Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/288

 248 Reviews.

milk and beer, but poured them out on a stool for him, instead of handing them m the proper vessels, so he was offended, and " this is how it is that when people die they remain away." As milk is poured on a stool during certain ceremonies, it is perhaps possible that the story arose — or took this particular form — through an attempt to explain the usage. A. Werner.

Folk-Tales of Hindustan. By Shaikh Chilli. Allahabad : Indian Press, 1908.

In this little volume ten stories from North India, which have already appeared in the Modern Review, are reprinted in a convenient form. The editor, who takes the name of Shaikh Chilli, appears to be a Mohammedan of the United Provinces. The stories are told in good English, albeit too much of the journalistic pattern to be altogether a suitable medium for conveying the spirit of folk-tales. A few slips betray the fact that Enghsh is not the native tongue of the translator, — such as the use of the word ' odes ' for the songs of a nautch-girl. It may be noted that on p. 120 1. 10 her is by a slip printed for his. The stories are excellent examples of the tales of wonder, adventure, and enchantment that circulate throughout the Mohammedan world. None of them can be identified with the more familiar tales of this type, but the old themes appear in new kaleidoscopic combinations. The story of the fools, for instance, is diversified by the diverting incident of the com- petitor for the crown of folly who hid the eggs in his cheek and allowed the surgeon to lance his swollen face rather than tell. The story of the Jat and the Bania is an excellent example of another form of competition, — that of two persons telling preposterous tales with a penalty awaiting the one who does not accept the truth of his companion's inventions. "The Shrew and the Shade" is a good version of the famihar 'terma- gant wife' theme. The town of Janjal Nagari in the Land of Darkness is a sort of Gotham with features suggesting Laputa, and the combination of extreme folly with philosophical disputa-