resent tense, and in most of the collections is animated and
dramatic. Very primitive expedients are employed to indicate the lapse
of time, either the verb indicating the action is repeated, as, "he
walked, and walked, and walked," a proceeding not unknown to our own
stories, or such expressions as the following are used: _Cuntu 'un porta
tempu_, or _lu cuntu 'un metti tempu_, or _'Ntra li cunti nun cc'e
tempu_, which are all equivalent to, "The story takes no note of time."
These Sicilian expressions are replaced in Tuscany by the similar one:
_Il tempo delle novelle passa presto_ ("Time passes quickly in
stories"). Sometimes the narrator will bring himself or herself into the
story in a very naive manner; as, for example, when a name is wanted. So
in telling a Sicilian story which is another version of "The Fair
Angiola" given in our text, the narrator, Gna Sabbedda, continues: "The
old woman met her once, and said: 'Here, little girl, whose daughter are
you?' 'Gna Sabbedda's', for example; I mention myself, but, however, I
was not there."[13]

If we turn our attention now to the contents of our stories we shall
find that they do not differ materially from those of the rest of
Europe, and the same story is found, with trifling variations, all over
Italy.[14] There is but little local coloring in the fairy tales, and
they are chiefly interesting for purposes of comparison. We have given
in our text such a copious selection from all parts of the country that
the reader can easily compare them for himself with the tales of other
lands in their more general features. If they are not strikingly
original they will still, we trust, be found interesting variations of
familiar themes; and we shall perhaps deem less strange to us a people
whose children are still amused with the same tales as our own.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

ARCHIVIO per lo Studio delle Tradizioni popolari. Rivista trimestrale
diretta da G. Pitre e S. Salomone-Marino. Palermo, 1882-1885. 8vo.

The following popular tales have been published in the
Archivio: _Novelle popolari toscane_, edited by G. Pitre, vol.
I. pp. 35-69, 183-205, 520-540; vol. II. pp. 157-172. _La
Storia del Re Crin_, collected by A. Arietti [Piedmont], vol.
I. pp. 424-429. _Cuntu di lu Ciropiddhu, novellina popolare
messinese_, collected by T. Cannizzaro, vol. I. pp. 518-519.
_Novelle popolari sarde_, collected by P. E. Guarnerio, vol.
II. pp. 19-