_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.