Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 7 1889.djvu/292

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We congratulate English folklorists upon the finish of this most important work. The original is tough reading for even good German scholars, and this translation is so good that it is a real boon. Something has been said about the rhyming formulæ and incantations not having been translated, but we prefer them standing in their original form, because any one taking up this branch of folklore must, to do their work properly, use the original words. All Grimm's notes and appendices are given in this volume, so that now we possess a worthy edition of this great work. Lately we have had some expressions about "mere superstition" as a classification of this branch of English Folklore, and we venture to think that Grimm's work for Germany has not been taken into account by those indulging in this loose talk. If some one would give us an English Grimm it would go a great way towards establishing some landmarks in English Folklore. All our members will now be able to complete their set of this great German work, and Messrs. Bell have earned a considerable debt of gratitude by the way it has been accomplished.

Mr. W. F. Kirby, a member of the Council of this Society, has been engaged for some time upon an annotated translation of the Kalevala from the original Finnish, and he has been elected a Cor- responding Member of the Finnish Literary Society at Helsingfors.