Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 13, 1902.djvu/318

 300 Correspondence.

kinds of folklore. Folktales in England are few, except in the form of anecdotes (generally told as true), in which shape I con- fess they do not greatly attract me, and I cannot therefore say much about collecting them. But localised legends are plentiful, and quite easy to collect. How came those mounds and stones on yonder moorland ? Why is that hill called Hangman ? Why does the figure on that monument rest his feet upon a dog? The rustic has little fear or shyness in answering such questions, courteously put, if time be given him to collect his ideas. Unless some dread of pronouncing the names of supernatural beings restrains him, he is rather proud to show his knowledge of local history, as he deems it. With care in introducing the subject, and with a due show of seriousness, you may get even local ghost- stories without much difficulty. Local customs, again, are matters which may naturally come under the observation of new-comers or temporary sojourners ; and old inhabitants, whcfi once you have established friendly relations tvith them, like to talk of these things, to describe the ways of their own youth, and to descant with endless variations on the theme that " times were different theti" to any sympathetic listener. People who from official position or other reasons cannot easily put themselves on really confidential terms with the villagers, may still do a great deal of good work in these departments ; but they should be careful to re- member that they are not really " behind the scenes," and should not indulge any instinctive disbelief when some one with better opportunity or greater personal gifts discovers veins of " supersti- tion " of which they are ignorant.

For the region of belief is naturally much more difficult to ex- plore than those of custom and legend. People do not understand the inquirer's object ; and they are suspicious, reticent, afraid of being laughed at, in proportion, I might almost say, to the sincerity of their secret belief in " such things," even when they affect to despise them. I have, it is true, read a list of omens to a peasant woman, checking those she knew and adding others from her information (I think she imagined that I was nervously superstitious) ; and there are persons of the peasant class, like Mr. Manning's Oxford fossil-gatherer, who can be employed to collect such matters. But for the most part "superstitions " have to be gleaned gradually, as years roll on and opportunity incident- ally brings them to light. Anything savouring of magic or witch-