Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 7, 1896.djvu/314

288 are derived from Christian sources, and only their music appears to be related to folklore. It is of a barbaric kind, and is clearly akin to primitive African music. Connected with this music are some curious customs. One of the strangest of these is that of sitting up and singing all night. Another "is the service of song held on the night when some friend is supposed to be dying. If the patient does not die they come again the next night, and between the disease and the hymns the poor negro is pretty sure to succumb."

The stories, like the songs, are borrowed in part from European sources; and we may trace the influence of Grimm, Anderson, and of anonymous compilers of English folk-tales. There are, however, some valuable native stories, from which the ethnologist may learn useful lessons. We may mention, for example, the two stories in which certain animals, in order to obtain food, entice other animals to their destruction. The tales which have come from native sources usually contain a rude verse or two, and a strain of music; and in this respect they may be compared to those European tales and sagas which are partly metrical.

In Europe the age or genuineness of a saga or folk-tale may often be known by the verses which it contains; and it would appear from Dr. Edwards's collection that the same test may be applied to African stories.

The book has been edited in a scholarly fashion, with appropriate notes and references to authorities, and is made more attractive by some very good illustrations. No doubt it was better to publish the stories in the broken English in which they are told. It is not, however, always an easy matter to understand it, and the reader will require patience to make himself properly acquainted with the text. In publishing these songs and stories Dr. Edwards has done a good piece of work, and we hope that he will continue his researches.