Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 10, 1899.djvu/129

Rh 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 novelle of Straparola, 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 internal evidence; but here and there he is able by comparison of dates of publication to show that borrowing by Straparola was impossible. The Panchatantra, with its numerous western evolutions, the Fabliaux, the Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles, the Disciplina 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 importance of such a conclusion arrived at by a scholar so learned and accurate as Signer 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 Molière in L'École des Maris and L'École 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.

'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. According 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