Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/584

520 by the Taoist Pope. Many narratives bring out the popular theory of man's two souls,—a superior soul which makes real journeys in dreams, enters other bodies, and can be captured or scared off, and an inferior soul which can by itself sustain the body in life only for a limited time, but, if alone, can utilize even a single bone left to it, and become a stupid and ferocious vampire. (Hence bones, and even the bones of animals, are greatly dreaded.) There is also a soul for each of the five viscerae, able to appear in human form. Some of the tales are very gruesome, and it is no wonder that Father Wieger comments that the Chinese are not impressed by supernatural marvels told to them, saying that they have still greater wonders in their own stories. The resemblances to Western tales and superstitions are more numerous than might be expected; to eat the food of the dead is to prevent return to the living, but the drink of the dead has not this effect; werwolves and doubles are known; in No. 58 we have the story, told by Boccacio, of the contest between the husband and the lover for the wife who has been rescued by the latter from the tomb, but in the Chinese story the wife is actually recalled from death to life by the fidelity of the lover. No. 15 is possibly the original of the Japanese story, told by Mitford, Hearn, etc., of the dead mistress who is identified by the peony lantern hung at her grave. A very lengthy notice would be necessary even to name the items of interest in this valuable collection. A second volume, to follow, will deal with the ancient folklore from the ninth century B.C. to the eighth century A.D. The two volumes together will be of the greatest use, and all students interested in Far Eastern folk-lore should buy the books and thank the learned Father for his labours.