Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 22, 1911.djvu/301

 Revieivs. 265

records of which are still very imperfect, but the statement of the grounds of judgment in feng-shui (geomancy) is very full and clear. It appears incidentally that a site of good feng-shui is not wasted on the grave of an infant, whose small soul will be powerless in the spirit world to influence the family fortunes, and a like practical aspect of Chinese character is shown by the tunnel driven underneath a temple on the summit of a mountain pass to allow the storm wind to cross without hurting the building (pp. 385-6). Among other subjects on which important additions are made to our knowledge are the mingled motives of the ancestor cult, multiple souls, family graveyards, the relations of a married woman with her father's family (which must guarantee the good conduct of a shrew, p. 200), spring festivals, and lot-drawing as a method of dividing property, while other items of interest in charms, cures, sympathetic magic, etc. are innumerable. To sum up, Mr. Johnston has given us a very readable, thorough, and fully illustrated book on Chinese folklore, and the loving labour by which it has been produced ought to be gratefully acknowledged by a wide circle of readers and buyers.

Dr. Macgowan gives us, perhaps from the same districts as his Sidelights from Chinese Life, eleven Chitiese Folk-Lore Tales. Despite the title, they are not intended for the student, as their sources are not stated, and they are obviously 'written up.' Probably they are derived from oral narratives, as on pp. 99-101 there is a much-damaged version of a well-known tale. Most of the stories, however, are not familiar, and it is a pity that we were not given simple translations with separate notes and explanations, which would have made a far more attractive book.

The same author's Chinese Folk-Lore contains " A Chapter on Fairies," and nineteen more tales, and has the same faults as its companion. A number of these stories {e.g. Nos, iii, v, vii, ix, and x), have already been translated from the Liao Chai Chih I by Prof. Giles in Strange Stories fro?n a Chitiese Studio (2nd edit., 1909). The misleading term "fairies" ought not to be used to designate Taoist saints and other Chinese immortals. There is much that is new in this volume also, and it is a pity that it is not in a form available for scientific use.

A. R. Wright.