(一) 我从事民俗学工作,是由民间口头文学入手的。记得那是在本世纪最初十年的后期(1918),北京大学公开征集和发表歌谣之后。那些时期,像雨后春笋涌现出来的地方报纸以及部分期刊,竞相仿效,在版面上刊载着一些民谣、儿歌。受了这种学界风气的感染,我开始了对故乡民间歌谣的采集,稍后又涉及谚语、故事,并且对这种野生的文 (A) I engaged in folklore work, started by folk oral literature. Remember that after the first decade of this century (1918), after Peking University publicly solicited and published songs. In those days, local newspapers and some periodicals, which spring up like bamboo shoots, competed to follow suit, with some folk songs and children’s songs on the page. Influenced by this academic trend, I began collecting folk songs of my hometown, later on proverbs, stories,