EVOLUTION IN FOLK LORE. 45 



large regular cavities -which are said to have been the refuge of 

 Protestants during the religious wars. They were afterward con- 

 verted into quarries, from which a soft shell stone was obtained. 

 The places are still to be seen where the barges landed at the en- 

 trance of the quarries, and the older people of the country remem- 

 ber when they were worked. 



For specimens of modern cave dwellings in the United States 

 we might turn to the sod-houses of the Western plains, which the 

 settlers construct for temporary shelter while waiting for a supply 

 of lumber with which to build a more conventional if not better 

 house. They can not, however, be classed with the permanent 

 dwellings which this paper has held in view. As soon as the new 

 house is done, they are turned over to the cattle and pigs, or aban- 

 doned and left to the mercy of the elements. 







T 



EVOLUTION IN FOLK LORE. 



AN OLD STORY IN A NEW FORM. 



By DAVID DWIGHT WELLS. 



the historian folk lore is both a blessing and a curse. It 

 presents an almost insurmountable barrier to scientific in- 

 vestigation ; for, to separate the kernel of truth from the mass of 

 superstitious chaff by which it is surrounded, is a task in com- 

 parison with which the proverbial finding of the needle in the 

 hay-stack sinks into insignificance. Viewed in another aspect, 

 however, folk lore is of the greatest importance to the inquirer in 

 the past, for it forms the connecting link in the evolution of a 

 tribe, a race, or a nation. 



Long after a people has passed away as a unit, its traditions 

 will survive, and, wherever they may be found, they will point 

 conclusively to the existence of some portion of that race. The 

 legend, however, seldom retains much of its original form, and 

 this is not to be wondered at. Common experience teaches us 

 daily how a story can grow in the mouths of men, and when it 

 comes to be a matter of generations and not of days, it naturally 

 undergoes many marked changes. The legend or folk-lore story 

 adapts itself also to its surroundings, which, parasite-like, cling 

 to it so effectually that often it is extremely difficult to distin- 

 guish the original legend in its corrupted form. 



These changes are especially noticeable when the race or tribe 

 has migrated from one country to another, and a careful study 

 of the alterations which take place in the typical legends of a 

 people illuminates the history of the race itself. 



It is not my intention to enter into any such elaborate under- 



TOL. XLI 



