Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 2 1884.djvu/350

 342 Turning to the German compounds of Sage we must not expect to be able to manufacture phrases out of a foreign word like Saga quite 80 easily. Nor is it required that we should. We have an exact equivalent of sag-kreis; and when we speak of the Trojan cycle or the Arthurian cycle, or the cycle of Charlemagne, we use a term which is perfectly intelligible and accurate. There is an ambiguity in the German kreis which compels definition by the prefix sag, but there is no such ambiguity in the English word; and every body knows that we mean the Trojan, or the Arthurian legendary cycle, or the legendary cycle of Charles the Great. Then, as to sag-zug, we have the word incident, which expresses one-half of the idea comprised in this compound; and, if we only had a word to indicate the pictorial features of a story, I am not at all sure that it would not be an advantage to us to express the incident and the pictorial feature by distinct terms. On the other hand, such compounds as god-saga, hero-saga, elf-saga, ghost-saga, and even world-saga (unless theurgy, or theogony were preferred), would present no difficulty.

With regard to märchen, however, I am somewhat at a loss. We must have a word to express this, and at present I can think of no better translation than nursery-tale. The chief objection to this is that as a descriptive title it applies equally to a cumulative tale like "The Wifie and her Kidie," and perhaps to some other varieties of folk-tale. But with the exception of the cumulative tale these varieties are of little importance, and their existence ought not to hinder our deciding on the term suggested. The term cumulative tale itself, though open to some objection, may stand, in the absence of a better, to designate the class to which it relates. We shall not have to go very far for an equivalent for schwank, as droll expresses it exactly; while beast-tale may render thiermärchen. Thus we should, with a little ingenuity, and without much loss of elegance, find or make all the technical terms we want: some of those used by the Germans and given by Mr. Nutt I am inclined to think we should speedily discover to be unnecessary.

I cannot altogether accept Mr. Nutt's division of the subjects of folk-lore, though some of the terms he proposes for the classes are an addition to oar technical vocabulary. I would rather divide the