George Laurence Gomme opens by addressing the traditional antagonism between historians and folklorists, arguing that history and folklore must be treated as complementary studies. Official historical documents inherently leave vast gaps regarding everyday thought, local traditions, and personal practices, which unwritten traditions alone can fill. The author details how local legends, such as the worldwide treasure stories centering around London Bridge, reflect ancient historical events and the cultural friction between conquering civilizations and native tribesmen.
Moving to personal traditions and hero-legends, the text examines figures like Hereward the English patriot. Gomme demonstrates that when historical records are silent, popular tradition fills the void by attaching ancient mythic traditions to real historical heroes, thereby measuring the profound esteem in which those heroes were held by their conquered countrymen. Similarly, unattached folk-tales and nursery tales enshrine primitive social conditions, cave dwellings, tribal assemblies, and early marriage customs such as the practice of the father marrying his daughter, which reflect the non-recognition of fatherhood in early stages of social evolution.
The author dedicates significant analysis to early legal codes and rhyming tenures, proving that unwritten tribal laws were preserved through rhythm and verse by dedicated classes before being codified. These rhyming tenures and clan songs serve as tangible legal survivals from times when law was kept alive purely by memory. By employing rigorous comparative methods, Gomme distinguishes between myths, folk-tales, and legends, asserting that myths are primitive science rather than mere nature poetry or state religion.
Finally, the volume critiques classical and modern historians who dismiss early travellers' tales of savagery in ancient Britain. Gomme insists that these accounts, when corroborated by anthropological survivals in modern folklore, provide invaluable data on the pre-Celtic and non-Celtic populations that preceded written history. Through systematic analysis and classification, folklore emerges as an indispensable repository of the psychical anthropology and early social evolution of man.
