“ Sees God in clouds, or hears Him in the wind,"
is true as far as that the Indian recognized the power behind every natural force. His thought instantly goes back to the God who made the wind to blow, the sun to shine, the fire to burn, and so forth. Thus he not only sees God in the sky, but in every creation. All nature sings his praises: birds, waterfalls, tree-tops, everything whispers the name of the mysterious God.
The Indian does not trouble himself concerning the nature of creation. He is satisfied that there is a Supreme God, to whom all nature bows her head ”

“ When Old Sun's work was done—that is, all except the making of people, for his first attempt of that sort was a failure—he breathed life into his creatures 'without going to the trouble of stepping in circles or saying words.' When each began to move with its own peculiar motions, and cry out in its own peculiar voice, the delighted creator bent over his work, breathing flames of joy, and all caught fire. At this juncture, the watching snake bored a hole in the moist earth and saved himself from harm. ”

“ On the other hand, it is true that within the radius of the shadow cast by every Buddhist temple and shrine in Japan, during the sun's daily career through the sky, there is a permanent crop of wonder tales,—how Buddha was manifested in stone or wood, gem. Jewel or tree, washed ashore by the waves or found in bamboo or mushroom; how wonder and miracle-working bits of idols and images have literally "astonished the natives"; how love-lorn maidens have suffered and died, and have come to bedraggled resurrection; how lovers have been disappointed and come to a fiery "resurgam" ”

“ Close by where man and the blind fish rose, was the canoe with the boys in it; for the lads had come back in search of their father. Father and sons now slew the immense fish and drew it to the canoe. But when the tail was put on board, the frail craft was ready to sink. So they had to be content to paddle to shore, dragging the huge fish througn the sea secured by a rope. All feasted grandly that day, and Tamaro was the first to give to his countrymen the strange news that at the bottom of the ocean is the capacious and beautiful dwelling of the Fish-god, whose name is Toroa-of-the-bighead. ”

“ One day, while these great gods were thus engaged preparing a frugal meal, Maui crept up, and by means of a long pole, such perhaps as the ancient bird-catchers were wont to use in snaring birds, reached across the narrow torrent that rushes through rocky Alakahi, and dexterously spearing the roasted fruit, secured them for himself. One of the gods noticed that the bananas were gone and said, "Who is this that has stolen our bananas?" "It is that thievish Maui; he is up to another of his tricks." ”

“ This intimate bond between faith and life was still more closely tied by the fact that religion did not form a distinct circle in the civilization of the inhabitants of the Nile valley and never lost its most intimate connection with the development of the same. Religion, there, never became a self-contained dogma, its fountains always continued to flow. There were no sacred scriptures, from which every doctrine must take its foundation and justification, and to the contents of which every Egyptian was obliged to hold fast or appear as an apostate from the faith of his fathers. ”

“ To that phase of the illustrations and interpretation of the folk-lore of Japan, as well as to its increasing literature, we invite all those who enjoy the study of the Japanese mind as it blossomed out in days long distant from ours. In general, it may be said, that the forms which folk-lore take are the witnesses of processes of thought which are outlived, and which have emerged into higher and nobler methods of illustration and reasoning; but in the progress of the race these steps in advancement are not to be ignored. ”

“ He hears if one implores him; before him tremble all; him worship the spirits in all lands, in peace. He conies to thee, Pharaoh, to thee, Ptah, he comes to thee, creator of forms. Glory be to thee before the circle of thy gods, which thou didst make after thou didst take being, a god of members, that himself builds his members. There was not heaven, nor was the earth, nor was the flood. Thou didst order the earth, thou didst unite thy members, thou didst order thy members. What thou didst find alone, for it thou didst make a place, god, creator of the lands. ”

“ The gentle fairies which we meet with on English soil are not here; nor, on the other hand, do the imps and demons in the Japanese world seem to have as much power as those under the shadow of the Scandinavian precipices or in the twilight of German forests. There are mighty dragons, there are imps and demons, to be sure; but the oni that lurks everywhere in Japan is rather a sly, mischievous fellow, than one armed with supernatural powers. ”

“ Utterly heartless, abnormally conceited, trained by self-torture to the highest pitch of endurance, he might be a menace to civilization were there not one talisman that sends him cowering as did the seal of Solomon the genii. The one talisman that wards him from his dupes is the star of our nineteenth century magician—the policeman—the star, not he who wears it; he is but as other men when he takes it off. Why the star has become a talisman, no Voodoo will, or possibly can, tell. ”

“ They were alone. The demon-crab uttered the charm and speedily put them into an enchanted sleep. The elder lad slept very soundly; the younger one but lightly. In a short time the younger lad was roused by the peculiar noise made by the crawling of the great crab over the sere Pandanus leaves. Guessing the deadly purpose of the crab he instantly shook his eldest brother and told him his fears. Then both ran for dear life.
And so the lads escaped and told their father their adventure. Tamaro now made three immense torches of dry cocoanut fronds—one for himself and one for each of his sons. ”

“ Folk-Lore is not merely a study of the survival of decay, it is the demonstrator of the possible and probable in history, the repository of historical truths otherwise lost, the preserver of the literature of the people and the touchstone of many of the sciences. History may lie, tradition never does; literature may claim to have found the new thing under the sun, but comparative Folk-Lore detects the analogies to other creations. ”

“ I shall not begin this paper as the little boy does his greeting on the morning of April 1st, with "look behind you!"—for my eerie acquaintance, the Voodoo "conjurer," is not behind you, a shadowy figure of your Southern neighbor's past. In substantial flesh and almost superhuman power for mischief, he stands, a verity of the present, shoulder to shoulder with you and me, instantly ready, at the instance of his own hate or another's hire, to jostle us from our place and despoil us of our goods and health. ”

“ Yet, even before the disciplined armies of the Mikado had brought all Japan obedient to his sway. Buddhism entered with her scriptures, codes, art and the paraphernalia of a sensuous cult, all backed by the superior zeal and abilities of the priests from the continent. It is reasonably certain that about seven or eight centuries, that is, from the fourth to the twelfth, were consumed in the political unification of Japan. It is demonstrable that Buddhism required nine centuries for the complete conversion of all the people in the Japanese empire to the faith of Shaka Muni. ”

“ The Circle is a society for the dissemination of knowledge, and the trial of strength. The knowledge is principally biographical, with a fine flavor of autobiographical boastfulness. The members meet when the moon is dark, or when her light is hidden by clouds, and talk of their own and one another's exploits, and give and receive news of the Voodoos scattered from New York to Florida. ”

“ The iron horse travels swiftly for them, as he does for us, on his beaten track; but not all their tracks, by any means, are beaten. The water snake and the swallow are fit emblems of the Voodoo traveller going his secret way and leaving no more trace than the snake does on the pool, or the bird on the air. The man of mystery has a swift foot, but he cannot outspeed the locomotive and the telegraph, and yet, sometimes his messages anticipate steam and electricity. Telepathy is one of their agents, but that, I am assured, is never quite reliable for more than one vivid impression. ”

“ Some of the most charming literature we have in the line of folk-lore has been done by women. Speaking for myself, I am very proud to acknowledge on this occasion, that it was a woman who first interested me in folk-lore, or, more accurately speaking, in folk song, for it was not until I had read the delightful work of Madame the Countess Martinengo-Cesaresco, that I became aware of the vastness and the beauty and fascination of the study to which that charming lady introduced me. It is to a woman that we are indebted for the only compilation of West Indian folk tales ”

“ When they have vanished, the curio-hunter in the realm of Afro-American folk-lore will realize that the mines he sought to open have disappeared like submerged lands, and that the generation most closely allied to the primitive state of man, and which yet was near enough to him for scientific investigation, has disappeared forever. ”

“ The imagination of the country folk peoples them with nixies and elves of either sex; but there are few stories of them, as they do not like to mingle with men, and generally do so to the disadvantage of the mortals. Next to the trees of the sacred forests, the wells springing from the mysterious depths of the earth enjoyed the highest worship among the ancient Teutons. ”

“ Says President Gomme of the London society: "No science dealing with man is quite perfect without the aid of Folk-Lore." Geological facts are sustained by traditional accounts, historical statements shown to be illusions, botanical knowledge has been forwarded, mythology entirely reconstructed; and literature, always drawing its inspiration from the people, owes much to FolkLore. In short, every study, whose end is that proper study of Mankind to which the great poet alluded, is assisted by this most universal, wide-embracing science. ”

“ He has horns, and his eyes are like the sun; in fact all his senses are unlimited in their sphere of usefulness. A model of dignity, honor, sacredness, power and mystery—all these together create the atmosphere of awfulness to their mind. ”

“ The one of the earth sent earthquakes and fire. The earth shook, heaved, and rent. Water rushed out of the cracks, the earth seemed to sink, and the sea rushed over the land. The people took to their canoes; some were lost in the wild waste of waters, others were lost by their canoes being struck by floating timber. As the waters rose, trees were drawn up from the shattered earth, striking the canoes underneath. A few canoe-loads gained a high mountain and were saved. ”

“ These various people bringing their old hereditary traditions, the Tartar-Corean stock having the Shamanism and beast-idealizing and worship, together with all the repertoire of ideas and imaginings of Chinese Asia; the Southern element carrying over to the islands a wonderful mass of mythology that has close connection with the sea and the waters under the earth; the Buddhists conveying fresh elements of myth and story from both the cold and warm parts of the mainland, have all had their share in making Japan's folk-lore. ”

“ He is held as a large bird, and is called the thunder-bird, and depicted as the impatient and wrathy god of war, at whose presence even the ever-smiling and kind great grandfather, the Sun, hides his face. ”

“ And here, in our midst, one race is being ruthlessly swept out of existence, and its lore fast perishing, another has just passed from a condition favorable to the development of legend and popular literature, and another stratum of our population is evanescent, and with Americanization of the emigrant, passes away his rich fund of inherited customs, superstitions, and literature. Folk-Lore societies encourage the collection, publication, and study of this important and beneficent information and serve an important purpose in our civilization. ”

“ Therefore all well brought up and ambitious youths usually sought for God's good-will in solitary seasons of prayer and fasting, and gave feasts to the more experienced "medicine-men" for advice. As one of these savage sages once remarked to an ambitious youth," "Without the help of the Great Mystery you need not expect to be a great warrior or a great hunter, and you never could be a feast-maker unless you are a hunter."
And so the Indian youth seeks some manifestation of the blessing of his God through some one of his attributes. ”

“ He added that no conjurer needed tricks, balls, or luckstones for himself if he had a strong head and good learning. He ought to be able to look a man dead, or make him see things that were not before him, or do what his heart despised. "I'm the snake man," he boasted, "and my enemies are flapping, squeaking birds." This has an imposing sound, but it is a matter of fact that Alexander wore a luck-ball for thirty years. The time was, he said, when he needed it, and after he had gone through all the degrees and ordeals of Voodoo he wore it for "old times' sake." ”

“ It has often been asserted that the dwarfs, mentioned in the ancient Sagas, were not real men, but mythical and allegorical beings, meant to typify certain powers and conditions of nature. . . But in the description of dwarfs as given by the Sagas, we find too many and too distinct ethnological characters to admit of any such theory. The reason for supposing that the dwarfs have no historical reality is probably, in the first instance, that they are said to have performed several supernatural and impossible feats, or, in other words, that they practised sorcery. ”

“ Into this chaos of widely-differing conclusions about the habits of action, thought, and feelings of man, came the new science, Folk-Lore, to correct, by the data of experimental comparison, these erroneous ideas. ”