Page:The Fables of Bidpai (Panchatantra).djvu/44

xxxiv Thus, out of the two hundred märchen collected by the Brothers Grimm, only eighteen are quoted as parallels by Benfey, and in many of these cases the parallelism is only so far justified that there seems to be no point of contact between the two tales except that afforded by the common human nature underlying them. Or working from the other end we may attempt to calculate the proportion of any country's tales which can be traced to the East. Professor Crane has selected from the voluminous folk-literature of Italy 107 of the most characteristic tales in his Italian Folk-Tales, and of these he only traces a dozen (xxxvii.-xlviii.) to Oriental sources, a somewhat higher percentage than in the German collection, as is but natural, considering the closer proximity and connection of Italy, and especially Sicily, with the East. Altogether we shall not be far out if we restrict the proportion of Oriental tales among the folk-tales of Western Europe to one in ten.

Another consideration will modify the somewhat exaggerated claims that have been made for the influence of our collection upon European