Folk-lore from the Dominican republic / by Manuel J. Andrade.

346

Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society

Verse Intermediate | Prose
Form F C R IIF C R F I C R
I 8 14 7 1 3 2 2 3
II 8 26 2 1 10 2 3 14 5
III 1 2 2 4 1 1
IV 7 19 2 3 9 2 2 9 8
V 3 3 1 1 1 2 8 5
VI 2 4 1 1 1 2 40 28
VII 8 13 1 1 2
VIII 11 12 2 5 1 1 2 4
IX 4 7 1 2 2 2

Total 152 100 16 9 36 10 l12 78 55
This tabulation shows that verse is as prevalent in the group of
greatest frequency, as prose is in that of the least distribution.
Omitting intermediate forms, verse and prose appear in approximately inverse ratios: frequent, 52:12; rare, 16:55. It also
discloses the fact that prose and verse are fairly uniform aspects
of some of the stylistic forms. Form I is decidedly poetic. This is
significant from the point of view of conventional patterns, since
there is no a priori reason for preferring to express personification
in metrical composition. On the other hand, prose seems to be the
natural medium for Form VI. And it should be pointed out in
defense of these correlations that the definitions of these two forms
rest on reliable criteria, since the personal equation cannot be a
factor in deciding what sentences are interrogative, and what
inanimate objects are represented as speaking about themselves.
METAPHORS AND INCONGRUOUrS ELEMENTS.
In the majority of riddles we find certain elements which, logically considered, are irrelevant or incongrous to their themes. It
is the tendency of folklorists to regard such elements, implicitly or
explicitly, as calculated to obscure the identity of the object alluded
to, or, as Lehmann-Nietsche says, designed to mislead.' It is safe
to assume that such a design must be present in one form or another
when riddles are invented, for, whatever other interests they may
serve, it is the essential nature of most of them to be problematic.
However, we have no reliable means of determining what elements
were so designed, or which function as such where the riddles are
found. The former is impossible, because the inventors of the riddles
are beyond the reach of our investigation, and the latter could be
1.destinado a despistar, a desviar de la solucion, a la persona a quien va
dirigido el acertijo." Folklore Argentino. Vol. I. Adivinanzas populares,
page 23.