The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 59, July 1955 - April, 1956 Page: 243
587 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Book Reviews
Texas Folk and Folklore. Edited by Mody C. Boatright, Wilson M.
Hudson, and Allen Maxwell. Drawings by Jose Cisneros.
Dallas (Southern Methodist University Press), 1954. Pp.
xv+356. $5.oo.
The editors of the Texas Folklore Series have always taken a
broad and sensible view of folklore-the legends, beliefs, customs,
games, songs, and tales of the people of the Southwest-Indians,
Mexicans, white settlers, and Negroes.
Texas Folk and Folklore is composed of material selected from
earlier publications of the Texas Folklore Society, which previ-
ously numbered twenty-five and which have been appearing from
time to time since 1916. Care has been taken to assure the reader
great variety as to type of material and authorship. Within these
limitations, the materials here presented presumably are the best
that had appeared in the twenty-five earlier volumes. Quite appro-
priately, the volume is dedicated to J. Frank Dobie, who planned
and edited the Society's publications for twenty years, from 1923
to 1943-
Whether we call it "a treasury of Lone Star Lore" or an "all-star
roundup of the best of Texas Folklore," it provides much fasci-
nating reading for folklorists and general readers alike. There
are tales told by Indians, Mexicans, and Negroes, stories and songs
for children, legends, ghost stories, ballads, corridos, songs, ser-
mons, games and gatherings, sayings and proverbs, superstitions,
cures, and lore of plants, animals, and oil. Among the thirty-eight
authors are many familiar names, some that are famous nationally.
It is a good book to read in the evenings, between supper and
bedtime. If you do, the chances are that you will go to bed later
than usual and dream pleasantly about ghosts, Indians, cowboys,
Mexicans, old-time Negroes, early settlers, animals, and other de-
lightful things.
Among my favorites of the 138 contributions are "Juan in
Heaven," "The Frog's Courting," "Stampede Mesa," "The Death-
less Pacing White Stallion," "The Legend of Sam Bass," "Follow
the Drinking Gourd," "Sin-Killer's Sermon" by John A. Lomax,
"The Cowboy Dance," " 'Hoping Out' in East Texas," some of the
sayings and proverbs, "The Paisano's Cactus Corral," "Folklore in243
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 59, July 1955 - April, 1956, periodical, 1956; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101162/m1/269/?rotate=90: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.