Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 3 1885.djvu/106

98 particular titles have been suggested for a general classification.) Little "knotty points" like this are continually cropping up, and the difficulty of settling them would of course be immensely increased by the use of a very complex scheme, or one which did not possess the primary requisite of clear broad outlines, lucidly expressed and easily understood. Now, this is just the merit of Mr. Gomme's plan. It is simplicity itself. His division into "groups" and subdivision into "classes," answering to the "genera" and "species" of botanists, can be comprehended at a glance. Another advantage in it is, that it does not unnecessarily disturb existing arrangements and acknowledged landmarks. In fact, one could work by this scheme; and, what is more, any one reading a book written on this principle would easily learn where to look for anything he wished to find in it.

Now to examine the scheme in detail.

Group I, Traditional Narratives.—This seems to me an excellent title. No other that I have seen (unless it be " folk-tradition ") covers the whole range of subjects, from Cupid and Psyche to the Wifie and her Kidie. Class a (Folk-Tales) would need a great many subdivisions into romantic tales, nursery-tales, drolls, &c.; but this is a branch of folk-lore in which I have no experience. I wish much that I had grasped the idea that ballads and folk-songs are really folk-tradition in verse, in time to give them their proper position in the Shropshire Folk-Lore. I should enlarge the title of Class d (Place-Legends) into Place Legends and Traditions, so as to take in local traditions which do not involve any story; such as traditions of subterranean passages from place to place, and popular traditions of battles, and other local historical events. This class would need careful sifting: for instance, localized traditions of mythic or semi-mythic heroes like King Arthur, and popular stories of local heroes such as Sir Francis Drake, or Wild Humphrey Kynaston, or Tom Faggus, ought, I think, in many cases to go in Class b (Hero Tales). They are not intimately connected with the place where they are told, in the same sense as the story of the Prentice-Pillar at Roslin, or as stories of boulders thrown by giants, buildings erected