Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 8, 1897.djvu/300

 276 Reviews,

bore the sword and sandals (28) ; and in another story comes the episode of the returning ship, the white flag forgotten, and the father's death (55). Like Proteus, a Turkish Aga transforms himself into a lion, a serpent, a bird of prey, and a flame (175). The Dhrakos with his riddles recals the Sphinx (96). CEdipus and Jocasta wed again (194). In the tale of the Sugar Man (120), Pygmalion and his maiden change parts. Aphrodite survives as a famous beauty in the same story that describes the wanderings of Demetra in search of her daughter { 1 7 1 ff. ). A later Psyche weds with a husband whom she may not see (279). Of Homeric story, we have the episode of the Cyclops in great detail (So ff.), cavern, blinding, escape and all. I may add that Odysseus' trick about his name reappears in a story from Lesbos {^Folk-Lore, vol. vii. p. 154); and that the omen of the oar, which was mistaken for a winnowing fan, occurs in another yEgean tale. Lastly, a good deal of the legend of Danae is found in the Woodcutter Lad, a tale from Tinos, and one of Mr. Paton's manuscript collection.

Not only is there much interest in the matter of these volumes, but their literary interest is also considerable. Many of the stories are uncommonly good, and their style is simple and vigorous. In the verse translations the same standard has not been obtained ; but the translator has aimed first at accuracy, and to this has sacrificed much. Both verse and prose are translated almost literally, and wherever the present writer has compared them with the originals, they have proved not only Hteral, but correct.^

The notes contain a great deal of valuable information, relating as well to folklore as to history. Some have already been noticed ; we may further refer to the parallels and explanations of the False Bride myth (i. 396), and to the conjecture on the plural " Christ- Births" for the Nativity (109). There is also an exhaustive note on the alleged sacrifice of Christian children by Jews (vol. i. note 51, on a poem, page 290), in which it is suggested that this, and even the crucifixion of our Lord, may be due to a " possibly immemorial custom."

It remains to mention the editor's Introductions and Appen- dices. These consist of a General Preface, an Essay on the Science of Folklore and Excursus on Greek Folk-Speech, and the Sur- vival of Paganism. The arrangement of the material is familiar to

' There are a few exceptions : e.g. i. p. 68 contains some mistranslations, unless we have used a different te.xt.