【英文读物】Babylon.docx
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1、【英文读物】BabylonPREFACE.For the name Folk-lore in its present signification, embracing the Popular Traditions, Proverbial Sayings, Superstitions, and Customs of the people, we are in a great measure indebted to the late editor of Notes and QueriesMr. W. J. Thomswho, in an anonymous contribution to the
2、Athen?um of 22nd August, 1846, very aptly suggested this comprehensive term, which has since been adopted as the recognised title of what has now become an important branch of antiquarian research.The study of Folk-lore is year by year receiving greater attention, its object being to collect, classi
3、fy, and preserve survivals of popular belief, and to trace them as far as possible to their original source. This task is no easy one, as school-boards and railways are fast sweeping away every vestige of the old beliefs and customs which, in days gone by, held such a prominent place in social and d
4、omestic life. The Folk-lorist has, also, to deal with remote periods, and to examine the history of talesiv and traditions which have been handed down from the distant past and have lost much of their meaning in the lapse of years. But, as a writer in the Standard has pointed out, Folk-lore students
5、 tread on no mans toes. They take up points of history which the historian despises, and deal with monuments more intangible but infinitely more ancient than those about which Sir John Lubbock is so solicitous. They prosper and are happy on the crumbs dropped from the tables of the learned, and grow
6、 scientifically rich on the refuse which less skilful craftsmen toss aside as useless. The tales with which the nurse wiles her charge asleep provide for the Folk-lore student a succulent banquetfor he knows that there is scarcely a childs story or a vain thought that may not be traced back to the b
7、oyhood of the world, and to those primitive races from which so many polished nations have sprung.The field of research, too, in which the Folk-lorist is engaged is a most extensive one, supplying materials for investigation of a widespread character. Thus he recognises and, as far as he possibly ca
8、n, explains the smallest item of superstition wherever found, not limiting his inquiries to any one subject. This, therefore, whilst enhancing the value of Folk-lore as a study, in the same degree increases its interest, since with a perfect impartiality it lays bare superstition as it existsv among
9、 all classes of society. Whilst condemning, it may be, the uneducated peasant who places credence in the village fortune-teller or cunning man, we are apt to forget how oftentimes persons belonging to the higher classes are found consulting with equal faith some clairvoyant or spirit-medium.Hence, h
10、owever reluctant the intelligent part of the community may be to own the fact, it must be admitted that superstition, in one form or another, dwells beneath the surface of most human hearts, although it may frequently display itself in the most disguised or refined form. Among the lower orders, as a
11、 writer has observed, it wears its old fashions, in the higher it changes with the rapidity of modes in fashionable circles. Indeed, it is no matter of surprise that superstition prevails among the poor and ignorant, when we find the affluent and enlightened in many cases quite as ready to repose th
12、eir belief in the most illogical ideas.In conclusion, we would only add that the present little volume has been written with a view of showing how this rule applies even to the daily routine of Domestic Life, every department of which, as will be seen in the following pages, has its own Folk-lore.T.
13、 F. Thiselton Dyer.Brighton, May, 1881.CHAPTER I. BIRTH AND INFANCY. Value of SuperstitionsLucky Days and Hours of BirthThe CaulThe ChangelingThe Evil EyeUp and not DownRocking the Empty CradleTeeth, Nails, and HandsThe Maple and the AshUnchristened Children.Around every stage of human life a variet
14、y of customs and superstitions have woven themselves, most of which, apart from their antiquarian value, as having been bequeathed to us from the far-off past, are interesting in so far as they illustrate those old-world notions and quaint beliefs which marked the social and domestic life of our for
15、efathers. Although, therefore, many of these may appear to us meaningless, yet it must be remembered that they were the natural outcome of that scanty knowledge and those crude conceptions which prevailed in less enlightened times than our own. Probably, if our ancestors were in our midst now, they
16、would be able in a great measure to explain and account for what is often looked upon now-a-days as childish fancy and so much nursery rubbish. In the present chapter it is proposed to give a brief and general survey of the folk-lore2 associated with birth and infancy, without, however, entering cri
17、tically into its origin or growth, or tracing its transmigration from one country to another. Commencing, then, with birth, we find that many influences are supposed to affect the future fortune and character of the infant. Thus, in some places great attention is paid to the day of the week on which
18、 the child is born, as may be gathered from the following rhyme still current in Cornwall:Sundays child is full of grace, Mondays child is full in the face, Tuesdays child is solemn and sad, Wednesdays child is merry and glad, Thursdays child is inclined to thieving, Fridays child is free in giving,
19、 Saturdays child works hard for his livinga piece of folk-lore varying, of course, in different localities. By general consent, however, Sunday is regarded as a most lucky day for birth, both in this country and on the Continent; and according to the Universal Fortune-tellera book very popular among
20、 the lower classes in former yearsgreat riches, long life, and happiness are in store for those fortunate beings born on Sunday, while in Sussex they are considered safe against drowning and hanging. Importance is also attached to the hour of birth; and the faculty of seeing much that is hidden from
21、 others is said to be granted to children born at the chime hours, i.e., the hours of three, six, nine, or twelvea superstition found in many parts of the Continent. There is, too, an idea prevalent in Germany3 that when a child is born in leap-year either it or its mother will die within the course
22、 of the yeara notion not unknown in our own country. Again, from time immemorial various kinds of divination have been in use for the purpose of discovering the sex of an infant previous to its birth. One of these is by means of a shoulder-of-mutton bone, which, after the whole of the flesh has been
23、 stripped clean off, must be hung up the last thing at night over the front door of the house. On the following morning the sex of the first person who enters, exclusive of the members of the household, indicates the sex of the child.We will next turn to some of the countless superstitions connected
24、 with the new-born child. A highly popular one refers to the caula thin membrane occasionally found covering the head at birth, and deemed specially lucky, as indicating, among other things, that the child will never be drowned. It has been, in consequence, termed the holy or fortunate hood, and gre
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