Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 2, 1891.djvu/139

Rh delight. Many of their stories were certainly derived from Gaelic or French sources, from the Hudson Bay voyageurs, probably, most of whom were Scotch. The purely Indian stories, they said, they could not tell properly in English; and though I learned a lot of their language, I could not understand them."

A propos of Dr. Hyde's own book (Beside the Fire), the Rev. Euseby D. Cleaver writes to me:—

These facts are of considerable importance in discussing the vexed question of the transmission of tales. Dr. Hyde's statement should be carefully considered by all students of modern collections of Indian legends. I confess it confirms suspicions I have long had with regard to Mr. Leland's Algonquin collection. It may be said that Dr. Hyde, an experienced and enthusiastic folk-lorist, is by no means in the position of an ordinary Hudson's Bay voyageur, but it is quite possible that a professional Gaelic story-teller, with a répertoire as large as, if not larger than Dr. Hyde's, may have got over to New Brunswick in the last century or the beginning of this. The distinction made by the Indians between the English tales and their own should be noted.

Author:Alfred Trübner Nutt