Serbian Folk-lore. Anonymous
accessible even to the mere English reader. Whilst Mr. Thorpe[3] and Mr. Dasent[4] have directed their attention to Iceland and the Scandinavian kingdoms, Mr. Campbell has rendered important service by his large collection of West Highland stories.[5] Indian legends, and folk-lore in general, has been illustrated by the volumes of Mr. W. H. Wilson, Dr. Muir[6], Colonel Jacob, Mr. Kelly[7], and Miss Frere[8]; and the Cingalese traditions by the writings of Mr. Turnour, and especially by the volumes of Mr. Spence Hardy.[9] Russian and North Slavonic folk-lore has been made accessible and arranged in the valuable volumes of Mr. Ralston, on ‘The Songs of the Russian People,’ and on ‘Russian Folk-Lore.’ Dr. Bleek has collected some of the myths and popular tales of the tribes in the neighbourhood of the Cape of Good Hope[10]; and Sir George Grey has done the same good service in preserving specimens of the folk-tales of the people of New Zealand.[11] Whilst foreign countries have given up their stores of popular literature to these investigations, similar industry has been shown in collecting the traditions and folk-lore of our own country. The songs collected in Sir Walter Scott’s ‘Border Minstrelsy,’ illustrated as they are by the notes which he added, are a store-house alike for the northern counties of England and the southern counties of Scotland. Mr. Wright and Mr. Cockayne, in their volumes, that on the ‘Literature of the Middle Ages,’ by the former gentleman, and that of the ‘Leechdoms of Early England,’ by the latter, have brought together the folk-lore of our forefathers; and in the pages of Baker[12], Chambers[13], Hone[14], Henderson[15], Hunt[16], and others, are stored up much of the local folk-lore and tales which still exist amongst us, and which we have inherited from our Aryan ancestors—echoes of stories first heard by them in their home in Central Asia.
[3] ‘Northern Mythology,’ 3 vols. Back
[4] ‘Popular Tales from the Norse.’ Back
[5] ‘Popular Tales of the West Highlands,’ 4 vols. Edinb. 1860–62. Back
[6] ‘Original Sanskrit Texts on the Origin and History of the People of India, &c.’ Back
[7] ‘Indo-European Traditions.’ Back
[9] ‘Manual of Buddhism’ and ‘Legends and Theories of the Buddhists.’ London. 1866. Back
[10] ‘Reynard, the Fox, in South Africa.’ Back
[11] ‘Polynesian Mythology and Traditions of New Zealand.’ Back
[12] ‘Folk-Lore of Northamptonshire.’ Back
[14] ‘Table Book’ and ‘Year Book.’ Back
[15] ‘Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders.’ Back
[16] ‘Drolls of Old Cornwall.’ 2 vols. Back
By means of these and similar collections, we are enabled to trace and compare the folk-tale in the various stages of its growth, and note its modifications, according to the religion of the people who have received it, and the climate of the countries in which it has been naturalised. In the pages of Professor Max Müller, of Mr. Baring Gould, and of Mr. Cox, we have attempts, more or less successful, to treat these stories scientifically, and to trace and explain the origin and motive of the various popular tales and legends which are comprehended under the name of folk-lore.
An examination of these collections leads to the conclusion that—apart at least from the legends of history—the number of strictly original folk-tales is but small; and that people, settled for ages in countries separated geographically, have yet possessed from remote antiquity a popular literature, which must have been the common property of the race before it branched into nations; but that the natural accretions, the growth of time, together with local colouring, fragments of historical facts, the influence of popular religious belief, and, above all, the exigencies and ingenuity of professional story-tellers, have so modified these primitive tales and legends, that an appearance of originality has been imparted to current popular tales, which, however, a larger acquaintance with folk-lore, and a more extended investigation, are now gradually dispelling. It is at length evident that various primitive legendary and traditionary elements have been combined in most of these tales; and that the only originality consists in such combination. They resemble a piece of tesselated work made up of cubes of coloured stone, the tints of which are really few in number, though they admit of being arranged into a variety of figures after the fancy of the artist.
In the appendix to Mr. Henderson’s ‘Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties of England,’ under the appropriate name of ‘Story-radicals,’ the reader will find a useful and suggestive classification of the elements which enter into the composition of various popular tales borrowed from Von Hahn’s introduction to his collection of Greek and Albanian folk-tales; and although this classification is rendered imperfect by the recent large increase of such stories, yet it suffices to explain the manner in which fragments selected from other popular fictions have