The Folk-Lore Record, 1881, Vol. 4: Containing the Aryan Expulsion-And-Return Formula in the Folk-And Hero-Tales of the Celts; Some Additional Folk-Lore from Madagascar; Slavonic Folk-

Excerpt from The Folk-Lore Record, 1881, Vol. 4: Containing the Aryan Expulsion-and-Return Formula in the Folk-and Hero-Tales of the Celts; Some Additional Folk-Lore From Madagascar; Slavonic Folk-Lore; Euphemism and Tabu in China; Folk-Lore From the United States; Notes on Irish Folk-Lore This story, taken down in Barra twenty years ago from a fisherman who had often heard it in his youth (campbell, vol. Ii. P. Presents the formula with singular fulness. As may be seen by the table, incidents I. To XII. Are given in their proper sequence, the sixth incident alone, to which I have not yet found more than allusions in any Celtic version, being omitted. The later incidents are wanting, as might be expected in a folk-tale, the vague and general character of which does not lend itself to the precise details of a hero-tale. Incident XVI. May perhaps be found in Conall's slaying Of Lagh an Laidh. This is motive' in the original by Lagh an Laidh's treachery to Boinas Breat, an incident which has no parallel in the other versions. It appears plainly that Lagh an Laidh was in reality assisting the father of the hero, and it was thus really an adherent from the beginning whom the latter slew, a fact which makes strongly for the identification of the incident with N o. XVI. Of the type-formula. The parallel features of the story to events of Irish legendary history and to primitive Irish customs, noticed at the foot of p. 4, show most strikingly the toughness of popular tradition. A curious and primitive state of society is delineated, and the delineation is in exact accordance with what definite knowledge is possessed of early Celtic institutions. This should be borne in mind when objections are raised against the purely traditional transmission of complex and intricate narrations deriving their motif from extinct phases of belief and habits of thought. The survival of the latter in the popular mind is less remarkable than is the survival of extinct institutions. Another folk-tale version of the formula is found in Campbell, N o. 74, The Lay of the Great Fool, prose opening.' About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.