xl INTRODUCTION.

for instance, as the magic handkerchiefs (generally
beneficial, but sometimes, as in the story of Ivan Golik,
terribly baleful) ; the demon-expelling, hemp-and-tar
whips, and the magic cattle-teeming egg, so mis-
chievous a possession to the unwary. It may be so,
but, after all that Mr. Andrew Lang has taught us
on the subject, it would be rash for any mere philolo-
gist to assert positively that there can be anything
really new in folk-lore under the sun. On the other
hand, the comparative isolation and primitiveness of
the Cossacks, and their remoteness from the great
theatres of historical events, would seem to be
favourable conditions both for the safe preservation
of old myths and the easy development of new ones.
It is for professional students of folk-lore to study
the original documents for themselves.

R. Nispet Bary.

British Musewm,
August, 1894.