Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 11, 1900.djvu/446

 426 Reviews.

land shows in his inquiries lead us to wish that he may pursue his researches into local institutions. That is a field in which there are but few workers, and in which local workers are an abso- lute necessity for any progress, while in bibliographical and literary matters the local worker is inevitably at a disadvantage.

But we hope that whenever Mr. Sutherland publishes anything more, he will employ another printer.

CoNTES PopuLAiRES DE LA Basse Normandie. Recueillis et Publics par Victor Brunet. Emile Lechevalier. 1900. 151 pp. Price 3 fr. 50. Only 100 copies printed.

Thirty-four short stories, chiefly local legends, told with French simplicity and directness, and with sundry touches of French sarcasm. It is a pity that the author has given no hint of his authorities, for the tales are evidently genuine traditions of the country-side, telling of seigneurs and baillis and cures, of reve?ta?its and penances and wayside crosses, and of the events in which they had part " avant la grande Revolution," just as Aubrey's reminiscences are of the times '' before the wars." Some are stories of origin, of the "Pre Maudit," or the "Chaire du Diable;" some deal with supernatural beings, the Loup-garou, the spectral Lavandieres eternally washing dead men's shrouds by moon- light ; two or three are variants of folk-tale themes, in which le bon Dieu and the Apostles figure much as they do in Popular Tales from the Norse. Others are merely comic anecdotes, such as abound everywhere. None are very remarkable, but taken as a whole they reflect very vividly the life and ideas of the country folk among whom they have taken shape. Altogether, the little book repays perusal.