Page:Barlaam and Josaphat. English lives of Buddha.djvu/88

lxxxii story is remarkable as occurring as a widespread folktale. Mr. Fraser, who discusses it in connection with a general inquiry into the folk-belief in the "Language of Animals" (Arch. Rev., i. 168-72), quotes Servian, Indian, Arabic, Italian, Annamite, Tartar, and Finnish versions. He does not, however, refer to the Hebrew one, though this is, undoubtedly, the earliest extant. Yet it is impossible to consider the Hebrew the source of the folktales, and it can, therefore, only be regarded as one of the somewhat rare cases in which folktales have been taken up into Literature. It may be worth while to devote some consideration to this folktale, as an instance of the problem of diffusion.

Nobody, not even M. Bédier, would assert that such a complex and artificial story as this could have been invented casually and independently on two different occasions. A man learns the language of animals on condition he does not betray his knowledge. On one occasion he bursts into laughter on hearing some animal speak, and is pestered by his wife to tell her why he laughed. He answers that he must die if he tells her. But this, naturally, only increases her curiosity and persistence.