Some Books of the Week- - (Continued from page 502.) The
imposing edition of The Ocean of Story, with notes by' N. M. Penzer (C. J. Sawyer, Grafton House, W. 1), is now almost completed. The only volume still to be published' is the General Index to the. whole series. Somadava's Katha Sarit Sagara is a great -storehouse of legend, a col- lection of stories of many periods, some of them going back to the furthest antiquity. It has none of the. graces and elegances of the Arabian Nights, but it gains in breadth - and solidity, and for the scholar and anthropologist it is more' important. Tales from The Ocian of Story found their way - into Boccaccio and Shakeipeare, and into the general mass of legend • in the Middle: Ages.. Mr.-Pei:mei, in a very engaging article, describes with what enthuiiiiisni he first came Upon - Tiiwney?s translation, and with what ardour he set himself, although no specialist in. Sanskrit, to produce a worthy: edition of the translation with -all the prohlernii-that are bound to occur in so old a work elucidated with illustrations from the folklore, religion, and literature of ancient and modern countries. He has been generously helped, - by Oriental scholars, each volume having a foreword by some authority. The result is a series of volumes, of great erudition '
and very varied interest; a Worthy setting foi Ta"kney-'s trans-'
lation and a fitting memorial to the genius of Semadava. His' collection is well described as The Ocean of Sift: It repre-1 sents the confluence of the myth-Making and 'tale-telling of many generations- and many cultures.
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