Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review Volumes 32 and 33.djvu/722

412 the general reader. The author does wisely, therefore, in frankly ignoring a great part of the field of research suggested by his title. He scarcely mentions Manichaeism, Nestorianism, or Islam; and only forty pages are allotted to Taoism and Buddhism. The greater part of the work is concerned with the religion of ancient China—beliefs and institutions, many of which remain in some form or other a precious heritage of the nation, and probably have contributed more than anything else to the longevity of its civilization. Thus one of the four chapters discusses the life of the peasant and his beliefs, another feudal religion, including ancestor worship and other cults of antiquity, and another the State religion and Confucianism. M. Granet is peculiarly qualified to deal with this most interesting aspect of Chinese religious life. His earlier works Fêtes et Chansons Anciennes de la Chine and Polygynie Sororale will be remembered as valuable achievements, the outcome of originality and imagination in the interpretation of ancient texts. And this small handbook, too, comes as a refreshing contrast to many Western works on the same subject which show a monotonous uniformity suggesting that one is copied from another.

It is surprising to find M. Granet making the statement that myth is scanty in China. Presumably he has little explored the voluminous literature devoted to Taoist hero-tales. Indications exist that many of these mythical stories are of great age, and, though probably the first written records of them perished at an early date, there still remain some of quite respectable antiquity; witness the collection entitled Lieh hsien chuan, which, even if not actually from the pen of its reputed author of the first century, bears evidence of belonging to a distant past. The fabulous writings of Taoism have multiplied exceedingly down through the centuries, but they are small in volume compared with current folk-lore. There is scarce a hill, stream, or spring but has its genius loci.

One must not ignore, of course, the other side of the picture resulting from the Chinese habit of precise and matter-of-fact historical record which inclines the orthodox scholar to affect a contemptuous disbelief in anything outside the dynastic annals or other works of classical rank. Yet the bulk of the Chinese