Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 11, 1900.djvu/144

 134 Cliarm against the Cliild-stcaling Witch.

remarked, been collected from the mouth of the people. In every case they were illiterate persons, to whom these charms could only have come by word of mouth in the form of a sacred ancient tradition ; for unless the charms are endowed with a certain amount of sanctity no one would believe in their efficacy, and they would soon disappear. This has been indeed the fate which has overtaken them wherever the faith in them had been weakened.

What is now the origin of these charms ? If I should follow one school of folklorists I should lose myself at once in airy speculations and see in them traces of indigenous ancient mythology. Every figure that appears in these charms would be studied as a remnant of ancient local faith, and conclusions would be drawn as to that ancient form of belief thus preserved by these mythological fragments. It is time, however, that even in the study of folklore a certain system of classification should be introduced, and that we should learn to investigate the complex which makes up the intellectual propertj^ of the people, not upon one uniform plan. We must avoid not merely the danger of generalisa- tion, but also that of applying principles which may hold good in the elucidation of one branch of our subject to all the other branches. I will limit myself to pointing out the profound difference which must be drawn between religious theory and religious practice. It is self-understood that I apply this word " religion " in connection with folk- lore in the widest acceptance of the meaning of the word, namely, as " faith and belief in the reality of the things worshipped." To the former, that is to the theory, belongs, according to my classification, the whole range of legend and tale, mythology proper ; whilst to the latter, that is to the practice, belongs the outward form of worship, some- times influenced by the legend, but just as often if not more, leading an independent life. The former, that is the legendary element, is constantly changing, the latter, being the religious custom or ceremony, is abiding. Magic