FAIRY TALES
THEIR ORIGIN AND MEANING
WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF
Dwellers in Fairyland
BY
JOHN THACKRAY BUNCE
London
MACMILLAN AND CO.
1878
The Rights of Translation and Reproduction are Reserved
LONDON:
R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR,
BREAD STREET HILL.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
The substance of this volume was delivered
as a course of Christmas Holiday Lectures,
in 1877, at the Birmingham and Midland
Institute, of which the author was then the
senior Vice-president. It was found that both
the subject and the matter interested young
people; and it was therefore thought that,
revised and extended, the Lectures might not
prove unacceptable in the form of a Book. The
volume does not pretend to scientific method,
or to complete treatment of the subject. Its
aim is a very modest one: to furnish an inducement
rather than a formal introduction to
the study of Folk Lore; a study which, when
once begun, the reader will pursue, with unflagging
interest, in such works as the various
writings of Mr. Max-Müller; the "Mythology of
the Aryan Nations," by Mr. Cox; Mr. Ralston's
"Russian Folk Tales;" Mr. Kelly's "Curiosities
of Indo-European Folk Lore; "the Introduction
to Mr. Campbell's "Popular Tales of the West
Highlands," and other publications, both English
and German, bearing upon the same subject.
In the hope that his labour may serve this
purpose, the author ventures to ask for an
indulgent rather than a critical reception of
this little volume.
BIRMINGHAM,
September, 1878.
| CONTENTS. |
| |
| CHAPTER I. |
| PAGE |
| ORIGIN OF FAIRY TALES—THE ARYAN RACE: ITS
CHARACTERISTICS, ITS TRADITIONS, AND ITS
MIGRATIONS . . . | 1 |
| |
| CHAPTER II. |
| KINDRED TALES FROM DIVERS LANDS . . . | 37 |
| |
| CHAPTER III. |
| DWELLERS IN FAIRYLAND : STORIES FROM THE EAST . . . | 92 |
| |
| CHAPTER IV. |
| DWELLERS IN FAIRYLAND : TEUTONIC, SCANDINAVIAN, ETC. . . . | 128 |
| |
| CHAPTER V. |
| DWELLERS IN FAIRYLAND : CELTIC, THE WEST HIGHLANDS | 160 |
| |
| CHAPTER VI. |
| CONCLUSION-SOME POPULAR TALES EXPLAINED. | 185 |
| |
| INDEX | 195 |
