especially apt, as the tale of Conall is a framework story like _The
1001 Nights_, the three stories told by Conall being framed, as it
were, in a fourth which is nominally the real story. This method
employed by the Indian story-tellers and from them adopted by
Boccaccio and thence into all European literatures (Chaucer, Queen
Margaret, &c.), is generally thought to be peculiar to the East, and
to be ultimately derived from the Jatakas or Birth Stories of the
Buddha who tells his adventures in former incarnations. Here we find
it in Celtdom, and it occurs also in "The Story-teller at Fault" in
this collection, and the story of _Koisha Kayn_ in MacInnes's
_Argyllshire Tales_, a variant of which, collected but not published
by Campbell, has no less than nineteen tales enclosed in a framework.
The question is whether the method was adopted independently in
Ireland, or was due to foreign influences. Confining ourselves to
"Conall Yellowclaw," it seems not unlikely that the whole story is an
importation. For the second episode is clearly the story of Polyphemus
from the Odyssey which was known in Ireland perhaps as early as the
tenth century (see Prof. K. Meyer's edition of _Merugud Uilix maic
Leirtis_, Pref. p. xii). It also crept into the voyages of Sindbad in
the _Arabian Nights_. And as told in the Highlands it bears comparison
even with the Homeric version. As Mr. Nutt remarks (_Celt. Mag._ xii.)
the address of the giant to the buck is as effective as that of
Polyphemus to his ram. The narrator, James Wilson, was a blind man who
would naturally feel the pathos of the address; "it comes from the
heart of the narrator;" says Campbell (_l. c._, 148), "it is the
ornament which his mind hangs on the frame of the story."
VI. HUDDEN AND DUDDEN.
_Source._--From oral tradition, by the late D. W. Logie, taken down by
Mr. Alfred Nutt.
_Parallels._--Lover has a tale, "Little Fairly," obviously derived
from this folk-tale; and there is another very similar, "Darby Darly."
Another version of our tale is given under the title "Donald and his
Neighbours," in the chapbook _Hibernian Tales_, whence it was
reprinted by Thackeray in his _Irish Sketch-Book_, c., xvi. This has
the incident of the "accidental matricide," on which see Prof. R.
Kohler on Gonzenbach _Sicil. Marchen_, ii., 224. No less than four
tales of Campbell are of this type (_Pop. Tales_, ii., 218-31). M.
Cosquin in his _Contes populaires de Lorraine_, the storehouse of
"storiology," has elaborate excursuses in this class of tales attached
to his Nos. x. and xx. Mr. Clouston discusses it also in his _Pop.
Tales_, ii. 229-88. Both these writers are inclined to trace the chief
incidents to India. It is to be observed that one of the earliest
popular drolls in Europe, _Unibos_, a Latin poem of the eleventh, and
perhaps the tenth, century, has the main outlines of the story, the
fraudulent sale of worthless objects and the escape from the sack
trick. The same story occurs in Straparola, the European earliest
collection of folk-tales in the sixteenth century. On the other hand,
the gold sticking to the scales is familiar to us in _Ali Baba_.
(_Cf._ Cosquin, _l. c._, i., 225-6, 229).
_Remarks._--It is indeed curious to find, as M. Cosquin points out, a
cunning fellow tied in a sack getting out by crying, "I won't marry
the princess," in countries so far apart as Ireland, Sicily
(Gonzenbach, No. 71), Afghanistan (Thorburn, _Bannu_, p. 184), and
Jamaica (_Folk-Lore Record_, iii., 53). It is indeed impossible to
think these are disconnected, and for drolls of this kind a good case
has been made out for the borrowing hypotheses by M. Cosquin and Mr.
Clouston. Who borrowed from whom is another and more difficult
question which has to be judged on its merits in each individual case.
This is a type of Celtic folk-tales which are European in spread, have
analogies with the East, and can only be said to be Celtic by adoption
and by colouring. They form a distinct section of the tales told by
the Celts, and must be represented in any characteristic selection.
Other examples are xi., xv., xx., and perhaps xxii.
VII. SHEPHERD OF MYDDVAI.
_Source._--Preface to the edition of "The Physicians of Myddvai;"
their prescription-book, from the Red Book of Hergest, published by
the Welsh MS. Society in 1861. The legend is not given in the Red
Book, but from oral tradition by Mr. W. Rees, p. xxi. As this is the
first of the Welsh tales in this book it may be as well to give the
reader such guidance as I can afford him on the intricacies of Welsh
pronunciation, especially with regard to the mysterious _w_'s and
_y_'s of Welsh orthography. For _w_ substitute double _o_, as in
"_fool_" and for _y_, the short _u_ in b_u_t, and as near approach to
Cymric speech will be reached as is possible for the outlander. It may
be added that double _d_ equals _th_, and double _l_ is something like
_Fl_, as Shakespeare knew in calling his Welsh soldier Fluellen
(Llewelyn). Thus "Meddygon Myddvai" would be _Anglice_ "Methugon
Muthvai."
_Parallels._--Other versions of the legend of the Van Pool are given
in _Cambro-Briton_, ii., 315; W. Sikes, _British Goblins_, p. 40. Mr.
E. Sidney Hartland has discussed these and others in a set of papers
contributed to the first volume of _The Archaeological Review_ (now
incorporated into _Folk-Lore_), the substance of which is now given in
his _Science of Fairy Tales_, 274-332. (See also the references given
in _Revue Celtique_, iv., 187 and 268). Mr. Hartland gives there an
ecumenical collection of parallels to the several incidents that go to
make up our story--(1) The bride-capture of the Swan-Maiden, (2) the
recognition of the bride, (3) the taboo against causeless blows, (4)
doomed to be broken, and (5) disappearance of the Swan-Maiden, with
(6) her return as Guardian Spirit to her descendants. In each case Mr.
Hartland gives what he considers to be the most primitive form of the
incident. With reference to our present tale, he comes to the
conclusion, if I understand him aright, that the lake-maiden was once
regarded as a local divinity. The physicians of Myddvai were historic
personages, renowned for their medical skill for some six centuries,
till the race died out with John Jones, _fl._ 1743. To explain their
skill and uncanny knowledge of herbs, the folk traced them to a
supernatural ancestress, who taught them their craft in a place still
called Pant-y-Meddygon ("Doctors' Dingle"). Their medical knowledge
did not require any such remarkable origin, as Mr. Hartland has shown
in a paper "On Welsh Folk-Medicine," contributed to _Y Cymmrodor_,
vol. xii. On the other hand, the Swan-Maiden type of story is
wide-spread through the Old World. Mr. Morris's "Land East of the Moon
and West of the Sun," in _The Earthly Paradise_, is taken from the
Norse version. Parallels are accumulated by the Grimms, ii., 432;
Kohler on Gonzenbach, ii., 20; or Blade, 149; Stokes's _Indian Fairy
Tales_, 243, 276; and Messrs. Jones and Koopf, _Magyar Folk-Tales_,
362-5. It remains to be proved that one of these versions did not
travel to Wales, and become there localised. We shall see other
instances of such localisation or specialisation of general legends.
VIII. THE SPRIGHTLY TAILOR.
_Source._--_Notes and Queries_ for December 21, 1861, to which it was
communicated by "Cuthbert Bede," the author of _Verdant Green_, who
collected it in Cantyre.
_Parallels._--Miss Dempster gives the same story in her Sutherland
Collection, No. vii. (referred to by Campbell in his Gaelic list, at
end of vol. iv.); Mrs. John Faed, I am informed by a friend, knows the
Gaelic version, as told by her nurse in her youth. Chambers's "Strange
Visitor," _Pop. Rhymes of Scotland_, 64, of which I gave an Anglicised
version in my _English Fairy Tales_, No. xxxii., is clearly a variant.
_Remarks._--The Macdonald of Saddell Castle was a very great man
indeed. Once, when dining with the Lord-Lieutenant, an apology was
made to him for placing him so far away from the head of the table.
"Where the Macdonald sits," was the proud response, "there is the head
of the table."
IX. DEIRDRE.
_Source._--_Celtic Magazine_, xiii., p. 69, _seq._ I have abridged
somewhat, made the sons of Fergus all faithful instead of two
traitors, and omitted an incident in the house of the wild men called
here "strangers." The original Gaelic was given in the _Transactions
of the Inverness Gaelic Society_ for 1887, p. 241, _seq._, by Mr.
Carmichael. I have inserted Deirdre's "Lament" from the _Book of
Leinster_.
_Parallels._--This is one of the three most sorrowful Tales of Erin,
(the other two, _Children of Lir_ and _Children of Tureen_, are given
in Dr. Joyce's _Old Celtic Romances_), and is a specimen of the old
heroic sagas of elopement, a list of which is given in the _Book of
Leinster_. The "outcast child" is a frequent episode in folk and
hero-tales: an instance occurs in my _English Fairy Tales_, No. xxxv.,
and Prof. Kohler gives many others in _Archiv f. Slav. Philologie_,
i., 288. Mr. Nutt adds tenth century Celtic parallels in _Folk-Lore_,
vol. ii. The wooing of hero by heroine is a characteristic Celtic
touch. See "Connla" here, and other examples given by Mr. Nutt in his
notes to MacInnes's _Tales_. The trees growing from the lovers' graves
occurs in the English ballad of _Lord Lovel_ and has been studied in
_Melusine_.
_Remarks._--The "Story of Deirdre" is a remarkable instance of the
tenacity of oral tradition among the Celts. It has been preserved in
no less than five versions (or six, including Macpherson's
"Darthula") ranging from the twelfth to the nineteenth century. The
earliest is in the twelfth century, _Book of Leinster_, to be dated
about 1140 (edited in facsimile under the auspices of the Royal Irish
Academy, i., 147, _seq._). Then comes a fifteenth century version,
edited and translated by Dr. Stokes in Windisch's _Irische Texte_ II.,
ii., 109, _seq._, "Death of the Sons of Uisnech." Keating in his
_History of Ireland_ gave another version in the seventeenth century.
The Dublin Gaelic Society published an eighteenth century version in
their _Transactions_ for 1808. And lastly we have the version before
us, collected only a few years ago, yet agreeing in all essential
details with the version of the _Book of Leinster_. Such a record is
unique in the history of oral tradition, outside Ireland, where,
however, it is quite a customary experience in the study of the
Finn-saga. It is now recognised that Macpherson had, or could have
had, ample material for his _rechauffe_ of the Finn or "Fingal" saga.
His "Darthula" is a similar cobbling of our present story. I leave to
Celtic specialists the task of settling the exact relations of these
various texts. I content myself with pointing out the fact that in
these latter days of a seemingly prosaic century in these British
Isles there has been collected from the lips of the folk a heroic
story like this of "Deirdre," full of romantic incidents, told with
tender feeling and considerable literary skill. No other country in
Europe, except perhaps Russia, could provide a parallel to this living
on of Romance among the common folk. Surely it is a bounden duty of
those who are in a position to put on record any such utterances of
the folk-imagination of the Celts before it is too late.
X. MUNACHAR AND MANACHAR.
_Source._--I have combined the Irish version given by Dr. Hyde in his
_Leabhar Sgeul._, and translated by him from Mr. Yeats's _Irish Folk
and Fairy Tales_, and the Scotch version given in Gaelic and English
by Campbell, No. viii.
_Parallels._--Two English versions are given in my _Eng. Fairy Tales_,
No. iv., "The Old Woman and her Pig," and xxxiv., "The Cat and the
Mouse," where see notes for other variants in these isles. M.
Cosquin, in his notes to No. xxxiv., of his _Contes de Lorraine_, t.
ii., pp. 35-41, has drawn attention to an astonishing number of
parallels scattered through all Europe and the East (_cf._, too,
Crane, _Ital. Pop. Tales_, notes. 372-5). One of the earliest
allusions to the jingle is in _Don Quixote_, pt. 1, c. xvi.: "Y asi
como suele decirse _el gato al rato, el rato a la cuerda, la cuerda al
palo_, daba el arriero a Sancho, Sancho a la moza, la moza a el, el
ventero a la moza." As I have pointed out, it is used to this day by
Bengali women at the end of each folk-tale they recite (L. B. Day,
_Folk-Tales of Bengal_, Pref.).
_Remarks._--Two ingenious suggestions have been made as to the origin
of this curious jingle, both connecting it with religious ceremonies:
(1) Something very similar occurs in Chaldaic at the end of the Jewish
_Hagada_, or domestic ritual for the Passover night. It has, however,
been shown that this does not occur in early MSS. or editions, and was
only added at the end to amuse the children after the service, and was
therefore only a translation or adaptation of a current German form of
the jingle; (2) M. Basset, in the _Revue des Traditions populaires_,
1890, t. v., p. 549, has suggested that it is a survival of the old
Greek custom at the sacrifice of the Bouphonia for the priest to
contend that _he_ had not slain the sacred beast, the axe declares
that the handle did it, the handle transfers the guilt further, and so
on. This is ingenious, but fails to give any reasonable account of the
diffusion of the jingle in countries which have had no historic
connection with classical Greece.
XI. GOLD-TREE AND SILVER-TREE.[1]
_Source._--_Celtic Magazine_, xiii. 213-8, Gaelic and English from Mr.
Kenneth Macleod.
_Parallels._--Mr. Macleod heard another version in which "Gold-tree"
(anonymous in this variant) is bewitched to kill her father's horse,
dog, and cock. Abroad it is the Grimms' _Schneewitchen_ (No. 53), for
the Continental variants of which see Kohler on Gonzenbach, _Sicil.
Marchen_, Nos. 2-4, Grimm's notes on 53, and Crane _Ital. Pop. Tales_,
331. No other version is known in the British Isles.
[Footnote 1: Since the first issue Mr. Nutt has made a remarkable
discovery with reference to this tale, which connects it with Marie de
France's _Lai d'Eliduc_ (c. 1200), and renders it probable that the
tale is originally Celtic. Mr. Nutt thinks that the German version may
be derived from England.]
_Remarks._--It is unlikely, I should say impossible, that this tale,
with the incident of the dormant heroine, should have arisen
independently in the Highlands: it is most likely an importation from
abroad. Yet in it occurs a most "primitive" incident, the bigamous
household of the hero: this is glossed over in Mr. Macleod's other
variant. On the "survival" method of investigation this would possibly
be used as evidence for polygamy in the Highlands. Yet if, as is
probable, the story came from abroad, this trait may have come with
it, and only implies polygamy in the original home of the tale.
XII. KING O'TOOLE AND HIS GOOSE.
_Source._--S. Lover's _Stories and Legends of the Irish Peasantry_.
_Remarks._--This is a moral apologue on the benefits of keeping your
word. Yet it is told with such humour and vigour, that the moral
glides insensibly into the heart.
XIII. THE WOOING OF OLWEN.
_Source._--The _Mabinogi_ of Kilhwch and Olwen from the translation of
Lady Guest, abridged.
_Parallels._--Prof. Rhys, _Hibbert Lectures_, p. 486, considers that
our tale is paralleled by Cuchulain's "Wooing of Emer," a translation
of which by Prof. K. Meyer appeared in the _Archaeological Review_,
vol. i. I fail to see much analogy. On the other hand in his
_Arthurian Legend_, p. 41, he rightly compares the tasks set by
Yspythadon to those set to Jason. They are indeed of the familiar type
of the Bride Wager (on which see Grimm-Hunt, i., 399). The incident of
the three animals, old, older, and oldest, has a remarkable
resemblance to the _Tettira Jataka_ (ed. Fausboll, No. 37, transl.
Rhys-Davids, i., p. 310 _seq._) in which the partridge, monkey, and
elephant dispute as to their relative age, and the partridge turns out
to have voided the seed of the Banyan-tree under which they were
sheltered, whereas the elephant only knew it when a mere bush, and the
monkey had nibbled the topmost shoots. This apologue got to England at
the end of the twelfth century as the sixty-ninth fable, "Wolf, Fox,
and Dove," of a rhymed prose collection of "Fox Fables" (_Mishle
Shu'alim_), of an Oxford Jew, Berachyah Nakdan, known in the Records
as "Benedict le Puncteur" (see my _Fables of AEsop_, i., p. 170).
Similar incidents occur in "Jack and his Snuff-box" in my _English
Fairy Tales_, and in Dr. Hyde's "Well of D'Yerree-in-Dowan." The
skilled companions of Kulhwych are common in European folk-tales
(_Cf._ Cosquin, i., 123-5), and especially among the Celts (see Mr.
Nutt's note in MacInnes's _Tales_, 445-8), among whom they occur very
early, but not so early as Lynceus and the other skilled comrades of
the Argonauts.
_Remarks._--The hunting of the boar Trwyth can be traced back in Welsh
tradition at least as early as the ninth century. For it is referred
to in the following passage of Nennius's _Historia Britonum_, ed.
Stevenson, p. 60, "Est aliud miraculum in regione quae dicitur Buelt
[Builth, co. Brecon] Est ibi cumulus lapidum et unus lapis
super-positus super congestum cum vestigia canis in eo. Quando venatus
est porcum Troynt [_var. lec._ Troit] impressit Cabal, qui erat canis
Arthuri militis, vestigium in lapide et Arthur postea congregavit
congestum lapidum sub lapide in quo erat vestigium canis sui et
vocatur Carn Cabal." Curiously enough there is still a mountain called
Carn Cabal in the district of Builth, south of Rhayader Gwy in
Breconshire. Still more curiously a friend of Lady Guest's found on
this a cairn with a stone two feet long by one foot wide in which
there was an indentation 4 in. x 3 in. x 2 in. which could easily have
been mistaken for a paw-print of a dog, as may be seen from the
engraving given of it on opposite page (_Mabinogion_, ed. 1874, p.
269).
The stone and the legend are thus at least one thousand years old.
"There stands the stone to tell if I lie." According to Prof. Rhys
(_Hibbert Lect._ 486-97) the whole story is a mythological one,
Kulhwych's mother being the dawn, the clover blossoms that grow under
Olwen's feet being comparable to the roses that sprang up where
Aphrodite had trod, and Yspyddadon being the incarnation of the
sacred hawthorn. Mabon, again (_l. c._ pp. 21, 28-9), is the Apollo
Maponus discovered in Latin inscriptions at Ainstable in Cumberland
and elsewhere (Hubner, _Corp. Insc. Lat. Brit._ Nos. 218, 332, 1345).
Granting all this, there is nothing to show any mythological
significance in the tale, though there may have been in the names of
the _dramatis personae_. I observe from the proceedings of the recent
Eisteddfod that the bardic name of Mr. W. Abraham, M.P., is "Mabon."
It scarcely follows that Mr. Abraham is in receipt of divine honours
nowadays.
[Illustration:]
XIV. JACK AND HIS COMRADES.
_Source._--Kennedy's _Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts_.
_Parallels._--This is the fullest and most dramatic version I know of
the Grimms' "Town Musicians of Bremen" (No. 27). I have given an
English (American) version in my _English Fairy Tales_, No. 5, in the
notes to which would be found references to other versions known in
the British Isles (_e. g._, Campbell, No. 11) and abroad. _Cf._
remarks on No. vi.
XV. SHEE AN GANNON AND GRUAGACH GAIRE.
_Source._--Curtin, _Myths and Folk-Lore of Ireland_, p. 114 _seq._ I
have shortened the earlier part of the tale, and introduced into the
latter a few touches from Campbell's story of "Fionn's Enchantment,"
in _Revue Celtique_, t. i., 193 _seq._
_Parallels._--The early part is similar to the beginning of "The
Sea-Maiden" (No. xvii., which see). The latter part is practically the
same as the story of "Fionn's Enchantment," just referred to. It also
occurs in MacInnes's _Tales_, No. iii., "The King of Albainn" (see Mr.
Nutt's notes, 454). The head-crowned spikes are Celtic, _cf._ Mr.
Nutt's notes (MacInnes's _Tales_, 453).
_Remarks._--Here again we meet the question whether the folk-tale
precedes the hero-tale about Finn or was derived from it, and again
the probability seems that our story has the priority as a folk-tale,
and was afterwards applied to the national hero, Finn. This is
confirmed by the fact that a thirteenth century French romance, _Conte
du Graal_, has much the same incidents, and was probably derived from
a similar folk-tale of the Celts. Indeed, Mr. Nutt is inclined to
think that the original form of our story (which contains a mysterious
healing vessel) is the germ out of which the legend of the Holy Grail
was evolved (see his _Studies in the Holy Grail_, p. 202 _seq._).
XVI. THE STORY-TELLER AT FAULT.
_Source._--Griffin's _Tales from a Jury-Room_, combined with Campbell,
No. xvii. _c_, "The Slim Swarthy Champion."
_Parallels._--Campbell gives another variant, _l. c._ i., 318. Dr.
Hyde has an Irish version of Campbell's tale written down in 1762,
from which he gives the incident of the air-ladder (which I have had
to euphemise in my version) in his _Beside the Fireside_, p. 191, and
other passages in his Preface. The most remarkable parallel to this
incident, however, is afforded by the feats of Indian jugglers
reported briefly by Marco Polo, and illustrated with his usual wealth
of learning by the late Sir Henry Yule, in his edition, vol. i., p.
308 _seq._ The accompanying illustration (reduced from Yule) will tell
its own tale: it is taken from the Dutch account of the travels of an
English sailor, E. Melton. _Zeldzaame Reizen_, 1702, p. 468. It tells
the tale in five acts, all included in one sketch. Another instance
quoted by Yule is still more parallel, so to speak. The twenty-third
trick performed by some conjurors before the Emperor Jahangueir
(_Memoirs_, p. 102) is thus described: "They produced a chain of 50
cubits in length, and in my presence threw one end of it toward the
sky, where it remained as if fastened to something in the air. A dog
was then brought forward, and being placed at the lower end of the
chain, immediately ran up, and, reaching the other end, immediately
disappeared in the air. In the same manner a hog, a panther, a lion,
and a tiger were successively sent up the chain." It has been
suggested that the conjurors hypnotise the spectators, and make them
believe they see these things. This is practically the suggestion of a
wise Mohammedan, who is quoted by Yule as saying, "_Wallah!_ 'tis my
opinion there has been neither going up nor coming down; 'tis all
hocus-pocus," hocus-pocus being presumably the Mohammedan term for
hypnotism.
[Illustration:]
_Remarks._--Dr. Hyde (_l. c._ Pref. xxix.) thinks our tale cannot be
older than 1362, because of a reference to one O'Connor Sligo which
occurs in all its variants; it is, however, omitted in our somewhat
abridged version. Mr. Nutt (_ap._ Campbell, _The Fians_, Introd. xix.)
thinks that this does not prevent a still earlier version having
existed. I should have thought that the existence of so distinctly
Eastern a trick in the tale, and the fact that it is a framework story
(another Eastern characteristic), would imply that it is a rather
late importation, with local allusions supperadded (_cf._ notes on
"Conall Yellowclaw," No. v.).
The passages in verse from pp. 149, 153, and the description of the
Beggarman, pp. 149, 154, are instances of a curious characteristic of
Gaelic folk-tales called "runs." Collections of Conventional epithets
are used over and over again to describe the same incident, the
beaching of a boat, sea-faring, travelling and the like, are inserted
in different tales. These "runs" are often similar in both the Irish
and the Scotch form of the same tale or of the same incident. The
volumes of _Waifs and Strays_ contain numerous examples of these
"runs," which have been indexed in each volume. These "runs" are
another confirmation of my view that the original form of the
folk-tale was that of the _Cante-fable_ (see note on "Connla" and on
"Childe Rowland" in _English Fairy Tales_).
XVII. SEA-MAIDEN.
_Source._--Campbell, _Pop. Tales_, No. 4. I have omitted the births of
the animal comrades and transposed the carlin to the middle of the
tale. Mr. Batten has considerately idealised the Sea-Maiden in his
frontispiece. When she restores the husband to the wife in one of the
variants, she brings him out of her mouth! "So the sea-maiden put up
his head (_Who do you mean? Out of her mouth to be sure. She had
swallowed him_)."
_Parallels._--The early part of the story occurs in No. xv., "Shee An
Gannon," and the last part in No. xix., "Fair, Brown, and Trembling"
(both from Curtin), Campbell's No. 1. "The Young King" is much like
it; also MacInnes's No. iv., "Herding of Cruachan" and No. viii., "Lod
the Farmer's Son." The third of Mr. Britten's Irish folk-tales in the
_Folk-Lore Journal_ is a Sea-Maiden story. The story is obviously a
favourite one among the Celts. Yet its main incidents occur with
frequency in Continental folk-tales. Prof. Kohler has collected a
number in his notes on Campbell's Tales in _Orient und Occident_, Bnd.
ii., 115-8. The trial of the sword occurs in the saga of Sigurd, yet
it is also frequent in Celtic saga and folk-tales (see Mr. Nutt's
note, MacInnes's _Tales_, 473, and add Curtin, 320). The hideous
carlin and her three giant sons is also common form in Celtic. The
external soul of the Sea-Maiden carried about in an egg, in a trout,
in a hoodie, in a hind, is a remarkable instance of a peculiarly
savage conception which has been studied by Major Temple, _Wide-awake
Stories_, 404-5; by Mr. E. Clodd, in the "Philosophy of Punchkin," in
_Folk-Lore Journal_, vol. ii., and by Mr. Frazer in his _Golden
Bough_, vol. ii.