_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.