middle ages. There is not a word or incident in any of these tales which requires outside influence to account for it. If then Macdonald really was a Gypsy, all one can say is that he became a thoroughly naturalised Gaelic story-teller, assimilat-
vol. x. R
242 Reviews.
ing and reproducing conventions of style and phraseology which must have been utterly meaningless to him.
No. 72 is an English tale had from Cornelius Price, a South Wales Gypsy. But it too begins : " There was a king and queen in the North of Ireland." Mr. Groome notes "a very West Highland ring about it." Quite so. It is obviously derived from a Gaelic story — Irish rather than Scotch I should say, and shows that Cornelius must have come in contact with Gaelic narrators.
Again, I should refer the Welsh Gypsy Green Man of Noman's land to its close Gaelic analogue, the Battle of Birds, rather than to any of the Continental variants, on account of the way in which the inimical magician is characterised and of certain tricks of phraseology which point to a Gaelic original. One of Mr. Groome's greatest finds was the Welsh Gypsy harper, John Roberts, to whom are due the two fine tales, No. 54, Jack and his Golden Snuff-box, and No. 55, An Old King and his Three Sons in England. Mr. Groome cannot accept Mr. Jacobs' assertion that the latter tale "is scarcely a good example" for his (Mr. Groome's) theory, and urges that another Welsh Gypsy variant has since turned up. I can only support Mr. Jacobs' view. The hero of the tale and his brothers find their way ultimately to the Castle of Melvales, a name which to me reveals the influence of mediaeval romance in its latest chapbook form, and almost certainly carries back this version of a widely-spread tale beyond the advent of the Gypsies in these islands. It is in fact such a version as, falling into the hands of the miserable English chapbook writers of the sixteenth century, gave us the oldest recorded form of Jack the Giant Killer.
Thus the British evidence exhibits the Gypsies as keen collectors and retellers of stories which they must have picked up here. In one case, they carry a Gaelic tale from Ireland or Scotland to South Wales, and out of Gaelic into English. In so far their power as a disseminating agency is vindicated, and I am quite prepared to believe that what they have done here they may have done elsewhere, and that as they have carried tales out of one speech-area of Britain into another, so they may have brought tales out of the Continent into Britain. But as regards European folk-tales as a whole I see no reason to hold that they introduced much, if any, new material ; and I believe that if they carried tales with them from one linguistic district into another, it is because
Reviews. 243
these tales were really at home everywhere. In some cases the Gypsies may have brought a finer version into a given district, in others they encountered finer versions, but all throughout Europe there was a common folk-tale protoplasm dating back to prehistoric times, and which would have developed much as we find it now even had there been no Gypsies and no Mongols, no Byzantine minstrels or Jewish scribes. It is the special merit of Celtic literature that it records scenes, incidents, modes of conception and expression which characterise European folk-narration at a date prior to most of the historic influences alleged to have affected it We may argue endlessly and fruitlessly whether particular elements in Slavonic folk-lore are or are not due to the Gypsies ; in the case of Celtic tales we can often refer to Irish or Welsh analogues which we know to date back to the twelfth century at the latest
If I attach less importance than does Mr. Groome to the Gypsy factor in the folk-tale problem, I none the less recognise its existence, and in common with all folklorists I thank him for an admirable collection of material, and for disquisitions which always charm even when they do not convince.
Alfred Nutt.
Aplech de Rondayes Mallorquines d'en Jordi Des Rec6 (Antoni Ma. Alcover, Pre.). Tom iij. Ciutat de Mal- lorca: Tip: Cat61ica de Sanjuan, Germans. 1897.
Father Alcover continues in the present volume the collection of folktales, of which a brief notice was given last year (vol. ix., p. 158). The present volume is marked by the same excellent characteristics as the two previous ones. Some of the stories have special features of interest. Es Fustet, for instance, offers a compound of Catskin and Cap o' Hushes', not, apparently, an example of a primitive undifferentiated type, but a union of the two. The phenomenon of the -union of two or more tales occurs several times, and affords an interesting problem. Another volume will complete the collection. I shall look for it with great interest ; and once again I would plead with the author for a glossary, which would render the book more accessible to foreign
R 2
244 Reviews.
students. Father Alcover is rendering a signal service both to his own island and to folklore students all over the world by his work. May I express the hope that he will go on to the collec- tion and publication of other branches of the folklore of Majorca? The customs and superstitions of the islanders ought to be of much interest. He has generously presented to the library of the Society the volumes already issued.
E. Sidney Hartland.
Place-names in Glengarry and Glenquoich and their Origin. By Edward C. Ellice. London : Swan Sonnen- schein & Co. 1898.
Mr. Ellice's small volume is primarily devoted to the meaning of the place-names in the districts mentioned in the title. The Ordnance map (reproduced at the end of the book) gives the majority of these in correct Gaelic spelling, so that few of them need present any difficulty to one equipped with a Gaelic dic- tionary. In the doubtful cases Mr. Ellice's etymologies are not very convincing: it is taking considerable liberties with both phonetics and grammar to explain Eldrig alternatively as Eilid ridhe "valley of the hinds, " or Ullamh eirigh "quick rising." Nor does Aldernaig naturally suggest either Allt-eamhair^ " burn of Evir," or AUt-aifrionn, " burn of the mass." In some cases the exact local pronunciation might have been given with advantage. Coachan appears as a frequent misprint for caochan^ but in general the Gaelic in the book is correctly written. The legends attaching to the various places, such as the "Well of the Heads" and " Blar na leine," are given more or less fully. Most of these are of historical or local interest, and mainly derived from obvious sources. The account of MacPhee, deserter and sheep stealer, is interesting evidence of the wild life still possible in the Highlands as late as fifty years ago. Of folklore there is not much in the volume, beyond one or two ghosts, not specially notable, and the common tale of how the kelpie carried off the children. This, however, ends with an uncommon touch : " all that was ever seen of them was their seven little hearts floating on the top of the
water."
W. A. Craigie.
Reviews. 245
The European Folk-Tale Series. The Secrets of the Night, and other Esthonian Tales. Translated by F. Ethel Hynam. Illustrated by H. Oakes -Jones. London: Elliot Stock. 1899.
The preface to this little book informs us that it is the first of a series of about twelve volumes, intended to form a representative series of European Fairy Tales, " now first presented to the world in an English garb.1' It is disappointing, however, to find that it contains nothing new, but only six tales already published in German by Lowe and in English by myself. The first story, however, is greatly amplified, and one must admit, from an artistic point of view, improved, for it is rather incomplete and unsatis- factory in the original Still, there are one or two novelties peculiar to the present version. A magician's "proper Esthonian name, a Mana-Berehrer," and " snipe's milk," are unintelligible to me. Nevertheless this is an attractive little book, prettily illustrated, and may help to popularise these comparatively little- known tales among children. To folklorists, however, it would be practically of little value, if only on account of numerous unne- cessary alterations and embellishments.
W. F. Kirby.
CORRESPONDENCE.
Kitty-Witches. (Vol. ix., p. 366.)
The Yarmouth disguising has its double parallel in the " Hart- jesdag " at Amsterdam, when many people of the lower classes haunt the way to Haarlem and the taverns lining it, the men disguised in female attire, the women in male, and both in drink, At the same time the Haarlemmers walk out into the downs, arranging picnics, &c. This " Hartjesdag " is the Monday fol- lowing the 15 th of August, i.e. in the Roman Calendar the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, which was most probably substi- tuted for some female deity's festival. Our antiquaries are apt to connect it with Hertha.
Dr. W. Zuidema. Amsterdam.
Mr. St. Clair's "Creation Records." (Vol. x. p. 109.)
Your journal represents the Folk-Lore Society, and is supposed to encourage inquiry into myth and tradition. I think your reviewer has forgotten this, or he would not treat with such scant courtesy a new investigator. My book is at least the result of industrious reading and much pondering, and my effort to solve the problem of Egyptian mythology ought to be welcomed. Your reviewer seeks rather to laugh me out of court, and apparently for no better reason than that I am an outsider who essays to do what no Egyptologist has yet done. In the same way the elder brothers of David — military men of prowess — thought he had better go home and mind his sheep. But I cannot discover in the criticisms any justification for the advice implied and the air of disdain assumed.
1. It is stated that my book is brimful of learning, but that I quote authorities good, bad, and indifferent, as though they were of equal weight. Well, I do at least give my references. If they
Correspondence. 247
are not weighty enough to support the argument, the reader will discount them. Authorities are seldom quoted except for facts, and the fact generally commends itself by fitting in with other facts. My task was to reconstruct a ruined temple, and it hardly matters what poor journeyman brings the stones to my hand so long as they fit. I have been able so to fit them that " the very completeness" of the restored building raises your reviewer's "suspicions." Should this be the legitimate effect upon an unprejudiced mind ?
2. My own acquaintance with Egypt appears to him to be but slight. May I ask, Can nobody discuss a Scripture question in- telligently without having travelled extensively in Palestine ? How much did Lewin know, from travel, when he wrote his famous Sketch of Jerusalem ? It was the best book on the subject, and yet he had never been there ! Professor Sayce, again, has given us a valuable Hibbert Lecture on Babylonia, without ever having been so far east, I believe. But I have at least been in Egypt ; besides which, it is not correct to say that I have confounded Abydos with Thinis.
3. The reviewer says there is one reason which will prevent Egyptologists from believing I have discovered a key, viz. the certainty that the Egyptian religion was an ill-assorted amalgam of inconsistent elements derived from different local centres. But if I am right, in main outline merely, this is not the case : to bring it against me is to beg the question. And my critic has nothing else to bring against me. If I am right, the key to Egyptian mythology is to be found in the facts of astronomy, and the efforts of the priest-astronomers to attain to a correct know- ledge of the movements of the heavenly bodies, so as to settle the calendar and regulate the religious festivals. My critic writes like one who has too little knowledge of astronomy to enable him to judge of this theory, but has a strong impression that no outsider is likely to have accomplished what no professional decipherer of hieroglyphs has been able to do. But why not ? A decipherer or translator or linguist may know but little of astronomy, and have no insight into symbolism. On the other hand, if Maspero, Renouf, and Wiedemann have rendered the hieroglyphs correctly, it is possible for a layman to reason justly from the renderings. A mere linguist may be mind-ridden by the demon of words, like the Greek scholar who was asked his opinion of the character of
248 Correspondence.
Andromache, and said : " Andromache ? andro-mache means a fight of men ! " The tone of your reviewer reminds me of the scepticism shown by the gentleman-geographers of the Royal Geographical Society, when Mr. H. M. Stanley, who did not belong to their ranks, came home and said he had found Living- stone ! " Impossible ! who is he ? "
Geo. St. Clair.
[I am sorry that Mr. St. Clair should think that he has been treated with "scant courtesy" and an "air of disdain." The care- ful examination of his book implied in the review, and the fact that it is stated to be " brimful of learning," ought to have shown him that such could not have been the case. But —
(1) Bad or indifferent authorities mean false or doubtful state- ments, and arguments that rest on such statements are neces- sarily of little value.
(2) One may have a first-hand acquaintance with the language, literature, and religion of a country without having actually visited it. The slips in Mr. St. Clair's book, however, show that he does not possess this very needful preliminary to the investigation of one of the most difficult problems of Egyptology. Had he done so he would never, for instance, have made such an elementary mistake as to say (p. 316) that it is a "recorded fact that Abydos was formerly called Tini, which the Greeks converted into This or Thinis."
(3) Mr. St. Clair asks us to accept a theory which is incon- sistent with the conclusion to which the greatest living scholars who have devoted their lives to the study of the ancient Egyptian monuments have come by different roads. But he can hardly expect that in such a matter the opinion of a " layman " should
be preferred to that of an expert.
The Reviewer.]
Death-warnings.
(Vol. x., p. 122.)
The Irish idea that a pigeon entering a house is a death-sign is well known in many English counties. Not long ago I was in- formed that when my sister Edith was dying, in 1874, a wounded pigeon entered the saddle-room, which died after being captured. Two other instances of the "warning" occurring in connection
Correspondence. 249
with my own kindred are known to me. The pigeon has fre- quently appeared in the family of Mr. S., but the last time it was seen no death among his relations or intimate friends took place, although the bird died in the house. A friend of mine, whose mother's people are natives of a southern county, once told me that several of them believe that a pigeon appears before the death of a member of the family, and she herself had known it come once when it was expected. She had, however, no belief in the superstition. Of course pigeons frequently enter houses situated near their cote, and sick birds seem specially prone to do so. When we lived at Bottesford, they often came in or fell down the chimneys, and we have had them walking about the hall, or perching for hours on the outer window-sills here also. But no one remembers the failures, only the successful coincidences in folklore are kept in mind.
Mabel Peacock.
Wind and Weather-holes.
In Lincolnshire the word " hole " is frequently used to indicate the quarter from which the rain-bringing wind usually blows, Thus, at Bottesford, in North Lincolnshire, I have heard it said, " th* wind hes gotten i' to Marnum-hole, we sh'll 'ev sum doon- fall," meaning " the wind is blowing from the direction of Marn- ham, in Nottinghamshire, so we shall soon have rain."
Similarly, in certain villages on the Wolds people observe, " th* wind 's gotten roond to Ketton-hole, it '11 be wet afoore very long ; " " Ketton " being Kirton-in-Lindsey. Generally, though not quite invariably, the quarter indicated is the south-west.
The use of " hole " in this sense is also common in other English counties,1 and " Wetter-loch " = weather-hole, or storm- hole is a term well-known in the Swiss Alps.8 What I wish to learn is, how " hole " comes to have this meaning. If, as is affirmed, it merely signifies a hollow, or gap, through which the winds sweeps, it is at times rather loosely applied. That part of Kirton in-Lindsey, for instance, which is visible from the Wolds,
1 Burne, Shropshire Folklore ', p. 580 ; Notes and Queries, 4th S., vol. v., p. 432 ; 5th S., v., 435 ; vi., 199.
* Cf. Schiller's Wilhclm Tell, act i., sc. I.
250 Correspondence.
lies on the brow of the declivity known as " the Cliff," a long range of limestone facing westward, on which the city of Lincoln also stands. It is true that the church and some of the houses are " below-hill," while other buildings occupy the side of the slope, but seen from the distant north-east it can hardly appear to occupy a decided hollow. Neither can it be said that Marnham is situated in a strikingly depressed position when looked for across the Trent flat. The blue haze on the horizon which represents it and the neighbouring Nottinghamshire parishes shows no remarkable dip where it lies. As seen from Bottesford the sky-line is a low one, but not lower than those with which Lincolnshire eyes are habitu- ally familiar.
Is it possible that an explanation of the term is to be found in the following passage from GilPs Myths and Songs of the South Pacific ? After giving a plan of the winds from the Hervey group, taken down from a description of the ancient priests, Mr. Gill says : " With but slight variations it will do for many other groups in the Pacific. The number of wind-holes in this plan exactly corresponds with the points of the mariner's compass. In the olden time, great stress was laid on this knowledge for the pur- pose of fishing, and especially for their long sea voyages from group to group. At the edge of the horizon are a series of holes, some large and some small, through which jRaka, the god of winds, and his children love to blow. Hence the phrase in daily use "rua matangi," or "wind-hole," where Europeans would simply speak of "wind."1 On p. 321 Mr. Gill also observes: " The vast concave above was symbolised by the interior of a calabash, in the lower part of which a series of small apertures was made to correspond with the various windholes at the edge of the horizon. Each hole was stopped up with a cloth. Should the wind be unfavourable for a grand expedition, the chief priest began his incantation by withdrawing the plug from the aperture through which the unpropitious wind was supposed to blow. Rebuking this wind, he stopped up the hole, and advanced through the intermediate apertures, moving plug by plug until the desired windhole was reached. This was left open . . ."
Is there any trace of a similar mode of thought having ever prevailed in Europe, Western Asia, or North Africa ?
Mabel Peacock. 1 Pp. 319, 320.
MISCELLANEA.
Superstitions relating to the Newt.
On the ioth of February, 1854, Mr. Kinahan read before the Dublin Natural History Society a paper " On the Reproduction and Distribution of the Smooth Newt and a Notice of the Popu- lar Superstitions relating to it." It was printed in The Zoologist at the time (vol. xii., p. 4355). I forward a transcript of the portion relating to folklore : —
" This brings me to the third part of my paper, namely, the superstitions connected with this animal. There are several of them curious and interesting, as having a connection with the religious belief of the former inhabitants of this country, and are now fast dying away. In almost every part of the country we find these animals looked on with disgust and horror, if not with dread. This arises from two superstitions ; one of them, common to great part of Ireland, relating chiefly to the animal in its aquatic state, and which in the county of Dublin has earned for it the names of man-eater and man-keeper, though the dry ask of the county of Dublin, that is the animal in its terrestrial stage, is supposed to be equally guilty with the first mentioned, in the habit of going down the throats of those people who are so silly as either to go to sleep in the fields with their mouths open, or to drink from the streams in which the dark lewkers harbour. They are also said to be swallowed by the thirsty cattle; in consequence, the country people kill them whenever they meet with them on land, and poison the stream they are found in by putting l'me into the cattle's drinking-pools. In either case the result is the same; the reptile taking up his quarters in the interior of his victim in some way, it would puzzle a physiologist to explain how it contrives to live on the nutriment taken by the luckless indi- vidual or animal, so that, deprived of its nourishment, the latter pines away ; nay, so comfortable does the newt make herself, that
252 Miscellanea.
not content with living by herself, she contrives to bring up a little family. Often have I been told of the man who got rid of a mamma newt and six young ones by the following recipe, which I am assured is infallible : the patient must abstain from all fluids for four-and-twenty hours, and eat only salt meats ; at the expiration of that time, being very thirsty, he must go and lie open-mouthed over a running stream, the noisier the better, when the newts, dying of thirst, and hearing the music of the water, cannot resist the temptation, but come forth to drink, and of course you take care they do not get back again. The dry ask, in addition to this bad character, is also supposed to be endowed with the power of the " evil eye," children and cows exposed to its gaze wasting away. The Rev. J. Graves writes to me that in Kilkenny it is looked on as " a devil's beast," and as such is burnt. But, to compensate in some measure for its evil qualities, the dry ask is said in Dublin to bear in it a charm. Anyone desirous of the power of curing scalds or burns has only to apply the tongue along the dry ask's belly to obtain the power of curing these ailments by a touch of that organ. In Queen's County it is also used to cure disease, but in a different way ; being put into an iron pot under the patient's bed it is said to effect a certain cure, though of what disease I am not quite clear."
Edward Peacock.
A Sicilian Festival.1
In a visit to Girgenti this winter I came to hear of a custom that seemed to me interesting as apparently a survival or meta- morphosis of some rite connected with the ancient Demeter wor- ship. I write to ask if you know whether the custom has been described by any student from personal observation, and, if so, if you can refer me to such description. The account I am sending was given me by Captain Adolf Ragusa, the proprietor of the Hotel des Temples, Girgenti, who observed it last year for the first time, but took no special notice of it, not imagining that any
1 Extract from a letter to George A. Macmillan, Esq.
Miscellanea^ 253
particular interest could attach to it. I obtained further particulars about it from the local peasant people.
The custom is this. There is a well-kept shrine of Santa Maria delle Grazie at the cross road near the Hotel des Temples, where the road to San Biagio (a church built on the site of an ancient temple) and the modern Campo Santo branches off from the ancient road to the Porta Aurea and the temples. Here on the 2nd Sunday in September a festival is held, and the unique feature of this festival is the slaughtering, roasting, and eating of swine before the shrine. A mass is sung at the shrine on the morning of the festival, but the procession takes place in the early afternoon, and the feasting in the afternoon and evening. The procession, consisting of processional cross, children dressed in white, gar- landed with roses, and the animals for slaughter, is formed outside the church of St. Nicola, about a quarter of a mile away. I found from inquiries that the killing and eating of animals before the shrines at festivals is not an uncommon custom in parts of Sicily, but the animals are almost always only lambs and kids. Swine, however, are used as well as other animals at Porto Empedocle, four miles from Girgenti, at the Feast of the Assumption, August 15th. I could hear of no other place where swine only were used in the feast.
H Wildon Carr.
25, Cumberland Terrace, Regent's Park. 5/A Marc/iy 1899.
Burial Customs.
You may be interested to know that some years ago, when digging a grave in Bucklebury churchyard, an old grave was dis- turbed and two bottles of beer unearthed. They had been buried according to a custom with the body of a person who was given to drink, and in order to give him a fair start in the land to which he had journeyed. I myself saw one of the bottles, the other being broken.
G. J. Watts.
Newbury District Field Club.
254 Miscellanea.
I was attending the burial of a well-known parishioner who died at the age of eighty-eight last month. On arriving at the house I was asked to go upstairs to say a prayer in the presence of the corpse. The room upstairs was full of guests, and also the landing. The body lay in the centre of the room, the flap of the coffin-lid turned back, and the face left visible. As each guest entered the room, he or she went up to the body, and bending over it placed the thumb against the left temple, holding it so for a moment, and then retiring. Whether anything was said or not I could not tell. I was told afterwards that the ceremony was supposed to protect those who observed it from dreaming of the deceased, or it may be of the corpse.
R. M. Nason.
Greenside Vicarage, Ryton, R.S.O., Newcastle-on-Tyne.
January 13M, 1899.
A superstition in connection with the dead was told me some four years ago. My informant was a lady engaged in the work of a deaconess in a parish in South London. Being asked into a house to look at a dead body, she entered, and was on the point of leaving the room, when the woman who had conducted her exclaimed that she would have bad luck if she did not touch the dead ; nor was she contented until the lady had laid her hand on the brow of the corpse. This took place four or five years ago.
The woman was a middle-aged person, and if not a Londoner by birth, had at least lived in London during many years.
I. Hooper.
Rose Cottage, Seaton, Devon.
BIBLIO GRA PHY.
1899, UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED.
BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.
All English books are published in London, all French books in
Paris, unless otherwise stated.
Bugge (S.). The Home of the Eddie Poems, with especial reference to the Helgi Lays. Translated from the Norwegian by W. H. Schofield. D. Nutt. 8vo. lxxix., 408 pp.
Hofler (M-). Deutsches Krankheitsnamen-Buch. Miinchen : Piloty & Loehle. 8vo. xi., 922 pp.
Lang (A.). Myth, Ritual, and Religion. New edition. Longmans. Cr. 8vo. 2 vols, xxxix., 339 ; vii., 380 pp.
Lyall (Sir Alfred C). Asiatic Studies : Religious and Social. Series 1, 2. J. Murray. 2 vols. 8vo. Pp. 352, 412.
Roth (H. L.). The Aborigines of Tasmania. 2nd edition.
Halifax: F. King & Sons. 8vo. xx., 228, ciii. pp. Smyth (A. H.). Shakespeare's Pericles and Apollonius of Tyre.
A Study in Comparative Literature. Philadelphia : MacCalla.
8vo. 112 pp. Tille (A.) Yule and Christmas: their place in the Germanic
Year. D. Nutt. 4to. viii., 218 pp. Usener (H.). Die Sintfluthsagen untersucht. Bonn: F. Cohen.
8vo. viii., 279 pp. Zahler (H.). Die Krankheit im Volksglauben des Simmenthals.
Ein Beitrag zur Ethnographie des Berner Oberlandes. Bern :
Haller. 8vo. 140 pp.
256 Bibliography.
PERIODICALS.
The Contents of Periodicals exclusively devoted to Folklore
are not noted.
Fortnightly Review, April, May. /. G. Frazer, The Origin of Totemism, I., II. June. A. Lang, Mr. Frazer's Theory of Totemism.
Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, xxi, 1. H. S. Kennedy-Skipton, Richard Whitting- ton, a Gloucestershire Man. [Argues that there is " practi- cally contemporary proof " of the literal truth of the "Cat Story."]
Transactions of the Cymmrodorion Society, Session 1897-8. Mrs. Ellis Griffith, Welsh Folk-Music.
American Anthropologist, N.S., i, 1. Alice C. Fletcher, A Pawnee Ritual used when changing a Man's Name. W. Hough, Korean Clan Organisation. 2, S. Culin, Hawaiian Games. J. W. Fewkes, The Winter Solstice Altars at Hano Pueblo. J. C. Fillmore, The Harmonic Structure of Indian Music.
L'Annee Sociologique, 2nd year. E. Durkheim, De la definition des phe'nomenes religieux. H. Hubert et M. Mauss, Essai sur la Nature et la Fonction du Sacrifice.
Revue de l'Histoire des Religions, zxxiz, 1. Z. Leger, Etudes de Mythologie Slave. G. Raynaud, Le Dieu Aztec de la Guerre.
jfolfc*%ore.
TRANSACTIONS OF THE FOLK-LORE SOCIETY.
Vol. X.] SEPTEMBER, 1899. [No. III.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15th, 1899. The President (Mr. E. Sidney Hartland) in the Chair.
The minutes of the last Ordinary Meeting were read and confirmed.
The election of the Rev. C. Swynnerton, Mr. F. T. El worthy, Professor Van Genneppe, Mrs. T. B. Eden, Pro- fessor K. Amersbach, Mr. T. A. Janvier, the Liverpool Free Public Library, the Toronto University Library, The Bor- deaux University Library, and the Upsala University Library as new Members was announced. The resignation of Mrs. K. Clark was also announced.
The Secretary exhibited a Lucky Wisp, such as it is the custom for the village children to carry round on New Year's day at Kilmore, co. Down, sent by Miss Clara Patterson, and presented by her to the Society.
The President, on behalf of Mr. W. H. D. Rouse, ex- hibited two objects illustrative of the paper read by Mr. Rouse at the December (1898) Meeting on the Folklore of the Southern Sporades, viz. : (1) a stamp for Holy Church bread from Calymnos, presented by Mr. Rouse to the Society; and (2) a bone from the head of the scar fish, used for divining the sex of an unborn child, sent by Mrs. W. R. Paton, and presented by her to the Society.
The President exhibited the photograph of a team of
vol. x. s
258 Minutes of Meeting.
oxen ploughing at Elkstone, in the Cotswold Hills, taken by Dr. Oscar Clark, which the President said he hoped might be reproduced in Folk-Lore (see frontispiece) , as an illustration of a custom fast dying out.
The following books and pamphlets, which had been presented to the Society since the last Meeting, were laid on the table, viz. : —
Traditional Poetry of the Finns, by Domenico Com- paretti, presented by the Hon. J. Abercromby ; Prelimi- nary Account of an Expedition to the Cliff Villages of the Red Rock Country and the Tusayan Ruins of Sikyatki and Awatobi, Arizona, in 1895, by J. Walter Fewkes, presented by the President; and the following publications of the Smithsonian Institution, also presented by the President, viz. : (1) The Wooden Statue of Baron Ii Kamon-no-Kami Naosuki, Pioneer Diplomat of Japan, by A. Satoh ; A Study of Primitive Methods of Drilling, by J. D. McGuire ; The Golden Patera ofRennes, by Thomas Wilson ; and Mancala, the National Game of Africa, by Stewart Culin.
Thanks were ordered to be returned for the objects ex- hibited and for the gifts.
Miss Goodrich Freer read a paper entitled " The Powers of Evil in the Outer Hebrides/' and a discussion followed, in which Mr. Nutt, Mr. Major, Mr. Gomme, and the President took part.
The President then read a paper by Miss A.Werner, entitled " The Tar-Baby Story : Variants from Central Africa," and in the discussion which followed Mr. Jacobs and Mr. Archi- bald Little took part.
The Meeting terminated with votes of thanks to Miss Goodrich Freer and Miss Werner for their papers.
THE POWERS OF EVIL IN THE OUTER
HEBRIDES.
BY MISS A. GOODRICH- FREER.
In presenting the following traditions I make no claim to offer anything which is new in folklore, but I unhesitatingly do claim that these, and a very large number of others as yet unpublished, are collected for the first time so far as the islands in question are concerned. Even the researches of Campbell of Islay did not penetrate so far as the smaller islands of the Outer Hebrides, and assuredly they are as remote from less adventurous inquirers as the snows of Alaska or the monasteries of Thibet. Every year boat- loads of tourists visit the shores of remote S. Kilda, and the inhabitants reap their harvest in a fashion worthy of Italy or Switzerland, but I could count on the fingers of one hand the number of strangers who have visited Eriskay in the last five years, and other islands familiar to me are even less frequented.
Moreover, these stories are all recent, and in nearly every case the name of the informant and the approximate date of any incident has been recorded. The language used is, as far as possible, that, or a translation of that, of the in- formants, and variants have always been carefully noted.
Such gatherings are not easily made. The Celt must know and trust well those whom he admits into his inner life, and though in our wanderings in the islands we have long since learnt to feel at home and among friends, I could never myself have accomplished such a collection, and have to acknowledge most cordially and fully the help of the Rev. Allan Macdonald, Priest of Eriskay, to whose patience, erudition, and perhaps even more his friendship with the people, these records are mainly due.1
1 The reader may be referred to " Christian Legends in the Hebrides," in the Contemporary Review for September, 1898 ; to " The Norsemen in the Hebrides," Saga Book\oJ the Viking Club, 1898; and to "Unwritten Memories of The '45 in Eriskay," in a forthcoming number of Blackwood's Magazine.
S 2
260 The Powers of Evil in the Outer Hebrides.
Nothing strikes one as more strange in these Islands than the curious mixture of religion and superstition ; and one realises, as in perhaps few other places, what life must have been in early days when Christianity was first superinduced upon Paganism. Here there has been, moreover, the curious complication of a Christianity rooted in the hearts of a people, who were then left without teachers, without books, without, practically, any written language, for nearly three centuries. The realisation of the forces of nature and the powers of evil was strong in a land wholly without trees, without the convenience of wood for any purposes of shelter or manufacture ; where the soil is so shallow and ungrateful that few things will even take root ; where, so wind-swept is the land, that even when rooted they have but a pre- carious hold upon the soil ; where man and beast alike have to make a struggle for life, of which we happily know little.
Thus it came about that one of the most obvious uses of their religion was to play it off, if one may say so, against the Powers of Darkness.
The spinning-wheel is blessed when it is put away for the night ; the cow before she is milked ; the horses when put to any new work ; the cattle when they are shut up in the byre ; the fire when the peats are covered up at bed-time ; the door is signed with the cross when closed for the night ; and the joiner's tools when he leaves them in his workshop, otherwise he is likely to be disturbed by hearing them used by unseen hands. For the same reason the women take the band off the spinning-wheel, for when a death is about to occur tools and wheel are likely to be put to use.
The boats are always blessed at the beginning of the fishing season, and holy water is carried in them. When one leaves the shore, " Let us go in the name of God," says the skipper ; " In the name of God let us go/1 replies the next in command.
The sea is much more blessed than the land. A man will not be afraid to stay all night in a boat a few yards
The Powers of Evil in the Outer Hebrides. 261
from shore, but he would not stay an hour alone in the dark on land.
A priest told me that one day he was crossing the dangerous, Minch,1 which lies between Uist and Eriskay, on a dark night to visit some sick person. He asked the man who had fetched him where his companion, who was awaiting them, would shelter on the shore. " He won't be on the shore at all, by the Book ! it is in the boat itself he will be. The sea is holier to live on than the shore.,,
After the home-spun cloth has been " waulked " or " fulled/' that is, cleansed of the oil and grease with which it has been dressed, there is a curious ceremonial of blessing by the Head of the fulling-women. All present stand, while, with hands laid upon the bale, she says :
" Let not be afflicted by the Evil Eye, Let not be mangled,
The man about whom thou goest, for ever. When he goes into battle or combat The protection of the Lord be with him."
When the door is opened in the morning one should say on first looking out : " May God bless what my eye may see and what my hand may touch."
An old inhabitant told us that there is not a glen in Eriskay in which mass has not been said on account of the
fuathas or bocain. Father John used to say mass at
Creag Shiant, a fairy or enchanted rock in Baile, Eriskay. She herself had never felt anything there.
It is customary to recite the genealogy of S. Bride, who is a very important saint in these islands, and among the concluding lines are these :
" Each day and each night that I recall the genealogy of Brigid, I shall not be killed, I shall not be wounded, I shall not be struck by the Evil Eye."
1 I.e. strait ; cf. La Manche, the English Channel.
262 The Powers of Evil in the Outer Hebrides.
There is a little brown bean which they call the " Mary- bean," and which women still wear round their neck as a charm, which used always to be blessed by the priest.
The cow is a blessed animal. It is not right that she should be struck by the flesh of a sinner, and her last words were : " Do not strike me with your palm." A stick, even a few inches long, is to be used in preference.
There seems to be some half-forgotten mystic use of the rod. In taking cattle to the hills they should be driven with a stick of no value, as it must be thrown after them when they are left. The stem of the docken, which comes naturally into use in Uist where sticks are scarce, is "forbidden." The drovers and crofters are agreed about this, but can give no reason. It is equally " forbidden " for horses. ' An old man in Eriskay used to say, on leaving his cattle, after leading them to the hills : " Closed be every hole (i.e. into which they might stumble) clear be each knowe (i.e. each knoll, from obstacles over which they might fall) and may the herdship of Columcille * be upon you till you come home."
One does not hear of dogs or pigs being blessed, though animals of great value to their owners, perhaps because the demon or evil thing sometimes takes their form, as it does that of the cat or the hare. I never heard but one story of a dog being so utilised, and that was of one belonging to a priest, who was once hearing confessions. Whether the atmosphere was overcharged with piety, or for what reason, does not appear; but the dog, who was lying on the hearth, suddenly started up, saying, " If you liked me before, you never will again," and disappeared in a shower of sparks.
The cock is considered sacred. No one would willingly walk abroad in the night, as night and darkness are per- vaded by evil, but as soon as the cock crows the most timid will venture alone, no matter hew dark it may be.
If the cock crows at an unusual hour it is a sign of some
1 Saint Columba, who is especially in charge of cattle.
The Powers of Evil in the Outer Hebrides. 263
untoward event. The crow of a cock hatched in March has more effect against evil spirits than one hatched in autumn, especially if black.
In a certain house in Uist a guinea disappeared from the stocking. A suspicion, well-founded, it is said, fell upon a noted character in the country. Nothing was said at the time, but when the suspected person next asked for hospi- tality, the inmates were about to eject him, when the cock flew down from the couples, and flew about him with flapping wings, so they permitted him to come in out of the darkness and allowed him the shelter of the house.
A skipper of a vessel lying in Loch Skipport on three successive nights saw from his deck a curious phenomenon, a ball of fire, which came from the north towards a dwelling house on the shore, and which always turned back at the crowing of the cock, doing no injury. The skipper went ashore, bought the cock, and asked the people of the house to pass the night on his vessel. As they watched on deck, they saw the ball of fire approach the house as before, but this time it entered under the roof and the house was con- sumed by flames before their eyes. The owner was of opinion that it was a punishment from heaven for some wrangling with his wife during the last few days. l
There is a house in Glengorm, Morven, in which no cock ever crows. Some years ago a man and his wife lived there who differed in religious opinions. She was a Catholic, and he put every obstacle in the way of her performance of religious duties. One Christmas Eve she said she wished to attend mass next morning, and would be obliged if her husband would wake her up in time.
" I shall do nothing of the kind," said he.
" It doesn't matter/' she returned patiently, " I daresay the cock will arouse me."
" You will sleep long if you wait for him," he answered,
1 This curious story is widely spread in Scotland. See Hugh Miller, Scenes and Legends, p. 72 ; Notes and Queries, 7th Series, vol. xi. p. 95. Ed.
264 The Powers of Evil in the Outer Hebrides.
and so saying, he lifted up the cock and twisted his neck. And no cock crowed in that house thereafter.
Mrs. A. W. went to visit a sick old woman who was a Protestant. She was alone with her, the relatives being at the other end of the house, and the patient was not sup- posed to be near death. Suddenly the fowls flew down from the roost and rushed wildly about the room, as if pursued by an enemy. Mrs. W. was much alarmed and perplexed ; when she looked again at the sick woman, she was dead.
A tailor in South Boisdale tells a similar story, and is convinced there was no natural explanation. The patient was of course a Protestant.
John M., joiner, Kilpheder, was playing his pipes one winter evening while there was a terrible snowdrift out- side. The cock suddenly came down from his roost and began to crow and to leap up, flapping his wings at the piper. The wife, who herself told the story, told him to stop, as the cock's behaviour foreboded ill. In the lull that followed the shrill notes of the pipe, the group around the turf-fire began to meditate on what mishap had occurred, or was likely to occur, that night in the blinding storm, and thought that perhaps the priest, who had been seen to pass south, might have succumbed to the storm while returning home, when the voice of the priest himself was heard at the door asking for the good man of the house. The priest took John a little apart and told him that his brother Malcolm had been lost in the storm ; being deceived by the drift, he had walked into Loch nan Faoileann, had fallen through the ice and had soon become too numbed to extricate himself. John heard all with surprising com- posure, his mind having been prepared for the worst.
The crofters very much dislike the modern innovation of not being allowed to keep their beasts in the house, and specially resent the exclusion of the cock, who serves to keep out the Powers of Darkness.
The Powers of Evil in the Outer Hebrides. 265
There are, however, methods, other than religious, for dodging the Powers of Evil. I remember being perplexed in my earlier wanderings in the Hebrides by hearing green things constantly spoken of as " blue," until it suddenly dawned upon me that green must not be mentioned, lest it should call up the fairies.
" It is not right " to call dogs by name at night, for that will inform the fuath or wandering spirit, and then he can call the dogs as well as you and make them follow himself.
The Rev. A. Macdonald told me that one day one of his parishioners was telling him that a certain spot on the island was bad for cattle, and remembering that the priest had a sheep there at the moment, used the phrase, " It's telling it to the stones I am, and not to you, father ; " intending to divert the evil from the sheep.
The fire of a kiln is spoken of as aingeal, not by the more obvious name of teine. The fire in a kiln, it is said, is a dangerous thing and should not be talked of except by a euphemism. One man said he always blessed the kiln before leaving it, but should feel even then no security if he called the fire " teine." There is a proverb : " 111 will come if mentioned." In the same way drowning is spoken of as "spoiling" or "destroying" (milleadh not bhthadh). Even in a sermon it would be thought bad taste to speak of the Devil. He is "the great fellow," "the black one," "the nameless," "the brindled one," "the evil one." A priest told us he once gave an evening hymn to an old man, in which the word diathol (devil) occurred. The man after- wards said he had changed it, as he could not go to bed with such a word on his lips.
So, too, hell is called " the bad place," sometimes, even, " the good place," just as elsewhere — not, I think, in Gaelic- speaking districts — goblins and fairies are the " good folk."
If a cow or a horse die it is not right to say " it died," but " it was lost " ; and in asking a question it is right to preface it with "It is not asking that I am," not only, I
266 The Powers of Evil in the Outer Hebrides.
think, as a matter of good manners, but also not to attract the attention of the evil powers to the information given you.
A child should not be named after one who has died young. I heard a mother attribute the early death of a child to its having been named, to please the father, after a girl who had died young.
The Powers of Evil should not be allowed to hear praise of any person or beast. Ian McK. was one day ploughing with a pair of horses in Barra when a man from Uist came by and praised them very much, asking where he was likely to get such horses; and they chatted in a friendly way together for some minutes. The Uist man went his way along the shore, but had not been long gone when both horses fell down as if dead in the field. It was evidently the work of the Evil Eye, and Ian followed the man and upbraided him bitterly. The Uist man declared himself quite innocent in intention, but said that if he had any hand in it he would undertake that Ian should find them all right on his return, as in fact he did.
If a person praises your ox, or your ass, or anything that is yours, be sure to say : " Wet your eye," which, if kindly disposed, he will perform literally. The phrase, albeit in the Highlands, has no ulterior meaning.
If a person should praise any child or beast of yours, you should praise what he praises, only in more extravagant terms than he. If out of good manners you should dispraise anything belonging to yourself, his praise would have an ill effect. If you commend the size or appearance of a child, you should use some such formula as " God bless it, how big it is ! " If you ask how many children a person has, it is proper to say, on being told, " Up with their number/' so that they may not decrease ; and in counting chickens you should say : " Let not my eye rest on them."
Father R. had, three years ago, a good cow, which died of some internal inflammation ; but of course the Evil Eye was
The Powers of Evil in the Outer Hebrides. 267
at the bottom of it, according to current opinion. He had a capital pony ; and a few days after the cow's death one of his parishioners, looking at the pony, began to dispraise it in no measured terms, of course with the notion of warding off the attention of the Powers of Evil. Another advised him to put his new cow in a park [anglici paddock) at some dis- tance from the chapel, on Sundays, so that it might not run the risk of being " overlooked " by any of the worshippers.
Much may, moreover, be done by right selection of days for any purpose.
Monday is a good day for changing one's residence, pro- vided it be from north to south.
Tuesday is a good day to get married, or for setting the warp in the loom, or for shearing, which means cutting the corn, not the sheep.
The Devil cannot touch what is done on a Tuesday.
There was a man who had no son to help him with the harvest ; and when one day a fine looking young man offered himself as a servant, he was glad to accept him. The terms were that he was to have one load for his wages. The farmer saw with whom he had to deal, and felt sure the load would be of large proportions ; and he consulted a wise man who told him to address his assistant thus :
" Tuesday I sowed, And Tuesday I mowed, And Tuesday I carried my first load, And let it not be among thy deeds, O Demon, To take with thee what is done in the Lord."
The new " hand " went off in a flame of fire.
When All Saints is on a Wednesday the men of the earth are under affliction.
Thursday is St. Columcille's Day. There is a rhythmical saying :
" Thursday, the day of kind Cille Colum. A day for setting sheep apart for luck, For arranging the thread in the loom, And for getting a wild cow to take to its calf."
268 The Powers of Evil in the Outer Hebrides.
There is a saying that " Luckless is the mother of a silly child, if Beltane come on a Thursday."
Friday is a good day for planting or for sowing seed, for engaging one's self either in matrimony or any other bar- gain. It is not right to buy on a Friday, nor to be buried, nor to cut one's nails or hair, nor to kill sheep. On Good Friday no metal must be put into the ground, such as the spade or plough ; but seaweed may be spread on the surface, or the wooden rake used. It is not right to sharpen a knife on Friday. A knife so treated is cursed, and will probably be used before long to skin one's own cattle, which will have fallen to the Powers of Evil, or fallen dead before the Evil Eye. A person born on a Friday is said to be delicate and dilatory.
Saturday is good for changing one's residence if going from south to north, but it is not right to spin on Saturday night. A woman who once did so had her spinning fingers, i.e. the forefinger and middle finger, joined together; nor is it right to spin with a corpse in the township.
There is much luck in spots and sites. " 'Tis I that sat on a bad hillock," is a very common saying of anyone who has had deaths either in house or byre, and means that the site of the house is not well chosen.
The sortes numismaticae are resorted to in choosing the
site of a house. If heads turn up twice in three times, the
spot is lucky. They talk about " heads " and " harps," as
if used to the Irish coinage.
A silver coin is buried under the corner-stone for luck.
Another important matter is that of direction. Every- thing should be done dessi/, i.e. sunwards. When a child is choking they say, " Dessil," possibly part of some old invocation.
It is not right to come to a house " tuaitheal," i.e. north- ward. Probably the word is here used as the reverse of " dessil " or sunward. Witches come that way.
The Powers of Evil in the Outer Hebrides. 269
It is a rule to keep on the west side of the road at night, and at all times to keep sunwards of unlucky people.
There are of course many ways in which evil may be unconsciously invited, and the avoidance of them involves a whole code of right and wrong.
If a knock comes to a door after midnight, it is not right to say " Come in." Wait till the knock is repeated and then say " Who is there ? " Our informant added : " My father being ferryman to Barra, many a person used to come to the door and ask to come in, but my mother always insisted on hearing the name before it was opened. He used to tell her not to be so particular, but she said : ' The wandering ones would be often knocking, and when a person would go to open, there would be nobody there. They would be playing tricks this way on people.' A goblin came thus to a door one night, but failed to get admittance. He then said : ' If it were the red cock of autumn that were in the house, he would open the door for me. It isn't that that is in it/ says he, ' but the black cock of the spring March.' " The special good luck of this kind of cock has already been mentioned.
It is not right that any person should sleep in a house without water in it, especially a young child. In a house thus left without water " the slender one of the green coat was seen washing the infant in a basin of milk."
Sleeping on the bench is always rebuked, and a certain Angus J. testifies that once, when he disobeyed this rule, he awoke to find himself being dragged by the feet by in- visible beings. Moreover, one, Donald MacD., alleges that over and over again he has been rebuked for not going to bed properly, but he persisted in having his own way, until one night he also was dragged across the floor by in- visible hands.
An old woman, Mary McN., of Smerclet, said she did not think sleeping on the bench mattered if you had your feet to the door, so as to be able to rise at once if interfered
270 The Powers of Evil in the Outer Hebrides.
with, but that it was a serious matter to be dragged out by the head.
If you find yourself accidentally in a byre when milking is going on, or in a dairy where the churn is at work, it is on the safe side to say " May God bless everything that my eye sees and that my hand touches."
It is not right to hurry a dairymaid to milk the cows. To avert harm she says : " Hurry the women of the town beyond " (a euphemism for fairies). A variant of this is " Hurry your mother-in-law " — a repartee of immense effect.
If a person suspected of the Evil Eye should speak to one while milking, it is not right to make any answer, per- haps because so doing establishes a rapport.
The first day of the season that a man goes to fish it is not right that anybody should go to meet him, as is done on other days, to help to bring in his catch. He must manage it for himself somehow. Any person officiously doing this is said to drive away the fish from the coast.
Stones placed in a certain fashion bring ill-luck. One woman told Father A. Macdonald that ill-luck had followed her, and all her cattle died; on changing the house and taking off the thatch, four stones appeared concealed under the divots.1 Some " evil words " must have been used in placing them there.
If a cow is lost through illness of any kind it is not right to distribute any of the beef raw. It must be boiled, other- wise the dosgaidh (loss) might be spread. If a cat cries for it, it is reproved with " Whist with you, for asking for blighted food ; may your own skin be the first on the rafters/' so as not to attract the attention of the Evil Influence.
When going to a well or stream for water, the rinsings of the pail should not be thrown on one's own land or crop.
If there be a little milk in the bottom of a pail, it should
1 I.e. the rods with which the house is thatched.
The Powers of Evil in the Outer Hebrides. 271
be thrown out on to grass, never on to earth or rocks, because the milk comes from the grass.
In preparing water for boiling cloths, after it has once boiled it is not right to allow it to boil a second time, not for the sake of the clothes, but because it would bring evil to the house. The Rev. A. Macdonald says his informant, an old woman, would not specify the evil, though he thought she knew.
Some people are lucky to meet, in spite of having red hair or other personal peculiarity. A fisherman told us that he had twice met such a woman when on his way to fish saithe, and on both occasions had as much as he could carry home.
Others are just as unlucky to meet, and you would be sure to have disappointment in your errand. If it were only to fetch a spade you had left lying in the field, you would be sure to have to come back without it. A man from North Uist says that he often makes a detour of about a mile when he is going to hunt ("hunting" means shooting in the Islands) because he says : " If I should meet the people from that house, though I would use two pounds of shot, I would kill nothing."
Women do not seem to be a sign of good. If you are making a. frith l and you see a woman, cross yourself. If a woman tells you the new moon is visible, do not look at it.
At one time no male could survive in the Island of Eriskay. Women were less intolerable to the spirits of the place, and on one occasion when by some accident a man got into the island and could not get away, it was suggested that he should dress up as a woman and sit and spin among the rest. Though he showed some skill with the distaff he was soon found out, and the adventure proved fatal.
Good as well as evil must have a start. The people will say to any who complain, that they are " like the sister of Saint Columba." He used to visit her daily in
1 I.e. a kind of horoscope much in use.
272 The Powers of Evil in the Outer Hebrides.
illness, and she always complained, and he always agreed that she was, as she said, worse. At last someone advised her to answer him differently, which she did, and when he replied " Good and evil must have a start," she began to get better.
This is the theory underlying the idea that the evil in- fluence, once put on the track, takes complete hold. There is an aphorism in Gaelic : " When a man is tried, he is tried completely." Acquaintance with death invites further visits. Thus, it is not lucky to own a boat that has carried a coffin. The Rev. A. Macdonald tells me that only a few months ago a woman in Eriskay died, and her relatives, who had two boats, carried the corpse across in a small one, quite unfit for such work in such weather, rather than use the boat that did service for fishing.
If a dog kill a sheep, the luck of the flock is lost to the owner, and the rest will follow by some means.
Also, if a person die who has been lucky in accumulating flocks and herds, the beasts will follow him shortly.
There is a mysterious entity called "the Aoine." All we knew of her is a proverb to the effect that "When the Aoine has got it in her mouth, the raven may as well start off to the hills ; " which we took to mean that she was loquacious. However, I incline to think that there is another possible meaning, and one more gruesome. We heard of a man named M., now deceased, who knew the Raun or rhyme of the Aoine, and that he was liable to recite it if he saw a person bathing, who would then be instantly drowned; and that in order to resist the impulse he would turn his back to the bather and fall down upon his face.
Another mysterious entity who appears only in a proverb is " Om," of whom it is said : " Om is most active in his morning." The phrase is used to anyone who wishes at night to put off doing something till next day.
The Fuath or Evil Spirit is sometimes seen, and we
The Powers of Evil in the Outer Hebrides. 273
were interested in seeking a description of him. As of old, he has the power of transforming himself into an angel of light, but he is generally found out in the long run.
It is well known that any being which frequently changes its shape is of evil origin. When I asked my informant if such cases were frequent, he referred me to his sister, who tells that when she was a servant at Kilbride, the doctor's horse and trap rushed into the yard one night, the gate being happily open, which was not usual. The driver, a lad from Stelligarry, followed soon, also in a state of alarm. He had come to Polacharra to meet the ferry from Barra, and the doctor was staying the night at the inn ; but there was not room for the trap and he drove on towards Kil- bride. Suddenly the horse stopped, and on getting out to see what was wrong he saw " a beast climbing up from the shore to the edge of the road, like a pig. It went up the face of the brow of Cnoc Sligeannach and went back from there like a coil of heather-rope, and after that it went into the shape of a dog."
It is believed among the people that a curse follows the killing of fish in spawning-time, and that those who follow the occupation are apt to encounter &fuath or evil spirit ; I have met men who would not dare to go to catch fish at that time.
Alexander W. of Buaile M6r above Milton, South Uist, about 60 years ago was catching fish by night at Seacoch, Stuolaval, when he perceived a man coming down the stream. He told him to step aside, so as not to frighten the fish, and he obeyed. W. had caught a good Quantity of fish by this time, and following up the stream he was surprised to see something like a mill-wheel rolling down towards him, in a way he did not think canny, and he deemed it prudent to decamp with all speed. He picked up his fish hurriedly and put them on a withe (shallow basket), with the exception of one which he had decapitated accidentally by trampling on it
vol. x. T
274 The Powers of Evil in the Outer Hebrides.
with his boot. As he was going away, he stowed the fish in a nook where he could afterwards easily find them, and hurried off to the nearest dwelling, which was at Loch Boisdale, the house of Roderick, son of Dougal S. On his way over the moor, he was frequently thrown on the ground by some unseen power. On asking if it had any part with God, he got no answer. In the morning he returned for his fish and got none but the headless one.
Ronald Mac D. was farm servant with the Rev. John Chisholm, priest of Bornish. He had set a net in the spawn- ing-time across the little stream to the west of the house. At midnight he went to pull in the net, when he saw a man °f gigantic stature at the other end of the net, and retired in terror to the house. He was pursued till he entered, and ever after believed that he had encountered the fuath.
One Alasdair M6r went by night to kill fish in spawning time, and was joined by some unknown person, who bargained with him that they should work together, and share and share alike. After landing a large quantity, the stranger urged Alasdair to divide the spoil, but he would not interrupt his work, and replied : " No, no, there's lots of fish in the stream yet." And so they went on till the moor- cook crew and the unknown vanished in a flame of fire, and Alasdair found that the fish were all phantoms.
Three men went to fish by night as usual on the stream at Hornary; they had cabers (long staves) for splashing and terrifying the fish into the nets. They also used these cabers as vaulting-poles when crossing the stream ; and in one spot, where there was a stone standing in the middle of the stream, it was their custom to vault to this stone, and afterwards, by another leap, to get across. As they were going to cross the stream, they perceived a man standing on the stone, who stretched out his hand and helped the first two comers over. As the third was expecting the same courtesy, the stranger said : " Thy hour is not yet come," and gave him no assist- ance. The other two men soon fell into a decline and used
The Powers of Evil in the Outer Hebrides. 275
to exchange visits during their illness, remarking : " It were easy knowing that something was coming upon us since the night at Hornary Stream." They died shortly after.
The eyes of Christ were grey, of Our Lady brown, of the Devil black ; but the Evil Eye does not depend upon its colour, nor necessarily upon any desire of doing harm ; and a person so unfortunate as to possess it may injure even his own children. The people who have skill in making snait heart (charms for turning away the effects) say they know, without being told, whether the eye was that of a man or a woman. Two women were pointed out as being the cause of many a swearing, for they, quite unwittingly, bring misfortune on any person they may meet who is going out to fish or hunt. One has dark hair and the other red.
To preserve against the Evil Eye one article of clothing should be put on wrong side out.
The Saint John's wort is called Lus Columcilley the armpit of Columcille. It is a lucky plant, and brings increase and protection from evil to one's store, be it cattle, or sheep, or grain. It is plucked with the formula :
" Unsearched for and unsought, For luck of sheep I pluck thee."
The marsh-ragwort (caoibhreachan) is valuable against the torradh and Evil Eye generally.
Of all forms of evil influence none is more dreaded than this torradh, or the charming away of milk from cattle. The methods by which this is effected are various. There was in Eriskay a woman who had good cheese, but only one cow. A neighbour bought some of the cheese, but directly grace was said at table it disappeared. The cow always stood on the same place to be milked, and someone examined the place in hope of instruction. Nothing was to be seen on the surface ; but on digging, a vessel was found containing hair from various other cows.
The furnishing of a house in the Hebrides is, as may be supposed, of the simplest. The beds are enclosed. There
x 2
276 The Powers of Evil in the Outer Hebrides.
is a dresser, a table, wooden boxes for receptacles, and a plank supported by large stones for seats. The fire is usually in the middle of the floor, the cooking-pot hangs over it, suspended by a chain from the roof. This chain is mysteriously connected with the Powers of Evil, it is said to be cursed ; the Devil is called " Him of the Chain."
Once, when there was a talk of a change of factors in the island, some one remarked of the one who was leaving that his successor might be worse. " No, no," was the reply, " not unless the chain came across entirely," i.v. the Evil One himself.
It is not right to handle the chain ; evil may come of it. There was a man whose cows ceased to give milk ; and suspecting that a woman near by was the author of the mischief, he went into her house in her absence and found only a little child. " Where does your mother get the milk she gives you to drink?" he asked. "Out of the chain," said the child. "Come, little one, show me how she will be doing it." " Like this," said the child, and drawing the chain the milk flowed from it. The man tore down the chain and carried it off, and the milk returned to his cows.
There is no saying in what unexpected places milk may be found, when subtracted under evil conditions. There was a woman who had always abundance of milk, butter, and cheese, but no cow. A suspicious neighbour entered her house during her absence and found a quantity of black " tangle " l hanging up. He took his knife and cut one of them, and milk flowed forth abundantly.
Happily the methods of cure are also numerous. Mrs. A. O'H., Eriskay, tells that her grandmother had lost many cows from no apparent cause, and was sure they had been " overlooked." She consulted a drover, supposing that he might have suffered in the same manner. He told her to have the hide of the next victim laid upon the thatch of the
1 Seaweed used for kelp-making, i.e. the extraction of iodine and other chemical properties.
The Powers of Evil in the Outer Hebrides. 277
house, and to watch what bird was the first to be attracted by it; for, as there are no trees, the thatch of the house is a substitute for many purposes, to the birds among others. The next calf that was born was to be called after the bird. A hooded grey crow came, and the first calf was therefore ca\\ed /eannag= hoodie crow, and the name being retained by all its descendants the murrain ceased.
It is not right to lose the buarach, i.e. the horse-hair tie which goes about the cows' feet at milking-time, because anyone getting it could get torradh of your cattle. One notices the care with which, after milking, these ties are carried home and hung up in a certain spot.
Once or twice a year a drover from the mainland comes to the islands to buy cattle. He used always to stay with a certain farmer, from whose daughter, Effie McL, the story comes. He was accustomed to abundant fare, but one year no cheese was forthcoming. " It is not," said his hostess, " that we have not plenty of cows, but for some reason we can make no cheese." Early next morning the drover rose and looked out. On coming in, he asked for three or four bunches of "bent" grass (i.e. the long grass that grows on the shore), and made as many buarachs, and asked the women to put them on the cows, three times round each, and then to let the herd go where they would. This was done, and the cows rushed off wildly and never stopped till they reached a certain crofter's house, when they climbed on the roof and began to tear at the thatch, to the great astonishment of its owner. " They are wanting what belongs to them," said the drover in explanation ; and when the woman of the house came out with an armful of cheeses, the cows sur- rounded her and drove her among them back to the byre from which they had come. This happened a second and a third time, till all the torradh that had been filched was restored, when the cows settled down quietly once more, and their mistress had once more abundance of cheese.
278 The Powers of Evil in the Outer Hebrides.
If the person whose Evil Eye has taken away the produce be publicly rebuked, the milk or other produce affected will return.
If a person is very much afflicted in regard to the torradh, he is wise to adopt the following remedy : " Whenever " (anglici = as soon as) one of his cows has a calf, to take it away before any milk is drawn. Then, taking a bottle, he is to draw milk from the four teats, kneeling. The bottle is then tightly corked ; this is important, for carelessness in this respect might give access to the torradh and upset everything. Another method is for a man — a woman won't do — to go the house of the person suspected, and pull off from the roof as much thatch and divots as his two hands will hold, and over this to boil what little milk is left, until it dries up. Another informant advised burning the thatch under the churn, instead of under the milk.
Another means of removing the blight from one's cattle is to bury the carcase of one of the victims by a boundary stream. Similarly, you may transfer it to your neighbour by burying it on his land.
A man told my informant that one day when he was ploughing, one of his horses fell. He took the tail of the horse in his hand and put it to his mouth, while he repeated a charm, and the horse recovered.
Mary McM., of Eriskay, says that one day she was taking home a load of sea- ware in a cart, when a person who had the Evil Eye came by and the horse fell down and could not rise for a long time, and even then was quite weak and could not take food. When she got home, her neighbour filled a bowl with water taken from a boundary stream and put silver into it, and threw it over the horse's back, and it immediately got better. She had herself been once " overlooked," and was ill for many days in con- sequence, but I forget whether by this person or another.
If in such a case as this the silver remains at the bottom of the bowl, it is an indication that the snaithean must be
The Powers of Evil in the Outer Hebrides. 279
resorted to. This is in most cases the ultimate appeal, and I never heard of a case in which it had failed.
The snaithean l is made of wool, often black, so as not to be easily seen. If you buy a cow or horse in the market you are almost sure to find a piece of black wool round i^s tail, well out of sight under the hair. Certain persons in most districts know how to make it, and can repeat the charm which is part of the process. The person who fetches it should should carry it in silence, and in the palm of the hand — not between the finger and thumb, because with them Eve plucked the apple and they are " not blessed." It must be burnt when removed, and must not be paid for, though those receiving it consider themselves under an obligation which is to be discharged somehow.
When it is the Evil Eye that has fallen on the victim, the person making the snaithean is seized with a fit of yawning, or becomes ill in proportion to the disease of the sufferer and the duration of his attack. Whether the author is male or female is generally determined by casting the Frith, or horoscope, which is another story and belongs to the subject of divining.
When the thread is put about the cattle, first is said the Pater > and then the following : —
" An Eye will see you. A Tongue will speak of you. A Heart will think of you.
He of the Arm is blessing you {i.e. St. Columcille). The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Four persons there are who may have done you harm, A man, a wife, a lad, a girl. Who is to turn that back ?
1 Cf. Folk-Lore, vol. vi. p. 154. The information there given as to the use of the snaithean is said to be derived from " a native of Bernera," which I take — judging from differences of method — to be Bernera, Harris. There is little in common between the far more conventionalised people of the Lewis, with their Free- Kirk precision, and the less self-conscious, albeit more intelligent, native of the Outer Isles.
280 The Powers of Evil in the Outer Hebrides.
The Three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity, The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. I call Mary to witness, and Brigid, If it be a human thing that has done you harm
With wicked wish,
Or with wicked eye,
Or with wicked heart, That you (name of person or animal) be well From the time I place this about you. In the Name, of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
*»
A very respectable widow related with great detail how she was once under the Evil Eye. She was going along the Machaire (the sandy plain near the sea-shore) with two ponies, and she met a man with some grain on his back, going to the mill, and immediately she began to feel very weak. When she came to the nearest house, she found that she could not go any further, and felt a sort of retching, with cold shivers all over her. They brought butter and put it into warm milk to restore her, and a man, Angus M., who was present, felt sure that she had fallen under the Evil Eye, and they duly sent for a certain Ranald who knew how to make spells. He twisted some threads and passed them round the fire three times. (It must be remembered that the fire would be in the middle of the room.) Then he tied it on her hand, and she began to get better immediately. Ranald told her it was the Evil Eye of a man that had affected her, but she did not know how he made that out. It must certainly have been the man with the grain.
This woman's husband had knowledge of the snaithean as we discovered another time. Perhaps he was dead or away on the occasion when Ranald was sent for. A girl came to him one day and begged him for the love of good- ness to make it for her sister, who was very ill. There were several men in the house at the time, and he said he would not do it, as Father Donald, the priest, had told him not to be doing it. But the girl got him outside and asked him for the pity of God to help her, and he then asked his wife (who
The Powers of Evil in the Outer Hebrides. 281
told the story) for some wool and she twisted some for him on her wheel. The girl got better, and is alive to this day to prove the efficacy of the cure.
She said the eolas (spell) would not be right if it were not paid for, but she did not know what was the rate of payment. I can personally testify that when silver is put into a bowl of water to work a spell, the wise woman keeps the silver. The theory is that when the water is thrown over the patient it does no good unless the silver sticks to the bowl. She told us also that not long since a woman from a small neighbouring island went to K. to ask for rennet, which the servant gave her without asking her mistress. Some time after, the cattle went all wrong with their milk, and the servant confessed what she had done, as this was probably the cause of the trouble ; but we did not hear what steps were taken for its removal. One poor beast that we came across had been smitten by two Evil Eyes at the same time. The maker of charms, at first much perplexed, at length discovered the cause, and said the creature would be ill for a year, which came to pass.
Many stories in the Hebrides are on lines which the Society for Psychical Research would call " telepathic suggestion." A good many examples of wisdom are told of tailors, just as in England they are told of cobblers (who have little employment in islands where women and children go bare- foot). A tailor's wife was busy churning, when a woman came in to ask for fire. " Keep busily at it," called the tailor to his wife, and gave the woman the embers she required, but dropped one into a tub of cold water. This happened a second and a third time, and though the tailor's wife was ready to drop with fatigue, she churned away as she was told. When the third ember was dropped into the tub, the woman sat down moaning : " Oh, in the name of God, let my hand away!" The tailor said he would not, unless she promised never to trouble him or his house again, which she did, and then showed her hand, all bruised
282 The Powers of Evil in the Outer Hebrides.
and blue from the blows the tailor's wife had given it in the churn. The lid was taken off, and there was nothing within but watery stuff, but in the tub were three large lumps of beautiful butter.
I will conclude with a warning against lightly meddling with matters so serious as these. A man named C. was going to mass early on Sunday morning to Kiloanan. As he crossed the strand, he found a woman and her daughter actively engaged in framing witchcrafts by means of pieces of thread of various colours. He tore up the whole appa- ratus and rebuked them for malice and for breach of the Sunday. They entreated him not to reveal what he had seen, and promised their protection in return for his silence. Nevertheless after mass he told the story. Shortly after, when he was about to sail for the mainland, a black crow settled on the mast of his boat and a storm arose in which he perished. The story is not only true, but of recent oc- currence.
THE TAR-BABY STORY.
BY MISS A. WERNER.
I SUPPOSE the question of the African origin of the " Uncle Remus" stories has been settled long ago, but it is interesting to see how every fresh contribution to the stock of African (and more especially " Bantu " ) folklore supplies us with fuller and more detailed evidence on this point. Since it was discussed in the introduction to Mr. Chandler Harris's original edition (how long ago was that?) at least three distinct African versions of the Tar-Baby episode in Brer Rabbit's career have come to light. And the same thing is probably true of the other stories.
The latest of these versions is one obtained by P£re Capus, of the White Fathers, among the Basumbwa, one of
The Tar-Baby Story. 283
the numerous tribes inhabiting the district of Unyamwezi, in German East Africa. Lest this should not be sufficiently definite, we may add that their habitat is about midway between the south-western corner of the Victoria Nyanza and the upper end of Tanganika.
The text of this story, with a literal French translation, is published in the Berlin Zeitschrift fur afrikanische und ozeanische Sprachen (vol. iii., fasc. 4), under the title " Muna mugunda ne Kanakami — Le Mattre du Champ et le Lapin." Anyone with a little knowledge of any one " Bantu " l language cannot fail, on glancing over this Shisumbwa text, to recognise a fair proportion of words. Thus mwini, mwenyi} tnwene} an owner, or chief, are found in various forms in Yao, Swahili, and Mang*anja; and mugunda^ a garden, is the Yao mgunda, Mang*anja munda. But we must not let ourselves be tempted into a linguistic digression, further than to remark that the Rabbit's name affords a curious instance of divergence, where so many names of animals can be traced through ten or twelve tongues as being originally the same word. Here he is nakamiy in Yao sungula, in Mang'anja kalulu, in Ronga (Delagoa Bay) mpfundla) in Zulu unogwaja ! Whether all these names are applied to the same animal I should not venture to decide. M. Henri A. Junod {Chants et Contes des Ba-Ronga} p. 86) says that, in Basutoland, there are two hares (he calls Brer Rabbit " lievre " throughout) bearing distinct names, and totally opposite characters. The Ba-Ronga, it would seem, have only one hare, whom they call mpfundla, and when they adopted (on the hypo- thesis that they did adopt) the Basuto tales, they attributed two sets of stories to the same animal, and so introduced glaring inconsistencies into his character. He is some-
1 This name, Bantu, is sometimes objected to, but after all it has gained a certain currency, and on Darwin's principle {Life and Letters, vol. iii., p. 46) will serve as well as any other — or better, for no one has yet proposed a practicable
substitute.
284 The Tar-Baby Story.
times (and most frequently) a " malin personnage," who is surnamed " le rus6 compare " (Nwa-Chisisana), sometimes " un nigaud," who is taken in by the Swallow, and even by the Hen. M. Junod suggests that his contention is borne out by the circumstance that the two tales in his collection which most strongly exhibit the Rabbit in this light are really Makua stories, imported from Mozambique.
I do not feel competent to give an opinion on this matter, but would like to mention one or two points which may or may not be relevant. Among the Mang'anja tales I col- lected at Blantyre and in the West Shire district are two variants (one very imperfect) of the tale called by M. Junod " Le Lifcvre et THirondelle." In one it is the Cock [tarn- bald) who1 is overreached (with tragic results) by the Swal- low ; in the other the Rabbit's place is taken by the Cat, and it is a small bird (the ntengu) who is too sharp for him. Again, many of the Kalulu stories (and he figures in the great majority) consist of two parts; in the first, Brer Rabbit is fooled by some one, by preference the Dzimwe ; * in the second he goes one better and turns the tables on his adversary. In one, the Crocodile kills the Rabbit's wife, but the latter employs the Wood-pigeon to entice the Croco- dile ashore, and then kills him. So universally is the Kalulu's superiority insisted on, that I am inclined to think that the tales showing him as the defeated party (I can only recall one at this moment) are incomplete, and, like Cam- buscan's, left half-told.
I may add that, to the best of my belief, there is only one Kalulu in the Shire Highlands, and he is quite as much of a hare as he is of a rabbit ; more so indeed, for he does not live in warrens, but makes himself a form in the bush, even as our hare at home. In size, if I recollect rightly the fleeting glimpses which were all he ever vouchsafed me, he is something between the two.
1 Some call this animal an ant-eater, some an elephant, some a bogy. I incline to think he belongs to the last-named genus.
The Tar -Baby Story. 285
The tale of the Nakami begins in true native fashion : " There was a man ; he had a field of bukonzo (dhurra) ; it ripened. The Rabbit came to eat it. He {i.e. the owner) came ; he went to (see) it ; he found in it the foot- marks of the Rabbit. And he said, The Rabbit, it is he who eats my bukonzo." .... It will be seen that this style of narrative is conducive to longueurs, especially as the speeches of the various characters are reported with Homeric minuteness, and repeated in full every time there is occasion to refer to them. Thus, e.g., if a native has to relate that A gave B a message to convey to C, and C afterwards told the purport of the message to D, the exact words used will recur in extenso at least three times in the narrative.
To return to the Shisumbwa story ; it runs, in a slightly condensed paraphrase, something like this : The owner of the field consulted with his neighbours, and they suggested that he should cut a log of wood into the shape of a girl. He did so, and having adorned the figure with cloth and beads, smeared her with gum (bwirembo ; elsewhere they say malilolil6)> and set it up in his field. When the Rabbit came in the early morning, he saluted her with " Mpola ! l little girl ! " She made no answer. He said again : " Mpola, little girl ! " No answer. So he said : " Do you hate your neighbours then ? They salute you, and you say nothing. I will come nearer." He came nearer and spoke to her again, but still received no answer. Then he took hold of her, and his hand stuck fast. He said : " Let me go," but could not get away. " Let me go, little girl, there are people coming." He seized her with the other hand, and that, too, stuck fast. " Do let me go, they are coming nearer. I will put my foot on you." He did so ; his foot stuck fast, then the other foot. Then he threatened to bite her, and as this produced no effect he tried to do so, and was caught by the mouth. Then he sat on her (it is not easy to see how
1 Shisumbwa for " moyo," " sakubona," " moni," or " howdy."
286 The Tar-Baby Story.
he could have done it under the circumstances), and could not get up again. The people now came up and found him a prisoner. They went to fetch the Muna Mugunda, who loosed him from the gum and carried him off to the village. The culprit, however, had thought of a way of escape. " You man ! (obe mugoshd) don't kill me, but boil me alive in the pot ; I shall boil quickly. If you kill me first, I shall not boil quickly, I shall be hard like a stone." The man listened to his words, and put him into the pot. (As it was still early, we may presume that the water had only just been put on, and was therefore cold.) Then the people all went away to hoe their gardens. At this village, there was a child ill with manor o (a skin disease), and they left him to watch the pot. As soon as they were gone, the Rabbit came out of the pot, seized the boy set to watch, put him in, and then assumed his shape, manoro and all. When the people came back, he said : " Your meat is ready; cook me a mess of bran-porridge (snihere; in Yao, chipere). I do not want any of your meat, it smells bad." The boy's mother made him some shihere, and he went outside to eat it muhumbo — under the eaves by the door. They called him to come and sit beside them, but he refused. When he saw them picking the bones, he muttered : " You are gnawing the bones of your own child." They said : " What do you say, child?" He said : " I only said the flies are biting my sores." When they had finished eating, he ran away, calling out to them as he went: "You have eaten your own child ! I am going away ! — I, the Rabbit of Ngaraganza." (This might be the same as " Ukalaganza," which seems to be another name for Unyamwezi.) The women cried {lira means both to weep and to cry out; in particular, to raise the "keening" for the dead), but the men pursued him. They had all but caught him, when he ran into a hole. One man put in his hand and seized him by the tail, but he began " fer ter holler," the equivalent to the "Tu'n loose dat stump root an ketch holt er me," uttered by Brer Tarrypin in like case. Like Brer
The Tar-Baby Story. 287
Bar, the man let go his hold of the tail and seized the root; but the episode was not yet at an end, for he pulled as hard as he could, and up came the root. Then they left one man to watch the hole, while the rest went for picks, to dig out Brer Rabbit. As soon as they were gone, he said to the man on guard : " Open your eyes wide, so that you may see the Rabbit when he comes out, and catch him." (" Ecarquille les yeux au terrier," says Pere Capus : the meaning seems to be that the man was to put his face close to the entrance of the burrow and look in.) He did so, and the Rabbit threw dust in his eyes and ran past him. He felt something, and quickly clapped his hands over the hole, still blinded (so the narrative seems to imply), and not knowing whether the prisoner had escaped or not. When the others came back they said : " Is he there ? " He answered : " He threw sand in my eyes ; perhaps he is there." "Per- haps " — Kamba, kanga, kapena — is one of the most subtly characteristic African locutions. No one conversant with native ways can fail to recognise the cautious non-committal answer ; the speaker declining to draw any inference, how- ever obvious, from his first statement, or to assume any responsibility for a supposition even to the extent of an " I think." "Has A gone to X?" "Perhaps he has gone." "Are the floods out on the Matope road ?" " Kapena they are!" It is only less exasperating., on occasion, than the famous Kaya1 of the Mang'anja (Yao, Kwa/ini), which can only be rendered by the Spanish Quten sabe? and is more com- prehensive even than that.
They began to dig. The Rabbit made a circuit (it is to be supposed that he stripped off his skin — as he does in many native tales, or otherwise disguised himself — though this is
1 Not to be confounded with the Zulu ekaya, at home (which seems also to be used in Shisumbwa). Perhaps it is to be counted for righteousness to the Zulus that they don't possess a " kaya." " Ang*azi " is simply a straightforward " I do not know" — like "sindi dziwa " in Mang*anja — a statement of fact quite distinct from kaya.
288 The Tar-Baby Story.
not stated, as it is on a similar occasion, later on), came upon them, as if from a distance, asked what they were doing, and offered to help. He took up a pick and set to work ; but before long the iron came out of the handle. So he called to the Giraffe, and asked for the loan of his leg to serve as a handle. The Giraffe lent his leg, and in a very short time it was broken, and the Rabbit ran away, declar- ing himself as he ran. He now took refuge in a white-ant heap, and the episode was repeated with two differences, viz. that, instead of getting past his enemy by a stratagem, he found an opening into another burrow, and so escaped ; and that, when the pick came out of the handle, he this time proposed to fix it into the head of the Elephant. After this second failure the pursuers were (naturally) dis- heartened, and said : " We are tired " (twakatara, which is the Zulu sakatala), "and those who helped us, they have been killed. Let us stop." So they went home.
The Rabbit and the " Muna " both, in this story, exhibit an engaging artlessness, the former asking directly for what he wishes, the latter unsuspiciously granting it. Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox are cuter. (Is this owing to the stimulating air of the New World ?) " ' I don't keer w'at you do wid me, Brer Fox/ sezee, ' so you don't fling me in dat brier- patch. Roas' me, Brer Fox/ sezee, ' but don't fling me in
dat brier-patch' sezee Co'se Brer Fox wanter hurt
Brer Rabbit bad as he kin, so he cotch 'im by de behime legs en slung 'im right in de middle er de brier-patch . . . ."
M. Junod, who belongs to the (Swiss) Mission Romande, and resided for some years at Louren£o Marques, has, in his large collection of Ronga tales, two fairly complete sequences of adventures, which he entitles " Le Roman du Ltevre." The Tar-Baby episode comes into the first of these as follows. The " Ltevre " having, by means of a false alarm of war, repeatedly robbed the ground-nut patches of a certain village, the inhabitants become suspicious, and lay a trap for him. The first step is to
The Tar-Baby Story. 289
gather " de la glu noire." There are several kinds of trees which yield large quantities of gum, especially (in the Shire Highlands, at least) that called myombo {Brachystegia longi- folia), which also supplies bark-cloth. They made a Tar- Baby, in this instance, " un mannequin de femme." (It is to be noticed that " Tar- Baby she ain't sayin* nuthin* " is in strict accordance with the original tradition, though Brer Rabbit's injunction to "take off dat hat en tell me howdy/' seems to imply that the feminine pronoun is a mere fagon de parler — as in the case of ships and engines. For Uncle Remus certainly knew what good manners demand in the case of gentlemen and ladies respectively.) The image having been set up in the gardens, the Ronga Brer Rabbit once more gives the alarm : " Nte I nte ! nte / " (he is supposed to be sounding his horn — the nefarious acquisition whereof forms an earlier episode in the story) — " the enemy is coming ! " l The women all ran away ; but, seeing the Tar-Baby still there, the Rabbit called out"Va-t-en, femme !': The sequel is exactly as in the version already given (except that Brer Rabbit did not sit down on the "mannequin"), so that " il resta suspendu, se balancant de-ci, de-la." The people then came up, extricated him from the Tar-Baby's embraces, and informed him that they were going to kill him. "Very well," said he, "but don't kill me on the ground, kill me on the chief's back ! " They returned to the village and spread a mat on the ground, on which the chief obligingly lay down, and the Rabbit squatted on his back. A strong warrior then prepared to spear the Rabbit and, as might be expected, killed the chief. Brer Rabbit having leaped into the air at the critical moment, made his
1 In a Yao tale, the Sungula (Rev. Duff Macdonald, to satisfy his own sense of the fitness of things, translates/?*) went along the road with his dram, and met women digging beans (njavta, very like the ground-nut, Aractus hypogaia), and beat his drum, saying " Ti, ti, war I " The women fled ; the Sungula picked up their baskets and went home.
VOL. X. U
290 The Tar -Baby Story.
escape without any difficulty, and the indignant villagers massacred the warrior. "This is the end," says Kwizu, the narrator of the story.
These villagers, like the Basumbwa, seem singularly deficient in perspicacity. Perhaps the Makua, through long contact with Portuguese and Arabs, are somewhat sharper, and Nakami or Mpfundla lost his too easily- acquired reputation when he ventured among them.
It will not have escaped the reader's notice that Uncle Remus attributes to Brer Fox (and in one case to Brer B'ar) the part played by " the people " in these two African stories. In fact, except for Miss Meadows and the girls, so delightfully accounted for by the statement that " dey wuz in de tale," and one solitary appearance of " Mr.*Man " (from whose superior power only Brer Rabbit can deliver Brer Fox), the actors in the great majority of his tales are animals only. In the aboriginal African stories, however, the distinction is not very clearly marked. I had myself frequently noticed this characteristic in Shire Highlands folklore, when I came upon the following pas- sage in Chants et Contes des Baronga (p. 89) :
" Le Li&vre, la Rainette, et toutes les bfetes qui passent et repassent dans ces curieux r£cits, repr£sentent des 6tres humains, cela va sans dire." . . . (Or would it not be more exact to say that the narrator, by a familiar myth-making process, invests them with his own personality ? ) " Leurs caract&res physiques particuliers sont presents devant Tima- gination du conteur pour autant qu'ils donnent du pittoresque au r£cit. Mais on les oublie tout aussi ais£ment d&s qu'ils ne sont plus essentiels k la narration. . . . L'Hirondelle est un oiseau, mais sa femme est une veritable femme qui demeure dans une hutte, qui cuit dans une marmite des
legumes Dans Thistoire de la Femme paresseuse,
TAntilope declare au Ltevre avoir vu les traces de ses pas dans un champ qui a 6t6 pill6 par un voleur. Or, c'£taient les empreintes d'une femme! Le conteur k oublie la differ-
The Tar-Baby Story. . 291
ence physique du lifcvre et de Fhomme a ce moment-Ik. A chaque ligne on rencontre de ces inadvertances "
One of these inadvertences, to name no more, is found in the Shisumbwa story, where the Rabbit seizes the Tar- Baby with his hands. So, too, a Mang*anja tale in my MS. collection gives the Swallow a hut with all orthodox arrangements — the hearth in the middle of the floor, and the stage (nsanja) above it, on which meat and other things are dried — and a wife who cooks gourds in an earthen pot. In another, the Rabbit's wife goes down to the river with her water-pot like any native woman, and is caught by the Crocodile when stooping to fill it.1 Numberless touches of the same sort could be quoted from Uncle Remus, but he has a much more sophisticated consciousness of the dif- ference between " folks en de beasteses " than the native African.
M. Junod remarks that this " personification " of animals is emphasised in the Ronga tales by the honorific prefix Nwa, which can be rendered, according to circumstances, by Mr., Mrs., or Miss, and is equivalent to the Yao Che. Thus we have Nwa-Mpfundla, Nwa-Ndlopfu (Mr. Elephant), and in Yao Che-Sungula, &c. No doubt Brer Rabbit, Miss Cow, &c, are echoes of the same usage. There is an opening here for a grammatical dissertation on the " tn or living-person " class, and the transference into it of animal names properly belonging to another, when the animals are considered with reference to their personality. But we must not forget that we set out with the Tar-Baby.
M. Junod, in a note to the tale we have just quoted from him, refers to a story in M. Heli Chatelain's " Folk-tales of Angola/' where the Rabbit and the Monkey (whom we have not hitherto found in his company) are lamentably caught by " de belles filles-mannequins," whom they are
1 The text of this tale is given in " Zeitschrift fur afrikanische und ozeanisehe Sprachen, 1897, Heft iii.
U 2
292 The Tar-Baby Story.
tempted to embrace. I have not seen Chatelain's book, but the story is probably very much on the same lines as those already given.1 The Ambundu of Angola seem to possess a rich store of tales, and a language sufficiently like that of their more eastern kin to be learnt without difficulty. Herr Seidel (in a handy little collection entitled, " Geschichten und Lieder der Afrikaner," Berlin, 1896) gives two or three specimens, among them a turtle story which is the exact parallel to the adventure of Brer Tarrypin and Brer Bar. The German translator, who has evidently made his version from the English and not from the Kimbundu text, has, by a curious slip, entitled it " Die Turteltauie ; " but it is quite evident from the story itself that the water and not the winged turtle is the one meant. A man from Lubi la Suku found a turtle in the bush, and it was proposed to kill it with axes, but the turtle sang :
" Turtle of Koka, and axe of Koka ! No axe can kill me ! "
Stones, fire, and knives are all suggested in turn with a
1 The story given by Chatelain (p. 183) is of great interest. In outline it is this : — Monkey and Hare {Kabulu) rob Leopard. He consults " the old one " for a charm to catch them. The interviews with the witch are no doubt a transcript from life. At last, by her advice, Leopard makes wooden " images of girls," and smears them with gum of the wild fig-tree. Monkey and Hare, endeavouring to flirt with them, are caught. Leopard puts Monkey and Hare "in his side-bag" and takes them home, intending to cook them on the morrow. But the next day his father-in-law's death is announced, and he has to attend the funeral. In his absence, Monkey and Hare persuade his wife to let them out of the bag and give them the keys of the trunk, that they may dress and follow to the funeral. They dress, one as Captain and the other as Ensign, and go to the funeral. At the funeral they pretend to be sent by "the Lord Governor" to catch Leopard. He is bound and carried home. There they torture him, pillage his house, steal his clothes, and decamp. Hence the monkey always sleeps on a tree and the hare in the bush, so as to be secure from surprise by the leopard. The leopard's spots were caused by the torture. The honorific prefix Ngana is given to Leopard, and sometimes to Monkey and Hare. Ep.
The Tar-Baby Story. 293
like result, and at last some one says : " We will throw him into the deep water ! " Then the turtle cried out lamentably: "Alas! I must die! What shall I do?" And they took him to the river and threw him in. He swam away merrily, singing in triumph :
" In the water is my home ! In the water is my home ! "
" Ole man Tarrypin wuz at home, 1 tell you, honey ! " I was about to add that there is also a Yao version of the Tar-Baby. There probably is, but I am not acquainted with it. It is true that the little book in which the Domasi school-children learn to read contains, along with some (I believe) genuine native tales, one called "Ndano ja Juampache Malilolilo,,, whereof one word at least will be recognised by listeners devoted enough to have followed this paper attentively. But it is only — so, if my memory serves, I was informed by the compiler of the book — a ver- sion of Uncle Remus' s Wonderful Tar-Baby, as indeed the words, " If you refuse to take off your hat," sufficiently indicate. But it reads naturally enough, and after all, we may suppose, has only been restored, a little touched up perhaps, to its original home.
294 Japanese Myth.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15th, 1899. The President (Mr. E. S. Hartland) in the Chair.
The minutes of the last Meeting were read and con- firmed.
The election of Mr. Hoey Dignem and Miss K. Schle- singer was announced.
The resignation of Mr. T. K. Hurlburt was also an- nounced.
The President then read a paper by Mr. W. G. Aston, entitled " Japanese Myth," which was followed by a dis- cussion, in which Mr. Crooke and the President took part.
Dr. Gaster then read a paper entitled " Two Thousand Years of the Charm against the Child-Stealing Witch."
Votes of thanks for these papers were passed.
JAPANESE MYTH.
BY W. G. ASTON, C.M.G. I.
THE SACRED BOOKS OF JAPAN.
In Japan, as elsewhere, the respective domains of myth, legend, and history merge into one another in such a way that it is often hard to say where one ends and another begins. The ancient annals give us continuous narratives in which all three are treated alike. It is generally agreed, however, that the mythical period comes to an end with the accession to the throne of Jimmu Tenno, the first Mikado, an event to which the date of B.C. 66o is usually assigned. Modern Japanese historians make history to begin from this point; but in reality legend predominates for many hundreds
Japanese Myth. 295
of years longer, and it is not until the fifth century of our era that we have anything approaching to a genuine histo- rical record.
Whatever grains of truth may be contained in the narra- tive from Jimmu Tenno onwards, there can be no question that all that precedes is pure myth. It is to this early period, known as the iami-yo or age of the gods, that I propose to confine myself in the present paper. The events which are stated to belong to it form the basis of the Shinto (i.e. Way of the Gods) religion.
It may be questioned whether the ancient myths of Japan are, in the strict sense of the word, " folklore." Their birthplace and home seems to have been the Court of the Mikado rather than the nation at large, and their original depositories were doubtless the two hereditary corporations termed Nakatomi and Imbe, which were attached to this court for the vicarious performance of the Mikado's sacer- dotal functions. We hear later of a Kataribe or " corpo- ration of reciters/' whose business it was to recite "ancient words" before the Mikado on certain solemn state occasions, such as the beginning of a new reign. We unfortunately know very little of this body of functionaries, but it can hardly be doubted that their recitals helped to furnish material for the written mythical and historical narratives which have come down to us.
The most important of these are two works entitled the Kojiki and the Nihongi. The Kojiki or " Records of Ancient Matters " was completed in A.D. 712. It is said to have been taken down from the lips of one Hiyeda no Are, possibly one of the corporation of reciters just men- tioned, who could " repeat with his mouth whatever was placed before his eyes, and record in his heart whatever struck his ears." The Kojiki has been literally and faith- fully translated by Mr. B. H. Chamberlain in the Trans- actions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, Supplement to vol. x., 1882.
296 Japanese Myth.
The mythical narrative of the Nihongi or " Chronicles of Japan " (A.D. 720) is not quite so full as that of the Kojiki, and it has the disadvantage of being composed in the Chinese language. But it has one feature of great interest. The author, or some nearly contemporary writer, has added to the original text a number of variants of the current myths, thus enabling us to correct any impression of uni- formity or consistency which might be left by the perusal of the Kojiki or Nihongi alone. These addenda show that there was then in existence a large body of frequently irreconcilable mythical material, which these works are attempts to harmonise. A translation of the Nihongi by the present writer forms Supplement I. of the Transactions of the Japan Society (1896).
A third source of information respecting the mythical lore of Japan is the Kiujiki. A work with this name was compiled A.D. 620, i.e. one hundred years before the Nihongi, but the book now known by that title has been condemned as a forgery by native critics. Their arguments, however, are not quite convincing. The Kiujiki is in any case a very old book, and there can be no harm in accepting it as of equal authority with the Kojiki and Nihongi. Unlike them, the Kiujiki makes no attempt to be consistent. It is a mere jumble of mythical material, distinct and con- flicting versions of the same narrative being often dove- tailed into one another in the most clumsy fashion. It has not been translated.
The NoritOy or liturgies of the Shinto religion, contain an element of mythical narrative. They were first reduced to writing early in the tenth century, but some of them must be in substance several hundreds of years older. A few of these prayers have been translated by Sir E. Satow for the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, another is appended to Dr. Florenz's translation of the Nihongi now in course of publication, and the most famous of all, viz. the 6harai or " Great Purification " may be found in the
Japanese Myth. 297
present writer's History of Japanese Literature, recently published by Mr. Heinemann.
The Idzumo Fudoki (A.D. 733) contains some mythical passages, and the Kogoshiui adds a few items to the information given in the Kojiki and Nthongi. Neither of these works has been translated.
Roughly speaking, we find in the authorities above enumerated the myths of Japan as they were current at the beginning of the eighth century of our era. They must naturally contain a far older element. Sun-worship, which is the central feature of Shinto, probably dates back to a time when the Japanese had not yet left their continental home. This is a widespread cult among Tartar tribes.
The condition of material civilisation to which Shinto belongs may be gathered from the mention of bridges, iron, copper, mirrors, bellows for smelting metal, weaving, silk- culture, brewing, and various agricultural operations. In- dications of the degree of mental culture are afforded by the facts that Chinese learning, with the art of writing, had reached Japan early in the fifth century, and Buddhism towards the middle of the sixth.
II.
THE MYTHICAL NARRATIVE.
I shall now endeavour to give an outline of the narrative contained in these ancient records. In doing so, I shall not adhere to any one version of the story, but shall select those incidents which have an interest and significance for students of myth.
Both the Nihongi and the Kiujiki begin with a passage which is repudiated by the modern school of Shinto theo- logians, as in reality belonging to the materialistic philosophy of China. It runs as follows : —
" Of old, Heaven and Earth were not yet separated, and
298 Japanese Myth.
the In and Yd l not yet divided. They formed a chaotic mass like an egg which was of obscurely defined limits and contained germs. The purer and clearer part was thinly diffused and formed heaven, while the heavier and grosser element settled down and became earth. The finer element easily became a united body, but the consolidation of the heavy and gross element was accomplished with difficulty. Heaven was therefore formed first, and Earth established subsequently. Thereafter divine beings were produced between them."
Next after this rationalistic essay we find the names, and little more, of a number of deities, intended apparently to provide a genealogy for Izanagi and Izanami, the twin creator-deities of Japanese myth. There is much con- fusion here among the different authorities, both in respect to the names of these deities and to the order of their birth. Some are never heard of again, and look like mere inventions of an individual fancy, but others were really worshipped in later times. Of their attributes and func- tions little or nothing is known beyond what may be gathered from their names. There is the " Land-eternal- stand-deity " (according to the Nihongi, the first of all the gods), the " Rich-formation-plain-deity ," " Sweet-reed-shoot- prince-elder-deity " (described as resembling a reed-shoot, and produced from the earth when it was young and floated about like oil floating on water), the " Heaven-august- centre-master-deity " (identified by Hirata with the Polar Star), the " High-august-growth-deity," the " Mud-earth- deity," the " Face-perfect-deity," the " Awful deity," the " Eighty-myriad-spirit-deity " the " Celestial-mirror-deity," &c. Most of these are nature deities, and some are evidently the gods of an agricultural community.
Japanese myth really begins with Izanagi and Izanami, whom the various accounts agree in describing as the seventh generation of deities.
1 The Negative and Positive Principles of Chinese Philosophy.
Japanese Myth. 299
At the behest of the other gods these two stood on the floating bridge of heaven, and thrusting down the jewel- spear of heaven groped about with it in the chaos below. When it was drawn up again some brine dripped down, and, coagulating, formed an island which received the name of Onogoro-shima, or the " Self-coagulating island." The divine pair descended, and erected there an eight- fathom house of which the jewel-spear was made the central pillar. Then, the male deity turning by the left and the female deity turning by the right, they went round this central pillar until they met at the other side. The female deity there- upon spoke first and exclaimed: " How delightful ! a lovely youth ! " The male deity was displeased at the woman for having spoken first, so they went round the pillar a second time, and having met anew, the male deity spoke first and said : " How delightful ! a lovely maiden ! " Thereupon they became united as husband and wife. Another account says that in consequence of the ill-luck produced by the female deity having been the first to speak, the child which was born to them was a leech, which they placed in a reed- boat and sent adrift.
The accepted etymology of the names Izanagi and Izanami derives them from a verb izanail, to invite. The termina- tions gi and mi mean respectively male deity and female deity. Henpe the descriptive appellations " Male who invites" and " Female who invites," used by Mr. Chamber- lain in his translation of the Kojiki. I have a strong suspicion that Iza is really the name of a place ; but the ordinary derivation has an obvious pertinence, and it was probably present to the minds of the myth-makers.
The jewel-spear of Heaven (which reminds us of Maui's enchanted hook) is with some probability identified by native writers with the lingam. This is not the only evidence of the existence of phallic worship in ancient Japan. In modern times this cult has been notoriously prevalent there.
The phrase used in this passage of the original for " two
300 Japanese Myth.
deities " means literally " two pillars." Historical Shinto has no idols ; but is it not possible to trace in this expres- sion a survival from a time when the gods of Japan were wooden posts, hewn at the top into the rude semblance of a human countenance, such as may be seen in many savage countries at the present day, and even in Corea, close to Japan, and nearly allied in race ?
Much might be said of the rite of circumambulating the central pillar of the house, whether from left to right (follow- ing the sun) or in the contrary direction. That some primi- tive marriage ceremony is here adumbrated, there can, I think, be little doubt. The erection of a house by Izanagi and Izanami is not simply for practical reasons. It has in reality a ceremonial object. In ancient Japan it was the custom to provide a special nuptial hut, in order to avoid the ritual contamination of the dwelling-house by the con- summation of a marriage within it. Child-birth and the presence of a dead body were attended with similar pollu- tion, and special buildings were accordingly erected on these occasions also.
The reed-boat in which the leech-child was sent adrift, recalls the Accadian Sargon's ark of rushes, the casting away of the infant Moses, and other old-world stories.
Izanagi and Izanami then proceeded to procreate the various islands of Japan, the deity of trees, the deity of herbs and grasses, the Sun-Goddess, the Moon-God, the God Susa no wo, the Earth-Goddess, the Water-Goddess, the Wind-Gods, the Food-Goddess, the Fire-God, and others. In giving birth to the last-named deity, Izanami was injured so that she died. Izanagi, in his rage and grief, drew his sword and cut the new-born Fire-God into pieces, a number of other deities being generated by his doing so.
On her death, Izanami went to the land of Yomi or Hades. She was followed thither by her husband. But he was too late to bring her back, as she had already eaten of the cook- ing furnaces of Yomi. She forbade him to look at her, but
Japanese Myth. 301
he disregarded her prayer. Breaking off the end-tooth of the comb which he had in his hair, he made of it a torch, and looked in where his wife was lying. Her body was already putrid and swarmed with maggots, and the " Eight Thunders " had been generated in various parts of it. Izanami was enraged at her husband for exposing her nakedness, and sent the " Eight Thunders " and the "Ugly Females" of Yomi to attack him. Izanagi took to flight and used various expedients to delay his pursuers. He first flung down his head dress. It became changed to grapes, which the " Ugly Females" stopped to gather and eat. Then he threw down his comb. It turned into bamboo- shoots, which the "Ugly Females" pulled up and ate before continuing their pursuit. Izanami herself overtook him at the "Even Pass of Yomi," where the formula of divorce was pronounced by Izanagi, and their final parting took place.
The usual etymology of Yomi connects it with Yo or YorUy night. But this word has a suspicious resemblance to Yama, the name of the Indian God of the lower world. Mr. Andrew Lang has noted the fact that there are points of resemblance between the Japanese story and the Indian myth. In both we are told of the fatal consequences of tasting the food of the lower regions so well known to mythologists. It will be remembered that Proserpine's return to the upper world became impossible when once
Puniceum curv& decerpserat arbore pomum Sumptaque pallenti septem de cortice grana Presserat ore suo.
On returning from Yomi, Izanagi's first care was to bathe in the sea, in order to purify himself from the pollutions which he had contracted by his visit to the Land of the Dead. A number of deities were generated by this process, among whom were the Gods of Good- and Ill-luck, and certain ocean deities held to be the ancestors of some
302 Japanese Myth.
families of local chieftains, and worshipped by them. The Sun-Goddess was born from the washing of his left eye, and the Moon-God from that of his right, while a third deity named Susa no wo was generated from the washing of his nose. To the Sun-Goddess Izanagi gave charge of the " Plain of High-Heaven," and to the Moon-God was allotted the realm of Night. Susa no wo was at first appointed to rule the sea, but he preferred to rejoin his deceased mother Izanami, and was therefore made the Lord of Ne-no-kuni, i.e. the Root or Nether Country, another name for the Land of Yomi.
Izanagi's ablutions represent a widespread rite. They * remind us of Juno's lustration by Iris after a visit to Hades, and of Dante's immersion in Lethe when he had completed his ascent through Purgatory and was preparing for admis- sion to the circles of Paradise. They are clearly the mythi- cal counterpart of a custom described by Chinese travellers to Japan centuries before the Kojiki and Nihongi were written. It was then, we are informed, the practice, when the funeral was over, for the whole family of the deceased to go into the water and wash.
From this and other passages it would appear that ancestor-worship in ancient Japan was a very different institution from the Chinese form of this cult. In China its principal objects were, and are, the deceased parents of the worshipper. But in ancient Japan the ancestral deity was a remote mythical personage, who to all appearance had never been a human being, but a divinity of the mythi- cal world to whom his worshippers and so-called descend- ants were no more related than the Heracleidae to Hercules, the Romans to Venus, or, it may be added, the Mikados to the Sun. These mythical ancestors are not eponymous.
The circumstance that the Sun-Goddess was produced from the left and the Moon-God from the right eye of Izanagi is suggestive of the influence of China, where the left takes precedence of the right. The Chinese myth of
Japanese Myth. 303
Panku states: "P'anku came into being in the great waste ; his beginning is unknown. In dying he gave birth to the material universe. His breath was transmuted into the wind and clouds, his voice into thunder, his left eye into the sun, and his right eye into the moon." Hirata, a Shinto theologian of the nineteenth century, endeavours to combat the obvious inference from this comparison by pointing out that the sun is masculine in China and feminine in Japan. How little weight is due to this objection appears from the fact that two so nearly allied nations as the English and the Germans differ in the sex which they attribute to the sun, as do also closely-related tribes of Australian aborigines and Ainus of Yezo. And does not Shakespeare himself make the sun both masculine and feminine in the same sentence when he says : " The blessed sun himself a fair hot wench in flame-coloured taffeta?" l
The ascription of the female sex to the most prominent among the Shinto Gods is not owing merely to caprice. Myth-makers have often more substantial reasons for their fancies than might be supposed. In the present case evidence is not wanting to show that women played a very important part in the real world of ancient Japan, as well as in that of imagination. Women rulers were at this time a familiar phenomenon. Not only Japanese but Chinese history gives us glimpses of a female Mikado who lived about A.D. 200, and whose commanding ability and strong character have not been wholly obscured by the mists of legend. Women chieftains are frequently mentioned. In- deed the Chinese seem to have thought that feminine govern- ment was the rule, for their historians frequently refer to Japan as the " Queen-country." In more historical times several of the Mikados were women, and at a still later
1 The Australian coloured gentleman quoted in Mr. Andrew Lang's Custom and Myth was apparently fresh from a perusal of this passage when he com- pared the sun to " a woman of indifferent character in a coat of red kangaroo skins."
3°4 Japanese Myth.
period the women of Japan gave proof of hereditary ability by the production of works which are recognised to this day as the masterpieces of the best age of Japanese literature.
The birth of the Sun-Goddess and the Moon-God is, it will be observed, differently accounted for in the various versions of the myth. Such inconsistencies trouble the myth-makers not a whit.
Izanagi's career having come to an end, he built himself an abode of gloom in the Island of Awaji, where he dwelt in silence and concealment. Another account says that he ascended to Heaven, where he dwelt in the smaller palace of the Sun. It will be observed that Izanagi was not im- mortal, and that he did not go to Yomi when he died.
The mythical narrative now turns to the doings of the Sun-Goddess and her brother Susa no wo.
Susa no wo, before proceeding to take up his charge as Ruler of the Nether Region, ascended to Heaven to take leave of his elder sister, the Sun-Goddess. By reason of the fierceness of his divine nature, there was a commotion in the sea, and the hills and mountains groaned aloud as he passed upwards. The Sun-Goddess, in alarm, arrayed herself in manly garb, and confronted her brother armed with sword and bow and arrows. The pair stood face to face on opposite sides of the River of Heaven.1 Susa no wo then assured his sister of the purity of his intentions, and proposed to her that they should each produce children by biting off and crunching parts of the jewels and swords which they wore and blowing away the fragments. Eight children born in this way were worshipped in after-times as the Hachoji or eight princely children.
Susa no wo's subsequent proceedings were very rude and unseemly. He broke down the divisions between the rice- fields belonging to his sister, sowed them over again, let loose in them the piebald colt of Heaven, and committed
1 The Milky Way.
Japanese Myth. 305
nuisances in the hall where she was celebrating the solemn festival of first-fruits. The climax to his misdeeds was to flay a piebald colt of Heaven and to fling it into the sacred weav- ing-hall— where the Sun-Goddess was engaged in weaving the garments of the deities. She was so deeply indignant at this last insult that she entered the Rock-cave of Heaven and left the world to darkness.
Native etymologists derive the name Susa no wo from a verb susamu, to be eager, impetuous. Hence the " Im- petuous Male " of English translators. I am persuaded, how- ever, that this is only a folk's etymology (which may have suggested some features of the myth) and that the real meaning is the " Male of Susa," Susa being a town in the province of Idzumo, a prehistoric centre of Shinto worship. The name Idzumo, if I am not mistaken, means " sacred quarter."
It would be a mistake to pass over Susa no wo's mis- chievous and unseemly pranks with a smile as naive in- ventions of some early writer's fancy. They have a profound significance, and indeed form a tolerably comprehensive selection from the so-called "celestial offences" enumerated in the Great Purification Liturgy, a solemn state ceremonial by which the nation was purged of its sins twice a year. To complete the account of the rudimentary moral code of this period, I may add the earthly offences, viz. : — the cutting of living bodies, the cutting of dead bodies, leprosy, incest (within very narrow limits of relationship) calamities from creeping things, from the high gods, and from high birds, killing of cattle, and bewitchment.
Susa no wo's re-sowing of his sister's rice-fields reminds us of the wild-oats sown by Loki, the mischief-maker of Scandinavian myth.
The retirement of the Sun-Goddess to the Rock-cave of Heaven produced great consternation among the heavenly deities. They met on the dry bed of the River of Heaven and took counsel how they should entice her from her
vol x. x
306 Japanese Myth.
seclusion. By the advice of Omoi-kane no Mikoto (the Thought-combiner or Counsellor-deity) the long-singing birds of the Eternal Land (cocks) were made to utter their prolonged cry before the door of the cave. Ame no Koyane no Mikoto, ancestor of the Nakatomi (a priestly tribe) and Futo-dama no Mikoto, ancestor of the Imbe, dug up by the roots a five-hundred branched true Sakaki tree of Heaven, and hung on its higher branches strings of jewels, on its middle branches a mirror, and on its lower branches pieces of cloth. Then they recited their liturgy in her honour. Moreover, Ame no Uzume (the Dread Female of Heaven) arrayed herself in a fantastic manner and standing on a tub which resounded when she stamped upon it, performed a (not very decent) mimic dance and gave forth an inspired utterance. The Sun-Goddess wondered how Ame no Uzume and the other gods could be so jolly while the world was wrapped in complete darkness, and peeped out from the half-opened door of the cave. She was at once seized by Ta-jikara no wo (Male of Great Strength) and prevented by main force from re-entering, to the great joy of all the deities.
Susa no wo was then tried by a council of Gods, who mulcted him in a fine of a thousand tables of purification- offerings. They also pulled out the nails of his fingers and toes, and banished him to the land of Yomi. Finally Ame no Kogane, the ancestor of the Nakatomi, recited his Oharai or great purification liturgy.
The above episode is the pith and kernel of the mythical lore of Japan. Belonging to the class of night and day myths, it is ostensibly an attempt to trace the origin of some of the principal ceremonies of the Shinto religion as they were practised in the Mikado's court at the time. The Nakatomi long held office as the representatives of the Mikado in his priestly capacity, and in some versions of the narrative the Sun-Goddess is surrounded by other officials, such as mirror-makers, jewel-makers, &c, obviously
Japanese Myth. 307
borrowed from the actual functionaries of the court. By a curious coincidence, the Smith-God attached to her train, like the Cyclops of Greek myth, has but one eye.
The duties of the Imbe were in Kojiki and Nihongi times confined to assisting the Nakatomi in the performance of the Shinto religious services. But the following notice by a Chinese traveller gives us a glimpse of them many centuries before. It shows them in their true character, and explains the name Imbe, which means literally "abstainer." " They (the Japanese) appoint a man whom they call an ' abstainer.' He is not allowed to comb his hair, to wash, to eat flesh, or to approach women. When they are fortunate, they make him presents, but if they are ill, or meet with disaster, they set it down to the abstainer's failure to keep his vows, and unite to put him to death." Almost every word of this description is applicable to the medicine-men of the North American Indians at the present day.
Ame no Uzume, the Dread Female of Heaven, who danced and gave forth an inspired utterance before the Rock-cave where the Sun-Goddess was hidden, is also a recognisable personage with whom Mme. Blavatsky might have claimed relationship. She was the ancestor of the Sarume (monkey-women) or female mimes attached to the Mikado's court, whose performances were the origin of the pantomimic religious dances still kept up in Japan and known as Kagura, while her divinely inspired utterance is the prototype of the revelations of the Miko, or Shinto priestesses.
One version of the story gives us the actual words used by Uzume on this occasion, viz. : Hi, fu> mi, yo, itsu, mu} nana, ya> kokono, tart. A Japanese baby knows that these are simply the numerals from one to ten. But they have given much trouble to later Shintoists, who have endeavoured to read into them a deep mythical signification. Another account states that the repetition of these words, combined
x 2
308 Japanese Myth.
with the shaking of certain talismans, will drive away all manner of diseases and prolong life. Students of folklore will not be surprised to find such virtues attributed to the numerals.
Several other examples are given in the Nihongi of inspired messages from the gods. Chiuai Ten no was in this way urged to undertake the conquest of Corea. At the present time these female purveyors of X-material have fallen upon evil days. The Miko are now vagabonds of indifferent character, who for a trifling consideration will undertake to deliver messages from deceased relatives, and who, with their art, are held in the lowest estimation by all sensible people.1
The punishments inflicted on Susa no wo are plainly suggested by the Japanese criminal code of the day. This is not the only passage from which we may infer that fines were originally meant to supply the means of making ex- piatory sacrifices to the gods.
After his banishment Susa no wo visited Corea, but not finding that country to his liking, returned to Japan, and went to the province of Idzumo. Here he slew the eight- headed serpent of Koshi (having first made him drunk) and delivered his intended victim, a young maiden who subse- quently became his wife. On the occasion of his marriage to her, Susa no wo composed the following verses :
Many clouds arise, On all sides a manifold fence : To receive within it the spouses, They form a manifold fence. Ah I that manifold fence I
Eventually he entered the Nether Land.
It cannot be necessary to point out the resemblance of this story to that of Perseus and Andromeda, of which there are so many variants current throughout the world.
1 For some account of occult practices in Japan, see Mr. Percival Lowell's Occult Japan.
Japanese Myth. 309
In the poem ascribed to Susa no wo (but which really belongs to the sixth or seventh century) we again meet with the nuptial hut already referred to in the myth of Izanagi and Izanami.
It will be observed that the ill-natured and mischievous character ascribed to Susa no wo is not sustained in this part of the story. He also appears to advantage in a legend which represents him as the giver of useful trees of all kinds, especially fruit-trees, to Japan. But his violent nature appears again in a legend which speaks of him as the slayer of the Goddess of Food, who had disgusted him by producing all manner of dainty things from her mouth, nose, and other parts of her body, for his entertainment. Another version of this incident makes the Moon-God the culprit, and gives it as the reason of his alienation from the Sun- Goddess, not the only attempt of myth-makers to account for the obvious aloofness maintained by these two deities.
Susa no wo had 181 children. One of these was Oho-na- muchi (great-name-possessor) also called Oho-kuni-nushi (great-country-master). He dwelt in Idzumo, and with the aid of a guardian spirit reduced to order this part of Japan. Associated with him was the dwarf-deity Sukuna-bikona, who came floating over the sea in a tiny boat clothed in bird- skins. To these two is attributed the origin of the art of medicine and of charms against the powers of evil.
There is probably some reflection of real history in this passage. It is hardly doubtful that Idzumo was one of the earliest, if not quite the earliest, centre of civilisation and religion in Japan, while its position on the coast Over-against Corea is significant, in view of the legends which connect Susa no wo with that country. The incident of Sukuna- bikona's arrival by sea clothed in bird-skins seems to indicate an acquaintance with some northern tribes who, like the Kurile islanders at this day, wore garments of this material. The dynasty of Susa no wo was not recognised by the Gods of Heaven, who sent down several other deities to
3X° Japanese Myth.
subdue and govern the world, i.e. Japan. Ultimately Oho- na-muchi and his son Koto-shiro-nushi (thing-know-master, or governor), agreed to yield the government to Hoho no ninigi, a grandchild of the Sun-Goddess, who accordingly descended to earth on a mountain in the western island of Kiushiu. He was attended by the ancestors of the five Be, or hereditary government corporations, viz. : the Naka- tomi, the Imbe, the Sarume, the mirror-makers be, and the jewellers be, to which some accounts add several others.
Hoho no ninigi took to wife the daughter of a deity whom he found there. When the time came for her delivery, she shut herself up in a doorless shed, which, on the birth of her three children, she set fire to, with the object of clearing herself from certain suspicions which her husband had entertained of her fidelity. " If/' said she, "the children are really the offspring of the Heavenly Grandchild, the fire cannot harm them." The children and their mother came forth unhurt, and were thereupon recog- nised by Hoho no ninigi as his true offspring and wife.
The " doorless shed " here mentioned, is a " parturition- house." It was the custom in ancient Japan, for women, when the time drew near for their delivery, to retire to a shed specially constructed to receive them, so that con- tamination to the dwelling-house might be avoided. This was still the practice in the island of Hachi-jo in 1878.
The burning of the parturition-house represents the ordeal by fire, which, with the ordeal by boiling water or mud, is well-known in Japan.
The story concerns itself no further with the eldest of these three children. Of the others, the senior, named Ho no Susori, became a fisherman, and the younger, Hohodemi a hunter.
Ho no Susori once proposed to his brother to exchange their respective callings. Hohodemi accordingly gave over to his elder brother his bow and arrows, and received a fish-hook in return. But neither of them profited by the
Japanese Myth. 311
exchange ; so Ho no Susori gave back to his brother the bow and arrows, and demanded from him the fish-hook. Hoho- demi, however, had in the meantime lost it in the sea. He took his sword and forged from it a number of new fish-hooks, which he piled up in a winnowing tray and offered to his brother by way of compensation. But the latter would have none but his own, and demanded it so vehemently of Hohodemi as to grieve him bitterly. Hoho- demi went down to the sea-shore and stood there lamenting, when there appeared to him the Old Man of the Sea, by whose advice he descended into the sea-depths to the abode of the God of the Sea, a stately palace with lofty towers and battlements. Before the gate there was a well, and over the well grew a thick-branching cassia-tree, into which Hohodemi climbed. The Sea-God's daughter, Toyo-tama- hime (rich-jewel-maiden), then came out from the palace to draw water. She saw Hohodemi's face reflected in the well, and, returning within, reported to her father that she had seen a beautiful youth in the tree which grew by the well. Hoho- demi was courteously received by the Sea-God, Toyo-tama- hiko (rich-jewel-prince), who, when he heard his errand, summoned before him all the fishes of the sea and made inquiry of them for the lost fish hook, which was eventually discovered in the mouth of the Tai. Toyo-tama-hiko de- livered it to Hohodemi, telling him when he gave it back to his brother to say "a hook of poverty, a hook of ruin, a hook of downfall," to spit twice, and to hand it over with averted face.
Hohodemi married the Sea-God's daughter, Toyo-tama- hime, and remained with her for three years. He then became home-sick and returned to the upper world. On the beach where he came to land, he built for his wife, who was soon to follow, a parturition-house which he thatched with cormorant's feathers. The roofing was still unfinished when she arrived, riding on a great tortoise. She went straight into the hut, begging her husband not to look at
312 Japanese Myth.
her. But Hohodemi's curiosity was too strong for him. He peeped in, and behold! his wife had become changed into a great sea-monster (or dragon), eight fathoms long. Deeply indignant at the disgrace put upon her, Toyo-tama- hime returned hastily to her father's palace, abandoning her new-born child to the care of her sister, and barring behind her the sea-path in such a way that from that day to this all communication between the realms of land and sea has been cut off.
The child thus born was the father of Jimmu Tenno, the first human sovereign of Japan.
Hohodemi's troubles with his elder brother were renewed on his arrival home. He was obliged to use against him two talismans given him by his father-in-law. One of these had the virtue of making the tide flow and submerge Ho no Susori and thus compel him to sue for mercy. (Another account says that Hohodemi whistled and thereby raised the wind and the sea). Then by a second talisman the tide was made to recede, and Ho no Susori' s life was spared. He yielded complete submission to his younger brother, and promised that he and his descendants to all generations would serve Hohodemi and his successors as mimes and bondservants. The Nihongi adds that in that day it was still customary for the Hayato (or Imperial guards) who were descended from Ho no Susori to perform a mimic dance before the Mikados, the descendants and successors of Hohodemi, in which the drowning struggles of their ancestor were represented.
The Castle-gate and the tree before it, at the bottom of which is a well which serves as a mirror, form a combination not unknown to European folklore.1 The student will also note the partiality evinced for the younger of two brothers,
1 "Then the giant's dochter came to the palace where Nicht, Nought, Nothing was, and she went up into a tree to watch for him. The gardener's dochter going to draw water in the well saw the shadow." Mr. Andrew Lang's Custom and Myth, p. 91.
Japanese Myth. 313
the virtue of spitting and of set forms of speech to bring good or ill luck, and of whistling to raise the wind.
There are several features in this story which betray a recent origin and foreign influences. A comparatively advanced civilisation is indicated by the sword and fish- hooks forged of iron (the Homeric fish-hook was of horn) ; and the institution of the Hayato as Imperial Guards belongs to a period not very long antecedent to the date of the Nihongt and Kojiki. The palace of the sea-depths and its Dragon-king are of Chinese, and therefore of recent, origin. The comparatively modern character of this important link in the genealogy which traces back the descent of the Mikados to the Sun-Goddess confirms an impression that the ancestor-worship of the ancient Japanese is a later ac- cretion upon what was in its origin a worship of the powers of Nature.
III.
THE PLACE OF SHINTO IN THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION.
The myths in which Shinto is embodied present special advantages to the student of religion in its earlier forms. They hold an almost unique position, intermediate between the crude conceptions of savages and such mythologies as those of ancient Greece and Rome. They have been re- corded at ample length, and in several various and conflicting versions, thus affording scope for a tolerably comprehensive study. They have assumed their present shape compara- tively uninfluenced by alien ideas. Something of Chinese philosophy and folklore, and perhaps a few echoes of Indian myth, have intruded to a small extent ; but there is happily no room for suspicion of missionary or Christian influence. The Shinto nomenclature is for the most part transparent and reveals the natures and functions of the deities more clearly than is usual in mythology. There is some satisfaction in dealing with divine personages like Ame-terasu no Oho-mi
314 Japanese Myth.
Kami, i.e. flie Heaven-shining great-august-deity, whose names permit no possibility of misconception as to their attributes.
The following scrap of theory, prepared with a special view to the facts of Shinto, is meant only as a help towards defining its place among religions.
A species of animism forms the basis of Shinto, as it does of other religions. Early man, proceeding by a similar, though less tangible analogy, to that by which he recognises in his fellow-men and other living beings will and sensation resembling his own, extends to natural elements and objects, especially those which inspire gratitude, fear and wonder, something of the same quality. He regards the sun, fire, wind or sky as alive. Religion, at this stage, hardly amounts to theism. I have called it animism, using this word, it will be observed, in a more restricted sense than Dr. Tylor in his Primitive Culture.
The next step is to endow nature with human qualities physical and moral. From this combination of humanity with the awe-inspiring might and majesty of nature, bene- ficent in some aspects and terrible in others, springs the first rude conception of divinity. As the organisation of society proceeds and individuals are aggregated into families families into tribes, and tribes into nations, the original imperfect notion of deity is enriched and widened by analogies drawn from the father, the chief and the sovereign. This we may call the anthropomorphic stage of religious development A later phase of it is where the material, natural object is supposed to be inhabited or governed by an unseen but not incorporeal anthropomorphic deity.
The third or spiritist stage of belief is that in which natural phenomena are attributed to the action of an in- visible and incorporeal power or powers whose essential humanity has been refined and purged of the grosser ideas which accompanied it in the earlier stage of progress There are two phases of spiritist belief, one in which the
—•~* — — -
Japanese Myth. 315
corporeal anthropomorphic deity is supposed to have a spiritual counterpart, and the other in which the deity is himself a spiritual being. Spiritism seems to be the result of endeavours to explain away the obvious difficulties which attend the cruder anthropomorphism.
These three stages of belief may be represented by the following formulae :
I. The Sun is alive (Animism).
II. The Sun is (0) a man, a father, a chief, a king, or (6) is a material object ruled by an unseen, but not incorporeal being with human form and passions (Anthropomorphism).
III. The Sun is (a) a material object ruled by an anthro- pomorphic being which has a spiritual double, or (b) is ani- mated by a spiritual being (Spiritism).
These stages do not succeed one another like geological strata, but overlap. Spiritism may and does appear at an early stage of anthropomorphic development, while on the other hand the most advanced religions find it hard to re- linquish grosser conceptions which belong to an earlier stage of progress.
The most superficial examination of Shinto will satisfy us that it is subc^ntially an anthropomorphic religion. Its deities are for the most part personified powers, elements and objects of nature. At their head stands the Sun-Goddess with her attendant courtiers. Then we have the Moon-God, the God of Growth, the Food-Goddess, Gods of Fire, Wind, Water, Earth, Seas, Mountains, Rivers, Thunder, Trees, and Islands. But, except in the case of a few principal deities, the process of personification has not gone far. Many so- called deities have hardly got beyond the first, or animist, stage of progress. When such objects as swords, stones, jewels, or mirrors have been dubbed Kami (gods) for their wonderful properties, real or imaginary, the impulse towards personification seems to have spent itself. And there are a good many others whose human quality is of the thinnest, there being frequently nothing even to show whether they
316 Japanese Myth.
are male or female. This weakness of the personifying power is profoundly characteristic of the Japanese race. It is shown in their unimaginative literature, their language, which has no grammatical gender and makes the most sparing use of personal pronouns, the feeble character- drawing of their fiction, and their equally feeble attempts at monumental sculpture and portrait-painting. It does not follow that the ancient Japanese were backward in their general intellectual development. Their aesthetic sensibili- ties were by no means uncultivated, and in the faculty of minute and accurate observation and description, they cannot be pronounced inferior to their European contem- poraries.
The nomenclature of Shinto is wholly anthropomorphic. Its perspicuous character enables us to discern traces of the various phases in which the gods are considered alternately as fathers, chiefs and sovereigns. A good number have the root of the word chi-chi, father, incorporated into their names,1 where it assumed the various forms of chi,ji, or oftener tsuchi or tsutsu.
The " chieftain" idea of divinity is represented by the use of the word wo, male, i.e. virile or valiant one, in many of the names of deities, and by the ascription to some of warlike qualities. There is nothing to show that these are deified chieftains. On the contrary, the term wo is applied, like tsuchi, father, to what are unmistakably nature deities, such as the sea-gods Soko-tsutsu-wo (bottom-father-male), Naka- tsutsu-wo (middle-father-male), and Uwa-tsutsu-wo (upper- father-male), produced by the lustrations of lzanagi in the sea after his return from Yomi.
Kami, the most common and comprehensive word for deity in the Japanese language, belongs to the tribal and national stages of social development. Its original meaning is "above," "superior." Just as our word "lord" embraces
1 As in the case of our own minor deities, Father Christmas and Father Thames.
Japanese Myth. 317
nobles and the sovereign as well as the Deity, Kami is used alike for nobles, Mikados and Gods. The following quota- tion from Motodri, the famous Shinto theologian of the latter part of the eighteenth century, will help us to realise more fully what the Japanese understand by this word.
" The l term Kami is applied in the first place to the various deities of Heaven and Earth who are mentioned in the ancient records, as well as to their spirits (mi-tama) which reside in the shrines where they are worshipped. Moreover, not only human beings, but birds, beasts, plants and trees, seas and mountains, and all other things what- soever which deserve to be dreaded and revered for the extraordinary and pre-eminent powers which they possess are called Kami. They need not be eminent for surpassing nobleness, goodness, or serviceableness alone. Malignant and uncanny beings are also called Kami, if only they are the objects of general dread. Among Kami who are human beings I need hardly mention first of all the successive
Mikados — with reverence be it spoken Then there
have been numerous examples of divine human beings both in ancient and modern times, who, although not accepted by the nation generally, are treated as gods, each of his several dignity, in a single province, village or family. . . . Amongst Kami who are not human beings, I need hardly mention thunder (in Japanese Nam kami or the Sounding God). There are also the dragon, the echo (called in Japanese Ko-dama or the Tree-Spirit), and the fox, who are Kami by reason of their uncanny and fearful natures. The term Kami is applied in the Nikongi and Manyoshiu to the tiger and wolf. Izanagi gave to the fruit of the peach, and to the jewels round his neck, names which implied that
they were Kami There are many cases of seas and
mountains being called Kami. It is not their spirits which
1 See also Sir E. Satow's Revival of Pure Shinto, in the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, 1 87 5.
r
318 Japanese Myth.
are meant. The word was applied directly to the seas or mountains themselves, as being very awful things."
The myths of Japan contain abundant traces of the state and authority which surrounded the Mikados being ascribed by analogy to the Sun-Goddess and other celestial beings. But just as the ancient Mikados were by no means absolute monarchs, none of the Shinto Gods is what we understand by a Supreme Being. They are neither omnipotent, omni- scient, nor immortal. The first deity in point of time cannot be regarded as supreme. The various authorities put forward several candidates for this position, all of whom are shadowy personages who are seldom or never mentioned afterwards. They are in no sense the chief gods of Shinto. Nor can we allow the title of Supreme Being to the Creator-deity, Izanagi, who was born and died, not to mention the eclipses of his marital authority, or of his having to take hastily to flight from the Ugly Females of Yomi. The Sun-Goddess, although the most eminent of the Shinto Gods, is grossly insulted by Susa no wo, and instead of inflicting on him the punishment which he deserves, hides in a cave from which she is partly enticed, partly dragged by the other deities. This is not the behaviour of a Supreme Being. When Susa no wo is punished, it is by a Council of the Gods, the large share taken by which in the Government of Heaven, shows that the celestial constitution, like its earthly counterpart, was an essentially limited monarchy.
The word " infinite," familiar to Buddhism, I do not find in the Shinto record. Toko, which we translate by "eternal," has a positive and not a negative signification, and means " permanent " rather than " without end." It occurs in the name of the deity Kuni-toko-tachi (earth-eternal-stand), and we also meet with it in the word toko-yo, the eternal world. We are told in the Nihongi that in A.D. 644 a man in the east country, then the most barbarous part of Japan, urged his fellow-villagers to worship " the God of the Ever-
Japanese Myth. 319
lasting World " also called " the God of Gods," promising to those who did so long life and riches. He had many adherents who threw out their victuals and other property into the public roads, expecting to have " the new riches " given them in return. The craze spread to such an extent that the Government at length interfered and suppressed this movement by force. The God of the Everlasting World was a large caterpillar, a strange conjunction of the highest and the lowest in religion ! Yet may we not extend some small measure of sympathy towards this blind and feeble aspiration after an Infinite, Supreme Being, crushed relentlessly at its very birth ?
Of the later form of anthropomorphism in which the deities are regarded as distinct from the natural phenomena or objects which they rule, there is not much trace in the ancient authorities. Motoori is true to the spirit of the old myths when he describes the Sun-Goddess as identical with the sun itself. But his most eminent pupil Hirata differs from him on this point and speaks of her as born on earth, and subsequently appointed to rule the sun. Hirata's view is an obvious step towards spiritism.
There are comparatively few traces of spiritism in Shinto. Although the creed of a tolerably cultured race, which had learned to attribute human qualities, physical and moral, to natural powers and objects, and to regard them with some- thing of the affection, gratitude, and submissive awe inspired by their earthly fathers, chiefs, and sovereigns, it remains in all essential respects an anthropomorphic religion. Whatever Izanagi and Izanami were, their history, ending with their death, shows that they were as unspiritual beings as can well be imagined. The Sun-Goddess, who retires to a cave and leaves the world to darkness, is plainly the sun itself, and the Food-Goddess, who entertains her guests with dainties taken from various parts of her own person, is also an unmistakably material personage. Motoori says in so many words that the Shinto deities had arms and legs, and
320 Japanese Myth.
adds that if some of them are invisible now, this was not always so. He points out in the passage quoted above, that when a sea or mountain is called Kami it is not the spirit of the sea or mountain that is intended, but the sea or mountain itself.
But while Shinto is in the main an unspiritual religion, there are not wanting indications of an advance beyond the earlier type of religious thought.
The point to which the Japanese mind had at this period arrived in its transition to a more spiritist form of faith is marked by the use of the word mi-tama. Mi is an honorific prefix. Tama means ball, bead, jewel, precious thing, essence, spirit, and, at a later time, soul. The metaphorical use of this word can be best explained by a few concrete ex- amples. When the Sun-Goddess1 and the High-integrating- Deity sent down Hoho no Ninigi to rule the lower world, he was given, among other things, a sacred mirror with the injunction, " Regard this mirror exactly as our mi-tama and reverence it as if reverencing us." It is in the same spirit, which surely savours of make-believe rather than belief, that the gods are frequently represented in the Norito as dwelling in the places where they are worshipped. Even Motoori speaks of the Shinto shrines as being occupied by the mi-tama of the gods.
Again, when Ohonamuchi boasted that he alone had subdued the Central Land (Japan) he was reproved by something which floated towards him over the sea, sur- rounded by a divine radiance, and which said : " It is because of my presence that thou hast been able to accom- plish this mighty task." " Who art thou ? " asked Ohona- muchi. It replied and said : " I am thy tama of good luck, the wondrous tama." Human beings may also have tama of this kind, which are plainly the counterpart of our guardian spirits. Jingo Kogu was accompanied by a nigi
1 See Chamberlain's Kojiki, p. 108.
Japanese Myth. 321
(gentle)-tama when she undertook her celebrated expedi- tion against Corea. The word tarn a occurs in the names of a few deities, such as Iku (live) dama ; and the Kiujiki has mention of the " Eighty times ten thousand tama of Heaven." The Chinese character used for tama in all these cases is one for which no closer English equivalent can be given than " spirit."
On the other hand, a number of gods have incorporated into their names the word mimi (august body), an indica- tion of a more materialistic conception of deity.
On the second phase of Spiritism, in which the gods themselves are spirits distinct from nature, I can find little trace.
The feeble grasp of Spiritism by the Japanese nation at this period is further illustrated by the total absence of ghosts from the ancient literature. This can hardly be owing to the imperfection of the* record, for these old writers have a marked fondness for X-material, and have accumu- lated a considerable quantity of it. Moreover, there are occasions when ghosts might naturally have made their appearance, and do not. When Izanagi follows Izanami to the land of Yomi, he finds there, not a spirit or ghost, but a putrefying corpse in which maggots had already bred. When Prince Yamato-dake died, his mitama became changed into a white bird and ascended to heaven. In another case a wreath hung up in a mortuary is termed the deceased's mikage or " august shade," a synonym for mitama.
We are told in the Nihongi that on the 2nd day of A.D. 689, " the Department of Great Learning presented eighty staves.' ' These staves were for the ceremony of Oni-yarahi, or demon-expelling, which was performed at the beginning of every year by men who rushed about beating the air and discharging arrows in all directions. Now we learn from the Wamiosh6, a Chinese-Japanese dictionary of the 10th century, that the word oni also comprised " the spirits of dead men," and it notes that they " refuse to reveal their
vol. x. Y
322 Japanese Myth*
form." The oni were therefore invisible but not incor- poreal, a description which by no means corresponds to our idea of a ghost. Motoori denies that the oni are spirits of the dead. In the old literature, he says, this word means simply " devil."
Motoori could find no proof that the ancient Japanese believed in the immortality of the soul. But that they believed in some sort of continued existence after death can hardly be doubted. It is testified to by the practice of human sacrifices at the tombs of great men, which, as we know from incontestable evidence, prevailed in Japan centuries before the Nihongi and Koji ki were written.
There is something to be said for the contention that the absence of ghosts from the X-record of ancient Japan is not owing to backward development, but to a " later change in the intellectual course, a divergence from, or rejection of, ancestral faiths," 1 brought about by the influence of sceptical Chinese literature, and confined to a cultured class. But surely the weight of evidence forbids this conclusion. It rather tends to show that the ancient Japanese were an un- imaginative people, still in the anthropomorphic stage of religious progress and with a radical incapacity for grasping the complex conception which underlies our word " ghost." They had got so far as in some halting measure to separate spirit from body, but they had not yet learnt to conceive of the former as preserving the individuality of the deceased, and as capable of re-assuming a visible form more or less resembling its former mortal integument. The mitama required the assistance of some existing material object in order to become cognisable by our senses.
This view would have to be modified if ghosts were shown to be genuine objective phenomena. It is permissible, how- ever, provisionally, and until psychical research has yielded more accurate and better digested results, to look upon a
1 Dr. Tylor's Primitive Culture, p. 426.
Japanese Myth. 323
belief in them as an excrescence on religion in a secondary stage of its growth, to which it would be easy to attach undue importance. I would not be understood, however, to contest the doctrine that the notion of a more or less spiritual existence of the dead has been a cardinal factor in early religious development. No reader of Primitive Cul- ture can doubt this. The case of Japan raises a presumption that a considerable advance must be made towards a Spiritist form of faith before ghosts can make their appearance. The modern popular literature, written after centuries of Buddhist and Chinese influence, teems with apparitions.
The deification of human beings, by which something of the superhuman power and glory already recognised in natural deities is reflected back upon heroes, ancestors, or sovereigns, does not occupy an important position in Shinto. As already pointed out, the ancestral gods are not really deified ancestors but existing deities who have been con- verted into ancestors, or others invented for this very pur- pose. The deification of living and deceased mikados and princes belongs to a comparatively recent period, and is open to strong suspicion of Chinese influence.
There is no summer and winter myth in these old records, no rainbow myth, and no eclipse myth. There is, strange to say, no earthquake myth, and but one solitary mention of a god of earthquakes. The most terrible exceptional convulsions would appear to have impressed the religious sense of the Japanese less than every-day, normal phe- nomena.
Y 2
324 Minutes of Meeting.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19th, 1899. The President (Mr. E. S. Hartland) in the Chair.
The minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed.
The following books, which had been presented to the Society since the last Meeting, were laid upon the table, viz: —
Vol. v., parts i and 2 of Lud: Organ Towarsystwa Ludoznawczego we Lwowie ; and Transactions of the Glasgow Archaeological Society, vol. iii., part 2, both pre- sented by the respective Societies ; and Biblical Antiquities y by Cyrus Adler and I. M. Casanowicz ; Chess and Playing Cards y by Stewart Culin ; and The Lamp of the Eskimo, by Walter Hough, all presented by the President.
The Secretary read a paper by Dr. Jevons entitled " The Place of Totemism in the Evolution of Religion," and a discussion followed, in which Mr. Andrew Lang, Mr. Clodd, Mr. E. K. Chambers, Dr. Gaster, Mr. Nutt, Lieut.-Col. Temple, Mr. Jacobs, and the President took part.
Mr. Philip Redmond then read a paper entitled " Some Wexford Folklore " (see p. 362), upon which Mr. Crooke, Mr. Nutt, and the President offered some observations.
The Meeting concluded with a vote of thanks to Dr Jevons and Mr. Redmond for their papers.
REVIEWS.
The Pre- and Proto-Historic Finns, both Eastern and Western, with the Magic Songs of the West Finns. By the Hon. John Abercromby. Grimm Library, Nos. ix. and x. 2 vols. D. Nutt, London, 1898.
By the publication of this important and interesting work Mr. Abercromby has done much to remove one of the reproaches of English scholarship. It is the first serious attempt that has been made in this country to investigate the early history and culture of the Finnish people. Such a task demands indeed no light equip- ment, as a glance at Mr..Abercromby,s list of authorities will at once convince anybody ; and it requires also a more than usually cautious habit of mind, for not only is the subject obscure in itself, but it is made still darker by the existence of vague hypo- theses and unscientific conjectures. A proof of Mr. Abercromby's sound judgment is shown by his refraining from any excursions into the fascinating but at present unanswerable questions which centre round the Asiatic origin of the Finns. There are only two passages, I think, which refer to this point at all. In the first (vol. i. p. 86) the author says " that both stocks " (long-headed and short-headed) "originally issued from Asia seems almost certain ;" and in the second passage (vol. i. p. 146) he remarks, " Though we have to believe that once the remotest ancestors of the Finnish peoples lived in Asia, it is, I think, impossible to trace them there." This reserve is the only scientific attitude. Might it not have been as well, however, to put the general reader on his guard against the errors and exaggerations with which this question has been treated in such books, for instance, as Lenormant's Chaldcean Magic}
In the first five chapters of Mr. Abercromby's first volume he tries, with the combined aid of craniology, archaeology, ethno- graphy, and philology, to sketch the history of the Eastern and
3 26 Reviews.
Western Finns in pre- and proto-historic times. How closely his evidences have been brought up to date may be instanced from the archaeological chapter, which contains a full account of the important excavations conducted by Mr. Novokrescennikh at Gliade'nova, near Perm, in 1896 and 1897, and the book contains twelve excellent reproductions of photographs of interesting finds taken by Mr. Novokrescennikh and given by him to the author.
Mr. Abercromby discriminates seven epochs of civilisation in the early history of the Finns. Two of these periods are prehis- toric, the first covering the time during which the Finns and Ugrians lived in close contact before the settlement of the Finnish peoples in Europe. It was towards the end of this period, perhaps about 1 800-1 500 b.c, and during the Neolithic Age in Russia, that the undivided Finns entered Europe. From evidences col- lected in the craniological and archaeological chapters it appears probable that these Asiatic wanderers settled in the valley of the River Oki, in the Volga region of Central Russia, and their sub- sequent movements were westward towards Lake Ladoga and the Upper Volkhov, where important prehistoric remains have been found. These movements took place during the second period, which embraces the time between the first settlement of Finns in Europe and their first contact with an Iranian civilisation. During the earlier part of this second period the Finns and Ugrians remained undivided; during the latter part they began to split into different linguistic groups. The reasons given for supposing that the undivided Finns passed this first part of the second period in Europe are based upon the facts that they had learnt the use of spelt and had a name for the oak — neither of which, the author thinks, they could have known beyond the Urals. During this epoch the Finns were at a stage of pure Neolithic culture, without the knowledge of any domestic animals except the dog. In the third period the Finns and Ugrians, " emerging from their sombre, impenetrable forests and trackless swamps," came in contact with Scythian nomads, an event which Mr. Abercromby places about 600 b.c He concludes, however, that the separation of the Magyars from the rest of the Ugrians had taken place at a still earlier date. The third, or Iranian period, may have lasted for the Western Finns about 200 years, but for the Eastern Finns it continued, through intercourse with Persia, down to the overthrow of the Sassanide dynasty in the seventh
Reviews. 327
century. Before 300 b.c. the Western Finns broke away from the Mordvins, and, migrating towards the west or south-west, came in contact with Baltic peoples speaking a Lithuanian dialect This fourth, or Lithuanian, period partly overlaps the fifth (proto- Scandinavian) period, and lasted till about 500-800 a.d. During these first years of the present era the early culture of the Western Finns seems to have received its most powerful impulse. Mr. Abercromby has formed the conclusion — a conclusion opposed to that of most writers on the subject, but supported by the most recent results of archaeology — that the Finns entered Finland perhaps as early as the second or third century A.D., and then found the south-western part of that country occupied by a pre- historic Scandinavian people, who remained there down to about the sixth century, and profoundly influenced the Finns, giving them, amongst other things, the important word Runo. The sixth, or early Slav period, marks the contact between the more southerly of the Western Finns and various Slav (Russian) tribes, who came pushing up from the south towards Lake Ilmen not earlier than 500 a.d. The seventh or Tartar period marks the influence on the Eastern Finns, first of the Bolgars (about 700 a.d. to 1238), and later of the MiSar Tartars.
From the new words borrowed by the Finns during each of these periods Mr. Abercromby derives a measure of their growth and changes in culture. The chapters containing these results are exceptionally interesting, and every reader will recognise in them a very delicate and beautiful piece of work. The general sketch of early Finnish history, derived mainly from these evi- dences of philology, must be substantially accurate, although, as Mr. Abercromby is careful to point out, there is room for error in any particular detail ; because all new additions to a language do not exactly coincide with the new ideas conveyed by those words, which are borrowed in some cases for special reasons (e.g. the names of spirits, sacred animals, &c), and apart from this there is a large margin of uncertainty. For example, during the Fourth Period, Mr Abercromby says, "for transport purposes they had now a sledge," but we cannot be quite sure that the sledge was new to them at this period, however probable that may be ; for, though the Finns borrowed a word for it (re&i), they also borrowed a word for " tooth," and it is certain that teeth at any rate were employed at an earlier period.
328 Reviews.
The mythological chapters are perhaps the most interesting to students of folklore. They do not, however, contain an exhaustive statement of Finnish myth, but are confined expressly to the mytho- logy of the Magic Songs. May we hope that these sketches are but the prelude to an extensive treatment of the subject in another work?
The account of the Finnish " haltia " recalls the Melanesian piana, especially in its application to the ecstasy of the wizard. *- • In remarking that although haltia is a loan-word ( = ruler) the idea evidently goes back to the earliest times, the author might have referred to the Vogul aatir (" prince ") the name given to' the spirits dwelling in the Vogul images. This word was borrowed in the Third Period, and therefore much earlier than haltia (which is Scandinavian) to express the same idea.
In his account of Ukko, the anonymous sky-god, Mr. Aber- cromby says that "the Finns assigned him many honorific epithets, but no wife or children." This statement, although it is probably accurate, is perhaps put too roundly, and might perplex a reader who had just learnt from Professor Comparetti's work on the Kalevala that " there is a supreme god of the sky, Ukko (the old man), who has a wife, Akka (the old woman)." The fact is that Bishop Agricola, writing in the sixteenth century, included in his list of Finnish deities a wife of Ukko, whom he called Rauni, and the earlier Finnish mythologists, as Porthan and Ganander, followed the bishop's lead, although Porthan remarked that Ukko's wife was never mentioned in the old songs. It appears probable, however, from the arguments of Castre'n and others, that Agricola was mistaken on this point. The expression " Ukko's son," which occurs not unfrequently in Finnish poetry, and in the Magic Songs is applied particularly to a wizard, is certainly figurative. I agree with Mr. Abercromby that the club or hammer of Ukko does not symbolise the thunder-bolt, but is a much more humble instru- ment. There is a song in the Kanteletar (ii. 339), in which Ukko is besought by a hunter to swing round his golden club or copper hammer and beat the woods, so as to drive out the game ; and in this case the singer is evidently thinking merely of something like a beater's stick.
I cannot follow the author in his view that Ilmarinen was the old air- and sky-god of the Finns before they ever came in contact with Europeans ; that he subsequently acquired an anthropomor-
Reviews. 329
phic character as the magic smith, after which the old conception of him was continued under the new appellation of "Ukko." Mr. Abercromby mentions in support of this view: (1) the corre- spondence of the name with the Votiak "Inmar"; (2) the evidence of Bishop Agricola ; (3) the fact of Ilmarinen:s appearance on the Lapp gobdas in the place of a native wind-god. But in the Magic Songs and in the Kalevala Ilmarinen appears almost invariably in the character of a magic smith, and it is difficult, in the face of Comparetti's arguments (Kalevala, p. 217-8, German edition), to believe in his being personified from an old divinity. As to Bishop Agricola's evidence, it must be remembered that he lived with the Tavastian branch of the Western Finns, and evidently did not know the magic smith as he then existed in Karelian runes.
Mr. Abercromby also looks upon Vainamoinen as the sky-god under another name, and thinks that the transference to a song- and culture-hero may have come about in this way. " The sky- god was also the thunderer; thunder is the voice of the god speaking ; but speaking can easily be turned, if the god is thought of as in a joyous mood, into singing." But if Vainamoinen is more than an idealised wizard, his various functions seem to me more appropriate to a wind-god; and although Mr. Abereromby's suggestion in the sentence quoted is quite possible (especially having regard to the peculiar character of wizards' "singing"), yet thunder does not after all seem so naturally and universally suggestive of song as the wind is. It would have been interest- ing to have had Mr. Abercromby's opinion as to the derivation of the word Vainamoinen or Ainimainen. Clearly he does not accept any of those derivations which refer to earth or water, nor that of Ahlqvist, who traces it to the River Dvina (Viana —
I cannot dwell upon the many points of interest that arise in connection with the author's account of Tapio (in whose name Schiefner recognised the Christian saint Eustace), and his nume- rous family of woodland deities. Hiisi Mr. Abercromby rightly regards, with Castre'n, as originally a tree-god, afterwards trans- formed, through the ban of Christian missionaries, into a devil. The Finns are unusually rich in names for the Devil, most of them descended from a good old pagan stock : for example, Perkele (from Perkunas, the Lithuanian Thunder-god), Piru
33° Reviews.
(from Perun, the Slavonic Thunder-god) Lempo (regarded by Mr. Abereromby as a forest sprite, but the word seems to be of Germanic origin = limp; in the Magic Songs the Devil is ad- dressed as " Lempo, Piru, the limping fellow ").
Other names for the Devil are Aijo, the old one, who, with his sons and daughters, is frequently mentioned in the Magic Songs ; Juutus (Judas), Paha (the evil one), Pakana (the pagan), Keito, &c.
In his account of the underworld, Tuonela, Mr. Abereromby
rejects without mentioning it Comparetti's perhaps rather fanciful
derivation of the word from tuonne, and says it is the same as the
Lapp duodna (" miserable "). It is a pity that the author should
have been so cramped by the comprehensiveness of his scheme,
that he could not afford space to enter more into detail on this
and other points which are new to many of his readers. A few
mythological names which one might have expected seem to have
been omitted from this chapter. In the account of elves and
brownies there is no mention of Tonttu, the house-sprite (huoneen
haltia\ mentioned by Agricola, and, though there is a full account
of Pohjola, the land of gloom and sorrow, nothing is said about
the complementary idea of Paivola, Saari, the land of sunshine
and plenty. The reason may be that neither Tonttu nor Paivola
occurs in the Magic Songs, but among the mythological names
which do occur there, and are also omitted in this chapter, are
the following : Antero Vipunen, Untamo, Lemminkainen, Aijo,
and Keito. The opinion of Mr. Abereromby about the first three
of these personages would have been welcome, and the last two
names occur so often in the Magic Songs that they should surely
have been included in this chapter. Keito's spears = " sorcerers'
elf-shots," occur in several of the charms, and the name Keito is
generally paralleled with Piru or Hiisi. In Renvall's Lexicon he
is described as a patron of metals. I also note in the section on
instruments (p. 353) that there is no account of the Para, the
apparatus for magically conveying the milk of a neighbour's cow
to one's own dairy. This is explained, however, in the Index
(vol. ii. p. 396)-
The second volume of Mr. Abercomby's work is devoted to the Magic Songs of the Western Finns. These are translated from the Loitsurunoja of Dr. Lonnrot Readers of Fo Ik-Lore will recog- nise all the " Origins " (except one) as having appeared in these
Reviews. 33 1
pages ; but the translation has been revised, and the " Origins " form only a small part of the collection now given.
The Magic Songs are not ancient as regards the time of their production, although they contain many old-fashioned ideas. Most of them are evidently later than the twelfth century and the conversion of the Finns to Christianity ; and it is almost certain that none are older than the Fifth Period, when the word " runo " was introduced into their language. Probably, as Mr. Aber- cromby thinks, " they received their greatest development in the" (very long) "interval between pure heathenism and pure Christianity."
The Magic Songs are of great interest to the student of litera- ture, for, as Professor Comparetti has conclusively shown in his work on the Kalevala, they are the original root of Finnish poetry, and there is no other instance of a poetic literature deve- loped from Shamanism. They are not stiff pieces of priestly ritual, like the Magic Songs of the Babylonians, for instance, but essentially popular. Two elements in their vitality are obvious. They are all beneficent, and they contain far higher poetic worth than the charms of any other people. In fact, many of them are pure lyrics which rival in beauty the products of literatures far more catholic than that of the Finns.
To the student of folklore they are interesting for many rea- sons, and not least because they offer a notable example of the way in which a people of foreign origin can assimilate and work up into original forms of their own the materials supplied by the folklore of their neighbours. For instance, there is nothing else- where quite like the Finnish " Origins," as Mr. Abercromby re- marks (vol. ii. p. 41), but the materials of which they are composed are not derived (except in some cases) from old Finnish myths, but are drawn generally from the current folklore of Europe. Mr. Abercromby gives a few specimens of East Finnish, Russian, and other charms for comparison with those of the Loitsurunoja, but in order to complete the subject it would be necessary to traverse a far wider field. For instance, on p. 122, the reader will recognise, under a Finnish exterior, the famous Merseburger Gebet, or Dislocation Spell, a charm which ranges from India to Ireland ; and the Finnish charm for pleurisy is exactly similar in idea (as Professor Comparetti has pointed out) to an Anglo- Saxon gea/dor, prior to the tenth century, which is given in
33 2 Reviews.
Cockayne's " Leechdoms." Now that these Magic Songs have been made accessible to English students of folklore (the larger part of them have not before been translated from the Finnish) they will be studied, I hope, with the attention which they cer- tainly deserve.
As to the merits of Mr. Abercromby's translation, I hardly venture to express an opinion; but so far as I am capable of judging, I have found it very accurate, and at the same time the English is chosen with care and taste. Sometimes the language is perhaps rather too conversational, e.g. " turn a hair " (p. 80), "bothering" (p. 161), &c. On page 68 I do not know why tulinen and panuinen are both represented by " fiery " : would not "fiery" and "flaming" be better, as on pp. 180, 335, &c? On page 84, in the passage "Hills flowed like butter," &a, are not voina, lihana, &c, essive cases used as predicates ; and would not a more accurate rendering be " Hills flowed into butter, rocks into swinesflesh, lakes into ale," &c? and again on p. 88, "The Creator's clouds got watery-wet, the sky crackled with fire." The use of the word "like" in both of these passages seems to detract from the reality of the wizard's conjuring.
On page 91, "puskuja puserran" is rendered "the elfshots squeeze." Is not the disease, in this case, conceived as a horned animal, and should not the translation be " press back, or resist the blow of the horns " ? (Cf. panen puskut puskimahan, which Mr. Abercromby translates on page 92, "I'll order it" (the ox) " to butt at thee." In other places, however, puskut is properly rendered "elfshots.") I doubt whether " light of heart," on page 194, quite represents the epithet of Lemminkainen, "lieto," which properly seems to refer to a light sandy soil, " terra arenosa " (Juslenius). Lemminkainen, I take it, is like the sand blown about by every wind of passion, and probably " wayward," or even " unstable as sand," would be nearer the mark. " Unstable- or weak-shoulders," would also perhaps render " lapalieto," on page 369> better than "defective-shoulders." On page 108, line 3, would not "pliant," rather than "complaisant," express the double idea, there being apparently an allusion to the flexible body of the wasp ?
I may be allowed to add that it would have been much more convenient for reference if the numbering of the songs had been made to correspond with that of the Finnish text.
Reviews. 333
I have noticed only a few trifling misprints. The date of Ganander's Mythoiogica Ftnnica on p. xv. should of course be 1789. On page 151 (vol. i.), "slow" appears to be a misprint for "low." On page 363 (vol. i.), the reference to the Para should be i32d not 153d.
In conclusion, let me heartily congratulate Mr. Abercromby upon the completion of these admirable volumes, which must remain for many a day the standard English work on the subjects with which they deal.
Charles J. Billson.
Literature Orale de l'Auvergne. Par Paul S£billot.
Paris: J. Maisonneuve. 1898.
This collection of traditions, songs, riddles, and sayings, which forms the thirty-fifth volume of the Literatures Populaires de toutes les Nations, shows once again how rarely any legend stands isolated in folklore. Nearly every story in the book is a variant of some well-known conte adapted to local circumstances. The Wicked Stepmother, the Lad who did not know how to Tremble, the Lost Children, the Serpents guarding a Treasure, the Bird of Paradise and the Monk, all have a place in its pages, with other equally familiar characters. In England, St. Mark's-eve is often the time for " watching the church-porch^" but M. S^billot's story, entitled La mort pr'edite, affords evidence that, according to the natives of Aurillac, it is at All-Souls the spectres of those who are to die within the year pass through the abbatial porch of St. G£raud.
The folklore of many English counties represents the white rabbit as a phantom of ill-omen, it is therefore interesting to find that in Puy-de-D6me a goblin appears in the same form. The belief that a pigeon often comes to a house as a death-warning seems general throughout the British Isles, and an instance of a parting soul assuming the form of a white dove is mentioned by M. S^billot in connection with the chdteau of Bafhe. The story of The Devil, The Wind, and Lincoln Minster, lately published in Folk-Lore, finds an analogue in a legend of Cantal.
338 Reviews.
have expected. It is enough, too, to enable the authoress tenta- tively to expound the significance of much that has hitherto been unexplained. Her Memoir is of great interest and no little im- portance, for the conclusions she has come to from a considera- tion solely of British games must form a starting-point for inquiries of a similar character into the games of continental children. These conclusions are modestly stated, and, startling as they may seem to persons who are strangers to anthropological investiga- tions, they are not mere hasty guesses, but are fairly reasoned out. We may not all be prepared to ascribe to the game of Touch so lofty an ancestry as that of a primitive taboo. There is, however, something to be said for the conjecture. It is cer- tainly not weakened by the variant game, apparently unknown to Mrs. Gomme, of Cross-touch. The rule of this game is that when " he " is pursuing one player and another passes between them, the chase must be transferred to the latter and to no other, so long as no other player comes between the pursuer and his quarry. Unless this be a modern innovation, to prevent the marking out and running down of one player, the compulsory transfer of the aim by the crossing of another player seems to hark back to the savage conditions of a taboo or a choice of victim.
The confusion between games founded on funeral or mourning customs and marriage or courtship customs is well pointed out. There has evidently been a transfer from the former to the latter. This has, I think, been aided by the savage difficulty in believing in death, a difficulty shared always by the young, with their superabundance of animal spirits and their consequent buoyance of hope. " Green Grass " clearly owes its origin to funeral rites. The transfer of words from one game to another has been con- stantly going on, and the adoption of new words is well illustrated by the instance of "Hunting" (where we get a street-song current some six or seven and twenty years ago after the Shah's visit to England), and another where "Up and down the City Road" (a street-song half a century old or more) is sung. The game of " Hood," it may be noted, has been studied more at length since the publication of Mrs. Gomme's first volume by Miss Mabel Peacock in these pages (Folk-Lore, vol. vii. p. 330). The local distribution and periodical celebration of games is one of great archaeological and ethnological interest, on which Mrs. Gomme
Reviews. 339
has hardly been able to touch. It will have to be dealt with, however, in order to draw any satisfactory conclusions on the anthropological value of games.
Meanwhile, I congratulate Mrs. Gomme on the completion of her task, and commend these volumes to every student of folk- lore. Together with Mr. Newell's book on the Games and Songs 0/ American Children they present a tolerably complete and very valuable account of British traditional games.
E. Sidney Hartland.
Semitic Influences in Hellenic Mythology, with special reference to the recent mythological works of the Right Hon. Professor Max Miiller and Mr. Andrew Lang. By Robert Brown, Junior, F.S.A., M.R.A.S. London : Williams and Norgate. 1898.
Researches into the Origin of the Primitive Constella- tions of the Greeks, Phoenicians, and Babylonians. Same Author and Publishers. Vol. I. 1899.
These two volumes, the work of Mr. R. Brown, Junior, are a further exposition of his well-known views on the relation of the mythology of Greece to that of Babylonia. The former is in the main controversial, being an unmeasured attack on the methods of the anthropological school of folklore and on the writings of Mr. A. Lang in particular. We think that Mr. Brown has shown little discretion by intervening in the duello between Professor Max Miiller and Mr. Lang. It is true that he writes not without provocation ; but his criticism displays a lack of temper and a bitterness of tone which we had fondly supposed obsolete at the present day. In fact, he takes his versatile opponent much too seriously, and his style is ill adapted to an encounter of this kind. It decidedly lacks delicacy of touch, and much of his banter is rather dreary reading.
But it is with the serious exposition of his views on celestial mythology that we are now more immediately concerned. As readers of his previous works are aware, his object is to show that
z 2
340 Reviews.
Hellenic mythology is in the main derived from Babylonia. He now lays down sundry canons which define the extent to which Semitic influence may be assumed in the myths of Greece — first, when neither the name of any particular personage nor the chief mythic incidents connected with his legend appear in the other branches of religious mythology ; secondly, when Aryan nature- myths do not supply an easy and appropriate explanation of his concept and history ; thirdly, when his cult is found in regions either absolutely non- Aryan or else permeated with non-Aryan influence; fourthly, when his form is more or less unanthropo- morphic; fifthly, when his character and story generally are in harmony with those of mythic personages admittedly non-Aryan ; and, sixthly, when the resources of Aryan philology are powerless or inadequate to explain his name and some or many of his principal epithets.
We have no space for an adequate review of these canons of the science of mythology. The final result is that they exclude all investigation beyond the Aryan and Semitic area. With our widened knowledge of Babylonian culture, no one will be disposed to deny that it may have exercised considerable influence on the religious thought of the West. Aphrodite of Paphos, for instance, or Artemis of Ephesus is almost certainly an oriental deity im- ported into Hellenic lands. But the fact that the later cult of Aphrodite was framed more or less closely on an eastern model does not exclude the possibility of the existence of a purely Greek goddess of love to whom the kindred oriental cultus may have been affiliated. This is, in the main, the view of Mr. Farnell, the most sober authority on Grecian myths. With our experience of the results of explaining the titles of Hellenic gods from epithets in the Rig Veda, students will be well advised in hesitating to accept the same method when extended to the Semitic area.
There is, again, much to be said in favour of the view that many of the folk-explanations of the constellations may have been independently discovered. Few scholars now accept the views of Professor Max Miiller and Sir G. Cox that the conception of the Great Bear is based on a parallel between the seven shiners, the seven sages, and the seven bears, all of which depends on the assumption that this constellation has not the shadow of a likeness to a bear. But the Karens, who see in this group of stars an elephant, can hardly have been influenced either by Aryan or
Reviews. 34 1
Semitic myths, and, as Dr. Tylor has pointed out, the same idea prevailed in Greenland and in other parts of the North American continent
But whether we accept or reject Mr. Brown's speculations, all must agree that he has done good service by his translation of and commentary on the works of Aratus, and he has brought a vast amount of learning and ingenious suggestion to bear on this exposition of his views. Like every pioneer in a new branch of exploration, he must be prepared for much adverse criticism, and we trust that the diatribe against his opponents will not be repeated. The more calmly and judicially his views are presented for the judgment of students, the greater is the chance of their acceptance by any one whose opinion is of value in this branch of inquiry.
William Crooke.
Creation Myths of Primitive America in Relation to the Religious History and Mental Development of Mankind. By Jeremiah Curtin. 1899. Williams & Norgate.
This volume is the first fruits of a myth-discovery expedition made by the author in 1895 anc* 1896 throughout Western North and Central America, from California to Yucatan. It con tains mythic tales derived from two Californian tribes inhabiting the Sacramento Valley — the Wintus, now numbering some 500 souls, and the few surviving members of the Yana people, of whom close upon 5,000 were massacred by the white settlers in 1864, under circumstances, narrated with admirable impartiality and discretion by Mr. Curtin, which make this chapter in the history of the relations between higher and lower races one of the most abominable even in that hideous record of cruelty, oppres- sion, and denial of all that constitutes the only true reason we have for asserting our superiority. Mr. Curtin deserves the utmost measure of gratitude from all who care for humanity, as well as from all who care for science, for his efforts on behalf of the scanty remnants of these interesting peoples. Nothing is said
34 2 Reviews.
explicitly as to the degree of culture reached by these Indians, but it seems to have been very low, much lower, for instance, than that of the Pueblo Indians in the south, of the Haidahs away to the north-west, or of the great Algonkin and Iroquois stocks in the east of the continent. Incidentally it is stated " that no Wintu has been converted to Christianity ; hence the faith of the nation is undimmed, and its adherence to primitive religion unweakened." This is a point upon which further infor- mation would have been welcome, though as a matter of fact there is nothing in any of these tales to excite that suspicion of Christian influence which has been manifested in the case of many Polynesian and Melanesian myths.
The Wintus and Yanas are, the reader is informed, "not related, and their languages are radically different" A marked difference does make itself felt in passing from the tales of the one to those of the other people, though many are substantially identical, and all exhibit a kindred body of incidents and con- ceptions. Information concerning the racial and linguistic affini- ties of these tribes would have been welcome, and Mr. Curtin has been far too chary of illustrative comment from the rich storehouse of Indian myth and legend. Moreover, the few paral- lels and references he does vouchsafe are from the great Central and Eastern stocks. We should have expected and been grateful for comparisons with the mythic legends of other Western tribes, notably the North-western stocks, concerning whom Dr. Boas has accumulated such a mass of information. In general it may be said that Mr. Curtin has diminished the usefulness of his col- lection for scientific purposes by the absence of those aids to right intelligence which the student desiderates, and, lacking which, feels unable to form a correct judgment This is the more to be regretted because the stories are of exceeding inte- rest, and because Mr. Curtin puts forth on their behalf claims of a very far-reaching character marked by great speculative insight and daring. As will be seen, I feel myself unable to accept these claims upon the evidence submitted by him, but I am conscious of the unsatisfactory nature of my criticism. Mr. Curtin must pos- sess a mass of information respecting the dogmatic beliefs and rites of these peoples which would throw a flood of light upon the tales, but, save for an interesting account of magician- making among the Wintus, he withholds it, though it may possibly
Reviews. 343
amply substantiate his theory. The critic can, however, only judge what is set before him.
Mr. Curtin distinguishes two strata of mythic tales, the first dealing with the adventures and fortunes of beings inhabiting this world before its present occupiers, whether divine, animal, or human, the "first people," as he styles them. These beings partly survived as the present gods, but for the most part were changed into the present animals or into inanimate objects. The myths concerning them in their original form may be truly de- scribed as creation myths, as they set forth how, according to the Indian belief, nature, animate and inanimate, assumed its present form. The second stratum, " action myths," describes the exist- ing processes of nature, and has for its actors the god-class representing the "first people" and the heroicised ancestors of present man. The myths of the Old World belong in the main to this stratum, whereas those of America are chiefly drawn from the earlier stage. They are closely connected with the institutions under which the Indians still live, as " the lives of the first people are presented as models upon which faithful Indians are to fashion their lives at all times and places. Every act of an Indian, in peace or in war, as an individual or a member of a tribe, had its only sanction in the world of the first people, the American divinities."
The mode by which the world of the first people was changed into that at present existing "was mainly struggles between hostile personages " who metamorphosed each other into " some beast, bird, plant, or insect; but always the resultant beast or other creature corresponds in some power of mind or in some leading quality of character with the god from whose position it has fallen."
Later, Mr. Curtin describes the Indian meditating upon the world as he saw it, speculating upon its origin and mode of deve- lopment, and producing these creation myths as a result of his speculation.
Now whilst I am quite disposed to accept Mr. Curtin's expla- nation of the origin of these myths, I cannot see that they do bear out his view of their primitive character as compared with those of the Old World, or, generally speaking, his theory of the stratification of myth. His secondary myths, "action myths," in which the existing forces of nature are personified and its
344 Reviews.
« — •."« 4'>*J . •" i • ♦ * -
existing processes set forth as actions of those are to my mind likely to hare preceded creation myths properly so called. Primitive man, so I should think, woold tell stories about the brother and sister who perpetually chase each other across the sky, or about the being who pops into a hole in the earth at night and comes op out of another hole in the rooming, before he told stories to explain why a wolf is a wolf or Moant Shasta is Mount Shasta. In other words,, he must sorely hare accepted the facts of nature as tacts, using them as the material of those dramatic imaginings we term myth, before he speculated concerning their origin and essence.
Accept Mr. Curtin's view and then turn to the stories them- selves. The actors, the first people, apparently figure as human in form and circumstance, and although the tale itself sometimes says that so and so was changed into a particular nnrma? or object, yet in many cases this is neither stated nor implied and we have simply Mr. CurtinTs warrant for the fact. It rests of course upon native information, but surely further knowledge could then have been gained respecting the psychology of the mythic person postu- lated. How did the narrator conceive of the being who after- wards became a lamprey eel or a block of flint ? He can hardly, to account for the existing universe, have postulated one which changed into it, and which yet was seemingly identical with it. But if we accept tale and theory together this is the conclusion we must come to. I may note in passing that the tales hardly bear out Mr. Curtin's assertion " that the resultant beast always corresponds in some power of mind or in some leading quality of character with the god, from whose position it has fallen. w On the contrary one cannot but be struck by the frequent want of connec- tion between the incidents of the tale and the final metamorphosis. In this respect these stories are far less self-explanatory thnnT for instance, Mrs. Parkers Australian Tales, and, although they often avow an etiological intent, leave the impression that their original purport was not aetiological at alL
Perhaps the most pregnant and remarkable tale in the book is that entitled '• Sedit and the two brothers Hus." The brothers are commissioned by Olelbis, a kind of supreme god, to make a stair- way from earth to the upper sky. The result will be that the new race of men will always have access to the upper world, can obtain "-* and perpetual fife, need not propagate, and will
Reviews. 345
be able to lead a sinless, sexless, strifeless existence. The two brothers start upon their task, but are interrupted by Sedit Learn- ing the object of their labours, he points out what a mistaken ideal is that of Olelbis, and how much better it would be for men to love and die, to toil and strive, to warm themselves with human passions rather than to vegetate in bloodless, eventless passivity. The brothers are persuaded, abandon their task, and that is why the world of men is full of strife and toil and love, is the world we know. The stones of the unfinished stairway are there to this day ; the brothers flew back to Olelbis ; Sedit, essaying to follow them, fell back to the ground and was crushed to pieces.
Now I found it difficult to believe that this marvellous tale was imagined to account for a great mass of natural rock stairway, or to explain the metamorphosis of the Hus brothers into turkey buzzards, or of Sedit into the coyote. On the contrary, it seems self-evident to me that it is the last term of a long philosophic and literary evolution, that the choice of the coyote as the Wintu Mephistopheles is due to his presence in countless tales of a far simpler character, as an embodiment of Shifty cunning. The attributes which fitted the beast for his Satanic role must have been noted and utilised for dramatic purposes long before it occurred to the Indians to wonder why the coyote was different from himself and to invent a tale accounting for the difference.
The tales lend themselves to endless comment, but I must be content to have emphasised their salient interest according to their collector, and indicated my dissent from his theory. I can only say that, alike from the complexity of the problems which are involved, and for the originality and significance of the tales them- selves, this is perhaps the most remarkable collection of stories yet made in the New World. Students of Myth will look forward with keen eagerness to the future volumes promised by Mr. Curtin ; they will also expect him to equip them with that apparatus of elucidation and comment which he alone is qualified to supply.
Alfred Nutt.
34*
Myth. Rttcal. axd Rdjcjox. Bt Asthlew Laxg. 5J« Edition. 2Tok London: Longmans. 1S99.
Mr. Ljlsg has followed up his JtfoirMg of Rzizgiam by 2 of his brilliant remtation of Professor Max Mailer arid the phik>- logical method of expounding mythology, with the object of bringing h into harmony with his later ocimocs. Readers of the original edition win be glad cf the opportunity of reading the book again, and of noting the changes mace in it. Here* I think, they will be disappointed. The oid arguments are tor the mast part still valid, bat some of them hare been weakened by the conces- sions Mr. Lang has thought it necessary to make, and the Imita- tions already there have been marked -rm* extended in a way that sometimes embarrasses the main position, if it does not deliver the author into his oooonents* hands. Moreover, little account has been taken of the progress of inquiry during the last twelve years, fruitful as they have been in many directions. Mr. Lang would* I think, have done better to re-write the book, taking into account the results of discussion on the various points first attacked so trenchantly and successfully by him. Science is ewer moving forward, and it is always inconvenient and sometimes dangerous to reprint a work which even. like rhis* at the time of its appearance constituted a great and significant advance on all that had been previously done. The ideas and die argHmeurs of J&vth* Ritual* and Rd.'t&on* manv of them novel when it was published, have now become by virtue of rhcir very strength commonplaces of science. Our indebtedness :o mem is so great that we do not recognise it : and when we ccme to read them over again, something of their cid force is ape a? evaporate if they have not been brought up to date. But these drawbacks not- withstanding, the book is and wiil remain a standard authority on the origins of mythology and a sample oi the solvent power of criticism.
As the preface to the new edition consists to some extent of a
farther reply to my strictures on The Jlakzng j/ Rtiizron* I need
oat *p^^p^ ^r &king the opportunity to make a short rejoinder.
— t* one of the most difficult words in the scxenoJic
:s argument as now de- He demies it for the purpose
Reviews. 347
of his argument as " the belief in a primal being, a Maker, un- dying, usually moral " (p. 3). I have not been able to find any corresponding definition of myth. Sometimes it is used (as on pp. xvii, 3, and 5) in opposition to religion, or (as on p. 29) to religion and morality ; at other times it is said to consist of two elements, the rational and the irrational (p. 9). Again, the term rational seems to be the equivalent of religious, and irrational the converse (pp. 4, 10, &c). It is pretty obvious that these terms are all purely subjective, purely arbitrary ; and moreover they are not used consistently. Arguments built on terms thus loosely employed must suffer the fate of the house built on the sand.
Mr. Lang has quite missed the point of my remarks in the note (ante, vol. ix., p. 303) on the legends of the Noongahburrahs. Mrs. Langloh Parker has not yet informed us which of the stories in her second volume the black piccaninnies would not be allowed to hear. At all events they would be allowed to hear the legend of the Borah of Byamee in the first volume. Though that legend speaks of Byamee as a man, it treats him with greater reverence than some of the tales solemnly inculcated in the Wiradthuri mysteries do. If it cannot be said to " touch on sacred subjects," it is inseparably connected with the Legend of the Flowers in the second volume, which presumably does, and which Mr. Lang includes in his description of "a very charming and poetical aspect of the Baiame belief." Charming and poetical aspects are, it would seem, " rational " : at least Mr. Lang so characterises the description of Artemis in the Odyssey (p. 10). Is the Legend of the Flowers within his definition of religion ? It cannot be ; for it recognises Byamee not as " a primal being," but as a glorified wizard of the tribe ; nor as " a Maker," save of manna and flow.ers, which a wizard might very well be. Undying he is, but only " up to date," and moral, if it be moral to set his brand arbitrarily on three trees and thus taboo them to the starving people. In short, the legend is a myth, and " the blacks " do not " draw the line " as and where Mr. I^ang seeks to draw it. His " essential dis- tinction " does not correspond with the facts ; his theory lays undue emphasis on facts otherwise to be explained ; and his definition, framed to fit his theory, does not define religion as " the blacks " understand it.
Other points in the Preface to which I may refer are the names
54$ Reviews.
oi Pjras:ulun ar.d RiLinre. at.J :he L-* myths concerning Dara-
a* - > -^ .*>—«-.- -v^ -.. — :-.- --■ -"-^ -.--> -■» ^f Djiamulun as
••"L-.--0--O-— <;d-^. — "v " j- -j— ---"-■*-.- ---i." >e=z:5 ::> be irrsed on: wl*-"w^*5 •""*-!• i?"" *xi* "•*«-■■ :> — -• ~y ■:—*,- —*-•?•*■» y~* r±ncrju ACO£p«a~
.ii--— — --..- i- -< -— --__----. v. ^...^ .--.^ ^-^ -hapz^ns
— » ...» • » • ^^^ ^ ••■»•■■!
•* JVrL*c> !?"»m "J"— .'J. "J" — * ,* c - ^ f; — • •• •.• 5\157cH— .7. ■T^^"—1- w2«— »
Lir.^: :x«s.i< z:? :: r^sk v. v:. :\*r r.- : iiTor.™ :^s errrr in sral"ir.g fr.-? '•V:ri:""j.~ "*,"rsj:*."'.xr* of "x: --■"••-• _-- " ~«V;21 if lii-sre was .1™ ^ttvt. ii vji5 n-iizr^r h.'.s r-.T "**'"*-j- "r — i Mr. r£r"*in 5 : zzz zzi£
Mr Ljj^^: ..vr-.-r-is :: :iw I: .< :r^ i^i: Mr. H:^:n sits cc the
" =Jo:-.r. re: :r.j scr «f "f^^-T*^.. -*o* :■:_«:< iv^r.-tii^:^ ": E^res Mr. liri ^;c::rc :!^i: :^r;:.'7-.j *- > -«.c Tr:rs*^=cc-i? Thcr^ j-~ i>*ilo^-tz< *~'.*£ 3:j.v ^-v- >.t: -.\i->=. It uz' t^x. .z -j? ~cc
zzi^l.r. < -m-j:v -v-1 *l\--: *::«^ r^.;> i:u *• ^1 " M- i-rr: reiieil ■-'•v-v"- 's -m: 1*1; virv.*us v--s>;..-i:s :i" li^ ^Lt: jjtc sazis :c
■^ *~*i-— ■**■» ■»*■»■ - ^v •-.... . __ ■ « ■ »
"""" ""* " ■ - •- ■- • -'--■■ _~. ..c *■-■—. ."JO« IZJlZ It
*_"" ' *■" "**•■ •" ■■ ■ —-»■*■ -^ •- • - »
-■--_ ^ .... -..:. ., s.-.. .. 1 r—^v- ziccc-
::-:c :^ " :-.::-.:-.u> ..;c: :..:: .. v. . ;r. • .-..:-- v ;r:5. i-zest
_ ■ .or \ -'i. s> ;■*■ c "-r-i: * ..• " ... • ., _
Reviews. 349
Wit, Character, Folklore, and Customs of the North Riding of Yorkshire. By Richard Blakeborough. London : Henry Frowde. 1898.
This volume, though not written solely from a scientific point of view, is an important contribution to the printed folklore of the North Riding.
It is of course unavoidable that such a book should contain notes on words, ideas, and social practices which are already well known, but it also includes much that is fresh and curious. Mr. Blakeborough knew a person who could remember hearing " The Lyke Wake Dirge " sung over the body of a distant relation, a native of Kildale, somewhere about 1820. This old man said that it was very rarely heard even then. * The version of the old chant given is different in some particulars from the one com- monly printed. A verse of it runs thus (p. 123) :
" If iwer thoo gav* o* thi siller an' gawd, Iwery neet an' awl. At t' Brigg o' Dreead thoo'U fiiind footho'd, An' Christ talc* up thi sawl."
This belief in the soul having to cross a bridge is very widely distributed. In Melusine (ix. 149-60) there is an article on Popular Prayers and Magic Formulas, collected in certain parts of the Pyrenees ; and in one of these formulas we read " there is a footbridge — narrow — narrow as the hairs of my little head. He who shall do good will cross it ; he who shall do evil will not be able."
The same idea occurs again amongst the Esquimaux, amongst the mountaineers of the Neilgheries, and elsewhere.
Mr. Blakeborough gives a variant I have not hitherto met with of the birth-rhyme relating to the days of the week ; the end of it especially interesting :
<<
Bud a Sunday's bairn thruff lyfe is blist, An' seear i' ty end wi* t' Saints t* rist,"
which clearly shows that its origin dates back to the time when veneration of the saints was still a part of the popular faith.
In the dales of Cleveland and Wensleydale we are told that
350 Reviews.
until the baby was christened the mother used to put the Bible under its pillow to guard against all evil spirits and bad influ- ences. At the present day this is yet done amongst the Pro- testants in some parts of Switzerland.
The chapters relating to Birth, Marriage, Death, and Witchcraft are full of interesting facts, many of the details given appearing for the first time, to my knowledge. The volume is enriched by a carefully compiled glossary and a very good grammar of the folk-speech. Many old dialect poems, songs, and rhymes are also given.
Florence Peacock.
ByetGones relating to Wales and the Border Counties. 1897-98. Second Series. VoL V. Oswestry and Wrexham: Woodall, Minshull, & Co.
Bye-gones is a reprint from an Oswestry newspaper. All who are interested in Wales and Welsh matters know how valuable it is as a local Notes and Queries. Many a fact that would otherwise have been forgotten is here garnered. Among such facts a pro- minent place is given to folklore. A large number of superstitions are noted in the volume. Many of them doubtless have been already noted, but it is to be hoped that will not be a reason for discontinuing the notes. It is important to know with certainty the distribution of traditional observances of all kinds.
A curious practice is stated (p. 406) to prevail at Neston parish church of locking all doors during the celebration of a marriage, The origin of this custom may be sought in more than one direc- tion ; but it would be all guesswork in the absence of more detailed local information. For instance, does the converse custom of unlocking all doors, drawers, boxes, &c, at a birth obtain in the parish ? Speaking of marriage customs, an order of the Commissioners of the Marches on the 26th August, 1534, addressed to the Mayor and Aldermen of Hereford, is quoted on the following page at length, forbidding the " gadering of Com- mertheas " and assembling at " love ales or bydden ales."
No one can pretend to have exhausted any branch of inquiry in British folklore who has not searched Bye-ganes.
E. Sidney Hartland.
CORRESPONDENCE.
Christmas Mummers.
(Vol x., p. 1 86.)
With reference to these I think it will be interesting to give what I can remember of some mummers at Mullion, in Cornwall. The account must be very inadequate, as at the date I was unre- generate — ignorant even of folklore as a scientific study. Since being comparatively enlightened, I made every effort to induce the Mullion people to give me details, but failed altogether ; they said that mumming was given up, and no one now did it. As I saw it in 1890-91, I think if any one in the neighbourhood could pay some attention to it there would be still a good deal to be collected about it. The place is six miles from the nearest railway, Helston, and I noticed many curious relics of a bygone time in the district.
The mumming at Mullion is at Christmas, and I think the day or evening before Christmas day. There are several characters in it. They visit the houses in and around the little town. Every one naturally knows who the actors are, since there are not more than a few hundred persons within several miles ; but no one is supposed to know who they are or where they come from, nor must any one speak to them, nor they to those in the houses they visit. As far as I can remember the performance is silent and dramatic ; I have no recollection of reciting. They are offered refreshment, after which they depart, not having been openly re- cognised by any one. This particularly struck me, as a brother of either my host or hostess was one of the actors, and the latter told me he would not be spoken to, as it was not etiquette.
A self-imposed silence is usual in the carnival mumming in France, Italy, and Spain, or at least in Basque Spain, the only part I know. Several amusing incidents occurred to me in these countries at carnival time. Once when carrying all my sketching
Correspondence. 353
Arctic regions, white is a colour foreign to wild animal life on the globe. Then the true Bos Primigenius or urus, which roamed free through the forests of Central Europe and was hunted, we learn from contemporary accounts, in the Middle Ages, was, according to Herberstein, entirely black with a line down the back having white blended with it. Urus horns also differ from those of white cattle, for while the homs of the latter are upright and upturned and lying approximately in the plane of the occipital region, the horns of the urus are very long and curved first forward and downwards and only upturned at the end, curving forward in the plane of the animal's back.
Instead of being wild animals these white cattle were, I think, a special breed, valued and bred in rude domestication for a definite purpose. We are told that the Druids, clothed in white, cut the mistletoe with a golden sickle, and that it was caught in a long white cloak and carried home on a wagon drawn by two snow-white bulls which had never felt the yoke. Here we find white cattle employed for a definite purpose. I shall be obliged if favoured with any reference as to the traditional employment of white cattle in pre-Roman days, not only as regards the mistletoe ceremony but in any other Druidical observance in England or elsewhere. Coming to the Roman period, white cattle would be in demand for sacrifices to the upper cult. Have we any tradition, superstition, custom, or saying pointing to the use of sacrificial white cattle, which has come to us from the period of Roman occupation? The sacrifice of bulls must have taken a strong hold in Britain, for we read of bulls being killed " as an alms and oblation to St. Cuthbert " in the twelfth century at Kirkcudbright ; and in Mitchell's Past in the Present an extract is given from the records of the Presbytery of Dingwall, which shows that this body met on 5th September, 1656, to inquire into the backsliding of a parish within its bounds, and they found " amongst uther abhominable and heathenische practices that the people in that place were accustomed to sacrifice bulls at a certaine tyme uppon the 25 of August." I shall be much obliged if I am favoured with references to similar practices in other parts of the country and to references of a later date, also to any references where colour of the animal is noted. I make this request, for I think there can be no doubt that some customs, traditions, or sayings which point to the use of white sacrificial bulls, or cattle generally,
VOL. X. 3 A
354 Correspondence.
in either of the three kingdoms do exist ; and I think this is more than probable from the fact that a custom in connection with cattle, recorded in the Gtntlemam's Magazine for February, 1791, as being common in Herefordshire and Gloucestershire, and there termed " the antient ceremony of wassailing," is, I find, held to be the ceremony of Feriae Semenuvae, while the wassailing bowl is the grace-cup of the Romans.
After the Roman period many references to white cattle, their value, use, and employment, must exist in Saxon and Norman chronicles and poems that are unknown to me. Such references will no doubt also be found in the early Welsh and Irish writings. Professor M 'Kenny Hughes, for instance, in his paper on white cattle published in vol. lv. of Arckaeologia relates the story of Twm Sion Catte, from which we learn that a pair of oxen were ploughing together, one was black, the other was white, Twm wanted to steal the white ox. so he drew the boy away from his charge by letting out a wired hare in front of his corgi ; and, as the do£ was ^ainintg on the hare, the bov could not resist the temptation, and followed, looking back from time to time to see that the white ox, at any rate, was safe. Twm, watching his opportunity, threw a white sheet over the black ox and drove the white ox awav. I find another illustration that white cattle were a domesticated race in an Irish zoological and topographical poem as old as the ninth century, published in the ProceediMgs of ike R*xal Irish A:aJemy. The poem begins :
i4 I then wee: forth to search the uircU. T? see if I could redeem my chiti. Aad soon rerirced to coble Tan With the razseQ that Comaic req^ir-«i. "
The poem, eighty lines in length altogether, then goes on to detail the arv-iaU brought as the ransom, and where obtained. Aftjr cecal *ing where he got foxes* otters* gulls* and ravens, the t-jnth line reads :
%fc Two wild „\\en rrom Barren.**
Now wild oxen does not mean wild white cattle* for these are specially mentioned later. The poem ends with these eight lines: —
Correspondence. 355
" Two cadhlas (goats) from Sith Gabhran, Two pigs of the pigs of MacLir, A ram and ewe both round and red I brought with me from Aengus. I brought with me a stallion and a mare From the beautiful stud of Manannan, A bull and a white cow from Druim Cain, Which were presented to myself by Muirn Manchain."
Here we see that " wild oxen " does not imply white oxen, and that white cattle were domesticated, being classed among other domestic animals and considered of very high value, for with the white bull and cow the poem ends, and the reciter's greatest achievement is thus recorded, while attention is drawn markedly to the circumstance that these animals were presented by, we suppose, their breeder.
Though this Irish poem and the Welsh story quoted are the only " lore " known to me, yet many more will be known to folk- lorists and others interested ; so that I shall be obliged for further references. Such references in early poems, tales, &c, may either point to the use and value of white cattle specially or to the colour of cattle that were wild and were hunted and slain.
Coming now to the days when the Church was a great if not the dominant factor in the land, I have read that herds of white cattle were kept by abbots and other dignitaries, as their meat was considered the best. This may be alluded to in some place- rhymes; if so, I shall be glad to be favoured with them. A single reference which I had to white cattle, called white wild bulls, kept in the park of an abbey for their " sweetnesse " of flesh, I have unfortunately lost, though I have a reference to a banquet given on the ordination of an archbishop which shows that besides beef there was also provided the meat of white oxen. But white bulls were necessary for some of the ceremonies of the Church. Leases exist which show that the tenants of the church- lands attached to the church of the shrine of Bury St. Edmunds were bound to breed and provide as many white bulls as might be required for the ceremony which took place when barren women visited the shrine to be relieved of their sterility. The wording of the leases that exist show that the tenants were bound to supply these white bulls, because it was customary and had been done for an exceedingly long time. A part of the ceremony was, it seems, that the woman (and we are told that the fame of
2 A 2
356 Correspondence.
Bury St Edmunds brought the most noble from Europe there) walked handling the white bull to the shrine.
Was Bury St. Edmunds the only place in Britain where white bulls were employed in rites and practices for procuring children ? I do not think it can be a solitary exception, and I shall be glad of references to other shrines or churches in Britain where white bulls were utilised in a similar manner. Are there no super- stitions relating to cattle in Britain in connection with the Church or otherwise which make colour, i.e. white, an essential feature ? I surmise that at regular intervals cattle were blessed, that occa- sions arose when sacrifices were permitted, and that there were various festivals in which they played a part I shall indeed be much obliged for references to any case or cases similar to that at Bury St. Edmunds, or to cases of superstition relating to cattle which depend on the white colour of the animal whether as an essential or a minor point.
White cattle also appear to be desirable animals and considered as of some value for the payment of the dues of freemanship and of fines. I know of one borough in England where the freeman before he obtained the freedom had to pay as part of his dues a white bull, and the borough bears on its arms a white bull. Again, certain tenures which demand the payment of dues to the supenor at a fixed spot in a defined manner also demand, as the fine for the non-fulfilment of the obligation, the presentation of a white bull. I am aware of a case also of common pasturage where there is an obligation to turn in a white bull at a stated period. My notes on these three points — freeman's dues, fines, and common pasturage — are at present not in my hands, so that I am unable to specify the exact localities, but again I surmise they are not isolated instances. Might I again ask to be favoured with instances of white cattle borne on the arms of cities or boroughs in Britain, or where the candidate for freemanship is called on to include them in his dues, or cases of land tenure where they are demanded either as part of the contract or for non-fulfilment of it, or where the rights in a common pasturage require the common bull to be white ? In connection with this, I am led to ask what was the colour of the parish-bull which the lord of the manor or the representative of the Church of old had to keep in the parish for the common good ? Lastly, I may note that if we turn to heraldry we find crests and arms that show
Correspondence. 357
white cattle, we suppose bulls, with the black markings peculiar to the race now preserved in parks, also crests and arms which have red or black cattle. Whether white, red, or black, the crests and arms show sometimes an animal complete and sometimes the head only. Such crests and arms have a legendary origin. If those who bear the white bull won their right to bear it for some redoubtable deed when hunting the wild white bull (!), did the others who bear a black or red bull also win their right on the hunting field? If so, were the wild bulls of all colours? As will be seen from these disjointed notes, there are many lines of inquiry to be followed up in an attempt to trace the origin and history of the white cattle preserved in parks down to our own time. The threads are so many that I would appeal to those interested in inquiries affecting customs, superstitions, and tradi- tions to afford me the assistance of their specialised knowledge and studies ; and it is with this hope I venture to lay this outline of the information I am looking for before them.
R. Hedger Wallace. Sea View, Lower Largo, Fife.
Lincoln Minster, Lincoln College Oxford, and the
Devil.
(Vol. ix., pp. 272, 364.)
The late Rector of Lincoln College in his edition of Pope's Satires and Epistles, to illustrate the line " Half that the dev'l o'erlooks from Lincoln town " (Hor., Epist., II., ii., 245), quotes Fuller's explanation ( Worthies, vol. ii., p. 6), " the ill aspects of malevolent spectators ... as the devil overlooked the cathedral of Lincoln, when first finished, with a lowe and tetrick counte- nance." Two other quotations will be found in the New Eng. Diet,, s.v. "Devil," viz. : " 1562, J. Hey wood, Prov. and Epigr. (1867), 75. Than wold ye looke ouer me, with stomake swolne, Like as the diuel lookt ouer Lincolne;" and " 1738, Swift, Polite Convers., 86. She looked at me, as the Devil look'd over Lin- coln." To these may be added a citation from Taylor, the "Water Poet" {Reliquary, vol. xviii., p. 200), who in 1639 rode from
358 Correspondence
Wortley to Wharncliffe Lodge "over rocks and cloud-kissing . mountains, one of them so high that in cleer day a man may from the top thereof see both the minsters or cathedral churches, Yorke and Lincolne, neere 60 miles off us ; and as it is to be sup- posed that when the Devil did looke over Lincolne as the proverb is, that he stood upon that mountain or neere it."
In Mr. Andrew Clark's recent history of Lincoln College, p. 208, will be found the following quotation from John Pointer's guide- book to Oxford, in 1749: "The image of the Devil that stood many years on the top of this college (or else that over Lincoln Cathedral) gave occasion for that proverb, To look on one as the Devil looks over Lincoln." In the Oxford Magazine, vi., 376 (May 23, 1888), Mr. Haverfield cites from the Gentleman's Maga- zine, i. (1731), p. 402 : " Wednesday, Sept 15. The famous Devil that used to overlook Lincoln College in Oxford was taken down, having about two years since lost his head in a storm." And in Oxford Magazine, vii., 263 (Mar. 13, 1889), I note that "as early as 1695 Miss Celia Fiennes, whose diary has recently been pub- lished under the title of Through England on a Side-Saddle, paid a visit to Oxford in that year ... in the list of colleges which she gives we find mention of ' Linghorn Colledge which is overlooks by the Devil/ " I will add, from the autobiographical chapter in the Life and Letters of Charles Darwin (ed. 1888, vol. i., p. 75), one more illustration. " I once met Sydney Smith . . . He was talking about Lady Cork . . . He now said, ' It is generally be- lieved that my dear old friend Lady Cork has been overlooked,' and he said this in such a manner that no one could for a moment doubt that he meant that his dear old friend had been overlooked by the devil."
With regard to the winds, evidently considered as supernatural, which play and battle round the walls of many a cathedral, it may be worth while to mention that the north-west angle of Wells Cathedral is known upon this account as " Kill-Canon Corner." The conception underlying all these stories and allusions is doubt- less that the prince of the power of the air (Eph. ii. 2, cf. vi. 12), with his angels, carried on perpetual warfare against the Church of God (see the Prologue of Longfellow's Golden Legend), In the Old Testament the lightning is the fire of God, the weapon of Jehovah (Deut. xxxi. 41), and it is inferred that the high mountain and the lofty tower incur his wrath (Is. ii. 12, et sea.). But in
Correspondence. 359
the Middle Ages it was the towers of God's house that were especially exposed to the attacks of lightning and tempest, which must therefore be ascribed to his enemies. Doubtless this is the reason why in the ancient plan (ninth century) for the monastery of St. Gall, the two round towers have in summitate altars of St Michael and St. Gabriel respectively. Those leaders of the heavenly host, it was thought, would defend the church against the assaults of Satan. And in the Norman drawing of Canter- bury Cathedral (twelfth century) the lantern tower is shown sur- mounted by a four-winged creature, which procured for it the name of the "Angel Steeple," still borne by the magnificent structure which replaced it at the close of the fifteenth century. The two St. MichaeFs Mounts, in Cornwall and in Normandy, and Glas- tonbury Tor, crowned by the tower of St. Michael's Church, are instances of isolated heights placed under the protection of the archangel. I do not know whether Michaelhowe, near Fountains Abbey, is to be classed in the same category. Upon the whole subject Mr. Elworthy's appendix on Gurgoyles {The Evil Eye, p. 229) may be consulted with great advantage. "The same idea which to-day leads to the mounting of a piece of wolf or badger skin upon a horse's bridle to scare the evil glance of the versipelle induced our forefathers to carve in stone, and so to perpetuate their fantastic conceptions of the wicked spirits they wished to scare away from their sacred buildings." He further quotes Pennell on The Devils of Notre Dame, " like an actual body of fiendish visitors caught and turned into stone as they grinned over the city."
But what of the quaint little fellow within the Church of Lincoln, in the very presbytery and in the near neighbourhood of the High Altar and the Shrine of St. Hugh? Surely he is not a fiend? I would rather consider him as an elf or Puck, having regard to his diminutive size and his position, lurking at the apex of the richly-foliaged corbel. At the worst he is such as that innocent little devil who was sitting on a lettuce-leaf, doing no harm, when he was incontinently swallowed by a greedy nun, who ate leaf and all without so much as making the sign of the cross. It should, however, be observed that " Puck, or pouke, is an old word for devil " (Midsummer Nighfs Dream, ed. Wright, p. 16). Burton {Anat. Mel), on Terrestrial Devils, writes, " Some put our fairies {Elvas Olaus vocat, lib. 3)
360 Correspondence.
into this rank . . . Paracelsus reckons up many places in Germany, where they do usually walk in little coats some two foot long. A bigger kind there is of them called with us Hob- goblins, and Robin Goodfellows" This is the " drudging goblin," the " lubbar fiend " of L 'Allegro, who
"stretcht out all the chimney's length, Basks at the fire his hairy strength."
To this extent we must qualify the contrast drawn by Mr. Nutt (Presidential Address, Folk-Lore, vol. viii.) between the Irish fairies (" fairy and mortal are not thought of as differing in size," p. 39) and our own ("the Shakespearian fairies . . . are exceedingly small," p. 33* "Possibly the diminutive size of the fairy race belongs more especially to Teutonic tradition as developed within the last 2,000 years," p. 45). But clearly the Lincoln elf belongs to the order of the diminutive and grotesque.
Grey Hubert Skipwith.
Wall-Burial. (Vol. ix., p. 367.)
There can be no doubt that sometimes eloped nuns (and monks too), if they could be got at, were condemned to the in pace, which may fairly be called being walled up or buried alive. But then there were the inclusce, women living voluntarily in a cell in the church wall, arranged so that the inhabitant might see and hear the service, and never leaving it. And the superstition about strengthening a building or other structure by inclosing a living being {i.e. originally by a sacrifice to the subterranean gods) was very general and very strong. Andersen gives a Copenhagen legend about burying a living child {Am Festungs- wall, Marcheri), and alludes to burying horses or pigs (which turned into spectres) in Der Elfenhiigel, ib., which shows it to have been very common in Denmark. And as to the strength, it survived itself (so to say) in the punishment inflicted upon destruction. The customary law of the originally Frisian districts in the province of Groningen, codified as late as 160 1 (Ommelan-
Correspondence. 361
der Landrecht), ordains that if any man wilfully dig a hole into a dyke, it shall be filled with his body, i.e. he shall be buried in it alive.
Dr. W. Zuidema. Amsterdam.
The following note seems to bear on the custom of intramural burial. A writer in the fnterme'diaire1 speaks of having seen " a Bologne, dans Teglise de Saint Dominique, le corps du bien- heureux Etienne de la Porretta enchasse" dans un des piliers jusqu* a mi-corps. II est parfaitement conserve", mais la face est devenue couleur de momie."
With what object the blessed personage is kept half-enshrined in a pillar is not explained.
M. P.
The Little Red Hen. (Vol. x., p. 116.)
Does Mr. Redmond know that there is an Irish-American
version of the " Little Red Hen," which he has published in the
current number of Folk-Lore? In the fifth chapter of Faith
Gartners Girlhood (by the author of The Gayworthys\ Bridget
Foye, an applewoman, tells how a " crafty ould felly of a fox "
secures " the little rid hin " in his bag, how she cuts her way out
with the scissors she carries in her pocket, and puts a stone into
the bag, &c, &c.
Mabel Peacock.
Days of the Week. (Vol. viii., p. 380 ; vol. ix., p. 258.)
In Styria, "am Donnerstag soil nicht gesponnen, am Freitag nicht gewaschen werden." K. Weinhold, Aus Sleiermark, in Zeitschrift des Vereinsfiir Volkskunde, vol. viii., p. 447.
1 20 fevrier, 1899, col. 237.
MISCELLANEA.
Some Wexford Folklore. I obtained the following fragments of folklore i of 1894, in a place about five miles from Enniscorthy, co. Wex- ford, and I give them from notes taken at the time. Though I must regret tliat various circumstances rendered it impossible for me to take them down verbatim, they are given with absolute fidelity, without the smallest attempt at embellishment (May this be excuse sufficient for baldness and flatness !) My principal informant was K, a farmer. Wherever I mention names in rail they are the real ones.
A man was passing near Templeshanbo churchyard hue one moonlight night when a hare, pursued by a greyhound, fled noise- lessly hy him into the graveyard.
In the same pltt* lights have been seen a: the pave of one A. K.. a lady of exemplary piety, cm the njghl of ber buriaL lights (:hoagh prasaamabhr of aarcher character! have been seen on the sJopdng groeaJ at X— great boshes all in a blase, and in the laoming no sig= os ire whaKvtc. Thea* was a rank, or harrow, in that jibe*.
K rfeaiszorrs a wevant * Soy r of hi? r««»-Wi i--«mW jn one night ararS rrsghiKwi.' :o ori— ti hiving aas: a= eval ^^;■"»^"'', i?. rhf shavw of a horse «-:h a 5^r< u£« iij- zx roai near a lions*. iT whiK: a oresarr St*.; mkc Sai rseanry nisi. Tnf **bcy * Jbi tos g« ovse hs fngh; £e rve re sa. wesis.
tTx -.-*i nr.K C was forma??* htan»d M tsx. jwi seinx it At shft.v o t ojcku.- - ztutii. h; csn£ 1.- tiL Tooptf. Sin icr imian- kk «ss ast.Tr«c?« wgru: or :h& roac Xbs i.- ax mz Sect an :lv iv!ipriSoarS.-wii. KartauSss lo haw awattt ;hi iukk nf anm. 3; s «u£ ituc Statue av xmc ante -mr anjnc atn£ aatexor: inm.
A* tie wnm ami iwt *ra von- £><vf»c fenav a a a tin)a\wk«Attjia« a pnt _3^f Sw xacxaBE.
"*« ;■£ a? najac
Miscellanea. 363
so late at night ? " They were a very long time getting home, for the pig kept with them, attacking the donkey and trying to get at them in the cart. It disappeared at a certain ruined house. It is believed to have been a "phooka." The adventure had a great effect upon the old woman, who became very good and religious ; up to that time she had been rather the reverse.
Two men were driving home late one night, and met a woman, to whom they offered a "lift." No sooner was she in the cart than the mare set off at a tremendous pace, and the men could not hold her in. At last the woman got down and disappeared ; and when the mare was got in she was mad for three days, " trying to get out of a hole that was in the stable-roof." She, however, recovered.
Some other men who gave "a lift" to a woman whom they met by the road one night were less fortunate. "What makes the horse pull so hard ? " said they ; " he hasn't half a ton on him." " He has more," answered the woman ; " each of my arms weighs a ton, and each of my legs a ton. You'll lose your horse," said she, and got down and disappeared. And the horse died in the stable the same night.
B. himself coming home late once, heard a noise as of a crowd of persons following him on foot and on horseback. He could see nobody ; but the crowd seemed to advance at the same rate as himself, stopping whenever he stopped, and going on when he did. He was much alarmed, and knelt in the road and prayed ; and the steps receded, and he came home safe.
There was a dog at B.'s farm, and one night it darted out after something it heard passing. It came back in an hour or two horribly mangled, and died on the doorstep.
In the boggy corner of the lands of R., about fifty years ago, three men were cocking hay after sunset, and he who was upon the cock saw what seemed a funeral procession coming through the fields. It passed through the hedge close by the men, who all saw it, and went on out of sight.
Witchcraft.
There was a " fairy-man " living in the mountains not far from R. at the time I was there ; but I was not able to get to see him, and the people were shy of talking of him. He cures horses, I
364 Miscellanea.
know, and his mother used to have dealings with the "Good People " as well as himself.
They say that the last witch in Wexford used to live in Ferns Castle " about three hundred " years ago. Ferns Castle, by the way, is said to have been built in one night by evil spirits, with stones brought from Sliabh Buidh. The builders were interrupted in their work by cockcrow, and dropped the last load of stones upon the mountain, where it is to be seen at this day.
Some time ago a certain family were constantly having their butter taken while churning. They consulted a " fairy-man,M who advised them to put, at the next churning, the coulter of a plough in the fire, fasten a rope from it to the latch of the door, and admit no one who came to the house. This was all done ; save when, in the middle of the operation, a woman of the neigh- bourhood came to the door and knocked urgently, they admitted her. She made some excuse for coming, and went away again ; and once more the butter failed. They went again to the " fairy- man," who flew in a great rage at their not having obeyed his instructions, and bade them plague him no more. They then applied to the priest, whose intervention proved more successful.
A fortune-teller once asked a man called Mogue for some money. " I have none," said he. " You have at this moment," said she, " a sixpence, a fourpenny piece, and two coppers in your pocket" This was true, and the alarmed Mogue, with a brief and forcible exorcism, fled.
There was a man who lived near R. some years ago, and could make rats follow him ; and he would put them into the houses of those whom he disliked.
Miscellaneous.
If two ends of a rainbow be seen in the same townland, it fore- bodes the death of one in that townland.
Hybernating animals are called " seven-sleepers." " I didn't know that efts were seven-sleepers" said B. to me one day, "until I was pulling down an old wall in winter, and found about a hundred of them," &c.
Philip Redmond.
Hampden Club, Phoenix Street, London, N.W.
Miscellanea. 365
More Notes from Cyprus.
Is the following custom common in other countries? Every Cypriot shopkeeper or householder on locking his shop or house always makes a cross with his key over the keyhole, and every man, woman, and child on first leaving home in the morning makes the sign of the cross on the breast.
No Cypriot woman will commence the making of any garment on a Tuesday.
F. O. Harvey.
Larnaca.
Cure for Ague.
This cure was given in a letter by a Suffolk woman as having cured her brother-in-law, a fisherman. Both parties are well known to the writer. Date, 1895.
Take a tallow dip and light it. When there is a very long piece of burnt wick in the flame, bend it down into the tallow and, coating it therewith as much as possible, pinch it off and swallow it.
This was sent in answer to a request for the spider-remedy, with which the woman was not, however, acquainted.
M. H. James.
Superstition regarding Women.
A short time ago I was solemnly assured that if a woman at certain periods goes near fresh meat it at once goes bad. On inquiry, I find this is a common belief, and so deeply-rooted that no woman is allowed to go near a dead pig whilst being salted if she be in this condition. I was told, too, that another woman attributed the failure of her " pickled cabbage " to the same cause.
P. H. Emerson.
The Nook, Oulton Broad.
A similar superstition is current in the Forest of Dean.
E. S. o.
368 Bibliography.
PERIODICALS.
The Contents of Periodicals exclusively devoted to Folklore
are not noted.
Journal of the Anthropological Institute, N.8., i, 8, 4. R. E. Guise% On the Tribes inhabiting the Mouth of the Wanigela River, New Guinea. W. Crooke, The Hill Tribes of the Central Indian Hills. B. Spencer and F J. Gillen, Some Remarks on Totemism as applied to Australian Tribes. y. G. Fraser, Observations on Central Australian Totemism. F IV. Christian^ On Micronesian Weapons, Dress, Imple- ments, &c. [The &c is folklore.]
Nineteenth Century, July. E. Simcox, The Native Australian Family.
Museum of General and Local Archeology and of Ethnology. Fourteenth Annual Report of the Antiquarian Committee to the Senate [of the University of Cambridge], June, 6 t$Q9* [Contains a list of the objects kindly received by the Committee on deposit by the Folk-Lore Society during the year,]
Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Sid Ser, ▼, S. C. JZ.
/?r/w*r. The EthrHxra-phv of Garumna and LetteraraBen. [Another of l>. Rromrjc's important contributions to our knomVviK* of the poople of the islands of the West of
Iwknd.'j
Annual B*pcrt en British X*w tttiMa. 1S97-&. [A most rata- ahio Report, *<xire$«v: to. *r>£ r*£ hhshsd "r«r. the Gorennineni ot* ^;xv*n$tArKi A oopv has h«T. cocr&ocsL'y foncarded by ;h^ Horn. Sir Hosw* Tow*. K.CVL.i*_ Acent-Genera] for 0*tf^*slft*Ki to ;hc :svMy jVc i» Ehrfe^c, The notes an &«rort «r*S ^NKt&rism «* so specuL interest so gmfl-rny AAtovmal optics vtf ?ta serves «n hf titoot«1 from the «dtot 4ft ^PmiHihuatB rf 3* A$m*£Grussu. & ibt price of
3folk*Xore.
TRANSACTIONS OF THE FOLKLORE SOCIETY.
Vol. X.] DECEMBER, 1899. [No. IV.
THE PLACE OF TOTEMISM IN THE EVOLUTION
OF RELIGION.
BY F. B. JEVONS, M.A., LITT.D.
{Read at Meeting of April 19/A, 1899.)
The question as to the place totemism occupies in the evo- lution of religion is one which has of late been exhaustively discussed by M. Marillier in a series of articles,1 which by their learning, power, and penetration have earned the gratitude, and will always command the respect, of all who are interested in the early history of religion. The question has also* been touched on by Professor Tylor,8 whose lightest word carries with it all the weight which justly attaches to any utterance of one whom we all regard as the most eminent of anthropologists.
I am sorry to say that both writers are of opinion that I have greatly overrated the importance of totemism in the evolution of religion; and conscious though I am of their superior strength, still, when the Folk-Lore Society cour- teously offered me the opportunity to make reply, I felt that
1 In the Revue de THistoire des Religions, I., vol. xxxvi, no. 2 ; II., voL xxxvi., no. 3 ; III., vol. xxxvii., no. 2 ; IV., vol. xxxvii., no. 3.
2 Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol. i. (New Series), pp. 138- 148.
VOL. X. 2 B
370 Totetnism in the Evolution of Religion.
as I still held to my views I was bound to make the best fight that I could for them.
But before beginning the present discussion, I should like to say that the differences between myself and M. Marillier as to the method in which the history of religion should be approached are important enough to deserve a paper to themselves, and that I must reserve them for separate treat- ment if, peradventure, the Society should be inclined to repeat its invitation.
Thus much premised, I proceed.
To M. Marillier,1 the attempt to reduce all forms of plant- and animal-worship to totemism seems narrow and inexact. As it is pleasant to begin by agreeing, if possible, with an opponent so courteous as M. Marillier, I am glad to say that to me also the attempt seems both inexact and narrow. But it is an attempt which I have not made. It is one thing to say, as I have said, that the first plants and animals to be wor- shipped were totems ; it is a different thing to say that all the plants and animals which came to be worshipped subse- quently in post-totem times were totems, and I have not said it. And so long as the Australian blackman, with his totem-clans, is regarded by anthropologists as occupying the lowest place in the evolution of society, so long will it be a plausible theory that his totem-plants and animals occupy the lowest place in the evolution of religion.
The same misunderstanding gives their point to sundry other criticisms. Now in all cases I should feel that for any misunderstanding of my words I was presumably myself to blame ; but when a critic so patient, so tolerant, and so fair- minded as M. Marillier misunderstands me, the presumption becomes a certainty. Nevertheless, the fact remains that I am not so totemist as M. Marillier paints me. He seems to imagine I hold, or am bound to hold, that every deity began by being a totem ; and he has no difficulty in pointing to many deities who probably, or certainly, never were
1 IV., p. 396.
Totemism in the Evolution of Religion. 371
totems at any time, e.g., deities of the sea, lakes, rivers, fountains, sun, moon, stars, wind, earth, and sky.1
Now I might reply that all the natural objects enumerated by M. Marillier do, as a matter of fact, actually occur within our knowledge as totems ; 2 but I shall not, because then it might be inferred that in my opinion wherever the sun, for instance, was worshipped as a deity he must previously have been venerated as a totem. That is not my opinion. What I have maintained, and do maintain, is that if a community, already having one or more gods, wishes for any reason to add another to its collection, it will probably proceed to worship the new one with a ritual similar to that with which it worships its old-established gods. If the community in question is a totem-clan, the new-comer will be assimilated to the totem-system ; if it has passed out of the totem-stage, it will straightway erect the new-comer into a tribal, or local, or national deity, as the case may be, and then we shall have an instance of a nature-power made into a god without ever having served as a totem. The vast majority of the gods known to the antique religions and to savage races may thus have originated in post-totem times, and never have been themselves totems. I submit, therefore, that there is no narrowness in this view. As to its inexactness, I can only say on the one hand that M. Marillier himself conjectures that the sacred cattle of the Damara clans have been assimilated to pre-existing totems, which they have driven out,8 and on the other that both M. Marillier and Professor Tylor4 fully admit "the immense influence of sacrificial feasts as means of binding societies of worshippers together and to their common divinity."
It is now, I imagine, almost superfluous for me to say
1 I., p. 221 ; iii., pp. 224, 226; iv., pp. 397, 402.
2 Frazcr, Totemism, pp. 24 and 25. • III., p. 232.
4 Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol. i. (New Series), p. 145.
2 B 2
372 Totemism in the Evolution of Religion.
that I do not hold that the mere anointing of an altar-post 1 proves the deity thus worshipped to have been originally a totem, or that the sacramental meal and the social institu- tions of totemism are so " mutually dependent " * that the one cannot exist without the other. On the contrary, I have argued that the sacrificial feast is used by all sorts of societies as a means of binding themselves to their divinity — voluntary associations as well as blood-relations, mem- bers of a nation or a tribe as well as members of a totem- clan. And, once more, so long as the totem-clan is the earliest social organisation known in the evolution of society, so long will those who believe in the correlation of social and religious evolution look to the totem-clan as the earliest society of which the members could habitually worship a common deity.
But though I am ready to admit, and even to insist, that very few of the deities known to us are transfigured totems, still my argument does require me to maintain that a totem- plant or animal may under stress of circumstances develop into a non-totem deity. Whether M. Marillier does or does not consider this process of evolution possible, I can- not quite make out. If he argues that a clan-totem is not a tribal deity,8 I quite agree. If he argues that a divine animal by the very fact that it becomes a tribal deity ceases to be merely the totem of one particular clan of the tribe,4 I agree again. And if he admits, as he seems to do,6 that an animal which originally was a clan-totem may become the deity of a whole tribe, then that is all I want. It is possible for a clan-totem to evolve into a tribal deity ; and the fact that in so evolving it ceases to be a totem is not, as M. Marillier strangely seems to imagine, an argument
1 M. Marillier, III., p. 226. * ItuL, p. 23a 'I., p. 2*9.
Totemism in the Evolution of Religion. 373
against my theory,1 but is itself the theory which I am seeking to maintain.
Whether the totemistic organisation of society is or is not a necessary stage in the evolution of society, is a question which is primarily one for sociologists to decide. But it is also one in which historians of religion have an interest ; and it is remarkable that both Professor Tylor and M. Ma- rillier have so little to say about it. The former allows it " far greater importance in sociology than in religion ;"2 the latter admits casually that totemist institutions are to be found everywhere, but does not anywhere think it necessary to answer, or even to ask the question, whether they are a necessary phase of social evolution. Yet it would dispose finally of the religious importance of totemism, if it could be shown that there was no reason to regard it as a necessary stage in the evolution of society. I propose, therefore, to take judgment by default, and to regard the social necessity and importance of totemism as conceded. I think I may fairly say that by most sociologists it is as- sumed.
Now if totemism, as a form of social organisation, is thus necessary and has thus been universal, I submit that as a form of religious organisation it cannot be dismissed as of secondary importance to theology,3 and that there is nothing narrow in the attempt to fix the relation in which it stands to other and historically later forms of religious organisation. Professor Tylor speaks of " the ancient and powerful action of the totems at once in consolidating clans and allying them together within the larger circle of the tribe," and he says " this may well have been amongst the most effective pro- cesses in the early social growth of the human race." * Yet
1 The possessive pronoun here and elsewhere must not be taken to mean that I claim the theory, or whatever it is, as my own invention, but simply that I am interested in arguing on behalf of the theory.
- Journal of the Anthropological Institute , Ice. cit., p. 144.
8 Ibid.
4 Ibid.t p. 143.
Tolcmism in the Evolution of Religion. 375
savages who have no domestic animals with the civilisation or semi-civilisation which follows in the train of domestica- tion to see that. Now the respect (whether religious or merely social) which is usually shown to the totem-animal is such that any animal capable of domestication would, in the course of generations, become tame under it. Thus, totemism merely as a social institution would naturally and inevitably result in the eventual domestication of those totem-animals which happened to be domesticable, the others would naturally remain wild. Those totem-clans which had been lucky in this lottery would find themselves the owners of a valuable economic possession, a fresh source of motive power, such as the horse or camel, or a permanent food-supply in the form of cows or sheep. The lucky clans would increase and multiply at the expense of the less fortunate — the bulls at the cost of the bears— until the community which had originally consisted of different totem- clans would come to be a tribe in which such distinctions were either not recognised at all or survived only in re- latively unimportant customs. In a word, the economic revolution produced by domestication would entail a social revolution also, and lead to the destruction of the totemistic form of social organisation.
But of all this I am not fortunate enough to convince M. Marillier. As a cause of domestication, be considers totemism at once inadequate and superfluous. He regards it as inadequate because a totem-animal, though respected and spared by the human members of its own clan, is neither respected nor spared by any other clan of the same community, and therefore does not get the chance of grow- ing tame. But this objection is a weapon with two edges, if not more. As Professor Tylor has pointed out, it tells against the Wilken-Frazer theory (adopted by M. Marillier) that a totem-animal is the receptacle of a totemist's "external soul " ; for the wife who kills her husband's totem is in danger of destroying her husband's life. It tells also, I
376 Totemism in the Evolution of Religion.
think, against the theory of totemism which Professor Tylor himself is inclined to adopt, namely that the soul of a man, at death, migrates into some animal, which then becomes totem and taboo to his descendants ; for a man's children do not belong to his totem-clan but to their mother's, and thus are at liberty to kill his totem-animal and make things uncomfortable for his migrated soul. I suggest, therefore, that though I, being a totemist, am theoretically at liberty to kill my father's totem-animal, or my wife's, still, as a matter of fact and for reasons which I sum up in the phrase "for the sake of peace and quietness," I usually abstain from thus provoking parental castigation or marital disagreements — especially if I have several wives. In fine, it must not be forgotten, though Professor Tylor and M. Marillier seem to forget, that though I may at my own risk kill another man's totem, the totem's clan are entitled to claim compensation, and will certainly exact vengeance from me. The protection thus afforded by the clan-taboo and the public opinion of the tribe is, I submit, all that is required for the domestication of any domesticable animal.
Important economically as is the domestication of animals, it is a step which has not been universally taken — there are savages still which possess no domestic animals. What then is the reason, especially if totemism, as a social insti- tution, has been universal ? The reason is simple : not all species of animals are capable of domestication. Where there were no domesticable animals, there no animals could be domesticated, and man consequently never got beyond the stage of totemism. There are two areas of the earth's surface in which no domesticable species occur : North America and Australia. And they are precisely the two areas in which totemism prevailed until the coming of European man. It is to them, therefore, that we must look- *' >d *he condition of man in
en he had not yet
Totemism in the Evolution of Religion. 377
domesticated any animal. It is to them also that I turn for a refutation of M. Marillier's position that totemism as a cause of domestication is superfluous. For domestication, according to M. Marillier, all that is required is that an animal should be considered divine and treated as sacred by the inhabitants of the district; * it is not necessary that it should be a totem. I quite agree that an animal will become tame if treated as divine or sacred ; but I look round the two totem-areas, the homes of the Redskin and the Australian blackfellow, and I ask myself, Where are there any animals, except totem -animals, which are treated as sacred or divine? Why should we invoke divine animals which are not totems to account for domestication, when there are already totem-animals all over the world ready and able to do the work ?
But, says M. Marillier, domestic animals are rarely, if indeed ever, found as totems.2 Well, in the two areas of North America and Australia, of course, they could not be, because there are not any. In Europe and Asia, totemism is a stage of social evolution too long past for us to find anything but survivals. And when in Africa, amongst the Damaras, we do come across the domestic cow looking, as M. Marillier admits,8 very like a totem, M. Marillier says — e tnera conjectura — that in this case the cattle are probably not totems, but have taken the place of the real original totem-animals.
On one point, however — and not only one point I am happy to say — M. Marillier and I are agreed. It is that originally domesticable animals (whether they were totems or not) were not eaten, or only in a ritual way ; and it was but gradually and by very slow degrees that they came to be eaten commonly and non-ritually. I wish to point out that the same thing happens with animals that certainly are
1 II., p. 367.
2 III., p. 228. 9 I., p. 232.
37& Totcmism in the Evolution of Religion.
totems. The witchetty grub, for instance, is a totem, and has come to be commonly eaten by the Aruntas.1 But the existence of large numbers of wholly inedible totems forbids us supposing that animals are chosen as totems because they are good to eat. We must then suppose that the taboo on the grub as food broke down under the discovery that the grub as food was good. Amongst the Amazulu, cattle might only be eaten as a religious exercise, with the result that the devotion to that particular article of religion became excessive : the pious were always mortifying them- selves by a beef diet. Is it an unreasonably wild surmise that the witchetty grub also may originally have been eaten only ceremonially ? In other words, is the " totem sacra- ment " scientifically a wholly inadmissible hypothesis ?
That sacrificial feasts are of immense importance as a means of binding worshippers to their god is admitted by Professor Tvlor. That ritual immolation and the sacra- mental meal are especially intimately connected with the sanctity of domesticated animals is admitted, or rather in- sisted upon, by M. Marillier. That such rites go back to times when the animals in question were rather domesticable than as yet domesticated seems also to be conceded- But at that time the animals were, I submit, totems.
What more is required, I will not say to make the totem- sacrament admissible as a hypothesis, but to prove it as a tact ? Is it allegrd that a totem oanno; be a god? The Killer-whale is, it not a £\xi, a great spiritual being, wor- shipped and prayed to. Is i: that a totem-clan cannot eat its totem ? The Arur.tas eat their witcheny grab. Is it thAt the ritual immolation and sacramental eating of the toton-i-animal is purely hypothetic*! r 1 Have from the first proclaimed that t)*e assumption was be: a working hypo- thesis/ **d 1 4o ?>ot ctam *r*vthiftg mow* for it now.
Totemism in the Evolution of Religion. 379
Indeed, I am wondering whether I can claim as much, for Professor Tylor seems to think that a hypothesis is inad- missible till it is proved — which would rule all hypotheses whatever out of court. " Till the totem sacrament," he says, " is vouched for by some more real proof it had better fall out of speculative theology." But if theology only admitted things which were already proved, it would no longer be speculative, if theology. I fear it would cease even to be progressive, and I am sure it would be very dull.
At the time when the above paper was written, I had not seen Messrs. Spencer and Gillen's Native Tribes of Central Australia ; but by the courtesy of the editor I am now allowed to add by way of postscript a few remarks on the light thrown on the subject of totemism by the publication of that valuable contribution to anthropology. To some extent it has eclipsed the gaiety of theology by converting the " totem-sacrament " from an engaging hypothesis into a sober fact, a fact which perhaps after all " had better " not " fall out of speculative theology."
The discovery of this striking testimony to the genius, and the accuracy of the late Professor Robertson Smith's scientific imagination, not only shows that science would be the poorer if some or all hypotheses were ruled out of court, it changes the conditions under which the place of totemism in the evolution of religion must be discussed. As long as the totem-sacrament was a pure hypothesis, the only way in default of the direct evidence, which has now turned up, was to cast about for everything which might be regarded as a survival of it, or an indication of its previous existence. The obvious method of meeting this line of argument, and a method largely employed by M. Marillier, was to appeal to the " plurality of causes," and to point out that the supposed effects of totemism might quite well be due to other causes, and that consequently we must, if we wish to be scientific, build on those other causes known to exist, and not on such
"V
380 Totemism in the Evolution of Religion.
an unproved hypothesis and mere conjecture as the " totem- sacrament." To clinch the matter, M. Marillier also adds many ingenious (and a priori) arguments to show that certain alleged survivals cannot possibly be survivals of totemism, that totemism cannot pass into any other form of religion, and that the sacramental meal cannot be regarded as going back beyond the pastoral to the totemistic stage of social evolution. In fine, the totem-sacrament was a super- fluous and gratuitous supposition, and there were many other hypotheses by which its supposed effects could be explained or explained away.
Now, however, thanks to Messrs. Spencer and Gillen, things art* changed. It is no longer necessary to argue that totemism must have been a stage in the evolution of religion, it is an established fact that it was. Arguments to show that the totem -sacrament cannot have existed, and that its existence is a superfluous hypothesis have themselves become gratuitous. Arguments to show that, if we confine ourselves to actual objective facts* we must say that the sacramental meal is only found in connection with pastoral cults, aie now seen to prove only that the sacramental meal had not been found amongst totemism not that it never erased amongst them.
With regard to alleged survivals of totemism, the question whether they are survivals will henceforward have to be argued on its merits. It can no longer be ruled out of court on the ground that the totem -sacrament is a mere piece of speculative theology. It is to this discussion, and to the light thrown on it by The AV.w Tribes of Central A*$?ra]i&% that 1 should like to make brief reference here., especially a> it is bound up with the further important ques- tion whether k really is, acs *lk^*ed fcy » . Marillier, impos- sible for totetfftsin to jxjss into ^sortie other form of region.
%*"«tiNM"tfW*9^^ some xtte,ar
* ■* WMHimi otmnmes to
382 Totemism in the Evolution of Religion.
is impossible for the whole of a tribe to participate in the cult of one and the same totem.
M. Marillier, farther, believing in animal-worship, and not believing in totemism, as a necessary stage in the evolution of religion, is very firm in his demand for evi- dence that a totem is ever the object of a " cult " in the proper sense of the term : the mere respect which, when shown to a non-totem animal, is sufficient evidence to raise animal-worship to a cult, does not suffice, when paid to a totem-animal, to convince M. Marillier that the totem is the object of a veritable cult. The extremely elaborate rites and ceremonies, however, which Messrs. Spencer and Gillen's tribes spend weeks and months in celebrating with the most meticulous care and the profoundest reverence, will, I trust, amount to the dimensions of a. cult in M. Marillier' s eyes. If they do, he will discover this remarkable fact : that the whole of the tribe, without regard to totem-clans, are present at the celebration of each and every totem-rite and cult. Not only so, but any member of the tribe may by invitation be the celebrant of any rite, and " need not of necessity belong to the totem with which the ceremony is concerned." In fact the various clans which compose the tribe have come to " pool " the whole of their cults. Thus we have the very state of things which M. Marillier pronounces unintelligible and impossible : a cult which originally belonged to one particular clan is thrown open to the whole tribe ; in M. Marillier's words, " a cult limited to a totem-clan is transformed into a cult common to a tribe ; " it has " passed beyond the bounds of the totem- clan." Will M. Marillier say that " nothing essential to totemism remains " in it ?
It is obvious that in these Engwura ceremonies we have the results of a process analogous to that by which in more developed societies a pantheon is produced — only we have J trHaiu I may call a €€ panto-
*•«> «s it is known
TIIK FOLKLORE IN THE LEGENDS OF THE PANJAB.
*Y LIEUT-COL, *. C TEMPLE, CLE.
TMKNK note* are the outcome of some lectures delivered bcforn thr* Folk-I^ore Society and elsewhere, and have been contributed to this Journal at the request of the President of (ho Society. But ever since I undertook to discourse on * Aubjnct connected with Indian folklore, I have felt that the promian wan a ranh one, because my official avocations Imvn long born no absorbing and so material in their nature, that I have been unable to keep pace with the advance made of late years in the knowledge of such matter* for ntudy as folklore, and I cannot help feeling how much the special investigations of the Folk-Lore Sttciety have jyonc forward since I last had the honour of addrenaing it *ome fourteen years ago, and how little t|U*liiied I can now be to show the further way. However, in finally deciding to select one of the few subjects on which I think I may still discourse to good purpose to my more learned colleagues* and throw a useful light on things Indian* I have felt emboldened to discuss it. because, speaking under correction, it does appear to me that KnjjlUh students might make more use than they apparently vlo of the work of their contemporaries in the British Eastern }vo*»f*tton& S\> much does it seem to he unknown or ^xored that it is mute rarely quoted — even thef rov&^wtfM »Vmm**4v* uv*kes no mention of it — and so I have resolved to hrit\£ to notice in soene fulness one of thre fatrge vrorks *&h xihtch t ^^ht c&in* a te*t j^f&ais&jAce : ThrLtgrrnds
**£ tW V&Xve i* &e „N«&r« *{«ftgQM£n.. Aas£ I amy **s^ Vtf- Vese tW :W *4»s; v**?****. ^bkHi^ 5Ci"ve&r 3ko»£ it
4n><t«tttf£ aft ifc^* Wj*. ?wtt :fcs ^^^05 vAttin* i* -iTs, ^ 4, >^***s*> jNttiM&S sacyfcssw* do* «*i Ae jQ&^^paDBft o£
The Folklore in the Legends of the Punjab. 385
selected The Legends of the Panjab for consideration, because I have had better opportunities of analysing that collection than the others, and not because it is the most prolific as to matters which may be usefully taken up by such a company as the Folk-Lore Society.
In making, therefore, the remarks that are to follow, I ask indulgence if the condensation of statement that is forced upon me is found to be very close, and if the statements themselves are sometimes found to be some- what behind the times. But in common with all investiga- tors of popular lore, I have found myself face to face with a third difficulty, viz., the best mode of presentation. If one is strictly scientific and arranges the facts in a severe sequence, one is not only apt to be dull, but also to incor- rectly interpret the subject, which from its very nature hardly admits of a logical treatment. To begin with, the folk are not consistent and their ideas are all hazy and muddled. Consequently the points of folklore are so far from being clearly separable that they are always mixed up with each other. Any given notion is not traceable to a distinct single basis, but strikes its roots in fact into many, and can often be classified indifferently under any one of several heads. The surest way therefore of projecting one- self into the folk-mind — so far as such a process is possible — is, with the aid of a loose and simple general sequence or classification, to take up the various points as they have seemed to grow one out of the other in folk-logic and pro- cesses of thought. This is practically the line that every one who undertakes the exposition of the subject seems to adopt in the end, and I apprehend that it is a procedure that will commend itself to the members of the Folk-Lore Society, which they need hardly be reminded was in its origin and inception a purely literary association.
In order to explain what follows, I should here say that I began to collect the series since partly published as The Legends of the Panjai, somewhat more than twenty years vol. x. 2 c
The Folklore in the Legends of the
and succeeded in bringing oat fifty-nine ligtn ni t one handred and eighteen collected, u micrvals, « in latter years have 1 (ear been very long 4
tie vnlae of the collection inr purposes and far the linguistic fonas in vhkh nuay of them are conveyed, they present a pretty ccoaplelc view of the machinery of Indian fafttaJtr Tbe extent to which they actma&y 60 so can be ganged by experts front tbe typical tables to be ioand in tbe coarse of my rtnurfcji, and fan np on the lines jost fadhaned; and I vaoW Bbe to say thai 1 bebere that as extensive parallel tanks cooU be nude oss of tbe TnArM Drru-Wmkx* and rftndauxnn* Pmrrk. and awd* conapieter ones front the /Wan Amrifmrrj and from tbe /onsen Ante *m* Q*ena. both and Mx. Crookex. It is my bone that eg hose to some of n* » . mtf p ta n dtxh - nl '. gtheyanehnrl seek to gel at tbe nets of the ^.1 ifi lore of t any pnrtkan of the mnehl
of tie bnsas ana I _>t~^:« ant ~=n
jctbe nnnsahnnl bom
The Folklore in the Legends of the Pan jab. 387
clear division stops, and although the heroes are classed as natural and supernatural, and the heroines are considered according to qualities and peculiarities, and although the sub-heads under each of these are very numerous, it must be understood that they have been placed just as has been found convenient, that a very different disposition would probably be equally correct, and that most of the items can fairly occupy places under several heads.
Having thus explained my procedure and methods, I now give the tables themselves.
I. Subject.
(1.) Hero. A. Natural.
1. Miraculous conception
and birth.
(a) Remarkable pregnancy of mother.
2. Substituted child.
3. Predestined child.
(a) Avenging hero.
(b) Imprisoned hero.
4. Calumniated child.
5. Acts and endowments.
6. Identification.
(a) Signs of the coming hero.
(b) Fulfilment of prophecy.
7. Companions, human and
animal.
(a) Unrequited faithfulness.
(b) Community of birth.
8. Sons.
(a) Nostrums for procuring sons.
I.
Immortality.
(a) Reappearance.
(b) Saints.
(c) Ghosts.
(d) Spirits.
(e) Gods. (0 Godlings. (g) Warriors {Mrs). (h) Demons and devils.
(i.) Exorcism.
2. Second sight.
3. Miracles.
(a) Delegated power
miracles, (i.) Miracles by proxy,
(b) Restoration to life.
B. Supernatural.
(c) Restoration to health, (i.) Cures. (ii.) Benefits.
(1) Sons.
(2) Rain.
(d) Inexhaustible supplies, (i. ) Voracity extraordi- nary.
(e) Miracles for injury, (i.) Curses. (ii.) Nightmares.
(f) Stock miracles.
(g) Native view of miracles, (h) Secret miracles.
4. Magic versus Miracles.
(a) Sympathetic magic.
as to
2 C 2
388 The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjab.
B. Supernatural— continu. (i.) Mffigia,
(ii.) Ceremonial earn
(ifl.) Life-indue. (0 Life-token. (*) Token-trees.
5. Enchantments.
(a) Prophylactic charms. (L) Snakebite.
6. Prayer.
(a) Faith.
7. Invocation.
(a) Summoning the absent .
8. Propitiation.
(a) By abuse.
(b) Offerings, (e) Libation.
(d) Ceremonial generosity. (i.) Charily.
(ii.) Alms. (1) Self sacrifice.
(e) Sacrifice.
(i.) Asceticism. (ii.) Pittance. (iii.) Austerity. (iv.) Slavery/or debt. (0 Vows and oaths. (i. Qmmiakluakt
(.) Antidote, (ii.) fW>ff omf swearing
9. Prophecy.
10. Metamorphosis.
(a) Disguise, (i.) Change 0/ skin.
11. Metempsychosis.
(a) Sati. 1 a. Counterparts of saints.
(a) Hagiolalry. I
(b) Demons.
(c) Godlings.
(d) Ogres.
0) Gknts.
(0 Sea -monsters.
(g) Mermaids.
CO Serpents.
(i-) Characteristics an
(ii.) Atiratlts, (iii.) Origin, ■ Amhropomorphosis. (a) Humanised animals. (i.) Talking. (iL) Grateful. (iii.) Revenge) ut. lb) Humanised things. (i.) Tfa/ttiaj-. (U.) Enchanted things. (1) Circlet. CO Lin«. (j) Necklaces.
(4) Rosaries.
(5) Arms.
(6) Magic numbers,
(7) Holy water. (-) Bl«d. (fi) Mdk.
(y) Ambraia (amrita.')
(}) SacrtJmu if water.
(!) Miraculous whicle.
(•) Iloacliop.
W F'y><g Ihnmgh tie eir,
(y) fngto" •ohuli.
(*) ffmpd thing,.
(«) Migrating image, amd
(9) Magic mmit.
(-) Magic imtrxmem.
(10) Hair and its power*.
(-) Sacrcdneuef the beard, (") In v utility, (■a) Procedure for enchant- ment ("3) Priests.
The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjab. 389
I. Subject.
(11.) Heroine. A. Qualities.
1. Counterpart of hero.
2. Native view of women.
3. Tabu.
4. Characteristics.
(a) Delicacy.
(b) Attraction.
5. Identification.
6. Beneficent heroines.
(a) Fairies, (i.) Celestial messengers. (ii.) Foreign brides.
7. Maleficent heroines.
(a) Calumniators.
(b) Co-wives.
(c) Stepmothers in poly-
gamy.
(d) Witches.
(i.) Wise-women. (1) Powert. (1) Attributes.
(e) Ogress.
(1) Serpent-heroine.
8. Foundling.
(a) Egg-heroine.
(b) Sleeping beauty.
(L) Foreign or irregular brides.
B. Peculiarities.
1. Chastity.
2. Virtue.
(a) Male versus female.
(b) The zone, male and
female.
3. Maintenance of virtue.
4. Ordeals.
(a) Tests for identification, (i.) Fulfilment of prophecy.
(ii.) Signs of royalty and
saintship. (iii.) Pilgrimage-stamps. (b) Impossible task, (i.) Swayamvara. (ii.) Riddles.
(1) Symbolical speech, (iii.) Ceremonial gambling.
II. Predicate.
A. Commencement.
1. Seeking fortune.
2. Oracles.
3. Prophecy.
(a) Fortune-telling.
(b) Horoscopes.
4. Fate.
(a) Preordination.
(b) Decree of fate.
5. Prophetic dreams.
(a) Interpretation.
6. Augury.
(a) Divination.
(b) Omens.
7. Luck.
(a) Actions.
(b) Times.
(c) Astrology.
390 The Folklore in the Legends of the Punjab.
A. Commencement — continued. 8. Ill luck.
(a) Misfortune
(b) Sin.
(L) n-m
(iUCV
(i)
00 (2L) (it.) (t.)
(i)
Treatment of
& Inetdenta.
t. Jewels.
vii.) /fetr&.
2.
V^l> PtvilSKQCtt*
4. Domestic rtt^^m^
(c> F«-f=nws» & Cbscccs based on
i. roeccai .msec-.
x. rirtrsmmatt.
.J- -«
.;**.*-./
.^.- siucx, juiasam
W* ^r? ricvr :n 1 pesicoa to tai^ie tin; nuitiianou^ ietniis^ li 3ijf subject wicii 5cme ratine*? it irr.vmiz xz icnnite iueas. ^v^*q rhcu^a the iXKac ji lire rrratti rials jqu^c^ :ne to b«
that the typical hero is bum otx an au^krou^ oay by ▼acrous-
The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjab. 391
forms of miraculous conception or impregnation, and that his mother experiences a miraculous or at least a remarkable term of pregnancy. He is a substituted child, in one in- stance, by an accident which curiously brings out an allusion to an old custom of registering princely births, and in another by his own act, as a mode of magnanimous self- sacrifice. Now, substitution of children in folktales is usually an act of malice, and its attribution to a mere chance occur- rence is, so far as I know, a novel feature. He is a child of predestination, fated in one case to slay the ogre who is to devour his hostess's son, the ogre being aware of the predestination. In such case he would appear to be a variant of tlie avenging hero, pre-ordained to set right what is wrong in this world, a belief common apparently to the whole world of religious notion. As regards this last idea, the form it usually assumes in this collection is the common one of predestination to kill his own parents, who try as usual to avert their fate by imprisoning their uncanny offspring in a pit, necessarily to no purpose. He is the victim of calumny everywhere, the stock cause being jealousy or ill-will begotten of unrequited love. Versions of Potiphar's Wife are common in Indian and all Oriental folklore. He of course assists the grateful animal to his own subsequent advantage, and obtains access to the heroine by disguising himself as her husband with success. He is endowed with extraordinary and impossible strength or skill. His identification is almost always due to miracu- lous intervention of some sort ; and we have more than one instance of the corollary to that idea in the signs of the coming hero with which he has to comply, a notion not far removed from that of fulfilment of prophecy. The "signs" are in themselves, however, as might be expected, childish and not very dignified.
The hero has companions of the conventional sorts, human beings, beasts, birds, and insects, who talk to him and assist him in his difficulties. His human companions, however,
392 The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjab.
sometimes desert him in his times of difficulty, a situation apparently introduced to enhance the glory of the hero himself, while his animal companions undergo at times the fate of Gelert, and are killed for their endeavours on behalf of their masters, an incident well known to Indian and other folklore generally. Accidental community of birth is a common and perhaps natural characteristic of the hero's companions everywhere. The hero and his horse or his constant friend are frequently described as having been born at the same place and hour. It is to be expected that a chance of this kind should attract the popular attention and lead to an assumption of community of fate in the beings so circumstanced.
Perhaps the most deeply engrained superstition of all among the Indian populations is the necessity of having a son, as the surest means to salvation ; and there is no subject in Indian folklore of more universal occurrence than that of the miraculously and fortunately born hero-son and his doings. There is no point upon which folktales more frequently turn. The hold that the desire of a son to succeed has on the people is more than once powerfully indicated in the Legends y and women are described as deliberately introducing a co-wife into their homes to secure it. There can be no doubt as to the strength of a desire, when it brings about such an action as that. A desire so universal, so strong, so important to the peasantry neces- sarily finds not only frequent expression in their stories and legends, but also in the acts of daily life, sometimes of a verv serious nature. Women have over and over again been guilty of murder and incendiarism due to wild superstitious attempts to gratify it. I can recall a case in which the ignorant low-class mother of daughters only has> with the assistance of her elder daughter, killed a little girl belonging to a neighbour, by way of human sacrifice t^ the supernatural powers to procure ^fc* * son at the n confinement, and a case in which a barren woman of
The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjab. 393
superior peasantry set fire to a neighbour's dwelling with the same view.
The whole category of nostrums known to Indian folk- wisdom, and it is a very wide one, is employed by those who are so unhappy as to be barren or son-less, to avert or overcome the misfortune. Every kind of supernatural being, god, godling, hero, saint, wise-woman, wizard, demon, devil, ogre, exorcist, and the like can grant or procure sons. The faith in the givers and the power to give is boundless and ineradicable, going back to the dawn almost of Indian folklore. But, astonishingly varied as are the nostrums tried, the oldest and still the favourite in story is the giving of something to eat to the would-be mother — flowers, fruit, rice, grains, seeds, and so on. Prayer and saintly intercession are also common in the Legends, more or less consciously introduced for the glorification of high places; and of course holy wells, pools, tanks, shrines, tombs, graves, and other spots, out of which money can be made by way of fees, are notorious for fulfilling the wishes of the disappointed.
Sons born in response to vows, intercession, faith in nostrums, intervention of holy personages, and so forth, are almost always heroes, ushered into the world with the cus- tomary portents and acting in the ordinarily heroic manner. It is only, therefore, by considering what the possession of sons means to a native of India that one can grasp the full import to an Indian audience of such a story as that of the Baloch hero, Jaro, in the Mir Chakur legend, who slew his two sons in fulfilment of a rash vow.
Apart from, though closely connected with, purely ima- ginary heroes, or beings round whom a mass of myth has collected, by far the most important class of popular heroes in North India are the saints and holy personages, Hindu and Muhammadan. The holy man, godling, or saint of Northern India is precisely the demon or devil (bhuta) of South India. There is at bottom no difference between
The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjab. 395
that the gods and saintly heroes are much mixed up, and naturally, in popular conception ; and we have more than one instance in which the special attributes of the Deity, even from the Hindu standpoint, are ascribed to such per- sonages—or ought we to say, more accurately, such abstrac- tions ? — as Guru Gorakhnath. And vice versa, even such gods par excellence as Siva and Parbati are reduced almost to the level of ordinary mortals.
In connection with the belief in immortality, that pathetic hope of the incapacity of a whole personality for death, so universal in mankind, we find that saints, especially deceased saints, are much mixed up in Indian idea with ghosts and spirits. In this form they have the power of appearance peculiar to ghosts all the world over, particularly at mid- night— " midnight the time for saints, adhi rat Pirdn dd vSla " — is an expression that occurs more than once. They appear also in dreams, sometimes I rather suspect with a view to helping the progress of the story.
A careful study of the instances in which beings endowed with immortality, i.e. ghosts and spirits on the one hand, and gods, godlings, and warriors (birs) on the other, appear in the Legends, and of their actions as recorded therein, will afford yet another proof that fundamentally there is no indi- vidual difference between them in the popular conception, nor between them and their mortal counterparts, the holy personages of all sorts. They all, the mortal and the im- mortal, do the same things, have the same characteristics and powers, and are introduced into folktales for the same purposes. The differences to be observed in titles and attributes is due to an overlaying, a mere veneer, of rival religious philosophies — thus, where ghosts and spirits appear the tale will be found to be Muhammadan in origin or form, where gods, godlings, and warriors appear it will similarly be found to be Hindu in origin or form. Where the tale refers back to days before set Hinduism, or has its origin in an anti-Hindu form of belief, or is given an anti-Hindu cast,
396 The Folklore in the Legends of the Punjab.
the appearance will be demoniacal or animistic. In every case they will belong to one fundamental category and be essentially animistic heroes, or they may with equal truth be classed as saints minus the veneer of Musalman, i.e. Western, philosophy.
The corollary to the notion of ghosts and spirits, exorcism and the casting out of devils, only once occurs in the Legends, though miraculous and magical cures of all other sorts abound, and then only by a reference, which is, how- ever, a significant one. For there a Hindu jogi cures a Muhammadan family of goblins and spirits by medicines and herbs ; and it is to be observed that in the passage in question the goblins were Musalman (jinn) and the spirits were Hindu (bhui).
Perhaps the most strongly marked variant of the idea of immortality to be found in Indian belief is the very common folktale expedient of temporary death. In the Legends there is a distinct instance of it. and also a matter-of-fact allusion to it, made in terms that clearly show the uni- versality of the acceptance of the notion.
Supernatural personages in Indian story have as a matter of course, in common with manv otherwise work-a- day mortals, the power of second sight — that knowledge of things that are hidden — and. in addition to forestalling secret malice, proving inncvence •" not proven." aEC so on, can detect un>een thieves, a power by the way claimed by certain leaders of theosophy and esoteric Bocchissi who ought to know bener.
Supernatural personages caay also be said to possess oertjdr. inherent powers, of which that of wccifrsj niracies is ihe mosc i—rvctjin:. So =r;acSt ire rdracslccs txrwess inhere-: ir. sjdn:< :ha: suinrsiiE? ts he-Ic r> be rw¥ec bv the rcssession of tl*e w^cier-wcritr^ ^ifts. arc h is aoc as ocfeace :o holv raea to seek to test thest Etctt cce is contact with a saint t? coasisiered ts> be *.csca&ec These powers can be ^ribcgate>L
The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjab. 397
instances of miracles performed through an agent, by proxy as it were. The agency need not be necessarily that of a supernatural or human being. Things dedicated or sacred or appertaining to a saint are sufficient for the purpose, as when a fountain or well sacred to a saint will effect a cure, or when his flute, or conch, or horse, or other animate or inanimate thing belonging to him, will procure for him even a passing desire. The miracles effected at tombs and shrines belong to this class, and these are ubiquitous in India generally, their universality giving form to the widely-spread and pretty notion of the lover miraculously disappearing alive into the tomb of the dead and buried beloved.
By assuming the power of working miracles to be an attribute of saints, one becomes prepared for their being able to do anything that is necessary for their own personal glory, the protection of themselves and their followers, or the exigencies of the tales about them. But even then one is sometimes taken aback at the ingenuity of the story- tellers, e.g., causing the gods to cash a document that corresponds to a cheque is one bright idea, and carrying a tiger up his sleeve to terrify the ruler of the period is another. Both are attributed to well-known saints. But the very quaintest, and in some respects the most remarkable and instructive tale I have ever come across of an Indian miracle, is one arising out of the well-known scientific and astronomical proclivities of the celebrated Raja Jai Singh Sawai of Jaipur, who flourished only one hundred and fifty years ago, and to be found in the Legends. According to this tale the populace believe that not only could he make a moon, but that he had a private moon of his own to light up his city on dark nights.
It is obviously necessary to the greatness of the saints, indeed to the very success of the shrines, on the proceeds of which the bards and story-tellers live, that holy men should be able to protect themselves and their followers ; and the varieties of ways in which they are fabled to be
— :: ■ :_- " : - -i
gods, and ae» aHte : ixdeed. of at ■**. as Aecraid ^ htaine tAe, it i» the nsnal niBili way.
Is tyyosilJiM to the br— fcrM pcwe: powers to dtlwij fife or sanci rsjary n ;
" -as kra;
I
these asay be classed lie great mm of akoyacsesad
■ij>i irntfriiir, ilrrii - He that oh bdp cms
ako iq«t,n " the Lad giveth ud the Lord lai-ii ■ ■■■.** are propositions uwohed in the gWincarioa of nay kind ofbero. They are con*rtanrJyhnwodKr«iw*rim tie /^$«md> " Vtfcri c.-.-.- |
tn the sane brack. Prcrisery as Mr 'ir-ii^i. can be conferred ncariovsiy, so can injuries be i—Hiili irdfcled ; and as a consequence of this idea a tows fee is artribcted to the fettering of a saint by its refer. And lastly, pat as it is unctamry for the bards and singers to glorify the saints, and e of their power for mischief, so it is also , since bards are csnafly attached to particular ' i their induiduahty. Hence the Dccmbar [ attributing stock miracles to certain saints. To : Dhanna, the Bhagat. is always connected with the f making a god oat of a stone; Rode Shah with the 1 greenness of the dm i-grass in the dry weather • Guru Gugga with speaking from his mother's womb ; Sakhi Sarwar » ith several performed at his shrine ; and Gorakh- nath with a whole string of them performed m " the Land of Kara."
The very Urge number of miracles that occnr in ^
"Qatnv
402 The Folklore in the Legends of the Punjab.
gathered round the Saints of Jalandhar, we are specially treated to a relation of the " open and secret miracles of Sufi Ahmad of Jalandhar/' and of the severe physical punish- ment of a woman for disclosing a secret miracle of another Jalandhar saint. In other instances, disease, and even hereditary madness, are attributed to divulgence of miracles secretly performed. Now, when one thinks over the enor- mous influence that the idea of ability to perform miracles secretly could be made to wield over the minds of a credulous and ignorant population, one wonders indeed that it does not more frequently crop up in Indian folklore ; unless its occurrence is to be regarded as an outgrowth of the idea of the punishment of idle curiosity so common in all folklore — the tales of Bluebeard's wives and so on — which again may perhaps be held to rest on the notion of tabu.
Miracles may be defined as wonders legitimately per- formed, while magic embraces the class of illegitimate wonders. The actual deeds, whether the result of miracu- lous powers or magical arts, seem to be much the same, and in India to be performed for much the same objects. The difference is that the one is right and holy, and the other is wrong and unholy. It is good to work marvels miraculously, but very bad to arrive at the same result by magic. And as, in the bard's eyes at any rate, all heroes, saintly or secular, are personages to be reverenced, one is not astonished at the very small part that magic is made to play in the Legends. Indeed, one scarcely ever sees it put forward as a mode of producing the innumerable marvels related. Magic is, how- ever, distinctly attributed in one instance to a daughter of the Serpents, but only for the purpose of moving a heavy stone, an object which, in the case of a saint, would be related to have been achieved by a miracle. It is as dis- tinctly attributed in another instance to Gorakhnath, in circumstances where a miracle would seem to have been more appropriate, and in the midst of a host of miracles related of this great saint or holy man. Indeed, in this last
The Folklore in the Legends of the Punjab. 403
case the bard would seem to have confused the notions of miraculous and magical powers.
Of what is generally known as sympathetic magic, and may be nothing more than an extension of the notion of the delegated miracle, and so merely a cure by proxy, there is a strong instance in the Legend of Raja Dhol, where the injured leg of a valuable camel is cured by firing that of a stray ass. Restoration to life and health, i.e. cures, and their opposites, destruction and injury by effigy, are strictly exten- sions of the same idea.
Now, when a belief becomes rooted in the popular mind, a custom, however barbarous and disgusting, is sure to be based on it, and the apparently harmless notion of sympa- thetic magic has led in India, and many other lands, to the horrible custom of ceremonial cannibalism. In the Legends we have distinct proofs of this, where faqirs eat up the body of a famous leech in order to obtain his curative powers, and Baloch heroes make roast meat of an enemy's ribs in order to absorb his "virtue," i.e. fighting strength.
A harmless phase in the belief in sympathetic magic, leading to many a pretty and fanciful custom of the folk, is to be seen in a form which I have always Battered myself I discovered, when writing the notes to Wide-awake Stories a good many years ago, and then called by me the Life- index. It now seems to have found a definite place among the recognised technicalities of writers on folklore under the guise of the Life-token. In the Legends, however, we do not hear much of it, except in an allusion to the custom of presenting a female infant to the hero as a bride, together with a mango seedling. When the tree fruits the girl will be twelve years old at least, i.e. marriageable. It is evi- dently felt here in a dim way that the tree is somehow or other her life-token. This custom may be of more interest to ourselves than at first appears, because the habit of planting trees, fruit-trees especially, to commemorate the birth of children, or of connecting certain trees with indi-
404 The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjab.
vidual children in a family, is common enough in England. It has occurred in fact in the present writer's own family, where the trees dedicated to himself and his contemporaries are still standing at the ancestral family home. It is possiblej therefore, that the custom of what we may now call token-trees, the world-wide habit of planting trees to commemorate local and even general events of striking importance, such as the Revolution Elms just outside the ancestral home above mentioned, and many a famous oak and ash and yew one can readily call to mind, partly has its roots in the fundamental idea of sympathetic magic.
The existence of miraculous and magical powers pre- sumes the existence of recognised — or may we call them orthodox ? — processes for producing miracles and magic, opening up the wide subject of charms. But of these, as matters too well known to require explanation, there is not much detail in the Legends, apart from that necessary to briefly explain the miraculous acts themselves ; and such as occurs is confined to that all-important division of the sub- ject in the eyes of a superstitious peasantry of prophylactic charms. The importance of these to the people is further emphasised by the fact that when charms are mentioned it is, in every case but one, for the prevention or cure of snake- bite, perhaps the greatest dread of all of the Indian peasant, a situation in which he probably feels more helpless and more inclined to invoke supernatural aid than in any other. Such charms are indeed so much mixed up with miracles proper as to form in reality a variety of miraculous cures. Besides charms against snakebite, there are mentioned some as existing against sorcerers, t .*. the charmers themselves ; and among real prophylactic charms against general bodily harm, only the wearing of the sacred tulsi (sweet basil) beads occurs.
The absence of detailed accounts of charms and of the performances of exorcists most not, as above hinted be taken as implying their scarcity, or only a languid interest
The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjab. 405
in them among the population; and perhaps the best indica- tion of the facts being the reverse of such a presumption is to be found in the Legends themselves, in the so-called " genealogies " of Lai Beg, the eponymous saint or hero of that curious sect of the scavengers, which may be said to have set up a religion and ritual of its own, though that is in reality an eclectic hagiolatry derived from every super- stition or faith with which its members have come in con- tact. Now the ritual, where it does not purport to relate the genealogy of the hero, consists chiefly of a string of charms of the common popular sort.
Supernatural intervention in the affairs of mankind, as the result of vicarious prayer and intercession, is, one need hardly say, a universal and deeply-cherished human belief ; and it is not by any means always claimed in the Legends that saints or saintly heroes effect their assisting or injuring wonders direct. Prayer is, in fact, in common request as an agent for the performance of miracles, and some quaint stories regarding it are to be found in the Legends. It is there usually, but not of course always, ad- dressed to God by both Muhammadans and Hindus by that mixing up of the rival religions so typical of the natives of India.
From invoking the aid to invoking the presence of the supernatural and invisible protector is but a small step ; and the notion of prayer leads straight on to that of invocation — that summoning of the absent so common in folktales, usually to help on the story. It is necessarily a most widely-spread notion, appertaining to the religion of the folk all the world over, and the means employed for it are everywhere very varied. The story in the Legends of the use of holy water for the purpose in the Panjab has a European ring about it. As saints may be invoked by their followers, so can they in their turn invoke others; sometimes by mere will power; sometimes by a direct summons in everyday use, such as clapping the hands;
406 The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjab.
sometimes by one of the stock devices for summoning the' absent employed in folktales.
Now saints and all the supernatural powers that be can injure as well as aid, can curse as well as bless ; and beings that can injure need propitiation. So we find offerings made to the saints without reference to the faith or creed of either giver or receiver, such as milk, the most important beverage of all in the Panjab, precisely as it is offered to Mother Earth. At the same time we have a remarkable instance of propitiation by abuse in the story of Puran Bhagat, where a woman deliberately abuses and curses her patron saint, with the avowed object of extorting favours from him. This notion, though somewhat startling, is widely spread. Propitiation is naturally usually prescrip- tive, i.e. it is usually employed towards one special pro- tector or class of protectors ; but it as naturally constantly loses that character, and becomes general and even vicarious; as when the heroine pours out libations first to the God of the Waters and then to the birds and beasts, an act of general charity likely to be welcome to the gods.
In close connection with the notion of general or pro- miscuous propitiation, there is a variety of terms in the vernaculars, which are usually translated by " alms-giving, generosity, charity," and so on ; but their real import is the making of propitiator}* gifts or offerings to saints and priestly or holy personages. Generosity in the East does not convey the idea of lavishness in gifts generally, but in gifts to saints or priests. In this sense it is perhaps the most largely extolled virtue of all in fable and story, and of set purpose. This universal inculcation of the virtue of what may be called ceremonial generosity does not arise altogether out of any superstitious, religious, or folklore custom, but out of the necessities of the bards and the tellers of tales about saints. Shrines and their attendants have to be SMpported and many «mst be gathered to snppott them;
The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjab. 407
and hence the very high praise and the very great super- natural and future rewards offered to the "generous," which are not confined to any particular creed or country. The Indian saint, and after him the attendants and hangers- on at his shrine, live on alms; and so "charity" and "gene- rosity" on the part of their adherents and audiences are " virtues " that naturally loom very largely in their tales and poems. The ceremonial nature of the " generosity " comes out in the fact that the gifts to be efficacious must be of the conventional sort ; and we have repeated instances in the Legends of the wrong kind of alms being refused by saints and holy men, however valuable and lavish.
It is obviously necessary, when dwelling on the import- ance of such a virtue on behalf of a hero, that the hero him- self should not be represented as being wanting therein ; and hence " generosity " is an invariable attribute of the saints. Every saint has been wildly and extravagantly generous, what- ever else he may have been. Sakhi Sarwar, Shams Tabrez, and the rest of them are all heroes of generosity. So also on the other hand are the folk-heroes Hari Chand and Raja Amba, while the Baloches have a special hero of their own, Nodhbandagh the Gold-scatterer. The extravagance of the acts of generosity attributed to saints and holy men is boundless. Self-mutilation and self-blinding to gain small objects are among them, stretched in more than one notorious instance into the impossible feat of striking off his own head as alms. Extreme self-sacrifice of this kind assumes a curious form, when a jogi is credited with cere- monial cannibalism, in allusion, perhaps, to the well-known real or attributed habits of the Aghori faqirs.
Offerings of all sorts, and under whatever name, involve the giving up of something, if of value to the giver the better. A notion that has universally led to such concrete ceremonies as sacrifices of all kinds of things of both material value, like cattle, and of purely ceremonial value, like the blood spilt in a notable fight detailed in the Legends. All
408 The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjab.
these things are, however, the giving up of something outside the self, however valued or appreciated, and the idea can be easily extended to the yet greater virtue of the giving up of something that is within or part of the self. It has actually been so extended all over the world in the forms of asce- ticism and penance, and nowhere more recklessly and in- tensely, more wildly in fact, than in India. The virtues of austerity and expiatory self-sacrifice are most carefully extolled and inculcated throughout Indian folklore and in the Legends, and have led there and elsewhere to one practical result in the widely-spread custom of voluntary slavery for debt not only of self but of wife and children.
Gifts, offerings, sacrifices, penances, and the like may be called practical propitiation ; but several ways of reaching the same desirable goal supematurally have been evolved by the superstitious peasantry of India, and the rest of the world too for that matter. Vows, i>. promises to reward the supernatural powers invoked for acceding to prayers, and oaths, i.e. invocations to the same powers to witness the promises, are two prominent methods of pro- pitiating the all-powerful inhabitants of the unseen world, constantly in every language and in every national mind mixed up with each other. In the Legends we have the whole st on* of the idea : oaths which are vows and vows which are oaths, notices of the advantages of performing vows and oaths, the importance of keeping them, and the terrible penalties attached to their breach, especially if made to a deceased saint, or a shrine in which a bard is personally interested. A variant of the terrible tale of Jephthah's Dav^ter is to be found in the Legends*
In every case wbeie it goes beyond being a mere invoca- tion to the supernatural powers the taking of an oath involves a ceremony deriving irrca the s^>e:r$aitions of the takers; and the ceremonies connected with tie taking of oaths are there- fore 7*0* onNr interesting btt neariy ahrays vahahle to the 3tttcte*i> TTbey are alsna varied to a limitless extes^and are
The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjab. 409
a strong indication of the objects held to be sacred in any given form of belief, e.g., swearing by touching the sacred thread (janeu), or by tearing the thread off a cow's neck by a Hindu, by touching the Quran by Muhammadans or the Bible by Christians, are sure references to things held specially sacred under each form of faith. So also when a warrior swears by drinking the milk of his own mother, or when the hero swears by placing his hand on the body of the person adjured, or by drawing a line on the ground with his nose, we are taken back to survivals of forgotten animistic belief. That there should be in the Legends occasionally a mixture of Hindu and Musalman ideas in the forms of oaths will not surprise my readers ; and of this a fine example is the phrase : " The Ganges is between us and above us is the Quran," said by so strict a Musalman as one must presume a Qazi to be.
The object of the ceremonies and forms used in taking oaths is of course to render them binding ; but it must long ago have been equally important at times to avoid the con- sequences of rash and indeed deliberate oaths; and the inventive ingenuity of the folk has been turned on to this side of the question with considerable success. E.g., it is a happy and simple, not to say a convenient, expedient to interpose the presence of a pigeon's egg as an effectual stopper to the binding effect of an oath on the Quran.
In the matter of vows and oaths the Legends give a great number of instances in which a certain form of oath or vow, used for many purposes, but generally for emphasis, has become common to both Hindus and Musalmans. It has arisen out of the Muhammadan custom or law of divorce, tin taldq as it is called in India. The custom is due to a passage in the Quran which lays down that if a man with the proper ceremony pronounces dismissal (taldq) three times to his wife, he cannot marry her again until she shall have been married to another man and divorced by him. Now this solemn performance of tin taldq, or three
4io The Folklore in the Legends of the Punjab.
dismissals, has evidently presented itself to the Oriental mind as a very serious vow or oath, it matters little which; and we constantly find in consequence that not only the notion, but even the very terminology of this form of divorce has come to be synonymous with that of taking a binding oath or vow. There is among the Indian peasantry a regular custom nowadays of emphasising both oaths and vows by taking them three times.
Besides the miracle and magic working powers, there are two others of importance, which may be said to be inherent m saints, those of prophecy and metamorphosis. In the Legends the saintly power of prophecy is usually introduced for the very useful story-telling purpose of indicating the unborn hero's career as about to be developed, and the power of metamorphosis for the purely folklore object of helping on the progress of the stories connected with the saints, or those in whom they are interested, or with whom they have been concerned.
Metamorphosis is a belief that has struck its roots deeply into the minds of the Indian folk ; and hence we find it constantly occurring in the hagiological legends. The saints can assume any form that is necessary to the tale or likely to attract the attention of the audience, can change the forms of others, and delegate unlimited power of meta- morphosis to their followers. The idea so obviously lends itself to fancy that the variations of it assume forms most startling to the everyday man. In the Legends there are many astonishing extensions of the notion, of which turning the Deity himself into a dog in a legend about Namdev, for the purpose of pointing a moral, is perhaps the best example. A dog ran off with the saint's {jogi's) food, and, instead of beating him, the saint addressed him in language applicable properly to the Deity. For his reward the dog turned into the Deity, and thus the saint had the inestimable privilege of beholding the Deity in person.
In the application of the theory of metamorphosis to folk-
The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjab. 41 1
tales, we also find another indication of the fundamental identity of the hero, the saint or supernatural mortal, and the god or supernatural immortal in the popular mind. The power is possessed by all alike, and by none to a specially great or striking degree peculiar to himself. It is equally possessed by inanimate objects. In the Legends there are indications that the forms it especially assumes are due to two causes : the perceptible effect that disguises have in altering the apparent nature of human beings, and the changes of skin and plumage that snakes and birds undergo ; and the old-world belief in metempsychosis or transmigra- tion of souls, by which the Indian and Far Eastern peoples have for so very long been thoroughly permeated.
Disguises for the sake of enabling the hero or heroine to carry out their respective objects are very numerous ; but the essential poverty of peasant ideas, despite their apparent diversity, comes out in the fact, that the disguises are apt to run in grooves and become stereotyped. As a rule they are such as might be expected; but there is a notable instance of metamorphosis by a humanised serpent merely for the sake of disguise ; and it may also be said that many of the objects for which disguise is used are identical with those for which metamorphosis is made to take place. Disguise may be said to be, indeed, merely metamorphosis with the marvellous left out. Changes of skin or clothing, or of things pertinent to human and animal heroes, are so directly connected with metamorphosis, and so constantly in Indian folktales, as to give rise to a temporary form of it, of which many instances will almost without effort occur to those well acquainted with the tales.
The allusions to the doctrine of metempsychosis in the Legends are of course ubiquitous, but without much varia- tion ; and they habitually refer to the variety of lives the heroes and heroines have already passed through in diverse forms. In fact, the sole difference between the folk notions of metamorphosis and metempsychosis lies in the fact of the
i/ore in the Legends of
•anja,
former consisting of change of form during life, and in the latter after death. The two ideas are very closely con- nected, so much so that the special changes represented by metamorphosis are based on the variety of bodies, that one and the same unfettered soul is assumed to be capable of vivifying.
In passing, it may be here mentioned that metempsychosis is in the Legends most ingeniously dragged in to defend the doctrine of sati, which is indefensible, except politically, even from the native scriptural point of view. A victim of the custom is made to say: "For many ages will I obtain the same husband," i.e. in reward for becoming sati. In the Legends, too, heroines are significantly made to commit sati, not only on husbands' but also on sons' deaths.
It will have been seen from what has been above said that saints scarcely differ from folktale heroes of the con- ventional sort. They are beautiful in appearance; they have all sorts of secular occupations, even finding a liveli- hood as private soldiers and horse-dealers; they have obvious foibles of their own ; they claim kingly rank on assuming saintship, make royal alliances, and keep up a royal state; they are known by special and peculiar signs, they perform conventional heroic acts in an heroic super- natural manner. Indeed, just as the saint is hardly to be distinguished from the demon, so is he hardly to be dis- tinguished from the ordinary folk-hero. Indian demonolatry is ancestral or tribal hero-worship, and Indian hagiolatry is very little else. The saints and their demoniacal, heroic, or godlike counterparts are, however, essentially super- naturally endowed beings of the narrator's own nationality or party ; but there are in Indian folk-idea other super- naturally endowed beings, demoniacal in their nature and usually styled rakhas and translated " ogres," who belong as essentially to the enemy's party. In the demon world . tta, especially in South India, may be said to be iss or side, and the rakhas ; while the demon proper
The Folklore in the Legends of the Punjab. 413
(deo) may be looked on as being on the borderland between the two, and as belonging as much to the one side as he does to the other, occasionally exhibiting the characteristics of the ogres as clearly as he does those of the saints, heroes, godlings, and what not.
In translating rakhas in its varying forms, I have adhered to the usual term ogre, as being its best European represen- tative, both expressions indicating, as I take them, the foreigner who has at one time inspired fear, and has, there- fore, been credited in the popular imagination with certain terrifying supernatural powers, attributes, and habits. The essentials of Indian ogre-stories seem to be constant. The ogre feeds on mankind, an idea extended to feeding vora- ciously on the larger animals also. He worries the hero's people and friends, and he is finally conquered by the hero, in fair fight, by miraculous intervention, or by conventional exorcism. He is, of course, a giant, and supernaturally endowed, performing much the same miraculous feats as his heroic or saintly opponents. In many respects he may be fairly described as the hero on the other side, his attributes as the result of the fear he inspires, and the struggles with him as vague memories of long past tribal fights with remarkable foreigners.
In one notable passage, showing how ideas extend and run into each other, in a fragment of a modern version of the far renowned (in India, that is) Sindhi story of Sassi and Punnun, we find that ogres and man-destroying monsters of all kinds are closely classed together. The fragment is based on the very celebrated (in India) poem by Hasham Shah, and for the present purpose I will quote the original :
Adamkhor jandwar jal de% r&kas rUp sarden ; Majarmachhy kachhu, jcU-hAri, ndg, sansdr balden ; Tandut, kahar, zamb&ran-wdle, Idwan zor tad&cn.
Man-eating monsters of the deep, like unto ogres ; Alligators, turtles, mermaids, serpents, and world-horrors ; Crocodiles, dragons, porpoises, were bellowing aloud.
414 The Folklore in the Legends of the
Of the same nature in Indian story as the ogre is the nag or serpent, this important fact being strongly empha- sised in the Legends, in which the serpents and their doings occupy a prominent place. They here, though not in ordinary belief, appear just as ordinary heroes, and are distinctly human in their personalities and all their ways, as often appearing in human as in other forms. They are servants to the hero's patron saint ; they live in human dwellings and show hospitality to human heroes ; ihey are subject to human diseases ; they give their daughters to, and marry the daughters of, human neighbours. They are divided into families, and like ogres they live on human flesh. Like the rest of the heroic or supernatural world, they have a wide power of metamorphosis: into and out of human or serpent form, into many animal forms and into a variety of things, such as fruit, a fine needle, a golden staff, a blade of grass. In the same way they have an almost unlimited power of working miracles, chiefly malevolent ; destroying life in various ways, setting on fire and scorch- ing with their breath, or bite, or by the flash of their eyes, and drinking up the life of another. But they have an equally pronounced power of restoration to life, ordinarily by the recognised folk-tale methods. And, lastly, apart from being frequently " winged," they have the usual heroic powers of rapid and miraculous movement.
Now, the notions exhibited in these modern legends on the Naga serpents go back a long way in Indian story ; and I think it a fair inference to draw from them and their prototypes, that Indian serpent- legends are but a memory surviving in an ignorant and superstitious peasantry of an old life-struggle between the Aryan population and the perhaps aboriginal Naga peoples, whose totem, so to speak, or even merely national fighting emblem or standard, has, it may be, become confused with : :.
From the ogre and the sses almost imper-
llu: Imn ■.-^rss.
The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjab. 415
in Indian legends, and plays so conspicuous a part in the stories loved of the people. The humanity, so to speak, of the animal, i.e. the non-human, world of beings is most strongly marked in all Indian folklore. Indeed, human and non-human beings seen hardly to be distinguished in the minds of the peasantry. In the Legends we find in one clear instance a distinct ascription to the latter of an im- mortality of precisely the same nature as that universally attributed to mankind. " He took the bullocks at once to the river. They began to drink in the river, where a serpent was on the bank. Bitten, they fell to the ground and their life went to the next world." Here the actual expression used is : " bhawar Baikunth lok ko dhdya, the breath went off to the world of Paradise " ; just such an expression as would be properly applicable to a human being. In another strong instance a parrot describes itself as " a good Hindu/1 requiring a purification ceremony after touching a dead body.
Human characteristics may be expected in tales of the customary Oriental animal-pets and companions of man- kind, such as the horse, the bullock, the camel among quadrupeds, the parrot, the maina, the falcon among birds. And there are many instances in the Legends in which the doings, sayings, and feelings of all of these are hardly to be differentiated from those of the human actors. It may be here noted that the absence of any allusions to a sense of companionship between man and the dog marks a point of wide divergence between ordinary Oriental and European feeling.
There is, in fact, scarcely any characteristic or capacity of the human that is not equally attributed to the non- human world. All sorts of animals act as messengers. Serpents, cattle, and birds are of course described as being affected strongly by music. Serpents and deer, extended in one case to " all the beasts and birds of the forest," are attracted by human beauty in a human manner. A
4 1 6 The Folklore in the Legem
■wan falls in love with the heroine in the human sense : deer can dream human dreams: a swan is made to address the Creator {Kartd) by way of prayer, and a doe to dis- tinctly pray to God (kiti Rabb aggefaryad).
The grateful animal is a stock expedient in folktales, and wc are treated to instances of all kinds in the Legends, some of which may be called unexpected. Thus, in this category appear cats, crickets, hedgehogs, serpents, swans, crows, cranes. The opposite quality of ingratitude is also ascribed to a deer and a parrot. And in the quaint legend of Dhanna, the Bhagat, a god consisting of an ordinary commercial stone weight, is made to play the part of the grateful animal, using the term in the sense of a non-human being. But the legend here has more than probably an origin in a consciously allegorical story.
Just as animals can be grateful and ungrateful, s they be revengeful ; and of revenge on human lines there is ■ fine instance in the tale of the humanised Htra the Deer in the Rasalu Cycle, who throughout acts the part of the ordinary folk-hero. The tale goes even to the extreme length of attributing caste feelings to the herd he belonged to ; for " they cast him out of the herd because he had no ears or tail " (they had been cut off). But perhaps the strongest possible instance of humanisation occurs in the same Cycle, where a lizard as the hero and a female serpent as the heroine play a variant of the story of Potiphar -
The direct and almost universal use in story of the animal with human attributes is to help on or interfere with the action of the hero in a simple or in an extraordinary manner, as when cranes, crows, parrots, and falcons act as messengers, a falcon takes his turn at keeping watch, and a flock of birds stop the progress of a ship by merely sitting on the shore. In order to do these things they must be able to talk, and do so as naturally and freely
as do the i
themselves- But the i
The Folk/ore in the Legends of the Punjab, 417
unnatural powers of speech is carried very much further, and they are habitually attributed to everything that is introduced to forward the story or the interests of the actors therein. Indeed, in the legend of Niwal Dai we are ex- pressly told : " It was the virtuous time of the golden age ; all things could speak their mind." An expression used again in the legend of Raja Dhol in almost identical but more limited terms : " It was the golden age of virtue, and the cranes spake." An astonishing variety of objects is thus supposed to be gifted with speech. Any kind of plant for instance: trees, mangoes, plums, pipals, plantains, grass. All sorts of articles in domestic use : a bed's legs, a lamp, a pitcher, a necklace, a conch, a couch, a needle, a pestle and mortar, a garland. Even such a general object in nature as a lake. In one instance a sandal-tree relates its very human adventures merely by way of incident. Anthropo- morphism could hardly go further.
It is, however, carried pretty far in an instance that occurs in the fruitful Rasalu Cycle in two versions. A corpse, restored to life through the prayers of the hero, helps him out of gratitude in such a matter as a gambling match, in one of the instances. In the other, the corpse appears as a number of severed heads, whom the hero adjures not to weep and to help him with their prayers. After all this the story of the well-known parrot of Raja Rasalu, that "was wise, knowing the Four Vedas," could answer riddles and give wholesome human advise, falls somewhat flat. And the common folk-notion of a fcetus speaking from the womb becomes, as it were, natural. It is the stock miracle related of Guru Gugga, but attributed also to a good many other personages remarkable in subsequent separate life.
It will have been noticed that the notion of the humanised animal slides almost imperceptibly into that of the human- ised thing. When once the habit of anthropomorphosis comes into play it appears to matter little whether it be
VOL. X. 2 E
, and especially : p held to have
1 'I'll' Mil HI III II 111 ■■ |i or magic, i.e. to
1 ii ii i imI lij ■■ i Iblo 01 invisible agency,
bserved, tn i I ill 111 i" ■■ ■" I '<•-' talc about I
| -mh uncanny objects i
-
observed, out him : bjects u
3
The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjab. 419
about some of them, they are not sure which, and they never remember them accurately.
The most wide-spread and familiar, but perhaps not the best recognised, article subjected to supernatural agency is holy water, as common in India under Islam and Hinduism as it is in Europe under Christianity. In the Legends its uses are to invoke " the blessing of the great saints " and to effect miraculous cures — uses that will recall ideas current outside of heathenism. Much of the virtue of holy water is transferred in the popular mind to blood, especially human blood, which is the main folk-agency for miraculous restora- tion to life and health, and a common one for the performance of a host of other marvellous feats. In the Legends these virtues are to a certain degree yet further extended to milk, and it is of interest to record that in them ambrosia or amrita not only turns up as the beverage of the gods, but also when pure as holy water, in a most remarkable passage in a Hindu story, where it is regarded as the blood of the Almighty :
Kirpd hut hat Sakat kt : hud Qudrat kd khiydl : Apnt unglt chirkt amrit lid nikdl.
The Almighty had mercy : the All-powerful considered them : Cutting his finger he drew forth the water of life.
In India, however, all water may be called in a sense holy. There water of itself purifies, an idea that still leads to an incalculable amount of disease and sickness. The rivers and pools are all more or less sacred, though some of course are pre-eminently so, and ceremonial bathing is a source of infinite gains to the priests and holy personages.
The enchanted miraculous vehicle is a very old and widely- spread folk-notion, and so we find all sorts of heroes, saintly and demoniacal, flying through the air, leaping the ocean, accomplishing a journey of months in a few paces, and pro- ceeding about their business at any required rate of speed on a variety of unlikely articles, of which abnormally winged rx-eatures, bulls, lions, horses, camels, and* the like are but
2 £ 2
420 The Folklore in the Legends of the Punjab.
variants. So closely do we find the two ideas collected, that I have sometimes thought that the whole norioa of the miraculous vehicle and its concomitants is nothing but an expansion of the heroic leap, which in its turn is a mere popular exaggeration of some actual feat. In the Legends the idea of personally flying through the air is extended to making a saint's shoe to fly through the air in order to punish the saint's opponent by beating him. This causing of things to move miraculously is to be further seen in the common miracle of a saint moving his tomb from one place to another, leading to the quaint practice, observed by my- self in Hindu India, Buddhist Burma, and even Japan, of chaining an image to prevent its returning to the place whence it miraculously migrated.
The value of invocation or calling together the tribe and its defenders by a loud cry or sound must necessarily have been a very early human observation ; and its importance and weird suddenness when used has all the world over led to some fanciful and pretty notions as to magical music and enchanted instruments, dependent chiefly on the observed or fancied influence of musical sound on the animal world. In these Legends there are distinct evi- dences of the history of the idea, and the chief use to which the magic flute, or its variant the magic conch, is there put is, where it is used by the secular hero, to call together the tribe and its friends, or where it is used by a saint or religious leader, to collect his following, celestial or terres- trial. Its secondary uses are to play upon the emotions of friendly animals, and to call to the aid of the hero the attention of the gods and the invisible inhabitants of the celestial worlds, who, where the hero is a saint, usually seem to occupy the place of his subordinates and assistants. The sound of the flute or conch seems also to have become mixed up in the popular mind with the "voice of prayer," for it can " reach to the Court of God/' and so secure the divine intervention in human affairs.
The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjab. 421
The power of enchanted human hair to assist human beings — perhaps as a spirit-haunt, to use Sir James Camp- bell's phrase — is another world-wide and very old notion, and again in the Legends we seem to get at an explanation of it, for it and its counterpart, the insect's feeler, is of no avail until burnt, an idea arising probably from the palpable effect burnt hair has on those who become insensible from a blow or disease. The concrete idea, however, in burning hair appears to be to drive the spirits out of it by the process, and so compel them to your service ; for the actual use of burnt hair is to call up invisible assistance. But when once the hair has started on its career as a power to interfere in the affairs of man, it is made to do a variety of things for him ; for it can, among other things, cut down trees, burn up forests and enemies, and lead the heroine into her enemies' clutches. The outcome of the belief in the virtue inherent in hair has been a variety of Oriental beliefs and customs deriving directly from it : — e.g., the sacredness of the Musalman's beard and of the entire hair on the body of a Sikh.
To pass from a part to the whole, the great power pos- sessed by enchanted human or animal bodies is invisibility. But I do not think its constant use in folktales and in these Legends is altogether due to a love of the miraculous. The notion gives such obvious opportunities for investing the heroes and actors with a deeper interest than they could otherwise be made to possess, and especially saints with additional supernatural powers for overawing those who listen to tales about them, that neither story-tellers nor bards have anywhere refrained from taking advantage of it. The practical use to which the power of invisibility is put in the Legends is to help on the development of the tales, or to assist the hero or the heroine in their desires, or to glorify a saint or holy personage.
Curiously enough the procedure of enchantment is not anywhere directly given in the Legends, though of course it
422 The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjab.
occurs often enough in the folklore of the country. All the enchanted articles that occur are supposed to have already undergone the processes necessary to render them super- natural. Probably the audience is assumed to know what those processes were, and such charms as occur are all of the prophylactic nature already described.
Between the supernatural and unmistakable human being there has existed everywhere and at all times an intermediary, a being who, while obviously and distinctly human, has assumed or acquired certain unusual and there- fore in the popular mind uncanny powers. His ordinary form is that of the priest, but the forerunner, and in early society the contemporary, of the priest is the being who is possessed, i.e. subjected to enchantment, magical, super- natural, or miraculous. Spirit-possession is not a desirable accident of life, especially as sudden, severe, or striking disease or illness is confounded with it ; and hence the existence of the possessed has led to that of the exorcist or professional curer of the misfortune. The idea of posses- sion and its antidote does not seem to have taken a strong hold of the Panjabi, and consequently not much of either appears in the Panjab Legends. Indeed, it is directly mentioned only in one place ; but in many respects a remarkably similar series of legends from Kanara, which I have somewhat recently edited under the title of the Devil- Worship of the Tuluvas, mainly turns on it, as indeed does the whole complicated system of modern Tibetan Buddhism, exhibiting once more that common phenomenon in nature, the rudimentary existence only in one series of connected creatures of a part that is fully developed in another.
So far, we have been dealing with the heroes and their male counterparts, but on turning to the heroines it will be found that, so far as Indian ideas on the parts that the sexes are capable of playing in the affairs of life admit, the stories of the female actors follow strictly on the lines of
The Folklore in the Legends of the Punjab. 423
those of the male. The main cause of the differences observable lies in the low estimation in which women generally are held by the populace— a fact typified in the Legends by the belief that it is not only foolish, but socially indiscreet, to praise a woman, especially one's wife, by the ceremonial observances demanded of the women towards their male relatives, all intended to emphasise their position of subjection, and by the universal custom of the seclusion of women.
The typical heroine is emphatically a child of predesti- nation, "tabued," as it were, from birth to the hero. Her characteristics are impossible strength or skill to save the hero in trouble, as when she cuts a tigress in two; or, on the other hand, impossible delicacy, as when she is weighed against flowers; or she is endowed with impossible attrac- tiveness, dropping flowers when she laughs and pearls when she weeps. Her beauty is, of course, all-conquering, the animal world, the heavenly bodies, and the God of the Waters (Khwaja Khizar) succumbing to it, and like the hero, she is known by "signs" — e.g., by the bubbling of the water in a well when she looks into it.
Of beneficent heroines we do not hear much in the Legends. Perhaps it is hardly to be expected that amongst the Panjabi peasantry a woman could be held to be of much assistance in life. The fairies, when they do appear, are accordingly merely messengers between this and other worlds, or they represent outside, unorthodox brides or mistresses of Rajas or heroes. But of maleficent heroines we hear a good deal, and of the victims, male and female, of their active ill-will. Calumny, born of jealousy, is the favoured method of showing it. Jealousy of a co-wife, natural enough where polygamy is practised, and of a co-wife's children, gives so commonly the spring to vin- dicative action, that the story of the calumniated wife may be looked upon as a special variety of Indian folktale, though the enmity is sometimes represented as being ex-
424 The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjab.
tended to the husband, the husband's sister, and the nurse or duenna.
To the category of malevolent heroines belong the step- mothers, who play a prominent and peculiar part in Indian folktales, due to the polygamy practised by the rulers, the rich and the great. They are nearly always the malignant co-wives with the hero's mother, interfering in his life and story in two main ways — i.e. they either get him into trouble by acting after the manner of Potiphar's Wife, or they seek to ruin him out of jealousy of his mother. From the latter cause the heroine is also frequently made to suffer at the hands of one or more of her stepmothers. The methods of the stepmother of arriving at her ends are, however, generally human, and the women held to be endowed with malevolent supernatural powers are the wise-women, witches, ogresses, and ndgnis or serpent- women.
So far as the legendary lore is concerned, we may treat witch and wise-woman as synonymous terms for the same class of wicked woman. Both invariably play the same part in a tale and have the same characteristics. They are the marplots, the malignant fiends of the story ; and their natural occupation is to place the heroine in the power of her enemies — of which, assistance to the hero to get at the heroine in irregular manner is but a variant. They have disgusting and terrible attributes. They are cannibals, and take out the liver and eat it. They have second sight, and are suspected of knowing things that are hidden. But they are not necessarily ugly or uncomely : often, indeed, they are the reverse. In order to attain their ends they are endowed with the power of metamorphosis and miracle- working— " setting water on fire " being in one instance claimed in the Legends as a difficult feat, which no doubt
it is.
The ogress is in every essential merely a female counter- part of the ogre, with the same attributes, the same super-
T7ie Folklore in the Legends of the Punjab. 425
natural powers, the same enmity to the hero's race, even as the ndgni or serpent-woman is just a woman of her kind, with all the tag's attributes, humanity, habits, and powers. In their struggles with the human or heroic races their methods, though necessarily differing from those of the males of their class, are in each case of the same nature. Thus, instead of directly fighting mankind or the heroic opponents, they seek to destroy them by winning them over by female blandishments, and so getting them into the power of themselves and their party.
Besides what may be called the heroine proper of a legend or folktale, the child miraculously born and pre- destined to great deeds, the legitimate pride and glory of the tribe or race, there is the foundling, that kind of child which has come irregularly or illegitimately into the tribal or family circle, to play an important part therein. The career of the foundling may be expected to attract the imagination of a peasantry. Such an unexpected and unlooked-for addition to the family or tribe is sure to be interesting and to give rise to hereditary tales. But apart from the interest attaching to the conditions under which foundlings are introduced, the exigencies of native life serve to create and maintain foundling-stories. So many sub- castes and tribes and so many families of the upper ranks have from the native point of view a doubtful origin, so many of the richer people, who can pay for bards and their flatteries, have a blot on their escutcheons — a bar sinister, as one may call it— that tales oi foundling girls are bound to flourish in order to connect families, castes, tribes, and prominent personages of the day with those of bygone times, whose position and claims are held to be beyond all doubt. Ancestor-making and genealogy-inventing are arts well understood in India, especially by the bardic class; and the story of the foundling mother of the eponymous hero is the most cherished resort for the purpose. In the Panjab, that land of great rivers, the river-borne foundling
426 The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjab.
is the favourite variety. The girl infant is discovered float- ing by various methods down a river, is adopted by the finder, is married to the eponymous hero or his father, is subsequently traced to an aristocratic family, and the de- sired high-class connection is established. A dive into any of the accepted accounts of the more important families, or into the legendary history of the sub-tribes and sub-castes — even into that of the tribes and castes themselves — anywhere in India will produce many such stories in many quaint forms. They abound in the folktales and appear in the Legends of course.
Pretty and popular varieties of the foundling-tale are to be found in the many variants of the egg-hero story, where the little stranger, male or female, is fabled to have sprung miraculously from an egg, from fruit, from a box, a flower, or other small and fanciful article. And to the same cate- gory must, I think, be referred the universally popular sleeping-beauty. A careful survey of her life-history, the manner of her discovery, her doings and characteristics, point her out as the representative of the bride from the other side — raped it may be, or stolen, or abducted, or taken in fight as a sort of spolio opima, or perhaps simply found. Whatever she may be, princess in disguise, ogress born, or captive in a foreign land, she is emphatically not of the hero's race or party, and their union is always irregular — i.e. not according to established tribal custom.
In one essential point, arising out of the view taken by the peasantry of women and girls, the folk-heroine differs entirely from the hero. As the actual property of some male, either tabued to him or as part of his personal effects, the heroine has to be chaste. Of male chastity we do not hear much, except as virtue — i.e. manly capacity, which is quite a different idea from that attached to sexual chastity. Of virtue in the above sense a great deal is heard, and it is most jealously guarded. The terms usually rendered " pure " and " chaste," and so on, however, never imply
The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjab* 427
male sexual purity, and Raja Rasalu, a hero essentially of gallantries of every kind, is repeatedly called "j'ati satu pure and chaste," in the sense of being endowed with un- impaired capacity. He was in that sense fully virtuous. The possession of such virtue is made a condition of worldly power, and when possessed in an inordinate degree calls down the wrath of the supernatural powers as a positive danger to them. It is also a vital point to keep out of touch with women at periods of stress and trial in order to maintain it, their approach and proximity impairing it. The origin of all this is obvious, the male is not sub- jected to tabu or appropriation, and the female is.
Perhaps the neatest indication of the point that of old chastity was the virtue of women and virile capacity the virtue of men, is shown in the manner in which the zone, both as a word and as an article of costume, was used. There was always the female girdle or zone, the emblem of chastity, and the male zone or sign of virility and fighting capacity. In the Himalayas the silver zone is still the sign par excellence of a warrior. Says a legend : " The Lord Raja is coming himself to this war. He has called every wearer of a silver zone to Junga."
Now, the very line of reasoning which renders male chastity of no account, makes female chastity the main virtue — i.e. capacity of the sex. In such a society as is reflected in Indian legendary lore, it was as essential for a woman to be chaste, as it was for man to be of his hands capable. The maintenance of the tribe and its social structure rested on these features of the two classes of human beings composing it. We Europeans have the remains of this feeling in all our languages when we talk of a woman and her virtue. Female chastity, then, being of such very great importance to the men, and also so very difficult to secure without the co-operation of the women themselves, the men were always calling in the super- natural powers to their aid in maintaining it, out of their
428 .The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjab.
natural and well-founded suspicion that such co-operation did not exist. Of this there is universal folktale evidence, and it gives occasion to resort to ordeals, both practical and supernatural, more often than anything else — except perhaps the cruel " wisdom " of the witch-finder — by fire, by dice, by water, by impossible tasks and conditions. However, it being on occasion most important to prove the virtue in a hero, ordeals of the same kind are resorted to in tales for that purpose also, and not only has the hero to prove that he is a man of parts, but the saint, too, has to show the peculiar virtue in him by giving a " sign," usually in the form of a miracle. Indeed, many miracles are merely forms of ordeals.
The extravagant extension of any idea for the purposes of story-telling, may be looked for in all the literary pro- ductions of the folk, and in the Legends^ by way of empha- sising the grave importance of female chastity, the famous heroine, Htr, before what we, but not the natives, would call her fall, is in one place said to feel polluted, simply because the hero occupied her bed in her absence.
The value to the early intelligence of ordeals for the dis- covery of virtue in mankind has led to their wide employ- ment in folktales, for the intelligible and important purpose of proving the long-lost hero or heroine — for testing claimants, in fact. Tests, natural and supernatural, for their identification are ubiquitous in all folk-stories, and equally so in the Legends> leading in many instances almost imperceptibly into the region of prophecy and its fulfil- ment. Almost the whole stock of folk-ideas is pressed into the service of this most prominent necessity of the progress of a story. Heroes and heroines are identified by marks, personal characteristics, and properties, surviving still as " the signs of royalty," both possible and impossible, and by definite ordeals, such as the answering of riddles and the performance of impossible tasks ; and, further, by resort to such purely mythological ideas as a correct
The Folklore in the Legends of the Punjab. 429
recollection of details and surroundings in " a former life." On the other hand, there is in one instance a reference to that widespread, practical form of identification, which is embodied in the custom of placing a stamp or mark on the body or clothes, as a voucher of a visit to a shrine or of a pilgrimage completed, where the hero's camel carries away betel-leaves and water to show that he had really been to the heroine's abode, and so knew the way thither.
The favourite folktale form of ordeal is the impossible task, and naturally so, as the individual fancy can here range at will ; while the poverty of peasant imagination is also shown by the constant resort of the story-tellers to well-known stock tasks. In one form, however, the im- possible task is of exceptional interest, for when it is imposed as a condition of marriage with the heroine, the Legends show that it is the poor remnant of the once important political manoeuvre of the swayamvara, or public choice of a husband by girls of princely rank.
There are two common variants of the impossible task frequently occurring in the Legends — riddles and ceremonial gambling. Conventional riddles preserved at the present day in garbled traditional verse, and usually perfectly un- intelligible, are used for all the purposes of their prototype — for identifying the hero ; as necessary preliminaries to marriage, and even to an illicit intrigue ; as a variant of the swayamvara ; as a kind of initiation into saintship ; in fact, wherever an ordeal is for any reason desired. But the more legitimate use of riddles as a symbolical, or secret, or private form of speech is merely hinted at in the Legends, as where a birth is announced in the form of a riddle, and where the female attendants of a princess make com- munications in the same form.
Gambling is looked on by the Indian populace as the usual and proper occupation of the great and rich ; and so a good deal is heard of it in the Legends. But the cere- monial gambling occurring in them bears evidence of its
430 The Folklore in the Legends of the Punjab.
origin ; for, as a test before marriage, it is clearly an ordeal in the form of a variant of the impossible task. In this sense it is regarded and repeatedly spoken of as " a virtue of the rulers." Of course, in folktales and legendary lore, the notion is subjected to great exaggeration, and we are favoured with most extraordinary stories of reckless gambling — for property, possessions, and even life itself — and in the Legends, with what is of far more importance, detailed descriptions in all its technicalities of the great and ancient royal game of chaupur or pachisi.
Passing thus without effort almost from the actors to the course of the story, we find that perhaps the commonest way of commencing it is to set the hero seeking his fortunes, either by way of a start to the story, or to get a living, or as the result of troubles at home, or in response to a pro- phecy or fortune-telling. This opens a wide door to pre- liminary incident, even to a relation of invaluable details as to the prescribed modes of procuring oracles and forecasts of fate and fortune, which will be found on examination to be substantially the same all over India, north and south. Such oracles as occur in Indian tales are as vague in form and uncertain in meaning as elsewhere, leaving the inquirer to make what he can of them. A fine specimen, drawn from the working of the Persian water-wheel so universally used in the rural Panjab, and couched in good rustic verse, occurs in the Legend of Mirza and S4hib4n, though the hero seems to comprehend it without effort or hesitation :
The axle binds the shaft and the spokes bind the axle ; The axle-tree lies on the ground fastened by strong chains ; Wheel works with wheel as a king with his courtiers ; The whole machine creaks as a beggar among husbandmen ; The pitchers clink (as they come up) full of pure water.
It could hardly be expected that the regular and irregular priesthood of India would allow so fruitful a source of class and personal profit as is offered by such a matter as fortune- telling to pass them by ; and so we are distinctly told that
The Folklore in the Legends of the Punjab. 43 1
the casting of horoscopes, or the grant of peeps into the future, is the peculiar province of the Brahmans.
The whole vast fabric of fortune-telling, prophecy, sooth- saying, oracle-making, built up by the various kinds of Indian priesthood, is throughout Indian folklore and in the Legends to be seen to clearly rest on the universal and ineradicable belief in fate. Allusions to it are innumerable, and every act or chance of human life is referred to it as a matter of course — as an accepted incontrovertible proposition. The terms for fate and life are even found to be mutually con- vertible, though instances do occur in which, especially among Muhammadans, fate is distinguished from the conse- quences of evil deeds, being perhaps an echo there of Christian or Jewish or even Buddhist teaching. Of such a sentiment the following is an example : " If a bullet strike thy forehead, know it is the reward of thy (evil) deeds, know it not for thy fate." But such ideas as this are, however, extremely rare in story, and habitually every event is attri- buted to the action of fate.
Perhaps the best way of obtaining a comprehension of the depth and width of the sentiment of fatality among the Indian populace — a notion of the extent to which it per- meates their ideas as to the causes of the events of every- day life — is by an examination of the ipsissma verba of the bards and popular singers, for which the Legends afford very many opportunities. It will then be seen that the popular philosopy really amounts to this — every occurrence is fated, the action of fate is visible in every event, is in- evitable, is pre-ordained, " written/' or decreed. The very terms in which the actors in the Legends apostrophise Fate shows this strongly. Cries an unfortunate more than once: " What, Fate, hast thou written in my fate ? " Cry others again and again : " O Fate, what hast thou done ? " "O Fate, what is this that thou hast resolved on ? "
Widely differing occurrences are repeatedly attributed to the direct action of fate. Typical expressions are the
432 The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjab.
following : " The matter was in the hands of Fate, and she (the wife) saved the Raja." " Thou wast not in fault, my Lord, it was in my fate." " What is to be must be borne ; why make plans (to avoid it) ? " " Fortunate is our fate that the Court remembers us." " Thy fate is evil." Here are expressions that recur repeatedly : " I, too, am Fate's victim." " I die for her sake, my fate hath come." Says a king of his minister : " His fate and mine were one." Says an enemy, feeling that he had no chance otherwise : " If Puran's fate be awake (i.e. against him) I will come back and slay him." Cries a young girl : " All my studying is over, for Fate hath brought me love."
The difficulty of accounting for occurrences — the inscrut- ability, in fact, of fate — has of course forced itself on the peasant mind ; and the feeling finds voice in their exclama- tions, of which " There is no fathoming fate " is perhaps the commonest. The most conspicuous quality, however, of fate is necessarily the inevitability of its action, and we accordingly find this fact expressed in many different and sometimes quaint terms, of which good examples are: "The rest is in my daughter's fate (over which) none have power." " Who can vary the lines of fate ? " " This (a throw of dice) was in the power of fate, no power (of ours) avails." " Thy fate hath encompassed thee and there is no way to save thee." " Fate is not to be gainsaid, and God doeth as he listeth." Here is a strong way of putting the rustic view: " Fate hath come on thee : when fate slew such prophets, shalt thou escape ? " Perhaps the most usual ways of all of expressing the hopelessness of fighting against the in- evitable are : " What fate has written who can blot out ? " " There is no remedy against fate." And lastly a curious belief in the godlike powers of the founder of the Sikh Religion is to be seen in the expression : " What fate the Guru (Nanak) hath ordained cannot be avoided." But the pathetic cry of a mother over a murdered son seems to point to a latent hope in the villagers' hearts that perad-
The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjab. 433
venture, for all its inevitability, the action of fate may possibly be avoidable : " Death met him in the street and fate stopt the way (for flight). When thy fate was written had I been by, I would have made a great cry to God and had it written favourably."
The usual way of stating the inevitable is by viewing it as written or decreed by fate. The common expression is : " It was written in my fate ; thou canst do nothing." And there also occurs twice in the Legends : " See, this was written in the lines of fate, this misery of mine." A religious fanatic in order to account for his mode of life, says: " Mendicancy was written in my fate : " and it is further said of a herdsman : " God wrote no labour (in his fate) ; he was to be happy with (tending) buffaloes." Of a parted husband and wife it is said : "This much connection was written ; fate hath done this." Again, one of three brothers puts the Panjabi peasant belief very powerfully when he explains to a judge : " Chiefship was written in Chuchak's fate and lord- ship in Michru's. In my (Kaidu's) fate was written saint- ship ; it was the Writing of God."
The decree of fate occupies a prominent position in Indian idea, and typical ways of giving expression to it are such as these : " The decree that fate has written down against me have I suffered to the full." aO Queen, if posterity had been decreed in my fate, it would have been through you." " The decree of my fate (leprosy) hath been passed upon me." The commonest expressions of resignation are : " The decree of fate must be borne," and " Pain and grief are with all ; it is the decree of fate." The notion has even passed into a frequently recurring proverb : " The decree of fate is strong and waits not for postponing." Cries one of a number of refugees from an unhappy political struggle : " It was fate's decree that drove us to the forest."
Fortune-telling in all its forms involves the intervention of a second party ; but forecasts of fortune can also be sought within one's own personality, as it were, by the interpreta-
vol. x. 2 F
The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjab. 435
lucky and unlucky personages, to lucky and unlucky things in nature, plants, trees, and so forth, to the flight and calls of birds, to sneezing, which, like hiccough, is a most mysterious proceeding of the animal body to the Indian mind, to accidental occurrences on mounting a horse and while walking, and so on.
Following on and arising out of the notion of fortune- telling, augury, divination, and omens are the actions necessary to ensure good fortune or luck ; the lucky things to do, and the lucky times for doing them, such as swinging during the rainy season. And as everyone is of course interested in finding these out, we are everywhere favoured in Indian folklore with a goodly array of them, and amongst lucky acts may be mentioned as noticeable, that of mounting a horse with the left foot, a curious in- stance of giving a semi- religious sanction to an act that is otherwise right from a practical point of view. The sole use to which the "science" of astrology is put in the Legends, is to ascertain auspicious times and moments.
In folktales the main use of the idea of ill-luck is to fill up the tale by introducing a great number of incidents, describing all the misfortunes which fancy can call up as happening to the hero or heroine ; but the thousand and one precautions taken in practical life against incurring misfortune are based upon far more serious considerations than this. To the Indian peasant mind misfortune is a sin, and indicates a sinful condition in the victim thereof, de- fining that very difficult and much ill-used term "sin" as Ian offence, witting or unwitting, against the tribal conven- tions. The good luck of the lucky obviously benefits their surroundings, and the bad luck of the unlucky as obviously brings harm. Therefore the unlucky are sinful and, what is of supreme practical importance to them, must be punished accordingly. The amount of misery and suffering arising out of this "correct argument from a false premiss" that is being and has for ages been incurred by the victims 2Fl
The Folklore in the Legends of the Punjab. 437
celebrated historical legend of Mirza and Scthib4n is witness. Briefly, S&hib&n, a daughter of the Panjabi Siyils, eloped with Mirza, the Kharal, and was overtaken by her tribe and strangled. The subsequent feuds were so severe that it became unlucky to have daughters, and an extensive practice arose of strangling female infants in memory of S&hibin. This is an instance where folk-notions have actually affected history.
Now, the predatory portion of the priesthood has every- where been most careful to keep alive and foster the folk- notions of sin, misfortune, and ill-luck, because out of them arises the most prolific source of all of a good livelihood for themselves. Sins must be expiated ; sinful bodies must be purified ; the priest is always ready to secure expiation and purification, and to guide the ceremonies enjoined in either case. Ceremonial bathing, as a result of the notion of the holiness and cleansing powers inherent in water, is the great panacea in India ; and out of the holy bathing- places perhaps more wealth has been transferred from the laity to the coffers of the priestly classes than from any- thing else that has been invented for the ghostly benefit of the people.
After providing the personages and setting the story going in a definite direction, the next thing necessary is to keep up the interest by the process known to adverse re- viewers as padding, and to the sympathetic as valuable incidents. Those in the Legends are, as might be expected, of the stock description ; scraps of well-known verses or tales, or references to stock notions about this world and its affairs. From the very nature of the circumstances under which they are introduced they offer the most undiluted folklore with which the narrators are imbued, and are thus often the most valuable part of a tale to the student. Thus, there are everywhere valuable references to the miraculous origin of that puzzle to the peasantry, a pearl or precious stone, or even a bright flower. Rubies are the products of
The Folklore in the Legends of (he Punjab. 439
the ear-boring ceremonies are the most prominent and of some importance, as they have led to the use of ear-rings of fixed sorts as signs of occupation or caste and to ear-boring customs among the women of various nations in the East as general prophylactics against evil.
In matters affecting the daily life of the people, there are the use of ashes as a sign of both grief and saintship, and other conventional modes of expressing sorrow, such as the breaking of bracelets and jewellery, and the ceremonies gone through by the newly-made widow. There are also various conventional ways of conveying specific and general challenge to combat, claiming inheritance to land, blacken- ing the face and other strange methods of inflicting disgrace. Of the daily and domestic customs which are hardly to be disi in gushed from ceremonial observances, there are many instances; e.g., the quaint methods of showing that the occupant of a house is " not at home," announcing a visitor, awakening a slumbering chief on an emergency, tying a knot to jog the memory, showing submission and making suppli- cation. To show how the Legends reflect the people and their ways, there is an interesting use made for story-telling purposes of the inveterate habit of village children of teasing hedgehogs.
Allusions to popular beliefs and the frequent introduction of incidents turning on them must of course be looked for. These open up so many questions of interest and debatable points, that it would only be unduly swelling this already too long category of folklore subjects, to do more here than just merely run over the recognised titles of some of those that occur in the Legends and have not been above classified, in order to bring them to notice, and to show how very wide
I is the net that is cast by this collection of tales for gathering in the flotsam of Indian folklore. Many are the beliefs relating to the animal world and their forms, of which the following are samples : — the origin of twisted and back- curved horns of various deer; the sacred, celestial, and
-
The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjab. 441
is merely doing in his way what the old heathen Greek, or for that matter the medieval Christian priest, did in his, when he granted asylum or sanctuary to the fugitive or criminal only so long as he could pay for it, and made no sort of effort to shield him or obtain immunity for him when the payment ceased. All this is pithily brought out in a passage in the Legends. Raja Rasalu's faithless wife had successfully hidden her paramour, Raja Hodi, in her hus- band's house, but Rasalu's faithful parrot betrayed him, and then we read : — " Said the parrot : ' Slay not thy guest, he is as thy brother.' So Raja Rasalu and Hodi went together to the wilds, and there, wounded by an arrow, Raja Hodi was slain."
The very widespread custom, rooted in a superstitious belief that it brings ill-luck, of declining to refer to a hus- band by name is also mentioned in the Legends ; while on the other hand the ancient royal prerogative of releasing prisoners, nowadays in civilised Europe attributed solely to kindliness and mercy, is given in the directest phraseology its right attribution of an act to insure good luck. That very ancient and widespread Oriental emblem of divine protection, the shade-giving umbrella, is repeatedly men- tioned, as might be expected, in its degenerated form of a sign of royalty and thence of dignity generally.
Indian folktales end up usually in the most orthodox manner. The hero and heroine live happy ever afterwards after the Indian fashion, which I must remind European readers is not at all theirs, and the villain, male or female, comes to an untimely and well-deserved end. Poetical justice is thoroughly appreciated In the East, perhaps because for so many ages there has been so little of any other description, The interest here is chiefly in the forms that vengeance and punishment take as an indication of the popular notions on the subject. In the Legends and else- where punishments are all vindictive and cruel, most inge- nious indeed in their cruelty ; and torture is solely used as
The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjab. 443
of set purpose connected with the hagiolatry or demonolatry of the people. I hope also that what has been laid before my readers has been sufficient to convince them that these Legends, if explored, will decisively and instructively show the value of studying them in detail to those who would dig down to the roots of folklore anywhere in th§ world, and would learn something of the thoughts of the folk and of the trains of reasoning, which give form to the many apparently incomprehensible and unreasonable actions ob- servable in the every-day life of the peasantry everywhere.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21st, 1899. The President (Mr. E. Sidney Hartland) in the Chair.
The minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed.
The election of Mr. G. Sneddon and Mrs. W. Beer as Members of the Society, and the withdrawal of the resigna- tion of Miss Edith Mendham were announced.
The death of Mr. W. Gore Marshall was also announced.
The Secretary, on behalf of Mr. William Whitelegge, exhibited a hornbook, the property of the late Canon Whitelegge, dating back to 1745, and referred to in Tuer's History of the Hornbook.
The President exhibited some photographs of " May Ladies " at King's Lynn, taken by Dr. Plowright, President of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society, the 1st May, 1894.1
1 By kind permission of Dr. Plowright and Mr. W. A. Nicholson, honorary secretary of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists1 Society, one of the photo- graphs is here reproduced. Dr. Plowright's account of the " May Ladies " at Lynn is as follows : "On the 1st of May, during the morning, sundry parties of children carry round the town garlands of flowers. The children, girls and boys, are dressed principally in white, with crowns of flowers on their heads and money-boxes in their hands. They are bare-headed, and their clothing is decorated with brightly-coloured calico, ribbons, or paper. The garlands are to us the most interesting. They are always constructed in
Minutes of Meeting. 445
Mr. E. S. Hartland, President of the Folk-Lore Society, then took the Chair, and expressed the thanks of the Society for the reception the Institute had given them and their friend Professor Starr, who had most generously pre- sented the Society with the interesting objects they saw before them, and who would favour them with some account of his collection.
Professor F. Starr then gave an address explanatory of the collection of objects illustrating the Folk-Lore of Mexico.
The Chairman wound up the proceedings by describing the kindly welcome he had received in Chicago from Pro- fessor Starr, and proposed a hearty vote of thanks to him for his able address, which was supported by Mr. G. L. Gomme and Mr. A. L. Lewis, and carried unanimously.
On Monday, June 26th, a complimentary dinner to Frederick Starr, Professor of Anthropology in the Uni- versity of Chicago, was given by the Folk-Lore Society at the Holborn Restaurant, the President, Mr. E. S. Hart- land, being in the Chair.
Upwards of sixty Members and friends of the Society sat down to dinner, among the guests being the Right Hon. Sir R. Temple, Bart., the Right Hon. James Bryce, Miss Mary H. Kingsley, Professor Rhys Davids, Professor Ridgway, and Mr. C. H. Read. After dinner, the toasts of the Queen and the President of the United States having been duly honoured, Mr. Andrew Lang proposed the guest of the evening. The Chairman announced that a resolution had been unanimously passed by the Council electing Professor Starr an Hon. Member of the Society, and asking him to accept a set of the publications of the Society down to the present time. The Chairman then handed to Professor Starr the first and last volumes of the
West African Studies. By Mary H. Kingsley. London: Macmillan & Co., Limited. 1899.
In her former work {Travels in West Africa, reviewed in Folk- Lore, vol. viii., p. 162) Miss Kingsley promised, a further study of Fetish. In the present volume is included, beside much else of interest rather more directly to the politician and the merchant than to the anthropologist, a portion of the material she had reserved either for want of space or for additional inquiry. That it is written in the same amusing style as the former volume will attract many to read it who would perhaps otherwise never trouble themselves about the mysteries of Negro and Bantu metaphysics. And if there be any who are repelled by the enormity of treating such solemn subjects in humorous phraseology, they will soon learn that the smiles are the mask of knowledge, itself the result of accurate scientific observation and study. The following re- marks are confined to the chapters bearing on folklore studies. After defining Fetish as the religion of the West Africans, and defending her right to use the word in that sense, Miss Kingsley inquires what Fetish is, characterising it as a logical interpretation of Nature from the African point of view. "To the African there is perhaps no gap between the conception of spirit and matter, animate or inanimate. It is all an affair of grade — not of essential differ- ence in essence. At the head of existence are those beings who can work without using matter, either as a constant associate or as an occasional tool— do it all themselves, as an African would say. Beneath this grade there are many grades of spirits, who occa- sionally or habitually, as in the case of the human grade, are associated with matter, and at the lower end of the scale is what we call matter, but which I believe the West African regards as the same sort of stuff as the rest, only very low — so low that practically it doesn't matter ; but it is spirits, the things that cause
Celts, that the Scandinavian mythic-heroic poetry waxed strong. It is this truth I would gladly see acknowledged ; and this truth, to which Karl MiillenhorT was blind, the Icelander, Gudbrand Vigfiisson, first saw clearly on English soil. What the r critical method at the University of Berlin could not perceive, because the German descendants of Tacitus' Germanic tribes formed the centre of his considerations, was seen by the unmetho- dical but sharp-sighted Icelander, because from childhood up he had lived through the outer and inner history of his people as revealed in the sagas and scaldic lays, because he himself with open eyes had wandered in the wide paths of his fathers, and, under the guidance of P. A. Munch and Konrad Maurer, had come to understand the way in which the Scandinavian peoples have developed, to realise how much they have been influenced by the culture of the West."
I remember, when we were working together first, Vigfiisson and myself, one evening as we came from a long walk east of Oxford, we stopped on Magdalen Bridge to watch the sunset colouring from the bay that then stood in the centre of the south side, and there, while we lingered talking, it was that he first told me what he said had been long his conviction, that the Eddie poems were the product of the Viking age, and that they were composed, with very few exceptions (the Greenland Lay of Atie, and perhaps Gripi'spa) in the British Isles. How many puzzles that theory cleared up, how much that was obscure has it made plain 1 It laid the foundations of reasonable and rightly based criticism of a body of most important and most beautiful literature, it furnished the key to further discoveries. Vigfiisson has done for the Eddie poems what Welhausen has done for the Old Testa- ment Dr. Bugge's appreciation, cited above, only needs correc- tion in two points, as it seems to me. First, I should put the name of Peterson in place of that of Munch, for it was largely Peterson's talk and books that (as I have often heard him say) made Vigfiisson feel the need of an historic criticism intelligently and fearlessly applied to the literature of the north. In the next place, as a critic, and it is in this capacity we are here considering him, Vigfiisson was certainly no pedant, but as certainly and essentially he was a master of the scientific method, one of the great critics of this century ; and to talk of such a man as " un- methodic" is, I think, to mistake letter for spirit. MiillenhofT
Revit
453
Irish version of the Fall of Troy, a tenth-century composition, arc credited (on what I cannot consider sufficient evidence) with having affected the composer of the first Helgi-lay. In Chapter VII. the Frankish-Bavarian story of Wolf-Dietrich is credited with having affected the Irish tale of the Birth of Cormac, through a lost O. E. poem on Wolf-Theodric, which also influenced the composers of the Helgi-poems. In Chapter VIII. is considered the classic influence of the Meleager story as told by Hyginus. " Oeneus and Mars slept ^together one night with the daughter of Thesticos, to whom, when a son {Mdcajjer) was horn, there suddenly appeared in the palace the Fates or Weirds, and they sang his fates thus: Clotho said he should be a noble man, Lachesis a strong man, &c." All this seems to me to go no further than to establish the parallelism of some few features of early and unconnected tales of heroes. Chapter IX. discusses " English and Irish influence on the second Helgi-lay " (which lay I take to be merely a part of the Lay of Helgi and Sigrun), points out traces of O. E. influence, and con- cludes that it is of the same school as the first poem on Helgi, but composed some half century before it, Chapter XI. opens with this thesis : " The Helgi-lays are not historical poems, and Helgi as he appears in them is in no way an historical personality. Nor is the Helgi-story a popular tale which involuntarily suffered the changes, natural and necessary, in stories preserved by tradi- tion. It was evidently put into form and arranged by poets who were conscious literary artists." It is maintained that the com- posers of these lays supposed Helgi to be a Danish king,1 and Dr. Bugge ingeniously identities many of the place-names with localities on the Baltic, e.g. , Warins fjordr is found at Warne-miinde, Swarinshaugr is Schwerin, M6insheim is Mbn older Moynland. In Chapter XII., Saxo's story of Helgi Halfdan's son is decided to represent an older stage of the Helgi story than the Eddie lays, as Jesson holds. Saxo's " Hesca, Eyr et Ler " are Esce [berg] in Funen, j£gir of the Eider and Hler of Hlessey, and the Lay's Jsung is the poetical representation of Jsefjord (including Isore the chief Danish moot-stead), and Saxo's tale of Gram and Gro is " taken from the Helgi stories," for Rydberg's further
lb
Helgi being son of Sigmund was naturally Sigling or Sidin^r. "Siggeiff- wholly unnecessary, anJ by no means satisfactory from a linguistic point of view.
455
saga tale of how Atle won Ercn, and the Frankish romance of Hlodowech's winning of Hrodchildis.
The episode of Atli and the birds is compared with the ballads of Rodingar, which preserve the old tale ; Franmar is Ari- dius, Idmundr is Mundiwih, Attila's father. "The Norwegian author " of Hiorward's lay " was himself a heathen, but he had heard from Christians the stories of the Frankish kings and saints." Chapter XXII. discusses the Death of Htlgi and its relation to the Earl Brand \W\\&thwi$\ and Riboit and Guldborg ballads, which in original form were composed " by a Dane in Northern England in the early Middle Ages (thirteenth century?)." Riboit and Guldborg is an offshoot of the Waldere cycle, early known in England. The Ballad of Jfjelmer, our " Douglas Tragedy," is also connected with the Helgi-cycle ; and metempsychosis in Scandinavian stories is referred to the older Irish beliefs — the full discussion of which, by Mr. Nutt, Dr. Bugge unfor- tunately does not appear to have used. Hjorward is the 0. E. Hc-oroweard hwset, the Hjorwardr Ylfingr of Are and Nornagests Thattr ; Saxo's tale of Regnerus and Suanhuita is a " parallel to the Eddie lays of Helgi Hjonvardsson." Thorgerd Holga brudr [Helgi's bride], Saxo's Thora, is a remodelling of Swafa, under the influence of the Irish legends of the war goddesses Bodb) Nemain, Fea, etc. Irpa (her sister) is like the Morrigan. Thora was the goddess attached to the Haleygir family, who regarded Holge as their eponymous hero. " The story of Thor- gerd Helgi's bride was composed by a Norwegian in imitation of the lays of Heorward and Hrfmgerth under the influence of Irish accounts . , . probably in Ireland . . . ca. 1050." Appendices note the relationship between the Helgi-lays and other O. N. poems, and with careful indices complete the book.
It is clear that this is not the place to criticise the numerous suggested readings, etymologies, and observations on minor points that render the book deeply interesting as a contribution to Eddie scholarship. Its main theories and postulates have been men- tioned above. It is clear, too, that the hypothesis of " infection " is pushed to its furthest limits, that connection direct or indirect is taken for granted wherever analogy can be discovered, that the historic nucleus of the Holge cycle is only faintly noticed : and yet the very life of the whole of the poems criticised depends upon this. If Holge had not been a great and famous hero in fact, and left a
Reviews, 459
a memory mingled with the tears and mirth of far-off days. To none, or to few, could so charming a presentation of the traditions of their native land be indifferent
E. Sidney Hartland,
Scandinavian Folk-lobe. Illustrations of the Traditional Beliefs of the Northern Peoples. Selected and trans- lated by Wm. A. Craigie, F.S.A.Scot. Gardner: London and Paisley. 1896.
Mr. Craigie has put together (translating from the originals Icelandic, Fjeroic, Danish, and Swedish) an orderly selection of folktales and folklore that will be found extremely useful for comparative purposes and for students who wish to get a com- prehensive view of the great field of Scandinavian popular belief and tradition. He has used Sagas and Eddie collections, later medieval documents, and the great modern gatherings, especially that splendid monument of Icelandic industry and skill, J6n Arnason's noble miscellany of his country's folklore, the excellent Fxroic Anthology, the materials collected by Grundtvig, Afzelius, Thiele, Asbjornsen and Moe (known to us in Dasent's Popular Tales), Faye, Kristensen (both foe Jutland and other parts of Denmark), Berg and Gffidecken, Kamp, Eva Wigstrom and Olafur Davidsson. The selection made from this rich store is arranged under ten heads : the Old Gods, mere remnants of heathen beliefs, of which the best are connected with special localities or with folk-charms ; trolls and giants, characteristically Scandinavian in treatment ; berg-folk (i.e. hill-folk) and dwarves, the people of the mounds and rock -dwellings and metal-workings ; elves or huldir-folk, our fairies, who seem to survive best in Iceland and the Faeroes, where they are not so tiny as in England since Shakespeare's time, but as big as they are in Ireland. In the Faroes they are tall and dark-haired, great at the fisheries ; in Norway they are famous musicians, and one of their tunes is commonly played, but they have tails ; in Sweden and Denmark the wood-fairies are yellow-haired and hollow like troughs at the back, white-vested, and always keep their backs to the wind (though to this hollowness there are some charming exceptions, as appears
Reviews. 461
English ship stranded at Bergen. There is much to notice for English folklorists all through the book, and Mr. Craigie's brief notes are both helpful and concise. A good index adds much value to the whole.
F. Y. P.
^i6dsogur og MuNN»ifiLi. Nytt Safn. Part I. By J6n Thorkelsson. 8vo, pp. iv. 450. Two illustrations. Reykjavik. 1899.
This most excellent book contains a valuable collection of un- printed folktales and legends and traditional stories from Iceland. It is a necessary appendix to J6n Arnason's grand compendium and to the good little book 6lafur Davfdsson brought out in 1895. Its editor, who has added much from his own materials, is the well-known scholar to whom we are indebted for a masterly work on the Icelandic Rlmur (alliterative ballads originally used for dances), and for much research into post-Reformation and late medieval Icelandic literary history. It is a proof of the extra- ordinary literary activity of this little state of some 70,000 in- habitants, that its native scholars have had so vast a body of folk- lore collected and printed within this century. There is probably no country in the world that has rendered its folklore so accessible as Iceland. Nowhere (save perhaps in Finland, where folklore has re-created a nation) has such trouble been taken to collect, and such pains to collect in the proper way and to ensure the proper publication of the results, and this by the labours of a few devoted and enlightened scholars. It would be impossible within our limits to analyse in any useful way the manifold contents (250 various items) of this well-printed and well-edited book. It is sufficient to say that its place is secure beside the master work of J6n Arnason himself. We shall all look forward eagerly for the promised second part
F. Y. P.
Reviews. 463
meant for general readers, and included no learned appreciation of the matter edited. The only attempt so far to deal with the subject critically has been a work of H. L. Hovnanean, issued in Vienna, 1897, and entitled: Essays on the popular literature of the Ancients. In two sections of this work (vol. ii., pp. 273 foil.) the relation of these fables to the Bidpai literature is examined. It may be remarked that Professor Marr's second and third volumes, containing the Armenian and Arabic texts, were already in print by May, 1895. His investigation of the contents has occupied him until April, 1899. It is lucidly arranged in 583 sections, with ample index at the end.
Perhaps the best service which a reviewer of this work can render to folklorists is to translate the Armenian titles of some of the 380 separate fables and allegories of which the Armenian texts, mostly new, are edited in 344 pages in the second volume. They are taken from fourteen codices of the Edjmiatzin library ; a fifteenth is in the Paris library ; two more are at Berlin, two in Venice, two in Vienna, and to the MS. sources must be added the editions already mentioned of Amsterdam and Edjmiatzin. Here then is the list of titles of Wardan's 166 fables : —
1. The king and the two palaces.
2. The man of the east and the twelve gold nails.
3. The lion and the hunters.
4. The lion who shammed sickness. 4A, 4B, 4c. Three variants of 4.
5. The sick lion and the ass that had no heart or ears. 5 a. A variant of 5.
6. The crane, king of the birds, and the ass.
7. The sea-monster with the sweet-smelling mouth.
8. The hermit and the bull-dog. 8a. A variant of 8.
10. The neighbour and the ox that had its tongue cut out. ioa. A variant of 10.
11. The poor man who was roasting meat and the eagle.
12. The widow and her thief-child. 1 2 a, 12B. Variants of 12.
13. The hibernating bear (with two variants).
14. The wise chief ass.
15. The ass-lion (with one variant).
16. The lamb and the trumpeter wolf.
Reviews. 465
53. The monk and the Arab (or Tartar) ruler.
54. The thieving priest and the widow.
55. The man who was a murderer.
56. The heifers and the oxen.
57. The wild boar and the fox.
58. The man and the tree that distilled honey.
59. The camel, the wolf and the fox (with two variants).
60. The way the eagle renews itself.
61. The bird that can heal (with variant).
62. The moon and the sun.
63. The bear-lion.
64. The bear and the grapes.
65. The fish-catching wolf and the fox.
66. The fox and the wolf that carried letters (with variant).
67. The orator {i.e. cock) and the fox and dog (with variant).
68. The fox and the wolf (with variant).
69. The fox and the geese.
70. The snake and the husbandman (with variant).
71. The fox and the crab (?).
7a. The fox that fell into the river (with two variants).
73. The fox and the ice.
74. The fox and the coat of mail.
75. The woman who from conceit prayed naked (with variant)
76. The ass that was honoured.
77. The ass that had a grandchild (with variant).
78. The fox that hunted like the lion and the wolf.
79. The fox with many arts (with variant).
80. The beast with horns like saws.
81. The fire-eating beast.
82. Winter and Spring.
83. The man Kilik and the woman Kiliq.
84. The eagle and the arrow.
85. The fever-patient and the leper.
86. Aramazd and the serpent.
87. The king of the trees.
88. The king with a branch in his beard and the slave.
89. The fool and the water melon.
90. The widow and the cow and the step-son and the ass.
91. The wolf and the potter's dog.
92. The king and the idol (with variant). VOL. X. a H
Reviews, 467
131. The dove.
132. The animal that forgives and has horns like a cross.
133. The yoke-man and the snake.
134. The ass.
135. The silly wife (with variant).
136. The favourite.
137. Who is authorised to judge ?
138. The two brethren and the old monk. 139- Metig and reader
140. The money-changing Tartar.
141. The priest and the Kadi.
142. The Christian and the infidel, and how they discussed the faith (with two variants).
143. The Soft of Romkla and the elder.
144. The shoemaker and the anchorite.
145. The Tartar's prayer.
146. The silly Tartar lady and the cunning man.
147. The Tartars' law.
148. The jester's child.
149. The jester who found a fish (with variant).
150. The repentant sinner and his penitence (with two variants).
151. Father Daniel and Eulougi the stone-cutter. 15a. The arts of a woman.
153. The silent king and his son. 154- The egg of discord.
155. The robber and Satan.
156. The thief and the cock.
157. The godchild of Gabriel the archangel.
158. The fox and the tortoise (with variant). 159 The rich man.
160. The three camels and the three foxes.
161. The ploughman and the stork (with variant).
162. The village of Thiur (i.e. crooked).
163. The hares and the frogs (with two variants).
164. The ape and the mirror.
165. The poor man's prayer
166. The camel and the fox.
The above fill 197 of the 344 pages, of which the second volume consists. The other 147 pages contain in ten distinct
Reviews.
469
"// shews, that the king is Christ, and the hungry dog is the race of men and the clean bread (is) his grace and command and his holy body. And Satan shadows out before our eyes (i.e., deceit- fully) before us the love of the world and all sin, greed, love of silver. And we toil with great labour after glory and greatness, and after false and transitory things we toil. Although we win them, death tears (them) from us and we become pitiable, localise we lose this life and that (i.e., the next)."
The Arabic text is a perfectly literal translation of the above, except of the phrases italicised. Instead of the other dog, it has that dog. For not it has nothing. For the shadow it has appari- tion or phantasm. It omits the words which he had, but in the same sentence adds after bore aivay the words " and flowed on."
The moral begins thus : " By this is shown to us, the fust king. . ." Then after clean bread it adds which the king gave to the dog. For his holy body it has the clean body which Christ gave us. For before our eyes before (us) it has before us to begin with. Then all sin, such as greed, etc. For transitory it has failing and transitory. For Although, etc., the following : "As long as we do not augment them. Then comes death and carries us off from the midst, and we are left pitiable and prostrate, because we have, lost this world and the future out of our greed here."
Several of these variants are intelligible only as misunder- standings of the Armenian. For example, the phrase found not is good Armenian in the sense of could not, viz., take the other dog's bread. The Arabic translator has not understood this idiomatic use of the word egit, and only knows its primary meaning, which is "found" Accordingly he turns not into nothing to complete his sense.
The Arabic in the moral renders clean bread and then clean body. The body however is holy and not clean ; but the bread thrown to the dog was of course clean and not holy. The reason why the Arabic uses the same adjective is quite clear when we glance at the Armenian, for it has in both places the same word sourb, but sourb means indifferently clean or holy according to the context. Thus, the Arabic is intelligible from the Armenian, but not the Armenian from the Arabic.
The same criticism holds good of the Arabic phrase " carries us off from the midst " ; where the Armenian has " tears (them) from us." The Armenian leaves the thing torn away unexpressed.
470 Reviews.
The Arabic wrongly supplies us, because he mistakes the next words, i mind; -from us for i midj=from the midst. So just above he renders arhadji, which means be/on, as if it were aradjin= first of all, or to begin with. Similarly, it ignoranth/ translates arkadsehoq, which means literally " to the eyes" but here has the idiomatic sense •* deceptively" as if it were arhadji, con- nects with it grammatically the word mer (us) which follows, and blunderingly renders the entire wrong combination " before us."
An excellent example of a misrendering of the Armenian is found in fable No. 56, entitled the heifers and the oxen. The Armenian is as follows :
" The heifers were playing, and reproached the oxen, saying : ' You rest not from vexations and from working hard.' And lo, the king of the land came, and they gathered together the heifers and began to slay them, in order to prepare a feast for the king and his forces. And the oxen said : ' Behold, children of ours, because of this day ye idly rested and grew fat.'"
Now here the words italicised are rendered by an Arabic word, which means hurtful or detrimental. If we turn to Professor Marr's critical apparatus we see why. The true Armenian text has, warn avours = because of this day. But the old Amsterdam edition of 1068 has the corruption wtiasavors, which means " hurtful." This suggests that the Arabic text of these fables was translated from this edition, carried by some Armenian merchant to India ; or, if not from the printed book, then from the Edj- miaUin Codex No. 1 2, or from some similar codex ; for this MS., above all others, agrees in text with the Amsterdam edition. In the fable of " the king and his servant," of which Professor Mail translates into Russian the Arabic and Armenian texts, on p. 12 of his first volume, we find in the Arabic several corruptions peculiar to the Amsterdam edition and to this codex, and the same phenomenon presents itself again and again. A text like the Arabic, which thus renders corruptions which have grown up inside the Armenian tradition, is necessarily a translation of the Armenian ; and in section 46 of his first volume, Professor Man- gives a list of twenty such cases. His arguments are quite con- vincing.
In sections 55-89, Professor Marr examines the relation of Wardan's fox-book to the fables of Mkhithar Gosh, which have been printed at Venice in i7yo, 1842, and 1853. Eighteen addi-
Reviews. 47 1
tional ones were printed in Moscow in 1849. We read of Mkhi- thar Gosh's literary work in Kirakos, an Armenian historian of the thirteenth century, who attests that he left "moral pages," and interested himself in " the deep allegories " of Scripture. The Venice MS., No. 1091, of the seventeenth century ; the Vienna MS., No. 29, of the year 1746, and another of Edjmiatzin, No. 2, a.d. 1777, ascribe these fables to him. But various Edjmiatzin codices, e.g. No. 2238, attribute them to one John Tsortsoretzi by name. The colophon of this MS. demonstrates that to whichever of these writers this collection of fables is due, it was made not later than 13 16 a.d.
Some thirty fables of the collection, made in the year 1316, already stood in Wardan's collection, and in sections 64-83 Pro- fessor Man contrasts the forms which this common matter assumes in the rival collections, and shows that the one collector did not merely borrow from the other ; indeed, they were all three too nearly contemporary for this to have been the case. They took from common sources.
The popularity of Wardan's collection was such that it not only passed, as we have seen, into Arabic, but into Georgian as well, as Professor Marr points out on p. 574 of his second volume. The Georgian version lacks the last six of the fables, and is com- posed in the popular dialect.
In pp. 577-582 of his first volume Professor Marr sums up the results of his lengthy enquiry. He reviews in brief the history of the fable among Armenians, and from his paragraphs the fol- lowing sentences are translated : —
" The appearance of the fable in Armenian literature is closely connected with the influence thereon of Greek culture, and in this sense the Armenians can quite apply to themselves the observation of the French fable-writer —
L'invention des arts Itant un droit d'atnesse, Nous devons l'apologue a l'ancienne Gr&ce.
"As nearly as may be in the seventh century the collection of fables of Olympianus appeared among the Armenians in a trans- lation made from the Greek. It consisted of fables of JEsop in a rhetorical dress. This was their first acquaintance with such literature, and it was followed in time by Armenian translations of other fables, either ^sop's own or the same in a simpler re-
Reviews. 473
Wardan's. For the rest, neither the collections which were thus formed in imitation of Wardan, nor Wardan's own, had any distinct physiognomy of their own. . . .
" Wardan found many anonymous imitators in this field, and the success which his fables had was part of the general enthu- siasm shown for such literature in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The schools also helped to increase their vogue and development. In scholastic circles ever new forms of them began to arise, made up out of former collections, and not in- frequently adapted to the purposes of edification." . . .
Meanwhile, according to Professor Marr, the true iEsop's fable disappeared. He writes : —
"The fables of iEsop in all probability were displaced in schools by the allegories of Wardan. iEsop disappeared in Armenian literature. His fables have not reached us in an inde- pendent form. They were all swallowed up in Wardan's." . . .
"Towards the beginning of the fourteenth century another masterpiece of Armenian allegory was already in existence, namely the original collection of fables attributed, though doubtfully, to Mkhitar Gosh, who died in 12 13. In this collection, fables already comprised in that of Wardan were used up afresh, as ready-made material
" Once the Wardan collections were extended to include alien matter on so broad a scale, no limits could be set to its infusion. Fables and anecdotes began to intrude themselves, not only out of books but from popular sources."
It is undoubtedly this element of popular folklore which is most valuable in the 340 pages of Armenian texts edited by Professor Marr. The end which the good doctors Wardan and Mkhithar, no less than the earlier translators of iEsop and of the Bestiary, had had in view was to give Armenians a collection of tales which would help them to forget their own old mythology, their tales of Vahagn and Anahite, and of other old divinities hateful to the mind of the Christian missionaries. Thus Kirakos of Gantsak in Media, an Armenian writer of the thirteenth century, relates that Nerses the Graceful (Catholicos, 11 66 a.d.) "composed allegories from books (? the Bible) and parables to be repeated at feasts and weddings instead of myths" It would be some consolation to the modern folklorist to learn that the native myth, which doctors and patriarchs thus expelled with their theological pitchforks, had
Reviews. 475
6. The three simpletons.
7. The story of the miser.
8. The miser and his treasure.
9. How the sin of adultery began. 10. The rich man and his sister's son.
In a second section follow seventeen animal fables. All these twenty-seven are edited from three MSS. of which one is in the Lazareff Institution in Moscow, the other two in Edjmiatzin. In pp. 97-110 follows a collection of fables composed in imitation of those of Wardan, edited from a Berlin MS. Next in pp. 11 3-1 28 a selection of Arabic fables from the Indian Office MS. 1049. Then in pp. 131-175 the text of the Armenian Physiologusy edited from six codices, with Pitra's readings added. Pages 177-193 contain the text of a piece entitled, " About the deceitful fox and his wickedness," edited from the Paris MS. 135 of a.d. 1615 and from a Venice MS., which the San Lazaro Journal published first in 1881.
It remains to say that medieval Armenian texts, edited with such scrupulous care as Professor Marr everywhere displays, have a singular value for the history of the language, for the tales are mostly composed in the popular dialects of the day, and these have been very little studied. This interest, however, is rather that of the philologist than of the folklorist. For the latter Professor Marr supplies in his three massive volumes a mine of information, in which future researchers in the same field will quarry much of their material.
Fred. C. Conybeare.
Old English Social Life as told by the Parish Registers. By T. F. Thiselton Dyer, M.A. London : Elliot Stock. 1898.
It is enough to note the value to folklore students of a book like this, which only concerns them in part and incidentally. Mr. Thiselton Dyer has unearthed from the registers and other docu- ments preserved in our parish churches examples of witchcraft, divination, folk-medicine (touching by the seventh son, recipes
CORRESPONDENCE.
The Nibelung Treasure in English. (Vol. ix. p. 372.)
Mr. Ker is in error regarding the reference to the Rhine in his quotation from Sir Degrevant "In the reyne" means simply " in the kingdom."
Lewis F. Mott. College of the City of New York.
Professor Ker comments as follows :
" The rhymes in Sir Degrevant are correct enough, though the spelling is not, and Reyne here rhymes to mine. For the spelling compare line 141 3 (p. 236 in HalliwelPs text) :
* And evere sche drow hom the wyn Bothe the Roche and the Reyn And the good Malvesyn
ffelde sche hom jare.' And line 1 704 :
* Sche broujthe hem Vernage and Crete
And wyne of the Reyne.'
Reine in the sense of realm cannot be made to fit the rhyme. To read the passage as c All the gold in the realm/ instead of ' All the gold in the Rhine/ is an emendation, not an interpretation, of the text, and one that appears to be disallowed by the usages and language of the poem."
Burial Customs. (Vol. x. pp. 253-4.) In i860 I went with my father to the house of a friend who had just died. He lay in his coffin, and my father placed his hand on the forehead of the corpse, and told me to do the same. As we left the house my father said to me: "This is the first time youVe ever seen a dead body, and I wanted you to notice what a pecu- liar coldness there was in it. And," he added, in a somewhat apologetic fashion, " they say that you should always touch any dead body that you see, for it prevents you dreaming of him — at least, that's what they say."
My father, his father, myself, and the dead friend, were all Londoners by birth and residence.
J. P. Emslie.
Miscellanea.
479
steep hil! sides were sufficient protection elsewhere. Further along the ridge, where the tongue of land begins to join the general plateau, are the remains of camps or dwellings, and there are several barrows. On Black Hill, an elevation south of Trendle Hill, is another Bronze Age camp.
5. In the ploughed fields immediately below Trendle Hill I found many worked flints of the usual neolithic type, including cores, spear-tips, scrapers, and a good but rudely-shaped fabricator.
6. There were curative wells at Cerne; one called Till Well, now dry, and St. Austin's Well, anciently Silver Well. Hel Well still flowing, in a marshy place covered with trees and brushwood, was not curative. A man now living, named Vincent, aged fifty- five years, had a crippled child. Every morning, for several months together, Vincent carried his child, wrapped in a blanket, to St. Austin's Well, and dipped it into the well, and at last it was cured. Sore eyes are healed by bathing them, and feeble health is restored by drinking. A farmer used to go down to this well every morning and drink a tumblerful of the water. [Jonathan Hardy, aged 65, born at Cerne, and now sexton there.] I have not analysed the water, but can affirm that it is not chalybeate. The spring sometimes " breaks," that is, suddenly begins to flow with increased energy. Its water never freezes.
7. There are two persons in Cerne who cure warts: John Tobias, a mason, of Alton Hill, and Mrs. Eowring, by the Union (work- house) Arms Inn. The warts are touched by the stem or stalk of some plant freshly plucked. They are touched separately so as to be counted, and some words are said that are not understood, and then the stem or stalk is buried. — [Jonathan Hardy.]
8. A celebrated water-finder lives here. He uses iwigs of hazel or rowan in the usual manner. Everybody believes in his power, and he is sent for from great distances. At Cerne he divined the presence of water close by a cottage door, and on digging there an excellent but buried and forgotten well was discovered.
9. A " toad -doctor " used to live at Pulham, eight miles from Ceme by road. He kept toads. Round the neck of patients suffering from the " King's Evil," beneath their clothing, he would hang a live toad. As long as the toad twitched and moved the cure progressed.— [Robert Childs, aged sixty-nine, formerly sexton. He still attends to the church, but no longer to the grave-yard.]
The doctor's name was liuckland. Every year in May, the lime
Miscellanea. 483
" My missus asked she to go whoam quiet, and a'ter a bit she did go, a muttering all sorts.
" Come night, when mother did go out to milk, the cow hadn't hardly a drap, and mother she did vex and fret, and zed the boys had neglected the poor thing.
" Zoo she carr'd un out a armful o' grass herself, but when the
morning come, 'twere oorse than ever, for ' he ' hadn't nat a drop in use.
" We done'd all we could for her, but it didn't make much odds as I seed, for the poor thing were bad for weeks.
" Well, Joe Bollard, he was a gardener to Maistcr Robert, he come'd down and took'd a drop o' ale wi' we, an' he talked a good bit about the cow, and said as he knowed ther were summat more than common about thic cow. I knowed his maning very well, but I didn't belave nothing o' that then. He twold we thet he had a cow once as were sarved just the same way, it were a wold (old) cow hisn, and a'ter a bit the poor beast died, and a'ter she were dead, when 'er were skinned and cut up and all that, they took * his ' heart and stuck eleven pins in un, and burned un, and a'ter he were burned they sweep'd and drave'd it all up in the ashes. But next morning 'twere all abroad over the floor again. Ees, and they that hurted the poor wold beast were took bad and died.
" Zoo it went on, for the cow were bad for weeks. Mother did carr* in the victuals, but the poor thing couldn't ate nothing. Well, Dorchester fair-time draw'd on and the cow died, and the same morning I seed Joe Bollard over the gate and I holla'd to un and twold un o' it, and I zed : * Joe, if you'll come and do thic burning job for I, same as thee did for t'other cow, I'll gie thee the skin or the woll beast if ee be a-minded.'
" Zoo when he said as how he 'ould, I gathered a lot o' firewood in the back-house chimley and I made the nails, as I've made many for such work. And Joe, he'd been in and skinned the beast and took out the heart and show'd it up to winder to I, and put it up in * loft ' [wooden floor] 'cause er mustn't never touch ground. And I went and bound the heart wi' wire to the two nails I'd a made, and hanged en up in chimley, and darkened up the winders wi' sackbags as nobody shouldn't see in. But we couldn't foller on wi' nothing till 'twere 9 o'clock, 'cause the moon were late o' getting up, an' us was bound to wait the right time.
a 1 3
Miscellanea. 487
pay nothing for un, nor you mayn't take nothing for making on un. This is how I make un. You must take yer rod, yer zee — you allays makes nails off a iron rod — and you het un in the fire till he melt to a head. Then you takes un out and hammers un solid- like, and then you hets again and hammers till three times, and when his head be hammered the third time, he be a done.
" I hadn't no cause to ax un nothing, 'cause he knowed what 'twere all about so soon as ever he sot eyes on I. He telled I to get a strand o' new hemp avore 'twere made into ropes, an' a thread or two o' new scarlet silk, an' I were to braid 'em together long enough to bind about the body on the part where the pain were.
" So I went on hwome and twold my missis what farmer should say, and she done as he'd a twold o', an' she got better from thic same hour as she put it on. 'Tis a fine thing, that is, for I've used un since wi' Bill. Darned if they didn't begin to drive work wi' he so soon as the wold 'ooman got better. But there ! if I was to tell 'ee all I got in my head about such work, I should'nt make an end thease dree weeks. Why, there 's Jacob, my brother-in-law, have been brought to rale shipwrack wi' un. But he 'on't stop it. He've got Scott's Bible in six volumes, and he do make out that if you ' stop it ' you be a working witchcraft too. * So he zes : ' Let un take their course.' And ' coursed un ' they have, pretty sharp, poor heart, be sure ! It do seem a bad job should be such works about, but there be, and a terr'ble sight o' it too, there bey indeed."
A formal complaint of these things was made to the Dorchester magistrates, who, finding that the feeling of the Piddlehinton folk was strongly excited against the woman Hart, thought it better to remove her husband, the policeman, to another place.
19. Mr. Bridge, J. P., to his groom: "John, that mare in the field looks disgraceful ! All over dirt, and her mane knotted and ragged!" "Sakes! sir, don't 'ee know what be the matter wi' 'er. Why, her 's hag-rode every night into a solid sweat ! And they knots ? Why, they be the stirrups the hags do ride un wi' ! Poor creature, I do clane and clane her, but tidden no use ! "
20. From General Astell's coachman, Walter Churchill, "'an honest, honourable, god-fearing man " :
" When I was a little chap 'bout eight, I and Jack Wolfral was taking a bit of a walk, and as we corned down drove we seed, both o' us, a hare sot by the stile of the churchyard, where sure,
488 Miscellanea.
never a hare were seed before nor since; but 'twere this way. We were living to Bourne then, and a neighbour that had the palsy so tenable bad he couldn't walk nor guide hisself, and said as he were overlooked, and twold it to a travelling man (a pedlar), and he said if we could say who 'twere as doned it he'd cure un. So the poor man said 'twere a woman as lived a long way off. ' Never mind,' says the travelling man, ' I'll bring her here in the form o' a hare, and make her cure thee.' So he bid un get a odd number o' folk, and my father were one, to sit up at night and do what he twold un. And he did say as there were a bottle o' summat hanged up in chimney. And the fire were blinded aff\ and the travelling man were a-reading verses out of the Bible backward, when just as we was outside the string broke, and the bottle fell, and it broke, and what come o' the hare I can't say. The travelling man was for coming another night to finish the cure, for the man were a sight better already ; I seed him myself stand and kick out his lag ; but the passen heard o' it and put un off."
21. Whitechurch Vicarage, Blandford, 1897. Two years since, a cottager mother to parson :
" Oh ! sir, my girl's a took awful ! Her be overlooked for sure ! There her do lie like one dead."
Truly the maid did lie days and days in a sort of trance, and added an unpleasant habit of sometimes waking suddenly and seizing the nearest movable, and pitching it at the first person who appeared. Mr. Wynne, the parson, always had an anxious eye for what might happen on his visits. The cause of her ailing was said to be that while in service in Somerset she one day alone in the house was asked for help by a tramp. Afraid to leave him or let him in, she refused, and he blew in her face and said : " In a year and a day she would remember him." Well, the mother went to a wise woman and was told to get a pig's heart and stick into it an ounce of pins and burn it, " 'cause, you see, the devil he went into the swine." And duly did she get the pig's heart and the pins and burn the same, and the daughter was perfectly cured. Mr. Wynne saw and spoke to here in the village, sane and in good health.
22. At Houghton, near Blandford, the parson's wife said to the mother of a child that was choking with whooping cough : " Don't you have the doctor, or do something for the little girl ? " " 'Spose
Miscellanea. 491
I have a fair grasp of their language, but would not trust to that absolutely, so I have also one black — not necessarily the same one — but one who knows more English than the old old ones. When the old one has told the legend, I make the medium tell it back in the native language — the old one correcting mistakes. Then the medium tells it to me. I write it down, and I read it back to the old one with the help of the medium ; so really I think I guard as much against mistakes as I can. The native word for 'the All-Seeing Spirit,' as such, is Nurrulbooroo, for the ' All-Hearing ' Winnanulbooroo. You know they never like men- tioning sacred names too often, and names of their dead rarely at all.
" With us, Byamee the name is not derived from the verb to make — which is gimberleegoo ; maker, gimberiah — this word is also used in the Kamilaroi tribes, some of which are within a hundred and fifty miles of us. But the Kamilaroi that Ridley knew are some three and four hundred miles away, so the language is sure to have variations ; our Euahlayi language has only a few of the same words as the Kamilaroi.
" Boorool euray would be really 'Big Man* in our language; but whenever I ask any of the blacks what Byamee means they say ' Big Man/ voicing I expect their conception of him.
" A poor old blind blackfellow of over eighty came back here the other day. He told me some more legends, in one of which was a curiously interesting bit re the totems. The legend was about Byamee, and it spoke of him as having a totem name for every part of his body — even to a different one for each finger and toe. No one had a totem name at that time, but when Byamee was going away for good he gave each division of the tribe one of his totems, and said that every one hereafter was to have a totem name which they were to take, men and women alike, from their mother ; all having the same totem must never marry each other, but be as brothers and sisters, however far apart were their hunting grounds. That is surely some slight further confirmation of Byamee as one apart, for no one else ever had all the totems in one person ; though a person has often a second or individual totem of his own, not hereditary, given him by the wirreenuns, called his yunbcai^ any hurt to which injures him, and which he may never eat — his hereditary totem he may. He is supposed to be able if he be a great wirreenun to take the form of his yunbeai,
492 Miscellanea.
which will also give him assistance in time of trouble or danger — is a son of alter tgo, as it were. . . - Re * High Gods ' dying, our Byamee certainly did not according to oar authorities, nor any other native 'High God' that I can get on the tracks of; he went to where he came from. As to Daramulun, / only know him as being to other tribes what WaHahgooroonbooan is to oars, superintendent bat not instigator of the boorah — that Byamee did. "It seems to me that it was only as he left each tribe that Byamee instituted the Boorah, before which he only showed bis power by miracles.
" Yoors sincerely,
UK. Laxgloh Parker.9
It seems to me, from this account, that Mrs. Langloh Parker's method of acquiring information is as good as it can be. Much the same was the process of Sahagun, in Anahuac, soon after the conquest by Cortes. Her observations on the hereditary totem, which a man may eat, and the personal, or given, yunbeai (nagual or manitou), which he may not eat, with the myth of Byamee as a collection of totems, are novel as far as I am aware. I think we may discount the suggestion that Mrs. Langloh Parker's aged informant was telling to her manufactured folklore, in return for the kindnesses which, no doubt, she is likely to have conferred upon an ancient invalid. However, if the opposite opinion be preferred, I fear we shall soon be of the mind of an Oxford historian, who told me lately that no anthropological evi- dence was of any value.
Mrs. Langloh Parker was also kind enough to give me a full account of a native " spiritualistic seance," attended by herself, another lady, and the savage seeress. It was very curious and interesting. Neither Mrs. Langloh Parker nor myself regards the events, at present, as proving more than the extraordinary skill and adroitness of even female wirreenuns, or " wise folk." But our science might be interested in the arts, of hitherto unexplained nature, by which these persons gain and keep up their social as- cendancy. This idea, doubtless, is unscientific and superstitious.
The evidence, however, as to the indigenous belief in such beings as Byamee and his ministers deserves research. If we do not make it at once, if we recline on talk about missionary influ- ence and native mendacity, we are never likely to ascertain the
494 Miscellanea.
She goes on : " Our blacks eat their tribal or family totems, but should they have an individual totem called yunbeai^ that they never eat ... . Old Hippi says " [as to the question whether Byamee is borrowed from the whites] " if blacks learned of Byamee from the whites, how is it that the young men of the tribe know least of him, though he says that he can show trees and stones which Byamee changed into those forms, — Byamee's track in stone, &c. Did white people teach them that? he indignantly asks . . ." [He then adduces proof of his tribe's respect, in old times, for female chastity.]
Byamee " is never spoken of as yozvee, or c good spirit ' ; nor as wundah, or 'bad spirit* — never in any sort of way as others are spoken of, except as a wirrcenun, but then always as 'the greatest of all.' "
On this showing Byamee is not a spirit, but, in Mr. Matthew Arnold's phrase, " a magnified non-natural man," unborn and un- dying. His sky camp is his original home ; he visits earth as a culture-hero and lawgiver, has mortal wives, and appoints a subordinate being, Gayandy, to superintend the Mysteries. For misconduct Gayandy is cashiered, the effect which his Voice was intended to produce was imitated by bull-roarers. These were first of stone, but now are of wood.
The venerable Hippi's logic as to the borrowing theory notes a new point. The young tribesmen who have seen most of whites, know least of Byamee. Perhaps, as they may often have heard the name of God, in imprecations or from the clergy, that name has superseded Byamee's ; but this is only my conjecture.
It will be urged that Hippi spoke of stone churinga in answer to leading questions. Perhaps if people look out for those stones they may discover them, as palaeolithic weapons are being dis- covered in South Africa. (See J. A. I., Feb.-May, 1899, pp. 258-274.) At all events, there can be no harm in looking about. The stone churinga are not used as bull-roarers by the Arunta, and many of them seem ill-adapted for that purpose. It is as likely that they were made in imitation of the wooden articles as vice versa.
The problem is : Was Byamee prior in evolution to his subor- dinate Gayandy (Daramulun among Kamilaroi and Wiraijuri), was Mungan-ngaur prior to Tundun, and so in other cases ? Or did theology begin with this noisy bugbear (the Arunta Twanyikira,
Miscellanea. 495
as far as I can make out), and then, in certain cases, subordinate him to Baiame, Byamee, and similar "Over-gods"? Probably the answer must always be hypothetical.
A. Lang.
Folktales from the Greek Islands.
[The four stories following are all from Lesbos. Nos. I., II., and IV. were all told by the same woman, No. III. by another woman. I hope to supply their full names and other par- ticulars shortly.]
I. The Three Apples.
Once upon a time there was a king who had three sons. He had a garden in which grew an apple-tree that bore three apples every year. But they were always stolen just when they got ripe. One year the eldest son said he would go and watch at night, and see who the thief was. He went, and at midnight he heard a terrible noise, as if all the hills were shaking and the trees being tossed about This frightened him so that he ran home. Next morning one apple was gone ; the second son said : " You are a coward ; I will go to-night." He went, and the same thing happened to him.
They had not asked their father's blessing. On the third night the youngest son begged to be allowed to go in his turn to guard the last apple. At first his father would not let him, but he begged so hard that he was allowed to go, and took his father's blessing with him.
At midnight he heard the same terrible noise, as if all the hills were shaking and the trees being tossed about. But he did not run away, but stood ready with his sword in his hand. Next moment he saw a gigantic ogre stretching out his hand to pick the last apple. Just as the hand grasped the apple, the prince cut it off with his sword, and picking up the hand and apple, carried them back to his father. His father was delighted to get the apple, as he had never tasted the fruit of the tree ; but when his son told him that he was resolved to go and find the ogre and kill him, he was very sorrowful ; but at last he yielded, and the boy started off, taking his two brothers with him.
496 Miscellanea.
They followed the traces of the blood until they came to a slab of marble, which they lifted up, and there was a well with steps leading down it The youngest boy bade his brothers tie a rope round him, and pull him up quickly when he should shake it from below. He went down forty steps, and came to a door, which he opened, and found himself in a room where sat a beautiful girl. " How did you come here ? " she said to him ; " don't you know that the ogre eats everyone who comes here ? " " Won't you tell me his secret ? " said the prince. " Well," said she, " so be it. When he has his eyes open, he is asleep, and when he has them shut, he is awake." Opening another door, he found a still more lovely girl. He asked her the same question, and received the same answer. In a third room was a girl more lovely yet than the others, and on her knees sat the ogre with his eyes wide open, and she was combing his hair. She gave him the same answer to his question as the others, and drawing his sword he cut off the ogre's head. " Strike me again," said the head. " But once my mother bore me, and but once I strike," replied the prince. He then returned as he had come, and took the three maidens with him to the bottom of the well, and sent the first two up to his brothers. Next he wished to send the third up, her whom he had chosen for himself, but she told him : "No, you must go up first; it may happen that when your brothers see me I shall be more pleasing in their sight than my sisters, and they will leave you here." He however refused, and then she told him : " If this befall, you will find here a white sheep and a black. You must catch the white one, and then you will be in the upper world. If you catch the black, you will fall still lower." She also gave him a nut containing three dresses, one with the fields and their flowers, one with the sea and its fish, and a third with the heaven and its stars. Bidding her good-bye, he sent her up ; and it befel as she had surmised, and he was left behind. There, sure enough, were the black and white sheep, and do what he could to catch the white one, it always eluded him, while the black one was always running into his arms. At last, in despair he caught the black one, and at once felt himself falling. He fell as deep again as the first well on to the roof of a house. Out of the house came an old woman and began to exorcise him, thinking he was an evil spirit He said : " Why do you speak so ? I am a Christian like yourself.
Miscellanea. 497
Give me food and lodging." She said : " I have little, but it is yours/1 and took him in and gave him bread to eat. As he sat eating, he asked her where he was, and she told him : " In this kingdom is a beast with seven heads, who lives at the spring and will not let the water run unless he has a maiden to eat every day. Now all the other maidens have been eaten, and to-morrow it is the turn of the king's daughter." Next day the prince started off for the well-head, where he found the princess waiting for the beast to come and eat her. She begged him to leave her to her fate, but he stood by. In a little while the monster appeared, and he cut off his seven heads and cut out the tongues. When the people in the town saw the streams running blood, they said : " The princess is dead ; what shall we do ? " But in a little while came the prince, leading the princess safe and sound, and with the beast's tongues.
The king wished to make him his son-in-law, but he said : " No, that cannot be. Only send me back to the upper world." " First," said the king, " you must kill for me the pig which has three pigeons inside it and bring them to me." Off went the prince and killed the pig, and took the three pigeons. On his way back night overtook him, and he lay down to sleep under a plane-tree. On this plane-tree all the birds of heaven roosted at night, and a beast used to come every night and kill some. The prince was awakened in the dead of night by the hissing of the monster come for his prey. He slew it, and in the morning the birds out of gratitude promised to take him up to the upper world. " But you must bring," they told him, " seven skins of wine, forty loaves of bread, and a roast ox ; for the way is long." He returned to the king, and gave him the three pigeons, and begged to be supplied with these things. When they had been got ready, he started on his journey, carried by the birds ; but before they reached the journey's end, the provisions were done, and the eagle he was riding on was hungry. The prince cut a piece out of his leg and gave it to the eagle ; but the eagle knew it was human flesh, and kept it in his mouth without eating it. When they arrived, he asked the prince : " Is anything of yours missing?" "No," said the prince, "nothing." "Yes," said the eagle, "something is missing;" and letting fall from his mouth the piece of leg he put it back in its place.
Now we must return to his brothers. The eldest brother en- voi., x. 2 K
49& Miscellanea.
treated the loveliest of the three girls to be his wife ; but she said : " I will only wed you if you can find me three dresses, one with the fields and all their flowers, another with the sea and all its fish, and another with the heaven and its stars."
When the youngest prince reached his city he disguised himself and opened a shop. In his shop he hung up his three dresses. His elder brother, passing by, saw them, and hastened to tell the girl that she must now be his, as he had found what she asked for. Then she knew that her betrothed had come back, and claimed him as hers, and they were married.
II. The Ball of Silk.
A certain king had three daughters born to him. After the birth of the third his substance began to waste away. He told one of his friends about it and asked his advice. His friend ad- vised him thus : " Find out which of your daughters sleeps with her hands between her legs, and kill her ; for it is she who charms your fortune away." The king looked, and finding that the youngest child always had her hands between her legs, took her out one day and left her in a desert place for the beasts to eat. The child wandered on, until she saw a palace and went in and found an ogress. The ogress was glad to see her, for she had just lost her servant, and asked the little girl to take the place. She waited on the ogress so well, and with such gentle ways, that one day her mistress said to her : " My child, you come of no vulgar stock." And the girl told her how she was a king's daughter, and how her father had cast her out. The ogress knew why, and she told the girl and said : " Luckily your Fate is a friend of mine. Now you must go and ask her for her ball of silk. I will help you as well as I can ; but she will refuse to give it you at first, and you must beg very hard. If you can get the ball of silk, all will go well with your father." The ogress prepared all kinds of delicacies, and loading a tray with them gave it to the little girl and told her where to find her Fate. The Fate was very pleased with the gift, but it was only after a great deal of begging that she gave up the ball of silk.
It was as the ogress had said ; and all now went well with the king ; but he was sorrowful because he was sure that his daughter was dead. The ogress had a son, and she gave the little princess
Miscellanea. 499
to him in marriage, and the pair started off for her father's city. When the king saw his daughter alive and well and married to a prince (for the ogress was a queen as well as an ogress), he was delighted.
After being made much of, the ogress* son and his bride went back to their own palace. But one day the Fate came and stole the ball of silk, and they heard that all was going wrong with the king again. Then the ogress* son made a large chandelier and took it as a present to his own Fate, and induced her to get the ball of silk back from the other one. But she told him : " You must go and live far away from this, for otherwise it will be stolen again." And so they did, and all lived happily.
III. The Three Heavenly Children.
A certain king made a proclamation in his city that he was going to walk through the streets after nightfall, and that all the lights in the hocuses must be put out, and every* one must be abed. There was a poor old woman with three daughters, and they made their living by spinning day and night Instead of putting out the light, they blocked up the keyhole and all crevices, and sat working. As the king passed by, the eldest said : " I wish I had the king's cook " ; the second said : " I wish I had all the king's cotton to spin"; but the third said: "I wish I had the king himself, and I would give him three children — the sun, the moon, and the firmament" The king overheard them, and next day sent and ordered them to appear before him. He granted the wishes of the two eldest, giving the one his cook and the other all his cotton ; and the youngest, for she found favour in his eyes, and renewed her promise to bear him the three heavenly children, he made his wife. In due time the queen gave birth to the sun- child, and all the house shone when he was born. But the king's mother hated her daughter-in-law, and persuaded the midwife to take the child away, and put a puppy in its place. When the king, who was absent, came home she told him : " Come and see what your wife has given you — a nasty puppy ! " The king was very sorry, but said : " So be it ; better luck next time." The queen-mother had sent the child away to be cast out in a wood. There a she-goat, which had strayed from the flock, found it and brought it up.
2 K 2
500 Miscellanea.
Next year the queen gave birth to the moon-child ; and again she saw the whole house shine as it came into the world. But her mother-in-law again got the midwife to steal it, and put a kitten in its place, and the king was still sadder than before, but said: " Let us see what the next will be." The moon-child also was exposed in the wood, and found and suckled by the goat
When the third child, the starry firmament, was bom, the queen-mother substituted a lamb for it This time the king was very angry with his wife, and threw her into a ditch in the back- yard of the palace. There he ordered her to be left and fed with offal ; but there was one of her servants who loved her mistress very dearly, and used secretly to bring her food.
The third child, like his brothers, was found and nourished by the goat ; and one day the shepherd found the goat he had lost so long ago and the three little boys with it ; and he took them home to his house.
One day the king was hunting in the forest, and he happened to stop to rest outside the shepherd's hut Inside, he heard talking. It was one of the children telling the others their whole history, how they were king's sons, and how they had been stolen at birth and cast out to die. The king, as he listened, knew they were his children. Then he went home and made a banquet, and bade his mother and the midwife to it, and sent and took his wife out of the ditch, and bade her go to the bath, and dress herself richly, and come to the banquet too. As they sat and feasted, he began to tell the story ; and when his mother and the midwife heard it, they wanted to get up and go, but they had to sit it out. When he had finished, he decreed that they should be tied on the backs of wild horses and dashed to pieces. He sent for his three children, and all went well with them ever afterwards.
IV. The Pumpkin.
There were once in a certain city a queen and a poor woman, who were neighbours, and both were expecting babies at the same time. One day they met as they were going to the bath, and they agreed that if their children were male and female they should wed each other. In due course the queen gave birth to a beautiful girl, but the poor woman's child was a pumpkin. The poor woman lay in bed like the queen after her delivery, but one day she said : " Let
Miscellanea. 501
me get up ; what is the use of lying in bed for the sake of this wretched pumpkin ? " Just as she was going out of the door she heard a voice, coming from the shelf where the pumpkin had been put, saying : " Remember your promise. I must have the queen's daughter for my wife." She was indeed astonished ; but off she went to the queen and told her what had happened. The queen said : "Promises are all very well ; but if your pumpkin can perform three tasks in three days, then he shall have my daughter. First, he must make two fountains, one running gold and the other silver, here in the square ; next, he must make a bigger palace than ours, and the approaches to it must be paved with gold ; thirdly, he must make half of this mountain here a plain with all the flowers and the birds, and the other half a lake with all the fishes in it."
The poor woman went back and told the pumpkin what the queen had said.
Next morning the queen woke up and did not see the fountains and she was very glad, because she did not want to give her daughter to the pumpkin, and so the next morning ; but on the third morning, when she woke up, there were all the tasks per- formed. So the queen had to give her daughter to the pumpkin. The poor girl cried bitterly, but it had to be.
One Sunday, when the princess had gone to church, out of the pumpkin came a beautiful young man, beautifully dressed, and he went to church too and sat opposite her. When she saw him, she fell in love with him, and said to herself : " Oh, that I had a hus- band like that, instead of a wretched pumpkin." And she told her mother, and next Sunday her mother came to church too, and there was the beautiful young man again, and mother and daughter went home and cried. But next Sunday, as the princess was going back from church, he came and spoke to her and told her he was her husband, but that she must not tell her mother, for if she did he would turn into a bird and fly away. She took him home with her ; but her mother came and found them talking and laughing on the sofa, and began to scold her. " Who is this here ? Don't you know you are married? Who is it ? Tell me at once." Her daughter would not Then the queen begged her, and said she would kill herself if she did not learn the truth ; and her daughter had to say : " It is my husband ;" and he turned into a bird and flew away through the window. There was weeping and wailing ;
5o2 Miscellanea.
but her husband had told the princess that, if she were forced to reveal him, she must get her mother to make her three iron dresses and three pairs of iron boots, and that, wearing these, she must go in quest of him. So this was done, and the princess went forth to seek him. After a year the first iron dress and the first pair of iron boots were worn out, and after a second year the second ones, and the third year was running to its close — three days only re- mained— and she was still wandering. There on the road she met an old man, and she asked him : " What is that castle ? " " In that castle," said the old man, " live ten ogres and a youth, and when they sit and feast and say, ' To your health,' he says : * To my wife, and if she had had more sense she would not have lost me/ " She went on to the castle and entered it, and found the ogres out and the rooms unswept, and she went to work and swept them. When she heard the ogres coming, she hid herself, and when the time came for toasts she heard the ogres say: "To your health," and she heard her husband answer: " To the health of my wife, and if she had had more sense she would not have lost me." When she heard this, she ran out and kissed her husband. The ogres wanted to eat her, but he said : " This is my wife."
W. R. Paton.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
1899, UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED.
BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.
All English books are published in London, all French books in
Paris, unless otherwise stated.
Bergen (F. D.). Animal and Plant Lore collected from the Oral Tradition of English-speaking Folk. Boston : American Folklore Society. 8vo. ix., 180 pp.
Chauvet (H.). Folklore Catalan. L^gendes du Rousillon. Paris, Maisonneuve. f. 8vo. 119 pp.
Hartland (E. S.). Folklore: What is it? and What is the Good of it ? D. Nutt. 43 pp.
Hyde (Douglas). The Lad of the Ferule. Adventures of the Children of the King of Norway. Edited, with Translation, Notes, and Glossary. Irish Texts Society, vol. i. 8vo. xx., 208 pp.
Knortz (K.). Folkloristische Streifziige. Leipzig : G. Marke.
8vo. 429 pp. Leland (C. G.). Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches [of Italy].
• D. Nutt. Cr. 8vo. xv., 133 pp. Mathew (John). Eaglehawk and Crow. A Study of the Australian Aborigines, including an inquiry into their origin and a survey of Australian languages. With Map and Illustra- tions. D. Nutt. Demy 8vo. xvi., 288 pp.
Nutt (A.). Celtic and Mediaeval Romance. D. Nutt. 36 pp.
Palmer (A. S.). Studies on Biblical Subjects, No. II. Jacob at Bethel: The Vision — the Stone — the Anointing. An Essay in Comparative Religion. D. Nutt Cr. 8vo. 187 pp.
Spadoni (D.). Alcune Costumanze e Curiosita Storiche Mar- chigiane (Provincia di Macerata). Palermo: C. Clausen, f. 8vo. xii., 109 pp. [Forms vol. xii. of the Curiosita Popolari Tradizionali, edited by Dr. Giuseppe Pitr&.]
Von der Leyen (F.). Das Marchen in den Gottersagen des Edda. Berlin : Reimer. 83 pp.
5o6
Index.
Cattle, Cayote, Cows, Cranes, Crocodile, Crow, Deer, Dog, Donkeys, Elephant, Elk, Fox, Giraffe, Goat, Greyhound, Hare, Hedgehogs, Hippopotamus, Horse, Hound, Kalulu, Kangaroo, Kid, Killer - Whale, Lambs, Leopard, Lions, (winged), Monkey, Otter, Oxen, Pig, Porcupine, Rabbits, Ram, Rat, Seal, Sheep, Swine, Tiger, Tigress, Urus, Wolf,
buried in walls becoming spectres,
Denmark, 360,
— grateful, ungrateful and revenge- ful, India, 416
— originally human, N. America, 195 ; human characteristics in African folklore, 290-2, in Indian folklore, 415
— as messengers, India, id., protecting hero or saint, India,
398
winged, India, 419
Animism, 3, in oaths, India, 409, universal, of Indian peasant beliefs, 394 ; in Shinto, 314
Annual Meeting, 60,
Annunciation, superstition concern- ing. 174
Antelope, African folklore, 290
Anthropology, some hindrances to,
88 ; in relation to governing native
races, 449 Anthropomorphism of Shinto, 314-5 Antimachia, Island of Cos, legend of
the Kamara Bridge at, 182 Ants, 200, charm against, Greek Isles,
163, people turned into, 215,
Riding, used in charm, 170 Aoine, 272 Aphrodite of Paphos, oriental origin,
of, 340 Aplech dt Rondayes Mallorquines (Ten Jordi Dcs Recot by A. M. Alcover,
reviewed by E. S. Hartland, 243 Apple, red, in love philtre, 169 Apples, the three, Greek folktale,
495 April 1, the Feast of Fibs, Cos, 177
Arabia, droit du seigneur, in, 229,
walking forest in, 230 1 whistling the speech of Devils,
172 Arjun's arrows of cold, 418 Armenian folklore, see Fables of
Wardan
Arms, Arrows, magic of fire and! cold, Indian folklore, 418 ; shot at demon-expelling ceremony, Japan,
321 Arta, Bridge of, Greek legend of,
185 Artemis of Ephesus, origin of, 340 Arthurian romance, archaism of, 84 Arunta tribe of Central Australia, animal ancestors of, 235, 237, mar- riage customs, 234, mental capacity of, 8, 9 ; totems, 235, eating of, 378 ; reckoning of descent among,
235 Aryan race fire-worshippers, 142,
148 ; fire customs of, 139 Ascension-tide, season for divination
by the Voice, 154 Ashes, uses of, Indian folklore, 439 ;
of victims sent to parents, India,
442 Ask, the Dry, belief concerning, in
Ireland, 252 Ass, alleged worship of by Jews, Cos,
176 Assumption, Feast of the, Cos, 179,
swine slain and eaten on, Porto
Empedocle, Sicily, 253 Aston, W. G., Japanese Myth, 294 Astrologers, 152
Astrology, in Indian folklore, 435 Astronomical myths, 340
beliefs, in Indian folklore, 440
Milky way in Japanese folklore,
304 Moon of Raja Jai Singh Sawai,
397 Atlantic Ocean, pillars of Hercules,
230 Atli and the birds, and parallels,
455 Auguries {see also Omens), 115
August, days in, observed in Cos, 179,
in Scotland, 353 Aurillac, All Souls1 day at, 333 Australia, & folklore of, (see Lang), absence of domesticable animals in, 376, in relation to totemism, 377 ; animal dances in, 19 ; high level of beliefs in, 2, 11, inculcation of un- selfishness in rites of, 41 ; More Legendary Tales, 231 ; Mysteries °f> 43» 56; natives, arithmetical deficiency of, 8, totems &c. of, sec Jevons ; tribes of Central, 233 ; pantomime dances, 42, sun-myths, (note; 303
Index*
5&7
Australian Gods, A Reply) by Andrew
Lang, I Rejoinder, by E. S. Hartland,
Religion, A. Lang, 489
Babylonian influence on Hellenic myth, 340
Baffie, white dove form of departing soul at, 333
Baiame or Byamee, Australian god, 4, 7, 34. 37> 51* 348, in Australian tales, 347, as creator, 17, 18, 20, 24> 27i 39> dwelling and food of, 25, institutes Kangaroo dance, 19, Mrs. Parker on, 490 et scq. \ Myth of and parallels, 53, sons of, 18, 26, 28, 493 ; unending life of, 17
Bailah Burrah, son of Byamee, 493
Balance Sheet, 70
Ballad literature, European, 97
Ballads, absence of, in Celtic litera- ture, 99, 100
of North and West Europe, 96
— original homes of, 98, 99 Ballimah, the Australian heaven, 28,
52, location of, 54
Baloch cannibalism to acquire dead men's virtues, 403
Baltic localities identified with places in the Helgi-lays, 453
Bamboos, 301
Banshee, the, 123
Barley, divination by, 152
Baronga, Les, £tude £thnographique sur les Indigenes de la Bate de Delagoa. Moeurs, Droit, Couiumes, Vie Nationalc, Industrie Tradi- tions, Superstitions et Religion, par H. A. Junod, reviewed by E. S. Hartland, 225
— birth customs, 227, marriage customs, 225, worship and gods, 226-7
Barrel shape of evil spirit, Wexford,
362 Barrenness, Indian means of curing,
392, 393 ; sacrifice to cure at Bury
St. Edmunds, 355 Barrows, 89, 90, empty, 92-5, reason
for, 93 Basil in sunstroke charm, Greek Isles,
167 Basutoland, hares in, 283 Batcombe church, Conjurer Mintern's
horse-leap at, 481
Bath of new born child heated with red hot poker, 457
Bathing, ceremonial, India, 437
Batting the water with the hands, by fairies, Ireland, 121, 123
Battle-bards, and their kinship, 454
Beads, blue, uses of, 154
worn to keep off diseases, 154
Beans, used to discover lost things, 154, in magic, 171
Bear-wives of the red-headed wood- pecker, 195, 196, 199-203
Bears, led about as play-mates, 153 ; magical properties attributed to,
155 Beast bespelling, 152, or binding,
154, 1 61 -4, to protect children,
162 Beasts, colours put upon against the
Evil Eye, 152 crowds 01, protecting heroes or
saints, 398 Beavers* eyes in " medicine," 204 Bedawi folklore ; whistling the speech
of Devils, 172 Beelzebub in Warwickshire mumming,
187, et seqq. Beer, bottled, buried in grave in
Berkshire, 253 Beetles, to get rid of, South African
folklore, 227 Beltane unlucky when falling on
Thursday, Hebrides, 268 Beowulf and the Dragon, 218
poem of, where composed, 82
Bergfolk, Scandinavia, 459 Berkshire folklore, Bottled beer
buried in a grave, 253, method of
finding drowned body in, 115 Besom laid across threshold against a
witch, 480 Bhagat, stone god, India, gratitude of,
416 Bhuta, of S. India, 412, northern
counterparts of, 393 Bible under pillow to protect un-
christened child, Yorkshire, 350 Big Head and Little Wits in Warwick- shire mumming, 188 Billson, C. J., review by, Aber-
cromby's Pre- and Proto-Historie
Finns, 325 Binding Spells, 154, operating on
married people, 156, charms to
nullify, 156-60 Bird folklore, see Black fowl, Blue
jay, Cock, Cormorants, Cranes,
5o8
Index.
Crow, Dove, Eagle, Falcon, Hawk, Hen, Humming-bird, Jay, Lightning-bird, Little Hawk, Maina, Mountain grouse, Nightin- gale, Ntengu, Owl, Parrot, Pea- cock, Pigeons, Swallow, Swan, Talker-bird, Vultures, Woodpecker, red-headed.
as mitama-form after death,
Japan, 321 Birds affected by music, India, 415 ' sammas,' Finland, 107
talking, etc, Indian folklore,
416, 417
Bird's eggs, in May garlands, 444 Bird-skin dress of Sukuna-bikona,
Birth auguries, old German, 116
Birth customs and beliefs, see Bar- renness, Bath, Caul, 476 (of the Crewes), 101 ; Couvade, 119, 221 ; Fatal child-birth, B. Co- lumbia, 206; Japanese Customs, 300, 310-12 ; non-natural, see Baiame and Japanese Myth ; Lucky and unlucky days to be born on, Greek Isles, 153, Hebrides, 268; Midnight Children and their Gifts, Lincolnshire, 115 ; Tree-planting, India and England, 403-4 ; Twins and their mothers, Baronga tribe, 227
Birthdays, verses on the days of the week in connection with, 349
Black boar's fleece in magic, 163
— cock, lucky, Hebrides, 269 Death, how brought to Norway,
460-1
— Dog of Bungay, 476 fowls' egg laid on Thursday in
love philtre, 169
handled knife in charms, 163,
168
- -Hill, Dorset, Bronze age camp *t, 479
stone bound on forehead for
strength, Cos, 179
Black-thorn, crown made of, Here- fordshire, 489
wool, etc., in charms, 279
Blaze-night customs, 101
Blazing the wheat, 101
Blessed Etienne de la Porretta, body half encased in a pillar, 361
Blessing of animals and things, Hebrides, 260, 270 ; Greek Isles, 161
Blessing of father, importance of, Greek Isles, 495
Blood, (cock's or human) to prevent transformation of treasure trove, Greek Isles, 182 ; in love philtre, 169 ; used in foundations of house, Ireland, 118
Blood-feud regulations, Australia, 238
" Blue " used for " Green " and why, Hebrides, 265
Blue beads uses of, 154
— jay, origin of, 213
Boats, blessing of, Hebrides, 260 ;
unlucky after carrying coffin, 272 Bodies of enemies strangled and
exposed, Indian tales, 442 Body of holy man half-buried in a
pillar, 361 Boiling washing- water, twice unlucky,
Hebrides, 271 Bologna, saint half-buried in a pillar
at, 361 Bones, burnt to bring rain, 230 ; dice
made of dead men s, 418 Bonfires on St. John's Eve, Cos, 179 Books presented to Folk- Lore Society,
58, 60, 258, 324, 444
published by the same, 65
Bora or mysteries of the Australian
natives, 18, 19, institution of, 492 Bordjan funeral customs, 229 ; in- heritance in female line among, ib. Boundary streams limiting power of
Evil Eye, Hebrides, 278 Bravalla, battle of, 220 Bread, loaf of, and quicksilver used to
discover drowned body, 1 14-5 Breaking ornaments as sign of grief,
India, 439 Breath, divination by, India, 438 ;
identified with life, id., 415 ; power
of, when blown in the face, Dorset,
488 Brewin, Australian God, attributes of,
38 Bridge of Antimachia, legend of, 182
of Dread, 349
Bristol, children's games at " Lamp- out," 336, " Cock-warning," 337
Britain, date of arrival of Gypsies in, 241
and Folklore, (Presidential
Address) by A. Nutt, 71
British Columbia, folklore of, "Sqaktktquaclt" or the Benign- faced, the Oannes of the Ntlaka- pamuq, by C. Hill-Tout, 195
Index.
509
British Isles, four historical races of,
79, the home of the Eddie Poems,
450-1 Bronze age, barrows of, 89 ; camps
or forts of, Dorsetshire, 478-9 Brow of corpse touched to prevent
ill-luck 254, 477 Buarach, the, (horsehair cattle-tie),
Hebrides, 277 Buckland Newton church, visited by
spirits, Midsummer Eve, 481 Buildings, human sacrifice to ensure
stability of, 182-4
seen in phantom flames, 120
special, for marriage, birth and
death, Japan, 300 Bulabong, spirit of the dead,
Australia, 16, 17 Bullimah (see Ballimah), 28, 52, 54 Bull-roarers, 236, 494 Bullock, in Australian dances, 19 ;
in Indian folktale, 415 Bulls, as alms to St. Cuthbert, 353 ;
in Irish tales, 218 white, as freemen's dues, and
fines, 356
winged, Indian folktales, 419
Bungay, Black Dog of, suggested
origin, 476 Bunjil, Australian god, 4, 50, mean-
ing of name, 34-5, as Our Father,
35» 37 > Poem on, 35 ; unending
life of, 17 Burambin, son of Baiame, 26 Burial custom, by Mrs. I. Hooper,
254 , by R. M. Nason, 254
, by G. J. Watts, 253
Buried animals (in walls) becoming
spectres, Denmark, 360 Burma, idol-chaining in, 420 Burning bushes, Wexford, 362 Burns or scalds, cured by licking a
dry ask, 252 Burnt-offering, (see Calves) to make
rain, or find treasure, 230 Bury St. Edmunds, white cattle of,
ceremonial uses of, 355 Burying plant after touching warts to
cure them, 479 Bush gods of the Baronga, 226 Bushes blazing, Wexford, 362 Butter, charm to protect, Wexford,
364 ; in warm milk as a cure,
Hebrides, 280 Buying not right on Fridays,
Hebrides, 268
Bye-gones relating to Wales and the Border Counties ; 1897-98, re- viewed by E. S. Hartland, 350
Cabbage, meaning of dreaming of,
116 Cairpre niafer, a real person, 218 Cakes, &c, laid on tombs on feast
days, Calvmnos, 1 80- 1 ; loved by
Kalikazan, Cyprus, 176 Calendar, in relation to Egyptian
mythology, 109 Calves, hung in chains or buried at
threshold, 101, Calymnos, Island of, cakes in con- nection with festivals, &c, 180 Cambridgeshire, Game of Green
Gravel in, 112 Camel, Indian folklore, 415
winded, do., 419
Candle-wick in tallow as cure for
Ague, 365 Cannibalism, of Daramulun, 40 attributed to Indian witches,
424 — - ceremonial in India, 403, 407 in North America, tales of, 211,
215 Cantal, the Wind and St. Laurence
at, 333-4 ^ Canterbury Cathedral, Angel Steeple
of, 359 Capacity, manly, the same as virtue,
Indian folklore, 426-8 Carr, H. Wildon, A Sicilian Festival,
252 Carriers (til-6eri)t Iceland, 460 Cash Account, 69 Cassia tree, 311 Castes in Egypt, 229 Cat, the, in folktales, 116, 224, 284 ;
in folklore, Hebrides, 262, 270 ;
grateful, Indian folktales, 416 Catalogues of warriors, value of, 220 Caterpillar-god of the Everlasting
World, Japan, 319 Cattle, sacred animals, 371, 377,
378 ; affected by music, Indian
tales, 415 ; blessed, Hebrides, 260,
262 ; blessing prayers for, 161 ;
charm to keep safe on hill-side,
Hebrides, 262 ; white, 352, 353,
355 Cattle-switching, Cos and elsewhere,
179-80, cf, 262
Cauls, 476, lucky, of the Crewe
family, 10 1
Index.
5ii
Cock, black, hatched in March effec- tive against evil spirits, 263
as corn-spirit, 107
sacred, Hebrides, 262-4
in Japanese myth, 306
sacrificed to secure treasure- trove, 182
white, feathers of, used in seeking
treasure, 230 Cock-crow, effect on evil spirits, 262,
364 Cock-crowing, at unusual hour as
omen, 262-3
Cock -warning, game and variants,
~337
Coffins, boats used to carry, unlucky,
272
Coins, magical, 230
Coloured threads used in witchcraft,
Hebrides, 282 Colours, (see Black, Blue, etc.), worn
against Evil Eye, 152-3, other uses,
154 Columcille, see Saint Columba
Combing hair, forbidden on Saturday,
Cos, 183 Comparative method of Folklore
research, 132-3 Complaining people, saying about,
Hebrides, 271 Conch, magic, 420 Conchobar, 218
Conjurer Mintern's Horseleap at Bat- combe, 481 Constantinople, Old, submarine church
near, 230 Consumption, snake-skin as cure for,
231 Conybeare, F. C, review by, Marr's
Fables of Wardan, 462 Copenhagen, living child buried in
wall, 360 Copper-headed spear, magical, 211 Cords (see also Threads), plaited in
spells, 154 Corea, 300, 308, 309 Cormorants' feathers used as roofing,
Japanese myth, 311 Cornwall, Christmas mummers in,
351, St. Michael's Mount in,
359 Corpse, brow of, touched to prevent
ill-luck, 254, face touched to hinder dreaming of the dead, ib., 477 — revived, gratitude of, 417 Corpses, raised, as messengers, Ice- land, 460
Correspondence, ill, 246, 351, 477
Cos, Island of, Folklore from, 150, 177, sag.
Cotton, Dit of, in tithe offering, Cos, 179, knotted to cure ague, 165
County Folklore, announced, 66
Countries, cities, and people, vanish- ing, 231
Coursing, ghostly, Wexford, 362
Couvade, see Birth
the? by Leland L. Duncan,
119
Coventry Miracles, the, 187
Cows, 177, 275, 277, 284, milking, 260, 270, death of, Hebridean euphemism for, 265, flesh of, (dead from illness) boiled before distribu- tion, 270 ; striking with hand for- bidden, Hebrides, 262 ; and see Cattle
Cow's heart stuck with pins and burnt to punish witch, 483-5
— neck-thread torn off in oath, India, 409
Craigie, W. A., review by, Ellice's
Place-names in Glengarry^ 244 Cranes, helpful, India, 416 Creation myths of Australian natives,
6, 3«» 33. 237 early, pathos of, 132
^— Japan, 297, and creation deities, 298, 300
Creation Myths of Primitive America in relation to the Religious History and Mental Development of Man- kind, by Jeremiah Curtin, reviewed by A. Nutt, 341
Creation Records discovered in Egypt, by George St. Clair, reviewed, 109
A Protest, by G. St. Clair,
246
Creator, Eskimo postulate of, 9
Creeping things, charm to prevent beasts from hurt by, 152
Cremation in the Bronze Age, 90, 92
Crescent, powers of, 457
Crete, grave of Zeus in, 10, 13
Crewe family, lucky caul of, 101
Cricket, grateful, 416
Crocodile, in African folktales, 224, 291
Crooke, W., reviews by. Brown's Researches into the Origin of the Primitive Constellations of the Greeks, Phoenicians and Babylo- nians, 339; Brown's Semitic In
512
Index.
fluences in Hellenic Mythology,
339 Cross, ceremony of diving for, Cos,
177 ; door signed with, Hebrides,
260, keyhole signed, with, Cyprus,
365, made over door at Easter,
Cos, 178 ; feet signed with, in
jumping St. John's Eve fires, Cos,
179 Crosses in charms against Evil Eye,
164
Crow, the, feather of, used for writing charms, 170 ; black, bird of evil- omen, 282 ; grateful, Indian folk- lore, 416 ; Hooded Gray, 277
Crowd unseen but heard, dispersed by prayer, Wexford, 363
Crown of Thorns, A, M. Peacock,
489 Crystal throne or rock of Baiame,
24» 52, 55
Cuailgne, Dun Bull of, 218
Cuchullin Saga, The, in Irish litera- ture, being a Collection of Stories relating to the Hero Cuchullin, translated from the Irish by various scholars. Compiled and edited with Introduction and Notes by Eleanor Hull, reviewed by F. York Powell, 217
Culann's Hound, 218
Cures (see also Medicinal folklore), miraculous, India, 399 ; by proxy, India, 403
Cursing a saint to get favours from him, India, 406
Cynocephals, visit of Alexander the Great to, 229
Cyprus, crossing the door and the person on leaving home, 365 ; divination in, 155 ; the Kalika- zari in, 176
More Notes from, by F. O. Har- vey, 365
Daitya demon the, India, 173 Damaras, sacred cattle of, 371, 377 Dances, Australian at Bora mysteries, 19,42,44; Hobby Horse, Stafford- shire, and Wiltshire, 186 ; Horn dance, Staffordshire, id., round and over Fires, St. John's Eve, Cos, 179; Ka^ura, Japan, 307 ; of the Kalikazan, 174-5 > Maypole, Dorsetshire, 481-2 ; Tub, of Japanese divinity, 306 Dam Jatti, legend of, India 401
Daniel the prophet, 164 Dante's bath in Lethe, 302 Daramulun, Australian god, 8, 38, 49> 5°> 348, as cannibal, 40, as healer, 20, mortal, 10, 16, 17, 18, powers of, 15, 17, watching young men to punish, 6, 7
Mrs. K. Langloh Parker on, 492
David, King, his men of war, 220 Dawed, Australian sub-god, 33 Days and Seasons : All Saints' Day, 121, 267 ; All Souls' Day, 121, 333 ; April the First, the Feast of Fibs, 177 ; Ascension-tide, 154, 178 ; Assumption, Feast of, 179, 253 ; August, days observed in, *79> 353 ; Beltane, 268 ; Christ- mas Eve, 115, 263 ; Christmas Day, 174 ; Christmastide, 180 ; Christmas to Epiphany, 176 ; Easter Eve, 177-8; Easter Day,
178, 180-1, 480; Epiphany, 171, 174-6, 177, 179; February, 180, 181 ; Friday, 116, 268, 361 ; Holy Apostles' Day, 180-1 ; Holy Thurs- day, 154 ; Holy Week, 1 1 1 ; Lady- day, 174; Lucky and unlucky days and seasons, 153, 267, 268, 349, 435 ; Lucky birthdays, 349 ; March,
179, 263 ; May Day, 171, 180, 268, 443, 481, 482 ; May season, 102, 154; May the Twenty-first, 181 ; Midnight, 1 15, 269, 395 ; Midsummer, see infra St. John's Day ; New Year's Eve, 177 ; New Year's-tide, 489; Night, 122; St. Andrew's Day, 180-1 ; St. Columba's day, 267 ; St. John's Eve and Day, 155, 178-9 ; St. Mark's Eve, 333 ; Saturday, 116, 169, 183, 268 ; September, days observed in, 179, 180-1, 253 ; Sunday, 116, 178, 253, 282, 349; Thursday, 116, 169, 267, 268, 361; Tuesday, 116, 267, 365; Wednesday, 116, 267; Whitsun- tide, 180
Days of the week, German birth- auguries connected with, 116
Dead coach in Louth, 119
Dean, Forest of, superstition regard- ing women, in, 365
Death and Funeral Customs and be- liefs, Beer-bottles buried in graves, Berkshire, 253 ; Cremation in the Bronze Age, 90, 92 ; Cakes laid on graves, Calymnos, 180 1 ; Burial
Index.
513
alive of child, Denmark, 360, do. in dyke, of would-be destroyer, Groningen, 361 ; Burial on Friday not right, Hebrides, 268 ; human sacrifices, Egypt, 229, Japan, 322 ; Dead men's bones as dice, India, 418, Sati, id., 412 ; Funeral proces- sion seen after sunset, Ireland, 363, Lights on graves, do., 362 ; Build- ing set apart for corpse, Japan, 300, Washing of mourners after interment, #., 302, Wreaths hung in mortuaries, id., 321 ; Nails in skulls, Lincolnshire, 457 ; Burial customs, London, 254, 477 ; do., Northumberland, 254
forecasts,' Omens or Warnings,
Black lamb if the first seen, 121, clock striking 12, during creed, 480; Dead coach, 119, 122 ; fowls flying about, 264 ; pigeon entering house, 122, 123, 248, 333 ; rain- bow 364 ; seeing faces in well on Easter morning, 480; spirits going to and from church, 481 ; tap on window, 122, 123
— savage difficulty in believing in,
338
— temporary, Indian folklore,
396
Death-warnings, M. Peacock, 248
Deaths, successive, Hebrides, 272
Deddjal (Antichrist \ 230
Deer in Indian folktales, 415, 416, 434 ; Hira the deer, 416 ; un- grateful, 416 ; with twisted horns,
439 Deification of the Mikados, recent
origin of, 323
Deirdre, 220
Deity, Indian peasant ideas of, 440
Deluge, (see also Flood), pyramids as means of escape from, 230
Demeter worship, supposed modern survival of in Sicily, 252
Demon bound by Archangel Michael, his list of names, 162
Demon-expelling ceremony, Japan, 321
Demons, animal forms assumed by, 262 ; controlled by wizards, 152 ; good, 154 ; Half-head and paral- lels, 172 ; in Indian folktales, 412, sqg.
Denmark, folklore of, 459, burial of animals in buildings, 360, burial of child in wall, #., the Ellekone,
or hollow-backed fairy, 173, 459 ; Milk-hares, 460 Dennett, R. E., "Notes on the Folk- lore of the Fjort," with Errata,
"3 Deo in Indian folktales, 413
Dessil, (sunwards) in Hebridean
folklore, 268 Destruction by effigy, India, 403 Deutsehes Krankheitsnamen-Buck, von Dr. M. Hofler, reviewed by E. S. Hartland, 476 Devil, the, colour of his eyes, 275 ; Finnish names for, 329, 330, Hebridean euphemism for, 265 ; and Lincoln Minster and College, and parallel stories, 357 ; un- able to injure work done on Tuesday, 267 ; Devils, whistling the speech of, 172 Dhanna the Bhagat, story of, India,
400 Dice, enchanted, made of dead men's
bones, India, 418 Digger Indians, and evolution, 39 Dingwall, animal sacrifices in, 353 Dinner to Prof. Starr, and presenta- tion, 445 Diseases, (see also Medicinal folklore), amulets worn to avert, 154 ; Black Death in Norway, 460-1 ; Leprosy, Indian folktales, 436 ; Manoro, 286 ; Nereids, as givers of, 168 Disgrace, modes of inflicting, India,
439 Divination, England, 475 ; by barley
and beans, Greek Isles, 152 ; by the breath, India, 438 ; by fish- bones, Greek Isles, 182 ; by mirrors, 230; by the voice, 154, 155; by water and personal possessions, Cos, 178-9
Diving for the Cross, Cos, 177
Divorce in Indian folklore, 409-10; in Japanese myth, 301
Docken-stems forbidden for driving cattle, 262
Doctor Brown, in Warwickshire mumming plays, 188
Doe dreaming, Indian folktale, 434, praying, id., 416
Dog, Black, of Bungay, 476, as ghost of a man, 120
form of Deity, India, 410
assumed by demon,
Hebrides, 262 ; by Sqaktktquaclt,
214-5
VOL. X.
2 L
Si4
Index.
Dog mangled by spirits, Ireland,
363
Dog-natured people, 214
Dog, not the friend of man in Indian
folklore, 415 Dofp not to be called by name at
night, Hebrides, 265 Doll in May garlands, 444 Domestic customs, Indian folklore,
439
Domestication of animals in evolution
of society, 374, et seq. Donkey's hairs on bread and butter as cure for whooping cough, Dorset, 489 Door opening, blessing on, 261 locked during marriage cere- mony, Neston, 350
signed with cross Cos, 178,
Cyprus, 365, Hebrides, 260 ; Dorsetshire, Christmas Mummers in, 186
Folklore collected in 1897,
by H. Colley March, 478
game of King-sealing, 336
result of excavations in, 87, et
sqq.
Dove, white as departing soul-form,
France, 333 Dragons in Irish folklore and parallels,
218; in Japanese folklore, 312, 317;
unknown to Warwickshire mum- mers, 188 Dreaming of the dead, meaning of,
1 16 ; prevented by touching face of
corpse, 254, 477 Dreams, old German auguries from,
116; ghosts seen in, India, 395;
in Indian folklore, 433-4 Dresses, magic, 496, 498, 502 Drink of holy water for learning to
read, 171 ; of lustration water, by
patient, 167 ; shared in unbinding
spell for married persons, 159 Driver, headless, 119 Droit du seigneur, in Arabia, 229 ; in
Egypt, id. Drowned body to discover, 114, 115 Drowning, Hebridean euphemism for,
265 Druid ceremonial use of white cattle,
353 Dry ask, powers and uses of, 252
Dub-grass, made evergreen, India,
398, 400 Dublin county, dread of the newt in,
251
Dun Bull of Cuailgne, 218
Duncan, Leland L., Irish Folklore,
1 18-9 Dwarf deity, Japan, see Sukuna-bikona
— white men said to fall from the sky in rain, Baronga folklore, 227
Dwarves, Scandinavian folklore, 459 Dying man as messenger to the gods,
Australia, 28 Dzimwe, the, African folklore, 284
Eagle, the fore-knowing, 213-4 ; friendly, 497
Ear-boring ceremonies, Indian folk- lore, 439
Ear-rings as caste indications, id., for children, when made, 154 ; in crescent shape, 457
Easter Day, burning of straw effigy of Judas, in Cos, 178 ; cakes laid on graves, Calymnos, 180-1 ; lovers burning threads on, 180 ; seeing faces of those doomed to die, in holy well, 480
— — Eve, animal sacrifices on, Cos,
177-8 Eastern origin of Italian tales, 103
Eating of totems, rules for, Australia,
494 — — of underworld food, fatal results
of, Japanese myths, 300, Greek
parallel, 301
Echo, (tree-spirit), Japan, 317
Eddie Poems, British source, date of and transmission, 450-1
Eerin transformed into an owl, Aus- tralia, 55
Efts, hybernating, 364
Egg laid on Thursday by black fowl used in love philtre, 169
— Emu, Australian taboo of, 1 1 hero and others, Indian folklore,
426
yolk of used in love philtre,
170
Eggs in May garlands, 444
Egypt, flints found in, 87, folklore of, {see St. Clair), ancient religion of, astronomical character of, 231 ; astronomical myths of, 109 ; castes in, 229 ; distillation of water in, 230 ; droit du seigneur in, 229 ; funeral sacrifices in, ib. ; Malik king of, and parallel, 230 ; mono- theism in, 231 ; parasite and traveller tale and parallel, 118; reason for Shepherd invasion of, 231
Index.
515
Elephant, in African folklore, 288 Eleusinia, 19
Ellekone, Denmark, 173, 459 Ellis, Sir A. B., quoted, 39 Elk, 203-4
Elves, coats of, Germany, 360 ; called Hulder-folk, Iceland, &c,
459 Embers, counter-spells in churning,
Hebrides, 281-2
Emer, 218
Emerson, P. H., Superstition regard- ing Women, 365
Emslie, J. P., Touching brow of corpse, London, 477
Empiricism, 144
Emu eggs, Australian taboo of, 1 1
Endless tasks, 176
England, folklore of, (see Presidential Address), bones, etc. found in barrows, 89 ; definiteness of, 76 ; and relation to national character- istics, 146, 147 ; White cattle, customs connected with, 352
English Dialect Dictionary announce- ment of appearance of Vol. I. , 67
— literature, modern, unique value of, 72
— system of law, evolution of and Roman and Celtic elements in,
74-75 Engwura ceremonies, Australia,
382-3 Eolas, (spell) to be paid for, 281
Epiphany, ceremonies in Cos, diving for the cross etc., 177, 179 ; in con- nection wiih the Kalikazari, 174-6 ; season of, holy water of, in charms, 171
Eric, the flyting of, and of others, 454
Eriskay Isle, fatal to men, 271
Ertnatulunga, Australia, Holy ground round, 383
Erysipelas, charm against, 167
Eskimo postulate of a Creator, 9 ; soul-bndge of, 349
Esthonia, (see European Folk-tale Series) legend of rocks of, 107
Ethnological Data in Folklore, G. L. Gomme, 129, a reply to the fore- going, A. Nutt, 143
Euphemisms, Hebridean, reason for, 265
European tales, theory of gypsy origin and dissemination, 239-40
— folklore, four great influences on, 80
European Folk-tale Series, The. The Secrets of the Night and other Esthonian Tales, translated by F. Ethel Hynam, reviewed by W. F. Kirby, 245
Evil Eye, attributed to the dry ask, 252 ; bears' claws and hairs potent against, 155 ; boundary streams water of, against, 278 ; charms against, Hebrides, 275-81 ; colours used against, Greek Isles, 152-4 ; cow affected by, 266; charms against, 164; garlic used against, 178 ; hallowed olive twigs used to prevent, 179 ; instance of, Hebrides, 266 ; modes of averting in Rhodes, Cos and Samos, 181 ; owner of, not to be spoken to by milker, 270 ; St. Bride s genealogy recited against, 261 ; spells against, Greek islands, 164
— spirits as builders, effect of cock- crow on, 364
(see also Demons), forms
assumed by, Ireland, 362-3
Evolution idea among Digger In- dians, 39 ; in connection with totems, 237 ; myths of Wintu and Yana tribes, 343
Excavations in Cranborne Chase, near Rushmore on the borders of Dorset and Wilts, by Lt.-Gen. Pitt-Rivers, reviewed by E. S. Hartland, 87
— proper method for, 88 Exhibits, 65, 257, 443, 445 Exorcism, 362, 396, 496 Exposition Umverselle (Paris) de
1900, Congres International d'His- toire des Religions to be held at, 366 ; Folklore Congress to be held at, id. Eyes of Christ, the Virgin and the Devil, respective colours of, 275
Fables, The, of IVardan. Materials for a History of Medieval Armenian Literature, by Prof. N. Marr, re- viewed by F. C. Conybeare, 462
Fairies, different ideas of size of, England Ireland and Iceland,
459 England, pucks or devils, 359,
small size of, 360, 459 Ireland, 119, believed in, 121,
123, carrying off a woman, 121 ;
Fairy Battles, 120-122, food, best
2 L 2
5i6
Index.
avoided, 121, Forts, 120, Men, powers of, 363-4, soldiers, 120, wrath shown by phantom flames, id. ; snatching up and returning a
man, 120
— — gold of, Greek proverb concern- ing, 182
Hebrides, mass said in glens
against, 261, precautions against, 265
— in Indian folktales, 423 Falcon, in Indian folklore, 415,416 Faroe Isles, elves of, 459
Fate in Greek folklore, 153 ; in In- dian do., 431-3 Fates, of individuals, Greek folktale,
498 the, and Meleager, 453
Father, blessing of, its importance,
495 Father Christmas, in Warwickshire
mumming plays, 187, et sgq. Father, expectant, (see Couvade),
health of, 101 Faughart Church and the fairies, 1 19 Feast of the Assumption, Cos, 179 ;
Sicily, 253 February, food carried from house to
house, Calymnos, 181 Fees not taken by " wise man," 480,
487
Feet and footmarks, Indian folklore, 440 ; crossed before jumping Mid- summer fires, Cos, 179
Female heirs preferred in China, 229
Fergus mac Roich, a real person, 218
Ferns Castle, Wexford, its builders and inhabitants, 364
Fetish, defined by Miss Kingsley, 447 ; four main divisions of, 448, in relation to witchcraft, id.
Fevers, bears1 hairs and claws used against, 155
Fibs, Feast of, Cos, 177
Fiji, worship of ancestral spirits in,
44 Fine of white bull, 356
Finger and thumb, why u not blessed*
279 Finland, folklore of, 104, national
value of, 461 ; magic of, 460;
magic songs of, 105, 106, 325, 331 Fire ; Bonfires on St. John's Eve, Cos,
179 ; burning bushes, Wexford,
362 ; burning straw effigy of Judas
at Easter, Cos, 178 ; burnt-offerings to make rain or find treasure, 230 ; Fire-ball at sea, 263 ;
Fire, (see Aryan ; Poker, red hot), ball of at sea, 263, blessed at bed- time, Hebrides, 260, bonfires on St. John's Eve, Cos, 179 ; burning bushes, Wexford, 363 ; burning straw effigy of Judas, at Easter, Cos, 178 ; burnt-offerings to make rain or find treasure, 230 ; in charms, 278, 280, 364 ; flames which do not consume, Ireland, 120-122, horse with fiery tail, ib.y 362 ; kiln-fire, euphemism for, Hebrides, 265 ; ordeal by, Japan, 310 ; Place of, in Australian myths, 28, 52 ; request for, Hebrides, 281
customs, Aryan, 139; as com- pared with water customs, 142
god of Japan, birth of, 300
Fires, village and house, folklore of,
139-HO
Fish in folklore, [see Salmon, Salmon- trout, Scar, Sturgeon, Tai-fish, Trout,) divination by fish-bones, Greek Isles, 182 ; unlucky to lull when spawning, Hebrides, 273
Fisher folks' May customs, see May Ladies
Fisherman unlucky to go to meet on first day of season, 270
" Fjort, Notes on the Folklore of the," with errata, by R. E. Dennett,
"3 Flax-skeins used to stop key-holes,
I75 0 Flies, 208
Flints found in Dorsetshire, 479 ; in Egypt, 87
Flood, (see also Deluge), in Indian folktales, 440
Flute, magic, Indian folktales, 420
Flying through the air, Indian folk- tales, 419-20
Folk -charms associated with old Scandinavian gods, 459
Folklore, a comparative study, 71, a definition of, 77, distinction be- tween practical and imaginative elements in, 145, historic method in, 147, a link between past and present, 73, methods of determining value of according to Gomme, 132, et sqq. ; in relation to the govern- ment of native races, 449
Folklore, value of publication, 66
Index*
5*7
Folklore : Old Customs attd Tales of my Neighbours, by Fletcher Moss, reviewed, 100
Folklore, The, in the Legends of the Panjab, by Lt.-Col. R. C. Temple,
384 Folk- Lore Society, its work and pre- rogatives, 86 Folk-medicine as shown in Parish
registers, 475 Folk-Song Society, founding of, 67 Folk-tales from the Greek Islands, By W R. Paton, The Three Apples, 495, The Ball of Silk, 498, The Three Heavenly Children, 499, The Pumpkin, 500 Fomalhaut, 36
Food, {see also Cakes), carried from house to house, Calymnos, 181 ; fairy, best avoided, 121 ; magic, to secure son, 393 Forecasts, see Death-forecasts Foretelling the future, 152, 154 Forest, walking, Arabia, 230 Fortune-tellers, skill of, Wexford, 364 Fortune-telling, Indian folklore, 430-
43i> 433 Foundlings in Indian -folklore, 425,
426 Fowls flying about as omen of death,
264; black, use of eggs laid on
Thursday, 169 Fox, the, 117, in Iceland, 460; in
Ireland, 354, 361 ; in Japanese
myth, 317 France, folklore of {see Normandy),
alien influences on, 79
ballads of and their travels, 99
— Brittany, see Legendes Locales,
and Veillies de Noel Paris, devils of Notre Dame,
359 sacred springs at Ambleteuse,
460 ; silence in mumming cere- monies of, 351 ; wide diffusion of legends of, 333 ; white rabbit, ill- omened in, 333 Freemen's dues, white bull as part of,
356
Freer, Miss A. Goodrich. The Powers of Evil in the Outer Hebrides, 259
Friday, old German augury for, 116; forbidden day for washing, Styria, 361 ; things lucky and unlucky to do on, Hebrides, 268
Friends, omen of separation if a living thing pass between them, 159
Frith or horoscope, Hebrides, 279 Frog's leg as cure for King's Evil,
480 Fruits, apples, 169, 495, fruit-trees
309, grapes, 179, pomegranates,
179, quince, 179 Fuath, the, Hebrides, 272 Fuegian natives, mental faculties of,
12 Funeral sacrifices, human, Egypt,
229, Japan, 322
Galway, Death or Deaf Coach in, 122, people carried to a distance by magic, id.
Gambling ceremonial, Indian folk- lore, 429
Games, Children's, English, Scotch and Irish, 336, Cock-warning, 337, Green Grass, 338, Green Gravel, 112, King Csesar, 336, Lamp-out, id., Touch, and Cross- Touch, 338
in Indian folklore, Chaupur or
Pachisi, 430
marriage and funeral, confusion
between, 338
Garlands on May Day, Cos, 178 ; of May Ladies, King's Lynn, 443-4
Garlic in May garlands to protect against Evil Eye, 178
Gayandy Spirit, the, Australia, 493
Gebel Assart, palaeolithic flints from,
87 Gelou, the witch, charm against, 163
Geographical test figure for folklore research, Gomme, 141 -3, Nutt on, 149
Germany, folklore of, birth auguries, 116 ; burning in effigy of Judas, at Heidelberg, 178; Pelzenichel festi- val observances, 180 ; switching cattle or passers-by, id.
Ghosts, absence of from old Japanese literature, 321 ; Australian belief in, 16, later than that in gods, 44, 45 ; Icelandic, 460 ; at midnight, India, 395 ; in Ireland, 120-2, obliged to go wherever sent, 123
Ghouls, Scandinavian folklore, 460
Giant, the, of Cerne, 482
Giants, Scandinavian folklore, 459
Gifts, magic, 496, of Midnight Children, 115
Giraffe, in African folktales, 288
Girgenti, Sicily, swine slain and eaten at festival near, 253
S**
Jndex.
Girl, to win love of, 169, used in
vulture-binding spell, 161
overlooked, Dorset, 488
Girl's figure as Tar Baby 285, 289,
291-2 Glass pot, the family, Ireland, 117 Glastonbury Tor. St. Michael's church
on, 359
Goat, Irish poem, 355 ; as wet-nurse, Greek folktale, 499
God, Australian natives' ideas on, 6, 7 ; contradictory aspects of in the Bible, 4, 13 ; evolution of, Lang's theory on, 2, 3 ; Israelite ideas 4,
5 God of the Everlasting world, cult of
in Japan, 318
— of Fire, birth of, id., 300 of Waters, India, 423
Gods of the Baronga, 226-7 > of the Japanese, 300
sacredness of names of, 39
Gold earrings in crescent form, Portu- gal, 457
— fairy, Greek proverb concerning, 182
tongue of, in Book of Joshua,
no
Gomme, G. L., Ethnological Data in Folklore, 129, a reply to the fore- going, by A. Nutt, 143
Mrs., first Honorary Member,
Good folk, the, {see also Fairies) 265
Gourds, 223
Grapes, in tithe-offering, Cos, 179 ;
301
Grass, (see Dub-grass), talking, In- dian folktales, 417
Graves of enemies, ploughed up, In- dian folklore, 442 ; lights seen on, Wexford, 362 ; offerings placed on, Greek Isles 180- 1
Great Bear, origin of conception of constellation, 340
Greek customs, Australian parallels,
44 (early) folklore, and national
characteristics, 146-7 folklore, Folklore from the
Southern Sporades, W. H. D.
Rouse, 150; Folktales from the
Greek Isles, W. R. Paton,
(Lesbos) 49s
human sacrifice, 40
Green called Blue, Hebrides, the
reason, 265
Green grass, game, funeral origin oP
338 Green Gravel, game of, by A. R.
Orage, 112 Greenland, conception in, as to the
Great Bear, 341 Greyhound, the, 362 Grogoragally, son of Baiame, his
attributes, 28, an Australian god,
52
Groningen, punishment at for dyke- injuring, 360
Ground-hog, 200,
Group, marriage, of the Arunta tribe, Australia, 235 ; traces of group- marriage among the Baronga, 225
Grove, Florence, Christmas Mum- mers, 351
Grove, Miss, suggests local Folklore Meetings in London, 67
Gun, spell shot from, 160
Gunpowder and gun of Sqaktktquaclt, 216
Gurgoyles, reason for, 359
Guru Gorakhnath, 394, divine attri- butes of, 395, magic of, 402
Gugga, tale of, 417 divine attri- butes of, 394
Nanak, Sikh ruler of Fate, 432
Guy Fawkes Day, as a subject of folk- lore study, 77
Gyloudes, a kind of female vampire,
151
Gypsy Folktales, by F. H. Groome, reviewed by A. Nutt, 239
Gypsies, date of their arrival in Britain, 241 ; as diviners and spell- workers, 152
Haarlem, Hartjesdag observances at, 246
Hachi-jo Island, parturition houses in, 310
Hadal demon, Bombay, 173
Hades, need of purification after visit- ing, 301-2
Hag-ridden horses, 487
Haida-Tsimshian tribes, totem of,
374
Hair in folklore, 108, 421, associated with idea of strength, 1 16, of bears, in magic potion, 15$; human, burnt in charms, 170, 230, 421, combing on Saturday, 183, cutting on Fridays, unlucky, 268
Half-head monster, 171 ; see One- armed
Index.
519
Halga, Halfdan's son, story of, 454 Ilaltia, the, of the Finns, 328 Hand-clapping, India, 405 Handley Down, excavations on, 89,
90 Hill do. , ib.
Hare, the, in African folklore, 222, 283, 290, 292 ; Dorsetshire do., witch form of, 488; demon taking form of, 262 ; in Irish folklore, 362
Milk, Denmark, 460
Hartjesdag observances, Haarlem, 246
Hart land, E. S., Australian Gods : Rejoinder, 46 ; Superstition regard- ing Women, 365 ; reviews by, Alcover's Aplech de Rondavcs Mat- lorquines, 243 ; Bye-gones relating to Wales and the Border Counties, 350; Clodd's Tom-Tit-Tot, 334; Gomme's Traditional Games of England, Scotland and Ireland, 336 ; Hofler's Deutsckes Krank- heitsnamen Buck, 476 ; Junot's Les Baronga, 225 ; Kingsley's West African Studies, 447 ; Lang's Myth, Ritual and Religion, 346 ; Parker's More Australian Legend- ary Tales, 231 ; Pitt- Rivers' Exca- vations in Cranbome Chase, 87 ; Rua's Tra Antic he Fiabe e Novel le, 102 ; Slbillot's Ugendes Locales de la Haute Bretagne, and Veillke de Noel, 458; Spencer and Gillen's Native Tribes of Central Australia, 233 ; Thiselton Dyer's Old English Social Life as told by the Parish Registers, 475 ; services of, to the Folklore Society, 66
Harvey, F. O., More Notes from Cyprus, 36$
Hawk the, little hawk as totem, 237 ; tortoise-eater hawk, Cos, 182
Hayato the, Imperial Guards, Japan,
312-3
Hazel switches for the cattle, Ger- many, 180, twigs of, in water- finding, 479
Head, the, in Indian folklore, 440
Headache &c, prevention of, 154
Head Hunters, 229
"Heads and Harps" in the Hebrides, 268
Health of expectant father, 101
Heart of bewitched cows tuck with pins and burnt, 483-5
Heart of lover caused to be eaten by
unchaste wife, Indian folktales, 442 Heaven in Baronga idea, 226-7 Hebrides, the Outer, The Powers of
Evil in, by Miss A. Goodrich-
Freer, 259 Hedgehogs, grateful, Indian folktales,
416, teased by Indian children,
439 Heidelberg, driving out Winter as a
straw man, 178 ; Pelzenichel cus- toms at, 180 Heifers and Oxen, Armenian tale,
470 Heir, female preferred in China, 229
to throne, ceremony of declaring,
Indian folktales, 438 Hel WeU, Cerne, 479 Helgi Hundingsbane, story of, 454 Helgi-lays, the, Bugge's theory con- cerning, 452 Hell, Hebridean euphemism for, 265 Hellenic myth, Babylonian origin of,
340
Hemp in charm-rope, 487
Hen, crowing, ill-omened, 181 -2 ; The Little Red Hen, Irish tale, 116,361; sacrifice of, in founda- tions of house, 118
Heraldry, white bulls and others in,
357 Hercules, two parallels, 230
Herefordshire folklore, A Crown of
Thorns, 489 Hero, the, in Panjab folktales, 390-1 Heroines, in do., 422 et sqq, Hervey Islands, wind-holes and wind- raising in, 250 Hiccough, Indian folklore, 435 High gods, Australia, undying, 492 Hiisi, Finnish tree-god, turned into a
devil, 329 Hippopotamus, as minder of deserted
children, S. Africa, 224 Htr, Indian story of, 428 Hlr& the deer, revenge of, Indian
folklore, 416 Historic method in folklore, 147 Hobamock, N. American Indian
snake-god, 21 Hobby Horse Dance, Staffordshire
and Wiltshire, 186 Hobgoblins, 360 Hohodemi, Japanese divinity, story
of, 311 Hoho no ninigi, Japanese divinity,
310
520
Index.
Holland, folklore of, Hartjesdag parallel to Yarmouth Kitty-witches, 246, punishment of dyke-breaker in, 361
Holy Apostles' Day, observances in Calymnos, 180-1
— Bread (see also Bread) used for finding stolen things, 154
— Eve, (Ireland) release of souls in purgatory on, 121
— ground, Australian instance,
383
Thursday, divinations on, 154 ;
earrings for children made on, id.
Water, in charms, 171, 175, in
Greek Isles, 175, 179 ; in Indian folklore, 419
Holy Week Observance in the Abruzzi, (letter) by Grant Allen, in
Home, The, of the Eddie Poems, with special reference to the Helgi-Lays, by Sophus Bugge, translated by w. II. Schofield, reviewed by F. Y. Powell, 450
Honorary Member, the first, 67
Ho no Susori, Japanese divinity, 310- 312
Hook of the above, 310-11
Hooper, Mrs. I., Burial Custom (London), 254
Horn Dance, Staffordshire, 186
Horoscopes, 153
Horse-hoof mark at Vatna's church, Norway, and Ambleteuse, France, 460
Horse, the, 262, 355, with fiery tail, 362
Horses, blessed before setting to new work, Hebrides, 260 ; buried in buildings, Denmark, 360; buried with owners, 101 ; dying, Hebri- dean euphemism for, 265 ; Hag- ridden, 487 ; Headless, Louth, 119 ; in Indian folktales, 415, lucky to mount with left foot, 43$, sacredness of, in, 440, winged, i6.t 419; stricken when praised, Hebrides, 266
Horsehair-tie round feet of cattle, Hebrides, 277
Horse-leap of Conjurer Mintern, 481
Horseshoe, folklore of, 456-7 ; nailed up against witches, 480
Hound of Culann, 218; of Ulster, id.
House burned, presumed Hebrides, 263
new, how protected from Evil
Eye, Greek Isles, 181
foundation-sacrifice in Ire- land, 118
Houses and furniture, in Hebrides, 275-6
special, for birth, marriage and
death, Japan, 300,310-12
Hulder folk, see Elves,
Human beauty affecting animals, India, 415-6
beings as gods, Japan, 317
sacrifice, [see Holy Week) to
ensure birth of son, Panjab, 392, funeral, in Egypt, 229, id., Greek, 40, 182
Humming-bird shape of Sqaktkt- quaclt, 203
Humpty Jack in Warwickshire morn- ing plays, 188
Hurrying a milkmaid, Hebrides, 270
Hus, the brothers, story of, 344-5
Husband not referred to by name, India, 441
Hypnotism by conjurers in Scandi- navia, 460
Iceland, fairies of, 459, ghosts of, 460, tale-sprite of, id., wise men of, and their arts, id.,
Icelandic folklore, see ^tidsogur eg Munnmali
Icons used for foretelling the future,
154 Idols, chained, 420
of Okeus, none, 40
none, in Australia, 39
Idzumo, town, 305, ancient civilisa- tion of, 309
Fudoki, sacred book of Japan,
297
Iliad the, ship catalogue of, 220
Ilmarinen, Finnish god, 105-7, 328-9
Images, speaking, moving and heal- ing, 230-1
Imbe or medicine-men of Japan, 307
Immortality of animals, Indian folk- lore, 415
■ idea of shown in Indian folklore, 398 ; and re-appearance, id., 394, et sqq.
— - of the soul, whether a doctrine I of old Japan, 322
Index.
521
Incantations, 230
Incendiarism to secure birth of son, Panjab, 392-3
Inclusae, or wall-dwelling holy women, 360
India, folklore of, (see Panjab), bridge crossed by soul after death, 349 ; cattle-switching and parallels, 180 ; Daitya demon, of, 173, Hadal demon, id. ; infanticide of girl- babies and causes for, 436, 437 ; marriage customs in, 438, law of divorce, 409-10, the swayamvara, 429 ; sick children riding on bears, 155 ; Sati, 412 ; Yama, god of underworld, 301
" Infection theory " in Home of Eddie Poems i 455
Inheritance, modes of claiming, Indian folklore, 439
Initiatory ceremonies, (see Bora), Indian folklore, 438-9
Insect folklore, Ants, 170, 215, riding- ants, 170; Beetles, 227; Cricket, 416 ; Flies, 208 ; Lice, 196-7 ; Mosquitos, 208 ; Wasps, id.; Witchetty-grub, 378
Instruction of Cuchullin, and parallels, 220
Intichiuma ceremonies, Australia,
Invisibility, charm to secure, 171 ; in Indian folktales, 421
Invocation of saints, &c, India, 405, 420
Ireland, (see Cuchullin Saga) dangers of going out at night in, 122 ; The Couvade? 119; The Little Red Hen tale, 116, 361 ; death- warn- ing, 122, 248 ; Newts and asks, superstitions regarding, 251 ; size of fairies in, 360 ; Some Wexford Folklore, 362 ; tales, value of the older, 219 ; Starting a new House, 118 ; Traditions and Superstitions, Co. Louth, 119; war goddesses of, 455 ; white cattle of, 355
Iris, 302
Iron, (see Nails), 457, as charm against witchcraft, 364, dress and boots of, Greek tale, 501
Israelite ideas of God, 4, 5
Italy, (see Bologna, and Sicily), Holy Week Observance in the Abruzzi, 111; the Pesce Nicolo of Naples, 230 ; silence in mumming cere- monies of, 35 1 ;
Ithyphallic divinities, Scandinavia and
England, 482 Ivy worn by Summer in German sham
fights, 178 Izanagj and Izanami, Japanese gods
creation gods, 299, 300, 301, 304,
317, 318
Jack the Giant-Killer, oldest recorded
form of tale, 242 Jalandhar, Saints of, 394
{ames, M. H. , Cure for Ague, 365 a pan (see Mikados) dances of, 306, 307, divorce, in early myths, 301, houses set apart for birth, marriage and death, 300, 310-12; idols chained in, 420 ; washing of mourners, in, 302 Japanese Myth, by W. G. Aston, 294;
The Sacred books of Japan, 294 The Mythical Narrative, 297 The Place of Shinto in the Science of Religion, 313 Jar, unused, in Aeginetan lot custom,
{aro, the sorcerer, Baloch hero, 393 ay, (see also Blue Jay), in Australian myths, 50 Jealousy, wifely, in Indian folk-tales,
423 Jephthah's daughter, Indian variant,
408 Jevons, F. B., The Place of Totemism
in the Evolution of Religion, 369 Jewel-spear, of heaven, Japan, proba- ble origin of, 299 Jewels, Kami, Japan, 317 ;
in myth, id., 306
Jewish, (see also Israelite), search for
Moses, Cos, 176 Jimmu Tenno, first Mikado, date of,
294, his father, 312 Jones, Bryan J., Traditions and
Superstitions collected at Kilcurry
Co. Louth, (map), with comments
by W. B. Yeats, 119 Judas, straw effigy of burned, Cos
etc., 178 Juno's lustration, Japanese parallel,
302
Kaffir metaphysician, a, 9 Kagura dances, Japan, 307 Kaleva, giant, legend of, 107 Kalevala, the, Abercromby on, 105 Kalevipoeg's stone-throwing, 107
524
Index.
March, H. Colley, Dorsetshire Folk- lore collected in 1897., 478
Marchen, 45, 50
Marriage, customs and beliefs, African, traces of group-marriage among the Baronga, 225, customs in Zanzibar, 229 ; Australian, 8, 36, of the Arunta tribe, 235 ; English, doors locked during ceremony, 350, woman married in her shift, 476 ; Hebridean, lucky day for, 267 ; Indian, 438, divorce in, 409-10, the swayamvara, 429 ; Japanese, ritual of, early, 300
group, tribal and anti-tribal, as
connected with water or fire cus- toms, 143
Married people, binding-spells for, 154, spells to unbind, 157, 159
Mars, 453
Marsh-ragwort, lucky against Evil Eye, Hebrides, 275
Martin Down, problem of its en- trenchment, 94-5
Martyrs, names of worn round neck,
154 Mary-beans, worn as charms, 262
May-Day, garlands and processions on at King's Lvnn, 443 ; in con- nection with invisibility charm, Cos, 171 ; switching the cattle, Germany, 180
festivals, oak-leaves in, 102
— Ladies at King's Lynn, (foot- note) by Dr. Plowright, (ill. ), 443
May- Pole dances, Dorsetshire, 481,
482 season for divination by the
Voice, 154 the Twenty-first, food carried
from house to house, Calymnos,
181 Mayo, County, folklore of, 122 Meave's army, Irish folklore, 218 Mecklenburg, cattle-switching on
May Day, 180 Mediaeval folk-poetry and modern,
98
Medicine, (see Folk-medicine), gods of in Japan, 309
men, N. American Indian,
Japanese parallels, 307
Medical folklore, (see also Diseases), Ague, charms against, Greek Isles, 1 6$, cure for, Suffolk, 365 ; beads or silk worn to keep off diseases, Greek Isles, 154; Burns and scalds
cures for, Kilkenny, 252; Con- sumption, snakeskin as cure for, Zanzibar, 231 ; Dislocation spell, 331 ; Erysipelas, charm against, 167 ; Fevers, bears' hairs and claws to prevent, 155 ; Headache to pre- vent, 154 ; King's Evil, toad cure for, 479-80 ; Pleurisy, charm against, 331 ; Rheumatism, charm against, Greek Isles, 154, sacred tree, and passing through window in chapel to cure sick child, tb.t 181 ; snakes to bring health, 16. , 154 ; sudden feeling of sinking, cured by butter in warm milk, 280 ; Sunstroke, charm against, Greek Isles, 166-7 ; Wart cure, 479 ; Whooping-cough cure, 488-9 Medical folklore from Cos, 165 Meetings, 58, $9. 60, 257, 294, 324,
383. 443. 444 Meleager, story of, 453
Melkarth of Tyre and parallel, 230
Members deceased, 58, 59, 63, 383,
443 elected, 58, 59, 63, 257, 294,
383> 443 first Honorary, elected, 67
resigned, 58, 59, 257, 294 383,
resignation withdrawn, 443
Mermen and maidens, Scandinavian folklore, 460
Merscburger Gebet, in Finn Songs,
331 Messages from the gods, Japan,
307-8 Metals, (see Copper, Iron, Lead,
Nails, Pins), unlucky to use in
tilth on Friday, Hebrides, 268 Metempsychosis, in Indian folktales,
411, 412, in Scandinavian tales,
455 Metamorphosis, {see also Shapeshift-
ing,), in Indian folktales, 410 Mexican objects presented by Pro- fessor F. Starr, 66, exhibited and explained by him, 445 Michael, the Archangel, 162 Midnight Children, by F. Peacock,
"5 Midnight, the ghosts' hour, India,
395 visitors, rules for admitting,
Hebrides, 269 Midsummer, see St. John's Eve and
Day Mikados, the, of Japan, deified, 317,
526
Index.
Naples, Pesce Nicolo of, 230
Nasnas, demon, the, 173
Nason, R. M., Burial Custom (in Northumberland) 254
Native Tribes, The, of Central Aus- tralia, by Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen, reviewed by E. S. Hartland, 233 ; comments of Jevons on, 379
Nature worship, the original religion of Japan, 313
Necklace of Indian ascetics, origin of, 418
Neqoi'stem fall, North America, legend of, 216
Nereids, as disease-givers, 168
Nerses, the Graceful, allegories by,
473 Neston, locking doors during marriage
ceremony at, 350 Netherlands, folklore of, Hartjesdag
the, 246, punishment of dyke-
injurer in, 361 New Year's eve, the beasts endowed
with reason on, Cos, 177 tide, Crown of Thorns woven at,
Herefordshire, 489 Newbold, Christmas Mummers at, 187 Newt, the, Superstitions relating to,
E. Peacock, 251 Nibelung Treasure, the, in English,
by L. F. Mott, 477 Nicola valley, men of turned to rocks,
213 Night, (see also Midnight and
Sleepers), dangers of going out at
Ireland, 122 Nightingale, sent as messenger, Greek
Isles, 183 Nightmares, Scandinavian folklore,
460 Nihongi, the, sacred book of Japan,
295-6, myths in, 297 Nile rising, importance to Egypt,
109 ; sources in Paradise, 230 Nimchahrah demon, Persia, 172-3 Niwal Dai, story of, India, 417 Nocturnal Adventures, Wexford,
362-3 Nodhbandagh the Gold-Scatterer,
Baloch Hero, 407 Noises in the ear, evil omen, Greek
Isles, 181 Non-committal answers of Aincan
natives, 287 #
Noorele and his Sons, Murnng belief concerning, 32 ; 37
Norfolk folklore, May Ladies at King's Lynn, {ill.), 443 ; super- stition regarding women, 365 Norito, Shinto liturgies, 296 Normandy, St. Michael's Mount in,
359 North America, absence of domesti-
able animals in, 376, in relation to
totemism, 377 Northamptonshire, folklore of,
method of finding the drowned
in, 114 Northumberland, touching face of
corpse to prevent dreaming of the
deceased, 254 Norway, legendary cause of the Black
death in, 460; musical elves of,
459 ; sacred spring and horsehoof
print at, Vatna s church in, 460 Nosses or Brownies, Scandinavian
folklore, characteristics and dress
of, 460 " Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort "
errata in, etc., by R. E. Dennett,
"3 Notre Dame cathedral, Paris, Devils
of, 359
Ntlakapamuq Indians, British Columbia, and the story of Sqaktktquaclt, 195
Ntengu bird, in African folktales, 224, 284
Numerals used in enchantment, 307, 418
Numbers, magic, India, 418
Nurrulbooroo, All-seeing spirit, Aus- tralia, 491
Nut, magic, 496
Nutt, A., Ethnological Data in Folk- lore, a Reply, 143 ; Presidential Address, Britain and Folklore, 71 ; reviews by, Curtin's Creation Myths of Primitive America, 341 ; Groome's Gypsy Folk- Tales, 239 ; Pineau's Vieux Chants Populaire Scandinaves, 95
Oak-leaves at May festivals, 102
tree, and Zeus, 19
Oaths in Indian folklore, 408-10
Oeneus, 453
Offerings, Indian, must involve self- denial, 407
Offley, Sir John, his caul, 101
O^res, in Greek folklore, see Lesbos ; in Indian folktales, {see Rikhas*
Index.
5«7
413-4, 424; in South African tales, 224
Ogresses, Indian, 424
Onarai, prayer, Japan, 296
Oho-na-muchi, Japanese deity of Idzumo, and his guardian spirit, 309, his boast reproved by this spirit, 320
Okeus, Virginian god, his idols, 40
Oil in spell against Evil Eye, 164
Olaf Trygvason's guards, 220
Old Chnstmas {see also Epiphany), blaze night customs on, 101
Old English Social Life as told by the Parish Registers, by T. F. Thiselton Dyer, reviewed by E. S. Hartland, 475
Old gods, Scandinavia, 459
"Old gray noddle," song in Rugby mumming play, 193, music for, 194
Old Man o? the Sea, 230
Old men, position of in Australia, 40
Olelbis, and the brothers Hus, American Indian story, 344-5
Olive, wild, in magic, 159, 161
Om, Hebrides, 272
Omens, {see also Auguries, Death- warnings etc.)» bad, cock-crowing at unusual hour, Hebrides, 262-3 » from the Greek Isles, 181 ; of death, 248, 264, 364, 480 ; white rabbit, 333 ; good and bad, in Indian folklore, 434-5 ; from chance words, Greek Isles, 153
One-armed and one-eyed folk in South African legends, 224 ; see Half-head
Oni or spirits of the dead, invisibility of in Japanese tales, 321-2
Onion, wild, hung on lintel to avert Evil Eye, 181
Oobi Oobi, site of Australian heaven,
54 Oorooma, Australian place of fire, 28,
52 Oracles in Indian folklore, 430,431
Orage, Alfred, R., The Game of Green Gravel, 112
Ordeals in Indian folktales, 428, 429 ; by fire etc., in Japan, 310
Oscar, 220
Osmanli Proverbs and Quaint Say- ings, by Rev. E. J. Davis, reviewed, 103
Otters, 354
"Our Father" in Australian mytho- logy, 10, 11, 21-4, 35, 37-9i 47
Our Lady's Eyes, colour of, 275 Overlooking, cure for, Dorset, 488
by the Devil, 358
Owl, grey, Eerin transformed into, 55 Oxen, wild, 354
Pacific folklore ; Wind holes and wind-selecting, Hervey group, 250
Paivola Saari, Finnish land of plenty, 330
Panjab, Legends of the, The Folk- lore in, Lt. Col. R. C. Temple,
384
P'anku, Chinese myth of, 303
Pantomimic dances, Australian, 42, 43* 44 J Japanese, 307, 312
Papang, Australian God, equivalent to Father, 10
Paper prayer worn against rheuma- tism, 154
Papers read, 59, 60, 64, 71, 258, 294,
383> 444
Paradise, the source of the Nile in, 230
Parbati, 395
Paris, the stone devils of Notre Dame cathedral in, 359
Parrots, in Indian folktales, 415 ; the wise, of Raja Rasalu, 417, 441 ; ungrateful, 416
Parturition-houses in Japanese folk- lore, 310
Passing through window in chapel to cure sick children, Cos, 181
Paternity, Arunta view of, 237 ; primitive philosophical conclusions on, 131, 145
Pathan hospitality 440
Paton, W. R., Folktales from the Greek Isles, The Three Apples, 495, The Ball of Silk, 498, The Three Heavenly Children, 499, The Pumpkin, 500
Peach fruit, 317
Peacock, sacred in India, 440
Peacock, E., Superstitions relating to the Newt, 251
F., Midnight Children, 115;
reviews by, Blakeborough's Wit, Character and Customs of the North Riding, 349 ; Lawrence's Magic of the Horseshoe, 456
M., A Crown of Thorns, 489 ;
Death-warnings, 248 ; The Little Red Hen, 361 ; Wall Burial, 361 ; Wind and Weather-holes, 249 ;
528
Index.
review by, Slbtflot's Litteraiure
Orale de rAuvergne, 333 Pearls in Indian folktales, 437, origin
ascribed to, 438 Pellervo, 106-7
Pelzenichel customs, Heidelberg, 180 Penance, after death, 122 Perkele, Finn name for Devil, 329 Perkunas, thunder god of Lithuania,
329 Persia, folklore of ; the half-face
demon, 172-3; water-wheel of, des- cribed in Indian tale, 430
Personification, weak among the Japanese, 316
Persons lucky to meet and the reverse. Hebrides, 271
Perun, Slavonic thunder god, 330
Phallic worship, traces of in Japan, 299
Phooka, Wexford, 362
Physiologus, Armenian book, 472,
475 Piebald colt of Heaven, Japanese
myth, 304-5 Pig, 36$ with pigeon inside, 497 ;
form of, assumed by demon, 262 ;
as phooka, 362-3 Pigs, buried in walls, Denmark, 360 Pigeon entering house omen of
death, 122, 248, 333 Pigeon's egg, to annul oath on
Quran, 409 Piggiebillah, 493 Pill well, Cerne, 479 Pillar, central of house, in Japanese
myth, 299, 300 ; pillar gods of
Corea, 300 ; saint half-buried in,
361
Pillars, of Hercules, 230
Pins stuck into hearts of animals to punish witch, 483-5, 488
Pipal -trees, talking, in Indian folk- talc, 417
Piru, Finn name for the Devil, 329
Pitta-pitta tribe, Australia, mode of reckoning descent amongst, 235
Place names in Glengarry and Glen- quoich and their Origin, by E. C Ellice, reviewed by W. A. Craigie, 244
Plane-tree where all the birds of heaven roost, Greek folktale, 497
Plantain, talking, Indian tale, 417
Plants, amulets made of, 152
Plants {see also Fruits and Trees) in folklore, see Aloes, Bamboos, Bar-
ley, Basil Beans, Cabbage, Docken- stems, Dub-grass, Flax, Garlic, Gourd, Ivy, Laurel, Marsh-rag- wort, Mary-beans, Myrtle, Rice, St. Columba's armpit, St. John's wort, Speaking plants
Plate in sunstroke charm, 167
Plowright, Dr., May Toadies, at King's Lynn, (UL\ 443
Plucking or flicking the dress of the beloved for luck, Cos, 180
Plums talking, Indian folktales, 417
Poets and their powers, Iceland, 460
Pohjola, Finnish land of gloom, 330 ; its mistress and her deeds, 107
Poker, red hot, to heat bath for new- born child, 457
Pomegranates in tithe-offering, Cos, 179
Porto Empedocle, swine slain and eaten on the Feast of the Assump- tion, 253
Portugal, crescent-shaped gold ear- rings in, 457
Potiphar story, Lizard and serpent version of, Indian folklore, 416
Possession by spirits, Indian, 422
Post with human head worshipped in Corea, 300
Powell, F. York, reviews by, Bugge's Home of the Eddie Poems, 450 ; Craigie's, Scandinavian Folklore, 459 ; Hull's Cuchullin Saga, 217 ; Thorkelsson's "pitdsogur og Afunn- mali. Nytt safn, 461
Powers, the, of Evil in the Outer Hebrides by Miss A. Goodrich- Freer, 259
Praise, ill -effects of, 266, to combat, id., 267
Praising a woman, unwise, Indian folklore, 423
Prayer in Indian folktales, 405, for son, id., 393
Prayers, and crosses against the Evil Eve, 164 ; for the dead, Australia, 28, 34, 55 ; to imprison ghost, 121
Pre- and Proto- Historic Finns, The, both Eastern and Western, with the Magic Songs of the West Finns, Hon. John Abercromby, reviewed by C. J. Billson, 325
Presidential Address, (Britain and Folklore), by A. Nutt, 71
Index.
529
Priestesses, revelations by, Japan,
307 Priesthood, germ of hereditary, in
Australia, 383 Princess, rescued from monster, Greek
folktale, 497 Prison-breaking charm, Cos, 170 Prisoner, releasing ensures good luck,
441
Procession at Girgenti, 253
Prometheus, 230
Prophetic powers of Indian saints,
410 Propitiation, India, 406 Proserpine, effects on, of eating
underworld food, 301 Psalms as charms, 154, 170 Publications of the Society, 65, in
hand, 1899, 66, projected, 68 Puck equivalent to devil, 359 Pullen, Canon, cited, see Allen,
Grant, Pundjel, Australian god (see Bun-
jil). 7 Punishments, in Indian folktales,
441-2; in early Japanese myth,
306, 308 Puran Bhagat, story of, 406 Purgatory, souls released from on
Holy Eve, Ireland, 12 1 Puy-de-Ddme, goblin in form of white
rabbit in, 333 Pyramids, as means of escape from the
Flood, 230 Pyrencan folklore, Bridge of the Soul,
349 Pytho, spirit of possessed by women,
154 Pythonist of West well, the, 155
Queen Mab, 218
Queen's County, Ireland, the dry ask
used as cure in, 252 Quicksilver in loaf to discover drowned
body. 114 Quince in tithe-offering, Cos, 179 Quoit, of Krishna, 418 Quran, Oaths on, India, 409
Rabbit, 222, in Tar Baby Story, 282 ;
white, ill-omened, 333 Rags hung on sacred tree as part of
cure, Cos, 181 ; Japan, 306 Rainbow, omen of death, 364 Rainbringers, Australia, 1 1, India,
399
Rain-making ceremonies of the Ba-
ronga, 227 Raja Dhol, vicarious cure in legend
of, 403
Hodi, 441
— Jai Singh of Jaipur, his private
moon, 397, Rasalu, tale of, 427, his wise
parrot, 417, 441
Sarkap, and his infant daughter,
436
Rajput custom of s&ka, 442 Rakhas in Indian folklore, 412-3 Ram Singh Kuka, miracle attributed
to, 401 Rat, the, 1 16
Rat-charmer, Wexford, 364 Rath or barrow, burning but uncon-
sumed, bushes at, Wexford, 362 Rational, word as employed by Lang,
14, 347 Raun, rhyme of the Aoine, 272
Rauni, wife of Ukko the Fin god,
328 Red, in magic ceremony, 155 Redmond, P., The Little Red Hen,
116 ; Some Wexford Folklore, 362 Reed, -boat, child placed in, Japanese
myth, 299-300 Re-incarnation theories of the Arunta,
235. 237 Religion, as defined by Lang, 14,
346
Religion, The Place of Totemism in the Evolution of, F. B. Jevons, 369
Religious devotion, Darwen cited on, 11 ; ideas among savages, 2, 15
Reptiles in folklore; see Ask, Eft, Newt, Serpents, Snakes, Toad, Tortoise, Turtles
Researches into the Origin of the Primitive Constellations of the Greeks Phoenician and Baby- lonians, by R. Brown, Junr., re- viewed by W. Crooke, 339
Restoration of persons and trees from ashes or decay, India, 398
Reviews, (for details, see Table of Contents), 87, 217, 325, 447
Rheumatism, paper prayers worn against, 154
Rhine, lower, cattle-switching along, 180
Rhodes, Island of, modes of averting Evil Eye in, 181
Rice-fields of the Japanese Sun- goddess, 304-5
VOL. X.
2 M
53°
Index.
Rice's fort, Louth, legends of, 119-20 Riches in Indian folk-tales, 399, et
sqq. Riddles, Anvergne, 334 ; as tasks,
India, 429 Riding-ants, used in charm-potion,
170 Ritual the parent of myth, 19 River miracles, India, 399 Rivers and springs, haunted, 181 Robin Goodfellow, 360 Rocks, people changed into, 208, 2x3,
215 Rode Shah, Indian Saint, story of,
400 Rods, used in driving cattle and
horses, Hebrides, 262 Romantic revival of the 1 8th century,
84, its chief outcome, 85 Romans, traces of in barrows of
Bronze Age, 89, and in trenches,
95 Ronga version of the Tar Baby story,
289
Rope in butter charm, Wexford, 364 ; reaching to the sky, Baronga idea, 227
Ropes of twisted hemp and new scarlet silk as charm, 487
Rosary, Indian, origin of, 418
Roscommon, belief in water-horses in, 123
Rosewater in love philtre, 170
Roses in Sicilian processions, 253
Ros na Rig, Irish tale, 452
Rouse, W. II. D., Christmas Mum- mers at Rugby, (*"//.), 186 ; Folk- lore from the Southern Sporades,
Rowan (see Mountain Ash) twigs in water-finding, 479
Rubies, in Indian folklore, origin ascribed to, 437-8
Rugby, Christmas Mummers at, W. H. D. Rouse, (*//.), 186
Russia, {see also Finland), favour- able field for folklore study, 80
Sacred books of Japan, 294
cattle, Damara land, 371, 377
objects, Australia, 383
pools India, 419
spring of Vatnd's church, Nor- way, French parallel, 460
— — thread, India, {see also Buarach), oaths made on, 409
Sacred tree, Cos, in core of side child,
181, of Japan, 306 Sacrifice, Animal, in Denmark, 360,
in Greek Isles, 177, in Sicily,
(modern), 253, in Scotland, 353 compounded for by fines, early
Japan, 306, 308 human, funeral in Egypt, 229,
in Greek legend, 40, foundation,
183 ; in Panjab, 392 to totems, 374
Sacrificial feasts, influence of, 371
Saint Allpitiful, 16S
Andrew's Day, cakes laid on
graves on, Calymnos, 180- 1
— Austin's Well, Cerne, curative properties of, 479, showing faces of those about to die, at Easter, 480 Bride's genealogy, recited against
Evil Eye, 261
— Brigid, well etc., of, Kilcurry, 121
— Columba, the patron of cattle, Hebrides, 262 ; his sister, 271-2 his day, 267
— Colu mba's armpit, plant, 275
— Cosmas, 168
— Cuthbert, bulls sacrificed to,
353
— Damian, 168
— Dominic's church, Bologna, body of saint half-encased in pillar at, 361
— Dunstan, 476
— Eustace, Finnish form of, 329
— Gabriel's altar on the tower of St. Gall, 359
— Gall, monastery, towers of, 359
— George, 169, in Warwickshire mumming, 187, et sqq.
— GeVaud's porch, wraiths seen at on All Souls, 333
— John, invoked in charm against half-head monster, 172
Baptist, invoked against
sunstroke, 166 ; why potent against ague, 165
Day, and Eve, water and
fire customs on, in Cos, 178-9
Eve, Aeginetan custom of
the lot on, 155 ; spirits go to Buck- land church, 481
wort, lucky plant, Hebrides,
275
— Laurence and the Wind, wide diffusion of tale in France eta,
334
Index.
531
Saint Mark's Eve, time to watch the church-porch, 333
Michael {see also Michael, Arch- angel), altar on the tower of St. Gall, 359
Michael's church, Glastonbury
Tor, 359
Mounts, Cornwall and
France, 359 — Nicola,' church of, Girgenti, procession from, 253
Peter's church, Ambleteuse,
sacred spring and horsehoof print at, Norwegian parallel, 460 Stephen, 169
Saints and holy persons, in India,
393, lavishness of, 407, miracles
worked by, 397, invocation of 40$ ;
prophetic powers of, 410 Samos, modes of averting Evil Eye
in, 181 Santa Maria delle Grazie, Girgenti,
festival at, 253 Saka, Rajput custom of, 442 Sakaki, tree, Japan, 306 Sakhi Sawar, raiser of the dead,
India, 401 Salisbury, Hobby Horse at, 186 Salmon, 202 Salmon-trout, ib Sammas, see Sampo Sampo myth, Finland, 106, 107 Sampsa Pellervoinen, 107 Sanctuary in Indian folklore and
custom, 440-1 Sandal-tree, talking, Indian folk-tale,
417
Sargon and his ark, parallels, 300
Satan, {see also Devil), 469, in a Mohammedan book of wonders, 230
Sati, custom of, India, 412
Saturday, old German birth-augury for, 1 16 ; day for using love philtres, 169; forbidden to comb hair on, Greek lay, 183 ; unlucky and lucky things to do on, Hebrides, 268 ; vampires do not rise on, 173
Savage conceptions of religion, 2y et sqq ; natural characteristics of, 10
Savings invested in gold ornaments, Portugal, 457
Scandinavia, favourable field for folk- lore research, 80
Scandinavian folklore, {see Eddie Poems) ; Illustrations of the Tra-
ditional Beliefs of the Northern Peoples, by W. A. Craigie, re- viewed by F. Y. Powell, 459 Scavengers, Indian, and their saint,
405, 438
Scar, fish, bone of used in divination, 182
Scarlet silk, new, in charm rope, 487
Scorpion, in Indian folklore, 440
Scotland, folklore of, (see Place Names in Glengarry, and Powers of Evil in the Hebrides), animal sacrifices in, 353
Sea, purification in, Japanese myth, 301 ; more blessed than the land, Hebrides, 260- 1 ; Old Man of, and his daughter, Japanese myth, 311 ; spells and curses cast into, 160-1 ; talismans for causing rise and fall of, 312
Sea-bogies, Scandinavian folklore, 460
Seal-man, the, cannibal turned into a seal, 215
Seals the bodies of self-drowned per- sons, Scandinavia, 460
Season and nature myths, absence of in early Japanese myth, 323
Second sight, Greek Isles, 154, of Indian witches, 424
Secret Societies of Africa, 226
Sedit and the two brothers Hus, American Indian tale, 344
Self-sacrifice, mutilation etc., to gain aid from the Powers, India, 407
Semitic Influences in Hellenic Mytho- tyy* with special reference to the works of At. Hon. Prof Max Muller, and Mr. Andrew Lang, by R. Brown Junr., reviewed by W. Crooke, 339
" Sendings " of animals and of raised corpses, Ireland, 460
September 1, 179, 180-1
Serpents, affected by music, India, 415 ; daughter of, magic of, id., 402 ; form of Hobamock, 21 ; eight- headed, of Koshi slain by Susa no wo, 308 ; grateful, 416 ; of lakes and rivers, 460 ; lizard and serpent version of the Potiphar story, 416 ; powers of, 414-5 ; serpent- women or Nagnis, 424
Seven sleepers, name for hybernating creatures, Wexford, 364
Seventh Son, touching for disease by,
47S
532
Index.
Sex of unborn child, divining, Greek Isles, 182
Shadow, Dog and, in Armenian tale, 468 ; pierced to cause death of owner, 211
Shamans of the Finns, io<j
Shape-shifting, (see Sqaktktquaclt), of Brer Rabbit, 286 ; of man to his yunbeai (individual totem), 491 ; in the Hebrides, 273 ; of the Scandinavian Nosses, 460 ; of the Sea-King's daughter, 312 ; of ser- pents, 414; among Wintu and Vana tribes, N. America, 343, 344
Sheep, in folktale, Lesbos, 496 ; to avert evil from, Hebrides, 265 ; blesssing, binding, 161 ; breaking the luck of the flock, 272 ; ram and ewe, 355 ; unlucky to kill on Friday, 268
Shepherd invasion of Egypt, its reason, 231
Shikk demon, Arabia, 172*3
Shinto gods, female the more promi- nent, 303
— , The Place of in the Science of Religion, by W. G. Aston, 313
religion, absence of idols in, 300
basis of, 314, central feature of, 297
liturgies, myths in, 296 ;
priestesses, "revelations" of, 307-8; anthropomorphism in, 315 ; spiritism in, 319
Shisumbwa version of Tar Baby tale, 285
Shrines as sanctuary in Indian folk- lore, 440, visited to secure male heir, India, 393
Sibou, god of Egypt, 231
Sicily, folklore of ; Death of /Eschy- lus, 182 ; A Sicilian Festival, by H. W. Carr, 252
Sickness, (see also Disease and Medi- cinal folklore), charms against, 152,
154 Sigrun in the Eddas, 454
Sikh ruler, the, of Fate, 432
Silence in carnival mumming, 351 ; in spell-making, 155, and in spell- breaking, 159-60
Silk, new scarlet, in charm-rope, 487; twisted for vulture-binding, 161 ; worn round neck to keep off diseases, 154
Silver in water, against Evil Eye, 278, 281
Sin, Indian idea of, 435-7
Siva, 395
Skana the demon, 374
Skipwith, G. H., Lincoln Minster,
Lincoln College Oxford, and the
Devil, 357 Skulls to avert Evil Eye, Greek Isles,
181 ; of enemies as drinking cups,
India, 442 ; unlucky to remove,
101 ; with nails in them, Lincoln- shire, 457 Sky or Heaven, the source of life,
Baronga belief, 227 Sleepers insulted by the Kalikazari,
175-6 Sleeping beauty tale, a stolen bride
story, 426
on the bench, Hebrides, 269
chiefs, awakening of, Indian
folklore, 439 under large trees, dangers of,
Greek Isles, 181 Sligo, folklore of, people carried to a
distance, 122 Smelling involving tasting, Greek
Isles, 182 Smith-god, one-eyed, of Japanese
myth, 307 magic of the Finns, set
Ilmarinen Smoke in boxes in Ntlakapamuq tale,
208 Snaithean or charms against Evil Eye,
Hebrides, 275, how made and used,
279, 280-1 Snake or Snakes, see Serpents and
Wheel -snakes, Snake-bite, charms for, India, 404 god, of North American Indians,
21 bringing health, Greek Isles,
154, head of in charm, 171, heads
of those killed while changing skins
in unbinding spells, 160; skins in
cures, 154, 231 Sneezing, in Greek Isles, 1S1, in
India, 435 Social organisation, totemism, 373 Socotra, Aloe of, 231, Christians
in, 230 Solar theory as applied to Irish folk- lore, 218 Solomon, King, spirits bound by,
162 Some Wexford Folklore, by Philip
Redmond, 362 Somersetshire, see Glastonbury
Index.
533
Son, importance of possessing to
Indian people, 392, 393 " Son of God," birth of, Australian
folklore, 53 Songs of the Baronga, 221-2 in divination by water, Cos,
178-9 Sore eyes, cured in St. Austin's Well,
Cerne, 479 Sorrow, signs of, Indian folklore,
439 Soothsayers, penances for, 152
Sorcerers, North American belief in,
21 Soul crossing bridge after death, 349 ;
inhabiting totem after death, 375,
or animal, 376 of newly dead person, its travels,
I2i, 123 Southern Sporades, Folklore from, by
W. H. D. Rouse, 150 South Lodge Camp, excavations in,
88, 91 Space-overcoming, Indian folklore,
419 Spain, Basque provinces, silence in
mumming ceremonies in, 351 ; con- querors of, 230 Spear, copper-headed magic, 21 1,
212 ; magic of Keito, 330 Speech of creatures, Indian folktales,
416, and of things, 417 Spell cast into the sea, 160, shot out
of gun, ib.y Spinning, when wrong to do,
Hebrides, 268, in Styria, 361 — — wheel, band of, removed at
times of death, Hebrides, 260 ;
blessing of, ib.t Spirits, of the dead in Japanese
myths, 321-2 ; Great, and those
bound by Solomon, 162 ; guardian,
Japanese myth, 309, 320 ; newly
dead, long travels of, 121, 123;
possession by, Indian folklore, 422 ; Spiritualistic seance among native
Australian women, 492 Spitting, virtues of, Japanese folklore,
3"»3i3 Spittle for infant lustration, 229
Split man demon, 171
Sporades, Southern, see Southern Sporades, supra,
" Sqaktktquaclt," or the Benign- faced, the Oannes of the Ntlaka- pamuq, British Columbia, by C. Hill-Tout, 195
Staffordshire, the Horn Dance in, 186
Stairway to the sky, American Indian tale, 344-5
Starr, Prof. F., address by, on Folk- lore of Mexico, 444, dinner to and presentation to, 445, Mexican objects presented by, 66
Staves in Demon-expelling New Year Ceremony, Japan, 321
Steel, see Iron, and Knife
Stepmother in Indian folktales, 424
Sterility, white bulls sacrificed in ceremonies to cure, 355
Sticks carried in a circle, 1 54
Stolen things found by means of Holy Bread, 154
Stone, black bound on forehead, to give strength, 179 ; as substitute used by the Little Red Hen, 361
Stones and rocks, the crystal rock of Baiame, 19, 51-2, 55 ; Esthonian legend of boulders, 107 ; in witch- craft, Hebrides, 270
Storm-making to punish thief, 227
Straw effigies of Judas burnt at and near Easter, 178 ? torches of, to scare witches from crops, 101 ; worn by Winter in German sham fight, 178
Sturgeon, 202
Styria, folklore of, days forbidden for spinning and washing, 361
Submarine church, near old Con- stantinople, 230
Suffolk folklore {see Bury St. Edmunds), Black Dog, the, of Bungay, 476 ; Cure for Ague, 365
Sufi Ahmad of Jalandhar, open and secret miracles of, 402
Suicide, ceremonial, to injure enemies, Indian folklore, 442 ; by drowning, the origin of seals, 460
Summer and Winter, fights between, Germany, 178
Sun, sex of, 300, 303 ; theft of, 107
Sun-goddess of Japan, 300, 303, 315, 319, 320, and Susa no wo, 304 et saa.t 318
Sun-worship in Egypt, 231 ; in Indian folklore, 440; in Shintoism, 297, of Tartar tribes, id.
Sun and Moon, creation of, Japanese myth of, 302
Sunday, as birthday, old German augury, 1 16, rhyme on, 349 ; the second in September, festival on,
534
Index.
at Girgenti, 253 ; prohibition to change clothes, Cos, 183, witch- craft on, 282 Sunstroke, charm against, 166-7 Supernatural personages and their
powers, India, 396-7 Superstition regarding Women, by
P. H. Emerson, 365 Suso no wo in Japanese myths, 318 Sussex folklore, Tipteerers Play, 186 Swallow in African tales, 222-3, 2^4»
290, 291 Swan falling in love with human being, Indian folktale, 416 ; grate- ful, ib,% praying, ib.t sacredness of, 440 Swayamvarcty the, in India, 429 Sweden, hollow-backed fairies of, 459 Sweeping after sunset forbidden,
Gieek Isles, 181 Swimming, Cuchullin'sprowessin, 220 Swine (see also Pigs), sacrificed at
Girgenti, 253 Swinging in the rainy season, India,
435 Switching the Cattle, Germany, 180
Switzerland, Bible placed under pil- low to protect unchristened child,
35° Sympathetic affections, Hebrides, 279
— magic, instances of, Cos, 159
Taboo, Australian, of Emu eggs, 1 1, Levitical, parallels to, 43, 47, 55-7, morality of natives, in relation to, 6 ; Baronga, moral value of, 228, of twins and their mothers, 227 ; Indian, of women, 423, 427
— — as beginning of moral system, 228 ; in relation to children's games,
338 Tai fish, 311
Tailed elves, &c, Scandinavian folk- lore, 459-60
Tailors in Hebridean folklore, 281
Tain, the, triads in, 220
Tale-sprite, Iceland, 460
Talismans {see also Charms, Magic, etc.), 312, how used and counter- acted, 230
Talker-bird, 199
Talking Birds and animals, see Sqaktktquaclt, Tar-baby, Three Apples, The ; in Indian folktales, 391-2, 416-7
grateful, Greek Isles, 497,
India, 4x6
Tama in Japanese myth, 320 Tangle (sea-weed), milk bewitched
into, Hebrides, 276 Tap on window, death warning, 122,
123 Tapio, woodland god, Finland,
329 Tar Baby Story, Baronga parallel,
222 Tar Baby Story, The, by Miss A.
Werner, 282 Tartar tribes, sun-worship of, 297 Teeth extracted in Australian rites,
43 Telepathic suggestion, instances of,
Hebrides, 281 Temple, Lt.-Col. R. C.,The Folklore
in the Legends of the Panjab, 384 Temple of corpse touched to prevent
dreaming of the deceased, 254 Tenby, Mummers at, 186 Tenure by white bull, 356 Tests and identifications of heroes
and heroines, Indian folktales,
428-9 Teutonic migrations, 81, 82 Thessaly, parallels to the custom of
the lot in Cos, 155 Thesticos, 453 Thompson river, British Columbia,
Sqaktktquaclt punishes the witches
at, 207 Threads, coloured, in witchcraft, 282 ;
twisted, uses of, Cos, 180; passed
round fire against Evil Eye, 280 ;
tearing off cow's neck, in Indian
oath, 409 Three-headed nails against witch- craft, 483, 486-7 Three repetitions of oaths in India,
409-10 Thumb used to touch face of corpse
to prevent dreaming of deceased,
254 ; why not blessed, 279 the left, blood from in love
philtre, 169 Thunder in Japanese folklore, 317 ;
the voice of the god, Finnish
folklore, 329
god, of Lithuania, 329
Thursday, 169 old German birth
augury for, 1 16, forbidden day for
spinning, Styria, 361 ; St. Colum- ella's day, lucky, 267 Tibetan belief in spirit- possession,
422 Tiger, the, 317, 397
Index.
535
Tigress, slain by heroine, Indian
folklore, 423 Tilo or lightning bird, 227-8 Times and seasons, Cos, 177 Tin Talaq, or law of divorce, India,
409-10 Tipteerers* Play, Sussex, 186 Toad in Baronga folklore, 222 Toad-doctor of Pulham, 479 Tombs removed by saints, Indian
folk-tales, 420 '* Tongue "" the, of gold, in Joshua,
no Tongue-binding charm, 163 Tom- Tit Tit: an Essay on Savage Philosophy in Folk-Tale, by Edward Clodd, reviewed by E. S. Hartland, 334 Tonttu, Finnish house-sprite, 330 Tools of joiners blessed when left in
workshop, Hebrides, 260 Tortoise, killed by hawk, Cos, 182 ;
ridden, Japanese myth, 31 1 Totems, Australian, 235, 236-8, Eyamee's gift of, 491, in relation to marriage, 36, 236, of the Arunta tribe, 235, 236, 238 ; of the Haida- Tsimshian tribes, 374 ; Kangaroo as, 237, killer-whale as, 374, 378, little hawk as, 237 ; Naga totem, 414 ; possible explanation of origin of in N. America, 195 ; sacrifice
to, 374 Totemism in Australia, 236-8 Totemism, the Place of, in the Evolu- tion of Religion, by F. B. Jevons,
369 Touch and Cross-Touch, games, 338
Tout, C. Hill-, Sqaktktquaclt, or the
Benign-faced, the Oannes of the
Ntlakapamuq of British Columbia,
195
Toyo-tama-hime, daughter of the sea- god, her dragon form, 31 1- 1 2
Tra An tic he Fiabe e Novel le. I. Le •' Piacevoli Notti" di A/esser Gian Francesco Slraparofa, Ricerche di Guiseppe Rua, reviewed by E. S. Hartland, 102
Traditional Games, The, of England, Scotland and Ireland, with Tunes by A. B. Gomme, reviewed by E. S. Hartland, 336
Traditional Poetry^ The, of the Finns, by Domenico Comparetti translated by Isabella M. Ander- ton, with Introduction by Andrew
Lang, reviewed by Hon. John Abercromby, 104
Traditions and Superstitions collected at Kilcurry, Co. Louth, by Bryan T. Jones, with comments by W. B. Yeats, (map) 119
Transference of blight on cattle, Hebrides, 278
Transformations, {see Shape-shifting etc.), into animals and birds, 55, 120, 122
Transmigrations, see Transforma- tions
Treasure Dragons, Scandinavian folklore, 460
(see Nibelung Treasure), hidden,
how obtained, 230
— trove becoming worthless unless blood be shed, Greek Isles, 182
Trees in folklore ; see Cassia, Hazel, Mountain Ash, Olives, Rowan, Sacred, Sakaki, Sandal, Tulsi,
Baiame in a tree, Greek parallel,
19 ; large, generally haunted, 181 ; talking, India, 417, tree upholding the earth, 176 ; planted at birth of children, 403-4 ; walking, in Arabia, 230 ; worship of, Zanzibar, ib. ;
Tree-sawing as an endless task, 176
Trendle Hill, Dorset, Bronze age fort at, 478, neolithic flints of, 479
Triads in the Tain, 220
Triangles interlocked, in Magic, 156
Tribal gods evolution of, 372, et sqq.
marriage and anti-tribal, as con- nected with water or fire customs,
x*3 . Tricks in Indian folktales, 438
Trolls, in Scandinavian folklore, 459
Troubadours, ethical level of Poems of, 219
Trout, 202, 211
Tuaitheal, 268
Tub dance of Japanese divinity, 306
Tuesday, old German birth augury for, 116, no new garments begun to be made on, Cyprus, 365, things lucky and unlucky to do on, Hebrides, 267
Tuonela, the underworld of the Finns,
330 Turkish Knight, in Warwickshire
mumming 187, et sqq.
proverbs, 103
Twanyikira, great spirit, New South
Wales, 490
540
Index.
Parkinson, R., 128
Penha, G. F. D\ 504
Polivka, G., 128
Proceedings of the Royal Irish
Academy, 127, 368 Proceedings of the Society of
Biblical Archaeology, 127
Raynaud, G., 128, 256
Rees, J. Rogers, 126
Report of the United States National Museum, 127
Revue db l'Histoirr des Reli- gions, 127, 256, 504
Roth, F. N. (joint author), see Granville
Roth, II. Ling, 128
Roth, H, Ling, 255
Sartori, P., 504
Sibillot, P., 125
Seidell A., 125
Sephton,/., 367
Simcox, E., 368
Skipton, II. S. Kennedy-, 256
Smyth, A. H., 255
Spadoni, D., 503
Spencer, B., and Gillcn, F. /, (joint
authors), 126 Spencer, B., and Gillen, F. J. (joint
authors), 368 Strickland, IV. W., 367
Thomas, Mrs, W. (joint author), see Fison
Thomas, N. W., 128
Title, A., 255
Tout, Prof. C. Hill-, 127
TradicJLo, A, 504
Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeo- logical Society, 256
Transactions of the Cymmro- dorion Society, 256
Transactions of the Devon- shire Association, 127
Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, 127
Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, 127
Tylor, E. B., 126
Usener, II, 255
Velten, C, 126 Vierkandt, A., 504
Waddcll, L. A., 504 Wallace* R., 367 Waser, O., 128 Wilson, T., 127 Winter, A. C, 128 Wiutcrnitz, M., 504
Yeats, W. B., 504
Zahler, H.y 255 Zimmern, H., 128
Printed by J. B. Xicbol* * «•■•• P»ril»meot Manrtont, Victoria 8troet, 8.W.
The Folk-Lore Society.
(1899.)
Umfrent.
E. S. HARTLAND, F.S.A.
Vicf'UresrtJentfi.
THE HON. JOHN ABERCROMBY.
MISS C. S. BURNE.
EDWARD CLODD.
G. LAURENCE GOMME, F.S.A.
ANDREW LANG, M.A., LL.D.
THE RIGHT HON. SIR JOHN LUBBOCK, BART., M.P., D.C.L.,
LL.D., F.R.S., F.S.A., F.G.S., F.L.S. ALFRED NUTT.
Lt.-Gen-. PITT-RIVERS, D.C.L., F.R.S., F.S.A., F.G.S., F.R.G.S. PROFESSOR F. YORK POWELL, M.A., F.S.A PROFESSOR J. RHYS, M.A., LL.D., F.S.A. THE REV. PROFESSOR A. II. SAYCE, M.A., LL.D., D.D. PROFESSOR EDWARD B. TYLOR, LL.D., D.C.L., F.R.S.
Council.
C. J. BILLSON. M.A.
DR. KARL BLIND.
H. C. BOWEN, M.A.
F. C. CONYBEARE, M.A.
J. E. CROMBIE.
W. CROOKE, B.A.
LELAND L. DUNCAN, F.S.A.
J. P. EMSLIE.
T. GOWLAND.
MISS F. GROVE.
PROF. A. C. H ADDON, M.A., D.8c.
T. W. E. HIGGKNS.
JOSEPH JACOBS, B.A.
F. B. JEVONS, M.A., LittD.
PROF. W. P. KER, M.A.
A. F. MAJOR.
T. FAIRMAN ORDISH, F.SJl.
W. H. D. ROUSE, M.A.
HENRY B. WHEATLEY, F.S.A.
A. R. WRIGHT.
fton. Creaatirer.
E. W. BRABROOK. C.B., F.S.A., 178, Bedford Hill, Balham, S.W
Ron. fluottor.
F. G. GREEN. &rrretar».
F. A. MILNE, M.A., 11, Old Sqnare, Lincoln's Inn, Ix>ndon, W.C.
Jbtanoing Committees:
PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE.
THE PRESIDENT (Chairman) ; G. L. GOMME ( Vice-Chairman) ; E. K. CHAMBERS; MISS M. ROALFECOX; W. CROOKE; PROFESSOR W. P. KER; A. NLTT.
BIBLIOGRAPHY COMMITTEE.
- L. GOMME (Chairman) ; L. L. DUNCAN ; J. JACOBS ; W. F. KIRBY ; J. T. NAAKE.
MUSEUM COMMITTEE. X.. GOMME (Chairman); J. P. EMSLIE; ARTHUR J. EVANS; T. GOWLAND; MISS M. C. FFENNELL ; A. R. WRIGHT.
The President and Treasurer are em-officio members of all Committees
Officers and Members. iii
Bolitho, J. &, Esq., Trengwaint.m, un Moor, R.5.O. Cornwall. Bonaparte, Prince Balmd, 10, Avenue d'lsnft, Paris.
Bordeaux llnirerMty Library, pvlL Jules Seelumn, 2, Kne Antoiiuj'l'uln'i*.
Parii.
Boston Aihenieum, The, Boston, U.S.A., per Regan Paul, Trench, Triibaer,
4 Co., Ld., Charing Cross Road, W.C. Boston Public Library (Mass.), U.S.A., par G. E. Sleehert, 2, Star Yard,
Carey Street. W.C. Bonrdillon, F. W„ Esq., M.A., Bnddinp;ton, Midnurst, Sussex, Bowditch. C. P., Esq., 88, State Street* Boston, Mass., U.S.A. Bowen, II. Coiirthope. Esq., M.A., 3, York .Street, Porlman Square, W. Bower, H. M„ Esq.. Elmcrofts, Ripon. Brabrook. E. W„ Esq., C.H., F.S.A., 178, Bedford Hill, Balham, S.W.
( Trramrcr), Brighton Town Count il, per the Town Clerk, Town Hull, Brighton, Brinton, Professor 11. G., A.M., M.D., LL.D., D.Sc, 20J1, Chestnut Street,
Philadelphia, U.S.A. Britten, James, Esq., 12fi, Kenningtoii Park Road, S.E. Brix, M. Camillc de, 13, Hue Victor Hugo, Douai, France. Broadwood, Miss Lucy E., Si, Carlisle- Mansions, S.W, Brockhans, P. A., Esq., Leipzig, per H. Williams, 48, Old Bailey, E.C. Brooke, Kov. Slopford A., 1. Manchester Square, W. Brough, Mra. C. S., Roseudale Hall, West Dnlwicb, S.E. Brown, Henry Thomaa, Esq., Roodeye Ilonse, Chester. Browne, John, Esq., Chertsey House, Park Hill Rise, Croydon. Brushfiehl. Dr. T. N., Tbe Cliff, Budlcigh-Saltertou, Devonshire. Burne, Mias, Chichester Loilgc, Long Dittou, Surrey ( Vicc-l'rciidrnt).
Caddick, E., Esq., Wellington Road, Edgbaston. Birmingham. Campbell, Lord Archibald, Cooiubc 11LI1 Farm, Kingston on -Thames. Campbell, W.J. Douglas Esq., F.S.A. Scot.. Iunis Cbonain, Loch Awe,
Argyll. Caruifl: Free Libraries, per J. Ballinger, F*q,, Cardiff. Carnegie Free Library, Alleghany. I'a.. II.S.A, pur G. E. Slechert, 2. Slar
Yard, Carey Street, W.C. Carpenter, Professor J. Estliu, 109, Banbury Road, Oxford. Carson, Miss K., Higb Street, Kirkcudbright. Chnrencey, Corato dc, 2-1. Rue de la Chaise, Paris. Chambers, E. K„ Esq., Education Department, Whitehall, S.W. Chelsea Public Library, Manresa Road, S.W,, per J. U. Quinu. Esq. Chicago Public Library, Illinois, U.S.A., per B. F. Stevens, i, Trafalgar
Square, W.C. Chicago University Library, Illinois. U.S.A., per G. E. Stcchart, 2, Star
Yard, Carey Strwt, W.C Chorlton, Thomas, Esq., 32, Brazennose. Street, Manchester,
Officers and Members. v
Eggere and Co., Messrs., St. Petersburg, per Sampson Low and Co., Fetter
Lane, E.C. Elliot, W. Scott, junr., Esq., 4, Stanley Crescent, Kensington Park, W. Elworthy, F. T. Esq., Foxdown, Wellington, Somerset. Elton, O., Esq., B.A., 6, I lea ton Road, Withington, Manchester. Emerson. P. H., Esq., The Nook, On 1 ton Broad, Lowestoft. Empson, C. W., Esq., 11, Palace Court, W. Emslio, J P., Esq., 60, Kestrel Avenue, Ilerne Hill, S.E. Enoch Pratt Library, Baltimore City, U.S.A., per E. G. Allen, Esq., 28,
Henrietta Street, W.C. Erant, A., Esq., Grammar School, Galway. Erlangcn University Library, per Sampson Low & Co., Fetter Lane
E.C. Evans, Arthur J., Esq., M.A., F.S.A., Ashmolean Library, Oxford. Evans, Sir John, K.C.B., D.C.L., LL.D., D.Sc, F.K.S., F.S.A., Nash
Mills, Hemel Hempstead. Eyre, Miss, The Hudnalls, St BriavelB, Gloucestershire.
O. Fahic, J. J., Esq., Claremont Court, Claremont Hill, Jersey. Fawcett, F., Esq., care of Messrs. Arhuthnot & Co., Madras. Feilbcrg, Rev. H. F., Askov, Vejen, Denmark. Ferryman, Major A. F. Mockler, F.R.G.S., F.Z.S., Oak Grove House, Royal
Military College, Camlicrloy, Surrey. Ffennell, Miss Margaret C, 172, The Grove, Hammersmith. W. Fitzgerald, D., Esq., cure of J. Fitzgerald, Esq., Storey V Gate, S.W. Forlong, Major-Gen. J. G. R., F.R.G.S., F.R.S.E , 11, Douglas Crescent,
Edinburgh. Fraser, D. C, Esq., M.A., 3, Buckingham Road, Wallasey. Frazcr, J. G., Esq., M.A., Trinity College, Cambridge. Freer, Miss Goodrich, 27, Cleveland Gardens, Hyde Park, W. Freer, Wm. J., Esq., Stoneygatc, near Leicester. Freshfield, W. D., Esq., The Wilderness, Reigate.
Gardner, F. L., Esq., 14, Marlboro* Road, Gunnersbury, W.
Gaster, Dr. M.. 37, Maida Vale, W.
George, Charles W., Esq., 51, Hampton Road, Clifton, Bristol
Gerish, W. B„ Esq., Ivy Lodge, Hoddesdon, Herts.
Gladstone, Dr. J. H., F.R.S., F.C.S., 17, Pembridge Square, W.
Glasgow University Library, per Messrs. Maclehose, 61, St Vincent Street, Glasgow.
Godden, Miss Gertrude M., Ridgfield, Wimbledon.
Goldmerstein, L., E*q. " Gollancz, I.. Esq., M.A., Christ's College, Cambridge. * Gomme, G. L., Esq., F.S.A., 24. Dorset Square, N.W. ( Viae- President)
Officers and Members.
Gotnme, Mrs G L., 2*. Unmet Square, N.W. ('/wuwury J/™i*r). Gomme. J. P., Esq.. Citj- Dunk, Oxford Street, W. Gordon, a H, iv. K.q .. Tin' Mull. Brentf Gottingen Gnivenity Library, put Aslier and Co., 13, Bedford Sin Covctit Garden, W.C.
Oav. Bone* K , bq., ;.. St. HclerA Flan
Gowland, T., Esq., ]*, TuiMach Etori, Hurkiden. X-W.
Green, Frank G„ Esq., St. Valentine'*, Prince of Wales's Road, CaithaJto
I
Graven. R., Esq., BC.S , 161, Cambenrel] Grave, I'ctimark Hill, S.E. Gregory, il ]■!.. I'-i|.. BommU, ) I nrUunt, Sussex. Greig, Andrew, Esq.. S6, Belmont Gardens, Uillhrad, Glaagow.
OtO. A., Esq, Fair-holme, Sad*, Grove, Mi.vJ Florence-, 10, Milton Chamber*, Cheyne Walk, S.W. Gil il .Hi nil Ubrarj, E.C. Gatcb, Mrs., Ualgare Lodge, York. Gwyune, James E. A., Esq, F.S.A, 37, Harley Street, W.
0. Haddon, Frof., A. C, M.A., D.Sc, M.R.I.A., F.Z.S.. Inirfail, Hilla Road,
Cambridge. Hannah, 1!., Esq., 82, Addison Road, Kensington, W. Hardj, G. F., Esq., 12, Waterloo Place, S.W. H»nia, Mis* Emily, 23, Clifton Gardens, W. Harria, Rex. H. A., Diss, Norfolk. Harrison and Sons, Messrs., 0, Pall Mall, S.W.
Hartland, E. Sidney, Esq., F.S.A., Highgarth, Gloocesier I frnident). Hartland, J. Cole, Esq., care of Messrs. Hour, and C'.i., Yokohama, Japan, Harvard College Library, per Kegan Faol aud Co., Ld., Charing Croat
Road, W.C. Harvey, F, O., Esq.. Lamaca, Cyprns. Henderson, Miss A. 1J., Ormlie Lodge, Thnrso. HeUHmnu, W. SI., Esq., 32, Derngate, Northampton. Hervey, Hon. D. F. A., C.M.G., The Residency, Malacca, per H. S
King II Co. Hewitt, J. F„ Esq., The Elms, Chichester. HiL-gens, T. W. E., Esq, 1, Edith Terrace, Chelsea, S.W. Hinobcr, Miss, 34, Linden Road, Bedford. O. Uodgkin, John. Esq., 12, Dynevor Road, Richmond, S.W.
Holland, Cli'e. Esq., Bergen, Brankaome Wood Road, Bournemouth,
Howard, David, Esq., Devon Hoobo, BnckhniM HiU, I
Hull. Mis* Kleanot, BO, Arondel Gordena, W.
Hnssey. A.. Esq.. Wineehiim, near Dover.
Hutchinson, Re'. H. N., F.G.S.. 37, Vincent Square. Westum,-
Hutchinson, Dr. Jonathan, F.R.S., IS, Cavendish Square, W,
Officers and Members.
India Office Library, Whitehall, S.W., per C. H. Tawney, Esq.
Jackson, A. M. T„ Esq., Bycullah Club, Bombsj (Assistant Collectc
Nil si k. Bombay). Jacobs, Joseph, Esq., B.A., Merodelia, Graftal Road, Acton, W. Janvier, Thos. A., Esq., 14, Winchester Road, Soutn llampeiead, N.W. Jeffrey, P. Shaw, Esq., 32, College Road, Clifton, Bristol. Jevcna, K. B., Esq., M.A., LitLD.. The University, Durham. Johns Hopkins University Library, Baltimore, per K. G. Allen, 3S, He
rietta Street, Covent Garden, W.C. Jones, Bryan J„ Esq., Lisuawilly, Duudalk.
Jones, D. Brynm6r, Esq., Q.C., M.I'., LL.B.. 27, Bryauston Square, W. Jones, William, Esq., Abberlj Hall, Stourport.
Karlowici, Dr. John, Jasna, 10, Warsaw, Poland.
Kennedy, Miss L., Fairacre, Concord, Hna,, U.S.A.
Ker, C, Kaq., 1, Windsor Terrace, West Glasgow.
Ker, Professor W. P., M.A., 915, Gowor Street, W.C,
Korniack, John, Esq., 9, Hill Street, Edinburgh,
KiDahan, G. H„ Esq., M.R.I.A., Woodlands. Fuirvtcw, co. Dublin.
Kincaid, General W„ per A. Fletcher, 2, St. Helen's Place, E.C.
Kirby, W. F„ Esq., F.L.S., F.E.S., Hilden, Sutton Court Hoad, Cbiswick.
Kitts, E. J., Esq., Walmer Villa, Milium mead, i'lymnnth.
Klincksleek, C, Paris, per Th. Wohllebeu, 411, Gt. Hnsscll Street, W.C.
Knowles, W. J., Esq., Flixtoti Place. Jjallyuieiia, Ireland.
Ladbury, Miss E. J., Goldnesfl, Hartlebury, Kidderminster.
Lang, A., Esq., M.A., 1 , Marlocs Road, Kensington, W. ( Vien-PretidmC).
Laytou, C. Miller, Esq., F.S.A.. Sbortlands, Folkestone.
Lee, Mrs. Kate, 8, Victoria Road, Kensington, W.
Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society, per G. Hull, Esq., Church
Hill House, Clarendon Park Road, Leicester. Leland, C. G,, Esq., Hotel Victoria, 44, Lnng" Arno Vuspneci, Florence Lemcke & Bueehncr, Messrs., 812, Broadway, New York. U.S.A. Letts, C, Esq , 24, Bartlelt's Baildings, E.C. Levy, C. E., Esq., Bonndsbmu Lodgt, Farnham, Surrey. Library ol the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree, etc., for England
& Walea, and the Colonies, 33, Gulden Square, W. Lindsay, Lady, 41, Hans Place, W. Liverpool Free Public Library, | er Gilbert G. Walmsley, 50, Lord Street,
Liverpool. Lockbart, The Hon. J. II. Stewurt, Registrar- General of the LqrUlaliv*
Council. Hong Kong.
vm
fleers and Members.
London Institution, Finsbtiry Circus, E.C.
London Library, St.. James's Square, S.W,
CMbbook, Bight (Ion. Sir John, Bart.. M.P., D.C.L.. LJ-D., sT.lt
F.S.A., F.G.S., F.L.S., High Kims, Farnborough. R.8.0, ( I'
Prciidrnf). Lyall, Sir Alfred, K.C.S.L, 18, Queen's Gate, S,W.
Macauliffe, His Honour -fudge, Bialkot, Pan jib, India, Macbcaii, K., Esq., Fnliarton House, lij TallerOM, Lanark-hire. Mncgregor. A., Esq.. Stamford Brook Ilonst, Hammersmith, W, Mackeniie, W., Esq., Crofters' Commission, 6, Parliament Square, E
c. Mac kin lay, Dr., 6, Great Wctturn Terrace, Kelvinside, Glasgow. Maeiagnti, R. Cruig. Esq., M.D. 5. Coatos Crescent, Edinburgh. McNair, Major R. C, C.M.G., F.L.S., F.R.G.S., Scotia, Preston Pat
Brighton. Maitland, Mrs. J. A. Fuller, 39, Phillimore Gardens, Kensington, W. Major, A. F.. Esq., 17, Grosreuor Road, Westminster. Mai., F„ EL, Esq., can of A. F. Man, Esq., 2, Palace Road, Snrbiton. Maniage, P., Esq., M.A., F.S.A., 6, St. Aldate's, Oxford (Beechfieh
Watford). Manchester Free Library, Kin|i Street, Manchester. March, H. Colloy, Esq,, M.D., Punish am, ll.mhester. Marriage, Misa M. E. (Ph.D. Heidelberg), Ellerby, George Lane, South
Woodford, B. Marsh, H. 11., E«q., Injrlesidc, Tipping, Essex. Marshall, W. Gore, Esq., Hambletou Hall, Oakham. Maratou, E,, Esq., St. Duiistan'a House, E.C. MaSHon, D. P., Esq, Managing Director, The Punjab Bank, Lahore, j
II. S. King ami Co., 65, Cornhill, E.C. Matthews, Miss Elizabeth, The Hollies, Swaffham, Norfolk. Max, J., and Co., SI, SdrweidBciborttraaM, Brechin. Mead ham. Miss Edith, Sbcp=o"'rnl>c llonse, Siroad, Gloucestershire. Mercantile Library, Philadelphia., U.S.A., per G. E. Steehert, *2, Star Tar
Carey Street, W.C. Merrick, W. P., Esq., Manor Farm, Sbcppcrton. Metropolitan Museum of Art, N.Y., U.S.A., per G. E. Stecher, 30, Wellinc
ten Street, Strand, W.C. Meyrick Library, Jesus College, Oxford, per W. M. Lindsay,
l.itir:iri:iri.
Middlesboroiigh Free Library, per Ilaker Hudson, Ivn.. UutdJesbomigh, Mill,.. I', A. ! [„.M.A., II, Old. Squaw, Lincoln's Inn.'Vl I
L. rare of Misi Julia Dyke. Gton I mi tr^ity of. Minneapolis, U.S.A., per G. K.
Tard, Carey Street, W.C.
ficcrs and Members.
Mitchell Library, 21, Miller Street, Glasgow, tiro of F. T. Barrett, Esq. I.il.rftrb.n. C.Mocatla, F. n., Esq., F.S.A.,9,Connaught Flu. ■>■. W
Hood, Mrs. Fridu, 30, Arrnue Road, Regent's Park. N.W.
Moora, C. II.. Esq,, ninh.n. 111., U.S.A. Mcriw.n, Theodore. Esq., Aligaxh, N.W. P., India. Morris, Mrs. M. F,., Stile House, Lyme llo^i-, Dorset. Munich Royal Library, |>er Aahcr and Co., 13, Bedford Street, W.C. CM; res, .1. L.. Esq., M.A., F.S.A., Christ Chareh, Oxford.
Kankt', J. T„ Esq., Library. British Museum, W.C.
National Library of Ireland, per Hodges, Figgis, and Co., 104, Grafton
Street, Dublin, C. N'e'iii'li!, J. i'., Esq., Sltntlen llonse, 2. Madlcy Road, Ealing.
Newark Free Public Library, New Jersey, U.S.A. per G. K. Steehert,
'-•. Slur Yard, Cnr-y St.. W.C. Newberry Library, Oik'nfo. per 11. F. Stevens, 4, Trafalgar Sqnare, W.C. Newcastle Literary ami PbjlMaphfeal Botittf, Newcastle- oa>Tyne. New Jersey, The College of, Princeton, N.J., U.S.A., per E. C f shorn.
Esq.. Treasurer. New Jersey Free Public Library, per G. E. Steehert, 2, Star Yard, Carey
Street, W.C. New York, College of the City of, per G. F, Steehert, 2, Star Yard,
Carey Street. W.C. New York Public Library (Alitor, Lenox, & Tibien Fonndation}, per B. F.
Stevens, 4, Trafalgar Square, W.C. New York State Library, per G. B. Steehert, 2, Star Yard, Carey St., W.C. Hicholion, C. Iff., Biq-iH, Harrington Gardens, B.W. Ninnis. BolgHTe, l>q . M I>„ F.S.A.. F.R.A.S., F.aG.S., Brocieohuret,
AJdringttm Road, Streatham, S.W. Nottingham Free Public Library. Nntt, Alfred, Esq., 270, Strand { riee-Pretident').
Oelsner, H., Esq., M.A., Ph.D., Springfield, Honor Oak Park, S.E. Oldfield, Capt. F. H., H.E., Scottish ConserYatiro Club, Edinburgh. Olrik. Dr. Axel, Martinsvej, 3, Copenhagen, Denmark. Ordiuli, T. F., Esq., F.S.A., 16, Clifford's Inn,, E.C, Owen, Eter. Elias, M.A., F.S.A., Llanyblodwel Vicarage, Oswestry. Owen, Mias Mary A., 306, North Ninth Street, St. Joseph, Missouri, U.S.A.
Paget, Lndy, Litchfield Lodge, Bodonhsm Road, Hereford. 3. Paris, M. Gaston. Membra de l'lnstitut, Direct car dtt College de France^ Roe des Ecoles, Paris. Parker, Mrs. K, Laugloo, Banyate, Walgett, New South Wales. Paton. W. R., Esq., Vathy, Samos, Turkey, via Smyrna.
Officers and Members. xiii
V &ssar College Library, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., U.S.A., per II. Sotheran
& Co., 14C, Strand, W.C. Venketswami, M. N., Esq., The Hermitage, Secunderabad, Deccan. Voss' Sortiment (G. Haessler), Leipzig.
Walhouse, M. J., Esq., 28, Hamilton Terrace, St. John's Wood, N.W. Walker, J. S. E., Esq., Persownie, Nawada, Bara, I.S. Territory, Chumparun
Bengal. Walker, Dr. Robert, Budleigh-Salterton, Devon, per E. W. Watson, Esq.,
22, Highbury New Park, N. Walpolo, Sir II. G., India Office, Whitehall, S.W. Wardrop, Miss Marjory, Qneen Anne's Mansions, S.W. Warner, S. G., Esq., Elmside, Bolingbroke Grove, S.W. Watkinson Library, Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.A., per E. G. Allen, 28,
Henrietta Street, Corent Garden, W.C. Weimar Grand Ducal Library, per Dr. P. von Bojanowsky. Weston, Miss J. L. , Banarie, Lansdowne Road, Bournemouth. Wheatley, Henry B., Esq., F.S.A., 2, Oppidans Road, Primrose Hill, N.W. White, Miss Diana, Old Priory, Sydenham. Williamson, Rev. Charles A., 14, Upper Mount St., Dublin. Wills, Miss M. M. Evelyn, Heathfiold, Swansea. Wilson, R. II., Esq., 23, Cromwell Crescent, S.W. Windle, Professor B. C. A., M.A., M.D., D.Sc, Dean of Queen's Faculty of
Medicine, Mason College, Birmingham. Wisconsin State Historical Society, per II. Sotheran k. Co., 140, Strand,
W.C. c. Wissendorff, H., 19, Nadeschkinskara, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Woman's Anthropological Society, Washington, D.C., U.S.A., care of Mrs.
M. P. Seaman, 1424, Eleventh Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., U.S.A. Wood, Alexander, Esq., Thornly, Saltcoats, N.B. Woodall, E., Esq., Wingthorpe, Oswestry. Worcester Free Public Library, Mass., U.S.A., per Kcgan Paul, Trench,
Trubner, and Co., Ld. Wright, A. R., Esq ., H.M. Patent Office, 25, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane, W.C. Wright, W. Aldis, Esq., M.A., Trinity College, Cambridge. Wyndham, George, Esq., M.P., 35, Park Lane, W.
»
M .
J.'
■ t
r
.. -f
\