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diff --git a/21852-0.txt b/21852-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0624cf9 --- /dev/null +++ b/21852-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12792 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Folklore as an Historical Science, by +George Laurence Gomme + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Folklore as an Historical Science + +Author: George Laurence Gomme + +Release Date: June 18, 2007 [EBook #21852] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOLKLORE AS AN HISTORICAL SCIENCE *** + + + + +Produced by Clare Boothby, Sam W. and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + FOLKLORE AS AN + HISTORICAL SCIENCE + + + BY + GEORGE LAURENCE GOMME + + + WITH TWENTY-EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS + + + METHUEN & CO. + 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. + LONDON + + + + + _First Published in 1908_ + + +[Illustration: "PEDLAR'S SEAT," SWAFFHAM CHURCH] + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + +I. HISTORY AND FOLKLORE _pages_ 1-122 + + INTRODUCTORY _pages_ 1-13 + + HISTORY AND LOCAL AND PERSONAL TRADITIONS 13-46 + + HISTORY AND FOLK-TALES 46-84 + + TRADITIONAL LAW 84-100 + + MYTHOLOGY AND TRADITION 100-110 + + HISTORIANS AND TRADITION 110-120 + + +II. MATERIALS AND METHODS 123-179 + + TRADITIONAL MATERIAL 123-129 + + MYTH, FOLK-TALE, AND LEGEND 129-153 + + CUSTOM, BELIEF, AND RITE 154-179 + + +III. PSYCHOLOGICAL CONDITIONS 180-207 + + +IV. ANTHROPOLOGICAL CONDITIONS 208-302 + + PRIMITIVE INFLUENCES 211-238 + + EARLIEST TYPES OF SOCIAL EXISTENCE 238-261 + + AUSTRALIAN TOTEM SOCIETY TESTED BY THE + EVIDENCE 262-274 + + TOTEM SURVIVALS IN BRITAIN 274-296 + + SYNOPSIS OF CULTURE-STRUCTURE OF SEMANGS + OF MALAY PENINSULA 297-302 + + +V. SOCIOLOGICAL CONDITIONS 303-319 + + +VI. EUROPEAN CONDITIONS 320-337 + + +VII. ETHNOLOGICAL CONDITIONS 338-366 + + +INDEX 367-371 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE +1. PEDLAR'S SEAT, SWAFFHAM CHURCH, NORFOLK. _Frontispiece_ + +2. CARVED WOODEN FIGURE OF THE PEDLAR IN SWAFFHAM + CHURCH 8 + +3. CARVED WOODEN FIGURE OF THE PEDLAR'S DOG IN SWAFFHAM + CHURCH 8 + + Nos. 1-3 are taken from photographs, and show how the + story of the Pedlar of Swaffham has been interpreted in + carving. The costume of the Pedlar is noticeable. + +4. THE PEDLAR OF LAMBETH AND HIS DOG, FIGURED IN THE + WINDOW (NOW DESTROYED) OF LAMBETH CHURCH (from + Allen's _History of Lambeth_) 20 + +5. THE PEDLAR OF LAMBETH AND HIS DOG AS DRAWN IN 1786 + FOR DUCAREL'S _History of Lambeth_ 22 + + Nos. 4 and 5 illustrate the traces of the Pedlar legend + in Lambeth, and the costume of the Pedlar, though later + than that shown in the Swaffham carving, exhibits analogous + features which are of interest to the argument. + +6. PLAN OF THE SITE OF THE "HEAVEN'S WALLS" AT LITLINGTON, + NEAR ROYSTON, CAMBRIDGESHIRE (reprinted from + _Archæologia_) 43 + +7. SKETCH OF LITLINGTON FIELD (reprinted from + _Archæologia_) 44 + + Nos. 6 and 7 show the site and general appearance + of this interesting relic of the Roman occupation of + Britain. + +8. STONE MONUMENTS ERECTED AS MEMORIALS IN A KASYA + VILLAGE (reprinted from _Asiatic Researches_) 55 + +9. STONE SEATS AT A KASYA VILLAGE (reprinted from _Asiatic + Researches_) 55 + +10. VIEW IN THE KASYA HILLS, SHOWING STONE MEMORIALS + (reprinted from _Asiatic Researches_) 56 + + No. 8 shows the practice among the primitive hill-tribes + of India of erecting memorials in stone to tribal heroes, + and No. 9 is a curious illustration of the stones used as + seats by tribesmen at their tribal assemblies. No. 10 is a + general view of the site occupied by these stone monuments. + +11. THE AULD CA-KNOWE: CALLING THE BURGESS ROLL AT + HAWICK (reprinted from Craig and Laing's + _Hawick Tradition_) 98 + +12. THE HAWICK MOAT AT SUNRISE (reprinted from Craig and + Laing) 99 + + The tribal gathering is well illustrated by No. 11, and + the moat hill is shown in No. 12. + +13. ONE OF FIVE STONE CIRCLES IN THE FIELDS OPPOSITE THE + GLEBE OF NYMPHSFIELD (reprinted from Sir William + Wilde's _Lough Corrib_) 101 + +14. CARN-AN-CHLUITHE TO COMMEMORATE THE DEFEAT AND + DEATH OF THE YOUTHS OF THE DANANNS (reprinted + from Wilde) 102 + +15. THE CAIRN OF BALLYMAGIBBON, NEAR THE ROAD PASSING + FROM CONG TO CROSS (reprinted from Wilde) 102 + + Nos. 13-15 are selected from Sir William Wilde's admirable + account of the great conflict on the field of Moytura. They + serve to show that the fight was an historical event. + +16. ALTAR DEDICATED TO THE FIELD DEITIES OF BRITAIN, + FOUND AT CASTLE HILL ON THE WALL OF ANTONINUS PIUS 105 + + It is important to remember that the Romans recognised + the gods of the conquered people, and this is one of the + most important archæological proofs of the fact. + +17. ROMAN SCULPTURED STONE FOUND AT ARNIEBOG, CUMBERNAULD, + DUMBARTONSHIRE, SHOWING A NAKED BRITON AS + A CAPTIVE 112 + + To the evidence derived from classical writers as to the + nakedness of some of the inhabitants of early Britain, it + is possible to add the evidence of the memorial stone. This + example is reproduced from Sir Arthur Mitchell's _Past in + the Present_, and there is at least one other example. + +18. REPRESENTATION OF AN IRISH CHIEFTAIN SEATED AT + DINNER (from Derrick's _The Image of Ireland_, + by kind permission of Messrs. A. & E. Black) 183 + + This is reproduced from the very excellent reprint (1883) + of this remarkable book, published originally in 1581. The + whole book is historically valuable as showing the undeveloped + nature of Irish culture. The flesh was boiled in the hide, the + fire is lighted in the open camp, and the entire rudeness of + the scene depicts the people "whose usages I behelde after the + fashion there sette downe." + +19. LONG MEG AND HER DAUGHTERS (from a photograph by + Messrs. Frith) 193 + +20. STONE CIRCLES ON STANTON MOOR (from + _Archæologia_) 193 + + Nos. 19 and 20 are illustrations of two of the lesser-known + circles about which the people hold such curious beliefs. + +21. CHINESE REPRESENTATION OF PYGMIES GOING ABOUT ARM-IN-ARM + FOR MUTUAL PROTECTION (from Moseley's _Notes by + a Naturalist on H.M.S. Challenger_, by permission + of Mr. John Murray) 242 + +22. SEMANG OF KUALA KENERING, ULU PERAK (from Skeat and + Blagden's _Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula_, + by permission of Messrs. Macmillan) 242 + +23. NEGRITO TYPE: SEMANG OF PERAK (from the same) 243 + +24. SEMANG OF KEDAH HAVING A MEAL (from the same) 244 + +25. TREE HUT, ULU BATU, ABOUT TWELVE MILES FROM KUALA + LUMPUR, SELANGOR (from the same) 298 + + The old-world traditions and the scientific observation + of pygmy people are illustrated in No. 21 and Nos. 22-25 + respectively. Though much has been written about the + Pygmies, Messrs. Skeat and Blagden's account of the Semang + people is by far the most thorough and important. + +26. RITE OF BAPTISM ON THE FONT AT DARENTH, KENT (from + Romilly Allen's _Early Christian Symbolism_) 324 + + The crude paganism on the sculptured stone is confirmatory + of the pagan elements preserved in custom, and this + illustration from Kent, one of the earliest centres of + Christianity in Britain, is singularly interesting from + this point of view. + +27 and 28. TWO SCENES FROM THE ANGLO-SAXON LIFE OF ST. + GUTHLAC BY FELIX OF CROWLAND, DEPICTING THE ATTACK + OF THE DEMONS 351, 352 + + These two plates belong to a series of eight which + illustrate the life of the saint. They are less primitive + in form than the story which they illustrate. By contrast + with the remaining six, however, which are purely + ecclesiastical in character, they show how this early + episode kept its place among the events of the saint's life. + + + + +PREFACE + + +If I have essayed to do in this book what should have been done by one +of the masters of the science of folklore--Mr. Frazer, Mr. Lang, Mr. +Hartland, Mr. Clodd, Sir John Rhys, and others--I hope it will not be +put down to any feelings of self-sufficiency on my part. I have +greatly dared because no one of them has accomplished, and I have so +acted because I feel the necessity of some guidance in these matters, +and more particularly at the present stage of inquiry into the early +history of man. + +I have thought I could give somewhat of that guidance because of my +comprehension of its need, for the comprehension of a need is +sometimes half-way towards supplying the need. My profound belief in +the value of folklore as perhaps the only means of discovering the +earliest stages of the psychological, religious, social, and political +history of modern man has also entered into my reason for the attempt. + +Many years ago I suggested the necessity for guidance, and I sketched +out a few of the points involved (_Folklore Journal_, ii. 285, 347; +iii. 1-16) in what was afterwards called by a friendly critic a sort +of grammar of folklore. The science of folklore has advanced far since +1885 however, and not only new problems but new ranges of thought have +gathered round it. Still, the claims of folklore as a definite +section of historical material remain not only unrecognised but +unstated, and as long as this is so the lesser writers on folklore +will go on working in wrong directions and producing much mischief, +and the historian will judge of folklore by the criteria presented by +these writers--will judge wrongly and will neglect folklore +accordingly. + +I hope this book may tend to correct this state of things to some +extent. It is not easy to write on such a subject in a limited space, +and it is difficult to avoid being somewhat severely technical at +points. These demerits will, I am sure, be forgiven when considered by +the light of the human interest involved. + +All studies of this kind must begin from the standpoint of a definite +culture area, and I have chosen our own country for the purpose of +this inquiry. This will make the illustrations more interesting to the +English reader; but it must be borne in mind that the same process +could be repeated for other areas if my estimate of the position is +even tolerably accurate. For the purpose of this estimate it was +necessary, in the first place, to show how pure history was intimately +related to folklore at many stages, and yet how this relationship had +been ignored by both historian and folklorist. The research for this +purpose had necessarily to deal with much detail, and to introduce +fresh elements of research. There is thus produced a somewhat unequal +treatment; for when illustrations have to be worked out at length, +because they appear for the first time, the mind is apt to wander from +the main point at issue and to become lost in the subordinate issue +arising from the working out of the chosen illustration. This, I +fear, is inevitable in folklore research, and I can only hope I have +overcome some of the difficulties caused thereby in a fairly +satisfactory manner. + +The next stage takes us to a consideration of materials and methods, +in order to show the means and definitions which are necessary if +folklore research is to be conducted on scientific lines. Not only is +it necessary to ascertain the proper position of each item of folklore +in the culture area in which it is found, but it is also necessary to +ascertain its scientific relationship to other items found in the same +area; and I have protested against the too easy attempt to proceed +upon the comparative method. Before we can compare we must be certain +that we are comparing like quantities. + +These chapters are preliminary. After this stage we proceed to the +principal issues, and the first of these deals with the psychological +conditions. It was only necessary to treat of this subject shortly, +because the illustrations of it do not need analysis. They are +self-contained, and supply their own evidence as to the place they +occupy. + +The anthropological conditions involve very different treatment. The +great fact necessary to bear in mind is that the people of a modern +culture area have an anthropological as well as a national or +political history, and that it is only the anthropological history +which can explain the meaning and existence of folklore. This subject +found me compelled to go rather more deeply than I had thought would +be necessary into first principles, but I hope I have not altogether +failed to prove that to properly understand the province of folklore +it is necessary to know something of anthropological research and its +results. In point of fact, without this consideration of folklore, +there is not much value to be obtained from it. It is not because it +consists of traditions, superstitions, customs, beliefs, observances, +and what not, that folklore is of value to science. It is because the +various constituents are survivals of something much more essential to +mankind than fragments of life which for all practical purposes of +progress might well disappear from the world. As survivals, folklore +belongs to anthropological data, and if, as I contend, we can go so +far back into survivals as totemism, we must understand generally what +position totemism occupies among human institutions, and to understand +this we must fall back to human origins. + +The next divisions are more subordinate. Sociological conditions must +be studied apart from their anthropological aspect, because in the +higher races the social group is knit together far more strongly and +with far greater purpose than among the lower races. The social force +takes the foremost place among the influences towards the higher +development, and it is necessary not only to study this but to be sure +of the terms we use. Tribe, clan, family, and other terms have been +loosely used in anthropology, just as state, city, village, and now +village-community, are loosely used in history. The great fact to +understand is that the social group of the higher races was based on +blood kinship at the time when they set out to take their place in +modern civilisation, and that we cannot understand survivals in +folklore unless we test them by their position as part of a tribal +organisation. The point has never been taken before, and yet I do not +see how it can be dismissed. + +The consideration of European conditions is chiefly concerned with the +all-important fact of an intrusive religion, that of Christianity, +from without, destroying the native religions with which it came into +contact, conditions which would of course apply only to the folklore +of European countries. + +Finally, I have discussed ethnological conditions in order to show +that certain fundamental differences in folklore can be and ought to +be explained as the results of different race origins. We are now +getting rid of the notion that all Europe is peopled by the +descendants of the so-called Aryans. There is too much evidence to +show that the still older races lived on after they were conquered by +Celt, Teuton, Scandinavian, or Slav, and there is no reason why +folklore should not share with language, archæology, and physical type +the inheritance from this earliest race. + +In this manner I have surveyed the several conditions attachable to +the study of folklore and the various departments of science with +which it is inseparably associated. Folklore cannot be studied alone. +Alone it is of little worth. As part of the inheritance from bygone +ages it cannot separate itself from the conditions of bygone ages. +Those who would study it carefully, and with purpose, must consider it +in the light which is shed by it and upon it from all that is +contributory to the history of man. + +During my exposition I have ventured upon many criticisms of masters +in the various departments of knowledge into which I have penetrated; +but in all cases with great respect. Criticism, such as I have +indulged in, is nothing more than a respectful difference of opinion +on the particular points under discussion, and which need every light +which can be thrown upon them, even by the humblest student. + +I am particularly obliged to Mr. Lang, Mr. Hartland, Dr. Haddon, and +Dr. Rivers, for kindly reading my chapter on Anthropological +Conditions, and for much valuable and kind help therein; and +especially I owe Mr. Lang most grateful thanks, for he took an immense +deal of trouble and gave me the advantage of his searching criticism, +always in the direction of an endeavour to perfect my faulty evidence. +I shall not readily part with his letters and MS. on this subject, for +they show alike his generosity and his brilliance. + +To my old friend Mr. Fairman Ordish I am once more indebted for help +in reading my sheets, and I am also glad to acknowledge the fact that +two of my sons, Allan Gomme and Wycombe Gomme, have read my proofs and +helped me much, not only by their criticism, but by their knowledge. + +24 DORSET SQUARE, N.W. + + + + +FOLKLORE AS AN HISTORICAL SCIENCE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +HISTORY AND FOLKLORE + + +It may be stated as a general rule that history and folklore are not +considered as complementary studies. Historians deny the validity of +folklore as evidence of history, and folklorists ignore the essence of +history which exists in folklore. Of late years it is true that Dr. +Frazer, Prof. Ridgeway, Mr. Warde Fowler, Miss Harrison, Mr. Lang, and +others have broken through this antagonism and shown that the two +studies stand together; but this is only in certain special +directions, and no movement is apparent that the brilliant results of +special inquiries are to bring about a general consideration of the +mutual help which the two studies afford, if in their respective +spheres the evidence is treated with caution and knowledge, and if the +evidence from each is brought to bear upon the necessities of each. + +The necessities of history are obvious. There are considerable gaps in +historical knowledge, and the further back we desire to penetrate the +scantier must be the material at the historian's disposal. In any case +there can be only two considerable sources of historical knowledge, +namely, foreign and native. Looking at the subject from the points +presented by the early history of our own country, there are the Greek +and Latin writers to whom Britain was a source of interest as the most +distant part of the then known world, and the native historians, who, +witnessing the terribly changing events which followed the break-up of +the Roman dominion over Britain, recorded their views of the changes +and their causes, and in course of time recorded also some of the +events of Celtic history and of Anglo-Saxon history. Then for later +periods, no country of the Western world possesses such magnificent +materials for history as our own. In the vast quantity of public and +private documents which are gradually being made accessible to the +student there exists material for the illustration and elucidation of +almost every side and every period of national life, and no branch of +historical research is more fruitful of results than the comparison of +the records of the professed historian with the documents which have +not come from the historian's hands. + +All this, however, does not give us the complete story. Necessarily +there are great and important gaps. Contemporary writers make +themselves the judges of what is important to record; documents +preserved in public or private archives relate only to such events as +need or command the written record or instrument, or to those which +have interested some of the actors and their families. Hence in both +departments of history, the historical narrative and the original +record, it will be found on careful examination that much is needed +to make the picture of life complete. It is the detail of everyday +thought and action that is missing--all that is so well known, the +obvious as it passes before every chronicler, the ceremony, the faith, +and the action which do not apparently affect the movements of +civilisation, but which make up the personal, religious and political +life of the people. It is always well to bear in mind that the +historical records preserved from the past must necessarily be +incomplete. An accident preserves one, and an accident destroys +another. An incident strikes one historian, and is of no interest to +another. And it may well be that the lost document, the unrecorded +incident, is of far more value to later ages than what has been +preserved. This condition of historical research is always present to +the scientific student, though it is not always brought to bear upon +the results of historical scholarship.[1] But the scope of the +historian is gradually but surely widening. It is no longer possible +to shut the door to geography, ethnography, economics, sociology, +archæology, and the attendant studies if the historian desires to work +his subject out to the full.[2] It is even getting to be admitted that +an appeal must be made to folklore, though the extent and the method +are not understood. After all that can be obtained from other realms +of knowledge, it is seen that there is a large gap left still--a gap +in the heart of things, a gap waiting to be filled by all that can be +learned about the thought, ideas, beliefs, conceptions, and +aspirations of the people which have been translated for them, but not +by them, in the laws, institutions, and religion which find their way +so easily into history. + +The necessities of folklore are far greater than and of a different +kind from those of history. Edmund Spenser wrote three centuries ago +"by these old customs the descent of nations can only be proved where +other monuments of writings are not remayning,"[3] and yet the descent +of nations is still being proved without the aid of folklore. It is +certain that the appeal will not be made to its fullest extent unless +the folklorist makes it clear that it will be answered in a fashion +which commands attention. It appears to me that the preliminary +conditions for such an appeal must be ascertained from the folklore +side. History has not only justified its existence, but during the +long period of years during which it has been a specific branch of +learning it has shown its capacity for proceeding on strictly +scientific and ever-widening lines. Folklore has neither had a long +period for its study nor a completely satisfactory record of +scientific work. It is, therefore, essential that folklore should +establish its right to a place among the historical sciences. At +present that right is not admitted. It is objected to by scholars who +will not admit that history can proceed from anything but a dated and +certified document, and by a few who do not admit that history has +anything to do with affairs that do not emanate from the prominent +political or military personages of each period. It is silently, if +not contemptuously ignored by almost every historical inquirer whose +attention has not been specially directed to the evidence contained in +traditional material. Thus between the difficulties arising from the +interpretation of texts which, originating in oral tradition, have by +reason of their early record become literature, and the difficulties +arising from the objections of historians to accept any evidence that +is not strictly historical in the form they assume to be historical, +traditional material has not been extensively used as history. It has +also been wrongly defined by historians. Thus, to give a pertinent +example, so good a scholar as Mr. W. H. Stevenson, in his admirable +edition of Asser's _Life of King Alfred_, lays to the crimes of +tradition an error which is due to other causes. Indeed, he states the +cause of the error correctly, but does not see that he is +contradicting himself in so doing. It is worth quoting this case. It +has to do with the identification of "Cynuit," a place where the Danes +obtained a victory over the English forces, and Kenwith Castle in +Devonshire has been claimed as the site of the struggle and "a place +known as Bloody Corner in Northam is traditionally regarded as the +scene of a duel between two of the chieftains in 877, and a monument +recording the battle has been erected."[4] Mr. Stevenson's comment +upon this is: "We have in this an instructive example of the +worthlessness of 'tradition' which is here, as so frequently happens +elsewhere, the outcome of the dreams of local antiquaries, whose +identifications become gradually impressed upon the memory of the +inhabitants;" and he then proceeds to show that this particular +tradition was produced by the suggestion of Mr. R. S. Vidal in 1804. +Of course, the answer of the folklorist to this charge against the +value of tradition is that the example is not a case of tradition[5] +at all. On the contrary, it is a case of false history, started by the +local antiquary, adopted by the scholars of the day, perpetuated by +the government in its ordnance survey of the district, and kept alive +in the minds of the people not by tradition but by a duly certified +monument erected for the express purpose of commemorating the invented +incident. There is then no tradition in any one of the stages through +which the episode has passed. It is all history and false history. +Historians cannot shake off their responsibilities by looking upon the +local antiquary as the responsible author of tradition. They cannot +but admit that the local antiquary belongs to the historical school, +even though he is not a fully equipped member of his craft, and +because he blunders they must not class him as a folklorist. They must +bring better evidence than this to show the worthlessness of +tradition. In the meantime it is the constant definition of tradition +as worthless, the relegation of worthless history "to the realms of +folklore,"[6] which does so much harm to the study of folklore as a +science.[7] Because the historian misnames an historical error as +tradition, or fails to discover, at the moment he requires it, the +fact which lies hidden in tradition, he must not dismiss the whole +realm of tradition as useless for historical purposes. + +Let us freely admit that the historian is not altogether to blame for +his neglect and for his ignorance of tradition as historical material. +He has nothing very definite to work upon. Even the great work of +Grimm is open to the criticism that it does not _prove_ the antiquity +of popular custom and belief--it merely states the proposition, and +then relies for proof upon the accumulation of an enormous number of +examples and the almost entire impossibility of suggesting any other +origin than that of antiquity for such a mass of non-Christian +material. Then the great work of Grimm, ethnographical in its methods, +has never been followed up by similar work for other countries. The +philosophy of folklore has taken up almost all the time of our +scholars and students, and the contribution it makes to the history of +the civilised races has not been made out by folklorists themselves. +It does not appear to me to be difficult to make out such a claim if +only scientific methods are adopted, and the solution of definite +problems is attempted;[8] and if too the difficulties in the way of +proof are freely admitted, and where they become insuperable, the +attempt at proof is frankly abandoned. I believe that every single +item of folklore, every folk-tale, every tradition, every custom and +superstition, has its origin in some definite fact in the history of +man; but I am ready to concede that the definite fact is not always +traceable, that it sometimes goes so far back as to defy recognition, +that it sometimes relates to events which have no place in the +after-history of peoples who have taken a position on the earth's +surface, and which, in the prehistory stage, belong to humanity rather +than to peoples. Folklore, too, is governed by its own laws and rules +which are not the laws and rules of history. These concessions, +however, do not mean the introduction of the term "impossible" to our +studies. They mean rather a plea for the steady and systematic study +of our material, on the ground that it has much to yield to the +historian of man, and to the historians of races, of peoples, of +nations, and of countries. + +[Illustration: CARVED WOODEN FIGURES IN SWAFFHAM CHURCH, NORFOLK] + +We cannot, however, show that this is so without facing many +difficulties created for the most part by folklorists themselves. In +the first place it is necessary to overtake some of the earlier +conclusions of the great masters of our science. The first rush, after +the discovery of the mine, led to the vortex created by the school +of comparative mythologists, who limited their comparison to the myths +of Aryan-speaking people, who absolutely ignored the evidence of +custom, rite, and belief, and who could see nothing beyond +interpretations of the sun, dawn, and sky gods in the parallel stories +they were the first to discover and value. We need not ignore all this +work, nor need we be ungrateful to the pioneers who executed it. It +was necessary that their view should be stated, and it is satisfactory +that it was stated at a time early in the existence of our science, +because it is possible to clear it all away, or as much of it as is +necessary, without undue interference with the material of which it is +composed. + +The school of comparative mythologists did not, however, entirely +control the early progress of the study of folklore. There was always +a school who believed in the foundation of myth being derived from the +facts of life. Thus Dr. Tylor, in a remarkable study of historical +traditions and myths of observation,[9] long ago noted that many of +the traditions current among mankind were historical in origin. +Writing nearly forty years ago, he had to submit to the influence, +then at its height, of Adalbert Kuhn and Max Müller, and he conceded +that there were many traditions which were fictional myths. I think +this concession must now be much more narrowly scrutinised, and +preparation made for the conclusion that every genuine myth is a myth +of observation, the observation by men in a primitive state of +culture, of a fact which had struck home to their minds. The question +is, to what part of human history does the central fact appertain? +Here is undoubtedly a most difficult problem. What the student has to +do is to admit the difficulty, and to state, if necessary, that the +fact preserved by tradition is not in all cases possible to discover +with our present knowledge. This is a perfectly tenable position. +Human imagination cannot invent anything that is outside of fact. It +may, and of course too frequently does, misinterpret facts. In +attempting to explain and account for such facts with insufficient +knowledge, it gets far away from the truth, but this misinterpretation +of fact must not be confused with the fact itself. In a word, it must +be borne in mind by the student of tradition that every tradition +which has assumed the form of saga, myth, or story contains two +perfectly independent elements--the fact upon which it is founded, and +the interpretation of the fact which its founders have attempted. + +There is further than this. The other branch of traditional material, +namely that relating to custom, belief, and rite, rests upon a solid +basis of historic fact; customs which are strange and irrational to +this age are not in consequence to be considered the mere worthless +following of practices which owe their origin to accident or freak; +beliefs which do not belong to the established religion are not in +consequence to be considered as mere superstition; rites which were +not established by authority are not in consequence to be classed as +mere specimens of popular ignorance. But the difficulties in the way +of getting all this accepted by the historian are many, and, again, +not a few of them are the creation of the folklorist himself. Not only +has he neglected to classify and arrange the scattered items of +custom, belief, and rite, and to ascertain the degree of association +which the scattered items have with each other, but he has set about +the far more difficult and complex task of comparative study without +having previously prepared his material. + +The historian and the folklorist are thus brought face to face with +what is expected from both, in order that each may work alongside of +the other, using each other's materials and conclusions at the right +moment and in the right places. The folklorist has the most to do to +get his results ready, and to explain and secure his position. He has +been wandering about in a somewhat inconsequential fashion, bent upon +finding a _mythos_ where he should have sought for a _persona_ or a +_locus_, engaged in an extensive quest after parallels when he should +have been preparing his own material for the process of comparative +science, seeking for origins amidst human error when he should have +turned to human experience. He has to change all this waywardness for +systematic study, and this will lead him in the first place to +disengage from the results hitherto obtained those which may be +accepted and which may form the starting-point for future work. But +his greatest task will be the reconsideration of former results and +the rewriting of much that has been written on the wrong lines, and +when this is done we shall have the historian and folklorist meeting +together in the spirit which Edmund Spenser so finely and truly +described three centuries ago in his treatment of Irish history: "I do +herein rely upon those bards or Irish chronicles ... but unto them +besides I add mine own reading and out of them both together with +comparison of times likewise of manners and customs, affinity of words +and manner, properties of natures and uses, resemblances of rites and +ceremonies, monuments of churches and tombs and many other like +circumstances I do gather a likelihood of truth, not certainly +affirming anything, but by conferring of times language monuments and +such like I do hunt out a probability of things which I leave to your +judgment to believe or refuse."[10] + +I shall of course not be able to undertake either of these tasks. I +shall attempt, however, to indicate their scope and importance; and as +a preliminary to the consideration of the definite departments into +which the subject falls, it is advisable, I think, to test the +relationship of tradition to history by means of one or two +illustrations. It may be that the illustrations I shall give are not +accepted by all students, that some better illustration is forthcoming +by further research. This is one of the drawbacks from which tradition +suffers, and must suffer, until our studies are much further advanced +than they are at present. But I am glad to accept this possibility of +error as part of the case for the study of tradition, because the +error of one student cannot be held to disqualify the whole subject. +It only amounts to saying that the particular fact which seems to me +to be discoverable in the examples dealt with has to be surrendered in +favour of another particular fact. My conclusions may be dismissed, +but that which is not dismissible is the discoverable fact, and it is +only when the true fact is discovered in each traditional item that +previous inferences may be neglected or ignored and inquiry cease.[11] + + +I + +The evidence of historic events which enter into tradition relates +principally to the earliest periods, but much of it relates to periods +well within the domain of history and yet reveals facts which history +has either hopelessly neglected or misinterpreted. We shall find that +these facts, though frequently relating to minor events, often have +reference to matters of the highest national importance, and perhaps +nowhere more definitely is this the case than in the legends connected +with particular localities. Of one such tradition I will state what a +somewhat detailed examination tells in this direction. It will, I +think, serve as a good example of the kind of research that is +required in each case, and it will illustrate in a rather special +manner the value of these traditions to history. + +The _locus_ of the legend centres round London Bridge. The earliest +written version of this legend is quoted from the MSS. of Sir Roger +Twysden, who obtained it from "Sir William Dugdale, of Blyth Hall, in +Warwickshire, in a letter dated 29th January, 1652-3." Sir William +says of it that "it was the tradition of the inhabitants as it was +told me there," and Sir Roger Twysden adds of it that: "I have since +learnt from others to be most true." This, therefore, is a very +respectable origin for the legend, and I will transcribe it from Sir +William Dugdale's letter which begins "the story of the Pedlar of +Swaffham-market is in substance this":-- + + "That dreaming one night if he went to London he + should certainly meet with a man on London Bridge + which would tell him good news he was so perplext in + his mind that till he set upon his journey he could + have no rest; to London therefore he hasts and walk'd + upon the Bridge for some hours where being espyed by a + shopkeeper and asked what he wanted he answered you + may well ask me that question for truly (quoth he) I + am come hither upon a very vain errand and so told the + story of his dream which occasioned the journey. + Whereupon the shopkeeper reply'd alas good friend + should I have heeded dreams I might have proved myself + as very a fool as thou hast, for 'tis not long since + that I dreamt that at a place called Swaffham Market + in Norfolk dwells one John Chapman a pedlar who hath a + tree in his backside under which is buried a pot of + money. Now therefore if I should have made a journey + thither to day for such hidden treasure judge you + whether I should not have been counted a fool. To whom + the pedlar cunningly said yes verily I will therefore + return home and follow my business not heeding such + dreams hence forward. But when he came home being + satisfied that his dream was fulfilled he took + occasion to dig in that place and accordingly found a + large pot of money which he prudently conceal'd + putting the pot amongst the rest of his brass. After a + time it happen'd that one who came to his house and + beholding the pot observed an inscription upon it + which being in Latin he interpreted it that under that + there was an other twice as good. Of this inscription + the Pedlar was before ignorant or at least minded it + not but when he heard the meaning of it he said 'tis + very true in the shop where I bought this pot stood + another under it which was twice as big; but + considering that it might tend to his further profit + to dig deeper in the same place where he found that he + fell again to work and discover'd such a pot as was + intimated by the inscription full of old coins: + notwithstanding all which he so conceal'd his wealth + that the neighbours took no notice of it."[12] + +Blomefield thought it "somewhat surprising to find such considerable +persons as Sir William Dugdale and Sir Roger Twysden to patronise or +credit such a monkish legend and tradition savouring so much of the +cloister, and that the townsmen and neighbourhood should also believe +it," but I think we shall have reason to congratulate ourselves that +so good a folk-tale was preserved for us of this age. + +The next and, it appears, an independent version, is given in the +_Diary of Abraham de la Pryme_, under the date November 10th, 1699:-- + + "Constant tradition says that there lived in former + times, in Soffham (Swaffham), _alias_ Sopham, in + Norfolk, a certain pedlar, who dreamed that if he went + to London bridge, and stood there, he should hear very + joyfull newse, which he at first sleighted, but + afterwards, his dream being dubled and trebled upon + him, he resolv'd to try the issue of it, and + accordingly went to London, and stood on the bridge + there two or three days, looking about him, but heard + nothing that might yield him any comfort. At last it + happen'd that a shopkeeper there, hard by, haveing + noted his fruitless standing, seeing that he neither + sold any wares nor asked any almes, went to him and + most earnestly begged to know what he wanted there, or + what his business was; to which the pedlar honestly + answer'd, that he had dream'd that if he came to + London and stood there upon the bridg, he should hear + good newse; at which the shopkeeper laught heartily, + asking him if he was such a fool as to take a journey + on such a silly errand, adding, 'I'll tell thee, + country fellow, last night I dream'd that I was at + Sopham, in Norfolk, a place utterly unknown to me, + where methought behind a pedlar's house in a certain + orchard, and under a great oak tree, if I digged I + should find a vast treasure! Now think you,' says he, + 'that I am such a fool to take such a long jorney upon + me upon the instigation of a silly dream? No, no, I'm + wiser. Therefore, good fellow, learn witt of me, and + get you home, and mind your business.' The pedlar, + observeing his words, what he had sayd he had dream'd + and knowing they concenterd in him, glad of such + joyfull newse went speedily home, and digged and found + a prodigious great treasure, with which he grew + exceeding rich, and Soffham church being for the most + part fal'n down he set on workmen and reedifyd it most + sumptuously, at his own charges; and to this day there + is his statue therein, cut in stone, with his pack at + his back, and his dogg at his heels; and his memory is + also preserved by the same form or picture in most of + the old glass windows, taverns, and ale-houses of that + town unto this day."[13] + +Now this version from Abraham de la Pryme was certainly obtained from +local sources, and it shows the general popularity of the legend, +together with the faithfulness of the traditional version.[14] But +other evidence of the traditional force of the story is to be found. +Observing that De la Pryme's _Diary_ was not printed until 1870, +though certainly the MS. had been lent to antiquaries, it is curious +that the following almost identical account is told in the _St. +James's Chronicle_ of November 28th, 1786:--[15] + + "A Pedlar who lived many Years ago at Swaffham, in + Norfolk, dreamt, that if he came up to London, and + stood upon the Bridge, he should hear very joyful + News; which he at first slighted, but afterwards his + Dream being doubled and trebled unto him, he resolved + to try the Issue of it; and accordingly to London he + came, and stood on the Bridge for two or three Days, + but heard nothing which might give him Comfort that + the Profits of his Journey would be equal to his + Pains. At last it so happened, that a Shopkeeper + there, having noted his fruitless standing, seeing + that he neither sold any Wares, or asked any Alms, + went to him, and enquired his Business; to which the + Pedlar made Answer, that being a Countryman, he had + dreamt a Dream, that if he came up to London, he + should hear good News: 'And art thou (said the + Shopkeeper) such a Fool, to take a Journey on such a + foolish Errand? Why I tell thee this--last Night I + dreamt, that I was at Swaffham, in Norfolk, a Place + utterly unknown to me, where, methought, behind a + Pedlar's House, in a certain Orchard, under a great + Oak Tree, if I digged there, I should find a mighty + Mass of Treasure. Now think you, that I am so unwise, + as to take so long a Journey upon me, only by the + Instigation of a foolish Dream! No, no, far be such + Folly from me; therefore, honest Countryman, I advise + thee to make haste Home again, and do not spend thy + precious Time in the Expectation of the Event of an + idle Dream.' The Pedlar, who noted well his Words, + glad of such joyful News, went speedily Home, and + digged under the Oak, where he found a very large Heap + of Money; with Part of which, the Church being then + lately fallen down, he very sumptuously rebuilt it; + having his Statue cut therein, in Stone, with his Pack + on his Back and his Dog at his Heels, which is to be + seen at this Day. And his Memory is also preserved by + the same Form, or Picture, on most of the Glass + Windows of the Taverns and Ale-houses in that Town." + +The differences in these versions are sufficient to show independent +origin. The identities are sufficient to illustrate, in a rather +remarkable manner, how closely the words of the tradition were always +followed. It appears from the last words of the contributor to the +_St. James's Chronicle_, who signed himself "Z," that he heard it by +word of mouth about the time of his writing it down,[16] so that there +is more than a hundred years between him and the Dugdale version, +which was also recorded from "constant tradition." + +In Glyde's _Norfolk Garland_ (p. 69), is an account of this legend, +but with a variant of one incident. The box containing the treasure +had a Latin inscription on the lid, which John Chapman could not +decipher. He put the lid in his window, and very soon he heard some +youths turn the Latin sentence into English:-- + + "Under me doth lie + Another much richer than I." + +And he went to work digging deeper than before, and found a much +richer treasure than the former. Another version of this rhyme is +found in _Transactions of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society_ (iii. +318) as follows:-- + + "Where this stood + Is another as good." + +And both these versions are given by Blomefield. + +Now if there were no other places besides Swaffham in Norfolk to which +this legend is applied the interest in it would, of course, not be +very great. But there are many other places, and we will first note +those in Britain. The best is from Upsall, in Yorkshire, as follows:-- + + "Many years ago there resided, in the village of + Upsall, a man who dreamed three nights successively + that if he went to London Bridge he would hear of + something greatly to his advantage. He went, + travelling the whole distance from Upsall to London on + foot; arrived there, he took his station on the + bridge, where he waited until his patience was nearly + exhausted, and the idea that he had acted a very + foolish part began to rise in his mind. At length he + was accosted by a Quaker, who kindly inquired what he + was waiting there so long for? After some hesitation, + he told his dreams. The Quaker laughed at his + simplicity, and told him that _he_ had had last night + a very curious dream himself, which was, that if he + went and dug under a certain bush in Upsall Castle, in + Yorkshire, he would find a pot of gold; but he did not + know where Upsall was, and inquired of the countryman + if he knew, who, seeing some advantage in secrecy, + pleaded ignorance of the locality, and then, thinking + his business in London was completed, returned + immediately home, dug beneath the bush, and there he + found a pot filled with gold, and on the cover an + inscription in a language which he did not understand. + The pot and cover were, however, preserved at the + village inn, where one day a bearded stranger like a + Jew, made his appearance, saw the pot, and read the + inscription on the cover, the plain English of which + was-- + + "'Look lower, where this stood + Is another twice as good.' + + The man of Upsall hearing this resumed his spade, + returned to the bush, dug deeper, and found another + pot filled with gold, far more valuable than the + first. Encouraged by this discovery, he dug deeper + still, and found another yet more valuable. + + "This is the constant tradition of the neighbourhood, + and the identical bush yet exists (or did in 1860) + beneath which the treasure was found; a burtree, or + elder, _Sambucus nigra_, near the north-west corner of + the ruins of the old castle."[17] + +It would be tedious to go through other English versions,[18] but I +must point out that it is connected with a London district. This is +shown not by the actual presence of the legend, which has died out in +London, but by its representation in the parish church of Lambeth. The +legend so strongly current at Swaffham, in Norfolk, is represented in +the church in the shape of a carving in wood of a figure to represent +the pedlar, and below him the figure of what is locally called a +dog.[19] A comparison of this carving with the representation of the +pedlar's window formerly existing in Lambeth Church, but which was +sacrilegiously removed in 1884 by the late vicar of the parish, shows +much the same general characteristics, and search among the parish +books shows it to relate to a pedlar known by the name of Dog Smith, +who left property still known by the name of the "Pedlar's Acre" to +the parish.[20] All this suggests that we have here the last relics of +the pedlar legend located in London. + +[Illustration: THE PEDLAR OF LAMBETH AND HIS DOG +FIGURED IN THE WINDOW (NOW DESTROYED) OF LAMBETH CHURCH] + +The next stage in the history of this legend shows it to belong to the +world's collection of folk-tales. There is, however, a preliminary +fact of great significance to note, namely that two non-British +versions refer to London Bridge. Thus a Breton tale refers to London +Bridge, and the interest of this story is sufficiently great to quote +it here from its recorder straight from the Breton folk:-- + + "Long ago, when the timbers of the most ancient of the + vessels of Brest were not yet acorns, there were two + men in a farmhouse in the Côtes du Nord disputing, and + they were disputing about London Bridge. One said it + was the most beautiful sight in the world, while the + other very truly said, 'No! the grace of the good God + was more beautiful still.' And as the dispute went on, + 'Let us,' said one of them, 'settle it once and for + all, and in this way: let us now this moment go out + along the high-road and let us ask the first three men + we meet as to which is the most beautiful--London + Bridge or the grace of the good God? And which ever + way they decide, he who holds the beaten opinion shall + lose to the other all his possessions, farm and cattle + and horses, everything.' So each being confident he + was right, they went out: and the first man they met + declared that though the grace of the good God was + beautiful, London Bridge was more beautiful still; and + the second the same, and the third. And the man whose + opinion was beaten, a rich farmer, gave up all he had + and was a beggar. + + "'Now,' said he to himself when the other, taking his + horse by the bridle, had left him--'now let me go and + see this London Bridge which is so wonderfully + beautiful;' and, being very manful and stout, he set + out at once to walk, and walking on and on was there + by nightfall. But, good Christian that he was, he + could see in it nothing to shake his belief that the + grace of the good God was more beautiful still. + + "Soon the bridge was silent, and the last to cross it + had gone home; and he, notwithstanding his losses, + tired out and sleepy, lay down and fell into a doze + there; and, while he was dozing, there came by two + men, and one of them, standing quite close by him, + said to the other, 'The night is fine, the wind + gentle, the stars clear! On such a night whoever were + to collect the dew would be able to heal the blind.' + 'It is true,' answered the other; 'but none know of + it.' And they passed on, quietly as they had come. + Thereupon up rose the beggared farmer, and with basin + and cup set about collecting the dew; and in a very + short time performed with it the most wonderful cures; + finally curing the daughter of a neighbouring Emperor + who had been blind from her birth, and whom her + grateful father gave to him at once in marriage, since + directly she set eyes on him she loved him."[21] + +[Illustration: THE PEDLAR OF LAMBETH +FROM DUCAREL'S "HISTORY OF LAMBETH," 1786] + +The second non-British variant, which also attaches to London Bridge, +is to be found in the _Heimskringla_,[22] and I will quote William +Morris's translation:-- + + "West in Valland was a man infirm so that he was a + cripple and went on knees and knuckles. On a day he + was abroad on the way and was asleep there. That + dreamed he that a man came to him glorious of aspect + and asked whither he was bound and the man named some + town or other. So the glorious man spoke to him: + Fare then to Olaf's church the one that is in London + and thou wilt be whole. Thereafter he awoke, and fared + to seek Olaf's church and at last he came to London + bridge and there asked the folk of the city if they + knew to tell him where was Olaf's church. But they + answered and said that there were many more churches + there than they might wot to what man they were + hallowed. But a little thereafter came a man to him + who asked whither he was bound and the cripple told + him. And sithence said that man: We twain shall fare + both to the church of Olaf for I know the way thither. + Therewith they fared over the bridge and went along + the street which led to Olaf's church. But when they + came to the lich gate then strode that one over the + threshold of the gate but the cripple rolled in over + it and straightway rose up a whole man. But when he + looked around him his fellow farer was vanished." + +I shall have to refer again to these Breton and Norse versions, +because of their retention of London Bridge as the locale of the +story, in common with all the versions which have been found in +Britain. In the meantime it is to be noted that the remaining +non-British variants are told of other bridges and other places. +Holland, Denmark, Italy, Cairo, have their representative +variants;[23] and it thus presents to the student of tradition an +excellent example for inquiry as to the value to history of legends +world-wide in their distribution attaching themselves to historical +localities. + +There are some obvious features about this group of traditions, which +at once lead to interesting questions. There is first the fact that +all the British variants of the treasure stories centre round London +Bridge; secondly, there is the extension beyond Britain to the Breton +variant and the Norse variant, both non-British legends, of which the +_locus_ is London Bridge. From these two facts it is clear that London +Bridge had some special influence at a period of its history which +dates before the separation of the Breton folk from their Celtic +brethren in Britain, for the Bretons would not after their separation +acquire a London Bridge tradition; and again at a period of its +history when Norse legend and saga were fashioning. In the one case +the myth-makers must have been Celts of the fourth century, and the +only bridge known to these Celts must have been that belonging to +Roman Lundinium; in the other case the myth-makers were Norsemen, and +the bridge known to them was the later bridge so frequently referred +to in the chronicle accounts of the Danish and Norse invasions of +England. + +It is not difficult, by a joint appeal to history and folklore, to +trace out from this very definite starting-point the events which +brought about this particular specialisation of the world-spread +treasure myths. + +Obviously the first point to note is that London Bridge loomed out +greatly in the minds and understanding of people at two distinct +periods of its history.[24] That the first period relates to its +building is suggested by the date supplied by the evidence of the +Breton version. The people who wondered at its building, or the +results of its building, were certainly not the builders themselves, +and we thus see a distinction in culture between the bridge builders +and the wonder builders. This condition is exactly provided for by the +building of the earliest London Bridge. It was a work of the Romans of +Lundinium,[25] and the people who stood in wonder at this great +enterprise were not the Roman engineers and builders, accustomed to +such undertakings all over the then known world, and they must +therefore have been the surrounding non-Roman people, who were the +Celtic tribesmen. Now the culture-antagonism between the Romans of +Lundinium and the Celts of Britain is, I believe, a factor of great +importance,[26] though almost universally neglected by our historians, +because they do not study the facts of early history on +anthropological lines. Not only is it discoverable, as I think, from +the facts of history, but the facts of tradition confirm the facts of +history at all points. Thus I think it is important, if we can, to +obtain independent testimony of the attitude of the surrounding people +to the builders of London Bridge. We can do this by reference to the +peasant beliefs concerning bridges, as, for instance, in Ireland, +where on passing over a bridge they invariably pulled off their hats +and prayed for the soul of the builder of the bridge,[27] and to the +fact that the Romans themselves looked upon bridge-building as a +sacred function, and would no doubt use this part of their work to the +fullest extent, in order to impress the barbarism opposed to them.[28] +The extent of this impression may probably be contained in the old and +widely spread nursery rhyme of "London Bridge is Broken Down," an +examination of which has led Mrs. Gomme to conclude that it contains +reference to an ancient belief that the building of the bridge was +accompanied by human sacrifice.[29] This conclusion is confirmed by +the preservation in Wales of a bridge-sacrifice tradition. It relates +to the "Devil's Bridge" near Beddgelert. "Many of the ignorant people +of the neighbourhood believe that this structure was formed by +supernatural agency. The devil proposed to the neighbouring +inhabitants that he would build them a bridge across the pass, on +condition that he should have the first who went over it for his +trouble. The bargain was made, and the bridge appeared in its place, +but the people cheated the devil by dragging a dog to the spot and +whipping him over the bridge."[30] This is a distinct trace of a +substituted animal sacrifice for an original human sacrifice. But this +is a practice which sends us back to the most primitive times, and in +particular we are referred to an exact parallel in India, where, on +the governing English determining to build a bridge of engineering +proportions and strength over the Hoogley River at Calcutta, the +native Hindu tribesmen immediately believed that the first requirement +would be a human sacrifice for the foundation.[31] The traditions +attaching to London Bridge are therefore identical with the current +beliefs concerning the Hoogley Bridge, and the culture-relationship of +the bridge-builders to the surrounding people in both cases is that of +an advanced civilisation to tribesmen. Now if these conditions of +modern India are repetitions of the conditions of ancient Britain in +the days of Lundinium, and of this there can be but little doubt, +there is no difficulty in understanding to what part of history these +traditions have led us. We are again in the days when London Bridge +was a marvel--a marvel which sent travelling through the Celtic homes +of Britain a new application of the treasure myth which they had +inherited from remote ancestors. The marvel lived on through the ages +when London was in the unique position of being an undestroyed city in +Saxon times, times which witnessed the destruction of all other +cities of Roman foundation,[32] and the sending forth of the Celtic +refugees to Brittany.[33] The accumulation during a long-continuing +period of conceptions of treasure being found by way of the bridge +leading to London, would become the direct force for keeping the +tradition alive; and while the facts of history show us the important +position of London during the period which witnessed the departure of +the Celtic Bretons to their continental home,[34] the facts of +tradition show us the Celtic tribesmen deeming it a way to wealth +through the magic potency of dreamland. The Celtic tribesmen stood +outside Roman Lundinium. Its life was not their life, and their +conversion of its position into a mythic treasure house or a mythic +road to treasure, and their association of it with the bloody rites of +the foundation sacrifice, are in strict accord with the historical +relationship of the tribal life of Celtic Britain to the city life of +Roman Lundinium. + +I may be permitted perhaps to emphasise this significant accordance of +history and tradition when working together. I have already alluded to +the fact that I have worked out the history of London independently, +and upon lines quite different from the present study. I have +therefore a wider grasp of the two currents of history and folklore in +this particular case than could in the ordinary way fall either to the +historian or to the folklorist. That I can find in both just the +complementary facts which help to realise the whole situation, to fill +in the gaps of history which nowhere directly tells of the +relationship of Roman Lundinium to the British Celts, to extend the +outlook of folklore which nowhere recognises that there was a great +Roman city of Lundinium which would dominate the minds of those not +trained to city life, is a fortunate circumstance which neither +historian nor folklorist is likely to repeat frequently, and I am +entitled, I think, to claim the utmost from it. I can at least claim +that it answers all the facts in a way that has not yet been +accomplished. Thus Sir John Rhys has discussed the treasure legend and +he can only account for it as part of the mythical trappings of Arthur +into which "London Bridge is introduced," because London Bridge +"formerly loomed very large in the popular imagination as one of the +chief wonders of London." Sir John Rhys refers for confirmation of +this to the "notion cherished as to London and London Bridge by the +country people of Wales even within my own memory," and then goes on +to say that "the fashion of selecting London Bridge as the opening +scene of a treasure legend had been set perhaps by a widely spread +English story," that of the Pedlar of Swaffham.[35] All this is very +unsatisfactory. Modern notions of this sort would not set the fashion +two centuries ago, nor extend it to Brittany. Nor is the suggestion in +accord with other evidence as to the extension of tradition. What has +happened is that the Arthur cycle has appropriated two London Bridge +traditions and has worked them up into the Arthur form, the traditions +themselves belonging to the far older period to which I have here +referred them--a period when the burial of treasure was a necessary +corollary to the events which were happening.[36] Buried treasure +legends are found all over the country. They belong to the period of +conquest and fighting. They are the evidence which tradition yields of +the unrest of the times which caused them to arise. They are the +fragments of history which tradition has preserved, while history has +coldly passed them by.[37] + +With this in the background as the _corpus_ of a legend-covered +London Bridge, we come to the second period. + +London Bridge to the Norsemen of the tenth and eleventh centuries was +a place of fierce fighting and struggle, a place of victory and death. +The saga takes pains to describe this wondrous bridge[38] before it +describes the great fight there and its capture by King Olaf, a fight +which produced a war-rhyme which, in Laing's version, begins with the +same words as the English nursery rhyme, "London Bridge is broken +down!"[39] and which Morris renders as a tribute to King Olaf, "thou +brakest down London Bridge." There is little wonder, then, that the +men of King Olaf took back with them to saga-land a great memory of +this bridge and this fight, transferred to it their own variant of the +world-wide treasure legend, and made a legend not of money treasure, +but of regained health to a crippled warrior. The corresponding +non-British version of Brittany helps us to understand that the cure +of disease was originally associated with the gains of treasure, and +in the Norse version the treasure incident is altogether dropped, but +in its place is the recovery of health, a treasure more in accord with +the sterner needs and recollections of a great fight. The Norse story +is helpful to us as showing how London Bridge could enter into the +legends of a people, and remain with them even after that people was +no longer living in Britain, and it becomes therefore a valuable +addition to the evidence for the more ancient transference from +Britain to Brittany of the original legend. + +Altogether the piecing together of the items of historical value in +this legend is most complete. We have not only recovered for history +hitherto lost conceptions of the place held by Roman Lundinium among +the Celtic tribesmen, but we have recovered also evidence of the true +culture-position of the Celtic tribesmen towards their Roman +conquerors. The examination of this legend may have been long and +tedious, but the result is, I think, commensurate. It illustrates the +power of tradition to set historical data in their proper environment, +to restore the proportion which they bear to unrecorded history, and +if the student will but follow the evidence carefully, I think he will +find these results. + +We will take a step forward, and turn from local to personal +attachments of tradition. There is a whole class of traditions +attached to personages about whose historical existence there can be +but little doubt, and just because of the accretion of tradition round +them their historical existence has oftentimes been denied. The most +famous example in our history is of course King Arthur, and so great +an authority as Sir John Rhys is obliged to resort to a special +argument to account for the problems he is faced with. He argues, and +argues strongly, for an historic Arthur--an Arthur who was the British +successor of the Roman emperor after Britain had ceased to be a part +of the Roman Empire.[40] But because of the myths which have grown +round him, he suggests that there must also have been "a Brythonic +divinity named Arthur," and we are thus introduced to a dual study of +history and myth which does not appear to me to take us very far, and +which, in fact, just separates history from myth, instead of showing +where they join hands. This dual conception of myth is indeed a rather +favourite resort of those scholars who cannot appreciate the evidence +that proves a character in a mythic tradition to be an actual +historical personage. It is the basis of the famous Sigfried-Arminius +controversy. It does duty in many less important cases,[41] and most +frequently in connection with northern mythology, where the line +between mythic and historical events gathering round a hero is +generally so finely drawn as to be almost imperceptible. But it is so +obviously a piece of special pleading on self-created lines that other +explanation is needed. And another explanation is to be obtained if +only students will rely upon the evidence of tradition itself instead +of appealing to every fancy derived from sources which have nothing to +do with tradition. + +The history of King Arthur has been the subject of inquiry too +frequently for it to be possible in these pages to discuss the dual +theory as it has been applied to him, but I will attempt to show that +it is quite unnecessary thus to explain the history of King Arthur by +turning to the history of another of our great heroic figures, one of +the greatest to my mind, who, like Arthur, has secured not only a fair +share of special tradition belonging to himself personally, but a +larger share than others of that corpus of tradition which has +descended from our earliest unknown ancestors, and become attached to +the historical hero of later times--I mean, Hereward, the last of the +Saxon defenders of his land against William the Norman.[42] The +analysis of the Hereward legend affords a good example of the process +by which tradition is preserved by historical fact, and in its turn +helps to unravel the real history which lies at the source. Instead, +therefore, of attempting to travel over the voluminous literature +which is the outcome of the King Arthur story, I will use for the same +purpose the shorter story of Hereward the Englishman. + +We start with the fact that Hereward is unknown to history until his +great stand in the Island of Ely against the might of William, the +conqueror of England. And yet to the banners of this "unknown" +chieftain there flocked the discontented heroism of England, men +ranking from the noble to the peasant, and including such great +figures as Morcar, Edwine, and Waltheof. I always think, too, that the +little band of Berkshire men, who started across the country to join +Hereward in the fens, and were intercepted and cut to pieces by a +Norman troop,[43] give us more than a passing glimpse at the +estimation in which Hereward was held by his countrymen. Such a man +commanding so much, in face of so much, could not have been the +unknown person which history makes him. + +How then can we ascertain why he was held in such estimation? History +being quite silent, tradition steps into the gap. It is the tradition +recorded in post-Herewardian times, be it noted. In this great body of +tradition, contained in a Latin MS. of the twelfth century, he +journeys to Scotland, where he slew a bear and saved the people whom +it had oppressed; from thence to Cornwall, where he fought and slew a +great champion, the lover of the princess; from thence to Ireland, +where he assisted the King in war, and back again to Cornwall to +rescue again the princess from a distasteful wooer, and, finally, to +Flanders. Even in the camp of the Norman, which he visits in +traditional fashion, he has an adventure with witches which takes us +to the worship of wells. Much of his adventure is but the application +of well-known traditional events,[44] and it is important to note that +the geography of the supposed travels belongs to the very home of +tradition, the unknown territories of the Celts, Ireland, Cornwall, +and Scotland. + +Now all this tradition is certainly not true of Hereward. But what it +does is to certify to his greatness in the eyes of his countrymen, to +show that his countrymen were anxious to explain why he was so great +in A.D. 1070, and why before that date he was unknown to them. This is +an important point to have gained. It shows the vacuum which was +occupied by tradition because contemporary, or nearly contemporary, +thought required it to be filled up. The popular mind abhors a vacuum +as much as the material world of nature does. It will fill it with its +own conceptions, if it cannot fill it with recognised facts. Hereward +must have been a famous man when he took his stand in the fens of Ely. +That his biographers explain his fame by the application of ancient +traditions is only saying that his countrymen reckoned his fame as of +the very highest; ordinary current events of the day would not suit +their ideas of the fitness of things. Hereward was as Alfred had been, +as Arthur had been, and so he must have his share of the national +tradition, even as these heroes had. To say less of him was to have +put him below the others. And history in this case could not help, for +it was in the hands of Hereward's enemies, and they were careful to +say nothing or very little of English heroes at this period. The great +battle of Hastings had been lost, but of all the English men who had +fought and died there we only know of three names beyond those of the +king and his house. Leofric the abbot of Peterborough, Godric the +sheriff of Berkshire, and Asgar the sheriff of London, have become +known by accident, as it were. All others are unnamed and unhonoured. +Therefore, when the great deeds of Hereward came to be chronicled, it +was not enough to say he was at Hastings; the deeds of old must be +chronicled of him as they had been chronicled of others. + +This accretion of popular tradition to account for the fame of +Hereward when he took command at Ely, though it proclaims in the +strongest terms that Hereward was famous in the eyes of his +countrymen, displaces history therefore. Putting the case in this +way, we may proceed to examine what recorded history exactly has to +say of Hereward, and then by noting what it has left unsaid, we may +perhaps be able to fill the gap by a reasonable deduction from the +facts. In Domesday there are clearly two Herewards, one having lands +in Lincolnshire in the time of King Edward and _not_ at the date of +the survey, the other having lands in Warwickshire in the time of King +Edward and _also_ at the date of the survey. Here we have two widely +different counties and two widely different conditions, and it is +right with all the evidence to conclude that they relate to different +personages. The Lincolnshire Hereward is the hero of the fens. He held +of the abbot of Peterborough, and Ulfcytil, who was appointed in 1062, +was the abbot in question. This brings us to only four years before +the battle of Hastings, and another entry in Domesday, thanks to the +scholarship of Mr. Round, proves that Hereward was deprived of his +Lincolnshire lands not before but after the great fights at Hastings +and in the fens. Therefore the story shapes itself somewhat in this +fashion. Hereward was in England in 1062. He was then a man of the +abbot of Peterborough; that is to say, a tenant bound to perform +military service to his lord. His lord, the abbot, was at Hastings +with his tenants, and fought there. That Hereward of all the abbot's +tenants should have followed his lord to Hastings is more than likely; +the strange thing would be that he should not have done so. That going +thither nameless among the many, he should gain experience under +Harold, though no fame has come to him through the historians from a +field where Saxon fame was buried; that his own genius should make +him use his experience when need arose; that among the English all +survivors from that field who were still unwilling to bow the knee to +William would be reckoned as heroes by their depressed countrymen; +that on this account alone he would be given rank above Morcar, who +had kept away from Hastings--are the conclusions to be drawn +legitimately from the silence as well as the actual records of +history, compared with the story told by tradition. History and +tradition are in accord, not in conflict; the gaps of history are +filled by tradition--that tradition which was suitable and worthy of +so great a hero, namely the ancient tradition told of all heroes. +Reopening these gaps and putting in its right place the tradition +which had hitherto prevented them from being seen, we are able to +appeal to history to yield up the true story of one of the greatest of +English heroes, a story which shows him to have been at Hastings by +the side of Harold, to have won fame there, to have continued the +fight for English liberty as leader of the English patriots, and to +have earned a place in the unsung English epic. + +But his place in English tradition helps us to understand the value +and position of tradition in such cases. The traditions clustering +round the name of Hereward do not compel us to interpret them as +Hereward facts. The historian, however, need not on this account fear +for Hereward. He should rather value the traditions as evidence of the +greatness of the English hero among the conquered English. They +applied to him the legends of their oldest heroes. All that was +delightful to them in tradition was attached to their present hero. +He was worthy of a place among their greatest. And thus the fact of +added tradition brings out the estimate of the worth of the hero to +those among whom he lived and for whom he fought. + +The traditions themselves belong to far other times, and the facts +contained in them must be interpreted from the oldest ideas of our +race. It is only by thus disengaging the traditions which have grown +round the historical person that the correct interpretation of the +position can be attempted, and when that is done we are left, not with +a mass of uncertain and misleading testimony about a national hero, +but with certain definite historical facts belonging to Hereward, and +certain traditions attached to Hereward, certifying to his great place +in the popular estimation, telling of facts which do not, it is true, +belong to Hereward, but which, in a special sense, belong to the +people who were reverencing Hereward. + +If I have made it clear from these examples that the explanation of +historic fact and mythic tradition in combination does not lead either +to the discrediting of history or to the creation of new mythic +realms, I need not dwell much longer on this class of illustrations of +the relationship between history and tradition. Over and over again, +in the local records, are examples to be found where history is in +close contact with tradition, and I am far more inclined to question +the evidence which proves the falseness of any authenticated tradition +than I am to trust all the statements which do duty for history. It is +not only the traditions looming largely in popular interest, but some +of the smallest local traditions which throw light on great +historical events. They may tell us not merely of the great historical +event, but of the peculiar relationship of parts of the kingdom to +that event, which no purely historical evidence could by any +possibility explain. One of the most striking examples is, perhaps, +the Sussex tradition of "Duke" William as a conqueror.[45] The title +Duke is here faithfully recorded of the great conqueror, who +everywhere else in England, both in historical documents and in the +popular language, is referred to as king. The explanation is, if the +identification of this tradition with the great Norman king is +correct, that Sussex being more or less separated from the rest of the +country by its great weald, carried its own tradition of the bloody +field at Hastings sufficiently long and uninterrupted for it to be +stamped upon the minds of the people in its original form, and thus to +remain. No better evidence could be found for the relationship of +Sussex to this great event. All the chapters in Mr. Freeman's great +history do not impress the imagination so strongly as this one fact, +that William the Conqueror has always been Duke William to the Sussex +folk. He was Duke William to the fen folk, too. They fought for their +belief and were compelled to accept his kingship. The Sussex folk +fought, too, and they handed down their conception of the great fight +to their children. + +A good example of a slightly different kind occurs in connection with +Kett's rebellion in Norfolk. It was associated with a prophecy that +said, "there shulde lande at Walborne hope the proudest prince of +Christendome, and so shall come to Moshold heethe, and there shuld +mete with other ij kinges, and shall fyght and shalbe put down: and +the whyte lyon shuld optayne" the mastery. And yet this prophecy goes +much further back, for the Danes are said to have landed at Weybourne +Hope in their invasions, and the old rhyme is still remembered in the +county:-- + + "He that would England win + Must at Weybourn Hope begin."[46] + +This is an example of the forcible revival of an ancient tradition to +suit a later fact, and is evidence of the enormous impression which +the event to which it refers had upon the locality. Kett's rebellion +was one thing to the nation at large and quite another thing to this +district of Norfolk, and the great events of the tenth century +preserved in legend were equated with the minor events of the +sixteenth century, thus enabling us to understand better the depth of +the local feeling which produced these events. + +[Illustration: PLAN OF THE SITE OF THE "HEAVEN WALLS" AT LITLINGTON, +ROYSTON, CAMBRIDGESHIRE] + +Both local and personal traditions are of interest in the unravelling +of the meaning of historical events, and the forces at the back of +them, and I will add a note of one or two examples of those humbler +traditions which confirm or enhance the value of the historical +record. They are of the greatest importance if correctly understood. +They include such examples, for instance, as Mr. Kemble notes when he +says, "I have more than once walked, ridden, or rowed, as land and +stream required, round the bounds of Anglo-Saxon estates, and have +learned with astonishment that the names recorded in my charter were +those still used by the woodcutter or the shepherd of the +neighbourhood."[47] This is remarkable testimony to the persistence of +tradition. It is the commencing point of a whole series of examples +which go to show that embedded in the memories of the people, and +supported by no other force but tradition, there are innumerable +traces of historic fact.[48] + +A stage forward, in the same class of tradition, are those examples of +special names which indicate an important or impressive event, the +real nature of which is only revealed by modern discovery. Thus +perhaps the "White Horse Stone" at Aylesford, in Kent, the legend of +which is that one who rode a beast of this description was killed on +or about this spot,[49] may take us back to the great battle at +Crayford, where Horsa was killed. Another kind of local tradition is +perhaps more instructive. Immediately contiguous to the north side of +the Roman road at Litlington, near Royston, were some strips of +unenclosed, but cultivated, land, which in ancient deeds from time +immemorial had been called "Heaven's Walls." Traditional awe attached +to this spot, and the village children were afraid to traverse it +after dark, when it was said to be frequented by supernatural beings. +Here is subject for inquiry. Both words in the name are significant. +Why the allusion to Heaven; why is a field called walls? The problem +was solved in 1821, for in that year some labourers were digging for +gravel on this spot, and they struck upon an old wall composed of +flint and Roman brick. This accidental discovery was followed up by +Dr. Webb, and the wall was found to enclose a rectangular space +measuring about thirty-eight yards by twenty-seven, and containing +numerous deposits of sepulchral urns containing ashes of the dead. It +was clear from the results of the excavations that here was one of +those large plots of ground environed by walls to which the name of +_ustrinum_ was given by the Romans,[50] a fact which was preserved in +the name long after the site had lost every trace of its origin. + +[Illustration: LITLINGTON FIELD] + +I will refer to one more local example. In Dorsetshire and Wiltshire +fairs are held upon sites which are often marked by the remains of +ancient works, or distinguished by some dim tradition of vanished +importance.[51] One has only to refer to the history of the market as +"a contribution to the early history of human intercourse" as Mr. +Grierson puts it,[52] and to the extremely important and archaic +constitution of the market, a glimpse of which has been afforded by +Sir Henry Maine, alone among scholars who have investigated earliest +English institutions, to know how valuable such a note as this must be +if it can be confirmed by extended research. Local investigation of +these places and their traditions would, no doubt, lead to many points +in the tribal settlement of the district, an important fact of history +nowhere found in history. + +No one, I think, taking into consideration this view of the +relationship of local and personal traditions to history will deny +that history is likely to gain much by the proper interpretation of +such traditions. Every yard of British territory has its historic +interest, and there are innumerable peaks above the general level +which should be worth much to national history. Every epoch of British +history has its great personage, who in popular opinion stands out +from among his fellows. When once it is understood that traditions +attaching to places and persons yield facts of a kind worth searching +for, there will arise the desire to obtain all that is now obtainable +from this source, and to add thereto the deductions to be drawn from +their geographical distribution. + + +II + +If the accretion of myth around the lives of great historic +personages, and the persistence of tradition in historic localities, +may be accepted as one phase of the necessary relationship of +tradition to history, we may proceed to inquire how far the unattached +traditions, the folk-tales pure and simple, contain or are based upon +historic details. These details will not tell us of any one historic +personage, or relate to any one historic locality, but will relate to +the peoples before personages and localities figured in their history, +and will explain facts in culture-history rather than in political +history. We shall be approaching the period before written history had +begun, and for which, so far as written history is concerned, we are +dependent upon foreign or outside authority. I think, perhaps, Dr. +Karl Pearson has put the case for this view in the best form. "As we +read fairy stories to our children," he says, + + "we may study history for ourselves. No longer + oppressed with the unreal and the _baroque_, we may + see primitive human customs and the life of primitive + man and woman cropping out at almost every sentence of + the nursery tale. Written history tells us little of + these things, they must be learnt, so to speak, from + the mouths of babes. But there they are in the + _Märchen_, as invaluable fossils for those who will + stoop to pick them up and study them. Back in the far + past we can build up the life of our ancestry--the + little kingdom, the queen or her daughter as king + maker, the simple life of the royal household, and the + humble candidate for the kingship, the priestess with + her control of the weather and her power over youth + and maid. In the dimmest distance we can see traces of + the earlier kindred group marriage, and in the near + foreground the beginnings of that fight with + patriarchal institutions which led the priestess to be + branded by the new Christian civilization as the + evil-working witch of the Middle Ages."[53] + +I should not have ventured to quote this long passage if my own +studies, before Dr. Pearson's book was published in 1897, had not led +me to much the same conclusions.[54] But Dr. Pearson assists me in a +special way. His methods are scientific. He is not a folklorist +because he loves folklore, but because he sees in it the materials +for elucidating the early life of man. He is not, so to speak, +prejudiced in its favour. He brings to his aid the practical mind of +the statistician and the psychologist, and his conclusions may not, +therefore, be put on one side as easily as those of myself and other +students of folklore. + +It is due to the folklorist, however, to say that this aspect of the +folk-tale had already been discovered by one of the greatest of the +earlier collectors of traditional lore, the late Mr. J. F. Campbell. +Thus, writing, in 1860, of his grand collection of "Highland Tales," +Mr. Campbell very truly says: "The tales represent the actual everyday +life of those who tell them, with great fidelity. They have done the +same, in all likelihood, time out of mind, and that which is not true +of the present is, in all probability, true of the past; and therefore +something may be learned of forgotten ways of life."[55] Readers of +Mr. Campbell's books well know how he has traced out from these +traditions from the nursery, identical customs with Highland everyday +life, and relics also of a long-forgotten past state of things; how he +points to the records of the stone age and the iron age in these +representatives of the scientific memoirs of the past; how very +significantly he answers his own supposition, that if these tales "are +dim recollections of savage times and savage people, then other magic +gear, the property of giants, fairies, and bogles, should resemble +things which are precious now amongst savage or half-civilized tribes, +or which really have been prized amongst the old inhabitants of these +islands or of other parts of the world."[56] + +This is an extremely important conclusion on the relationship of +history and tradition, and it will be well to illustrate it by turning +to some obvious details of primitive life, which are to be seen with +more or less clearness enshrined in the folk-tales which have been +preserved in our own country. + +In Kennedy's _Fireside Stories of Ireland_, it is related in one of +the tales that there was no window to the mud-wall cabin, and the door +was turned to the north;[57] and then, again, we have this picture +given to us in another story: on a common that had in the middle of it +a rock or great pile of stones overgrown with furze bushes, there was +a dwelling-house, and a cow-house, and a goat's-house, and a pigsty +all scooped out of the rock; and the cows were going into the byre, +and the goats into their house, but the pigs were grunting and bawling +before the door.[58] This takes us to the surroundings of the +cave-dwelling people. + +Then in other places we come across relics of ancient agricultural +life preserved in these stories. In the Irish story of "Hairy Rouchy" +the heroine is fastened by her wicked sisters in a pound,[59] an +incident not mentioned in the parallel Highland tale related by +Campbell.[60] Many Irish stories contain details of primitive life +that the Scottish variants do not contain. The field that was partly +cultivated with corn and partly pasture for the cow,[61] the grassy +ridge upon which the princess sat, and the furrows wherein her two +brothers were lying,[62] are instances. + +A great question arises here. If the Scotch story does not mention +the primitive incident mentioned in the Irish story, does it mean that +the Irish story has retained for a longer time the details of its +primitive original? Or does it mean that it has absorbed more of +surrounding Irish life into it than the Scotch story has of +surrounding Scottish life? + +These details must have a place in the elucidation of Irish +folk-tales, because they have a very distinct place indeed in +primitive institutions; and it hence becomes a question to folklorists +as to how they have entered into, or escaped from, the narrative of +traditional story. It appears to me that the appearance or +non-appearance of these phases of early life are typical of what has +been going on with the plot and structure of folk-tales as long as +they have remained the traditional treasures of the people. A story +identical in all the main outlines of plot will be varied in matters +of detail, according to the people who are using it in their daily +routine of story-telling. But this variation is always from the +primitive to the cultured, from the simple to the complex. The +mud-cabin or cave-dwelling in Irish story would have developed into +the palace in stories of a richer country like England; the old woman, +young girl, master and servant, would become perhaps the queen, +princess, king and vassal; just as in Spanish and Portuguese stories +the giant of other European tales is represented by "the Moor." If +this process of change is a factor in the life of the folk-tale, it +follows that those folk-tales which contain the greatest number of +primitive details are the most ancient, and come to us more directly +from the prehistoric times which they represent. + +We may gather warrant for such a conclusion if we pass from small +details to a distinct institution. The institution which stands out +most clearly in early history is the tribe, and I will therefore turn +to an element of ancient tribal life, and an element which has to do +with the practical organisation of that life, namely, the tribal +assembly. We find that the folk-tale records under its fairy or +non-historic guise many important recollections of the assembly of the +tribe. One very natural feature of this assembly in early times was +its custom of meeting in the open air--a custom which in later times +still obtained, for reasons which were the outcome of the prejudices +existing in favour of keeping up old customs. These reasons are +recorded in the formula of Anglo-Saxon times, that meetings should not +be held in any building, lest magic might have power over the members +of the assembly.[63] + +Before turning to the tales of our own country, I will first see +whether savage and barbaric tales have recorded anything on the +subject, for their picture of the tribal assembly, when revealed in +the folk-tale, belongs to the period which might have witnessed the +making of the story, and which certainly witnessed the tribal +organisation of the people as a living institution. Dr. Callaway, in +his _Nursery Tales and Traditions of the Zulus_, relates a story of +"the Girl-King." "Where there are many young women," says the story, +"they assemble on the river where they live, and appoint a chief over +the young women, that no young woman may assume to act for herself. +Well, then they assemble and ask each other, 'Which among the damsels +is fit to be chief and reign well?' They make many inquiries; one +after another is nominated and rejected, until at length they agree +together to appoint one, saying, 'Yes, so and so shall reign.'"[64] +However far this may be actually separated from the political assembly +of the Zulus, there is no doubt we have here a folk-tale adaptation of +events which were happening around the relators of the tale. This is +all I am anxious to state, indeed. What in the folk-tale was related +of the girl-king, was a reflex only of what happened when the +political chieftain himself was concerned. + +This, perhaps, is still better illustrated if we turn to India. In the +story of "How the Three Clever Men outwitted the Demons," told by Miss +Frere in her _Old Deccan Days_, it is related how "a demon was +compelled to bring treasure to the pundit's house, and on being asked +why he had been so long away, answered, 'All my fellow-demons detained +me, and would hardly let me go, they were so angry at my bringing you +so much treasury; and though I told them how great and powerful you +are, they would not believe me, but will, as soon as I return, judge +me in solemn council for serving you.' 'Where is your council held?' +asked the pundit. 'Oh! very far, far away,' answered the demon, 'in +the depths of the jungle, where our rajah daily holds his court.' The +three men, the pundit, the wrestler, and the pearl-shooter, are taken +by the demon to witness the trial.... They reached the great jungle +where the durbar (council) was to be held, and there he (the demon) +placed them on the top of a high tree just over the demon rajah's +throne. In a few minutes they heard a rustling noise, and thousands +and thousands of demons filled the place, covering the ground as far +as the eye could reach, and thronging chiefly round the rajah's +throne."[65] + +A classical story told by Ælian gives us another interesting example +of this feature of early political life. It is said of the Lady +Rhodopis, who was alike fair and frail, that of all the beautiful +women in Egypt, she was by far the most beautiful; and the story goes +that one time when she was bathing, Fortune, which always was a lover +of whatever may be the most unlikely and unexpected, bestowed upon her +rank and dignity that were alone suitable for her transcendent charms; +and this was the way what I am now going to tell came to pass. +Rhodopis, before taking a bath, had given her robes in charge to her +attendants; but at the same time there was an eagle flying over the +bath, and it darted down and flew away with one of her slippers. The +eagle flew away, and away, and away, until it got to the city of +Memphis, where the Prince Psammetichus was sitting in the open air, +and administering justice to those subject to his sway; and as the +eagle flew over him it let the slipper fall from its beak, and it fell +down into the lap of Psammetichus. The prince looked at the slipper, +and the more he looked at it, the more he marvelled at the beauty of +the material and the dainty minuteness of its size; and then he +cogitated upon the wondrous way in which such a thing was conveyed to +him through the air by a bird; and then it was he sent forth a +proclamation to all parts of Egypt to try to discover the woman to +whom the slipper belonged, and solemnly promised that whoever she +might be he would make her his bride.[66] + +A very beautiful legend, which has been preserved by the Rev. W. S. +Lach-Szyrma,[67] carries into its fairy narrative more of the +realities of tribal life. Mr. Lach-Szyrma obtained it from a peasant's +chap-book, but it professes to be an ancient Slovac folk-tale:-- + +"An orphan girl is left with a cruel stepmother, who has a daughter +who is bad-tempered and disagreeable, and extremely jealous of her. +She becomes the Cinderella of the house, is ill-treated and beaten, +but submits patiently. At last the harsh stepmother is urged by her +daughter to get rid of her. It is winter, in the month of January; the +snow has fallen, and the ground is frozen. The cruel stepmother in +this dreadful weather bids the poor girl to go out in the forest, and +not to come back till she brings some violets with her. After many +entreaties for mercy the orphan is driven out, and goes out in the +snow on the hopeless errand. As she enters the forest she sees a +little way on in the deep glade, under the leafless trees, a large +fire burning. As she draws near she perceives around the fire are +twelve stones, and on the stones sit twelve men. The chief of them, +sitting on the largest stone, is an old man with a long snowy beard, +and a great staff in his hand. As she comes up to the fire the old man +asks her what she wants. She respectfully replies by telling them, +with many tears, her sad story. The old man comforts her. 'I am +January; I cannot give you any violets, but brother March can.' So he +turns to a fine young man near him and says, 'Brother March, sit in my +place.' Presently the air around grows softer. The snows around the +fire melt. The green grass appears, the flower-buds are to be seen. At +the orphan girl's feet a bed of violets appear. She stoops and plucks +a beautiful bouquet, which she brings home to her astounded +stepmother." + +[Illustration: STONE MONUMENTS AS MEMORIALS (KASYA)] + +[Illustration: STONE SEATS AT A KASYA VILLAGE +(2 FEET TO 6 FEET IN DIAMETER)] + +How clearly this is a representation of the tribal assembly worked +into the folk-tale, where January and the months are the tribal +chiefs, may be illustrated by a comparison with the actual events of +Indian tribal life. Within the stockaded village of Supar-Punji, in +Bengal, are two or three hundred monuments, large and small, all +formed of circular, solid stone slabs, supported by upright stones, +set on end, which enclose the space below. On these the villagers sit +on occasions of state, each on his own stool, large or small, +according to his rank in the commonwealth.[68] + +Now evidence such as this, showing how the folk-tale among primitive +people gets framed according to the social conditions within which it +originates, will help us to realise the peculiar value of similar +features which may be found in the folk-tales of our own country. +English tales are nearly destitute of such illustrations of primitive +tribal life as this. Some of the giant stories of Cornwall, such as +that relating to the loose, uncut stones in the district of Lanyon +Quoit, on whose tors "they do say the giants sit,"[69] may refer to +the tribal assembly place, but it is shorn of all its necessary +details, and we do not get many examples even in this shortened form. + +Curiously enough, too, we find but little mention in the Scotch tales +of the open-air gatherings of the tribe. The following quotation may +refer to the custom perhaps, but it is not conclusive: "On the day +when O'Donull came out to hold right and justice...." (there were +twelve men with him).[70] Another story is more exact. Mr. Campbell +took it down from a fisherman in Barra (ii. 137). The hero-child +Conall tends the sheep of a widow with whom he lodged. "To feed these +sheep he broke down the dykes which guarded the neighbours' fields. +The neighbours made complaint to the king, and asked for justice. The +king gave foolish judgment, whereat his neck was turned awry, and the +judgment-seat kicked. Conall gave a correct decision and released the +king. He did this a second time, and the people said he must have +king's blood in him." This allusion to the kicking of the +judgment-seat is a very instructive illustration of tribal +chieftainship and comes within that branch of the subject with which +we are now dealing. + +But when we pass from Britain to Ireland, there is at once a great +storehouse of examples to be given. In Dr. Joyce's _Old Celtic +Romances_ there are some remarkable passages, which give us a good +picture of the assemblies of primitive times. These passages, it +should be noted, occur quite incidentally during the course of the +story--they belong to the same era as the fairy-legend, the giant, and +the witch, and taken as types of what was going on everywhere in +prehistoric times, they tell us much that is very valuable. + +[Illustration: VIEW IN THE KASYA HILLS SHOWING STONE MEMORIALS] + +A great fair-meeting was held by the King of Ireland, Nuada of the +Silver Hand, on the Hill of Usna. Not long had the people been +assembled, when they beheld a stately band of warriors, all mounted on +white steeds, coming towards them from the east, and at their head +rode a young champion, tall and comely. "This young warrior was Luga +of the Long Arms.... This troop came forward to where the King of Erin +sat surrounded by the Dedannans, and both parties exchanged friendly +greetings. A short time after this they saw another company +approaching, quite unlike the first, for they were grim and +surly-looking; namely, the tax-gatherers of the Fomorians, to the +number of nine nines, who were coming to demand their yearly tribute +from the men of Erin. When they reached the place where the king sat, +the entire assembly--the king himself among the rest--rose up before +them." Here, without following the story further, the assembling in +arms, the payment of the tributes at the council-hill, the sitting of +the king and his assembly, are all significant elements of the +primitive assembly. In a later part of the same story we have "the +Great Plain of the Assembly" mentioned (p. 48). Another graphic +picture is given a little later on, when the warrior Luga, above +mentioned, demands justice upon the slayers of his father, at the +great council on Tara hill. Luga asked the king that the chain of +silence should be shaken; and when it was shaken, when all were +listening in silence, he stood up and made his plea, which ended in +the eric-fine being imposed upon the three children of Turenn, the +accomplishment of which forms the basis of the fairy-tale which +follows (p. 54). Then, in another place in the same tale, when the +brothers are on their adventurous journey, fulfilling their eric-fine, +they come to the house of the King of Sigar; and it "happened that the +king was holding a fair-meeting on the broad, level green before the +palace." + +In another story the hero Maildun asks the island queen how she passes +her life, and the reply is, "The good king who formerly ruled over +this island was my husband. He died after a long reign, and as he left +no son, I now reign, the sole ruler of the island. And every day I go +to the Great Plain, to administer justice and to decide causes among +my people." + +The beginning of another story is--"Once upon a time, a noble, warlike +king ruled over Lochlann, whose name was Colga of the Hard Weapons. On +a certain occasion, this king held a meeting of his chief people, on +the broad, green plain before his palace of Berva. And when they were +all gathered together, he spoke to them in a loud, clear voice, from +where he sat high on his throne; and he asked them whether they found +any fault with the manner in which he ruled them, and whether they +knew of anything deserving of blame in him as their sovereign lord and +king. They replied, as if with the voice of one man, that they found +no fault of any kind." + +The last example is also a valuable one. A dispute has occurred +respecting the enchanted horse, the Gilla Dacker, and "a meeting was +called on the green to hear the award." Speeches are made and the +awards are given.[71] + +I think it will be admitted that the folk-tales of Britain refer back +in such cases to the organisation of the tribe in early times, and the +only possible conclusion to be drawn from this fact is that they too +belong to early times and that they have brought with them to modern +days these valuable fragments of history which are hardly to be +discovered in any other historical document. + +We have thus shown that the folk-tale contains many fragmentary +details of ancient social conditions, and further that it contains +more than mere details in the larger place it assigns to important +features of tribal institutions. It now remains to see whether apart +from incident the very structure and heart of the folk-tale is founded +upon conceptions of life. I will take as an example the well-known +story of Catskin. This story contains one remarkable feature running +through many of the variants, and a second which is found in +practically all of them. Both these features are perfectly impossible +to modern creative fancy, and I venture to think we shall find their +true origin in the actual facts of primitive life, not in the wondrous +flight of primitive fancy. + +The opening incidents of "Catskin" are thus related:-- + +"A certain king, having lost his wife, and mourned for her even more +than other men do, suddenly determines, by way of relieving his +sorrows, to marry his own daughter. The princess obtains a suspension +of this odious purpose by requiring from him three beautiful dresses, +which take a long time to prepare. These dresses are a robe of the +colour of the sky, a robe of the colour of the moon, a third robe of +the colour of the sun, the latter being embroidered with the rubies +and diamonds of his crown. The three dresses being made and presented +to her, the princess is checkmated, and accordingly asks for something +even more valuable in its way. The king has an ass that produces gold +coins in profusion every day of his life. This ass the princess asked +might be sacrificed, in order that she might have his skin. This +desire even was granted. The princess, thus defeated altogether, puts +on the ass's skin, rubs her face over with soot, and runs away. She +takes a situation with a farmer's wife to tend the sheep and turkeys +of the farm." + +The remainder of the story much resembles Cinderella's famous +adventures, and I need not repeat it here. The pith of the story turns +upon the fact that a father purposes to marry his own daughter, or, in +some versions, his daughter-in-law; and the daughter, naturally, as we +say, objecting to this arrangement, runs away, and hence her many +adventures. This famous story, told by English nurses to English +children, long before literature stepped across the sacred precincts +of the nursery, is also told in Ireland and Scotland. It is also +current in France, Italy, Germany, Russia, Lithuania, and many other +nations; and throughout all these versions, differing, of course, in +some matters of detail, the selfsame incident is observable--the +father wishing to marry his own daughter, and the daughter running +away.[72] This incident, therefore, must be older than the several +nations who have preserved it from their common home, where the tale +was originally told with a special value that is now lost. It must +then belong to primitive man, and not to civilised man, and must be +judged by the standard of morals belonging to primitive man. It is not +sufficient, or, indeed, in any way to the point, to say that the idea +of marrying one's own daughter is horrible and detestable to modern +ideas; we must place ourselves in a position to judge of such a state +of affairs from an altogether different standpoint. And what do we +find in primitive society? We find that women were the property, not +the helpmates, of their husbands. And the question hence arises, in +what relation did the children stand in respect to their parents? The +answer comes from almost all parts of the primitive world that, in +certain stages of society, the children were related to their mother +only. It is worth while pausing one moment to give evidence upon the +fact. Thus McLennan says of the Australians, "it is not in quarrels +uncommon to find children of the same father arrayed against one +another, or indeed, against their father himself; for by their +peculiar law _the father can never be a relative of his +children_."[73] This is not the language, though it is the evidence, +of the latest research, and another phase of it is represented by the +custom, as among the Ahts of Vancouver Island, that in case of +separation while the children are young, the children go always with +the mother to their own tribe.[74] + +Here we see that the relationship between father and daughter was in +no way considered in ancient society of the type to which Australians +and Ahts belonged, and it is now one of the accepted facts of +anthropology that at certain stages of savage life fatherhood was not +recognised. That this non-relationship of the father very often +resulted in the further stage of the father marrying his daughter, is +exemplified by many examples. The story of Lot and his daughters, for +instance, will at once occur to the reader, and upon this Mr. Fenton +has some observations, to which I may refer the student who wishes to +pursue this curious subject further,[75] while Mr. Frazer, in his +recent study of Adonis, has discussed the practice with his usual +extent of knowledge.[76] Again, it should be remembered that in our +own chronicle histories Vortigern is said to have married his own +daughter, though the legend and the supposed consequences of the +marriage have been twisted from their original primitive surroundings +by the monkish chroniclers, through whom we obtain the story.[77] +Turning next to the daughter-in-law, supposing that the difference +between "daughter" and "daughter-in-law" (query stepdaughter) in the +story variants is a vital difference, and not an accidental +difference, there is curious and important evidence from India. The +following custom prevails among certain classes of Sudras, +particularly the Vella-lahs in Koimbator: "A father marries a grown-up +girl eighteen or twenty years old to his son, a boy of seven or eight, +after which he publicly lives with his daughter-in-law, until the +youth attains his majority, when his wife is made over to him, +generally with half a dozen children. These children are taught to +address him as their father. In several cases this woman becomes the +common wife of the father and son. She pays every respect due to her +wedded husband, and takes great care of him from the time of her +marriage. The son, in his turn, hastens to celebrate the marriage of +his acquired son, with the usual pomps, ceremonies, and tumasha, and +keeps the bride for himself as his father had done."[78] But even +further than this, ancient Hindu law allowed the father, who had no +prospect of having legitimate sons, to "appoint" or nominate a +daughter who should bear a son to himself, and not to her own +husband.[79] Sir Henry Maine gives the formula for this remarkable +appointment, and then goes on to say that some customs akin to the +Hindu usage of appointing a daughter appear to have been very widely +diffused over the ancient world, and traces of them are found far down +in history.[80] + +What we have before us, therefore, to guide us in the view we take of +the story incident of a father marrying his own daughter, may be +summarised as follows:-- + +1. The father is not related to his daughter, and hence examples occur +of fathers marrying daughters. + +2. The custom of marrying a daughter-in-law. + +3. The custom of nominating a daughter to bear a son. + +From any one of these facts of primitive life we arrive at the central +incident in the story of Catskin: the father could marry his daughter +without specially shocking the society of the primitive world, simply +because, according to primitive ideas, father and daughter, as we call +her, were not related. + +We now arrive at the second incident--the running away of Catskin. +This again is a very early form of marriage custom. Women of primitive +times often objected to the forced marriages, and they expressed their +objection very often by running away. In the instance of Catskin the +running away was successful, as we all know; but in most instances the +unwilling bride was captured and forced to surrender. Mr. Farrer, in +his _Primitive Manners and Customs_, quite clears the ground for the +refutation of an argument that might be applied if we did not know the +customs of primitive society. It might be asked, why did Catskin run +away if the custom was a usual one? For the same reason, we answer, +that the women of savage society often do run away--objection to the +marriage.[81] + +Thus we have to note that the two principal features of our ordinary +Catskin story are explainable by a reference to primitive manners and +customs; and it seems to me much easier and much more reasonable to +thus explain the origin of the Catskin story, than first of all to +create a "lovely myth," as the mythologists would undoubtedly have a +right to call it, of the Sun pursuing the Dawn, and then to say that +the Catskin story is simply a relation of this myth. + +The opening incident of the Catskin story, as thus interpreted, is not +an isolated case of the survival of primitive marriage customs in +popular stories. If it were so, there would be considerable difficulty +in the way of supporting this interpretation. But it is only saying of +Catskin what can be said of other stories. "There are traces," says +Mr. Campbell, speaking of his Highland stories, "of foreign or +forgotten laws and customs. A man buys a wife as he would a cow, and +acquires a right to shoot her, which is acknowledged as good law."[82] +Yes, this is good savage law and custom there is no doubt, and Lord +Avebury and Mr. McLennan have illustrated it by examples. But in the +Highland story of the "Battle of the Birds" the wife is sought to be +purchased for a hundred pounds (Campbell, i. 36), and in the Irish +story of the "Lazy Beauty and her Aunts" we find something like +bride-capture and purchase as well.[83] So, again, if we turn to India +the same kind of evidence is forthcoming of another part of the +primitive ceremony. "Do not think," retorted the Malee in a story +collected by Miss Frere, "that I'll make a fool of myself because I'm +only a Malee, and believe what you've got to say because you're a +great Rajah. If you mean what you say, if you care for my daughter and +wish to be married to her, come and be married; but I'll have none of +your new-fangled forms and court ceremonies hard to be understood; let +the girl be married by her father's hearth, and under her father's +roof."[84] And in another story of the "Chundun Rajah" we have "the +scattering rice and flowers upon their heads;"[85] the significance of +both of which customs are fully known. + +These illustrations of the contact, the necessary contact, of +tradition and history show that contact to be equally true of the +folk-tale as it is of the local or personal legend. They all point to +the substratum of fact underlying tradition, to the absorption by +tradition of many features of the life by which it is surrounded, or +to the absorption by some great historic person or event of the living +tradition of his time or place. This contact is a fact equally +important to history and to folklore. It cannot be neglected by +either. It stands for something in the analysis which every student +must give of the material with which he is working, and that something +has a value, sometimes great and sometimes small, which must influence +the estimate of the material which both history and folklore supply in +the unravelling of man's past. + +I will now finally give a more complicated example of the folk-tale as +illustrative of the connection between history and tradition. Mr. +J. F. Campbell printed a tale in the second volume of the +_Transactions of the Ethnological Society_ (p. 336), which had been +sent to him in Gaelic by John Davan, in December, 1862--that is, after +the publication of the fourth volume of his _Highland Tales_. The tale +is only in outline, but in quite sufficient fulness for my present +purpose, as follows:-- + +There was a man at some time or other who was well off, and had many +children. When the family grew up the man gave a well-stocked farm to +each of his children. When the man was old his wife died, and he +divided all that he had amongst his children, and lived with them, +turn about, in their houses. The sons and daughters got tired of him +and ungrateful, and tried to get rid of him when he came to stay with +them. At last an old friend found him sitting tearful by the wayside, +and learning the cause of his distress, took him home; there he gave +him a bowl of gold and a lesson which the old man learned and acted. +When all the ungrateful sons and daughters had gone to a preaching, +the old man went to a green knoll where his grandchildren were at +play, and pretending to hide, he turned up a flat hearthstone in an +old stance,[86] and went out of sight. He spread out his gold on a big +stone in the sunlight, and he muttered, "Ye are mouldy, ye are hoary, +ye will be better for the sun." The grandchildren came sneaking over +the knoll, and when they had seen and heard all that they were +intended to see and hear, they came running up with, "Grandfather, +what have you got there?" "That which concerns you not; touch it +not," said the grandfather; and he swept his gold into a bag and took +it home to his old friend. The grandchildren told what they had seen, +and henceforth the children strove who should be kindest to the old +grandfather. Still acting on the counsel of his sagacious old chum, he +got a stout little black chest made, and carried it always with him. +When any one questioned him as to its contents, his answer was, "That +will be known when the chest is opened." When he died he was buried +with great honour and ceremony, and then the chest was opened by the +expectant heirs. In it were found broken potsherds and bits of slate, +and a long-handled, white wooden mallet with this legend on its +head:-- + + "So am favioche fiorum, + Thabhavit gnoc annsa cheann, + Do n'fhear nach gleidh maoin da' fein, + Ach bheir a chuid go leir d'a chlann." + + "Here is the fair mall + To give a knock on the skull + To the man who keeps no gear for himself, + But gives all to his bairns." + +Wright, in his collection of Latin stories, published by the Percy +Society in 1842 (pp. 28-29), gives a variant of this tale under the +title of "De divite qui dedit omnia filio suo," and, so far as can be +judged by the abstract, the parallel between the two narratives, +separated by at least five centuries of time, is remarkably close. The +latter part is apparently different, for the Latin version tells how +the man pretended that the chest contained a sum of money, part of +which was to be applied for the good of his soul, and the rest to +dispose of as he pleased. But at the point of death his children +opened the chest. "Antequam totaliter expiraret, ad cistam currentes +nihil invenerunt nisi malleum, in quo Anglicè scriptum est:-- + + "'Wyht suylc a betel be he smyten, + That al the werld hyt mote wyten, + That gyfht his sone al his thing, + And goht hym self a beggyn.'" + +Here, then, is a case whereby to test the problem of the position of +folk-tales as historical material. Did the people adopt this tale from +literature into tradition and keep it alive for five centuries; or did +some early and unconscious folklorist adapt it into literature? The +literary version has the flavour of its priestly influence, which does +not appear in the traditional version; and I make the preliminary +observation that if literature could have so stamped itself upon the +memory of the folk as to have preserved all the essentials of such a +story as this, it must have been due to some academic influence (of +which, however, there is no evidence), and this influence would have +preserved a nearer likeness to literary forms than the peasant's tale +presents to us. But the objection to this theory is best shown by an +analysis of the tale, and by some research into the possible sources +of its origin. + +The story presents us with the following essential incidents:-- + +1. The gift of a well-stocked farm by a father to each of his +children. + +2. The surrender of all property during the owner's lifetime. + +3. The living of the old father with each of his children. + +4. The attempted killing of the old man. + +5. The mallet bearing the inscription. + +6. The rhyming formula of the inscription. + +Mr. Campbell notes the first and third of these incidents in his +original abstract of the story,[87] but of the remaining second, +fourth, fifth, and sixth no note has hitherto been taken. + +Of the first incident, the gift of a well-stocked farm by a father to +each of his children, Mr. Campbell says: "This subdivision of land by +tenants is the dress and declaration put on by a class who now tell +this tale." But it also represents an ancient system of swarming off +from the parent household when society was in a tribal stage. The +incident of the tale is exactly reproduced in local custom. In the +island of Skye the possessor of a few acres of land cut them up only a +few years ago into shreds and patches to afford a separate dwelling +for each son and daughter who married.[88] In Kinross, in 1797, the +same practice prevailed. "Among the feuars the parents are in many +instances disposed to relinquish and give up to their children their +landed possessions or the principal part of them, retaining only for +themselves some paltry pendicle or patch of ground."[89] In Ireland +and in Cornwall much the same evidence is forthcoming, and elsewhere I +have taken some pains to show that these local customs are the +isolated survivals in late times of early tribal practices.[90] + +We next turn to the second essential incident of the tale--the +surrender of the estate during the owner's lifetime. This is a +well-marked feature of early custom, and Du Chaillu has preserved +something like the survival of the ritual observances connected with +it in his account of the Scandinavian practice. On a visit to Husum he +witnessed the ceremonial which attended the immemorial custom of the +farm coming into possession of the eldest son, the father still being +alive. The following is Mr. Du Chaillu's description, and the details +are important: "The dinner being ready, all the members of the family +came in and seated themselves around the board, the father taking, as +is customary, the head of the table. All at once, Roar, who was not +seated, came to his father and said, 'Father, you are getting old; let +me take your place.' 'Oh, no, my son,' was the answer, 'I am not too +old to work; it is not yet time: wait awhile.' Then, with an +entreating look, Roar said, 'Oh, father, all your children and myself +are often sorry to see you look so tired when the day's labour is +over: the work of the farm is too much for you; it is time for you to +rest and do nothing. Rest in your old age. Oh, let me take your place +at the head of the table.' All the faces were now extremely sober, and +tears were seen in many eyes. 'Not yet, my son.' 'Oh, yes, father.' +Then said the whole family, 'Now it is time for you to rest.' He rose, +and Roar took his place, and was then the master. His father, +henceforth, would have nothing to do, was to live in a comfortable +house, and to receive yearly a stipulated amount of grain or flour, +potatoes, milk, cheese, butter, meat, etc."[91] Without stopping to +analyse this singular ceremony in detail, it is important to note that +old age is the assigned cause of resignation by the father of his +estate; that the ceremony is evidently based upon traditional forms, +the meaning of which is not distinctly comprehended by the present +performers; that the father is supported by his successor. As a proof +that we have here a survival of very ancient practice, it may be +noticed that in Spiti, a part of the Punjab, an exact parallel occurs. +There the father retires from the headship of the family when his +eldest son is of full age, and has taken unto himself a wife; on each +estate there is a kind of dower-house with a plot of land attached, to +which the father in these cases retires.[92] In Bavaria and in +Würtemberg the same custom obtains,[93] and the sagas of the North +also confirm it as an ancient custom.[94] + +Of the third incident in the tale, the living of the father with his +children, Mr. Campbell says this points to the old Highland cluster of +houses and to the farm worked by several families in common,[95] and I +think we have here the explanation why the father in Scotland did not +have his "dower-house," as he did in Scandinavia and in Spiti. + +We next come to the fourth incident, the attempted killing of the old +father. Now, from some of the earliest accounts of travels in Britain, +we know that the death of the aged by violence was a signal element of +the native customs. "They die only when they have lived long enough; +for when the aged men have made good cheere and anoynted their bodies +with sweet ointments they leape off a certain rocke into the sea." +That we have in this episode of the story, remains of customs which +once existed in the North, Mr. Elton affords proof, both from +saga-history and from the practice of later times, when "the Swedes +and Pomeranians killed their old people in the way which was indicated +by the passage quoted above."[96] It is the custom of many savage +tribes, and the observances made use of are sometimes suggestive of +the facts of the tale we are now analysing. Thus, among the Todas of +the Nilgiri Hills, they place the old people in large earthen jars +with some food, and leave them to perish;[97] while among the +Hottentots, Kolben says, "when persons become unable to perform the +least office for themselves they are then placed in a solitary hut at +a considerable distance, with a small stock of provisions within their +reach, where they are left to die of hunger, or be devoured by the +wild beasts."[98] + +The important bearing of these incidents of barbarous and savage life +upon our subject will be seen when we pass on to our fifth incident, +namely, the significant use of the mallet. Some curious explanations +have been given of this. Mr. Thorns once thought it might be +identified with Malleus, the name of the Devil.[99] Nork has attempted +with more reason to identify it with the hammer of Thor.[100] But the +real identification is closer than this. Thus, it is connected with +the Valhalla practices, already noted, by the fact that if an old +Norseman becomes too frail to travel to the cliff, in order to throw +himself over, his kinsman would save him the disgrace of dying "like a +cow in the straw," and would beat him to death with the family +club.[101] Mr. Elton, who quotes this passage, adds in a note that one +of the family clubs is still preserved at a farm in East +Gothland.[102] Aubrey has preserved an old English "countrie story" of +"the holy mawle, which (they fancy) hung behind the church dore, +which, when the father was seaventie, the sonne might fetch to knock +his father in the head, as effœte, & of no more use."[103] That +Aubrey preserved a true tradition is proved by what we learn of +similar practices elsewhere. Thus, in fifteenth-century MSS. of prose +romances found in English and also in Welsh, Sir Perceval, in his +adventures in quest of the Holy Grail, being at one time ill at ease, +congratulates himself that he is not like those men of Wales, where +sons pull their fathers out of bed and kill them to save the disgrace +of their dying in bed.[104] Keysler cites several instances of this +savage custom in Prussia, and a Count Schulenberg rescued an old man +who was being beaten to death by his sons at a place called +Jammerholz, or "Woful Wood;" while a Countess of Nansfield, in the +fourteenth century, is said to have saved the life of an old man on +the Lüneberg Heath under similar circumstances. + +Our investigation of barbarous and savage customs, which connect +themselves with the essential incidents of this Highland tale, has at +this point taken us outside the framework of the story. The old father +in the tale was not killed by the mallet, but he is said to have used +it as a warning to others to stop the practice of giving up their +property during lifetime. We have already seen that this practice was +an actual custom in early times, appearing in local survivals both in +England and Scotland. Therefore the story must have arisen at a time +when this practice was undergoing a change. We must note, too, that +the whole story leads up to the finding of a mallet with the rhyming +inscription written thereon, connecting it with the instrument of +death to the aged, but only on certain conditions. If, then, we can +find that the rhyming inscription on the mallet has an existence quite +apart from the story, and if we can find that mallets bearing such an +inscription do actually exist, we may fairly conclude that the story, +which, in Scotland, is the vehicle of transmission of the rhyme, is of +later origin than the rhyme itself. + +First of all, it is to be noted under this head that Wright, in a note +to the Latin story we have already quoted, gives from John of +Bromyard's _Summa Predicantium_ another English version of the verse-- + + "Wit this betel the smieth + And alle the worle thit wite + That thevt the ungunde alle thing, + And goht him selve a beggyng," + +which shows, I think, the popularity of the verse in the vernacular. +Clearly, then, the Latin version is a translation of this, and not +_vice versâ_. It must have been a rhyming formula in the vernacular, +which had a life of its own quite outside its adoption into +literature. + +This inferential proof of the actual life of the English rhyming +formula is confirmed by actual facts in the case of the corresponding +German formula. Nork, in the volume I have already quoted, collects +evidence from Grimm, Haupt, and others, which proves that sometimes in +front of a house, as at Osnabrück, and sometimes at the city gate, as +in several of the cities of Silesia and Saxony, there hangs a mallet +with this inscription:-- + + "Wer den kindern gibt das Brod + Und selber dabei leidet Noth + Den schlagt mit dieser keule todt"-- + +which Mr. Thoms has Englished thus:-- + + "Who to his children gives his bread + And thereby himself suffers need, + With this mallet strike him dead."[105] + +These rhymes are the same as those in the Scottish tale and its Latin +analogue, and that they are preserved on the selfsame instrument which +is mentioned in the story as bearing the inscription is proof enough, +I think, that the mallets and their rhyming formulæ are far older than +the story. They are not mythical, the story is; their history is +contained in the facts we have above detailed; the life of the +folk-tale commences when the use or formula of the mallet ceases to be +part of the social institutions. + +To the rhyming formulæ, then, I would trace the rise of the mythic +tale told by the Highland peasant in 1862 to Mr. J. F. Campbell. The +old customs which we have detailed as the true origin of the mallet, +and its hideous use in killing the aged and infirm, had died out, but +the symbol of them remained. To explain the symbol a myth was created, +which kept sufficiently near to the original idea as to retain +evidence of its close connection with the descent of property; and +thus was launched the dateless, impersonal, unlocalised story which +Mr. Campbell has given as a specimen of vagrant traditions, which +"must have been invented after agriculture and fixed habitations, +after laws of property and inheritance; but it may be as old as the +lake-dwellings of Switzerland, or Egyptian civilisation, or Adam, +whose sons tilled the earth."[106] I would venture to rewrite the last +clause of this dictum of the great master of folk-tales, and I would +suggest that the story, whatever its age as a story, tells us of facts +in the life of its earliest narrators which do not belong to Teutonic +or Celtic history. The Teuton and the Celt, with their traditional +reverence for parental authority, at once patriarchal and priestly, +would retain, with singular clearness, the memory of traditions, or it +may be observations, of an altogether different set of ideas which +belonged to the race with which they first came into contact. But +whether the story is a mythic interpretation by Celts of pre-Celtic +practices, or a pre-Celtic tradition, varied as soon as it became the +property of the Celt to suit Celtic ideas, it clearly takes us back to +practices very remote, to use Mr. Elton's forcible words, from the +reverence for the parents' authority which might have perhaps been +expected from descendants of "the Aryan household."[107] These +practices lead us back to a period of savagery, of which we have to +speak in terms of race distinction if we would get at its root.[108] +The importance of such a conclusion cannot be overrated, for it leads +directly to the issue which must be raised whenever an investigation +of tradition leaves us with materials, which are promptly rejected as +fragments of Celtic history because they are too savage, but which +need not therefore be rejected as history, because they may be +referred further back than Celtic history. + +If we proceed by more drastic methods, by the methods of statistics, +we shall arrive at much the same conclusion.[109] Taking the first +twelve stories in Grimm's great collection, we find that seven of them +yield elements which we are entitled to call savage, because they are +so far removed from the European culture amidst which the folk-tales +have lived, and because these elements belong not to the accidentals +of the stories but to the essentials. Thus, if we divide the folk-tale +into its components, we shall find that it consists of three +features:-- + +1. The story radicals, or essential plot; + +2. The story accidentals, or illustrative points; + +3. Modern gloss upon the events in the story-- + +and if we go on to allocate the various incidents of the stories to +these three heads, we get the following common results with regard to +seven out of the twelve first stories of Grimm's great collection:-- + +I.--FROG PRINCE + +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + | Story | Story | Added | Modern + | radicals | accidentals | features | gloss +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + |Youngest | | | + | daughter | | | + |Fountain or | | | + | well the | | | + | locality of | | | + | leading | | | + | incident | | | + |Frog | | | +1. Savage | prince=totem| | | + elements |Frog prince | -- | -- | -- + | stays at the| | | + | house of his| | | + | future wife | | | + |Exogamous | | | + | marriage, | | | + | the prince | | | + | coming from | | | + | a foreign | | | + | country | | | +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + | | |Faithful | +2. Fantastic | | | servant | + element | -- | -- | whose heart | -- + | | | is bound by | + | | | iron bands | +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + | | | |Kingly state + | | | | and its + | | | | trappings-- + | | | | the princess + | | | | wears a + | | | | crown on +3. Rank and | -- | -- | -- | ordinary + splendour | | | | occasions, + | | | | and yet + | | | | opens the + | | | | door to a + | | | | visitor + | | | | while at + | | | | dinner +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + +III.--OUR LADY'S CHILD + +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + | Story | Story | Added | Modern + | radicals | accidentals | features | gloss +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + | |Naked forest | | + | | woman | | +1. Savage | | captured | | + elements | -- | for wife | -- | -- + | |Suspicion that| | + | | she is a | | + | | cannibal | | +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + | | | |Virgin Mary + | | | | and heaven +3. Rank and | | | | the central + splendour | -- | -- | -- | features + | | | | of the + | | | | heroine's + | | | | adventures +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- +4. Moral |Punishment | | | +characteristics| for | -- | -- | -- + | curiosity | | | +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + +IV.--THE YOUTH WHO WANTS TO LEARN TO SHUDDER + +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + | Story | Story | Added | Modern + | radicals | accidentals | features | gloss +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + |Winning of | | | + | wife by | | | + | service | | | + |Succession to | | | +1. Savage | kingship | | | + elements | through | -- | -- | -- + | wife--female| | | + | kinship | | | + |Treasure | | | + | guarded by | | | + | spirits | | | +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + | |The adventures| | +2. Fantastic | -- | in the | -- | -- + element | | haunted | | + | | castle | | +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + | | | | +3. Rank and | -- | -- | -- |Kingly state + splendour | | | | +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + | | | | +4. Moral |Bravery | -- | -- | -- +characteristics| | | | +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + +V.--THE WOLF AND SEVEN LITTLE KIDS + +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + | Story | Story | Added | Modern + | radicals | accidentals | features | gloss +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + |Talking |Criticism upon| | + | animals | men as | | + |Cutting open | compared | | + | of the | with | | +1. Savage | animal to | animals, | -- | -- + elements | free the | 'truly men | | + | swallowed | are like | | + | kids, and | that' | | + | refilling | | | + | the stomach | | | + | with stones | | | +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + +VI.--FAITHFUL JOHN + +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + | Story | Story | Added | Modern + | radicals | accidentals | features | gloss +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + |Capture of | | | + | bride | | | + |Talking of | | | + | animals | | | + |Three taboos--| | | + | Horse | | | + | Garment | | | +1. Savage | Sucking of | -- | -- | -- + elements | breasts | | | + |Sacrifice of | | | + | children and| | | + | sprinkling | | | + | their blood | | | + | on a stone | | | + |Human origin | | | + | stone pillar| | | +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + | | | |Kingly state +3. Rank and | | | | and great + splendour | -- | -- | -- | wealth in + | | | | gold and + | | | | riches +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + | | | | +4. Moral | -- |Punishment for| -- | -- +characteristics| | curiosity | | +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + +IX.--THE TWELVE BROTHERS + +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + | Story | Story | Added | Modern + | radicals | accidentals | features | gloss +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + |Going [causing| | | + | to go] away | | | + | of sons, so | | | + | that the | | | + | inheritance | | | + | should fall | | | +1. Savage | to the | Forest life | | + elements | daughter | | -- | -- + |Change of | | | + | brothers | | | + | into ravens | | | + |Life dependent| | | + | on an | | | + | outside | | | + | object | | | +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + | | | | +3. Rank and | -- | -- | -- |Kingly state + splendour | | | | +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + | | | | +4. Moral | -- | -- | -- | -- +characteristics| | | | +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + +XI.--BROTHER AND SISTER + +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + | Story | Story | Added | Modern + | radicals | accidentals | features | gloss +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + |Transformation| | | + | of hero into| | | +1. Savage | roebuck | -- | -- | -- + elements | after | | | + | drinking at | | | + | stream | | | +---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+-------------- + +There are thus savage elements in seven out of twelve stories, and +the question becomes an important one as to how this is. They are the +stories of the nursery, told by mothers to children, stories kept +alive by tradition, and the only possible answer to our question is +that they contain fragments of the early culture-history of the +ancestors, or at all events the predecessors, of those who have +preserved them for our use. An occasional savage incident might have +been considered a freak of the original narrator, or a borrowing by +one of the countless late narrators of these stories brought home from +savage countries; but statistics disprove both of these suppositions. +It is not accidental but persistent savagery we meet with in the +folk-tale. It is also the savagery to be found amongst modern peoples +still in the savage stage of culture. + +This is proved in a very complete manner by Mr. MacCulloch, whose +study provides the material for a statistical survey of story +incidents founded on primitive custom and belief.[110] They are the +most ancient history to which we have access. That this history is +contained in the folk-tales of modern peasantry shows it to have come +from that far-off period which saw the earliest condition of these +people. It is still history, if it tells us of a life which preceded +the written record. It is history of the most valuable description, +for it is to be found nowhere else as relating to the remotest period +of European civilisation. The modern savage is better off in this +respect. He has an outside historian in the traveller and the +anthropologist of modern days. The savage who was ancestor to our own +people had no such means of becoming known to history, or had but very +limited means, and it is only in the deathless tradition that we can +trace him out. + +These conclusions have been drawn from that great class of tradition +preserved by historic peoples in historic times, and yet unmistakably +pointing to prehistoric culture. We have been able to show the methods +to be adopted for, and the results of, disengaging the myth which has +gravitated to the historic person or place from the historic facts +which have become part of the legend, and to trace out in the +folk-tale facts which belong to a culture far removed from civilised +life. There are thus revealed two distinct centres of influence, the +traditional centre and the historic centre, and it is obvious that the +question must be asked--which is the more important? It seems to me +equally obvious that the answer must be given in favour of the +historic. History is indebted to tradition for preserving some of the +most remote facts of racial or national life, which but for tradition +would have been lost, and if we are content to use this tradition as a +storehouse from which we may provide ourselves with ancient historical +documents, we can trace out therefrom points in the history of any +given country wherever the traditions have been preserved. + +The folk-tale, in point of fact, equally with the personal and local +legend, comes into close contact with history. The periods of history +in the folk-tales are different from those in the legends, but +together these periods reach from prehistoric culture to historic +event. We cannot, however, call this extent of time a continuous +period, and we cannot point to definite stages within the detached +periods. Much more research must be accomplished before it will be +possible to claim such results as these. I have indicated some points +of difficulty, some methods of treatment which appear to me to be +wrong, and to which I shall have again to refer later on; but in the +meantime, from the necessarily incomplete evidence which I have been +able to produce, it is, I think, abundantly clear that folklore has to +be studied from its historical surroundings if we would draw from it +all that it is capable of telling. + + +III + +In the meantime it is well to bear in mind that there is one important +department of history which has always been frankly and unhesitatingly +accepted as history and yet which has no stronger foundation than +tradition, and tradition of the most formal kind. I allude to the +early laws of most of the peoples who have become possessed of an +historic civilisation. These laws have all been preserved by +tradition, are in rhyme or rhythm in order to assist the memory, have +become the sacred repository of a school or class of priests, and have +finally been reduced to writing by a great lawgiver, who by the act of +giving the people written laws has had attributed to him supernatural +origin and powers. That history should have accepted from tradition +such an important section of its material is worth consideration by +itself, apart from its bearing on the present study, and I shall +proceed, therefore, to set out some of the chief facts in this +connection. + +There can be no doubt that in the tribal society of Indo-European +peoples the laws and rules which governed the various members of the +tribe were deemed to be sacred and were preserved by tradition. The +opening clauses of the celebrated Laws of Manu illustrate this position. +"The great sages approached Manu, who was seated with a collected mind, +and having worshipped him spoke as follows: Deign, divine one, to +declare to us precisely and in due order the sacred laws of each of the +four chief castes and of the intermediate ones. For thou, O Lord, alone +knowest the purport, the rites, and the knowledge of the soul taught in +this whole ordinance of the self-existent which is unknowable and +unfathomable."[111] They were not only sacred in origin but they dealt +with sacred things, and Sir Henry Maine has drawn the broad conclusion +that "there is no system of recorded law, literally from China to Peru, +which, when it first emerges into notice, is not seen to be entangled +with religious ritual and observance."[112] In Greece the lawgivers were +supposed to be divinely inspired, Minôs from Jupiter, Lykurgos from the +Delphic god, Zaleukos from Pallas.[113] The earliest notions of law are +connected with Themis the Goddess of Justice.[114] In Rome it is to +Romulus himself that is attributed the first positive law, and it is by +a college of priests that the laws were preserved.[115] In Scandinavia +the laws were in the custody and charge of the temple priests, and the +accumulated evidence for the sacred origin and connection of the laws is +to be found in the sagas.[116] Among the Celtic peoples it is well known +that the laws were preserved and administered by the Brehons, who are +compared with the Hindu Brahmins by Sir Henry Maine, "with many of their +characteristics altered, and indeed, their whole sacerdotal authority +abstracted by the influence of Christianity."[117] In the Isle of Man +the laws were deemed sacred and known only to the Deemsters.[118] + +In all cases laws were preserved by tradition and not by writing and +evidence, and the superior value attached to the traditional record +appears everywhere. The oldest record of Hindu law agrees with the +best authority that it was not founded on writing but "upon immemorial +customs which existed prior to and independent of Brahminism."[119] In +Greece the very nature of the _themistes_ shows that they were +judgments dependent upon traditional custom. In Rome it is the subject +of definite research that the "greater part of Roman law was founded +on the _mores majorum_."[120] In Scandinavia the law speaker was +obliged to recite the whole law within the period to which the tenure +of his office was limited.[121] The Celtic laws are based upon customs +handed down from remote antiquity,[122] and late down in English law +it was admitted as a principle that if oral declarations came into +conflict with written instruments the former had the more binding +authority.[123] + +One of the means by which this sacred tradition was preserved was +through the medium of rhythm and verse. Thus, as Sir Henry Maine +explains, + + "The law book of Manu is in verse, and verse is one of + the expedients for lessening the burden which the + memory has to bear when writing is unknown or very + little used. But there is another expedient which + serves the same object. This is Aphorism or Proverb. + Even now in our own country much of popular wisdom is + preserved either in old rhymes or in old proverbs, and + it is well ascertained that during the middle ages + much of law, and not a little of medicine, was + preserved among professions, not necessarily clerkly, + by these two agencies."[124] + +In Greece the same word, νόμος, was used for custom and law +as for song. The ῥήτρα (declared law) of Sparta and Taras +was in verse; the laws of Charondas were sung as σκόλια at +Athens,[125] and Strabo refers to the Mazacenes of Cappadocia as using +the laws of Charondas and appointing some person to be their +law-singer (νομωδός), who is among them the declarer of the +laws.[126] + +Sir Francis Palgrave, noticing the same characteristic of Teutonic +law, says:-- + + "It cannot be ascertained that any of the Teutonic + nations reduced their customs into writing, until the + influence of increasing civilisation rendered it + expedient to depart from their primeval usages; but an + aid to the recollection was often afforded as amongst + the Britons, by poetry or by the condensation of the + maxim or principle in proverbial or antithetical + sentences like the Cymric triads. The marked + alliteration of the Anglo-Saxon laws is to be referred + to the same cause, and in the Frisic laws several + passages are evidently written in verse. From hence, + also, may originate those quaint and pithy rhymes in + which the doctrines of the law of the old time are not + unfrequently recorded."[127] + +Again, the editors of the Brehon Law Tracts point out that early laws +are handed down "in a rhythmical form; always in language condensed +and antiquated they assume the character of abrupt and sententious +proverbs. Collections of such sayings are found scattered throughout +the Brehon Law Tracts."[128] The sagas contain many verses which +partake of the character of legal formulæ, and in Beowulf there seems +to be a definite example. It occurs in the passage describing Beowulf +engaged in his fatal combat with the fiery dragon, when his +"companions," stricken with terror, deserted him, on which Wiglaf +pronounced the following malediction:-- + + "Now shall the service of treasure, + and the gifts of swords, + all joy of paternal inheritance, + all support + of all your kin depart; + every one of your family + must go about + deprived of his rights + of citizenship; + when far and wide + the nobles shall learn + your flight, + your dishonourable deed. + Death is better + to every warrior + than disgraced life." + +Mr. Kemble remarks on this passage, that it is not improbable that the +whole denunciation is a judicial formula, such as we know early +existed, and in regular rhythmical measure.[129] + +These early examples may be followed up by others preserved to modern +times. The most significant of these occurs in the Church ceremony of +marriage, which preserves in the vernacular the ancient rhythmical +formula of the marriage laws, and the antiquity of the Church ritual +is proved from the fact that it is accompanied and enforced by the old +rhythmical verse, which is indicative of early legal or ceremonious +usage. + + "With this rynge I the wed + And this gold and silver I the geve, + and with my body I the worshipe, + and with all my worldely cathel I the endowe."[130] + +Sir Francis Palgrave has noticed the subject, and points out that the +wife is taken + + "to have and to hold[131] + from this day forward + for better, for worse, + for richer, for poorer,[132] + in sickness and in health, + to love and to cherish, + till death us do part + and thereto I plight thee my troth." + +These words are inserted in our service according to the ancient canon +of England, and even when the Latin mass was sung by the tonsured +priest, the promises which accompany the delivery of the symbolical +pledge of union were repeated by the blushing bride in a more +intelligible tongue.[133] This is a curious and significant fact, and +as we trace out these rhythmical lines farther back in their original +vernacular, the more clearly distinct is their archaic nature. +According to the usage of Salisbury the bride answered:-- + + "I take thee, John, + to be my wedded husband, + to have and to hold + fro' this day forward + for better, for worse, + for richer, for poorer, + in sycknesse, in hele, + to be bonere and buxom [obedient] + in bedde and at borde + till death do us part + and thereto I plight thee my trothe."[134] + +The Welsh manual in the library of the Dean and Chapter of Hereford +has a slight variation in the form, and an older spelling:-- + + "Ich N. take thee N. + to my weddid wyf, + for fayroure for foulore, + for ricchere for porer, + for betere for wers, + in sicknesse and in helthe, + forte deth us departe, + and only to the holde + and tharto ich plygtte my treuthe."[135] + +To this may be added the many local examples of the preservation of +laws or legal formulæ by means of their form in verse. The most +interesting of these, perhaps, is that by which the Kentishman +redeemed his land from the lord by repeating, as it was said, in the +language of his ancestors:-- + + "Nighon sithe yeld + And nighon sithe geld, + And vif pund for the were, + Ere he become healdere." + +The first verse, + + "Dog draw + Stable stand + Back berend + And bloody hand" + +justified the verderer in his punishment of the offender. In King +Athelstane's grant to the good men of Beverley, and inscribed beneath +his effigy in the Minster, + + "Als fre + Mak I the + As heart may think + Or eigh may see," + +we have perhaps the ancient form of manumission or +enfranchisement,[136] just as we have the surrender by a freeman who +gave up his liberty by putting himself under the protection of a +master, and becoming his man, still preserved among children, when one +of them takes hold of the foretop of another and says:-- + + "Tappie, tappie, tousie, will ye be my man?"[137] + +All over the country we meet with these rhyming or rhythmical formulæ +which have legal significance. In the north the chief of the +Macdonalds gave grants in the following form:-- + + "I, Donald, chief of the Macdonalds, give here, in my + castle, a right to Mackay, to Kilmahumag, from this + day till to-morrow and so on for ever." + + "Mise Donull nau Donull, + Am shuidh air Dun Donuill, + Toirt còir do Mhac-aigh air Kilmahumaig, + O'n diugh gus a màireach + 'S gu la bhràth mar sin."[138] + +At Scarborough there is an old proverbial saying as to "Scarborough +Warning," which has had various accounts given of its origin,[139] but +the true explanation of which is that it is the fragment of an ancient +legal formula of the kind we are investigating. Abraham De la Pryme +describes it in his seventeenth-century diary as follows:-- + + "Scarburg Warning is a proverb in many places of the + north, signifying any sudden warning given upon any + account. Some think it arose from the sudden comeing + of an enemy against the castle there, and haveing + dischargd a broad side, then commands them to + surrender. Others think that the proverb had it's + original from other things, but all varys. However, + this is the true origin thereof. + + "The town is a corporation town, and tho' it is very + poor now to what it was formerly, yet it has a ... who + is commonly some poor man, they haveing no rich ones + amongst them. About two days before Michilmass day the + sayd ... being arrayed in his gown of state he mounts + upon horseback, and has his attendants with him, and + the macebear[er] carrying the mace before him, with + two fidlers and a base viol. Thus marching in state + (as bigg as the lord mare of London) all along the + shore side, they make many halts, and the cryer crys + thus with a strange sort of a singing voyce, high and + low:-- + + "'Whay! Whay! Whay! + Pay your gavelage, ha! + Between this and Michaelmas Day, + Or you'll be fined I, say!' + + "Then the fiddlers begins to dance, and caper and + plays, fit to make one burst with laughter that sees + and hears them. Then they go on again and crys as + before, with the greatest majesty and gravity + immaginable, none of this comical crew being seen so + much as to smile all the time, when as spectators are + almost bursten with laughing. This is the true origin + of the proverb, for this custome of gavelage is a + certain tribute that every house pays to the ... when + he is pleased to call for it, and he gives not above + one day warning, and may call for it when he + pleases."[140] + +Rhyming tenures have been frequently noted but never understood. They +occur in many parts of the country. The tithingman of Combe Keynes, in +Dorsetshire, is obliged to do suit at Winforth Court, and after +repeating the following incoherent lines, pays threepence and goes +away without saying another word:-- + + "With my white rod + And I am a fourth post + That three pence makes three + God bless the King, and the lord of the franchise + Our weights and our measures are lawful and true + Good morrow Mr. Steward I have no more to say to you."[141] + +It is hardly necessary to quote more examples. They are not unknown to +the historian, but because they are in rhyme they have been hastily +assumed to be spurious or even burlesque.[142] But the evidence of a +rhyming formula is the opposite to this. It is evidence of their +genuineness, and if some of the words appear to be nonsensical it is +due to the fact that the sense of the old formula has been +misunderstood, and has then become gradually altered. + +All these rhyming tenures, indeed, find their place among the +traditional examples of legal formulæ. They are the local offshoots +preserved because of their legal significance, preserved by those +interested from their legal side. Because they are not preserved in +the formal codes they need not be neglected, and they must not be +misunderstood. They are not to be put on one side by the historian as +freaks of local landowners. They are real descendants by traditional +lines from the times when laws were not written, but kept alive in the +memory by means of such assistance as rhyme could supply, and from the +tribesmen who thus treasured the law they obeyed.[143] + +That this branch of recorded law is not only early but tribal is +undoubted, but perhaps it will be well to refer to tribal rhyming +formulæ of an independent kind in order to show by parallel evidence +the tribal characteristics. In 1884 Mr. Posnett drew attention to this +important subject, and noted that + + "Dr. Brown, in an attempt to sketch the origin of + poetry--an attempt which attracted the attention of + Bishop Percy in his remarks introductory to the + _Reliques_--proposed more than one hundred years ago + to discover the source of the combined dance, song, + melody, and mimetic action of primitive compositions + in the common festivals of clan life. The student of + comparative literature will probably regard Dr. + Brown's theory as a curious anticipation of the + historical method in a study which, in spite of M. + Taine's efforts, has made so little progress as yet. + The clan ethic of inherited guilt and vicarious + punishment has attracted considerable attention. But + the clan poetry of the ancient Arabs and of the + bard-clans, surviving in the Hebrew sons of Asaph or + the Greek Homeridæ, has not received that light from + comparative inquiry which the closely connected + problems of primitive music and metre would alone + amply deserve."[144] + +Not much has been done since this was penned. Max Müller had +previously, in 1847, declared that the Rig Veda consisted of the clan +songs of the Hindu people,[145] but the importance of such a +conclusion has been entirely neglected. In the meantime evidence is +accumulating that in Britain there are still preserved many examples +of clan songs. Thus Lord Archibald Campbell has published, in the +first volume of his _Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition_, some +sixteen or seventeen sagas. Some of these are clan-traditions; and the +editor notes as evidence of their antiquity the fact that none of them +makes any mention of firearms. These clan-traditions all relate to +feuds and vendettas; and in one case it is expressly recorded that the +descendants of one of the foes of the clan, in their account of the +incident narrated, "altered this tradition and reversed the main +facts." This has been followed by a volume definitely devoted to +"clan-traditions,"[146] while in the _Carmina Gadelica_ and many of +the Highland incantations there are preserved specimens of ancient +clan songs. + +The most interesting of the tribal songs is that preserved at the +Hawick Common riding. The burgh officers form the van of a pageant +which insensibly carries us back to ancient times, and in some verses +sung on the occasion there is a refrain which has been known for ages +as the slogan of Hawick. It is "Teribus ye teri Odin," which is +probably a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon, "Tyr habbe us, ye Tyr ye +Odin"--May Tyr uphold us, both Tyr and Odin. + +Fortunately Dr. Murray has investigated this formula, and I will quote +what he says:-- + + "A relic of North Anglian heathendom seems to be + preserved in a phrase which forms the local slogan of + the town of Hawick, and which, as the name of a + peculiar local air, and the refrain, or 'owerword' of + associated ballads, has been connected with the + history of the town back to 'fable-shaded eras.' + Different words have been sung to the tune from time + to time, and none of those now extant can lay claim to + any antiquity; but associated with all, and yet + identified with none, the refrain '_Tyr-ibus ye Tyr ye + Odin_,' Tyr hæb us, ye Tyr ye Odin! Tyr keep us, both + Tyr and Odin! (by which name the tune also is known) + appears to have come down, scarcely mutilated, from + the time when it was the burthen of the song of the + gleó-mann or scald, or the invocation of a heathen + Angle warrior, before the northern Hercules and the + blood-red lord of battles had yielded to the 'pale + god' of the Christians." + +[Illustration: THE AULD CA-KNOWE: CALLING THE BURGESS ROLL] + +[Illustration: HAWICK MOAT AT SUNRISE] + +And in a note Dr. Murray adds:-- + + "The ballad now connected with the air of 'Tyribus' + commemorates the laurels gained by the Hawick youth at + and after the disastrous battle, when, in the words of + the writer, + + "'Our sires roused by "Tyr ye Odin," + Marched and joined their king at Flodden.' + + Annually since that event the 'Common-Riding' has + been held, on which occasion a flag or 'colour' + captured from a party of the English has been with + great ceremony borne by mounted riders round the + bounds of the common land, granted after Flodden to + the burgh; part of the ceremony consisting in a mock + capture of the 'colour' and hot pursuit by a large + party of horsemen accoutred for the occasion. At the + conclusion 'Tyribus' is sung, with all the honours, by + the actors in the ceremony, from the roof of the + oldest house in the burgh, the general population + filling the street below, and joining in the song with + immense enthusiasm. The influence of modern ideas is + gradually doing away with much of the parade and + renown of the Common-Riding. But 'Tyr-ibus ye Tyr ye + Odin' retains all its local power to fire the lieges, + and the accredited method of arousing the burghers to + any political or civil struggle is still to send round + the drums and fifes, 'to play Tyribus' through the + town, a summons analogous to that of the Fiery Cross + in olden times. Apart from the words of the slogan, + the air itself bears in its wild fire all the tokens + of a remote origin."[147] + +We could not get better evidence than this of the survival of tribal +custom, custom that is distinctly connected with tribes rather than +with places or individuals, with groups of people who, now bound +together by local considerations and influences, have only recently +passed away from the far more ancient influences of the tribe. Alike +in the forms of historical codes and in traditional local remains, we +have found evidence of the use of rhyme for the preservation of +unwritten rules and forms; and this use restores to tradition an +important branch of its material. + +We have thus ascertained that there is direct and acknowledged +indebtedness of history to tradition. Its extent covers a wide area of +culture progress, and of unbroken continuity from tribal to historic +times. The legal codes of the barbaric tribes of Western Europe are +the direct successors of the traditional originals; and because these +legal codes, equally with their unwritten predecessors, cannot be +dispensed with by the historian, they find their place unquestioned +among genuine historical material. They are no more, and no less, +historical than other traditional material. They are part of the life +of the people rescued from prehistoric days, and they tell us of these +days by the same sanction and the same methods as the rest of the +traditional material which has been so strangely and so persistently +neglected by the historian. The whole of tradition, and not selected +parts of it, must be brought into use if we would follow scientific +method, and I claim this for the study of folklore on the strength of +the results which have now been brought together. + +[Illustration: ONE OF FIVE STONE CIRCLES IN THE FIELDS OPPOSITE THE +GLEBE OF NYMPHSFIELD] + +[Illustration: CARN-AN-CHLUITHE +TO COMMEMORATE THE DEFEAT AND DEATH OF THE YOUTHS OF THE DANANNS] + +[Illustration: THE CAIRN OF BALLYMAGIBBON NEAR THE ROAD PASSING FROM +CONG TO CROSS] + + +IV + +Here, however, we are close up to an important point of controversy. +The mythologists claim tradition as theirs. It does not, they assert, +give us the history but the mythology of our race. It tells us not of +the men but of the gods. In explaining how this comes about, however, +they have fallen into errors which it is not only necessary to correct +but which are fundamental in their effects. We shall be better able +later on to discuss the extremely important question of the +position of the prehistoric tradition amidst historic life and +surroundings, if we try to understand what the mythologists have done +and not done in their attempts to claim exclusive property in the +folk-tale. They have entirely denied or ignored all history contained +in the folk-tale, and they have proceeded upon the assumption, the +bald assumption not accompanied by any kind of proof, that the +folk-tale contains nothing but the remnants of a once prevalent system +of mythology. They ignore all the proofs brought forward by +folklorists to the contrary, such proofs, for instance, as Mr. +Knowles, Sir Richard Temple and others have produced concerning the +Hindu folk-tale. What is not true of the Hindu folk-tale cannot be +true of its Celtic or Teutonic or Scandinavian parallel, and yet in +the most recent study of Celtic tradition, Mr. Squire takes its mythic +origin for granted, and works through his ingenious statement without +let or hindrance from other points of view. But even his +thorough-going methods compel him to stop short at certain points, and +to admit that he has come across historic fact. Thus he agrees that +the Fir-Bolgs "were not really gods but the pre-Aryan race which the +Gaels, when they landed in Ireland, found already in occupation,"[148] +and yet when he treats of the fight of the Fir-Bolgs with the Tuatha +dé Danann, and is confronted with Sir William Wilde's proofs that the +monuments on the plain of Moytura are in agreement with the traditions +concerning them, and point to the account of the battle being +historical,[149] all that Mr. Squire can admit is that "certainly the +coincidences are curious." He disposes of them on the ground that the +"people of the goddess Danu are too obviously mythical to make it +worth while to seek any standing ground for them in the world of +reality." That standing ground might be found connected with the +Tuatha dé Danann in many places, but Mr. Squire will have it that it +is impossible, because "it was about this period that the mythology of +Ireland was being rewoven into spurious history."[150] It is not, +however, upon the mistakes of other inquirers[151] that the +mythologists may rest a good claim for their own view. The _Historia +Britonum_ of Geoffrey of Monmouth disposes of neither the myths nor +the history of the Celts. It shows myth in its secondary position, in +the handling of those who would make it all history, just as now there +are scholars who would make it all myth. In front of the legends +attaching to persons and places is the history of these persons and +places. Behind these legends lies the domain of the unattached and +primitive folk-tale, Mr. Campbell's _Highland Tales_, Kennedy's +_Fireside Stories of Ireland_, and those English tales which have been +rescued by Mr. Clodd and others. This makes it impossible to see in +the hero-legends naught else than the intangible realm of Celtic gods +and goddesses. + +Equally impossible is it to create for them a home in a system of +"state religion," and yet a state religion is a necessary part of the +evidence for mythological origins.[152] There was no Celtic state. +Emphatically this was so. Everything we know about the Celts of +Britain, both before and after the Roman conquest, both in Britain, +where the Roman power was upheld for four centuries, and in Ireland, +where the Roman power never penetrated, the Celts were possessed of a +tribal, not a state polity; lived in tribal strongholds, not in Celtic +cities; occupied tribal territories, not countries formed into states; +elected tribal chiefs in primitive fashion, and not kings with state +ceremonial; and when they come under the dominion of an incipient +state policy after the conquest of the English and the Northmen, their +laws are promulgated and codified, and show that both Welsh and Irish +codes are tribal, not state law. + +Not only do I fail to discover a state religion of the Celts, but I do +not find it among the Teutons. There is greater evidence of +discrepancies than of agreement in all the European religions, but +these have not been dwelt upon by scholars. Professor York Powell, in +one of his illuminating studies on Teutonic heathendom, is the only +authority I know of who argues against the idea of a systematised +religion. "It is important that we should at once throw aside the idea +that there was any _system_, any organized pantheon in the religion of +these peoples. Their tribes were small and isolated, and each had its +own peculiar gods and observances, although the mould of each faith +was somewhat similar. Hence there were varieties of religious customs +among the Goths, Swedes, Saxons, and Angles."[153] + +[Illustration: ALTAR DEDICATED TO THE FIELD DEITIES OF BRITAIN +FOUND AT CASTLE HILL ON THE WALL OF ANTONINUS PIUS] + +Now if there was no state there could be no state religion. What +existed of worship and religion was tribal. These are the historical +facts, which have been neglected by students of myth and saga. I +shall have to point out in greater detail presently what these tribal +conditions mean to studies in folklore, but the word of warning and +protest must come here, for it is unconsciously the conception of a +Celtic state religion which gives even the semblance of possibility +for Celtic mythology to be found in every hero-legend. It is, in +short, the neglect of this among other historical facts which has led +the folklorist into error of a somewhat magnificent kind. He attempts +to create out of the myths of a people a mythology which provides gods +to be worshipped, faiths to be organised, and beliefs to be the +standards of life and conduct. Thus, as I have pointed out +elsewhere,[154] Sir John Rhys has, in his acute identification of the +worship of the water-god Lud on the Thames and of Nod on the +Severn,[155] introduced the idea of a great Celtic worship established +on these two great rivers as parts of a definite system of Celtic +religion, whereas examination proves that the parallel faiths of two +perfectly distinct Celtic tribes, the Silures on the Severn and the +Trinovantes on the Thames, were welded into a common worship of the +god of the waters by the masters of Celtic Britain, the Romans. There +was no Celtic organisation which commanded both Severn and Thames +until the Romans occupied the country, and occupying the country they +adopted into their own religion the native gods and, fortunately for +us, recorded their adoption in the pavements of their houses or their +temples.[156] + +Mr. A. B. Cook goes much further than Sir John Rhys. He attempts to +dig out the European sky-god from all sorts of queer places, all sorts +of forgotten records, thereby producing a wealth of folklore parallels +for which every student must be profoundly thankful. But he does not +make it anywhere clear that this universal god was gloriously apparent +to his worshippers. There is no established connection between the +sky-god and those who worshipped the sky-god, and we seek in vain +amidst all the brilliant researches, which have been held to produce +evidence of the sky-god, for evidence that he was worshipped by the +Aryan-speaking Celt and Teuton. In point of fact, we never get at the +worshippers at all. There is the assumption of a state mythology +without any evidence for the existence of the state. + +In place of this obvious necessity we get an immense abstraction, +worked out with all the subtle ingenuity and learning of the Cambridge +professor. Mr. Cook has, in fact, used the materials he has collected +with such amazing care to project therefrom just those mythological +conceptions which Celt and Teuton would have worked out for themselves +if they, like the Hindu and the Greek, had developed the state while +they were still free to develop their own native beliefs. This they +never did, and so their fire worship did not advance beyond its early +stages. It was separated from nature worship to become the servant of +the European tribes. It helped them to develop tribal and family +institutions. It produced for them a tribal and family worship. It did +not get beyond this, because Roman institutions and Christianity stood +in the way and prevented tribal fire worship from becoming +anthropomorphised into a mythology. This need not cause us to doubt +that the analogies claimed by these scholars are true analogies. There +were among the Celtic peoples, as among other branches of the race to +which Celt, Greek, Teuton, Scandinavian, and Hindu belonged, the +incipient elements which would go to make up a national or state +mythology, when the nation or the state emerged, as it did emerge in +the case of Greece and of Rome, from its tribal originals. But the +Celtic state did not emerge from tribalism in Britain; the Celtic +heroes were always tribal heroes. They were, as Hereward and Arthur +were, real human flesh and blood, fighting and raiding and loving and +feasting in their tribal fashion as the later heroes did in their +national fashion; because of their success as tribal heroes they had +attached to them the tribal myths; because they died as nobly as +Cuchulain died they left imperishable records among those for whom +they died. They were more than gods to the Celtic tribesman--they were +kinsmen. + +The false conception of a state religion before there was a state, +appears in other studies not primarily based upon folklore research, +and not having in view anthropological results. It is the basis of the +remarkable researches of Sir Norman Lockyer as to the astrological and +solar origin of Stonehenge and other circles, and in his chapter which +deals with the question, "Where did the British worship originate?" he +finds himself bound to the theory of a borrowed civilisation which +established the solar system.[157] This borrowed civilisation is +Egyptian, but it is too much to ask mythology to supply not only a +complete system of belief but a civilisation which belongs to it. What +is needed is independent evidence of the civilisation. Without such +independent evidence it is impossible to accept the deduction drawn +only from one sphere of information. + +The error of transferring to the domain of mythology events and +occurrences which belong to history, is followed by an error of +another sort, namely, the transferring to some general department of +human belief the particular beliefs of a people, or of tribes of +people. It is wrong to continue to label particular cults as nature +myths, when they have already been transferred from that position to a +more definite position among the beliefs of a people. Thus even so +good a scholar as Mr. A. B. Cook, rightly interpreting Greek evidence +of the hill-top fires and of the house fire, yet denies to the exactly +corresponding Irish evidence the same interpretation, and argues that +"the ritual of Samain, at which all the hearths in Ireland were +supplied with fresh fire from a common centre at Tlachtga [is] almost +certainly solar," and that "we shall not be far wrong if we suppose +that the solar fires of Beltaine were the ritual of the sky god +connected with the Ash of Uisnech."[158] Mr. Frazer, too, has +interpreted these bonfires as mainly sun charms, and he sees in the +Balder myth, and in the peasant customs all over Europe, which he +asserts illustrate this myth, an ancient ritual which originally +marked the beginning of the new year, when the tree spirit, or spirit +of vegetation, was burned, the special reasons why the deity of +vegetation should die by fire being that as "light and heat are +necessary to vegetable growth, on the principle of sympathetic magic, +by subjecting the personal representative of vegetation to their +influence you secure a supply of these necessaries for trees and +crops."[159] Mr. Frazer goes far afield for evidence. He does not see +that the fire ceremonies which he collects from all Europe have a +specialised significance, even in their last stages of existence as +survivals, which is not found among the Incas, the African tribes, the +hill tribes of India, and the Chinese, whom he cites as providing the +required parallels. Parallel practices are not necessarily evidence of +parallels in culture, and it is the failure to locate properly the +several examples in relationship to each other which produces a loose +and inadequate conception of the relics of fire worship in European +countries, and the refusal to recognise its special place as the cult +of a tribal people.[160] Another example of this fundamental error +takes us in the very opposite direction to that of Dr. Frazer. Thus +Dr. Gummere, in a recent study dealing with Germanic origins,[161] +sees nothing in the fire cult of the Indo-European people but a +branch, and apparently an undeveloped branch, of general nature +worship, not specially Germanic or Indo-European, not specialised by +the tribes and clans of these people into a cult far more closely +connected with their doings and their life than mere participation in +the general primitive nature worship could have afforded. + +The danger of searching for a general system of belief and worship +from the beliefs and rites of peoples not ethnically, geographically, +or politically connected is very great, and I venture to think that +even Mr. Frazer's remarkable researches into the agricultural rites of +European peoples do not take count of one important consideration. I +think his constructive hypothesis is too complex in process and too +systematic in form to have been the actual living faith of the varied +paganism of the European peoples. It would have meant as organised an +institution as the Christian Church itself, and of this there is no +evidence whatever. It would have meant an exclusive agricultural +ceremony, and of this there is strong evidence to the contrary. It +would have meant a deep system of philosophy, penetrating from the +highest to the lowest of the people, and of this there is no evidence. +The plain fact is that the historical conditions have been altogether +left out of consideration in these matters, and we consequently do not +get a complete study. We get the advocate's position. The case for the +mythological interpretation of folklore has been put with full +strength, but it is not the entire case. + + +V + +This short survey of the relationship of tradition to history would +not answer its purpose if we did not consider the complementary +position which history bears to tradition. This may best be done by +reference to the period before that occupied by contemporary native +record. The history here alluded to is, properly speaking, only +derived from one source, namely, the works of foreign or outside +authorities. It is written by observers from a civilised country, +travelling among the more primitive peoples of another land, and the +Greek and Latin authors who relate particulars of early Britain were +of this class. Their narratives have to be compared with the +traditions written down as history by professed historians, who lived +long after the events happened to which the traditions are said to +relate, but who recorded the traditions of the people preserved in the +monasteries by devotees who were of the people, or by the songs and +rhymes which, as Henry of Huntingdon states explicitly, were used for +the purpose. + +Both the observations of the foreign historians and travellers and the +recorded traditions from native sources have been treated with scant +courtesy whenever they cannot be explained according to the views of +each particular inquirer into the period to which they refer. They +have been alternatively the subject of dispute or neglect by students +for a long series of years. They consist of items which do not fit in +with Celtic or Teutonic institutions as we know them from other and +more detailed sources. They offend against the national pride because +they tell of a condition of savagery. They do not appeal to the +historian, because the historian knows little and cares nothing at all +about the condition of savagery. If, therefore, they are not rejected +as true history, they are purposely neglected. They are in any event +never taken into consideration by the right method, and they stand +over for examination by any one who will take the trouble to deal with +them by the light and test of modern research. + +It is not my purpose to deal with these matters now, but it is +advisable that we should try to understand two things--first, how they +have been dealt with by the historian; secondly, their true place in +history. + +The Greek and Latin authors who have stated of peoples living in +Britain many characteristics which do not belong to civilisation or +even to the borders of civilisation, range from Pytheas the Greek in +the middle of the fourth century before our era down to the Latin +poets of the early fifth century anno Domini. They all refer to the +British savage. He is cannibalistic, incestuous, naked, possesses his +wives in common, lives on wild fruits and not cultivated cereals, +indulges in head-hunting, has no settled living-place which can be +called a house, and generally betrays the characteristics of pure +savagery.[162] Altogether there is a fairly substantial range of +material for the formation of a reasonable conception of the condition +of savagery in Britain. + +[Illustration: ROMAN SCULPTURED STONE FOUND AT ARNIEBOG, CUMBERNAULD, +DUMBARTONSHIRE, SHOWING A NAKED BRITON AS A CAPTIVE] + +We need not dwell long upon the earlier of our historians who have +neglected or contested the statements of the authorities they use. +They hardly possessed the material for scientific treatment, and +personal predilections were the governing factors of any opinion which +is expressed. John Milton, in his brave attempt to tell the story of +early England, does not so much as allude to these disagreeable +points. Hume disdainfully passes by the whole subject and practically +begins with the Norman conquest. Lappenberg says of the group marriage +of the Britons that it "is probably a mere Roman fable."[163] Innes +accepts the views of the classical authorities and argues from them in +his own peculiar way,[164] but Sullivan will have it that the +materials afforded from classical sources are worthless: "they consist +of mere hearsay reports without any sure foundation, and in many cases +not in harmony with the results of modern linguistic and archæological +investigations."[165] Neither Turner nor Palgrave has any doubt as to +the authority of these early accounts,[166] and Dr. Giles accepts the +accounts which he so usefully collected from the original +authorities.[167] + +The modern historian cannot, however, be so incidentally treated. He +lives in the age of the comparative sciences and of anthropological +research. He sometimes uses, though in a half-hearted and incomplete +fashion, the results of inquirers in these fields of research, but he +nowhere deals with the problem fully. His sins are not general, but +special. He agrees with one statement of his original authority and +disagrees with another, and we are left with a chaos of opinion +founded upon no accepted principle. If the earlier historians accepted +or rejected historical records without much reason for either course, +the later historians have no right to follow them. The terms "savage" +and "barbarian," indulged in by the Greek and Roman writers, cannot be +rejected by modern authorities simply because they are too harsh. They +cannot be considered merely in the nature of accusations against the +standing and position of our ancestors, made by advocates anxious to +blacken the national character. Even scholars like Mr. Skene, Mr. +Elton, and Sir John Rhys, though inclined to weigh these passages by +the light of ethnographic research, throw something like doubt upon +the exact extent to which they may be taken as evidence. Mr. Elton, +though admitting that the early "romances of travel" afford some +evidence as to the habits of our barbarian ancestors, cannot quite get +as far in his belief as to think that the account of "the Irish tribes +who thought it right to devour their parents" is much more than a +traveller's tale.[168] Sir John Rhys is not quite sure that the +account by Cæsar of the communal marriages of the British is "not a +passage from some Greek book of imaginary travels among imaginary +barbarians which Cæsar had in his mind,"[169] though he notes +elsewhere that "the vocabulary of the Celts will be searched in vain +for a word for son or daughter as distinguished from boy or girl" as a +fact of no little negative importance in relation to Cæsar's "ugly +account;"[170] and he has similar doubts to express, noteworthy among +them being the passage from Pliny which illustrates the Godiva +story.[171] Mr. Skene lays stress upon the fact that Tacitus "neither +alludes to the practice of their staining their bodies with woad nor +to the supposed community of women among them;" and he offers some +kind of excuse for the Roman evidence as to the tattooing with +representations of animals,[172] evidence which Sir John Rhys, too, is +chary of accepting in its full sense. Mr. Pearson reluctantly accepts +Cæsar's account of the group marriage and the human sacrifice of the +Druids, but he ignores all else, including the attested cannibalism of +the Atticotti, though he mentions that tribe in another +connection.[173] Sir James Ramsay agrees that the Britons tattooed +their bodies with woad, recognises the fact that their matrimonial +customs were polyandric, and that brother-and-sister marriage +obtained, and generally accepts the prevalent ideas as to Celtic +Druidism with its sacrificial rites and the system of "state worship." +He rests his views for much of this upon the anthropological evidence +in support of it.[174] Mr. Lang on behalf of Scotland, and Dr. Joyce +on behalf of Ireland, have their say on the evidence. Mr. Lang seems +to accept Cæsar's evidence "if correctly reported," throws doubts upon +the ethnological value of such customs, and declares roundly that to +found theories upon such evidence as archæology provides "is the +province of another science, not of history."[175] Dr. Joyce says that +in early Greek and Roman writers there is not much reliable +information about Ireland, though he believes them when they talk of +students from Britain residing in Ireland and of books existing in +Ireland in the fourth century.[176] + +This meagre result from the historians seems to me to be most +unfortunate. Even when the testimony of early writers is accepted, it +is accepted without the necessary filling in which such an acceptance +warrants. Bare acceptance does not tell us much. Each recorded fact +has a relationship to surrounding facts, should lead us to associated +facts which, escaping observation by early writers, can nevertheless +be restored. In history they are isolated and unconnected, because of +the faults of the historian who records them. Anthropologically they +belong to a wider grouping, reveal a connection with each other which +is otherwise unsuspected, and prepare themselves for treatment on a +larger platform. The historian has used them for the unprofitable +controversy ranging round the question of early Celtic civilisation, +whereas they clearly belong to the history of early man, and even the +folklorist does not disdain to cast them on one side when they do not +suit his purpose.[177] + +It is still more unfortunate that Sir Henry Maine should have sought +to enhance the value of his Indian evidence by contrasting it with +what he calls "the slippery testimony concerning savages which is +gathered from travellers' tales,"[178] and that Mr. Herbert Spencer +should have replied to this in an angry note, declaring that he was +aware "that in the eyes of most, antiquity gives sacredness to +testimony, and that so what were travellers' tales when they were +written in Roman days have come in our days to be regarded as of +higher authority than like tales written by recent or living +travellers."[179] The scorn passed upon "travellers' tales," the +application of the term "romance" to the early descriptions of +voyages, have done the same amount of mischief to these early chapters +of history as the constant disbelief in the value of tradition has +done to the testimony of folklore. + +Now I do not recall these controversies, or lay stress upon what +appear to me to be the shortcomings of the historian and folklorist in +their relationship to each other, for the purpose of reawakening old +antagonisms. I have merely selected a few illustrations of the present +position of the subject in order that it may be seen how essential it +is to proceed on other lines. All the items which have formed the +subject of dispute, together with others which have escaped +attention--items which have found their way into history by accident, +which are by nature fragmentary and isolated, which do not connect up +with anything that is distinctively Celtic or Teutonic, and which do +not apparently fit in with any standard common to themselves--must +command attention if only because they alone cannot be cut out of +history when items standing side by side with them are allowed to +remain, and in the end it can, I think, be shown that they command +attention because of their inherent value. + +The method of investigation as to the importance and significance of +these earliest historical records must be anthropological. They are in +point of fact so much anthropological data relating to Britain. It is +no use calling them history, and then defining that history as bad +history simply because as history the recorded facts do not appear to +be credible. As a matter of fact they belong to the prehistory period +of Britain, and to test their value scientific methods are required. + +In the first place, anthropology shows that there is no _primâ facie_ +necessity for calling them Celtic, thus identifying them with that +portion of our ancestry which is Celtic in race; for there is evidence +of a non-Celtic race existing in prehistoric times, and existing down +to within historic times, if not to modern times. Mr. Willis Bund has +recently summarised the evidence from archæology, philology, and +tradition as it appears in a particularly valuable local study of +ancient Cardiganshire, stating it "to be agreed that there was more +than one race of early inhabitants, and two of the sources say that +there was an original race and at least two distinct races of +invaders," and further, "that whoever the original inhabitants were +they were not Celts."[180] These original inhabitants, who were not +Celts, have left their remains in the barrows and megalithic monuments +which still exist in various parts of the country, and anthropologists +show that they have not entirely disappeared from among the race +distinctions observable among the people of these islands. If it is +possible to proceed from this to another stage, and to show from the +British evidence what Mr. Risley has so well illustrated from the +Indian evidence, namely, that gradations of race types as shown by +anthropometrical indices correspond with gradations of social +precedence and social organisation,[181] it may yet be possible to +prove that the people who were not Celts were the people with whom +originated those recorded customs and beliefs which are rejected as +too savage for the Celt. Unfortunately, we know nothing about them, +except the isolated scraps which are to be picked up from the early +historians. This compels us to turn to other sources of information, +and when we do this we find that British folklore preserves in +traditional custom, rite, belief, and folk-tale, parallels to each and +every item of savagery mentioned by the early historians of Britain; +and further, that anthropology shows clearly enough that among the +customs and beliefs of primitive races there are to be found parallels +to every item of custom and belief recorded of early Britain. This +gets rid of one of our greatest difficulties, and disposes of Dr. +Sullivan's unwarranted assertion to the contrary (_ante_, p. 113). The +recorded customs and beliefs of early Britain are proved by this means +not to be impossible or improbable factors in the elements of the +British prehistoric race. It will not be possible to term them +inventions of romance or of false testimony, simply on the ground that +they are not found elsewhere. On the contrary it will, I think, be +difficult to resist the conclusion that inventions such as these, +covering a wide and ascertained area of sociological and early +religious development, could hardly have been made by historians +having the limited range of knowledge possessed by the native and +classical writers who are responsible for the facts. It is an easy, +but not a satisfactory method of criticism to declare what is not to +one's liking to be invention and romance, and it has until late years +been difficult to combat such an argument. The battle has raged round +wordy disputes, the merits of which are governed by the abilities of +the respective disputants; that this is no longer possible is due to +the fact that there have entered into the fray the methods and results +of folklore which prevent the terms invention and romance from being +applied, except where there is good independent reason for their use. + + * * * * * + +I have now dealt with all the points which appear to be necessary in +order to show the inherent relationship of folklore to history, and I +have shown causes for resisting the claims of mythology to appropriate +what it chooses of folklore, and then to reject all the rest from +consideration. I have dealt (1) with examples of local traditions and +hero-traditions, in their relation to history and historical +conditions; (2) with the folk-tale in its retention of details of +early historic conditions, and of the picture of early tribal +organisation, and in that its structure is based upon the events of +savage social conceptions; (3) with the early laws and rules of tribal +society preserved by tradition and accepted in historical times; (4) +with the claims of mythology to interpret the meaning of folk-tales, +and the reasons for rejecting this claim; and (5) with the treatment +by historians of statements by classical writers as to the condition +of the peoples inhabiting Britain before the dawn of civilisation. I +think it will be admitted that, without pretending in any way to have +exhausted the evidence, or even to have thoroughly comprehended and +satisfactorily stated it under each of these heads, a very +considerable claim has been made out for the historical value of +folklore. If so much has been gained it will rest with folklorists to +pursue investigations on these lines, and it will remain with the +historian to consider the results wherever his research leads him into +domains where the evidence of folklore is obtainable. + +It will be seen that the problems which the two sciences, history and +folklore, have to solve in conjunction are not a few and that they are +extremely complex. They cannot be solved if history and folklore are +separated; they may be solved if the professors in each work together, +both recognising what there is of value in the other. History in its +earliest stages is either entirely dependent upon foreign +authorities, or it has to follow the practice of the earlier and +unscientific historian and to deny that there is any history, or at +all events any history worth recording, before the advent, perhaps the +accidental advent, of an historian on native ground. History in its +later stages is dependent upon the personal tastes or ability of each +historian for the record of events and facts. Folklore in its earliest +stages has brought down from the most ancient times memories of +ancient polity, faith, custom, rite, and thought. In its later stages +it has preserved custom, rite, and belief amid the attacks of the +progressive civilisation which has been developed, and it has clothed +heroes of later times with the well-worn trappings of those of old. +Combined history and folklore can restore much of the picture of early +times, and can work through the fulness of later times with some +degree of success. There is needed for this work, however, a clear +conception of the position properly held by both sciences, together +with established rules of research. This is more particularly needed +in the department of folklore. I do not pretend to be able to +formulate these rules. In the subjects dealt with in this chapter I +have indicated a few of the points which must be raised, and my object +will be in the remaining chapters to set forth some of the conditions +which it appears to me necessary to consider in connection with the +problems with which folklore is concerned as one of the historical +sciences. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Mr. Kemble gives an important illustration of this proposition in +his _Saxons in England_, i. 331. + +[2] I would refer the reader to Prof. York Powell's brilliant lecture +on "A Survey of Modern History," printed in his biography by Mr. Oliver +Elton, ii. 1-13, for an admirable summary of this view. + +[3] _View of the State of Ireland_, 1595, p. 478. + +[4] Asser's _Life of Alfred_, by W. H. Stevenson, 262. + +[5] It is not worth while unduly emphasising this point, but the +peculiar habit of classing fictional literature as folklore and +thereupon condemning the value of tradition is very prevalent. Mr. +Nutt, in dealing with the Troy stories in British history, adopts this +method, and denies the existence of historic tradition on the strength +of it, _Folklore_, xii. 336-9. + +[6] This expression was recently allowed in our old friend _Notes and +Queries_ in a singularly unsuitable case, 10th ser. vii. 344. + +[7] I am not sure this is always the fault of those who are not +folklorists. I recently came across a dictum of one of the most +distinguished folklorists, Mr. Andrew Lang, which is certainly much in +the same direction. "As a rule tradition is the noxious ivy that creeps +about historical truth, and needs to be stripped off with a ruthless +hand. Tradition is a collection of venerable and romantic blunders. But +a tradition which clings to a permanent object in the landscape, a tall +stone, a grassy, artificial tumulus, or even an old tree, may be +unexpectedly correct."--_Morning Post_, 2 November, 1906. + +[8] It is worth while referring to Mr. MacRitchie's article in _Trans. +International Folklore Congress_ on the historical aspect of Folklore; +but Professor York Powell has said the strongest word in its favour in +his all too short address as President of the Folklore Society, see +_Folklore_, xv. 12-23. + +[9] Chapter xi. of Tylor's _Early History of Mankind_. + +[10] Spenser, _View of the State of Ireland_, 1595 (Morley reprint), +77. + +[11] Perhaps the most remarkable testimony to the foundation of the +folk-tale and ballad in the events of history is to be found in a +statement made to the _Tribune_, 14 September, 1906, by Mr. Mitra, once +proprietor and editor of the _Deccan Post_, with regard to the +agitation against the partition of Bengal into two provinces. Mr. Mitra +deliberately states that "the best test of finding out Hindu feeling +towards the British Government is to see whether there are any ballads +or nursery rhymes in the Bengali language against the British. You can +have it from me, and I challenge contradiction, that there is no single +ballad or nursery rhyme in the Bengali language which is against the +British." This is where the soul of the people speaks out. + +[12] It is printed, and I have used this print, in Blomefield's +_History of Norfolk_ (1769), iii. 506, from which source I quote the +facts concerning it. Sir William Dugdale's account goes on to connect +it with a monument in the church, but this part of the local version is +to be considered presently. + +[13] See the _Diary_ printed by the Surtees Society, p. 220. + +[14] The legend was also printed in that popular folk-book, _New Help +to Discourse_, so often printed between 1619 and 1656, and Mr. Axon +transcribed this version for the _Antiquary_, xi. 167-168; and see my +notes in _Gent. Mag. Lib. English Traditions_, 332-336. + +[15] I happen to possess the original cutting of this version preserved +among my great-grandfather's papers. + +[16] These words are, "I am not a Bigot in Dreams, yet I cannot help +acknowledging the Relation of the above made a strong Impression on +me." + +[17] _Leeds Mercury_, January 3rd, 1885, communicated by Mr. Wm. +Grainge of Harrogate. + +[18] Mr. Axon says it is current in Lancashire and in Cornwall, +_Antiquary_, xi. 168; Sir John Rhys gives two Welsh versions in his +_Celtic Folklore_, ii. 458-462, 464-466; a Yorkshire version in ballad +form is to be found in Castillo's _Poems in the North Yorkshire +Dialect_ (1878), under the title of "T' Lealholm Chap's lucky dreeam," +_Antiquary_, xii. 121; an Ayrshire variant relates to the building of +Dundonald Castle, and is given in Chambers's _Pop. Rhymes of Scotland_, +236. + +[19] Blomefield, _Hist. of Norfolk_, iii. 507, suggests that the animal +carving represents a bear. There is nothing to confirm this and readers +may judge for themselves by reference to the illustrations, which are +from photographs taken in Swaffham Church. + +[20] I discussed the details in the _Antiquary_, vol. x. pp. 202-205. + +[21] This story was communicated by "W.F." to the _St. James's +Gazette_, March 15th, 1888. Its continuation, in order to point a +moral, does not belong to the real story, which is contained in the +part I have quoted. + +[22] _Saga Library_, _Heimskringla_, iii. 126. + +[23] These have been collected and commented upon with his usual +learning and research, by Mr. Hartland in the _Antiquary_, xv. 45-48. +Blomefield, in his _History of Norfolk_, iii. 507, points out that the +same story is found in Johannes Fungerus' _Etymologicon Latino-Græcum_, +pp. 1110-1111, though it is here narrated of a man at Dort in Holland, +and in _Histoires admirables de nostre temps_, par Simon Goulart, +Geneva, 1614, iii. p. 366. Professor Cowell, in the third volume of the +_Cambridge Antiquarian Society Transactions_, p. 320, has printed a +remarkable parallel of the story which is to be found in the great +Persian metaphysical and religious poem called the Masnavi, written by +Jaláluddin, who died about 1260. J. Grimm discussed these +treasure-on-the-bridge stories in _Kleinere Schriften_, iii. 414-428, +and did not attach much value to them. + +[24] It is not unimportant in this connection to find that London +itself assumes an exceptional place in tradition. Mr. Frazer notes a +German legend about London, _Golden Bough_ (2nd ed.), iii. 235; +Pausanias, v. 292. Mr. Dale has drawn attention to the Anglo-Saxon +attitude towards Roman buildings in his _National Life in Early English +Literature_, 35. + +[25] See _Archæologia_, xxv. 600; xxix. 147; xl. 54; _Arch. Journ._, i. +112. + +[26] I have worked this point out in my _Governance of London_. + +[27] Bishop Kennett, quoted in _Notes and Queries_, fourth series, ix. +258. + +[28] Mommsen's account of the Pontifex Maximus should be consulted, +_Hist. Rome_, i. 178; and _cf._ Fowler, _Roman Festivals_, 114, 147, +214. + +[29] Mrs. Gomme, _Traditional Games_, i. 347. + +[30] Bingley, _North Wales_, 1814, p. 252. + +[31] See my _Folklore Relics of Early Village Life_, 29; Tylor, +_Primitive Culture_, i. 97. This case was reported in the newspapers at +the time of its occurrence. It came to England from the _London and +China Telegraph_, from which the _Newcastle Chronicle_, 9 February, +1889, copied the following statement:-- + +"The boatmen on the Ganges, near Rajmenal, somehow came to believe that +the Government required a hundred thousand human heads as the +foundation for a great bridge, and that the Government officers were +going about the river in search of heads. A hunting party, consisting +of four Europeans, happening to pass in a boat, were set upon by the +one hundred and twenty boatmen, with the cry 'Gulla Katta,' or +cut-throats, and only escaped with their lives after the greatest +difficulty." + +[32] I have worked out this fact in my _Governance of London_, 46-68, +202-229. + +[33] See Turner, _Hist. of Anglo-Saxons_, ii. 207-222; _Y Cymmrodor_, +xi. 61-101. + +[34] A passage in William of Malmesbury points to the fact of the +Bretons in the time of Athelstan looking upon themselves as exiles +from the land of their fathers. Radhod, a prefect of the church at +Avranches, writes to King Athelstan as "Rex gloriose exultator +ecclesiæ ... deprecamur atque humiliter invocamus qui in exulatu et +captivitate nostris meritis et peccatis, in Francia commoramur" etc., +_De Gestis Regum Anglorum_ (Rolls Ed.), i. 154. + +[35] Rhys, _Celtic Folklore_, ii. 466. Sir John Rhys acknowledges his +indebtedness to me for lending him my Swaffham notes, but at that time +I had not formed the views stated above and Sir John Rhys confessed his +difficulty in classifying and characterising these stories (p. 456). + +[36] In the _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, anno 418, and in _Ethelward's +Chronicle_, A.D. 418, it is recorded that "those of the Roman race who +were left in Britain bury their treasures in pits, thinking that +hereafter they might have better fortune, which never was the case." + +[37] Buried treasure legends are worth examining carefully, especially +with reference to their geographical distribution, with a view of +ascertaining how far they follow the direction of the Roman, English, +Danish and Norman Conquests. See Henderson, _Folklore of Northern +Counties_, 320, for Yorkshire examples, and _Folklore Record_, i. 16, +for an interesting Sussex example. + +The Danish part of Lincoln, near Sleaford, has numerous treasure +legends, see Rev. G. Oliver, _Existing Remains of Ancient Britons +between Lincoln and Sleaford_, pp. 29 _et seq._ + +Mr. W. J. Andrew has proved in the _British Numismatic Journal_ (1st +ser. i. 9-59) that traditions of buried treasure may be verified a +thousand years after the laying down of the hoard. This has reference +to the famous Cuerdale find of coins. The people of Walton-le-Dale, on +the Ribble, had a legend that if you stood on a certain headland and +looked up the valley to Ribchester "you would gaze over the greatest +treasure that England had ever seen." The farmers tried excavations, +and the divining rod is said to have been used. + +The tradition was true. In May, 1840, the hoard was accidentally found, +near Cuerdale Hall, within forty yards of the stream, by men who were +repairing the southern bank. A willow tree, still in its prime, was +planted to mark the spot. We do not know how much bullion was scattered +by the finders, but there was recovered a mass of ingots, armlets, +chains, rings, and so on, amounting to 1000 oz., with over 7000 silver +coins. They lay in a crumbling leaden case, within a decomposed chest +of wood. There were about 1060 English silver coins, whereof 919 were +of the reign of King Alfred. There were 2020 from Northumbrian +ecclesiastical mints, and 2534 of King Canute, with 1047 foreign coins, +mainly French. The treasure had belonged to the Scandinavian invaders +in the host of the Danish Kings of Northumbria, and very many bore the +mark of York, the Danish capital. The chest was the treasure-chest of +the Danes. The money had been seized in England, 890-897; on French +coasts, 897-910; and collected among the Danes of Northumbria about +911. In that year, we know, the Danes raided Mercia, and were followed +by the English King and thoroughly defeated. Their treasurer, Osberth, +was killed, and it is argued that the Danes fell back by the Roman +road, and were trying to cross into Northumbria by the ford at +Cuerdale, but that, the ford being dangerous, they were obliged to bury +their treasure-chest forty yards on the southern bank of the river. +They were unable to cross, were cooped up in a bend of the stream, and +were all put to the sword. Mr. Lang discussed this from the folklore +point of view in the _Morning Post_, 2nd November, 1906, and concludes +that "granting that none who knew the site of the deposit escaped, the +theory marches well, and quite accounts for the presence of the hoard +where it was found. The Danish rearguard defending the line of the +Darwen would know that their treasure was hurried forward and probably +concealed, but would not know the exact spot." + +Another good example is recorded in the _Antiquary_, xiv. 228. Further +Henderson notes that the Borderers of England and Scotland entrusted +their buried treasure to the brownie (_Folklore of Northern Counties_, +248). This is exactly the same idea which exists throughout India. +"Hidden treasures are under the special guardianship of supernatural +beings. The Singhalese, however, divide the charge between demons and +cobra capellas. Various charms are resorted to by those who wish to +gain the treasures. A pujâ is sufficient with the cobras, but the +demons require a sacrifice. Blood of a human being is the most +important, but the Kappowas have hitherto confined themselves to a +sacrifice of a white cock, combining its blood with their own, drawn by +a slight puncture in the hand or foot. A Tamil, however, has resorted +to human sacrifice as instanced by a case reported in the _Ceylon +Times_."--_Indian Antiquary_, 1873. ii. p. 125. + +[38] Morris, _Heimskringla_, ii. 13. + +[39] Laing's _Heimskringla_, ii. 260. + +[40] Rhys, _The Arthurian Legend_, 7. Squire, in his recent _Mythology +of the British Islands_, states the case for "the mythological coming +of Arthur" in cap. xxi. of his book. + +[41] As, for instance, in the case of Taliesin and Ossian, see Squire, +_Mythology of the British Islands_, 318; Rhys, _Celtic Mythology_, 551; +Nutt's Notes to _Mabinogion_. + +I suppose the most ancient example of the duplication process is that +of Dion Cassius (iii. 5), who suggests an earlier Romulus and Remus in +order to account for the early occupation of the Palatine Hill at Rome. +Middleton's _Anc. Rome_, 45. + +[42] It is interesting to find that, with independent investigation, +Mr. Bury explains on the lines I adopt the traditional part of the life +of St. Patrick. See his _Life of St. Patrick_, p. 111. + +[43] Freeman, _Hist. Norm. Conq._, iv. 467. + +[44] Wright, _Essays_, i. 244, notes this point; see also Freeman, +_Hist. Norm. Conq._, iv. 828, and the preface to my edition of +Macfarlane's _Camp of Refuge_ (Historical Novels Series), where I have +discussed this subject at length. + +[45] _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._, iii. 52. + +[46] Russell, _Kett's Rebellion_, p. 6. + +[47] Kemble's _Horæ Ferales_, 108. + +[48] Perhaps the most interesting example in a minor way comes from +Shrewsbury. In the Abbey Church, forming part of a font, is the upper +stone of a cross (supposed to have been the Weeping Cross) which was +discovered at St. Giles's churchyard. It had been immemorially fixed in +the ditch bank, and all traces of its origin were quite lost, except +that an old lady, who was born in 1724, remembered having seen in her +youth, persons kneeling before this stone and praying. The transmission +of the tradition through very nearly three centuries proved correct, +for on its being loosened by the frosts of a severe winter, it fell, +and its religious distinction became immediately apparent from the +sculpture with which it was adorned.--_Eddowes' Shrewsbury Journal_, +5th October, 1889. + +[49] _Gent. Mag. Lib. Popular Superstitions_, 121. The importance of +this tradition may be tested by reference to my book on the _Governance +of London_, 96-98. + +[50] _Archæologia_, xxvi. 369-370. One could give many additional +examples from all parts of the country, and undoubtedly they are worth +collecting. I cannot refrain from quoting the following, as it is from +an out-of-the-way source. At Seagry, in Wilts, is an ancient farm, one +field of which was known as "Peter's Orchard." The author of a local +history records the following: "It has been handed down from generation +to generation that in a field on this farm a church was built on the +site of an ancient heathen burial ground. In order to test the accuracy +of this tradition, in the autumn of 1882 I had excavations made on the +spot, which I will now describe. The field contains about ten acres, +and presents a very singular appearance. In removing the sods, about +two feet from the surface we discovered extensive stone foundations, +extending for a considerable distance over the field. From the charred +appearance of the stones they had evidently suffered from fire, thus +supporting the tradition of some of the oldest inhabitants that the +ancient church had been destroyed by fire. On continuing the search we +found, about two feet below these foundations, a quantity of early +British pottery, the remains of broken urns, some charred bones, and +heads of small spears. The following is an extract from a letter which +I have received from a gentleman, whose family have been connected with +this parish for over two hundred years, and who has given me great +assistance. He says: My father was born at Startley in 1784, and +remained there until about 1840. Both he and my grandfather were deeply +imbued with old folklore. I well remember them constantly speaking of +the firm belief handed down to them of the heathen burial places at +Seagry, and of the supposed ruins of a church and some religious house +at Seagry. I think the discoveries made (on the very spot mentioned by +tradition) in August, 1882, are abundant proof that after the lapse of +more than nine centuries actual verification of the carefully +transmitted tradition has at last been found."--_Bath Herald_, 1st +September, 1883. If references to other examples were needed I should +like to note Sir William Wilde's illustration as to "how far the +legend, the fairy tale, the local tradition, or the popular +superstition may have been derived from absolute historic +fact."--_Lough Corrib_, 121, 123. + +[51] _Echoes from the Counties_ (1880), p. 30. + +[52] Grierson, _The Silent Trade_ (1903). + +[53] Pearson's _Chances of Death_, ii. 90. The reader should consult +Dr. Pearson's entire study on this subject, chapters ix. and x., which +may be compared with Mr. MacCulloch's _Childhood of Fiction_, 5-15, and +more particularly with Mr. Hartland's _Science of Fairy Tales_. + +[54] In 1881 I read a paper before the Folklore Society on "Some +Incidents in the story of the Three Noodles by means of reference to +facts," _Folklore Record_, iv. 211, and in 1883 I published in the +_Antiquary_, two papers on "Notes on Incidents in Folk-tales," based +upon the same idea. + +[55] Introduction, p. lxix. + +[56] Introduction, p. lxxvii. + +[57] Page 12. + +[58] _Ibid._, p. 26. + +[59] _Ibid._, p. 5. + +[60] _Tales of the Highlands_, i. p. 251. + +[61] Kennedy, _loc. cit._, p. 77. + +[62] _Ibid._, p. 90. + +[63] See Beda, _Hist. Ecclesia_, lib. i. cap. 25. + +[64] See vol. i. p. 253. + +[65] Miss Frere's _Old Deccan Days_, p. 279. + +[66] Ælian, _Var. Hist._, lib. xiii. cap. xxxiii. + +[67] _Folklore Record_, vol. iv. p. 57. + +[68] _Asiatic Researches_, xvii. p. 502. + +[69] _Folklore Record_, vol. iii. p. 284. + +[70] Campbell's _Popular Tales of the West Highlands_, i. 308. + +[71] Joyce, _Old Celtic Romances_, 38, 75, 153, 177, 270. In the _Silva +Gadelica_, by Mr. Standish O'Grady, the assembly is described sitting +in a circle, vol. ii. p. 159, and Tara is also described, vol. ii. 264, +358, 360, 384. + +[72] Miss Cox's admirable study and analysis of the Cinderella +group of stories includes the Catskin variants, which number +seventy-seven.--_Cinderella_, pp. 53-79. + +[73] _Studies in Ancient History_, p. 62. + +[74] Sproat's _Scenes and Studies of Savage Life_, p. 96. + +[75] See his _Early Hebrew Life_, p. 85. + +[76] Frazer, _Adonis, Attis, and Osiris_, 27-28. + +[77] Todd and Herbert, _Irish Version of Nennius_, p. 89. + +[78] _Indian Antiq._, iii. 32. + +[79] _Laws of Manu_ (Bühler), ix. 127; _Apastamba Gautama_ (Bühler), +xxviii. 18. + +[80] Sir Henry Maine in his _Early Law and Custom_, p. 91. + +[81] A most remarkable instance of an actual case of running away from +a marriage, resulting in adventures which might easily become folk-tale +adventures if the story were once started on its traditional life, is +to be found in Shooter's _Kafirs of Natal and the Zulu Country_, pp. +60-71. + +[82] _West Highland Tales_, vol. i. p. lxix. + +[83] Kennedy's _Fireside Stories of Ireland_, p. 64. + +[84] _Old Deccan Days_, p. 52. + +[85] _Ibid._, p. 233. + +[86] "Standing-place." + +[87] _Journ. Ethnol. Soc._, _loc. cit._ + +[88] _New Statistical Account of Scotland_, xiv. 273. + +[89] Ure's _Agriculture of Kinross_, 57. + +[90] _Archæologia_, l. 195-214. + +[91] Du Chaillu's _Land of the Midnight Sun_, i. 393. + +[92] Tupper, _Punjab Customary Law_, ii. 188. + +[93] _Cobden Club Essays--Primogeniture._ + +[94] Morris, _Saga Library_, ii. 194. + +[95] _Journ. Ethnol. Soc._, ii. 336. + +[96] Elton, _Origins of English History_, 91; _cf._ Du Chaillu, _Land +of the Midnight Sun_, i. 393; Morris's _Sagas_, ii. 194. + +[97] Breeks, _Hill Tribes of India_, 108. + +[98] Mavor's _Collection of Voyages_, iv. 41. + +[99] _Anecdotes and Traditions_ (Camden Soc.), 85. + +[100] _Mythologie der Volkssagen und Volksmärchen._ + +[101] Geiger, _Hist. Sweden_, 31, 32. + +[102] Elton, _Origins of English History_, 92. + +[103] Aubrey, _Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme_, 14. + +[104] Nutt, _Legend of the Holy Grail_, 44. + +[105] _Gentleman's Magazine_, 1850, i. 250-252. + +[106] _Journ. Ethnol. Soc._, ii. 337. + +[107] Elton's _Origins_, 92. + +[108] Mr. Jacobs (_Folklore_, i. 405) objected to my interpretation of +this story because--first, the Latin rhyme appearing in the Gaelic +tale, the twelfth-century Latin story and the German inscription "tell +for the origination of the story in one single place in historic +times;" and, secondly, because a Kashmir story (Knowles' _Folk-tales of +Kashmir_, 241), based on the same main incident, omits the minor +incident of the mallet altogether. The answer to the first objection is +that the Latin rhyme has been attached, in historic times, to the +ancient folk-tale; and to the second objection, that the Kashmir story +preserves the main incident of surrender of property upon reaching old +age, and omits the more savage incident of killing, because the Kashmir +people are in a stage of culture which still allowed of the surrender +of property, but, like the Scandinavians, did not allow of the killing +of the aged. Similarly, an English parallel to this form of the variant +is preserved by De la Pryme in his _Diary_ (Surtees Society), 162. It +must be remembered that the Kashmiris occupy a land which is referred +to by Herodotos (iii. 99-105) as in the possession of people who killed +their aged (_cf._ Latham, _Ethnology of India_, 199); and if my reading +of the evidence is correct, this is also the case of the Highland +peasant. + +[109] Dr. Pearson advocates statistical methods in his _Chances of +Death_, ii. 58, 75-77, and shows by examples the value of them. + +[110] MacCulloch, _Childhood of Fiction_: "Some of the things which in +these old-world stories form their fascination, have had their origin +in sordid fact and reality" (p. vii). + +[111] Bühler, _Laws of Manu_, i.: "In Vedic mythology Manu is the heros +eponymos of the human race and by his nature belongs both to gods and +to men" (p. 57). _Cf._ Burnell and Hopkins, _Ordinances of Manu_, p. +25. + +[112] _Early Law and Custom_, 5. + +[113] Pausanias, iii. 2(4). + +[114] Maine, _Ancient Law_, 4; Grote, _Hist. of Greece_, iii. 101. + +[115] Ortolan, _Hist. Roman Law_, 50; Maine, _Early Law and Custom_, 6. + +[116] Morris, _Saga Library_, i. p. xxx; Dasent, _Burnt Njal_, i. xlvi. + +[117] _Early Law and Custom_, 162. + +[118] Manx Society Publications, xviii. 21-22. + +[119] Strabo, lib. xv. cap. 1, pp. 709, 717; J. D. Mayne, _Hindu Law +and Usage_, 4, 13. + +[120] Mackenzie, _Roman Law_, 11; _cf._ Pais, _Anc. Legends of Roman +Hist._, 139. + +[121] Dasent, _Burnt Njal_, i. p. lvii, and Vigfusson and Powell, +_Origines Islandicæ_, i. 348. + +[122] _Anc. Laws of Ireland_, iv. p. vii. + +[123] This appears very strongly in the famous twelfth-century law case +which Longchamp pleaded so successfully. _Rotuli curia Regis_, i. p. +lxii. + +[124] _Early Law and Custom_, 9; _cf._ Burnell and Hopkins, _Ordinances +of Manu_, pp. xx, xxxi. It is worth while quoting here the following +interesting note from a letter from the Marquis di Spineto printed in +Clarke's _Travels_, viii. 417:-- + +"From the most remote antiquity men joined together, and wishing either +to amuse themselves or to celebrate the praises of their gods sang +short poems to a fixed tune. Indeed, generally speaking, _the laws by +which they were governed_, the events which had made the greatest +impression on their minds, the praises which they bestowed upon their +gods or on their heroes were all sung long before they were written, +and I need not mention that according to Aristotle this is the reason +why the Greeks gave the same appellation to laws and to songs." + +[125] The references are all given in Smith's _Dict. of Greek and Roman +Antiquities_ sub νόμος. Aristotle in the _Problems_, 19, 28, +definitely says, "Before the use of letters men sang their laws that +they might not forget them, as the custom continues yet among the +Agathyrsoi." + +[126] Lib. xii. cap. ii. 9. + +[127] _Hist. English Commonwealth_, 43. + +[128] _Anc. Laws of Ireland_, iv. pp. viii, x. + +[129] Hampson's _Origines Patriciæ_, 106-107; Kemble, line 5763 _et +seq._ + +[130] Proctor's _History of the Book of Common Prayer_, p. 410. + +[131] _Hist. Eng. Commonwealth_, ii. p. cxxxvi. Littleton points out +the legal antiquity and importance of these words: "no conveyance can +be made without them." See Wheatley's _Book of Common Prayer_ (quoting +Littleton), p. 406. + +[132] The York manual had the additional clause, "for fairer for +fouler." See Wheatley, _loc. cit._, p. 406. + +[133] Palgrave, _loc. cit._ + +[134] _Ibid._ + +[135] _Manuale et processionale ad usum insiquis ecclesiæ Evoracensis_, +Surtees Society, 1875. See also _Gentleman's Magazine_, 1752, p. 171; +Proctor's _History of the Book of Common Prayer_, p. 409, for other +examples. + +[136] Palgrave, _English Commonwealth_, i. 43. + +[137] Chambers, _Popular Rhymes of Scotland_, 115. + +[138] Sinclair's _Stat. Acc. of Scotland_, x. 534. + +[139] Chambers, _Book of Days_, January 19; Nichols, _Fuller's +Worthies_, 494. + +[140] _Diary of De la Pryme_ (Surtees Society), 126. It may be noted +here that Kelly, _Curiosities of Indo-European Traditions_, 179, notes +the preservation of an ancient law for the preservation of the oak and +the hazel in a traditional proverbial rhyme. + +[141] Hazlitt, _Tenures of Land_, 80; other examples refer to the +Hundred of Cholmer and Dancing, in Essex, 75; to Kilmersdon, in +Somersetshire, 182; to Hopton, in Salop, 165. John of Gaunt is +responsible for many of these curious and interesting remains of tribal +antiquity. Bisley's _Handbook of North Devon_, 28, refers to one +relating to the manor of Umberleigh, near Barnstaple, and I have a note +from Mr. Edmund Wrigglesworth, of Hull, of a parallel to this being +preserved by tradition only. There is a tradition respecting the estate +of Sutton Park, near Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, which states that it +formerly belonged to John of Gaunt, who gave it to an ancestor of the +present proprietor, one Roger Burgoyne, by the following grant:-- + + "I, John of Gaunt, + Do give and do grant, + To Roger Burgoyne + And the heirs of his loin + Both Sutton and Potton + Until the world's rotten." + +Potton was a neighbouring village to Sutton. There is a moated site in +the park called "John o' Gaunt's Castle," see _Notes and Queries_, +tenth series, vi. 466. _Cf._ Aubrey, _Collections for Wilts_, 185, for +an example at Midgehall; Cowell's _Law Interpreter_, 1607, and the +_Dictionarum Rusticum_, 1704, for the custom of East and West Enborn, +in Berks, which was made famous by Addison's _Spectator_ in 1714. + +[142] Sometimes these are called "burlesque conveyances." See an +example quoted in _Hist. MSS. Commission_, v. 459. + +[143] It is well to bear in mind the great force of ancient tribal law, +which was personal, upon localities. Nottingham is divided into two +parts, one having primogeniture and the other junior right as the rule +of descent. Southampton and Exeter have also local divisions. But +perhaps the most striking example is at Breslau, where there +co-existed, until 1st January, 1840, five different particular laws and +observances in regard to succession, the property of spouses, etc., the +application of which was limited to certain territorial jurisdictions; +not unfrequently the law varied from house to house, and it even +happened that one house was situated on the borders of different laws, +to each of which, therefore, it belonged in part; Savigny, _Private +Int. Law_, cap. i. sect. iv. + +[144] _Academy_, February, 1884; _Percy Reliques_, edit. Wheatley, i. +384. + +[145] _Trans. British. Association_, 1847, p. 321. + +[146] Series No. V., published in 1895. + +[147] _Philological Society Papers_, 1870-2, pp. 18, 248; Dr. Murray +gives the air in an appendix. See also a note by Mr. Danby Fry in the +_Antiquary_, viii. 164-6, 269-70; and _The Hawick Tradition_, by R. S. +Craig and Adam Laing, published at Hawick in 1898. + +[148] Squire, _Mythology of the British Islands_, 69. + +[149] Wilde, _Lough Corrib_, 210-248. Sir William Wilde has studied the +details of this great fight with great care, and it is impossible to +ignore his evidence as to the monuments of it being extant to this day +among the recorded antiquities of Ireland. The battle lasted four days. +The first day the Fir-Bolg had the best of the fighting, and +pillar-stones erected to the heroes who fell are still in situ. +Clogh-Fadha-Cunga, or long stone of Cong, which stood on the old road +to the east of that village and a portion of which, six feet long, is +still in an adjoining wall, being erected to Adleo of the Dananians, +and Clogh-Fadha-Neal, or long stone of the Neale, at the junction of +the roads passing northwards from Cross and Cong, commemorating the +place where the king stood during the battle. After the battle each +Fir-Bolg carried with him a stone and the head of a Danann to their +king who erected a great cairn to commemorate the event, and this must +be the cairn of Ballymagibbon which stands on the road passing from +Cong to Cross. The well of Mean Uisge is identified as that mentioned +in the MS. accounts of the battle, connected with a striking incident. +After a careful examination of the locality, says Sir William Wilde, +with a transcript of the ancient MS. in his hand, he was convinced of +the identity of a stone heap standing within a circle as the place +where the body of the loyal Fir-Bolg youth was burned. The second day's +battle surged northwards, and at the western shores of Lough Mask, +Slainge Finn, the king's son, pursuing the two sons of Cailchu and +their followers, slew them there, and "seventeen flag stones were stuck +in the ground in commemoration of their death," and by the margin of +the lake in the island of Inish-Eogan there stands this remarkable +monument to this hour. The line of the Fir-Bolg camp can still be +traced with wonderful accuracy. Caher-Speenan, the thorny fort, was a +part of this camp, and still exists. More to the south-east, on the +hill of Tongegee, are the remains of Caher-na-gree, the pleasant fort, +and still further to the east are Lisheen, or little earthen fort, and +Caher-Phætre, pewter fort. Other forts also exist to give evidence both +of the Fir-Bolg and the Danann lines. The Danann monuments are situate +in the fields opposite the glebes of Nymphsfield. Five remarkable stone +circles still remain within the compass of a square mile, and there are +traces of others. The Fir-Bolgs were defeated on the fourth day and +their king Eochy fell fighting to the last. "A lofty cairn was raised +over his body, and called Carn Eathach, from his name." On the grassy +hill of Killower, or Carn, overlooking Lough Mask, stands to this hour +the most remarkable cairn in the west of Ireland, and there is little +doubt this is the one referred to in the ancient tradition as +commemorating the death of the last Fir-Bolg king in Erin. + +[150] Squire, _op. cit._, 76, 138. + +[151] Squire, _op. cit._, 230. + +[152] Squire, _Mythology_, 399. + +[153] See _Life and Writings_ by Oliver Elton, ii. 224. + +[154] _Governance of London_, 110-113. + +[155] _Celtic Heathendom_, 125-133. + +[156] See Bathurst, _Roman Antiquities of Lydney Park_, plates viii., +xiii., for the famous example dealt with by Sir John Rhys; and Stuart, +_Caledonia Romana_, 309, plate ix. fig. 2, for a dedication to the +"Deities of Britain." + +[157] See his _Stonehenge and Other British Stone Monuments_, chap. +xxii. + +[158] See _Folklore_, xv. 306-311, for the Greek evidence; and xvii. +30, 164, for the Irish evidence. + +[159] Frazer, _Golden Bough_ (2nd ed.), iii. 236-316. Mr. Frazer, +however, is inclined to review his explanation of bonfires as +sun-charms; see his _Adonis, Attis and Osiris_, 151, note 4. + +[160] The specialisation of the fire cult is illustrated by the Hindu +myth of the Angiras, see Wilson, _Rig Veda Sanhita_, i. p. xxix. + +[161] Gummere, _Germanic Origins_, 400-2. + +[162] It will be convenient to give the references for the various +details of savage life in Britain. The original extracts are all given +in _Monumenta Historica Britannica_ and in Giles' _History of Ancient +Britons_, vol. ii. Ireland--cannibalism: Strabo, iv. cap. 5, 4, p. 201, +Diodoros, v. 32; promiscuous intercourse: Strabo; birth ceremony: +Solinus, xxii. Scotland--human sacrifice: Solinus, xxii.; promiscuous +intercourse, Solinus, cap. xxii., Xiphilinus from Dio in _Mon. Brit. +Hist._, p. lx., and St. Jerome adv. Jovin., v. ii. 201; nakedness, +Herodian in _Mon. Brit. Hist._, p. lxiv, and Xiphilinus, _ibid._, p. +lx. Britain--head-hunting, Strabo, iv. 1-4, pp. 199-201, Diodoros, v. +29; tattooing, Cæsar, _De bello Gallico_, v. 12, Pliny, _Nat. Hist._, +xxii. i. (2); promiscuous intercourse, Cæsar, _ibid._, v. 14, +Xiphilinus in _Mon. Brit. Hist._, p. lvii. + +[163] _History of England under the Anglo-Saxon Kings_, i. 14. + +[164] Innes' _Critical Essay_, 45, 51, 56, 240. + +[165] O'Curry's _Manners and Customs of Ancient Irish_, i. p. vi. Dr. +Whitley Stokes has criticised O'Curry's translations as bad, "not from +ignorance, but to a desire to conceal a fact militating against +theories of early Irish civilisation."--_Revue Celtique_, iii. 90-101. + +[166] Turner, _Hist. of Anglo-Saxons_, i. 64-74; Palgrave, _Eng. Com._, +i. 467-8. + +[167] Giles' _History of Anc. Britons_, i. 231, referring to parallel +customs among the Chinese. + +[168] Elton, _Origins of English History_, 82. + +[169] Rhys, _Celtic Britain_, 55. + +[170] _Celtic Heathendom_, 320, note. + +[171] I have dealt with this in my _Ethnology in Folklore_, 36-40. + +[172] Skene, _Celtic Scotland_, i. 59, 84. + +[173] Pearson, _Hist. of England during the Early and Middle Ages_, i. +15, 21, 35. + +[174] Ramsay, _Foundations of England_, i. 9, 11, 30. + +[175] Lang, _Hist. of Scotland_, i. 3-5. + +[176] Joyce, _Social Hist. of Ireland_, i. 19. + +[177] In addition to Mr. Lang and Dr. Joyce, who are folklorists as +well as historians, and who as we have seen do deal with these records +scientifically, the folklorist goes out of his way to reject these +records. Thus Mr. Squire says that "the imputation" which Cæsar makes +as to polyandrous customs "cannot be said to have been proved," +_Mythology of the British Islands_, 30. + +[178] _Village Communities_, 17. + +[179] _Principles of Sociology_, i. 714. + +[180] _Arch. Cambrensis_, 6th ser. v. 3. + +[181] _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._, xx. 259. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +MATERIALS AND METHODS + + +The materials of folklore consist of traditional tales (so called) and +traditional customs and superstitions (so called), the feature of both +groups being that at the time of first being recorded and reduced to +writing they existed only by the force of tradition. There is no fixed +time for the record. It is sometimes quite early, as, for instance, +the examples which come to us from historians; it is generally quite +late, namely, the great mass of examples which, during the past +century or so, have been collected directly from the lips or +observances of the people, sometimes by the curious traveller or +antiquary, lately by the professed folklorist. + +The consideration of the relationship of history and folklore has +cleared the ground for definitions and method. Before the material of +which folklore consists can be considered by the light of method, we +must get rid of definitions which are often applied to folklore in its +attributed sense. Folk-tales are not fiction or art, were not invented +for amusement, are not myth in the sense of being imaginative +only.[182] Customs and superstitions are not the result of ignorance +and stupidity. These attributes are true only if folk-tales, customs, +and superstitions are compared with the literary productions and with +the science and the culture of advanced civilisation; and this +comparison is exactly that which should never be undertaken, though +unfortunately it is that which is most generally adopted. The +folk-tale may be lent on occasion to the artist--to Mr. Lang, to Mr. +Jacobs, and their many copyists; and these artists may rejoice at the +wonderful results of the unconscious art that resides in these +products of tradition, but the folk-tale must not be wholly +surrendered. It does not belong to them. It does not belong to art at +all, but to science. That it is artistic in form is an addition to its +characteristics, but has nothing whatever to do with its fundamental +features. Similarly with legend. It may be lent to Malory, to +Tennyson, to Longfellow, to the literary bards of the romance period, +for the purpose of weaving together their story of the wonderful; but +it must not be surrendered to the romancist, and, above all things, +the romances must never be allowed to enter the domain of folklore. +Romances may be stripped of their legends so that the source of +legendary material may be fully utilised, but the romances themselves +belong to literature, and must remain within their own portals. And so +with customs. They may be pleasing and reveal some of the beauties of +the older joyousness of life which has passed away, it is to be +regretted, from modern civilisation; they may be revived in May-day +celebrations, in pageants, in providing our schools with games which +tell of the romance of living. But they do not belong to the lover of +the beautiful or to the revivalists. Equally with the folk-tale they +belong to science. And so also with superstitions. The Psychical +Research Society, the spiritualists, the professional successors of +the mediæval witch and wizard, may turn their attention to traditional +superstitions; but the folklorist refuses to hand them over, and +claims them for science. + +This use of traditional material for modern purposes is not the only +danger to proper definitions. There is also its appearance in the +earlier stages of literature. The traditional narrative, the myth, the +folk-tale or the legend, is not dependent upon the text in which it +appears for the first time. That text, as we have it, was not written +down by contemporary or nearly contemporary authority. Before it had +become a written document it had lived long as oral tradition.[183] In +some cases the written document is itself centuries old, the record +of some early chronicler or some early writer who did not make the +record for tradition's sake. In other cases the written document is +quite modern, the record of a professed lover of tradition. This +unequal method of recording tradition is the main source of the +difficulty in the way of those who cannot accept tradition as a record +of fact. In all cases the test of its value and the interpretation of +its testimony are matters which need special study and examination +before the exact value of each tradition is capable of being +determined. The date when and the circumstances in which a tradition +is first reduced to literary form are important factors in the +evidence as to the credibility of the particular form in which the +tradition is preserved; but they are not all the factors, nor do they +of themselves afford better evidence when they are comparatively +ancient than forms of much later date and of circumstances far +different. It cannot be too often impressed upon the student of +tradition that the tradition itself affords the chief if not the only +sure evidence of its age, its origin, and its meaning; for the +preservation of tradition is due to such varied influences that the +mere fact of preservation, or the particular method or date of +preservation, cannot be relied upon to give the necessary authority +for the authenticity of the tradition. Tradition can never assume the +position of written history, because it does not owe its origin, but +only its preservation, to writing. + +Documentary material is examined as to its palæographical features, as +to the testimony afforded by its author or assumed author, as to its +credibility in dealing with contemporary events or persons, as to its +date, and in other ways according to the nature of the document. +Traditional material has nothing to do with all this. It has no +palæography; it has no author, and if a personal author is assigned to +any given fragment or element it is generally safe to ignore the +tradition as the product of a later age; it does not deal with persons +nor, as a rule, with specific events; it has no date. It has therefore +to undergo a process of its own before it can be accepted as +historical evidence, and this process, if somewhat tedious, is all the +more necessary because of the tender material of which tradition is +composed. This will be made clearer if we understand exactly what the +different classes of tradition are and how they stand to each other. + +Considering the materials of folklore in their true sense and not +their attributed sense then, we may proceed to say something as to +methods. Definitions and rules are needed. No student can attack so +immense a subject without the aid of such necessary machinery, and it +is because the attempt has been so often made ill-equipped in this +respect, that the science of folklore has suffered so much and has +remained so long unrecognised. Already, in dealing with the +relationship of history and folklore, one or two necessary +distinctions in terms have been anticipated. We have discovered that +the impersonal folk-tale is distinguished in a fundamental manner from +the personal or local legend, and that the growth of mythology is a +later process than the growth of myth. These distinctions need, +however, to be systematised and brought into relationship with other +necessary distinctions. The myth and the folk-tale are near +relations, but they are not identical, and it is clear that we need to +know something more about myth. Because mythic tradition has been +found to include many traditions, which of late years have been +claimed to belong to a definitely historical race of people, it must +not be identified with history. This claim is based upon two facts, +the presence of myth in the shape of the folk-tale and the +preservation of much mythic tradition beyond the stage of thought to +which it properly belongs by becoming attached to an historical event, +or series of events, or to an historical personage, and in this way +carrying on its life into historic periods and among historic peoples. +The first position has resulted in a wholesale appropriation of the +folk-tale to the cause of the mythologists; the second position has +hitherto resulted either in a disastrous appropriation of the entire +tradition to mythology, or in a still more disastrous rejection both +of the tradition and the historical event round which it clusters. +Historians doubting the myth doubt too the history; mythologists +doubting the history reject the myth from all consideration, and in +this way much is lost to history which properly belongs to it, and +something is lost to myth. + +If, therefore, I have hitherto laid undue stress upon the foundation +of tradition in the actual facts of life, and upon the close +association of tradition with historic fact, it is because this side +of the question has been so generally neglected. Everything has been +turned on to the mythic side. Folk-tales have been claimed as the +exclusive property of the mythologists, and those who have urged their +foundation on the facts of real life have scarcely been listened to. +There is, however, no ground for the converse process to be +advocated. If tradition is not entirely mythology it is certainly not +all founded on sociology, and the mythic tradition in the possession +of a people advanced in culture has to be considered and accounted +for. It is myth in contact with history, and the contact compels +consideration of the result. + + +I + +The first necessity is for definitions. Careful attention to what has +already been said will reveal the fact that tradition contains three +separate classes, and I would suggest definition of these classes by a +precise application of terms already in use: The _myth_ belongs to the +most primitive stages of human thought, and is the recognisable +explanation of some natural phenomenon, some forgotten or unknown +object of human origin, or some event of lasting influence; the +_folk-tale_ is a survival preserved amidst culture-surroundings of a +more advanced stage, and deals with events and ideas of primitive +times in terms of the experience or of episodes in the lives of +unnamed human beings; the _legend_ belongs to an historical personage, +locality, or event. These are new definitions, and are suggested in +order to give some sort of exactness to the terms in use. All these +terms--myth, folk-tale, and legend--are now used indiscriminately with +no particular definiteness. The possession of three such distinct +terms forms an asset which should be put to its full use, and this +cannot be done until we agree upon a definite meaning for each. + +The first place must be given to mythic tradition. This is not +special to our own, or to any one branch of the human race. It belongs +to all--to the Hindu, the Greek, the Slav, the Teuton, the Celt, the +Semite, and the savage. It goes back to a period of human history +which has only tradition for its authority, in respect of which no +contemporary records exist, and which relates to a time when the +ancestors of now scattered peoples lived together, and when they were +struggling from the position of obedient slaves to all the fears which +unknown nature inflicted on them, to that of observers of the forces +of nature. + +Traditions which are properly classed as myth are those which are too +ancient to be identified with historical personages, and too little +realistic to be a relation of historical episodes. They are rather the +explanations given by primitive philosophers of events which were +beyond their ken, and yet needed and claimed explanation. In this +class of tradition we are in touch with the struggles of the earliest +ancestors of man to learn about the unknown. Our own research in the +realms of the unknown we dignify by the name and glories of science. +The research of our remote ancestors was of like kind, though the +domain of the unknown was so different from our own. It was primitive +science. + +The best type of this class of myth is, I think, the creation +myth.[184] Everywhere, almost, man has for a moment stood apart and +asked himself the question, Whence am I?--stood apart from the +struggle for existence when that struggle was in its most severe +stages. The answer he has given himself was the answer of the Darwin +of his period. From the narrow observation of the natural man and his +surroundings, governed by the enormous impressions of his own life, +the answer has obviously not been scientific in our sense of the term. +But it was scientific. It was the science of primitive man, and if we +have to reject it as science not so good as our science, nay, as not +science at all judged by our standard, we must not deny to primitive +man the claim of having preceded modern man in his observation and +interpretation of the world of nature. + +The range of the creation myth is almost world-wide. It includes +examples from all quarters, and examples of great beauty as well as of +singular, almost grotesque hideousness; the New Zealand myth is surely +the best type of the former, and perhaps the Fijian of the latter. As +Mr. Lang says: "all the cosmogonic myths waver between the theory of +construction, or rather of reconstruction and the theory of evolution +very rudely conceived."[185] + +It is not necessary to quote a large number of examples, because I am +not concerned with their variety nor with their essentials. I am only +anxious to point out their existence as evidence of the scientific +character of primitive myth.[186] It is not to the point to say that +the science was all wrong. What is to the point is to say that the +attempt was made to get at the origin of man and his destiny. Mr. Lang +thinks that "the origin of the world and of man is naturally a problem +which has excited the curiosity of the least developed minds," but in +the use of the term "naturally," I think the stupendous nature of the +effort made by the least developed minds is entirely neglected, and we +miss the opportunity of measuring what this effort might mean. + +When savages ask themselves, as they certainly _do_ ask themselves, +whence the sky, whence the winds, the sun, moon, stars, sea, rivers, +mountains and other natural objects, they reply in terms of good logic +applied to deficient knowledge. All the knowledge they possess is that +based upon their own material senses. And therefore, when they apply +that knowledge to subjects outside their own personality, they deal +with them in terms of their own personality. How did the sky get up +there, above their heads--the sky evidently so lovingly fond of the +earth, so intimately connected with the earth? + +The New Zealand answer to these questions is a great one, by whatever +standard it is measured. Heaven and earth, they say, were husband and +wife, so locked in close embrace that darkness everywhere prevailed. +Their children were ever thinking amongst themselves what might be the +difference between darkness and light. At last, worn out by the +continued darkness, they consulted amongst themselves whether they +should slay their parents, Rangi and Papa, _i.e._ heaven and earth, or +whether they should rend them apart. The fiercest of their children +exclaimed, "Let us slay them!" but the forest, another of the sons, +said, "Nay, not so. It is better to rend them apart, and to let +heaven stand far above us and the earth to lie under our feet. Let the +sky become as a stranger to us, but the earth remain close to us as +our nursing-mother." The brothers consented to this proposal with the +exception of Tawhiri-ma-tea, the father of winds and storms; thus five +of the brothers consented and one would not agree. Then each of the +brothers tries to rend his parents, heaven and earth, asunder. First +the father of cultivated food tries and fails; then the father of fish +and reptiles; then the father of uncultivated food; then the father of +fierce human beings. Then at last slowly uprises Tane-mahuta, the +father of forests, birds, and insects, and he struggles with his +parents; in vain he strives to rend them apart with his hands and +arms. Lo, he pauses; his head is now firmly planted on his mother, the +earth; his feet he raises up and rests against his father, the skies; +he strains his back and limbs with mighty effort, and at last are rent +apart Rangi and Papa, who shriek aloud with cries and groans. But +Tane-mahuta pauses not, he regards not their shrieks and cries; far, +far beneath him he presses down the earth; far, far above him he +thrusts up the sky. Then were discovered a multitude of human beings +whom heaven and earth had begotten, and who had hitherto lain +concealed. But Tawhiri-ma-tea, the wind and storm, the brother who had +not consented, is angry at this rending apart of his parents, and he +rises and follows his father, the sky, and fights fiercely with the +earth and his brothers.[187] + +The explanation of this myth is simple. Unaided by the facts of +science, the New Zealand savages could only think of the facts of +their own experience. Only two personalities could produce the various +products of the world; therefore the earth was the mother and the sky +the father. But they are now separated and apart. Only a personality +could have separated, and the forest, root-sown in the earth, +branch-up in the sky, is evidently the means of this separation. And +so, satisfactorily to their own minds, these rude savages settled the +question of the origin of heaven and earth. + +The close similarity of this to the story of Kronos has frequently +been pointed out; but a Greek story is always worth repeating. Near +the beginning of things Earth gave birth to Heaven. Later, Heaven +became the husband of Earth, and they had many children. Some of these +became the gods of the various elements, among whom were Okeanos, and +Hyperion, the sun. The youngest child was Kronos of crooked counsel, +who ever hated his mighty sire. Now the children of Heaven and Earth +were concealed in the hollows of Earth, and both the Earth and her +children resented this. At last they conspired against their father, +Heaven, and, taking their mother into the counsels, she produced Iron +and bade her children avenge her wrongs. Fear fell upon all of them +except Kronos, and he determined to separate his parents, and with his +iron weapon he effected his object. All the brothers rejoiced except +one, Okeanos, and he remained faithful to his father.[188] + +It would be well for the sake of the story itself to give a creation +myth from India, but I shall have other use for it than its particular +charm. + + "'In the beginning, when Twashtri came to the creation + of woman, he found that he had exhausted his materials + in the making of man, and that no solid elements were + left. In this dilemma, after profound meditation, he + did as follows. He took the rotundity of the moon, and + the curves of creepers, and the clinging of tendrils, + and the trembling of grass, and the slenderness of the + reed, and the bloom of flowers, and the lightness of + leaves, and the tapering of the elephant's trunk, and + the glances of deer, and the clustering of rows of + bees, and the joyous gaiety of sunbeams, and the + weeping of clouds, and the fickleness of the winds, + and the timidity of the hare, and the vanity of the + peacock, and the softness of the parrot's bosom, and + the hardness of adamant, and the sweetness of honey, + and the cruelty of the tiger, and the warm glow of + fire, and the coldness of snow, and the chattering of + jays, and the cooing of the _kókila_, and the + hypocrisy of the crane, and the fidelity of the + _chakrawáka_, and compounding all these together, he + made woman and gave her to man. But after one week, + man came to him and said: Lord, this creature that you + have given me makes my life miserable. She chatters + incessantly and teases me beyond endurance, never + leaving me alone; and she requires incessant + attention, and takes all my time up, and cries about + nothing, and is always idle; and so I have come to + give her back again, as I cannot live with her. So + Twashtri said: Very well; and he took her back. Then + after another week, man came again to him and said: + Lord, I find that my life is very lonely, since I + gave you back that creature. I remember how she used + to dance and sing to me, and look at me out of the + corner of her eye, and play with me, and cling to me; + and her laughter was music, and she was beautiful to + look at, and soft to touch; so give her back to me + again. So Twashtri said: Very well; and gave her back + again. Then after only three days, man came back to + him again and said: Lord, I know not how it is; but + after all I have come to the conclusion that she is + more of a trouble than a pleasure to me; so please + take her back again. But Twashtri said: Out on you! Be + off! I will have no more of this. You must manage how + you can. Then man said: But I cannot live with her. + And Twashtri replied: Neither could you live without + her. And he turned his back on man, and went on with + his work. Then man said: What is to be done? for I + cannot live either with her or without her.'"[189] + +Now this myth has, so far as its central fact is concerned, its +counterpart in Celtic folklore. In the Welsh Mabinogi of Math, son of +Mathonwy, it is related how Arianrod laid a destiny upon her son, whom +she would not recognise, that he should never have a wife of the race +that now inhabits the earth, and how Gwydion declared that he should +have a wife notwithstanding. "They went thereupon unto Math, the son +of Mathonwy, and complained unto him most bitterly of Arianrod. Well, +said Math, we will seek, I and thou, by charms and magic, to form a +wife for him out of flowers. So they took the blossoms of the oak, and +the blossoms of the broom, and the blossoms of the meadow-sweet, and +produced from them a maiden, the fairest and most graceful that man +ever saw." No one can doubt that this interesting fragment of Welsh +tradition takes us back to a creation legend of the same order as the +Indian legend, and that the two widely separated parallels belong to +the period when men were carving out for themselves theories as to the +origin of women in relation to men. + +It is impossible to deny a place among these myths of creation to the +Hebrew tradition of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The first +chapter of Genesis is the answer which the early Hebrews gave to the +scientific question as to the origin of man. How much it cost them to +arrive at this conclusion one cannot guess, one only knows that it has +become a glory to the ages of Hebrew history, as well as to the +civilisation of Christianity. Unfortunately it has become much more. +The science of the primitive Hebrew has been adopted as the God-given +revelation to all mankind. It is the function of folklore to correct +this error, to restore the Hebrew tradition to its proper place among +the myths of the world which have answered the cry of early man for +the knowledge of his origin. There is no degradation here. Science is +no longer in doubt as to the origin of man within the evolutionary +process of the natural world, and it rightly rejects the first chapter +of Genesis as of value to modern research. But science should accept +it as a chapter in the history of anthropology, a chapter which has +only proved not to be true, because of the limited range of early man +in the facts about man, but a chapter, nevertheless, which has the +inherent value of a faithful record of man's search after truth. This +is a great position. This is the revelation which is made to us from +the first chapter of Genesis, and when the theologian is bold and able +enough to step outside the formularies of his ancient faith, and reach +the magnificent world of thought which lies in front of him by the +revelations of scientific discovery, he will consider the +anthropological interpretation of the Hebrew Bible as one of the +necessary elements of his equipment. There is on present lines a +whole world of thought between science and religion, although they +both have the same object. They both seek the great unknown. Science, +however, gives up all efforts in the past which have proved futile and +erroneous, cheerfully surrenders all errors of research and +interpretation, starts investigation afresh, begins new discoveries, +and rewrites the story they have to tell. Religion, on the other hand, +comes to a full stop when once she has made or accepted a discovery, +when once she has pronounced that the great unknown has become known +to her votaries and supporters. She is skilful to use the results of +science up to the point where they serve her purpose, and to use the +terms of science in order to build up her shattering position. But she +does not advance. She does not accept the first chapter of Genesis as +a wonderful revelation of the early stages of human investigation into +the realms of the unknown, but still keeps to her old formula of a +revelation of the deity as to the origin of man, and she does not see +that by this attitude she is lessening every day her capacity for +teaching truth. + +I think the attitude of science to the Hebrew tradition is only a +little less unfortunate than that of religion. Professor Huxley +employed all the resources of his great knowledge to disprove the +scientific accuracy of the tradition, and when one rereads his +chapters on this subject[190] one wonders at the absence of the sense +of proportion. Perhaps it was necessary, considering the place which +the Hebrew tradition occupies in civilised thought, to show its utter +inconsistency with the facts of nature, but it was equally necessary +to show that it has its place in the history of human thought. The +folklorist replaces it among the myths of creation, and then proceeds +to analyse and value it. The Hebrew is shown by the myth he adopted to +have frankly acknowledged that the origin of man and of the world was +undiscoverable by him. Whatever older myths he once possessed, he +discarded them in favour of a mythic God-creator, and this is only +another way of stating that the mystery of man's origin could not, to +the Hebrew mind, be met by such a myth as the New Zealander believed +in, or as the Kumis believed in, but could only be met by the larger +conception of a special creation. The Hebrew could not find his answer +in nature, so he appealed to super-nature. His God was the unknown +God, and the realm of the unknown God was the unknowable. Though in +terms this may not be the interpretation of the Hebrew creation myth, +its ultimate resolve is this; and because modern science has +penetrated beyond this confession of the unknown origin of man to the +evolution of man, it should not therefore treat contemptuously the +effort of early Hebrew science. Because it is not possible to admit +this effort as part of modern science, it must not be rejected from +the entire region of science. It must be respected as one of the many +efforts which have made possible the last effort of all which +proclaims that man has kinship with all the animal world. + +These points illustrate the unsatisfactory attitude of science and +religion to myth. There is still to notice the unsatisfactory +attitude of the folklorist. Wrong interpretation of special classes of +myth is, of course, to be anticipated in the commencement of a great +study such as folklore; but there are also wrong interpretations of +the fundamental basis of myth. Thus even Mr. Frazer, with all his vast +research into savage thought and action, doubts the possession of good +logical faculty by mankind. If mankind, he says, had always been +logical and wise, history would not be a long chronicle of folly and +crime.[191] But surely we cannot doubt man's logical powers. They have +been too strong for his facts. He has applied mercilessly all the +powers of his logical faculties upon isolated observations of +phenomena, and it is this limited application which has produced the +folly and crime. I venture to think that civilised man shares with the +savage of to-day, and with the primitive ancestors of all mankind, the +charge of applying perfectly good logic to an insufficiency of facts, +and producing therefrom fresh chapters of folly and crime. + +If myth is correctly defined as primitive science, as I have ventured +to suggest, it is important to know how it assumes a place among the +traditions of a people. Primitive science was also primitive belief. +If it accounted for the origin of mankind, of the sun, moon, and +stars, of the earth and the trees, it accounted for them as creations +of a higher power than man, or, at all events, of a great and +specially endowed man, and higher powers than man were of the unknown +realm. The unknown was the awful. Primitive science and primitive +belief were therefore on one and the same plane.[192] They were +subjects to be treated with reverence and with awe. The story into +which the myth was so frequently woven is not a story to those who +believe in the truth of the myth. It assumes the personal shape, +because the personal is the only machinery by which primitive man is +capable of expressing himself. It was held only by tradition, because +tradition was the only means of transmitting it, and it was of a +sacred character, because sacred things and beliefs were the only +forces which influenced primitive thought. When it was repeated to new +generations of learners, it was not a case of story-telling--it was a +matter of the profoundest importance. Everywhere among the lowest +savagery we find the secrets of the group kept from all but the +initiated, and these secrets are the traditions which have become +sacred, traditions expressed sometimes in ceremonial, sometimes in +rites, sometimes in narratives. Thus the mythological and religious +knowledge of the Bushmen is imparted in dances, and when a man is +ignorant of some myth, he will say, "I do not dance that dance," +meaning that he does not belong to the group which preserves that +particular sacred chapter.[193] The Ashantees have an interesting +creation myth which is stated to be the foundation of all their +religious opinions.[194] Mr. Howitt, in his important chapter on +"Beliefs and Burial Practices,"[195] seems to me to exactly interpret +the savage mind. The first thing he notes is the belief--a belief that +"the earth is flat, surmounted by the solid vault of the sky," that +"there is water all round the flat earth," that the sun is a woman, +and that the moon was once a man who lived on earth, and so on. Then, +secondly, he notes the manner in which these beliefs are translated to +and held by the people, the myth in point of fact--unfortunately, Mr. +Howitt calls it a legend--wherein it is perfectly obvious that the +Australian is interpreting the facts of nature in the only language +known to him to be applicable, namely, that of his own personality. +Messrs. Spencer and Gillen produce much the same kind of +evidence,[196] and describe a ceremony among the northern tribes +connected with the myth of the sun, which ends in a newly initiated +youth being brought up, "shown the decorations, and had everything +explained to him."[197] Among the central tribes the same authorities +describe minutely the initiation ceremonies, during which the initiate +boy "is instructed for the first time in any of the sacred matters +referring to totems, and it is by means of the performances which are +concerned with certain animals, or rather, apparently with the +animals, but in reality with Alcheringa individuals who were the +direct transformations of such animals, that the traditions dealing +with this subject, which is of the greatest importance in the eyes of +the natives, are firmly impressed upon the mind of the novice, to whom +everything which he sees and hears is new and surrounded with an air +of mystery."[198] Sir George Grey, speaking of the traditions of the +Maori which he collected, says his reader will be in "the position of +one who listens to a heathen and savage high priest, explaining to him +in his own words and in his own energetic manner, the traditions in +which he earnestly believes, and unfolding the religious opinions upon +which the faith and hopes of his race rest."[199] This "school of +mythology and history," as it is significantly termed in John White's +_Ancient History of the Maori_, was "Whare-Kura, the sacred school in +which the sons of high priests were taught our mythology and history," +and it "stood facing the east in the precincts of the sacred place of +Mua." The school was opened by the priests in the autumn, and +continued from sunset to midnight every night for four or five months +in succession. The chief priest sat next to the door. It was his duty +to commence the proceedings by repeating a portion of history; the +other priests followed in succession, according to rank. On the south +side sat the old and most accomplished priests, "whose duty it was to +insist on a critical and verbatim rehearsal of all the ancient +lore."[200] The American-Indian account, by the Iroquois, of how myths +were told to an ancient chief and an assembly of the people on a +circular open space in a deep forest, wherein was a large wheel-shaped +stone, from beneath which came a voice which told the tale of the +former world, and how the first people became what they are at +present,[201] is in exact accord with this evidence. The priestly +novice among the Indians of British Guiana is taught the traditions of +the tribe, while the medicine man of the Bororó in Brazil has to learn +certain ritual songs and the languages of birds, beasts, and +trees.[202] + +I do not want to press the point too far, because evidence is not easy +to get on account of the incomplete fashion in which it has been +collected and presented to the student. The records of native life are +divided off into chapters arranged, not on the basis of native ideas, +but on the basis of civilised ideas, and from this cause we get myth +and belief in different chapters as if they had no connection with +each other; we get myths treated as if they were but the +fancy-begotten amusements of the individual, instead of the serious +ideas of the collective people about the elements of nature to which +they have directed their attention. Mr. J. A. Farrer comes practically +to this correct conclusion,[203] while Mr. Jevons seems to me to have +arrived at the same result in spite of some false intermediate steps, +due to his failure to discriminate between myth and mythology.[204] +Failures of this kind are of almost infinite loss to scientific +research. They stop the results which might flow from the stages +correctly reached, and hide the full significance which arises from +the fact that man's aspirations are always so much in excess of his +accomplished acts. Poetry, philosophy, prayer, worship, are all short +of the ideal; and the question may surely arise whether the actual +accomplishments of man in civilisation, as compared with those of man +in savagery, afford any sort of indication of the distance between +man's accomplishment and his aspiration at any age. If man has never +travelled at one moment of time, or at one definite period of life, +all this distance in thought, it may still be possible to use this +distance between savage and cultured accomplishment as a standard of +measurement between accomplishment and ideal, wherever the material +for such a purpose is available. If folklorists will keep such a +possibility in mind, whenever they are called upon to investigate +myth, it will at all events save them from proceeding upon lines which +cannot lead to progress in the investigation of human history. + +The primitive myth does not include all that properly comes within the +definition of myth. There must be included the myth formed to explain +a rite or ceremony, which originating in most ancient times has been +kept up at the instance of a particular religion or cult, but the +meaning and intent of which has been forgotten amidst the progress of +a later civilisation. Pausanias is the great storehouse of such myths +as this, and Mr. Lang has, more than any other scholar, examined and +explained the process which has gone on. + +There is also included in this secondary class of myth, the myths upon +which are founded the great systems of mythology. The Hindu mythology, +in spite of all that has been done to place it on the pedestal of +primitive original thought, is definitely relegated to the secondary +position by its best exponents. The Vedic religion is tribal in form, +and in the pre-mythological stage.[205] In the Rámáyaná and +Mahábhárata, on the contrary, "we trace unequivocal indications of a +departure from the elemental worship of the Vedas, and the origin or +elaboration of legends which form the great body of the mythological +religion of the Hindus."[206] The pre-mythological and the +mythological stages of Hindu religion, therefore, are both +discoverable from the traditional literature which has descended from +both ages, and this fact is important in the classification of the +various phases of tradition. When once it is admitted that the +beginnings of mythology are to be traced in one section of the people +who are supposed to derive a common system of mythology from a common +home, future research will hesitate to interpret, as Kuhn and Max +Müller and their school have done, the traditions of Celts, Teutons, +and Scandinavians as the detritus of ancient mythologies instead of +the beginnings of what, under favourable conditions, might have grown +into mythologies. Mythological tradition is essentially a secondary +not a primary stage. This fact is overlooked by many authorities, and +I have noted some of the unfortunate results. It is not overlooked by +those who study the principles of their subject as well as the +details. Thus, as Robertson-Smith has so well explained, "mythology +was no essential part of ancient religion, for it had no sacred +sanction and no binding force on the worshippers.... Belief in a +certain series of myths was neither obligatory as a part of true +religion, nor was it supposed that by believing a man acquired +religious merit and conciliated the favour of the gods. What was +obligatory or meritorious was the exact performance of certain sacred +acts prescribed by religious tradition. This being so, it follows that +mythology ought not to take the prominent place that is too often +assigned to it in the scientific study of ancient faiths."[207] This +is exactly the position, and all that I have advanced for the purpose +of aiming at a classification of the various kinds of tradition is in +accord with this view. + +All that I am anxious to prove, all that it is possible to prove, from +these considerations of the position occupied by myth, is that myths +constitute a part of the serious life of the people. They belong to +the men and women, perhaps some of them to the men only and others to +the women only, but essentially to the life of the people. + +I do not think that even Mr. Hartland in his special study of the +subject has quite understood this. He begins at a later period in the +history of tradition, the period of story-telling proper, when myths +have become folk-tales,[208] and he treats this period as the earliest +instead of the secondary stage of myth. In this stage something has +happened to push myth back from the centre of the people's life to a +lesser position--a new religious influence, a new civilisation, a new +home, any one of the many influences, or any combination of +influences, which have affected peoples and sent them along the paths +of evolution and progress. + +It is in this way that we come upon the folk-tale. The folk-tale is +secondary to the myth. It is the primitive myth dislodged from its +primitive place. It has become a part of the life of the people, +independently of its primary form and object and in a different +sense. The mythic or historic fact has been obscured, or has been +displaced from the life of the people. But the myth lives on through +the affections of the people for the traditions of their older life. +They love to tell the story which their ancestors revered as myth even +though it has lost its oldest and most impressive significance. The +artistic setting of it, born of the years through which it has lived, +fashioned by the minds which have handed it down and embellished it +through the generations, has helped its life. It has become the fairy +tale or the nursery tale. It is told to grown-up people, not as belief +but as what was once believed; it is told to children, not to men; to +lovers of romance, not to worshippers of the unknown; it is told by +mothers and nurses, not by philosophers or priestesses; in the +gathering ground of home life, or in the nursery, not in the hushed +sanctity of a great wonder.[209] + +The influence of changing conditions upon the position of mythic +tradition is well illustrated by Dr. Rivers in his account of the +Todas. This people, he says, "are rapidly forgetting their folk-tales +and the legends of their gods [that is, their myths], while their +ceremonial remains to a large extent intact and seems likely to +continue so for some time." Dr. Rivers attributes this to the effect +of intercourse with other people. This intercourse has had no +missionary results and has not therefore affected their religious +rites and ceremonies, but has shown itself largely in the form of loss +of interest in the stories of the past.[210] In other words, and in +accordance with the definitions I am suggesting, the primitive myths +of the Todas have definitely assumed a secondary position as +folk-tale, and not a strong position at that, while religion has clung +to rite and formula. + +Primitive myth dislodged in this fashion is sometimes preserved in a +special manner and for religious purposes in its ancient setting as a +belief, or as a tradition belonging to sacred places and appertaining +to sacred things. This is what has happened to the Genesis myth of the +Hebrews; it has also happened to some of the sacred myths of the +Hindus, and perhaps to some of the sacred myths of the Greeks. In this +position the myth may even be reduced to writing, and where this +happens all the sacredness appertaining to tradition is transferred to +the written instrument. + +Thus in Arkadia, Pausanias tells us, was a temple of Demeter, and +every second year, when they were celebrating what they called the +greater mysteries, they took out certain writings which bore on the +mysteries, and having read them in the hearing of the initiated, put +them back in their place that same night.[211] In India examples occur +of land being held for telling stories at the Ucháos or festivals of +the goddess Dévi.[212] The colleges of Rome, composed of men specially +skilled in religious lore, and charged with the preservation of +traditional rules regarding the more general religious observances, +the proper fulfilment of which implied a certain amount of +information, and rendered it necessary for the state in its own +interest to provide the faithful transmission of that information, +have been described by Mommsen.[213] + +I pass to the third class of tradition, namely, the legend, and this +need not detain us long. We have already illustrated it by the notes +on history and folklore, and by its very nature it belongs essentially +to the historic age. In dealing with legend, there is first to +determine whether its characters are historical, or are unknown to +history. If the former, there is next to disengage those parts of the +tradition which, by their parallels to other traditions, or by their +nature, may be safely certified as not belonging to the historical +hero or to the period of the historical hero. If the latter, the +details must be analysed to see what elements of culture are contained +therein. In both cases tradition will have served a purpose, and that +purpose must be sought. Tradition does not attach itself to an +historical personage without cause. There is necessity for it, and in +the case of Hereward the necessity was proved to have been the great +gap in the history of a national hero. Tradition does not preserve +details of primitive culture-history without cause, and in the +examples already quoted it has been shown that this cause rests upon +the indissoluble links which the uncultured peasant of to-day has with +the pre-cultured past of his race. He will have forgotten all about +his tribal life and its consequences, but will retain legends which +are founded upon tribal life. He will have lost touch with ideas which +proclaim that man or woman not of his tribe is an enemy to be feared +or attacked, but will gladly relate legends which deal with events +growing out of a state of perpetual strife among the ancestors of +people now in friendship. He will not understand the personal tie of +ancient times, but will listen to the legends attached to places in +such strange fashion as to make places seem to possess a personal life +full of events and happenings. He will know nothing of giants and +ogres, but will love the legends which tell of heroes meeting and +conquering such beings. The history of the school books is nothing to +him, but the history unknowingly contained in the legends is very +real, and is applied over and over again to such later events as by +force of circumstances become stamped upon the popular mind and thus +succeed in displacing the original. It would be an important +contribution to history to have these legends collected and examined +by a competent authority. They would be beacon lights of national +history preserved in legend. + +It will be readily conceded, I think, that in attempting these +definitions of the various classes of tradition, and in illustrating +them from the records of man's life in various parts of the world, it +has been impossible for me to deal with certain points in the problem +before us. In particular I have not considered the favourite subject +of the diffusion of folk-tales. I do not believe in a general system +of diffusion, such a system, I mean, as would suffice to account for +the parallels to be found in almost all countries.[214] I think +diffusion occupies a very small part indeed of the problem, and that +it only takes place in late historical times. It is a large subject, +and I have virtually stated my answer to the theory of diffusion in +the definitions and classifications which I have ventured to put +forward. It may be considered by some that other facts in the +conditions of myth, folk-tale, and legend would not confirm the +general outline I have given of the three classes of tradition to +which I have applied these terms; and of course there are many side +issues in so great a problem. I would not urge the correctness of the +views I have put forward as applicable to every part of the world, or +to every phase in the history of tradition; but I would urge that in +the great centres of traditional life they are practically the only +means of arriving at the position occupied by tradition, and that in +all cases they form a working hypothesis upon which future inquirers +may well base their researches. + + +II + +Of late years there have been placed alongside of the traditional +myth, folk-tale, and legend many other products of tradition--customs, +ceremonies, practices, and beliefs, and it has been argued, and argued +strongly and convincingly, that the tradition which has brought down +the saga and song as far-off echoes of an otherwise unrecorded past +has also brought down these other elements which must also belong to +the same distant past. This argument is now no longer seriously +disputed. But there still remains open for discussion the exact kind +of evidence which these elements of tradition supply, the particular +period or people from which they have descended, the particular +department of history to which they relate. All this is highly +disputed. + +Folklore has in this department been greatly aided by Dr. Tylor's +impressive terminology, whereby the custom, ceremony, practice, and +belief which have come down by tradition are classed as "survivals." +This term implies an ancient origin, and the necessary work of the +student is to get back to the original. Until very lately the fact of +survival has carried with it the presumption of ancient origin, but +Mr. Crawley has raised an objection which I think it is well to meet. +He urges that "the history of religious phenomena exemplifies in the +most striking manner the continuity of modern and primitive culture; +but there is a tendency on the part of students to underestimate this +continuity, and, by explaining it away on a theory of survivals, to +lose the only opportunity we have of deducing the permanent elements +of human nature." + +This sentence at once prepares us for much that follows; but Mr. +Crawley leaves the point itself untouched, except by implication, +until he is in the middle of his book, and then we have his dictum +that "it may be finally asserted that nothing which has to do with +human needs ever survives as a mere survival."[215] It will at once be +seen that we have here a new estimate of the force which survivals +play in the evidence of human progress. They prove the continuity of +modern and primitive culture. They are part and parcel of modern life, +filling a vacuum which has not been filled by modern thought, carrying +on, therefore, the standard of religious belief and religious ideal +from point to point until they can be replaced by newer ideas and +concepts. This definition of survivals is very bold. It answers Mr. +Crawley's purpose and argument in a way which no other fact in human +history, so far as we can judge, could answer it. It is the basis upon +which his whole argument is founded. Occupying such an important +place, it should have received explicit investigation, instead of +being treated as a sort of side issue of incidental importance. + +When explicit investigation is undertaken, Mr. Crawley's case must, I +think, break down. Survivals are carried along the stream of time by +people whose culture-status is on a level with the culture in which +the survivals originated. It matters not that these people are placed +in the midst of a higher civilisation or alongside of a higher +civilisation. When once the higher civilisation penetrates to them, +the survival is lost. There is not continuity between modern and +primitive thought here, but, on the contrary, there is strong +antagonism, ending with the defeat and death of the primitive +survival. This is the evidence wherever survivals can be studied, +whether in the midst of our own civilisation, or even of primitive +civilisations, which constantly exhibit traces of older beliefs and +ideas being pushed out of existence by newer. It is, indeed, a mistake +to suppose, as some authorities apparently do, that survivals can only +be studied when they are embedded in a high civilisation. It is almost +a more fruitful method to study them when they appear in the lower +strata; and even in such a case as the Australian aborigines I think +that it is the neglect of observing survivals that has led to some of +the erroneous theories which have recently been advanced against +Messrs. Spencer and Gillen's conclusions. + +For the purpose of examining survivals in custom, rite, and belief, we +have nothing more than a series of notes of customs and beliefs +obtaining among the lower and lowest classes of the people, and not +being the direct teaching of any religious or academic body. These +notes are very unequal in value, owing to the manner in which they +have been made. They are often accidental, they are seldom if ever the +result of trained observation, and they are often mixed up with +theories as to their origin and relationship to modern society and +modern religious beliefs. To a great extent the two first of these +apparent defects are real safeguards, for they certify to the +genuineness of the record, a certificate which is more needed in this +branch of inquiry than perhaps in any other. But with regard to the +third defect there is considerable danger. An inquirer with an object +is so apt to find what he wishes to find, either by the exercise of +his own credulity or the ingenuous extension of inquiry into answer; +whereas the inquirer who is content to note with the simplicity of +those who occupy themselves by collecting what others have not +collected, may be deficient in the details he gives, but is seldom +wrong or violently wrong in what he has recorded. In every direction, +however, great caution is needed, and especially where any section of +custom and belief has already been the subject of inquiry. It is +indeed almost safe to say that all research into custom and belief, +even that of such masters as Tylor, Lang, Hartland, Frazer, and +others, needs re-examination before we can finally and unreservedly +accept the conclusions which have been arrived at. + +Such an examination must be directed towards obtaining some necessary +points in the life-history of each custom, rite, and belief. We have +to approach this part of our work guided by the fact that folklore +cannot by any possibility develop. The doctrine of evolution is so +strong upon us that we are apt to apply its leading idea insensibly to +almost every branch of human history. But folklore being what it is, +namely the survival of traditional ideas or practices among a people +whose principal members have passed beyond the stage of civilisation +which those ideas and practices once represented, it is impossible for +it to have any development. When the original ideas and practices +which it represents were current as the standard form of culture, +their future history was then to be looked for along the lines of +development. But so soon as they dropped back behind the standard of +culture, whatever the cause and whenever the event happened, then +their future history could only be traced along the lines of decay and +disintegration. We are acquainted with some of the laws which mark the +development of primitive culture, but we have paid no attention to the +influences which mark the existence of survivals in culture. For this +purpose we must first ascertain what are the component parts of each +custom or superstition; secondly, we must classify the various +elements in each example; and thirdly, we must group the various +examples into classes which associate with each other in motif and +character. + +By this treble process we shall have before us examples of the changes +in folklore, and demonstrably they are changes of decay, not of +development. By grouping and arranging these changes it may be +possible to ascertain and set down the laws of change--for that there +are laws I am nearly certain. It is these laws which must be +discovered before we can go very far forward in our studies. Every +item of custom and superstition must be tested by analysis to find out +under which power it lives on in survival, and according to the result +in each case, so may we hope to find out something about the original +from which the survival has descended. + +Each folklore item, in point of fact, has a life history of its own, +and a place in relationship to other items. Just as the biography of +each separate word in our language has been investigated in order to +get at Aryan speech as the interpretation of Aryan thought, so must +the biography of each custom, superstition, or story be investigated +in order to get at Aryan belief or something older than Aryan belief. +We must try to ascertain whether each item represents primitive belief +by direct descent, by symbolisation, or by changes which may be +discovered by some law equivalent to Grimm's law in the study of +language. + +Analysis of each custom, rite, or belief will show it to consist of +three distinct parts, which I would distinguish by the following +names:-- + +1. The formula. + +2. The purpose. + +3. The penalty or result. + +It will be found that these three component parts are not equally +tenacious of their original form in all examples. In one example we +may find the formula either actually or symbolically perfect, while +the purpose and penalty may not be easily distinguishable. Or it may +happen that the formula remains fairly perfect; the purpose may be set +down to the desire of doing what has always been done, and the penalty +may be given as luck or ill-luck. Of course, further variations are +possible, but these are usually the more general forms. + +I will give an example or two of these phases of change or degradation +in folklore. First, then, where the formula is complete, or nearly so, +and the purpose and penalty have both disappeared. At Carrickfergus it +was formerly the custom for mothers, when giving their child the +breast for the last time, to put an egg in its hand and sit on the +threshold of the outer door with a leg on each side, and this ceremony +was usually done on a Sunday. Undoubtedly I think we have here a very +nearly perfect formula; but what is its purpose, and what is the +penalty for non-observance? Upon both these latter points the example +is silent, and before they can be restored we must search among the +other fragments of threshold customs and see whether they exist either +separately from the formula or with a less perfect example. Secondly, +where the formula has disappeared and the purpose and penalty remain, +nearly the whole range of those floating beliefs and superstitions +which occupy so largely the collections of folklore would supply +examples. But I will select one example which will be to the point. +When the Manx cottager looks for the traces of a foot in the ashes of +his firegrate for the purpose of seeing in what direction the toes +point, the penalty being that, if they point to the door, a death will +occur, if to the fireplace, a birth,[216] there is no trace of the +ancient formula. It is true we may find the missing formula in other +lands; for instance, among some of the Indian tribes of Bombay. There +the formula is elaborate and complete, while the purpose and the +penalty are exactly the same as in the Isle of Man. But this hasty +travelling to other lands is not, I contend, legitimate in the first +place. We must begin by seeing whether there is not some other item of +folklore, perhaps now not even connected with the house-fire group of +customs and superstitions, whose true place is that of the lost +formula of this interesting Manx custom. And when once we have taught +ourselves the way to restore these lost formulæ to their rightful +places, the explanation of the mere waifs and strays of folklore will +be attended with some approach to scientific accuracy, and we shall +then be in a position to get rid of that shibboleth so dear to the +non-folklore critic, that all these things we deal with are "mere +superstitions." + +Thirdly, when the formula is complete, or nearly so, and the purpose +and penalty become generalised. At St. Edmundsbury a white bull, which +enjoyed full ease and plenty in the fields, and was never yoked to the +plough or employed in any service, was led in procession in the chief +streets of the town to the principal gate of the monastery, attended +by all the monks singing and a shouting crowd. Knowing what Grimm has +collected concerning the worship of the white bull, knowing what is +performed in India to this day, there is no doubt that this formula of +the white bull at St. Edmundsbury has been preserved in very good +condition. The purpose of it was, however, not so satisfactory. It is +said to have taken place whenever a married woman wished to have a +child; and the penalty is lost in the obvious generalisation that not +to perform the ceremony is not to obtain the desired end.[217] + +The second process, that of classification of the various elements in +each example, will reveal some characteristics of folklore, which, so +far as I know, have never yet been taken count of. One very important +characteristic is the prevalence of a particular belief attached to +different objects in different places. Thus Sir John Rhys in his +examination of Manx folklore stopped short in his explanation of the +superstition of the first-foot, because he had heard that, while in +the Isle of Man it was attached to a dark man, elsewhere it was +attached to a fair man. Of the examples where, on New Year's morning, +it is held to be unlucky to meet a dark person, I may mention +Lincolnshire, Durham, Yorkshire, and Northumberland. It is, on the +contrary, _lucky_ to meet, as first-foot, a dark-haired man in +Lancashire, the Isle of Man, and Aberdeenshire.[218] In these cases we +get the element of "dark" or "fair" as the varying factor of the +superstition; but instances occur in Sutherlandshire, the West of +Scotland, and in Durham, where the varying factor rests upon sex--a +man being lucky and a woman being unlucky. + +Similarly of the well-known superstition about telling the bees of the +death of their owner, in Berkshire, Bucks, Cheshire, Cornwall, +Cumberland, Lincolnshire, Lancashire, Monmouthshire, Notts, +Northumberland, Shropshire, Somersetshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Sussex, +Wilts, Worcestershire, it appears that a relative may perform the +ceremony, or sometimes a servant merely, while in Derbyshire, Hants, +Northants, Rutland, and Yorkshire it must be the heir or successor of +the deceased owner. Again, while in the above places the death of the +owner is told to the bees, in other places it is told to the cattle, +and in Cornwall to the trees;[219] and, in other places, marriages as +well as death are told to the bees.[220] + +In some cases the transfer from one object to another of a particular +superstition is a matter of absolute observation. Thus, the labourers +in Norfolk considered it a presage of death to miss a "bout" in corn +or seed sowing. The superstition is now transferred to the drill, +which has only been invented for a century. Again, in Ireland, it is +now considered unlucky to give any one a light for his pipe on +May-day--a very modern superstition, apparently. But the pipe in this +case has been the means of preserving the old superstition found in +many places of not giving a light from the homestead fire. + +I will just refer to one other example, the well-known custom of +offering rags at sacred wells. Sir John Rhys thought that the object +of these scraps of clothing being placed at the well was for +transferring the disease from the sick person to some one else. But I +ventured to oppose this idea, and considered that they were offerings, +pure and simple, to the spirit of the well, and referred to examples +in confirmation. Among other items, I have come across an account of +an Irish "station," as it is called, at a sacred well, the details of +which fully bear out my view as to the nature of the rags deposited at +the shrine being offerings to the local deity. One of the devotees, in +true Irish fashion, made his offering accompanied by the following +words: "To St. Columbkill--I offer up this button, a bit o' the +waistband o' my own breeches, an' a taste o' my wife's petticoat, in +remimbrance of us havin' made this holy station; an' may they rise up +in glory to prove it for us in the last day."[221] I shall not attempt +to account for the presence of the usual Irish humour in this, to the +devotee, most solemn offering; but I point out the undoubted nature of +the offerings and their service in the identification of their +owners--a service which implies their power to bear witness in +spirit-land to the pilgrimage of those who deposited them during +lifetime at the sacred well.[222] + +Now, in all these cases there is an original and a secondary, or +derivative, form of the superstition, and it is our object to trace +out which is which. Do the rags deposited at wells symbolise offerings +to the local deity? If so, they bring us within measurable distance of +a cult which rests upon faith in the power of natural objects to harm +or render aid to human beings. Does the question of first-foot rest +upon the colour of the hair or upon the sex of the person? I think, +looking at all the examples I have been able to examine, that colour +is really the older basis of the superstition, and, if so, +ethnological considerations are doubtless the root of it. Again, if +the eldest son of the deceased owner of bees appears in the earliest +form of the death-telling ceremony, we have an interesting fragment of +the primitive house-ritual of our ancestors. + +When, however, we come upon the worship of local deities, when we can +suggest ethnological elements in folklore, and when we can speak of +the house-father, and can see that duties are imposed upon him by +traditional custom, unknown to any rules of civilised society, we are +in the presence of facts older than those of historic times. It is +thus that folklore so frequently points back to the past before the +age of history. Over and over again we pause before the facts of +folklore, which, however explained, always lead us back to some +unexplored epoch of history, some undated period, which has not +revealed its heroes, but which has left us a heritage of its mental +strivings. + +The method of using these notes of custom, rite, and belief for +scientific purposes is therefore a very important matter. It is +essential that each single item should be treated definitely and +separately from all other items, and, further, that the exact wording +of the original note upon each separate item should be kept intact. +There must be no juggling with the record, no emendations such as +students of early literary work are so fond of attempting. Whatever +the record, it must be accepted. The original account of every custom +and belief is a corpus, not to be tampered with except for the purpose +of scientific analysis, and then after that purpose has been effected +all the parts must be put together again, and the original restored to +its form. + +The handling of each custom or belief and of its separate parts in +this way enables us, in the first place, to disentangle it from the +particular personal or social stratum in which it happens to have been +preserved. It may have become attached to a place, an object, a +season, a class of persons, a rule of life, and may have been +preserved by means of this attachment. But because every item of +folklore of the same nature is not attached to the same agent +wherever that particular item has been preserved, it is important not +to stereotype an accidental association as a permanent one. Moreover, +the modern association is not necessarily the ancient association, and +there is the further difficulty created by writers on folklore +classifying into chapters of their own creation the items they collect +or discuss.[223] In the second place, we are enabled to prepare each +item of folklore for the place to which it may ultimately be found to +belong. The first step in this preparation is to get together all the +examples of any one custom, rite, or belief which have been preserved, +and to compare these examples with each other, first as to common +features of likeness, secondly as to features of unlikeness. By this +process we are able to restore what may be deficient from the +insufficiency of any particular record--and such a restoration is +above all things essential--and to present for examination not an +isolated specimen but a series of specimens, each of which helps to +bring back to observation some portion of the original. The +reconstruction of the original is thus brought within sight. + +Generally, it may be stated that the points of likeness determine and +classify all the examples of one custom or belief; the points of +unlikeness indicate the line of decay inherent in survivals. + +This partial equation and partial divergence between different +examples of the same custom or belief allows a very important point to +be made in the study of survivals. We can estimate the value of the +elements which equate in any number of examples, and the value of the +elements which diverge; and by noting how these values differ in the +various examples we shall discover the extent of the overlapping of +example with example, which is of the utmost importance. A given +custom consists, say, of six elements, which by their constancy among +all the examples and by their special characteristics may be +considered as primary elements, in the form in which the custom has +survived. Let us call these primary elements by algebraical signs, +a, b, c, d, e, f. A second example of the same custom has +four of these elements, a, b, c, d, and two divergences, which +may be considered as secondary elements, and which we will call by the +signs g, h. A third example has elements a, b, and divergences +g, h, i, k. A further example has none of the primary elements, +but only divergences g, h, i, l, m. Then the statement of the case +is reduced to the following:-- + + 1 = a, b, c, d, e, f. + 2 = a, b, c, d + g, h. + 3 = a, b + g, h, i, k. + 4 = + g, h, i, l, m. + +The first conclusion to be drawn from this is that the overlapping of +the several examples (No. 1 overlapping No. 2 at a, b, c, d, +No. 2 overlapping No. 3 at a, b + g, h, No. 3 overlapping No. +4 at + g, h, i) shows all these several examples to be but +variations of one original custom, example No. 4, though possessing +none of the elements of example No. 1, being the same custom as +example No. 1. Secondly, the divergences g to m mark the line of +decay which this particular custom has undergone since it ceased to +belong to the dominant culture of the people, and dropped back into +the position of a survival from a former culture preserved only by a +fragment of the people.[224] + +The first of these conclusions is not affected by the order in which +the examples are arranged; whether we begin with No. 4 or with No. 1, +the relationship of each example to the others, thus proved to be in +intimate association, is the same. The second conclusion is +necessarily dependent upon what we take to be "primary elements" and +"secondary elements;" and the question is how can these be determined? +As a rule it will be found that the primary elements are the most +constant parts of the whole group of examples, appearing more +frequently, possessing greater adherence to a common form, changing +(when they do change) with slighter variations; while the secondary +elements, on the other hand, assume many different varieties of form, +are by no means of constant occurrence, and do not even amongst +themselves tend to a common form. The primary elements, therefore, +constitute the form of the custom which represents the oldest part of +the survival. They alone will help us to determine the origin of the +custom, whether by features represented in the elements thus brought +together or by comparison with ancient custom elsewhere or with +survivals elsewhere similarly reconstituted. Altogether these +elements, thus linked together by the tie of common attributes, are +parts of one organic whole, and it is on this reconstructed organism +we have to rely for the evidence from tradition. + +When any given custom or belief has undergone this double process of +analysis of its component parts and classification of its several +elements, another process has to be undertaken, namely, to ascertain +its association with other customs or beliefs, in the same country or +among the same people, each of which customs or beliefs, being treated +in exactly the same manner, is found to exhibit some degree of +relationship in origin, condition, or purpose to the whole group under +examination. In this way classification, analysis, and association go +hand in hand as the necessary methods of studying survivals. Without +analysis we cannot properly arrive at a classification; without +classification we cannot work out the association of survivals. + +The process is perhaps highly technical and complicated. It may not be +of interest to all to discuss the process by which results are +attained when what is most desired are the results themselves. But in +truth the two parts of this study cannot well be separated. To judge +of the validity of the results one must know what the process has +been, and too often results are jumped at without warrant; items of +custom and usage or of belief and myth are docketed as belonging to a +given phase of culture, a given group of people, when they have no +right to such a place in the history of man. It is not only +distasteful to the inquirer, but almost impossible to dislodge any +item of folklore once so placed, and thus much of the value of the +material supplied by folklore is lost or discounted. + +Custom, rite, and belief treated in this fashion become veritable +monuments of history--a history too ancient to have been recorded in +script, too much an essential part of the folk-life to have been lost +to tradition. We may hope to restore therefrom the surviving mosaic of +ancient institutions, ancient law, and ancient religion, and we may +further hope, with this mosaic to work upon, to restore much of the +entire fabric which has been lying so many centuries beneath the +accumulated and accumulating mass of new developments representing the +civilisation of the Western world. + + +III + +It is only here that we can discover the point where we may properly +commence the work of comparative folklore. An item of folklore which +stands isolated is practically of no use for scientific investigation. +It may be, as we have seen, that the myth is in its primary stage as a +sacred belief among primitive people, in its secondary or folk-tale +stage as a sacred memory of what was once believed, in its final or +legendary stage when it does duty in preserving the memory of a hero +or a place of abiding interest. It may be, as we have seen, that the +custom, rite, or belief is a mere formula without purpose or result, a +mere traditional expression of a purpose without formula or result, a +mere statement of result without formula or purpose. We must know the +exact position of each item before we begin to compare, or we may be +comparing absolutely unlike things. The exact position of each item of +folklore is not to be found from one isolated example. It has first to +be restored to its association with all the known examples of its +kind, so that the earliest and most complete form may be recorded. +That is the true position to which it has been reduced as a survival. +This restored and complete example is then in a position to be +compared either with similar survivals in other countries on the same +level of culture, or within the same ethnological or political sphere +of influence, or with living customs, rites, or beliefs of peoples of +a more backward state of culture or in a savage state of culture. +Comparison of this kind is of value. Comparison of a less technical or +comprehensive kind may be of value in the hands of a great master; but +it is often not only valueless but mischievous in the hands of less +experienced writers, who think that comparison is justified wherever +similarity is discovered. + +Similarity in form, however, does not necessarily mean similarity in +origin. It does not mean similarity in motive. Customs and rites which +are alike in practice can be shown to have originated from quite +different causes, to express quite different motifs, and cannot +therefore be held to belong to a common class, the elements of which +are comparable. Thus to take a very considerable custom, to be found +both in folk-tales and in usage, the succession of the youngest son, +it is pretty clear that among European peoples it originated in the +tribal practice of the elder sons going out of the tribal household to +found tribal households of their own, thus leaving the youngest to +inherit the original homestead. But among savage peoples where the +youngest son inherits the homestead, he does not do so because of a +tribal custom such as that to be found in the European evidence. It is +because of the conditions of the marriage rites. Thus among the Kafir +peoples of South Africa + + "the young man of the commonality, who being a young + man has had but little or no means of displaying his + sagacity--a quality with them most frequently + synonymous with cunning--commences for himself in a + small way. Hence, too, being polygamous, and his wives + being bought with cattle, his first wife is taken from + a position accordant with that of a young, untried, + and poor or comparatively poor man. Hence also it + happens that his wives increase in number, and in--so + to speak--position, in accordance with his wealth, and + with his reputation for wisdom and sagacity, which may + have raised him to the rank of headman of a district, + and one of the Chief's counsellors. It is, therefore, + only when old in years that he takes to himself his + 'great wife,' one of greater social and racial + position than were his previous wives, and her son, + that is, her eldest son, who is consequently the + father's youngest or nearly his youngest, becomes his + 'great son,' and par excellence the heir. If the + father be a Chief, this son becomes the Chief at his + father's death. + + "As, however, subordinate heirs, the father after some + consultation and ceremony chooses out of his other + sons, secondly 'the son of his right hand,' and + thirdly, 'the son of his grandfather.' If the father + be a Chief, these two are after his death accounted as + Chiefs in the tribe, subordinate to the 'great son,' + and even if through their superior energy, the size of + the tribe requiring emigration to pastures new, or + other causes, one or both of them break off, and with + their respective inheritance or following form a + separate tribe or tribes, yet they are federally bound + to their great brother, and their successors to his + successors, and recognise him as their supreme or + national Chief. Thus Krili, the Chief of the + Amagcaleka tribe across the Kei, was also paramount + Chief of all the Amaxosas, including his own tribe, + and those this side the Kei, who are divided into the + two great divisions--each of which includes several + tribes--of the Amangquika and Amandhlambi, which + latter has among it the Amagqunukwebi, a tribe of + Caffre intermingled with Hottentot blood, and + therefore rather looked down upon."[225] + +Dr. Nicholson, from whom I quote this evidence, goes on to say that +the + + "custom then of the heirship of the youngest, appears + to me to have not unlikely grown up among a polygamous + race, and to have arisen both from considerations of + self security and from those of race and rank." + +Quite independently of Dr. Nicholson I had come to the same +conclusion;[226] and Dr. Nicholson, after handsomely acknowledging my +priority in the "discovery," very properly alludes to the not +unimportant fact of two workers in the same field coming to like +conclusions. It is remarkable that the same distinction between the +succession of the youngest son and of the son of the youngest wife +appears in folk-tales.[227] Now clearly it would be quite wrong to +suggest a parallel between the heirship of the youngest among the +Kafir peoples of Africa and heirship of the youngest among the tribal +people of early Europe. They are not comparable at all points, and it +is just where the point of comparison fails that it becomes so +important to science.[228] + +I will take one other example, and this is the important practice of +human sacrifice which looms so largely in anthropological research, +and which is considered by so good an authority as Schrader to have +taken a prominent place among the Aryans,[229] though he takes his +examples, not from language, but from the unexamined customs of the +Greeks, Romans, northerns, Indians, and Persians. We know more about +the development of sacrifice now that Professor Robertson Smith has +dealt with the Semitic part of the evidence. Without resting on the +fact that the occurrence of human sacrifice in a country occupied by +Aryan-speaking people does not, of itself alone, imply that the rite +was Aryan, it is far more important to point out that among the higher +races "the feeling that the slaying involves a grave responsibility +and must be justified by divine permission" appears, and "care was +taken to slay the victim without bloodshed, or to make believe that it +had killed itself."[230] This feeling marks distinctly the Greek +sacrifice as at Thargelia and in the Leukadian ceremony, the Roman +sacrifice at the Tarpeian Rock, the sacrifice at the Valhalla rock of +the northerns, while among the Hindus there is much to show that the +idea of human sacrifice in some of the early writings is a literary +borrowing from the Hebrews; and that if it ever prevailed among the +Aryas of India it was very early superseded by the sacrifice of +animals.[231] Colonel Dalton has given good reasons for his views +"that the Hindus derived from the aboriginal races the practice of +human sacrifices."[232] Although, then, Greek ritual and Greek myth +are full of legends which tell of sacrifices once human, but +afterwards commuted into sacrifices where some other victim is slain +or the dummy of a man is destroyed;[233] although the significant +Hindu ceremonial of so throwing the limbs of an animal slaughtered to +be burnt with the dead that every limb lies upon a corresponding part +of the corpse;[234] although Teuton, Celt, and Norse[235] are credited +with the practice by authorities not to be questioned, it appears by +the evidence that the European form of human sacrifice has little in +common with the savage form except in the nature of the victim. It +occurred, as Grimm states, when some great disaster, some heinous +crime, had to be retrieved or purged, a kind of sacrifice, says Mr. +Lang, not necessarily savage except in its cruelty; and the victims +were not tribesmen, but captive enemies, purchased slaves, or great +criminals. + +These two examples will serve as warning against the too general +acceptance of the custom and belief of savage and barbaric races, as +identical with the custom and belief of early or primitive man. Such +identification is in the main correct; but it is correct not because +it has been proved by the best methods to be so, but because, of all +possible explanations, this is the only one that meets the general +position in a satisfactory manner. In many cases, however, it is +monstrously incorrect, and it is the incorrect conclusion which weighs +far more against the acceptance of the results of folklore than do the +correct conclusions in its favour. + +The work which has to be accomplished by the comparative method of +research is of such magnitude that it needs to be considered. The +labour and research might in point of volume be out of proportion to +the results, and it may be questioned, as it has already been +questioned by inference, whether it is worth the while. The first +answer to this objection is that all historical investigation is +justified, however much the labour, however extensive the research. +Secondly, considering the very few results which the study of folklore +has hitherto produced upon the investigations into prehistoric Europe, +it must be worth while for the student of custom and belief to conduct +his experiments upon a recognised plan in order to get at the secret +of man's place in the struggle for existence, which is determined more +by psychological than by physical phenomena. Thirdly, if the psychical +anthropology of prehistoric times is to be sought for in the customs +and beliefs of modern savages, it is of vital importance to +anthropological science that this should be established by methods +exactly defined. Whatever of traditional custom and belief is capable +of bearing the test and of being definitely labelled as belonging to +prehistoric man, becomes thereafter the data for the psychical +anthropology of civilised man. Edmund Spenser understood this when his +official duties took him among the "wild" Irish. "All the customs of +the Irish," he says, "which I have often noted and compared with that +I have read, would minister occasion of a most ample discourse of the +original of them, and the antiquity of that people, which in truth I +think to be more ancient than most that I know in this end of the +world; so as if it were in the handling of some man of sound judgment +and plentiful reading, it would be most pleasant and profitable."[236] + +Comparative folklore, then, to be of value must be based upon +scientific principles. The unmeaning custom or belief of the peasantry +of the Western world of civilisation must not be taken into the +domains of savagery or barbarism for an explanation without any +thought as to what this action really signifies to the history of the +custom or belief in question. No doubt the explanation thus afforded +is correct in most cases, and perhaps it was necessary to begin with +the comparative method in order to understand the importance and scope +of the study of apparently worthless material. A new stage in +comparative folklore must now be entered upon. It must be understood +what the effective comparison of a traditional peasant custom or +belief with a savage custom or belief really amounts to. The process +includes the comparison of an isolated custom or belief belonging, +perhaps secretly, to a particular place, a particular class of +persons, or perhaps a particular family or person, with a custom or +belief which is part of a whole system belonging to a savage race or +tribe; of a custom or belief whose only sanction is tradition, the +conservative instinct to do what has been done by one's ancestors, +with a custom or belief whose sanction is the professed and +established polity or religion of a people; of a custom or belief +which is embedded in a civilisation, of which it is not a part and to +which it is antagonistic, with a custom or belief which helps to make +up the civilisation of which it is part. In carrying out such a +comparison, therefore, a very long journey back into the past of the +civilised race has been performed. For unless it be admitted that +civilised people consciously borrow from savages and barbaric peoples +or constantly revert to a savage original type of mental and social +condition, the effect of such a comparison is to take back the custom +or belief of the modern peasant to a date when a people of savage or +barbaric culture occupied the country now occupied by their +descendants, the peasants in question, and to equate the custom or +belief of this ancient savage or barbaric culture with the custom or +belief of modern savage or barbaric culture. The line of comparison is +not therefore simply drawn level from civilisation to savagery; but it +consists, first, of two vertical lines from civilisation and savagery +respectively, drawn to a height scaled to represent the antiquity of +savage culture in modern Europe, and then the level horizontal line +drawn to join the two vertical lines. Thus the line of comparison is + + Ancient savagery Ancient savagery + +-------------------------------+ + | | + | | + | | + | | + Savagery Civilisation + +We thus arrive at some conception of the work to be accomplished by +and involved in comparative folklore. The results are worth the work. +They relate to stages of culture in the countries of civilisation +which are recoverable by no other means. The stages of culture are +practically lost to history. In ancient Greek and Roman history, and +in ancient Scandinavian history, there are priceless fragments of +information which tell us much. But these fragments are not the +complete story, and they belong to relatively small areas of European +history. Every nation has the right to go back as far in its history +as it is possible to reach. It can only do this by the help of +comparative folklore. In our own country we have seen how history +breaks down, and yet historical records in Britain are perhaps the +richest in Europe. The traditional materials known to us as folklore +are the only means left to us, and we can only properly avail +ourselves of these when we have mastered the methods of science which +it is necessary to use in their investigation. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[182] Mr. MacCulloch, in the title of his interesting book, the +_Childhood of Fiction_, has emphasised this mischievous idea. I am not +convinced to the contrary by the evidence he gives as to the popularity +of the folk-tale among all peoples (p. 2). Indeed, the book itself is +an emphatic testimony against its title. Mr. MacCulloch evidently began +with the idea that the folk-tale belonged to the domain of fiction. +Thus the opening words of his book are: "Folk-tales are the earliest +form of romantic and imaginative literature--the unwritten fiction of +early man and of primitive people in all parts of the world;" whereas +as he nears the end of his study he observes: "Thus, in their origin, +folk-tales may have had some other purpose than mere amusement; they +may have embodied the traditions, histories, beliefs, ideas, and +customs of men at an early stage of civilisation" (p. 451). Mr. +MacCulloch himself proves this to be the case, and it is therefore all +the more unfortunate that he should have stamped his very important +study with the word "fiction." + +[183] A folk-tale of the Veys, a North African people, explains this +view most graphically in its opening sentences. The narrator begins his +tale by saying: "I speak of the long time past; hear! It is written in +our old-time-palaver-books--I do not say _then_; in old time the Vey +people had no books, but the old men told it to their children and they +kept it; afterwards it was written" (_Journ. Ethnol. Soc._, N.S., vi. +354). A parallel to this comes from Ireland: "What I have told your +honour is true; and if it stands otherwise in books, it's the books +which are wrong. Sure we've better authority than books, for we have it +all handed down from generation to generation" (Kohl's _Travels in +Ireland_, 140). + +[184] I am the more willing to take this as my illustration of myth +because, strangely enough, Mr. MacCulloch has omitted it from the +examples he uses in his _Childhood of Fiction_. + +[185] _Myth, Ritual, and Religion_, i. 166. + +[186] Mr. Jeremiah Curtin has collected and published the _Creation +Myths of Primitive America_ (London, 1899), and his introduction is a +specially valuable study of the subject. I printed the Fijian myth from +Williams' _Fiji and Fijians_, i. 204, and the Kumis myth from Lewin's +_Wild Races of South-east India_, 225-6, in my _Handbook of Folklore_, +137-139, and Mr. Lang, in cap. vi. of his _Myth, Ritual, and Religion_ +deals with a sufficient number of examples. _Cf._ also Tylor, +_Primitive Culture_, cap. ix. + +[187] Grey, _Polynesian Mythology_, 1-15. I have only summarised the +full legend on the lines adopted by Dr. Tylor. + +[188] On the Kronos myth consult Farnell, _Cults of the Greek States_, +i. 23-31, who gives an admirable summary of the evidence as it at +present stands; Harrison and Verrall, _Mythology and Monuments of Anc. +Athens_, 192; Lang, _Myth, Ritual, and Religion_, i. 295-323. + +[189] Mr. Crawley discovered this story in Mr. Bain's _A Digit of the +Moon_, 13-15, and printed it in his _Mystic Rose_, 33-34. + +[190] "The Interpreters of Genesis and the Interpreters of Nature," and +"Mr. Gladstone and Genesis," in _Science and Hebrew Tradition_, cap. +iv. and v. + +[191] _Adonis, Attis and Osiris_, 4, 25. Mr. Jevons, too, lays stress +upon "the source of errors in religion" as human reason gone astray, +_Introd. to Hist. of Religion_, 463. + +[192] Mr. Jevons practically arrives at this conclusion from a +different standpoint. "Beliefs," he says, "are about facts, are +statements about facts, statements that certain facts will be found to +occur in a certain way or be of a certain kind" (_Introd. to Hist. of +Religion_, 402). Mr. Curtin, _Creation Myths of Primitive America_ (p. +xx), confirms the view I take. + +[193] Orpen, _Cape Monthly Magazine_. Quoted in Lang's _Myth, Ritual, +and Religion_, i. 71. + +[194] This myth is, I think, worth giving, because of its obvious +object to account for the difference between white and black races. It +is as follows: "In the beginning of the world God created three white +men and three white women, and three black men and three black women. +In order that these twelve human souls might not thenceforth complain +of Divine partiality and of their separate conditions, God elected that +they should determine their own fates by their own choice of good and +evil. A large calabash or gourd was placed by God upon the ground, and +close to the side of the calabash was also placed a small folded piece +of paper. God ruled that the black man should have the first choice. He +chose the calabash, because he expected that the calabash, being so +large, could not but contain everything needful for himself. He opened +the calabash, and found a scrap of gold, a scrap of iron, and several +other metals of which he did not understand the use. The white man had +no option. He took, of course, the small folded piece of paper, and +discovered that, on being unfolded, it revealed a boundless stock of +knowledge. God then left the black men and women in the bush, and led +the white men and women to the seashore. He did not forsake the white +men and women, but communicated with them every night, and taught them +how to construct a ship, and how to sail from Africa to another +country. After a while they returned to Africa with various kinds of +merchandise, which they bartered to the black men and women, who had +the opportunity of being greater and wiser than the white men and +women, but who, out of sheer avidity, had thrown away their chance." + +[195] _Native Tribes of South-east Australia_, cap. viii. + +[196] _Northern Tribes of Central Australia_, cap. xxii.; _Native +Tribes of Central Australia_, cap. xviii. + +[197] Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes_, 624; _cf. Native Tribes of +Central Australia_, 564. + +[198] Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, 229. + +[199] Grey, _Polynesian Mythology_, p. xi. _Cf._ Taylor, _Te Ika a +Maui_, where myths told by the priests are given in cap. vi. and vii., +and _Trans. Ethnological Soc._, new series, i. 45. + +[200] White's _Anc. Hist. of the Maori_, i. 8-13. + +[201] Curtin, _Creation Myths of Primitive America_, p. xxi. + +[202] Im Thurn, _Indians of Guiana_, 335; Landtman, _Origin of +Priesthood_, 117. + +[203] _Primitive Manners and Customs_, cap. i. "Some Savage Myths and +Beliefs," and cap. viii., "Fairy Lore of Savages." + +[204] _Introd. to Hist. of Religion_, 263. Of course I do not accept +Mr. J. A. Stewart's "general remarks on the μυθολογία or +story-telling myth" in his _Myths of Plato_, 4-17. All Mr. Stewart's +research is literary in object and result, though he uses the materials +of anthropology. + +[205] H. H. Wilson, _Rig Veda Sanhita_, i. p. xvii. + +[206] H. H. Wilson, _Vishnu Purana_, i. p. iv; _Rig Veda Sanhita_, i. +p. xlv. + +[207] _Religion of the Semites_, 19. + +[208] Mr. Hartland passes rapidly in his opening chapter from the myth +as primitive science to the myth as fairy tale, from the savage to the +Celt (_Science of Fairy Tales_, pp. 1-5), and I do not think it is +possible to make this leap without using the bridge which is to be +constructed out of the differing positions occupied by the myth and the +fairy tale. + +[209] It will be interesting, I think, to preserve here one or two +instances of the actual practice of telling traditional tales in our +own country. Mr. Hartland has referred to the subject in his _Science +of Fairy Tales_, but the following instances are additional to those he +has noted, and they refer directly back to the living custom. They are +all from Scotland, and refer to the early part of last century. "In +former times, when families, owing to distance and other circumstances, +held little intercourse with each other through the day, numbers were +in the habit of assembling together in the evening in one house, and +spending the time in relating the tales of wonder which had been handed +down to them by tradition" (Kiltearn in Ross and Cromarty; Sinclair, +_Statistical Account of Scotland_, xiv. 323). "In the last generation +every farm and hamlet possessed its oral recorder of tale and song. The +pastoral habits of the people led them to seek recreation in listening +to, and in rehearsing the tales of other times; and the senachie and +the bard were held in high esteem" (Inverness-shire, _ibid._, xiv. +168). "In the winter months, many of them are in the habit of visiting +and spending the evenings in each other's houses in the different +hamlets, repeating the songs of their native bard or listening to the +legendary tales of some venerable senachie" (Durness in +Sutherlandshire, _ibid._, xv. 95). + +[210] W. H. R. Rivers, _The Todas_, 3-4. + +[211] Pausanias, viii. cap. xv. § 1. + +[212] _Journ. Roy. Asiatic Soc._, ii. p. 218. + +[213] _Hist. of Rome_, i. pp. 177-179. _Cf._ Gunnar Landtman, _Origin +of Priesthood_, p. 77. + +[214] Perhaps Mr. Lang's study of "Cinderella and the Diffusion of +Tales" in _Folklore_, iv. 413 _et seq._, contains the best summary of +the position. + +[215] Crawley, _Tree of Life_, 5, 144. + +[216] Train, _Hist. of Isle of Man_, ii. 115. + +[217] The ceremony is fully described in _Relics for the Curious_, i. +31; _Gentleman's Magazine_, 1784 (see _Gent. Mag. Library_, xxiii. +209), quoting from a tract first published in 1634; and see _Proc. Soc. +Antiq. Scot._, x. 669. + +[218] See _Folklore_, iii. 253-264; Rhys, _Celtic Folklore_, i. +337-341. + +[219] Couch, _Hist. of Polperro_, 168. + +[220] I have investigated the bee cult at some length, and it will form +part of my study on _Tribal Custom_ which I am now preparing for +publication. + +[221] Carleton, _Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry_. + +[222] Mr. Eden Phillpotts mentions in one of his Cornish stories +exactly this conception. Rags were offered. "Just a rag tored off a +petticoat or some such thing. They hanged 'em up around about on the +thorn bushes, to shaw as they'd 'a' done more for the good saint if +they'd had the power."--_Lying Prophets_, 60. + +[223] I gave an example of this false classification of folklore in +accord with its apparent modern association in my preface to _Denham +Tracts_, ii. p. ix. The left-leg stocking divination is not associated +with dress, but with the left-hand as opposed to the right-hand augury, +and I pointed out that the district of the Roman wall, the _locus_ of +the Denham tracts, thus preserves the luck of the left, believed in by +the Romans, in opposition to the luck of the right believed in by the +Teutons. See Schrader, _Prehistoric Antiquities of the Aryan Peoples_, +253-7. + +[224] I elaborated this plan of comparative analysis in a report to the +British Association at Liverpool, in 1896 (see pp. 626-656), +illustrating it from the fire customs of Britain. + +[225] _Archæological Review_, ii. 163-166; _cf._ the Rev. J. Macdonald +in _Folklore_, iii. 338. + +[226] _Athenæum_, 29th December, 1883; _Archæologia_, vol. l. p. 213. + +[227] See MacCulloch's _Childhood of Fiction_, chap. xiii., where this +distinction is noted, though its significance is not pointed out. + +[228] Dr. Rivers has dealt with a very similar case of dual origin in +connection with bride capture, see _Journ. Roy. Asiatic Soc._, 1907, p. +624. + +[229] Schrader's _Prehistoric Antiquities of the Aryan Peoples_, 422. + +[230] Robertson Smith's _Religion of the Semites_, 397. + +[231] Monier Williams, _Indian Wisdom_, pp. 29-31. The word-equations +for sacrifice are given by Schrader, _op. cit._, 130, 415. + +[232] _Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal_, xxxiv. p. 7. On the influence of +the aboriginal races _cf._ Monier Williams, _Indian Wisdom_, 312-313; +Steel and Temple's _Wide Awake Stories_, 395; Campbell, _Tales of West +Highlands_, l. p. xcviii. + +[233] Lang, _Myth, Ritual, and Religion_, i. p. 271. + +[234] H. H. Wilson, _Religion of the Hindus_, ii. 289. I compare this +with the custom of the cow following the coffin mentioned by Mannhardt, +_Die Gotterwelt_, 320, and the soul shot or gift of a cow at death +recorded by Brand, ii. 248. + +[235] _Cf._ Olaus Magnus, pp. 168, 169, for the significant Norse +ceremony. + +[236] Spenser, _View of the State of Ireland_, 1595 (Morley reprint), +73. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +PSYCHOLOGICAL CONDITIONS + + +Although the great mass of folklore rests upon tradition and tradition +alone, an important aid to tradition comes from certain psychological +conditions which we must now consider. At an early stage all students +of folklore will have discovered that it is not entirely to tradition +that folklore is indebted for its material. There are still people +capable of thinking, capable of believing, in the primitive way and in +the primitive degree. Such people are of course the descendants of +long ancestors of such people--people whose minds are not attuned to +the civilisation around them; people, perhaps, whose minds have been +to an extent stunted and kept back by the civilisation around them. +There can be no doubt that civilisation and all it demands of mankind +acts as a deterrent upon the minds of some living within the +civilisation zone, and belonging apparently to the civilised society. +This is the root cause of some of the lunacy and much of the crime +which apparently exists as a necessary adjunct of civilisation, and it +leads to various forms of thought inconsistent with the knowledge and +ideas of the age. When these forms of thought are not concentrated +into a new religious sect by the operation of social laws, they +become what is sometimes called mere superstition, that kind of +superstition which consists of using the same power of logic to a +narrow set of facts which primitive man was in the habit of using, and +thus repeating in this age the methods of primitive science. We cannot +quite understand this in the age of railways and schools and +inventions, but it will be understood better if we go back for only a +generation or two to those parts of our country which are most remote +from civilising influences, and obtain some information as to their +condition. + +This cannot be better accomplished than by referring to a Scottish +author writing, in 1835, of the superstitions then prevailing in +Scotland. "Our whole genuine records," says Dalyell, + + "teem with the most repulsive pictures of the + weakness, bigotry, turbulence, and fierce and + treacherous cruelty of the populace. False and corrupt + innovations of literature, a compound of facts and + fiction, intermingling the old and the new in + heterogeneous assemblage, would persuade us to think + much more of our forefathers than they thought of + themselves. Scotland, until the most modern date, was + an utter stranger to civilisation, presenting a + sterile country with a famished people, wasted by + hordes of mendicants readier to seize than to + solicit--void of ingenious arts and useful + manufactures, possessed of little skill and learning, + plunged in constant war and rapine, full of + insubordination, disturbing public rule and private + peace. For waving pendants, flowing draperies, + brilliant colours, eagles' feathers, herons' plumes, + feasts or festivals so splendid in imagination, let + naked limbs, scanty, sombre garments to elude + discovery by the foe, bits of heath stuck in bonnets + if they had them, precarious sustenance, abject + humility and all those hardships inseparable from + uncultivated tribes and countries be instituted as a + juster portrait of earlier generations."[237] + +This statement as to Scotland is correctly drawn from social +conditions which have now passed away, but which, down to the +beginning of last century, belonged to the ordinary life of the +people. Thus it is recorded that + + "over all the highlands of Scotland, and in this + county in common with others, the practice of building + what are called head-dykes was of very remote + antiquity. The head-dyke was drawn across the head of + a farm, when nature had marked the boundary betwixt + the green pastures and that portion of hill which was + covered totally or partially with heath. Above this + fence the young cattle, the horses, the sheep and + goats were kept in the summer months. The milch cows + were fed below, except during the time the farmer's + family removed to the distant grazings called + sheilings. Beyond the head-dyke little attention was + paid to boundaries. These enclosures exhibit the most + evident traces of extreme old age."[238] + +[Illustration: REPRESENTATION OF AN IRISH CHIEFTAIN SEATED AT DINNER, 1581 +FROM DERRICKE'S "IMAGE OF IRELAND"] + +In Ireland the same conditions obtained so late as the sixteenth +century; the native Irish retained their wandering habits, tilling a +piece of fertile land in the spring, then retiring with their herds to +the booleys or dairy habitations, generally in the mountain districts +in the summer, and moving about where the herbage afforded sustenance +to their cattle.[239] An eighteenth-century traveller in Ireland +was assured that the quarter called Connaught was "inhabited by a kind +of savages," and there is record of the capture of a hairy dwarf near +Longford, who appears hardly to belong to civilisation.[240] Similar +conditions obtained in the northern counties of England, and in other +parts.[241] Special circumstances kept the borderland outside the +influences of ordinary civilised thought and control, and these +circumstances have been recorded by an eighteenth-century observer, +from whom I will quote one or two facts as to the mode of life of +these people: "That they might be more invisible during their outrodes +and consequently less liable to the effects of their enemies' +vigilance, the colour of their cloathes resembled that of the scenes +of their employment or of their season of action, that is, of a brown +heath and cloudy evening. Thus examples of what might condemn their +conduct were never offered to them, and immemorial custom seemed as it +were to sanctify their wildness. Every border-man, almost without +exception, was brought up in a state which we would call unhappy, and +every circumstance of his life tended to confirm his partiality for an +uncertain bed and unprovided diet."[242] + +The evidence which this acute observer collected led him to conclude +that the "almost uniform train of circumstances which affected these +countries from their border situation, and the little difference there +was between one of the dark ages and another, strongly induce me to +believe that the Northern people were little altered in manners from +very remote times to those immediately preceding the reign of Queen +Elizabeth," and this is confirmed by what we actually find from the +report of the Commissioners appointed to settle the peace of the +Marches by fixed and established ordinances, who collected "their +ordinances from the traditional accounts of ancient usages that had +been sanctified as laws by the length of time which they had endured. +These laws were different from most others, nay, almost peculiar to +the men to whom they belonged."[243] + +I need not continue these notes as to the backwardness of portions of +the country compared with its general level of culture, because I have +dealt with the evidence elsewhere.[244] What I am anxious to point out +here is that the faculty of such people as these to think, not in +terms of modern science but in terms of their own psychological +conditions, must have been pronounced. If they ever put the question +to themselves as to the origin of things, they would answer themselves +according to the life impressions they were then receiving, and +according to the limited range of their actual knowledge. As with the +creators of the traditional myths, the scientific inquirers of +primitive times, so with these non-advanced people of later times, +they would deal with the problems they did not understand in fashions +suitable to their own understanding. It has always appeared to me that +the impressions of the surrounding life are not sufficiently regarded +in their influence upon primitive thought. They press down upon the +mind, and enclose it within barriers so that it can only act through +these surroundings. Child-life is, in this respect, much the same as +the life of primitive man. A child thinks and acts in terms of his +nursery, his school, or his playground. Thus a memory of my own is to +the point. When quite a child, probably about eight or nine years old, +I was entrusted with the changing of a small cheque drawn by my father +in a country town where we were staying. I had never seen a cheque +before. I remember the ceremony of writing it and the care with which +the necessary instructions were given to me, and I remember the +amazement with which I received the golden sovereigns. But my mind +dwelt upon this strange thing called a cheque, and after a time I +deliberately came to the conclusion that my father was allowed to get +money for these cheques on condition only that he wrote them without a +mistake and without a blot. The conception is absurd until we come to +analyse the cause of it. My young life at that time was receiving its +greatest impressions, its all-absorbing impressions, from my school +exercises in writing. It was a copybook life for the time being, and +when I turned to ask my question as to origins, as every human being +has asked himself in turn, I could express myself only in copybook +terms. It is so with the primitive mind. It can only express itself in +the terms of its greatest impressions, and it is in this way that +primitive animism, sympathetic magic and other conceptions obtained +from the results of anthropological research, are to be found in much +the same degree wherever humanity is found in primitive conditions. +As Mr. Hickson puts it so well: "Just as the little black baby of the +negro, the brown baby of the Malay, the yellow baby of the Chinaman, +are in face and form, in gestures and habits, as well as in the first +articulate sound they mutter, very much alike, so the mind of man, +whether he be Aryan or Malay, Mongolian or Negrito, has, in the course +of its evolution, passed through stages which are practically +identical. In the intellectual childhood of mankind natural phenomena, +or some other causes, of which we are at present ignorant, have +induced thoughts, stories, legends, and myths, that in their +essentials are identical among all the races of the world with which +we are acquainted;"[245] or to take one other example from the +experience of travellers, Mr. Mitchell, speaking of the Australians, +says: "I found a native still there, and on my advancing towards him +with a twig he shook another twig at me, waving it over his head, and +at the same time intimating with it that we must go back. He and the +boy then threw up dust at us with their toes (_cf._ 2 Sam. xvi. 13). +These various expressions of hostility and defiance were too +intelligible to be mistaken. The expressive pantomime of the man +showed the identity of the human mind, however distinct the races or +different the language."[246] + +This identity is shown in many other ways to have been operating, +perhaps to be operating still, upon minds not attuned to the +civilisation around them. The resistance of agriculturists to change +is well known.[247] The crooked ridges of the open-field system were +believed to be necessary because they were supposed to deceive the +devil,[248] while a superstitious dislike was entertained against +winnowing machines, because they were supposed to interfere with the +elements.[249] This is nothing but a modern example of sympathetic +magic produced by the introduction of the new machine. + +I need not go through the researches of the masters of anthropology to +explain what the psychological evidence exactly amounts to, and the +realms of primitive thought and experience which it connotes.[250] It +will, however, be useful for the purpose of our present study, if we +can find among the peasantry of our country (perchance from those +districts where we have noted conditions under which primitive thought +might retain a continuous hold) examples of belief or superstition +which belongs rather to psychological than to traditional influences. +The interpretation of dreams, the belief in spirit apparitions, the +practice of charms, all belong to this branch of our subject, though I +shall illustrate the points I wish to bring out by reference to less +common departments. + +It was only in the seventeenth century that a learned divine of the +Church of England was shocked to hear one of his flock repeat the +evidence of his pagan beliefs in language which is as explicit as it +is amusing; and I shall not be accused of trifling with religious +susceptibilities if I quote a passage from a sermon delivered and +printed in 1659--a passage which shows not a departure from +Christianity either through ignorance or from the result of +philosophic study or contemplation, but a sheer non-advance to +Christianity, a passage which shows us an English pagan of the +seventeenth century. + +"Let me tell you a story," says the Reverend Mr. Pemble, "that I have +heard from a reverend man out of the pulpit, a place where none should +dare to tell a lye, of an old man above sixty, who lived and died in a +parish where there had bin preaching almost all his time.... On his +deathbed, being questioned by a minister touching his faith and hope +in God, you would wonder to hear what answer he made: being demanded +what he thought of God, he answers that he was a good old man; and +what of Christ, that he was a towardly youth; and of his soule, that +it was a great bone in his body; and what should become of his soule +after he was dead, that if he had done well he should be put into a +pleasant green meadow."[251] + +Of the four articles of this singular creed, the first two depict an +absence of knowledge about the central features of Christian belief, +the latter two denote the existence of knowledge about some belief not +known to English scholars of that time. If it had so happened that +the Reverend Mr. Pemble had thought fit to tell his audience only of +the first two articles of this creed, it would have been difficult to +resist the suggestion that they presented us merely with an example of +stupid, or, perhaps, impudent, blasphemy caused by the events of the +day. But the negative nature of the first two items of the creed is +counterbalanced by the positive nature of the second two items; and +thus this example shows us the importance of considering evidence as +to all phases of non-belief in Christianity. + +Passing on to the two items of positive belief, it is to be noted that +the soul resident in the body in the shape of a bone is no part of the +early European belief, but equates rather with the savage idea which +identifies the soul with some material part of the body, such as the +eyes, the heart, or the liver; and it is interesting to note in this +connection that the backbone is considered by some savage races, +_e.g._, the New Zealanders, as especially sacred because the soul or +spiritual essence of man resides in the spinal marrow.[252] And there +is a well-known incident in folk-tales which seems to owe its origin +to this group of ideas. This is where the hero having been killed, one +of his bones tells the secret of his death, and thus acts the part of +the soul-ghost. + +In the pleasant green fields we trace the old faiths of the +agricultural peasantry which, put into the words of Hesiod, tell us +that "for them earth yields her increase; for them the oaks hold in +their summits acorns, and in their midmost branches bees. The flocks +bear for them their fleecy burdens ... they live in _unchanged +happiness_, and need not fly across the sea in impious ships"--faiths +which are in striking contrast to the tribal warrior's conception as +set forth by the Saxon thane of King Eadwine of Northumbria. "This +life," said this poetical thane, "is like the passage of a bird from +the darkness without into a lighted hall where you, O King, are seated +at supper, while storms, and rain, and snow rage abroad. The sparrow +flying in at our door and straightway out at another is, while within, +safe from the storm; but soon it vanishes into the darkness whence it +came." + +Such faiths as these, indeed, show us primitive ideas at their very +roots. This seventeenth-century pagan depended upon himself for his +faith. He worked out his own ideas as to the origin of soul and heaven +and God and Christ. They were terms that had filtered down to him +through the hard surroundings of his life, and he set to work to +define them in the fashion of the primitive savage. We meet with other +examples. Thus among the superstitions of Lancashire is one which +tells us of the lingering belief in a long journey after death, when +food is necessary to support the soul. A man having died of apoplexy, +near Manchester, at a public dinner, one of the company was heard to +remark: "Well, poor Joe, God rest his soul! He has at least gone to +his long rest wi' a belly full o' good meat, and that's some +consolation," and perhaps a still more remarkable instance is that of +the woman buried in Cuxton Church, near Rochester, who directed by +her will that the coffin was to have a lock and key, the key being +placed in her dead hand, so that she might be able to release herself +at pleasure.[253] + +These people simply did not understand civilised thought or civilised +religion. To escape from the pressure of trying to understand they +turned to think for themselves, and thinking for themselves merely +brought them back to the standpoint of primitive thought. It could +hardly be otherwise. The working of the human mind is on the same +plane wherever and whenever it operates or has operated. The +difference in results arises from the enlarged field of observation. +When the Suffolk peasant set to work to account for the existence of +stones on his field by asserting that the fields produced the stones, +and for the origin of the so-called "pudding-stone" conglomerate, that +it was a mother stone and the parent of the pebbles,[254] he was +beginning a first treatise on geology; and when the Hampshire peasant +attributes the origin of the tutsan berries to having germinated in +the blood of slaughtered Danes,[255] other counties following the same +thought, I am not at all sure that he is not beginning all over again +the primitive conception of the origin of plants. + +[Illustration: LONG MEG AND HER DAUGHTERS] + +[Illustration: STONE CIRCLES ON STANTON MOOR] + +This beginning shows the mark of the primitive mind, and that it was +operating in a country dominated by scientific thought is the +phenomenon which makes it so important to consider psychological +conditions among the problems of folklore. They account for some +beliefs which may not contain elements of pure tradition. When the +Mishmee Hill people of India affirm of a high white cliff at the foot +of one of the hills that approaches the Burhampooter that it is the +remains of the "marriage feast of Raja Sisopal with the daughter of the +neighbouring king, named Bhismak, but she being stolen away by Krishna +before the ceremony was completed, the whole of the viands were left +uneaten and have since become consolidated into their present +form,"[256] we can understand that the belief is in strict accord with +the primitive conditions of thought of the Mishmee people. Can we +understand the same conditions of the parallel English belief +concerning the stone circle known as "Long Meg and her daughters,"[257] +and of that at Stanton Drew;[258] or of the allied beliefs in Scotland +that a huge upright stone, Clach Macmeas, in Loth, a parish of +Sutherlandshire, was hurled to the bottom of the glen from the top of +Ben Uarie by a giant youth when he was only one month old;[259] and in +England that "the Hurlers," in Cornwall, were once men engaged in the +game of hurling, and were turned into stone for playing on the Lord's +Day; that the circle, known as "Nine Maidens," were maidens turned into +stone for dancing on the Lord's Day;[260] that the stone circle at +Stanton Drew represents serpents converted into stones by Keyna, a holy +virgin of the fifth century;[261] and that the so-called snake stones +found at Whitby were serpents turned into stones by the prayers of the +Abbess Hilda.[262] These are only examples of the kind of beliefs +entertained in all parts of the United Kingdom,[263] and they seem +based upon psychological, rather than traditional conditions. + +The giant and the witch, or wizard, are terms applied to the unknown +personal agent. "The two standing stones in the neighbourhood of West +Skeld are said to be the metamorphosis of two wizards or giants, who +were on their way to plunder and murder the inhabitants of West Skeld; +but not having calculated their time with sufficient accuracy, before +they could accomplish their purpose, or retrace their steps to their +dark abodes, the first rays of the morning sun appeared, and they were +immediately transformed, and remain to the present time in the shape +of two tall moss-grown stones of ten feet in height."[264] This is +paralleled by the Merionethshire example of a large drift of stones +about midway up the Moelore in Llan Dwywe, which was believed to be +due to a witch who "was carrying her apron full of stones for some +purpose to the top of the hill, and the string of the apron broke, and +all the stones dropped on the spot, where they still remain under the +name of Fedogaid-y-Widdon."[265] Giant and witch in these cases are +generic terms by which the popular mind has conveyed a conception of +the origin of these strange and remarkable monuments, whether natural +or constructed by a long-forgotten people; and we cannot doubt that +such beliefs are generated by the peasantry of civilisation from a +mental conception not far removed from that of the primitive savage. +Neither their religion nor their education was concerned with such +things, so the peasants turned to their own realm and created a myth +of origins suitable to their limited range of knowledge. + +It may perhaps be urged that such beliefs as these are on the +borderland of psychological and traditional influences. Witches and +giants certainly belong to tradition, but on the other hand they are +the common factors of the natural mind which readily attributes +personal origins to impersonal objects. I am inclined on the whole to +attribute the beliefs attachable to the unexplained boulders or +unknown monoliths to the eternal questionings in the minds of the +uncultured peasants of uncivilised countries similar to those of the +unadvanced savage. That the peasant of civilisation should confine his +questionings to the by-products of his surroundings and not to the +greater subjects which occupy the minds of savages, is only because +the greater subjects have already been answered for him by the +Christian Church.[266] + +There is a point, however, where psychological and traditional +conditions are in natural conjunction, and I will just refer to this. +That matters of legal importance should be preserved by the agency of +tradition has already been shown to belong to that part of history for +which there are no contemporary records, and its importance in this +connection has been proved. Equally important from the psychological +side is the fact that law is also preserved by tradition where people +are unaccustomed to the use of writing, or by reason of their +occupation have little use for writing. To illustrate this, I will +quote an excellent note preserved by a writer on Cornish +superstitions. + + "There is an old 'vulgar error'--that no man can swear + as a witness in a court of law to any thing he has + seen through glass. This is based upon the formerly + universal use of blown glass for windows, in which + glass the constant recurrence of the greenish, and + barely more than semi-transparent bull's eyes, so much + distorted the view that it was unsafe for a spectator + through glass to pledge his oath to what he saw going + on outside. Now, through our present glass, this + belief is relegated to the region of forgotten things, + but nevertheless it has hold on Westcountry people + still. I was, some years since, investigating the case + of a derelict ship which had been found off the Scilly + Islands, and towed by the pilots into a safe anchorage + for the night. Next morning the pilots going out to + complete their salvage, saw some men on board the + derelict casting off the anchor rope by which they had + secured her, but they distinctly declined to swear to + the truth of what they had seen, and it turned out + that they had seen through glass, by which they meant + a telescope. In the same case I found that when these + pilots (men intelligent much beyond the average, as + all Scillonians are) had, on boarding the derelict + (which had, of course, been deserted by her crew), + found a living dog, they had deliberately thrown it + overboard. They explained this act of cruelty to me by + saying that a ship was not derelict if on board of her + was found alive 'man, woman, child, dog, or cat.' And + it turned out, on after-investigation, that these were + the very words used in an obsolete Act of Parliament + of one of the early Plantagenet kings, forgotten + centuries ago by the English people, but borne in mind + as a living fact by the Scillonians."[267] + +In some special departments elementary psychological conditions +operate in a considerable degree--operate to produce not waifs and +strays of primitive thought and belief, but whole classes. Thus in the +curious accretion of superstition around the objects connected with +church worship, the same agencies are at work. The general +characteristic of popular beliefs which originated with, or have grown +up around the consecrated objects of the Church, is that such objects +are beneficent in their action when employed for any given purpose. +Thus, as Henderson says of the North of England, "a belief in the +efficacy of the sacred elements in the Eucharist for the cure of +bodily disease is widely spread." Silver rings, made from the +offertory money, are very generally worn for the cure of epilepsy. +Water that had been used in baptism was believed in West Scotland to +have virtue to cure many distempers; it was a preventive against +witchcraft, and eyes bathed with it would never see a ghost. Dalyell +puts the evidence very succinctly. "Everything relative to sanctity +was deemed a preservative. Hence the relics of saints, the touch of +their clothes, of their tombs, and even portions of structures +consecrated to divine offices were a safeguard near the person. A +white marble altar in the church of Iona, almost entire towards the +close of the seventeenth century, had disappeared late in the +eighteenth, from its demolition in fragments to avert shipwreck." And +so what has been consecrated, must not be desecrated. In +Leicestershire and Northamptonshire there is a superstitious idea that +the removal or exhumation of a body after interment bodes death or +some terrible calamity to the surviving members of the deceased's +family.[268] + +In the West of Ireland there were usually found upon the altars of the +small missionary churches one or more oval stones, either natural +waterwashed pebbles or artificially shaped and very smooth, and these +were held in the highest veneration by the peasantry as having +belonged to the founders of the churches, and were used for a variety +of purposes, as the curing of diseases, taking oaths upon them, +etc.[269] Similarly the using of any remains of destroyed churches for +profane purposes was believed to bring misfortune,[270] while the land +which once belonged to the church of St. Baramedan, in the parish of +Kilbarrymeaden, county Waterford, "has long been highly venerated by +the common people, who attribute to it many surprising virtues."[271] +In 1849 the people of Carrick were in the habit of carrying away from +the churchyard portions of the clay of a priest's grave and using it +as a cure for several diseases, and they also boiled the clay from the +grave of Father O'Connor with milk and drank it.[272] One of the +superstitious fancies of the Connemara folk in 1825 was credulity with +respect to the gospels, as they are called, which "they wear round +their neck as a charm against danger and disease. These are prepared +by the priest, and sold by him at the price of two or three +tenpennies. It is considered sacrilege in the purchaser to part with +them at any time, and it is believed that the charm proves of no +efficacy to any but the individual for whose particular benefit the +priest has blessed it. The charm is written on a scrap of paper and +enclosed in a small cloth bag, marked on one side with the letters +I. H. S. On one side of the paper is written the Lord's Prayer, and +after it a great number of initial letters."[273] + +Such examples could be multiplied indefinitely, but no folklorist has +properly classified such beliefs and endeavoured to ascertain their +place in the science of folklore.[274] It is clear they have arisen +not from tradition, but from a new force acting on minds which were +not yet free to receive new influences without going back to old +methods of thought. + +How completely the sanctity of the church exercises a constant +influence upon the minds of men, thus substituting a new form of +belief when older forms were thrust on one side by the advance of the +new religion, is perhaps best illustrated by a practice in early +Christian times for giving sanctity to the oath. Among the Jews the +altar in the Temple was resorted to by litigants in order that the +oath might be taken in the presence of Yahveh himself, and "so +powerful was the impression of this upon the Christian mind, that in +the early ages of the Church there was a popular superstition that an +oath taken in a Jewish synagogue was more binding and more efficient +than anywhere else."[275] In exactly the same way the altar of the +Christian Church is used in popular belief after its use in Church +ceremonial has been discontinued. Thus, to get in beneath the altar of +St. Hilary Church, Anglesey, by means of an open panel and then turn +round and come out is to ensure life for the coming year,[276] and the +white marble altar in Iona which has been entirely demolished by +fragments of it being used to avert shipwreck has already been +referred to.[277] These are cases where there has been a throwing back +from the new religion to the objects connected with the old religion, +and they are paralleled by the practice of Protestants appealing to +the Roman Catholic priesthood for protection against witchcraft, and +of Nonconformists believing that the clergy of the Episcopal Church +possess superior powers over evil spirits.[278] + +Psychological evidence is therefore important. One can never be quite +sure to what extent civilised man is free from creating fresh myths in +place of acquired scientific result, and to what extent this +influences the production of primitive beliefs, or allows of the +acceptance of traditional belief on new ground. The great mass of +traditional belief has come through the ages traditionally, that is, +from parent to child, from neighbour to neighbour, from class to +class, from locality to locality, generation after generation. +Occasionally this main current of the traditional life of a people is +swollen by small side streams from fresh psychological sources. +Individual examples, such as those I have cited, have perhaps always +been present, but their effect must have died away with the passing of +those with whom they originated. There are, however, stronger effects +than these, coming not from individuals, but from classes. Thus the +votaries and enemies of witchcraft produced a more lasting effect. +Witchcraft, as Dr. Karl Pearson, I think, conclusively proves, and as +I have helped to prove,[279] is founded upon traditional belief and +custom, but its remarkable revival in the Middle Ages was in the main +a psychological phenomenon. Traditional practices, traditional +formulæ, and traditional beliefs are no doubt the elements of +witchcraft, but it was not the force of tradition which produced the +miserable doings of the Middle Ages and of the seventeenth century +against witches. These were due to a psychological force, partly +generated by the newly acquired power of the people to read the Bible +for themselves, and so to apply the witch stories of the Jews to +neighbours of their own who possessed powers or peculiarities which +they could not understand, and partly generated by the carrying on of +traditional practices by certain families or groups of persons who +could only acquire knowledge of such practices by initiation or family +teaching. Lawyers, magistrates, judges, nobles, and monarchs are +concerned with witchcraft. These are not minds which have been crushed +by civilisation, but minds which have misunderstood it or have misused +it. It is unnecessary, and it is of course impossible on this occasion +to trace out the psychic issues which are contained in the facts of +witchcraft, but it may be advisable to illustrate the point by one or +two references. + +I will note a few modern examples of the belief in witchcraft:-- + + "In 1879 extraordinary stories were current among the + populace of Caergwrle. Mrs. Braithwaite supplied a + Mrs. Williams with milk, but afterwards refused to + serve her, and the cause was as follows: Mrs. + Braithwaite had up to that time been very successful + in churning her butter, but about a month ago the + butter would not come. She tried every known agency; + she washed and dried her bats, but all to no purpose. + The milk would not yield an ounce of butter. Under the + circumstances she said Mrs. Williams had witched her. + The neighbours believed it, and Mrs. Williams was + generally called a witch. Hearing these reports, Mrs. + Williams went to Mrs. Braithwaite to expostulate with + her, when Mrs. Braithwaite said, 'Out, witch! If you + don't leave here, I'll shoot you.' Mrs. Williams + thereupon applied to the Caergwrle bench of + magistrates for a protection order against Mrs. + Braithwaite. She assured the Bench she was in danger, + as every one believed she was a witch. The Clerk: What + do they say is the reason? Applicant: Because she + cannot churn the milk. Mr. Kryke: Do they see you + riding a broomstick? Applicant (seriously): No, sir. + The Bench instructed the police officer to caution + Mrs. Braithwaite against repeating the threats."[280] + +The next example is from Lancashire:-- + + "At the East Dereham Petty Sessions, William Bulwer, + of Etling Green, was charged with assaulting + Christiana Martins, a young girl, who resided near the + Etling Green toll-bar. Complainant deposed that she + was 18 years of age, and on Wednesday, the 2nd inst., + the defendant came to her and abused her. The + complainant, who looks scarce more than a child, + repeated, despite the efforts of the magistrates' + clerk to stop her, and without being in the least + abashed, some of the worst language it was possible to + conceive--conversation of the most gross description, + alleged to have taken place between herself and the + defendant. They appeared to have got from words to + blows and, while trying to fasten the gate, the + defendant hit her across the hand with a stick. She + alleged that there was no cause for the abuse and the + assault, so far as she knew, and in reply to rigid + cross-examination as to the origin of the quarrel, + adhered to this statement. Mrs. Susannah Gathercole + also corroborated the statement as to the assault, + adding that the defendant said the complainant's + mother was a witch. Defendant then blazed forth in + righteous indignation, and, when the witness said she + knew no more about the origin of the quarrel, he said, + 'Mrs. Martins is an old witch, gentlemen, that is what + she is, and she charmed me, and I got no sleep for her + for three nights, and one night at half-past eleven + o'clock, I got up because I could not sleep, and went + out and found a "walking toad" under a clod that had + been dug up with a three-pronged fork. That is why I + could not rest; she is a bad old woman; she put this + toad under there to charm me, and her daughter is just + as bad, gentlemen. She would bewitch any one; she + charmed me, and I got no rest day or night for her, + till I found this "walking toad" under the turf. She + dug a hole and put it there to charm me, gentlemen, + that is the truth. I got the toad out and put it in a + cloth, and took it upstairs and showed it to my + mother, and "throwed" it into the pit in the garden. + She went round this here "walking toad" after she had + buried it, and I could not rest by day or sleep by + night till I found it. The Bench: Do you go to church? + Defendant: Sometimes I go to church, and sometimes to + chapel, and sometimes I don't go nowhere. Her mother + is bad enough to do anything; and to go and put the + "walking toad" in the hole like that, for a man which + never did nothing to her, she is not fit to live, + gentlemen, to go and do such a thing; it is not as if + I had done anything to her. She looks at lots of + people, and I know she will do some one harm. The + Chairman: Do you know this man, Superintendent Symons? + Is he sane? Superintendent Symons: Yes, sir; + perfectly."[281] + +In Somerset belief in witchcraft still lingers in nooks and corners of +the west, as appears from a case brought before the magistrates of the +Wiveliscombe division. + + "Sarah Smith, the wife of a marine store dealer, + residing at Golden Hill, was for some time ill and + confined to her bed. Finding that the local doctor + could not cure her, she sent for a witch doctor of + Taunton. He duly arrived by train on St. Thomas's day. + Smith inquired his charge, and was informed he usually + charged 11s., remarking that unless he took it from + the person affected his incantation would be of no + avail. Smith then handed it to his wife, who gave it + to the witch doctor, and he returned 1s. to her. He + then proceeded to foil the witch's power over his + patient by tapping her several times on the palm of + her hand with his finger, telling her that every tap + was a stab on the witch's heart. This was followed by + an incantation. He then gave her a parcel of herbs + (which evidently consisted of dried bay leaves and + peppermint), which she was to steep and drink. She was + to send to a blacksmith's shop and get a donkey's shoe + made, and nail it on her front door. He then + departed."[282] + +Such examples as these may be added to from various parts of the +country, but they do not compare with the terrible case at Clonmel, in +county Tipperary, which occurred in 1895. The evidence showed that the +husband, father, and mother of the victim, together with several other +persons, were concerned in this matter, and one of the witnesses, Mary +Simpson, stated "that on the night of March 14th she saw Cleary +forcibly administer herbs to his wife, and when the woman did not +answer when called upon in the name of the Trinity to say who she was, +she was placed on the fire by Cleary and the others. Mrs. Cleary did +not appear to be in her right senses. She was raving."[283] The whole +record of the trial is of the most amazing description, pointing back +to a system of belief which, if based upon traditional practices, has +been fed by entirely modern influences. Such records as these stretch +back through the ages, and almost every village, certainly every +county in the United Kingdom, has its records of trials for +witchcraft, in which clergy and layman, judge, jury, and victim play +strange parts, if we consider them as members of a civilised +community. Superstition which has been preserved by the folk as sacred +to their old faiths, preserved by tradition, has remained the +cherished possession, generally in secret, of those who practise it. +The belief in witchcraft is a different matter. Though it has +traditional rites and practices it has been kept alive by a cruel and +crude interpretation of its position among the faiths of the Bible, +and it has thus received fresh life. + +The miserable records of witchcraft illustrate in a way no other +subject can how the human mind, when untouched by the influences of +advanced culture, has the tendency to revert to traditional culture, +and they demonstrate how strongly embedded in human memory is the +great mass of traditional culture. The outside civilisation, religious +or scientific, has not penetrated far. Science has only just begun her +great work, and religion has been spending most of her efforts in +endeavouring to displace a set of beliefs which she calls +superstition, by a set of superstitions which she calls revelation. +Not only have the older faiths not been eradicated by this, but the +older psychological conditions have not been made to disappear. The +folklorist has to make note of this obviously significant fact, and +must therefore deal with both sides of the question, the traditional +and the psychological, and because by far the greater importance +belongs to the former it does not do to neglect the importance, though +the lesser importance, of the latter. + +It assists the student of tradition in many ways. People who will +still explain for themselves in primitive fashion phenomena which they +do not understand, and who remain content with such primitive +explanations instead of relying upon the discoveries of science, are +just the people to retain with strong persistence the traditional +beliefs and ideas which they obtained from their fathers, and to +acquire other traditional beliefs and ideas which they obtain from +neighbours. One often wonders at the "amazing toughness" of tradition, +and in the psychological conditions which have been indicated will be +found one of the necessary explanations. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[237] Dalyell, _Darker Superstitions of Scotland_, 197-198. + +[238] Robertson, _Agriculture of Inverness-shire_. For Argyllshire see +_New Stat. Account of Scotland_, vii. 346; Brown, _Early Descriptions +of Scotland_, 12, 49, 99. + +[239] Wilde, _Catalogue of Museum of Royal Irish Academy_, 99; Joyce, +_Social Hist. of Anc. Ireland_, ii. 27. + +[240] _Tour in Ireland_, 1775, p. 144; _Gent. Mag._, v. 680. + +[241] Hutchinson, _Hist. of Cumberland_, i. 216. + +[242] James Clarke, _Survey of the Lakes_, 1789, p. xiii; _Berwickshire +Nat. Field Club_, ix. 512. + +[243] Clarke, _Survey of the Lakes_, pp. x, xv. Referring to the +statutes enacted as a result of the Commissioners' work the facts are +as follows: There were certain franchises in North and South Tynedale +and Hexhamshire, by virtue of which the King's writ did not run there. +[Tynedale, though on the English side of the border, was an ancient +franchise of the Kings of Scotland.] In 1293 Edward I. confirmed this +grant in favour of John of Balliol (1 Rot. Parl., 114-16), and the +inhabitants took advantage of this immunity to make forays and commit +outrages in neighbouring counties. In the year 1414, at the Parliament +holden at Leicester, "grievous complaints" of these outrages were made +"by the Commons of the County of Northumberland." It was accordingly +provided (2 Henry V., cap. 5) that process should be taken against such +offenders under the common law until they were outlawed; and that then, +upon a certificate of outlawry made to lords of franchises in North and +South Tynedale and Hexhamshire, the offender's lands and goods should +be forfeited. In 1421 the provisions of this statute were extended to +like offenders in Rydesdale, where also the King's writ did not run (9 +Henry V., cap. 7). Still these excesses continued in Tynedale. By an +enactment of Henry VII. (2 Henry VII., cap. 9) this "lordship and +bounds" were annexed to the county of Northumberland. "Forasmuch," the +preamble sets forth, "as the inhabitants and dwellers within the +lordships and bounds of North and South Tyndale, not only in their own +persons, but also oftentimes accompanied and confedered with Scottish +ancient enemies to this realm, have at many seasons in time past +committed and done, and yet daily and nightly commit and do, great and +heinous murders, robberies, felonies, depredations, riots and other +great trespasses upon the King our Sovereign lord's true and faithful +liege people and subjects, inhabiters and dwellers within the shires of +Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmoreland, Exhamshire [_sic_], the +bishopric of Durham and in a part of Yorkshire, in which treasons, +murders, robberies, felonies, and other the premises, have not in time +past in any manner of form been punished after the order and course of +the common law, by reason of such franchise as was used within the same +while it was in the possession of any other lord or lords than our +Sovereign lord, and thus for lack of punishment of these treasons, +murders, robberies and felonies, the King's true and faithful liege +people and subjects, inhabiters and dwellers within the shires and +places before rehearsed, cannot be in any manner of surety of their +bodies or goods, neither yet lie in their own houses, but either to be +murdered or taken or carried into Scotland and there ransomed, to their +great destruction of body and goods, and utter impoverishing for ever, +unless due and hasty remedy be had and found," it is therefore provided +that North and South Tynedale shall from thenceforth be gildable, and +part of the shire of Northumberland, that no franchise shall stand good +there, and the King's writ shall run, and his officers and all their +warrants be obeyed there as in every other part of that shire. Further, +lessees of lands within the bounds are to enter into recognisances in +two sureties to appear and answer all charges. + +[244] See my _Ethnology in Folklore_, cap. vi. + +[245] Hickson, _North Celebes_, 240. + +[246] Mitchell's _Australian Expeditions_, i. 246. + +[247] See my _Village Community_, 18; Stewart's _Highlanders of +Scotland_, i. 147, 228. + +[248] _Notes and Queries_, second series, iv. 487. + +[249] Wild, _Highlands, Orcadia and Skye_, 196. + +[250] The psychology of primitive races is now receiving scientific +attention, thanks chiefly to Dr. Haddon and the scholars who +accompanied him upon his Torres Straits expedition in 1898. The volume +of the memoirs of this expedition which relates to psychology has +already been published, and students should consult it as an example of +scientific method. + +[251] One is reminded of the famous Shakespearian emendation whereby +Falstaff on his death-bed "babbled o' green fields." + +[252] Shortland, _New Zealanders_, 107. An Algonquin backbone story is +quoted by MacCulloch, _Childhood of Fiction_, 92, and he says, "the +spine is held by many people to be the seat of life," 93 and _cf._ III. +_Cf._ Frazer, _Adonis, Attis, and Osiris_, 277. + +[253] _Gent. Mag. Lib._, _Popular Superstitions_, 122. + +[254] _County Folklore, Suffolk_, 2. + +[255] _Hardwick's Science Gossip_, vi. 281; _cf._ Worsaae, _Danes and +Norwegians_, 25. + +[256] _Journ. Asiatic Soc., Bengal_, xiv. 479. + +[257] King, _Munimenta Antiqua_, i. 195-6; _Gent. Mag. Lib._, +_Archæology_, i. 319-321; Hutchinson, _Hist. Cumberland_, i. 226. + +[258] _Arch. Journ._, xv. 204. + +[259] Sinclair, _Stat. Acct. of Scotland_, xv. 191. + +[260] _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._, i. 2; _Gent. Mag. Lib._, _Archæology_, +i. 21. + +[261] _Archæologia_, xxv. 198. + +[262] _Gent. Mag._, 1751, pp. 110, 182. + +[263] Some Irish examples are collected in _Folklore Record_, v. +169-172. + +[264] Sinclair, _Stat. Acct. of Scotland_, xv. 111. + +[265] _Trans. Cymmrodorion Soc._ (1822), i. 170. + +[266] It is not worth while, perhaps, to pursue this part of our +subject into further regions. It is to be sought for in innumerable +pamphlets, such, for instance, as those relating to the Civil War. +Beesley, _Hist. of Banbury_, 334, mentions one, the title of which I +will quote: "A great Wonder in Heaven shewing the late Apparitions and +prodigious noyses of War and Battels seen on Edge Hill neere Keinton," +and the contents are "Certified under the hands of William Wood Esq and +Justice for the Peace in the said Countie, Samuel Marshall, Preacher of +God's Word in Keinton, and other Persons of Qualitie." The date is +exactly three months after the battle of Edgehill, "London, printed for +Thomas Jackson, January 23rd, 1642-3." + +[267] _West of England Magazine_, February, 1888. + +[268] Henderson, _Folklore of the Northern Counties_, 146; Napier, +_Folklore of West of Scotland_, 140; Dalyell, _Darker Superstitions of +Scotland_, 142; _Choice Notes_ (_Folklore_), 8; Brand, iii. 300; Dyer, +_English Folklore_, 146, 153 (Hereford, Lincoln, and Yorks). + +[269] Wilde, _Catalogue of Royal Irish Academy_, 131. + +[270] _Folklore Record_, iv. 105. + +[271] Rev. R. H. Ryland, _Hist. of Waterford_, 271. + +[272] Wilde, _Beauties of the Boyne_, 45; Croker, _Researches in South +of Ireland_, 170; _Revue Celtique_, v. 358. + +[273] Blake, _Letters from the Irish Highlands_, 130-131. + +[274] _Church Folklore_, by Rev. J. E. Vaux, is a collection of +material, and does not attempt to give any indication of its value. + +[275] Lea, _Superstition and Force_, 28. + +[276] _Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc._, xxv. 142; Rev. W. Bingley, _North +Wales_, 216-217. + +[277] Sacheverell, _Voyage to Isle of Man_, 132. + +[278] Tylor, _Primitive Culture_, i. 115; Landt, _Origin of the +Priesthood_, 85; Henderson, _Folklore of Northern Counties_, 32-33; +_Folklore Record_, i. 46. + +[279] Pearson's _Chances of Death_, ii. cap. ix., "Woman as Witch;" +Gomme, _Ethnology in Folklore_, 48-62. + +[280] _Daily Chronicle_, 15th February, 1879. + +[281] _Leigh Chronicle_, 19th April, 1879. + +[282] _Somerset County Gazette_, 22nd January, 1881. + +[283] _Standard_, 3rd April, 1895. The full details are reprinted in +_Folklore_, vi. 373-384. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +ANTHROPOLOGICAL CONDITIONS + + +In dealing with the folklore of any country, it is important to note +the general bearing of anthropological conditions. The earliest +inhabitants, to whom part of the folklore belonged, and the later +peoples, to whom part belonged, have both arrived at their ultimate +point of settlement in the country where we discover their folklore +after being in touch with many points of the world's surface. They are +both world-people as well as national people--they belonged to +anthropology before they came under the dominion of history. This +important fact is often or nearly always neglected. We are apt to +treat of Greek and Roman and Briton, of Cretan, Scandinavian, and +Russian, as bounded by the few thousands of years of life which have +fixed them with their territorial names, and to ignore all that lies +behind this historic period. There is, as a matter of fact, an immense +period behind it, reckoned according to geological time in millions of +years, and this period, longer in duration, more strenuous in its +influences upon character and mind, containing more representatives in +peoples, societies, and races than the later period, has affected the +later period to a far greater extent than is generally conceded or +understood. We cannot understand the later period without knowing +something of the earlier period. + +There is more than this; for the dominating political races occupying +European countries to-day were, in most cases, preceded by a +non-political people. Thus, if we turn to Britain for illustration, we +find evidence of a people physically allied with a race which cannot +be identified with Celt or Teuton,[284] philologically allied with a +people which spoke a non-Aryan language,[285] archæologically allied +with the prehistoric stone-circle and monolith builders,[286] and we +find custom, belief, and myth in Britain retaining traces of a culture +which is not Celtic and not Teutonic, and which contains survivals of +the primitive system of totemism.[287] These four independent classes +of evidence have to be combined if we would ascertain the true +position they occupy in the history of Britain, and it is perfectly +clear that, apart from general considerations, a direct appeal to +anthropology is necessary to help out the deficiencies of both history +and folklore. The questions involved in totemism alone compel us to +this course. It is questionable whether there is any existing savage +or barbaric people who are non-totemic in the sense of either not +possessing the rudimentary beginnings of totemism, or not having once +possessed a full system of totemism. Totemism, at one stage or another +of its development, is, in fact, one of the universal elements of +man's life, and all consideration of its traces in civilised countries +must begin with some conception of its origin. Its origin must refer +back to conditions of human life which are also universal. Special +circumstances, special peoples, special areas could not have produced +totemism unless we proceed to the somewhat violent conclusion that +beginning in one area it has spread therefrom to all areas. I know of +no authority who advocates such a theory and no evidence in its +favour. We are left therefore with the proposition that the origin of +totemism must be sought for in some universal condition of human life +at one of its very early stages, which would have produced a state of +things from which would inevitably arise the beliefs, customs, and +social organisations which are included under the term totemism. + +There is therefore ample ground for a consideration of anthropological +conditions as part of the necessary equipment of the study of folklore +as an historical science. Unfortunately, authorities are now greatly +divided on several important questions in anthropology, and it is not +possible to speak with even a reasonable degree of certainty on many +things. This compels further research than the mere statement of the +present position, and I find myself obliged even for my present +limited purpose to suggest many new points beyond the stage reached +by present research. There is one advantage in this. It allows of a +hypothesis by which to present the subject to the student, and a +working hypothesis is always a great advantage where research is not +founded entirely on actual observation by trained experts in the +field. Where, therefore, I depart from the guidance of conclusions +already arrived at by scholars in this department of research, it will +be in order to substitute an opinion of my own which I think it is +necessary to consider, and the whole study of the anthropological +problems in their relation to folklore will assume the shape of a +restatement of the entire case. + +I am aware that a subject of this magnitude is too weighty and +far-reaching to be properly considered in a chapter of a book not +devoted to the single purpose, but it is necessary to attempt a rough +statement of the evidence, though it will take us somewhat beyond the +ordinary domain of folklore; but, while dealing with the +anthropological position at sufficient length to make a complicated +subject clear, if I can do so, I shall limit both my arguments and the +evidence in support of them to the narrowest limits. + + +I + +Mr. Wallace, I think, supplies the dominant note of the +anthropological position when he suggests, though in a strangely +unsatisfactory terminology, that it is the conscious use by man of his +experience which causes his superior mental endowments, and his +superior range of development.[288] We must lay stress upon the +important qualification "conscious." It is conscious use of experience +which is the great factor in man's progress. It is the greatest +possession of man in his beginning, and has remained his greatest +possession ever since. His experience did not always lead him to the +best paths of progress, but it has led him to progress. + +Even Mr. Wallace did not appreciate the full significance of this +principle. The conscious adoption of a natural fact, of an observation +from nature, or an assumed observation from nature, for social +purposes, is an altogether different thing from the unconscious +knowledge which man might have been possessed of, but which he never +put to any use in his social development. Anthropologists must note +not the natural facts known to later man or known to science, but the +facts, or assumed facts, which early man consciously adopted for his +purpose during the long period of his development from savage to +civilised forms of life. The unconscious acts of mankind are of no +use, or of very little use. It is only the conscious acts that will +lead us along the lines of man's development. Man did not begin to +build up his social system with the scientific fact of blood kinship +through father and mother, but he evolved a theory of social +relationship which served his purpose until the fact of blood kinship +supplied a better basis. At almost the first point of origin in savage +society we see man acting consciously, and it is amongst his conscious +acts that we must place those traces of a sort of primitive +legislation which have been found.[289] + +Now this being the basis of anthropological observation, we have to +apply it to the question of man's earliest progress. It is at its base +an economic question. Primitive economics dominated the movements and +condition of early man in a far more thorough manner than modern +economics affect civilisation, and between the two systems lies the +whole history of man. It reveals man adapting the social unit to the +productive powers of its food supply, and developing towards the +adaptation of the productive powers of food supply to the social unit. +In the various stages that accompany this great change, there is no +defined separation of peoples according to stages of culture, savage, +barbaric, or civilised. There is nothing to suggest that all peoples +do not come from one centre of human life. On the contrary, the +evidence is strong that the primal stages in human evolution are +traceable in all the culture stages, and, therefore, that they fit in +with the general conclusions of anthropologists and naturalists as to +man's origin in one definite centre, and his gradual spreading out +from that centre. + +I will take the chief conclusions arrived at in respect of this +condition of birth at one centre and subsequent spreading out. Darwin +has summarised the problem between the monogenists and polygenists in +a manner which still ranks as a sufficient statement of the case, and +his conclusion that "all the races of man are descended from a single +primitive stock"[290] is accepted by the most prominent +naturalists,[291] and confirmed by recent discoveries, which go to +prove that this primitive stock began in miocene or pliocene times in +the Indo-Malaysian intertropical lands.[292] + +Anthropologists, who have been deeply interested in the controversy +ranging round the origin of man, have in a remarkable manner neglected +to take into full account the most significant phenomenon of spreading +out.[293] They either neglect it altogether, or they relegate it to so +small a place in their argument as to become a practical neglect. They +treat of man as if he were always in a stationary condition, and +exclude the important condition of movement as an element in his +development. Mr. Spencer's general dictum that geological changes and +meteorological changes, as well as the consequent changes of flora and +fauna, must have been causing over all parts of the earth perpetual +emigrations and immigrations,[294] does not help much, because it +refers to special and cataclysmic events. Lord Avebury, though +stating the true case, unfortunately contents himself at the end of +his book on prehistoric man with a short summary of the evidence as to +the equipment of primitive man in mental and social qualities when he +began the great movement, and gives only a few lines to his conclusion +that "there can be no doubt that he originally crept over the earth's +surface little by little, year by year, just, for instance, as the +weeds of Europe are now gradually but surely creeping over the surface +of Australia."[295] + +Mr. Keane is the first authority who thinks it appropriate to commence +his treatise on man with an examination of the facts which show that +"the world was peopled by migration from one centre by pleistocene +man ... who moved about like other migrating faunas, unconsciously, +everywhere following the lines of least resistance, advancing or +receding, and acting generally on blind impulse rather than of set +purpose;"[296] and it still remains with Dr. Latham to have formulated +some fixed principles of the migratory movement in his admirable +though, of course, wholly inadequate summary of man and his +migrations. I will quote the passage in full: "So long as any +continental extremities of the earth's surface remained +unoccupied--the stream (or rather the enlarging circle of migration) +not having yet reached them--the _primary_ migration is going on; and +when all have got their complement, the primary migration is over. +During this primary migration, the relations of man, thus placed in +movement and in the full, early and guiltless exercise of his high +function of subduing the earth, are in conflict with physical +obstacles and with the resistance of the lower animals only. Unless, +like Lot's wife, he turn back upon the peopled parts behind him, he +has no relations with his fellow-men--at least none arising out of the +claim of previous occupancy. In other words, during the primary +migration, the world that lay before our progenitors was either brute +or inanimate. But before many generations have passed away, all +becomes full to overflowing, so that men must enlarge their boundaries +at the expense of their fellows. The migrations that now take place +are _secondary_. They differ from the primary in many respects. They +are slower, because the resistance is that of humanity to humanity, +and they are violent, because dispossession is the object. They are +partial, abortive, followed by the fusion of different populations, or +followed by their extermination as the case may be."[297] This +passage, written so long ago as 1841, is still applicable to the facts +of modern science, and there is only to add to it that the migration +of man from a common centre, where life was easy, to all parts of the +world, where life has been difficult, must have been undertaken in +order to meet some great necessity, and must have become possible by +reason of some great force which man alone possessed. The necessity +was economic; the force was social development. If the movement has +not been geographically ever forward, it has been ethnographically +constant.[298] Movement always; sometimes the pressure has come from +one direction, sometimes from another; sometimes it has caused +compression and at other times expansion; sometimes it has sent +humanity to inhabit regions that required generations of victims +before it could hold its own. At all times the essential condition of +life has been that of constant movement in face of antagonistic +forces.[299] In whatever form the movement has come about, movement of +a very definite character has taken place over an immense period of +time, and sufficient to cover practically the whole earth with +descendants from the original human stock. This conclusion is +enormously strengthened by the accumulating evidence for the +world-wide area covered by the remains of man's earliest weapon, the +worked stone implement. It is everywhere. It is practically +co-extensive with man's wanderings, and the greatness of the territory +it covers marks it off as another of the universal relics of man's +primitive life. Of no other weapon or instrument or associated object +can this be said. The bow and arrow are unknown to the Australians and +other peoples; pottery is unknown to the Bushmen and other peoples; +the use of fire in cookery is not found among the South Sea Islanders, +and is not claimed for other peoples.[300] We can get behind the +development of these and other arts and come upon the ruder people who +had not arrived at the stage they represent. But we cannot get behind +the worked flint. It must have been the chief material cause of man's +success in the migratory movement, and with the social development +accompanying it must have made migration not only possible, but the +only true method of meeting the earliest economic difficulties. It +also provides us with the elements of a chronological basis. Behind +palæolithic times there is an immensity of time when man struggled +with his economic difficulties and spread out slowly and painfully. +During palæolithic times the movement was more rapid and more general. +Obstacles were overcome by palæolithic man becoming superior to his +enemies by the use of weapons, and use of weapons caused, or at all +events aided, the development of social institutions capable of +bearing the new force of movement. + +These two factors of economic necessity and social development are of +equal importance in man's history, and they interlace at all points. +They lead straight to the necessity for always taking count of the +fact that man is primarily a migratory being, and that he has spread +over the earth. Everywhere we find man. There is no habitable part of +the world where he has not found a home. But we do not find him under +equal conditions everywhere, and the different conditions afford +evidence of the main lines of development. Roughly speaking, it may be +put in this way. In the savage world the people appear as aborigines, +that is to say, the first and only occupiers of the territory where +they are located. In the barbaric world the condition of aboriginal +settlement is tinged with the result of conquest, namely, the pushing +out or absorption of the aboriginal folk in favour of a more powerful +and conquering folk. In the political world, and in the political +world only, there is not only the element of conquest, but the +definite aim of conquest, which is to retain the aboriginal or +conquered people as part of the political fabric necessary to the +settlement of the conqueror, and at the same time to keep intact the +superior position of the conqueror. In the savage world, society and +religion are based upon locality; in the barbaric world there is the +first sign of the element of kinship consciously used in the effort of +conquest, which dies away gradually as successful settlement, by which +conqueror and conquered become merged in one people, follows conquest; +in the political world, and in the political world only, kinship is +elevated into a necessary institution, is made sacred to the minds of +tribesmen, and becomes an essential part of the religion of the tribe +in order to keep the organisation of the tribal conquerors intact and +free from the perils of dissolution when conquerors and conquered +become members of one political unit. The savage and barbaric worlds +are the homes of the backward peoples, the non-advanced or fossilised +types of early humanity. The political world is the domain for the +most part of the Aryan-speaking people, and of the Semitic people, and +of those people who in Egypt within the Mediterranean area, and in +China in the eastern Asian area, have built up civilisations which +have only recently come under scientific observation. + +These distinctions are not made by anthropologists as a rule, yet I +cannot but think they are in the main the true distinctions which must +be made if we are to arrive at any general conception of the progress +of man from savagery to civilisation. The distinctions which seem to +hold the field against those I have suggested, are those of hunter, +pastoral, and agricultural. I say seem to hold the field, because they +have never been scientifically worked out. They are stated in +textbooks and research work almost as an axiom of anthropology, but +their claim to this position is singularly weak and unsatisfactory, +and has never been scientifically established. They are only +economical distinctions, not social, and they do not properly express +related stages. Hunting, cattle keeping, and agriculture are found in +almost all stages of social evolution, and I, for one, deny that in +the order they are generally given, they express anything approaching +to accurate indication of the line of human progress. The +distinctions I have suggested do not, of course, contain everything +indicative of human progress. They are the first broad outlines to be +filled up by the details of special peoples, special areas, and +special ages. They involve many sub-stages which need to be properly +worked out, and for which a satisfactory terminology is required. In +the meantime, as measuring-posts of man's line of progress, they +express the most important fact about man, namely, that his present +enforced stationary condition has followed upon an enormous period of +enforced movement. That movement has finally resulted in the presence +of man everywhere on the earth's surface. This has been followed by +the continued moving of savage man within the limited areas to which +he has been finally pushed; by the movement of barbaric man from one +place of settlement to another place of settlement, again within +limited areas; and by the movement of political man through countries +and continents of vast extent, and the final overlordship of political +man over savage and barbaric man whom he has subjected and used for +his purpose of final settlement in the civilised form of settlement. +It will be apparent from the terms I have used to express the three +chief stages in man's progress, that I give a special significance to +the use of blood kinship as a social force, and in the sequel I think +this special significance will be justified.[301] + +No one can properly estimate the tremendous amount of movement which +preceded these later limitations to movement. Savage and barbaric +races are now hemmed in by the forces of modern civilisation. This was +not the case even a few hundred years ago, and though we cannot say +when constant movement all over the world was stayed, we can form some +idea of the comparatively late period when this took place by a +contemplation of the very recent growth of the political civilisations +known to history. At the most, this can only be reckoned at some ten +thousand years. At the back of this short stretch of time, or of the +successive periods at which the new civilisations have arisen, there +are recollections of great movements and great migrations. Egypt, +Babylonia, India, Persia, Greece, and Rome have preserved these +recollections by tradition, and tradition has been largely confirmed +by archæology. Celts and Teutons have preserved parallel traditions +which are confirmed by history observed from without. These traditions +and memorials of the migration period have not been scientifically +examined in each case, but where scholars have touched upon them, +great and unexpected results have been produced.[302] + +There was time enough, before these late and special movements which +led to civilisation, for man, in the course of peopling the earth, to +be brought at various stages to a standstill, and such a change in his +life-history would have its own special results. One of the most +momentous of these results is the fossilisation of social and mental +conditions. Man stationary, or movable by custom within restricted +areas, would live under conditions which must have produced forms of +culture different from those under which man lived when he was always +able to penetrate, not by custom but by the force of circumstances, +into the unknown domain of unoccupied territory; and the fossilisation +of his culture at various stages of development, in accord with the +various periods of his being brought to a standstill, would be the +most important result.[303] Whenever man was compelled to move onward +the social forces which were demanded of him, as he proceeded from +point to point, must have been quite different from those which he +could have adopted if he had been allowed to stay in areas which +suited him, if he could have selected his settlement grounds and +awaited events. The calmness of the latter methods would perhaps have +led to the unconscious development of social forms; the roughness of +the actual method of constant movement led to the conscious adoption +of social forms which has altered man's history. These considerations +bring us to the conclusion that it is during the period of migratory +movement that man has developed the social and religious elements with +which the anthropologist finds him endowed, when at last in modern +days he has been brought within the ken of scientific observation, and +that therefore it is as a migratory not a stationary organism that the +evolution of human society has to be studied, aided by the fact that +enforced stationary conditions have produced in the savage world +examples of perhaps the most remote as well as the more recent types +of primitive humanity. + +This last possibility, however, is not admitted by the best +authorities. They endeavour to use biological methods in order to get +behind existing savagery for the earliest period of human savagery. +Darwin is not satisfied with the evidence as to promiscuity, strong as +it appeared to him to be, and he pronounced it to be "extremely +improbable" in a state of nature, and falls back upon the evidence of +the rudimentary stages of human existence, there being, as among the +gorillas, but one adult male in the band, and "when the young male +grows up, a contest takes place for the mastery, and the strongest, by +killing and driving out the others, establishes himself as the head of +the community."[304] Mr. McLennan nowhere states the evidence for his +first stage of human society--the primitive horde without any ideas of +kinship, and based upon a fellowship of common interests and +dangers[305]--but arrives at it by argument deduced from the +conditions of later stages of development, and from the necessary +suppositions as to the pre-existing stage which must have led to the +later. Mr. Westermarck leads us straight to the evidence of the lower +animals, from which he arrives at the small groups of humans headed by +the male, and provides us with the theory of a human pairing +season.[306] Mr. Morgan claims that no exemplification of mankind in +his assumed lower status of savagery remained to the historical +period,[307] presumably meaning the anthropo-historical period. And +finally, Mr. Lang definitely claims that conjecture, and conjecture +alone, remains as the means of getting back to the earliest human +origins.[308] + +There is great danger in relying too closely upon conjecture. We shall +be repeating in anthropology what the analytical jurists accomplished +in law and jurisprudence, and it will then soon become necessary to do +for anthropology what Sir Henry Maine did for comparative +jurisprudence, namely, demonstrate that the analytical method does not +take us back to human origins, but to highly developed systems of +society. Law, in the hands of the analytical jurists, is merely one +part of the machinery of modern government. Social beginnings in the +hands of conjectural anthropologists are merely abstractions with the +whole history of man put on one side. Mr. Lang in leading the way +towards the analytical method in anthropology has avoided many of its +pitfalls, but his disciples are not so successful. Thus, when Mr. +Thomas declares that "custom which has among them [primitive peoples] +far more power than law among us, determines whether a man is of kin +to his mother and her relatives alone, or to his father and father's +relatives, or whether both sets of relatives are alike of kin to +them,"[309] he is neglecting the whole significance and range of +custom. His statement is true analytically, but it is not true +anthropologically until we have ascertained what this custom to which +he refers really is, whence it is derived, how it has obtained its +force, what is its range of action, how it operates in differentiating +among the various groups of mankind--in a word, what is the human +history associated with this custom. + +We must, however, at certain points in anthropological inquiry have +recourse to the conjectural method. Its value lies in the fact that it +states, and states clearly, the issue which is before us, and it is +always possible to take up the conjectural position and endeavour to +ascertain whether the neglected facts of human history which it +expresses can be recovered. Its danger lies in the neglect of certain +anthropological principles which can only be noted from definite +examples, and the significance of which can only be discovered by the +handling of definite examples. I will refer to one or two of the +principles which I have in mind. Thus, it is necessary to distinguish +between what is a practice and what is a rule. A practice precedes a +rule. A practice incidental to one stage of society must not be +confused with a rule, similar to the practice, obtaining in a +different stage of society. Again, it must be borne in mind that +identity of practice is no certain evidence of parallel stages of +culture, and already it has been pointed out that identical practices +do not always come from the same causes. Thirdly, it has to be borne +in mind that primitive peoples specialise in certain directions to an +extreme extent, and correspondingly cause neglect in other directions. +The normal, therefore, has to give way to the special, and it is the +degree of specialisation and the degree of neglect which are measuring +factors of progress; in other words, it is the conscious adoption of +certain rules of life with which we alone have to do. + +These principles are apt to be wholly neglected, and, indeed, the +last-mentioned element in the evolution of human society does not +enter into the calculations of analytical anthropologists. They +provide for the normal according to scientific ideas of what the +normal is. They either neglect or openly reject what cannot be called +abnormal, because it appears everywhere, but which they are inclined +to treat as abnormal because it does not fit into their accepted lines +of development. That which I have ventured to term specialisation and +neglect is a great and important feature in anthropology. It obtains +everywhere in more or less degree, and accounts for some of the +apparently unaccountable facts in savage society, where we are +frequently encountered by a comparatively high degree of culture +associated with a cruel and debasing system of rites and practices +which belong to the lowest savagery. Dr. Haddon has usefully suggested +the term "differential evolution" for this phenomenon in the culture +history of man,[310] and as I find myself in entire agreement with +this distinguished anthropologist as to the facts[311] which call for +a special terminology, I gladly adopt his valuable suggestion. + +It is advisable to explain this phenomenon by reference to examples, and +I will take the point of specialisation first. Even where industrial +arts have advanced far beyond the primitive stage we are considering, we +have the case of the Ahts, with whom "though living only a few miles +apart, the tribes practise different arts and have apparently distinct +tribal characteristics. One tribe is skilful in shaping canoes, another +in painting boards for ornamental work, or making ornaments for the +person, or instruments for hunting and fishing. Individuals as a rule +keep to the arts for which their tribe has some repute, and do not care +to acquire those arts in which other tribes excel. There seems to be +among all the tribes in the island a sort of recognised tribal monopoly +in certain articles produced, or that have been long manufactured in +their own district. For instance, a tribe that does not grow potatoes, +or make a particular kind of mat, will go a long way year after year to +barter for those articles, which if they liked they themselves could +easily produce or manufacture."[312] The remarkable case of the Todas +specialising in cattle rearing and dairy farming is another example. +Other people, both higher and lower in civilisation than the Todas, keep +cattle and know the value of milk, but it is reserved for the Todas +alone to have used this particular economic basis of their existence as +the basis also of their social formation and their religious life.[313] +The result is that they neglect other forms of social existence. They +are not totemists, though perhaps they have the undeveloped germs of +totemistic beliefs.[314] Their classificatory system of relationship +makes their actual kinship scarcely recognisable; they "have very +definite restrictions on the freedom of individuals to marry," and have +a two-class endogamous division, but their marriage rite is merely the +selection of nominal fathers for their children.[315] Throughout the +careful study which we now possess, thanks to Dr. Rivers, of this +people, there is the dominant note of dairy economy superimposing itself +upon all else, and even religion seems to be in a state of +decadence.[316] I do not know that anywhere else could be found a +stronger example of the results of extreme specialisation upon the +social and mental condition of a people. As a rule such specialisation +does not extend to a whole people, but rather to sections, as, for +instance, among the Gold Coast tribes of Africa who "transmit the secret +of their skill from father to son and keep the corporation to which they +belong up to a due degree of closeness by avoiding intermarriage with +any of the more unskilled labourers,"[317] and Dr. Bucher, who has +worked out many of the earliest conditions of primitive economics, +concludes that it may be safely claimed that every "tribe displays some +favourite form of industrial activity in which its members surpass the +other tribes."[318] This rule extends to the lowest type of man, as, for +instance, among the Australians. Each tribe of the Narrinyeri, says +Taplin, have been accustomed to make those articles which their tract of +country enabled them to produce most easily; one tribe will make +weapons, another mats, and a third nets, and then they barter them one +with another.[319] + +The evidence for industrial evolution is full of cases such as these, +and they are extremely important to note, because it is not the mere +existence of particular customs or particular beliefs among different +peoples which is the factor to take into account, but the use or +non-use, and the extent of the use or non-use, to which the particular +customs or beliefs are put in each case.[320] Let me turn from the +phenomenon of over-specialisation to that of neglect, and for this +purpose I will take the simple fact of blood kinship. Existing +obviously everywhere through the mother, and not obviously but +admittedly through the father among most primitive peoples, there are +examples where both maternal kinship and paternal kinship are +neglected factors in the construction of the social group. The Nahals +of Khandesh, for instance, neglect kinship altogether, and exist +perfectly wild among the mountains, subsisting chiefly on roots, +fruits, and berries, though the children during infancy accompany the +mother in her unattached freedom from male control,[321] just as +Herodotos describes the condition of the Auseans "before the Hellenes +were settled near them."[322] Similarly, among many primitive peoples, +kinship with the mother is recognised while kinship with the father is +purposely neglected as a social factor. Thus, among the Khasia Hill +people, the husband visits his wife occasionally in her own home, +where "he seems merely entertained to continue the family to which his +wife belongs."[323] This statement, so peculiarly appropriate to my +purpose, is not merely an accident of language. With the people allied +to the Khasis, namely, the Syntengs and the people of Maoshai, "the +husband does not go and live in his mother-in-law's house; he only +visits her there. In Jowai, the husband came to his mother-in-law's +house only after dark," and the explanation of the latest authority +is that among these people "the man is nobody ... if he be a husband +he is looked upon merely as _u shong kha_, a begetter."[324] + +The neglect of maternal and paternal kinship respectively in these two +cases is obvious. They are recognised physically. But they are not +used as part of the fabric of social institutions. Physical motherhood +or fatherhood is nothing to these people, and one must learn to +understand that there is wide difference between the mere physical +fact of having a mother and father, and the political fact of using +this kinship for social organisation. Savages who have not learnt the +political significance have but the scantiest appreciation of the +physical fact. The Australians, for instance, have no term to express +the relationship between mother and child. This is because the +physical fact is of no significance, and not as Mr. Thomas thinks +because of the meagreness of the language.[325] Our field +anthropologists do not quite understand the savage in this respect. It +is of no use preparing a genealogical tree on the basis of civilised +knowledge of genealogy if such a document is beyond the ken of the +people to whom it relates. The information for it may be correctly +collected, but if the whole structure is not within the compass of +savage thought it is a misleading anthropological document. It is of +no use translating a native term as "father," if father did not mean +to the savage what it means to us. It might mean something so very +different. With us, fatherhood connotes a definite individual with all +sorts of social, economical, and political associations, but what +does it mean to the savage? It may mean physical fatherhood and +nothing more, and physical fatherhood may be a fact of the veriest +insignificance. It may mean social fatherhood, where all men of a +certain status are fathers to all children of the complementary +status, and social fatherhood thus becomes much more than we can +understand by the term father. + +We cannot ignore the evidence which over-specialisation in one +direction and neglect in other directions supply to anthropology. It +shows us that human societies cannot always be measured in the scale +of culture by the most apparent of the social elements contained in +them. The cannibalism of the Fijians, the art products of the Maori, +the totemism of the Australian blacks, do not express all that makes +up the culture of these people, although it too often happens that +they are made to do duty for the several estimates of culture +progress. It follows that a survey of the different human societies +might reveal examples of the possible lowest in the scale as well as +various advances from the lowest; or in lieu of whole societies in the +lowest scale, there might be revealed unexceptional examples of the +possible lowest elements of culture within societies not wholly in the +lowest scale. It will be seen how valuable an asset this must be in +anthropological research. It justifies those who assert that existing +savagery or existing survival will supply evidence of man at the very +earliest stages of existence. It is the root idea of Dr. Tylor's +method of research, and it is an essential feature in the science of +folklore. + +Evidence of this nature, however, needs to be exhaustively collected, +and to be subjected to the most careful examination, as otherwise it +may be used for the merest _a priori_ argument of the most mischievous +and inconclusive description. It involves consideration of whole human +groups rather than of particular sections of each human group, of the +whole corpus of social, religious, and economical elements residing in +each human group rather than of the separated items. Each human group, +having its specialised and dormant elements, must be treated as an +organism and not as a bundle of separable items, each one of which the +student may use or let alone as he desires. That which is +anthropological evidence is the indivisible organism, and whenever, +for convenience of treatment and considerations of space, particular +elements only are used in evidence, they must be qualified, and the +use to which they are provisionally put for scientific purposes must +be checked, by the associated elements with which the particular +elements are connected. + +The human groups thus called upon to surrender their contributions to +the history of man are of various formations, and consist of various +kinds of social units. There is no one term which can properly be +applied to all, and it will have been noted that I have carefully +avoided giving the human groups hitherto dealt with any particular +name, and only under protest have I admitted the terms used by the +authorities I have quoted. I think the term "tribe" is not applicable +to savage society, for it is used to denote peoples in all degrees of +social evolution, and merely stands for the group which is known by a +given name, or roams over a given district. But the use of this term +is not so productive of harm as the use of the term "family," because +of the universal application of this term to the smallest social unit +of the civilised world, and because of the fundamental difference of +structure of the units which roughly answer to the definition of +family in various parts of the world. It is no use in scientific +matters to use terms of inexact reference. As much as almost anything +else it has led to false conclusions as to the evolution of the +family, conclusions which seem to entangle even the best authorities +in a mass of contradictions. I cannot think of a family group in +savagery with father, mother, sons, and daughters, all delightfully +known to each other, in terms which also belong to the civilised +family, and still less can I think of these terms being used to take +in the extended grouping of local kinships. One of our greatest +difficulties, indeed, is the indiscriminate use of kinship terms by +our descriptive authorities. We are never quite sure whether the +physical relationships included in them convey anything whatever to +the savage. If he knows of the physical fact, he does not use it +politically, for blood kinship as a political force is late, not +early, and the early tie was dependent upon quite other circumstances. +Over and over again it will be found stated by established authorities +that the family was the primal unit, the grouped families forming the +larger clan, the grouped clans forming the larger tribe. This is Sir +Henry Maine's famous formula, and it is the basis of his investigation +into early law and custom.[326] It is founded upon the false +conception of the family in early history, and upon a too narrow +interpretation of the stages of evolution. When we are dealing with +savage society, the terms family and tribe do not connote the same +institution as when we are dealing with higher forms of civilisation. +There is something roughly corresponding to these groupings in both +systems, but they do not actually equate. When we pass to the Semitic +and the Aryan-speaking peoples, both the family and tribe have assumed +a definite place in the polity of the races which is not to be found +outside these peoples. + +So strongly has the family impressed itself upon the thought of the +age that students of man in his earliest ages are found stating that +"the family is the most ancient and the most sacred of human +institutions."[327] This proposition, however, is not only denied by +other authorities, as, for instance, Mr. Jevons, who affirms that "the +family is a comparatively late institution in the history of +society,"[328] but it rests upon the merely analytical basis of +research, separated entirely from those facts of man's history which +are discoverable by the means just now suggested. One is, of course, +quite prepared to find the family among civilisations older than the +Indo-European, and yet to find that it is a comparatively late +institution among Indo-European peoples. As a matter of fact, this is +the case; for the two kinds of family, the family as seen in savage +society and the family as it appears among the antiquities of the +Indo-European people, are totally distinct in origin, in compass, and +in force; while welded between the two kinds of family is the whole +institution of the tribe. It is no use introducing the theory adopted +by Grote, Niebuhr, Mommsen, Thirlwall, Maine, and other authorities +who have studied the legal antiquities of classical times, that the +tribe is the aggregate of original family units. Later on I shall show +that this cannot be the case. The larger kinship of the tribe is a +primary unit of ancient society, which thrusts itself between the +savage family and the civilised family, showing that the two types are +separated by a long period of history during which the family did not +exist. + +It has taken me some time to explain these points in anthropological +science, which appear to me not to have received proper consideration +at the hands of the masters of the science, but which are essential +factors in the history of man and are necessary to a due consideration +of the position occupied by folklore. The chief results obtained +are:-- + + (1) Migratory man would deposit his most rudimentary + social type not at the point of starting his + migration, but at the furthest point therefrom. + + (2) Custom due to the migratory period would continue + after real migratory movement had ceased, and from + this body of custom would be derived all later forms + of social custom. + + (3) Non-kinship groups are more rudimentary than + kinship groups, and are still observable in savage + anthropology. + + (4) Anthropological evidence must be based upon the + whole of the characteristics of human groups, not upon + special characteristics singled out for the purpose of + research. + +It is with these results we have to work. They will help us to see how +far the facts of anthropology, which begin far behind the historical +world, have to do with the problems presented by folklore as a science +having to deal with the historical world. + + +II + +We may now inquire where anthropology and folklore meet. It is +significant in this connection that in order to reach back to the +earliest ages of man, our first appeal seems to be to folklore. The +appeal at present does not lead us far perhaps, but it certainly acts +as a finger post in the inquiry, for Dr. Kollmann, rejecting the +evidence of the Java _Pithecanthropus erectus_ as the earliest +palæontological evidence of man, advances the opinion that the direct +antecedents of man should not be sought among the species of +anthropoid apes of great height and with flat skulls, but much further +back in the zoological scale, in the small monkeys with pointed +skulls; from which, he believes, were developed the human pygmy races +of prehistoric ages with pointed skulls, and from these pygmy races +finally developed the human race of historic times. And he relies upon +folklore for one part of his evidence, for it is this descent of man, +he thinks, which explains the persistency with which mythology and +folklore allude to the subject of pygmy people, as well as the +relative frequency with which recently the fossils of small human +beings belonging to prehistoric times have been discovered.[329] It +must not be forgotten, too, that this remote period is found in +another class of tradition, namely, that to which Dr. Tylor refers as +containing the memory of the huge animals of the quaternary +period.[330] + +It must be confessed that we do not get far with this evidence alone. +If it proves that the true starting point is to be found in folklore, +it also proves that folklore alone is not capable of working through +the problem. Anthropology must aid here, and I will suggest the lines +on which it appears to me it does this. + +Our first effort must be made by the evidence suggested by the +conjectural method. This leads us to small human groups, each headed +by a male who drives out all other males and himself remains with his +females and his children. Sexual selection thus acts with primitive +economics[331] in keeping the earliest groups small in numbers, and +creating a spreading out from these groups of the males cast out. We +have male supremacy in its crudest form accompanied by an enforced +male celibacy, so far as the group in which the males are born is +concerned, on the part of those who survive the struggle for supremacy +and wander forth on their own account. Marking the stages from point +to point, in order to arrive at a systematic method of stating the +complex problem presented by the subject we are investigating, we can +project from this earliest condition of man's life two important +elements of social evolution, namely-- + + (a) Younger men are celibate within the natural + groups of human society, or are driven out therefrom. + + (b) Men thus driven out will seek mates on their own + account, and will secure them partly from the original + group as far as they are permitted or are successful + in their attempts, and partly by capture from other + local groups. + +The first of these elements strongly emphasises the migratory +character of the earliest human groups. The second shows how each +group is relieved of the incubus of too great a number for the +economic conditions by the double process of sending forth its young +males, and of its younger females being captured by successful +marauders. + +Let us take a fuller note of what the conditions of such a life might +be. There is no tie of kinship operating as a social force within the +groups; there is the unquestioned condition of hostility surrounding +each group, and there is the enforced practice of providing mates by +capture. Of these three conditions the most significant is undoubtedly +the absence of the kinship tie. If then we use this as the basis for +grouping the earliest examples of social organisation, we proceed to +inquire whether there are any examples of kinless society in +anthropological evidence. + +Following up the clue supplied by folklore, we may see whether the +pygmy people of anthropological observation answer in any way to those +conjectural conditions.[332] I think they do. Thus, we find that the +pygmy people are in all cases on the extreme confines of the world's +occupation ground; that they occupy the territory to which they have +been pushed, not that which they have chosen. As the most primitive +representatives, they are the last outposts of the migratory +movements. Dr. Beke has preserved an account of the pygmies which even +in its terminology assists in their identification as a type of the +remotest stages of social existence. Dr. Beke obtained certain +information about the countries south-west of Abyssinia, from which +Latham quotes the following:-- + + "The people of Doko, both men and women, are said to + be no taller than boys nine or ten years old. They + never exceed that height even in the most advanced + age. They go quite naked; their principal foods are + ants, snakes, mice, and other things which commonly + are not used as food.... They also climb trees with + great skill to fetch down the fruits, and in doing + this they stretch their hands downwards and their legs + upwards.... They live mixed together; men and women + unite and separate as they please.... The mother + suckles the child only as long as she is unable to + find ants and snakes for its food; she abandons it as + soon as it can get its food by itself. No rank or + order exists among the Dokos. Nobody orders, nobody + obeys, nobody defends the country, nobody cares for + the welfare of the nation."[333] + +This evidence is confirmed in many directions. It coincides with the +account by Herodotos of the expedition from Libya which met with a +pygmy race,[334] and with a seventeenth-century account of a Dutch +expedition to the north from the south, who "found a tribe of people +very low in stature and very lean, entirely savage, without huts, +cattle, or anything in the world except their lands and wild +game."[335] Captain Burrows' account of the Congoland pygmies agrees +in all essentials, and he particularly notes that they "have no ties +of family affection such as those of mother to son or sister to +brother, and seem to be wanting in all social qualities;" they have no +religion and no fetich rites; no burial ceremony and no mourning for +the dead; in short, he adds, "they are to my thinking the closest link +with the original Darwinian anthropoid ape extant."[336] The evidence +of the African pygmy people everywhere confirms these views, and +differences of detail do not alter the general results.[337] + +[Illustration: CHINESE REPRESENTATION OF PYGMIES GOING ABOUT +ARM-IN-ARM FOR MUTUAL PROTECTION] + +[Illustration: SEMANG OF KUALA KENERING, ULU PERAK] + +[Illustration: NEGRITO TYPE: SEMANG OF PERAK] + +Following this up we get the greatest assistance from Asia.[338] The +Semang people of the Malay Peninsula are a short race, the male being +four feet nine inches in height, with woolly and tufted hair, thick +lips and flat nose, and their language is connected with the group +of which the Khasi people is a member.[339] They subsist upon the +birds and beasts of the forest, and roots, eating elephants, +rhinoceros, monkeys, and rats. They are said to have chiefs among +them, but all property is common. Their huts or temporary dwellings, +for they have no fixed habitations but rove about like the beasts of +the forest, consist of two posts stuck in the ground with a small +cross-piece and a few leaves or branches of trees laid over to secure +them from the weather, and their clothing consists chiefly of the +inner bark of trees.[340] They use stone or slate implements. The +authority for this information does not directly state their social +formation, but in a footnote he compares them to the Negritos of the +Philippine Islands, "who are divided into very small societies very +little connected with each other." This is confirmed by Mr. Hugh +Clifford, who relates a story told to him in the camp of the Semangs, +which tells how these people were driven to their present +resting-place, "not for love of these poor hunting grounds," but +because they were thrust there by the Malays who stole their women. +One further point is interesting; they have a legend of a people in +their old home, composed of women only. "These women know not men, but +but when the moon is at the full, they dance naked in the grassy +places near the salt-licks; the evening wind is their only spouse, and +through him they conceive and bear children."[341] All this has been +confirmed and more than confirmed by the important researches of +Messrs. Skeat and Blagden in their recently published work on these +people. There is no necessity to do more than refer to the principal +features brought out by these authorities. In the valuable notes on +environment, we have the actual facts of the migratory movement drawn +clearly for us;[342] their nomadic habits, rude nature-derived +clothing, forest habitations and natural sources of food are +described;[343] the evolution of their habitations from the natural +shelters, rock shelters, caves, tree buttresses, branches, etc., is to +be traced;[344] they belong to the old Stone Age, if not to a previous +Wood and Bone Age;[345] they have no organised body of chiefs, and +there is no formal recognition of kinship; marital relationship is +preceded by great ante-nuptial freedom;[346] the name of every child +is taken "from some tree which stands near the prospective birthplace +of the child; as soon as the child is born, this name is shouted aloud +by the _sage femme_, who then hands over the child to another woman, +and buries the after-birth underneath the birth-tree or name-tree of +the child; as soon as this has been done, the father cuts a series of +notches in the tree, starting from the ground and terminating at the +height of the breast;"[347] the child must not in later life injure +any tree which belongs to the species of his birth-tree, and must not +eat of its fruit. There is a theory to accompany this practice, for +birds are believed to be vehicles for the introduction of the soul +into the newborn child, and all human souls grow upon a soul-tree in +the other world, whence they are fetched by a bird which is killed and +eaten by the expectant mother;[348] but there seems to be no evidence +of any religious cult or rite, and what there is of mythology or +legend is probably borrowed.[349] The details in this case are of +special importance, as they form a complete set of associated culture +elements, and I shall have to return to them later on. + +[Illustration: SEMANG OF KEDAH HAVING A MEAL] + +I shall not attempt to exhaust the evidence to be derived from the +pygmy people. What has been said of the examples I have chosen may in +all essentials be said of the remaining examples. But it is perhaps +advisable to be assured that the evidence of kinless people is not +confined to the stunted and dwarfed races, for it has been argued that +the pygmies are nothing but the ne'er-do-wells of the stronger races, +and may not therefore be taken as true racial types. This may be true, +but it does not affect my case, because I am not depending so much +upon the physical characteristics of these people as upon their +culture characteristics. These are definite and conclusive, and they +are repeated among people of higher physical type. Thus the Jolas of +the Gambia district have practically no government and no law; every +man does as he chooses, and the most successful thief is considered +the greatest man. There is no recognised punishment for murder or any +other crime. Individual settlement is the only remedy, and the fittest +survives. There is no formality in regard to marriage, or what passes +for marriage, amongst them. Natural selection is observed on both +sides, and the pair, after having ascertained a reciprocity of +sentiment, at once cohabit. They do not intermarry with any other +race.[350] + +It is possible to proceed from this to other regions of man's +occupation ground. In America, the evidence of the modern savage is +preceded by most interesting facts. If we compare Dr. Brinton's +conclusions as to the spread of the American Indians from the north to +the south, and as to the development of culture in the favoured +districts being of the same origin as the undeveloped culture of the +less favoured and of absolutely sterile districts, with Mr. Curtin's +altogether independent conclusions as to the growth of the American +creation myth with its cycle of first people peaceful and migratory, +and its cycle of second people "containing accounts of conflicts which +are ever recurrent," we are conscious that mythic and material remains +of great movements of people are in absolute accord,[351] an accord +which leads us to expect that the peoples who were pushed ever forward +into the most desolate and most sterile districts of southern America +would be the most nearly savage of all the American peoples. This is +in agreement with Darwin's estimate of the Fuegians who wander about +in groups of kinless society,[352] and it is in accord with other +evidence. Thus the Zaparos, belonging to the great division of +unchristianised Indians of the oriental province of Ecuador, have the +fame of being most expert woodsmen and hunters. To communicate with +one another in the wood, they generally imitate the whistle of the +toman or partridge. They believe that they partake of the nature of +the animals they devour. They are very disunited, and wander about in +separate hordes. The stealing of women is much carried on even amongst +themselves. A man runs away with his neighbour's wife or one of them, +and secretes himself in some out of the way spot until he gathers +information that she is replaced, when he can again make his +appearance, finding the whole difficulty smoothed over. In their +matrimonial relations they are very loose--monogamy, polygamy, +communism, and promiscuity all apparently existing amongst them. They +allow the women great liberty and frequently change their mates or +simply discard them when they are perhaps taken up by another. They +believe in a devil or evil spirit which haunts the woods, and call him +Zamáro.[353] + +In all these cases, and I do not, of course, exhaust the evidence, +there is enough to suggest that the social forms presented are of the +most rudimentary kind. Conjecture has not and, I think, cannot get +further back than such evidence as this. The social grouping is +supported by outside influences rather than internal organisation; +neither blood kinship nor marital kinship is recognised; hostility to +all other groups and from other groups is the basis of inter-groupal +life. To these significant characteristics has to be added the special +birth custom and belief of the Semang pygmies. It is clear that the +soul-bird belief and the tree-naming custom are different phases of +one conception of social life, a conception definitely excluding +recognition of blood kinship, and derived from the conscious adoption +of an experience which has not reached the stage of blood kinship, but +which includes a close association with natural objects. All this +makes it advisable to take fuller count of pygmy culture than has +hitherto been given to it. The pygmies have in truth always been a +problem in man's history. From the time of Homer, Herodotos, and +Aristotle, the pygmies have had their place among the observable types +of man, or among the traditions to which observers have given +credence. In modern times they have been accounted for either as +peoples degraded from a higher level of culture, or as peoples who +have never advanced. But whether we look upon these people as the last +remnants of the primitive condition of hostility or whether they are +reversions to that condition by reason of like causes, they bring +before us what conjectural research has prepared us for. The first +supposition is neither impossible nor incredible. The slow +spreading-out in hostile regions would allow of the preservation of +some examples of preference for unrestrained licence at the expense of +constant hostility, in place of a modified peacefulness at the expense +of restricted freedom in matters so dear to the human animal as sexual +choice and power. The second supposition contains an element of human +history which must find a place in anthropological research. The +possible phases of social formation are very limited. If any section +of mankind cannot develop in one direction, they will stagnate at the +stage they have reached, or they will retrograde to one of the stages +from which in times past they have proceeded. There is no other +course, and the very limitations of primitive life prevent us from +considering the possibility of any other course. Either of these +alternatives allows us to consider the examples of hostile +inter-grouping as sufficient to supply us with the vantage ground for +observation of man in his earliest stages of existence. Perhaps each +of them may contain somewhat of the truth. But whatever may be +considered as the true cause of the pygmy level of culture, there is +an underlying factor which must count most strongly in its +determination, namely, that these people are the people who in the +process of migration have been pushed out to the last strongholds of +man. Whether they could not or would not conform to the newer +condition of stationary or comparatively stationary society is not +much to the point in presence of the fact that nowhere have they +conformed to this standard of existence. Moreover we are entitled to +the argument, which has been the main point advanced in connection +with the anthropological problems we are discussing, that the most +primitive type of man must of necessity be sought for, and can only be +found at the extremes of the migration movement wherever that is +discernible.[354] + +The question now becomes, can we by means of recognisable links +proceed from the rudimentary kinless stage of society to the earliest +stage of kinship society? This is a most difficult problem, but it +must be solved. If the rudimentary kinless groups do indeed constitute +a factor in human evolution, they are a most important factor. If they +do not constitute such a factor, they can only be accidental +productions, the sport of exceptional circumstances not in the line of +evolution, and as such they are not of much use in anthropology. It +will be seen, therefore, that the connection between rudimentary +kinless society and the earliest, or representatives of the earliest, +kinship society, is an essential part of an inquiry into origins. + +It may be approached first from the conjectural basis. On this basis +it may be asserted that the victorious male of the primary groups +would remain victorious only just so long as he could continue to +adjust the conditions on the primary basis, and preserve his females +to himself. New conditions would arise whenever the limitation of the +food lands produced a degree of localisation of the hitherto movable +groups. There would then have crept into human experience the +necessity for something of common action among a wider range than the +simple group. This is a new force, and social evolution is henceforth +going to operate in addition to, perhaps to a limited extent in +substitution of, the constant movement towards new food lands. The +single male would no longer be the victorious male by himself; and +sharing his power with other males meant the reduction of his power in +his own group. Called away for something more than the defence of his +own primary group of females, he would leave the females with the +practical governance of the primary groups. This tendency would +develop. Wherever the constant movement outwards became stayed by +geographical or other influences, the groups which experienced the +shock of stoppage would undergo change. The female in the various +primary groups would become a static element, and the male alone would +follow out in the more restricted area the older force of movement +which he had learned during the period of unrestricted scope.[355] He +would have to find his mates during his roamings, instead of the +former condition of fighting for them during the group movements; and +his relationship to the primary groups would be therefore +fundamentally changed. From being the central dominant head, he would +become a constantly shifting unit. The female under these conditions +would become the centre of the new social unit, and the male would +become the hunter for food and the fighter against enemies. The new +social forces would thus consist of local units commanded by the +female, and revolving units composed of the males, and there would +arise therefrom cleavage between the economic conditions of the two +sexes. + +That primitive economics bear the impress of sex cleavage is borne out +by every class of evidence, and it is in this circumstance that we +first come upon societies distinguished by containing two of the most +important social elements, exogamy and totemism. Before, however, +examining examples of societies containing the two elements of exogamy +and totemism, it will be necessary to say something by way of +preliminaries on these two elements themselves. They have rightly been +made the subject of important special inquiry by anthropological +scholars, as being in fact the key to the question of social +evolution, and we shall clear the ground considerably by first of all +turning to the principal authorities on the subject, and ascertaining +the present position of the inquiry. + +I must however note, in the first place, that as I have stated the +case, exogamy and totemism appear as two separate and distinct +elements, whereas it is usual to consider exogamy as an essential part +of totemism. I cannot, however, see that this is so. In advanced +totemism, it is true, they are found as inseparable parts of one +system, but they may well have started separately and coalesced later. +In point of fact, all the evidence points in this direction, and if we +cease to consider exogamy as a necessary element of totemism, we can +advance investigation more rapidly and with greater accuracy. + +We come very quickly upon what may be termed natural exogamy. Male +working with male outside the groups formed by women and the younger +offspring would produce a natural exogamy, which would have followed +upon the exogamy produced by hostile capture of women, and two streams +of influence would thus tell in favour of the evolution of a system of +formal exogamy, and Dr. Westermarck's theory of a natural avoidance of +housemates, with all its wealth of evidence, helps us at this point. + +The position is not so clear as to totemism. If we begin, however, +with a clear understanding that it is not a part of the machinery of +exogamous grouping, but an independent growth of its own, we shall +have gained an important point, for the contrary opinion has very +often obscured the issue and prevented research in the right +direction. + +It will be advisable to have before us the principal theories as to +the origin of totemism. There are practically three--Mr. Frazer's, Mr. +Lang's, and Mr. Baldwin Spencer's. Mr. Frazer considers totemism to be +"in its essence nothing more or less than an early theory of +conception, which presented itself to savage man at a time when he was +still ignorant of the true cause of the propagation of the species." +Mr. Frazer explains this theory further by saying that "naturally +enough, when she is first aware of the mysterious movement within her, +the mother fancies that something has that very moment passed into her +body, and it is equally natural that in her attempt to ascertain what +the thing is, she should fix upon some object that happened to be near +her, or to engage her attention at the critical moment."[356] + +Mr. Lang rejects Mr. Frazer's theory _in toto_, and propounds his own +as due to the naming of savage societies, and to a sort of natural +exogamy produced by practically the same set of conditions as I have +already described. Mr. Lang's totemism began in the primary groups, +and began with exogamy as a necessary part of it. "Unessential to my +system," says Mr. Lang, "is the question how the groups got animal +names, as long as they got them, and did not remember how they got +them, and as long as the names according to their way of thinking +indicated an essential and mystic rapport between each group and its +name-giving animal. No more than these three things--a group animal +name of unknown origin; belief in a transcendental connection between +all bearers human and bestial of the same name; and belief in the +blood superstitions (the mystically sacred quality of the blood as +life)--was needed to give rise to all the totemic creeds and practices +including exogamy," and further, "we guess that for the sake of +distinction, groups gave each other animal and plant names. These +became stereotyped we conjecture, and their origin was forgotten. The +belief that there must necessarily be some connection between animals +and men of the same names led to speculation about the nature of the +connection. The usual reply to the question was that the men and +animals of the same name were akin by blood. The kinship _with +animals_ being particularly mysterious was peculiarly sacred. From +these ideas arose tabus, and among others that of totemic +exogamy."[357] + +Mr. Baldwin Spencer, and with him Dr. Haddon, consider totemism to +have arisen from economic conditions. Primitive human groups, says Dr. +Haddon, "could never have been large, and the individuals comprising +each group must have been closely related. In favourable areas each +group would have a tendency to occupy a restricted range, owing to the +disagreeable results which arose from encroaching on the territory +over which another group wandered. Thus, it would inevitably come +about that a certain animal or plant, or group of animals or plants, +would be more abundant in the territory of one group than in that of +another."[358] + +These theories are not necessarily mutually destructive, though they +seem to me even collectively not to contain the full case for +totemism. Mr. Frazer does not account for woman's isolation at the +time of conceptual quickening, for the closeness of her observation of +local phenomena, and for the separateness of her ideas from the actual +facts of procreation. Mr. Lang overloads his case. He is accounting +not for the origin of totemism, but for the origin of all, or almost +all, that totemism contains in its most developed forms--"all the +totemic creeds and practices including exogamy" as he says. He +postulates a name-giving process by drawing upon the conceptions as to +names by advanced savage thought, and he does not account for the fact +that according to his theory, animals and plants must not only have +been named, but named upon some sort of system known to a wide area of +peoples, before totemistic names for the groups could have been given +to them. Mr. Spencer's and Dr. Haddon's theory is perhaps open to the +doubts caused by Mr. Lang's criticism of it that there is only one +case of a known economic cause for totemism--an Australian case where +two totem kins are said to have been so called "from having in former +times principally subsisted on a small fish and a very small +opossum;"[359] but on the other hand it does supply a _vera causa_, +the actual evidence for which may well have passed away with the +development of totemism, without leaving survivals. + +All these theories, however, are the result of considerable research +and experience, and it is more than probable that they may each +contain fragments of the truth which need the touch of combination to +show how they stand in relation to the problem which they are +propounded to solve. There are features of totemism which are not +noticed by any of these distinguished authorities. By using the +hitherto unnoticed features, I think it possible to produce a theory +as to the origin of totemism, which will contain the essential +features of those theories now prominently before the world. + +I will set down the order in which the problem can be approached from +the standpoint already reached, and we may afterwards try to ascertain +what proof is to be derived from totemic societies of the rudest type. + +Now totemism is essentially a system of social grouping, whose chief +characteristic is that it is kinless--that is to say, the tie of +totemism is not the tie of blood kinship, but the artificially created +association with natural objects or animals. It takes no count of +fatherhood, and only reckons with the physical fact of motherhood. It +is not the actual fatherhood or the actual motherhood which is the +fundamental basis of totemism, but the association with animal, plant, +or other natural object. This is evidently the fact, whatever view is +taken of totemism, and that totemism is, in its origin and principle, +a kinless, not a kinship system, is the first fact of importance to +bear in mind throughout all inquiry. Thus Messrs. Spencer and Gillen +say "the identity of the human individual is often sunk in that of +the animal or plant from which he is supposed to have originated."[360] + +The next fact of importance is that as it commences at birth time, it +must be closely associated with the mother and her actions as mother. +This leads us to the observation that it is through the agency of the +mother that the totem name is conferred upon their children, and to +the necessary antecedent fact that women must have themselves +possessed the name they conferred--possessed, that is, either the name +as a personal attribute and valued as such, or else the power of +evolving the name and the capacity of using it with totemic +significance. I conclude from this, therefore, that the search for the +origin of totemism must be made from the women's side of the social +group. Such a search would lead straight to the industrialism of early +woman, from which originated the domestication of animals, the +cultivation of fruits and cereals, and the appropriation of such trees +and shrubs as were necessary to primitive economics.[361] The close +and intimate relationship with human life which such animals, plants, +and trees would assume under the social conditions which have been +postulated as belonging to this earliest stage of evolution, and the +aid which these friendly and always present companions would render at +all times and under most circumstances, would generate and develop +many of those savage conceptions which have become known to research. +As human friends they would become part of humanity, just as +Livingstone notes of an African people that they did not eat the beef +which he offered to them because "they looked upon cattle as human and +living at home like men,"[362] an idea which is also the basis of the +custom in India not to taste fruit of a newly planted mangrove tree +until it is formally "married" to some other tree.[363] These are but +the fortunate instances where definite record in set terms has been +made. At the back of them lies a whole collection of anthropomorphic +conceptions, indulged in by man at all stages of his career.[364] As +superhuman agencies for pregnancy and birth, they would do what the +human father in the society we are contemplating could not be expected +to do, for he would be seldom present during the long period of +pregnancy; he would have shared with other males the privileges of +sexual intercourse, and he would therefore not be so closely in +companionship with the women of the local groups as the friendly +animal, plant, or tree who did so much for the mothers. There would +thus be formed the groundwork for the fashioning of that most +incredible of all beliefs, well founded, as Mr. Hartland has proved +both from tradition and belief,[365] that the human father was not +father, and that other agencies were responsible for the birth of +children. + +Gathering up the several threads of this argument, it seems to me that +there is within this sphere of primitive thought and within these +conditions of primitive life, ample room for the growth of all the +main conceptions belonging to totemism; and it will be seen how +necessary it is to separate totemism at its beginning from totemism in +its most advanced stages. Totemism has not come to man fully equipped +in all its parts. It is like every other human institution, the result +of a long process of development, and the various stages of +development are important parts of the evidence as to origins. At the +beginning, it was clearly not connected with blood kinship and +descent; it was as clearly not connected with any class system of +marriage. But its beginnings would allow of these later growths, would +perhaps almost engender these later growths. + +Thus, the primary notion of the totem birth of children would, when +blood kinship and descent became a consciously accepted element in +social development, easily slide into the belief of a totemic ancestor +and kinship with the totem; the protection and assistance afforded by +the totem to the women of the primary groups who became the mothers of +new generations, would easily grow into a sort of worship of the +totem; the adoption of the totem name from the circumstances of birth +implying the origin of the name from within the group and not from +without would, as aggregation took the place of segregation, give way +before the association of groups of persons with common interests; the +aggregate totem name would come to the separate local totems as soon +as, but not before, aggregation had taken the place of segregation in +the formation of the social system, and this was not at the earliest +stage; the close association of the totems with groups of mothers who +always took the fathers of their children from without the mother +group, would readily develop into differentiating the mother totems +within the group from the totems of the fathers without the group, and +this differentiation would produce a special relationship between the +sexes based upon the difference of totems instead of upon the sameness +of them; and finally there would be produced first a two-class +division founded on sex--all the mothers and all the fathers--and, +only in a developed form, a two-class division founded on the accepted +totem name. + +If this is a probable view of the course of totemic evolution, we may +more confidently refer to its final stages for further evidence. +Advanced totemic society shows a constant tendency to substitute +blood kinship for the association with natural objects: first, blood +kinship with the mother, then with the mother and the father, finally +recognised through the father only. At this last stage, blood kinship +has practically succeeded in expelling totemic association altogether +in favour of tribal kinship by blood descent, for totemism with male +descent as the basis of the social group is totemism in name only; the +names of totemism remain but they are applied to kinship tribes or +sections of tribes, and they do duty therefore as a convenient +name-system without reference to their origin in definite association +with the naming animal or plant; and it is already in position to +surrender also the names and outward signs. Blood kinship is therefore +the destroyer, not the generator, of totemism, and we are therefore +compelled to get at the back of blood kinship if we want to find totem +beginnings. + +This is an important aspect of the case, and it is one which, I think, +cannot be ignored. We have found that rudimentary totemism was the +basis of a social system founded on artificial associations with +animal or plant, was therefore kinless in character; and we have found +that when totemism has been carried on into a society developed upon +the recognition of blood kinship, blood kinship became antagonistic to +totemism, and ultimately displaced it. These two facts point to the +rudimentary kinless system as the true origin of totemism. + + +III + +Now we may test these conclusions by applying the theory they contain +to an actual case of totemic society. It would be well to choose for +this purpose a people who had specialised their totemic organisation, +and there are only two supreme instances of this among the races of +the world--the North American Indians and the Australians. Everywhere +else, where totemism exists, it is not the dominant feature of the +social organisation. In Asia and in Africa totemism is subordinate to, +or at all events in close or equal association with, other elements, +and we cannot be quite sure that we have in these cases pure totemism. +North American totemism is in the most advanced stage. Australian +totemism is to a very considerable degree less advanced, and it is +therefore to Australian totemism I shall turn for evidence. + +But even here it is necessary to bear in mind that primitive as the +Australians are, they are not so primitive as to be in the primary +stages of totemic society. They have developed, and developed strongly +along totemic lines, and we know that such development once started +has the capacity to proceed far. What we have to do, therefore, is to +attempt to penetrate beneath the range of development, to search for +the social group at the farthest from the centre point from which +migration started, to discover, if we can, relics of group hostility, +hostile capture of women and of kinless society, all of which belong +to the primary stage from which totemic development has taken place. +If we can do this, we may hope to arrive at the origin of totemism, +and we are more likely to accomplish it in the case of the Australians +than with any other people. If we cannot, as Mr. Lang alleges, +anywhere see "absolutely primitive man and a totemic system in the +making,"[366] we may go back along the lines from which totemism has +developed in Australian society and see somewhat of the process of the +making. + +We may commence with evidence of the survival of the most primitive +human trait, the condition of hostility among the local groups +produced by the struggle for women. "The possession of a girl appears +to be connected with all their ideas of fighting ... after a battle +the girls do not always follow their fugitive husbands from the field, +but frequently go over as a matter of course to the victors, even with +young children on their backs."[367] Mr. Curr puts the evidence even +more definitely in a primitive setting when he informs us of "the +young bachelors of the tribe carrying off some of the girl wives of +the grey-beards," leaving the old territory and settling at the first +convenient place within thirty or forty miles of the old territory. I +call this state of things "survival,"[368] because it is the existence +in totemic society of the fundamental basis of pre-totemic society. It +is checked in Australian totemic society by rules which show a strong +development from the primitive. Thus the successful warrior may not +take any of his captives to himself; "if a warrior took to himself a +captive who belonged to a forbidden class, he would be hunted down +like a wild beast," is the evidence of Mr. Fison, who allows it to be +"a strong statement, but it rests upon strong evidence."[369] This is +the exogamous class system operating even in the case of conflict, +when men have resorted to their primitive instincts and their +primitive methods. + +This discovery of primitive hostility accompanying the obtaining of +wives leads us to look for other survivals of the earliest conditions, +and we come upon mother-right groups in which the females in each +local group are the sexual companions of males from outside their own +social group. This is shown by the Kamilaroi organisation, where "a +woman is married to a thousand miles of husbands."[370] This phrase +may be textually an exaggeration of actual fact, but it undoubtedly +expresses a condition of things which actually existed. Women in +Australian society must look outside their class, and in general +outside their totem, for their sexual mates, and they must expect to +be claimed as rightful sexual mates by men whom they have never seen +and who live at great distances. Carry this state of things but a few +steps back, and we must come to a condition of localised female groups +with males moving from group to group. Surely there is something more +here than savage organisation. The something more is the development +into a system of one of the results of the enforced migratory +conditions of early man, namely, the migratory instincts of the males +moving outside the female local groups and thus producing natural +exogamy. This is what appears to me to be clearly a distinct element +in the Australian system. But there is a new element in juxtaposition +with it. The new element is the organisation into marriage +classes--not every man from without, but only special men from +without, are allowed the sexual companionship. + +Now in both these cases, where we have apparently penetrated to the +most primitive conditions, we are also brought up abruptly against +conditions which are not primitive, namely, the exogamous class system, +and we are bound to conclude that this class system thus shows itself +to be an intruding force which has not, however, been strong enough to +quite obliterate the older forces of hostile marriage-capture and +mother-right society. + +Our next quest is therefore to find out, if we can, an explanation of +these two contrasted elements in Australian totemic society, and for +this purpose it is advisable to still further narrow down the range of +inquiry to one special section of the Australian peoples. For this +purpose I shall take the Arunta. There has been much controversy about +this people. Mr. Lang argues that the presence of exogamous classes +and male descent shows the Arunta to be more advanced than other +Australian peoples;[371] Messrs. Spencer and Gillen that the survival +of totem beliefs, which are local and unconnected with the class +system, proves them to be the least advanced. In this country Mr. +Hartland and Mr. Thomas side with Mr. Lang; Mr. Frazer with Messrs. +Spencer and Gillen. + +The first point of importance to note about the Arunta people is that +they occupy the least favourable districts for food supply.[372] This +means that they have been pushed there. They did not choose such a +location--in other words, they are among the last units of the +migration movements which peopled Australia; they are among the last +people to have become stationary as a group, and to have been +compelled to resort to the development of social organisation in lieu +of constantly swarming off from the centre or from the last stopping +place to the ends. This tells for primitive, not advanced, conditions. + +The next point is the totem system. Messrs. Spencer and Gillen, +describing one special case as an example of the rest, give us the +following particulars. The Arunta believe that the most marked +features of the district they inhabit, the gaps and the gorges, were +formed by their Alcheringa ancestors. These Alcheringa are represented +as collected together in companies, each of which consisted of a +certain number of individuals belonging to one particular totem. Each +of these Alcheringa ancestors carried about with him or her one or +more of the sacred stones called churinga. These are the general +traditions related by the Arunta of to-day to explain their own +customs, and let it be noted that the explanation does not necessarily +lead us to the primitive conceptions of the Arunta people, but to +their present conceptions as to unknown facts. The local example is +found close to Alice Springs, where there are deposited a large number +of churinga carried by the witchetty grub men and women. A large +number of prominent rocks and boulders, and certain ancient gum +trees, are the nanja trees and rocks of these spirits. If a woman +conceives a child after having been near to this gap, it is one of +these spirit individuals which has entered her body, and when born +must of necessity be of the witchetty grub totem; "it is, in fact, +nothing else but the reincarnation of one of the witchetty grub people +of the Alcheringa;" the nanja tree, or stone, ever afterwards is the +nanja of the child, and there is special connection between it and the +child, injury to the nanja object meaning injury to the nanja +man.[373] There is evidence that the reincarnation theory is not +admissible,[374] and, indeed, it does not seem warranted on the facts +presented by the authors. With this unnecessary element out of the +way, then, there is left a system of local totemism, arising at birth +and depending upon the mother, without reference in any way to the +father, associated with natural features, rocks and trees, and showing +in a special way a curious system of sex cleavage by the men of the +group being the exclusive guardians of the sacred churinga, and the +women the active power by which the churinga becomes connected with +the newly-born member of the totem group.[375] + +Now at this point we may surely refer back to the custom and belief of +the Semang people of the Malay Peninsula, and I suggest that we have +the closest parallel between Semang belief and custom and Arunta +totemism, not quite the same formula perhaps, but assuredly the same +fundamental conception of every child at birth being in intimate +association with objects of nature, and this association being the +determining force of the newly-born man's social status and class, +lasting all through life. In each case the kinless basis of totemism +is thus fully shown. The totem names given by women, or assumed on +account of the conditions attachable to women as mothers, did not +extend to the human fathers. The fathers may be known or unknown to +the mothers, but they did not become associated with the totems which +the mothers associated with their children. To the extent of +fatherhood, therefore, totemism of this type was clearly not based +upon the natural fact of blood kinship, but upon the conscious +adoption of a non-kinship form of society. To the extent of motherhood +also it was not based upon blood kinship, for it was the local totem, +not the mother's totem, which became the totem of the newly-born +member of the group. We thus have an entirely non-kinship form of +society to deal with, a kinless society, "where there is no necessary +relationship of any kind between that of children and parents."[376] +Primitive man consciously adapted certain of his observations of +nature to his social needs, and among these observations the fact of +actual blood kinship with father and mother played no part. It would +appear therefore that totemism at its foundation was based upon a +theoretical conception of relationship between man and animal or +plant. Place of birth, association with natural objects, not +motherhood and not fatherhood, are the determining factors. + +We may proceed to inquire as to the social form which has become +evolved from this kinless system. + +In the case of the Semangs we have the kinless totemic belief and +custom existing within a kinless society. In the case of the Arunta we +have the kinless totemism existing in a society based on a kinless +organisation still, but containing also full recognition of +motherhood,[377] and perhaps recognition of physical fatherhood.[378] +There is, therefore, an important distinction in the social position +of the two parallel systems. Among the Semang people, their totemic +belief and custom do not carry with them a superstructure of society. +They form the substantive cult of the scattered social groups, which +are kinless groups dependent upon ties local in character and derived +from the conscious use of the facts of nature surrounding them. Among +the Arunta people, on the contrary, the totem belief and custom are +contained within a social system of extraordinary dimensions and +proportions. Of course, the obvious questions to raise are--have the +Semang people lost a once existing social system connected with their +totemic cult? Have the Arunta people had imposed upon them a social +system which has not destroyed their primitive totemic cult? + +To answer these questions I can only deal with the Semang evidence as +it appears in researches of great authority and weight, and there is +undoubtedly in all the evidence produced by Messrs. Skeat and +Blagden, and the authorities they use, nothing whatever to suggest +that Semang totemism once possessed above it an elaborate social +organisation of the usual totemic type. There is indeed, the myth +which points to a two-class exogamous division for marital +purposes,[379] but there is more than myth for the unrestricted +intercourse of the sexes both before and after marital rights.[380] In +every other direction we get simple groups fashioned on no larger +basis than nomadic roaming and journeying to fresh food grounds. On +the other hand, there is much to suggest that the Arunta have a dual +system of organisation; one, in which the primitive types are still +surviving, the second, a more advanced type which covers but does not +crush out the first. If this is so, it is clear that the parallel +between Semang and Arunta totemism is considerably closer than at +first appears. + +It will be necessary, therefore, to deal with the two principal signs +of alleged Arunta progress, male descent and the exogamous classes. I +see no evidence whatever of male descent; male ascendancy, a very +different thing, appears, but there cannot strictly be male descent +where fatherhood is unrecognised. And here I would interpose the +remark that the use of the term descent, male descent and female +descent, in these studies is far too indiscriminate.[381] Descent +means succession by blood kinship by acknowledged sons or daughters, +and this is exactly what does not always occur. Sonship and +daughtership in our sense of the term are not always known to +savagery. They were not known to the Arunta males, for fatherhood was +not recognised by them and motherhood was not definitely used in the +social sense. All that the Arunta can be said to have developed is a +mother-right society with male ascendancy in the group.[382] Group +sons succeeded to group fathers, but individual descent from father to +son there is not. + +There remain the exogamous classes. In the first place, it is +necessary to get rid of a difficulty raised by Mr. Lang. "In no tribe +with female descent can a district have its local totem as among the +Arunta.... This can only occur under male reckoning of descent."[383] +But surely so acute an observer as Mr. Lang would see that with female +descent right through, as it exists among the Khasia and Kocch people +of Assam, local totem centres are just as possible as with male +descent. Mr. Lang is conscious of some discrepancy here, for a little +later on he repeats the statement that local totem centres "can only +occur and exist under male reckoning of descent," but adds the +significant qualification "in cases where the husbands do not go to +the wives' region of abode."[384] This is the whole point. Where +husbands do go to the wives' region of abode, as they do among the +Khasis and the Kocch, female descent would allow of the formation of +local totem centres. This is not far from the position of the Arunta. +They are mother-right societies. The mother secures the totem name. +The father, _de facto_, is not father according to the ideas of the +Arunta people, is at best only one of a group of possible fathers +according to the practices of the Arunta people. Therefore, the local +totem centre is formed out of a system which may be called a +mother-right system for the purpose of scientific description, but +which is not even a mother-right system to the natives, because +motherhood is not the foundation of the local group. + +Secondly, we have the important fact, which Mr. Lang has duly noted, +though he does not apparently see its significance in the argument as +to origins, that the class system "arose in a given centre and was +propagated by emigrants and was borrowed by distant tribes."[385] +Messrs. Spencer and Gillen distinctly affirm that the "division into +eight has been adopted (or rather the names for the four new divisions +have been) in recent times by the Arunta tribe from the Ilpirra tribe +which adjoins the former on the north, and the use of them is at the +present time spreading southwards."[386] This view is supported by the +widespread organisation of eaglehawk and crow, and by the general +homogeneity of Australian social forms. It is clear, therefore, that +room is made for the external organisation of the class system and the +consequent production of the dual characteristics of the Arunta--the +joint product of the fossilisation of mother-right society at the end +of the migration movement, and the superimposing upon this +fossilisation, with its tendency towards the class system, of the +fully organised class system. The two systems are not now fully welded +in the Arunta group. Whatever view is taken of these, whether they be +considered advanced or primal, the undoubted dualism has to be +accounted for, and the best way of accounting for this dualism is, I +submit, that of differential evolution. Further study of Messrs. +Spencer and Gillen's work, together with the criticisms of various +scholars, Mr. Lang, Mr. Hartland, Mr. Frazer, Mr. Thomas, and others, +convinces me that the extreme artificiality of the class system is due +partly to a want of understanding of the entire facts, and partly to +the _ad hoc_ adoption by the natives themselves of new plans to meet +difficulties which must arise out of a too close adhesion to their +rules. Mr. Lang has allowed me to see a manuscript note of his, in +which he points out that the inevitable result of the one totem to the +one totem rule of marital relationship,--that is, totem A always +intermarrying with totem B, males and females from both totems, and +with no others,--is the consanguineous relationship of all the members +of the two totems. The rule for non-consanguineous marriage has +therefore broken down, and when it breaks down the Australian +introduces a new rule which satisfies immediate necessities. When this +in turn breaks down a further new rule is made, and this is the way I +think the differing rules resulted. They represent, therefore, not +varying degrees of culture progress, but only varying degrees of +artificial social changes, and they spring from the oldest conditions +of all where there is no class system at all.[387] Arunta society is +not a "sport" under this view, but a product--a product to be +accounted for and explained by anthropological rules, derived not only +from Australian society but from the general facts of human society +which have remained for observation by the science of to-day. The +parallel between Semang and Arunta, therefore, helps us in two ways. +It enables us to go back to Semang totemism as an example of primitive +kinless society, and forward to Arunta totemism as an example of early +development therefrom. We have, in point of fact, discovered the datum +line of totemism. Upon this may be constructed the various examples +according to their degrees of development, and we may thus see in +detail the commencing elements of totemism as well as the means by +which we may proceed from the commencing elements to the more advanced +elements, and finally to the last stages of totemic society where +blood kinship is fully recognised and used, where, in fact, totemic +tribes as distinct from totemic peoples take their place in the +world's history. + + +IV + +I do not propose in this chapter to proceed further with this inquiry. +It will not advance my object, nor is it absolutely necessary. +Totemism in the full has been described adequately by Mr. Frazer in +his valuable abstract of the evidence supplied from all parts of the +world, and there is not much in dispute among the authorities when +once the stage of origin is passed. There is danger, however, at the +other extreme, namely, the attempt to discover totemism in impossible +places in civilisation. Mr. Morgan has shown us totemic society in its +highest form of development, untouched by other influences of +sufficient consequence to divert its natural evolution. This, I think, +is the merit of Mr. Morgan's great work, and not his attempt, his +futile attempt as I think, to apply the principles of totemic society +to the elucidation of societies that have long passed the stage of +totemism. In particular, the great European civilisations are not +totemic, nor are they to be seen passing from totemism. It is true +that Mr. Lang, Mr. Grant Allen, and others have attempted to trace in +certain features of Greek ritual and belief, and in certain tribal +formations discoverable in Anglo-Saxon Britain, the relics of a living +totemism in the civilised races of Europe;[388] but I do not believe +either of these scholars would have endorsed his early conclusions in +later studies. Mr. Grant Allen did not, so far as I know, repeat this +theory after its first publication, and Mr. Lang has given many signs +of being willing to withdraw it. The fact is, there is no necessity to +think of Greek or English totem society because in Greece and England +there are traces of totem beliefs. We may disengage them from their +national position and put them back to the position they occupied +before the coming of Greek or Englishman into the countries they have +made their own. + +In that position there may well have been totemic peoples in Britain +of the type we have been considering from Australia. I have already +indicated that totemic survivals in folklore have been the subject of +a special study of my own which still in the main stands good, and for +which I have collected very many additional illustrations and proofs. +I discovered that folklore contained some remarkably perfect examples +of totemic belief and custom, and also a considerable array of +scattered belief and custom connected with animals and plants which, +unclassified, seemed to lead to no definite stage of culture history, +yet when classified, undoubtedly led to totemism. The result was +somewhat remarkable. At many points there are direct parallels to +savage totemism, and the whole associated group of customs received +adequate explanation only on the theory that it represented the +detritus of a once existing totemic system of belief. + +The present study enables me to take the parallel to primitive +totemism much closer. One of the perfect examples was of a local +character. This was found in Ossory. Giraldus Cambrensis tells an +extraordinary legend to the following effect: "A priest benighted in a +wood on the borders of Meath was confronted by a wolf, who after some +preliminary explanations gave this account of himself: There are two +of us, a man and a woman, natives of Ossory, who through the curse of +one Natalis, saint and abbot, are compelled every seven years to put +off the human form and depart from the dwellings of men. Quitting +entirely the human form, we assume that of wolves. At the end of the +seven years, if they chance to survive, two others being substituted +in their places, they return to their country and their former +shape."[389] Here is a saintly legend introduced to explain the +current tradition of the men of Ossory, that they periodically turned +into wolves. Fynes Moryson, in 1603, ridiculed the beliefs of "some +Irish who will be believed as men of credit," that men in Ossory were +"yearly turned into wolves."[390] But an ancient Irish MS. puts the +matter much more clearly in the statement that the "descendants of the +wolf are in Ossory,"[391] while the evidence of Spenser and Camden +explains the popular beliefs upon even more exact lines. Spenser says +"that some of the Irish doe use to make the wolf their gossip;"[392] +and Camden adds that they term them "Chari Christi, praying for them +and wishing them well, and having contracted this intimacy, professed +to have no fear from their four-footed allies." Fynes Moryson +expressly mentions the popular dislike to killing wolves, and they +were not extirpated until the eighteenth century.[393] Aubrey adds +that "in Ireland they value the fang-tooth of an wolfe, which they set +in silver and gold as we doe ye Coralls;"[394] and Camden notes the +similar use of a bit of wolf's skin.[395] + +In the local superstitions of Ossory, therefore, we have several of +the cardinal features of savage totemism, the descent from the +totem-animal, the ascription to the totem of a sacred character, the +belief in its protection, and a taboo against killing it. I will +venture to suggest, however, that to these important features there is +to be added a parallel in survival to the Semang and Arunta features +where the local circumstances of birth are the determining forces +which supply the totem name, for the relationship of "gossip," +"god-sib," is clearly of the same character as that of the soul-tree +of the Semang and the alcheringa of the Australian.[396] The condition +of survival has altered the detail of the parallel, but the parallel +is on the same plane. + +The wolf as gossip to the men of Ossory leads us on to inquire whether +any other animal had such close connections with human beings. In +Erris, a part of Connaught, "the people consider that foxes perfectly +understand human language, that they can be propitiated by kindness, +and even moved by flattery. They not only make mittens for Reynard's +feet to keep him warm in winter, and deposit these articles carefully +near their holes, but they make them sponsors for their children, +supposing that under the close and long-established relationship of +Gossipred they will be induced to befriend them."[397] Thus it appears +that the selfsame conception which the men of Ossory had in the +thirteenth century for the wolf, the men of Erris had for the fox in +the nineteenth century. No explanation from the dry details of the +natural history of these animals is sufficient to account for this +curious parallel, and we must turn to ancient beliefs for the +explanation. + +The general attitude of the men of Erris towards the fox is confirmed +as an attribute of totemism when we come to examine a special local +form of it. This we can do by turning to Galway. The Claddagh fishermen +in Galway would not go out to fish if they saw a fox: their rivals of +a neighbouring village, not believing in the fox, do all they can +to introduce a fox into the Claddagh village.[398] These people +are peculiar in many respects, and are distinctively clannish. They +retain their old clan-dress--blue cloaks and red petticoats--which +distinguishes them from the rest of the county of Galway, and it may be +conjectured that the present-day custom of naming from the names of +fish--thus, Jack the hake, Bill the cod, Joe the eel, Pat the trout, +Mat the turbot, etc.[399]--may be a remnant of the mental attitude of +the folk towards that belief in kinship between men and animals which +is at the basis of totemism. But, returning to the fox, we have in the +belief that meeting this animal would prevent them from going out to +fish, a parallel to the prohibition against looking at the totem which +is to be found among savage people, and we have in the neighbours' +disbelief in the fox and a corresponding belief in the hare,[400] that +local distribution of different totems which is also found in savagery. +But all these particulars about the relationship of the fox to the +Claddagh fishermen receive unexpected light when we inquire into the +biography of their local saint, named MacDara. This saint is the patron +saint of the fishermen who, when passing MacDara's island, always dip +their sails thrice to avoid being shipwrecked. But then, in the +folk-belief, we have this remarkable fact, that MacDara's real name was +Sinach, a fox[401]--an instance, it would seem, of a totem cult being +transferred to a Christian saint. Thus, then, in the superstitions of +these Claddagh fisherfolk we can trace the elements of totemism, the +root of which is contained, first, in the nominal worship of a +Christian saint, and second, in the actual worship of an animal, the +fox. + +These examples of local totemism may be followed by a remarkable +example of tribal or kinship totemism. It was noted by Mr. G. H. +Kinahan in his researches for Irish folklore, and is mentioned quite +incidentally among other items, the collector himself not fully +perceiving the importance of his "find." This really enhances the +value of the evidence, because it destroys any possibility of an +objection to its validity--a really important matter, considering the +remarkable character of this survival of totem-stocks in Western +Europe. The exact words of Mr. Kinahan are as follows:-- + +"In very ancient times some of the clan Coneely, one of the early +septs of the county, were changed by 'art magick' into seals; since +then no Coneely can kill a seal without afterwards having bad luck. +Seals are called Coneelys, and on this account many of the name +changed it to Connolly."[402] The same local tradition is mentioned by +Hardiman in one of his notes to O'Flaherty's _Description of West or +H-iar Connaught_,[403] but the note is equally significant of +genuineness from the fact that the tradition is styled "a ridiculous +story." It strengthens Mr. Kinahan's note in the following passage: +"In some places the story has its believers, who would no more kill a +seal, or eat of a slaughtered one, than they would of a human +Coneely." + +The clan Coneely is mentioned both by Mr. Kinahan and by Mr. Hardiman +as one of the oldest Irish septs; and that it is widely spread, and +not congregated into one locality, is to be inferred from the +description of the tradition as prevalent in Connaught, especially +from Mr. Hardiman's words, describing that "in some places" the story +has its believers now; and hence we may conclude that wherever the +clan Coneely are situated there would exist this totem belief. + +The full significance of these facts may best be tested by reference +to the conditions laid down by Dr. Robertson Smith for the discovery +of the survivals of totemism among the Semitic races. These conditions +are as follows:-- + + "'(1) The existence of stocks named after plants and + animals'--such stocks, it is necessary to add, being + scattered through many local tribes; (2) the + prevalence of the conception that the members of the + stock are of the blood of the eponym animal, or are + sprung from a plant of the species chosen as totem; + (3) the ascription to the totem of a sacred character + which may result in its being regarded as the god of + the stock, but at any rate makes it be regarded with + veneration, so that, for example, a totem animal is + not used as ordinary food. If we can find all these + things together in the same tribe, the proof of + totemism is complete; but even when this cannot be + done, the proof may be morally complete if all the + three marks of totemism are found well developed + within the same race. In many cases, however, we can + hardly expect to find all the marks of totemism in its + primitive form; the totem, for example, may have + become first an animal god, and then an + anthropomorphic god, with animal attributes or + associations merely."[404] + +Now in the Irish case all three of these conditions are found together +in the same tribe, the clan Coneely, and it is impossible to overlook +the importance of such a discovery. It proves from survivals in +folklore that totemistic people once lived in ancient Ireland, just as +the corresponding evidence proved that the ancient Semitic stock +possessed the totemic organisation. + +We have now examined the most archaic forms of the survival of +totemism in Britain. If we pass on to inquire whether we can detect +the more scattered and decayed remnants of totem beliefs and customs, +we turn to Mr. Frazer as our guide. From Mr. Frazer's review of the +beliefs and customs incidental to the totemistic organisation of +savage people, it is possible to extract a formula for ascertaining +the classification of savage beliefs and practices incidental to +totemism. This formula appears to me to properly fall into the +following groups:-- + + (a) Descent from the totem. + + (b) Restrictions against injuring the totem. + + (c) Restrictions against using the totem for food. + + (d) The petting and preservation of totems. + + (e) The mourning for and burying of totems. + + (f) Penalties for non-respect of totem. + + (g) Assistance by the totem to his kin. + + (_h_) Assumption of totem marks. + + (_i_) Assumption of totem dress. + + (_j_) Assumption of totem names. + +My suggestion is that if a reasonable proportion of the superstitions +and customs attaching to animals and plants, preserved to us as +folklore, can be classified under these heads this is exactly what +might be expected if the origin of such superstitions and customs is +to be sought for in a primitive system of totemism which prevailed +amongst the people once occupying these islands. The clan Coneely and +the Ossory wolves are proofs that such a system existed, and if such +perfect survivals have been able to descend to modern times, in spite +of the influences of civilisation, there is no _primâ facie_ reason +why the beliefs and customs incidental to such a system should not +have survived, even though they are no longer to be identified with +special clans. When once a primitive belief or custom becomes +separated from its original surroundings, it would be liable to +change. Thus, when the wolf totem of Ossory passes into a local +cultus, we meet with the belief that human beings may be transformed +into animal forms, as the derivative from the totem belief in descent +from the wolf. Fortunately, the process by which this change took +place is discernible in the Ossory example; but it will not be so in +other examples, and we may therefore assume that the Ossory example +represents the transitional form and apply it as a key to the origin +of similar beliefs elsewhere. + +Again, if we endeavour to discover how the associated totem-beliefs of +the clan Coneely would appear in folklore supposing they had been +scattered by the influences of civilisation, we can see that at the +various places where members of the clan had resided for some time +there would be preserved fragments of the once perfect totem-belief. +Thus, one place would retain traditions about a fabulous animal who +could change into human form; another place would preserve beliefs +about its being unlucky to kill a seal (or some other animal specially +connected with the locality); another place would preserve a +superstitious regard for the seal (or some other local animal) as an +augury; and thus the process of transference of beliefs into folklore, +from one form into other related forms, from one particular object +connected with the clan to several objects connected with the +localities, would go on from time to time, until the difficulty of +tracing the original of the scattered beliefs and customs would be +well-nigh insurmountable without some key. But having once proved the +existence of such examples as the clan Coneely and the Ossory wolves, +this difficulty, though still great, is very much lessened. Our method +would be as follows. We first of all postulate that totem peoples did +actually exist in ancient Britain, or whence such extraordinary +survivals? We next examine and classify the beliefs and customs which +are incidental to totemism in savage society, and having set these +forth by the aid of Mr. Frazer's admirable study on the subject, we +ascertain what parallels to these beliefs and customs may be found in +the folklore of Britain. And then our position seems to be very +clearly defined. We prove that in folklore certain customs and +superstitions are identical, or nearly so, with the beliefs and +customs of totemism among savage tribes, and we conclude that this +identity in form proves an identity in origin, and therefore that +this section of folklore originated from the totemistic people of +early Britain. + +I shall not take up all these points on the present occasion, +especially as they have in all essentials appeared in the study to +which I have referred; but as an example of the scattering of totem +beliefs I will refer to the well-known passage in Cæsar (lib. v. cap. +xii.), from which we learn that certain people in Britain were +forbidden to eat the hare, the cock, or the goose, and see whether +this does not receive its only explanation by reference to the totemic +restriction against using the totem for food. Mr. Elton, with this +passage in his mind, notices that "there were certain restrictions +among the Britons and ancient Irish, by which particular nations or +tribes were forbidden to kill or eat certain kinds of animals;" and he +goes on to suggest that "it seems reasonable to connect the rule of +abstaining from certain kinds of food with the superstitious belief +that the tribes were descended from the animals from which their names +and crests or badges were derived."[405] + +Let us see whether this reasonable conjecture holds good. The most +famous example is that of Cuchulainn, the celebrated Irish chieftain, +whose name means the hound of Culain. It is said that he might not eat +of the flesh of the dog, and he came by his death after transgressing +this totemistic taboo. The words of the manuscript known as the Book +of Leinster are singularly significant in their illustration of this +view. "And one of the things that Cúchulainn was bound not to do was +going to a cooking hearth and consuming the food [_i.e._ the dog]; +and another of the things that he must not do was eating his +namesake's flesh."[406] Diarmaid, whose name seems to be continued in +the current popular Irish name for pig (Darby), was intimately +associated with that animal, and his life depended on the life of the +boar.[407] These examples are so much to the point that we may examine +the cases mentioned by Cæsar from the same standard. + +Mr. Frazer points out that even among existing totem-tribes the +respect for the totem has lessened or disappeared, and among the +results of this he notes instances where, if any one kills his totem, +he apologises to the animal. Under such an interpretation as this, we +may surely classify a "memorandum" made by Bishop White-Kennett about +the hare, the first of the British totems mentioned by Cæsar: "When +one keepes a hare alive and feedeth him till he have occasion to eat +him, if he telles before he kills him that he will doe so, the hare +will thereupon be found dead, having killed himself."[408] But respect +for the hare, in accordance with totem ideas, was carried further than +this at Biddenham, where, on the 22nd September, a little procession +of villagers carried a white rabbit [a substitute for hare] decorated +with scarlet ribbons through the village, singing a hymn in honour of +St. Agatha. All the young unmarried women who chanced to meet the +procession extended the first two fingers of the left hand pointing +towards the rabbit, at the same time repeating the following +doggerel:-- + + Gustin, Gustin, lacks a bier, + Maidens, maidens, bury him here.[409] + +This points to a very ancient custom, not yet fully explained, but +which clearly had for its object the reverential burying of a rabbit +or hare. It is characteristic of the totem animal that it serves as an +omen to its clansmen, and we find that the hare is an omen in Britain. +Boudicca is said to have drawn an augury from a hare, taken from her +bosom, and which when released pursued a course that was deemed +fortunate for her attack upon the Roman army;[410] and in modern south +Northamptonshire the running of a hare along the street or mainway of +a village portends fire to some house in the immediate vicinity.[411] +In 1648 Sir Thomas Browne tells us that in his time there were few +above three-score years that were not perplexed when a hare crossed +their path.[412] In Wilts and in Scotland it was unlucky to meet a +hare, but the evil influence did not extend after the next meal had +been taken.[413] Then, too, the prohibition against naming the totem +object is found in north-east Scotland attached to the hare, whose +name may not be pronounced at sea, and Mr. Gregor adds the significant +fact that some animal names and certain family names were never +pronounced by the inhabitants of some of the villages, each village +having an aversion to one or more of the words.[414] A classification +of the beliefs and customs connected with the hare takes us, indeed, +to almost every phase of totemistic belief, and it is impossible to +reject such a mass of cumulative evidence. + +Of the second of the British food taboos mentioned by Cæsar we have +the most perfect illustration in the instance of the Irish chieftain, +Conaire, who, descended from a fowl, was interdicted from eating its +flesh.[415] + +Turning next to the goose, we find that at Great Crosby, in +Lancashire, there is held an annual festival which is called the +"Goose Fair," and although it is accompanied by great feasting, the +singular fact remains that the goose itself, in whose honour the feast +seems to have been held, is considered too sacred to eat, and is never +touched by the villagers.[416] In Scotland also the goose was never +eaten, being too sacred for food.[417] + +Thus the hare, the fowl, and the goose have retained their sacred +character in a special manner in various parts of the country, and I +may add a further note of more general significance. In Scotland there +exists a prejudice against eating hares and cocks and hens.[418] In +the south-western parts of England the peasant would not eat hares, +rabbits, wild-fowl, or poultry, and when asked whence this dislike +proceeds, he asserts that it was derived from his father[419]--the +traditional sanction which is so essential to folklore.[420] + +The ideas surrounding these three special animals might be easily +extended to others, but I will only observe that Mr. Elton, noting +both the classical and modern accounts of certain districts in +Scotland and Ireland where fish, though abundant, is tabooed as food, +quotes with approval a modern suggestion that this abstinence was a +religious observance.[421] That fish are carved on numerous stones is +a curious commentary on this assertion, while another point to be +noted is that the inhabitants of the various islands have each their +peculiar notions as to what fish are good for food. Some will eat +skate, some dog-fish, some eat limpets and razor-fish, and as a matter +of course, says Miss Gordon Cumming, those who do not, despise those +who do.[422] A prejudice also existed against white cows in Scotland, +and Dalyell ventures upon the acute supposition that this was on +account of the unlawfulness of consuming the product of a consecrated +animal.[423] These are not stray notes of inexperienced observers, and +with two centuries between them it must be that they contain the +essence of the people's conception--a conception which leads us back +to totemism for its explanation. + +I do not think we could get closer to totemic beliefs and ideas than +this, nor could we have a better example of the necessity of examining +early historical data by anthropological tests and by folklore +parallels. Cæsar's words are unimportant by themselves. They convey +nothing of any significance to the modern reader--a mere dietetic +peculiarity which means nothing and counts for nothing. And yet it +might be considered certain that Cæsar knew that the details he +recorded were of importance in the historical sense. He did not +indicate what the importance was, probably because he was not aware of +it; but because he was conscious that among the influences which +counted with these people were the food taboos, he rightly recorded +the facts. They have remained unconsidered trifles until now, when +anthropology has brought them within the range of scientific +observation, and they are now to be reckoned with as part of the +material which tells of the culture conditions of a section of the +early British peoples. + +I must here interpose a remark with reference to this grouping of the +evidence. Apart from the significance of the superstitions as they are +recorded in their bare condition among the peasantry, there is the +additional fact to note that the superstition against eating or +killing certain animals or birds, or against looking at them or naming +them, etc., is not universal. It obtains in one place and not in +another. If the injunction not to kill, injure, or eat a certain +animal were simply the reflection of a universal practice, such a +practice might originate in some attribute of the animal itself which +characteristically would produce or tend to produce superstition. But +the spread of this class of superstition in certain districts, and not +in others, is indicative of an ancient origin, and it is exactly what +might be expected to have been produced from totem-peoples. +Unfortunately, neither the negative evidence of superstitious beliefs +nor the local distribution of superstitious beliefs has ever been +considered worthy of attention. But some little evidence is +incidentally forthcoming, and I would submit that this may be taken as +indicative of what might be obtained more fully by further research +into this neglected aspect of folklore. I drew Miss Burne's attention +to this subject, and she has noted some particulars in her valuable +_Shropshire Folklore_.[424] But for the most part this portion of our +evidence wants picking out by a long and tedious process from the mass +of badly recorded facts about popular superstitions. I do not believe +in the generally stated opinion that certain superstitions are +universally believed or practised. It is difficult to prove a +negative, and such evidence is not absolutely scientific, but when it +comes in direct antithesis to positive, there does not seem any harm +in accepting it. Every class of superstition wants tracing out +geographically, and local variants want careful noting. I cannot doubt +if this were properly done that many so-called universal superstitions +would be found to be distinctly local. In the meantime, it is not with +universal superstitions that we have to deal. It is primarily with +those local variants which show us side by side the differences of +belief. It is thus that we can afford evidence of that intermixture +of totem-objects which is to be expected from the known facts of +totem-beliefs and customs. Indeed, Mr. McLennan has laid it down that +"we might expect that while here and there perhaps a tribe might +appear with a single animal god, as a general rule tribes and nations +should have as many animal and vegetable gods as there were distinct +stocks in the population ... we should not expect to find the same +animal dominant in all quarters, or worshipped even everywhere within +the same nation."[425] + +It is important that we should thoroughly understand what these +survivals of totemism in the British isles really mean. On the extreme +west coast of Ireland, farthest away from the centres of civilisation, +there are found these unique examples of a savage institution. The +argument that they might have been transplanted thither by travellers +from the far west, where totemism has developed to its highest form, +cannot seriously be advanced. The argument that they might be the +accidental form into which some merely superstitious fancies of +ignorant peasants happened to have ultimately shaped themselves, is +met by the mathematical demonstration that the ratio of chance against +such a development would be well-nigh incalculable. The remaining +argument is that they indicate the last outpost, or perhaps one of the +last outposts, of a primitive savage organisation which once existed +throughout these lands. This is the view that appears to me to be the +only possible one to meet all the conditions of the case; one proof +in support of this view being the discovery of evidence in other +parts of the country which shows that totemism has left its stamp in +more or less perfect form upon the traditional beliefs and practices +of the nation. Though we are not able to identify further complete +examples of the same type as the seal clan of Western Ireland, or the +wolf people of Ossory, we should be able, if the explanation I have +advanced of their origin be the correct one, to produce examples of +the varying forms which such an institution as totemism must have +assumed when it had been broken up by the advance of civilising +influences. If the seal clan, or the wolf clan, is in truth the last +outpost of a savage organisation, there will be in the lands less +remote from the centres of civilisation some evidences of the break-up +of savagery as it has been driven westward. Somewhere in tradition, +somewhere in local observances of beliefs or superstition, there must +still be echoes, more or less faint, but still echoes, from totemism. +Having discovered these undoubted examples of totemism, the argument +shifts its ground. We can no longer say that the theory of totemism +may possibly explain some of the customs and traditions of the people. +We are, by the logic of the position, compelled to say that custom and +tradition must have preserved many relics of totemism, and that so far +from seeking to explain custom and tradition by the theory of +totemism, we must seek to explain the survival of totemism by custom +and tradition. I lay stress on this view of the case because it is +hard to combat the views of those who look upon "mere superstition" as +no explanation of primitive originals. To us of the present day the +beliefs of the peasantry are no doubt properly definable as "mere +superstition." But when we examine it as folklore we are seeking for +its origin, not for its modern aspect; we are asking how "mere +superstition" first arose, and in what forms, not how it exists; we +are pushing back the inquiry from to-day when it exists side by side +with a philosophical and moral religion to the time when it existed as +the sole substitute for philosophy and morals. Even if it is "mere +superstition" it has a dateless history. It is not conceivable that it +suddenly arose at a particular period before which "mere superstition" +did not exist, and all, both peasant and chief, were philosophical and +moral. It is not conceivable that the mere superstition of to-day has +replaced bodily the mere superstition of other ages. Every succeeding +age of progress has influenced it, no doubt, but not eradicated it, +and hence the mere superstition of to-day has just such an unbroken +continuity of history as language or institutions. That we are able to +pick out from among its items undoubted forms of totemism, and that we +may add to these complete examples a classified grouping of customs +and beliefs in survival parallel to the customs and beliefs of savage +totemism, affords proof that at least we may carry back that history +to the era of totemism, at whatever point that era may cross the line +of, or come into contact with, political history. + +This is the definite conclusion to be drawn from the anthropological +interpretation of the presence of totemic beliefs among the survivals +of folklore. The study of the anthropological conditions has occupied +a wide range of thought and inquiry, but it leads us back to a safe +basis for research, for it brings definitely within touch of that +realm of man which lies outside the civilisation wherein folklore is +embedded, the peoples who have made, and the peoples who are dominated +by, that civilisation. The savage of Britain cannot with this evidence +before us be considered as the mere product of the literature of +Greece and Rome. He is part and parcel of the savagery of the human +race. Anthropology has shown us that savagery reached the land we now +call Britain as part of the general movement of people which has +caused the whole earth to become a dwelling-place for man, and now +that we know this we must appeal to anthropology whenever we find that +the problems of folklore take us out of the culture period of a +civilisation known to history.[426] + + +APPENDIX + +I append a synopsis of the culture-structure of the Semangs of the +Malay Peninsula (references are to Skeat and Blagden's _Pagan Races of +the Malay Peninsula_ where not otherwise specified), in order that the +position claimed for the one section of totemic belief may be tested +by the remaining characteristics of Semang culture. I claim that there +is nothing that remains which is inconsistent with the interpretation +given of the totemic items. + +_Physical_:-- + +(a). Live exclusively in the forest surrounded by hostile fauna (i. +13). + +(b). Food consists of such wild vegetable food as may happen to fall +from time to time in season (i. 109, 341, 525), together with small +mammals and birds (i. 112), fish (i. 113). + +(c). As soon as they have exhausted the sources of food in one +neighbourhood they move on to the next (i. 109). + +(d). Fire obtained by friction (i. 111, 113), but meat is eaten raw +(i. 112). + +(e). Nudity is alleged (_Journ. Indian Archipelago_, i. 252; ii. +258); no satisfactory proof (i. 137); do not use skins of animals nor +feathers of birds (i. 138); a girdle of fungus string (i. 138, 142, +380); fringe of leaves suspended from a string (i. 139, 142); +necklaces and ligatures of jungle fibre (i. 144, 145); women wear a +comb made of bamboo as a charm against diseases (i. 149). + +(f). Habitations are rock shelters (i. 173), tree shelters afforded +by branches of trees improved by construction of a weather screen (i. +174); ground screen of palm leaves (i. 175). + +(g). Hunt successfully the largest animals, escaping easily up the +trees (i. 202-204). + +(h). Knives made of bamboo, flakes and chips of stone, knives of +bone (i. 249, 269); bow and arrow (i. 251, 255); not sufficiently +advanced to have produced neolithic implements (i. 268); wooden spear +(i. 270). + +(i). Ignorant of pottery, vessels made from big stems of bamboo (i. +383). + +_Social_:-- + +(j). Chief of the group is the principal medicine man, but is on an +equal footing with his men, no caste and property is in common (i. +497, 499). + +(k). Marriage rights are secured by the presentation of a jungle +knife to the bride's parents and a girdle to the bride, and the bride +never lets the girdle part from her for fear of its being used to her +prejudice in some magic ceremony; adultery is punishable by death (ii. +58, 59) [but this information was not obtained from the most primitive +of the Semang people]. + +(l). Semang women are common to all men (Newbold, _Political and +Stat. Acc. of Settlements in Straits of Malacca_, ii. 379). Great +ante-nuptial freedom (ii. 56, 218); "Of the Semang I have not had an +opportunity of personally judging" (ii. 377, Newbold). + +[Illustration: TREE HUT, ULU BATU, ABOUT 12 MILES FROM KUALA LUMPUR, +SELANGOR] + +(m). Eat dead kindred except head (Newbold, ii. 379); burial takes +place in the ground, and the older practice was exposure in trees; +the Semang have no dread of ghosts of the deceased (ii. 89, 91). + +(n). No sacred shrines or places (ii. 197). + +(o). Avoidance of mother-in-law (ii. 204). + +(p). Myth of the ringdove informing the children of the first woman +that they had married within prohibited degrees of consanguinity, and +advising them to separate and marry "other people" (ii. 218). + +(q). Myth as to ignorance of cause of birth being dispelled by the +cocoanut monkey informing the first man and woman (ii. 218). + +(r). The Semang are almost ineradicably nomadic, have no fixed +habitation, and rove about like the beasts of the forest (i. 172; ii. +470). + +(s). Women and girls are not allowed to eat until the men and boys +have finished their repast (i. 116); the men do most of the hunting +and trapping, and the women take a large share in the collecting of +roots and fruits; all the cooking is performed by the women and girls +(i. 375). + +(t). They are split up into a large number of dialects, each of +which is confined to a relatively small area, and it often happens +that a little [clan] or even a single family uses a form of speech +which is differentiated from other dialects to be practically +unintelligible to all except the members of the little community +itself (ii. 379). + +(u). Natural segregation of the [tribes] into small [clans] to some +extent cut off from one another and surrounded by settled Malay +communities (ii. 379). + +(v). The most thoroughly wild and uncivilised members of our race, +regarded by the Malays as little better than brute beasts, with no +recorded history (ii. 384). + +(w). Nomadic life of the Semang leads them over a considerable tract +of country (ii. 388). + +_Psychical_:-- + +(x). Decorative patterns on quivers representing natural objects, +and possessing magical virtue to bring down various species of monkeys +and apes and other small mammals (i. 417), and as charms for the men +(i. 423). + +(y). Decorative pattern on magic comb worn by women to serve as a +charm against venomous reptiles and insects, similar design for +similar reason sometimes painted on the breast (i. 41, 420-436). + +(z). Child's name is taken from some tree which stands near the +prospective birthplace of the child. As soon as the child is born this +name is shouted aloud by the _sage femme_, who then hands over the +child to another woman, who buries the afterbirth underneath the +birth-tree or name-tree of the child. As soon as this is done the +father cuts a series of notches in the tree, starting from the ground +and terminating at the height of the breast. The cutting of these +notches is intended to signalise the arrival on earth of a new human +being, since it thus shows that Kari registers the souls that he has +sent forth by notching the tree against which he leans. Trees thus +"blazed" are never felled. The child must not in later life injure any +tree which belongs to the species of his tree; for him all such trees +are taboo, and he must not even eat their fruit, the only exception +being when an expectant mother revisits her birth-tree. Every tree of +its species is regarded as identical with the birth-tree (ii. 3, 4). +When an East Semang dies his birth-tree dies too (ii. 5). + +(aa). The child's soul is conveyed in a bird, which always inhabits +a tree of the species to which the birth-tree belongs. It flies from +one tree of the species to another, following the as yet unborn body. +The souls of first-born children are always young birds newly hatched, +the offspring of the bird which contained the soul of the mother. If +the mother does not eat the soul-bird during her accouchement the +child will be stillborn or will die shortly after birth (ii. 4, 192, +194, 216). She keeps the soul-bird within the birth-bamboo, and does +not eat it all at once, but piecemeal (ii. 6). All human souls grow +upon a soul-tree in the other world, whence they are fetched by a bird +which was killed and eaten by the expectant mother (ii. 194). + +(bb). Semang religion, in spite of its recognition of a thunder-god +(Kari) and certain minor deities (so called), has very little indeed +in the way of ceremonial, and appears to consist mainly of mythology +and legend. It shows remarkably few traces of demon worship, very +little fear of ghosts of the deceased, and still less of any sort of +animistic beliefs (ii. 174). [As the Kari is the deity common to the +Semang and the people higher in culture than the Semang, it is +difficult to trace out the primitive idea. The myths also show a +common impress, "which is probably mainly due to the same savage +Malay element" (ii. 183).] + +(cc). During a storm of thunder and lightning the Semang draw a few +drops of blood from the region of the shin bone, mix it with a little +water in a bamboo receptacle, and throw it up to the angry skies (ii. +204). + +(dd). Pretend entire ignorance of a supreme being, but on pressure +confessed to a very powerful yet benevolent being, the maker of the +world (ii. 209). + +FOOTNOTES: + +[284] Beddoe, _Races of Britain_, cap. ii., and _Journ. Anthrop. +Inst._, xxxv. 236-7; Boyd-Dawkins, _Early Man in Britain_, cap. vii. +viii. and ix.; Ripley, _Races of Europe_, cap. xii. + +[285] Rhys, _Celtic Britain_, 271; Rhys, _Celtic Heathendom_, _passim_; +Rhys and Jones, _Welsh People_, cap. i. and Appendix B on "Pre-Aryan +Syntax in Insular Celtic," by Professor Morris Jones. + +[286] Barrows, mounds, tumuli, stone circles, monoliths are generally +admitted to belong to the Stone Age people before the Celts arrived, +and when they are adequately investigated, as Mr. Arthur Evans has +investigated Stonehenge (_Archæological Review_, vol. ii. pp. 312-330), +and the Rollright Stones (_Folklore_, vol. vi. pp. 5-51), the evidence +of a prehistoric origin is unquestioned. + +[287] I have worked out the evidence for this in the _Archæological +Review_, vol. iii. pp. 217-242, 350-375, and though I do not endorse +all I have written there, the main points are still, I think, good. + +[288] Wallace, _Darwinism_, cap. xv. + +[289] Spencer and Gillen, _Central Tribes of Australia_, 12, 272, 324, +368, 420. + +[290] _Descent of Man_, i. cap. vii. 176. + +[291] _Cf._ Topinard's _Anthropology_, part iii., "On the Origin of +Man," pp. 515-535, for the details of the various authorities ranged on +the sides of monogenists and polygenists. + +[292] Keane, _Man, Past and Present_, discusses the important evidence +obtained by Dr. Dubois from Java, and Dr. Noetling from Upper Burma, +pp. 5-8. It is only fair to that brilliant scholar, Dr. Latham, to +point out that without the evidence before him to prove the point, he +came to the same conclusion that the original home of man was +"somewhere in intra-tropical Asia, and that it was the single locality +of a single pair."--Latham, _Man and his Migrations_, 248. + +[293] The most recent example of this is Mr. Thomas's extraordinary +treatment of the evidence of migration in Australia. It produces in his +mind "novel conditions," but has effects which he cannot neglect, but +which he strangely misinterprets. N. W. Thomas, _Kinship Organisations +in Australia_, 27-28. + +[294] Spencer, _Principles of Sociology_, i. 18. + +[295] Lord Avebury, _Prehistoric Times_, 586. + +[296] _Man, Past and Present_, pp. 1, 8. + +[297] Latham, _Man and his Migrations_, 155-6. + +[298] The ethnographic movement is a very definite fact in +anthropological evidence, though it has been little noted. Thus "the +Coles are evidently a good pioneering race, fond of new clearings and +the luxuriant and easily raised crops of the virgin soil, and have +constitutions that thrive on malaria, so it is perhaps in the best +interest of humanity and cause of civilisation that they be kept moving +by continued Aryan propulsion. Ever armed with bow, arrows, and +pole-axe, they are prepared to do battle with the beasts of the forest, +holding even the king of the forest, the 'Bun Rajah,' that is, the +tiger, in little fear."--Col. Dalton in _Journ. Asiatic Soc., Bengal_, +xxxiv. 9. + +[299] Traditions of great migrations exist among most primitive races. +Some of these contain unexpected corroboration from actual discoveries. +Thus the natives of New Zealand had a tradition that their ancestors, +when they arrived in their canoes some four centuries ago, buried some +sacred things under a large tree. It is said that the tree was blown +down in recent times and that the sacred things were discovered. Taplin +records "a good specimen of the kind of migration which has taken place +among the aborigines all over the continent" (_The Narrinyeri_, p. 4); +and similar evidence could be produced in almost every direction. Mr. +Mathew in _Eaglehawk and Crow_ deals with "the argument from mythology +and tradition" as to the origin of the Australians in a very suggestive +fashion (pp. 14-22). Stanley has preserved an African native tradition +of local groups spreading out from the parent home _(Through the Dark +Continent_, i. 346). + +[300] I am aware this is disputed by O. Peschel--_Races of Man_, 137 +_et seq._--but I think the evidence is sufficient; and it must be +remembered that there is direct evidence of the most backward races not +using the fire they possess for cooking, but always eating their animal +food raw, as, for instance, the Semang people of the Malay Peninsula. +(See Skeat and Blagden, _Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula_, i. 112.) +The Andaman Islanders could not make fire, though they possessed and +kept it alive. This shows that they must have borrowed it and did not +previously possess it.--Quatrefages, _The Pygmies_, 108. Tylor, _Early +History of Mankind_, cap. ix., should be consulted. + +[301] The term political is, I confess, a little awkward, owing to its +specially modern use, but it is the only term which, in its early +sense, expresses the stage of social development represented by a +polity as distinct from a mere localisation. + +[302] It was one of the first efforts of the science of language to +endeavour to trace out the original home of the so-called Aryas and +their subsequent migrations. "Emigration," said Bunsen, "is the great +agent in forming nations and languages" (_Philosophy of Hist._, i. 56); +and Niebuhr, who has traced out most of the migrations of the Greek +tribes, observes that "this migration of nations was formerly not +mentioned anywhere" (_Anc. Hist._, ii. 212). Quite recently, Professor +Flinders Petrie has worked at the question of European migrations in +the Huxley lecture of 1907 (_Journ. Anthrop. Inst._, xxxvi. 189-232), +his valuable maps showing "the movements of twenty of the principal +peoples that entered Europe during the centuries of great movements +that are best known to us" (204). In the meantime, the folklorist has +much to do in this direction, and up to the present he has almost +entirely ignored or misread the evidence. I do not know whether Mr. +Nutt would still adhere to his conclusion that the myth embodied in the +Celtic expulsion-and-return formula is undoubtedly solar (_Folklore +Record_, iv. 42), but a restatement of Mr. Nutt's careful and elaborate +analysis would lead me to trace the myth to the migration period of +Aryan history, just as I agree with von Ihering that the _ver sacrum_ +of the Romans is a rite continued from the migration period to express +in religious formulæ, and on emergency to again carry out, the ancient +practice of sending forth from an overstocked centre sufficient of the +tribesmen and tribeswomen to leave those who remained economically +well-conditioned (_The Evolution of the Aryan_, 249-290). Pheidon's law +at Corinth, alluded to by Aristotle (_Pol._, ii. cap. vi.), could only +be carried out by a sending out of the surplus. See also Aristotle, +_Pol._, ii. cap. xii.; and Newman's note to the first reference, +quoting similar laws elsewhere. Both the "junior-right" traditions and +customs take us back to the same conditions. The occupation of fresh +territories is an observable feature of the Russian mir (Wallace, +_Russia_, i. 255; Laveleye _Primitive Property_, 34), and Mr. Chadwick +has recently called attention to the corresponding Scandinavian +evidence (_Origin of the English Nation_, 334). + +[303] Mr. J. R. Logan long ago pointed out that "the further we go +back, we find ethnic characteristics more uniform," and further +concluded that certain facts observed by himself "lead to the inference +that the Archaic world was connected."--_Journ. Indian Archipelago_, +iv. 290, 291. + +[304] _Descent of Man_, pp. 590, 591. + +[305] _Studies in Ancient History_, i. 84. + +[306] _History of Human Marriage_, cap. ii. + +[307] _Ancient Society_, p. 10. + +[308] _Secret of the Totem_, p. 32. + +[309] N. W. Thomas, _Kinship Organisation in Australia_, 4. + +[310] _Folklore_, xii. 232. + +[311] Both Dr. Haddon and myself made the same point on a criticism of +Mr. Fraser's _Golden Bough_, mine being from the Aricia rites, and Dr. +Haddon's from the savage parallels thereto. See _Folklore_, xii. 223, +224, 232. + +[312] Sproat's _Scenes and Studies of Savage Life_, 19. The use of the +term "tribe" in this quotation is, of course, descriptive only. There +is no tribal constitution among the Ahts, and "group" would have been +the preferable term. + +[313] Dr. W. H. Rivers' recently published work on the Todas is the +best authority. + +[314] Rivers, _op. cit._, 432, 455. + +[315] Rivers, _op. cit._, cap. xxi. 504, 517. + +[316] Rivers, _op. cit._, 452-456. + +[317] Latham, _Descriptive Ethnology_, ii, 137. + +[318] Bucher, _Industrial Evolution_, 56. + +[319] Rev. George Taplin, _The Narrinyeri; South Australian +Aborigines_, 40. _Cf._ Howitt, _Native Tribes of South-east Australia_, +710-720; Grierson, _The Silent Trade_, 22. + +[320] _Cf._ Skeat and Blagden, _Pagan Tribes of Malay Peninsula_, i, +10. + +[321] Graham, _Bheel Tribes of Khandesh_, 3. + +[322] Herodotos, iv. 180. + +[323] _Journ. Asiatic Soc., Bengal_, xiii. 625. + +[324] Major Gurdon, _The Khasis_, 76, 82. + +[325] N. W. Thomas, _Kinship Organisations in Australia_, 124. + +[326] Fustel de Coulange's _Cité Antique_, cap. xiv. and xv., is, +however, the most exaggerated example of this point of view. + +[327] Lang, _Social Origins_, 1. The latest exponent of anthropological +principles affirms that "the family which exists in the lower stages of +culture, though it is overshadowed by the other social phenomena, has +persisted through all the manifold revolutions of society."--N. W. +Thomas, _Kinship Organisations in Australia_, 1. + +[328] Jevons' _Introd. to Hist. of Religion_, 195. + +[329] See also Prof. Geikie in _Scottish Geographical Mag._ (Sept. +1897). + +[330] _Early Hist. of Mankind_, 303; MacCulloch, _Childhood of +Fiction_, 396; Gould, _Mythical Monsters_. + +[331] Mr. Westermarck has collected excellent evidence as to the +economic influences upon savage society (_Hist. of Human Marriage_, +39-49), and we may quite properly assume the same conditions for +earliest man. + +[332] A very good summary of the pygmy peoples in all parts of the +world is given by Mr. W. A. Reed in his useful _Negritos of Zambales_, +13-22. _Cf._ Keane, _Man, Past and Present_, 118-121; Keane, +_Ethnology_, 246-248; and Sir W. H. Flower, _Essays on Museums_, cap. +xix. + +[333] Latham, _Man and his Migrations_, 55, 56. Dr. Beke was a most +cautious observer, and I have consulted all his contributions to the +_Journal of the Geographical Society_ (vol. xiii.) and have found no +sign of his retraction of the evidence. His correspondence in the +_Literary Gazette_ of 1843, p. 852, discusses the question of the Dokos +being pygmies, but he adheres to his information as to the absence of +social structure being correct. + +[334] Lib. ii. 32, 8; _cf._ Quatrefages, _The Pygmies_, cap. 1, "The +Pygmies of the Ancients." + +[335] Lieut.-Col. Sutherland, _Memoir respecting the Kaffirs, +Hottentots, and Bosjemans_, i. 67 (Cape Town, 1846). + +[336] Burrows, _The Land of Pygmies_, 182. + +[337] Mr. A. B. Lloyd's volume _In Dwarfland and Cannibal Country_, p. +96, is the most recent evidence. + +[338] It is worth noting here that the Chinese traditions of the +pygmies are exceedingly suggestive and curious. See Moseley, _Notes by +a Naturalist_, 369. + +[339] Skeat and Blagden, _Malay Peninsula_, ii. 443. + +[340] _Journ. Indian Archipelago_, iv. 425-427; _cf._ _Journ. Anthrop. +Inst._, xvi. 228; Wallace, _Malay Archipelago_, 452. + +[341] Clifford, _In Court and Kampong_, 171-181. + +[342] Skeat and Blagden, _Pagan Races of Malay Peninsula_, i. 13. + +[343] _Op. cit._, i. 53-4, 139, 169, 172, 341. + +[344] _Op. cit._, i. 170. + +[345] _Op. cit._, i. 243-248, 268. + +[346] _Op. cit._, i. 494; ii. 56, 218. + +[347] _Op. cit._, ii. 3. Compare _Journ. Indian Archipelago_, iv. 427, +"they are called after particular trees, that is, if a child is born +under or near a cocoanut or durian, or any particular tree in the +forest, it is named accordingly," and John Anderson, _Considerations +relative to Malayan Peninsula_, 1824, p. xli. + +[348] _Op. cit._, ii. 4, 192, 194. + +[349] _Op. cit._, ii. 174, 209. + +[350] _Archæological Review_, i. 13, from an official report published +in a Government Blue Book. + +[351] Brinton, _The American Race_; Curtin, _Creation Myths of +Primitive America_. + +[352] Darwin, _Journal of Researches_, 228. + +[353] _Anthropological Inst._, vii. 502-510. + +[354] Quatrefages, _The Pygmies_, 24, 48, 69. + +[355] There is ample evidence of this characteristic. Thus, of the +Australians of Port Lincoln district, it is said that "the habit of +constantly changing their place of rest is so great that they cannot +overcome it even if staying where all their wants can be abundantly +supplied."--_Trans. Roy. Soc., Victoria_, v. 178. + +[356] _Fortnightly Review_, lxxviii. 455. + +[357] _Secret of the Totem_, 125, 140. + +[358] _British Association Report_, 1902, p. 745. _Cf._ Spencer and +Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central Australia_, 160. + +[359] Lang, _Secret of the Totem_, 140, quoting Grey, _Vocabulary of +the Dialects of South-west Australia_. + +[360] Spencer and Gillen, _Tribes of Central Australia_, 119. + +[361] The reader should consult Mason's _Women's Share in Primitive +Culture_, and Bucher's _Industrial Evolution_, for evidence on this +point. + +[362] Livingstone, _South Africa_, 462. + +[363] Sleeman, _Rambles of an Indian Official_, i. 43. "Banotsarg is +the name given to the marriage ceremony performed in honour of a newly +planted orchard, without which preliminary observance it is not proper +to partake of its fruit. A man holding the Salagram personates the +bridegroom, and another holding the sacred Tulsi personates the bride. +After burning a hom or sacrificial fire, the officiating Brahmin puts +the usual questions to the couple about to be united. The bride then +perambulates a small spot marked out in the centre of the orchard. +Proceeding from the south towards the west, she makes the circuit three +times, followed at a short distance by the bridegroom holding in his +hand a strip of her chadar of garment. After this, the bridegroom takes +precedence, making his three circuits, and followed in like manner by +his bride. The ceremony concludes with the usual offerings" (Elliot, +_Folklore of North-west Provinces of India_, i. 234). + +[364] Myths explaining the domestication of animals belong to this +stage of culture. The dog is a sacred animal among the Khasis, with +certain totemic associations, and there is a very realistic and +humanising myth relating how the dog came to be regarded as the friend +of man (Gurdon, _The Khasis_, 51, 172-3). The Kyeng creation legend +includes a good example of animal friendship with man (Lewin, _Wild +Races of South-east India_, 238-9). The American creation myths afford +remarkable testimony to this view of the case. "Game and fish of all +sorts were under direct divine supervision ... maize or Indian corn is +a transformed god who gave himself to be eaten to save men from hunger +and death" (Curtin, _Creation Myths of Primitive America_, pp. xxvi, +xxxviii). The Narrinyeri Australians "do not appear to have any story +of the origin of the world, but nearly all animals they suppose +anciently to have been men who performed great prodigies, and at last +transformed themselves into different kinds of animals and stones" +(Taplin, _The Narrinyeri_, 59). + +[365] _Legend of Perseus_, i. cap. vi. + +[366] _Secret of the Totem_, 29. + +[367] Mitchell, _Australian Expeditions_, i. 307; _cf._ Fison and +Howitt, _Kamilaroi and Kurnai_, 200, 224; Taplin, _The Narrinyeri_, 10. + +[368] Curr, _Australian Race_, i. p. 193; _cf._ Smyth, _Aborigines of +Victoria_, ii. p. 316. + +[369] Fison and Howitt, _Kamilaroi and Kurnai_, 66, 285, 289. + +[370] Fison and Howitt, _op. cit._, 68, 73. + +[371] Lang, _Secret of the Totem_, 64. + +[372] Spencer and Gillen, _Central Tribes_, 7. + +[373] Spencer and Gillen, _Central Tribes_, 120, 124, 133. + +[374] _Globus_, xci, a very important criticism of Spencer and Gillen's +work. + +[375] Spencer and Gillen, _op. cit._, 139, 154. + +[376] Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes_, 144. + +[377] _Globus_, xci, gives important evidence of traces of female descent +among the Arunta. + +[378] There is conflict of testimony on this point. Spencer and Gillen +deny that the Arunta recognise the fact of paternity in any way (see +_Northern Tribes_, pp. xiii, 145, 330), and yet talk of the "actual +father" in ceremonial functions (p. 361). + +[379] Skeat and Blagden, _Malay Peninsula_, ii. 218. + +[380] Newbold, _Political and State Acc. of Malacca_, ii.; Skeat and +Blagden, _op. cit._, ii. 56. + +[381] Messrs. Spencer and Gillen, _Central Tribes_, 36, give a useful +note on this point. + +[382] In this they are exactly paralleled by the Khasi people of Assam, +among whom we find a limited sort of male chiefship by succession +through females, and an absolute succession to property by females by +succession through females (Gurdon, _The Khasis_, 68, 88). Descent from +the female is absolute in both cases, and all we get is male +ascendancy. + +[383] _Secret of the Totem_, 73. + +[384] _Op. cit._, 79. + +[385] Lang, _Secret of the Totem_, 148. + +[386] _Central Tribes_, 72. Mrs. Langloh Parker's information as to the +origin of the Euahlayi two-class division having arisen from an +amalgamation of two distinct tribes, points to the same +facts.--_Euahlayi Tribe_, 12. + +[387] Spencer and Gillen, _Tribes of Central Australia_, 96, 99, 106. + +[388] Lang's Introd. to Bolland's _Aristotle's Politics_ (1877), p. +104; Grant Allen's _Anglo-Saxon Britain_ (1888), pp. 79-83. + +[389] _Topography of Ireland_, lib. ii. cap. 19. + +[390] _Hist. of Ireland_, ii. 361. + +[391] _Irish Nennius_, p. 205; Lang, _Custom and Myth_, p. 265; _Revue +Celtique_, ii. 202. + +[392] _View of the State of Ireland_, p. 99. + +[393] Moryson, _Hist. of Ireland_, ii. 367. + +[394] Aubrey, _Remaines of Gentilisme_, 204. + +[395] Camden, _Britannia_, iii. 455; iv. 459. + +[396] The significance of the word "gossip" is worth noting. Halliwell +says it "signified a _relation_ or sponsor in baptism, all of whom were +to each other and to the parents _God-sibs_, that is, _sib_, or related +by means of religion." This meaning does not seem to have died out in +the days of Spenser, and his use of the word to describe the +relationship of the men of Ossory to wolves is very significant. For +the history of this important word see Hearn's _Aryan Household_, 290. + +[397] Otway, _Sketches in Erris_, 383-4. + +[398] _Folklore Record_, iv. 98. + +[399] _Ulster Journ. Arch._, ii. 161, 162. They have also another +primitive trait. Their trade emblems are carved on their tombstones. +_Roy. Irish Acad._, vii. 260. + +[400] This I gather from _Ulster Journ. Arch._, ii. 164, where it is +stated that the hare is unpropitious. + +[401] _Folklore Journal_, ii. 259. + +[402] _Folklore Journal_, ii. 259; _Folklore Record_, iv. 104. Miss +Ffennell kindly informed me at the meeting of the Folklore Society +where I read a paper on the subject, that she had frequently heard the +islanders of Achill, off the coast of Ireland, state their belief that +they were descended from seals. + +[403] Published by the _Irish Archæological Society_, p. 27; there is a +Seal Island off the coast of Donegal (Joyce, _Irish Place-Names_, ii. +282); and some Shetland legends of the seal will be found in _Soc. +Antiq. Scot._, i. 86-89. Seals are eaten for food in the island of +Harris (see Martin, _Western Islands_, 36), and one called the Virgin +Mary's Seal is offered to the minister (Reeves, _Adamnan Vita. +Columb._, 78, note _g_). The attitude of the Irish to seals is shown by +the two following notes:--"At Erris, in Ireland, seals are considered +to be human beings under enchantment, and they consider it unlucky to +have anything to do with seals, and to have one live near their +dwelling is considered as productive of evil to life and property. A +story current, in 1841, describes how a young fisherman came in a fog +upon an island whereon lived these enchanted men in their human form, +but when they quitted it they turned to seals again" (Otway, _Sketches +of Erris_, 398, 403). Off Downpatrick Head they used to take seals, but +have given up the practice, because once two young fellows had urged +their curraghs into a cave where the seals were known to breed, and +they were killing them right and left when, in the farthest end of the +cave and sitting up on its bent tail in a corner, there sat an old +seal. One of the boys was just making ready to strike him, when the +seal cried out, "Och, boys! och, ma bouchals, spare your old +grandfather, Darby O'Dowd." He then proceeded to tell the boys his +story. "It's true I was dead and dacently buried, but here I am for my +sins turned into a sale as other sinners are and will be, and if you +put an end to me and skin me maybe it's worser I'll be, and go into a +shark or a porpoise. Lave your ould forefather where he is, to live out +his time as a sale. Maybe for your own sakes you will ever hereafter +leave off following and parsecuting and murthering sales who may be +nearer to yourselves nor you think." The story is universally believed, +and on the strength of it the people have given up seal hunting (Otway, +_Sketches of Erris_, 230). + +[404] _Kinship and Marriage in Arabia_, 188. _Cf._ Mr. Jacobs' articles +in _Archæological Review_, "Are there totem clans in the Old +Testament?" vol. iii. pp. 145-164. + +[405] _Origins of English History_, 297. + +[406] _Proc. Roy. Irish Acad._, x. 436; Lang's _Custom and Myth_, 265; +Elton's _Origins of English History_, 299-300; _Revue Celtique_, i. 50; +iii. 176. + +[407] _Rev. Celtique_, vi. 232. + +[408] Aubrey's _Remaines of Gentilisme_, 102. + +[409] _Folklore Record_, i. 243. + +[410] Xiphilinus in _Mon. Hist. Brit._, p. lvii. + +[411] _Choice Notes, Folklore_, p. 16. + +[412] _Vulgar Errors_, p. 320. + +[413] Aubrey, _Gentilisme and Judaisme_, 109; Napier, _Folklore of West +of Scotland_, 26. Consult Mr. Billson's valuable paper on "The Easter +Hare" in _Folklore_, iii. 441-466. + +[414] Gregor, _Folklore of North-East Scotland_, 129, 199. + +[415] O'Curry, _Manners of the Anc. Irish_, i. p. ccclxx. + +[416] _Notes and Queries_, 3rd ser. iv. 82, 158; Dyer's _Popular +Customs_, 384. + +[417] Gordon Cumming, _Hebrides_, 369. + +[418] Gordon Cumming, _Hebrides_, 369. + +[419] _Gentleman's Magazine Library, Pop. Sup._, 216. + +[420] It will be useful to refer to Mr. Thrupp's paper on "British +Superstition as to Hares, Geese, and Poultry" in _Trans. Ethnological +Society of London_, new ser. vol. v. pp. 162-167. + +[421] _Origins of English History_, 170. + +[422] Gordon Cumming, _Hebrides_, 365. + +[423] Dalyell's _Darker Superstitions of Scotland_, 431. It should be +noted that Dalyell wrote before the age of scientific folklore, and +therefore his observations are founded more upon conjectures derived +from the practices and beliefs themselves than from any theory as to +origins. + +[424] White horse, p. 208; black cat, p. 211, note 3; two magpies, p. +224; crickets, p. 238; hawthorn, p. 244. + +[425] _Fortnightly Review_, xii. 562. + +[426] It is just possible that the value of investigating Australian +totemism may prove to have a still more direct bearing upon British +folklore, for Huxley's opinion as to the Australoid race is not +entirely to be neglected. He argued that "The Australoid race are dark +complexion, ranging through various shades of light and dark chocolate +colour; dark or black eyes; the hair of the scalp black and soft, silky +and wavy; the skull dolichocephalic. The great continent of Australia +is the headquarters of the Australoid race.... The Dekkan, which is so +remarkably isolated on the north by the valleys of the Ganges and +Indus, beyond these by the Himalaya Mountains, and on the east and west +by the sea, was originally inhabited, and is still largely peopled by +men who completely come under the definition of the Australoid race +given above. In Abyssinia and Egypt there is a smooth-haired, +dark-complexioned, long-headed stock which I am strongly inclined to +regard as a westward extension of the Australoid race. I would venture +to suggest that the dark whites who stretch from Northern Hindostan +through Western Asia, skirt both shores of the Mediterranean, and +extend through Western Europe to Ireland, may have had their origin in +a prolongation of the Australoid race, which has become modified by +selection or intermixture" (Huxley in _Prehistoric Congress, 1868_, pp. +92-94). This point of view is confirmed by Mr. Mathew's conclusions, +_Eaglehawk and Crow_, cap. iii. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +SOCIOLOGICAL CONDITIONS + + +Perhaps the most important part of the anthropological aspect of +custom, rite, and belief in tradition is sociological. Perhaps, too, +it is the most neglected. Inquirers into the origin of religion +proceed one after the other to investigate the phenomena of early +beliefs as they interpret the origin of religion, without one thought +of the sociological conditions of the problem. They interpose, as I +have already pointed out, the theory of a state religion, when such a +foundation is incidentally found to be necessary to carry the imposing +superstructure of Celtic mythology, but they do not pause to inquire +whether the state, suddenly introduced into the argument, is a +discoverable factor; or they proceed to erect their superstructure of +religious origins without any social foundation whatever, and we are +left with a great concept of abstract thought having no roots in the +source from which it is supposed to be drawn. The sun-god and the +dawn-god, even the All-father, are traced in the most primitive +thought of man, but it is not deemed necessary to show in what +relation these concepts stand to practical life. It is here I must +refer back to Robertson-Smith's dictum on mythology, for it is the +necessary preliminary to showing that belief cannot enter into life +except through the sociological units into which all humanity fits +itself; or rather, I would prefer Robertson-Smith's way of putting it, +"the circle into which a man was born was not simply a human society, +a circle of kinfolk and fellow-citizens, but embraced also certain +divine beings, the gods of the family and the state, which to the +ancient mind were as much a part of the particular community with +which they stood connected as the human members of the social +group."[427] Any proposal to examine a group of customs, beliefs, and +rites which at their origin take us back to the earliest history of a +country must, therefore, be considered from the sociological side. The +great mass of the material to be used in such an inquiry is not +ancient so far as its date of record is a test of antiquity, but it is +ancient as traditional survival, and it is not possible to trace back +custom and belief surviving in modern times to the earliest times, +except through the medium of the institutions which formed the social +basis of the peoples to whom such custom and belief belonged. A custom +or belief exists as a living force before it sinks back into the +position of a survival. It is the lingering effect of this living +force which helps to preserve it for so many ages, and in the midst of +such adverse circumstances, as a survival among other customs and +beliefs existing under a different living force. It is not possible, +therefore, to ascertain the origin of custom or belief in survival, +except as a fragment of the social institution to which it originally +belonged. No custom or belief has a life of its own separate from all +other. It is joined to other customs and beliefs in indissoluble +co-partnership, the whole group making up the institutions under which +the race or people to whom they belong live and flourish. This, as we +have already seen, is a most important principle in the study of +survivals. Not only is it strictly true of all primitive peoples, but +it is true of the early stages of more advanced communities.[428] +Indeed it has been put into a phrase used long ago by an English +writer on the manorial tenant, "His religion is a part of his +copyhold,"[429] and when the jurist talks to us in highly technical +language of lords, freeholders, villans, and serfs, we must bear in +mind that at any rate these villans and serfs belonged to a social +institution, one element of which was religion. So, too, must the +folklorist bear in mind that it is not the individual belief he is +concerned with, but with the belief that belongs to a community. It +must be assumed that the true test of the antiquity of every custom or +belief is its natural and easy assimilation with other customs and +beliefs, equally with itself in the position of a survival, and the +recognition of the whole group thus brought into relationship as +belonging to the institutions of the people from whom it is derived. + +It is well to understand what this condition of things exactly means +as an element in the study of early beliefs. It will be dealing with +beliefs from their place in the social habitat; housing them, so to +speak, within the groups of human beings with which they are +connected. It will be considering them as part of the living organism +which the social units of man have created. All this indicates a +method of treating the subject entirely different from what has +hitherto obtained. Students of early English institutions are content +to construct elaborate arguments from the often conflicting testimony +of historical authorities; students of early beliefs construct +elaborate systems of religious thought far above the custom and rite +with which they are dealing. The two branches of the same subject are +never brought together to illustrate each other. Early institutions +cannot be separated from early beliefs. Early beliefs cannot properly +be separated from the society of which they form a component part. We +require to know not only what beliefs a particular people possess, but +in what manner these beliefs generate custom and rite and take their +place among the influences which affect the social organism. Early man +does not live individually. His life is part of a collective group. +The group worships collectively as it lives collectively, and it is +extremely important to work out the dual conditions. If the several +items of custom and belief preserved by tradition are really ancient +in their origin, they must be floating fragments, as it were, of an +ancient _system_ of custom and belief--the cultus of the people among +whom they originated. This cultus has been destroyed, struggling +unsuccessfully against foreign and more vigorous systems of religion +and society. To be of service to history each floating fragment of +ancient custom and belief must not only be labelled "ancient," but it +must be placed back in the system from which it has been torn away. To +do this is to a great extent to restore the ancient system; and to +restore an ancient system of culture, even if the restoration be only +a mosaic and a shattered mosaic, is to bring into evidence the people +to which it belongs. + +In the previous chapter it was necessary to lay somewhat special +stress upon the system of social organisation known as totemism, which +was not founded upon kinship. This was traced in survival among the +pre-Celtic peoples of Britain. If we now turn to the Celts and Teutons +of Britain we shall find that we have to deal with a social +organisation founded definitely upon kinship; and if there are +survivals of belief, custom, and rite, derived from this kinship +system, existing side by side in the same culture area with survivals +from the kinless system, it will be necessary to explain how two such +opposite streams can have been kept flowing. + +It is not difficult in the case of countries occupied by Celtic or +Teutonic peoples to ascertain what the particular institution was +which linked together the beliefs of the people, though it is not easy +to trace out all the phases of it. It is the tribe--that system of +society which appears as the means by which Greek and Roman, Celt and +Teuton, Scandinavian and Slav, Hindu and Persian, were able to +conquer, overrun, and finally to settle in the lands which they have +made their own. We know something of the Celtic tribe, less of the +Teutonic tribe, but all we know is that it possesses features in +common with the tribe of its kindred. There is no fact more certainly +true as a result of comparative research than that the tribe is the +common heritage of those people who have become the dominant rulers of +the Indo-European world. I use this term "tribe" in no formal sense, +not in the sense of its Roman derivation and use, which shows it quite +as a secondary institution, but as the most convenient term to define +that grouping of men with wives, families, and descendants, and all +the essentials of independent life, which is found as a primal unit of +European society in a state of unsettlement as regards land or +country. The tie which bound all together was personal not local, +kinship with a tribal god, kinship more or less real with +fellow-tribesmen, kinship in status and rights. We meet with this +tribal organisation everywhere in Indo-European history. It made +movement from country to country possible. It made conquest possible. +Celt and Teuton did not conquer in families any more than Greek or +Hindu did. They conquered in tribes, and it was because of the +strength of the tribal organisation during the period, first of +migration and wandering and then of conquest, that the settlement +after conquest was possible and was so strong. Everywhere we find +these people conquerors and settlers. In India, in Iran, in Greece and +Rome, in Scandinavia, in Celtic and Teutonic Europe, in Slavic Europe, +they are moving tribes of conquerors come to settle and rule the +people they conquer.[430] When Dr. Ridgeway asks whence came the +Acheans,[431] he answers the question much in the same fashion as that +in which Dr. Duncker describes the settlement on the Ganges:-- + + "The ancient population of the new states on the + Ganges was not entirely extirpated, expelled, or + enslaved. Life and freedom were allowed to those who + submitted and conformed to the law of the conqueror; + they might pass their lives as servants on the farms + of the Aryas (Manu, i. 91). But though the remnant of + this population was spared, the whole body of the + immigrants looked down on them with the pride of + conquerors--of superiority in arms, blood, and + character--and in contrast to them they called + themselves Vaiçyas, i.e. tribesmen, comrades, in other + words those who belong to the community or body of + rulers. Whether the Vaiçya belonged to the order of + the nobles, the minstrels and priests or peasants, was + a matter of indifference, he regarded the old + inhabitants as an inferior species of mankind.... In + the new states on the Ganges therefore the population + was separated into two sharply divided masses. How + could the conquerors mix with the conquered? How could + their pride stoop to any union with the despised + servants?"[432] + +These two divided masses thus so clearly described were, in fact, +tribesmen and non-tribesmen, just that distinction which we meet with +in Celtic and Teutonic law, and described in the same terms which +Bishop Stubbs was obliged to use when he set forth the facts of the +Teutonic invasion of Britain. + +The terms are indeed necessary terms. Tribesmen capable of retaining +the tribal organisation during the period of migration and conquest +did not lightly lose that organisation when they settled. In Sir +Alfred Lyall's pure genealogic clan of Central India[433] I recognise +the unbroken tribal formation before the family group has arisen as a +political unit. In Mr. Tupper's argument against the conclusions of +Sir Henry Maine I recognise the Hindu evidence that the tribe was the +earliest social group, breaking up, as later influences arose, into +village communities and joint families.[434] In Bishop Stubbs's +masterly analysis of English constitutional history the tribe appears +at the outset--"the invaders," he says, "came in families and kindreds +and in the full organisation of their tribes ... the tribe was as +complete when it had removed to Kent as when it stayed in Jutland; the +magistrate was the ruler of the tribe not of the soil; the divisions +were those of the folk and the host not of the land; the laws were the +usage of the nation not of the territory."[435] And so I agree with +Mr. Skene as to the Celtic tribe that "the tuath or tribe preceded the +fine or clan,"[436] and with the editors of the Irish law tracts that +"the tribe existed before the family came into being and continued to +exist after the latter had been dissolved."[437] + +We need not go beyond this evidence. The tribe is the common form into +which the early Indo-European peoples grouped themselves for the +purpose of conquest and settlement. It was their primal unit. It may +have been numerically large or small. It may have been the result of +a combination of many smaller tribes into one great tribe. But in any +case and under any conditions there stands out the tribal +organisation, that great institutional force from which spring all +later institutions. Its roots go back into the remotest past of +Indo-European history; its active force caused the Indo-European +people to become the mightiest in human history; its lasting results +have scarcely yet ceased to shape the aspirations of political society +and to affect the destinies of nations. The whole life of the early +period was governed by tribal conditions--the political, social, +legal, and even religious conceptions were tribal in form and +expression. + +The tribal institution of the Aryan-speaking peoples includes a life +outside the tribe. That was an outlaw's life, a kinless outcast, whom +no tribesman would look upon or assist, whom every tribesman +considered as an enemy until he had reduced him to the position of +helot or slave, but for whom every tribe had a place in its +organisation and a legal status in its constitution. But it was the +legal status imposed by the master over the servant, and the kinless +included not only the outcast from the tribe, but the conquered +aboriginal who had never been within the tribe. It is important to +notice this, for it to some extent measures the strength of the tribal +organisation. It not only allowed for a special position for all +tribesmen, but it allowed for that position to have a definite +relationship to persons who were not tribesmen, and it is in the +combined forces of tribesmen and non-tribesmen that the tribal +organisation which swept over part of Asia and over all Europe obtains +its greatest power. There are tribal systems outside the Semitic and +the Indo-European, but these do not have the distinctive features that +the tribal systems of these two great civilising peoples possess. Like +the Semitic and Aryan tribal systems, savage tribes are fashioned for +conquest, but, unlike them, they are not fashioned for settlement and +resettlement, and perhaps again and again conquest and resettlement. +They spent all their power, or most of their power, in their one great +effort of conquest, and whether we turn to the American Indian tribes, +to the African tribes, or to the Asiatic tribes we find the same facts +of frequent dissipation of power after sudden and complete conquest of +it. The tribal system which led to civilisation has a different +history. It has, too, a different constitution in that to the strength +of tribesmen was added the subordination--politically, industrially, +and economically--of non-tribesmen. They were the people who, in the +terms of the northern poem, + + "Laid fences, + Enriched the plough lands, + Tended swine, + Herded goats, + Dug peat."[438] + +Unfortunately the institution of the tribe has never been properly +studied by the great authorities in history, and students are left +without guidance in this important matter. And yet in any attempt to +get back to the earliest period of history in lands governed by an +Aryan-speaking people we must proceed, can only proceed, on the basis +of the tribe, and it is the failure to understand this which has made +so much early history unsatisfactory and inconclusive and compels us +to the conclusion that the master-hand is still needed to rewrite in +terms of tribal history all that has been written in terms merely of +political history. + +If, however, history from the written records is thus at fault, so too +is history from the traditional records. No systematic effort has been +made to treat the traditional story or the traditional custom and +belief as part of the tribal history of our race, and yet in the few +cases where it has been so treated the results are obviously +satisfactory. I can illustrate the value of this point of view by an +example drawn from the period which witnessed the earliest struggles +of our race. I think with Mr. Keary that in those German stories +"which delight above all things in that portrait of the youngest son +of the house--he is the youngest of three--who is left behind despised +and neglected when his brothers go forth to seek their fortunes," we +have traces of a veritable fact, of an historical condition where the +elder sons actually went forth to conquest and to settlement and the +youngest son remained in the original home as the hearth-child.[439] +The position of hearth-child, surviving as it does in our law of +Borough English, is of great significance, and that we can by the aid +of tradition reach a state of society which gave birth to it is a +point of the greatest importance, even if we could go no further. But +there is a stage beyond it. The majority of these youngest-son +stories relate to events not to be identified with any particular +tribe or people, but which belong to all the tribes and peoples whose +course of conquest and settlement took the common form. But if apart +from these all-world stories there exist stories, or if there be but +one story which has become identified with an episode, a person, or a +place belonging to a particular people, we may claim it as part of the +history of that particular people. It may be that the general story +has become specialised in this one case, or it may be that an entirely +new story has sprung out of the special case. But whichever be the +origin of such a story attached to a particular people, it must tell +us something of that people at a period when its history was being +made rather than recorded. What it tells may be very little, may not +lead up to anything very great or definite, so far as later history is +concerned; but that for the period to which it belongs it relates to +an episode worthy to have been kept in the memories of the descendants +of the chief actors in the events is the point to bear in mind. + +There is one such story which belongs to English history. One of the +most famous of these youngest-son stories is that of Childe Rowland, +and Mr. Jacobs, on examining its incidents and details, suggests that +"our story may have a certain amount of historic basis and give a +record which history fails to give of the very earliest conflict of +races in these isles."[440] Mr. Jacobs gives good grounds for this +conclusion, and shows up a picture of earliest English history which +is certainly not contained elsewhere, and we are able by this means +to pass from that large group of youngest-son stories, which have +brought with them living testimony of an ancient institution of our +race in its oldest home, to the narrower but more direct example which +comes to us from events which happened just at the dawn of history in +our own land. It is not necessary to emphasise the importance of this +service to history at the instance of tradition, for it will be +obvious to every student that many a struggle must have remained +unrecorded and many a hero must have died unnamed in the events which +belong to the period of tribal conquest and settlement. And to have +still with us the far-off echo of these events is no slight +encouragement to an inquiry which has for its object the +reconstruction of the conditions under which such events took place. + +This would be all the better understood if we could get a concrete +case for illustration, and, fortunately, this is possible by turning +to the evidence of India. "What we know of the manner in which the +states of Upper India were founded," says Sir Alfred Lyall, + + "gives a very fair sample of the movements and changes + of the primitive world. When the dominant Rajput + families lost their dominion in the rich Gangetic + plains one part of their clan seems to have remained + in the conquered country, having submitted to the + foreigner, cultivating in strong communities of + villages and federations of villages and paying such + land tax as the ruler could extract. Another part of + the clan, probably the near kinsmen of the defeated + chief, followed his family into exile, and helped him + to carve out another, but a much poorer, dominion. + Here the chief built himself a fort upon the hill; his + clansmen slew or subdued the tribes they found in + possession of the soil, and the lands were all + parcelled off among the chief's kinsfolk, the + indigenous proprietors being subjected to payment of a + land tax, but not otherwise degraded. When the land + grew too strait for the support of the chief's family + or of the sept--that is, when there were no vacant + allotments, a landless son of the chief would assemble + a band, and set forth to make room for himself + elsewhere."[441] + +The evidence from India is fact, the evidence from England is +tradition, and yet I do not think any student will deny that both fact +and tradition are part and parcel of the same conditions of society, +the same forces operating upon the same material. The conditions of +society in both cases are tribal conditions, and the common factor +having thus been discovered, it is possible to determine not only the +inter-relationship between fact and tradition, but the means by which +we may estimate the value of both. + +We cannot, however, stop here. I carry on the same argument from the +traditional legend to the traditional custom and belief, and affirm +that it is only by their position as part of the tribal system that +custom and belief in survival must be tested. If they have descended +from early Celtic or Teutonic custom and belief, they have descended +from tribal custom and belief, and somewhere in the stages of descent +will be found the link which connects them definitely with the tribe. +That not all custom and belief has so descended is due to the fact +that much of it belongs to the pre-Celtic period, which was not +tribal; some of it, no doubt, to comparatively modern times, when, as +we have already seen, superstition had taken the place of thought, +while some phases of early belief belong to conditions which +transcend the division between pre-Aryan and Aryan folk. On this I +will say something by way of explanation presently. In the meantime it +is an extremely important task to classify survivals into tribal and +non-tribal groups. Those which belong to Celtic or Teutonic origins +must show their tribal origin, for they could not have come into +existence apart from the tribe, and apart from the tribe they could +not have survived after the break-up of the tribe consequent upon the +development of national and political life. Custom and belief which do +not fit into the ancient tribal system, therefore, cannot be +recognised as ancient Celtic or ancient Teutonic custom and belief, +and contrariwise when it is seen that they naturally fall into this +system it may be argued that there we must search for their origin. +Our Anglo-Saxon forefathers have left a curious testimony to this view +of the question in their word "holy" or wholesome. What is wholesome +is so for the whole group. The Anglo-Saxon idea of holiness implies as +its chief element relation to the tribal life.[442] + +The classification of survivals in folklore into tribal and non-tribal +items is a lengthy and intricate process. Some years ago I made a +start in a study of fire worship which I presented to the British +Association,[443] and I hope shortly to be ready with a volume on +_Tribal Custom_, which will embody a fuller study of fire worship and +its accompanying beliefs, together with a complete study of all the +remains of traditional custom, rite, and belief, which only as the +detritus of the ancient tribal organisation receive adequate +explanation of their presence in the midst of modern political and +religious institutions. If I leave this part of my subject without +further illustration in this present volume, I must add one important +note upon the persistence of survivals of both kinless and kinship +societies. I have shown that the tribal system of the advanced races +included provision for non-tribesmen, provision which kept +non-tribesmen outside the tribal bond, and at the same time kept them +tied to the tribe by using them as the necessary dependent adjunct of +the tribe, using them as bondmen and serfs in point of fact. This +extremely important factor in the history of the tribal organisation, +which has not been properly noticed by the few authorities who have +investigated tribal institutions, receives additional importance when +viewed from the standpoint of folklore, for it allows for the +preservation of non-tribal cults side by side with tribal cults. +Non-tribesmen preserved their custom, belief, and rite simply because +they were not admitted to the custom, belief, and rite of the tribe, +and this is the explanation of the existence, in survival, of folklore +which goes back to pre-Celtic times. Some of this pre-Celtic folklore +we have already had before us, and some of it I have studied in my +_Ethnology in Folklore_. Later on I shall have something more to say +on the subject. Here it is only necessary to emphasise the importance +of having ascertained why it is that the Celtic conquerors of Britain +and the earliest tribal conquerors of the Indo-European world +generally permitted to live in their midst what in a sense was opposed +to all that they believed, to all that they practised, to all that +governed them in thought and action. + +I think this is a strong position upon which to conduct folklore +research. It includes the whole of the historical position; it takes +due count of historical facts instead of ignoring them. It is based +upon a scientific conception of the meaning of a survival of culture. +A survival is that which has been left stranded amidst the development +that is going on around. Its future life is not one of development but +of decay. We are not dealing with the evolution of society, but with +the decaying fragments of a social system which has passed away. We +have to trace out its line of decay from the point where it almost +vanishes as the mere superstition or practice of a peasant or an +outcast, back to phases where it exists in more strenuous fashion, and +finally back to its original position as part and parcel of a living +social fabric. Moreover, the strength of our position is based upon a +scientific conception of the development of the nation or people among +whom survivals exist. It is not all parts of the nation which develop +at the same rate, at the same time, and for the same period. There are +social strata in every country, and it is the observance of these +strata which has made it possible for the inquirer of to-day to use +the evidence they afford for historical purposes. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[427] _Religion of the Semites_, 30. It is worth while quoting here +Merivale's note in his Boyle lectures, _Conversion of the Northern +Nations_, 122. "Pagan temples were always the public works of nations +and communities. They were national buildings dedicated to national +purposes. The mediæval churches, on the other hand, were the erection +of individuals, monuments of personal piety, tokens of the hope of a +personal reward." _Cf._ Stanley, _Hist. Westminster Abbey_, 12. + +[428] Mr. Granger has a very instructive passage on this point in his +_Worship of the Romans_, 210-214; _cf._ Robertson-Smith, _Religion of +the Semites_, lec. ii.; Mr. MacDonald, _Africana_, i. 64, notes, too, +that "the natives worship not so much individually as in villages or +communities." Prof. Sayce, studying early religion, says in its outward +form it "was made up of rites and ceremonies which could only be +performed collectively."--_Science of Language_, ii. 290. + +[429] Clarke's _Survey of the Lakes_, 36. + +[430] Pritchard's _Researches into the Physical Hist. of Mankind_, vol. +iii., may still be consulted for an account of the tribal movements in +Europe. + +[431] _Early Age of Greece_, i. cap. iv. + +[432] _History of Antiquity_, iv. 116-17. + +[433] _Asiatic Studies_, i. 173. + +[434] _Punjab Customary Law_, ii. 3-59. _Cf._ Baden-Powell's _Indian +Vill. Com._, 230; Duncker, _Hist. Antiq._, iv. 115-17. + +[435] Stubbs's _Const. Hist._, i. 64. _Cf. Essays in Anglo-Saxon Law_, +12. + +[436] _Celtic Scotland_, iii. 137, note 4. + +[437] _Anc. Laws of Ireland_, iv. p. 77. _Cf._ also Mr. Andrews' _Old +English Manor_, p. 20, and Meyer, _Geschichte der Alterthums_, 2-3. + +[438] Du Chaillu, _The Viking Age_, i. 488. + +[439] Keary, _Origin of Primitive Belief_, 464-5. Mr. MacCulloch, +_Childhood of Fiction_, devotes a chapter to the clever-youngest-son +group of tales (cap. xiii.), which should be consulted. + +[440] _Folklore_, ii. 194. + +[441] Sir A. Lyall, _Asiatic Studies_, 184, and compare pp. 198, 208, +211. + +[442] _Cf._ Granger, _Worship of the Romans_, 211. Mr. Granger uses +terms which I do not quite accept, though his suggestion is entirely +good in principle. + +[443] _Report of British Association_ (Liverpool Meeting). + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +EUROPEAN CONDITIONS + + +There are obviously conditions attaching to European culture history +which do not apply elsewhere, and as obviously the most important, +perhaps the only important one, which it is necessary to consider in +connection with the problems of folklore is that resulting from the +introduction of a non-European religion and the adoption of this +religion as part of the state machinery in the several countries. This +religion is, of course, Christianity. It came into the home of a +decaying, corrupt, and impossible state religion wherever the Roman +Empire was established and into the homes of purer and sterner faiths, +faiths that had belonged to the people through all the years of +conquest and settlement, migration and resettlement, wherever the +empire of Rome had not become established. + +Until the advent of Christianity into Britain the Celtic peoples +possessed their own customs, their own religious beliefs, their own +usages. Until the Anglo-Saxons came into contact with Christianity in +their new settlements in England, they also possessed their own +customs, usages, and beliefs. So far as Celt and Teuton were +responsible for continuing or allowing to continue the still older +faiths, the faiths of savagery as we have accustomed ourselves to +term them, they brought these faiths also into contact with +Christianity, and Christianity dealt with the problem thus presented +exactly as it dealt with the Celtic and Teutonic faiths, namely, by +treating all alike as pagan, all equally to be set aside or used in +any fashion that circumstances might demand. Let it be particularly +noted that Christianity did not distinguish between the various shades +of paganism. All that was not Christian was pagan. + +Christianity was both antagonistic to and tolerant of pagan custom and +belief. In principle and purpose it was antagonistic. In practice it +was tolerant where it could tolerate safely. At the centre it aimed at +purity of Christian doctrine, locally it permitted pagan practices to +be continued under Christian auspices. In the earliest days it set +itself against all forms of idolatry and non-Christian practices; in +later days, after the fifth century, says Gibbon,[444] it accepted +both pagan practice and pagan ritual. + +The relationship of Christianity to paganism is, therefore, a very +complex subject, and it would not be possible in this place to work +out one tithe of it. Nor is it needed. The two cardinal facts with +which we are now concerned are the principle of antagonism and the +practice of toleration. As to the former there need not be any +discussion on the fact. Everywhere throughout Europe its effect is to +be seen. It formed the most solid and systematic arresting force +against the natural development of pagan belief and practice, and it +is this fact of arrested development in pagan belief and practice +which is of great importance. We can ascertain the point of stoppage, +note the stage of arrested development, and trace out the subsequent +history of a custom, belief, or rite so arrested. As a survival in a +state of arrested development, a custom or belief is observable +throughout its later history. All it does is to decay, and decay +slowly, and each stage of decay may oftentimes be discovered. On the +other hand, if no arrest of development had taken place there would +have been no survival and no decay. The custom or belief which is not +arrested by an opposing culture becomes a part of the religion or of +the institutions of the nation, and the history of its development +becomes, as a rule, lost in the general advance of religion and +politics--custom develops into law, belief develops into religion, +rite develops into ceremonial, and tradition ceases to be the force +which keeps them alive. The two classes of custom and belief thus +contrasted are of different value to the student. The one is important +because it contains the germs and goes back to the origin of existing +institutions. The other is important because, having been arrested by +a strong opposing force, unable to destroy it altogether, it remains +as evidence of custom and belief at the time of its arrestment. It +will be seen at once how far this evidence may take us. It stretches +back into the remotest past. It survives in the stage at which it was +arrested, not of course in the form in which it then appeared, but in +the decayed form which years of existence beneath the ever-opposing +forces of the established civilisation must have brought about. + +These opposing forces can be detected in working order. What can be +more indicative of a dual system of belief than the cry of an old +Scottish peasant when he came to worship at the sacred well?--"O Lord, +Thou knowest that well would it be for me this day an I had stoopit my +knees and my heart before Thee in spirit and in truth as often as I +have stoopit them afore this well. But we maun keep the customs of our +fathers." It appears over and over again in the lives of early +Christian saints who were only just parting from a living pagan faith. +Thus St. Bega was the patroness of St. Bees in Cumberland, where she +left a holy bracelet which was long an object of profound veneration; +and in a prefatory statement by the compiler of a small collection of +her miracles, written in the twelfth century, we learn among other +things that whosoever forswore himself upon her bracelet swiftly +incurred the heaviest punishment of perjury or a speedy death. It is +to be observed that Beagas, the French Bague, is the Anglo-Saxon +denomination for rings, and Dr. William Bell suggests that holy St. +Bega was but a personification of one of the holy rings which, having +gained great hold upon the minds of the heathen Cumbrians, it was not +politic in their first Christian missionaries wholly to subvert.[445] +These rings are, of course, the doom rings of the Scandinavian temples +which are so often referred to in the Sagas.[446] + +Baptism, an essentially Christian ceremony, might off-hand be supposed +to contain nothing but evidence for Christianity. It might at most be +expected that the details of the ceremony would contain relics of +adapted pagan rites, and this we know is the case. But we can go +beyond even this, and discover in the popular conception of the rite +very clear indications of the early antagonism between Christianity +and paganism--an antagonism which is certainly some eighteen hundred +years old in this country, and though so old is still contained in the +evidence of folklore. + +An analysis of baptismal folklore shows us that its most important +section is contained under the group which deals with the effect of +non-baptism. In England we have it prevailing in the border counties, +in Cornwall, Devonshire, Durham, Lancashire, Middlesex, +Northumberland, and Yorkshire, and in North-East Scotland, that +children joined the ranks of the fairies if they died unchristened, or +that their souls wandered about in the air, restless and unhappy, +until Judgment Day. Various penalties attended the condition of +non-baptism, but perhaps the most significant is the Northumberland +custom of burying an unbaptised babe at the feet of an adult Christian +corpse--surely a relic of the old sacrifice at a burial which is +indicated so frequently in the graves of prehistoric times, +particularly of the long-barrow period. In Ireland we have the effect +of non-baptism in a still more grim form. In the sixteenth century the +rude Irish used to leave the right arms of their male children +unchristened, to the intent that they might give a more ungracious and +deadly blow.[447] + +[Illustration: RITE OF BAPTISM, ON FONT AT DARENTH, KENT] + +These, and their allied and variant customs, are relics, not so much +of the absorption by Christian baptism of rites belonging to early +paganism as of the struggle between Christianity and paganism for the +mastery, of the anathemas of Christians against pagans, and of the +terrible answer of the pagan. And what are we to say to it? Is it that +the struggle itself has lasted all these centuries, or only its +memory? My belief is that the struggle itself has lasted in reality +though not in name. + +But if we have been able to look through the very portals of +Christianity to the regions of paganism behind, can we not boldly pass +through altogether and recover from folklore much of the lost evidence +of our prehistoric ancestors? I put the question in this way +purposely, because it is the way which is indicated by the methods and +data of folklore, and it is a question which has much to do with the +different views held of the province of folklore. + +I will answer by referring to the pre-baptismal rites of washing. In +Northumberland we meet with the analogue of the sixteenth-century +Irish practice, for there the child's right hand is left unwashed that +it may gather riches better[448]--the golden coin taking the place of +the ancient weapon in this as in other phases of civilisation. Not +only is the water used for this purpose heated in the old-fashioned +way by placing red-hot irons in it (_i.e._ the modern equivalent for +stone-boiling), but in Yorkshire we have the custom that the newborn +infant must be placed in the arms of a maiden before any one else +touches it, two practices represented exactly in the customs of the +Canary Islanders, who were in the stone age of culture and are +considered to be the last remnants of a race which once included +Britain among its lands of occupation.[449] + +The Rev. C. O'Connor, in his third letter of Columbanus, gives a very +interesting statement of Irish well-worship in a letter addressed to +his brother, the late Owen O'Connor Don, and which shows the living +antagonism between Christian and pagan belief. He says:-- + + "I have often enquired of your tenants what they + themselves thought of their pilgrimage to their wells + of Kill Orcht, Tobbar-Brighde, Tobbar-Muire, near + Elphin, and Moore, near Castlereagh, where multitudes + assemble annually to celebrate what they, in broken + English, termed Patterns; and when I pressed a very + old man--Owen Hester--to state what possible advantage + he expected to derive from the singular custom of + frequenting in particular such wells as were + contiguous to an old blasted oak, or an upright unhewn + stone, and what the meaning was of the yet more + singular custom of sticking rags in the branches of + such trees and spitting on them, his answer, and the + answer of the oldest men, was that their ancestors + always did it; that it was a preservative against + Geasa-Dravideacht, _i.e._ the sorceries of Druids; + that their cattle was preserved by it from infectious + disorders; that the davini maithe, _i.e._ the fairies, + were kept in good humour by it; and so thoroughly + persuaded were they of the sanctity of these pagan + practices that they would travel bareheaded and + barefooted from ten to twenty miles for the purpose of + crawling on their knees round these wells and upright + stones and oak trees westward as the sun travels, some + three times, some six, some nine, and so on, in uneven + numbers until their voluntary penances were completely + fulfilled. The waters of Logh-Con were deemed so + sacred from ancient usage that they would throw into + the lake whole rolls of butter as a preservation for + the milk of their cows against + Geasa-Dravideacht."[450] + +Scarcely less important than the effect of the antagonism of the +Church in the production of arrested development is the effect of the +toleration of the Church for pagan custom and belief. This toleration +took the shape either of allowing the continuation of pagan custom and +belief as a matter not affecting Christian doctrine or of actual +absorption into Church practice and ritual. The story told to the full +is a long and interesting one. And it still awaits the telling. +Gibbon, in a few sentences, has told us the outline.[451] Other +authorities have told us small episodes. I am, of course, not +concerned here with anything more than to adduce sufficient evidence +to establish the fact that Christian tolerance of paganism has been +one of the assistant causes for the long continuance of pagan +survivals. + +I shall not hesitate to begin by quoting at length a luminous passage +from Grimm's great work. In the preface to his second edition he +writes as follows:-- + + "Oftentimes the Church prudently permitted, or could + not prevent, that heathen and Christian things should + here and there run into one another; the clergy + themselves would not always succeed in marking off the + bounds of the two religions: their private leanings + might let some things pass which they found firmly + rooted in the multitude. In the language, together + with a stock of newly-imported Greek and Latin terms, + there still remained, even for ecclesiastical use, a + number of Teutonic words previously employed in + heathen services, just as the names of gods stood + ineradicable in the days of the week; to such words + old customs would still cling silent and unnoticed + and take a new lease of life. The festivals of the + people present a tough material: they are so closely + bound up with its habits of life that they will put up + with foreign additions if only to save a fragment of + festivities long loved and tried. In this way + Scandinavia, probably the Goths also for a time, and + the Anglo-Saxons down to a late period, retained the + heathenish Yule as all Teutonic Christians did the + sanctity of Easter-tide; and from these two the + Yule-boar and Yule-bread, the Easter pancake, + Easter-sword, Easter-fire, and Easter-dance could not + be separated. As faithfully were perpetuated the name + and in many cases the observances of Midsummer. New + Christian feasts, especially of saints, seem + purposely, as well as accidentally, to have been made + to fall on heathen holidays. Churches often rose + precisely where a heathen god or his sacred tree had + been pulled down, and the people trod their old paths + to the accustomed site; sometimes the very walls of + the heathen temple became those of the church, and + cases occur in which idol images still found a place + in a wall of the porch, or were set up outside the + door, as at Bamberg Cathedral there lie Slavic heathen + figures of animals inscribed with runes. Sacred hills + and fountains were rechristened after saints, to whom + their sanctity was transferred; sacred woods were + handed over to the newly-founded convent or the king, + and even under private ownership did not lose their + long-accustomed homage. Law usages, particularly the + ordeals and oath-takings, but also the beating of + bounds, consecrations, image processions, spells and + formulas, while retaining their heathen character, + were simply clothed in Christian forms. In some + customs there was little to change: the heathen + practice of sprinkling a newborn babe with water + closely resembled Christian baptism; the sign of the + hammer, that of the cross; and the erection of tree + crosses the irmensûls and world trees of + paganism."[452] + +This passage, written in 1844, has been abundantly illustrated by the +research of specialists since that date, and, of course, Mr. Frazer's +monumental work will occur to every reader. But, after all, the chief +authority for the action of the Church towards paganism in this +country is the famous letter of Pope Gregory to the Abbot Mellitus in +A.D. 601, as preserved by the historian Beda. It is worth while +quoting this once again, for it is an English historical document of +priceless value. "We have been much concerned," writes the good St. +Gregory, + + "since the departure of our congregation that is with + you, because we have received no account of the + success of your journey. When, therefore, Almighty God + shall bring you to the most reverend Bishop Augustine + our brother, tell him what I have, upon mature + deliberation on the affair of the English, determined + upon, namely, that the temples of the idols [fana + idolorum] in that nation [gente] ought not to be + destroyed; but let the idols that are in them be + destroyed; let holy water be made and sprinkled upon + the said temples, let altars be erected and relics + placed. For if these temples be well built, it is + requisite that they be converted from the worship of + devils [dæmonum] to the worship of the true God; that + the nation seeing that their temples are not destroyed + may remove error from their hearts, and knowing and + adoring the true God may the more familiarly resort to + the places to which they have been accustomed. And + because they have been used to slaughter many oxen in + the sacrifices to devils some solemnity must be + exchanged for them on this account, so that on the day + of the dedication, or the nativities of the holy + martyrs whose relics are there deposited, they may + build themselves huts of the boughs of trees, about + those churches which have been turned to that use from + temples and celebrate the solemnity with religious + feasting and no more offer beasts to the devil + [diabolo], but kill cattle to the praise of God in + their eating, and return thanks to the giver of all + things for their sustenance."[453] + +The church of St. Pancras at Canterbury is claimed to be one of the +temples so preserved,[454] and there have survived down to our own +times examples of the animal sacrifice which in early Christian days +may well have been preserved by this famous edict.[455] But beyond +these illustrations of the two stated objects of Pope Gregory's letter +there are innumerable additional results from such a policy,[456] +results which prove that British pagandom was not stamped out by edict +or by sword, but was rather gradually borne down before the strength +of the new religion--borne down and pushed into the background out of +sight of the Church and the State, relegated to the cottage homes, the +cattle-sheds and the cornfields, the countryside and the denizens +thereof.[457] + +This is where we must search for it, and I think this important +element in our studies will be better understood if we turn for one +moment to the results of Christian contact with earlier belief in the +one country where Christianity has set up its strongest political +force, namely, Italy. Dr. Middleton wrote a series of remarkable +letters which tell us much on this point, but before referring to +this, I wish first to quote a hitherto buried record by an impartial +observer[458] in the year 1704. It is a letter written from Venice to +Sir Thomas Frankland, describing the travels and observations of a +journey into Italy. The traveller writes:-- + + "I cannot leave Itally without making some general + observations upon the country in general, and first as + to their religion; it differs in name only now from + what it was in the time of the ancient heathen Romans. + I know this will sound very oddly with some sort of + people, but compare them together and then let any + reasonable man judge of the difference. The heathen + Itallians had their gods for peace and for war, for + plenty and poverty, for health and sickness, riches + and poverty, to whom they addressed themselves and + their wants; and the Christian Itallians have their + patron saints for each of these things, to whom they + also address according to their wants. The heathen + sacrificed bulls and other beasts, and the Christian + ones after the same manner a piece of bread, which a + picture in the garden of Aldobrandina at Rome, painted + in the time of Titus Vespasian, shews by the altar and + the priests' vestments to have been the same as used + now. The Pantheon at Rome was dedicated by the + ancients to all the gods, and by the moderns to all + the saints; the temple of Castor and Pollux at Rome is + now dedicated to Cosmo and Damian, also twin brothers. + The respect they pay to the Virgin Mary is far greater + than what they pay to the Son, and whatever English + Roman Catholics may be made to believe by their + priests or impose upon us, it is certain that the + devotion to the Madonnas in Itally is something more + than a bare representation of the Virgin Mary when + they desire her intercession. Miracles they pretend + not only to be wrought by the Madonnas themselves, but + there is far greater respect paid to a Madonna in one + place than another, whereas if this statue were only a + bare representation of the Virgin to keep them in mind + of her, the respect would be equal. I visited all the + famous ones, and it would fill a volume to tell you + the fopperies that's said of them. That of Loretto, + being what they say is the very house where the Virgin + lived, is not to be described, the riches are so + great, nor the devotion that's paid to the statue.... + The Lady of Saronna is another famous one and very + rich; she is much handsomer than she of Loretto and a + whole church-full of the legend of the miracles she + hath wrought. She is in great reputation, and it's + thought will at last outtop the Lady of Loretto; there + is another near Leghorne that I also visited called + _La Madonna della Silva Nera_, to whom all Itallian + ships that enter that port make a present of thanks + for their happy voyage, and salute her with their + cannon, and most ships going out give her something + for her protection during their voyage. I could tire + you with she at the Annunciata at Florence, she within + a mile of Bollognia, for whom the magistracy have + piazza'd the road all the way from her station to the + city, that she may not be encumbered with sun or rain + when she makes them a visit, and hundreds more that + would fill a volume of fopperies that I had the + curiosity to see, but it would be imposing too much + upon your patience."[459] + +This only confirms Dr. Middleton's conclusions, which received the +approval of Gibbon, and those of later writers. "As I descended from +the Alps," writes the Rev. W. H. Blunt in 1823, + + "I was admonished of my entrance into Italy by a + little chapel to the Madonna, built upon a rock by the + roadside, and from that time till I repassed this + chain of mountains I received almost hourly proof that + I was wandering amongst the descendants of that people + which is described by Cicero to have been the most + religious of mankind. Though the mixture of religion + with all the common events of life is anything but an + error, yet I could not avoid regretting that, like + their heathen ancestors, the modern Italians had + supplied the place of our great master mover by a + countless host of inferior agents."[460] + +Mr. Blunt goes on to give interesting details of the close connection +between the modern religious festival, ceremony, or service, and those +of classical times, and the conclusion is obvious. In modern days Dr. +Mommsen has lent the sanction of his great authority to the +identification of the birthday of Christ with that of Mithra,[461] +and Mr. Leland has given such numerous identifications not only of the +cults of pagan and Christian Italy, but of the god-names of ancient +Rome with the saint-names or witch-names of modern times,[462] that it +seems impossible to deny a place for this evidence. "It was," says +Gibbon, + + "the universal sentiment both of the Church and of + heretics that the dæmons were the authors, the + patrons, and the objects of idolatry; those rebellious + spirits who had been degraded from the rank of angels + were still permitted to roam upon earth, to torment + the bodies and to seduce the minds of sinful men. It + was confessed, or at least it was imagined, that they + had distributed among themselves the most important + characters of Polytheism, one dæmon assuming the name + of Jupiter, another of Æsculapius, a third of Venus, + and a fourth perhaps of Apollo."[463] + +This, then, is recognition and adoption of pagan beliefs, not the +uprooting of them. If the Roman Jupiter was a Christian dæmon, his +existence at all events was recognised. But even this negative way of +adopting the old beliefs gave way as the Church spread further. The +tribe of dæmons soon included the popular fairy, elf, and goblin. And +then came the positive adoption of pagan customs. Gibbon describes how +the early Christians refused to decorate their doors with garlands and +lamps, and to take part in the ceremonial of lifting the bride over +the threshold of the house.[464] Both these customs have survived in +popular folklore, in spite of the recorded action of the early +Church, and it would be curious to ascertain whether they have +survived by the help of the Church. We cannot answer that question of +historical evidence just now, but it is a question which, in its wider +aspect, as including many other items of folklore, ought to be +examined into. There is no doubt, however, that by analogy it can be +answered, because we have ample evidence, if the writings of reformers +may be taken as historical facts and not polemical imaginations, that +many very important customs, among the richest as well as the poorest +treasures of folklore, have been, so to speak, Christianised by the +Church, and that the Church has taken part in and adopted +non-Christian customs, the survivors of olden-time life in +Europe.[465] + +Now it is clear from these considerations, and from the vast mass of +information which is gradually being accumulated on the subject, that +not only the arresting force of Christianity but also its toleration +has assisted in the preservation of pre-Christian belief and custom. +But the preservation has been in fragments only. The system which +supported the older faith and might, if it had been allowed a natural +growth, have produced a newer religion of its own, was completely +shattered. It left no preservative force except that of tradition, +the traditional instinct to do what has always been done, to believe +what has always been believed. Pre-Christian belief and custom has +thus become isolated beliefs and customs in survival. It has been +broken up into innumerable fragments of unequal character, and +containing unequal elements. It has been forced back into secret +action wherever Christianity was wholly antagonistic, and hence +primitive public worship has tended to become local worship, or +household worship, or even personal worship, while all such worship +which is not the authorised Church worship has tended to become +superstition. Where Christianity was not wholly antagonistic, it +absorbed rites, customs, and even beliefs, and these primitive +survivals have taken their place in the evolution of Christian +doctrine, and thus become lost to the students of Celtic and Teutonic +antiquities. But even so, there are discoverable points where the +dividing line between non-Christian and Christian belief has not been +obliterated by the process of absorption. In all cases it is the duty +of the student to note the stage of arrested development in the +primitive rite, custom, or belief, whether it be caused by antagonism +or by absorption. It is at this point, indeed, that the history of the +survival begins. It is here that we have to turn from the polity, the +religion, or cultus of a people to the belief, practices, or +superstition of that portion of our nation which has not shared its +progress from tribesmen to citizens, from paganism to Christianity, +from vain imaginings to science and philosophy. It is from this point +we have to turn from the dignity of courts, the doings of armies, and +the results of commerce, to the doings, sayings, and ideas of the +peasantry who cannot read, and who have depended upon tradition for +all, or almost all, they know outside the formalities of law and +Church. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[444] _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_ (Bury), iii. 214-15. + +[445] _Royal Irish Academy_, viii. 258; _Brit. Arch. Assoc._ +(Gloucester volume), 62. + +[446] "The Story of the Ere Dwellers," Morris, _Saga Library_, ii. 8. + +[447] Camden, _Britannia_, s.v. "Ireland." + +[448] Henderson, _Folklore of Northern Counties_, 16. + +[449] Glas, _Canary Islands_, 148. + +[450] Betham, _Gael and Cymbri_, pp. 236-8. + +[451] _Decline and Fall_, iii. p. 214 (edit. Bury). + +[452] Grimm, _Teutonic Mythology_, by Stallybrass, iii. pp. 35, 36. A +passage from Hakon's Saga, quoted by Du Chaillu in his _Viking Age_, i. +p. 464, shows that the northern peoples adopted the same measures. + +[453] Beda, lib. i. cap. 30; and consult Mr. Plummer's learned notes on +this (vol. ii. 57-61). + +[454] Stanley, _Memorials of Canterbury_, 37-38. + +[455] _Cf._ my _Ethnology in Folklore_, 30-36, 136-140. Compare St. +Patrick's dedication of pagan sacred stones to Christian +purposes.--_Tripartite Life of St. Patrick_, i. 107. + +[456] Thus Henry of Huntingdon records that Redwald, King of the East +Angles, after his conversion to Christianity, "set up altars to Christ +and the devil in the same chapel" (lib. iii.). + +[457] _Cf._ Kemble, _Saxons in England_, i. 330-335. Dr. Hearn writes: +"Even as the good Pope Gregory the Great permitted the newly converted +English to retain their old temples and accustomed rites, attaching, +however, to them another purpose and a new meaning, so his successors +found means to utilize the simple beliefs of early animism. Long and +vainly the Church struggled against this irresistible sentiment. +Fifteen centuries ago it was charged against the Christians of that day +that they appeased the shades of the dead with feasts like the +Gentiles. In the Penitentials we find the prohibition of burning grains +where a man had died. In the _Indiculus superstitionum et Paganiarum_ +among the Saxons complaint is made of the too ready canonisation of the +dead; and the Church seems to have been much troubled to keep within +reasonable bounds this tendency to indiscriminate apotheosis. At length +a compromise was effected, and the Feast of All Souls converted to +pious uses that wealth of sentiment which previously was lavished on +the dead" (_The Aryan Household_, p. 60). And, to close this short note +upon an important subject, Mr. Metcalfe, speaking of the old poetic +literature of the pagan English, says: "It was kidnapped, and its +features so altered and disguised as not to be recognisable. It was +supplanted by Christian poetical legends and Bible lays produced in +rivalry of the popular lays of their heathen predecessors. Finding that +the people would listen to nothing but these old lays, the missionaries +affected their spirit and language, and borrowed the words and phrases +of heathenism" (Metcalfe's _Englishman and Scandinavian_, p. 155). + +[458] For some reason not apparent in the document itself, Mrs. S. C. +Lomas, the editor of this report, says this interesting letter gives "a +curious and evidently prejudiced description of the religious houses +and observances." See preface to _Hist. MSS. Com. Report on the MSS. of +Chequers Court, Bucks_, p. x. + +[459] _Hist. MSS. Com., Chequers Court Papers_, pp. 171-2. + +[460] _Vestiges of Ancient Manners and Customs in Italy_, p. 1. + +[461] _Corpus insc. Lat._, i. 409; and _cf._ Cumont's _Mysteries of +Mithra_ (1903). + +[462] Leland, _Etruscan Roman Remains_ (1892). + +[463] _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_ (Bury), ii. 15. + +[464] _Decline and Fall_, ii. 17. + +[465] Evidence is scattered far and wide in most of the reliable +studies in folklore. Two special books may be mentioned. A great +storehouse of examples is to be found in _The Popish Kingdoms_, by +Thomas Naogeorgus, Englyshed by Barnabe Googe, 1570, a new edition of +which was published by Mr. R. C. Hope in 1880; and Mr. H. M. Bower has +exhaustively examined one important Italian ceremony in his _The +Elevation and Procession of the Ceri at Gubbio_, published by the +Folklore Society in 1897. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +ETHNOLOGICAL CONDITIONS + + +Already I have had to point out that an appeal to ethnological +evidence is the means of avoiding the wholesale rejection of custom +and belief recorded of early Britain, because it has been rejected as +appertaining to the historic Celt. I will now proceed with the +definite proposition that the survivals in folklore may be allocated +and explained by their ethnological bearing. + +Some years ago I advanced this proposition in my little book entitled +_Ethnology in Folklore_. Only haltingly have my conclusions been +accepted, but I nowhere find them disproved,[466] while here and there +I find good authorities appealing to the ethnological element in +folklore to help them in their views. Mr. MacCulloch, for instance, +prefers to go for the basis of the Osiris and Dionysius myths to an +earlier custom than that favoured by Mr. Frazer and Mr. Grant Allen, +namely, to the practices of the neolithic folk, in Egypt and over a +wide tract of country which includes Britain, of dismembering the +dead body previous to its burial.[467] Mr. Lang, Mr. Frazer, Mr. +Hartland, and others are strangely reticent on this subject. That Mr. +Lang should be content to trace a story from the Vedas, in which +Urvasi tells Pururavas that he must never let her see him naked, to "a +traditional Aryan law of nuptial etiquette,"[468] seems to be using +the heaviest machinery for the smallest purposes, while for other and +greater purposes he fails to find in ethnological distinctions, +explanations which escape his research.[469] That Mr. Frazer should +have been able to examine in so remarkable a manner the agricultural +rites of European peoples, and only to have touched upon their +ethnological bearings in one or two isolated cases, seems to me to be +neglecting one of the obvious means of arriving at the solution of the +problem he starts out to solve.[470] + +I do not want to discount these fragmentary appeals to the +ethnological element in folklore. I accept them as evidence that the +appeal has to be made. I would only urge that it may be done on more +thorough lines, after due consideration of all the elements of the +proposition and of all that it means to the study of folklore. We +cannot surrender to the palæontologist all that folklore contains in +tradition and in custom as to pygmy peoples, or to the Egyptologist +all that it contains as to dismemberment burial rites, without at the +same time realising that if it is correct to refer these two groups of +folklore respectively to the earliest ages of man's existence as man +and to the neolithic stage of culture, they must be withdrawn from all +other classification. We cannot use the same items of folklore in two +totally different ways. The results of withdrawal are as important as +the results of allocation, and the necessity for the correct docketing +of all groups of folklore is thus at once illustrated. + +The first point in the argument for ethnological data being +discoverable in folklore is that a survey of the survivals of custom, +belief, and rites in any given country shows one marked feature, which +results in a dividing line being drawn as between two distinct +classes. This feature is the antagonism which is discoverable in these +classes. On one side of the dividing line is a set of customs, +beliefs, and rites which may be grouped together because they are +consistent with each other, and on the other side is another set of +customs, beliefs, and rites which may be grouped together on the same +ground. But between these two sets of survivals there is no agreement. +They are the negations of each other. They show absolutely different +conceptions of all the phases of life and thought which they +represent, and it is impossible to consider that they have both come +from the same culture source. I have applied the test of ethnology to +such cases in Britain, and this appears to answer the difficulty which +their antagonism presents. It appears too to be the only answer. + +The subjects which show this antagonism are all of vital importance. +They include friendly and inimical relations with the dead; marriage +as a sacred tribal rite and marriage as a rule of polyandrous society; +birth ceremonies which tell of admittance into a sacred circle of +kinsmen, and birth ceremonies which breathe of revenge and hostility; +the reverential treatment of the aged folk and the killing of them +off; the preservation of human life as part of the tribal blood, and +human sacrifice as a certain cure for all personal evils; the worship +of waters as a strongly localised cult, preserved because it is local +by whatsoever race or people are in occupation and in successive +occupation of the locality; totemic beliefs connected with animals and +plants contrasted with ideas entirely unconnected with totemism--all +this, and much more which has yet to be collected and classified, +reveals two distinct streams of thought which cannot by any process be +taken back to one original source. + +This fact of definite antagonism between different sets of surviving +beliefs existing together in one country leads to several very +important conclusions. This is the case with the Irish Sids. These +beings are said to be scattered over Ireland, and around them +assembled for worship the family or clan of the deified patron. While +there were thus a number of topical deities, each in a particular spot +where he was to be invoked, the deities themselves with the rest of +their non-deified but blessed brother spirits had as their special +abode "Lands of the Living," the happy island or islands somewhere far +away in the ocean. Now this Sid worship, we are told by Irish +scholars, "had nothing to do with Druidism--in fact, was quite opposed +to it," the Sids and the Druids being "frequently found at variance +with each other in respect to mortals."[471] + +This is the commencing point of the evidence which proves Druidism to +have belonged to the pre-Celtic people, though finding an adopted home +among them. This is so important a subject and has been so strangely +and inconsistently dealt with by most authorities that it will be well +to indicate where we have to search for the non-Celtic, and therefore +pre-Celtic, origin of Druidism. The Druidism revealed by classical +authorities is, for the most part, the Druidism of continental peoples +and not of Britain, and I hesitate to accept off-hand that it is +proper to transfer the continental system to Britain and say that the +two systems were one and the same. There is certainly no evidence from +the British side which would justify such a course, and I think there +is sufficient argument against it to suspend judgment until the whole +subject is before us. If Professor Rhys is right in concluding that +Druidism is at its roots a non-Celtic religion,[472] we must add to +this that it was undoubtedly a non-Teutonic religion. Celts and +Teutons were sufficiently near in all the elements of their +civilisation for this want of parallel in their relationship to +Druidism to be an additional argument against the Celts having +originated this cult. And then the explanation of the differences +between continental and British Druidism becomes comparatively easy to +understand. The continental Celts, mixing more thoroughly with the +pre-Celtic aborigines than did the British Celts, would have absorbed +more of the pre-Celtic religion than the British Celts, and hence all +the details which classical authorities have left us of continental +Druidism appear as part of the Celtic religion, while in Britain these +details are for the most part absent. But this is not all. There are +certain rites in Britain noted by the early authorities which are not +attached to any particular cult. They are not Druidic; they are not +Celtic. They are, as a matter of fact, special examples of rites +practised in only one locality, and accordingly referred to as +something extraordinary and not general. From this it is clearly +correct to argue that the British Celts had in their midst a cult +which, if they did not destroy, they certainly did not absorb, and +that therefore this cult being non-Celtic must have been pre-Celtic. + +I do not wish to argue this point out further than is necessary to +explain the position which, it appears to me, Druidism occupies, and I +will therefore only add a note as to the authorities for the +statements I have advanced. The differences between continental and +British Druidism are definite and pronounced,[473] the mixture of the +continental Celts with the Iberic people, which they displaced, is +attested, by ancient authority and modern anthropology,[474] while the +only evidence of such a mixture in Britain is the prominently recorded +instance of the Picts intermarrying with the Gael,[475] and this has +to be set against the close distinction between tribesmen and +non-tribesmen, which is such a remarkable feature of Celtic law;[476] +the existence of local cults in early Britain having all the +characteristics of a ruder and more savage origin, and not identified +with Celticism, is a point derived from our early authorities.[477] +These are the main facts of the case, and the subject has to be +worked out in considerable detail before it can be settled. + +There is one other primary subject which bears upon the question of +race distinctions in folklore. With the fact of conquest to reckon +with, the relationship of the conqueror to the conquered is a matter +to consider. In the European tribal system it was a definite +relationship, so definite that the conquered, as we have seen, formed +an essential part of the tribal organisation--the kinless slaves +beneath the tribal kindred. There was a place for the kinless in the +tribal economy and in the tribal laws. There was also a place for them +in the tribal system of belief, and the mythic influence of the +conquered is a subject that needs very careful consideration. + +It is an influence which appears in all parts of the world. Thus, to +give a few instances, in New Guinea they have no idols, and apparently +no idea of a supreme being or a good spirit. Their only religious +ideas consist in a belief in evil spirits. They live a life of slavish +fear to these, but seem to have no idea of propitiating them by +sacrifice or prayer. They believe in the deathlessness of the soul. A +death in the village is the occasion of bringing plenty of ghosts to +escort their new companion, and perhaps fetch some one else. All night +the friends of the deceased sit up and keep the drums going to drive +away the spirits; they strike the fences and posts of houses all +through the village with sticks. This is done to drive back the +spirits to their own quarters on the adjacent mountain tops. But it is +the spirits of the inland tribes, the aborigines of the country, that +the coast tribes most fear. They believe, when the natives are in the +neighbourhood, that the whole plain is full of spirits who come with +them. All calamities are attributed to the power and malice of these +evil spirits. Drought, famine, storm and flood, disease and death are +all supposed to be brought by Vata and his hosts, so that the people +are an easy prey to any designing individuals who claim power over +these. Some disease charmers and rain-makers levy heavy toll on the +people.[478] + +It appears that the native population of New Zealand was originally +composed of two different races, which have retained some of their +characteristic features, although in course of time they have in all +other respects become mixed, and a number of intermediate varieties +have thence resulted. From the existence of two races in New Zealand +the conclusion might be drawn that the darker were the original +proprietors of the soil anterior to the arrival of a stock of true +Polynesian origin, that they were conquered by the latter and nearly +exterminated. There is a district in the northern island, situated +between Taupo and Hawke's Bay, called Urewera, consisting of steep and +barren hills. The scattered inhabitants of this region have the renown +of being the greatest witches in the country. They are very much +feared, and have little connection with the neighbouring tribes, who +avoid them if possible. If they come to the coast the natives there +scarcely venture to refuse them anything for fear of incurring their +displeasure. They are said to use the saliva of the people whom they +intend to bewitch, and visitors carefully conceal their spittle to +give them no opportunity of working their evil. Like our witches and +sorcerers of old, they appear to be a very harmless people, and but +little mixed up with the quarrels of their neighbours.[479] The +Australians, according to Oldfield, ascribe spirit powers to those +residing north of themselves and hold them in great dread.[480] + +In Asia the same idea prevails among the native races. Thus Colquhoun +says, + + "it was amusing to find the dread in which the Lawas + [a hill tribe] are held by both Burmese and Siamese. + This is due to a fear of being bitten by them and + dying of the bite. They are called by their Burmese + neighbours the 'man-bears.' A singular custom obtains + amongst these people which may perhaps partly account + for this superstition. On a certain night in the year + the youths and maidens meet together for the purpose + of pairing. Unacceptable youths are said to be bitten + severely if they make advances to the ladies."[481] + +The Semang pygmy people, afraid to approach the Malays even for +purposes of barter, "learnt to work upon the superstition of the +Malays by presenting them with medicines which they pretended to +derive from particular shrubs and trees in the woods."[482] That this +is a real superstition of the conquerors for the conquered is proved +from other sources to which I have referred elsewhere.[483] + +In Africa it appears as a living force, and we are told that the +stories current in the country of the Ukerewé, "about the witchcraft +practised by the people of Ukara island, prove that those islanders +have been at pains to spread abroad a good repute for themselves; that +they are cunning, and aware that superstition is a weakness of human +nature have sought to thrive upon it."[484] + +It appears in more definite form with the Hindus. The Kathkuri, or +Katodi, have a belief that they are descended from the monkeys and +bears which Adi Narayun in his tenth incarnation of Rama, took with +him for the destruction of Rawun, King of Lanka, and he promised his +allies that in the fourth age they should become human beings. They +practise incantation, and encourage the awe with which the Hindu +regards their imprecations, for a Hindu believes that a Katodi can +transform himself into a tiger.[485] + +To this day the Aryans settled in Chota-Nagpore and Singbhoom firmly +believe that the Moondahs have powers as wizards and witches, and can +transform themselves into tigers and other beasts of prey with the +view of devouring their enemies, and that they can witch away the +lives of man and beast. They were in all probability one of the tribes +that were most persistent in their hostility to the Aryan +invaders.[486] In Ceylon the remnants of the aborigines are found in +the forests and on the mountains, and are universally looked upon and +feared as demons, the beliefs engendered therefrom being exactly +parallel to the witch beliefs of our own country.[487] + +There is similar evidence among European peoples. Formerly in Sweden +the name of Lapp seems to have been almost synonymous with that of +sorcerer, and the same was the case with Finn. The inhabitants of the +southern provinces of Sweden believed their countrymen in the north to +have great experience in magic.[488] The famous Gundhild, of Saga +renown, was believed to be a sorceress brought up among the +Finns,[489] and even in respect of classical remains Mr. Warde Fowler +"prefers to think of the Fauni as arising from the contact of the +first clearers and cultivators of Italian soil with a wild aboriginal +race of the hills and woods."[490] + +These facts are sufficient to show that the mythic influence of a +conquered race is a factor which may assist in the discussion of the +ethnological conditions of folklore, and it is obvious that they +reveal a very powerful influence for the continuance of ancient ideas +as well as for the creation of fresh examples of ancient ideas applied +to new experiences. It is well in this connection to remember certain +historical facts connected with the settlement of the English in +Britain. + +From Freeman's _Old English History_ it appears that at the beginning +of the seventh century "the tract of country which the English then +ruled over south of the Humber, coincided almost exactly with the +boundary of the Gaulish portion of Britain," as distinct from +non-Aryan Britain. This apparent recognition of Celtic landmarks, says +Professor Rhys, by the later invaders, "is a fact, the historical and +political significance of which I leave to be weighed by others,"[491] +and I venture to suggest that one important result is to show Britain +to have contained an Aryan culture-ground and a non-Aryan +culture-ground. If we try to step from one to the other we quickly +discover the mythic relationship of conqueror to the conquered. + +[Illustration: SCENE FROM THE LIFE OF ST. GUTHLAC SHOWING THE ATTACKS +OF THE DÆMONES] + +Thus in the Anglo-Saxon life of St. Guthlac we have an interesting +glimpse into the conditions of the country and the attitude of the two +hostile races, Celts and Teutons, to each other. + + "There is in Britain a fen of immense size which + begins from the river Granta, not far from the city, + which is named Grantchester ... a man named Tatwine + said that he knew an island especially obscure, which + ofttimes many men had attempted to inhabit, but no + man could do it on account of manifold horrors and + fears, and the loneliness of the wild wilderness.... + No man ever could inhabit it before the holy man + Guthlac came thither on account of the dwelling of the + accursed spirits there.... There was on the island a + great mound raised upon the earth, which same of yore + men had dug and broken up in hopes of treasure.... + Then in the stillness of the night it happened + suddenly that there came great hosts of the accursed + spirits, and they filled the house with their coming, + and they poured in on every side from above and + beneath and everywhere. They were in countenance + horrible, and they had great heads and a long neck and + lean visage; they were filthy and squalid in their + beards, and they had rough ears and distorted face, + and fierce eyes and foul mouths: and their teeth were + like horses' tusks, and their throats were filled with + flame, and they were grating in their voice: they had + crooked shanks and knees, big and great behind, and + distorted toes, and shrieked hoarsely with their + voices, and they came with such immoderate noises and + immense horror that it seemed to him that all between + heaven and earth resounded with their dreadful cries. + Without delay, when they were come into the house, + they soon bound the holy man in all his limbs, and + they pulled and led him out of the cottage and brought + him to the black fen and threw and sunk him in the + muddy waters. After that they brought him to the wild + places of the wilderness, among the dense thickets of + brambles that all his body was torn. After they had a + long time thus tormented him in darkness they let him + abide and stand awhile, then commanded him to depart + from the wilderness, or if he would not do so they + would torment and try him with greater plagues."[492] + +These doings are not sufficiently remote from sober fact for us to be +unable to detect human enemies in the supposed beings of the spirit +world, and this conclusion is confirmed by a later passage in the same +narrative describing Guthlac awakened from his sleep and hearing "a +great host of the accursed spirits speaking in British [bryttisc] and +he knew and understood their words because he had been erewhile in +exile among them."[493] Guthlac in England is only experiencing what +other saints experienced elsewhere,[494] and we cannot doubt we have +in these reminiscences of saintly experience that mixture of fact with +traditional belief which would follow the priests of the new religions +from their native homes to the cell. + +It is necessary to consider another great element in human life with +reference to its ethnological value, for folklore has always been +intimately associated with it, and recently, owing to Mr. Frazer's +brilliant researches, this branch of folklore has been almost unduly +accentuated. I mean, of course, agriculture. Mr. Frazer has ignored +the ethnological side of agriculture, and it has been appropriated by +the student of economics as a purely historical institution. This has +caused a special position to be given to agricultural rites and +customs almost without question and certainly without examination, and +it will be necessary to go rather closely into the subject in order to +clear up the difficulties which present neglect has produced. I shall +once again draw my illustrations from the British Isles. + +[Illustration: SCENE FROM THE LIFE OF ST. GUTHLAC SHOWING THE ATTACKS +OF THE DÆMONES] + +I put my facts in this way: (1) In all parts of Great Britain there +exist rites, customs, and usages connected with agriculture which are +obviously and admittedly not of legislative or political origin, +and which present details exactly similar to each other in +_character_, but differing from each other in _status_; (2) that the +difference in status is to be accounted for by the effects of +successive conquests; (3) that the identity in character is not to be +accounted for by reference to manorial history, because the area of +manorial institutions is not coincident with the area of these rites, +customs, and usages; (4) that exact parallels to them exist in India +as integral portions of village institutions; (5) that the Indian +parallels carry the subject a step further than the European examples +because they are stamped with the mark of difference in race-origin, +one portion belonging to the Aryan people and the other to the +non-Aryan. + +I shall now pick out some examples, and explain from them the evidence +which seems to me to prove that race-distinction is the key for the +origin of these agricultural rites and usages in Europe as in India. I +have dealt with these examples at some length in my book on the +village community, and I shall only use such details as I require for +my immediate purpose. + +My first point is that to get at the survivals of the village +community in Britain it is not necessary to approach it through the +medium of manorial history. Extremely ancient as I am inclined to +think manorial history is, it is unquestionably loaded with an +artificial terminology and with the chains so deftly forged by +lawyers. An analysis of the chief features in the types of the English +village community shows that the manorial element is by no means a +common factor in the series. These types mark the transition from the +tribal form to the village form. In Harris Island we have the chief +with his free tribesmen around him, connected by blood kinship, living +in scattered homesteads, just like the German tribes described by +Tacitus. Under this tribal community is the embryo of the village +community, consisting of smaller tenantry and cottar serfs, who live +together in minute villages, holding their land in common and yearly +distributing the holdings by lot. In this type the tribal constitution +is the real factor, and the village constitution the subordinated +factor as yet wholly undeveloped, scarcely indeed discernible except +by very close scrutiny. + +At Kilmorie the tribal community is represented merely by the +scattered homesteads. These are occupied by a joint farm-tenantry, who +hold their lands upon the system of the village community. Here the +village constitution has gradually entered into, so to speak, the +tribal constitution, and has almost absorbed it. + +At Heisgier and Lauder the tribal community is represented by the last +link under the process of dissolution, namely, the free council of the +community by which the village rights are governed, while the village +community has developed to a considerable extent. + +At Aston and at Malmesbury the old tribal constitution is still kept +alive in a remarkable manner, and I will venture to quote from my book +the account of the evolution at Aston of a tenantry from the older +tribal constitution, because in this case we are actually dealing with +a manor, and the evidence is unique so far as England is concerned. + +The first point is that the village organisation, the rights of +assembly, the free open-air meetings, and the corporate action +incident to the manor of Aston and Cote, attach themselves to the land +divisions of sixteen hides, because although these hides had grown in +1657 into a considerable tenancy, fortunately as a tenancy they kept +their original unity in full force and so obstinately clung to their +old system of government as to keep up by _representation_ the once +undivided holding of the hide. If the organisation of the hide had +itself disappeared, it still formed the basis of the village +government, the sixteen hides sending up their sixteen _elected_ +representatives. How the tenancy grew out of the original sixteen +homesteads may perhaps be conjecturally set forth. In the first place +the owners of the yard-lands succeeded to the place originally +occupied by the owners of the sixteen hides. Instead of the original +sixteen group-owners we have therefore sixty-four individual owners, +each yard-land having remained in possession of an owner. And then at +succeeding stages of this dissolution we find the yard-lands broken up +until, in 1848, "some farmers of Aston have only half or even a +quarter of a yard-land, while some have as many as ten or eleven +yard-lands in their single occupation." Then disintegration proceeded +to the other proprietary rights, which, originally appendant to the +homestead only, became appendant to the person and not to the +residence, and are consequently "bought and sold as separate property, +by which means it results that persons resident at Bampton, or even at +great distance, have rights on Aston and Cote Common." And finally we +lose all trace of the system, as described by Mr. Horde and as +depicted by the representative character of the Sixteens, and in its +place find that "there are some tenants who have rights in the common +field and not in the pasture, and _vice versâ_ several occupiers have +the right of pasture who do not possess any portion of arable land in +the common field," so that both yard-lands and hides have now +disappeared, and absolute ownership of land has taken their place. Mr. +Horde's MS. enables us to proceed back from modern tenancy-holding to +the holding by yard-lands; the rights of election in the yard-lands +enable us to proceed back to the original holding of the sixteen +hides. + +At Hitchin, which is Mr. Seebohm's famous example, we meet with the +manorial type. But its features are in no way peculiar. There is +nothing which has not its counterpart, in more or less well-defined +degree, in the other types which are not manorial. In short, the +manorial framework within which it is enclosed does little more than +fix the details into an immovable setting, accentuating some at the +expense of others, legalising everything so as to bring it all under +the iron sovereignty which was inaugurated by the Angevin kings. + +My suggestion is that these examples are but varying types of one +original. The Teutonic people, and their Celtic predecessors, came to +Britain with a tribal, not an agricultural, constitution. In the +outlying parts of the land this tribal constitution settled down, and +was only slightly affected by the economical conditions of the people +they found there; in the more thickly populated parts this tribal +constitution was superimposed upon an already existing village +constitution in full vigour. We, therefore, find the tribal +constitution everywhere--in almost perfect condition in the north, in +Wales, and in Ireland; in less perfect condition in England. We also +find the village constitution everywhere--in almost embryo form in the +north, Wales, and in Ireland; in full vigour and force in England, +especially in that area which, as already noted, has been identified +as the constant occupation-ground of all the races who have settled in +Britain. + +Now the factor which is most apparent in all these cases is the +singular dual constitution which I have called tribal and village. It +is only when we get to such cases as Rothwell and Hitchin that almost +all traces of the tribal element are lost, the village element only +remaining. But inasmuch as this village element is identical in +_kind_, if not in degree, with the village element in the other types, +and inasmuch as topographically they are closely connected, we are, I +contend, justified in concluding that it is derived from the same +original--an original which was composed of a tribal community with a +village community in serfdom under it. + +This dual element should, I think, be translated into terms of +ethnology by appealing to the parallel evidence of India. There the +types of the village community are not, as was thought by Sir Henry +Maine and others, homogeneous. There the dual element appears, the +tribal community at the top of the system, the village community at +the bottom of the system. But in India a new factor is introduced by +the equation of the two elements with two different races--the tribal +element being Aryan, and the village element non-Aryan. Race-origins +are there still kept up and rigidly adhered to. They have not been +crushed out, as in Europe, by political or economical activity. + +But if crushed out of prominent recognition in Europe, are we, +therefore, to conclude that their relics do not exist in peasant +custom? My argument is that we cannot have such close parallels in +India and in England without seeing that they virtually tell the same +story in both countries. It would require a great deal to prove that +customs, which in India belong now to non-Aryan aborigines and are +rejected by the Aryans, are in Europe the heritage of the Aryan race. + +The objections to my theory have been formulated by Mr. Ashley, who +follows Mr. Seebohm and M. Fustel de Coulanges as an adherent of the +chronological method of studying institutions. Like the old school of +antiquaries, this new school of investigators into the history of +institutions gets back to the period of Roman history, and there +stops. Mr. Ashley suggests that because Cæsar describes the Celtic +Britons as pastoral, therefore agriculture in Britain must be +post-Celtic. I will not stop to raise the question as to who were the +tribes from which Cæsar obtained his evidence. But it will suffice to +point out that if Cæsar is speaking of the Aryan Celts of Britain--and +this much seems certain--he only proves of them what Tacitus proves of +the Aryan Teutons, what the sagas prove of the Aryan Scandinavians, +what the vedas prove of the Aryan Indians, what philology, in short, +proves of the primitive Aryans generally, namely, that they were +distinctly hunters and warriors, and hated and despised the tillers +of the soil. + +It does not, in point of fact, then, help the question as to the +origin of agricultural rites and usages to turn to Aryan history at +all. In this emergency Roman history is appealed to. But this is just +one of those cases where a small portion of the facts are squeezed in +to do duty for the whole. + +Both M. Fustel de Coulanges and Mr. Seebohm think that if a Roman +origin can be _primâ facie_ shown for the economical side of +agricultural institutions, there is nothing more to be said. But they +leave out of consideration a whole set of connected institutions. +Readers of Mr. Frazer's _Golden Bough_ are now in possession of facts +which it would take a very long time to explain. They see that side by +side with agricultural economics is agricultural religion, of great +rudeness and barbarity, of considerable complexity, and bearing the +stamp of immense antiquity. The same villagers who were the observers +of those rules of economics which are thought to be due to Roman +origin were also observers of ritual and usages which are known to be +savage in theory and practice. Must we, then, say that all this ritual +and usage are Roman? or must we go on ignoring them as elements in the +argument as to the origin of agricultural institutions? One or the +other of these alternatives must, I contend, be accepted by the +inquirer. + +Because the State has chosen or been compelled for political reasons +to lift up peasant economics into manorial legal rules, thus forcibly +divorcing this portion of peasant life from its natural associations, +there is no reason why students should fix upon this arbitrary +proceeding as the point at which to begin their examination into the +origin of village agriculture. Manorial tenants pay their dues to the +lord, lot out their lands in intermixed strips, cultivate in common, +and perform generally all those interesting functions of village life +with which Mr. Seebohm has made us familiar. But, in close and +intimate connection with these selfsame agricultural economical +proceedings, it is the same body of manorial tenants who perform +irrational and rude customs, who carry the last sheaf of corn +represented in human or animal form, who sacrifice animals to their +earth deities, who carry fire round fields and crops, who, in a +scarcely disguised ritual, still worship deities which there is little +difficulty in recognising as the counterparts of those religious +goddesses of India who are worshipped and venerated by non-Aryan +votaries. Christianity has not followed the lead of politics, and +lifted all this portion of peasant agricultural life into something +that is religious and definite. And because it remains sanctioned by +tradition, we must, in considering origins, take it into account in +conjunction with those economic practices which have been unduly +emphasised in the history of village institutions. In India primitive +economics and religion go hand in hand as part of the village life of +the people; in England primitive economics and _survivals_ of old +religions, which we call folklore, go hand in hand as part of the +village life of the people. And it is not in the province of students +to separate one from the other when they are considering the question +of origin. + +This is practically the whole of my argument from the folklore point +of view. But it is not the whole of the argument against the theory +of the Roman origin of the village community. I cannot on this +occasion re-state what this argument is, as it is set forth at some +length in my book. But I should like to point out that it is in +reality supported by arguments to be drawn from ethnological facts. +Mr. Ashley surrenders to my view of the question the important point +that ethnological data, derived from craniological investigation, fit +in "very readily with the supposition that under the Celtic, and +therefore under the Roman rule, the cultivating class was largely +composed of the pre-Celtic race; and allows us to believe that the +agricultural population was but little disturbed." Economically it was +certainly not disturbed by the Romans. If the agricultural implements +known to and used by the Romans were never used in Britain after their +departure; if the old methods of land-surveying under the agrimensores +is not to be traced in Britain as a continuing system; if wattle and +daub, rude, uncarpentered trees turned root upwards to form roofs, +were the leading principles of house-architecture, it cannot be +alleged that the Romans left behind any permanent marks of their +economical standard upon the "little disturbed agricultural +population." Why, then, should they be credited with the introduction +of a system of lordship and serf-bound tenants, when both lordship and +serfdom are to be traced in lands where Roman power has never +penetrated, under conditions almost exactly similar to the feudal +elements in Europe? If it be accepted that the early agricultural +population of Britain was non-Aryan; if we find non-Aryan agricultural +rites and festivals surviving as folklore among the peasants of +to-day; why should it be necessary, why should it be accepted as a +reasonable hypothesis, to go to the imperial and advanced economics of +Rome to account for those other elements in the composition of the +village community which, equally with the rites and festivals, are to +be found paralleled among the non-Aryan population living under an +Aryan lordship in India? The only argument for such a process is one +of convenience. It does so happen that the Roman theory _may_ account +for some of the English phenomena. But, then, the Celtic and Teutonic, +or Aryan theory also accounts for the same English phenomena, and, +what is more, it accounts for other phenomena not reckoned by the +Roman theory. My proposition is that the history of the village +community in Britain is the history of the economical condition of the +non-Aryan aborigines; that the history of the tribal community is the +history of the Aryan conquerors, who appear as overlords; and that the +Romans, except as another wave of Aryan conquerors at an advanced +stage of civilisation, had very little to do with shaping the village +institutions of Britain.[495] + +It is necessary before leaving this subject to take note of a point +which may lead, and in fact has led to misconception of the argument. +I have stated that all custom, rite, and belief which is Aryan custom, +rite, and belief, as distinct from that which is pre-Aryan--pre-Celtic +in our own country--must have a position in the tribal system, and I +have said that custom, rite, and belief which cannot be traced back +to the tribal system may be safely pronounced to be pre-tribal in +origin and therefore pre-Celtic, to have survived, that is, from the +people whom the Celts found in occupation of the country when first +they landed on its shores. I did not interrupt my statement of the +case to point out one important modification of it, because this +modification has nothing to do with the great mass of custom and +belief now surviving as folklore, but I will deal with this +modification now so that I may clear up any misconception. We have +already ascertained that over and above the custom and belief, which +may be traced back to their tribal origins, there are both customs and +beliefs which owe their origin to psychological conditions, and there +are myths surviving as folk-tales or legends which owe their origin to +the primitive philosophy of earliest man. Neither of these departments +of folklore enters into the question of race development. The first +may be called post-ethnologic because they arise in a political +society of modern civilisation which transcends the boundaries of +race; the second may be called pre-ethnologic, because they arise in a +savage society before the great races had begun their distinctive +evolution. The point about this class of belief is that it has never +been called upon to do duty for social improvement and organisation, +has never been specialised by the Celt or Teuton in Europe, nor by +other branches of the same race. The myth alone of these two groups of +folklore could have had an ethnological influence, and this must have +been very slight. It remained in the mind of Aryan man, but has never +descended to the arena of his practical life. It has influenced his +practical life indirectly of course, but it has never become a brick +in the building up of his practical life. This distinction between +custom and belief which are tribal and custom and belief which are not +tribal, is of vast importance. It has been urged against the +classification of custom, rite, and belief into ethnological groups +that it does not allow for the presence of a great mass of belief, +primitive in character and undoubtedly Aryan, if not in origin at all +events in fact. The objection is not valid. The custom, rite, and +belief which can be classified as distinctively Aryan is that portion +of the whole corpus of primitive custom, rite, and belief, which was +used by the Aryan-speaking folk in the building up of their tribal +organisation. They divorced it by this use from the general primitive +conceptions, and developed it along special lines. It is in its +special characteristics that this belief belongs to the tribal system +of the Aryans, not in its general characteristics. Not every custom, +rite, and belief was so used and developed. The specialisation caused +the deliberate rejection or neglect of much custom, rite, and belief +which was opposed to the new order of things, and did not affect the +practical doings of Aryan life. + +There are thus three elements to consider: (1) the custom, rite, and +belief specialised by the Aryan-speaking people in the formation and +development of their tribal system; (2) the custom, rite, and belief +rejected or neglected by the Aryan tribesmen; and (3) the belief which +was not affected by or used for the tribal development, but which, not +being directly antagonistic to it, remained with the primitive Aryan +folk as survivals of their science and philosophy. + +For ethnological purposes we have only to do with the first group. It +is definite, and it is capable of definite recognition within the +tribe. When once it was brought into the tribal system it ceased to +exist in the form in which it was known to general savage belief; it +developed highly specialised forms, took its part in the formation of +a great social force, a great fighting and conquering force, a great +migratory force. In accomplishing this task it grew into a solid +system, each part in touch with all other parts, each part an +essential factor in the ever-active forces which it helped to fashion +and control. + +It is in this wise that we must study its survivals wherever they are +to be found, and the study must be concentrated within certain +definite ethnographic areas. If I were to pursue the subject and +choose for my study the folklore of Britain, I should have to object +to the treatment accorded to British custom, rite, and belief by even +so great an authority as Mr. Frazer, because they are used not as +parts of a tribal system but as mere detritus of a primitive system of +science, or philosophy. According to my views they had long since +become separated from any such system and it is placing them in a +wrong perspective, giving them a false value, associating them with +elements to which they have no affinity to divorce them from their +tribal connection. The custom, rite, and belief which were tribal, +when they were brought to their present ethnographic area, cannot be +considered in the varied forms of their survival except by restoration +to the tribal organisation from which they were torn when they began +their life as survivals. + +What I have endeavoured to explain in this way are the principles +which should govern folklore research in relation to ethnological +conditions. The differing races which made up the peoples of Europe +before the era of political history must have left their distinctive +remains in folklore, if folklore is rightly considered as the +traditional survivals of the prehistory period. To get at and classify +these remains we must be clear as to the problems which surround +inquiry into them. The solution of these problems will place us in +possession of a mass of survivals in folklore which are naturally +associated with each other, and which stand apart from other survivals +also naturally associated with each other. In these two masses we may +detect the main influences of the great tribal races and the +non-tribal races. We cannot, I think, get much beyond this. We may, +perhaps, here and there, detect smaller race divisions--Celtic, +Teutonic, Scandinavian or other distinctions, according to the area of +investigation--but these will be less apparent, less determinable, and +will not be so valuable to historical science as the larger division. +To this we shall by proper investigation be indebted for the solution +of many doubtful points of the prehistoric period, and it is in this +respect that it will appeal to the student of folklore. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[466] Mr. Nutt's presidential address to the Folklore Society in 1899 +does not, I think, disprove my theory. It ignores it, and confines the +problem to legend and folk-tale. Mr. Nutt's powerful, but not +conclusive, study is to be found in _Folklore_, x. 71-86, and my reply +and correspondence resulting therefrom are to be found at pp. 129-149. + +[467] MacCulloch, _Childhood of Fiction_, 90-101; Greenwell, _British +Barrows_, 17, 18. + +[468] _Custom and Myth_, 76. + +[469] _Myth, Ritual and Religion_, ii. 215, compared with Gomme, +_Ethnology in Folklore_, 16. + +[470] I have discussed this point at greater length in _Folklore_, xii. +222-225. + +[471] Mr. J. O'Beirne Crowe in _Journ. Arch. and Hist. Assoc. of +Ireland_, 3rd ser., i. 321. + +[472] Rhys, _Lectures on Welsh Philology_, 32; _Celtic Heathendom_, +216; _Celtic Britain_, 67-75; Rhys and Brynmôr-Jones, _Welsh People_, +83. + +[473] The continental evidence has been collected together in +convenient shape by modern scholars: thus Mr. Stock, in his work on +_Cæsar de bello Gallico_, notes and compares the evidence of Cæsar, +Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, Ammianus Marcellinus, Mela, Lucan, and Pliny +as it has been interpreted by modern scholars (see pp. 107-113), and he +is followed by Mr. T. Rice Holmes in his study of _Cæsar's Conquest of +Gaul_, pp. 532-536. The Druidic cult of belief in immortality, +metempsychosis, ritual of the grove, augury, human sacrifice, is all +set out and discussed. These are the continental Druidic beliefs and +practices, and they may be compared with the Druidic Irish beliefs and +practices in Eugene O'Curry's _Manners and Customs of the Ancient +Irish_, lect. ix. and x. vol. ii. pp. 179-228, and Dr. Joyce's _Social +History of Ancient Ireland_, i. 219-248, where "the points of agreement +and difference between Irish and Gaulish Druids" are discussed. Mr. +Elton notices the difference between the continental and the British +Druids, but ascribes it to unequal development (_Origins of Eng. +Hist._, 267-268). Cæsar's well-known account of the wickerwork +sacrifice is very circumstantial. It is not repeated by either Diodorus +or Strabo, who both refer to individual human sacrifice. Pliny +introduces the mistletoe, oak, and serpent cults, and the other three +authorities are apparently dependent upon their predecessors. + +[474] The mixture of Celt and Iberian is very ably dealt with by Mr. +Holmes in his _Cæsar's Conquest of Gaul_, pp. 245-322, and by Ripley, +_Races of Europe_, 461, 467, together with cap. vii. and xii.; see also +Sergi, _Mediterranean Race_, cap. xii. + +[475] The intermarrying of the Picts with the Celts of the district +they conquered is mentioned in all the chronicles as an important and +significant rite, which determined the succession to the Pictish throne +through the female side (Skene's _Chron. of the Picts and Scots_, 40, +45, 126, 319, 328, 329). Beda, i. cap. i., mentions female succession. +Skene discusses this point in _Celtic Scotland_, i. 232-235, and +McLennan includes it in his evidence from anthropological data +(_Studies in Anc. Hist._, 99). + +[476] Mr. Seebohm is the best authority for the importance of the +non-tribesman in Celtic law (_Tribal System in Wales_, 54-60). + +[477] The local cults in Great Britain which are not Celtic in form, +and do not seem to be connected with Celtic religion on any analogy, +are those relating to Cromm Cruaich, referred to in the _Tripartite +Life of St. Patrick_ (see Whitley Stokes in _Revue Celtique_, i. 260, +xvi. 35-36; O'Curry, _MS. Materials of Anc. Irish History_, 538-9; +Joyce, _Social History of Ancient Ireland_, i. 275-276; Rhys, _Celtic +Heathendom_, 200-201). I do not follow Rhys in his identification of +this cult as a part of the ceremonies on mounds, and suggest that Mr. +Bury in his _Life of St. Patrick_, 123-125, gives the clue to the +purely local character of this idol worship which I claim for it. +Similarly the overthrow of the temple at Goodmanham, Godmundingham, +described by Beda, ii. cap. 13, with its priest who was not allowed to +carry arms, or to ride on any but a mare, is the destruction of a +successful local cult, not of a national or tribal religion. I confess +that Dr. Greenwell's observations in connection with his barrow +discoveries (_British Barrows_, 286-331) are in favour of an early +Anglican cultus, but I think his facts may be otherwise interpreted, +and in any case they confirm my view of the special localisation of +this cult. + +[478] Rev. W. G. Lawes in _Journ. Royal Geographical Soc._, new series, +iii. 615. _Cf._ Romilly, _From my Verandah_, 249; _Journ. Indian +Archipelago_ vi. 310, 329. + +[479] Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 7, 10, 59. + +[480] _Trans. Ethnol. Soc._, new series, iii. 235. + +[481] Colquhoun's _Amongst the Shans_, 52; Bastian, _Oestl. Asien_, i. +119. + +[482] Skeat and Blagden, _Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula_, i. 228; +and compare Rev. P. Favre, _Account of Wild Tribes of the Malayan +Peninsula_ (Paris, 1865), p. 95. + +[483] _Ethnology in Folklore_, 45; and see Tylor, _Primitive Culture_, +i. 112-113. + +[484] Stanley, _Through the Dark Continent_, i. 253. _Cf._ Burrows, +_Land of the Pigmies_, 180, for the state of fear which the pygmies +cause to their neighbours. + +[485] Latham, _Descriptive Ethnology_, ii. 457. + +[486] _Journ. As. Soc. Bengal_, 1866, ii. 158; see also Geiger, +_Civilisation of Eastern Iranians_, i. 20-21. + +[487] _Journ. Ceylon As. Soc._, 1865-1866, p. 3. _Journ. Ind. +Archipelago_, i. 328; Tennant, _Ceylon_, i. 331; J. F. Campbell, _My +Circular Notes_, 155-157. + +[488] Landtman, _Origin of Priesthood_, p. 82, quoting the original +authorities. + +[489] Vigfusson and Powell, _Corpus Boreale_, ii. 38; and see i. 408. + +[490] _Roman Festivals_, 264. + +[491] Rhys, _Lectures on Welsh Philology_, 196. + +[492] _Life of St. Guthlac_, by Felix of Crowland, edit. C. W. Goodwin, +pp. 21, 23, 27, 35. + +[493] _Life of St. Guthlac_, p. 43. + +[494] Wright, _Essays on Popular Superstitions of the Middle Ages_, ii. +4-10. + +[495] The substance of this part of my subject, with more elaboration +in detail, is taken from a paper I contributed to the _Transactions of +the Folklore Congress_, 1891. + + + + +INDEX + + +aborigines, savage, 219 +Abyssinian pygmies, 241 +African pygmy people, 241-2 +aged, killing of the, 68-78 +agricultural custom, 49, 163, 188, 192, 220, 311, 339, 352-3, 359 +Ahts of Vancouver Island, 62, 228 +All Souls, feast of, 331 +allocation of folklore items, 340 +altar superstitions, 198, 200 +American Indian creation myths, 131, 141, 258 +American Indian traditions, 144, 246 +analysis of custom, 159 +Andaman islanders, 218 +animal traditions, 239 +animals, domestication of, 258 +antagonism in folklore, 340 +anthropological conditions, 208-302 +apparitions, 188 +arm, right, left unchristened, 324, 325 +arresting force of Christianity, 321, 322 +Arthur traditions, 29, 33-34 +Arunta people (Australians), 265-274 +Ashantee creation myth, 141, 142 +ashes, custom connected with, 160 +aspirations of man, 145 +association, law of, in folklore, 166-9 +Aston and Cote, manor, 355 +Australian evidence, 61, 142, 143, 156, 187, 213, 217, 230, 232, 251, + 256, 258, 262-74, 347 +Australoid race, 296 +Avebury (Lord), quoted, 65, 215 + +Balder myth, 108 +ballads, growth of, 13 +baptism, 323-4, 325, 328 +baptismal water, 197 +barbaric conquest, 219 +Beddgelert bridge tradition, 26 +Bedfordshire evidence, 95, 287 +bees, telling the, 162, 164 +Bega (St.), 323 +belief the foundation of myth, 140-6 +Beowulf, quoted, 89 +Berkshire evidence, 95, 162 +boar as a totem animal, 287 +Border civilisation, 31, 183-5 +Boudicca, hare portent of, 288 +bow and arrow, 218 +Breton tradition, 21-22, 28 +bridges, tradition concerning, 25, 26 +Britain, totemism in, 276-96 +Buckinghamshire evidence, 162 +bull (white) ceremony, 161 +Bund (Willis), quoted, 118 +burial superstition, 198, 324, 339 +Burmese evidence, 347 +Bury (J. B.), quoted, 35, 345 +Bushmen dances, 141 + +Cæsar, food taboos in Britain, 286-91 +Canary Islanders, custom, 325 +Catskin story, 59-66 +cattle, telling of death to, 162 +Celtic mythology, 103 +Celtic tribes of Britain, 25-28, 103-5, 111, 310 +Ceylon evidence, 31 +Chadwick (H. M.), quoted, 223 +charms, 188 +Cheshire evidence, 162 +child relationship to parents, 232 +child thought, 186, 187 +Childe Rowland story, 314-15 +children not related to parents, 61, 268, 271 +Christianity and paganism, 320-37 +church ceremony of marriage, 90-1 +church, sacred character of objects and buildings, 197-9 +churning superstition, 202 +civil war pamphlets, 195 +Claddagh fisherfolk, 279 +clan songs, 97 +class system in Australian totemism, 264, 265, 270, 272 +classification, false, of folklore, 166 +Clonmel witch case, 205 +club, for killing the aged, 74-76 +cock as a totem animal, 286, 289 +comparative folklore, 170-9 +conjectural method of inquiry, 225-6, 239, 250 +conquered, mythic influence of, 345-9 +conscious use of experience or observation, 211, 212 +conquest in man's history, 219 +Cook (A. B.), quoted, 106, 108 +Cornwall evidence, 20, 55, 162, 164, 193, 196, 324 +Crawley (E.), quoted, 155 +Crayford legend, 43 +creation myths, 130-9 +Cromm Cruaich, 344 +Cuchulain, totem descent of, 286 +Cuerdale hoard of coins, 30-31 +Cumberland evidence, 162, 184, 323 +custom, belief, and rite, 10, 123, 125, 154-70 +Cynuit, fight with Danes at, 5-6 + +Danish conquest in tradition, 22, 31, 41, 192 +Darwin (C.), quoted, 213, 224, 247 +death beliefs, 191-2 +death, telling of, to bees, 162 +decay the principal force in folklore, 157-9, 319 +definitions, 129 +Demeter temple custom, 150 +Derbyshire evidence, 162 +descent, use of the term, 270 +Devonshire evidence, 5, 95, 96, 324 +differential evolution, 228 +diffusion of folk-tales, 153 +dog as a totem animal, 286 +doom rings, 323 +doors, decoration of, 334 +Dorsetshire evidence, 45, 94 +dreams, 13-20, 188 +Druidism, 341, 342-4 +duplication of myth, 33, 34 +Durham evidence, 162, 184, 324 + +Easter-tide, 328 +economic influences upon early man, 219, 257 +Egyptian civilisation, 108 +Elton (C.), quoted, 73, 74, 78, 114, 286, 290, 344 +Essex evidence, 95 +ethnographic movements of man, 216 +ethnological conditions, 338-66 +Eucharist, sacred elements of, 197 +European conditions, 320-37 +European sky god, 106 +Evans (Arthur), quoted, 209 +Exeter custom, 96 +exogamy, 252, 271 + +fact, basis of tradition upon, 10, 47-49 +fairs, 45 +family, the term, 235-7 +Farrer (J. A.), quoted, 145 +father kinship, 231, 259 +father and daughter marriage, 59-66 +female descent, 271 +festivals, pagan in origin, 328 +fictional literature, 6, 123, 145 +Fijian creation myth, 131 +Fir-Bolgs, 101 +fire, non-use of, 218 +fire worship, 106, 108, 160, 163, 317 +first foot custom, 162, 164 +fish as a totem, 290 +folklore, necessities of, 4-7 +folk-tales, 46-84, 123, 127, 129, 148-9 +food taboos in ancient Britain, 286 +formula of custom, 159 +fox totem in Connaught, 278-80 +Frazer (J.), quoted, 62, 108-9, 110, 140, 228, 253, 255, 265, 274, 283, + 285, 287, 329, 338, 339, 365 +Fuegians, 247 + +Gambia district, peoples of, 245 +Genesis creation myth, 137-8, 150 +geological age of man, 214 +giants, 194 +Gibbon (E.), quoted, 321, 327, 334 +Giles (Dr.), quoted, 113 +Gold coast natives, 230 +Gomme (Mrs.), quoted, 26 +goose as a totem animal, 286, 289 +Gospels used as charms, 199 +gossip, meaning of, 278 +Gregory (Pope), letter of, to Mellitus, 329-30 +Greek totemism, 275 +Greek laws, 85, 86, 87, 88 +Grey (Sir George), quoted, 143 +Grierson (P. J. H.), quoted, 45, 230 +Grimm, quoted, 7, 78-81, 327-8 +group (human) the unit of anthropological work, 234 +Guthlac (St.) legend, 350-2 + +Haddon (A. C.), quoted, 188, 228, 253, 254 +Hampshire evidence, 96, 162, 192 +hare as a totem animal, 280, 287-9 +Harris, island of, 354 +Hartland (E. S.), quoted, 23, 148, 259, 265 +Hawick Common riding, 98-99 +Hebrew creation myth, 137-8 +Hereward in history and tradition, 35-40 +historians, neglect of folklore, 110-20 +historical material, 2-4 +history and folklore, 1-122, 315 +holy, the word, 317 +"holy mawle," 74 +horde, type of society, 225 +hostility among primitive groups of mankind, 264 +Howitt (A. W.), quoted, 142, 230 +hunting stage of society, 220 +Huxley (T. H.), quoted, 138 + +idols in Christian churches, 328 +Indian evidence, 13, 27, 31, 52, 55, 63, 66, 72, 73, 78, 85, 86, 87, + 101, 109, 119, 135-6, 146, 151, 174, 175, 193, 217, 229, 231, 258, + 271, 309, 310, 315, 348, 349, 353, 357 +industrial evolution, 228-30 +Innis (Thomas), quoted, 113 +institutions and religion, 305, 306, 360 +Irish evidence, 11, 49, 50, 56-59, 88, 97, 108, 159, 163, 177, 182, 183, + 198, 205, 276-82, 286, 287, 324, 330 +Italy, Christian and pagan beliefs in, 331-4, 335 + +Java, remains of man in, 214 +Jevons (F. B.), quoted, 140, 141, 145, 236 +Jewish temple rite, 200 +Joyce (Dr.), quoted, 116 +junior right inheritance, 96, 172-4, 223, 313 + +Keane (A. H.), quoted, 214, 215, 241 +Keary (J. F.), quoted, 313 +Kemble (J. M.), quoted, 3, 42, 89 +Kent evidence, 43, 191, 330 +Kentish laws, 92 +Kilmorie, 352 +kinship, 219, 220, 226, 230, 261 +kinlessness, 225, 231, 235, 240-7, 256, 261, 268 +Kronos myth, 134 + +Lambeth pedlar legend, 20 +Lancashire evidence, 20, 162, 191, 289, 324 +lands, surrender of, to sons, 70-2 +Lang (A.), quoted, 7, 116, 131, 132, 153, 225, 226, 236, 253, 254, + 255, 263, 265, 271, 272, 273, 275, 339 +Lapps as sorcerers, 349 +Lappenberg (J. M.), quoted, 113 +Latham (Dr.), quoted, 214, 215-16, 241 +Lauder, 354 +Law, traditional origin of, 84-100, 196, 328 +left and right superstition, 166 +legend, 124, 127, 129, 151-2 +legislation, primitive, 213, 273 +Leicestershire evidence, 198 +Lincolnshire evidence, 30, 162, 350-2 +Litlington tradition, 43 +local traditions, 13-33 +locality influence of, 219, 344 +Lockyer (Sir Norman), quoted, 107 +logic of primitive man, 140 +London Bridge legends, 13-33 +Lud, Celtic god, 105 +Lundinium (Roman), 24, 25, 105 + +Mabinogion creation myth, 136 +MacCulloch (Mr.), quoted, 47, 82, 123, 173, 239, 313, 338 +Maine (Sir Henry), quoted, 85, 87, 117, 226, 235 +male descent, 269, 270 +male groups, 225, 239 +manorial evidence, 94-96, 305 +manumission formula, 92 +Manx custom, 160, 162 +Maori myths, 143, 144 +marriage ceremony, 90-91, 162 +marriage customs in folk-tales, 65 +materials and methods, 123-79 +McLennan (J. F.), quoted, 61, 65, 225, 293 +midsummer festivals, 328 +migratory movements of man, 214-17, 221, 222, 223, 224, 237, 251, 264, + 266 +monogenists, 213 +Morgan (L. H.), quoted, 225, 275 +mother influence in totemism, 257, 267 +mother kinship, 231 +Moytura monuments, 101, 102 +Murray (Dr.), quoted, 98 +myth, 127, 129, 130-48 +mythology, 9, 100-10, 128, 146-8, 303 + +names (totem), origin of, 260 +natural objects, interpretation of, 193 +neglect of observation, 231 +neolithic burial custom, 339 +New Guinea evidence, 345 +New Zealand myths, 131, 132-3, 190, 217, 346 +Nicholson (Dr.), quoted, 172, 173 +Nod, Celtic god, 105 +Nonconformist appeal to church, 200 +Norfolk evidence, 14-19, 42, 163 +Norse custom, 174, 175 +Norse tradition, 22-23, 32 +Northamptonshire evidence, 198, 288 +Northumberland evidence, 162, 324, 325 +_Notes and Queries_, quoted, 6 +Nottinghamshire evidence, 96, 162 +nursery rhymes, growth of, 13 +Nutt (A.), quoted, 6, 222, 339 + +oath-taking customs, 200 +O'Curry (Eugene), quoted, 113 +offertory money, 197 +oral tradition, force of, 87, 125 +outlawry, 311 +oxen, slaughter of, 329 + +palæolithic implements, 217, 218 +Palgrave (Sir F.), quoted, 88, 113 +parallel practices as evidence of common origin, 109, 171-6, 227 +pastoral stage of society, 220, 358 +Pearson (Dr. Karl), quoted, 47, 78, 201 +Pearson (C. H.), quoted, 115 +Pedlar of Swaffham legend, 14-19 +personal traditions, 33-46 +Petrie (Flinders), quoted, 222 +Pictish marriage custom, 344 +political races, 209, 219, 221 +polygenists, 213 +pottery, 218 +Powell (York), quoted, 3, 8, 104 +practice and rule, 227 +pre-Celtic remains, 101, 118-20, 209, 275, 318, 350 +priest's grave superstition, 199 +priests of old religion regarded as magicians, 200 +promiscuity, 224 +Protestants appeal to Roman Catholicism, 200 +psychological conditions, 180-207 +purpose of custom, 159 +pygmy peoples, 238, 241-5, 248, 348 + +Ramsay (Sir James), quoted, 115 +record of custom, 156, 165 +religion and folklore, 140 +religion and myth, 138 +religion and science, 138-9, 206 +result in custom, 159 +retrogression in human society, 249 +Rhodopis tradition, 53 +rhyming tenures, 94-95 +Rhys (Sir John), quoted, 29, 33, 34, 105, 114, 115, 161, 163, 209, + 342, 345, 350 +Ridgeway (Prof.), quoted, 308 +right and left superstition, 166 +rites explained by myth, 146 +Rivers (Dr. W. H. R.), quoted, 150, 174, 229 +Robertson-Smith (W.), quoted, 147, 174, 282, 303, 304 +Rollright stones, 209 +Roman Britain, 25, 30, 105, 360-2 +romances, 124 +Rome, ancient customs of, 26, 34, 151, 332, 349 + +sacrifice (human), 174-6 +savage customs in Britain, 112-16 +savage incidents in folk-tales, 78-82 +Scandinavian custom, 71, 223, 323, 328 +Scarborough warning, 93-94 +science, primitive, 130, 131 +Scottish evidence, 20, 48, 49, 50, 56, 65, 67-78, 92, 149, 162, 181, + 182, 198, 288, 289, 290 +seal totem in Connaught, 280-2 +Semangs of Malay peninsula, 218, 242-5, 267, 269, 270, 278, 297-302, + 348 +sermon quoted, 189 +sex cleavage in human evolution, 251, 260 +Shrewsbury Abbey Church, tradition, 43 +Shropshire evidence, 43, 95, 162, 292 +Sids, Irish, 341 +Skene (W. F.), quoted, 114, 115, 344 +sky-god, 106 +Slavonian tradition, 54 +snake stones of Whitby, 194 +sociological conditions, 303-19 +Somersetshire evidence, 45, 95, 162, 205 +soul resident in backbone, 189, 190 +Southampton custom, 96 +specialisation of culture, 227, 233, 364 +Spencer (Herbert), quoted, 117, 214 +Spencer and Gillen, quoted, 143, 265 +Spenser (Edmund), quoted, 4, 11, 177 +Squire (Mr.), quoted, 33, 34, 101-3, 117 +stationary conditions of life, 223, 224 +state religion, 103-5 +Stevenson (W. H.), quoted, 5 +Stewart (J. A.), quoted, 145 +stone circles, 107, 193, 194 +Stonehenge, 107, 209 +Suffolk evidence, 161, 162, 192 +Sullivan (W. R.), quoted, 113, 120 +Surrey evidence, 20, 162 +survivals, 154-5, 319, 336 +Sussex evidence, 41, 162 + +tappie, tappie, tousie, 92 +telling tales, 149 +Teutonic religion, 104 +Teutonic tribes, 310 +Thomas (N. W.), quoted, 214, 226, 232, 236, 265 +threshold custom, 159, 334 +toad in witchcraft, 203 +Todas, loss of myth by, 150 +totemism, 209-10, 252, 253-61, 274-96 +transfer of superstition to different objects, 163, 325 +treasure legends, 13-24, 30 +trees, marriage of, India, 258 +tribal life in tradition, 51-59, 103-5 +tribal institutions, 307-18, 356, 364 +tribe, the term, 234, 308 +Tuatha de Danann, 101 +Turner (Sharon), quoted, 113 +Tylor (E. B.), quoted, 9, 133, 154, 200, 233, 239 + +Upsall, Yorks, legend from, 19 + +ver sacrum, 223 +Vortigern, 62 + +water god, 105 +well worship, 163, 164, 323, 326 +Welsh evidence, 20, 26, 34, 162, 194, 200, 202 +Westermarck (Dr.), quoted, 225, 239 +Westmoreland evidence, 184 +Wilde (Sir W.), quoted, 45, 101 +William the Conqueror, Sussex tradition, 41 +Wiltshire evidence, 44, 45, 95, 162, 287, 288, 354 +witchcraft, 194, 201-6 +wolf totem in Ossory, 276-8 +women in early industrialism, 257 +Worcestershire evidence, 162 + +Yorkshire evidence, 19, 20, 30, 78, 93, 162, 184, 194, 324, 325 +Yule-tide, 328 + +Zulu folk-tales, 51, 64 + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +This book contains some archaic and variant spelling, which has been +retained as printed. Hyphenation has been made consistent where +appropriate, without note. Minor printer errors (missing or transposed +letters or punctuation, etc.) have been amended. The list of amendments +is included below. + +Illustrations have been shifted slightly, so that they are not in the +middle of paragraphs. The frontispiece illustration has been moved to +follow the title page. + + +Transcriber's List of Amendments: + +Page 42--ryhme amended to rhyme--"... the old rhyme is still +remembered ..." + +Page 76--missing accent added to "vice versâ". + +Page 92--signifiance amended to significance--"... rhythmical formulæ +which have legal significance." + +Page 118--missing accent added to "primâ facie". + +Page 184--preceeding amended to preceding--"... those immediately +preceding the reign ..." + +Page 198--bedesecrated amended to be desecrated--"must not be +desecrated" + +Page 271--missing apostrophe added--"do not go to the wives' region of +abode." + +Page 368--Firbolgs amended to Fir-Bolgs, in line with other +occurrences. + +Footnote 358--missing period added at end of footnote. + +Footnote 416--Ser. made consistent with other occurrences--amended to +"ser." + +Footnote 469--comma added--"Myth, Ritual and Religion". + +Footnote 473--precedessors amended to predecessors--"... apparently +dependent upon their predecessors." + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Folklore as an Historical Science, by +George Laurence Gomme + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOLKLORE AS AN HISTORICAL SCIENCE *** + +***** This file should be named 21852-0.txt or 21852-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/8/5/21852/ + +Produced by Clare Boothby, Sam W. and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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