English Fairy Tales Part 28

Finally, there are a couple of words in the narrative that deserve a couple of words of explanation: "Widershins" is probably, as Mr. Batten suggests, a.n.a.logous to the German "wider Schein," against the appearance of the sun, "counter-clockwise" as the mathematicians say--_i.e._, W., S., E., N., instead of with the sun and the hands of a clock; why it should have an unspelling influence is hard to say. "Bogle" is a provincial word for "spectre," and is a.n.a.logous to the Welsh _bwg_, "goblin," and to the English insect of similar name, and still more curiously to the Russian "Bog," G.o.d, after which so many Russian rivers are named. I may add that "Burd" is etymologically the same as "bride"

and is frequently used in the early romances for "Lady."

XXII. MOLLY WHUPPIE.

_Source_.--_Folk-Lore Journal_, ii. p. 68, forwarded by Rev. Walter Gregor. I have modified the dialect and changed "Mally" into "Molly."

_Parallels_.--The first part is clearly the theme of "Hop o' my Thumb,"

which Mr. Lang has studied in his "Perrault," pp. civ.-cxi. (_cf._ Kohler, _Occident_, ii. 301.) The change of night-dresses occurs in Greek myths. The latter part wanders off into "rob giant of three things," a familiar incident in folk-tales (Cosquin, i. 46-7), and finally winds up with the "out of sack" trick, for which see Cosquin, i. 113; ii. 209; and Kohler on Campbell, in _Occident and Orient_, ii.

489-506.

XXIII. RED ETTIN.

_Source_.--"The Red Etin" in Chambers's _Pop. Rhymes of Scotland_, p.

89. I have reduced the adventurers from three to two, and cut down the herds and their answers. I have subst.i.tuted riddles from the first English collection of riddles, _The Demandes Joyous_ of Wynkyn de Worde, for the poor ones of the original, which are besides not solved. "Ettin"

is the English spelling of the word, as it is thus spelt in a pa.s.sage of Beaumont and Fletcher (_Knight of Burning Pestle_, i. 1), which may refer to this very story, which, as we shall see, is quite as old as their time.

_Parallels_.--"The Red Etin" is referred to in _The Complaynt of Scotland_, about 1548. It has some resemblance to "Childe Rowland,"

which see. The "death index," as we may call tokens that tell the state of health of a parted partner, is a usual incident in the theme of the Two Brothers, and has been studied by the Grimms, i. 421, 453; ii. 403; by Kohler on Campbell, _Occ. u. Or._, ii. 119-20; on Gonzenbach, ii.

230; on Blade, 248; by Cosquin, _l.c._, i. 70-2, 193; by Crane, _Ital.

Pop. Tales_, 326; and by Jones and Kropf, _Magyar Tales_, 329. Riddles generally come in the form of the "riddle-bride-wager" (_cf._ Child, _Ballads_, i. 415-9; ii. 519), when the hero or heroine wins a spouse by guessing a riddle or riddles. Here it is the simpler Sphinx form of the "riddle task," on which see Kohler in _Jahrb. rom. Phil._, vii. 273, and on Gonzenbach, 215.

XXIV. GOLDEN ARM.

_Source_.--Henderson, _l.c._, p. 338, collected by the Rev. S.

Baring-Gould, in Devonshire. Mr. Burne-Jones remembers hearing it in his youth in Warwickshire.

_Parallels_.--The first fragment at the end of Grimm (ii. 467, of Mrs.

Hunt's translation), tells of an innkeeper's wife who had used the liver of a man hanging on the gallows, whose ghost comes to her and tells her what has become of his hair, and his eyes, and the dialogue concludes

"SHE: Where is thy liver?

IT: Thou hast devoured it!"

For similar "surprise packets" see Cosquin, ii. 77.

_Remarks_.--It is doubtful how far such gruesome topics should be introduced into a book for children, but as a matter of fact the _katharsis_ of pity and terror among the little ones is as effective as among the spectators of a drama, and they take the same kind of pleasant thrill from such stories. They know it is all make-believe just as much as the spectators of a tragedy. Every one who has enjoyed the blessing of a romantic imagination has been trained up on such tales of wonder.

XXV. TOM THUMB.

_Source_.--From the chap-book contained in Halliwell, p. 199, and Mr.

Hartland's _English Folk and Fairy Tales_. I have omitted much of the second part.

_Parallels_.--Halliwell has also a version entirely in verse. "Tom Thumb" is "Le pet.i.t Poucet" of the French, "Daumling" of the Germans, and similar diminutive heroes elsewhere (_cf._ Deulin, _Contes de ma Mere l'Oye_, 326), but of his adventures only that in the cow's stomach (_cf._ Cosquin, ii. 190) is common with his French and German cousins.

M. Gaston Paris has a monograph on "Tom Thumb."

XXVI. MR. FOX.

_Source_.--Contributed by Blakeway to Malone's Variorum Shakespeare, to ill.u.s.trate Bened.i.c.k's remark in _Much Ado about Nothing_ (I. i. 146): "Like the old tale, my Lord, 'It is not so, nor 'twas not so, but, indeed, G.o.d forbid it should be so;'" which clearly refers to the tale of Mr. Fox. "The Forbidden Chamber" has been studied by Mr. Hartland, _Folk-Lore Journal_, iii. 193, _seq._

_Parallels_.--Halliwell, p. 166, gives a similar tale of "An Oxford Student," whose sweetheart saw him digging her grave. "Mr. Fox" is clearly a variant of the theme of "The Robber Bridegroom" (Grimm, No.

40, Mrs. Hunt's translation, i. 389, 395; and Cosquin, i. 180-1).

XXVII. LAZY JACK.

_Source_.--Halliwell, 157.

_Parallels_.--The same story occurs in Lowland Scotch as "Jock and his Mother," Chambers, _l.c._, 101; in Ireland, as "I'll be wiser next time," Kennedy, _l.c._, 39-42. Abroad it is Grimm's _Hans im Gluck_ (No. 83). The "cure by laughing" incident is "common form" in folk-tales (_cf._ Kohler on Gonzenbach, _Sizil. Marchen_, ii. 210, 224; Jones and Kropf, _Magyar Tales_, 312).

XXVIII. JOHNNY-CAKE.

_Source_.--_American Journal of Folk-Lore_, ii. 60.

_Parallels_.--Another variant is given in the same _Journal_, p. 277, where reference is also made to a version "The Gingerbread Boy," in _St. Nicholas_, May 1875. Chambers gives two versions of the same story, under the t.i.tle "The Wee Bunnock," the first of which is one of the most dramatic and humorous of folk-tales. Unfortunately, the Scotticisms are so frequent as to render the droll practically untranslatable. "The Fate of Mr. Jack Sparrow" in _Uncle Remus_ is similar to that of Johnny-Cake.

XXIX. EARL MAR'S DAUGHTER.

_Source_.--From the ballad of the same name as given in Mr. Allingham's _Ballad Book_: it is clearly a fairy tale and not a ballad proper.

_Parallels_.--The lover visiting his spouse in guise of a bird, is a frequent _motif_ in folk-tales.

x.x.x. MR. MIACCA.

_Source_.--From memory of Mrs. B. Abrahams, who heard it from her mother some _x_ years ago (more than 40). I have transposed the two incidents, as in her version Tommy Grimes was a clever carver and carried about with him a carven leg. This seemed to me to exceed the limits of _vraisemblance_ even for a folk-tale.

_Parallels_.--Getting out of an ogre's clutches by playing on the simplicity of his wife, occurs in "Molly Whuppie" (No. xxii.), and its similars. In the Grimms' "Hansel and Grethel," Hansel pokes out a stick instead of his finger that the witch may not think him fat enough for the table.

_Remarks_.--Mr. Miacca seems to have played the double _role_ of a domestic Providence. He not alone punished bad boys, as here, but also rewarded the good, by leaving them gifts on appropriate occasions like Santa Claus or Father Christmas, who, as is well known, only leave things for good children. Mrs. Abrahams remembers one occasion well when she nearly caught sight of Mr. Miacca, just after he had left her a gift; she saw his shadow in the shape of a bright light pa.s.sing down the garden.

x.x.xI. d.i.c.k WHITTINGTON.