Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 5, 1894.djvu/340

 332 brother; for he had been under spells until this was done. Mr. Campbell has noted a number of coincidences with different points of the tale. These Mr. Jacobs quotes, including the opinion that "nothing short of an Asian [by which he seems to mean an Indian] origin will account for it". The reasons adduced for the opinion in question are founded chiefly on the part played by the steed; and special reference is made to its colour and its beheadal, so as to connect it with Vedic sacrifices. Campbell's observations, however, are all beside the mark, and were probably only a few rough notes scribbled down before he had had leisure to look up the analogues. In fact, the story is found in every country of Europe, and among the Tartars of Southern Siberia and the Caucasus; while, on the other hand, it is not found (so far as I am aware, and, what is more, so far as M. Cosquin is aware) in India, at least in its developed form, or with the machinery of the horse, which is all important for his argument. We must always remember, too, in considering Campbell's opinions on the provenience of tales, that the collection of folk-tales has enormously increased since his day, and that he wrote when the sunmyth was in its prime. Prof Max Müller's theories dominated much of his thought: Primitive Culture and Myth Ritual and Religion had not yet been written.

Mr. Alfred Nutt contributes a very important note on "The Fate of the Children of the Lir", discussing its earliest form and. the history of its evolution. It is quite clear that M. Gaston Paris is wrong in making the story of "The Seven Swans" dependent upon that of "The Swan Knight", whatever the meaning of the chains in the former may be.

Several of the stories now appear in print or in English for the first time; and if the Editor be serious in threatening us with no more volumes, there are others, beside "his little friends", who will regret it.

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