New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-10-02
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
ASJATIC FAIRY TALES,


CHE TALES OF THE SIXTY MANDARlNs BY T.
Y. RANAswAx RAJu. With an ln!rSduetOa by Pro.
BRowSE i2mo PIP aso Cassel Co
The world owes thanks to any one who in these
DAYS Of Grass materlalism and Mammon- worship
brings to 1t anything new in the line of fairy
tales. As to the conventional theory that fairy
tales interest children only il is nonsense Just as
all healthy men like sweets. so all 'healthy mihus
ike fairy-tales. Paterfamilias may pretend whl'e
In the bookstore that he Is buying tue Hrinim
Brothers Taes or Hans Christian Andersen's
delightful stories the little ones but II he 's
worth his salt he will be sure to read every one of
them himself aud he will live over some of the
pleasantsst hours of his own youth in doing 50.
Sir George Cox, Max Muller and other pundts have
done their best to resolve old friends Jack the
Giant k Tier and he of the Beanstalk. together
with many others. heroes and comp anions OF our
childhood, iato sun-myths aud dawn-nyths and all
manner of ingeuious but unthinbabls combina-
lions But the fatal defect of all such speculation Is
that IL requires tie assumption of an intelligence
and subtlety in tue makers of folk-tales equal to
that of the nineteenth century savants who aim az
explaining them.
We none of us accept these learned latter-day
versions of popular legends. We prefer to believe
that the writer of Genesis knew what he was
about when he set down that -" there were giants
in those days" Aud if there we're giants of course
the evolution of Jack the Giant-Ki follows
quito naturally. In these times, however. we are
thrown upon tue past for cur legendary lore The
Sehoolmister is so much abroad that the MANI
facture of folk-taes has ceased. Our ancestors
ised in supernatural atmosphere. Giants and
fairies aud witches and enchanters and gnomes and
pixies aud trolls seemed natural to them az
telegraph, and railroads are to us. And there was
a time when the same state of things existed all
over the world. OF this we are reminded by NJ.
Ramaswami Raju. who has collected in his pretty
volume a number of quaint aud curious Asiatlc
foIk-taes, Chinese and Hindu and Tibetan,
Malay, Persian, Arabian. Turkish AMI lnho-
Chinese They are full of local color aud flavor ;
odd foreign full of unexpected turns queer toDsv-
turvy reasoning flights of imag uation
demo lstrating the large faith OF the people among
WHOM they grew. The sixty mandar.ns are
supposed to tell the stories. after another, for
the amusement of their Prince and the introduce
ton and lpeces give quite Arabian Nights air
to the book. We recommend it heartily TO that
great public which is not too solemn ana
dignited TO enjoy such residing. and of course the
young people will find abundant entertainment
In its pages. Indeed the very titles OF the stores
are enough to make ones mouth water Here. for
example We find The Black Chlnaman and his
JUNK" The Miser Mywng and the Bag of Blue
Velvet" The Fairy Periwnkle of TonQuin.' " The
Giant Jimlac and the Philosopher Nee Wang"
sThe Boy Padang and the Hundred Giants" I" The
Princess DirIar and the Giant Death-Sprinkle."
sThe Brayiny Mandarin" " The Bamboo Fiend,"
and SO on. anu
1t is wonderful what bad times the giants had
between Boys and Princesses. One or the Other
always brought them to grief. aud they must have
been very stupil giants indeel to fall INFO some
of the traps that were laid for them. And what
community of imagination these Asiatic fairy tales
show to exist. There is no essential difference
between the Boy Padang and Jack the Giant-Kil en-
The story of " the Milkmad Mariana who Boiled
the Dragon to Death" may easily have been he root
OF the story OF the maid Morgiana IN ali Bahia and
the Forty Thieves. The Chinese and Arabian
enchaDters are just as wicked as THOSE of Lurone
and perpetrate the same kind of inquiries. Many
OF the stories, however, quite TO tins side
OF the world. ana they full of interest for the
student of folklore well for the mere seeker
of Amusement The illustrations of Gordon
browne generally good and sometimes very