FOLK-LORE AT THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.—If the Anthropological Building
has been late in completion, the display is now most interesting. The
value and curiosity of the archæological exhibits will first attract
attention; but those more closely connected with folk-lore are well
worthy of notice. An account is elsewhere printed of the cases devoted
to the presentation of objects used in games. A very curious and
complete exhibition of objects connected with Chinese worship in America
is made by the Archæological Department of the University of
Pennsylvania; and the curator, Mr. Stewart Culin, shows in his own name
an interesting gathering of books used by the same people in this
country. The place which toys may be made to take in museums
illustrating folk-lore is well shown by a collection of toys
representing Chinese and Japanese musical instruments by the same
exhibitors. Mr. G. F. Kunz of New York exhibits a collection of precious
stones, or valuable objects, employed as amulets, or with superstitious
purposes. The Australian display contains illustrations of the Bora
initiation ceremonies, and that of Africa representations of disguises
employed in sacred rites not yet explained. As connected with mythology,
the totem poles and carvings of the Haida of British Columbia will be
observed. In the Government Building, Mr. Frank Hamilton Cushing has
constructed a model of a Zuñi priest engaged in the celebration of the
creation-myth. Outside of the exhibition buildings, the Midway Plaisance
offers a continued spectacle of various life. The Javanese theatre is
especially to be mentioned, as worthy of description and study.
THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL CONGRESS.—In the end, the plan of this Congress was
so far altered that the arrangement in separate sections was abandoned.
The Congress devoted to Folk-lore but one afternoon, on August 29, given
to the Collection of Games in the Anthropological Building, and one
morning, August 31, when a certain number of papers were presented. As
these papers will hereafter appear in the proceedings of the Congress,
it will not be necessary here to give an account of them. The attendance
at the Congress, as at most of the scientific congresses, was limited;
but the occasion was found pleasant by those who took part. Persons
desirous to obtain the printed proceedings may send the subscription
price ($5.00) to Mr. C. Staniland Wake, Department of Ethnology,
Columbian Exposition, Chicago, Ill.
ALDEGONDA, THE FAIRY OF JOY. AN ITALIAN TALE.—In a wellwritten
editorial, or leader-review, in the “London Chronicle,” of the book
entitled “Rabbit the Voodoo,” by Miss Mary Owen, the writer, in
referring to my introduction to the latter work, intimated that I could
probably not distinguish between what was American Indian and original
Negro superstition or tradition, because savage races have the same
bases of custom and belief. This view, like many others current among
theorizing folklorists, is to a great extent deceptive. What were the
absolute beginnings of anything in Nature, only Omnipotence can
tell,—yet this is what folklorists for the most part seek, trying to dig
a well with a needle, and neglecting what is for the time being their
proper work,—namely, identifying, with given phases of culture, what
belongs to each.
A tradition, when it has received color, and, as one may say, size and
form, so that it manifestly belongs to a certain _cultus_, has to the
mere beginnings, which men hunt so zealously through variants, exactly
the same proportion as some beautiful cathedral to its deeply buried
foundation or crypt. I have with my own eyes seen an English clergyman
demolish the greater portion of a very fine and well-preserved
Perpendicular church, because he had unfortunately dug out of the
whitewash a solitary little, old, and unornamented Early English window,
or rather peep-hole. The whole church was forthwith “restored” into
Early English! He will not idly read this tale—_non modicam ex hoc
demetes frugem_—who will reflect that any grubber can collect out of
books and pile up variants, but that to grasp the grandeur and glory of
tradition and to feel its spirit is the real mission of learning.
I have been lately reminded of this manifest impression of time on the
form of a legend by examining several traditions which had been
collected for me, in Florence, by a woman alluded to in my “Etruscan
Roman Traditions.” She is ever impecunious, and when reduced to living
on air, like the wolves of François Villon, waylays me in the road, when
a few francs change owner, and a promise is passed that traditional
folk-lore shall be collected and written, as an equivalent. Then my
agent goes about, among old women, into Florentine slums, and out into
peasant homes, and anon delivers to me sheets of note-paper on which, in
very pronounced Tuscan, is written a tale or two, _cosa_ being given as
_chavusa_, and many words divided, the first half tacked to its
predecessor, and the last half to its follower, as certain worms, when
dissected, amicably unite with pieces of their neighbors.
When I lately met my collector, she was, by her own account, going full
speed to utter ruin,—_ad inopiam, velis remisque properat_,—with all
sail set. She had been cited to be fined by the police, her landlord had
warned her for a month’s arrears, all her clothes were in pawn,—she had
in the world only a cent, and that was counterfeit. Result—five francs
surrendered, and a week after sundry writings received.
One of these was called Oldegonda (Aldegonda), the Spirit of Joy. That
there might be no mistake, the writer had put a real ivy leaf in the
MS., partly to serve as an object lesson, and partly to aid in conjuring
the Spirit, or in attracting her favor. And thus ran the legend of
Oldegonda, _la fata della Ellera_ (_allegría_), or the Fairy of Joy:—
Oldegonda, or Aldegonda, fairy of the country (_della campagna_), was
found in a field when but a few days old. One day a contadino, passing
by a forest, discovered a little animal which clung to his leg, and this
creature was a hedge-hog, which led him to a mass of ivy, in which he
found sleeping a beautiful little infant girl. Taking it home to his
wife, he bade her treat it as their own child, and also be kind to the
little animal,—che non le maneba altro che la favella,—who needed only
speech to show a human soul.
But the woman disobeyed her husband, and was wont to kick the hedge-hog,
and neglect Aldegonda, as the foundling had been called. For the woman
had a daughter of her own, who grew in ugliness with every year, even as
Aldegonda grew in beauty and gentleness, so that the former hated the
latter with all her heart. And one day, when they were in the woods, the
little hedge-hog led Aldegonda to the piles of ivy, where she sat in
state. But the daughter of the peasant, seized with jealous rage, that
the hedge-hog was only attentive to the other, cried,—
Siete due stregone!
Tu sei le bella strega
La strega dell’ ellera!
E tu spinone,
Tu sei il stregone!
Ye be sorcerers twain, I trow:
Beautiful witch of Joy be thou:
And thou, great beast with many a thorn,
A wizard, same as I am born!
Saying this, she seized the hedge-hog and threw him into the stream.
Now the hedge-hog was a young prince who had been cursed by a sorcerer
or witch to remain in the form of an animal, until some one should cause
him a violent death. With his fate was linked the love of Aldegonda.
Therefore, when he sank into the water, the spell was broken; he rose,
and gained the green bank of the forest, as a beautiful youth in
splendid attire. And addressing the peasant girl, he said,—
Thou among witches
Shalt be the most malignant,
Thou who couldst never do one good action
Shall be an accursed cat,
But my beautiful Aldegonda
Shall be the lovely fairy,
The Fairy of Joy,
(And he who wishes a favor)
Shall call her with these words:
O beautiful Aldegonda,
Fair fairy of Joy!
By all which thou didst suffer!
For the time of twenty years,
From these peasant women,
As did thy hedge-hog lover,
Now that this is over,
And he is thy husband,
Bestow, I pray, a favor!
As with this leaf of ivy
I make a sign of the cross,
Which thou wilt surely grant!
I beg thee of thy grace,
Make my love return unto me!
Which thou wilt not deny;
I pray for luck in my home,
Which thou also wilt not deny.
And the sign of the cross must thus be made thrice, and the invocation
every time repeated.
This tale, I may observe, is not of the popular traditional type of
Grimm and Perrault, but belongs to the dark lore current among witches
and sorcerers, in which the story, although always ancient, is a mere
frame for the ceremony and incantation. The marked difference between
these narratives and mere _märchen_ is very striking, because the former
are in all cases guarded jealously, as profound and even awful secrets
or formulas. I know an English lady of Italian life, _i. e._, one born
of Anglo-Italian parentage—who has for a long time been “in with the
witches,” and she has never yet been able to get her most intimate
_strega_ to converse on sorcery, or repeat a line of a legend, except in
the open air, far away from profane hearing. One reason for this is that
all such stories, especially the incantations, are generally sung. This
is done in a very peculiar tone of voice. It sometimes requires years to
get the right intonation which renders a certain incantation effective.
Therefore, if one were to be heard singing _alla strega_, or in witch
tunes, to a young lady, there would be a “difficulty.”
_Charles Godfrey Leland._