SCHEEFNER. F. A. von Schiefuer was an authority on Finnish, edited Castren's grammars of Samoyedan and similar languages, and trans lated thetiorthern epie, the Kalcwala. Ile worked with great results among the mysterious Languages of the Caucasus, and helped General von Uslar in his discoveries in the ethnology and philology of that region. But his speciality was Tibetan. The Russian Government became possessed of copies of two editions of the Kah-gynr, one of the two collections of sacred books of Tibet, which run to 100 or 108 volumes folio; the com panion encycloptedia, the Tan-gyur, consisting of 225. From the first of the seven divisions of the former group, Professor Schiefner extracted all the legends and storieo. They correspond to the stories of the Panchatantm, of the Russian col lections of folk-lore, of A:sop, and of the Brothers Grimm. Thus the opening tale of King Mandh atar and his iinmoderate wishes is the KUM as Gritnin's Fisherman and his Wife ; that of Kusa is much like Beauty and the Beast ; tho Clever Thief is a variation of the well-known story told by Herodotus of the treasure of Rhainpsinitus.
One of the best stories is that of Visakha, a clever and virtuous girl, whose ways of helping people out of difficulties are innumerable. Among her decisions is one between two wives who are claim ing possession of a son, an exact counteTart of the Judgment of Solomon. The story of busroni and her magic lute is akin to those of Orpheus, Amphion, and the Pied I'iper of Hamelin ; and the humiliations of Madri, the wife of the princely Visvantara, are an anticipation of those of patient Griselda. The similarity of the short annual otories to .tEsop and other western collections, is apparent, the chief differences being purely local, the jackal taking the place of the fox, the lion of the wolf, and so forth. Most of them, however, deal with monkeys, who live in bands of five hundreds under a chief, wise or foolish.