Page:Barlaam and Josaphat. English lives of Buddha.djvu/65

Rh Of the thirty-one parables contained in Appendix II., nine occur in all the earlier versions, six occur in two or more of them, while sixteen have found their way to only one version. Of the first class, six can be traced to India; of the second, two; and of the third, seven. It does not, therefore, appear that any very certain proof of existence in the original Barlaam is shown by the absence or presence of traceable Indian parallels. Indeed, no mechanical and external test can enable us to judge whether any special parable came with Barlaam from India. Even where, as in some of the parables, especially to the Hebrew version, an Indian original has been found, it by no means follows that the parable in question, though ultimately derived from India, necessarily came into the Hebrew version from some form of the Barlaam Legend. Thus it would be premature to assume, e.g., that the story known as The Language of Animals first began its travels through the ages and the climes in connection with the Legend of Barlaam-Buddha. The spread of these parables, extensive as it is, throws but little light on the diffusion of folktales properly so called. In almost every case the spread has been by