Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 13, 1902.djvu/322

 304 Correspondence.

revenue on a piece of alluvial land thrown up by the river, the sight of his note-book puts a sudden check on conversation, and he will observe that any questions he asks are met with coldness or distrust, or will suddenly find himself unable to make himself intelligible in the local dialect.

It is also a great help to know something about the matter beforehand and to bring it out in a casual way. The rustic with the natural suspiciousness of his nature thinks you know a great deal more than you would have him suspect, that if he lies he is very likely to be detected. So he becomes much less shy and reticent. Above all things the searcher after folklore must know the people and their ways ; he must speak the village patois well ; he must not seem to be too eager for an answer; he must not cross-examine; he must not ostentatiously take notes. He must simply store away in a corner of his mind whatever the people choose to tell him, let the matter rest there, and later on a judicious question will elicit further information. He must seem to have a kindly but not patronising interest in their ways ; he must remember that they are not "savages," but people possessing a well-developed form of culture much more ancient than his own; in particular he must never laugh at them, or show that he despises their ways of life and thought.

Collecting folktales is quite another matter. To begin with, the best tellers are women, and in the East women are taboo to the male foreigner. It is impolite to recognise their existence, so much so that it is not etiquette to ask about a visitor's family unless the gentleman of the house be more than a mere acquaint- ance ; even then it is rash to make more than a casual reference to the "house-folk," which include all the female belongings. Hence it is practically impossible for the European officer to approach those who would be best able to assist him. There are very few English ladies who know the women's patois well. The Eurasian lady does of course know it, but she has a hearty con- tempt for such things as folklore. If we had more ladies as well versed in the native ways and language as Mrs. Steel, no doubt much might be learned from the women, who are the main depositaries of knowledge of this kind.

When I first began to be interested in the collection of folktales I sent for the best professional story-tellers, the Qissa-khwdn, to use the Hindustani word, who are to be found in every large