Fairy Tales; Their Origin and Meaning
Excerpt
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-Muller;
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.
