English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs (rom com books to read .txt) đ
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Remarks.âIf 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.
XXXII. THE STRANGE VISITOR
Source.âFrom Chambers, l.c., 64, much Anglicised. I have retained âAih-late-wee-moul,â 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 substitute âUp-late-and-little-food.â
Parallels.âThe man made by instalments, occurs in the Grimmsâ No. 4, and something like it in an English folk-tale, The Golden Ball, ap. Henderson, l.c., p. 333.
XXXIII. THE LAIDLY WORM.
Source.âFrom an eighteenth-century ballad of the Rev. Mr. Lamb of Norham, as given in Prof. Childâs Ballads; with a few touches and verses from the more ancient version âKempion.â 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.âThe ballad of âKempe Oweinâ is a more general version which âThe Laidly Wormâ 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 âDeliverance Kissâ has been studied by Prof. Child, l.c., i. 207. A noteworthy example occurs in Boiardoâs Orlando Inamorato, cc. xxv., xxvi.
Remarks.âIt is perhaps unnecessary to give the equations âLaidly Worm = Loathly Worm = Loathsome Dragon,â and âborrowed = changed.â
XXXIV. CAT AND MOUSE.
Source.âHalliwell, p. 154.
Parallels.âScarcely more than a variant of the âOld Woman and her Pigâ (No. iv.), which see. It is curious that a very similar ârunâ is added by Bengali women at the end of every folk-tale they tell (Lal Behari Day, Folk Tales of Bengal, Pref. ad fin.)
XXXV. THE FISH AND THE RING.
Source.âHenderson, l.c., p. 326, from a communication by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould.
Parallels.ââJonah ringsâ 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 âSakuntala,â the plot of which turns upon such a ring. âLetters to kill bearerâ have been traced from Homer downwards by Prof. Kïżœhler on Gonzenbach, ii. 220, and âthe substituted letterâ 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 âthe pre-ordained marriageâ in folk-tales in Henderson, l.c.
XXXVI. THE MAGPIEâS NEST.
Source.âI have built up the âMagpieâs Nestâ from two nidification myths, as a German professor would call them, in the Rev. Mr. Swainsonâs 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 birdsâ nests, I must have learnt my lesson badly.
Remarks.âEnglish popular tradition is curiously at variance about the magpieâs 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.
XXXVII. KATE CRACKERNUTS.
Source.âGiven by Mr. Lang in Longmanâs 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.âThere is a tale which is clearly a cousin if not a parent of this in Kennedyâs Fictions, 54 seq., containing the visit to the green hill (for which see âChilde Rowlandâ), 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 âuniversally human.â (Cf. Kïżœhler on Gonzenbach, ii. 206.)
XXXVIII. THE CAULD LAD OF HILTON.
Source.âHendersonâs 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. Battenâs portrait renders this somewhat superfluous.
Parallels.âThe Grimmsâ âElvesâ (No. 39) behave in like manner on being rewarded for their services. Miltonâs âlubbar-fiendâ in LâAllegro has all the characteristics of a Brownie.
XXXIX. ASS, TABLE AND STICK.
Source.âHenderson, l.c., first edition, pp. 327-9, by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould.
Parallels.âMr. 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.âAs an example of the sun-myth explanation of folk-tales I will quote the same authority (p. 314): âThe Master, who gives the three precious gifts, is the All Father, the Supreme Spirit. The gold and jewel-dropping ass, 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 abundanceâall that was lost is recovered.â
Mr. Baring-Gould, it is well-known, has since become a distinguished writer of fiction.
XL. FAIRY OINTMENT.
Source.âMrs. 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.âMr. 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.
XLI. THE WELL OF THE WORLDâS END.
Source.âLeydenâs edition of The Complaynt of Scotland, p. 234 seq., with additional touches from Halliwell, 162-3, who makes up a slightly different version from the rhymes. The opening formula I have taken from Mayhew, London Labour, iii. 390, who gives it as the usual one when tramps tell folk-tales. I also added it to No. xvii.
Parallels.âSir W. Scott remembered a similar story; see Taylorâs Gammer Grethel, ad fin. In Scotland it is Chambersâs tale of The Paddo, p. 87; Leyden supposes it is referred to in the Complaynt, (c. 1548), as âThe Wolf of the Warldis End.â The well of this name occurs also in the Scotch version of the âThree Heads of the Well,â (No. xliii.). Abroad it is the Grimmsâ first tale, while frogs who would a-wooing go are discussed by Prof. Kïżœhler, Occ. u. Orient ii. 330; by Prof. Child, i. 298; and by Messrs. Jones and Kropf, l.c., p. 404. The sieve-bucket task is widespread from the Danaids of the Greeks to the leverets of Uncle Remus, who, curiously enough, use the same rhyme: âFill it wid moss en dob it wid clay.â Cf., too, No. xxiii.
XLII. MASTER OF ALL MASTERS.
Source.âI have taken what suited me from a number of sources, which shows how widespread this quaint droll is in England: (i) In Mayhew, London Poor, iii. 391, told by a lad in a workhouse; (ii) several versions in 7 Notes and Queries, iii. 35, 87, 159,
398.
Parallels.âRev. W. Gregor gives a Scotch version under the title âThe Clever Apprentice,â in Folk-Lore Journal, vii. 166. Mr. Hartland, in Notes and Queries, l.c., 87, refers to Pitrïżœâs Fiabi sicil., iii. 120, for a variant.
Remarks.âAccording to Mr. Hartland, the story is designed as a satire on pedantry, and is as old in Italy as Straparola (sixteenth century). In passionate Sicily a wife disgusted with her husbandâs pedantry sets the house on fire, and informs her husband of the fact in this unintelligible gibberish; he, not understanding his own lingo, falls a victim to the flames, and she marries the servant who had taken the message.
XLIII. THE THREE HEADS OF THE WELL.
Source.âHalliwell, p. 158. The second wish has been somewhat euphemised.
Parallels.âThe story forms part of Peeleâs Old Wivesâ Tale, where the rhyme was
A Head rises in the well, Fair maiden, white and red, Stroke me smooth and comb my head, And thou shalt have some cockell-bread.
It is also in Chambers, l.c., 105, where the well is at the Worldâs End (_cf._ No. xli.). The contrasted fates of two step-sisters, is the Frau Holle (Grimm, No. 24) type of Folk-tale studied by Cosquin, i. 250, seq. âKate Crackernutsâ (No. xxxvii.) is a pleasant contrast to this.
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