Concerning Lafcadio Hearn Part 28

No. 30.

1905. NATALIKA. ("Stray Leaves from Strange Literature") af Lafcadio Hearn. Bemyndigad ofversattning af Karin Hirn. Stockholm: Wahlstrom & Widstrand, 16mo., pp. 189, decorated paper.

("Runes from the Kalewala" omitted.)

III

LIST, WITH DESCRIPTION, OF SEPARATE PUBLISHED WORKS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER

(Nos. 1-21)

ORIGINAL WORKS

No. 1.

1884. STRAY LEAVES FROM STRANGE LITERATURE. Stories reconstructed from the Anvari-Soheli, Baital Pachisi, Mahabharata, Pantchatantra, Gulistan, Talmud, Kalewala, etc. By Lafcadio Hearn. (Publisher's Monogram.) Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1884.

16mo., pp. (16) 225, green cloth, black lettering, and decorations.

(5) Dedication:--

To my Friend PAGE M. BAKER Editor of the New Orleans Times-Democrat

(7-11) Explanatory (_Extract_).

While engaged upon this little mosaic work of legend and fable, I felt much like one of those merchants told of in Sindbad's Second Voyage, who were obliged to content themselves with gathering the small jewels adhering to certain meat which eagles brought up from the Valley of Diamonds. I have had to depend altogether upon the labour of translators for my acquisitions; and these seemed too small to deserve separate literary setting. By cutting my little gems according to one pattern, I have doubtless reduced the beauty of some; yet it seemed to me their colours were so weird, their luminosity so elfish, that their intrinsic value could not be wholly destroyed even by so clumsy an artificer as I.

In short, these fables, legends, parables, etc., are simply reconstructions of what impressed me as most fantastically beautiful in the most exotic literature which I was able to obtain. With few exceptions, the plans of the original narratives have been preserved....

This little collection has no claim upon the consideration of scholars.

It is simply an attempt to share with the public some of those novel delights I experienced while trying to familiarize myself with some very strange and beautiful literatures.

... My gems were few and small: the monstrous and splendid await the coming of Sindbad, or some mighty lapidary by whom they may be wrought into jewel bouquets exquisite as those bunches of topaz blossoms and ruby buds laid upon the tomb of Nourmahal.

New Orleans, 1884.

(13-14) Bibliography.

(15-16) Contents:--

Stray Leaves

The Book of Thoth. _From an Egyptian Papyrus._ The Fountain Maiden. _A Legend of the South Pacific._ The Bird Wife. _An Esquimaux Tradition._

Tales retold from Indian and Buddhist Literature

The Making of Tilottama The Brahman and his Brahmani Bakawali Natalika The Corpse-Demon The Lion The Legend of the Monster Misfortune A Parable Buddhistic Pundari Yamaraja The Lotos of Faith

Runes from the Kalewala

The Magical Words The First Musician The Healing of Wainamoinen

Stories of Moslem Lands

Boutimar, the Dove The Son of a Robber A Legend of Love The King's Justice

Traditions retold from the Talmud

A Legend of Rabba The Mockers Esther's Choice The Dispute in the Halacha Rabbi Yochanan ben Zachai A Tradition of t.i.tus

New Edition. London: Gay and Bird's, 1902, Crown 8vo.

New Edition. London: Kegan Paul, Trench and Company, 1903, Cr. 8vo.

Articles and Reviews:--

Charles W. Coleman, Jr., _Harper's Monthly_, May, 1887, vol. 74, p. 855.

No. 2.

1885. GOMBO ZHeBES. Little Dictionary of Creole Proverbs, selected from six Creole dialects. Translated into French and into English, with notes, complete index to subjects and some brief remarks upon the Creole idioms of Louisiana. By Lafcadio Hearn. New York: Will H. Coleman, Publisher, No. 70, Business Quarter, Astor House, 1885.

8vo., 6 p. l., pp. 42, brown cloth, design on cover.

(3-4) Introduction (_Extract_).

Any one who has ever paid a flying visit to New Orleans probably knows something about those various culinary preparations whose generic name is "Gombo"--compounded of many odds and ends, with the okra-plant, or true gombo for a basis, but also comprising occasionally "lose, zepinard, laitie," and the other vegetables sold in bunches in the French market. At all events, any person who has remained in the city for a season must have become familiar with the nature of "gombo file,"

"gombo fevi," and "gombo aux herbes," or as our coloured cook calls it "gombo zhebes"--for she belongs to the older generation of Creole _cuisinieres_, and speaks the patois in its primitive purity, without using a single "r." Her daughter, who has been to school, would p.r.o.nounce it _gombo zhairbes_:--the modern patois is becoming more and more Frenchified, and will soon be altogether forgotten, not only throughout Louisiana, but even in the Antilles. It still, however, retains originality enough to be understood with difficulty by persons thoroughly familiar with French; and even those who know nothing of any language but English, readily recognize it by the peculiar rapid syllabification and musical intonation. Such English-speaking residents of New Orleans seldom speak of it as "Creole": they call it _gombo_, for some mysterious reason which I have never been able to explain satisfactorily. The coloured Creoles of the city have themselves begun to use the term to characterize the patois spoken by the survivors of slavery days. Turiault tells us that in the town of Martinique, where the Creole is gradually changing into French, the _Bitacos_, or country negroes who still speak the patois nearly pure, are much ridiculed by their munic.i.p.al brethren:--_ca ou ka pale la, che, c'est neg;--ca pas Creole!_ ("What you talk is 'n.i.g.g.e.r,' my dear:--that isn't Creole!") In like manner a young Creole negro or negress of New Orleans might tell an aged member of his race: _ca qui to parle ca pas Creole; ca c'est gombo!_ I have sometimes heard the pure and primitive Creole also called "Congo" by coloured folks of the new generation.

The literature of "gombo" has perhaps even more varieties than there are preparations of the esculents above referred to;--the patois has certainly its gombo fevi, its gombo file, its "gombo zhebes"--both written and unwritten. A work like Marbot's "Bambous" would deserve to be cla.s.sed with the pure "fevi";--the treatises of Turiault, Baissac, St. Quentin, Thomas, rather resemble that fully prepared dish, in which crabs seem to struggle with fragments of many well-stewed meats, all strongly seasoned with pepper. The present essay at Creole folklore, can only be cla.s.sed as "gombo zhebes"--(_Zhebes ce feuil-chou, cresson, laitie, bettrav, lose, zepinard_); the true okra is not the basis of our preparation;--it is a Creole dish, if you please, but a salmagundi of inferior quality.

Needless to say, this collection is far from perfect;--the most I can hope for is that it may const.i.tute the nucleus of a more exhaustive publication to appear in course of time. No one person could hope to make a really complete collection of Creole proverbs--even with all the advantages of linguistic knowledge, leisure, wealth, and travel. Only a society of folklorists might bring such an undertaking to a successful issue;--but as no systematic effort is being made in this direction, I have had no hesitation in attempting--not indeed to fill a want--but to set an example. _Goue pa.s.se, difil sivre_:--let the needle but pa.s.s, the thread will follow.

L. H.

(6) Creole Bibliography.