English Fairy Tales Part 29

_Source_.--I have cobbled this up out of three chap-book versions; (1) that contained in Mr. Hartland's _English Folk-tales_; (2) that edited by Mr. H. B. Wheatley for the Villon Society; (3) that appended to Messrs. Besant and Rice's monograph.

_Parallels_.--Whittington's cat has made the fortune of his master in all parts of the Old World, as Mr. W. A. Clouston, among others, has shown, _Popular Tales and Fictions_, ii. 65-78 (_cf._ Kohler on Gonzenbach, ii. 251).

_Remarks_.--If Bow Bells had pealed in the exact and accurate nineteenth century, they doubtless would have chimed

Turn again, Whittington, Thrice and a half Lord Mayor of London.

For besides his three mayoralties of 1397, 1406, and 1419, he served as Lord Mayor in place of Adam Bamme, deceased, in the latter half of the mayoralty of 1396. It will be noticed that the chap-book puts the introduction of potatoes rather far back.

x.x.xII. THE STRANGE VISITOR

_Source_.--From Chambers, _l.c._, 64, much Anglicised. I have retained "Aih-late-wee-moul," though I candidly confess I have not the slightest idea what it means; judging other children by myself, I do not think that makes the response less effective. The prosaic-minded may subst.i.tute "Up-late-and-little-food."

_Parallels_.--The man made by instalments, occurs in the Grimms' No. 4, and something like it in an English folk-tale, _The Golden Ball_, _ap._ Henderson, _l.c._, p. 333.

x.x.xIII. THE LAIDLY WORM.

_Source_.--From an eighteenth-century ballad of the Rev. Mr. Lamb of Norham, as given in Prof. Child's _Ballads_; with a few touches and verses from the more ancient version "Kempion." A florid prose version appeared in _Monthly Chronicle of North Country Lore_ for May 1890. I have made the obvious emendation of

O quit your sword, unbend your bow

for

O quit your sword, and bend your bow.

_Parallels_.--The ballad of "Kempe Owein" is a more general version which "The Laidly Worm" has localised near Bamborough. We learn from this that the original hero was Kempe or Champion Owain, the Welsh hero who flourished in the ninth century. Childe Wynd therefore = Childe Owein. The "Deliverance Kiss" has been studied by Prof. Child, _l.c._, i. 207. A noteworthy example occurs in Boiardo's _Orlando Inamorato_, cc. xxv., xxvi.

_Remarks_.--It is perhaps unnecessary to give the equations "Laidly Worm = Loathly Worm = Loathsome Dragon," and "borrowed = changed."

x.x.xIV. CAT AND MOUSE.

_Source_.--Halliwell, p. 154.

_Parallels_.--Scarcely more than a variant of the "Old Woman and her Pig" (No. iv.), which see. It is curious that a very similar "run" is added by Bengali women at the end of every folk-tale they tell (Lal Behari Day, _Folk Tales of Bengal_, Pref. _ad fin._)

x.x.xV. THE FISH AND THE RING.

_Source_.--Henderson, _l.c._, p. 326, from a communication by the Rev.

S. Baring-Gould.

_Parallels_.--"Jonah rings" have been put together by Mr. Clouston in his _Popular Tales_, i. 398, &c.: the most famous are those of Polycrates, of Solomon, and the Sanskrit drama of "Sakuntala," the plot of which turns upon such a ring. "Letters to kill bearer" have been traced from Homer downwards by Prof. Kohler on Gonzenbach, ii. 220, and "the subst.i.tuted letter" by the same authority in _Occ. u. Or._, ii.

289. Mr. Baring-Gould, who was one of the pioneers of the study of folk-tales in this country, has given a large number of instances of "the pre-ordained marriage" in folk-tales in Henderson, _l.c._

x.x.xVI. THE MAGPIE'S NEST.

_Source_.--I have built up the "Magpie's Nest" from two nidification myths, as a German professor would call them, in the Rev. Mr.

Swainson's _Folk-Lore of British Birds_, pp. 80 and 166. I have received instruction about the relative values of nests from a little friend of mine named Katie, who knows all about it. If there is any mistake in the order of neatness in the various birds' nests, I must have learnt my lesson badly.

_Remarks_.--English popular tradition is curiously at variance about the magpie's nidificatory powers, for another legend given by Mr. Swainson represents her as refusing to be instructed by the birds and that is why she does _not_ make a good nest.

x.x.xVII. KATE CRACKERNUTS.

_Source_.--Given by Mr. Lang in _Longman's Magazine_, vol. xiv. and reprinted in _Folk-Lore_, Sept. 1890. It is very corrupt, both girls being called Kate, and I have had largely to rewrite.

_Parallels_.--There is a tale which is clearly a cousin if not a parent of this in _Kennedy's Fictions_, 54 _seq._, containing the visit to the green hill (for which see "Childe Rowland"), a reference to nuts, and even the sesame rhyme. The prince is here a corpse who becomes revivified; the same story is in Campbell No. 13. The jealous stepmother is "universally human." (_Cf._ Kohler on Gonzenbach, ii. 206.)

x.x.xVIII. THE CAULD LAD OF HILTON.

_Source_.--Henderson's _Folk-Lore of Northern Counties_, 2nd edition, published by the Folk-Lore Society, pp. 266-7. I have written the introductory paragraph so as to convey some information about Brownies, Bogles, and Redcaps, for which Henderson, _l.c._, 246-53, is my authority. Mr. Batten's portrait renders this somewhat superfluous.

_Parallels_.--The Grimms' "Elves" (No. 39) behave in like manner on being rewarded for their services. Milton's "lubbar-fiend" in _L'Allegro_ has all the characteristics of a Brownie.

x.x.xIX. a.s.s, TABLE AND STICK.

_Source_.--Henderson, _l.c._, first edition, pp. 327-9, by the Rev. S.

Baring-Gould.

_Parallels_.--Mr. Baring-Gould gives another version from the East Riding, _l.c._, 329, in which there are three brothers who go through the adventures. He also refers to European Variants, p. 311, which could now be largely supplemented from Cosquin, i. 53-4, ii. 66, 171.

_Remarks_.--As an example of the sun-myth explanation of folk-tales I will quote the same authority (p. 314): "The Master, who gives the three precious gifts, is the All Father, the Supreme Spirit. The gold and jewel-dropping a.s.s, is the spring cloud, hanging in the sky and shedding the bright productive vernal showers. The table which covers itself is the earth becoming covered with flowers and fruit at the bidding of the New Year. But there is a check; rain is withheld, the process of vegetation is stayed by some evil influence. Then comes the thunder-cloud, out of which leaps the bolt; the rains pour down, the earth receives them, and is covered with abundance--all that was lost is recovered."

Mr. Baring-Gould, it is well-known, has since become a distinguished writer of fiction.

XL. FAIRY OINTMENT.

_Source_.--Mrs. Bray, _The Tamar and the Tavy_, i. 174 (letters to Southey), as quoted by Mr. Hartland in _Folk-Lore_, i. 207-8. I have christened the anonymous midwife and euphemised her profession.

_Parallels_.--Mr. Hartland has studied Human Midwives in the _Archaeol.

Review_, iv., and parallels to our story in _Folk-Lore_, i. 209, _seq._; the most interesting of these is from Gervase of Tilbury (xiii. cent.), _Otia Imper._, iii. 85, and three Breton tales given by M. Sebillot (_Contes_, ii. 42; _Litt. orale_, 23; _Trad. et Superst._, i. 109).

_Cf._ Prof. Child, i. 339; ii. 505.