Dr. Bruinier's booklet is mainly historical, but the abundant illustrative "Lieder" scattered through the text make it far from uninteresting, even if the author's flowery style sometimes conceals his meaning. The other work is also historical in a measure, but in the main Dr. Rehm is content to give an unvarnished account of present-day customs and festivals, grouped, it must be said, in no very logical manner. Thus the first chapter includes Christmas, Easter and Whitsuntide, and four chapters later we read about spring ceremonies, as if it were possible to divorce Carnival and Easter customs from those of Mayday. There is, of course, something to be said for chronological treatment, but the arrangement adopted has nothing to recommend it. It is somewhat curious that any one should attempt a booklet on this subject without referring to Mannhardt; but though the author explains some of the customs in the same way he does not appear to have studied either Baumkultus or any other of Mannhardt's works. N. W. T. The Bull of the Kraal, and the Heavenly Maidens: a Tale of Black Children. By DUDLEY KIDD. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1908. MR. DUDLEY KIDD may almost be said to have invented a new type of literature. In his Savage Childhood he wrote for the grown-up anthropologist. Now, however, he has had the happy thought of introducing the British boy to Kafir children of his own age, and has done it so cleverly that there is bound to result a sympathy which will be the making of the future anthropologist, or the future administrator of native affairs. The scheme of the book is simple enough. A white man stays a week in the kraal of which the father of the seven-year-old hero is chief, and recounts the daily doings of the children, and the tales they are told by their grandmother before going to bed. The doings are pretty well those described in the former work, though of course a touch of drama has been added. I have just submitted the chapter dealing with bird-traps to a critic of eight, and he was thrilled. I hold in reserve the story of the lion hunt, which I am quite sure will move him 510 to his inmost marrow. The grandmother's tales, on the other hand (which by the way are new and curious, being literally translated from Tshindao originals), seemed somewhat to puzzle the youthful auditor. I think they were too naïve even for him. Miss Goodall's coloured illustrations are excellent, but I should like to know if the flamingo-coloured wings of the Heavenly Maidens are according to native authority. In the picture they strike one as bizarre, though I confess I can frame no better image of what a naked black angel ought to look like. R. R. MARETT. Sånglekår fran Nääs, af OTTO HELLGREN. Pp. 139. Stockholm. 1906. THIS little work contains an interesting collection of the popular dance-songs of Sweden with the airs to which they are sung, and a full description of the figures of the dances. Its publication forms part of the movement for reviving these dances and songs, and giving them a wider vogue through the medium of the primary schools. During a recent visit to Sweden I was privileged, through the kindness of Prof. J. R. Rydberg, to witness the performance of many of these dances by a large assembly of teachers of primary schools, both male and female, who had been gathered together for extension lectures at the University of Lund. They were carried through with great spirit and success. This book contains all the information necessary for organising these dances; a slight knowledge of Swedish is all that is required. Most of the songs seem to be old folksongs with old airs; but many are no doubt modern, and some are borrowed from other lands, including a few from England. M. LONGWORTH Dames. Books for Review should be addressed to THE EDITOR OF Folk-Lore, c/o DAVID NUTT, 57-59 LONG ACRE, LONDON, W.C. INDEX. Aberdeenshire, see Balmoral; Craigour Abortion, see Birth customs and Abruzzi: (see also Cocullo; Intro- Absent Husband type of folktales, 153 83-4, Flanders, 206-7 Accounts of Folk-Lore Society, 10-1 Adare: headless coach, 321 Adders Swallowing their Young, by Adelaide burial customs, 394-5; Aeolus island of, 176, 184; keeper of Aetion, barrow of, Iliad, 66 Agamede, daughter of Augeias, 60-1 Agamemnon, King, see King Aga- memnon Agnation or father-right: Amazulu, Agnus Dei cakes, 203, 206 Corn spirits, vegetation souls, and Alice Springs, see Arranda tribe All Father, see Deity, conceptions of Amazons: in Iliad &c., 160-2; in America, see Central America; North America; and South America Animals in folklore: see also Antelope; Celto-Latins, 368-9; in Homeric poems, 63; Annual Meeting, 3-4; Report of Anodyne necklace, 292 Ant: red earth of nests as delicacy and remedy, Lower Congo, 419 433-4; one-horned, Bushman draw- Antrim: see alie Portrush ); amulets, Anyan, see Nyanja Ape: of Java identified with pigmies, Aphrodite: magic girdle of, Iliad, 70-1 Apollo: in Greek cults, 239-40; in Apple: appies of Hesperides, 62 unseasonable blossoms, Lincoln- Arabian Nights, 74, 153-4, 158, 161, Arcadian, Phigalia see Erymanthus; and Archery in Homeric poems, 62; in Ard braccan: charm against epilepsy, Ardee dead coach, 320; death warn- Arden, forest of: in legend, 458 Argolis, see Lerna; and Troezen Aristotle: folklore in his History of Arjuna, in Bhagavad-gitâ, 491 Arrow as amulet, 362, Naples, 223, Arsenic as amulet against plague, Artemis in Greek cults, 238; in Ash-tree in charm against hernia, Asia, see Arabs; Asia Minor; Assyria; Asia Minor: (see also Caria; Cilicia; Asklepios: in Iliad, 60; as snake, Asoka, Emperor: wife in tale of Ass, see Donkey Assam (see also Manipur; Meitheis; Religion of Babylonia and Assyria Asthma: amulet against, London, 299 Astrological amulets, 293 (plate), 295, Astronomical folklore: (see also Moon; amongst Celto- Latins, 368; no Asuras, in heaven-scaling legend, 163 Athene in Homeric poems, 70, 73 Atlas, folktale of, 57 Attica: (see also Athens); Poseidon, August: (see also Lammas); Ist, Aus Natur und Geisteswelt, Bands 7 Autolycus, in Homeric poems, 181 Babel, tower of: in folktale, Assam, Babies, see Children |