Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/561

 Correspondence. 497

He was a mythical figure ignored or explained away by almost all anthropologists till quite recent years, under the sug- gestion of the animistic theory of the origin of religion, Mr. Brown has provided us with valuable materials for the study of the All-Father belief, because, strictly speaking, neither his beings nor the Tukura of the Loritja can be called All-Mothers or All-Fathers. As far as he tells us, men see in them angry rulers, — but have no filial relation to them, any more than in the case of the Loritja Tukura. But, in many instances, such creative sky-dwellers have been credited with the fatherhood of mankind, and with the sanction of ethics, and Tukura and the Andamanese beings may have once been regarded as ethical

and kind, and have lost their attributes.

A. Lang.

The History of the Destruction of the Round Table. {Atite, p. 272.) The Arthurian text communicated by Dr. Gaster is interesting from more than one point of view, but I can in no way agree with the opinion, expressed alike by him and by Dr. Schiiler, that the version represented is of a primitive and archaic character. (M. Paulin Paris' modern abridgment of these romances, useful as a guide to the general content, should of course never be cited as critical evidence.) The exact contrary is the case. The text derives from one of the later cyclic redactions, although, in its present drastically shortened form, it is not easy to determine precisely the group to which it should be assigned. It probably belonged to that designated by Wechssler as Pseudo-Map, Dr. Brugger's O. i Galahad-Grail cycle ; i.e. it shows no sign of Tristan contamination ; but whether it belonged to redaction a or b it is not so easy to say. (Cf. the table in Dr. Brugger's Enserrement Merlin No. I., Zeitschrift fur Franzbsische Sprache, Vol. XXIX.) There is no trace of the Grajid Saint Graal, but the Merlin was certainly in an enlarged form. This is proved by the version of Arthur's birth and relationships ; originally he had but one half-sister, mother to Gawain, and Iwain was not his nephew ; gradually the number of Igerne's daughters grew from