The Child and Childhood in Folk-Thought: Studies of the Activities and Influences of the Child Among Primitive Peoples, Their Analogues and Survivals in the Civilization of To-DayChamberlain, Alexander Francis
Science
The Child and Childhood in Folk-Thought: Studies of the Activities and Influences of the Child Among Primitive Peoples, Their Analogues and Survivals in the Civilization of To-Day
Chamberlain, Alexander Francis
Child rearing; Children -- Folklore; Folklore and children
"The accuser had sold some property to the other, who, in clearing out a
cellar, had found a treasure. He now demanded that the accused should
give up the treasure, since he had bought the property without it; while
the other maintained that the accuser possessed no right to the
treasure, since he had known nothing of it, and had sold the property
with all that it contained. After long meditation, David adjudged that
the treasure should be divided between them. But Solomon inquired of the
accuser whether he had a son, and, when he replied that he had a son, he
inquired of the other if he had a daughter; and he also answering in the
affirmative, Solomon said: 'If you will adjust your strife so as not to
do injustice one to the other, unite your children in marriage, and give
them this treasure as their dowry.'" In many other difficult cases,
David, after the loss of the tube which, according to legend, the angel
Gabriel brought him, was aided in judgment by the wisdom and
far-sightedness of his young son. A decision similar to that of Solomon
is attributed to Buddha, when a child, and to Christ.
_Child-Judgments_.
Müllenhoff records two cases of child-judgments in his collection of the
folk-lore of Schleswig-Holstein. The first is as follows: "A branch of
the river Widau, near Tondern, is named Eenzau, from the little village
Eenz in the parish of Burkall. Where the banks are pretty high and
steep, a man fell into the water once upon a time, and would have been
drowned had not a certain person, hearing his cries, hastened to the
river, and, holding out a pole, enabled the drowning man to help himself
out. In doing so, however, he put out an eye. The rescued man appeared
at the next thing (court), entered a complaint against the other, and
demanded compensation for his lost eye. The judges, not knowing what to
make of the case, put it off till the next thing, in order to meditate
upon it in the meantime. But the third thing came, and the
district-judge had not made up his mind about it. Out of humour, he
mounted his horse and rode slowly and thoughtfully in the direction of
Tondern, where the thing was then held. He reached Rohrkarrberg, and,
opposite the house which is still standing there, lay a stone heap, upon
which sat three herd-boys, apparently busy with something of importance.
'What are you doing there, children?' asked the judge. 'We are playing
thing' (court), was the answer. 'What is the matter before the court?'
continued the judge. 'We are trying the case of the man who fell into
the Eenzau,' they answered, and the judge held his horse to await the
verdict. The boys did not know him, for he was well hidden in his cloak,
and his presence did not disturb them. The judgment rendered was, that
the man who had been rescued should be thrown into the stream again at
the same spot; if he was able to save himself, then he should receive
compensation for the eye he had lost; if he could not, the decision was
to be in favour of the other.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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