No More Learning

D. , of which the Hitopadeça
is a compilation; a Pahlavi version of
the same period; an Arabic version be-
fore the tenth century; and a Persian of
about 1100 A. D. ; the “Syntipas,' a Greek
version, belongs to the eleventh century.
Then followed translations into several
European languages. The earliest col-
lection of European tales was made by
Straparola, who published at Venice in
1550 his Notti Piacevola,' which was
translated into French, and was prob-
ably the origin of the Contes des Fées. )
It contains the tale of Puss in Boots,
and elements of some others. The best
early collection is · Basile's, the (Penta-
merone, published at Naples in 1637.
In 1696 there appeared in the Recueil,
a magazine published by Moetjens at
The Hague, the story (La Belle au Bois
Dormant) (our (Sleeping Beauty'), by
Charles Perrault; and in 1697 appeared
seven others: Little Red Riding Hood,'
(Bluebeard,' (Puss in Boots,' (The Fairy,'
"Cinderella, (Riquet of the Tuft,' and
(Hop o' My Thumb. )
These were pub-
lished in 1697 under the title (Contes du
Temps Passé, Avec des Moralités,' by
P. Darmancour, Perrault's son, for whom
he wrote them down from a nurse's
stories. These fairy-tales became part of
the world's literature; and in England
at least, where scarcely any tales existed
in literary form except Jack the Giant-
Killer,' they superseded all the national
versions. Within this century the inves-
tigations of Jacob and William Grimm,
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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
57
and their successors in this field, have
reduced to written form the tales of
nearly all nations, revealing the same
characters and incidents under countless
names and shapes. The method used by
them has been to take down the tales
from the recitals of the common people,
- generally of the old women who have
been the chief conservers of stories,-
exactly as given, rough or uncouth as
the narrative may be.
For in some ap-
parently absurd feature may be a sur-
vival of ancient custom or myth of great
historic interest; and the germs of these
universal stories, in becoming part of a
nation's folk-lore, take a local form and
so become valuable to the ethnologist.
Thus the beautiful myths of the South
in the Northern forms, where winter's
rigor alters the conditions of life, have
an entirely different setting. We must
include in the comparison of stories the
Greek myths; as the Odyssey is now
conceded to be a mass of popular tales
(Gerland's (Altgriechische Märchen in
der Odyssee,'—'Old Greek Tales in the
Odyssey. ') To these we must add the
tales of ancient Egypt; those narrated
by Herodotus, and other travelers and
historians; the beautiful story of Cupid
and Psyche,' given by Apuleius in his
Metamorphoses) of the second century
A. D. , which also was taken from a popu-
lar myth, as we shall see, very widely
distributed. Spreading all these before
us, with the wealth of Eastern lore, and
that gathered recently from every Euro-
pean nation, and from the savage or
barbarian tribes of Asia, Africa, Amer-
ica, and Polynesia, we shall find running
through them all the same germ, either
in varying form, or simply in detached
features, to our astonishment and de-
delight. We shall examine in detail the
most familiar of the popular fairy-tales,
noting the principal variants or recurring
incidents, what survival of nature-myth
they contain, what ancient custom or
religious rite, and their possible links
with Oriental literary collections; show-
ing thus in a limited way the basis on
which the before-mentioned theories of
their origin rest. Taking Perrault's
(Tales) as the best versions, we shall
find that actual fairies appear but sel-
dom, as is the case generally in tradi-
tional fairy stories; in Cinderella' and
(The Sleeping Beauty) the fairies are of
the genuine traditional type, but in other
tales we find merely the magical key or
the fairy (Seven-League Boots. ) Yet the
fairies have so identified themselves with
popular tales by giving them their titles,
that we may find it interesting to look
up their origin. The derivation of the
word is given from fatare, to enchant,
faé or fé, meaning enchanted, and run-
ning into the varying forms of fée, fata,
hada, feen, fay, and fairy; or with more
probability from fatum, what is spoken,
and Fata, the Fates, who speak, Faunus
or Fatuus, the god, and his sister 01
wife Fatua. This points to the primi
tive personification of natural phenom-
ena: all localities and objects were be-
lieved to be inhabited by spirits. Simi-
lar beings are found in the legend-lore
of all nations; as the Nereids of Greece,
the Apsaras of India, the Slavonic Wilis,
the Melanesian Vius, the Scotch fairies
or Good Ladies – as they are termed,
just as the daughter of Faunus was not
known by her real name, but as the
Good Goddess (“Bona Dea »). Their
mediæval connection with the nether-
world and the dead may possibly point
to their origin as ancestral ghosts. We
shall find that “the story of the heroes
of Teutonic and Hindu folk-lore, the
stories of Boots) and (Cinderella,' of
Logedas Rajah and Surya Bai, are the
story also of Achilleus and Oidipous,
of Perseus and Theseus, of Helen and
Odysseus, of Baldur and Rustem and
Sigurd. Everywhere there is the search
for the bright maiden who has been
stolen away, everywhere the long strug-
gle to reclaim her. ” (Cox. )
SLEEPING BEAUTY. —This story is re-
garded by mythologists as nature-
myth, founded on nature's long sleep
in winter. The Earth-goddess pricked
by winter's dart falls into a deep sleep,
from which she is aroused by the prince,
the Sun, who searches far for her. We
may find a slight parallel in Demeter's
search for her lost daughter, Proserpine
in the Greek myth; but a much more
evident resemblance is seen in the sleep
of Brynhild, stung to her sleep by the
sleep-thorn. 'The Two Brothers,' found
in an Egyptian papyrus of the Nine-
teenth Dynasty,— the time of Seti II. ,
- had several incidents similar to those
of (The Sleeping Beauty. ) The Hathors
who pronounce the fate of the prince
correspond to the old fairy, and both
tales show the impossibility of escaping
fate. The spindle whose prick causes
the long slumber is a counterpart of the
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58
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
en-
arrow that wounds Achilles, the thorn incident occurs in the myth of Kronos
that pricks Sigurd, and the mistletoe swallowing his children; in the Maori
fatal to Baldur. In (Surya Bai? (from legend in which Ihani, the New Zealand
(Old Deccan Days') the mischief is cosmic hero, tries to creep through his
done by the poisoned nail of a demon. ancestress, Great-Woman or Night; in a
In the Greek myth of Orpheus, Eurydice Zulu version a princess is swallowed
is stung by the serpent of darkness. by a monster which becomes in a Karen
The hedge that surrounds the palace ap- tale a snake. We find it also in the
pears in the flames encircling Brynhild Algonkin legend repeated in Hiawatha';
on the Glittering Heath, and the seven among the Bushmen, Kaffirs, Zulus; and
coils of the dragon; also in the Hindu in Melanesia, where the monster is night,
tale of Panch Phul Ranee, in which showing quite plainly a savage nature-
the heroine is surrounded by seven myth. The story has been compared
ditches, surmounted by seven hedges of to the Sanskrit Vartika, rescued by the
spears.
In the northern form of the Açvins (the Vedic Dioscuri) from the
story an interesting feature is the pres- wolf's throat. Vartika is the Quail,
ence of the ivy, the one plant that can the bird that returns at evening; and
endure the winter's numbing touch. In the Greek word for quail is ortyx, allied
a Transylvanian variant a maiden spins possibly to Ortygia, the old name for
her golden hair in a cavern, from which Delos, birthplace of Apollo.
she is rescued by a man who undergoes BLUEBEARN. —
- This tale had been re-
an hour of torture for three nights. garded by some as partly historic, of
The awakening by a kiss corresponds to which the original was Gilles de Laval,
Sigurd's rousing Brynhild by his magic Baron de Retz, who was burned in 1440
sword; but the kiss may be a survival for his cruelty to children. It is, how-
of an ancient form of worship, thus sug- ever, really a märchen, and the leading
gesting that the princess in the earlier idea of curiosity punished is world-wide.
forms of the tradition may have been a The forbidden chamber is a counterpart
local goddess, which would support the of the treasure-house of Ixion, on
anthropological theory. The version most tering which the intruder was destroyed,
closely resembling Perrault's is Grimm's or betrayed by the gold or blood that
(Little Briar Rose,' which is however clung to him; also of Pandora's box, as
without the other's ending about the well as of Proserpine's pyx that Psyche
cruel mother-in-law. A few incidents opened in spite of the prohibition. There
are found in the Pentamerone,) and several parallels among the Ger-
a beautiful modern version is found in
fairy-tales collected by Grimm;
Tennyson's Day-Dream. '
and one feature at least is found in the
LITTLE RED RIDING-Hood. - In this Kaffir tale of the Ox (Callaway's Nurs-
story we may detect a myth of day and ery Tales of the Zulus'). Variants are
night. Red Riding-Hood, the Evening found in Russia, and among Gaelic pop-
Sun, goes to see her grandmother, the ular tales; and in the Sanskrit collection
Earth, who is the first to be swallowed Katha Sarit Sagara,' the hero Saktideva
by the wolf of Night or Darkness. The breaks the taboo, and like Bluebeard's
red cloak is the twilight glow. In the wife, is confronted with the horrible
German versions the wolf is cut open sight of dead women. Possibly in the
by the hunter, and both set free; here the punishment following the breaking of
hunter may stand for the rising sun that the taboo may be a survival of some
rescues all from night. The Russian ancient religious prohibition: among the
version in the tale of (Vasihassa) hints Australians, Greeks, and Labrador Ind-
at a nature-myth in the incident of the ians, such an error was regarded as the
white, red, and black horses, represent- means by which death came into the
ing the changing day. The German ver- world.
sion contains a widely spread incident, – Puss IN BOOTS. - Perrault's version of
the restoration of persons from mon- this popular and wide-spread tale was
sters who have swallowed them. We probably taken from Straparola's Pia-
find parallels in the Aryan story of the cevoli Notti. ? The story is found in a
dragon swallowing the sun, and killed Norse version in Lord Peter,' and in
by the sun-god Indra; here it is inter- the Swedish (Palace with Pillars of Gold,
esting to note that the Sanskrit word for in which the cat befriends a girl, whose
evening means mouth of night. ” The adventures are similar to those of the
are
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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
59
Marquis of Carabas. In a Sicilian ver-
sion is found the first hint of a moral
which is lacking in the above-mentioned
tales; that is, the ingratitude of the man.
This moral appears more plainly in a
popular French version, where man's in-
gratitude is contrasted with the gratitude
of a beast. This occurs likewise in
the versions of the Avars and the Rus-
sians. Cosguin imagined from the moral
that its origin was Buddhistic, for the
story could only have arisen in a com-
paratively civilized community; but the
only Hindoo version, the Match-Making
Jackal, which was not discovered until
about 1884 in Bengal, has no moral at
all. The most complete moral is found
in Zanzibar, in the Swahili tale of (Sul-
tan Darai,' in which the beneficent beast
is a gazelle: the ingratitude of the man
is punished by the loss of all that he
had gained; the gazelle, which dies of
neglect, is honored by a public funeral.
An Arab tribe honors all dead gazelles
with public mourning; from which may
be inferred a primitive idea that the
tribal origin was from a gazelle stock, --
a hint of totemism. Variants of Puss
in Boots) are found among the Finns,
Bulgarians, Scotch, Siberians, and in
modern Hindustani stories; and some
features are found in Grimm, and in the
adventures of the Zulu hero Uhlakan-
yana.
TOADS AND DIAMONDS. — This story of
the good sister who was rewarded, and
the bad who was punished, is found in
many forms. Several variants are met
in Grimm's tales; it is found in the col-
lection of Mademoiselle L'Heritier dat-
ing from 1696; and again is met among
the Zulus, Kaffirs, Norse, and Scotch. In
many cases the story runs into the tale
of the substituted bride, - an example of
the curious combinations of the limited
number of incidents in popular lore.
CINDERELLA. — This fairy-tale, in the
majority of the variants, contains sev-
eral incidents which may be perhaps the
remains of totemism and of a very old
social custom. The position of Cinder-
ella in most versions as a stepchild may
without much difficulty be supposed to
have been that of the youngest, who by
(junior's right) would have been the
heir; the myth of ill-treatment would
be natural if it arose when the custom
was slipping away. By that older law
of inheritance, the hearth-place was the
share of the youngest; so that Cinder-
ella's position by it, and her consequent
blackened condition, would be quite in
keeping with this theory. This right
of the youngest is met in Hesiod, who
makes Zeus the youngest child of Kro-
nos; it is also found in Hungary, among
Slavic communities, in Central Asia, in
parts of China, in Germany and Celtic
lands; and it is alluded to in the Edda.
A similar custom among the Zulus is
shown in one of Callaway's (Zulu Nurs-
ery Tales. The fragment of totemism
is shown in the cases when the agent
is a friendly beast or tree, which has
some mystic connection with the hero-
ine's dead mother. The most striking
instance occurs in the Russian tale
of "The Wonderful Birch,' in which the
mother is changed by a witch into a
sheep, killed and buried by the daugh-
ter, and becomes a tree, that confers
the magical gifts. The two features of
a beast and a tree are found in the old
Egyptian tale (Two Brothers); and the
beast alone is seen in Servian, Mod-
ern Greek, Gaelic, and Lowland Scotch
variants. In two versions of barbarous
tribes, (The Wonderful Horns) of the
Kaffirs, and a tale of the Santals, a hill-
tribe of India, the girl's place is taken
by a boy whose adventures are similar
to Cinderella's, but the agents are an
ox and a cow. In Perrault's tale, the
more refined fairy godmother takes the
place of these beasts, which are in every
case domesticated animals.
The slip-
per is a feature that is found in the
whole cycle of tales. In the Greek myth
of (Rhodope, the slipper is carried off
by an eagle, and dropped in the lap of
the King of Egypt, who seeks and mar-
ries the owner. In the Hindu tale, the
Rajah's daughter loses her slipper in
a forest, where it is found by a prince,
on whom it makes the usual impression.
Here we find the false bride, which is
usually a part of these tales, but is
omitted by Perrault; and in most cases
the warning is given by a bird. In
several instances the recognition is ef-
fected by a lock of hair, which acts the
part of the glass slipper – which should
be fur (vair) according to some
thorities; this is found in the Egyptian
tale of the (Two Brothers, and reappears
in the Santal version and in the popu-
lar tales of Bengal. It occurs likewise
in an entirely different cycle, in the lock
of Iseult's hair which a swallow carries
to King Mark of Cornwall. We can
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60
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
also trace a slight resemblance in the
search of Orpheus for Eurydice, and
the Vedic myth of Mitra, the Sun-god,
as well as the beautiful Deccan tale of
(Sodewa Bai. If we search for indi-
cations of a nature-myth in the story of
Cinderella, we shall find that it belongs
to the myths of the Sun and the Dawn.
The maiden is the Dawn, dull and gray,
away from the brightness of the Sun;
the sisters are the clouds, that screen
and overshadow the Dawn, and the step-
mother takes the part of Night. The
Dawn fades away from the Sun, the
prince, who after a long search finds
her at last in her glorious robes of sun-
set. Max Müller gives the same mean-
ing to the Vedic myth of Urvasi, whose
name (“great-desires ») seems to imply a
search for something lost.
Hop o' MY THUMB. —A mythic theory
of this tale has been given, by which
the forest represents the night; the peb-
bles, the stars; and the ogre, the devour-
ing sun. The idea of cannibalism which
it contains may possibly be a survival
of an early savage state; and thus the
story very obligingly supports two of the
schools of mythic interpretation. It con-
tains traces of very great antiquity, and
the main features are frequently met
with. We find them, for instance, in
the Indian story of Surya Bai,' where a
handful of grain is scattered; in the Ger-
man counterpart, Hänsel and Gretel);
in the Kaffir tale, in which the girl drops
ashes; and that is found again in a story
in the Pentamerone. ) The incident of
the ogre's keen scent is found in a Nam-
aqua tale, in which the elephant takes the
part. In a Zulu story an ogress smells
the hero Uzembeni, and the same feature
is seen in Polynesian myths, and even
among the Canadian Indians. In Per-
rault's tale Hop o' My Thumb makes the
ogre kill his own children; but in many
forms the captor is either cooked, or forced
to eat some of his relatives, by means
generally of some trick. The substitution
of the ogre's daughters is suggested by
the story of Athamas and Themisto, whose
children are dressed by her orders in
white, while those of her rival are clad
in black; then by a reversal of the plan,
she murders her own. In most variants
the flight of the brothers is magically
helped; but Perrault uses only the Seven-
League Boots, which are no doubt iden-
tical with the sandals of Hermes and
Loki's magic shoes.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. -This ancient
story is very evidently a myth of the Sun
and the Dawn. In all the variants the
hero and the heroine cannot behold each
other without misfortune. Generally the
bride is forbidden to look upon her hus-
band, who is enchanted under the form of
a monster. The breaking of the taboo
results in separation, but they are finally
reunited after many adventures. The
anthropological school of myth interpret-
ers see in this feature a primitive mar-
riage custom, which still exists among
many savage races of the present day.
One of the earliest forms of the story is
the Vedic myth of Urvasî and Purûra-
vas. ) Another is the Sanskrit Bheki, who
mårries on condition she shall never see
water; thus typifying the dawn, vanish-
ing in the clouds of sunset. Müller gives
an interesting philological explanation of
this myth. Bhekî means frog, and stands
for the rising or setting sun, which like
amphibious creatures appears to pass
from clouds or water. But in its Greek
form Bhekî means seaweed which is red,
thus giving dark red; and the Latin
for toad means “the red one,» hence
the term represents the dawn-glow or
gloaming, which is quenched in water.
In Greek myths we find a resemblance
in some features of Orpheus and Eury-
dice); and the name of Orpheus in its
Sanskrit form of Arbhu, meaning the
sun, hints quite plainly at a solar origin
of this cycle of tales. A more marked
likeness exists in the myth of Eros and
Psyche by Apuleius, and in the Scandi-
navian tale of the Land East of the
Sun and West of the Moon. ) More or
less striking parallels are seen in the
Celtic (Battle of the Birds); in the “Soar-
ing Lark,' by Grimm; in the Kaffir (Story
of Five Heads); in Gaelic, Sicilian, and
Bengal folk-lore; and even in as remote
a quarter as Chili. The investigation of
minor fairy-tales, nursery rhymes, and
detached features running through many
myths, will yield an abundance of in-
teresting information. For instance, the
swan-maidens and werewolves, the bean-
stalk (which is probably a form of the
sacred ash of the Eddas, Yggdrasil, the
heaven-tree of many myths), can
found in ever-varying combinations.
We can allude to only a portion of the
voluminous literature on this subject. In
the general works on mythology, the
Aryan theory is maintained by Müller in
his Essay on Comparative Mythology
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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
61
new
(1856), and “Chips from a German Work.
shop' (1867–75); by Sir G. W. Cox in
Mythology of the Aryan Nations) (1870),
(Introduction to the Science of Compara-
tive Mythology and Folk-Lore' (1881), and
Popular Romances of the Middle Ages);
by Grimm in his «Teutonic Mythology)
('Deutsche Mythologie, translated by
Stallybrass) (1880–88); by A. Kuhn in
his (Teutonic Mythology, and the De-
scent of Fire (1872); and by W. Schwartz
in (Origin of Myths) (“Ursprung der
Mythe); 1860).
The most important works on the basis
of the anthropological theory are E. B.
Tylor's Primitive Culture) (1871); An-
drew Lang's Custom and Myth' (1885);
his Myth Ritual and Religion (1887);
and John Fiske's Myths and Myth-Mak-
ers) (1872); as well as J. G. Frazer's
(Golden Bough' (1890). W. A. Clouston
in Popular Tales and Fictions) (1887)
supports the Indian theory. The best
works directly bearing on Fairy Tales
are J. Ritson's Fairy Tales) (1831): T.
Keightley's Fairy Mythology) (1833),
both somewhat antiquated; J. T. Bunce's
(Fairy Tales, their Origin and Meaning)
(1878); J. O. Halliwell-Phillips's Popular
Rhymes and Nursery Tales (1849);
R. Koehler's European Popular Tales)
(1865), and his Essays on Fairy Tales
and Popular Songs) (1894); E. S. Hart-
land's Science of Fairy Tales' (1891);
Andrew Lang's Edition of Perrault's
Popular Tales) (1888); W. Adlington's
Most Pleasant and Delectable Tale of
the Marriage of Cupid and Psyche,' with
(Discourse on Fable) by A. Lang (1887);
and Joseph Bedier's Fables) (Les Fa-
bliaux') (1893).
The most notėworthy collections of
the folk-tales of individual nations are
Dasent's Popular Norse Tales) (1862);
Campbell's “Tales of the West Highlands';
Frere's (Old Deccan Days'; Steel and
Temple's Wide-Awake Stories) (1884);
L. B. Day's (Folk Tales of Bengal (1883);
Callaway's 'Zulu Nursery Tales) (1866);
Theal's Kaffir Folk Lore); Cosguin's
Popular Tales of Lorraine) (1886); Mas-
pero's "Tales of Ancient Egypt, 2d ed.
(1889).
Physiologus (The Naturalist). A very
remarkable book of animal allego-
ries, some fifty or sixty in number, pro-
duced originally in Greek at Alexandria,
as early probably as the final comple-
tion of the New Testament, or before
200 A. D. , and in circulation for many
centuries, in many languages, as a kind
of natural Bible of the common people;
more universally known, and more pop-
ularly regarded, than the Bible even,
because so familiar in the memories of
the masses, and not dependent upon
written copies.
So entirely was it a book of tales
and traditions of the uneducated mass,
more often told to hearers than copied
out and read, that any one who made
a written copy varied the text at will,
enlarging or abridging, and inserting
ideas or Scripture quotations at
pleasure. It was in this respect a re-
flection of the literary method of the
Græco-Hebrew writers of the time of
Christ, and of the Greek Christians of
the New Testament age, 50–150 A. D.
It was the lesson only of the story,
not its exact text, which was regarded;
facts were of less account than the truth
meant to be conveyed. Some of the
animals of the stories were imaginary;
and with animals were included the
diamond, the magnet, the fire-flint, the
carbuncle, the Indian stone, and such
trees as the sycamore and one called
peridexion.
The facts in each story
were not those of science, given by Ar-
istotle or any other authority; but those
of folk-lore, of popular tradition and
fable, and of frequent touches of the im-
agination. It mattered little as to the
facts, if they were of startling interest:
the important thing was the spiritual
lesson. Thus the one horn of the uni-
corn signifies that Christ is one with the
Father; the wonderfully sweet odor of
the panther's breath, attracting all other
animals except the serpent, signifies
Christ drawing all unto him except the
Devil. The riot of legend and fable,
which under «Physiologus says,"
took the popular fancy in proportion as
it was wild; and credulity thus stimu.
lat
th
strongest belief. The
ideas thus taught passed into all the lit.
eratures of Europe, and found incessant
expression in art, and in emblems carved
upon churches and even upon furniture.
The Greek text of Physiologus,' and
versions in great variety, have been
printed; and in the Geschichte des
Physiologus, by F. Lauchert, 1889, a full
account of the origin, character, and dif.
fusion of the work is given, with the
Greek original and a Ge an transla
tion.
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62
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
a
its pursuit of the ideal. Apuleius excels
every other ancient writer in catching the
changing aspects of nature and of hu-
man comedy; and with all liis fantastic
imaginative power, he is as realistic as
Zola, and sometimes as offensive.
He
describes, for instance, the agony of a
broken-down horse tortured by swarms
of ants, with the same precision that he
uses to relate the gayety of a rustic
breakfast, or a battle between wolves
and dogs. On the other hand, he puts
in no claim to be a moralist, and is
much more concerned about the exte.
riors of his characters than about their
souls.
sees
Golde
olden Ass, The, by Apuleius. A
collection of stories divided into
eleven books, and written in Carthage,
not later than 197 A. D. It is usually
described as an imitation of The Ass)
of Lucian; the author himself tells us
that it is a (tissue woven out of the
tales of Miletus »; but probably both
works are based on the same earlier
originals. The plot is of the thinnest.
A young man
an old sorceress
transform herself into a bird after drink-
ing a philter. He wishes to undergo a
similar metamorphosis, but mistakes the
vial and is turned into an ass. To be-
come a man again, he must eat a certain
species of roses, and the pilgrimage of
the donkey in search of them is the au-
thor's excuse for stringing together a
number of romantic episodes and stories:
stories of robbers, such as “The Brigand
for Love,' where a youth becomes a ban-
dit to deliver his betrothed; (The Three
Brothers, where the three sons of a
wealthy peasant are massacred by a fero-
cious squire and his servants; and (The
Bear of Platæa,' where a heroic robber
lets dogs devour him in the bearskin in
which he has hidden himself. Then come
ghost stories: The Spectre,' where the
phantom of a girl penetrates in full noon-
day into a miller's yard, and carries off
the miller to a room where he hangs
himself; Telephron,' where a poor man
falls asleep, and supposes himself to
awaken dead; The Three Goat-Skins,
where the witch Pamphile inadvert-
ently throws some goats' hair into her
crucible, instead of the red hair of her
fat Boeotian lover, thus bringing back to
life in place of him the goats to whom
the hairs belonged.
But the prettiest and
most finely chiseled of these tales are
those that paint domestic life: (The San-
dals,' where a gallant devises a very
ingenious stratagem to get out of an un-
pleasant predicament and regain posses-
sion of his sandals, forgotten one night
at the house of a decurion; and sev-
eral of the same kind. Many others are
real dramas of village life. The most
famous of all is (The Loves of Psyche. )
It occupies two entire books, and has
inspired poets, painters, and sculptors, in
all ages and countries; though perhaps
the author would have been rather as-
tonished to learn that the moderns had
discovered in the sufferings of his hero-
a profound metaphysical allegory,
symbolizing the tortures of the soul in
Daphnis and Chloe, by Longus. This
charming pastoral romance was writ-
ten in Greek during the fourth century
of our era. It was first translated into
a modern language by Amyot, who pub-
lished a French version in 1559. Other
renderings were soon made, and had
great influence on European literature.
Many English, French, and Italian pas-
torals were suggested by this work; but
the one derived most directly from this
source is Saint-Pierre's Paul and Vir-
ginia,' which is almost a parallel story,
with Christian instead of pagan ethics.
On the island of Lesbos, a goatherd
named Lamon finds one of his goats suck-
ling a fine baby boy, evidently exposed
by his parents. The good man adopts
him as his own child, calling him Daph-
nis, and brings him up to herd his goats.
The year after he was found, a neigh-
bor, Dryas, discovers a baby girl nour-
ished by a ewe in the grotto of the
nymphs. She is adopted under the name
of Chloe, and trained to tend the sheep.
The two young people pasture their
herds in common, and are bound by an
innocent and childlike affection. Eventu-
ally, this feeling ripens on both sides to
something deeper; but in their innocence
they know not the meaning of love, even
when they learn that the little god has
them in his especial keeping. After a
winter of forced separation, which only
inflames their passion, Daphnis sues for
the hand of Chloe. In spite of his hum-
ble station, he is accepted by her foster-
parents; but the marriage is deferred till
after the vintage, when Lamon's master
is coming On his arrival the goatherci
describes the finding of the child, and ex-
hibits the tokens found with him. Here-
upon he is recognized as the son of the


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
63
master of the estate, and restored to his
real position. By the aid of Daphnis's
parents, Chloe is soon identified as the
daughter of a wealthy Lesbian, who in a
time of poverty had intrusted her to the
nymphs. The young people are married
with great pomp, but return to their pas-
toral life, in which they find idyllic happi-
ness.
Golden Fleece, Conquest of the
("Argonautica'), an epic poem in
four cantos, by Apollonius of Rhodes, a
contemporary of Ptolemy Philadelphus.
Apollonius found all the elements of his
poem in the legendary traditions of the
Greeks; the expedition of the Argonauts
being, next to the siege of Troy, the
most famous event of the heroic ages,
and the most celebrated poets having
sung some one or other of its heroes.
The first two cantos contain an expla-
nation of the motives of the expedition,
the election of Jason as commander-in-
chief, the preparations for departure, and
a narrative of the incidents that marked
the voyage from Chalcis. The third
describes the conquest of the Golden
Fleece, and the beginning of Medea's love
for Jason, the development of which forms
the finest portion of the poem. Her hesi-
tations and interior struggles supplied
Virgil with some of his best material for
the fourth book of the Æneid. In the
fourth canto, Medea leaves her father to
follow Jason. This book is full of inci-
dent. The Argonauts go through the
most surprising adventures, and encounter
perils of every description, before they
are able to reach the port from which
they started. These various events have
allowed the poet to introduce brilliant
mythological pictures, such as his account
of the Garden of the Hesperides. The
work has been frequently translated into
almost every modern language, and is ad-
mittedly the masterpiece of Alexandrian
literature. The Argonautica) of Vale-
rius Flaccus is an imitation of that of
Apollonius, while the style is that of Vir-
gil. Quintilian and other contemporaries
of the author considered the imitation
superior to the original. Most modern
scholars, however, regard it as without
originality or invention, and as a mere
tasteless display of erudition.
Mahābhārata of Krishna-Dwaipayana
Vyasa, The. This great Indian
epic has been compared to a national
bank of unlimited resources, upon which
all the poets and dramatists of succeed-
ing ages have freely drawn, so that
scarcely a Sanskrit play or song lacks
references to it. As the compilation
of long series of poets, it contains not
only the original story of the Kaurava-
Pandava feud, but also a vast number
of more or less relevant episodes : it is
a storehouse of quaint and curious sto-
ries. It tells of the mental and moral
philosophy of the ancient Rishis, their
discoveries in science, their remarkable
notions of astronomy, their computations
of time, their laws for the conduct of
life, private and public, their grasp of
political truths worthy of Machiavelli.
Stories and histories, poems and ballads,
nursery tales and profound discourses on
art, science, daily conduct, and religion,
are all sung in sonorous verse. Written
in the sacred language of India, it is the
Bible of the Hindus, being held in such
veneration that the reading of a single
Parva or Book was thought sufficient to
cleanse from sin. It has been translated
into English prose by Kisari Mohan
Ganguli, and published in fifteen octavo
volumes. Sir Edwin Arnold has trans-
lated the last two of the eighteen parvas
into blank verse; and in his preface he
gives a succinct analysis of the epic
which has been called “the Fifth Veda. "
To ordinary readers much of the fig-
urative language of the Mahābhārata'
seems grotesque, and the descriptions are
often absurd; but no one can help being
amazed at its enormous range of sub-
jects, the beauty of many of the stories
it enshrines, and the loftiness of the mo-
rality it inculcates. In grandeur it may
well be compared to the awe-inspiring
heights of the Himalayas.
تیری تربیت کے لیے عالي - ملا ق کر کے تے مولا علی
Gol
ulistan, or Rose Garden, by Sa'di.
(The Sheikh Muslih-ud-din was his
real name. ) He was born about 1193 at
Shiraz; and after many years of travel
(once captured by the Christian Crusa.
ders he was fighting), and visiting all
the chief countries and cities of Asia, he
settled down in a hermitage at Shiraz,
and wrote many works, including the
(Gulistan. He has been called "The
Nightingale of Shiraz,) and his works
«the salt-cellar of poets. ) Emerson so
admired him that he frequently used his
name as an alias in his poems. Sa'di's
daughter married the poet Hafiz. The
(Gulistan) is a poetical work, and con-
sists of fascinating stories or anecdotes,


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64
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
son.
to
as
with a moral, like the parables of the
Bible. They are replete with homely
wisdom and life experience; the prose
portions are interspersed with verses out
of Sa'di's wide experience of the man-
ners and customs of many men. Their
great charm can only be known by
reading them. Delicacy, simplicity, and
bonhomie are the chief features of Sa'di's
style.
Heimskringla, The, by Snorri Sturla-
This chronicle of the kings of
Norway (from the earliest times down
1177), sometimes known the
(Younger Edda) or the Mythic Ring
of the World,' was originally written in
Icelandic, in the early part of the thir-
teenth century. It has always been a
household word in the home of every
peasant in Iceland, and is entertaining
reading to those who read for mere
amusement, as well as to the student of
history; being full of incident and anec-
dote, told with racy simplicity, and giv-
ing an accurate picture of island life at
that early day. Short pieces of scaldic
poetry originally recited by bards are in-
terspersed, being quoted by Snorri as his
authorities for the facts he tells. The
writer, born in Iceland in 1178, was ed-
ucated by a grandson of Sæmund Sig-
fusson, author of the Elder Edda,' who
doubtless turned his pupil's thoughts in
the direction of this book. A descendant
of the early kings, he would naturally
like to study their history. He became
chief magistrate of Iceland, took
active part in politics, and was murdered
in 1241 by his two sons-in-law, at the
instigation of King Hakon. His book
was first printed in 1697, in a Latin
translation, having been inculcated in
manuscript, or by word of mouth, up to
that time. It was afterwards translated
into Danish and English, and may be
regarded as a classic work.
Chanson de Roland. This is the cul-
mination of a cycle of Chansons de
Geste) or Songs of Valor, celebrating the
heroic achievements of Charlemagne, and
inspired especially by the joy and pride
of the triumph of Christian arms over the
Mohammedan invasion, which, through
the gate opened by the Moors of Spain,
threatened to subdue all Europe. The
Song of Roland or of Roncesvalles cele-
brates the valor of Roland, a Count Pal-
adin of Charlemagne, who, on the retreat
of the King from an expedition against
the Moors in Spain, is cut off with the
rear-guard of the army in the pass of
Roncevaux; and, fatally wounded in the
last desperate struggle, crawls away to
die beneath the shelter of a rock, against
which he strikes in vain his sword Du-
randal, in the effort to break it so that
it may not fall into the hands of his en-
emy: -
"Be no man your master who shall know the
fear of man:
Long were you in the hands of a captain
Whose like shall not be seen in France set
free!
The French text of the "Chanson) was
first published in Paris by M. Francisque
Michel in 1837, and afterward in 1850 by
M. F. Genin. The original form of the
lines above quoted is as follows: –
« Ne vos ait hume ki pur altre feiet !
Mult bon vassal vos ad lung tens tenue :
Jamais u'ert tel in France la solue. "
Around this incident have grown a
multitude of heroic and romantic tales,
which have taken form in all the mediæ-
val literature of Europe; but especially in
Italy, — where however the hero appears
with little more than the name to iden-
tify him,- in the Orlando Furioso) of
Ariosto, and the Orlando Innamorato)
of Boiardo. Tyrwhitt, in his edition of
Chaucer, was the first to call the atten-
tion of English readers to the (Chanson);
but English tradition has it that the
song was sung by the Norman Taillefer
just before the battle of Hastings. The
best and oldest French MS. , called the
«Digby,” is preserved in the Bodleian
library at Oxford.
The French poem
contains 6,000 lines. A Fragment of
1,049 lines, translated in Middle English
from what is known as the Lansdowne
MS. , is published by the Early English
Text Society.
Ogier the Dane.
This story of the
paladin of Charlemagne has ap-
peared in many different forms; but the
earliest manuscript is a chanson de geste,
or epic poem, written by Raimbert de
Paris in the twelfth century. The sub-
ject is still older, and Raimbert is thought
to have collected songs which had been
sung in battle years before. The first
part is entitled “The Anger of Ogier,'
and is descriptive of the feudal life of
the barons of Charlemagne. In a quar-
rel over a game of chess, Charlot, the
son of Charlemagne, kills Beaudoin, the
son of Ogier. Ogier demands the death
an


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
65
of with the
Che past 1
oded in
uck agais
Tod is
is of his e
a" koca
Frant
))
Tarsos!
France
. in 1 1
fo:
of Charlot, but is exiled by Charlemagne,
whom Ogier would have killed but for
the protection afforded by the barons.
Ogier flies to Italy, and Charlemagne de-
clares war against his harborer. Ogier
shuts himself up in Castelfort, and with-
stands a siege of seven years; at the
end of which time, all his followers hav-
ing died, he makes his way to the camp
of Charlemagne and enters the tent of
Charlot. Throwing his spear at the bed
where he supposes Charlot to be asleep,
he escapes into the darkness, crying de-
fiance to Charlemagne. Afterwards he
is captured while sleeping, but by the
entreaties of Charlot the sentence of
death is changed to that of imprison-
ment. The country is invaded by Bra-
hier, a Saracen giant, seventeen feet tall
and of great strength. Ogier is the only
man fit to cope with him, and he refuses
to leave his prison unless Charlot is
delivered up to his vengeance. Charle-
magne accedes, but Charlot's life is saved
by the miraculous interposition of Saint
Michael. The poem ends with Ogier's
combat with the giant, who is conquered
and put to death. Among the tales in
which Ogier figures there is a romance
called Roger le Danois,' the Orlando
Furioso) of Ariosto, and the Earthly
Paradise) of William Morris.
In the fourth lecture he considered the
Hero as Priest, singling out Luther and
the Reformation, and Knox and Puri-
tanism. << These two men we will ac-
count our best priests, inasmuch as they
were our best reformers. )
The Hero as Man of Letters, with
Johnson, Rousseau, and Burns as his
types, forms the subject of Carlyle's fifth
lecture. «I call them all three genuine
Men, more or less; faithfully, for the
most part unconsciously, struggling to be
genuine, and plant themselves on the
everlasting truth of things. ”
Finally, for the Hero as King he se-
lects as the subject of his sixth lect-
ure Cromwell and Napoleon, together
with the modern Revolutionism which
they typify.
« The commander
- he is
practically the summary for us of all
the various figures of Heroism; Priest,
Teacher, whatever of earthly or of spirit-
ual dignity we can fancy to reside in a
man, embodies itself here. ))
Carlyle eulogizes his heroes for the
work that they have done in the world.
His tone, however, is that of fraterniz-
ing with them rather than of adoring
them. He holds up his typical heroes
as patterns for other men of heroic mold
to imitate, and he makes it clear that he
expects the unheroic masses to adore
them. The style of Hero-Worship) is
clearer than that in most of the other
masterpieces of Carlyle, and on this ac-
count is much more agreeable to the
average reader.
There is less exagger-
ation, less straining after epigram.
over
men
feiet
Alex
Sude'
e
(
(
antic
the
especie
eto a?
me 72
Furiani
Dham
5 adet
the
(Char
t that
Heroes,
ar
tings
calitate
e Buzz
each?
to
agte
de Es
Lars
oly Ego
Hero-Worship, and the He.
roic in History, On, by Thomas
Carlyle. Carlyle's Hero-Worship made
its first appearance as
a series of lect-
ures delivered orally in 1840, They
were well attended, and were so popular
that in book form they had considerable
success when published in 1841.
There are five lectures in all, each
dealing with some one type of hero.
In the first, it is the Hero as Divinity,
and in this the heroic divinities of Norse
mythology are especially considered. Car-
lyle finds this type earnest and sternly
impressive.
The second considers the Hero
Prophet, with especial reference to Ma-
homet and Islam. He chose Mahomet, he
himself says, because he was the prophet
whom he felt the freest to speak of.
As types of the Poet Hero in his third
lecture, he brings forward Dante and
Shakespeare. “As in Homer we may
still construe old Greece; so in Shakes-
peare and Dante, after thousands of
years, what our modern Europe was in
faith and in practice will still be legible. ”
XXX-5
OIT
e
as
28,
Cromwell's Letters and Speeches, Oli-
ver: With Elucidations by Thomas
Carlyle. These elucidations amount
an ex-parte favorable rearrangement of
Cromwell's case before the world, sup-
ported by the documentary evidence of
the Protector's public speeches and his
correspondence of every sort, from com-
munications on formal State affairs to pri-
vate and familiar letters to his family.
For almost two hundred years, till Car-
lyle's work came out in 1845, the memory
of Cromwell had suffered under defama-
tion cast upon it through the influence of
Charles the Second's court. When the
truncheon of the Constable for the peo-
ple of England ») — as Cromwell (depre-
cating the title of king) called himself-
proved too heavy for his son Richard
after Oliver's death, and the Stuarts
.
aimet
of it
ce
102
che


## p. 66 (#102) #############################################

66
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
or
reascended the throne and assumed the read to-day mainly by students of the
old power, all means were used to destroy author's style and times, this sententious
the good name of Cromwell. While to volume has attractions for all lovers of
the present day opinion widely differs quaint and pleasing English.
concerning Cromwell's actual conduct, and
his character and motives, the prophetic Dialogues of the Dead, by Lucian.
These dialogues, written at Athens
zeal and enthusiasm of Carlyle has done
much to reverse the judgment that had
during the latter half of the second cen-
long been practically unanimous against
tury, are among the author's most pop
him.
ular and familiar works. They have been
translated by many hands, from the days
Crom
romwell's Place in History. Founded of Erasmus to the present; an excellent
nn Lectures delivered at Oxford. modern translation being that by Howard
By Samuel Rawson Gardiner. (1897. ) Williams in Bohn's Classical Library.
A:nong scholarly estimates of Cromwell's They are filled with satire, bitter
true rank as a statesman and stature as delicate according to the subject, and
a man, Mr. Gardiner's may perhaps take illustrate admirably Lucian's ready wit,
the first place. It interprets him as the and light, skillful touch.
greatest of Englishmen, in respect espe- The scene is laid in Hades; and the
cially of both the powers of his mind only persons appearing to advantage are
and the grandeur of his character: in the Cynics Menippus and Diogenes, who
the world of action what Shakespeare are distinguished by their scorn of false-
was in the world of thought, the great- hood and pretense.
The Sophists are
est because the most typical Englishman mercilessly treated; and even Aristotle
of all time, yet not “the masterful is accused of corrupting the youthful
saint of Carlyle's “peculiar Valhalla. ) Alexander by his flatteries. Socrates is
It explains, but does not deny, the er- well spoken of, but is said to have
rors of Cromwell in dealing with Ire- dreaded death, the Cynics being the only
land”; admits that “Ireland's evils were ones to seek it willingly. The decadent
enormously increased by his drastic treat-
Olympian religion and the old Homeric
ment,) and consents to a verdict of heroes are exposed to ridicule, and it is
(guilty of the slaughters of Drogheda twice demonstrated that the conception
and Wexford. ) But it refers the errors of Destiny logically destroys moral re-
and the crime to “his profound ignorance sponsibility. There are several dialogues
of Irish social history prior to 1641," that hold up to scorn the parasites and
«his hopeless ignorance of the past and legacy-hunters so abundant at Athens
the present of Ireland. In this, and in and Rome; and Alexander and Cresus
every respect, the volume, though small, make themselves ridiculous by boasting
is of great weight for the study of a of their former prowess and wealth.
period of English history second in in- The futility of riches and fame is shown
terest to no other.
in the dialogue of the boat-load of peo-
ple who have to discard all their cher-
Good
ood Thoughts in Bad Times, by
Thomas Fuller (1645), is the first of
ished belongings and attributes before
a trio of volumes whose titles were in-
Charon will give them passage; only ster-
ling moral qualities avail in the shadowy
spired by the troublous days of Charles
and Cromwell, when Fuller was an ar-
land of Hades, and only the Cynics are
dent loyalist. (Good Thoughts in Worse
happy, for they have nothing left behind
Times) (1649), and — after the restoration
to regret, but have brought their treas-
of Charles II. —Mixed Contemplations in
ure with them in an upright and fearless
character.
Better Times, followed, completing the
trilogy. The present volume, like its two Dunciad, The, by Alexander Pope.
successors, is packed with wise and pithy This mock-heroic poem, the Iliad
aphorisms, often humorous, but never of the Dunces, was written in 1727, to
trivial; and is pervaded by that «sound, gratify the spite of the author against
shrewd good sense, and freedom of in- the enemies his success and his malice
tellect,” which Coleridge found there. A had aroused. It contains some of the
moralist, rather than an exponent of spirit- bitterest satire in the language, and as
ual religion, the cavalier chaplain devotes Pope foresaw, has rescued from obliv-
more attention to a well-fed philosophy ion the very names that he vituperates.
than to the claims of the soul. Though The poem is divided into four books, in


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
67
To escape
an
the first of which Dulness, daughter of scathing and many of them mean. The
chaos and eternal night, chooses a favor- joke was perpetrated by James Hogg,
ite to reign over her kingdom. In the the “Ettrick Shepherd,” whose original
early editions this prominence is assigned paper was greatly enlarged and modified
to Theobald, but in 1743 Pope substi- by Wilson and Lockhart, and who him-
tuted Colley Cibber. In the second book, self declared that “the young lions in
which contains passages as virulent and Edinboro' interlarded it with a good deal
as nauseating as anything of Swift, the of devilry of their own. ”
goddess institutes a series of games detection, the Blackwood men described
in honor of the new monarch. First the themselves as well as their rivals: Wil-
booksellers race for a phantom poet, and son was the beautiful leopard from the
then the poets contend in tickling and in valley of the palm-trees, whose going
braying, and end by diving into the mud forth was comely as the greyhound and
of Fleet Ditch. Lastly there is a trial of his eyes like the lighting of fiery flame.
patience, in which all have to listen to And he called from a far country the
the works of two voluminous writers, scorpion [Lockhart] which delighteth to
and are overcome by slumber. In the sting the faces of men. ” Hogg was
third book the goddess transports the «the great wild boar from the forests of
sleeping king to the Elysian shades, Lebanon, who roused up his spirit, and
where he beholds the past, present, and whetted his dreadful tusks for the battle. »
future triumphs of Dulness, and espe- The satire which now seems so harmless
cially her coming conquest of Great Brit- shook the old city to its foundations, and
ain. The fourth book represents the god- produced not only the bitterestexas-
dess coming with majesty to establish her peration in the Constable set, but a plen-
universal dominion. Arts and sciences tiful crop of lawsuits; one of these being
are led captive, and the youth drinks brought by an advocate who had figured
of the cup of Magus, which causes ob- as a “beast. »
As it originally appeared,
livion of all moral or intellectual obli- the satire was headed (Translation from
gations. Finally the goddess gives a Ancient Chaldee Manuscript, and
mighty yawn, which paralyzes mental act- pretended to be derived by an eminent
ivity everywhere, and restores the reign Orientalist from an original preserved in
of night and chaos over all the earth. the great Library of Paris. The publica-
tion of the original, said the editor of
Chali
haldean MS. , The. (1817. ) This pro- Blackwood, “will be prefaced by an In-
duction, in its day pronounced one quiry into the Age when it was written,
of the most extraordinary satires in the and the name of the writer. » In after
language, is now almost forgotten save years both Wilson and Lockhart repented
by students of literature. It was a skit
the cruelty of this early prank.
at the expense of the publisher Consta-
ble, and of the Edinburgh notables spe-
McFingal, by John Trumbull. The
cially interested in the Whig Edinburgh author of McFingal, «the Ameri-
Review; prepared by the editors for the can epic,” was a distinguished Connecti-
seventh number of the new Tory Black- cut jurist and writer. The poem aims
wood's Magazine, October 1817. In to give in Hudibrastic verse a general
form it was a Biblical narrative in four account of the Revolutionary War, and
chapters, attacking Constable, and de- a humorous description of the manners
scribing many of the Constable clientage and customs of the time, satirizing the
with or less felicitous phrases. follies and extravagances of the author's
Scott was that great magician which own Whig party as well as those of the
hath his dwelling in the old fastness. ” British and Loyalists. McFingal is a
Constable was the man which is crafty," Scotchman who represents the Tories;
who shook the dust from his feet, and Honorius being the representative and
said, Beloved I have given this magi-champion of the patriotic Whigs. Mc-
cian much money, yet see, now, he hath Fingal is of course out-argued and de-
utterly deserted me. ) » Francis Jeffrey feated; and he suffers disgrace and igno-
was “a familiar spirit unto whom the miny to the extent of being hoisted to
man which was crafty had sold himself, the top of a flag-pole, and afterwards
and the spirit was a wicked and a cruel. ” treated to a coat of tar and feathers.
Many of the characterizations cannot be The first canto was published in 1774,
identified at this day, but they were all and the poem finally appeared complete
more
»


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68
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
in four cantos in 1782. The work is now jected Addresses' were widely commended
unread and comparatively unknown, but in their day, and still hold a high place
its popularity at the time of its issue among the best imitations ever inade.
was very great; and more than thirty Their extent and variety exhibited the
pirated editions in pamphlet and other versatility of the authors. Although
forms were printed, which were circu- James wrote the greater number of suc-
lated by the newsmongers, hawkers, cessful imitations, the one by Horace, of
peddlers, and petty chapmen” of the day. Scott, is perhaps the best of the parodies;
It contains many couplets that were fa- and its amusing picture of the burning
mous at the time, some of which are of Drury Lane Theatre is an absurd
still quoted. The two that are perhaps imitation of the battle in Marmion): -
the most famous, and which are often
« The firemen terrified are slow
attributed to Samuel Butler, the author
To bid the pumping torrent flow,
of (Hudibras,' are-
For fear the roof would fall.
Back, Robins, back; Crump, stand aloof!
«No man e'er felt the halter draw
Whitford, keep near the walls !
With good opinion of the law ;
Huggins, regard your own behoof,
and
For, lo! the blazing rocking roof
« But optics sharp it needs, I ween,
Down, down in thunder falls !