24 JUNE 1893, Page 12

Old Rabbit the Voodoo, and other Sorcerers. By Mary Alicia

Owen. With Introduction by C. G. Leland. (T. Fisher Unwin.) —Miss Owen, for whose knowledge of the subject Mr. Leland vouches in the most emphatic way, introduces a council of "aunties," Granny, Big Angy, Aunt Emily, Aunt Mary, and Aunt Mymee, by name, old ladies of Negro or mixed Negro and Indian descent, and gives us the stories which they told, their most important listener being one "Tow Head," a White child who is fascinated by the strange medley of witchery and folk-lore with which their minds are stored. The "aunties" are pic- turesquely discriminated, and their tales are curious in the extreme, a little hard to read and understand, it must be allowed, till one has had some practice in the peculiar dialect in which they are expressed. This is a notable book, which will repay the atten- tion of students who arc interested in these very peculiar develop- ments of the human soul.----With this ma 3; be mentioned Russian Fairy-Tales. Selected and translated from the Skazki of Pdevoi by R. Nisbet Bain. (Lawrence and Bullen.)—One or two among these tales are the variants of well-known folk and fairy-tales of the world. Others have a novel look. One noticeable thing among them is the frequent appearance of the Tsar, the Tsaritsa, and the Tsarevna (the Tsar's daughter).