366 THE MAGIC OF JEWELS AND CHARMS
believed
that Sir J. Thurston, at this time governor of the islands, had secured
possession of the confiscated crystal." It is rather difficult to
determine in what proportions truth and fiction are represented in this
tale.
The
doctrine of sympathy finds an echo among the natives of Melanesia. In
the Banks Islands, for instance, if a native comes across a piece of
coral to which the action of the waves has imparted the form of a loaf
of bread, this will be taken to signify that such a coral has an
affinity with the bread-fruit tree, and the native will bury it under
such a tree in the confident expectation that its fruit-bearing quality
will be enhanced thereby. Chance may perhaps seem to prove the truth of
his belief, and in this case he will permit his neighbors to bury stones near his own, so that somewhat of its virtue may pass into them.33
To
have one's life depend upon the safe preservation of a talisman may not
always be a blessing, as appears in a Kalmuck story. A Khan who owned
such a talisman thought that he had concealed it so effectively that no
one could find it, and hence he did not hesitate to make the discovery
of its hiding-place a crucial test of the skill of a wise man who came
to visit his court. The sage proved equal to the emergency and found
the talisman while its owner was asleep, but was so rejoiced at the
successful accomplishment of the task that he very irreverently clapped
a bladder on the sleeping Khan's head, who was so much enraged at the
indignity that he ordered the wise man's immediate execution. However,
the latter quickly made use of the magic power over the Khan's life
that the possession of the talisman gave him, and cast it down so
violently as to break it. No sooner
β " Folk Lore," vol. xxiv, No. 2, July, 1913, Story sent to E. R. Marett by Mr. D. Jenness of Baliol College, Oxford.
»Fraser, "The Golden Bough," Pt. I, "The Magic Art," London, 1911, vol i, p. 164.
