Saint Andrew’s Night: Germanic Folklore
Saint Andrew’s Night: Germanic Folklore It is commonly believed in Germany that on St. Andrew’s night, St. Thomas’ night, and Christmas and New Year’s nights, a girl has the power of inviting and seeing her future lover. A table is to be laid for two persons, taking care, however, that there are no forks upon it. Whatever the lover leaves behind him must be carefully preserved, for he then returns to her who has it,
The Resuscitated Corpse: Chinese Folklore
The Resuscitated Corpse: Chinese Folklore A certain old man lived at Ts‘ai-tien, in the Yang-hsin district. The village was some miles from the district city, and he and his son kept a roadside inn where travellers could pass the night. One day, as it was getting dusk, four strangers presented themselves and asked for a night’s lodging; to which the landlord replied that every bed was already occupied. The four men declared it was impossible
Good Will Grow Out of Good: Folktale from India
Good Will Grow Out of Good: Folktale from India In a certain town there reigned a king named Patnîpriya, (i.e., lover of his wife.) to whose court, a poor old Brâhmiṇ, named Pâpabhîru, (i.e., a shudder at sin.) came every morning, with a yellow lime in his hand, and presenting it to the king, pronounced a benediction in Tamil:— Nanmai vidaittâl, nanmai vil̤aiyum: Tîmai vidaittâl, tîmai vijaiyum: Nanmaiyum tîmaiyum pinvara kâṇalâm. “If good is sown,
The Gardener’s Cunning Wife: Folktale from India
The Gardener’s Cunning Wife: Folktale from India In a certain village there lived with his wife a poor gardener who cultivated greens in a small patch in the backyard of his house. They were in thirty little beds, half of which he would water every day. This occupied him from the fifth to the fifteenth ghaṭikâ (a Sanskrit technical term referring a division of time (24 minutes). There are 60 ghaṭikās in a single lunar day
The Tiger Guest: Chinese Folklore
The Tiger Guest: Chinese Folklore A young man named Kung, a native of Min-chou, on his way to the examination at Hsi-ngan, rested awhile in an inn, and ordered some wine to drink. Just then a very tall and noble-looking stranger walked in, and, seating himself by the side of Kung, entered into conversation with him. Kung offered him a cup of wine, which the stranger did not refuse; saying, at the same time, that
The Painted Skin: Chinese Folklore
The Painted Skin: Chinese Folklore At T‘ai-yüan there lived a man named Wang. One morning he was out walking when he met a young lady carrying a bundle and hurrying along by herself. As she moved along with some difficulty, (Impeded, of course, by her small feet. This practice is said to have originated about A.D. 970, with Yao Niang, the concubine of the pretender Li Yü, who wished to make her feet like the “new