_Source_.--Unearthed by Mr. E. Clodd from the “Suffolk Notes and
Queries” of the _Ipswich Journal_, and reprinted by him in a paper on
“The Philosophy of Rumpelstiltskin” in _Folk-Lore Journal_, vii. 138-43.
I have reduced the Suffolk dialect.
_Parallels_.--In Yorkshire this occurs as “Habetrot and Scantlie Mab,”
in Henderson's _Folk-Lore of Northern Counties_, 221-6; in Devonshire
as “Duffy and the Devil” in Hunt's _Romances and Drolls of the West
of England_, 239-47; in Scotland two variants are given by Chambers,
_Popular Rhymes of Scotland_, under the title “Whuppity Stourie.” The
“name-guessing wager” is also found in “Peerifool”, printed by Mr.
Andrew Lang in _Longman's Magazine_, July 1889, also _Folk-Lore_,
September, 1890. It is clearly the same as Grimm's “Rumpelstiltskin”
(No. 14); for other Continental parallels see Mr. Clodd's article, and
Cosquin, _Contes pop. de Lorraine_, i. 269 _seq_.
_Remarks_.--One of the best folk-tales that have ever been collected,
far superior to any of the continental variants of this tale with which
I am acquainted. Mr. Clodd sees in the class of name-guessing stories, a
“survival” of the superstition that to know a man's name gives you power
over him, for which reason savages object to tell their names. It may be
necessary, I find, to explain to the little ones that Tom Tit can only
be referred to as “that,” because his name is not known till the end.