Albanian Tales

IT is becoming increasingly apparent that if any book be sufficiently odd either in subject matter or composition its success is assured in the present day market. Any excuse other than an extreme out-of-the-wayness would be difficult to find for the publication of Mr. Cooper's Albanian Tales. The fact that both the people and language of Albania are about as obscure as those of any country on earth is the only element of definite economic value possessed by this collection: that is, if one leaves out of account the expensive binding, and a number of excellent wood cuts by Ilse M. Bischoff.

The stories themselves are familiar to every reader from standard collections of folk lore and fairy tales. A decided crudity of imagination and a jarring style of relation preserved intact in Mr. Cooper's translation, are the only differentiating marks between these stories and those of the Grimm brothers.

They contain, of course, a certain charming naivete and primitive vigor which will appeal to all those who are not annoyed by page after page of choppy declarative sentences and who enjoy a continuous parade of childish conceptions. The reader should further be warned not to let the title deceive him. No lurid tales of feminine wiles are forthcoming.