C CTRRENT LITE RAT URE.
A CHILD'S STORY-BOOK.
Polk Tales from Tibet. Collected and Translated by Captain W. F. O'Connor, C.I.E. Worst and Blackett. 6s. net.)—From out of the secret recesses of Asia, where but two years ago no European might gain admittance, steps Captain O'Connor with his sheaf of tales,—tales that were collected from the lips of his friends the Tibetans, full of the gaiety of the true folk-lore, full of quips and cranks and illogical happenings that yet appear perfectly reasonable, tales that will delight little English children, as they rejoice the heart of the big grown-up children of Tibet. For what child is there, young or old, who would not follow with breathless interest the wonderful experiences of the Mouse's three children, or make merry with the Frog that outwitted the Crow, or tremble for Sister Deer when she went searching for Good Faith with Brother Tiger at her heels ? All things take place here after the fashion proper to fairy-stories: the good. brother gathers up the stream of gold, the half-witted boy (that famous hero of folk-lore) passes unscathed through every peril, and the wicked tiger comes to a bad end just as we should have expected. But Captain O'Connor has done more than open this charming world to us. He has told 115 in simple apolognes much about the Tibetans that we cannot gather from learned books, and pointed the way to a new field for study. His stories will have to be fitted into their place in the world's literature, for the Tibetan Hare is the same wise Hare whom we know in the Pali Birth Stories—perhaps he is even Brer Rabbit himself—and the Parrot upon whose life depends the life of the Giant, surely we have met him in the "Arabian Nights"? If ever Captain O'Connor gives us a second volume, we beg him to engage no other artist than he who illustrated the first, and to let us know what happened to the Prince after he had killed the Ogre, and what it really was that the Monkey said to the Tortoise. In any case, here is a delightful new picture story-book to give to a girl or boy at Christmas.
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