76 Revd. A. H. Francke. — Reynard the Fox in Ladakk. [NoV. 



The Geaeral Secretary reported that Mr. E. A. Gait and Pandit 

 Satis Chandra Vidyabhushan had been appointed to serve on the Phil- 

 ological Committee of the Society during the present year. 



The President announced that Mr. C. R. Wilson had been appoint- 

 ed Treasurer of the Society in the place of Captain A. F. McArdle, de- 

 ceased. 



With reference to a note by Mr. E. A. Gait, the Anthropological 

 Secretary, relative to contributions to Part III of the Society's Journal, 

 the President announced that the Council had approved of Mr. Gait's 

 proposal to have short notes on Anthropological subjects published as 

 a supplement to Part III of the Journal, and he had further authorised 

 the addition of a similar supplement to other Parts of the Journal. 



The General Secretary reported the presentation of the following 

 coins : — 



From the Superintendent, Government Museum, Madras, two cop- 

 per coins. 



From the Government of the United Provinces of Agra and Oadh, 

 three silver coins. 



The following papers were read : — 



1. Beynard the Fox in LadaJch. — By The Revd. A. H. FrANCKE. 



In the following I shall give all those tales of Reynard the Fox 

 which I have collected in Ladakh, in out-line, simply to draw attention 

 to the fact of their existence in a Tibetan-speaking country. The full 

 Tibetan text with translation must be kept for a later publication. These 

 tales seem to be proper folklore ; for of the existence of a literary edition 

 of such tales I have not yet heard. The different episodes were not told 

 singly, nor at several occasions, but together, as if forming one story. 



Although in this country I am unable to compare the Ladakhi tales 

 with the immense literature which has been written on Reynard the 

 Fox in various countries, I shall probably make no mistake in stating 

 that they are comparatively near to the German tales. In both countries 

 we have a king lion, and the bear and the wolf are both duped by the 

 fox. The fox is asked to appear before the lion's court. He is willing 

 to go, but on the way there he plays new tricks on his accusers. Be- 

 sides that, the Ladakhi tale No. 8 is almost exactly the same as one of 

 the German episodes of Reynard the Fox. 



1. 



The lion, the king, had invited the bear and the fox to eat a goat 

 with him. He told them to go to the brook and to wash the intestines 



