Page:The Fables of Bidpai (Panchatantra).djvu/45

Rh folk-tales. It is true that these tales passed into all the languages of Europe in translations, but a large part of them never emerged from within the covers of the translations, as may be seen by referring to our analytical list of the stories. At first sight it seems to argue a wide spread for a story to see it quoted from "Anvari-Suhaili," "Hitopadesa," "Directorium vite humane," "Panchatantra," "Exemplario," "Stephanite i Ichnelate," "Del governo degli animali," and so on. Mr. Clouston especially is fond of ringing these changes (Popular Tales, pass.) But after all this is much the same as if one were to state that a saying appeared in "the Torah" and "" and "Das erste Buch Mose" and "the Vulgate" and "the Peshitto" and "Les saintes Ventures" and "Genesis" and "the Douay Version," and all the other names under which the Bible is known in translation. All these are but one book, and though the various translations may very properly be quoted as testimonies to the popularity of the book, they cannot be counted over and over again as proving the popularity of each story. Or rather, if a story occurs only in these translations, this