Twenty-First Annual Report of the Council

THE SAVIOUR GOD, comparative studies in the concepts of Salvation presented to Edwin Oliver James. Manchester University Press, 1963. 37s. 6d. Reviewed by E. P. Baker.

THE SACRED BRIDGE. Researches into the nature and Structure of Religion. By E. J. BLEEKER. Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1963. Pp. 272. 2 8 guilders. Reviewed by E. O. James.

EDWARD LHUYD IN THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS 1699–1700. By J. L. CAMPBELL and DERICK THOMSON. Clarendon Press: Oxford University Press, 1963. Pp. xxxii, 319; plates XXIII. 63s. Reviewed by Stewart F. Sanderson.

VOLK UND VOLKSTÜMLICHE MOTIVIK IM FESTWERK DES BAROCKS. Dargestellt an Dresdner Bildquellen. By FRIEDRICH SIEBER. Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für deutsche Volkskunde vol. 21. Berlin, Akademie Verlag, i960. Pp. xii, 202. 29 text figs and 112 plates. Reviewed by Ellen Ettlinger.

FEBOLD FEBOLDSON: TALL TALES FROM THE GREAT PLAINS. By PAUL R. BEATH. New Edition including: Louise Pound, ‘Nebraska Strong Men and Olof Bergstrom Swedish Pioneer’. University of Nebraska Press, 1959. Pp. 137. Reviewed by C. A. Burland.

BUSOJARAS MOHACSON. By L. Mandoki. Pecs, 1963. Reviewed by E. O. James.

JAPANESE RAINMAKING AND OTHER FOLK PRACTICES. By GEOFFREY BOWNAS. 176 pp. George Allen &; Unwin Ltd, 1963. 25s. Reviewed by W. H. Hudspeth.

THE MENOMINI LANGUAGE. By LEONARD BLOOMFIELD. London, Yale University Press, 1963. Pp. 515. 72s. net. Reviewed by C. A. Burland.

JUBELFEST. By J.-Ö. SWAHN. Lund, 1963. Reviewed by W. R. Mead.

LACE. By L. W. VANDER MEULEN-NALLE. London, Merlin Press, 1963. Pp. 79 + 32. 5 plates. Reviewed by W. Bonser.

SKANDINAVISCHE BALLADEN DES MITTELALTERS. By I.-M. GREVERUS. Rowohlt, Hamburg, 1963. Reviewed by W. R. Mead.

KINSHIP AND COMMUNITY IN CARRIACOU. By M. G. SMITH. New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1962. Reviewed by A. William-Ellis.

JAHRBUCH FÜR VOLKSKUNDE DER HEIMATVERTRIEBENEN. Vol. vi. Freilassing, Otto Müller, 1961. Pp. 207. Reviewed by Ellen Ettlinger.

CONTES CORSES. By GENEVIÈVE MASSIGNON. Centre d'Etudes Corses de la Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines d'Aix, 1963. Reviewed by Violet Alford.

THREE BAGS OF GOLD AND OTHER INDIAN FOLKTALES. By MURKOT KUNHAPPA. Asia Publishing House, 1963. Pp. 134. 25s. Reviewed by J. H. Hutton.

FIABE E LEGGENDE ROMAGNOLE. Corpus delle Tradizioni populari Romagnole. Edited by P. TOSCHI and ANGELO FABI. Bologna, Cappelli Editore, 1963. Pp. xii, 303,12 plates. Reviewed by Ellen Ettlinger.     

Anti-Housewives and Ogres' Housekeepers: The Roles of Bluebeard's Female Helper

In 1997, Daniela Hempen published a short research paper in Folklore (108:45-8) about a somewhat unexpected character in some Bluebeard stories. Hempen calls her Bluebeard's female helper. An old woman employed in Bluebeard's home in two tales in the first edition of the Grimms' Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1812), she is found by the newlywed or newly betrothed heroine already at her grisly work: in The Castle of Murder ( Das Mordschloss ) (no. 73) scrubbing the intestines of a former victim; in The Robber Bridegroom ( Der Räuberbräutigam ) (no. 40) with water on to boil, ready to cook the chopped-up corpse of the heroine. To discover the meanings of this odd character, help cannot be sought from the scholarship of the past for, as Hempen remarks, the female helper has been constantly overlooked in 'Bluebeard' criticism. The present essay seeks to rectify this neglect.     

Marriage Customs of the Southern Gallas

Evidence shows divergent perceptions of the wolf in different parts of the world. The populations of Asia, the Near East and the indigenous peoples of North America see the wolf positively, as an ideal hunter, warrior and survivor in the wilderness, although shepherds and animal-herders in these regions seem to have an ambivalent attitude towards the animal. Among many of the peoples mentioned above, there appears to be a desire to emulate the wolf, and magical powers have been attributed to the animal and to his body parts. On the other hand, the wolf is feared as a ravenous beast by the populations of Europe and by European immigrants to America.     

Sirmur Folklore Notes

DEUTSCHES JAHRBUCH FÜR VOLKSKUNDE. Vol. III, Part i. Akademie Verlag, Berlin, 1957. Pp. 343, Plates VIII and text illustrations. Reviewed by E. Ettlinger.

DAS ST. LAMBRECHTER PASSIONSSPIEL VON 1606. Passio Domini AND Dialogus in Epiphania Domini DES JOHANNES GEIGER. Edited by P. OTHMAR WONISCH, O.S.B. Vienna, 1957. Veröffentlichungen des Österreichischen Museums für Volkskunde, Vol. xi. Pp. viii, 96. Reviewed by E. Ettlinger.

THE ROAD TO SANTIAGO. By WALTER STARKIE. John Murray, 1957. Pp.338. 25s. Reviewed by Violet Alford.

JOURNAL OF THE ENGLISH FOLK DANCE AND SONG SOCIETY, Vol. VIII, No. 1. 1956. Reviewed by Michael M. Rix.

MENSA SACRA : THE ROUND TABLE AND THE HOLY GRAIL. By A. A. BARB. Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, XIX, 1–2, 1956. Reviewed by H. R. Ellis Davidson.