Woman's Club Work and Programs Part 6

CHAPTER V

MYTHS AND FOLK-LORE

I--INTRODUCTORY

The first meeting should be given up to a broad presentation of the whole subject of folk-lore, myths, legends, fairy stories, festivals and superst.i.tions. One paper should present the universality of myths, the curious resemblances found among them in races far apart in time and place. A second paper may give the ways in which they have been preserved to us. The Egyptians as early as 2800 B. C. used the stories on monuments and in ma.n.u.scripts. Herodotus and Livy speak of folk-tales; aesop's Fables embody many of them. In the Middle Ages story and song preserved them; and later they were collected. Walter Scott was especially appreciative of their value; he called them "antiquities,"

and tried to interest people in them in several of his books.

A third paper should deal with the important theories held by scholars as to the origin of myths. The Grimm brothers in Germany, and later Max Muller, held that the similarity of myths proved the common stock and language of all races; as divisions came the myths pa.s.sed on from one country and race to many. Andrew Lang, however, has more recently developed a second theory, one held to-day by most scientists, that as all primitive people observe the same phenomena of nature, they invent much the same myths to explain them, as all pa.s.s through the same stages of culture.

Another paper might notice the growth in the spread of the study of myths and legends. Since Thorns in 1846 coined the phrase "folk-lore,"

societies have been formed in every civilized land to preserve the old stories, songs and traditions, and to study them scientifically. Immense value is placed to-day on their importance as throwing light on history, literature, religion, and language. One writer says that a full knowledge of the folk-lore of every nation would be synonymous with the history of human thought. On the general subject read G. L. Gomme's Folk-Lore as an Historical Science, Andrew Lang's Modern Mythology, and the valuable articles in the encyclopedias. For readings from the stories of all nations, see a set of small handbooks published by Lippincott, called Folk-Lore and Legend.

II--THE OLDEST MYTHS, THE HINDU

In the earliest Western race, the Aryan, we find the simplest myths of creation and changing nature. They first invented the Sun G.o.d, riding in his fiery chariot, his glowing locks spreading out through the sky. The demons of darkness revolt against him, and must be overcome. The Rain G.o.d darkens the heavens, and the Dawn Maiden brings the light. From these first simple ideas grew a large mythology, full of beauty, and of the local color which we see in all national myths; these are warm and glowing. Read the translations of some of the stories and hymns. See Mrs. Poor's Sanskrit and Kindred Literatures, or Warner's Library of Universal Literature.

III--GREEK MYTHS AND LEGENDS

The mythology of the Greeks is the most beautiful, the most artistic, and the most perfectly developed of any that we have, and it repays careful study. The early myths are much like the Aryan; indeed some of the stories are practically identical. The sun and moon, darkness, storm, spring and summer, the ocean and the sky were all personified.

Phoebus Apollo in his chariot is the sun; Eros and Psyche are the coming and going of light and darkness; Demeter, the harvest, has a daughter Persephone who goes down to the underworld as seed, dies, and is revived as spring brings back life. Notice how from such first, simple ideas a whole complicated religious system developed, and how the original G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses became so many that earth, air, water, sky, and all nature were filled with them. See also the gradual decadence of the system, especially when the Romans adopted it. Compare the myths of light and darkness with those of other lands. Read from Stories of Old Greece, by Emma R. Frith, and H. M. Chadwick's The Heroic Age.

IV--SCANDINAVIAN FOLK-LORE

In this cold, northern land the same original myths developed as elsewhere but were altered by the environment. Here the legends are often terrible instead of beautiful. There are battles of hail and snow, great ice mountains to be surmounted, gloomy castles to be won. The spirits of storm, of thunder, of cold, all figure. Animals, too, are conspicuous in the stories, especially bears, wolves and eagles. The G.o.ds were stern and awful, rather than lovable. But in spite of this, there were still some, like the G.o.ddess of spring, who had charm, and some stories which show a sense of humor. Read In the Days of the Giants, a Book of Norse Tales, by Abbie Farwell Brown. Here are stories from the Sagas and the Edda, the earliest literature of the North. See How Thor Went a-Fishing, The Lost Bell, The Three Dogs, and The Meal of Frothi.

V--PERSIAN FOLK-LORE

The Persian and Arabian folk-lore is really one, and stands quite by itself. It is unusually rich in well developed stories, many well worth study. The original myths of light and darkness were typified under the names of Ormuzd and Ahriman. The Zend-Avesta embodied their religion and literature, and is full of beauty. Later, however, the early and simple mythology degenerated into something complicated and almost puerile. The legends, preserved for us in The Thousand and One Nights, are marked by Oriental splendor. Often the setting of a story will be in a palace with wonderful gardens and fountains. We read of great merchants, gorgeous silks, jewels and ornaments; of money, horses and camels; of sheiks, caliphs, viziers, magicians, and genii. In every respect the stories differ from those of other lands. Read Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp, and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book.

VI--CELTIC FOLK-LORE

The peoples of Brittany, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland have folk-tales full of a certain mysticism. They have few nature myths, such as belong to earlier races, but they have drawn from their own imagination stories of beauty and charm, which are distinctly poetic, both in substance and form. Their legends deal largely with fairies, wishing-stones, haunted glens, and changelings. There are water fairies, some with human souls, and dwarfs who have homes in caves, and live and work like human beings.

The whole of their folk-tales are filled with these little creatures, benign or malicious, who are closely in touch with the real lives about them.

The superst.i.tions of these countries in regard to the reappearance of the dead as ghosts or spirits of one kind or another, also enter largely into the literature of the Celtic races. This subject, a very large one, may be taken up here, or later by itself.

There is a delightful book called Fairy and Folk-Lore of the Irish Peasantry, by W. B. Yeats, and another on the Fairy Legends of Ireland, by T. C. Crocker. Duncan Anderson has one on Scottish Folk-Lore, also.

Read from any of these, and also a story in Little Cla.s.sics called The Fairy Finder, by Samuel Lover.

VII--FOLK-LORE OF THE SLAVS

There is much that is curious about the folk-lore of the Russians and kindred peoples. They have the old, original nature myths, with hero stories added. There is the same setting as in Scandinavian mythology, of cold and storm. There are epics in three cycles which embody some stories almost identical with those of the Greeks. There are, however, two striking differences between their legends and those of other countries: one is, that sorcery, witchcraft, spells, exorcisms and incantations abound; the other is that nearly all tales have folk-music accompanying them. Fairy stories are abundant and charming, and much like those of Norway and Sweden. Read from Myths and Fairy Tales of Russia, by Jeremiah Curtin, and Russian Folk Tales by R. Nisbet Bain.

VIII--GERMAN FOLK-LORE

In many respects the folk-tales of Germany are more interesting than those of any other country. They do not deal with the great, simple myths, except as they have been transformed into certain fairy tales, but are centered largely on more recent stories. There are tales of the Middle Ages, of knights, besieged castles, huntsmen and hermits; there are Rhine legends, with princesses and giants; there are mining tales of dwarfs and goblins, and stories of water fairies and forest elves.

Notice the resemblance to the stories of other lands in some of Grimm's fairy tales. See how closely Peter Klaus is like our own story of Rip Van Winkle. Read Stories of the Rhine Gold, by Anna A. Chapin, and the best known stories from Grimm, especially Rumpelztiltskin, Hansel and Gretel and Snow White and Rose Red.

IX--FOLK-LORE OF ENGLAND

All parts of England are rich in folk-tales, festival customs and legends, and various shires have preserved in book form those which are peculiar to them. In rhymes and jingles, nicknames, proverbs, riddles and nursery tales we find traces of very early tradition. Frazer's Golden Bough speaks of May Day customs, Maypole dances, keeping St.

John's Eve and Midsummer Day, as survivals of religious festivals of great importance. The hero stories, especially those of King Arthur and his knights, are unusually well developed and beautiful. English fairies are most human and charming. Shakespeare is rich in allusion to them; read on this point Shakespeare's Puck and His Folk Lore, by William Bell, and parts of Midsummer Night's Dream.

In Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book all the delightful old fairy stories are preserved; read Beauty and the Beast, Little Red Ridinghood, Cinderella, and Jack the Giant Killer. Notice how several of these stories are considered by some students as nature myths.

Read Kipling's Puck o' Pook's Hill, the modern fairy story, and contrast with those of older date.

X--AMERICAN FOLK-LORE

The negroes of the South have a complex set of stories of their own, some with the mark of their savage ancestors on them--as is shown in their fetishism, voodoo, magic and ghosts--and others which are full of a quaint humor. Most of the latter are in the form of animal stories, and have been gathered together by Joel Chandler Harris. Read from Nights with Uncle Remus, and see how each of the animals mentioned has its peculiar characteristic, and how the rabbit, who always represents the colored man, outwits the white man by his cunning. Clubs should make a point of reproducing some of the old negro folk songs.

The Indians have many myths and legends, which vary in different tribes and localities. The people of Alaska have legends quite unlike those of the Mission Indians of California or the Zuni tribes of New Mexico. In the north, cold, devils, fighting and struggles with animals predominate; in the south there is more of the spirit of harvest, of festival and brightness.

The scenes of the legends in general are laid in wigwams and deal with feasts, love-making, and battles with enemies. There are also many legends about trees, bees, birds, and fish. The original myths of light and darkness, flood, and other phenomena also recur. Read Indian Story and Song, by Alice C. Fletcher, and F. H. Cushing's Zuni Folk Tales.

FOLK-LORE IN OTHER LANDS

In addition to the topics suggested, clubs should study more briefly than these the tales of other lands. j.a.pan has a delightful set of tales, turning largely on animals, flowers and spirits. Read Ancient Tales and Folk-Lore of j.a.pan, by R. G. Smith. Follow with the legends of China and Corea, both collected, full of originality and interest, with heroes and nature myths. Hawaii has much local color in her folk-tales, for volcanic fire often appears. See Hawaiian Folk-Lore by T. G. Thrum.

The myths of Egypt have recently been collected and are quite unlike those of other lands. They are divided into three groups, one dealing with the earliest times when simple nature myths occur; the second, when Egypt developed, and stories of town and country appear; in the third the stories deal with strangers, ships and sailors. Crocodiles play an important part, and the atmosphere of heat is always noticeable.

In modern Europe the stories of Spain and Italy and also of Roumania are to be studied, the latter in the collections made by Carmen Sylva, the queen. Add to these the subject of gipsy lore, from the book called Gipsy Folk-Tales, by F. H. Groome.

The subject of superst.i.tions may follow the topics suggested, and ghosts, reappearances of all kinds, and haunted houses will prove a wide field.

Hero stories in all lands is also a delightful division of the general subject. The legends of Havelock the Dane, of Siegfried, of Roland, and Arthur put them in the cla.s.s known as the "Fatal Children," or those whose innate greatness no earthly obstacle can withstand.

See Heroes of Myth, by Lillian L. Price and Chas. B. Gilbert.

One more important and curious topic is that of Were Wolves and Swan Maidens, as it is called, or the inhabiting of animal bodies by human souls, which is one of the constantly recurring legends in all lands.

The rescuing of the imprisoned spirit has led to innumerable stories.

The myths concerning the ascent of souls to Heaven is most interesting, and the legends of the Milky Way and the Rainbow Bridge are poetic and lovely. The story of Jack and the Bean Stalk is considered to belong to the general group.