Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 4 1886.djvu/80

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72
THE PHILOSOPHY OF FOLK-TALES.
D. Vagabondism.
(a) The Pack of Ragamuffins (10).
Also 10. a. (a) ; f. (a).
E. The Love of Life.
(a) The Musicians of Bremen (27).
Also 4. (d).
F. The Power of Music.
(a) The Wonderful Musician (8).
G. God-Parent Stories.
(a) The Godfather (42).
(b) The Godfather Death (44).
(c) The Fox and Godmother Wolf (73).
11. Accumulative Effects.
(a) The Spider and the Flea (30).
And see 10. d. (a).
12. Gothamite Stories.
(a) The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean (20).
(b) The Discreet Hare (32).
(c) The Rabbit's Bride (66).
Also 2. (b) (g) ; 5. (e) ; 7. e. (a) (b) ; 10. a. (a) ; c. (b) ; d. (a) ; e. (a).

Some errors there are, no doubt, in the above classification, but I think it will be found on the whole to be correct from the "moral" point of view. That the incidents of many of the stories in question have reference to the phenomena of nature[1] is far from impossible, but none the less they were originally intended to "point a moral" rather than to "adorn a tale."

There is a special feature of some of Grimm's stories which deserves notice. It is evident that sometimes the moral enforced was intended to have special application to a certain class of persons. Thus, the

  1. Most of the stories in class 1. a. refer to golden objects, and probably they had some reference to the sun or light.