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JOURNAL, E.A.S. (CEYLON). [Vol. VIII. 



The traditional theory erroneous. "A collection of Folk- 

 lore" — This theory, as an explanation of the book as a 

 whole, will not hold water for a moment, chiefly for the 

 following reasons. Of the stanzas in question, while some 

 are as likely to be the Buddha's own words as any words 

 that are attributed to him, many are obviously mere popu- 

 lar sayings, proverbs, or snatches of popular songs. Of the 

 tales of the past, many are fables, fairy-tales, " Joe Millers," 

 and records of every-day experience, such as are in no way 

 peculiar to Buddhism, but are the common property of the 

 world. The tales of the present — that is, the narratives of 

 the occasions on which Gotama is supposed to have told 

 the story of the past—are in most cases the weakest and the 

 most artificial and, evidently, the latest part of the work. 

 In the case of many Jatakas, the true account is probably 

 something like the exact reverse of the theory. The fairy- 

 tale or "Joe Miller" had to be got into the collection : a 

 moral, gathered from any source, was roughly tacked on to 

 it ; and an appropriate occasion was invented on which 

 Gotama might — had there been such an occasion— have 

 told it. But while this is the case with perhaps the 

 majority, there are some which answer to the theoretical 

 description, where the stanzas and the central stories are 

 evidently Buddhistic, and where the narrative of the occasion 

 is a genuine fragment of the life of Gotama as we have it. 



In view of these facts, and of other considerations which 

 seem to me of less importance, Mr. Rhys Davids throws 

 over the traditional analysis of the book, and proceeds to 

 treat it as being primarily a collection of ancient tales and 

 fables, "the oldest, most complete, and most important 

 collection of folk-lore extant." 



How far is this description correct? — Many of these tales 

 are found in European collections, and without saying that 

 in all such cases the Western has borrowed from the East- 

 ern, Mr. Davids traces the steps by which, in many 

 instances, this seems to have occurred. He translates for 

 us No. 189, "The Ass in the Lion's Skin"— a fable which 

 was known to the Greeks in Plato's time, and is found in 

 every part of the modern world; and then of " The Talkative 

 Tortoise," who, being carried along (at his own request) 

 by two swans, could not keep his mouth shut, and so lost 



