Basque Legends; With an Essay on the Basque Language

Talking animals, seven-headed serpents and household fairies fill the tales Wentworth Webster collected chiefly in Labourd. His introduction describes stories passed on at gatherings to husk maize, wedding feasts and winter firesides, where narrators treated the events as true. The collection groups its material around figures such as the Tartaro, animal tales, witchcraft, fairy tales and religious stories, with variations placed beside several accounts.

The voice of oral storytelling remains close to the surface. In one tale, a ship captain questions his son about school and discovers that the boy has learned to understand birdsong. Webster also compares traditions and considers how language shapes belief. Julien Vinson's essay on the Basque language and an appendix of Basque poetry broaden the volume beyond its stories. Readers interested in folklore can compare recurring characters and motifs while seeing how local tellers give familiar patterns their own details.