Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 18.djvu/849

Rh This singular resemblance does not seem to have been noticed again until Mr. Herbert Smith, in his "Brazil, the Amazons, and the Coast" (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1879), in a chapter devoted to "The Myths of the Amazonian Indians," gave a number of animal fables, but, owing to his insufficient acquaintance with comparative folk-lore, he was unable to throw any light on the subject, merely noticing the resemblances which had already attracted the attention of Professor Hartt and others. The proof-sheets of this chapter were sent to Mr. Harris, who at once saw that the similarity extended to almost every story quoted by Mr. Smith, and some are so nearly identical as to point unmistakably to a common origin; but when and where? Mr. Harris asks, "When did the negro or the North American Indian come into contact with the tribes of South America?"

Before examining this question, it may be well to compare hastily the stories in Hartt's "Amazonian Tortoise Myths" (Rio de Janeiro, 1875) and Smith's "Brazil" with their parallels in "Uncle Remus" and elsewhere. First, let us examine the stories common to Hartt, Smith, and Uncle Remus:

I. "How the Tortoise outran the Deer" (Hartt, p. 7; Smith, p. 543, gives the version in Hartt, saying: "I quote Professor Hartt's words for this story, as being better than the version, substantially the same, that I find in my note-book. The story is very common all over the Amazons."—"Riverside Magazine," November, 1868, p. 507; "Cornell Era," January 20, 1871; "Nation," February 23, 1871, p. 127; and "Lippincott's Magazine," December, 1877, p. 751). The Tortoise declares that it can outrun the Deer, and the latter challenges it to a race. The Tortoise secretly posts members of its family along the course, who answer for him when the Deer asks if he is ahead. The race begins, and the Deer is so bewildered at hearing the Tortoise's voice always ahead of him, that he runs against a tree and falls down dead. In "Uncle Remus" the Rabbit takes the place of the Deer, and the story ends with the Terrapin's victory without the death of his rival. In "Lippincott" the actors are Buh Rabbit and Buh Frog; but the writer remarks that another version makes the competitors Buh Deer and Buh Cooter (the Negro name for terrapin, or land-tortoise). A German version of this story is given in the "Riverside Magazine," September, 1868, and a version from Siam may be found in the "Orient und Occident," III, 497. A more important and significant parallel, however, is to be found in Bleek, No. 16, p. 32, "The Tortoises hunting the Ostriches": "One day, it is said, the Tortoises held a council how they might hunt Ostriches, and they said: 'Let us, on both sides, stand in rows near each other, and let one go to hunt the Ostriches, so that they must flee along through the midst of us.' They did so, and, as they were many, the Ostriches were obliged to run along through the midst of them. During this they did not move, but, remaining always in the same places, called each to the