tells dead against its popularity per se.[1] For what does this imply? Surely that in the struggle for existence among popular tales many of those which found a footing in written or printed literature failed to find any vogue in oral literature. That there was an exosmose of ideas and tales between the literate and illiterate is undoubtedly the fact, but we know little of the laws of intercommunication, and are likely, from our ignorance of the exact processes of oral tradition,[2] to exaggerate its amount. Whenever clear cases of the interfusion occur, as when we can clearly trace the Grimms' story Simeliberg (No. 142) to the Forty Thieves of the Arabian Nights, the literary form of the original has left its traces in some significant word or phrase, (in that case the pass-word "Sesame"). Altogether
- ↑ Of the forty stories or so contained in this volume only about ten (C1, C4, D7c, D9, D9a, E4a, E6, E9, E10, and F4) can be said to be really popular. At the same time, it should be added, that stories that are so popular may be almost counted on the fingers.
- ↑ The only kind of oral tradition extant among us consists in the stories more broad than long that circulate among young men in smoking rooms. In my sallet days I have heard stories of this nature told me by a Canadian, which I had previously heard with exactly the same turns of expression in Australia.
