Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 9, 1898.djvu/95

Rh appendix, to ascertain the origin and earliest form of the Bertha-saga. For such an inquiry he has certain literary data. He points to the unquestionable fact that Pepin the Little had dissensions with his wife Bertha, and was minded to put her away, from which he was only prevented by the persuasion or command of Pope Stephen III., and to the probability that he was unfaithful to her, since he had other children than those ascribed to her. Moreover, Eginhard, the friend and biographer of Charles the Great, hints at some mystery overhanging the emperor's birth. On these materials popular fancy seems to have wrought, fashioning the story in two forms. According to one of these, the true bride is set aside on the way to the court; according to the other, she is supplanted on the wedding-night. After an examination of the tales, Dr. Arfert comes to the conclusion that the former, the German legend, is the earlier. On the very insufficient ground that the German superstitions connected with the names of Bertha and Holle are not traceable further back than the fourteenth century, he decides that the Bertha-saga has nothing to do with the old Norse Hulda-saga. And he rightly insists that the whole cycle finds its motive, not in myth, but in the relations of social life.

is a charming little book, brimful of learning and folklore. The author displays a wide but discriminating knowledge of folklore, Oriental as well as European, and the foot of every page is rich in references. The details, however, are never allowed to obscure the main purpose of the volume, and in spite of its learning the book is a model of clear and orderly arrangement. The style is attractive, and is sure to interest other readers besides folklorists and Assyriologists.

Taking the second verse of the book of Genesis as his text,