_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 _rôle_ 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 passing down the
garden.