1 1 
lean by preference towards the narrative type. An instance, 
though not very ancient, is that of “The Return of the Soldier 
Husband”, also familiar in Great Britain through Tennyson’s 
Enoch Arden. 
LE RETOUR DU SOLD AT (Page 37) 
French folk-songs, particularly as preserved in Canada, have 
some points in common with those of England, and this is only 
natural. A good many of them are practically the same, except 
for the idiom. Centuries after the Normans had conquered the 
island, the British for many years ruled over northern France, 
even Aquitaine to the southwest. Some geographic names in 
Normandy (such as Dieppe = Deep) are English, whereas many 
more in England are French. Were it not for the rise of Joan 
of Arc, both France and England might have been joined together 
under the same Norman crown. The songs of one nation would 
have been those of the other, for many were common possessions 
in those days of unborn nationality. 
Canadian songs like those of north and central France were 
applied to almost every phase of daily life. There were cradle 
and wonder songs, play-parties and round dances — for the nurs- 
ery; love songs of every conceivable type — many of them quite 
gay; dialogues and vaudevilles; a large number of anecdotal and 
comic songs; rigmaroles; work and dance songs; and, in the 
religious vein, Christmas carols, miracles, and folk canticles. 
Foremost was the working song with its invigorating rhythm, 
intended to sustain the energy of the toilers. It is the best 
known at large. It was used by canoemen, wood-cutters, and 
ploughmen; and again, fullers, spinners, and weavers. Typical 
among these songs are A la Claire fontaine (page 40), Le Plongeur 
et la bamie Lor , Le Fils du roi s en Va chassant , La Fille du roi 
d’Espagne, La Rose blanche (page 42), and Dans les haubans 
(page 44). Le Miracle du nouveau-ne (page 46), which follows, 
is not so well known, nor is it a characteristic work song as 
it combines elements that belong both to the canticle — it relates 
a miracle — and to the work song: a refrain of short lines (eight 
beats, cut in two by the caesura), and fair rhythm. The rhymes 
are consistently masculine, as in ancient poetry. 
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