The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1891-11-07
voxx LORE
Transsefie.s or the Late International Cen.

1 -. - ->-sO e.sOsHSssvurt w.
| gress.
The International Folklore Congress- has
| Just concluded session of unusual interest in
| London. at Burlington House The OPEN
| ing address was delivered before the Mytho-
logical section OF the Congress by the Presi-
dent Prof. John Rhys. He sketched briefly
the recent history OF mythology and its close
| connection with the science Of augunge. the
| modern school becoming gradually anthropo-
logical rather than eclectic and classical. and
correcting It's comparisons by the living tradi.
| tlons ofmodern savages and peasants and not
| merely 10y scholarly references to the
Had and the Rig veda. Dr. Tylor.
in his work on Primitive Culture"
was. perhaps. the first to eSpound the new
method In n systematic manner The only
criticism he would suggest was that the a,l-
thropoiogical school II mythology seemed to
make too little of race. The chief difficulties
in the study Of mythology arose from the
blending OF myth with history. and the mixing
OF one race with another. No one could tell
how far the Arthurinn legend for instance,
was Aryan. or how far II was derived from the
pre-Aryan population of the British Isles.
There probably was M historical man Arthur,
but there was little possibility OF ever dis
eliminating the historical from the purely
NEUROLOGICAL stories In the cycle Of legends.
The moral was that while facts were accumu-
lating so rapidly and theories continually
blossoming. men should abstain from writing
books longer than magazine articles. and even
those articles should be burnt once n year.
The Myth of the Odyssey" was the SUBJ
ject OF u paper by II. Poix. All tho charac-
tsers. I'll tho Places. ~ the poem are fabulous.
many European tales. 10 sock n fortune or q
wife in the mythira sea which is the romantic
csce h and s the srs t%s
ysaTs IN Hs @ note "S %a ssSsa
period common in Aryan folk lore.
sTst Wss dos assssSsd NJ
Forti ind Ravenna in northern italy There
they they st worship SPIRITS called Eos who
inally Tununs. the ancient Etruscan Bncehus.
the spirit OF tn yineyards and wine; "Enchant-
ssd w9Ter Of tho pretty Erls; Terno the
or Mas. tho Etrusean. prototype, Of Mars. god
god Of war, and Diana. tho Queen OF the witches.
In popular use out of a hundred that had been
collected in the fourth century by Slarcellus Of
Hgorde siu. court physician to the Emperor
seayss ay less nsIFspE was thSn
which magic, she was tho only white woman
G G. Initiated: The initiation wns elaborate.
Dare-nenued ana bare-looteu She walked back
the roots a weed with .hsr hand Behind her
back made packet OF the leaves: and wore
right shoulder. and then Of last. began her
an unlucky number. md that four times four
times four was Irresistible In lamentations.
%hssy o oee Nag Sbsyy
The first day q the Congress closed with a
xs ron snsa 1:x f$sss S!Efyss 1Sf:s
tlemen noted the Gasers play.a Variation
OF eIs sne IN nsy s
songs were sung. and hornpipe danced. "a,
an Ts w
Re sh
Ss tSs
,sSsery s haa nv HHs GlrtSSlass But x6sssysS
The dissemination theory, on tho contrary.
ed precisely alike, but that stories were hand
sezd I'll hsS t RsS Rses s il
gained from foiE lore but the tRsoSies may s.
characteristics Of, human lie are few
I'm plumber. especially IN a, primitive state. OF
plots With but % sieht 0a II ss
same time one may admit o vide dtssemina- |
s4n e" fsGss Gdne na is 1 aa
OF Cinderella. but tho glass clipper appears in |
fo9F Ebens Irish
pose that these four variants were derived |
from some common original; and vt in every
they differ more from one another than from |
1s Ii w h S.HSa ss nsn p1 Il
q theory that folk tales were transmitted from
the more cultivated to the less cultivated peo- |
PIE in tho cases where they were common to |
primitive civilization. The diffusion Of myths.
posed to have been the central home OF MANY |
e them. but long before that they existed In |
ss ae aass tho samSs Sna
where they could hardly have been taken |
Psose ' 81 d b
Mr.; Lang 81 belief in the "easnal" orieinatIen
tsles Ths was entirely TIE
iolk tales according to plots and types. as. |
for Or exaaSmple, the youngest incl
:. One Gould then NIP lid T the ha fat
fai aa d@n Mn nf s se Of Sss
ccm an inc Incidents to The number Of 600.
Inc Historical Aspect Of Folk Lore" was |
discussed by Mr.. ID. AlacRitchie, who cited ira |
ditions that agreed with written history and
Traditions that snpplem ented written. history. |
Trof A. q Hadden seemed Of the
same opinion. for the reason that In savage art |
Miss Hawkins Dcmpster and Nj. Alfred Mutt.
who read n paper on The Problems Of Heroic
Celtic, and Teutonic, Saga were convinced
INT there Is absolutely no historic basis IN the
historic fact was either coniined to q few names
or else was completely TRANSFORMED. and his
ence OIL, tho Arthurian legend. The common
clements In all these legends also suggests
their unhstoric character
=, At the concluding meeting of tho congress
the chair was !. occupied by Mr.. Andrew Lang;
was read by Lady Wclby. She noticed espe-
cially the great pains of investigators nova
days to eliminate their own personal eQia-
tons. in dealing with savaGes to make their
Questions definite aud 70 avoid adding I'M.
asserted the impionse difficulty OF knowing