fancy, it is unlikely that they ever produced _exactly_ the same tale in lands which have never been in communication with each other. I am unable to conjecture why Mr. Jacobs, M. Cosquin, and probably other critics, regard me as maintaining that all similar tales in all countries have been independently evolved. I have always allowed for the possibility both of diffusion and, to a certain extent, of coincidence, as in the Red Indian forms of 'Cupid and Psyche' and of 'The Dead Bride,' a shape of the story of Eurydice. Discussion would be simpler, if controversialists took the trouble to understand each other. In the Report of the Folklore Congress of 1891 (p. 65) I find that I said 'the suggestion that exactly the same plot, in exactly the same shape, and with exactly the same incidents, can have been invented by several persons independently, seems to me inconceivable,' and on p. 74 I find M. Cosquin alleging that my opinion is the very reverse, followed by Mr. Jacobs (p. 85). I have tried to explain that I believe in no such exact coincidences of imagination, though how far precisely coincidence may go is a delicate question. CONTENTS. PAGE INTRODUCTION 1 THE METHOD OF FOLKLORE 10 THE BULL-ROARER 29 THE MYTH OF CRONUS 45 CUPID, PSYCHE, AND THE 'SUN-FROG' 64 A FAR-TRAVELLED TALE 87 APOLLO AND THE MOUSE 103 STAR MYTHS 121 MOLY AND MANDRAGORA 143 THE 'KALEVALA' 156 THE DIVINING ROD 180 HOTTENTOT MYTHOLOGY 197 FETICHISM AND THE INFINITE 212 THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE FAMILY 245 THE ART OF SAVAGES 276 INDEX 305 CUSTOM AND MYTH. _INTRODUCTION._