Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 9, 1898.djvu/59

 Rh little admixture. As a matter of historical fact, in the case of the Teutonic invasions, of which alone we know anything in detail, we do know that the admixture was greater than it need have been; there was more marrying between Saxons, Welsh, Gaels, and Danes than was actually necessary.

In the early days of our study the question of the origin of our folklore resolved itself into a trial of strength between Teutons and Celts; and as the facts of folklore were first co-ordinated and interpreted by German scholars, it was natural that items of British folklore found to be parallel to that of Germany should be referred to the Teutonic element in our community. It is now seen that this does not necessarily follow. In so far as the practical-philosophical side of the folklore is concerned, the two invading: communities stood on much the same plane of culture, and there is little ground for asserting that their beliefs and practices differed sensibly. They were Teutonic if found among Teutons, Celtic if found among Celts, but in themselves of almost the same nature. The moment the two communities came into contact there was nothing to prevent interchange and commingling. All that can be said is that the Teutonic invasion of the fifth-sixth centuries largely reinforced the bulk of folklore conceptions which in certain portions of England had doubtless given way before, or at least had been considerably modified by Pagan classic and Christian classic culture. The Scandinavian invasion of the ninth-tenth centuries stands on a somewhat different footing. I have already suggested that communities in which warfare and conquest had become the practical business of life would be likely to develop a philosophy differing more from that of the peasant or the hunter than did either of those two classes among themselves. And if ever a community seems at first sight wholly devoted to warfare as a means of livelihood, it is that of the Vikings who harried the remainder