Produced by Lesley Halamek, Jonathan Ingram and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net Will no one tell me what she sings? Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow For old, unhappy, far-off things, And battles long ago: Or is it some more humble lay, Familiar matter of to-day? Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain, That has been, and may be again! W. WORDSWORTH. ESSAYS IN THE STUDY OF FOLK-SONGS. BY THE COUNTESS EVELYN MARTINENGO-CESARESCO. LONDON: GEORGE REDWAY, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. MDCCCLXXXVI. CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION ix THE INSPIRATION OF DEATH IN FOLK-POETRY 1 NATURE IN FOLK-SONGS 30 ARMENIAN FOLK-SONGS 53 VENETIAN FOLK-SONGS 89 SICILIAN FOLK-SONGS 122 GREEK SONGS OF CALABRIA 152 FOLK-SONGS OF PROVENCE 177 THE WHITE PATERNOSTER 203 THE DIFFUSION OF BALLADS 214 SONGS FOR THE RITE OF MAY 249 THE IDEA OF FATE IN SOUTHERN TRADITIONS 270 FOLK-LULLABIES 299 FOLK-DIRGES 354 INTRODUCTION. Wo man singt da lass dich ruhig nieder, Boese Menschen haben keine Lieder. INTRODUCTION. It is on record that Wilhelm Mannhardt, the eminent writer on mythology and folk-lore, was once taken for a gnome by a peasant he had been questioning. His personal appearance may have helped the illusion; he was small and irregularly made, and was then only just emerging from a sickly childhood spent beside the Baltic in dreaming over the creations of popular fancy. Then, too, he wore a little red cap, which was doubtless fraught with supernatural suggestions. But above all, the story proves that Mannhardt had solved the difficulty of dealing with primitive folk; that instead of being looked upon as a profane and prying layman, he was regarded as one who was more than initiated into the mysteries--as one who was a mystery himself. And for this reason I recall it here. It exactly indicates the way to set about seeking after old lore. We ought to shake off as much as possible of our conventional civilization which frightens uneducated peasants, and makes them think, at best, that we wish to turn them into ridicule. If we must not hope to pass for spirits of earth or air, we can aim at inspiring such a measure of confidence as will persuade the natural man to tell us what he still knows of those vanishing beings, and to lend us the key to his general treasure-box before all that is inside be reduced to dust.