New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-11-01
CHINESE TALES AND TRAITS.
A NEAT VOLUME OF FOLK TALES AND \
Useful BOOK OF REFERENCE

THINGS CHINESE Being Notes Various Sub
n r. A. 5. H. NJ Civil Service. Hong Kong
Second edition revised and enarged so Up 49,
xiv Imported by Charles Scribners sons
The similarity In motive and general form con
slstent with the most unexpected variations IN
detail that characterizes all folklore is exempt
fed anew in the volume entitled "Chinese Nlsh's
Entertainment" For example, n not uncommon
popular fancy is that which divides superha'uf"
gifts or skill among group Of bro'herS VI
friends. Grimm has story of four brothers' o"e
Of whom became an expert thief. another won
herful astronomer a third infable marks
man. and the fourth tailor who could sew any
thing, dead alive. without harmins H. me
Russian tale in which figure certain heroes VINO
for the sake of descriptive brevty. may be called
longbody Broadbody and Keeneye is an instance
OF gifts rather than skill. Now, the very hrst Oh
the tales in the volume cited above is refnihuei
oe those mentioned. But the climax OF Fur"
pean fok-tae is most frequently some love a'iai''
This Is the exception rather IMAM tiie 'rt'
Chinese popular lore The Give queer brothers
have no such task in hand as releasing princess
from a dragons cave or a magician cas'e
short they have nothing TO do except 10 "'P
each other out Of difficulty. II happens 'na' VIC
eldest brother. like the Russian bfoauoouS "
the Morse Thor. has an enormous cdPd''' i
Iiouds He can swallow the sea with ease II
"a thus that he catches so many me iis"' Inc
neiebbors beg him to teach their boys his ART.
lie tries but only succeeds in drowning the young
sters Then he is sentenced to be decaplt''eu' pu'
IS replaced by the second brother whose heoh
turns the edge of the sharpest sword Inc a"''io'i
ties try drowning, but the third brother announcer
edition of Ioncbody puts his feet on the bottom
o,d keens his head above the surface OF the sea
~ its deepest Then burning is thought o. pu' .e
fourth brother enjoys himself n the names WIN
as much zest as did Abraham in the IaImudic
legend of Nimrod. Finally the supposed eu'pr'
is baked in a cake. but the hfth prother ot;-i
live without breathing. he simply bides his time
eats his way out of his pastry prison. and reJoms
his brethren ,, -
The fancy that eating certain frult woulu pio-
suce an abnormal growth of some part of the body'
illustrated in the stupendous nose when the oiu
soldier put on the face Of the avaricous princess
IN the German tale recurs in the Chinese story OF
the three talismans. In the German the "iee
magical things are a CLOAK norm al" P"
and they are conferred by a little red-)acKe'eu
dwarf. In the Chinese the three wonders are nat
clS1x and a basket. and they are the Silt Oh
ragged outcast. The hat is naught else 'h"i' '"e
Tarnhelm or Cap of Darkness. but its possessor
must be well-bred enough to take 1t OH anu carry
II before his breast if he expects TO make i'iasio
use Of It, The cloak is not a means OF disguise
like Odn's Sdhottr: 1t is rather to be compared
NTH those garments on which certain mediaeVal
saints are said have sailed the sea as though III
q boat The basket is the purse over again. since
n fills itself with riches at the wish OF It's posseo
The wicked princess figures In emma DIS l" "''
many: but. instead of a long nose sHe seS
horn that is as sensitive boil. ana as haIu az
a stone" which coils about the posts OF the couch
on which she sits. OF course the victim Oh nei
preed cures her in the usual way and marr1es her
after the fashion of the long line Oh P'e'e""e'
physicians in the Arabian tales
Tho curious story accounting for the origin OF
ants has features of resemblance to the adventures
Of the ignorant peasant made a physician asdi'9'
his will whose EXPLANATIONS OF despair 'urheu o"'
n no tho visest things he could say. The trans
iator has illustrated the point of the stor! ny d
play on the English names Sharp and Dyer lhs'eau
OF on the Chinese names. 1t would nave "ee"
downright favor if she had added the latter i'll d
footnote 1.-The mistake of the apes deserves reau-
Ing because 1t exactly reverses the Dar"lhiai
.h.orv Of the origin of man. There are numerous
FOOLS IN these Chinese tales, and they are not
unlike the fools in Western folklore Inc Story
of "the two melons answers to those tales III "e
West which show how the good neiShbor IS re-
warded and the miser punished by supernatural
riffs The fairy serpent is the "laidiy worm
ar the frog-the enchanted prince or princess VINO
needs only an affectonate spouse in order 10 re-
cover human form. 1.-The man in the smell repre-
eents the supernatural parsonage, IKE swan
maiden, who disappears forever AT some uheA-
nected moment Religious meaning has evaporated
from such tales in the West. but in Cathay they
sti, express a deep though it may be super
stitious conviction that the children VINO ole pre-
maturey are not the beloved OF the sons ou'
demons who have taken huma" form only 10 mock
tho affection of parents. Does the parents love.
saws Mr. Dyer Ball. in Things Chinese, go out
toward some little child. and year by year goes
nv increase in strength until suddenly some dis-
ease takes the little darling away from the nome
Il has made bright and happy? Then the Hliser-
able soiace the bereaved parents have is that II
was not a proper child of their own at all bu'
some spteful spirit, that after ingratiating Itself
into their affections ruins all their fond hopes, ana
dashes their anticipations of future biiss Dy SUD-
denly showing itself in its true coors IN returning
whence 1t came" In the case OF the man III d
she'll" however, the parents had GOOD reason 10
know beforehand what the supernatural powers
had given them. 1T is said one may by urgent
appeals to the gods. get son; but the son mus
gotten may be a sprite a demon" The mother
had implored all the gods in turn. The sea Dragon
King annoyed by her persistence granted her
prayer but her son was born in conch sh2ii' In
the typical swan-maiden tale that of Hassaa OF
Rassorah the supernatural wife Is represented as
cunningly inventing ruse TO recover her feather
dress But when the conch-shell is missing In the
Chinese story the man lives contentedly III Is ohly
nv accident that he returns TO his pristine home
some day the grandmother, in the absence OF her
grandson. put the mouldy shell out to air. The
grandson Unexpectedly returned, took possession of
his SHE'LL and at once crawled off in 1t to the sea
from which he never returned
The theme of the hidden will. while not exactly
an element Of folklore in the West, is necessarily
turning up in certain species OF short story,
sometimes even in the more pretentious novel.
Contrivances for introducing it have been worn
tbreadbare. The device in the Chinese tale OF THE
Widow and the Magistrate" appears with color
of novelty a dying husband who had married
young wife against the wish of his eldest son
could leave her only his portrait. At his death,
according to Chinese custom. the wife came under
the authority of the son. ner enemy. She carried
the portrait to magistrate and explained her
case The magistrate meditated upon the subject
deepy and while thus thoughtful accidentally
SMILED some tea the picture and thus discov
cred the writing beneath. OF course the widow
gets her rights. But the curious perversty OF
Chinese thinking from the Occidental point OF view
Is shown in the fact that the magistrate instead
of preserving the will. commits ii TO memory and
then destroys it.
All the stories in "Chinesc NIGHTS Entertain
ment' are strung upon a slender thread OF fiction.
which serves as a reminder of the mechanism OF