Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 7, 1896.djvu/123

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Folk-Lore.

TRANSACTIONS OF THE FOLK-LORE SOCIETY.



Vol. VII.]
JUNE, 1896.
[No. II.



THE BARLAAM AND JOSAPHAT LEGEND IN THE
ANCIENT GEORGIAN AND ARMENIAN
LITERATURES.

BY F. C. CONYBEARE, M.A.

(Read at Meeting of 19th November, 1895.)

In the following pages I have judged it best to begin with the Georgian or earliest Christian form of the story. I have translated such parts of the Georgian text as have been printed in St. Petersburg by Professor Marr, and I have added a translation of what is most important in his Russian monograph on the subject.

In the next place, I publish my translation of the first half, and of the last paragraph, of the old Armenian text of the story.

In conclusion, I discuss the place and importance of these two hitherto little known texts in the history of the growth and diffusion of the saga, as it may be called. I must express my thanks to Mr. W. E. Morfil, of Oxford, for translating to me Professor Marr's monograph, and to Professor Margoliouth for translations of parts of the oldest Arabic text.

The following text of the Georgian version of Barlaam and Josaphat is taken from the work of Professor Marr,

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