Journal of American Folk-Lore/Volume 12/Issue 45/Bibliographical Notes
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.
BOOKS.
The Cuchullin Saga in Irish Literature. Being a Collection of Stories relating to the Hero Cuchullin, translated from the Irish by various scholars. Compiled and edited, with Introduction and Notes, by Eleanor Hull. [Grimm Library, No. 8.] London: David Nutt, 1898. Pp. lxxix, 316.
Miss Hull's book is the eighth in the "Grimm Library," and though it is a less ambitious undertaking than some of the other numbers, it is likely to be one of the most useful productions of the series. As its title indicates, it is chiefly a compilation of tales from the Middle Irish. Most of the translations here printed have appeared before separately in the learned journals, and Miss Hull has collected them in a single volume, supplying an introduction and brief illustrative notes. The Irish text is not given.
The tales have been selected chiefly with a view to presenting the life and exploits of Cuchullin, the favorite hero of the Ulster Saga cycle. A few of them do not deal with him directly, and some of the best of the Cuchullin stories (like the "Fled Bricrend") have been omitted altogether. But some limits doubtless had to be observed in making the selection, and the reader will get from the book an excellent impression of the character of the saga cycle.
In the introductory note to the "Tain Bo Cuailgne" Miss Hull says, "The translation is intended primarily for English readers, not for Irish scholars;" and this statement apparently applies to the whole book, which should be judged accordingly. It does not profess to make any new contribution to Celtic scholarship, but it furnishes the general reader a valuable introduction to a body of literature which is none too familiar and none too accessible. Most of the existing English translations of Irish romances were made before the study of the Celtic languages had been put on a scientific basis. Miss Hull has therefore done the English reader a good service in placing at his easy disposal more recent and competent versions of some of the principal tales. The summary of the "Tain Bo Cuailgne" will be particularly convenient for reference, since the original Irish text is not accessible except in the facsimiles published by the Royal Irish Academy. It differs from Zimmer's analysis of the same tale (published in the twenty-eighth volume of Kuhn's "Zeitschrift ") by being much fuller in some sections, which are practically translated at length, and by passing over other sections with a bare indication of the events they relate.
In a work of a different character Miss Hull's method with the translations would be open to some criticism. Thus she says in her prefatory note to the tenth selection (p. 230): "I have followed the translation of O'Curry, but have adopted a few phrases from the French version where Mr. O'Curry's version is obscure." Elsewhere she makes similar statements with regard to other selections. (See pages 22 and 96.) This eclecticism can hardly be called scientific, but it does not really impair the value of the book in hand. Moreover, the reader is warned by the use of brackets whenever the editor takes any liberties with the text of her translators.
Considering the purpose of the volume, the literary form of the translations is more important than their absolute accuracy, and the style, it must be said, is somewhat irregular. The reader now and then gets the impression that the versions, most of them pretty literal and originally intended to accompany an Irish text in some learned journal, have not received the careful revision they ought to have had before they were given to the public as samples of Irish literature. One or two instances of unfortunate phraseology may be quoted. In the "Siege of Howth" (p. 90) we read: "A battle was fought straightway. Heavy in sooth was the attack that they delivered. Bloody the mutual uplifting." Surely a puzzling phrase to the English reader! Two pages farther on we are told that "the women of Ulster divided themselves into three," a statement which is fortunately made clearer by the context.
The summary of the "Tain Bo Cuailgne " is contributed by Mr. Standish Hayes O'Grady, whose vivacious style as a translator is familiar to all readers of his "Silva Gadelica." Here, again, he shows much skill in adapting the English language to Irish idioms, though his rendering is occasionally over-ingenious, and therefore inappropriate. The reader may be excused for pausing in some wonder at sentences like the following from the description of Setanta's fight with the watch-dog of Culann: "The child was without all reasonable means of defence; the dog's throat therefore down, as he charged open-jawed, with great force he threw his ball, which mortally punished the creature's inwards. Cuchullin seized him by the hind legs, and against a rock at hand banged him to such purpose that in disintegrated gobbets he strewed all the ground." Is there such grotesqueness in the original Irish in the manuscript from which Mr. O'Grady is translating?
Miss Hull's introduction furnishes a suitable preface to the texts. This also is popular in purpose and method. In the first part the editor gives some account of the age of Irish literature, and the circumstances of its production and preservation. The latter half of the introduction discusses the mythological significance of the tales. Cuchullin is explained as a solar hero, and the battle of the great bulls in the "Tain Bo Cuailgne" is interpreted as being symbolical of the struggle between summer and winter, between darkness and light. The argument with regard to Cuchullin is derived chiefly from Professor Rhŷs's "Hibbert Lectures," and the remarks about the symbolism of the bulls are based partly on the "Mythologie Zoölogique" of De Gubernatis. In both instances the mycologists may be right in their main contention, but the application of a mythological explanation to the details of a story is always venturesome, and in a chapter addressed to the general reader such theories cannot be too cautiously stated. The trained student, of course, does not need any such warning.
Miss Hull's volume contains much material of value for the study of folk-lore and popular tradition. The Middle Irish sagas illustrate a very interesting stage of popular narrative or epic development, and furnish many parallels to the motifs, characters, and manners and customs which recur in such literature all over the world. Thus an instance of the combat between father and son (as in the "Hildebrandslied") is discussed on p. xxxi of Miss Hull's Introduction; the precocious growth of a hero is illustrated at p. 145 of the text; some Irish accounts of a "brig o' dread" are mentioned on p. 291; the custom of drinking the blood of a dead kinsman or friend is referred to on p. 45 ; single combats frequently take place at fords (see particularly p. 149); the couvade is discussed in its relation to the Debility of the Ulstermen at p. 292. The editor's notes and appendices furnish very little that is new, and do not attempt a complete treatment of the subjects with which they deal. But they are sufficient for the explanation and illustration of the text.
As a whole, then, the volume is well adapted to the ends for which it was written. It ought to prove of use in popularizing Irish literature among English readers, and in publishing it Mr. Alfred Nutt once more earns the thanks of all friends of Celtic studies.
This curious story is given as an English translation from the Pottawattamie, in which it was written by the Indian author. Simon Pokagon died near Allegan, Mich., January 28, 1899, shortly before the publication of the volume. He was a son of Leopold Pokagon, whose name is connected with the early history of Chicago, having been born in 1830. In 1896 he finally obtained from the United States Government the balance due his people for the sale of the land on which Chicago stands, the claim having been finally allowed by the Supreme Court. In 1893, at the World's Fair, he made an address, of a character very honorable to the speaker, on Chicago Day. The whole life of Pokagon seems to have constituted a career as worthy as could be open to an Indian living on a reservation. His personal appearance is said to have been of a majestic character which would command attention in any company, and this account is borne out by the photograph prefixed to the present work, which represents a face most simple, honest, and winning. An aversion to strong drink, as the great curse of the Indian awaiting civilization, was inherited by Pokagon, his father Leopold having in 1832 lamented this vice as the cause of the backwardness of his people. The book now under consideration is a temperance tract under the veil of a romance. The interest taken in the composition by the surviving son of the writer, bearing the name of Pokagon, and the intrinsic character of the story, appears sufficient to establish its essential genuineness; but in the course of rendering into an English form, the tale seems to have received a linguistic garb, and also various additions inconsistent with original Indian conceptions. If the Pottawattamie text is in existence, it would be desirable to have it laid before a scholar for com- parison.
The romance purports to be an autobiography. Pokagon himself, on his return from school in Twinsburg, while hunting, sees across the river a white deer, that plays about a maiden, who sings in the voices of the birds of the woods. He constructs a bark canoe, crosses the stream, and finds the girl, with whom he has an interview, and whose trail he finally follows to a wonderful wigwam, made of many-colored rushes, and hung with mats adorned with quills and feathers. Here he finds the maiden and her mother; to the latter he reveals himself as the son of Leopold Pokagon, and is informed that his interlocutor has herself been brought up by his grandmother as a foster sister of his mother. The woman and her daughter Lonidaw accompany Pokagon to visit his mother, the white stag acting as their guardian. The birth of Lonidaw is related; having seen the light in the forest during the flight of her mother from United States troops, she is endowed with the property of understanding the birds, and other magical gifts. Pokagon returns from school, but is unable to free his heart from the passion he has conceived, and retires to the forest for reflection; he concludes that his affection is from Heaven, and goes in search of Lonidaw. A marriage is agreed on, and consummated after two days, during which Pokagon remains with friends of the bride; the pair then establish a wigwam in the woods. The white stag dies of jealousy. Two children are born to them; but the boy, Olondaw, at the white man's school, acquires a passion for liquor, which costs him his life, while the girl is drowned by a canoe steered by a drunken trapper. Lonidaw dies of grief, first extracting from Pokagon a promise that he will spend his life in combating the curse; this vow is enforced by a vision, in which he sees the spirit of alcohol as a gigantic demon clad in the stars and stripes, eagle on breast, and serpents under his arms, who seize on the victims he encounters.
Sufficiently remarkable is the thread of the story, inasmuch as it forms a counterpart to numerous European tales in which a white deer leads the hero to the dwelling of a fairy. The conception seems connected with the custom of keeping pet animals; as with other races, the rare albino color indicates sanctity. The stag, in this case, was raised from a fawn. We read also of a pet wolf.
An episode gives the Pottawattamie legend of the arbutus, which, however is so overlaid with literary decoration that the original form cannot be determined. The flower is here described as springing up in the track of a beautiful maiden (spring), clad in leaves and flowers, who visits an old man (winter), who lives in the forest, vainly seeking fuel to keep up the fire in his lodge. The old man sleeps, dissolves in water, and the arbutus, said to be the tribal flower, grows up in the spot.
The first collection of Australian tales made by Mrs. Parker was printed in 1896. In a notice of the book given in this Journal (vol. ix. 1896, p. 303) it was observed that the gathering was gratifying as indicating that in Australia the stream of oral tradition continues to flow, and that it will be possible to obtain records much more complete than that furnished by the inadequate printed documents. This opinion is emphasized by the additional matter now communicated.
As indicated in the earlier volume, it appears that the Australian's conception of primitive life is not very different from that of the aboriginal American's. The first inhabitants of the land are supposed to have been animal ancestors, larger and wiser than animals now existing; it is further imagined that these possessed human rather than animal shape, and that the form and habits of living beasts are accounted for by the actions of these human or semi-human predecessors, from whom they have undergone metamorphosis. The characteristics of every animal are thus explained by folk-tales, which often have an important part in the social life of the tribes. Thus the Crow owes his black color to a blow from the Crane which laid him out on burnt black grass; while the Crane's hoarseness is owing to a fish-bone, which in revenge was inserted in his throat by the Crow. The Parrot's green feathers and red marks are the results of a funeral ceremony, namely, the plastering with ashes, tying on green twigs, and inflicting gashes in honor of the deceased. The dead in this case was the Mocking-bird, a lover of the Parrot sisters slain by the Lizard, a conjuror having the power of producing a mirage. In consequence of their grief the Parrots were changed into Birds, while the Mocking-bird was translated to the sky, where he is seen as the star Canopus. That kangaroos are now able to see in the dark is owing to the manner in which the eponymic Kangaroo sent forth his dream spirit to roll away the darkness, at a time when his wife, the Emu, was seeking at night for grass to mend the nyunnoo or humpy.
Phenomena of nature, in this mythology, stand precisely on the same basis as living creatures. The Wind is an invisible companion; the cold West Wind is pegged by the Crow into a hollow log, and only allowed occasional exit, a restraint by which her primitive ferocity is much subdued; however, the log is now rotting and full of holes, and some day the West Wind is likely to escape, and rush to the semi-annual corroboree, or assembly of the winds, with disastrous results. The Sun is personified under the feminine name of Yhi; but inconsistently it is said that the Sun is a fire lighted by the sky-spirit, and which burns out to embers at night. How it gets through the sky is not related; the myth is imperfect. The spirits of conjurors or wirreenuns can take the forms of whirlwinds, and destroy whatever they overtake. The Milky Way is a road travelled by mortals, whose fires are to be seen smoking there; the dark places are the dens of two cannibals blown into the sky by such whirlwinds, and lying in wait for travellers, who can get by safely only when they are pursuing the same game of spiritual embodiment in a cyclone.
In the earlier volume, Mrs. Parker had something to say about Byamee, who had formerly lived on earth as a man, but had departed to the spirit-land, and was honored in a bora or initiation ceremony. In this continuation we learn more about Byamee, a sort of Balder. The flowers followed him to his celestial camp; this is above Oobi Oobi, a high mountain, with a fountain and circles of stones at top, whither resort conjurers to procure rain. The earth being left desolate, the wirreenuns (presumably in the spirit) resorted to Oobi Oobi, and there petitioned the spirit messenger of Byamee; the latter procured their ascension to Bullimah, the heavenly paradise, where the flowers never faded, and whence they brought back blossoms which they scattered over earth.
A remarkable story of the Gray Owl gives an account of mortuary ceremonies. The body being put in the bark coffin, placed in the grave with weapons and food for the journey to Oobi Oobi, dirges are sung, somewhat as follows, says the collector:—
We shall follow the bee to its nest in the goolabah;
We shall follow it to its nest in the bibbil-tree.
Honey too shall we find in the goori-tree,
But Eerin the light sleeper will follow with us no longer.
Wailing, mutilation on the part of the mourners, and smoking with ashes of the rosewood-tree to keep off malignant spirits follows, and then a remarkable rite, best given in the words of the author: "After the women left, all the men stood round the grave, the oldest wirreenun at the head, which faced the east. The men bowed their heads as if at a first Boorah, the wirreenun lifted his, and, looking towards where Bullimah was supposed to be, said: 'Byamee, let in the spirit of Eerin to Bullimah. Save him, we ask thee, from the Eleanbah wundah, abode of the wicked. Let him into Bullimah, there to roam as he wills, for Eerin was great on earth and faithful ever to your laws. Hear, then, our cry, O Byamee, and let Eerin enter the land of beauty, of plenty, of rest. For Eerin was faithful on earth, faithful to the laws you left us.'" Then follows a ceremony to detect the person who caused the death, whose clan is indicated by the nature of the animal track observed on the swept ground round the grave. This somewhat astonishing account, which provides the Australian savage, commonly supposed to stand at the foot of the human scale, with a paradise, a hell, prayer for the dead, an ascended protector who closely corresponds to the second person of the Christian Trinity, and abstract ideas of right and wrong as affecting future destiny, naturally causes inquiry as to the manner in which Mrs. Parker obtained her information. The result is anything but satisfactory. According to her own account, the tales are composites, made up of scraps of information obtained from various tribes of New South Wales and Queensland, but by her freely amalgamated, paraphrased, and provided with the proper names of one single tribe, the Noongahburrah. By such a process, allowing for the imperfect understanding of the language and freedom of rendering, anything might be made out. The critic is therefore quite justified in skepticism. At the same time, it is none the less clear that at the basis there is an intellectual treasure of no small worth, and we are told that, of this, part is in song. The moral therefore is, that Australian scholars ought not to lose a day in taking the only steps by which any certainty can be obtained; that is to say, raising money, and employing educated young men of character and discretion, who may study the native languages, procure initiation in their rites, and give the world a complete and unvarnished history of the mental stock belonging to separate tribes. Whoever undertakes this task must, first of all, discard the heresy, repeatedly denounced in this Journal, "of the contempt visited on folk-tales, as if these were less important to record than ceremonies and gestures. The plain truth is, that custom, ritual, art, and archaeology, without folk-lore, is a body without a soul."
In his Introduction Mr. Lang, who has previously given countenance to this error, further helps to disseminate it by citing his own assertion that religion and mythology represent quite different moods of men. This may be so far true that the savage, in his hours of amusement, may indulge in tale-telling when the stories represent no serious belief. But it is equally true that the same savage always and everywhere is furnished with a body of legendary tales, which stand to him in a sacred relation. It is by these histories that are determined his ritual, his worship, and his social life. Any attempt to give an account of his religion which neglects this element leaves out the most important part, and can result in nothing but confusion.
W. W. Newell.
Tales of the Enchanted Islands of the Atlantic. By Thomas Wentworth Higginson. New York: The Macmillan Co. 1899. Pp. xii, 259.
It has been from very ancient times a habit of mythologies to place wonders of nature in outlying islands, supposed to be inhabited by spirits, demons, giants, and monsters. This method of representation supposes the abode of man to be itself a central island in a middles-earth surrounded by the water-washed homes of supernatural beings. It is not clear what influences first produced such a conception; elementary geographical ideas were wrought into this form, as is seen in the Homeric poems, where insular paradises and gardens of enchantment are already familiar to the authors. Irish narrators, moved no doubt by the outlying position of their isle, and under the impulse of the classical notions, developed stories of navigators into marvellous accounts called imráma, forming sometimes frankly extravagant fiction. Of these we have an example in the celebrated voyage of St. Brandan, not older than the twelfth century in its extant form. These Irish productions had considerable currency through Europe, and so, instead of the ancient heathen accounts of the Isles of the Blest, the Middle Age was furnished with narratives in which a Christian coloring was infused. This process also took place independently of Ireland, inasmuch as the Islands of the Dead, placed by ancient Gauls in the direction of Britain, and by Britons along the Scottish shores, may have survived in the Avalon to which King Arthur was fabled to have taken.
It is stories of this sort which the well-known author of this volume collects for the purpose of general reading, and with attention more especially to the requirements of young persons. These begin with "The Story of Atlantis," and continue through the Celtic tales mentioned to the Leif Erikson and the Vinland of the Icelandic sagas, Sir Walter Raleigh's search for Norembega, and the Fountain of Youth of Ponce de Leon. The editor has followed in general the course of development, beginning with the legends belonging to the European shore, then to those of the open sea, and finally to the coast of America, to which the older stories were finally transferred. As Colonel Higginson observes, with every added step in knowledge the line of fancied stopping-places rearranged itself, the fictitious names flitting from place to place on the maps, and being sometimes duplicated. Where the tradition has vanished, the names associated, as in the case of the Antilles, are assigned to different localities. These American narratives, and the notes bearing on them, will be found suggestive and interesting, and it is this exhibition of the legendary interest associated with localities of the New World which constitutes the important feature of the book.
Without engaging in discussions which the plan of the work makes unsuitable, it may be noted that the Celtic stories are often modern. That of Taliessin, in particular, the second of the collection, dealing with the bardic kettle of Caridwen (not Cardiwen), scarce has a pedigree older than the last century, representing an invention of neo-bardic mysticism. While in substance the Irish tales concerning the Swan-children of Lir may be old, the form in which it is given is very modern. The stories of Bran and Peredur scarce antedate the fourteenth century in their existing versions, and so on. But it is not the purpose of the editor to furnish a history of the development of legends concerning islands.
W. W. Newell.
JOURNALS.
1. American Anthropologist. (Washington.) New Series. Vol. I. No. 1, January, 1899. Esthetology, or the science of activities designed to give pleasure. J. W. Powell.—The Calchaqui: an archaeological problem. D. G. Brinton.—Aboriginal American zoötechy. O. T. Mason.—A Pawnee ritual used when changing a man's name. A. C. Fletcher.—Some recent criticisms of physical anthropology. F. Boas.—Professor Blumentritt's studies of the Philippines. D. G. Brinton.—The Indian congress at Omaha. J. Mooney.—Korean clan organization. W. Hough.—"Real," "True," or "Genuine," in Indian languages. A. S. Gatschet.—The adopted Algonquian term "Poquosin." W. W. Tooker.—Anthropologic literature. Reviews of works by Worcester, "Philippine Islands and their people;" Pittier-Müller, "Die sprache der Bribri Indianer;" Thomas, "Introduction to the study of North American archæology; " Hill, "Cuba and Porto Rico;" and Frobenius, "Der ursprung der afrikanischen kulturen."—Current bibliography of anthropology.—Notes and news.
2. Free Museum of Science and Art. (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.) Vol. II. No. 1, January, 1899. Life in the Luchu Islands. W. H. Furness, 3d.—Personal ornaments from Benin. H. L. Roth.
3. The Southern Workman and Hampton School Record. (Hampton, Va.) Vol. XXVIII. No. 3, March, 1899. Folk-lore and ethnology. (Continued in Nos. 4, 5.)
4. The Land of Sunshine. (Los Angeles.) Vol. X. No. 4, March, 1899. A New Mexico folk-song. C. F. Lummis.—No. 5, April. An Indian fiesta at Warner's Ranch. H. N. Rust.—No. 6, May. An Omaha tribal festival (illustrated). J. C. Fillmore.
5. Folk-Lore. (London.) Vol. X. No. 1, March, 1899. Australian gods: a reply. A. Lang.—Australian gods: rejoinder. E. S. Hartland.—Annual report of the Council. Address by the retiring president: Britain and folk-lore.—Reviews: Works of Pitt-Rivers, Excavations in Cranbore Chase; L. Pineau, Les vieux chants populaires scandinaves; F. Moss, Folk-lore; G. Rua, Tra antiche fiabe e novelle; D. Comparetti, The traditional poetry of the Finns; G. St. Clair, Creation records discovered in Egypt.—Correspondence. Holy Week observance in the Abruzzi. The game of Green Gravel. Notes on the folk-lore of the Fjort.—Miscellanea. To discover a drowned body. Midnight children. Auguries. Irish folk-lore. Traditions and superstitions collected at Kilcurry, County Louth, Ireland.—Bibliography.
6. Mélusine. (Paris.) Vol. IX. No. 7, January–February, 1899. Un chant monorime de la Passion. G. Doncieux.—Les grues d'Ibycus. II. and III. Loquin and Gaidoz.—La fascination. (Continued in No. 8.)—J. Tuchmann.—Bibliographic de la Gorgone et du Gorgoneion. J. Tuchmann.—Bibliographie. Reviews of works of Abercromby, De Mont and De Cock, Dennett and Miss Kingsley.—No. 8, March–April. Saint Expédit.—C. Doncieux and H. Gaidoz.—La sterilité volontaire. III. K. Nyrop.—Légendes contemporaines, IV., V.—Saint Eloi, VII. L'origine du singe.—La Courte-paille.
7. Revue des Traditions Populaires. (Paris.) Vol. XIV. No. 2, February. La pomme et la fecondité. E. Galtier.—Légendes des forêts de France. VII.–IX. P. Sébillot.—Folk-lore astronomique. R. Basset.—Rites et légendes de la construction. XXIX.–XXXVII. A. Harou.—No. 3, March. La mer et les eaux: la construction des navires. P. Sébillot.—Coutumes et usages du Carnaval. XIV., XV. A. Marguillier.—Romances populaires françaises. G. Doncieux.—Les mois en Franche-Comté. III. Mars. C. Beauquier.—Contes et légendes de l'Extrême-Orient. XXX.–XXXI. R. Basset.—No. 4, April. La mer et les eaux. XLVII.–LIV.—P. Sébillot.—Les enfants morts sans baptême. IV. Morvand. J. Stramoy.—Contes et légendes arabes. R. Basset.—Mœurs, usages et superstitions du Craonnais. C. Bellier-Dumaine.—Petites légendes chrétiennes. XVII.–XIX. F. Marquer.
8. Wallonia. (Liège.) Vol. VII. No. 3, March, 1899. Quelques coutumes de la Famenne, il y a trente-cinq ans. F. Crépin.—Le Mardi-Gras et le dernier marié, à châtelet. C. Lyon.—No. 4, April. En Wallonie prussienne. IV. Les œufs de Pâques. H. Bragard.—Sorcellerie. Les pactes avec Satan. O. Colson.—No. 5, May. En Wallonie prussienne. V. La nuit de mai. H. Bragard.—Sorcellerie. Le rituel du pacte. O. Colson.
9. Ons Volksleven. (Brecht.) Vol. X., Nos. 10, 11, 12. 1899. Liederen, rijmen, en kinderspelen uit Noord-Brabant. P. N. Panken.—De roos in het volksgeloof en volksgebruik. (Continued.) A. Harou.—Kinderspelen uit het land van Dendermonde. A. Harou.
10. Schweizerisches Archiv für Volkskunde. (Zürich.) Vol. III., No. 1, 1899. Translationen in der Schweiz. E. A. Stückelberg.—Luzerner akten zum hexen- und zauberwesen. E. Hoffmann-Krayer.—Noëls jurassiens. A. D'Aucourt.—Ein rhätoromanischer himmelsbrief. H. Caviezel.—Eine sennenkilbe in der Urschweitz. C. Waldis. —Miszellen.—Bücheranzeigen.—Bibliographie 1898.—Miltgliederverzeichnis.
11. Mitteilungen der Schlesischen Gesellschaft für Volkskunde. (Breslau.) Vol. VI. No. 1, 1899. Volkstumliches aus dem presussichen Litauen. O. Hoffmann.—Einige volksbräuche und volksmeinungen aus dem Wölfelsgrund.
12. Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum und deutsche litteratur. (Berlin.) Vol. XLIII., No. 1, 1899. Der dialog des alten Hildebrandslieds. Joseph.—Der mythus des zweiten Merseburger zauberspruches. Niedner.
13. Zeitschrift des Vereins für Volkskunde. (Berlin.) Vol. IX. No. 1, 1899. Heidnische überreste in den volksüberlieferungen der norddeutschen tiefebene. W. Schwartz.—Eine gesamtdarstellung des deutschen volkstums. R. M. Meyer.—Über brettchenweberei. M. Lehmann-Filhés.—Quellen und parallelen zum "novellino" des Salernitaners Masuccio. G. Amalfi.—O lass mich dock hinein, schatz! Vergleichung eines schottischen und eines schlesischen volsliedes. P. Drechsler.—Kulturgeschichtliches aus den Marschen am rechten ufer der Unterweser. A. Tienken.—Über alte beleuchtungsmittel. O. v. Zingerle.—Die krankheitsdämonen der Balkanvölker. (Continued.) {K. L. Lubeck.—Die alte gerichststatte zu Cavalese im Fleimser Thai in Südtirol. K. Weinhold.—Holekreisch. A. Landau.—Geschichten aus dem Etschland und aus dem Stubai. H. Raff.—Niederdeutsche sprüche und redensarten aus Nordsteimke in Braunschweig. H. Beck.—Staufes sammlung rumänischer märchen aus der Bukowina. J. Bolte.—Das Englische kinderspiel Sally Water. K. Weinhold.—Kleine mitteilungen.—Bücheranzeigen.
14. Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Litteraturgeschichte. (Weimar.) Vol. XIII. No. 1, 1899. Ein mingrelisches Siegfriedsmärchen. W. Golther.
15. The Indian Antiquary. (Bombay.) Vol. XXVII., No. 338, May, 1898. Notes on the spirit basis of belief and custom. (Continued in Nos. 339, 341, 342, 343) J. M. Campbell.—No. 339, June. Folk-lore in Southern India. No. 45. S. M. Natesa Sastri.—Notes and Queries. Burning in effigy. A notion as to the plague in Bombay. Notes on Southern India.—No. 340, July. Some remarks on the svastika.—No. 343, October. A Kalampat, a form of exorcism.—No. 344. November. Folk-lore in Salsette. G. F. D'Penha. Miscellanea. Notes on Maratha folk-lore. Maratha marriage in high life.