Egypt, a fox lies down in the road in front of a man who is
carrying fowls to market, and finally succeeds in securing them.

This similarity extends to almost every story quoted by Mr.
Smith, and some are so nearly identical as to point unmistakably
to a common origin; but when and where? when did the negro or the
North American Indian ever come in contact with the tribes of
South America? Upon this point the author of Brazil and the
Amazons, who is engaged in making a critical and comparative
study of these myth-stories, writes:

"I am not prepared to form a theory about these stories. There
can be no doubt that some of them, found among the negroes and
the Indians, had a common origin. The most natural solution would
be to suppose that they originated in Africa, and were carried to
South America by the negro slaves. They are certainly found among
the Red Negroes; but, unfortunately for the African theory, it is
equally certain that they are told by savage Indians of the
Amazons Valley, away up on the Tapajos, Red Negro, and Tapura.
These Indians hardly ever see a negro, and their languages are
very distinct from the broken Portuguese spoken by the slaves.
The form of the stories, as recounted in the Tupi and Mundurucu'
languages, seems to show that they were originally formed in
those languages or have long been adopted in them.

"It is interesting to find a story from Upper Egypt (that of the
fox who pretended to be dead) identical with an Amazonian story,
and strongly resembling one found by you among the negroes.
Vambagen, the Brazilian historian (now Visconde de Rio Branco),
tried to prove a relationship between the ancient Egyptians, or