I guess these are just notes to myself - may not mean much to others. If anyone was wondering why The Grateful Dead is not just a silly Sixties name like The Chocolate Watchband, but is more evocative than that, well, however they came across it - old folk tale books, or whatever - it is an old theme from Tales and Legends, the shortest form being a wayfarer coming across a dead body, giving it a decent burial at their own expense - later the spirit of that dead person turns up to help them out in return. There are many variations in all cultures. It's not so much ancestor worship, as it has that 'Good Samaritan' aspect....

Anyway, I was surprised to find in The Stacks (the underused stuff out in the back of the library) a Folklore collection called The Grateful Dead...so any amusing bits will get put up here. The original folklore work, for instance, was done by an anthropologist called Hippe. Is that pronounced 'hippie'?

The book I have is by Geroud, and using that I went onto the Web and found this great (grate?) page on Grateful Dead Stories

A small pleasure that the book of Tobit is in here somewhere.................