Prince Conrad laughed good-naturedly. "Touche," he said. "With your
permission I will proceed with my story. Our cousin, the ex-Queen
Yolanda," he fondled the _ex_ lovingly, "is a determined and clever
woman. She summoned me to the Palace, but only some hours after the news
of Bela's supposed death reached 'er. In the meantime she 'ad driven
through the city as was her 'abit, and telephoned to 'er friend Countess
von Waldek to send this young lady speeding across the country. When I
arrived, very quickly, as you can imagine, on the 'eels of her message
to me, she brought forward the little Princess Maria Lalena, whom I 'ad
seen dead with my own eyes eight years before. The country was seriously
divided into factions, and the Royal Family remained in power only
because no one had disturbed the _status quo_. If we made a misstep that
would 'ave been a bad moment. She 'ad me, and she knew it. If I 'ad
refused to present Maria Lalena to a wondering people, she would 'ave
done it 'erself. I agreed to sponsor 'er, not because I believed 'er a
Princess; but because I knew that if I did not, Queen Yolanda would
raise such a storm as our poor government would never be able to
weather, even with the 'elp of my loyal small army from the mountains,
and all my 'ocus-pocus. Speed was essential. The crown must be offered
to someone, so its proper heir offered it to a usurper."

Maria Lalena seemed to be on the verge of tears. She raised her wide
eyes to Conrad, "I am so helpless," she pleaded, "I never wanted to do
it, and now you are the only person who can help me."

"I 'ave thought of a way," he said, quite gently, in a tone he had not
used before. "It is a little drastic, but will at once restore me to my
throne, and resolve all these difficulties, yours, and ours."

She seemed surprised for a moment until she realised what he meant, and
then she blushed, and there were tears in her eyes. "Oh, Prince Conrad!"
she said, managing to look like something off the top of a wedding cake,
bright and pretty and very, very delicate and sweet. She lacked all the
magnificence of Countess Katerina. She would probably be the perfect
wife for Conrad, he could swash enough for any family, even a Royal one.
Her eyes were acclaiming him marvelous, and there was no doubt that she
meant it. Her cheeks were winsomely pink, her hands clasped ecstatically
at her throat. I felt rather proud to have a Queen for a cousin, and
such a pretty one. Conrad was smiling down at her in pleased surprise.
He had suggested a cool affair of state and found a worshipper. He was
flattered. He took her hands in his and kissed them both formally, but
with a look which promised less formality later.

"For the moment," he said, very gently, "I must give my attention to
these dull affairs, with your permission."

"Of course," she said softly. "Affairs of state must always come first
to a King."

I had felt a little cynical for the first moment or two, remembering the
pastries. But why should I be? Conrad was a handsome man, a romantically
ill-treated Prince, a forceful person, an idol for any young girl. And
she was a pretty, sweet little thing. Any man would think that.
Appealingly pathetic and gentle. Her adoration would be agreeable even
to a Prince.

Conrad turned to us, and his manner had become a little hurried. The
time had come to get us out of the way.

"There are several things to be said to you," he announced. "But for the
moment I will be quick. First, I must apologise. We 'ave been most
unkind to you. I was not merely making conversation when I suggested
earlier that you be offered posts in Alaria. You are lucky men, and we
need luck 'ere. If we can find something interesting for you to do will
you consider the offer to stay?"

"Not I, though I am very grateful to you for thinking of it," I said. "I
am for the quiet life as soon as I can find another shoe."

"To be sure," he answered. "As you wish. You will always be welcome
'ere, but I understand your feeling. I fear you 'ave not tasted the
pleasures of Alaria."

"Oh," John protested. "Really, now! I've never had a better time in my
life." He was grinning like a naughty boy who expects to be reproved.
"I'd like to stay. There is a job here I should like to have, and I
happen to know it is open."

"Good," Conrad said, smiling at his enthusiasm. "And what is your
choice?"

John answered quickly, "I should like to be the Black Ghost."

Prince Conrad laughed at that, appreciatively. "Ah," he said, "but
unfortunately you 'ave been misinformed. That post is not open."

"Neither," John said pointedly, "is the throne of Alaria."

Conrad laughed again. "Under similar circumstances, I wish you all
success--" he said, and would have said more except that John broke into
his speech.

"Good-bye to your Majesties," he cried, and started for the door,
dragging me with him. We were through it before I caught my breath.

"You'll tear my sleeve off," I protested. "Don't slam that door, this is
a palace. What's the matter, anyway? Where are you going?"

"You don't know where we're going?" John laughed. "I can't drive a car
with this arm." He was piloting me down long corridors and back and
forth among servants and guards who stared but did not interfere. "We're
going to Katerina, of course, and you have to do the driving. Come
along."

"Her father was right there," I said, "and you ran off without saying
good-bye to him."

"If I'm successful," he grinned, "I'll have plenty of time to talk to
him, and if I'm not it doesn't matter. Anyway, it would have been lese
majeste to stay there any longer. Even you should have seen that." We
rushed down more corridors, and then, just outside, we found the car
standing in a row of others. John greeted it with a low whoop of
triumph.

"Step into it, old man, and step on it," he urged. "Let's get there
before it's too late to make a call on a lady."

And so, for the third time in three days we drove rather wildly over the
road between Herrovosca and the Pass. I recognised as we saw them again,
a hundred unconsidered landmarks, a house of a deep pink, with
white-flowering vines growing over it, a pair of light bay horses in a
field, twin poplars beside a brook, long strings of mushrooms and
garlics hanging at the windows of the peasants' cottages, and always,
across the wide, fertile valley, the towering, dark jagged mountains of
the frontier, rocky, barren on their upper surfaces, orange where the
sun fell on them.

"Don't drive like the tortoise," John urged. "I've always wanted to
swashbuckle, and now is my chance. Step on it."

I stepped, and the little familiar landmarks hurtled by. We thundered
around corners, and past crossroads, and the Providence that keeps watch
over fools and lovers protected us, so that presently we saw the customs
house, and turned off to the right, down the long, rutty road that leads
to Visichich manor.

"It's only this morning we left here," I reminisced. The road was worse
than I remembered, but it wasn't stopping us much.

"Honk the horn," John ordered. "I think it is just over that hill."

I honked the horn, loud and long, and as I came in sight of the manor
wall, the gate opened to us.

"That's an omen," I said, and drove under the arch, and up to the door
of the old house. I was pretty much excited myself, anticipating a warm
welcome and all the little pleasant attentions I had missed the last
three days.

It was a very old and beautiful stone doorway, and the carving of the
oak door was worn with long use. It opened to us as we approached, and
there stood Katerina on the threshold, in her green velvet gown, smiling
ecstatically, her hair shining against the light like an aureole, her
eyes bright with pleasure.

"I rub my magic lamp and you appear," said John.

"They signalled to me from the customs house," she answered. "I knew you
must be coming here. Did you forget something?"

He jumped out of the car, and caught her hand. "Never," he promised. "I
couldn't do that."

Her voice trembled happily as she answered, "do you know, I rather
thought you would come?"

"You asked me in Vorgo," he smiled. "You said the affairs of this
country might become mine if I chose. I have chosen. That's why I went
away from here, and why I came back."

"The best of reasons," she answered, teasingly, "patriotism! But are you
always so sudden in your entrances and your exits?"

"I'm too entranced ever to make another exit," he said, and together
they went into the old house.

I muttered something about putting the car in the garage, but there was
no one to pay any attention to me, so I stayed where I was.

I didn't want to get out of the car without a shoe.

I had taken three days' leave of my senses, and all it had gotten me was
a hole in my sock.

But of course with John it was different.

                          Transcriber's Notes

--Copyright notice provided as in the original--this e-text is public
  domain in the country of publication.

--Silently corrected palpable typos; left non-standard spellings and
  dialect unchanged.

--In the text versions, delimited italics text in _underscores_ (the
  HTML version reproduces the font form of the printed book.)

End of Project Gutenberg's The Black Ghost of the Highway, by Gertrude Linnell


that was drowned, and made great lamentation. A courtier came riding
by, and he did ask what they were seeking, and why they were so
sorrowful. "Oh," said they, "this day we came to fish in this brook, and
there were twelve of us, and one is drowned."

"Why," said the courtier, "count me how many of you there be," and one
counted eleven and did not count himself. "Well," said the courtier,
"what will you give me if I find the twelfth man?"

"Sir," said they, "all the money we have."

"Give me the money," said the courtier; and he began with the first, and
gave him a whack over the shoulders that he groaned, and said, "There is
one," and he served all of them that they groaned; but when he came to
the last he gave him a good blow, saying, "Here is the twelfth man."

"God bless you on your heart," said all the company; "you have found our
neighbour."

Princess of Canterbury

There lived formerly in the County of Cumberland a nobleman who had
three sons, two of whom were comely and clever youths, but the other a
natural fool, named Jack, who was generally engaged with the sheep: he
was dressed in a parti-coloured coat, and a steeple-crowned hat with a
tassel, as became his condition. Now the King of Canterbury had a
beautiful daughter, who was distinguished by her great ingenuity and
wit, and he issued a decree that whoever should answer three questions
put to him by the princess should have her in marriage, and be heir to
the crown at his decease. Shortly after this decree was published, news
of it reached the ears of the nobleman's sons, and the two clever ones
determined to have a trial, but they were sadly at a loss to prevent
their idiot brother from going with them. They could not, by any means,
get rid of him, and were compelled at length to let Jack accompany them.
They had not gone far, before Jack shrieked with laughter, saying, "I've
found an egg." "Put it in your pocket," said the brothers. A little
while afterwards, he burst out into another fit of laughter on finding a
crooked hazel stick, which he also put in his pocket; and a third time
he again laughed extravagantly because he found a nut. That also was put
with his other treasures.

When they arrived at the palace, they were immediately admitted on
mentioning the nature of their business, and were ushered into a room
where the princess and her suite were sitting. Jack, who never stood on
ceremony, bawled out, "What a troop of fair ladies we've got here!"

"Yes," said the princess, "we are fair ladies, for we carry fire in our
bosoms."

"Do you?" said Jack, "then roast me an egg," pulling out the egg from
his pocket.

"How will you get it out again?" said the princess.

"With a crooked stick," replied Jack, producing the hazel.

"Where did that come from?" said the princess.

"From a nut," answered Jack, pulling out the nut from his pocket. "I've
answered the three questions, and now I'll have the lady." "No, no,"
said the king, "not so fast. You have still an ordeal to go through. You
must come here in a week's time and watch for one whole night with the
princess, my daughter. If you can manage to keep awake the whole night
long you shall marry her next day."

"But if I can't?" said Jack.

"Then off goes your head," said the king. "But you need not try unless
you like."

Well, Jack went back home for a week, and thought over whether he should
try and win the princess. At last he made up his mind. "Well," said
Jack, "I'll try my vorton; zo now vor the king's daughter, or a
headless shepherd!"

And taking his bottle and bag, he trudged to the court. In his way
thither, he was obliged to cross a river, and pulling off his shoes and
stockings, while he was passing over he observed several pretty fish
bobbing against his feet; so he caught some and put them into his
pocket. When he reached the palace he knocked at the gate loudly with
his crook, and having mentioned the object of his visit, he was
immediately conducted to the hall where the king's daughter sat ready
prepared to see her lovers. He was placed in a luxurious chair, and rich
wines and spices were set before him, and all sorts of delicate meats.
Jack, unused to such fare, ate and drank plentifully, so that he was
nearly dozing before midnight.

"Oh, shepherd," said the lady, "I have caught you napping!"

"Noa, sweet ally, I was busy a-feeshing."

"A fishing," said the princess in the utmost astonishment: "Nay,
shepherd, there is no fish-pond in the hall."

"No matter vor that, I have been fishing in my pocket, and have just
caught one."

"Oh me!" said she, "let me see it."

The shepherd slyly drew the fish out of his pocket and pretending to
have caught it, showed it her, and she declared it was the finest she
ever saw.

About half an hour afterwards, she said, "Shepherd, do you think you
could get me one more?"

He replied, "Mayhap I may, when I have baited my hook;" and after a
little while he brought out another, which was finer than the first, and
the princess was so delighted that she gave him leave to go to sleep,
and promised to excuse him to her father.

In the morning the princess told the king, to his great astonishment,
that Jack must not be beheaded, for he had been fishing in the hall all
night; but when he heard how Jack had caught such beautiful fish out of
his pocket, he asked him to catch one in his own.

Jack readily undertook the task, and bidding the king lie down, he
pretended to fish in his pocket, having another fish concealed ready in
his hand, and giving him a sly prick with a needle, he held up the fish,
and showed it to the king.

His majesty did not much relish the operation, but he assented to the
marvel of it, and the princess and Jack were united the same day, and
lived for many years in happiness and prosperity.

OYEZ OYEZ OYEZ
THE ENGLISH FAIRY TALES
ARE NOW CLOSED
LITTLE BOYS AND GIRLS
MUST NOT READ ANY FURTHER]

Notes and References

For some general remarks on the English Folk-Tale and previous
collectors, I must refer to the introductory observations added to the
Notes and References of _English Fairy Tales_, in the third edition.
With the present instalment the tale of English Fairy Stories that are
likely to obtain currency among the young folk is complete. I do not
know of more than half-a-dozen "outsiders" that deserve to rank with
those included in my two volumes which, for the present, at any rate,
must serve as the best substitute that can be offered for an English
Grimm. I do not despair of the future. After what Miss Fison (who, as I
have recently learned, was the collector of _Tom Tit Tot_ and _Cap o'
Rushes_), Mrs. Balfour, and Mrs. Gomme have done in the way of
collecting among the folk, we may still hope for substantial additions
to our stock to be garnered by ladies from the less frequented portions
of English soil. And from the United States we have every reason to
expect a rich harvest to be gathered by Mr. W.W. Newell, who is
collecting the English folk-tales that still remain current in New
England. If his forthcoming book equals in charm, scholarship, and
thoroughness his delightful _Games and Songs of American Children_, the
Anglo-American folk-tale will be enriched indeed. A further examination
of English nursery rhymes may result in some additions to our stock. I
reserve these for separate treatment in which I am especially
interested, owing to the relations which I surmise between the folk-tale
and the _cante-fable_.

Meanwhile the eighty-seven tales (representing some hundred and twenty
variants) in my two volumes must represent the English folk-tale as far
as my diligence has been able to preserve it at this end of the
nineteenth century. There is every indication that they form but a
scanty survival of the whole _corpus_ of such tales which must have
existed in this country. Of the seventy European story-radicles which I
have enumerated in the Folk-Lore Society's _Handbook_, pp. 117-35, only
forty are represented in our collection: I have little doubt that the
majority of the remaining thirty or so also existed in these isles, and
especially in England. If I had reckoned in the tales current in the
English pale of Ireland, as well as those in Lowland Scots, there would
have been even less missing. The result of my investigations confirms me
in my impression that the scope of the English folk-tale should include
all those current among the folk in English, no matter where spoken, in
Ireland, the Lowlands, New England, or Australia. Wherever there is
community of language, tales can spread, and it is more likely that
tales should be preserved in those parts where English is spoken with
most of dialect. Just as the Anglo-Irish Pale preserves more of the
pronunciation of Shakespeare's time, so it is probable that Anglo-Irish
stories preserve best those current in Shakespeare's time in English. On
the other hand, it is possible that some, nay many, of the Anglo-Irish
stories have been imported from the Celtic districts, and are positively
folk-translations from the Gaelic. Further research is required to
determine which is English and which Celtic among Anglo-Irish
folk-tales. Meanwhile my collection must stand for the nucleus of the
English folk-tale, and we can at any rate judge of its general spirit
and tendencies from the eighty-seven tales now before the reader.

Of these, thirty-eight are _märchen_ proper, _i.e._, tales with definite
plot and evolution; ten are sagas or legends locating romantic stories
in definite localities; no less than nineteen are drolls or comic
anecdotes; four are cumulative stories: six beast tales; while ten are
merely ingenious nonsense tales put together in such a form as to amuse
children. The preponderance of the comic element is marked, and it is
clear that humour is a characteristic of the English _folk_. The legends
are not of a very romantic kind, and the _märchen_ are often humorous in
character. So that a certain air of unromance is given by such a
collection as that we are here considering. The English folk-muse wears
homespun and plods afoot, albeit with a cheerful smile and a steady
gaze.

Some of this effect is produced by the manner in which the tales are
told. The colloquial manner rarely rises to the dignified, and the
essence of the folk-tale manner in English is colloquial. The opening
formulæ are varied enough, but none of them has much play of fancy.
"Once upon a time and a very good time it was, though it wasn't in my
time nor in your time nor in any one else's time," is effective enough
for a fairy epoch, and is common, according to Mayhew (_London Labour_.
iii.), among tramps. We have the rhyming formula:

     Once upon a time when pigs spoke rhyme,
     And monkeys chewed tobacco,
     And hens took snuff to make them tough,
     And ducks went quack, quack, quack Oh!

on which I have variants not so refined. Some stories start off without
any preliminary formula, or with a simple "Well, there was once a ----".
A Scotch formula reported by Mrs. Balfour runs, "Once on a time when a'
muckle folk were wee and a' lees were true," while Mr. Lang gives us
"There was a king and a queen as mony ane's been, few have we seen and
as few may we see." Endings of stories are even less varied. "So they
married and lived happy ever afterwards," comes from folk-tales, not
from novels. "All went well that didn't go ill," is a somewhat cynical
formula given by Mrs. Balfour, while the Scotch have "they lived happy
and died happy, and never drank out of a dry cappie."

In the course of the tale the chief thing to be noticed is the
occurrence of rhymes in the prose narrative, tending to give the
appearance of a _cante-fable_. I have enumerated those occurring in
_English Fairy Tales_ in the notes to _Childe Rowland_ (No. xxi.). In
the present volume, rhyme occurs in Nos. xlvi., xlviii., xlix., lviii.,
lx., lxiii. (see Note), lxiv., lxxiv., lxxxi., lxxxv., while lv., lxix.,
lxxiii., lxxvi., lxxxiii., lxxxiv., are either in verse themselves or
derived from verse versions. Altogether one third of our collection
gives evidence in favour of the _cante-fable_ theory which I adduced in
my notes to _Childe Rowland_. Another point of interest in English
folk-narrative is the repetition of verbs of motion, "So he went along
and went along and went along." Still more curious is a frequent change
of tense from the English present to the past. "So he gets up and went
along." All this helps to give the colloquial and familiar air to the
English fairy-tale not to mention the dialectal and archaic words and
phrases which occur in them.

But their very familiarity and colloquialism make them remarkably
effective with English-speaking little ones. The rhythmical phrases
stick in their memories; they can remember the exact phraseology of the
English tales much better, I find, than that of the Grimms' tales, or
even of the Celtic stories. They certainly have the quality of coming
home to English children. Perhaps this may be partly due to the fact
that a larger proportion of the tales are of native manufacture. If the
researches contained in my Notes are to be trusted only i.-ix., xi.,
xvii., xxii., xxv., xxvi., xxvii., xliv., l., liv., lv., lviii., lxi.,
lxii., lxv., lxvii., lxxviii., lxxxiv., lxxxvii. were imported; nearly
all the remaining sixty are home produce, and have their roots in the
hearts of the English people which naturally respond to them.

In the following Notes, I have continued my practice of giving (1)
_Source_ where I obtained the various tales. (2) _Parallels_, so far as
possible, in full for the British Isles, with bibliographical references
when they can be found; for occurrences abroad I generally refer to the
list of incidents contained in my paper read before the International
Folk-Lore Congress of 1891 and republished in the _Transactions_, 1892,
pp. 87-98. (3) _Remarks_ where the tale seems to need them. I have
mainly been on the search for signs of diffusion rather than of
"survivals" of antiquarian interest, though I trust it will be found I
have not neglected these.

XLIV. THE PIED PIPER

_Source._--Abraham Elder, _Tales and Legends of the Isle of Wight_
(London, 1839), pp. 157-164. Mr. Nutt, who has abridged and partly
rewritten the story from a copy of Elder's book in his possession, has
introduced a couple of touches from Browning.

_Parallels._--The well-known story of the Pied Piper of Hameln
(Hamelin), immortalised by Browning, will at once recur to every
reader's mind. Before Browning, it had been told in English in books as
well known as Verstegan's _Restitution of Decayed Intelligence_, 1605;
Howell's _Familiar Letters_ (see my edition, p. 357, _n._); and Wanley's
_Wonders of the Little World_. Browning is said to have taken it from
the last source (Furnivall, _Browning Bibliography_, 158), though there
are touches which seem to me to come from Howell (see my note _ad
loc._), while it is not impossible he may have come across Elder's book,
which was illustrated by Cruikshank. The Grimms give the legend in their
_Deutsche Sagen_ (ed. 1816, 330-33), and in its native land it has given
rise to an elaborate poem _à la_ Scheffel by Julius Wolff, which has in
its turn been the occasion of an opera by Victor Nessler. Mrs. Gutch, in
an interesting study of the myth in _Folk-Lore_ iii., pp. 227-52, quotes
a poem, _The Sea Piece_, published by Dr. Kirkpatrick in 1750, as
showing that a similar legend was told of the Cave Hill, Belfast.

     Here, as Tradition's hoary legend tells,
     A blinking Piper once with magic Spells
     And strains beyond a vulgar Bagpipe's sounds
     Gathered the dancing Country wide around.
     When hither as he drew the tripping Rear
     (Dreadful to think and difficult to swear!)
     The gaping Mountain yawned from side to side,
     A hideous Cavern, darksome, deep, and wide;
     In skipt th' exulting Demon, piping loud,
     With passive joy succeeded by the Crowd.

     There firm and instant closed the greedy Womb,
     Where wide-born Thousands met a common Tomb.

_Remarks._--Mr. Baring-Gould, in his _Curious Myths of the Middle Ages_,
has explained the Pied Piper as a wind myth. Mrs. Gutch is inclined to
think there may be a substratum of fact at the root of the legend,
basing her conclusions on a pamphlet of Dr. Meinardus, _Der historische
Kern_, which I have not seen. She does not, however, give any
well-authenticated historical event at Hameln in the thirteenth century
which could have plausibly given rise to the legend, nor can I find any
in the _Urkundenbuch_ of Hameln (Luneberg, 1883). The chief question of
interest attaching to the English form of the legend as given in 1839 by
Elder, is whether it is independent of the German myth. It does not
occur in any of the local histories of the Isle of Wight which I have
been able to consult of a date previous to Elder's book--_e.g._, J.
Hassel, _Tour of the Isle of Wight_, 1790. Mr. Shore, in his _History of
Hampshire_, 1891, p. 185, refers to the legend, but evidently bases his
reference on Elder, and so with all the modern references I have seen.
Now Elder himself quotes Verstegan in his comments on the legend, pp.
168-9 and note, and it is impossible to avoid conjecturing that he
adapted Verstegan to the locality. Newtown, when Hassel visited it in
1790, had only six or seven houses (_l.c._, i., 137-8), though it had
the privilege of returning two members to Parliament; it had been a
populous town by the name of Franchville before the French invasion of
the island of _temp._ Ric. II. It is just possible that there may have
been a local legend to account for the depopulation by an exodus of the
children. But the expression "pied piper" which Elder used clearly came
from Verstegan, and until evidence is shown to the contrary the whole
of the legend was adapted from him. It is not without significance that
Elder was writing in the days of the _Ingoldsby Legends_, and had
possibly no more foundation for the localisation of his stories than
Barham.

There still remains the curious parallel from Belfast to which Mrs.
Gutch has drawn attention. Magic pipers are not unknown to English
folk-lore, as in the Percy ballad of _The Frere and the Boy_, or in the
nursery rhyme of Tom the Piper's son in its more extended form. But
beguiling into a mountain is not known elsewhere except at Hameln, which
was made widely known in England by Verstegan's and Howell's accounts,
so that the Belfast variant is also probably to be traced to the
_Rattenfänger_. Here again, as in the case of Beddgellert (_Celtic Fairy
Tales_, No. xxi.), the Blinded Giant and the Pedlar of Swaffham
(_infra_, Nos. lxi., lxiii.), we have an imported legend adapted to
local conditions.

XLV. HEREAFTERTHIS

_Source._--Sent me anonymously soon after the appearance of _English
Fairy Tales_. From a gloss in the MS. "vitty" = Devonian for "decent," I
conclude the tale is current in Devon. I should be obliged if the sender
would communicate with me.

_Parallels._--The latter part has a certain similarity with "Jack
Hannaford" (No. viii.). Halliwell's story of the miser who kept his
money "for luck" (p. 153) is of the same type. Halliwell remarks that
the tale throws light on a passage in Ben Jonson:

     Say we are robbed,
     If any come to borrow a spoon or so
     I will not have Good Fortune or God's Blessing
     Let in, while I am busy.

The earlier part of the tale has resemblance with "Lazy Jack" (No.
xxvii), the European variants of which are given by M. Cosquin, _Contes
de Lorraine_, i., 241. Jan's satisfaction with his wife's blunders is
also European (Cosquin, _l.c._, i., 157). On minding the door and
dispersing robbers by its aid see "Mr. Vinegar" (No. vi.).

_Remarks._--"Hereafterthis" is thus a _mélange_ of droll incidents, yet
has characteristic folkish touches ("can you milk-y, bake-y," "when I
lived home") which give it much vivacity.

XLVI. THE GOLDEN BALL

_Source._--Contributed to the first edition of Henderson's _Folk-Lore of
the Northern Counties_, pp. 333-5, by Rev. S. Baring-Gould.

_Parallels._--Mr. Nutt gave a version in _Folk-Lore Journal_, vi., 144.
The man in instalments occurs in "The Strange Visitor" (No. xxxii.). The
latter part of the tale has been turned into a game for English
children, "Mary Brown," given in Miss Plunket's _Merry Games_, but not
included in Newell, _Games and Songs of American Children_.

_Remarks._--This story is especially interesting as having given rise to
a game. Capture and imprisonment are frequently the gruesome _motif_ of
children's games, as in "Prisoner's base." Here it has been used with
romantic effect.

XLVII. MY OWN SELF

_Source._--Told to Mrs. Balfour by Mrs. W., a native of North
Sunderland, who had seen the cottage and heard the tale from persons who
had known the widow and her boy, and had got the story direct from them.
The title was "Me A'an Sel'," which I have altered to "My Own Self."

_Parallels._--Notwithstanding Mrs. Balfour's informant, the same tale is
widely spread in the North Country. Hugh Miller relates it, in his
_Scenes from my Childhood_, as "Ainsel"; it is given in Mr. Hartland's
_English Folk and Fairy Tales_; Mr. F.B. Jevons has heard it in the
neighbourhood of Durham; while a further version appeared in _Monthly
Chronicle of North Country Folk-Lore_. Further parallels abroad are
enumerated by Mr. Clouston in his _Book of Noodles_, pp. 184-5, and by
the late Prof. Köhler in _Orient und Occident_, ii., 331. The expedient
by which Ulysses outwits Polyphemus in the Odyssey by calling himself
[Greek: outis] is clearly of the same order.

_Remarks._--The parallel with the Odyssey suggests the possibility that
this is the ultimate source of the legend, as other parts of the epic
have been adapted to local requirements in Great Britain, as in the
"Blinded Giant" (No. lxi.), or "Conall Yellowclaw" (_Celtic Fairy
Tales_, No. v.). The fact of Continental parallels disposes of the
possibility of its being a merely local legend. The fairies might appear
to be in a somewhat novel guise here as something to be afraid of. But
this is the usual attitude of the folk towards the "Good People," as
indeed their euphemistic name really implies.

XLVIII. THE BLACK BULL OF NORROWAY

_Source._--Chambers's _Popular Rhymes of Scotland_, much Anglicised in
language, but otherwise unaltered.

_Parallels._--Chambers, _l.c._, gave a variant with the title "The Red
Bull o' Norroway." Kennedy, _Legendary Fictions_, p. 87, gives a variant
with the title "The Brown Bear of Norway." Mr. Stewart gave a Leitrim
version, in which "Norroway" becomes "Orange," in _Folk-Lore_ for June,
1893, which Miss Peacock follows up with a Lincolnshire parallel
(showing the same corruption of name) in the September number. A
reference to the "Black Bull o' Norroway" occurs in Sidney's _Arcadia_,
as also in the _Complaynt of Scotland_, 1548. The "sale of bed" incident
at the end has been bibliographised by Miss Cox in her volume of
variants of _Cinderella_, p. 481. It probably existed in one of the
versions of _Nix Nought Nothing_ (No. vii.).

_Remarks._--The Black Bull is clearly a Beast who ultimately wins a
Beauty. But the tale as is told is clearly not sufficiently motivated.
Miss Peacock's version renders it likely that a fuller account may yet
be recovered in England.

XLIX. YALLERY BROWN

_Source._--Mrs. Balfour's "Legends of the Lincolnshire Fens," in
_Folk-Lore_, ii. It was told to Mrs. Balfour by a labourer, who
professed to be the hero of the story, and related it in the first
person. I have given him a name, and changed the narration into the
oblique narration, and toned down the dialect.

_Parallels._--"Tiddy Mun," the hero of another of Mrs. Balfour's legends
(_l.c._, p. 151) was "none bigger 'n a three years old bairn," and had
no proper name.

_Remarks._--One might almost suspect Mrs. Balfour of being the victim of
a piece of invention on the part of her autobiographical informant. But
the scrap of verse, especially in its original dialect, has such a
folkish ring that it is probable he was only adapting a local legend to
his own circumstances.

L. THE THREE FEATHERS

_Source._--Collected by Mrs. Gomme from some hop-pickers near Deptford.

_Parallels._--The beginning is _à la_ Cupid and Psyche, on which Mr.
Lang's monograph in the Carabas series is the classic authority. The
remainder is an Eastern tale, the peregrinations of which have been
studied by Mr. Clouston in his _Pop. Tales and Fictions_, ii., 289,
_seq._ _The Wright's Chaste Wife_ is the English _fabliau_ on the
subject. M. Bédier, in his recent work on _Les Fabliaux_, pp. 411-13,
denies the Eastern origin of the _fabliau_, but in his Indiaphobia M.
Bédier is _capable de tout_. In the Indian version the various
messengers are sent by the king to test the chastity of a peerless wife
of whom he has heard. The incident occurs in some versions of the
"Battle of the Birds" story (_Celtic Fairy Tales_, No. xxiv.), and
considering the wide spread of this in the British Isles, it was
possibly from this source that it came to Deptford.

LI. SIR GAMMER VANS

_Source._--Halliwell's _Nursery Rhymes and Tales._

_Parallels._--There is a Yorkshire Lying Tale in Henderson's
_Folk-Lore_, first edition, p. 337, a Suffolk one, "Happy Borz'l," in
_Suffolk Notes and Queries_, while a similar jingle of inconsequent
absurdities, commencing "So he died, and she unluckily married the
barber, and a great bear coming up the street popped his head into the
window, saying, 'Do you sell any soap'?" is said to have been invented
by Charles James Fox to test Sheridan's memory, who repeated it after
one hearing. (Others attribute it to Foote.) Similar _Lugenmärchen_ are
given by the Grimms, and discussed by them in their Notes, Mrs. Hunt's
translation, ii., pp. 424, 435, 442, 450, 452, _cf._ Crane, _Ital. Pop.
Tales_, p. 263.

_Remarks._--The reference to venison warrants, and bows and arrows seems
to argue considerable antiquity for this piece of nonsense. The
honorific prefix "Sir" may in that case refer to clerkly qualities
rather than to knighthood.

LII. TOM HICKATHRIFT

_Source._--From the Chap-book, _c._ 1660, in the Pepysian Library,
edited for the Villon Society by Mr. G.L. Gomme. Mr. Nutt, who kindly
abridged it for me, writes, "Nothing in the shape of incident has been
omitted, and there has been no rewriting beyond a phrase here and there
rendered necessary by the process of abridgment. But I have in one case
altered the sequence of events putting the fight with the giant last."

_Parallels._--There are similar adventures of giants in Hunt's Cornish
_Drolls_. Sir Francis Palgrave (_Quart. Rev._, vol. xxi.), and after
him, Mr. Gomme, have drawn attention to certain similarities with the
Grettir Saga, but they do not extend beyond general resemblances of
great strength. Mr. Gomme, however, adds that the cartwheel "plays a not
unimportant part in English folk-lore as a representative of old runic
faith" (Villon Soc. edition, p. xv.).

_Remarks._--Mr. Gomme, in his interesting Introduction, points out
several indications of considerable antiquity for the legend, various
expressions in the Pepysian Chap-book ("in the marsh of the Isle of
Ely," "good ground"), indicating that it could trace back to the
sixteenth century. On the other hand, there is evidence of local
tradition persisting from that time onward till the present day (Weaver,
_Funerall Monuments_, 1631, pp. 866-7; Spelman, _Icenia_, 1640, p. 138;
Dugdale, _Imbanking_, 1662 (ed. 1772, p. 244); Blomefield, _Norfolk_,
1808, ix., pp. 79, 80). These refer to a sepulchral monument in Tylney
churchyard which had figured on a stone coffin an axle-tree and
cart-wheel. The name in these versions of the legend is given as
Hickifric, and he is there represented as a village Hampden who
withstood the tyranny of the local lord of the manor. Mr. Gomme is
inclined to believe, I understand him, that there is a certain amount of
evidence for Tom Hickathrift being a historic personality round whom
some of the Scandinavian mythical exploits have gathered. I must refer
to his admirable Introduction for the ingenious line of reasoning on
which he bases these conclusions. Under any circumstances no English
child's library of folk-tales can be considered complete that does not
present a version of Mr. Hickathrift's exploits.

LIII. THE HEDLEY KOW

_Source._--Told to Mrs. Balfour by Mrs. M. of S. Northumberland. Mrs.
M.'s mother told the tale as having happened to a person she had known
when young: she had herself seen the Hedley Kow twice, once as a donkey
and once as a wisp of straw. "Kow" must not be confounded with the more
prosaic animal with a "C."

_Parallels._--There is a short reference to the Hedley Kow in Henderson,
_l.c._, first edition, pp. 234-5. Our story is shortly referred to thus:
"He would present himself to some old dame gathering sticks, in the
form of a truss of straw, which she would be sure to take up and carry
away. Then it would become so heavy that she would have to lay her
burden down, on which the straw would become 'quick,' rise upright and
shuffle away before her, till at last it vanished from her sight with a
laugh and shout." Some of Robin Goodfellow's pranks are similar to those
of the Hedley Kow. The old woman's content with the changes is similar
to that of "Mr. Vinegar." An ascending scale of changes has been studied
by Prof. Crane, _Italian Popular Tales_, p. 373.

LIV. GOBBORN SEER

_Source._--Collected by Mrs. Gomme from an old woman at Deptford. It is
to be remarked that "Gobborn Seer" is Irish (Goban Saor = free
carpenter), and is the Irish equivalent of Wayland Smith, and occurs in
several place names in Ireland.

_Parallels._--The essence of the tale occurs in Kennedy, _l.c._, p. 67,
_seq._ Gobborn Seer's daughter was clearly the clever lass who is found
in all parts of the Indo-European world. An instance in my _Indian Fairy
Tales_, "Why the Fish Laughed" (No. xxiv.). She has been made a special
study by Prof. Child, _English and Scotch Ballads_, i., 485, while an
elaborate monograph by Prof. Benfey under the title "Die Kluge Dirne"
(reprinted in his _Kleine Schriften_, ii., 156, _seq._), formed the
occasion for his first presentation of his now well-known hypothesis of
the derivation of all folk-tales from India.

_Remarks._--But for the accident of the title being preserved there
would have been nothing to show that this tale had been imported into
England from Ireland, whither it had probably been carried all the way
from India.

LV. LAWKAMERCYME

_Source._--Halliwell, _Nursery Rhymes_.

_Parallels._--It is possible that this is an Eastern "sell": it occurs
at any rate as the first episode in Fitzgerald's translation of Jami's
_Salámán and Absál_. Jami, _ob._ 1492, introduces the story to
illustrate the perplexities of the problem of individuality in a
pantheistic system.

     Lest, like the simple Arab in the tale,
     I grow perplext, O God! 'twixt ME and THEE,
     If I--this Spirit that inspires me whence?
     If THOU--then what this sensual impotence?

In other words, M. Bourget's _Cruelle Enigme_. The Arab yokel coming to
Bagdad is fearful of losing his identity, and ties a pumpkin to his leg
before going to sleep. His companion transfers it to his own leg. The
yokel awaking is perplexed like the pantheist.

     If I--the pumpkin why on YOU?
     If YOU--then where am I, and WHO?

LVI. TATTERCOATS

_Source._--Told to Mrs. Balfour by a little girl named Sally Brown, when
she lived in the Cars in Lincolnshire. Sally had got it from her mother,
who worked for Mrs. Balfour. It was originally told in dialect, which
Mrs. Balfour has omitted.

_Parallels._--Miss Cox has included "Tattercoats" in her exhaustive
collection of parallels of _Cinderella_ (Folk-Lore Society Publications,
1892), No. 274 from the MS. which I had lent her. Miss Cox rightly
classes it as "Indeterminate," and it has only the _Menial Heroine_ and
_Happy Marriage_ episodes in common with stories of the Cinderella type.

_Remarks._--_Tattercoats_ is of interest chiefly as being without any
"fairy" or supernatural elements, unless the magic pipe can be so
considered; it certainly gives the tale a fairy-like element. It is
practically a prose variant of _King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid_, and
is thus an instance of the folk-novel pure and simple, without any
admixture of those unnatural incidents which transform the folk-novel
into the serious folk-tale as we are accustomed to have it. Which is the
prior, folk-novel or tale, it would be hard to say.

LVII. THE WEE BANNOCK

_Source._--Chambers's _Popular Rhymes of Scotland_. I have attempted an
impossibility, I fear, in trying to anglicise, but the fun of the
original tempted me. There still remain several technical trade terms
requiring elucidation. I owe the following to the kindness of the Rev.
Mr. Todd Martin, of Belfast. _Lawtrod_ = lap board on which the tailor
irons; _tow cards_, the comb with which tow is carded; the _clove_, a
heavy wooden knife for breaking up the flax. _Heckling_ is combing it
with a _heckle_ or wooden comb; _binnings_ are halters for cattle made
of _sprit_ or rushes. _Spurtle_ = spoon; _whins_ = gorse.

_Parallels._--This is clearly a variant of _Johnny-cake_ = journey-cake,
No. xxviii., where see Notes.

_Remarks._--But here the interest is with the pursuers rather than with
the pursued. The subtle characterisation of the various occupations
reaches a high level of artistic merit. Mr. Barrie himself could
scarcely have succeeded better in a very difficult task.

LVIII. JOHNNY GLOKE

_Source._--Contributed by Mr. W. Gregor to _Folk-Lore Journal_, vii. I
have rechristened "Johnny Glaik" for the sake of the rhyme, and
anglicised the few Scotticisms.

_Parallels._--This is clearly _The Valiant Tailor_ of the Grimms: "_x_
at a blow" has been bibliographised. (See my List of Incidents in Trans.
Folk-Lore Congress, 1892, _sub voce._)

_Remarks._--How _The Valiant Tailor_ got to Aberdeen one cannot tell,
though the resemblance is close enough to suggest a direct "lifting"
from some English version of Grimm's _Goblins_. At the same time it must
be remembered that _Jack the Giant Killer_ (see Notes on No. xix.)
contains some of the incidents of _The Valiant Tailor_.

LIX. COAT O CLAY

_Source._--Contributed by Mrs. Balfour originally to _Longman's
Magazine_, and thence to _Folk-Lore_, Sept., 1890.

_Remarks._--A rustic apologue, which is scarcely more than a prolonged
pun on "Coat o' Clay." Mrs. Balfour's telling redeems it from the usual
dulness of folk-tales with a moral or a double meaning.

LX. THE THREE COWS

_Source._--Contributed to Henderson, _l.c._, pp. 321-2, by the Rev. S.
Baring-Gould.

_Parallels._--The incident "Bones together" occurs in _Rushen Coatie_
(_infra_, No. lxx.), and has been discussed by the Grimms, i., 399, and
by Prof. Köhler, _Or. und Occ._, ii., 680.

LXI. THE BLINDED GIANT

_Source._--Henderson's _Folk-Lore of Northern Counties_. See also
_Folk-Lore_.

_Parallels._--Polyphemus in the Odyssey and the Celtic parallels in
_Celtic Fairy Tales_, No. v., "Conall Yellowclaw." The same incident
occurs in one of Sindbad's voyages.

_Remarks._--Here we have another instance of the localisation of a
well-known myth. There can be little doubt that the version is
ultimately to be traced back to the Odyssey. The one-eyed giant, the
barred door, the escape through the blinded giant's legs in the skin of
a slaughtered animal, are a series of incidents that could not have
arisen independently and casually. Yet till lately the mill stood to
prove if the narrator lied, and every circumstance of local
particularity seemed to vouch for the autochthonous character of the
myth. The incident is an instructive one, and I have therefore included
it in this volume, though it is little more than an anecdote in its
present shape.

LXII. SCRAPEFOOT

_Source._--Collected by Mr. Batten from Mrs. H., who heard it from her
mother over forty years ago.

_Parallels._--It is clearly a variant of Southey's _Three Bears_ (No.
xviii.).

_Remarks._--This remarkable variant raises the question whether Southey
did anything more than transform Scrapefoot into his naughty old woman,
who in her turn has been transformed by popular tradition into the
naughty girl Silver-hair. Mr. Nutt ingeniously suggests that Southey
heard the story told of an old vixen, and mistook the rustic name of a
female fox for the metaphorical application to women of fox-like temper.
Mrs. H.'s version to my mind has all the marks of priority. It is
throughout an animal tale, the touch at the end of the shaking the paws
and the name Scrapefoot are too _volkstümlich_ to have been conscious
variations on Southey's tale. In introducing the story in his _Doctor_,
the poet laureate did not claim to do more than repeat a popular tale. I
think that there can be little doubt that in Mrs. H.'s version we have
now recovered this in its original form. If this is so, we may here have
one more incident of the great Northern beast epic of bear and fox, on
which Prof. Krohn has written an instructive monograph, _Bär (Wolf.) und
Fuchs_ (Helsingfors, 1889).

LXIII. THE PEDLAR OF SWAFFHAM

_Source._--_Diary of Abraham de la Pryme_ (Surtees Soc.) under date 10th
November, 1699, but rewritten by Mr. Nutt, who has retained the few
characteristic seventeenth century touches of Pryme's dull and
colourless narration. There is a somewhat fuller account in Blomefield's
_History of Norfolk_, vi., 211-13, from Twysden's _Reminiscences_, ed.
Hearne, p. 299, in this there is a double treasure; the first in an iron
pot with a Latin inscription, which the pedlar, whose name is John
Chapman, does not understand. Inquiring its meaning from a learned
friend, he is told--

     Under me doth lie
     Another much richer than I.

He accordingly digs deeper and finds another pot of gold.

_Parallels._--Blomefield refers to Fungerus, _Etymologicum
Latino-Græcum_, pp. 1110-11, where the same story is told of a peasant
of Dort, in Holland, who was similarly directed to go to Kempen Bridge.
Prof. E.B. Cowell, who gives the passage from Fungerus in a special
paper on the subject in the _Journal of Philology_, vi., 189-95, points
out that the same story occurs in the _Masnávi_ of the Persian port
Jalaluddin, whose _floruit_ is 1260 A.D. Here a young spendthrift of
Bagdad is warned in a dream to repair to Cairo, with the usual result of
being referred back.

_Remarks._--The artificial character of the incident is sufficient to
prevent its having occurred in reality or to more than one inventive
imagination. It must therefore have been brought to Europe from the East
and adapted to local conditions at Dort and Swaffham. Prof. Cowell
suggests that it was possibly adapted at the latter place to account for
the effigy of the pedlar and his dog.

LXIV. THE OLD WITCH

_Source._--Collected by Mrs. Gomme at Deptford.

_Parallels._--I have a dim memory of hearing a similar tale in Australia
in 1860. It is clearly parallel with the Grimms' _Frau Holle_, where the
good girl is rewarded and the bad punished in a similar way. Perrault's
_Toads and Diamonds_ is of the same _genus_.

LXV. THE THREE WISHES

_Source._--Steinberg's _Folk-Lore of Northamptonshire_, 1851, but
entirely rewritten by Mr. Nutt, who has introduced from other variants
one touch at the close--viz., the readiness of the wife to allow her
husband to remain disfigured.

_Parallels._--Perrault's _Trois Souhaits_ is the same tale, and Mr. Lang
has shown in his edition of Perrault (pp. xlii.-li.) how widely spread
is the theme throughout the climes and the ages. I do not, however,
understand him to grant that they are all derived from one source--that
represented in the Indian _Pantschatantra_. In my _Æsop_, i., 140-1, I
have pointed out an earlier version in Phædrus where it occurs (as in
the prose versions) as the fable of _Mercury and the two Women_, one of
whom wishes to see her babe when it has a beard; the other, that
everything she touches which she would find useful in her profession,
may follow her. The babe becomes bearded, and the other woman raising
her hand to wipe her eyes finds her nose following her
hand--_dénouement_ on which the scene closes. M. Bédier, as usual,
denies the Indian origin, _Les Fabliaux_, pp. 177, _seq._

_Remarks._--I have endeavoured to show, _l.c._, that the Phædrine form
is ultimately to be derived from India, and there can be little doubt
that all the other variants, which are only variations on one idea, and
that an absurdly incongruous one, were derived from India in the last
resort. The case is strongest for drolls of this kind.

LXVI. THE BURIED MOON

_Source._--Mrs. Balfour's "Legends of the Lincolnshire Cars" in
_Folk-Lore_, ii., somewhat abridged and the dialect removed. The story
was derived from a little girl named Bratton, who declared she had heard
it from her "grannie." Mrs. Balfour thinks the girl's own weird
imagination had much to do with framing the details.

_Remarks._--The tale is noteworthy as being distinctly mythical in
character, and yet collected within the last ten years from one of the
English peasantry. The conception of the moon as a beneficent being, the
natural enemy of the bogles and other dwellers of the dark, is natural
enough, but scarcely occurs, so far as I recollect, in other
mythological systems. There is, at any rate, nothing analogous in the
Grimms' treatment of the moon in their _Teutonic Mythology_, tr.
Stallybrass, pp. 701-21.

LXVII. A SON OF ADAM

_Source._--From memory, by Mr. E. Sidney Hartland, as heard by him from
his nurse in childhood.

_Parallels._--Jacques de Vitry _Exempla_, ed. Prof. Crane, No. xiii.,
and references given in notes, p. 139. It occurs in Swift and in modern
Italian folk-lore.

_Remarks._--The _Exempla_ were anecdotes, witty and otherwise, used by
the monks in their sermons to season their discourse. Often they must
have been derived from the folk of the period, and at first sight it
might seem that we had found still extant among the folk the story that
had been the original of Jacques de Vitry's _Exemplum_. But the
theological basis of the story shows clearly that it was originally a
monkish invention and came thence among the folk.

LXVIII. THE CHILDREN IN THE WOOD

_Source._--Percy, _Reliques_. The ballad form of the story has become
such a nursery classic that I had not the heart to "prose" it. As Mr.
Allingham remarks, it is the best of the ballads of the pedestrian
order.

_Parallels._--The second of R. Yarrington's _Two Lamentable Tragedies_,
1601, has the same plot as the ballad. Several chap-books have been made
out of it, some of them enumerated by Halliwell's _Popular Histories_
(Percy Soc.) No. 18. From one of these I am in the fortunate position of
giving the names of the _dramatis personæ_ of this domestic tragedy.
Androgus was the wicked uncle, Pisaurus his brother who married Eugenia,
and their children in the wood were Cassander and little Kate. The
ruffians were appropriately named Rawbones and Woudkill. According to a
writer in _3 Notes and Queries_, ix., 144, the traditional burial-place
of the children is pointed out in Norfolk. The ballad was known before
Percy, as it is mentioned in the _Spectator_, Nos. 80 and 179.

_Remarks_.--The only "fairy" touch--but what a touch!--the pall of
leaves collected by the robins.

LXIX. THE HOBYAHS

_Source._--_American Folk-Lore Journal_, iii., 173, contributed by Mr.
S.V. Proudfit as current in a family deriving from Perth.

_Remarks._--But for the assurance of the tale itself that Hobyahs are no
more, Mr. Batten's portraits of them would have convinced me that they
were the bogles or spirits of the comma bacillus. Mr. Proudfit remarks
that the cry "Look me" was very impressive.

LXX. A POTTLE O' BRAINS

_Source._--Contributed by Mrs. Balfour to _Folk-Lore_, II.

_Parallels._--The fool's wife is clearly related to the Clever Lass of
"Gobborn Seer," where see Notes.

_Remarks._--The fool is obviously of the same family as he of the "Coat
o' Clay" (No. lix.) if he is not actually identical with him. His
adventures might be regarded as a sequel to the former ones. The Noodle
family is strongly represented in English folk-tales, which would seem
to confirm Carlyle's celebrated statistical remark.

LXXI. THE KING OF ENGLAND

_Source._--Mr. F. Hindes Groome, _In Gypsy Tents_, told him by John
Roberts, a Welsh gypsy, with a few slight changes and omission of
passages insisting upon the gypsy origin of the three helpful brothers.

_Parallels._--The king and his three sons are familiar figures in
European _märchen_. Slavonic parallels are enumerated by Leskien Brugman
in their _Lithauische Märchen_, notes on No. 11, p. 542. The Sleeping
Beauty is of course found in Perrault.

_Remarks._--The tale is scarcely a good example for Mr. Hindes Groome's
contention (in _Transactions Folk-Lore Congress_) for the diffusion of
all folk-tales by means of gypsies as _colporteurs_. This is merely a
matter of evidence, and of evidence there is singularly little, though
it is indeed curious that one of Campbell's best equipped informants
should turn out to be a gypsy. Even this fact, however, is not too well
substantiated.

LXXII. KING JOHN AND THE ABBOT

_Source._--"Prosed" from the well-known ballad in Percy. I have changed
the first query: What am I worth? Answer: Twenty-nine pence--one less, I
ween, than the Lord. This would have sounded somewhat bold in prose.

_Parallels._--Vincent of Beauvais has the story, but the English version
comes from the German Joe Miller, Pauli's _Schimpf und Ernst_, No. lv.,
p. 46, ed. Oesterley, where see his notes. The question I have omitted
exists there, and cannot have "independently arisen." Pauli was a
fifteenth century worthy or unworthy.

_Remarks._--Riddles were once on a time serious things to meddle with,
as witness Samson and the Sphynx, and other instances duly noted with
his customary erudition by Prof. Child in his comments on the ballad,
_English and Scotch Ballads_, i, 403-14.

LXXIII. RUSHEN COATIE

_Source._--I have concocted this English, or rather Scotch, Cinderella
from the various versions given in Miss Cox's remarkable collection of
345 variants of _Cinderella_ (Folk-Lore Society, 1892); see _Parallels_
for an enumeration of those occurring in the British Isles. I have used
Nos. 1-3, 8-10. I give my composite the title "Rushen Coatie," to
differentiate it from any of the Scotch variants, and for the purposes
of a folk-lore experiment. If this book becomes generally used among
English-speaking peoples, it may possibly re-introduce this and other
tales among the folk. We should be able to trace this re-introduction
by the variation in titles. I have done the same with "Nix Nought
Nothing," "Molly Whuppie," and "Johnny Gloke."

_Parallels._--Miss Cox's volume gives no less than 113 variants of the
pure type of Cinderella--her type A. "Cinderella, or the Fortunate
Marriage of a Despised Scullery-maid by Aid of an _Animal_ God-mother
through the Test of a Slipper"--such might be the explanatory title of a
chap-book dealing with the pure type of Cinderella. This is represented
in Miss Cox's book, so far as the British Isles are concerned, by no
less than seven variants, as follows: (1) Dr. Blind, in _Archæological
Review_, iii., 24-7, "Ashpitell" (from neighbourhood of Glasgow). (2) A.
Lang, in _Revue Celtique_, t. iii., reprinted in _Folk-Lore_, September,
1890, "Rashin Coatie" (from Morayshire). (3) Mr. Gregor, in _Folk-Lore
Journal_, ii., 72-4 (from Aberdeenshire), "The Red Calf"--all these in
Lowland Scots. (4) Campbell, _Popular Tales_, No. xliii., ii., 286
_seq._, "The Sharp Grey Sheep." (5) Mr. Sinclair, in _Celtic Mag._,
xiii., 454-65, "Snow-white Maiden." (6) Mr. Macleod's variant
communicated through Mr. Nutt to Miss Cox's volume, p. 533; and (7)
Curtin, _Myths of Ireland_, pp. 78-92. "Fair, Brown, and
Trembling"--these four in Gaelic, the last in Erse. To these I would add
(8, 9) Chambers's two versions in _Pop. Rhymes of Scotland_, pp. 66-8,
"Rashie Coat," though Miss Cox assimilates them to Type B. Catskin; and
(10) a variant of Dr. Blind's version, unknown to Miss Cox, but given in
7 _Notes and Queries_, x., 463 (Dumbartonshire). Mr. Clouston has
remarks on the raven as omen-bird in his notes to Mrs. Saxby's _Birds of
Omen in Shetland_ (privately printed, 1893).

ENGLISH VARIANTS OF CINDERELLA

GREGOR.         LANG.            CHAMBERS, I. and II.   BLIND.

Ill-treated     Calf given by     _Heroine dislikes_    Ill-treated
  heroine         dying mother.     _husband._            heroine
  (by parents).                                           (by step-mother).

Helpful         Ill-treated       _Henwife aid._        Menial heroine.
  animal          heroine (by
  (red calf).     stepmother
                  and sisters).

Spy on          Heroine disguise   _Countertasks._      Helpful animal
  heroine.        (rashin                                 (black sheep).
                  coatie).

Slaying of      Hearth abode.      _Heroine             Ear cornucopia.
  helpful                            disguise._
  animal
  threatened.

Heroine         Helpful animal.    _Heroine             Spy on heroine.
  flight.                            flight._

Heroine         Slaying of         Menial heroine.      Slaying of
  disguise        helpful animal.                         helpful animal.
  (rashin
  coatie).

Menial          Revivified bones.  (Fairy) aid.         Old woman advice.
  heroine.

                Help at grave.                          Revivified bones.

                Dinner cooked                           Task performing
                 (by helpful                              animal.
                 animal).

Magic dresses   Magic dresses.     Magic dresses.       Meeting-place
  (given by                                               (church).
  calf).

Meeting-place   Meeting-place      Meeting-place        Dresses (not
  (church).       (church).          (church).            magic).

Flight.         Flight             Flight               Flight twofold.
                  threefold.         threefold.

Lost shoe.      Lost shoe.         Lost shoe.           Lost shoe.

Shoe marriage   Shoe marriage      Shoe marriage        Shoe marriage
  test.           test.              test.                test.

Mutilated foot  Mutilated foot.    Mutilated foot.      Mutilated foot
  (housewife's
  daughter).

Bird witness.   False bride.       False bride.         False bride.

Happy           Bird witness.      Bird witness.        Bird witness
  marriage.                                               (raven).

House for       Happy marriage.    Happy marriage.      Happy marriage.
  red calf.

_Remarks._--In going over these various versions, the first and perhaps
most striking thing that comes out is the substantial agreement of the
variants in each _language_. The English--_i.e._, Scotch, variants go
together; the Gaelic ones agree to differ from the English. I can best
display this important agreement and difference by the accompanying two
tables, which give, in parallel columns, Miss Cox's abstracts of her
tabulations, in which each incident is shortly given in technical
phraseology. It is practically impossible to use the long tabulations
for comparative purposes without some such shorthand.

CELTIC VARIANTS OF CINDERELLA

MACLEOD.           CAMPBELL.          SINCLAIR.          CURTIN.

Heroine,           Ill-treated        Ill-treated        Ill-treated
  daughter           heroine            heroine            heroine
  of sheep,          (by stepmother).   (by stepmother     (by elder
  king's wife.                          and sisters).      sisters).

                   Menial heroine.    Menial heroine.    Menial heroine.

                   Helpful animal.    Helpful cantrips.  Henwife aid.

Spy on heroine.    Spy on heroine.    Magic dresses      Magic dresses
                                        (+ starlings on     (honey-bird
                                        shoulders).         finger and
                                                            stud).

Eye sleep          Eye sleep.         Meeting-place      Meeting place
  threefold.                            (church).          (church).

Slaying of         Slaying of         Flight twofold.     Flight threefold.
  helpful            helpful
  animal             animal.
  mother.

Revivified         Revivified         Lost shoe.          Lost shoe.
  bones.             bones.

Magic dresses.     Step-sister        Shoe marriage       Shoe marriage
                     substitute.        test.               test.

                   Golden shoe gift   Heroine under       Mutilated foot.
                      (from hero).      washtub.

Meeting-place      Meeting-place      Happy marriage.     Happy marriage.
  (feast).            (sermon).

Flight threefold.  Flight             Substituted         Substituted bride
                     threefold.          bride.            (eldest sister).

Lost shoe          Lost shoe.         Jonah heroine.      Jonah heroine.
 (golden).

Shoe marriage      Shoe marriage      Three               Three
  test.              test.              reappearances.      reappearances.

Mutilated foot.    Mutilated foot.    Reunion.            Reunion.

                   False bride.                           Villain Nemesis.

Bird witness.      Bird witness.

Happy marriage.    Happy marriage.

Now, in the "English" versions there is practical unanimity in the
concluding portions of the tale. _Magic dresses--Meeting-place
(Church)--Flight--Lost Shoe--Shoe Marriage-test--Mutilated foot--False
Bride--_Bird witness--Happy Marriage_, follow one another with exemplary
regularity in all four (six) versions.[2] The introductory incidents
vary somewhat. Chambers has evidently a maimed version of the
introduction of Catskin (see No. lxxxiii.). The remaining three enable
us, however, to restore with some confidence the _Ur-_Cinderella in
English somewhat as follows: _Helpful animal given by dying
mother--Ill-treated heroine--Menial heroine--cornucopia--Spy on
heroine--Slaying by helpful animal--Tasks--Revivified bones_. I have
attempted in my version to reconstruct the "English" Cinderella
according to these formulæ. It will be observed that the helpful animal
is helpful in two ways (a) in helping the heroine to perform tasks; (b)
in providing her with magic dresses. It is the same with the Grimms'
_Aschenputtel_ and other Continental variants.

Turning to the Celtic variants, these divide into two sets. Campbell's
and Macleod's versions are practically at one with the English formula,
the latter with an important variation which will concern us later. But
the other two, Curtin's and Sinclair's, one collected in Ireland and the
other in Scotland, both continue the formula with the conclusion of the
Sea Maiden tale (on which see the Notes of my _Celtic Fairy Tales_, No.
xvii.). This is a specifically Celtic formula, and would seem therefore
to claim Cinderella for the Celts. But the welding of the Sea Maiden
ending on to the Cinderella formula is clearly a later and inartistic
junction, and implies rather imperfect assimilation of the Cinderella
formula. To determine the question of origin we must turn to the purer
type given by the other two Celtic versions.

Campbell's tale can clearly lay no claim to represent the original type
of Cinderella. The golden shoes are a gift of the hero to the heroine
which destroys the whole point of the _Shoe marriage test_, and cannot
have been in the original, wherever it originated. Mr. Macleod's
version, however, contains an incident which seems to bring us nearer to
the original form than any version contained in Miss Cox's book.
Throughout the variants it will be observed what an important function
is played by the helpful animal. This in some of the versions is left as
a legacy by the heroine's dying mother. But in Mr. Macleod's version the
helpful animal, a sheep, is the heroine's mother herself! This is indeed
an archaic touch, which seems to hark back to primitive times and
totemistic beliefs. And more important still, it is a touch which
vitalises the other variants in which the helpful animal is rather
dragged in by the horns. Mr. Nutt's lucky find at the last moment seems
to throw more light on the origin of the tale than almost the whole of
the remaining collection.

But does this find necessarily prove an original Celtic origin for
Cinderella? Scarcely. It remains to be proved that this introductory
part of the story with helpful animal was necessarily part of the
original. Having regard to the feudal character underlying the whole
conception, it remains possible that the earlier part was ingeniously
dovetailed on to the latter from some pre-existing and more archaic
tale, perhaps that represented by the Grimms' _One Eyed, Two Eyes, and
Three Eyes_. The possibility of the introduction of an archaic formula
which had become a convention of folk-telling cannot be left out of
account.

The "Youngest-best" formula which occurs in Cinderella, and on which Mr.
Lang laid much stress in his treatment of the subject in his "Perrault"
as a survival of the old tenure of "junior right," does not throw much
light on the subject. Mr. Ralston, in the _Nineteenth Century_, 1879,
was equally unenlightening with his sun-myths.

[Footnote 2: Chamber's II. consists entirely and solely of these
incidents.]

LXXIV. KING O' CATS

_Source._--I have taken a point here and a point there from the various
English versions mentioned in the next section.

I have expanded the names, so as to make a jingle from the Dildrum and
Doldrum of Hartland.

_Parallels._--Five variants of this quaint legend have been collected in
England: (1) Halliwell, _Pop. Rhymes_, 167, "Molly Dixon"; (2) _Choice
Notes--Folk-Lore_, p. 73, "Colman Grey"; (3) _Folk-Lore Journal_, ii.,
22, "King o' the Cats"; (4) _Folk-Lore--England_ (Gibbings), "Johnny
Reed's Cat"; (5) Hartland and Wilkinson, _Lancashire Legends_, p. 13,
"Dildrum Doldrum." Sir F. Palgrave gives a Danish parallel; _cf._
Halliwell, _l.c._

_Remarks._--An interesting example of the spread and development of a
simple anecdote throughout England. Here again we can scarcely imagine
more than a single origin for the tale which is, in its way, as weird
and fantastic as E.A. Poe.

LXXV. TAMLANE

_Source._--From Scott's _Minstrelsy_, with touches from the other
variants given by Prof. Child in his _Eng. and Scotch Ballads_, i.,
335-58.

_Parallels._--Prof. Child gives no less than nine versions in his
masterly edition, _l.c._, besides another fragment "Burd Ellen and Young
Tamlane," i., 258. He parallels the marriage of Peleus and Thetis in
Apollodorus III., xiii., 5, 6, which still persists in modern Greece as
a Cretan ballad.

_Remarks._--Prof. Child remarks that dipping into water or milk is
necessary before transformation can take place, and gives examples,
_l.c._, 338, to which may be added that of Catskin (see Notes _infra_).
He gives as the reason why the Elf-queen would have "ta'en out Tamlane's
two grey eyne," so that henceforth he should not be able to see the
fairies. Was it not rather that he should not henceforth see Burd
Janet?--a subtle touch of jealousy. On dwelling in fairyland Mr.
Hartland has a monograph in his _Science of Fairy Tales_, pp. 161-254.

LXXVI. THE STARS IN THE SKY

_Source._--Mrs. Balfour's old nurse, now in New Zealand. The original is
in broad Scots, which I have anglicised.

_Parallels._--The tradition is widespread that at the foot of the
rainbow treasure is to be found; _cf._ Mr. John Payne's "Sir Edward's
Questing" in his _Songs of Life and Death_.

_Remarks._--The "sell" at the end is scarcely after the manner of the
folk, and various touches throughout indicate a transmission through
minds tainted with culture and introspection.

LXXVII. NEWS!

_Source._--Bell's _Speaker_.

_Parallels._--Jacques de Vitry, _Exempla_, ed. Crane, No. ccv., a
servant being asked the news by his master returned from a pilgrimage to
Compostella, says the dog is lame, and goes on to explain: "While the
dog was running near the mule, the mule kicked him and broke his own
halter and ran through the house, scattering the fire with his hoofs,
and burning down your house with your wife." It occurs even earlier in
Alfonsi's _Disciplina Clericalis_, No. xxx., at beginning of the twelfth
century, among the _Fabliaux_, and in Bebel, _Werke_, iii., 71, whence
probably it was reintroduced into England. See Prof. Crane's note _ad
loc._

_Remarks._--Almost all Alfonsi's _exempla_ are from the East. It is
characteristic that the German version finishes up with a loss of
honour, the English climax being loss of fortune.

LXXVIII. PUDDOCK, MOUSIE, AND RATTON

_Source._--Kirkpatrick Sharpe's _Ballad Book_, 1824, slightly
anglicised.

_Parallels._--Mr. Bullen, in his _Lyrics from Elizabethan Song Books_,
p. 202, gives a version, "The Marriage of the Frog and the Mouse," from
T. Ravenscroft's _Melismata_, 1611. The nursery rhyme of the frog who
would a-wooing go is clearly a variant of this, and has thus a sure
pedigree of three hundred years; _cf._ "Frog husband" in my List of
Incidents, or notes to "The Well of the World's End" (No. xli.).

LXXIX. LITTLE BULL-CALF

_Source._--_Gypsy Lore Journal_, iii., one of a number of tales told "In
a Tent" to Mr. John Sampson. I have respelt and euphemised the bladder.

_Parallels._--The Perseus and Andromeda incident is frequent in
folk-tales; see my List of Incidents _sub voce_ "Fight with Dragon."
"Cheese squeezing," as a test of prowess, is also common, as in "Jack
the Giant Killer" and elsewhere (Köhler, _Jahrbuch_, vii., 252).

LXXX. THE WEE WEE MANNIE

_Source._--From Mrs. Balfour's old nurse. I have again anglicised.

_Parallels._--This is one of the class of accumulative stories like _The
Old Woman and her Pig_ (No. iv.). The class is well represented in these
isles.

LXXXI. HABETROT AND SCANTLIE MAB

_Source._--Henderson's _Folk-Lore of Northern Counties_, pp. 258-62 of
Folk-Lore Society's edition. I have abridged and to some extent
rewritten.

_Parallels._--This in its early part is a parallel to the _Tom Tit Tot_,
which see. The latter part is more novel, and is best compared with the
Grimms' _Spinners_.

_Remark._--Henderson makes out of Habetrot a goddess of the
spinning-wheel, but with very little authority as it seems to me.

LXXXII. OLD MOTHER WIGGLE WAGGLE

_Source._--I have inserted into Halliwell's version one current in Mr.
Batten's family, except that I have substituted "Wiggle-Waggle" for
"Slipper-Slopper." The two versions supplement one another.

_Remarks._--This is a pure bit of animal satire, which might have come
from a rural Jefferies with somewhat more of wit than the native writer.

LXXXIII. CATSKIN

_Source._--From the chap-book reprinted in Halliwell I have introduced
the demand for magic dresses from Chambers's _Rashie Coat_, into which
it had clearly been interpolated from some version of Catskin.

_Parallels._--Miss Cox's admirable volume of variants of _Cinderella_
also contains seventy-three variants of _Catskin_, besides thirteen
"indeterminate" ones which approximate to that type. Of these
eighty-six, five exist in the British Isles, two chap-books given in
Halliwell and in Dixon's _Songs of English Peasantry_, two by Campbell,
Nos. xiv. and xiv_a_, "The King who Wished to Marry his Daughter," and
one by Kennedy's _Fireside Stories_, "The Princess in the Catskins."
Goldsmith knew the story by the name of "Catskin," as he refers to it in
the _Vicar_. There is a fragment from Cornwall in _Folk-Lore_, i., App.
p. 149.

_Remarks._--_Catskin, or the Wandering Gentlewomen_, now exists in
English only in two chap-book ballads. But Chambers's first variant of
_Rashie Coat_ begins with the Catskin formula in a euphemised form. The
full formula may be said to run in abbreviated form--_Death-bed
promise--Deceased wife's resemblance marriage test--Unnatural father_
(desiring to marry his own daughter)--_Helpful animal--Counter
tasks--Magic dresses--Heroine flight--Heroine disguise--Menial
heroine--Meeting-place--Token objects named--Threefold flight--Lovesick
prince--Recognition ring--Happy marriage_. Of these the chap-book
versions contain scarcely anything of the opening _motifs_. Yet they
existed in England, for Miss Isabella Barclay, in a variant which Miss
Cox has overlooked (_Folk-Lore_, i., _l.c._), remembers having heard the
Unnatural Father incident from a Cornish servant-girl. Campbell's two
versions also contain the incident, from which one of them receives its
name. One wonders in what form Mr. Burchell knew Catskin, for "he gave
the [Primrose] children the Buck of Beverland,[3] with the history of
Patient Grissel, the adventures of Catskin and the Fair Rosamond's
Bower" (_Vicar of Wakefield_, 1766, c. vi.). Pity that "Goldy" did not
tell the story himself, as he had probably heard it in Ireland, where
Kennedy gives a poor version in his _Fireside Stories_.

Yet, imperfect as the chap-book versions are, they yet retain not a few
archaic touches. It is clear from them, at any rate, that the Heroine
was at one time transformed into a Cat. For when the basin of water is
thrown in her face she "shakes her ears" just as a cat would. Again,
before putting on her magic dresses she bathes in a pellucid pool. Now,
Professor Child has pointed out in his notes on Tamlane and elsewhere
(_English and Scotch Ballads_, i., 338; ii., 505; iii., 505) that
dipping into water or milk is necessary before transformation can take
place. It is clear, therefore, that Catskin was originally transformed
into an animal by the spirit of her mother, also transformed into an
animal.

If I understand Mr. Nutt rightly (_Folk-Lore_, iv, 135, _seq._), he is
inclined to think, from the evidence of the hero-tales which have the
unsavoury _motif_ of the Unnatural Father, that the original home of the
story was England, where most of the hero-tales locate the incident. I
would merely remark on this that there are only very slight traces of
the story in these islands nowadays, while it abounds in Italy, which
possesses one almost perfect version of the formula (Miss Cox, No. 142,
from Sardinia).

Mr. Newell, on the other hand (_American Folk-Lore Journal_, ii., 160),
considers Catskin the earliest of the three types contained in Miss
Cox's book, and considers that Cinderella was derived from this as a
softening of the original. His chief reason appears to be the earlier
appearance of Catskin in Straparola,[4] 1550, a hundred years earlier
than Cinderella in Basile, 1636. This appears to be a somewhat
insufficient basis for such a conclusion. Nor is there, after all, so
close a relation between the two types in their full development as to
necessitate the derivation of one from the other.

[Footnote 3: Who knows the Buck of Beverland nowadays?]

[Footnote 4: It is practically in Des Perier's _Récréations_, 1544.]

LXXXIV. STUPID'S CRIES

_Source._--_Folk-Lore Record_, iii., 152-5, by the veteran Prof.
Stephens. I have changed "dog and bitch" of original to "dog and cat,"
and euphemised the liver and lights.

_Parallels._--Prof. Stephens gives parallels from Denmark. Germany (the
Grimms' _Up Riesensohn_) and Ireland (Kennedy, _Fireside Stories_, p.
30).

LXXXV. THE LAMBTON WORM

_Source._--Henderson's _Folk-Lore of Northern Counties_, pp. 287-9, I
have rewritten, as the original was rather high falutin'.

_Parallels._--Worms or dragons form the subject of the whole of the
eighth chapter of Henderson. "The Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh" (No.
xxxiii.) also requires the milk of nine kye for its daily rations, and
cow's milk is the ordinary provender of such kittle cattle (Grimms'
_Teut. Myth._ 687), the mythological explanation being that cows = the
clouds and the dragon = the storm. Jephtha vows are also frequent in
folk-tales: Miss Cox gives many examples in her _Cinderella_, p. 511.

_Remarks._--Nine generations back from the last of the Lambtons, Henry
Lambton, M.P., ob. 1761, reaches Sir John Lambton, Knight of Rhodes, and
several instances of violent death occur in the interim. Dragons are
possibly survivals into historic times of antedeluvian monsters, or
reminiscences of classical legend (Perseus, etc.). Who shall say which
is which, as Mr. Lang would observe.

LXXXVI. WISE MEN OF GOTHAM

_Source._--The chap-book contained in Mr. Hazlitt's _Shaksperian Jest
Book_, vol. iii. I have selected the incidents and modernised the
spelling; otherwise the droll remains as it was told in Elizabethan
times.

_Parallels._--Mr. Clouston's _Book of Noodles_ is little else than a
series of parallels to our droll. See my List of Incidents under the
titles, "One cheese after another," "Hare postman," "Not counting self,"
"Drowning eels." In most cases Mr. Clouston quotes Eastern analogies.

_Remarks._--All countries have their special crop of fools, Boeotians
among the Greeks, the people of Hums among the Persians (how
appropriate!), the Schildburgers in Germany, and so on. Gotham is the
English representative, and as witticisms call to mind well-known wits,
so Gotham has had heaped on its head all the stupidities of the
Indo-European world. For there can be little doubt that these drolls
have spread from East to West. This "Not counting self" is in the
_Gooroo Paramastan_, the cheeses "one after another" in M. Rivière's
collection of Kabyle tales, and so on. It is indeed curious how little
originality there is among mankind in the matter of stupidity. Even such
an inventive genius as the late Mr. Sothern had considerable difficulty
in inventing a new "sell."

LXXXVII. PRINCESS OF CANTERBURY

_Source._--I have inserted into the old chap-book version of the _Four
Kings of Colchester, Canterbury_, &c., an incident entitled by Halliwell
"The Three Questions."

_Parallels._--The "riddle bride wager" is a frequent incident of
folk-tales (see my List of Incidents); the sleeping tabu of the latter
part is not so common, though it occurs, _e.g._, in the Grimms' _Twelve
Princesses_, who wear out their shoes with dancing.