Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 4, 1893.djvu/104

96 recognises them and entertains them. In doing so she makes a similar distinction between her youngest brother and the others to that made by Joseph in favour of Benjamin. The collection also contains two variants of a story turning upon an incident identical with one of the incidents of the Egyptian tale of The Two Brothers. The hero in bathing loses one of his hairs, which floats down the stream and is found by a princess. She determines to marry the man from whose head it has fallen ; and the remainder of the narrative records her efforts. Another curious tale relates the injuries a woman attempts to inflict on a tiger under pretence of doing him good — injuries which always redound to the tiger's benefit — and his gratitude for these favours. Indeed, this little volume is replete with interest to the student.

A story unquestionably derived from Buddhist sources is to be found in Dr. von Wlislocki's Märchen, since it is no other than the legend of Siddartha's youth. Probably it has passed into European tradition from some literary medium. The learned author refers in a note to an essay he has written on the subject of Barlaam and Josaphat among the Armenians and Gipsies in a German periodical which I have not had the advantage of seeing. The Discovery of Iron, another of Dr. von Wlislocki's collection, is a tale containing a version of the external soul incident, without the wrappers. A Cinderella variant is given, which is declared to be connected with the ancient Armenian mythology. In form the story is more artistic and poetical than is usual ; and the king's name, Ambanor, is stated, on the authority of the philologist Hanusch, to be a form of the name of the Spring-goddess Amanora. Several other stories are highly curious ; and if the contents of the volume be genuine, unadorned tradition, the Armenians of Hungary, however they came into their present seats, are a people whose folk-lore is of a remarkable character. The authoress of Afro-American Folk-lore has produced a thin volume whose importance greatly exceeds its bulk,