The notes (pp. 319-383) furnish, besides occasional variants of stories given in the text, references to others in the works of the most distinguished scholars who have made a special study of the migrations and transformations of popular tales and fictions; and their compilation must have cost Professor Crane a vast amount of labour, which, however, will be duly appreciated by all who are interested in comparative folk-lore. The usefulness of the book is farther increased by an elaborate Bibliography of Works on Italian Tales (pp. xix.—xxviii.); a list of the works most frequently referred to in the notes; and an excellent general index. Mr. Crane has good cause to be gratified with the handsome manner in which his work is presented to the public: it is beautifully printed, and in every way well got up.
There is scarcely any necessity to do more than announce to our members the publication of the second volume of Captain Temple's valuable collection of legends from the Panjáb, as the first volume is so well known, beside the other work which Captain Temple is always so busily engaged upon. This volume contains the legends of Râjâ Gopi Chand, Râjâ Chandarbhân and Rânî Chand Karan, two songs about Nâmdev, Sakhî Sarwar and Jâtî, marriage of Sakhî Sarwar, the ballad of Chûhar Singh, Sansâr Chand of Kângrâ and Fatteh Parkâsh of Sarmor, Râjâ Jagat Singh of Nûrpûr, a hymn to ’Abdu’l-Qâdir Jîlânî, Jalâlî, the Blacksmith's daughter, the legend of ’Abdu’llah Shâh of Samin, the story of Râjâ Jagdeo, Râjâ Nal, the legend of Râjâ Dhol, Râjâ Rattan Sain of Chittaur, three versions of Sarwan and Farîjan, Pûran Bhagat, the legend of Mîr Châkur, Ismâ’îl Khân's grandmother, the bracelet-maker of Jhang, the marriage of Hîr and Rânjhâ.
Captain Temple prefaces his collection of stories by emphasizing the views he brought forward in the preface to his Wide-Awake Stories, that folk-tales consisted of two distinctive elements—the incidents being the most important, the most vital and the most archaic, the setting of the story being accidental, dependant upon the narrator. To this view we would wish especially to again draw attention, because it strikes the key-note of the future methods of study of folk-tales.
