I was able to build up by experience a critical judgment which was very helpful in determining the value of doubtful works.
A few illustrations are perhaps to the point. Choosing a work with a promising title L. Dominguez, Los cuentos de Andalucia. Cuentos populares ... one finds that it contains jokes and anecdotes, scenes from contemporary daily life, but nothing that would fit into the body of material found in Aarne's index. Similarly, Baselga y Ramirez, Cuentos de la era, proves to be literary sketches. In Fernández de los Rios, Tesoro de cuentos, one finds traces that look suspiciously German, but since the author does not state that he has utilized German sources, and since the work does contain real folktale material, it seems best not to reject it. The words leyenda and tradicion are often employed in their proper meaning by Spanish folklorists. The following works, for example, really contain what their titles promise: A. Alcalde y Valladares, Tradiciones españolas; M. Cano y Cueto, Leyendas y tradiciones de Sevilla, 1875; L. Garcia del Real, Tradiciones y leyendas españolas, 1898—1899; S. G. C. Middlemore, Spanish legendary tales, 1885; G. M. Vergara y Martín, Tradiciones segovianas [1910]. However, these terms are sometimes applied to folktales. For example, the following works contain folktale material: Biblioteca de tradiciones populares españoles, 1884—6; R. H. Busk, Patrañas, or Spanish stories, legendary and traditional, 1870; C. Cabal, Los cuentos tradicionales asturianos [1924]; H. A. Reed, Spanish legends and traditions, 1914. The enchanted Moorish girl guarding a treasure in a cave, LRAF[1] p. 90, LRAL p. 184, MPP p. 345, and hidden treasures in general form a favorite theme in Spain. These stories belong to the field of legend and tradition. I have thought it wise to include the Don Juan legend, since its
- ↑ See bibliography for these abbreviations
