Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 23, 1912.djvu/148

 126 Reviews.

so certain as Dr. Henderson is that the stone at Westminster is the Lia Fail! The index is inadequate, and there are frequent slips in the proof-reading. Such words as " wrongously " (p. 13), "wracking pains" (p. 15), "behalf" for belief (p. 55), "subsume" (p. 57), and " Danaan " for Danann (p. 69), should be corrected.

Eleanor Hull.

Costumes, Traditions and Songs of Savoy. By Estella Canziani. Chatto and Windus, 191 1. 4to, pp. xiii+180. Col. pi. and text ill.

This is an exceedingly handsome volume, dedicated "to Their Majesties the King and Queen of Italy," and written by a lady who has devoted much time during the last six years to travelling with her father in the most out-of-the-way places in Savoy, fraternising with the peasants, sketching costumes and scenery, and collecting the songs and traditions of the people. The faces and costumes will appeal to the artist, and there are also numerous landscapes, sketches of arms, household utensils, coins, seals, etc., and many songs with their music, so that the book appeals to nearly all classes of readers. The beliefs and traditions are often very curious and poetical, and we will quote one or two examples: — "The origin of the famous edelweiss is traditionally as follows: High up in the eternal snows there is enthroned a white lady — the queen of the snows — and she is surrounded by many little spirits all carrying crystal lances. But if a hunter, or an impru- dent Alpinist, tries to climb up to the white lady, she looks and smiles at him. He is fascinated, and regardless of the many dangers, climbs ever higher and higher. He sees nothing but her fair head or shining crown, and the jealous spirits around urge him on, until at last he makes a false step, and perishes in some crevasse. Then the white lady weeps, her tears run over the rocks, where they change into the star-like Edelweiss" (p. 14). This is somewhat like Hans Christian Andersen's Ice-Maide?i, and the giddiness felt by many persons in looking down from a height has often been ascribed to the influence of the sylphs or other invisible and more or less unfriendly beings.