Gypsy Folk Tales - Softcover

Groome, Francis Hindes

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1410203042 ISBN 13: 9781410203045

Publisher: University Press of the Pacific, 2002

Synopsis

A close observer of English and Welsh gypsies, Francis Hindes Groome assembled seventy-six traditional tales from them and from a group of East European gypsies who came to the north of England in 1886. The tales belong to the Indo-European category of magical fictions, and include comparative end-notes written by Groome. In a seventy-four page introduction he developed his diffusionist theory of the gypsies as carriers of folk tales from India to Persia and America, to the Balkan Peninsula and thence to western Europe. What others saw as survivals in German peasant tales Groome perceived as living realities in gypsy tales, whose characters sold blood to the devil, saw fairies, worshiped trees, and observed taboos, just as the storytellers did in their own lives.

About this title

About the Author:

Francis Hindes Groome (30 August 1851 - 24 January 1902), was a writer and foremost commentator of his time on the Romani people, their language, life, history, customs, beliefs, and lore. His article on 'Gipsies', in the ninth edition of the Encyclopędia Britannica, made him known to the world as a gypsyologist. In 1899 he published his most significant book for folklorists, Gypsy Folk-Tales. These well-annotated collections are a significant addition to the comparative study of the world's folktales. He also co-edited the first three volumes of Gypsy Lore Society's Journal, and wrote nineteen brief articles and collections of folktales for it. He died on 24 January 1902, and was buried at Monk Soham, Suffolk.

About this edition

• Publisher: University Press of the Pacific
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 1410203042
• ISBN 13: 9781410203045
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 388